Ecclesiastes 11:1-10
Well, good morning, everyone. My name is Steve Walker. I'm one of the elders I have the privilege of teaching this morning. Pastor Dave has been in Cuba this past week and returned last night. 368 is the number of people who made decisions for Christ. As we speak also, the men are finishing our annual men's retreat. They'll return this afternoon. Spiritually challenged and encouraged, We hope so this morning. By default, you're stuck with me.
I was the last guy on the bench. So that's the way it's going to be. And we're going to tackle Ecclesiastes Chapter 11. So please turn in your Bibles and follow along. I hope you brought your Bibles. I know you can do it digitally, but you know, you should have your own Bible that you can follow along. Who knows what people say up here. The only way you can tell if it's really what if
it's accurate if you look at your own Bible. And so you have that opportunity to do that. We want you to bring yours. Also, for those who like to scribble notes, we have an outline for you to doodle on and if you didn't pick one up on the way in, you can get it on the way out. So let's pray.
Father, we're grateful for the opportunities that come our way, some are just people coming from all parts of the world, and we have resources, we have opportunities, and we can make connections and love for these people. I pray that spiritually that we would have an influence on them as well through our love and our words. We pray for those 368 decisions. In a very difficult
part of the world. We pray that the Spirit would confirm to them through the word and through the local church and that these new brothers and sisters of ours would flourish in their spiritual life. We pray for the guys returning from the men's retreat. We pray that they will have renewed faith and hope. And
this morning, God, we pray that you would open our eyes and our hearts to respond to the scriptures in a way that would be good for us and would be glorifying to you. We pray all these things in Jesus name, those who agreed said.
So have you ever been frustrated by someone's stupidity? Well, you're not alone. Here are some real comments of frustrated evaluators from actual employee evaluations ready for this. These are real. “Since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.” “His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity.” “He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle.” “This lady has delusions of adequacy.” “He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.” “He's got a full 6 pack but he likes the plastic thing to hold it all together.” I like that one.
“He doesn't have ulcers, but I think he's a carrier.” “He has a knack for making strangers immediately.” “If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he is the other one.” “The gates are down, the lights are flashing. The train isn't coming.” “The wheel is turning, but I'm pretty sure the hamster's dead.” “Some drink from the fountain of knowledge this guy only gargled.” “You know, when you and I think of a fool, we tend to picture a dunce, someone who has low IQ, who lacks intelligence.” But when the Bible describes a fool, it reveals that the problem is not just mental, it's moral and spiritual. And so when you look at fools in the Bible, you get a very different picture than just somebody who you know is kind of stupid.
I. WISDOM TAKES THE INITIATIVE DESPITE NOT KNOWING
Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 10:8,”The wise of heart will receive commandments. They're teachable, but the babbling fool will come to ruin.” They just talk and talk and talk and talk. They don't listen. They don't learn. Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.
Proverbs 1:2 “But a wise man listens to advice. The fool says in his heart there is no God. So a fool is a person who has severed his ties with God and takes no thought of God. In how he views life or how he lives life. And so you say, OK, where is this going? Well, the question Solomon is asking in Ecclesiastes is this, can a person find meaning and purpose and fulfillment apart from God in life?
And as we approach the end of his book, the teacher is becoming increasingly pointed in his answer. And he says, no, absolutely not. Without trust in God, you will not find meaning or purpose or fulfillment. In fact, it's worse than that. Subtracting God from your life doesn't just frustrate you, it makes you a fool. And Solomon insists, if you become a fool, it will not only damage you, it will
hurt people around you.
As Benj Foreman last week so aptly pointed out, he said, let God write your story, but don't be passive. Be wise, not foolish. And he showed us from Ecclesiastes 10 how even a little foolishness, a little sin, is corrosive. To life in almost every area. There's a lot that you and I can't control in life, and so we should let God write our story. But what we can control we should, and that means that we need to avoid being foolish and we should seek to be wise. And so Solomon exposes the corrosive effects of foolishness in chapter 10.
And then in Chapter 11 he poses the alternative wisdom under the guidance of God and the first thing that he proposes. Is that wisdom always takes the
initiative despite even not knowing everything? In scanning the 1st 6 verses of
Chapter 11, you stumble upon repeated phrases repeated 4 four times.
