WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:01.760 Good morning, Church. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:07.679 All right, today's scripture reading is Ecclesiastes chapter seven verses one through fourteen. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:12.960 A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:20.879 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:25.920 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:31.359 The heart of the wise is in the house of the mourning, but the heart's heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:39.840 It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools, for as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools. 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:41.600 This also is vanity. 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:46.960 Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:53.119 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:59.200 Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:02.799 Say not, Why were the former days better than these? 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:05.599 For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:10.560 Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:18.239 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:23.040 Consider the work of God, who can make straight what he has made crooked. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:33.760 In the day of prosperity, be joyful, and in the day of adversity, consider God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:35.200 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:36.480 You may be seated. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:40.640 Good morning. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:43.840 Here, I'll put this on a key table. 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:47.200 All right. 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:48.400 Good morning. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:50.000 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:51.280 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:53.840 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:57.120 It's a joy to gather together with you each Sunday morning. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:00.159 Let's pray before we move into our text for the day. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:08.719 Father in heaven, we praise you for your loving kindness towards us and your patience with us. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:23.520 Lord, we praise you for your son who ascended to your right hand, and we praise you that when he ascended, he gave us good gifts, like a good king who, after conquering his enemies, gathers their spoil and gives him to the people of his kingdom. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:25.680 Lord, you have given us good gifts. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:30.800 You've poured out your spirit upon us, so that we might know you and your word. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.719 As you reveal yourself to us in your word. 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:50.000 I pray that your spirit would attend us this morning, that we might know you more completely, and in knowing you that we might be conformed into the image of your Son. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:52.319 Lord, we praise you for our church. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:54.800 We praise you for Redemption Church Denver. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:58.240 Lord, the wonder that you've done in bringing us together. 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:19.280 Lord, that the good gifts that you've given us have been to draw us together into one body, so that we might be comforted by one another's presence, encouraged by one another's faith, instructed by the gifts that you've given to us, the varied gifts that you've given to our church, Lord, that we might be knit together in love and that we might build one another up in love. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:21.680 Lord, this is an amazing gift. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:27.280 Father, we praise you that the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile has been brought down. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:31.759 And we praise you that we are one new man under your new covenant. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:37.439 And Lord, that this new covenant promise means eternal life for us, forgiveness of sins. 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:41.199 Lord, that we look forward to a resurrection of the body. 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:45.599 Lord, we have such unthinkable, unimaginable gifts from you. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:57.120 And we praise you that they are gifts, that they are free of charge, that the cost you paid for yourself by sending your own son on the cross, Lord, what a privilege and joy to gather together and worship you today. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:03:58.319 We praise you for your word. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:00.479 We ask that you would work it into our hearts. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:02.560 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:11.599 So we are continuing through Ecclesiastes, and this week we are going through Ecclesiastes chapters six and seven. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:18.639 And I heard a great uh sort of analogy for uh the wisdom literature of Solomon. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:26.480 It was that I actually saw it in a tweet, which is where I do most of my sermon prep, or an ex post. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:30.639 And uh an ex post seems like it happened after the fact. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:36.319 So the um uh I saw it in in that Andy. 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:37.920 Here's the description. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:41.360 The proverbs are like grapes. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:50.160 Ecclesiastes is like mashed up grapes, and the song of songs is like wine. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:51.439 Isn't that good? 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:52.879 Thought that was helpful. 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:57.439 So in Ecclesiastes, we're looking at a type of wisdom which is something like mashed up grapes. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:08.000 It's a part of the process, but it's these, it's reduced down to its fundamental components, and it's that point where the the structure of the thing has disintegrated. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:10.160 It's like the dust has returned to dust. 