Life is Worth Living, With Rejoicing

Sermon held on December 16, 2001

By Rev. C. Bosch

 Liturgy: 

Votum and Salutation               

Singing:          Psalm 121: 1,4                                    

The Ten Words of God’s Covenant      

Singing:           Psalm 38: 8,10                          

Prayer                                       

Scripture Reading:       Ecclesiastes 2: 10-15; 5:18-20; 11: 7-8                  

Singing:           Psalm 119: 4,6                          

Text: Ecclesiastes 11: 9-12:7    “Life is Worth Living, With Rejoicing”               

Singing:           Psalm 33: 1,6                            

Prayer                                                  

Offerings:           Needy & Ministry of the Gospel                       

Singing:           Hymn 12: 1,4                            

Benediction

Beloved Congregation of Our Lord Jesus Christ;

All right, we are supposed to, “Cast our bread upon the waters”. We heard last week that this means we are called to venture forth in faith and to rest in God who has all things in his hands. We may even go about our work in an unencumbered way, not hesitantly looking over our shoulders but looking forward to Jesus Christ, who has all things in his hands.

But now, what if I am a young person, growing up in a world that doesn’t appear to make much sense. A world like that in the days when the Preacher wrote his book? Times when there was a flood of foolish laughter and a lot of sweat and toil that only seem to end in death or taxes. Sure, the Preacher spoke of  casting one’s “bread upon the waters”, but what if there is little prospect of opportune “bread”. What if instead the suicide rate is up, and the world appears to become more callous and cruel by the day?

What then? What is a young man, a young woman to do in the days of their youth? Can you blame them for stepping out of line, when the whole world appears to be ‘out of step’, doing their own thing, and living but for the moment?

The wise instructor of our text, has an answer also to these and other pressing questions. Questions which need resolve . For God’s promise is also to the youth of the church. In the days of the Preacher they needed much encouragement and they need it today. For indeed the world can be a cold and threatening place.   Yet, “The Lord is good forever more”, and however long a man may live he may enjoy life to the limit.  For in Jesus Christ for whose coming the Preacher cried in his day, has come. In Him our lives our labour our love, are not in vain. Let us then hear that the Preacher says,

“Yes, Life Has Meaning for Both Young and Old”

 Therefore:

1.     Rejoice and Serve the Lord of Life  

2.    Recognize the Judge of Life

3.    Remember the Creator/Redeemer of Life

1. Rejoice in the Lord of Life:

“Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.”

“Be happy”, i.e., “ Be joyful” when you are young!  Surely this command, (for that is what it is) raises questions in our minds. Would you not have expected the Preacher to take another, more sober, cautious approach? Are young people not prone to throw caution to the winds, especially when they hear words such as these.  Don’t these words of this preacher sound a little like giving young people a blank check to live it up? And if so doesn’t that clash with the whole tone of this book, in which we read that “laughter is foolish” and that pleasure accomplishes nothing? (Chapter 2: 2) Isn’t this at odds with the Preacher’s sober words in chapter 7: 2,   “ It is better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting”?

No these words are not contrary to what the Preacher said elsewhere. Nor are they spoken ironically or tongue in cheek.  On the contrary, this command to live a happy, even an exuberant life is a divine one. It is in keeping with the words of wisdom the Preacher bound on the hearts of his hearers throughout this book. Its in tune as well with the words immediately preceding our text in which the Preacher said that “ Light is sweet and pleasant to the eyes” and it doesn’t matter how long a person lives he is to enjoy every moment.

For life, like light, is beautiful. God hates darkness and gloom. In the beginning the first thing He said was, “Let there be light”. Even older people enjoy light in the morning when the Lord lifts the curtain of night and breathes new life even into old bones, giving new opportunities for seeing and doing what they can.

It is this command to live to the full and in joy that the Preacher bound on the hearts also of the youth of the church. He said to them, “Be happy!” “ Don’t adopt that morbid mentality of those whose eyes only light up momentarily if they should “scratch and win” or their favorite team wins comes out on top. For, despite the fact that there are great challenges, deep disappointments, even chaos and death and destruction in the world, life is still beautiful.

In the days of your youth, when you flex you are growing up and flexing your muscles enjoy life. When you have opportunities to learn and to labour and to love and to sing and swim and go snowboarding, rejoice. If you have a part-time job at Tim’s or at Wendy’s or Fortinos be glad. For you have eyes to see the light, who knows but it but fall on the young lady of your dreams. You have hands to put to the wheel, or the keyboard, to carry a load, to help someone. You have feet to make your way in the world? God gave you life. That you might live it, joyfully!

