It Is Good For You

From the Desk of Pastor Toby Powers

Truth Baptist Church

Hwy 78

Bremen, GA

It Is Good For You

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, 6:12

Intro: Many people today seem to believe themselves to have great knowledge as to what is good for you. Everybody else can tell you how to do the things in your life which seem to develop into such a conundrum to you. Others know how that you should eat, where you should work, and how to raise your children (they’ve done a miserable job with their children, but they know how to raise your kids!). Others seem with ease to be able to tell you what is good for your house, your furniture, your clothes, your car, and your pets. It seems sometimes that EVERYBODY is an EXPERT on EVERYTHING until they have to do ANYTHING! If you want to know how to lasso the moon, it seems, just ask a man who has never tried it and he will have a plethora of ideas! The problem is that it seems the so-called “experts” seem to change their story daily. One day it is good for you eat more meat, the next you should cut back. One day fat in your diet is bad, the next it is not harmful at all. One day Chevy has the best new truck, but before 2006 ever gets here the 2007 models will be introduced and all that will change. Just as soon as you get on the cutting edge of technology in your business, you will find yourself on the bleeding edge of financial instability. NO, MOST OF US REALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR US. Solomon was the wisest man of his time. He was more powerful than any man of his day. He was the richest man of his day, but when he examined all of his wealth, accomplishments, wisdom, and pleasures, he was still uncertain what was good for man (v.3). After scientifically observing all things done on the earth (under the sun), he was so frustrated by the search for that which is good for man that he said, “Who knoweth what is good for man in this life?” (6:12). He came to the conclusion in chapter 12:13-14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” I want to show you today some things that are good for you. It is good for you:

I. To Become a Disciplined Servant of Christ in your youth, Lamentations 3:27 “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” To “bear the yoke in his youth” makes reference to creating early habits, profitable habits, good habits that when created in youth and practiced throughout life become an abundant blessing and a fruitful field. You may seek to sow wild oats, but of them you will reap thorns that you must forever attempt to weed out of the garden of your life, but if you will with discipline serve God and sow good seed, you can reap a bountiful and blessed harvest in the years of life to come and eternity following. This is why Solomon said in Ecc 12:1, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” I would encourage you to be:

A. Anointed in Youth as David: I Samuel 16:12-13, Samuel anointed David to become king over Israel though he was but a boy and the “Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” He was twice more anointed (II Sam 2 by the men of Judah and II Sam 5 by all Israel). God would have never promoted him had he not been anointed. You do not have to be an old man to be anointed, but you must be a disciplined servant of Christ.

B. Available in Youth as Jeremiah: Jer 1:5-9, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.” Jeremiah understood his limited experience might be frowned upon by man, but he made himself available to God anyway, and God touched him. You can serve God even in your youth in this wicked and untoward generation, if you will but make yourself available to God.