Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 - A Meaningful Life

all right good evening countering Nexus let's turn together in the book of ecclesiastes to the twelfth and last chapter Ecclesiastes chapter 12 if you need a Bible tonight something to write with something to write on if you will raise your hand one of our very capable and hospitable uh sure x' will be glad to serve you please the ass T's Chapter 12 we have studied through Solomon's letter together and we find ourselves and now the 12th and last chapter and Solomon has been on this quest to discern to determine what is the meaning of life what is the purpose of life and let me start off by open up with the discussion question if you were to ask someone on the street in our community whether they be a follower of Christ or not a follower of Christ and you were to say what do you think is the purpose or the meaning of life what might you hear in response somebody raised a hand and get us started what are some of the responses you might hear somebody raised a hand talk yep I don't know that we'll accept that answer yes Carol to live a good life a common ancestor fear to be happy a real common answer in our culture sky people say the smoke weed everyday' that's the meaning of life absolutely to leave your mark on the world okay good Sarge to be a good person Richard live every day like your last because one day you're going to be right and profound okay well what are people thinking the meaning of life is so what if followers of Christ or non followers of Christ if you were to talk to the population in our fair city and say hey what do you think the meaning of life is this to be successful absolutely a common answer what else yes sir be it one more time oh we all matter yeah everyone support me all matter yes bail family another common theme that you're going to hear what else Jeffery to share the word okay like a Christian response to share the word what else well I would suggest as we're going through these twelve chapters Solomon has been on this epic quest here was a man with more wisdom than any other human being who's ever said fourth on the planet until the time of Christ here is a man with more wealth than anyone else on the planet at the time here's a man with greater influence and more pleasure at his access than any other man who's walked the face of the earth of the time and he's struggling he's trying to figure out what what is life all about what is the meaning of life and I would suggest if he figures it out and he gets the right answer we would sure like to know wouldn't we because I just like Solomon although we don't have necessarily the same lifestyle or the same resources we have the same quest in every human being who's ever walked on this planet has the same quest sooner or later every human being is going to come face to face with the reality of their mortality as a concept before it becomes a reality and in the midst of that understanding that my life isn't going to last forever there is a struggle a philosophical a moral struggle a wrangling of the soul what is the of life and everyone here wants to know we look inside you know if I'm successful in my job or if I get a nice place if I have nice electronics and I have a nice family and I raise nice kids and good kids and my kids love me and my grandkids love me and I love them and they love me and have friends but my friends are moving away my friends get older and die and what's it all about what's it all about and we want to know that we want to know it as much as Solomon wants to know it and we're gonna discover that together what we're gonna discover tonight is how to have a meaningful life how to have a meaningful life and really the object is that we discover that as we respect God and keep his commands but how do we get to that place well let's take a look together at the first eight verses I'm gonna read out loud and asked you to follow along silently remember now your Creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come and the ears draw near when you say I have no pleasure in them while the Sun and the light the moon and the stars are not darkened and the clouds do not return after the rain in the day when the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men bow down when the grinders ceased because they are few and those that look through the windows grow dim when the doors are shut in the streets and the sound of grinding is low when one rises up at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of music are brought low and they're afraid of height and of terrors in the way when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper is a burden and desire fails for man goes to his eternal home and the mourners go about the streets remember your Creator before the silver court is list or the golden bowl is broken or the pitcher shattered at the fountain or the we're broken at the well then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God who gave it vanity of vanities says the preacher all is vanity let's pray Lord would you show us tonight the urgency of discovering the meaning and the purpose and how to have a meaningful life tonight that we wouldn't miss one more opportunity one more day without knowing Lord where to find this fulfillment and Lord doing what we need to do to experience it would you now open up the pages of the book would you speak to our tired and our burdened and our weary Souls and refresh us tonight in you and give us hope we ask this now in Jesus name Amen amen so the subject we're gonna consider how to have a meaningful life and the object is to respect God and keep his commands the first key idea is to remember your Creator remember your Creator first thought seek God now while you have plenty of life left seek God now while you have plenty of life left at verse 1 remember now your Creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come and the years draw near when you say I have no pleasure in desert remember now your Creator and so there's this exhortation not only to remember God but to remember who he is to remember what he has done in your life when Paul wrote to the Romans in the first chapter he says those who rebelled against God those who reject God they have to suppress the knowledge of God and so God has put into our hearts into our soul the knowledge of God and if we don't