[Ecclesiastes] Do What You Can, While You Can | Daniel Yan

thank you thank you arthur well good afternoon church good afternoon to all our friends who are joining us online we're now into number 11 of our series on ecclesiastes is life worth living and today we're in for a very fun and happy topic it is on the topic of death well there are not many passages in the bible that actually talks about how to live with death talks about life and death but not a lot about how you live with death and today's passage is one of the very few in the bible so what i hope to do today is that we'll go on a journey together to explore god's word and try to find god's voice that is speaking to all of us today that will help us at the end of the day to live more wisely with the time that we have now is that cool let me start with a story there were three men who died on the same day and went up to heaven and when they went up to heaven they were met with the angel at the gates of heaven and the angel asked them hey guys welcome um i can see your funerals happening on earth right now and you guys are all surrounded by your loved ones so what do you hope your loved ones will be saying about you right now so he turned to the first man and they say what do you think and the first man answered the angel well i hope that they would say that i was a good doctor and i cared for my patients i had integrity in the way i dealt with all my patients and i always looked to the best interest the angel said very good how about you sir he turned to the second man and the second man turned to the angel and replied well i hope that they would say that i was a good pastor who loved god passionately and love people practically and then the angels say oh that's very good sounds very familiar but that's very good and then he turned to the third guy who was a young man and a young man said i have to think about it i got okay what i really hope for them to be saying right now about me is i think he's moving think about that for a little bit i find that in general there are three attitudes that people have towards the topic of death the first one is denial it's kind of like the young man i'm not dead i'm not dead i don't want to die it's almost like if we don't think about it if we don't talk about it somehow it would just go away somehow if we don't talk about it we can just avoid the topic we don't have to face up with it and and i i have i have a lot of that kind of experiences in in my chinese culture especially during chinese new year right if you say the word die or death someone is going to kill you you're not supposed to say that word during chinese new year it's almost like yeah you know it's there but it doesn't really exist and then the second attitude that people have towards death is to be dismissive and in that in that attitude you recognize that death is there but you say to yourself i'm not afraid of death i'm not afraid of dying come what may i'm not afraid i'm gonna live life like a shooting star i'm gonna live to the best of my abilities and then i will just go out like a fizzle doesn't matter i'm gonna go for it everything that i want to do i'm gonna make that happen living without the consequences of that but without the understanding that death is gonna happen and the third attitude is this to be discerning and to be discerning means having an attitude where we recognize that death is going to happen but we live with full consciousness of that and making life significant and as fruitful and as rich as we can before we go so this is what the teacher is looking at today how can we discern how to live with death and today he's going to give us some very important nuggets of wisdom so let's turn into ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 1 to 10. so i reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in god's hands but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them all share a common destiny the righteous and the wicked the good and the bad the clean and the unclean those who offer sacrifices and those who do not as it is with the good sow with the sinful as it is with those who take oaths so with those who are afraid to take them this is the evil in everything that happens under the sun the same destiny overtakes all the hearts of people moreover are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live and afterward they join the dead anyone who is among the living has hope even a live dog is better off than a dead lion for the living know that they will die but the dead know nothing they have no further reward and even their name is forgotten their love their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun go eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with joyful heart for god has already approved what you do always be clothed in white and always anoint your head with oil enjoy life with your wife whom you love all the days of this meaningless life that god has given you under the sun all your meaningless days for this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun and whatever your hand finds to do do with all your might for in the realm of the dead where you're going that is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom let's bow our heads in prayer heavenly father today we're going to approach a topic that could be very raw and very real for some of us and so we come to you loving god with hearts of expectancy but also to tread carefully with genteness but with confidence that what you say in your word is true in jesus name we pray and all god's people say amen so ecclesiastes chapter 9 begins with this phrase so i reflected on all this and i concluded what is the reflecting on all this mean up till now up to chapter nine he the teacher has taught about many things and he thought taught about all the different obstacles in life wealth wisdom toil pleasure he talked about many different things and now he's gonna face to face come face to face with the biggest obstacle of life itself and that is death so he's bringing all his thoughts together and bringing distilling it into the essence of what he thinks living could be and here he discerns three observations about life and death and we're going to quickly turn to them today so number one he discerns the first observation that god is in control he says in verse 1 the righteous and the the righteous and the wise and what they do are in god's hands but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them so this is a teacher's observation whether you're good or bad whether you are wise or not whether you are righteous or not you don't know two things about what's going to happen to you tomorrow isn't