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:19.680 But because we understand the story of the gospel, we know that the those points of death in Christ are points of transformation. 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:25.920 And so the wisdom of Ecclesiastes is something like the wisdom of death. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:33.439 And death is that final enemy that will be destroyed, but also it is the part of the story in which transformation takes place. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:37.439 It is the necessary precursor of resurrection. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:43.279 And so Solomon understands this, and he understands that there is wisdom to be gained from death. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:46.240 That is why God has made it a part of the story. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:06:04.480 And so we're looking today at a wisdom that is to be gained from death, and how in avoidance of death, we would never we would never see this wisdom, but by looking clearly at death and what it means, there is a wisdom here for us, a wisdom for the living, even in death. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:05.439 J.R. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:20.160 Tolkien, uh, who is uh famous for a couple of movies that came out in the early 2000s, says this human stories are practically always about one thing, really, aren't they? 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:21.279 Death. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:26.399 The inevitability the you know, the inevitability of death. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:29.360 There is no such thing as a natural death. 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:35.600 Nothing that ever happens to man is natural, since his presence calls the whole world into question. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:38.879 When you're a genius, you can just throw things like that out there. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:40.639 What an insight. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:46.639 Nothing that ever happens to man is natural since his presence calls the whole world into question. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:51.360 All men must die, but for every man his death is an accident. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:56.879 And even if he knows it, he would sense in it an unjustifiable violation. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:01.360 Well, you may agree with the words or not, but those are the keyspring of the Lord of the Rings. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:04.480 And so now I will begin to exposit the Lord of the Rings. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:11.600 All of our stories are made stories because of the presence of death in them. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:21.759 And I think Tolkien is right that without the acknowledgement, the plain acknowledgement of this fact, that our stories come to an end in death, then we are not telling a human story. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:30.399 We must acknowledge that in order to understand that the type of wisdom that we humans will have or that we can have from the Lord. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:32.720 Solomon understands this clearly. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:45.120 While this section of Ecclesiastes is more like the Proverbs than the earlier sections of Ecclesiastes, in that it's uh short sayings that sort of have a thread that hold them together. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:54.240 I think the thread of the sections that we're looking at today are held together by this theme of death and the wisdom that accompanies it. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:57.920 So that is what we'll learn this morning. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:01.439 Ecclesiastes 6, verses 1 through 2. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:08.720 It says, There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind. 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:17.519 A man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires. 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:25.680 Yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:27.759 This is vanity. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:29.920 It is a grievous evil. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:33.360 So do you hear this first story that Solomon tells? 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:37.279 It's a grievous evil that he sees, and it weighs heavy on mankind. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:43.200 And here's the story: it's a man that he's seen who has received everything that he could ever have wanted. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:55.600 He received power and prestige and honor and possessions, and yet he did not receive from the Lord the gift of the power to enjoy them. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:10.399 Now it's one thing to tell the story, and Solomon told these stories in the chapters that we looked at last week of people who are under oppression, who are in situations where they go without their entire lives, and that is a particular type of evil. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:31.919 But there's something about the evil that comes from lack, which at least has this opportunity for you to look out and say, well, perhaps there will be more to come later, and I'll be able to get more than I have now, and you can be intoxicated by this sort of envy-driven fuel to achieve something that you don't now possess. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:43.360 But that can be intoxicating for a while, and it can even make large swaths of life pass by, and you can be at least busy and distracted, but this is a different story than that. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:52.320 This is someone who has everything that they could have desired, and they do not have the ability to enjoy it. 00:09:53.360 --> 00:10:02.000 This tells us that the ability to enjoy life's good gifts is a separate gift from the Lord. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:09.440 Enjoyment isn't something that just that just happens if you get the right things in front of you. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:13.200 I know you know this because you've been sad on vacation. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:21.279 You've gone on vacation and you've experienced that it right in the midst of it, you're you're feeling sad about something. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:22.399 Things aren't going well. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.759 You're just as frustrated there as you were before. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:30.559 The gift of enjoyment is a particular gift from the Lord. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:35.440 Jeremiah Burroughs calls it the rare jewel of Christian contentment. 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:37.279 It is rare, isn't it? 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:42.960 The ability to enjoy good things is a rare jewel. 00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:47.919 It means that you uh it it doesn't come easily. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:51.600 It's not natural to enjoy good things. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:54.399 It seems like it ought to be, but it isn't. 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:57.200 It's its own separate gift from the Lord. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:00.080 The ability to enjoy good things. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:02.480 It's its own gift from the Lord. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:12.879 Now what it requires, the ability to enjoy good things, is trust. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:19.039 The ability to enjoy good things from the Lord requires trust in the Lord. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:21.440 And here's what you have to imagine about the Lord. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:26.240 You have to imagine that he's giving you good things not to trick you. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:32.559 And he's not giving you good things just so he can show you what you're really like when he takes them away. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:40.960 He gives you good things because he is a loving father who delights to give good gifts to his children. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:49.600 Now, in that position, you suddenly have the ability to just enjoy them. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:56.399 It doesn't mean stake your life on them, but it means to say, this is a pleasant afternoon, isn't it? 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:59.039 Isn't this sort of a nice time? 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:05.519 It means the ability to answer the question of how are you doing without the word busy. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:08.000 Can you imagine? 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:11.200 It's like the new good. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:12.639 How's it going? 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:14.240 We used to say good. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:17.200 We don't say we don't say that anymore. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.039 We say, how have things been lately? 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:20.399 Oh, busy. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:23.039 So what type of stuff you got going on? 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:30.720 Well, you know, I've been monitoring the situation, which is a part-time job for all of us now. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:33.519 You've got to monitor the situation as it's developing. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:39.200 And you've got all the things that are going on in your own life that you have to keep track of and uh pay attention to. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:45.519 And your kids are not sleeping, and there's all kinds of messes to be picked up, and you're surrounded and you're busy. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:50.000 And what what you missed in all of that is this is actually a pretty pleasant afternoon. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:54.639 But that's a whole separate gift to be able to say that. 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:58.399 It requires trust in the Lord. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:05.200 Trust that the good things that He's given you, He desires for you to enjoy. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:25.279 In the next verse in verse 3, it says, If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:40.559 So if he lives he fathers a hundred children and lives many years, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:45.840 This is like a category that I want our church to have. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:50.480 The category of life's good things. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:55.120 This is so important to have this category. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:04.480 You could live a hundred years, but if you don't have this category, there are there are good things that the Lord has given to us and they are to be enjoyed. 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:11.840 The right thing to do when you when the DJ plays this type of song is to dance. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:28.159 And so if you're not dancing, if your friends don't dance, and if they don't dance, you can fill in the rest, you know the point you get the point. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:36.320 There are life's good things that we ought to enjoy, ought to enjoy. 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:47.440 Uh that means written by people who are still alive, which I read less and less. 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:58.080 They both said in Jewish culture, lots of children and long life were considered to be good things. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:02.480 Now, here's why that's so silly. 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:05.919 Because those are good things. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:11.440 That is not like a cultural, that's not a cultural thing. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:15.679 Like being blessed with lots of children, that's just good. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:19.919 Having a long life, that's just good. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:24.960 And if you don't like it, that's on you. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:28.480 That's your that's your problem. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:41.840 There are things in life that this is the sort of the other aspect, because there's it's not just like we need to get the right things in front of us, and if we get the right things in front of us, then we'll be able to finally enjoy. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:44.240 That's not what life is like. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:52.480 I I uh I I've thought of uh several different names for Ecclesiastes uh uh over the course of our time uh in this book. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:58.960 One of the names for Ecclesiastes that I've considered is a list of things that can happen. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:01.440 Because it's helpful. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:06.720 It's helpful to have a list of things where God's like, here's some things that can happen out here. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:11.759 There can be a guy who gets everything that he wants and he doesn't enjoy it. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:14.879 That's sorry, sad, that's sad. 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:17.120 That's a grievous evil when that happens. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:18.879 Here's a list of things that can happen. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:28.159 There's uh there can be oppression uh from the people with power, and the people who don't have power can uh find no relief from it. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:29.919 That can happen out here. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:31.360 That's helpful to know. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:32.879 List of things that can happen. 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:45.600 Another title for Ecclesiastes that I think uh we should submit to the people who make these sorts of decisions is um if you can't like this, you're probably not gonna like anything. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:47.679 That's the other title. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:52.399 If it were like a like a self-help bestseller, that's what it would be called. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:56.399 If you can't like this, you're not you're not gonna like anything. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:00.080 You you ought to push your life through that filter. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:05.440 There's a lot of good things in your life that you're not enjoying. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:07.759 Seek the Lord. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:11.119 That he might pray and ask him. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:15.599 Lord, would you give me the gift to enjoy my children? 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:24.400 Would you give me the gift to enjoy the work that I once prayed for and was scared to death I might not get? 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.920 Lord, would you give me the gift to enjoy my spouse, the one that you've given me? 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:39.920 Lord, would you give me the gift to enjoy my singleness, this time where I have this space and I can make decisions for myself? 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:45.759 Lord, if I can't enjoy this, if you can't enjoy this, you're not gonna enjoy anything. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:52.240 We think that if we're not liking it, it's because the thing itself is not likable enough. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:57.279 And if it became likable enough, then we would finally be able to enjoy it. 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:00.400 And so we need to get the right likable thing in front of us. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:02.880 It's more like this. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:12.400 If you can't like this, if you don't have the strength to like these little things, what makes you think you'll have the strength to like heaven? 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:27.920 If you can't enjoy a good day and a good meal and some space without freaking out, or or a child who's telling you the same joke, you know, for the 15th time. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:30.319 If you can't like that, what are you gonna like? 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:34.960 There's this um clip going around the internet. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:37.039 I love the internet, you know. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:39.759 It's got all my favorite stuff. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:42.720 The websites I go to are tailored perfectly to me. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:45.599 Show me all the things I like to see. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:46.960 It's great. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:55.440 And there's this clip going around of uh Bob Odenkirk, the uh Saul Goodman, better call Saul, actor. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:02.720 And uh the clip is who i i he's being he's promoting a new movie right now, and so he's going on podcasts and stuff, because that's what you have to do now. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:05.440 You can't go on TV shows because we aren't watching them. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:12.240 And he's on a podcast, and the uh interviewer says, Who are you jealous of? 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:14.000 Have any of you seen this clip? 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:19.119 Okay, one, two, okay. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:25.039 My are I have an algorithm in common with two people in the church I pastor. 00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:29.359 Says, Who are you jealous of? 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:35.279 And Bob Odenkirk says, I'm jealous of anybody that still has little kids at home. 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:43.519 Because when I had little kids at home, I wasn't trying to figure out how do I fit into this world or what is my meaning here. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:51.839 It was just pick up the toys from here to the door and make sure they get off to school and maybe have a laugh later. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:53.440 It was just to be a dad. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:57.279 Just knew that I knew that that's what I had to do is to be a dad. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:19:59.039 And that's a great answer. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:03.440 That's not that should go viral for all of your algorithms. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.119 What's wrong with you guys? 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:09.920 That should go viral. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:21.359 But the point is, the point is that these uh frustrations that I know many of many of you are in with these good things to enjoy, we should seek the Lord. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:24.079 That way we might have the ability to enjoy them. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:27.680 And you're wondering, well, how do I enjoy them? 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:32.400 Because it just feels frustrating, it feels like it takes up tons of space. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:34.000 I feel completely exhausted. 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:39.839 I feel worn down by the weight of the good things that the Lord has put into my life. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:41.680 How can I possibly enjoy them? 