suppress God that we will experience and remember for him and he's exhorting us remember God remember what he's done for you remember what he is doing for you remember what he will do for you remember that he is your Creator remember that relationship that he created you for relationship with him because he loves you and he says remember now there's the sense of urgency it's not a one day you know maybe I'll follow Jesus so I can have some fire insurance it's remember now that sense of urgency in the days of your youth that every moment that you're remembering God and you're in a right relationship with God you can experience that relationship with God and the joy and the blessing that you can enjoy life ironically it says here at the end of verse 1 before the years draw near when you say I have no pleasure in them you see it is it is ironic that if you pursue a life of pleasure you don't find pleasure what you ultimately find is misery and you keep searching for pleasure and pleasure something to fill that void and end theirs yes we have all discovered that you cannot buy happiness amen now we've also discovered that you can rent it for a little while that's true right and so it's that endless we love trying to fill that hole and and plug the the tub when the drain stopper isn't there nothing fills and so if you pursue pleasure the irony is you you end up discovering displeasure and you'll discover it sooner rather than later because no matter how much drug no matter how much booze no matter how much sex no matter how much relationship no matter how much possessions nothing fills and we've tried and tried and tried to fill with things just ends up with misery and so he says remember now the challenge to remember now is young people have no sense of eternal eternal things in order to have a sense of mortality you know I love watching the young people in our youth group and I love that they know that they are going to live forever you know and that that's a theological truth but they live it as a physical truth they jump off buildings they jump off walls that they will ride their skateboards they will do things that I look at like oh my gosh are we insured for this and yet there's no sense of mortality that there's no sense that anything could possibly happen there's no sense of eternity it's just that I'm going to live on this earth forever and so it's difficult to explain to a young person why you need to remember now your Creator but let's approach it this way what are some of the benefits of starting to follow Christ when you're young what are some of the benefits somebody raised a hand what were some of the benefits Marsha okay you will have a better life you won't make the wrong choices and you're not gonna harm yourself even like we'd harm yourself with death yes yes your life turns out to be sweeter and brighter amen yes day yeah you can have that sense early in life that God is with you and he's never going to leave you what else yes you get more time to witness for Christ cool good stuff yes yeah you start laying down a solid foundation for your life for your marriage for your family yes what's your name Thomas save yourself a lot of heartache can we get an amen amen yes what else grant a greater sense of purpose yeah hey just out of curiosity how many of you here started walking with the Lord before you were 15 years of age just out of curiosity raised raise your hands okay so maybe about happy how many of you started to walk with the Lord after age 25 show of hands amen amen amen so for those of us who started to walk with the Lord after age 25 if you had to do it all over again do you wish that you had come to know the Lord earlier in life amen I mean III look you know before I came to know the Lord as a young adult I was working on my testimony and I was working hard on my testimony and I'm not proud of it I'm ashamed in a certain sense you know my life was characterized by relationship sexual relationships serial sexual relationships and so not only did that impact me unfortunately it's an influence that I can't erase on others drugs alcohol prevalent in my life besides you know seemingly wasting many hours days weeks dare I say years of my life that way and I can't get it back I mean I appreciate that God's going to use it and God's going to redeem it to make me more effective for him today because I could relate to certain things and I say praise God for his Redemption but also if I had to do it all over again I wish I had known the Lord amen and so what in light of that well what are some advantages of knowing the Lord when you're young what else yes yeah you have a much better chance to raise your children to know the Lord if you've known the Lord you've had that experience going through childhood or adolescence of young adulthood fantastic yes amen the armor of God the the Teflon of God so some of the junk of the world doesn't stick on you absolutely good yes yeah that you you maintained an innocence longer and that's really challenging this culture wali yeah that that life is difficult this is challenging and if you've come to know the Lord at an early age at a young age you realize that God's strength will empower you despite the difficulty that's inherent in everyone's life in this fallen world well bear with me because we've only gone through verse 1 and there's more to this chapter so we're gonna move on here but I just appreciate all the hands that are being raised here next idea here about remembering your creators to enjoy life while you are strong before life declines here in verses 2 to 5 there's this wonderfully poetic description that Solomon shares with us about some of the realities of growing older and he just waxes it really poetically you got to see this he says verse 2 while the Sun and the light the moon and the stars are not darkened and the clouds do not return after a rain in other words and enjoy life in the midst of the most pleasant times of life when the the stars aren't darkened when it's not raining and then he says in in contrast in the days when the keepers of the house trembles the keepers of the house are the arms and the hands and so at a time in life when you're just starting to get a little shaky and your arms start to shake and your hands start to shake it's just part of the process it's just part of the process and then he says the strongman