that true we don't know if happy things are going to happen tomorrow we don't know if something is going to happen that is going to make us really sad we don't know something is going to happen that will make us really stressed or really anxious some of us we don't even know what we're going to have for breakfast tomorrow haven't thought about it and we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow he says not even love or hate you don't know what awaits you but even though life is uncertain for the teacher he says this with absolute confidence we are in god's hands brothers and sisters we are in god's hands what does that mean it means we are sheltered it means that we are safe it means that we are secure because when you go through life and you don't know what's going to happen to you the safest pair of hands is in the hands of the almighty god if you want to put your hand on something to feel secure you want to put your hands in the hands of god because you are going to be in god's hands says the teacher and jesus says this in john 10 my sheep listen to my voice i know them and they follow me i give them eternal life they will never die jesus is talking about spiritual death death forever you may die on earth but you will never die the death that's gonna wipe you out forever you're gonna be with him he says they will never die and no one will snatch them from my hand so as christians we have this assurance that no matter what happens in your life no matter what comes to you no matter what happens to you you're always going to be in the hands of jesus because no one can snatch us from the hands of jesus amen and so whatever happens to us in that sense is never out of god's control because god knows all things he's never taken by surprise in what happens to us he knows and he's always there we are in god's hands god is in control i wrote this in my notes and maybe you might want to write this on your notes the future is my friend when jesus is my lord the future is my friend when jesus is my lord i don't have to be afraid i don't have to be worried i don't have to see the future as my enemy but my friend when jesus is my lord so this is the first observation that the teacher makes god is in control and then he very quickly moves on to the second observation and that is death is inevitable he says in verse 2 3 all share a common destiny the righteous and the wicked the good and the bad the clean and the unclean those who offer sacrifices and those who don't as it is with a good so it is with a sinful as it is with those who take oaths so with those who are afraid to take oaths this is the evil in everything that happens under the sun the same destiny overtakes all he's talking about death the same fate will ultimately happen to every single one of us and it doesn't matter if you're righteous or not it doesn't matter if you're clean or you're unclean it doesn't matter if you're good or you're bad it doesn't matter even if you're religious if you're a christian or if you believe in some other religion or if you don't believe in god we're all gonna have to go it doesn't matter if you're watching online or if you're watching here in willaton are you joining us here in williston we are all gonna die benjamin franklin one of the ex-u.s presidents was passed on a long time ago he said this in this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes i and i say although taxes some can avoid death we cannot avoid because death is no respecter of persons the millionaire in in the rich suburb he's gonna go he's gonna die the homeless in the in the city they're gonna die the ceos they're gonna die the janitors they're gonna die the good people they're gonna die oh the bad people they're gonna die the old people they're gonna die and the young people sometimes are going to die too on that very happy note look around you turn to the people around you and give them a nice friendly wave show them that you treasure them in about 100 years from now none of us are gonna be in this auditorium not because fcc will close down but because we're not gonna be here in a hundred years it's very solemn but it is also very sobering for us to remember that death is inevitable but we're not gonna end here i promise you and even though we can't be sure of when we're gonna die how we're gonna die or who we will be around when we die the teacher reminds us he started off with this then he says that we are in god's hands and it's really important for us to enter into that we are all in god's hands even if you don't know what's going to happen to you but the bible actually says two things about death that you can be sure of two things that you can be sure of one is the fact that we will die which is what it's saying here and the second one is where we go after we die the big question where do we go after we die the bible says in first peter because jesus was raised from the dead and we sang it so many times today didn't we that jesus was raised from the dead but because he was raised from the dead we've been given a brand new life come on somebody say amen and then we have everything to live for including a future in heaven a future in heaven and the future starts now you don't have to wait god's life begins even now but you have a future in heaven god is keeping careful watch over us and the future the day is coming when you have it all life healed and whole so the bible tells us that as christians we are headed to be with god in heaven and that's something that we can be sure of i heard a story about a very old tombstone in an american cemetery in the state of indiana and on this very old tombstone were written the words of the person who or rather the person have wanted it to be written on the tombstone and the word says this pause stranger when you pass me by as i am now as you are now so once was i as i am now so you will be so prepare for death and follow me and some joker of a passerby decided to walk past the cemetery and saw that tombstone and so he took the liberty to take a stone and describe this decided to inscribe his own response to the bottom of the tombstone and this is what he wrote to follow you i am not content until i know which way you went and isn't that true brothers and sisters should but today we don't have to be worried about which way we're going we don't have to be worried or fearful or stressed or concerned because we know we're following jesus we know where jesus went and we will follow him we know who we are following and that's really really important for us to remember when it comes to the topic of death your future is secure i wrote this in my notes and maybe you want to write it down too my