Life in the Fast Lane
Priorities: Turning Around When We Miss Our Exit
Ecclesiastes 12:1-14
Woodlawn Baptist Church
December 26, 2004
Introduction
“Are you a hedgehog or a fox?
“In his famous essay “The Hedgehog and the Fox,” Isaiah Berlin divided the world into hedgehogs and foxes, based upon an ancient Greek parable: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” The fox is a cunning creature, able to devise a myriad of complex strategies for sneak attacks upon the hedgehog. Day in and day out, the fox circles around the hedgehog’s den, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Fast, sleek, beautiful, fleet of foot, and crafty – the fox looks like the sure winner. The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a dowdier creature, looking like a genetic mix-up between a porcupine and a small armadillo. He waddles along, going about his simple day, searching for lunch and taking care of his home.
“The fox waits in cunning silence at the juncture in the trail. The hedgehog, minding his own business, wanders right into the path of the fox. “Aha, I’ve got you now!” thinks the fox. He leaps out, bounding across the ground, lightning fast. The little hedgehog, sensing danger, looks up and thinks, “Here we go again. Will he ever learn?” Rolling up into a perfect little ball, the hedgehog becomes a sphere of sharp spikes, pointing outward in all directions. The fox, bounding toward his prey, sees the hedgehog defense and calls off the attack. Retreating back to the forest, the fox begins to calculate a new line of attack. Each day, some version of this battle between the hedgehog and fox takes place, and despite the greater cunning of the fox, the hedgehog always wins.”
So why did he divide all the world into hedgehogs and foxes?
“Foxes pursue many ends at the same time and see the world in all its complexity. They are “scattered or diffused, moving on many levels,” …never integrating their thinking into one overall concept or unifying vision. Hedgehogs, on the other hand, simplify a complex world into a single organizing idea, a basic principle or concept that unifies and guides everything. It doesn’t matter how complex the world, a hedgehog reduces all challenges and dilemmas to simple…almost simplistic – hedgehog ideas.”
So which are you? A hedgehog or a fox? Today as we talk about priorities, think with me for a moment about the multitude of choices you have before you each day concerning how you will spend your life. Life is a journey, a trip down the freeway of life, and last week I told you that your one purpose in life is to glorify God through the delight you take in Him. Your purpose in life is to glorify God by enjoying Him. But as you travel on, you are confronted with a multitude of choices, exits if you will, vying for your time and attention, and if you are not careful, you will take the wrong one and end up somewhere you never intended to be.
Solomon – A Fox
Solomon is a classic example of this. Solomon was a gifted man with many talents and interests. Chapter 1:13 tells us that he had a desire to understand the complexities of our world. In his search for satisfaction, chapter 2:1 tells us that he tried all sorts of pleasures and entertainment. Verse 3 says he tried wine. Verse 4 talks about his building campaigns: he built houses, vineyards, gardens, orchards, lakes and irrigation systems. Verse 7 tells of his vast acquisitions, of the slaves, the cattle, the gold and silver and various entertainers. He tried collecting things, and perhaps the most telling verse is 2:10, where he said,
“Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.”
Here is a man who early on in his journey took his eyes off his purpose and instead took a wrong exit. Solomon enjoyed more than you and I will ever know in this life, and while most of the world is chasing after it with blind devotion, Solomon got to the end of it all and said, “It didn’t satisfy me! It wasn’t worth the time; it wasn’t worth the effort; it wasn’t worth what it cost me. It didn’t gain me a thing!”
Solomon didn’t waste his life because he didn’t know his purpose – he wasted his life because he took a wrong exit, got sidetracked and spent his life pursuing all the wrong priorities. Watch how he states all this in chapter 12.
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; while the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows shall be darkened, and the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinders is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; year, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. And further, by these my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. 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.”
What does all that mean? Notice some of the key elements in the chapter. We are told to remember our Creator when? Now! Today – not tomorrow, not next week, not after the New Year, but now! Next, the title Solomon chooses to use for God is significant. He could have said, “Remember now your Lord; or God; or Master,” but he chose to say Creator. To say that God is your Creator implies that He owns you. He made you, and you answer to Him. That’s why at the end of the chapter He judges us. He can because He made us and we belong to Him.
