If you’ve got a Bible, turn to the book of Ecclesiastes. That’s where we are today. If you’ve found the Book of Ecclesiastes, today we’re in the end of Chapter 2. I’ll tell you a story about this. Isn’t this lovely? This is a great piece of art. One of our core values is beauty, so I thought I would share this. I made this when I was about 10 years old. This is actually a birdhouse. The two holes are for birds. It’s actually more of a bird prison. If a bird got in, I don’t think he would ever get out.

(Laughter)

And I made this with my Grandpa George. I was born in Grand Forks, right on the border between Minnesota and North Dakota. It doesn’t matter. Both sides are terrible, but that’s where I was born.

(Laughter)

And moved out here with my family when I was a little boy and my grandfather moved out from there as well. He was a red potato farmer and a diesel mechanic. He was about 5’6” and about 300 pounds.

(Laughter)

He wasn’t all that fat. Wasn’t all that skinny, but what he was, he was a very, very stocky man. The reason I have large shoulders and the world’s biggest head is because of my Grandfather George.

(Laughter)

And what happened with my grandfather is I loved this guy with all my heart. He was the best grandfather of all time. He lived down in Kent and I would spend the weekends at his house. I would – we would make homemade tomato soup. He loved tomato soup. He had cable, so we watched wrestling a lot.

(Laughter)

Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Sheik. We also spent a lot of time watching Andre the Giant. Sometimes on Wednesday nights, he’d take me down to the old coliseum on school nights and we would watch wrestling and that was the highlight of my young life. As well, my grandfather had in his garage a really nice woodshop and in that woodshop, when I was ten, I went in there with him and this is the first time I ever used a band saw. Basically, the, you know, the Gentile equivalent to a Bar Mitzvah. I got to use a power tool.

(Laughter)

And using the band saw, I cut this out myself. I was about, like I say, about nine or ten, and made it into a birdhouse and he showed me how to use a band saw. He showed me how to use a drill. We painted it and we did this project together. The reason it looks so bad is I was ten and it was my first project. Still couldn’t do much better. But, I remember loving my grandpa, hanging with my grandpa. And then, I remember I was about ten years old. It was around the same time that Mount St. Helens blew up that I was at cub scouts and my mom showed up with my dad and my mom had been crying and I could tell that something was drastically wrong. And what she told me was that my Grandpa George had died. He died. And I remember walking away from my mom and dad. I didn’t cry. I didn’t yell. I was absolutely stunned and complete disbelief. I had never, to that point in my life, thought of death. Never crossed my mind. Never crossed my mind. I had never known anyone who had died and I had never contemplated death. And I remember going home and I remember sitting in my room. And I remember looking at this for a long time and just thinking about my grandfather and all the things we did together, all the things we built together, how much fun we had together. He was a hilarious guy. He was an absolutely enjoyable man in every way.

And I remember going to his funeral. It was the first funeral I had ever been at and I remember the pastor was really a stupid guy. And he got up and what he said was, “Well, you know, George is dead.” And they had open casket, so there’s my grandfather. And I’m looking at my grandfather and he said something that I’ll never forget. He said, “You know, George is dead now. You know, we know that this is the natural cycle of life. This is the way life is and this is normal and we should just embrace that.” I remember sitting there looking at my grandfather in his coffin thinking, “What an idiot. This is not natural. This is not the way it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to go build birdhouses with my grandpa and ride bikes and watch wrestling and eat tomato soup and sneak caramel apples when grandma’s not looking. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing. He’s not supposed to die. He’s not supposed to leave. We’re not supposed to be separated. This is ridiculous.”

And I remember after that time, it got me thinking about death as a kid. For a few months after that, I started having a recurring nightmare every night that my parents died. I started thinking about people that I loved and were they going to die too. It was a traumatic event as a little kid. And it’s weird because this box now is about – it’s about 23 years old, 22 years old. And it’s really weird because I was thinking about it. This box is gonna outlive my grandpa and this box is gonna outlive me. My grandkids will bury me. I hope I live that long and then, they’ll get this box. And then, my great grandkids, who possibly will have never met me, will get this box. And it’s weird because God made me and God made my grandpa and me and my grandpa made this box and this box is gonna outlive us both. This stupid caboose is gonna beat me for years on the earth.

(Laughter)

And, you know, you start thinking about it and you realize that we are a fragile, frail, mortal people and we don’t like to talk about death. Even now, I think one of the things that’s bothering us with the constant news coverage on television of the war is that we are continually and perpetually forced to deal with the concept of our own mortality; that we’re gonna die and that people are dying. People die all the time. It doesn’t bug us very much unless we know them or we witness it. And so, now that we’re witnessing it, it is very, very troubling indeed. And it raises this whole issue of death. I remember when my grandfather died, I didn’t understand death and, you know, had that Bible teacher who was in the pulpit at that funeral been wise, he would have told me that the wage for sin is death, that we die because of sin and that, as well, 1 Corinthians 15 says that “Death isn’t our friend that we embrace.” Paul says that “It is our enemy. It is our enemy.”