The Preacher continues in the same vein in verse 10. “So then, banish anxiety from your heart, and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.”

Another preacher has pointed out that there is a direct connection between the two elements of this verse. “ Banish anxiety from the heart and cast off the troubles of the body.”  For life is a unity.  You can’t have the one without the other. Your heart is your ‘engine’ of life, so to speak and the body is the tranny, the kingpins and the wheels. And you, heart and soul spirit and flesh are placed on the road of life!

Yes banish anxiety, from your heart. Not as the world does, by trying to drown their sorrows in a 24 of Labatts. Not by a life saturated by unrestricted entertainment, and by giving free reign to the impulses of your sinful heart and so doing with your bodies as you please.

But neither by hiding in a corner and adopting a monastic, “Do not taste, do not touch, do not see, do not sing” mentality. (Elsewhere the apostle Paul gave warnings against such a mindset as running contrary to those who by graced have been given the mind of Christ.”

To be sure, we are not to forget the last part of verse10. “For youth and vigor are meaningless.”  That’s not meant to be a dose of cold, enthusiasm-dousing water after all. It is simply a reminded that the energy and opportunities of youth do pass away, even very quickly. Those who think they’ll always be without wrinkles and can pump iron for the rest of their days are mistaken. “Therefore”, says the preacher, ”Make the most of the days of your youth.” Yes, seize the moment, seize the day. Walk in the sun, have an adventure, see the world, but do it soberly for before you know it, the days of your youth are gone!

But then what kind of life must you lead and what kind of adventure was the preacher speaking about? If he didn’t open the door to a worldly way of living what is the Christian life-style to which the youth of the church are called?

It is nothing else but a life as a child of God in that covenant relationship he has established and to which we are called. It is that life in the Lord that isn’t a superficial life of fun and entertainment galore. It is a life of devotion to God. Those who do not know such a life find only a fleeting pleasure in that house of feasting, or laughter of chapter 7:2. Such a life is only a caricature of what life is really about. It is that life of frivolity that bombards you with television commercials. These would have you swallow the lie that life is found in submersing yourself in endless pleasure or in striving, striving after worldly gain.

The Preacher knew the temptations to fall for such a lie. That’s why he said it is better to go to a funeral home, than to go to Yuk Yuk’s or to be the life of the party. (chapter 7:2)  The happiness the preacher spoke of is the happiness of living a godly life in God’s service.  We read of such a life in chapter 2. For outside of God and without him there is no real enjoyment. Though you have all the world’s goods and can afford the best clothes and the finest entertainment you eat and drink and frolic in darkness and your end is not in the light but in utter darkness. But in faith, in God and in His Son and Spirit, you can go and eat your bread with enjoyment and you can have your glass of wine with a cheerful heart.

Indeed in God and in Christ and by His Spirit. It is true, the Preacher could only see that Christ ‘through the shadows’. Yet he saw Him every time he went to the temple with God’s covenant people. There he saw the altar of sacrifice. There the prayers, “like the incense” burned on its altar rose before the Lord. There the Lord confirmed his promises to believers and their seed. There covenant children received the sign and seal of God’s promises. There God and His Spirit breathed life into His people by His Word. So that they could go about their daily work with joy! Also in the days of their youth!

O yes seeing those things, having such riches, hearing such promises brought with it the call to lead a life of dedicated service to the Lord. For God’s covenant has two parts, a promise and an obligation. The happiness in your heart must be seen and heard and shown in the work of your hands, the style of your life. There must be evidence of godly joy and contentment not just on Sunday, (though surely then!) but every day of your life and in all you do.

“In whatever your eyes see”, said the preacher. And when, by the grace of God you have banished anxiety and stress and frustration from your heart and cast off troubles from your body. That is, when you live an unencumbered, happy, Christian life that life must be filled!  Not with emptiness, but with joy and love and with honest work. With that gratitude and with those psalms and hymns and spiritual songs the apostle Paul wrote about in his letter to the Colossians. (Chapter 3: 15-17)

Then your parents, and your office bearers, and your other teachers, must be instruments to tell you and show you of such happiness. Then even the elderly must set an example in being ever “fresh and green” as the palmist says. (Psalm 92) “Fresh and green", i.e., joyful in the service of God. Then young people mustn’t be put down but lifted up. Lifted up to “smell the roses” of God’s covenant love and favor, for them and for us all.

