MAKING SENSE OF LIVING THE FULL LIFE
How many of you remember the first time you were struck with the reality that you were getting older? For me it was when I was in Seminary. There were a bunch of high school kids getting together to play flag football so me and a few of my friends thought we would get out there and show these high schoolers how the game is played.
We got suited up and were putting it to them. I mean we were going all out—110%. We played pretty well and I was feeling pretty good about myself until the next morning. Normally I pop right up out of bed and am ready to go, but not this morning. Every muscle in my body ached—muscles I never knew I had hurt. The next morning there was no popping up out of bed. Instead I rolled out of bed and into the floor, laid there for a minute and finally picked myself up off the floor and after 3 or 4 ibuprofen was able to make it to church.
What was really “eye opening” to me was when I got to church and saw how all those high schoolers were just fine. In fact they wanted to play again that afternoon. It was right then and there that I realized, “I’m getting older—I’m not there anymore.”
Not only have I come to the realization that I’m getting older, but I also recognize that those things I did to my body when I was younger I’m paying for today. When coaches used to tell us to stretch before practice, eat healthy and avoid certain activities that can be harmful to your body, I used to think to myself, “That must be what you have to worry about when you are older.” I truly thought I was invincible and lived accordingly.
I wish I could go back and talk sense to that 16 yr. old kid and tell him, “You need to listen to your coaches, you need to stretch and eat healthy and take care of your body or you will be paying for it later on.”
Well in our text for today, Solomon is going to give us a similar message except he is going to talk about our spiritual health instead of our physical health. He is going to warn us from this passage that the decisions we make today—they greatly influence the state of things in our life spiritually in the future.
Today we are going to be in Ecclesiastes 11, looking at vv. 7-12:8. In this passage of Scripture, what Solomon is going to do is show his age. The book of Ecclesiastes is thought to have been written toward the end of his life which makes sense because as Solomon imparts this wisdom to us about life, he shares with us a lifetime’s worth of experiences that he has had and observations that he has made about just about any and every topic under the sun.
When I picture Solomon writing Ecclesiastes, I picture this old wise man sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch swing, drinking lemonade and sharing with His grandkids about the good ole days and about what he has learned about life. I mean that’s kind of the way this book reads—from the perspective of an extremely wise old grandfather.
In this text Solomon is speaking to those of us who still have life yet to live—those of us who still have breath in our lungs and life in our limbs and he is calling for us to not waste the life we have left. He’s talking to you and he is talking to me about living our life to the fullest.
From this passage this morning Solomon is going to make sense of living well as we grow older. He’s going to tell us how to live a full life—how to get the most out of this life while still honoring God.
First Solomon tells us to live the full life we must realize that…
LIFE IS TO BE ENJOYED WITH GOD NOT TO BE ENDURED WITHOUT HIM
In vv. 7-10, Solomon returns to a familiar theme from Ecclesiastes—that of enjoyment. His main point here is that whether you are young or old, life is to be enjoyed with God not to be endured without Him.
There is one of two ways to live your life. You either enjoy it or you endure it. Now let me talk about the latter because this is what you primarily see in our world. You see people just scraping by—people just living week to week, paycheck to paycheck, job to job and relationship to relationship.
When you are young, you do your best just to survive high school. When you are young adults you work your tail off just to make ends meet. When you are middle age you just are trying to survive your kids surviving high school and when you are old you often feel as if you don’t have anything more to live for.
Many live in this way—just enduring life. Solomon says, “That’s no way to live. Life is to be enjoyed. He first tells us,
ENJOY LIFE WHILE YOU HAVE IT
Look at v. 7-8,
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. 8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
There are two points Solomon returns to continually in this book and they are this. #1 is that we all die, but # 2 is that we don’t all truly live. Though none miss out on death many miss out on life. That’s why it’s so important that we realize when it comes to years of life, that quality is much more important than quantity. It is better to add life to your years than to add years to your life.
ENJOY LIFE WHILE YOU ARE YOUNG
9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth.
Young people: Solomon is speaking to us here and is basically saying, “You are only young once, therefore enjoy your days while you are young.”
What is it that you want to accomplish in your life? Solomon says, “Do it now—make each day count—live a life of purpose—live a life of meaning—do great things with the life you have left.”
Now after making that point, Solomon feels the need to follow up with this point.
ENJOY LIFE WHILE LIVING RIGHTEOUSLY
Solomon says,
But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
Though Solomon tells all ages, especially young people to enjoy life, he also throws in a warning to keep us on track. He basically says here, “Enjoy life, but don’t forget God—don’t forget He gets the last word.” He’s saying here, “Though life is to be enjoyed, it’s to be enjoyed with God and in a way that honors Him.”