And for most of you, you’re young, you’re healthy, you don’t think a lot about your own death. In the history of this church, I’ve done premarital counseling for over 100 couples in the last five years. I have officiated somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 or 60 weddings. I have done one funeral. One. One funeral. That’s it. We are not a people that deal a great deal with death in this church. This morning, I got up and I read the obituary for the first time in a long time, possibly ever. I pulled it up this morning in The Seattle Times and there were 47 people that were in the obituary this morning. The youngest of them was 45 years of age. The oldest was 95 years of age. All kinds of different life pursuits and it was interesting. One woman, in particular, was a teacher who had been teaching for a great number of years and she was just nearing her retirement at the end of this school year, coming up shortly. She was going to retire so she could travel and enjoy herself and she died. Whatever plane ticket she had booked, whatever travel arrangements she had scheduled, they’re not going to come to pass.

And it was interesting. As I was drinking my tea and I was reading the obituary, I looked at the chair that I was sitting in. The chair that I was sitting in belonged to my wife’s uncle – great uncle. His name was John. John was a man who was married to a woman named Gladys. They had no children and he sort of adopted Grace like a grandfather. He was quite a bit older. And we loved him very much. We would go visit him. He lives down in the south end of Seattle and one day we went to visit him and he didn’t answer his door and so, we went in. We found him dead, lying in the bathroom on his floor. He had died. It was the first time I ever saw someone dead. We had to call the medics. I had to console, at that time was my girlfriend, now my lovely wife. And I remember looking at John laying on the floor, dead and gone. Well, the chair I was sitting in this morning was John’s chair. That was the chair that John used to sit in every morning and read the paper and have breakfast. And since he died, we got his dining room set and I’m sitting in his chair reading the obituary. Just sober, sober, sober reality.

Solomon gets into this issue of death. We live. We die. Most of us try to avoid death at all costs. That’s why we exercise. We drink bottled water. We buckle up. We take antibiotics. We lock the doors on our home. We check ‘em again before we go to bed. We’re trying to avoid death. A great fear sets in when you realize your own mortality. I’ve never had a surgery. I’ve never been in a hospital. I don’t like to think about my own death. And what Solomon is gonna tell us today is that we need to begin with the end mind, what Søren Kierkegaard tells us to do as well. That we should realize we’re gonna die. We’re gonna die. Every single one of us. And that we need work backward and try and realize why we’re alive because if we don’t understand why we’re alive, then we will waste the little bit of time that we have until we get to the point of being put in a hole. And it’s weird because we were created to rule over creation and in the end, creation rules over us. The dirt sits on top of us literally.

A sober, sober topic today. We’re gonna talk about death and what Solomon tries to do, he tries to figure out life and death through wisdom and he tries to fix life and death through work. So, here’s what he has to say started in Chapter 2:12. The sober reality of death. An old man at the end of his life says, verse 12, Chapter 2, “Then I turn my thoughts to consider wisdom and also madness and folly.” What he says is this. We’re gonna die. We live until we die. Every day, we’re getting a step closer to death. We don’t know when our time will be up. So, he said, “I tried the two approaches that people take in regards to their death. I tried to be informed. Wise. Well read. Well studied. I will eat good food. I will exercise. I will keep an eye on my health. I will buckle up. I will drink bottled water. And I will live a long time. I will live a healthy and full life. That’s wisdom. Also, folly. I’m just going to ignore it. I’ll drink Budweiser. Watch TV. Live in a constant state of denial. I’ll avoid anything that reminds me of death. I won’t read the obituary. I won’t watch the nightly news. I’ll just try to avoid the fact that I am going to die at some point.” Solomon says, “I tried both. I tried embracing it through wisdom. I tried ignoring it through folly.”

What he says is this. “What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?” When it comes to matters of life and death, he says, “I have done a complete thorough experiment. There’s nothing else to be studied or tried.” And here was his conclusion. “I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise man has his eyes in his head while the fool walks around in darkness.” The question is this. If we’re gonna die, why work so hard to get smart? Why read books? Why go to school? How many of you are college students? Okay. You’re gonna die.

(Laughter)

What are you going to school for? You’re reading books. You’re memorizing things. You’re paying lots of money to read these books and memorize these things. Why? You’re just gonna die. If you’re gonna die and end up in a box in a hole, pained up like a circus clown, why do you go to college? Why would you even go to junior high? High school? Why wouldn’t you just opt out at first grade and make a good, long run at it?

(Laughter)

That’s his point. You know, if you’re gonna die, why not just run out, sin like crazy and forget about it? And what he says is this. “That the world is dark and wise people walk around with their eyes open. Foolish people walk around with their eyes closed.” And he says, “You know what? Having your eyes open or closed, being wise or foolish doesn’t make it light or dark, but it does insure that if at least you have your eyes open, you have a better chance of navigating through the pitfalls and disasters and actually living a decent life. “So”, he says, “it is better to be wise than stupid. It is better to read, to study, to learn, to have insight, to be well informed, to live your life purposefully and plan than it is to just be the person who is very foolish and very silly and very frivolous and walks around through their life with their eyes closed without any sort of goal or objective.”

Now, he goes on to say as well, though, “But”, in the middle of verse 14, “I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.” What happens to really smart, educated, helpful, thrifty, wonderful, glorious people? They die. What happens to brutal, mean, nasty, uninformed, ill tempered, sick, wicked, crooked people? They die. Does that seem fair? Like death, in general, doesn’t bother me. There’s certain people I say, “Well, good. You know, we’re done with them now.”

(Laughter)

“I’m glad they’re not here.” There’s other people you go, “We needed them. They were helpful. That was a nurse. That was a doctor. That was a firefighter. That was a police officer. That was a soldier. That was someone who brings humanitarian relief. These are people who go feed four million kids in Africa. We need them. They’re helpful. Now, these other people, well, you know?”