Invest knowing you don’t know the future. (v.1-2)
Look at verse 2. And how does verse 2 begin? For you know not you know not drive down to verse 5. “As you do not know” into verse 5, so you do not know verse 6 for you do not know. Apparently it's important to know that there's stuff that we don't know. And that's a really wise thing to know.
Not knowing shouldn't paralyze us. Instead, Solomon is encouraging us.
To invest knowing that you don't know the future.
So look at verses 1 and 2.
“He says cast your bread upon the waters. For you will find it after many days.”
Now he's just not talking about, you know, having soggy bread.
Give a portion verse two to seven or even to verse 8, “For you will know not what disaster may happen on earth. Now honestly, this verse is pretty difficult to understand because he may be referring to business or to benevolence like giving and sharing or maybe to both. Not it's kind of uncertain. I think that verse one refers to shipping goods represented by bread and shipping it abroad. But these weren't the days of UPS and FedEx and so there was a much greater risk involved in shipping.
It took longer and so you know, you had to have patience the results financially of shipping things abroad could be great gain or complete loss and the way to minimize the risk was to diversify in verse two in seven or eight different places. I think that's pretty wise counsel. But it could also mean
if it's not business, if it's about benevolence, it could mean look when you do well, don't forget to share with other people. Because someday your ships may not return and you'll need other people's help. Does that make sense? OK, so what's the point? The point is that in life, are there guarantees? Not very many.
And you don't know what the future holds. But a wise person doesn't demand certainty in all respects. He doesn't hug his resources close to his chest. He invests and he gives freely. The point of life is to make a difference, not to end up with the most stuff and a wise person knows that.
Don’t wait for the the perfect time to get started (vs.3-4)
And so Solomon continues and says, don't wait for the perfect time to get started. Look at verse 3. “If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth. And if a tree falls to the South or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie”. So the first picture is of a cloud burst that's coming. You can see it form in the distance and so the down downpours. No surprise. In the violent wind from that storm causes this unexpected and unforeseen thing to happen. A downed tree is uprooted by the storm and the fact is you can't control either the wind or the damage.
There are some things that you and I can predict and there's some things that we can't control. Very much in life. And so what do you do well?
Look at verse four, He who observes the wind will not sow. And he regards, the
clouds will not reap. What's his point? Well, when do you begin? Do you wait for the conditions to be perfect to start? No wind to blow your seat around, no rain to ruin your harvest? No. Why not? Well, if you're waiting for certainty, for no risks, for the perfect time, you'll never do anything. So don't just sit there, get off of dead center and do something. Is there a perfect time to start giving
or being generous? No. You'll always have bills.
You'll say, maybe we should give to that group. Well, we really can't because, you know, we just had another bill come due and we have these other things going on. We have to pay our taxes and all that. OK, well then you'll never be generous or give.
When's the perfect time to start losing those pounds? Well. After dessert tonight. When's the perfect time to start reading your Bible? Or serving
with your gifts. Well, when I had more time later, after I pay off that debt someday, when I feel better about myself after the new year. After spring break, when this summer is over and fall begins and kids are back in
school and.
You know what happens if you're waiting for the perfect time. The perfect time never comes. So the wise man doesn't wait for the perfect conditions. He begins. Now he's aware that life is full of uncertainties and difficulties. There's no perfect time, so don't wait for it. There will never be a time when you know everything and everything is under your control. Never.
Don't be a know-it-all because you don’t. (Be a “know it enough”)
And part of wisdom is simply to say, I'm going to start. And so he says don't be
a know it all, because you don't.
Look at verse 5, “As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with a child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.” And once again, wisdom begins with knowing that you don't know.
And so we trust God, not because it solves all the problems of our ignorance, but because it helps us live with it, even if we knew exactly how the spirit of a person enters the fetus as it develops.
We can't completely understand or trace what God is doing in many situations. What in the world are you doing, God? I don't understand this. That will always
be with you. Always. And so we'll never be “know it all’s”. We just simply need
to be know enoughs.
Be Diligent and trust God with the results (vs. 6)
And that should be enough. So Solomon concludes and he simply says, be diligent and trust God with the results. Verse 6 “So in the morning sow your seed, and that evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will
prosper this or that, or whether both alike will be good. One of the clear marks of wisdom is to be diligent in what you do and trust God in how it all turns out. Small things done consistently. Over a period of time it will likely reap great results. The very smallness of our decisions, the smallness of our knowledge, the smallness of our control and the likelihood of hard times should motivate us to be conscientious and to keep going.
