“Eat, drink and be merry!” Ecc.8:15
This is a dangerous sermon! It is dangerous in that it can easily be misunderstood. It’s not one you might expect to hear in a Baptist church. It deals with an aspect of life that too often is preached as negative and sinful, but as we’ll see today, can be positive and blessed when understood properly.
So, up front let me just say that I am not advocating Epicureanism, or Hedonism, the philosophy of a life spent seeking pleasure. Nor am I advocating a Prosperity gospel, where God wants you rich and healthy.
Within the historical context, the book of Ecclesiastes, which roughly translated means, The Preacher, was most probably written by King Solomon the wise. It was written later in his life as he looked back in an attempt to apply his wisdom to the human experience. As he does, he realizes that many of life’s situations just defy explanation and therefore we the repeated word throughout the book, “Vanity, Vanity” or “Meaningless, Meaningless.” It is a book of ‘difficult questions’ much like the ones we will be dealing with starting next week in our ‘Explore god” series. It’s a book that does not pull punches and the author is certainly NOT wearing ‘rose-colored glasses.’ Yet it is a balanced book which weighs both good and bad. While to starts out with an almost despondent and hopeless, “Meaningless,” it ends with the sage advice, “Reverence God and keep His commandments.”
One theme that is developed is the idea of “enjoying life while we can.” This theme actually is found throughout the Scriptures both Old and New. When God called Israel and lead them to the Promised Land He expected the people to enjoy the land and prosper. In Deut.8:6ff;
Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day...18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”
The call for Israel to live ‘large’ in the land and enjoy the land and all it produced, was a sign of God’s Covenant blessing. It was also to be a sign to the surrounding nations of God’s favor. In 1 Kgs.4:20-21 we read;
The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. 21 And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon’s subjects all his life.”
So enjoying life’s blessings becomes a testimony before people of God’s goodness to His people. This is what Solomon had in mind when he wrote in Ecc.8:15:
“So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat, drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.”
To ‘commend’ is a forceful word meaning to, “Praise.” The Message Bible has; “So, I’m all for just going ahead and having a good time- the best possible.” It reminds me of the words of the great, early church father, Augustine who said;
“Love God and do as you please.”
Now, neither the verse nor Augustine is calling us to wild, riotous or sinful living. It is a call to enjoy life BEFORE GOD and within the limits of His word and guidance. When you LOVE God you want to do what please Him for that pleases you. What we sometimes forget is that those ‘limits are wide.’ When Adam and Eve were in the garden, “WIDE” was the availability of good things. Only one thing was off limits, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So it is with us today. Wide are the good things we are free to experience in life. The only thing we are to avoid is sin. The world does not see it that way because it has become corrupt and has corrupted all of God’s good things. While we are to eat, drink and be merry, the world has twisted the meaning. To ‘eat’ becomes excess and gluttony; to ‘drink’ becomes excess and drunkenness; to be merry, becomes excess and immorality. That becomes their definition of “fun” in life. And when we don’t participate in their fun, we are labeled, ‘killjoys’ and ‘stick-in-the-muds.” The world ridiculed our spiritual forefathers, the Calvinist Puritans, as it now does Baptists, by mocking, “Their greatest fear was that somewhere, somehow, someone, was having fun.”
But Scripture deals with the world’s idea of ‘fun’ without God. In the parable of the Rich fool, Jesus warned;
“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
He proceeds to tell of the rich man who was greedy, who said;
“I’ll build bigger barns...and say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you prepared for yourself.”
So there is a ‘eat, drink and be merry’ apart from God which is self-centered, selfish and greedy. Two people can be at the same celebration, eat the same food, drink the same drink, yet one may be sinning in his, ‘eat,drink and be merry,’ while the other is blessed. The worldly person eats and gorges himself, drinks to get commode-hugging blitzed, and his merriment is trying to score with an inebriated gal. All that’s sin. The other, eats to be satisfied, drinks moderately and his merriment is in fellowship. All that is blessed.
So when Solomon counsels to, “enjoy life and eat, drink and be glad” it is in the full realization that what we have, whether much or little, comes from God and it is to be enjoyed with a spirit of gratitude. What does the Apostle Paul tell us in 1 Cor.10:31?
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
When we have the right focus about earthly pleasures, it compels us to not only enjoy the moment, but to praise the provider of that moment. That perspective makes all the difference in lifting the eating and drinking and merriment from sin to blessing, so that we enjoy both the gift and the Giver. Solomon writes in ch.2:24-25;
24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
Have you ever noticed how much eating goes on in the Bible? From eating the apple in the Garden, to King David and Solomon’s feasts, to parables about ‘preparing the fatted calf, all the way to wedding supper of the Lamb, people are eating. Our ‘daily bread’ should be received with joy and thanksgiving, whether much or little.