bow down that's the legs when the grinders cease because they are few that's the teeth right I mean we're either living it or we've seen it and those that look through the windows rode in those are the eyes at verse 4 when the doors are shut in the streets and the sound of grinding is low and one rises up at the sound of a bird in other words you sleep really lightly as you start to grow older you don't sleep as much you don't sleep as well even the sound of a bird would wake you up and the daughters of music are brought low when you don't hear as well and they're afraid of height and of terror in the way there's just more fears when you're young you're not afraid of anything seemingly and now you've learned there's plenty to be afraid of in this world when the almond tree blossoms what color are the blossoms on an almond tree white it's talking about when the hair grows white just poetic it's wonderful the grasshopper is a burden you're just tired and the desire fails you can figure what that is without me telling you okay all right a man goes to his eternal home and the mourners go about the streets and and so he talks about death on this earth ultimately moving you to an eternal home it's that sense that the golden years get tarnished they get tarnished because these physical tents that you are not a body with a soul you're a soul with a body amen and this tent this earth sleep in this body has a lifetime guarantee that's the problem that as it starts to move towards its end it starts to break down and so the golden ears get tarnished your body starts to break down friends move away family moves away your friends are sharing their aches and pains it sounds depressing people start to die and you're like these are my golden years this is that that's not the time that you want to discover Christ for the first time you want discover Christ when you're young and you have more years to enjoy and so today you know young is a relative term right I I've been in places in the world where the life expectancy is in the 30s no I I mean one of the chips I went to Africa oh gosh this is about I think was about three years ago with a dear friend from our church who is 80 years old eight years old and strong and he'd been married for I think at that time it was 54 years or 55 years and so the elders of the church in Africa they had never seen a man who was eight years old before they had never seen a man who was 8 years old and strong they'd never seen the man that was 80 years old strong and married for 55 years to one woman that was as you know to one woman only and so there was such a great reverence for him that they would not speak until he spoke to them first when a meal was served all the food was put in front of him to distribute to all that were there out of this great sign of respect he decided not to come back with us he stayed there in Africa you know that that idea in the the world that we'd find ourselves living in the culture we find ourselves living and many people are very capable and and enjoying an extended lifespan in good health with strength and I praise God for that and all that to say what may have been perceived as young at one age today what we should say is okay today's the day I might not have as much sand at the top of the hourglasses I had at another time in my life but there is sand at the top of the hour guys so now I'm not gonna waste any more of that scent because I know it's gonna keep going to the bottom and I can't turn it over I don't get a redo but I've got what's left in there and I don't want to waste it to enjoy it now before you can't to experience in relationship with God and the love of God and the power of God and the comfort of God and the holiness of God enjoy life with God before it is too late is the third idea death is inevitable it says in over 6 remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed the Golden Bowl is broken the pitcher is shattered at the fountain or the wheel broken at the well then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the Spirit will return to God who gave I just again solid and just really poetic you know the the pitcher smashed at the fountain the wheel broken the well though Bowl broken these silver cord cut all these just wonderful waves of saying before you croak okay and that's the idea here but I says it more eloquently doesn't it yeah but he understands that death is inevitable but see this with me he says then at verse seven the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God in other words death is not the end it's the beginning now your spirit is either going to spend eternity in the very presence of God as we more fully understand the gospel if you've submitted your life to Christ or your spirit consciously awake alive tormented for eternity if you reject Christ but apart from from that notion what Solomon realizes is that without God everything is vanity and verse eight vanity of vanities says the preacher all is vanity this is how this letter started in the first chapter this how this letter ends the last it is the book ends that without God life is meaningless and we are all here and we can testify to that truth you know that there's a reason why I'm Wednesday night you've come here either you're curious what is the meaning of life or you've come to the conclusion that there is no meaning of life apart from God that yes I can enjoy God and enjoy my family and enjoy my marriage and enjoy my career and enjoy my possessions but God first amen and so this is a psalm in time now if if you knew that God exists and if you knew that he was your Creator that you are not here as a result of just random acts over billions of years but you were created by a God who loves you with purpose that God exists that he can be known and he is a rewarder of those who seek him how old would life be different for people if they knew God exists knew that God was the creator and knew God was a rewarder of those who seek Him how would life be different what would be different Samira Xander tell me out yes sir our thoughts absolutely our thoughts would be different what else yeah wouldn't have fear we that peace absolutely richer yeah that if we really knew this and really believed this what would flow out of this would be joy contentment happiness blessing a lot good what else yes we would be more cautious about how we