Live Life With Joy Series

Live Life with Joy

Ecclesiastes 9:1-18

Rev. Brian Bill

October 26-27, 2024

A common question often used in an icebreaker is this, “What advice would you give to your younger self?” Here’s how some people answered that question.

1. You are perfect just the way you are.

2. Stop being lazy! Get up!

3. Take yourself seriously (but not too seriously).

4. Fake it till you make it. That’s the key to the rest of your life.

5. Don’t be a “cool” person. Be a likeable person. You want the cool people to like you. You also want the uncool people to like you.

6. Don’t try cantaloupe again when you get older. It’s still the same vegetable tasting fruit you don’t enjoy now.

7. Chips and salsa are more important than pumpkin spice, and I’m willing to lose friends over this.

8. Candy corn is gross because it tastes like stale icing and dried wood glue. Even when you’re older, it will still leave a waxy and oily feeling in your mouth.

The famous philosopher Ferris Bueller gave this timeless advice: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

As we come to the ninth chapter of Ecclesiastes, we’ll see how Solomon stops and looks around so he can do a deep dive. In the process, he discovered five more life lessons he could have written to his younger self. Here’s the main point he’s making: You are not prepared to live until you are prepared to die.

To fully embrace and appreciate life, we must confront our mortality and understand that life is finite, which can lead to a more meaningful and purposeful existence.

1. Life is inscrutable. In Solomon’s search for significance, he did a lot of observing and interpreting of events. We see this in Ecclesiastes 9:1: “But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him.” The phrase “laid to heart” is an emphatic statement, meaning Solomon poured his time and energy into “examining it all.” The word “examine” means, “to dig through and explore.” He concludes that nothing befalls the children of God that doesn’t first pass through the hands of God. We teach our children the song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” We need this reminder as we approach election day, which was our topic last weekend.

At the same time, he concludes there are things that “man does not know.” This is fleshed out some more in verse 2: “It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.” Whether someone is a sinner or a saint, morally righteous or unrighteous, a churchgoer or not, bad stuff happens. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:45: “For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Good things happen to the good and to the bad. After some citizens from Galilee were murdered, Jesus asked this question in Luke 13:2-3: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

When Hurricane Helene hit, it took the lives of believers and unbelievers. It destroyed property of avid churchgoers and church avoiders. But God continues to work His ways and His will for His glory for the sake of the gospel. Last week, I received a letter from the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove in Asheville, North Carolina. Not surprisingly, they have mobilized relief operations on their property by serving more that 1,000 Samaritan’s Purse volunteers daily, as well as housing and feeding North Carolina State Troopers. While the majority of their staff have been adversely affected by the storm, many are on site to welcome and assist these heroes. Speaking of heroes, six Edgewood servants had the privilege of partnering with Samaritan’s Purse when our team of 20 was providing relief.

It’s good for us to admit that life is often inscrutable. As we’ve been learning, God’s ways are often mysterious. Chuck Smith writes, “There are things I cannot understand and because there are things I cannot understand, I’ve chosen to just trust in the things that I do. God is good and He loves me. That is enough.”