(Laughter)

“A lot of traffic. We should thin the herd.”

(Laughter)

That’s what he says. This just doesn’t seem right. I’m okay with the good people, but the bad people. I’m okay with the wise people, but not the foolish people. But, the same fate overtakes them both because “The wage for sin is death. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” It doesn’t matter if you’re morally good or morally bad. If you’re morally wise or morally foolish, you’re still sinful and you’re still gonna die.

He says, “Then I thought in my heart”, verse 15 – and this is the issue of meditation. You will not get the book of Ecclesiastes unless you spend some time in meditation. Now, the eastern concept of meditation is I empty my mind to become one with nothing. That’s not – nothing is not an enormous objective. The Biblical concept of meditation is that we take the scriptures and we contemplate them. We consider them. We think about them. I have told you the story before. I’m a tea drinker. It’s steeping. That’s what it is. So that the text sits in your soul and then it gets fully flavored and full bodied. And as you meditate on these things, as you meditate on these concepts in Ecclesiastes, what you will have to do to understand ‘em is to do the same thing that Solomon done is this. To get the scriptures. To meditate on them. To ponder them. To consider them in your heart. And then, as you’re walking through life, thinking through all the events and the things in your life in light of God’s Word and in light of what you’re reading in God’s Word. He says that’s what he was doing. Taking the truth of the scriptures and walking around and thinking through all of his life in light of what God had said.

He said, “I thought in my heart”, verse 15, “the fate of the fool with overtake” who? “Me.” Now, this is where it gets real sobering. This is where it’s not just, “Oh, people are gonna die. They’re gonna die. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die.” How long do you think I’ll live? How many of you think you’ll be at my funeral? How many of you think I’ll be at your funeral? See, we’re both gonna die. Some of you, I’m gonna preach your funeral. Some of you, you’ll attend mine. It dawns on Solomon, “I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die.” And my suspicion is that most of us, like him, live our life without even actually thinking about the fact that there is a finish line. At some point, we’re done. Most of us don’t anticipate that because we’re fairly young. It seems like it’s a long ways off. It seems like we have much time and we will get there in due season. But, we don’t know, do we? We don’t know when we will die. None of us does. None of us does.

And it dawns on Solomon as he meditates on death that death also is coming for him. Okay, and again, define life forward. Live it backward. You’re gonna die. So what? So, figure out why you’re living and then live. “What then do I gain by being wise? I said in my heart, ‘This, too, is meaningless’.” And I told you there, that’s the theme of Ecclesiastes. That word meaningless, in the Hebrew text is hevel. It appears 38 times. And many times in the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms, it means vapor. Your life is a breath. It’s a breath.

You wake up on a cold morning, you take a breath. You see it. It’s gone. That’s your life. He says, “Not only will I die, my life moved so fast.” How many of you, really, if you stop and think about it, the number of years that you have lived seems like an extended weekend? It moves so quick. I see this with my kids. I was just out of town for the last three days. I was teaching down in Florida, got back late last night. I go to kiss my kids when they’re in bed. I’ve been gone three days. They look a little different. I went and taught. Came back and they’re life is moving ahead with or without me. Things move fast. Life moves quick. That’s what he’s saying. You wake up one day and the days are over.

He says in verse 16, here’s another problem, “For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered. In days to come, both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man, too, must die.” When you die, do people remember you? No. Why? Because everyone thinks that they’re very important and everyone thinks that they’re doing very important things, so they’re all focused on themselves and they have no recollection of those who came beforehand. They don’t know. They don’t know. You know, it is a sobering thought. Not only will we die, we will die and no one will remember us. No one will remember us.

And Solomon asked this question and when I contemplated that and when I pursued wisdom to understand death, I came to these conclusions. Everybody dies. I’m gonna die. No one’s gonna remember me and then it’s over and it moves really quick. You see now where people, who come to this conclusion, are they inaccurate? Is he inaccurate? No. Is he depressed? Yes. Some of you aren’t just depressed, you’re honest. You’re just honest. We call it depression when you feel bad. I feel bad because I am the wise man walking around with my eyes open and I look at life and I look at death and I realize that my fate is the same as those who are wise and foolish; and that is to end up in a hole in the ground and it’s despairing. Now, some people walk around with their eyes closed, completely oblivious and negligent he says, but you know what? Whether you are smart or uninformed, you’re still going to end up with the same fate.

So, he tells us how he feels about this in verse 17. What is that? “I hated life. I hated life.” Ecclesiastes is for us. It’s black grace, not white grace. It gives us an honest portrayal of life and death. And I love Solomon’s brutal honesty. He says this, “I hate life. I hate it.” I don’t know how many of you would vote with him this morning. I hate life because I study, I work, I die. What’s the point? What’s the point? “I hated life.” Here’s why. “Because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of this was a meaningless chasing after the wind.” Life is a wild goose chase. There’s no goose. And I’m working, working, working, working, working and it’s toil. It’s hard. It’s a pain. It’s frustrating. Nothing ever gets accomplished. Nothing ever gets finished. I clear up my inbox. It fills back up. I clear out my sink. It fills back up with dishes. I clear out my laundry hamper. It fills back up with dirty laundry. I put the food in my fridge and the next thing I know, it’s all gone. I shave my face and then I’m hairy again.