future is to be in heaven with jesus and maybe some of us need to remind ourselves in this moment my future is to be in heaven with jesus when you put your trust in jesus you will follow him there that's the second thing that i want to leave us with and the third observation that the teacher says so god is in control death is inevitable and then he goes on to look at life and he says but life is invaluable he says in verse 4 anyone who is among the living has hope even a life dog is better off than a dead lion what is the teacher's response to the certainty of death he doesn't give up you realize never in ecclesiastes that he say does he say life is therefore not worth living and we should all just die in the face of certain death he goes on to say this you still have hope you still have a chance you're still breathing and because you're still alive that is better than nothing you still have hope and you still have a chance and i want to speak to some of us today particularly whether you're online or whether you're here in williton and maybe you're struggling with the question of is my life worth living and maybe some of us have been asking that question and that has become like a record that's been playing in your head because you're you're entering into some very dark places in life and you're feeling like there is nothing left for you anymore is life worth living am i better off dead than alive is there anything worth living for for me do i have hope today the word of the lord says anyone who is among the living has hope you still have a hope you still have a chance you're still alive and that is better than nothing the teacher says this in a proverb he says even a life dog is better off than a dead lion and i know in our generation in this era in in perth and in many cities our dogs are the cutest things in our family isn't it so we name our dogs all kind of cute names we named them rex we named them pewee we named them teddy we named them wiggles we named them all kinds of cute little names and when they come to us oh you're so cute so cute we want to pet all the dogs even if they don't belong to us we just want to pet them right it's just human instincts but in that time of ecclesiastes dogs were actually considered the one of the lowest and the most filthiest of animals but in contrast the lion he's a noble kingly animal and the teacher says even the lowest living life form has more value than a deadline has more hope it's more good it's better has more value so today we must remember that life is always better what is the teacher telling us it is always better to be alive than to be dead why let's look further down he says this for the living know that they will die but the dead know nothing they have no further reward even their name is forgotten their love their hate their jealousy have all long since vanished never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun so what is he saying the dead knows nothing gains nothing feels nothing remembers nothing but the living those who are alive they know something even if that knowledge is the knowledge that they're gonna die one day that makes life more like that makes life better and more worth living than being dead why is it so because when we know that we are gonna die with the knowledge that we're gonna die one day because of that we can change we can adjust we can try again we can choose how to live a wiser and better so as long as you're alive friends there's still a chance you can still have hope you can adjust you can change you can try again you can choose how to live wiser and better when i was 20 years old i decided to take my driving lessons back in singapore so i wasn't a very good driver nor was i a very good student so i actually failed my first test and this is the steering wheel of the car that crashed no not really not really and in singapore i had to engage a private driving instructor and back in the day they would teach you with a stick that sometimes they will press on your foot to help you step on the accelerator and sometimes that stick will also be used to punish you if you do something wrong right so that's what happened to me i was driving for my first few lessons i was learning to drive i was really nervous as every 20 year old who's driving for the first time would be and i started off driving and within a few minutes my driving instructor took the stick and hit me i was like huh huh and then he looked at me and said check your mirror oh oh oh okay okay and a few minutes after huh check your mirror and then i begin to understand that okay so when you drive you don't just look in front you also have to look at the mirrors and one of the things that my driving instructor taught me was if you want to drive well or if you want to pass by the way he would say is if you want to drive well and if you want to drive you want to pass your driving test you have to look forward and you also have to look backward so that's the way he told me and i realized that that lesson in driving also applies to life sometimes knowing that we will die and reminding ourselves that we are not we won't live forever it's kind of like looking in the rear view mirror while you're driving every once in a while because what's gonna happen is it when you drive and if you don't like look at your rear view mirror you're looking in front of you and you're driving all the time you have no clue what is going on around you you're not driving wisely but at the same time if you're too caught up in your rear view mirror you're going to end up driving like that and nobody drives like that you're going to crash into something within a matter of time and in the same way when we live when we are moving ahead in life there might be many things that are worth chasing after the new gadget a new home a new car that dream career that dream girl you want to get the marriage you want to have all things good in life and we're chasing after all these things it's really good that while we're chasing after all these things that we sometimes take a step back and look behind and say oh yeah i'm going to go one day and i better treasure what i have and to live wisely and in the same way when we live life don't look at the rear view mirror all the time don't get paralyzed by fear don't get paralyzed by death even though death is going to come you don't have to necessarily look at it all the time because if you keep looking at the rearview mirror it's going to be a matter of time before you knock into something so what i've learned is that we live well looking forward but we live wisely looking backward and that's what the teacher is saying here he's saying living with death