Then, if it was possible for the Preacher in his day to direct the youth of the church to a life of happy service to God it surely must be possible for this preacher and for all of us to do so. For the Preacher lived on the other side of the coming of Jesus Christ. He did not yet see the promise concerning the “Light of the World” fulfilled. Like Abraham he could only see “The City” from afar.

But we live on this side! We may celebrate Christmas and Easter and Ascension Day every day. Our “eyes of faith” have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. And he has “trampled out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.”   He came into a world of darkness to give light to those who sat and labored under a heavy load. And He removed the burden of God’s wrath from us! 

Jesus Christ did, the “Man off sorrows,” who only saw the light of day for a short time, before He was engulfed in darkness in our place and for our sake. Jesus Christ who died that we might live. Who was raised that we might be raised to a new and joyful life. Today! Today!  To live, to labour and to  rejoice in Him, always!

Therefore, young man, young woman, put away all thoughts of gloom. And shun all thoughts of careless, riotous living. Rejoice give thanks for every day the Lord allows you to live for Him by the power of His Spirit. For, as Paul wrote to the church of Corinth,  “All things are yours and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” (1 Corinthians 3:23) But, (and I come to the second point of the preacher’s sermon, do so in the recognition that God is the Judge of life, yes of the living and the dead.

2. Life has meaning also in recognizing there is a Judge of life.

“But know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.”  No we not skip over or around these words. Not that they mean the Preacher would take away with the one hand what he had given with the first.

These words are but that the Preacher did not get stuck in the theory that life is a monotonous, never-ending circle. Instead he focuses our attention on the judgment of God that is sure to come. He reminds the youth that while they are called to live a happy life with a guitar on their knees or a violin under the

God calls them, and all people to account for what they have done with his gift of life.

True the book of Ecclesiastes cries loud and clear for the coming of the Messiah, to rescue His people from what seemed to be a never-ending circle of sin.  Yet His coming, for the first time also means his second coming, with judgment is nearer as well.

That judgement of God will also come upon churchgoers. In fact the Bible says that it begins with them! For they are God’s royal people and as the saying goes, “noblesse oblige! “Rank imposes obligations!” God’s royal covenant children, happy, blessed to live by His grace, will surely be called to give an account of what they have done with His precious gifts.

Yet the knowledge of this judgment is anything but a downer. It is all the more reason to be happy and to lead a meaningful Christian life. For it means that God’s people are favored to know His  Word. Knowing of judgment means knowing that we must live purposeful, careful, sober, godly, obedient lives. It means also that life for a Christian may never be a drag. For God in Christ is making progress unto His Day.

To be sure that day of judgment will be a terrible one for those who all the while sat under the preaching and who tasted God’s goodness at his table but did not give their hearts and lives to Him in joyful adoration. (Hebrews 6;12). Unless they repent, and turn to Him. That too was the purpose of the Preacher as we can learn from the very last word of his book. “Here is the conclusion of the matter, fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.” (Chapter 12:13 - we hope to hear more about it D.V.)

Do we hear what the Preacher was saying?  To the youth, that they might ask themselves the question:

What am I doing with my life, my God-given gifts, my youth, my vitality, my brains, my days?  What do I sing and read and watch and listen to?  Am I glad to be a child of God and do I show it in thought and word and deed? On Sunday, surely but also on Saturday. When I am in the company of my parents, and teachers but also when I am in alone or in the company of my boyfriend or girlfriend.

For there is a day of judgment. And we will all appear before God. There are the open arms of a loving Saviour for those who have sought refuge in Him. But there is also the voice of an offended master and Lord. “You are my child, but you lived as my enemy. Go away, I never knew you.”

Therefore rejoice in Him, and serve Him all your days. Could it be that you and I are in love with the world? The apostle John in his first letter (1 John 2: 15-17) said,

If anyone lives the world the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world, (that is the world of sin) the cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes and the boasting of what (man) has and does – comes not from the father but from the world. (Yet) the world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

No let these not rob you of your joy. How can it for it is the truth and the truth, said our Lord makes you free!  Remember your good God and His gracious Son and Holy Spirit. Remember his willingness to forgive and to renew and to set you on the road of life again with new purpose and zeal and joy. For His mercies are new every morning.