You see, how does that work? Well, because if trouble does derail us, it probably won't again and again and again and again and again. The Apostle Paul put it this way. I think this is just very insightful. Let us not grow weary of doing good. You know why? Because doing good is hard. And sometimes when you keep doing good, you get tired.
Who's with me on that? Sure. Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap it with me if we do not faint.
If we don't give up. In other words, if you can envision the end. That will motivate you in the middle. You know, if you don't give up, we'll reap. So right now I'll just keep doing what I'm going to do, even though it's hard. So knowing what we are. Knowing that we don't know, how do we live well? A wise person, according to Solomon, a wise person, even in his ignorance, is going to live intentionally. I can't control everything. What I can't control, I'm going to be intentional about. I'm going to live wisely, not foolishly. I will trust God despite not having certainty about the future in the flyleaf of my Bible.
I ran across this quote a number of years ago and I just thought, man, I'll tell
you, I have no idea who this guy is. I tried to look him up. I googled him.
And you know, there's almost nothing about him, but I sure like what he said,
“This is a time when we must firmly choose the course we will follow.
or the relentless drift of events will make the decision for us.”
Isn't that good? If you go limp because we're not certain about the future, because we're not really sure we have control of everything, then we'll likely end up where we would not want to go. Let that sink in. Be passive and other forces will take you to probably where you don't want to end up. So be intentional and diligent with your life and trust God with the results. Now this feels pretty weighty, pretty heavy. And so he turns, he pivots right now from
the present, looking into the future, this uncertain future, and he encourages us to intentionally focus on God's good gifts now. Because wisdom teaches us to joyfully live life now, in light of the end. And h
II. WISDOM TEACHES US TO JOYFULLY LIVE LIFE NOW IN THE LIGHT
OF THE END
Choose to enjoy life now (vs. 7-8)
He confronts us with three final decisions that he doesn't want us to postpone. The first one is to choose to enjoy life. Now look at verse seven and eight. Light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. I got to tell you, I came from Oregon. This was my life verse between October and May. Because I never saw the sun. So another day, it's another day. I think there's a ball of fire in the sky someplace, but I don't see it here. So go back, sorry, that's free.
Light is sweet and is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of
darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity or fleeting. So light and sweet describes those things in life that are pleasant and good. Oftentimes in scripture, the opposite, darkness and bitterness. Describes sin and sickness.
And sorrow. And death.
But whenever you see the words, let him do this, let her do this. Let them do that. When you see that word, let them. It sounds very indirect, sort of passive, but grammatically that's a command.
It's as direct as “hey you”. It's that direct. And he says let him, let him rejoice. And Solomon presents us with this choice to make.
To intentionally decide to enjoy life as it comes to us, you and I can miss the beauty and joy of a sunrise because we were sleeping or we're too busy or we're preoccupied or hurting.
And because life is a mixed bag, there's going to be many days of trouble in life and nothing lasts very long. Vanity is fleeting at that point. That's what that means. We need to drink in life's sweetness as it comes to us. So life presents moments to us that are sweet and good, that go right to our heart. Like what?
Well, you know, like laughing with a friend till our sides hurt. You ever done
that?
A moment of unguarded candor with your son or your daughter. A peaceful walk with your spouse. A time of worship when your faith and your feelings perfectly match. Watching the sun peek above the hills and make everything glisten around you. That first sip of a steaming cup of dark roast coffee. No
cream.
A flash of gratitude and deep contentment for all that God has showered upon you. See, those are the moments that present themselves, oftentimes without warning. They just kind of fall on you and they pass very quickly. They're fleeting. They're vanity. That's the word vanity. They're fleeting, They go.
And it's possible to miss them and hear me well. God is not permitting or allowing you to experience those things. He's urging and commanding you to enjoy his gifts. Four times in Ecclesiastes, Solomon says enjoying the gift of life
is our lot, our assignment. Isn't that amazing?
One of the verses that I'm memorizing at the moment is Psalm 16:11.
“Before I put it on the screen, you should test me to see if I can do it.
“You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Did I do it? Oh, thank you. Yeah, thank you. You know, we tend to think of
pleasures as sinful or at least subpar spiritually. And that's not true. God made us to enjoy life and He encouraged, commands us to do so. So this is what Solomon says. Open your eyes, open your heart. Enjoying life is a choice you make. I suppose you could choose to be bitter and unforgiving and see the worst in every situation. And expect the worst in every person you can be. You can choose to be negative. And sour and focus on all this wrong all the time. Do you know anybody like that?