(Laughter)

Right? I mow my lawn and then it’s up again. I feed my dog and then he’s hungry again. It’s toil. How many of you don’t like your job? Right. The rest of you are liars.

(Laughter)

The reason they pay you is because they know you don’t like it.

(Laughter)

They know you wouldn’t do it just for the pure, sheer joy of the thing. “Oh, I file all day because I just – I’m addicted, really. For me –

(Laughter)

− it’s so fun, I go home and in my free time I file just because it’s so fun.” For some of you, you don’t even get paid for your work. You’re a mom. You’re a student. You’re a volunteer. They don’t even pay you. It’s toil.

Any of you found that trying to do something is impossible? Just anything in general. Just pick anything. Try to do anything. You won’t do it. You won’t. And if you do, will it come undone? Eventually, it will. And because of this, life is frustrating, okay? Here’s our problem with work. Did God make us to work? He did. He said, “Be fruitful, increase in number”, that’s fun work.

(Laughter)

“Fill the earth, subdue it.” Basically, God creates the man and the woman in Genesis 1, puts them in the garden. That is prototypical for what he wants the rest of creation to look like. The rest of creation is still untamed and untethered, but God makes the garden as replica for them to work after. He then tells them, “Work hard. Do as I have instructed you. Build a culture upon the earth that glorifies me and gives you joy and you’ll live forever in that wonderful place.” What happens, though, is the man and the woman, our first parents, Adam and Eve, they sin against God. God is life. By separating yourself from God, you put yourself in the position of death. Sin is what separates us from God and from his blessings, such as life.

What happens then is that God comes after they sin and he pronounces a curse upon them and he tells them that their work will be hard. For the man, his job is to go work the dust of the earth to bring forth a harvest to feed and care for his family. And what he says is this. God doesn’t curse the man. God curses the ground under the man. How many of you men have still found that the curse is in effect? That when you try to get a job that is sufficient to pay your bills so that you can buy a house and marry a lovely woman and raise some kids, that that is almost impossible? You tried this economy to make a decent income? Some of you are unemployed. Some of you are underemployed. And it doesn’t matter what you do, it fights against you. That’s why people keep changing jobs thinking, “Well, this job stinks. I gotta find another job. This one just stinks different than the last one. I gotta get another one. This one stinks too. I see a pattern.”

(Laughter)

“They all stink.”

(Laughter)

“I hate my life”, right? We go to Ecclesiastes 2:17. “I hate this.” Because it doesn’t matter what you do, it ends up falling apart. Everything that is supposed to be under your dominion rebels against you and falls apart. You say, “Why would God do that?” God did the same thing to a woman. Her frustration comes from her husband and her children, right ladies? I know in my wife’s life, I’m probably the greatest source of frustration.

(Laughter)

Some of you, it’s just getting a husband. That’s frustrating. Some of you, getting rid of him is also frustrating.

(Laughter)

That for a woman, it also is the curse, not just upon the woman, but upon that which is under her dominion, the children. So, having children is great pain. Great pain. I have been present for the birth of three of my children, all of them so far. I assure you, the curse is still in effect. It is painful. They bring in a legalized drug dealer for the woman.

(Laughter)

He is called an anesthesiologist. And just watching it was so terrible, I wanted something.

(Laughter)

“Could I get a – something? Could you stick that needle in my spine? Could I get that? I can’t watch.” The issue is why would God make our work so frustrating? So hard? Everything fights against you. Is it because God hates you? No. Because God loves you. You and I are supposed to be under the dominion of God. As we sin and rebel, we frustrate God because we never do what he told us to do. And then, that which is under our dominion, our kids and our jobs, those things that we’re supposed to cultivate and tend to and bring forth life from, God has frustrated those so that they fight us in the same way that we frustrate him and fight against him. And what it does is it shows us that what Solomon calls “life under the sun”, he says that 29 times, life here in the earth is cursed and frustrating. So that what we will do is we will try and live this life in a meaningful way to the point where we end up like Solomon, throwing our hands in the air, saying, “I’m sick of it and I’m frustrated”; and then, looking to God and saying, “What’s going on here?” and then we’re ready to hear the Gospel. “Oh, well, this is the consequence of sin and turn to me in repentance and I’m going to bring forth a new creation, new Heaven, new earth. I will lift the curse. I will give you a new redeemed body. We’re going to have to start over. I have a plan.” “Oh, well now, I’m not quite as frustrated.” God’s just trying to get our attention. That’s all. He got Solomon’s for sure.

See, we work more hours than any other nation on the earth. And here’s what he says about that. “I hated life because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of this was a meaningless chasing after the wind.” A wild goose chase with no goose. Not only that, he hates his job. Verse 18, “I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun because I must leave them to the one who comes after me and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet, he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my efforts and skill under the sun. This is meaningless.” You know what’s gonna happen? This is what he says. “I’ve worked hard my whole life to get nice stuff and I’m gonna die and some knucklehead’s gonna enjoy it.”

(Laughter)

“And he didn’t even work for it. He’ll get it at a yard sale. I paid full price. This stinks.”

(Laughter)

Right? How – this is what we do. We work hard. Why? Money. So, we can have stuff. So we can enjoy the stuff. But, by the time we’ve worked long enough and hard enough to get the money to buy the stuff, we die.

(Laughter)

Dohhh.

(Laughter)

Don’t tell me that. Finally, I got all my stuff. Oh, my gosh. I’m dying. I didn’t even get to plug it in.