act and how we treat others there's another profound thought wrong that is so awesome if we really knew this and we lived it we would be satisfied with God instead of going around looking for satisfaction and never being satisfied that's profound that's good who else somebody who hasn't a chance to share you yes we would have a sense of fulfillment awesome do you think that there would be a reverent sense of awe about God not that we'd be self righteous holy looking down our noses at peer but just a sense of reverence about the majesty of God the glory of God the greatness of God the holiness of God and without looking down to people we would love people because we would realize the only reason why this amazing God accepts us is because of Jesus guys we're nothing we we are sinners who do not deserve that kind of love and yet God has bestowed us love and His grace upon us because of Jesus and that we're gonna spend eternity with him and that you your worst day on this earth can't compare to eternity it's just a vapor it's just nothing and then it's gone in an eternity and if you're a child of God a follower of Christ you're going to be in this very presence no more heartache no more pain no more decay no more disease and we're fighting against all of the ravages of a sin fallen world trying to find satisfaction contentment and it's nowhere to be found on this earth apart from God and that's what Solomon saying he's a guy who's got so so much money he doesn't even know how much money yes he has 700 wives how do you do that man I I can't even imagine you know that's not even including the concubines I mean just crazy he's got more power more military strength more influence in the region he's described as the wisest man and he's searching sir and searching there's got to be someplace to find satisfaction but God doesn't exist and he comes to the conclusion nothing it's all vanity and the sooner that we come to that conclusion the better I mean just out of curiosity how many of you like people in your life who are smarter than you wiser than you to kind of show you the ropes about things that you don't know about amen oh my gosh and sometimes we're a little reluctant to ask for that kind of help I mean anybody who knows me knows that I am NOT the most tech-savvy person and so there's so many times where I I just have an issue and it's like I can't get around it I can't figure it out on the computer and then there's somebody 10 feet away from me if I just go down the hall and ask or just pick up the phone and ask I can get the answer and there's something inside of me that doesn't want to Humble myself like again didn't we just go through this last week weren't you paying attention you know that that's sort of feeling but there's something about getting wisdom from people input from people that are wiser than are smarter than me that I've had experiences and learn from except I I don't want to have to make the same mistake to discover the truth that's what Solomon's trying to tell us he goes you can keep searching all your life but this is the conclusion you're gonna come to it's better to come to it now amen so we move from the idea remember your Creator to the idea of Revere God the whole duty of man look with me begin that verse 9 and moreover because the preacher was wise she still taught the people knowledge yes he pondered and sought out and set in order proverbs the preacher sought to find acceptable words and what was written was upright words of truth the words of the wise are like goads the words the scholars are like well driven nails given by one Shepherd and further my son be admonished by these of making many books there is no end and much study is a wearisome to the flesh let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commands for this is man's all for God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil the first thought that he shares with us is learn truth and wisdom of God learn the truth about God learn the wisdom of God and as you're learning it share what you learn with others help others to avoid making the same mistakes help others to avoid the futility of living without God is the idea and at verse 9 it says that he taught the people knowledge in other words he learned this truth about God he learned these answers about God he learned the real wisdom of God and then he sought to top people says at verse 9 that he tried to effectively share its effective words that as we share our faith with people sometimes if you're trying to win somebody over with an argument that might not work and sometimes you might making an emotional appeal to someone and that might work I got a friend here at the church and she would just go up to people people she barely knew and she would just say to them I don't want to see you go to hell I'm sorry do I know you it's like you just seem like a very nice person and I don't want you to go to hell and she would lead people to supermarket to the Lord and I just I rejoice you know and figuring out how to be effective with whomever you're sharing with whenever and this is what Solomon is encouraging here and he said many proverbs so there were many ways that he communicated in a practical way the truth about God and so verse 10 it's the truth about God and these were provocative words as uses the term at verse 11 goes goes were sharp pointed sticks so if you wanted to get an ox to pull a plow through a field that needed to be broken up and the Ox didn't want to pull the paw you would take the sharpened stick and you would hit the Ox with the sharpened stick and that would provoke it and here's something saying is sometimes when the Word of God cuts to our heart it's like a sharpened stick provokes us we realize we're not doing the right thing it's like a well driven nail a well driven air we disguised a verse 11 nails in that culture is talking about a tent peg that keeps the structure secure and it's also something that goes deep and cuts through the hardness of the ground or the hardness of the heart and the Word of God does that and here Solomon is encouraging us he's encouraging us to choose now to remember our Creator this day and to live for him and then to be able to effectively communicate our experience to encourage others to do so and so he tells us here that it's given by one Shepherd at verse 11 jesus is the revelation of all