If you are having trouble finding balance here, between enjoying life and honoring God, let me direct your attention to Psalm 37:4 which says, “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
If you are delighting in the Lord--if you are looking to him for lasting satisfaction--if you find your enjoyment in God then His desires will naturally become your desires. That’s what the Psalmist tells us here.
At times when we are struggling to do what God wants—when we lack godly emotions and affections and desires it’s ALMOST ALWAYS because we lack God in our life.
In v. 10, Solomon says,
10 Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
For us to enjoy our life while we have it—while we are young and do it in a God honoring way, Solomon says we must keep our attitudes in check. Let’s be honest, we need to hear this don’t we because we naturally let the temporary frustrations and challenges of the day affect the way we live.
We naturally spend the majority of our time giving ourselves to those things that are temporary and spend very little time focusing on what matters for eternity and what awaits us in Christ. Paul says in Colossians 3:1-2,
3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:1-2
So keeping our attitudes in check and setting our minds on eternal things it enables us to enjoy life with God rather than endure life without him.
Secondly, Solomon tells us to live the full life we must realize that…
LIFE IS TO BE LIVED FOR GOD AND NOT WASTED WITHOUT HIM
Now this view of a wasted life is an idea you hear about all the time in our world. If you were to ask people how important it is to not let life pass you by and not waste your life, most people would be in agreement with you that it is important to live life to the fullest because life is precious.
Now, where we differ is when we explain what a full life looks like. Many in our world define a full and meaningful life as living it up in the here and now. This is a Hedonistic view of life that says, “We may die tomorrow so let’s party hard tonight.”
Many think in this way. They reason, “I may die tomorrow, so I’m going to travel and see the world today. I’m going to check off everything on my bucket list” and they think that’s the definition of a full life.
Scripture gives a different description. A full life according to God is a life that is lived for Him while a wasted life is a life lived for self.
In chapter 12:1 Solomon says,
LIVE FOR GOD FROM A YOUNG AGE
He says,
12 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near.
In chapter 12, Solomon continues to speak to young people and the reason why is because those days are so brief and can be missed so easily and often are. He makes the point in v. 1 that the best way to have a happy adult life is to start early and live for God from a young age.
The first way we do this is by recognizing that God is creator. Solomon says, “Remember your creator.” We exist because God has given us and is giving us breath in our lungs and life in our bones. The very breath you take at this very moment is given to you by God. Scripture is clear that in Him we live and move and have our being. So the very breath that we breathe needs to be used to praise Him. We are indebted to Him for our very existence.
The second reason he tells us to live for God from a young age is because God wants our best years—he wants the best years of your life. He wants to rule and reign in the prime of your life. In the Old Testament, God demanded His people to bring Him their first fruits--that’s what God wants. He does not want our left overs. He wants the best of us.
The third reason we need to live for God from a young age is because youth maybe all we have. You may not live to be 16, 30, 40, or 50. As we have talked about already, life has no guarantees. We are all going to die someday maybe today so we need to live for God right now.
Fourth, it’s important to serve the Lord in your youth because when you are older you may not. The person who makes excuses, who says, “I’m going to wait until I get older to live for God” more often than not never gets around to it. It’s like that sign on the Trans-Alaska Highway that reads, “Choose your rut carefully because you’ll be in it for the next 200 miles!”
Lastly, we are to serve the Lord in our younger years to prepare for the dark days to come. Solomon says, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’”
Solomon is basically saying here, “You need to prepare now young people in the lighter years of your life to live for God, because life is not going to get any easier." Maybe you are here this morning and have already been through dark days without the Lord--maybe you are in a dark period right now and don’t know where to turn. Scripture tells us where. The Bible is such an amazing book because it not only tells us how things really are, but also tells us how to live in a world that is full of trials, tests and tragedies.
Solomon continues with a similar point in vv. 2-7 stating that we are to…
LIVE FOR GOD BEFORE OLD AGE SETS IN
Now before I get into this section, let me remind you that I am just the mailman. I don’t write the mail I just deliver it. In vv. 2-7 Solomon talks about what we can expect as we grow older. Remember that he too is in his later years, so at some level he is speaking from experience.
In this passage Solomon compares the aging body to a house that is coming undone. So read along with me as I break down this description of growing older from this passage. First Solomon says,
(Remember God) before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,
Solomon here is talking about the loss of memory. As we get older our memory gets worse. Someone once said, “Just about the time your face clears up, your mind begins to go.” Another person once said, “Three things indicate we are getting old. This first is the loss of memory…and I can’t remember the other two.”
Look at v. 3, Solomon says,
in the day when the keepers of the house tremble,
The keepers of the house are our arms, hands and legs. As one gets older, their hands and arms and legs become less steady and they begin to tremble and shake. I remember my granddads signature as he got older got worse and worse because his hands would shake uncontrollably. That’s a sign of getting older.