(Laughter)

This is terrible. Well, that’s okay. Somebody else will enjoy it. That – not that guy. That guy is an – ahhh, that guy’s an idiot. No! Can’t somebody smart like me, who worked hard, get it? No. No. They’re all busy working. They don’t have time to run around and pick up stuff. How many of you have done this? You have worked for a long time to finally get enough money to get something? And once you get it, you’re so busy working, you can’t even enjoy it. Does this still happen?

I remember staying at a guy’s house about a year ago. Walked into this phat house, big house. Guy had five huge big screen TVs. I mean, it was glorious.

(Laughter)

I sat down at one and I hit the remote and it didn’t work. I sat down at another one, hit the remote. It didn’t work. I tried this. I saw a pattern and I started trying all the TVs. I pulled the batteries out of a few of the remotes. They were rusted and corroded. The guy hadn’t watched TV in so long that the batteries had corroded in the remote control. Five TVs, so busy working, never turned one on. I finally asked him, because I started looking behind ‘em, three or four of ‘em weren’t even plugged in. The guy ran a huge car dealership. He was very busy. And I said, “What’s the deal with all these unplugged TVs that have broken remotes. You know, if you wanna unload one of those, we could do Ecclesiastes and this fool will take it home.”

(Laughter)

And what he told me was this. He says, “Well, you know, I always wanted to have a big house with big TVs and now I’m so busy working, I don’t have time to watch.” That’s what Solomon said. “Don’t have time to enjoy.” How many do you know got a fishing boat and don’t fish? Got golf clubs, don’t golf? Got inline skates, don’t skate? Got a motorcycle, don’t ride? Got a fishing pole, don’t fish? How many people do you know, they buy stuff that they’ve worked hard to get the money for and they don’t even enjoy it. And then you know what’s gonna happen? They’re gonna die and somebody else is gonna go fishing in their boat. Is gonna golfing with their clubs. And watch their TV. You think about it. Where did you get most of your stuff? Who built your house? A lot of you probably got a great number of things, whether you realize it or not, from somebody who worked really hard to make a lot of money to buy those things. They’re dead and gone and now you get to enjoy it. You and I are the fools that Solomon is talking about that frustrate him. That’s who we are.

Most of my furniture didn’t come from a store. It came from somebody else. And Solomon says, “This is very frustrating.” If you could live forever, it would be nice to have a lot of stuff, right? But, the fact you’re gonna die makes it all the more painful. So, he goes on. He hates his life. He hates his job. He’s thinking about all the stuff that somebody else is gonna enjoy. So, in verse 20, “So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill.” You can work hard, work smart, and still, he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This is meaningless and a great misfortune. This is sad. Is this fair?

How many of you, tomorrow morning, are going to wake up fully depressed? And look in the mirror and go, “Okay, why am I doing this? Why do I put my pants on and leave the house? I could just sit here without my pants on. Why am I doing this?”

(Laughter)

“Well, you’re doing this to get money.” “Okay, what am I gonna do with the money?” “I’m gonna buy stuff.” “Okay, what are you gonna do with the stuff?” “Nothing. Gonna give it to somebody else when I die.” Now, I’m depressed. Alright, stay away from sharp objects tomorrow morning. Here’s the point. Verse 22, “What does a man gain? What’s the point for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days, his work is pain and grief.” They never put that on your job application. “We’re looking for someone –

(Laughter)

− who is willing, for a minimal amount of money, to suffer pain and grief.”

(Laughter)

But, if they were honest, like your Bible, that’s what they would put. All the want ads would say the same thing. “We’re looking for people who will pursue pain and grief and here’s your 401K. But, you’re gonna die, so don’t think you’re gonna enjoy that money anyways.” You depressed yet? You should be depressed. But, there’s something liberating about not caring. Just beautiful. You ever see that movie Office Space?

(Laughter)

Right? If not, go home and watch it.

(Laughter)

And read Ecclesiastes and connect the dots.

(Laughter)

Verse 23, all his days, his work, his pain and grief, not only that, even at night, his mind does not rest. Not only does your job take your day, your work also takes your sleep at night. How many of you at night lay awake thinking of things that relate to your job, whether it’s paid or unpaid? Being a mom or an accountant? How many of you lose sleep? How many of you have trouble sleeping? How many of you wake up at night and have so much on your mind you can’t get back to bed? How many of you spend the days off where you’re supposed to be enjoying the stuff you worked hard to get all the money for, thinking about your job and how much there is left to do; and how frustrating it is because it’s cursed and it never gets straightened out, no matter how hard you work, how many hours you put in, how many books you read, how hard you try?

Are you there? I’ve done that in the history of this church. I have woken up in the middle of the night and my mind starts thinking about things and I can’t get back to sleep, so I’m up all night. I’m up all night. Solomon says, “This is the frustrating part. Your labor takes your day. Your labor takes your night. Your labor takes your day on a job and it takes your day off because it’s so overwhelming and frustrating and continual that you can’t let go.”

I’ll give you a couple of principles on work from Ecclesiastes. I wanna spinout just real quick. God to Chapter 9:10. We’re gonna talk about work real quick. It talks about death, wisdom and work. Death is where we’re going. Wisdom is trying to figure out how to avoid it. Work is trying to figure out how to fix it. Chapter 9:10. Here’s what he says. Chapter 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for in the grave where you are going, there is neither working, nor planning, nor knowledge, nor wisdom.” The first thing about work. Should you work hard? You should. When you die, you can’t do anything. There is no accomplishing. There is no planning. There is no pursuing. As long as you’re alive, go for it. Wise, hardworking, thrifty, ambitious people should live in God’s grace. Here’s the question. Why? He doesn’t say, does he?