All of us sometimes have fallen into that camp. And Solomon says don't do that. Choose not to do that. Choose to enjoy the gift of life now and when you do, by the way, if you choose to enjoy the gift of life and you see that God's goodness do me a favor, tell your face. “I'm happy. Great praise God to joy.
The Lord is my strength. OK.
Enjoy the freedom of youth. (vs. 9a)
Well then he sharpens the focus and spotlights, believe it or not, young people. How many young people do we have here? It's a trick question because thank you, Bill. How old are you? 80 years young, huh? OK, got it. Choose to enjoy.
Life now. And enjoy the freedom of youth. Look at verse 9.
First part of verse 9, “Rejoice O young man or woman or person in your youth and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. I know some of you are thinking, why does he feel a need to command young people to have joy? Isn't their life one big vacation as it is? Well, that's an adult talking. No, no, it isn't in all the young years of life. I mean, you have to, you have a lot of challenges. You have to for the first time, balance homework with social life. Between 12 and 25 more people make life altering decisions to follow or to forget God than at any other time in life. It's a confusing time when you try to figure out who you are and why you're here and where you're going. And it's easy to find yourself waiting to grow up when you can do more things and have more
opportunities and you can drive, you can go where you want, be on your own, make your own decisions. But please hear Solomon well. Life is never, ever later. It's never ever later.
It's now.
And it's important not to postpone joy. Or wisdom. Or fail to appreciate the freedom that you do have now because you have lots of options and more freedom than you think and life is ahead of you. Life 's never perfect. So choose to be happy and choose to enjoy the gifts God gives in every single season of life. And that sounds like pretty good advice for all of us.
Remember to live responsibility before God.
In my choices (vs 9b)
Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. But know
that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.Other words,
he's not really saying, oh, God is going to get you if you enjoy anything.
No, no, no, no, he says as free as you are, you're still answerable to
God. So the freedom is not ever carte blanche, whether you know whether
you are 18 or 80. Number one is in my actual choices of life verse verse 9 middle verse nine. It's not true that anything goes under the guise of all those common excuses when you're young. Well, you know, when I was young and dumb, I did all these dumb things. I was trying out my wings. I was sewing my wild oats. No, no, no, no. What we need to do is learn early that desires have limits. Desires must have breaks. Or they will enslave us. As young people, we need to learn to make decisions in light of knowing that someday we're going to give it account for our life. So rejoice, but rejoice responsibly in our decisions and choices. Well, decisions and choices about what?
In my outlook (vs 10a) Well, like the outlook by outlook how I see things look at verse (vs10a) “Remove vexation from your heart. It's really worth pausing right here when you think about vexation. Vexation is more than worry. It describes a reaction of irritation and anger and
frustration.
Have you ever felt vexed ever in your life? Anybody with me on this one? Why?
We got six people. Wow. All of you are there. OK. The rest of you? Never. So
let me give you an example. When you're young, when you experience vexation,
it's that a picture of how a person feels when they've just had enough of mom
and dad. Don't raise your hand on this one.They've had enough of school and
rules, and then they just rebel. They just say, I don't want any part of it.
That's vexation. And Solomon is speaking pointedly to the young, but all of us
are listening. If you're going to enjoy life, you can't depend on everything
going your way. You have to learn to deal with your disappointments and your
inner provocations because there's a lot of them. And one of the things that
we, my wife and I. Constantly encouraged our kids to do. As they grew up and
encountered the frustrations and disappointments of life, is this we would say,
OK rule your spirit. Rule your spirit, And by that we meant you have to make choices
about the vexations that you feel. Just because you feel them doesn't mean they
control you. Rule your spirit. You can't let vexation simmer in your heart and
mind without it souring you. Translation says banish them. Don't let them
control you. Don't. You can't. Keep rebellion and vexation and anger in your
heart and let it simmer. It'll sour you. The best way to remove it is not just to exercise it. You have to replace it. You replace it with gratitude for the gifts that you've been given, for the things that bring joy in your life. You choose to see things differently. You're thankful and you let other people know that you're thankful. And that's not true just for young people. That's true for all of us. So we live life responsibly before God, in our choices and outlook,
In my health (vs 10b)and in our health. End of verse 10 and “Put
away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are
Put away pain. That word pain is actually the word evil. That which harms you and you know when we're young, we may try things or form
habits that erode health. Individuals, when they're young, oftentimes they develop drinking problems early in life. The effects of tobacco and drugs are not short term. Casual Sex in this age of the world can be deadly. And so when he says youth and the dawn of life are vanity or fleeting, he's saying look. Enjoy the freedom and opportunity of youth, but you've got to make good decisions because you get old fast.