in view helps us to live wisely and that's why the psalmist praised this in psalm 90 verse 12 he says this teach us to number our days teach me that my days are numbered lord so that i may gain a heart of wisdom have you ever wondered why funerals are so much more solemn but sobering than weddings and birthdays it's because sometimes we run so hard and so fast in life that something happens to somebody and we're entering into their funeral and we are sitting down and we are forced to stop and think about what's really important in life about what's really important to the people around me how can i treasure every breath and every moment that i have rather than chasing dreams after dreams after dreams after dreams so funerals teach us to contemplate about life and to treasure what is truly important to us and to make the most of every breath that we have so friends knowing this today how are we going to live wisely before we die the teacher tells us how in verse 7-9 he says this go eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart for god has already approved what you do always be clothed in white and anoint your head with oil enjoy life with your wife whom you love all the days of this meaningless life now meaningless is not that is completely meaningless remember it's in the context of like a vapor like a mist like steam it comes and it goes meaning it is short it comes and it goes god has given us that under the sun all our vapor-like days so after discerning three observations about life and death the teacher arrives at one conclusion and his conclusion is this enjoy life now yolo you only live once seize the day carpe diem make hay while the sun shines stop and smell the roses do what you can while you can so how do we do so let's start with the first word the teacher begins with the word go and this word go in the hebrew has the connotation of a command is an instruction he says go you see up till this point there are a few times that the teacher actually told us how to enjoy life but the word that we learn or the word that we read in the bible is the word command and not com command command and not command command and not command to command means i suggest it will be really good if you can do this to command means you have to do this you must do this the teacher is saying here in the face of death this is what you have to do this is what you got to do and he tells us three things he says number one enjoy your meals he says eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart so many of us are doing this already i'm so proud of us for god has already approved what you do is not a problem for the most of us the teacher is commanding us to enjoy the simple pleasures of life so after this when we say amen and goodbye and you're done with the fellowship you're all gonna go out for your lunch isn't it maybe some of us are already thinking about what to have lunch and whatever you're thinking whatever you're having remember take your time to enjoy it don't rush through the meal and say i gotta do something else now rush through my meal in order to do something else but enjoy your meal while you can because god has already given that meal to you that's why we say thank you jesus for the food so eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart just make sure that you when you drink wine you're not underage so enjoy your food number one enjoy your meals and the second thing the teacher says is this enjoy every moment he says always be clothed in white and always anoint your head with oil now notice the two always always and always literally what this means what this translate is at all times every moment so what is the teacher telling us to do in every moment he says to be clothed in white and to anoint your head with all now this doesn't mean that we should all now start to change our wardrobe into white clothes okay then i'll be in trouble because all my clothes most of my clothes are actually black and so is the worship team when you see them come up later he's not asking us to change your clothes or to go shopping but if you so will want to go shopping go ahead okay but you don't have to change your clothes to white what it means is when you wear white it is a it's a is a is a moment to celebrate because when the opposite idea is when you wear sackcloth and ashes you are in a moment of mourning you are in a moment of sadness but when you wear white you're in a moment of joy you're in a moment of celebration so he says always clothe yourself with white and then he says anoint your head with oil now once again he's not asking us to start putting olive oil on our hair okay my youth pastor used to do that a lot and he he will always recommend me he says olive oil will help your hair grow hasn't worked for me yet he's not asking us to put olive oil on our heads and i can see from here just looking around some of us don't need that extra shine you already have that shine on your head in the context of the old testament to anoint your head with oil has this symbolic of joy and celebration remember king david when he wrote psalm 23 and then verse 5 where he says you prepare for me a table before my enemies in the presence of my enemies he's telling god and you anoint my head with oil so it is a banquet it is a celebration and that's the reason that's the that's the that's the reason for putting on the oil on the head so what is the teacher saying here take time to celebrate life in every little moment of it so celebrate your special days thanksgiving is coming up so celebrate thanksgiving celebrate your birthdays celebrate your wedding anniversaries celebrate all the little things that happen in your life celebrate christmas whatever that you can celebrate that is worth celebrating go ahead and do it and it also means go on holidays plan your holidays if you cannot go on a holiday now stop planning for it take a trip down south right go for a staycation if you can go for a holiday and enjoy that moment with your loved ones while you can make time to hang out after this don't just run away stay in the foyer and then get time to fellowship and to speak with one another to catch up hang out with your connect group and do life together and if you don't have a connect group after the service you can head on to the left side where the connect lounge is and we would love to help you to get connected so you can find a community of your own so enjoy every moment first thing is to enjoy your meal second thing is to enjoy every moment and the third one is this enjoy your marriage he says this enjoy life with your wife whom you love all the days of this vapor light remember missed like life that god