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:56.640 And this is where Solomon starts to take us on, starts to show us that there's this trick, there's this tool that he has recognized to the enjoyment of life's good gifts. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:02.400 And that tool is death. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:25.200 If this were the Proverbs, it would say, A good name is better than precious ointment, and a valuable reputation who can find? 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:27.599 But this is Ecclesiastes. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:34.079 So it says, a good name is better than precious ointment, and a day of death is better than the day of birth. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:38.480 It's very Ecclesiastes type of wisdom. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:43.839 It's shocking and strange. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:46.079 Today is my son's birthday. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.359 He's turning two today, which is a big one. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:51.200 Yeah. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:52.480 Thank you. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:53.440 Thank you. 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:58.079 I've received that applause on behalf of myself and my wife for keeping them alive. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.759 Two years. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:07.599 The day of death is better than this birthday. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:10.960 Now, how can that be? 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:20.240 He goes on and he shows us that it it's uh it's because of what it does for the living, what it affects in us. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:31.759 In verses two through three, it says, It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:39.759 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.799 It's better to go to the house of mourning than it is to go to the house of feasting. 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:49.279 And he gives us the reason it's because the living will lay it to heart. 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:58.880 When you go to a funeral and you look at somebody's loved one, stand up and share about this person, you're instructed. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:03.279 You're instructed about what your life finally means. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:08.240 And it teaches you something more than a birthday can teach you. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:17.200 It teaches you that the your story will end the same way that this person's story will end. 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:28.000 And it recasts the way that you experience your life now in a more true light than the intoxication of feasting would cast it in. 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:42.559 You know, after a day of feasting, you go back to your job on Monday and you think back to that day of feasting, and your eyes are a little bleary and your head is a little throbby because of, you know, the feasting. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:50.960 And while you're sitting there, you're you're assessing your life as it is, and you're considering this is not a very valuable life. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:54.559 I need to figure out how I can get back to one of those feasting days. 00:23:54.799 --> 00:24:04.960 You go to the day of mourning and you make an assessment of your life and you you find what's really important here, what really matters here. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:09.279 Just the end of a matter brings this wisdom. 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:19.680 And our job as the living is to take this wisdom to heart so that we might live with a clear understanding that our death is coming. 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:25.440 Remember when this is not a death, this is far less than that, but it's just an end. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:45.039 When we uh when Megan and I, my wife and I moved out of our first home, and we uh uh were packing up, and you know when you walk out for the last time of this place where you have all this muscle memory and routines, and you know how the front door opens. 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:51.200 At that home, we probably could have never locked it because just opening it in the first place was like this riddle. 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:55.920 Because it was so old and didn't really work well. 00:24:57.039 --> 00:24:58.240 And you know all those things. 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:02.319 And I remember walking out and looking at this little like speck of a backyard that we had. 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:05.200 Backyard is vast overstatement. 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:10.960 And I remember looking at it and and thinking of how I'd like desired. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:17.759 I've been talking a lot about grass lately in sermons, but it's on my mind, and thinking of how I would have liked for it to look and to be all these certain ways. 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:21.359 And then I looked back at it, and all those problems were now gonna just be somebody else's. 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:22.079 It was gone. 00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:23.920 It was not a part of that lawn anymore. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:26.319 Didn't it will, I will not be a part of it anymore. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:33.279 And I just had this thought of every time JT asked me to play, that's my other son, it's not his birthday today. 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:38.160 Every time JT asked me to play out here, I should have played out here. 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:43.200 I should have had more, I should have had more memories of playing with him in this backyard. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:46.240 And I I didn't even anticipate that. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:52.160 I hadn't even considered it, but then in just that moment of the exit, it was just clear as day. 00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:55.759 It was plain as day where my priorities ought to have been. 00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:57.759 It was like a shock, a surprise. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:00.000 The day of death is like that. 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:05.519 It's like smelling salts that wakes you up and says, where ought to I have put my priorities? 