You wanna know what true wisdom is? True wisdom is not worrying about why. True wisdom is about just doing it. You don’t need a great reason. You don’t need to connect it to some higher cause. You may really just be putting a caffeine in people for a living and you could connect that to some higher purpose or you could just say, “I make coffee. That’s it. I do it hard, and I do it smart, and I do it well. And they get high and they get happy. And that’s what I do.”

(Laughter)

“It’s just a job, so I work it.” Another thing he says in Chapter 10:10 about work. “If the ax is dull and it’s edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.” He gives a little parable here about a logger who goes off to work with a butter knife. And the guy says, “You know, I’m all about chopping down trees.” I say, “Well, that’s a butter knife. I know in public school, we didn’t cover logging, but you should really rethink this plan.” Many of you, literally, are going to work with a dull ax. Your house is disorganized. Your finances are disorganized. Your desk is disorganized. Your computer files are disorganized. Your garage is disorganized. Your life is not thought through with wisdom, planning, knowledge, what he just said in 9:10. You got a dull ax. You say, “I work hard. Hard.” Yeah, but do you work smart? Smart? And if not, that is going to just exacerbate and increase your frustration. Whatever you have to do, think it through so that you can do it in a way that at least is wise and profitable, rather than all consuming.

A last thing as well, Chapter 11. This is just my brief excursion on work. Chapter 11, verse 1. A couple of things he says on work. Work hard, work smart, and here’s the last one. This should be liberating for you. Don’t care. Ohhh, doesn’t that feel better? Don’t care. Why do you freak out? Why do you worry about it? Just do it. Work your job. Work hard. Work smart. Don’t worry about it. Cast your bread upon the waters. Alright, just take your bread and throw it in the river.

(Laughter)

After many days, you will find it again. It’ll come back to you. Give portions to seven, yes to eight. You do not know what disaster may come upon the land. If the clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north in the place where it falls, there it will lie. Whoever watches the wind will not reap.”

If you’re waiting for the perfect opportunity to live your life, you’ll wait forever. “Whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.” “Oh, it’s gonna rain today. I don’t think I should go harvest. I’ll wait for a better day.” There is no better day. You’re gonna die. “As you do not know the path of the wind or how the body is formed in the mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of all things.” Solomon is frustrated because he looks at his life and he looks at his work and he says, “I’m gonna be smart. I’m gonna be wise. I’m gonna figure it out. I’m gonna understand all the cause and effect, earth and the universe, and I’m gonna do this so that I get this result and I’m parentally frustrated because I’m doing this and I’m not getting the result that I was anticipating.” He is living in a world of karma and not grace. Karma says, “You do this, you get this.” Grace says, “Obey me in love and I will take care of everything and you won’t even understand what I’m up to.” We don’t know what God’s doing. We don’t know how God always works. We don’t see his great plan. Even in our own lives, we don’t know. So, what he says is this. “Work hard. Work smart. Sleep well. Trust God.” You don’t know what he’s up to.

“All we see is under the sun”, Solomon says. We think, “Well, I gotta do this to have this happen” and “I gotta do this to have this happen” and “I gotta do this to have this happen” and Solomon says, “You know what? Do whatever you have to do and trust the Lord.” Work hard. Work smart. God still sits on a throne and he, ultimately, is in control.

“Sew your seed in the morning”, verse 6, “and at evening, do not let your hands be idle.” Should you not work? You should work. You should get up and go to work. And at night when you come home, you should take care of your business around your home. “For you do not know which will succeed, this or that, or whether they both will; equally will.” You don’t know. So, don’t worry and don’t quit.

Back to Ecclesiastes 2. Here’s what you should do. That’s your work. Work hard. Work smart. Don’t get frustrated. Don’t give up. Remember that it is God and that he will take care of things. So, what do you do with your life? Okay, some day you’re gonna die. Between here and there, you got time to kill. How do you kill this time? What do you do? What do you do with these days, how ever few or many they may be? Verse 24, “A man can do nothing better than to” what? “Eat.” Oh, there’s a good verse. Circle that one.

(Laughter)

Anyone like to eat? How many of you eat your food in your car? And it was cooked by some high school kid and you ordered it through a clown?

(Laughter)

That’s not Biblical.

(Laughter)

How many of you eat fast? On the run? You don’t actually sit down and enjoy your food? How many of you eat nothing but junk because you’re trying to get your carbohydrates and your sugar level back up to a high so that you can, with your caffeine, kick yourself back into gear? Because you didn’t sleep the night before because you were all stressed out, right? That’s why Starbucks in the morning is like a long line of addicts coming in. Like, “I need a fix. Hello?” Alright, when they get it, it’s like resurrection life.

(Laughter)

Eat. What do you do between birth and death? Here’s a good one. Eat. That’s good. What do you like to eat? You like Italian food? You like Mexican food? I like East Indian food. And I like ribeye steaks. And I like red wine. And I like Guinness. I like Guinness with steak. And I like red wine with cheese. And I like Guinness and steak. And red wine and cheese. And my wife.