Now, the majority of the chapter is consumed with Solomon’s plea for us to remember our Creator in the days of our youth. The first couple of verses talk about the seasons of life – spring and fall, a time when there is sunshine and clear skies, and a time when there are clouds and darkness. In verse 3, notice how Solomon compares our bodies to a house.
• The keepers of the house shall tremble – your hands begin to tremble in old age
• The strong men are your legs as they begin to bow and weaken
• The grinders – your teeth – cease because they are few
• Those that look out of the windows are your eyes – they dim with old age
• The doors shall be shut in the streets – our lips, our speech begins to slow and even slur
• The sound of the grinders is low – we are unable to eat and speak properly
• He shall rise up at the voice of the bird – we become unable to sleep soundly
• The daughters of music shall be brought low – our hearing begins to fail
• They shall be afraid of that which is high – we are not as agile as we used to be
• Fears shall be in the way – we grow much more careful about how we get around
• The almond tree shall flourish – white hair
• The grasshopper shall be a burden – the slightest little things are burdensome
• Desire shall fail – our desires for food, physical activity, sex, and others diminish
Why does all this happen? Because we are headed to our long home – our eternal destiny, heaven or hell, and when it happens we will be mourned in death, when the silver cord is broken, when all of life comes to an end and the spirit is separated from the body. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
Now you ought to get the point. We could spend this morning talking about what our priorities ought to be, but frankly I believe you already know. You know you need to nurture your relationship with God through Jesus Christ. You know you need to spend time with Him in prayer and in the study and reading of His Word. You know that your families are more important than your hobbies, than your jobs, and more important than any other thing on this earth. You know that your church ought to hold a high place in your heart, that you ought to support it, that you ought to assemble with it, pray for it, serve in it, fight for it, encourage others to attend it, and be faithful to it. You know all these things and more.
We’re not trying to identify what your priorities ought to be this morning, we’re talking about what to do when we get off track, when we get turned around because we took the wrong exits, how to respond to the Lord this morning when He says to you that you’ve made your life about the wrong things lately, and now it is time to make it right. What do you do? And how do you hold your course?
Repentance
The answer to the first question is easy – you stop, and you turn around. In theological terms we call it repentance. Repentance isn’t feeling guilty or sorry for your sins. I can feel guilty all the way to an affair and never turn around. You can feel guilty when you’re drunk and never quit drinking. You can feel guilty doing a lot of things, but you cannot do them if you have repented. If you have repented, been genuinely broken over that thing – then you have been stopped dead in your tracks. You see that thing for what it is, and rather than going on to it, you turn from it to walk in a new direction. That’s repentance, and I daresay that it is absent from most of our lives. Most of what we call repentance really isn’t, because far too many of us haven’t really been experiencing the changed lives that ought to accompany our salvation.
You might feel bad about how you feel toward that man or woman, but have you really repented of it? We’re nearing New Year’s, and this is exactly why most resolutions never work – because they are simply decisions we have made – good decisions – but decisions born of the flesh and will – not ought of genuine brokenness and godly sorrow and repentance. So this morning if you know your priorities aren’t what they ought to be – if you know that you’re not pursuing God’s agenda for your life in every area of your life, then the first step is the step of repentance – stop and turn around.
Reestablish Your Course
Once you turn around, the second thing that you must do is to reestablish your course. Why were you created? What does God have for you? What is His agenda for your life? Is there some magical age that we have to quit asking these questions? No!
I don’t care how young or old you are, it’s never too late to start asking the right questions. Solomon did it – he got to an old age, reevaluated his life and he knew he had wasted it – he knew that as his body began to fail and his years were quickly passing, it was time to make some adjustments. While his encouragement was for young people – the lesson is still the same!
Jesus – A Hedgehog
If Solomon was a fox, then Jesus was a hedgehog. I don’t mean anything irreverent by that – I simply mean that Jesus, while He understood better than any other human how amazingly complex our world was, reduced His life down to one simple concept – one simple purpose and plan – to please the Father by doing what He was sent to do.