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:19.279 What were the it's this this terrible, the the the this terrific, you know, you hear how those words are almost the same, type of experience of the day of death. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:24.319 Because it shines a light on life's good things. 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:31.680 And what you think of them when you look back at them on the day of death is I should have liked them more. 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:37.920 I should have liked them more, I should have enjoyed them more. 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:46.720 That is a wisdom that comes from the day of death that you cannot get from the day of birth. 00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:50.559 There's a deep wisdom. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:59.599 When else, other than a funeral, do you get to stand around and talk about a loved one? 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:00.799 Just talk about them. 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:02.319 You don't do that now. 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:11.839 You don't stand around and talk about them, celebrate them, remember their idiosyncrasies, tell their stories. 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:20.960 And there's this magic that happens at a funeral because their stories immediately switch from news to legend. 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:24.079 They immediately become legend. 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:31.039 And you get to enjoy their stories in that place where they're no longer just news, they're legend. 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:37.279 And let's see how in sync we are, and legends never yeah. 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:40.160 That's uh the sand lot. 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:49.200 Now it's not entirely true because we're reading Ecclesiastes and everything will be forgotten, and it's all vapor, and even the greatest legends will not be remembered. 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:52.480 But you can kind of tell there's a little bit of truth to it, isn't it? 00:27:54.480 --> 00:28:04.880 You know, it's like you're you're appreciating the person at a level at which you now recognize you you ought to have always been enjoying them. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:09.440 Because there is this type of value in it. 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:13.359 The day of death instructs you in that wisdom. 00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:15.279 There's a grievous evil. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:24.400 There's a grievous evil of a man who gets honor and pleasure, and he could have a hundred children and live for a thousand years twice over. 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:28.000 A hundred children and a thousand years twice over. 00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:33.680 But if he wasn't given the gift to enjoy them, it would be better for him to have been a stillborn child. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:39.759 That's what his life would have been worth in value to himself. 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:43.599 It would have been better to have experienced none of it. 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:52.000 In the place of death, we're instructed otherwise, that there is such a thing as life's good gifts. 00:28:53.359 --> 00:29:10.559 Now, throughout chapter 7 of Ecclesiastes, his wisdom becomes that pragmatic, that pragmatic take on wisdom that we've grown to expect from Solomon in Ecclesiastes, as opposed to perhaps Solomon in the Proverbs. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:20.160 In the Proverbs, we get this hymn to Lady Wisdom who calls to you in the streets. 00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:34.880 And we're told that the wisdom, but it is by wisdom that God created all things, and that wisdom was with God in the beginning, that it's all structured by wisdom, the world can be known, and it's this it's this glorious picture of what wisdom is. 00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:44.079 A picture that is so glorious that we must conclude that it is only in reference to the wisdom of Christ Himself, who is wisdom incarnate. 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:54.960 But in Ecclesiastes, we don't get a hymn to wisdom, we get uh more of a take on wisdom that's like, well, it works. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:59.119 This is the heights that Ecclesiastes is willing to go to. 00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:02.000 But understand, these are the mashed up grapes. 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:11.039 And we have to see wisdom in its component parts in order to see the wonder of the transformation that it can have in our lives as it becomes wine. 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:17.440 Ecclesiastes 7.12, it says, for the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money. 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:22.400 And the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. 00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:25.200 It's so different than the hymn to wisdom. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:29.519 What Solomon, what's what are the benefits of wisdom? 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:31.519 Well, it's like money. 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:34.400 It can solve a lot of problems. 00:30:35.119 --> 00:30:36.559 It's very pragmatic. 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:37.920 It's true. 00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:40.799 What are the benefits of wisdom? 00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:43.039 It can solve a lot of problems. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:45.920 What are the benefits of money? 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:48.319 It can solve a lot of problems. 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:56.160 I have like kind of a joke that I say when I hear people describing their problems. 00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:00.960 People, as though it isn't like you know, our church, like you're you aren't here, you know. 00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:02.160 We're all here. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:04.000 Us, we're describing our problems. 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:05.200 It's like, oh no way. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:11.119 A problem that money could solve, you should just get more money. 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:16.240 Then you wouldn't have this problem that you're facing. 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:18.880 And then I bill you and send you on your way. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.079 But that is the level of pragmatism that is true. 00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:25.839 There's a truth to this. 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:30.400 There's a practical reason that you ought to seek wisdom. 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:33.839 That you won't be caught in the traps of fools. 00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:35.759 You won't make bad deals. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:50.960 It'll enable you to make money and have things put in their right place, and for you to be able to take care of yourself and the things that have been given to you, and take care of your family, and take responsibility for the tasks that you know are yours that don't belong to anybody else, they just belong to you. 00:31:51.039 --> 00:31:53.519 And wisdom will help you to do that. 00:31:54.160 --> 00:31:55.440 And that is important. 00:31:56.640 --> 00:31:59.599 And so you should seek to get that wisdom. 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:04.559 And there's this instruction: what if it works? 00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:10.880 In Ecclesiastes 7.14, in the day of prosperity, be joyful. 00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:15.119 And in the day of adversity, consider. 00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:23.200 God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. 00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:31.759 In the day of prosperity, your job is to enjoy it. 00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:39.039 Not enjoy it because you know it will be forever, but enjoy it because this is a good gift of God. 00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:49.200 And if you go to the house of death, if you go to the house of mourning, you will look back and you will consider the day of prosperity and you will think, I should have enjoyed it. 00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:59.920 The foolish thing that I did was I was so gripped about it going away and what the catastrophe of it going away would mean that you missed the whole thing. 00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:03.759 Or you were so fixated on the little aspects of it that were off. 00:33:04.799 --> 00:33:09.279 And you couldn't even enjoy your wedding day because of the photographer. 00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:17.759 Instead, you'll look back and say, I wish I was more focused on the thing that mattered there. 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:21.119 The day of death instructs you in that way. 00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:22.960 But it's not symmetrical. 00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:31.039 We are not stoics who take as our responsibility to respond to everything the same way. 00:33:31.279 --> 00:33:33.440 This is not dispassion. 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:38.000 In the day of prosperity, enjoy it. 00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:39.920 That's what you should do in prosperity. 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:43.759 And in the day of adversity, don't enjoy it. 00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:44.880 Consider. 00:33:46.799 --> 00:33:47.599 Consider. 00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:50.000 The Lord made this too. 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:58.880 The one who gave me that prosperity to enjoy is the same one that made this adversity that I'll face. 00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:03.359 What does that do for you to understand? 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:08.800 Well, for one, why does he do it that way? 00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:12.880 It's so that man cannot find out anything that will be after him. 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:20.079 Now, what that means is that the adversity that you face, you don't know what it will result in. 00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:23.360 You just don't know. 00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:27.920 It could be as catastrophic as you can imagine. 00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:30.559 And it might not. 00:34:32.239 --> 00:34:33.599 You don't know. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:47.519 The one who knows that, the one who knows what will be after you, the one that knows what will come after us as this generation is God. 00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:50.639 And he has written them all. 00:34:51.679 --> 00:34:53.440 And what do you know about him? 00:34:56.559 --> 00:35:04.480 What could you tell about a God who, in your sinful rebellion against him, sent his son so that he might die and atone for your sins? 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:07.199 What can you know about a God like that? 00:35:09.039 --> 00:35:13.599 What would it mean that the days that you can't see are in his hands? 00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:20.400 What would it mean that the adversity that you now face are in that God's hands? 00:35:25.760 --> 00:35:30.320 Like a proverb in Ecclesiastes, this is not an answer to that question. 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:33.679 Instead, Solomon says, consider. 00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:37.360 So consider. 00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:40.559 I don't know what will come after me. 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:44.559 You won't be able to figure that out by thinking. 00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:47.119 You won't be able to piece it together. 00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:50.559 God has organized things in such a way where you can't know. 00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:54.320 But it's from his hand. 00:35:55.119 --> 00:35:56.960 And what is his hand like? 00:35:58.079 --> 00:35:59.280 What is his hand like? 00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:00.639 What is he like? 00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:02.320 You can know that. 00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:05.119 He tells us to it plainly. 00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:11.840 He's gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. 00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:14.639 He doesn't overlook wrongdoing. 00:36:17.199 --> 00:36:18.719 That's what he's like. 00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:22.960 It's an asymmetrical response. 00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:26.559 All under the hand of God. 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:36.159 In verses 15 through 17, Solomon says, In my vain life I have seen everything. 00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:44.320