He says,
and the strong men are bent,
The older you get, the more stooped over you become. Your legs and knees and back become weak and you begin to stoop.
He says, And the grinders cease because they are few,
He's talking about losing your teeth. Someone once said that a sign you are getting old is when you can sing in the bathroom and brush your teeth at the same time.
and those who look through the windows are dimmed,
Your eyes are windows to the world and one of the harsh realities of growing older is that our eyesight gets worse and worse over time. How many of you constantly have to buy books with bigger print? So as old age comes your eyesight goes.
and the doors on the street are shut
As you get older, your body just doesn’t function like it used to and you have to take pills to get your body to do what it no longer does on its own.
When the sound of the grinding is low,
Here Solomon is talking about the loss of hearing. Those sounds you once could hear so clearly are now muffled as if you are hearing them behind closed doors.
and one rises up at the sound of a bird,
Does anybody have trouble sleeping? As you get older, though you have trouble hearing, the slightest noise in the night will wake you out of a deep sleep and you cannot go back to sleep even though you are exhausted.
and all the daughters of song are brought low—
Your old voice is not what it used to be. As you get older, your voice begins to tremble, quiver and weaken.
they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way;
When you were young you could jump off a roof, or out of a tree, or off a cliff into a lake and it was no big deal—you could pop right back up and be ready to go again.
But when you get older, your balance is not what it used to be and it takes a lot longer to heal from a fall so something as easy as getting a glass from the top shelf can be a dangerous task.
Solomon goes on to say,
the almond tree blossoms,
I recently read that an almond tree blossoms in the winter when there are no leaves on the tree and when it blossoms it produces a white flowers without any leaves. This is a picture of sparse and thinning grey hair.
A man once said that when he was young his hair was blond, then it turned dark, then it turned grey and then it turned loose.
(Before) the grasshopper drags itself along,
In other words, as you grow older you lose that spring in your step. Remember when you were young and felt as if you could leap a tall building in a single bound—you were 10 feet tall and bullet proof? When you get older you have to drag yourself along to get anywhere and it takes you twice as long to get places. You’ve lost that spring in your step.
He says,
and desire fails,
Here Solomon is talking about sexual inability.
So Solomon just gives us a thorough description of growing older. Though we have more aids today than when this was written—though we have eyeglasses, hearing aids, false teeth, hair products to dye hair, all sorts of gadgets and grooming products to counter the evils of aging, they do not ultimately do away with the fact that our body is wearing out from the inside out--they do not solve the problem of death.
Solomon ends this section by explaining just that. He says,
Man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Once again, Solomon does not beat around the bush, but speaks openly and honestly about what each and every one of us have to look forward to as we grow older. And he does this to motivate us to live for God and serve Him RIGHT NOW. Solomon is trying to motivate His readers NOW before it’s too late.
Many of you in here are in the prime of your life. Live for God RIGHT NOW! For example, represent Him in the work place and make an impact for Him in your job before you retire. Train your children in the Lord before they are up and gone. Young people: Take opportunities to go and serve the Lord by going on mission trips and doing summer internships with Christian ministries before you are settled down with a wife/husband and kids.
LIVE FOR GOD NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
Solomon ends this passage by making the point that we need to also…
LIVE FOR GOD BECAUSE ALL ELSE IS EMPTY
8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
In v. 8 Solomon returns to a familiar theme from this book—that of vanity. He uses this phrase again here because he wants his readers to realize that this life is fleeting, frail and hopeless without God.
If we live the rest of our days just enduring life and living for ourselves without God, Scripture is clear that’s a wasted and tragic life. Without Him our life is short, empty and disappointing. But on the flip side of that, Scripture also teaches that a life lived for God is significant, full and joyous.
Maybe you a young person and are thinking to yourself, “I’ve got all the time in the world to live for God. Right now I’m going to live for myself—I want to enjoy life for a while on my own before giving things over to God.”
First, if that’s your mentality, let me ask you this, “How do you know how much time you have left?” And second let me urge you to consider the fact that God wants your best. He doesn’t want the leftovers of your life, but wants to rule and reign right now in the prime of your life. I urge you, if you have not, to place your trust in Lord. Turn to Him—Trust in Him—Live for Him before it’s too late.
There may be others of you who are thinking to yourself, “Well, I’ve wasted my youth, is there any hope for me?” The answer is yes. Art Linkletter once said, “It’s better to be over the hill than under it.” In other words, “As long as there is breath in lungs and life in your bones, it’s not too late.”
Maybe you have put this off for some time saying, “I’m going to live for God later.” I urge you not to put it off any longer. The only thing you can be sure of is right now. Once again, you don’t know what a day holds so do not delay any longer. The time to get out of the rut you are in is NOW.