has given you under the sun all your vapor-like days now the word enjoy in the hebrew is the word which literally means to see so that the teacher is saying see life with your wife with your spouse whom you love it is in the context seeing is in the context of exploring and experiencing all that life has to offer so for example if i say i'm taking a trip down south to albany and you ask well what are you going to do in albany and i'll say well i'm going there to see the gap i'm going there to see the natural bridge i'm going there to see the people and how they live and to enjoy the food there when you are seeing when you are something you are experiencing the whole measure of what it has to offer so when he says see life with your wife with your spouse he's challenging us to enjoy life with his ups and downs and all that life has to offer with our wife with our husbands and how many of us who are married know that life is not all up up up up up marriage is not up up up up marriage is up and down sometimes up up sometimes down down sometimes up down up down he wants us to see through all the ups and downs with our spouses without wipes so invest in your marriages put time into it make time for dates if you haven't had one start planning it now take out your phones and start making a booking reservation for a restaurant i preached the same sermon in the morning service and they have they have already started doing it so you're running out of reservation spots do it quick romance one another buy something for one another that you don't have to wait till christmas to buy a christmas gift do you boyfriends buy a flower for your girlfriends girlfriends buy a lv bag for your boyfriends equal exchange so enjoy each other everybody say enjoy everybody say enjoy and not endure okay endure no no enjoy your marriage pastor benny once told of a story about a mature couple um who is slightly older in age more aged and then they were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary okay this is not the story of pastor manny or or cecilia they're not that old but it's a story about a mature couple who just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and so they were sitting at their porch after all the guests had left and the husband was looking at the wife and he said darling after 50 years of marriage i have found you tried and true and the wife turned back to the to the man and said ha you see she was hard of hearing and the husband turned back to the wife and said i said after 50 years i found you tried and true and the wife said yes me too after 50 years i am tired of you too i love this story and i think there's many things to learn about this story not the tired of you part but the fact that they've been married for 50 years and me and vanessa my wife we aspire to be married for 40 years 50 years hopefully even the 60 years if god be willing but god wants us to enjoy all our marriages all the days of our lives till death do us part that's what it means so friends enjoy your meals enjoy every moment enjoy your marriage in other words enjoy life now and then the teacher goes on to say this in verse 10 whatever your hand finds to do do it with all your might for in the realm of the dead where you're going there's neither working no planning no knowledge no wisdom so what is the point that the teacher is bringing across here he's saying do what you can while you can so if you want to appreciate someone do it now if you need to say sorry do it now if you need to forgive someone do it now if you want to propose to your girlfriend do it now nobody's boyfriend here no pressure if you want to start a business do it now if you want to give do it now if you need to share christ or the gospel with someone do it now but most of all if you need to receive jesus in your life do it now because there's no moment like the present do what you can while you can make the most of every moment that you have and in this moment the best decision that you can make that you and i can make is to choose to live with and to live for jesus the teacher has taught us something really important today do what you can while you can enjoy life now but in the new testament jesus teaches us something even more important john 10 verse 10 jesus says this i have come that they may have life not just have life but they may have it to the full not just an ordinary life but a full life jesus how many of us know that jesus is not talking about the earthly life he's talking about the eternal life so when you have jesus because of jesus you don't just get to enjoy life you get to enjoy a full life because of jesus we don't just get to enjoy life now we get to enjoy life forever more because of jesus we don't just get to enjoy this earthly life but we get to enjoy eternal life amen and that's not where jesus stops he goes on to say in verse in chapter 11 he says i am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me will live even though they die on earth but everyone who lives and believes in me will never die and then he asked the question do you believe this do you believe this church do you believe this if you believe this say yes if you believe this say i do if you believe to say amen come on somebody say amen church because we believe in jesus because we believe in what he says those who live and believe in him will not die you can have the 100 confidence and assurance where you're going what is going to happen to you that you're going to be in heaven with god you can take that to the bank you can bring it with you to heaven that's what jesus is telling us and death for us then is not a full stop but a comma death is not a termination but a transition into eternal life death is not the end but the beginning of new life with jesus christ death is not our destiny but our doorway into the very presence of a loving god that is what death means for those of us who believe in jesus and so that on that day when we finally cross through that doorway [Music] we can stand with the apostle paul in his declaration in first corinthians chapter 15 he says this death has been swallowed up in victory o death where is your victory o death where is your sting but thanks be to god he gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ do you believe this church if you believe it why don't you stand with us and let's just get into a time of worship into a time of celebration into a time of believing and affirming what god has done in our lives

Channel: Faith Community Church Perth

Views: 838

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: mc4-ITDRopo

Length: 38min 43sec (2323 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 24 2020