What Matters Most Sermon Iv: Making The Most Of Our Time On Earth Series

MAKING THE MOST OF THE TIME GOD HAS GIVEN US TO ENJOY THE GOOD LIFE ON EARTH

One of my embarrassing moments while doing Church work occurred in the “setting” room of a farm house not far from the church. Our annual revival was in progress; we had been asked to visit an old guy who seldom darkened the door of the church, although his wife was right regular.

So, one evening, the visiting evangelist went with me to make a house call; we arrived right after the ole farmer finished his daily routine in the field of hard work. After greeting one another and taking our seats in the family room, my spiel began as usual by telling the guy in coveralls why we were there, then introducing our guest preacher to him.

When our evangelist asked the ole guy if he had any questions, the farmer said he had just one: “What do you do for a living?”

This farmer worked from sunup to sundown by the sweat of his brow, and simply could not fathom earning wages by any method other than tilling the soil - which is as biblical as it can be!

Hard work! Yet, so is housekeeping … bookkeeping … teaching … nursing … trucking … carpentry … preaching . . . any other job or profession “under the sun”. As you review your life, what comes to mind when someone asks you, “What did you do for a living?”

As he continued his search for meaning in life, Solomon thought about all the work he had done. He wondered if, for example, workaholics could gain more satisfaction from doing more work than necessary.

The Bible is clear that work is a good thing. God actually gave to the first of our kind on this earth tasks to be done - and it’s worth noting that these assignments were handed out before the first of our kind sinned. So, no one can honestly claim that work is a curse. Solomon wanted to know if the work we do is the real reason why we are here --- Ecclesiastes 2:18—23 . . .

The thought occurs to me that, from Solomon’s perspective, work today is similar to work in his day in that there was (is) an obsession with work as a means to the worry-free life of being “at ease in Zion”. Rather than enjoy life as they go about daily routines, some folks do more and more that takes them away from family and church life – in an all-out effort to lay up treasures on earth for living the good life in the future. Thus . . .

Workaholics always strive for something greater! And, wouldn’t you know it, about the time we reach that “golden strand” - get up and go gets up and goes . . . we get our exercise going to and from doctors’ offices . . . reality sets in: we can’t take it with us . . . about all we have left to feel good about (materially) is what we possess to pass on to our survivors - some of whom, like Solomon, we may not trust to take good care of, let alone use wisely, that which they will inherit.

Solomon had a good reason to feel the despair of distrusting his own son Rehoboam inasmuch as Solomon’s bent toward frivolity - and disloyalty to God - had rubbed off on his Rehoboam, whereas Jeroboam probably had his mother’s genes.

Sure enough, following Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam disowned his father’s legacy, disavowed his wishes, disobeyed God’s command, - thus, causing disruption and disunity which led to division of the kingdom into factions.

Solomon’s sins haunted him as he neared the end of his life - to the extent that he was on the verge of an emotional collapse – his days were spent grieving and his nights were spent with his mind ruminating like a cow chewing its cud – which prompted him to protest: “I hate this” . . . “I do not want to deal with this” . . . “I am miserable (and want everyone else to feel my pain . . . misery)! Well . . .

Deal with his miserable feelings he must, and he did - Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 . . .

Talk about turning a negative into a positive! Despite his feelings of futility, Solomon’s head got in touch with his heart so that, as a man of wisdom from God, he came full circle to acknowledge:

“There is a time for everything under heaven” (3:1) . . . Our time on this earth is limited, so we must make the most of the time God has given us.

Constrained by time, it is imperative that we remember who we really are – eternal beings created in the image, the likeness of God, to enjoy fellowship with God and one another. “He put eternity into their hearts”!