And some decisions stay with you. So for all of us, will you be determined to enjoy life now and not wait for the weekend or for summer vacation? Or for graduation. Or for success in business. Or for
the perfect person to walk into your life. Or for retirement. And will you do it responsibly before God, knowing that someday you have an appointment? With the Lord who made you and loved you, and died in your place for your guilt. And that you will have to sit down with him,
stand with him and talk over your life and your choices. Think hard.
Living life wisely even though you can't control everything which you can
control. You don't want to be foolish, you want to be wise. So in this roller coaster of life whipsawing back and forth, we need to keep our heads and Solomon encourages us to enjoy life now, but keep the end in mind a number of years ago.
The shoe company Nike took out a full page ad in The Oregonian. That's a newspaper. Does anybody know what a newspaper is? I know, I know. But it was a full page ad in The Oregonian, and it was a collage of pictures of people skiing and fishing and parachuting and standing under waterfalls and biking and hunting and running on a beach. And the caption at the top in bold letters was.
They say in the end your whole life will flash. They've had enough of school and rules, and then they just rebel. They just say, I don't want any part of it. That's vexation. And Solomon is speaking pointedly to the young, but all of us are listening. If you're going to enjoy life, you can't depend on everything going your way. You have to learn to deal with your disappointments and your inner provocations because there's a lot of them. And one of the things that we, my wife and I. Constantly encouraged our kids to do. As they grew up and encountered the frustrations and disappointments of life, is this we would say, OK rule your spirit. Rule your spirit, And by that we meant you have to make choices about the vexations that you feel. Just because you feel them doesn't mean they control you.
Rule your spirit. You can't let vexation simmer in your heart and mind without it souring you. Translation says banish them. Don't let them control you. Don't. You can't. Keep rebellion and vexation and anger in your heart and let it simmer. It'll sour you. The best way to remove it is not just to exercise it.
You have to replace it. You replace it with gratitude for the gifts that you've been given, for the things that bring joy in your life. You choose to see things differently. You're thankful and you let other people know that you're thankful.
And that's not true just for young people. That's true for all of us. So we live life responsibly before God, in our choices and outlook,underneath it said make it
worth watching.Nike.
I think the problem with that perspective is that it assumes that in the end, the one thing that you will regret not having done more is recreation. But let me
just poke you. What if the view from the end reveals a different outlook?
I mean, what if it's? Clear from the end. About what does and doesn't matter.
I mean, we've all heard that statement. You know, at the end, no one will
ever say, Gee, I wish I spent more time at the office. And we laugh. And we think we need to take another vacation. But what if in the end, neither will anyone say?
Gee, I wish I would have suntanned more. Or fished, or biked. Or camped or recreated more. I mean, nothing's wrong with that. We've just seen that God encourages, commands us to be joyful in life. But what if the story of life is bigger and deeper and more purposeful than the best vacation? And what
if it's hard to view things properly until we get to the end where we can put the beginning and the middle in perspective? What is the key to living life is to do so backwards. To remember that someday it all ends and that we all die and so everything is fleeting. It takes wisdom to live this life and to do so intentionally without becoming foolish. Now is the time to turn to Christ, give Him our lives, enjoy what He has given to us, and not be foolish. Well, next week we come to the end not only of Ecclesiastes, but of our own lives as we capture a glimpse of life under the sun from heaven's perspective next week. You do not want to miss it.
Now is the time.
Let's pray.
Lord, apart from you nothing lasts, and apart from You nothing really matters.
But you are our shepherd. You've, you've called us, we've heard your voice from the emptiness of our lives. And it is your grace and your forgiveness and your promises that have shaped us and changed our lives. And so now we, we determined to respond to you, to love you, to serve you with all our hearts, all of our days. And we ask that you continue to prod us with wisdom and to protect us from foolish choices. Foolish desires help us kneel down our convictions until that day. When we breathe our last and we go to our eternal home and see you. Father, in humility and in joy we pray in Jesus name.
And those who agreed said.
Amen