Every morning and evening God allows you. Therefore remember your Creator and Redeemer, who gives you a meaningful life even forever! Yes

3. Remember Your Creator/Redeemer of life

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say,” I find no pleasure in them

Remember! In the Bible that always means, Acknowledge Him, believe in Him, trust in Him!  Believe that it is He who created you in a marvellous way in the womb of your mother, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 139. Remember Him who placed you in that covenant of live which never ends.  Recall the wonders He has done, for His people Israel, for His church, for you and for me! (Psalm 105) He adopted you and me to be his own. He provides us not only food and drink and clothing and shelter. He gives us a happy lot in the knowledge of your redemption, your deliverance in Jesus Christ. 

Remember Him in the days of your youth. Why then, especially? Because they may be the only days the Lord allows you in this world, this dispensation. Not every one lives to be forty or eighty and certainly not ninety-six!  Remember him in the days of your youth. Because those are the days when your energy abounds, your hopes are strong your desires vibrant, or should be! They are the days when you will benefit from Christian parents, godly instruction. They days when you have your life before you.

Someone has pointed out that it seldom happens that a person finds Christ in older age. But for many here Christ found us even before we were born! He publicly grafted you into this Christian church at your baptism when you were very little.

In the verses 1-7 of chapter 12 the Preacher went on to speak of how it is in older age so very often. He used very colourful symbolism to make his point.  In older age physical weaknesses are often so prevalent that people are heard to sigh and to say, “ I have no pleasure these days.” For my back is bent and my hearing slips away on me.

Old age, says the Preacher is like a long winter, when light is dark and the clouds come back even after the rain. Old age is when the “keepers of the house tremble.” You may think of one’s arms and hands and feet, as those “keepers”.  In youthful days they are instrumental in looking after one’s home. But in older days they tremble and fail.  You sleep, but not with your “grinders” (i.e. your teeth) and your “lookers” (your eyes) grow dim. The Lord may take away a loved on the one with whom your enjoyed youthful days and so you become lonely as “The doors on the street are shut” and communication is gone because the loved one is….gone.

The list goes on. Old people become afraid of heights. (verse 5) The “almond tree blossoms” says the Preacher.. We would say, “Look how he’s turning grey”. And what about that grasshopper who drags himself along?  Well, there goes a lady, who needs a cane or a wheelchair for she can hardly walk.  Just like that grasshopper with the broken legs, dragging himself along .  And as for the desire for a three-course dinner? ”Forget it for it just doesn’t taste like it used to.

Therefore remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Seize the day while it is day and then joy of it while you may enjoy it! For the time will come when “The silver cord is severed and or the golden bowl broken.”  We may think of a beautiful lamp hanging by a lovely cord. In time the cord snaps the bowl that contained the oil breaks and the light is…. gone.  And what happens to a pitcher let down by a wheel and rope into a well? The wheel breaks, the pitcher falls and the water is… gone.  That’s the way it is with life, when it trickles away and death is at the door.

For man is but dust and to the dust he returns.   Yet, the spirit returns to God who gave it!   To the unbelieving the death of a person is the end. No different from the death of your dog or your budgie.  But no!  For there is a spirit of life that is from God, says trhe Preacher. Form God the Creator and from Christ the Redeemer!

God did not make you an animal. He created you in His image. He breathed the breath of life into man’s nose and man became a living being. And he claims, he owns, yes he redeems that spirit returning unto him.  Your only comfort in life and in death is that you belong to Him, body and soul, flesh and spirit!  His Holy Spirit is our consolation and we know Him as, “The Lord and Giver of Life.” 

Is it clear to us that this message of the preacher is not just for the youth of the church?  Do we realize how important it is for the youth of the church to hear of a meaningful life also from the lips of the aged? How important it is for them to see parents and office bearers rejoicing in their Creator and Redeemer? If Job could say, “ I know that my Redeemer lives and at last He will stand upon the earth then surely we may all say it and believe it and confess it.” For we have heard the Gospel, the glad tiding of God our Creator and Christ our Redeemer!

We know that when he lays us down to sleep, we will awake, as Lazarus did in the bosom of Abraham. And we will arise, as surely as the other Lazarus did, at the call of Christ, whose resurrection is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.

Therefore beloved, confess it with rejoicing.  Life is beautiful in Jesus Christ. For His love is great. “Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless”?  Yes for all who are outside of Christ and His church.  But for those who believe in their Creator Redeemer, there is life, meaningful life to be lived by the power of God’s Spirit now and forever                                                                                         Amen!