The same can be said for drink. I know some of you disagree with me, but I believe, when it comes to alcohol, the Bible teaches moderation not abstinence. While the Bible clearly denounces drunkenness and warns of the consequences, it also speaks of wine as a blessing. Ps. 104: 14-15 reads;
“He makes the grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate- bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread that sustains his heart.”
As one author recounts;
Throughout Christian history, alcohol was rarely a taboo as it is in some circles today. John Calvin had a stipend of 250 gallons of wine per year written into his church contract. (I have to check the fine print in my contract!) Martin Luther’s wife was a famed brewer of beer, which certainly won Martin’s heart. (As he was a famed drinker of beer!) And the Guinness family created their renowned Irish Stout as an act of worship to Jesus.”
One of the promises of the coming Kingdom is found in Isa. 25:6 where we read;
“On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine- the best of meats and the finest of wines.”
“Eat, drink and be glad (or merry)”
In the parable of the Prodigal son, near the end we read the father saying;
“Quick! Bring the best robe...put a ring on his finger...bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate...Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing...”
The fatted calf, Music and dancing - there was a party goin’ on!
In Deut.14:26 we read of Moses directing the people about their tithes:
Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.”
Food and drink and celebration are part of life, and when used correctly honors God who provides. BUT, and to ignore this BUT makes this sermon dangerous, such freedom demands responsibility and can easily become sin. One author cautions;
There’s a growing tendency, however, among some younger evangelicals to celebrate their freedom without discipline...Enjoying alcohol in moderation takes discipline, and many beer drinkers, I hate to say it, aren’t known for their discipline. A good glass of beer can be celebratory; it doesn’t belong in the hands of an undisciplined 16-year-old playing video games in his mom’s basement.”
If you are not a disciplined person then stay away from alcohol.
But to eat, drink and be merry, in a disciplined manner is a joyous part of living life and giving thanksgiving to God.
Jesus came, as he said in Jn.10:10;
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Jesus’ words are not limited to ‘eternal life,” in the sense of just endlessly added days. It includes life here and now because NOW is part of the ETERNAL.
D.A. Carson comments on this verse;
“Within the metaphorical world, life...to the full, suggest fat, contented, flourishing sheep, not terrorized by (thieves)...it means that the life Jesus’ true disciples enjoy is not (merely everlasting life), but life at it’s scarcely imagined best, life to be lived.”
Now that full life does not eliminate suffering or hard times. Just look at Paul’s life and what he endured. That’s where the prosperity gospel goes wrong. But neither does it mean we should avoid celebrating life. Understood this way, we have here the, CARPE DIEM, seize the day! Do not waste or be afraid of what God has provided. The old saying, “Stop and smell the roses” is true. It means to live each day for today. Jesus told us;
“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Enough trouble and enough blessing. We are called to be PRESENT in the moment. Too many people, even Christians, live for tomorrow. Trouble is you can NEVER experience tomorrow, for when it gets here it is today. Now it is wise, and the Bible calls us to plan for the future, but not to live there until it is here. The trouble is people live there, in the future, and miss out on the joys of the present. Remember the story John Ortberg told in his study, “If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat,” study many of you took. When his grandmother died and they were going through the house getting ready to sell her belongings, they came a cross a chest in the attic. When they opened it they discovered a beautiful, very expensive china set. His wife asked about it, but John had never seen it. When he asked his mother, she told him that Grandma collected that china set over the years and was waiting for that “special occasion’ to use it. That day never seemed to come, and the china was never used.
Don’t miss out living today by living in the future. Praise the enjoyment of life today. In 2015, Learn to SAVOR life as God intended.
* Use the good china.
Savor the beauty of a sunset or mountain vista.
Hold tightly that sleeping baby and listen to his gentle breathing.
Let the warm sun or breeze kiss your face.
Eat that chocolate slowly and the lasagna with joy.
Savor that sip of wine or that morning coffee.
take that vacation before it’s too late. Maybe, tomorrow won’t get here.
take time for friends. For Those who have faith in Christ, we know our final destination. We have reservations in glory. But friends and family make the journey interesting.
Savor life in this ‘garden’ which God has provided and which offers so much variety. Just avoid that one ‘tree’ called sin as you go. As we,
“Seek first the kingdom...”
Take the words of Solomon to heart. Ecc.9:7-9 in the Message Bible reads;
“Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yes- God takes pleasure in your pleasure! Dress festively every morning. Don’t skimp on colors or scarves. Relish life with the spouse you love each and every day of your precarious life. Each day is God’s gift.”
Unwrap it with joyful anticipation.