(Laughter and Applause)

That’s what I like. Eat. You should spend money on a good meal tonight. You should be a Biblical person.

(Laughter)

You should sit down and just feast. Say, “Well, I’m gonna die some day. There’s no ribeyes in the coffin, so I gotta make up for lost time.”

(Laughter)

I do. I eat ribeye all the time. And as I said many times, some of you get very angry at that because you’re vegetarians. God made cows out of steak. He did that for a reason.

(Laughter)

And I just am trying to obey the Lord in all that I think, and say, and do, and –

(Laughter)

− just trying to enjoy my life. You like to eat? Eat. And drink. See, some of you were raised in churches that said, “Don’t drink.” Well, I’m gonna die someday and there’s no bartender at the cemetery.

(Laughter)

I’m wasting precious opportunity. Am I saying get drunk? No. Have a drink? Yes. If you’re an alcoholic, should you drink? No. Should you cause other people to stumble? No. Should you be like Jesus and drink only good wine? Yes.

(Laughter)

Yes, you should. Don’t buy your wine at 7-11. That is not Biblical.

(Laughter)

And don’t drink light beer. Light beer is a sin. Beer is a gift of God.

(Laughter)

So, don’t drink wine from 7-11. Don’t eat food that was ordered from a clown, cooked by a high school kid. And don’t drink light beer. Because, if you do, you will end up with Solomon hating your life.

(Laughter)

Be Biblical. Be Biblical. You can find nothing better than to eat and to drink.” Sounds good doesn’t it? “And find” what? “Satisfaction in your work.” Now, if you think the point of your job is to have a perfect experience, you will be perennially frustrated, because it’s never going to get straightened out. Solomon says, “Who can straighten what God has made crooked?” No one. To be satisfied. This is a dumb job and it’s never gonna be done. Cool.

(Laughter)

At least I know now. Previously, I was so frustrated. This is dumb and it’s always gonna be dumb. And it’s never gonna get fixed. And I’m gonna die. Ohhh, well, now, that explains everything. That’s why I’m so frustrated. But, now that I know that, I’m not frustrated. Not frustrated because I’m not expecting more out of my job, and my life, and my work than is reasonable. This isn’t Heaven and this is not my god. All of my joy is not going to come from the root of this tree. It’s not going to. So, just be satisfied. I pay my bills. I eat my food. It’s not so bad.

“In addition, this, too, I see is from the hand of God.” Psalm 16:11 tells us that “Pleasure comes from the right hand of God.” This is pleasure that comes from the right hand of God. “For without him, without God, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness.” Here’s the beauty of it. Here’s where we get frustrated and confused. Life is filled with experiences and stuff. So, we live and we get stuff and experiences, thinking we’ll end up being satisfied. Happy. What’s frustrating for us is that the experiences and the stuff of our life is not the same thing as satisfaction in life. People think, “I will be happy through addition. I’ll get more stuff, more experiences, more money, and then I’ll be happy. I’ll be satisfied.” And they’re not. And here’s a beautiful thing. If you forget everything today, remember this. Stuff and satisfaction are two totally different things. Who gives stuff? God. James says that, “Every good and perfect gift comes from God.” Solomon says here, “God gives us stuff.” The bed you sleep on. The shoes you wear. Those are from God. Satisfaction comes from where? Stuff or God? God. Stuff and satisfaction come from God.

It’s like this. You get a – everybody who’s born on this earth gets a can of peaches. Is that good? It’s great. What do you need? A can opener. Otherwise, you’re frustrated, gnawing on the can.

(Laughter)

Because you see a picture of a peach, but the can doesn’t taste like a peach and you can’t get to the peach. Very frustrating. Who has a can opener? God. God’s the only one with a can opener. And what happens is God gives us stuff. And we look at the can of peaches. And we look at the picture. And we sit there. And we gnaw on the can. And we’re trying to break into the can so we can enjoy the peach. Bang it on our head. You know, try and shove it down our throat. Try and gnaw our way into the can. Finally, we get frustrated and we say, “I hate my life. I hate my job. I hate my peaches. I hate the whole thing. I despair. This is toil. This stinks. And God says, “Hey, I got a can opener.” “Oh, yeah.”

(Laughter)

“I need to open the can.”

(Laughter)

“Oh.” And that’s what – that’s the whole point of life. God give you stuff. You don’t enjoy it unless you take it to him. And he will open it for you as an opportunity to be satisfied in it. What we keep doing then, people say, “Well, I’m not satisfied with this spouse. I need to get a new one.” “Not satisfied with this car. I need to get a new one.” “Not satisfied with this job. Need to get a new one.” “Not satisfied with this church. Need to get a new one.” Thinking that that stuff can be opened apart from God. Satisfaction comes from God. You draw near to God, he’ll give you satisfaction. You don’t, you’re just gnawing on a can.

Here’s the last one. “But to the sinner”, the person who tries to open the can without God. The person who tries to enjoy life without him. The person who tries to savor all of his gifts, without receiving them in worship. “To the sinner, he gives the tasks of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This, too, is a meaningless chasing after the wind.” What he says is this. All those people who don’t love God that are stacking up all this stuff, who’s gonna get it? The people who love God. It’s true.

This room was built 20 years ago as a what? It was a hardware store. That’s funny.