wisdom in John chapter 1 at verse 1 in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and that verse 14 and the word became flesh and he dwelt among us full of grace and truth all the fullness of God's wisdom all the fullness of God's grace all the fullness of God's truth manifests to us in the person of Christ and so the revelation of God through Christ but then he says to us that studying and searching for meaning apart from God is wearying and incomplete and further my son be admonished by these of making many books there is no end and much study is wearisome to the flesh in other words you could read all the self-help books that you could get on Amazon you could read all the philosophy that you could imagine you could read all the holy books searching for the answer there must be some meaning to life somewhere within the pages of these books and then you gather all this information that you had gathered and you think ok now I'm going to communicate this information to people so I'm going to write a book and yet you get all this information and you realize that apart from God you know nothing and it's wearisome because you keep searching and searching and searching and think ok I figured out a philosophy I said I figured out a truth of life that'll work that'll really work don't worry be happy that's that's what it's all about don't worry be happy and but that doesn't line up with our experience because we do worry and there's plenty of crud in life that we can't be happy about and so it sounds nice it looks great on a fortune cookie looks and dandy on the tea bag but it doesn't work so you got to go back to the drawing board I need a new philosophy so he concludes this is what it's all about this is the essence of truth Revere God and obey a meaningful life flows from reverence for God that loves here the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his Commandments for this is man's all at verse 13 you see reverence for God is this sense of this great respect for God how how is reverence for God distinct from religion and I would say you can do religious observance you can go to church you you can engage in some form of Christian service there's all sorts of religious duty that you might observe I give of my money I go to church I serve but you don't really Revere God you do religion nothing you sing is a concept and yet reverence of God is a sense of this aw of God who spoke the universe into existence it's a sense that I don't have it all figured out I don't know everything about God but I want to know more because if this God is so amazing and he loves me and he knows my beginning from my end and his thoughts towards me are thoughts of peace not of evil to give me in a future and a hope I revere this God I respect this God I want to follow this God I want to serve this guy I want to love this God with all of my heart mind soul and strength and I'll know that I love him more when I start to love you the way God has called me to love you it's only a reverence for God produces that kind of love it's easy to love people who are just like us isn't it it's easy to love people that you like too hang out with when you start to look around the room and you realize with over a hundred people in this room there's over a hundred stories and every single person here knows pain every single person here has experienced heartache every single person here has been betrayed and frustrated and angry and heartbroken and lost and discouraged and distressed and every single one of us man is just trying to figure it out what's it all about God what is this life all about and to revere God and say okay I am going to follow you and I'm gonna learn to receive this great love that you have shown to me it and respond with love to you and I want to love other people because they're created in your image and you said Lord that when I love others not only what other people know that I love you but I'll know it and that's a beautiful thing to see to Revere God and to keep his Commandments do you said if you love me you will keep my Commandments in essence he says since you love me you'll keep my Commandments we don't keep my Commandments I'm not sure you love me this is the essence of it this is what we're looking for it is to learn of God so that we can experience reverence from that's what flows out of a relationship with God why because we're all going to stand before him one day verse 14 for God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil Solomon understands that ultimately we're standing before God he doesn't understand the fullness of New Testament theology and the gospel truth that those who are in Christ will be forgiven of all of their sin past present or future and when we stand before God we stand before him to receive the rewards that flow after we receive salvation and we choose to live for him but every one of us will give an account for our lives if you're in Christ not to judgment she said what do you do with the life that I gave you what you do with the opportunity that I gave you and every one of us is going to have to answer for that and it would be best for us to remember now our Creator don't miss one more day of living sold out for Christ both feet in amen because then we will find satisfaction then we'll find a meaningful life and got to be glorified because people sold out for Jesus are attractive not only to those who don't know the Lord but they're beautiful to the Lord must be beautiful tonight amen let's pray father we believe that this is the conclusion of the matter that's what it's all about this is the essence of truth to revere you to have a reverent love for you and to yield our life to submit to you to keep your commands because you've given those commands to bless us Lord not to be a burden when we respect those boundaries Lord our lives or content and tonight lord I thank you for a room full of people who love you and help us Lord to remember you now for we ask this in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: Calvary Nexus

Views: 21,842

Rating: 4.7874398 out of 5

Keywords: God, gospel, Jesus, Holy Spirit, faith, hope, love, Bible, scripture, spirit, life, yahweh, lord, savior, church, Ecclesiastes, Bruce Zachary, remember, revere, learn, share

Id: r6URqYuWQaI

Length: 43min 58sec (2638 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 21 2015