Satan tried to get Jesus to take a shortcut to the throne. Peter and James and John wanted Jesus to set up His kingdom early – but all during His ministry, when so many people had so many different agendas for His life, Jesus said over and over, “I am going to the cross. I know there are many who need to be healed. I know there are many hungry. I know there are many that are hurting and lonely and are in need of what I can offer them, but I am going to the cross, and there I must die.”
Why? Why was Jesus so doggedly determined to do it? Because He was determined to do what He was sent to do, not what He would have preferred to do. It is in fulfilling our purpose that we please the Father, and it was in Jesus’ fulfilling His purpose that we hear God saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Now, I want you to get this – it doesn’t matter how extremely complex your life is, how busy you are, how much you have going on, how many people you have depending on you, or how difficult you have it, it is up to you whether you will waste your life like the fox, like Solomon did, or live it with great simplicity, not instead of your circumstances, but in the midst of them, like the hedgehog, like Jesus.
Conclusion
In Deadwood, South Dakota is a museum for fans of the American Wild West. In that museum you will find this inscription left by one prospector that may sound like some of you, “I lost my gun. I lost my horse. I am out of food. The Indians are after me. But I’ve got all the gold I can carry!”
Are your priorities out of place today? Did you take the wrong exit some way back, and now you know it is time to turn around and reorder your life? Look one more time at Ecclesiastes 12 – once you’ve turned around, you’ve committed your life to being Christlike – you want to live a well ordered life – how do you maintain the proper course?
Keep your eyes on God
“Remember your Creator. Fear God.” Some of you are pretty good at making “To Do” lists. Let me give you another list I want you to work on. Why not make a “Not To Do” list? In a world that offers you lots of options and choices – where you can easily pick between God’s agenda for your life and your own, we must learn that there are many things we simply must say “No” to. Jesus did it, Solomon didn’t. You just can’t do it all – and you weren’t created to. Keep your eyes on God. What does He want from you?
In the book of Hebrews, the writer described a man that was running a foot race, and after he described how this man ought to lay off everything that might hinder him, he said, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…” You see, it doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing or not doing. It doesn’t matter how the scenery around you changes. It doesn’t matter what you’re going through or how bad you’re hurting – you keep your eyes on God.
Keep His commandments
Make a life of obedience and biblical integrity a high priority in your life. The Bible says that “Jesus was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Obedience is not always an enjoyable thing. It will not always be easy, but it will always please God. “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Remember this – its not about you – it’s about God.
Don’t wait another day
Do it now: while some of you are young, and do it now, before you get another day older, while you still have something to offer the Lord, while you still have days left on this earth. You can’t live in your regrets; you can’t worry about what you should have done or what you could have done or even what you’re planning to do. The issue today is what you will do with Him today – now, in this moment.
Some of you have already lived through what has been described in our text. Your hair has already turned white. Your teeth have been replaced and your eyes have faded. You’ve got hearing aids in, and you couldn’t run a lap at the track to save your life – but you still have a life to give to God, and no matter where you are in your journey – you can still devote yourselves even more than you have.
Others of you are in my generation, and I fear what would happen to God’s work if it fell in our laps to carry it on. We are uncommitted to our church like we ought to be. We are not faithful in our support like we ought to be. If we are a little tired, we lay out. If we have something better to do, we won’t serve. If we have to choose between eating out and tithing, we will eat out. We’d rather be liked than stand for truth, and we’d rather take the easy way out when times get rough. Our families are falling apart, our finances are disgraceful, our values are questionable, and our futures need to be reconsidered.
Why? Because one day we will give an account. You see, all of us, young and old, live far too short-sighted. We forget that one day when we do pass from this earth, when our bodies return to dust and our spirits are with the Lord, we will give an account – not only for the obvious things, but also for every secret thing. It doesn’t matter what you think I think about your priorities – the real question is this: what does God think about them? And since you are living for His glory – will you change them to reflect your desire to please Him in all you do?