(Laughter)

Why did God have people build a hardware store here? So, we could come sing songs to him. That’s funny. Five years ago, a boat company did an $850,000.00 renovation on this room. They put in sprinklers. Four thousand square feet of classroom space upstairs. New heating. New air conditioning. And new electrical. Where are they? Do you see any boats here? They’re not here. Why did God have them do that? Because we didn’t have an additional $850,000.00.

(Laughter)

Between the hardware store and the boat company, he saved us millions of dollars. Like Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 11, “You don’t know what God is doing.” You say, “Oh, there’s a hardware store.” No, actually, that’s a church and we just gotta get all the hammers out.

(Laughter)

And, eventually, it’ll be a worship place. That’s how God works. The home you live in, probably someone who didn’t love Jesus built it. The car you drive, probably someone who didn’t love Jesus constructed it. The things you enjoy were made by people who, for the most part, probably don’t love Jesus. And they give their whole life working, studying, trying to construct things that now you what? You get to enjoy. You get to enjoy.

I’ll close with this. Here’s the point. Are you gonna die? You’re gonna die. When are you gonna die? You don’t know. This may be it. You may be done. You’re gonna die. Promise you. Does that scare you? Does it scare you so much that it paralyzes you with fear and robs of actually living your life with reckless abandon and freedom and joy? Are you living under the myth that some day you’ll live? Right now, you’re just really busy trying to get everything in order so that you can be happy. See, that’s what we do. “I’m gonna work hard today to get everything set up, so that tomorrow I can live. Oh, well, it’s still not quite in order. In a couple of days after that, I’ll work really hard to get everything in order so that I can live and I’m gonna be happy and satisfied. Oh, crap, I died.”

(Laughter)

“Dang.” Life is hevel. Life is breath. Gone. Here’s the key. What happens when you die? Hebrews 9:27, “Appointed once for you to die and then judgment.” The God you gave you life. The God who gave you all the stuff. The God who has frustrated your life so that you would turn from worshiping your stuff and turn to worshiping him. He’s trying to get your attention. He’s going to judge you. He’s going to judge you. For me, I laugh at death. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, “Death where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?” Doesn’t bother me. I’ll miss my wife. I’ll miss my kids. I sure hope I die last. I hope I have to bury my wife. Excuse me; I hope my wife doesn’t have to bury me. I hope I outlive her so that I can deal with loss and not her.

But, I don’t fear death. See, the beauty of it is for me, God came under the Son as Jesus. Lived without sin. Enjoyed his life free. Died on the cross for my sins. Punished in my place. The wage for sin is death. He takes away my death. He rises to conquer my sin and death. He gives me his life. He calls it eternal life. That’s a quality that begins now. And that’s a duration that extends forever. I’m not gonna die. I’m not gonna face judgment. That was already done on the cross. I don’t need to worry about the end. All the end is for me is a transition into the presence of Christ where there is joy forevermore. And eating. And drinking. And singing. And laughing. Here, is just practice for the kingdom. That’s all it is. I don’t take it too seriously.

The whole earth is gonna burn. God’s gonna start all over. I work hard. I do what I can and I sleep good at night because I’m not God. I’m just some stiff working a job. And I love you. And I love this church. And I know it’s meaningful work. But, I don’t know what God’s doing and I don’t pretend to. I just do my part and then go to bed after I’ve eaten my steak and drank my wine.

(Laughter)

You’re gonna die. So, what should you do? You should live because there’s not much time. There’s not much time. If there’s somebody you love, you better kiss ‘em today, just in case. If there’s somebody you’re angry at, you better forgive ‘em today, just in case. If you’ve got time for a nap, you better take it today –just in case. If there’s a fat meal to eat, you better eat it today, just in case. If you don’t know Christ, you better come to him today, just in case. If you’ve got dreams, goal, ambitions, you better chase ‘em today, just in case. Don’t worry about death. Confess your sins to Jesus. He’ll forgive you. Death is taken care of. Then you are free to live, laugh, eat, drink, work, love, die. I’ll pray.

Father God, we love you so much. I thank you for this great gift of death, for without it, we would have lived forever as sinners on the earth, harming one another, separated from you, without hope of redemption. I thank you so much that we die. I thank you so much, as well, Lord God, that because of Jesus Christ, not only do we die, but we rise in victory over sin and death. With new bodies and new creation and new life. You’ll wipe all the tears from our eyes. That we will see you face to face. That we will know you as we are fully known. That the sin that separates us, the sin that separates us from you will be taken away. That all those who have died will rise with us.

I thank you, Lord Jesus, for being the first fruits. For going first. For being our God who has tasted death. It is enough, Lord God, that we should taste it. It is grace, indeed, that you have tasted on our behalf. I thank you that with all my brothers and sisters, one day, we shall rise. And I will introduce my great, great grandchildren that I never met to my grandfather. And that we will be your people. And we will sing your praises. And we will do so in your presence, as we feast at the wedding supper of the Lamb.

God, in the meantime, please keep us in a sober spirit where we take you very seriously. We take ourselves very lightly. That we don’t keep playing this carrot and stick game where we keep anticipating that tomorrow we will read our Bible. And tomorrow we will pray. And tomorrow we will repent and tomorrow we will love. And tomorrow we will kiss our spouse. And tomorrow we will wrestle with our kids. And tomorrow we will mow our lawn. And tomorrow we will take our nap. And tomorrow we will eat our food. And tomorrow we will drink our wine. And tomorrow we will laugh deeply. God give us the grace to do so today because we never know. Amen.