Lesson - Chapter 12
Intro
- Remind us of some of the themes of Eccl. Life is a vanity, things will not last, eternity
alone lasts, enjoy the gifts you are given b/c they are from God.
- The young and the dying
- Playstation launch, friends debuted, Forrest Gump, Lion King, Nelson Mandela was
elected president, Justin Bieber was born, all happened in 1994 before iphones and
ipods. Time moves quickly, 30 years before this, we landed on the moon.
Body
1. Youth - A Time to be Enjoyed
- As you get older your mind and body grow in dissonance. Your body will age and
your mind will still think you are young. People will do anything to fight this. The
average 65 year old couple will spend $315,000 on medical expenses till the end
of their life or 6500 per year. If your goal is to maximize how long you live and
how well you live you can do so, there are orgs that will take your money and
help you. But they can't stop death.
- The realistic embrace of life and death should not lead to despair, but to embrace
life and live wisely
- The time of youth is great, the sun shines and is pleasant. It is a good thing to be
enjoyed. Think about a person who is given gifts and bright days, then what
would be your opinion of them if they walked around in gloom. If you give yourself
over to being grumpy and bitter, God will bring judgement to you as the text says.
These days will not last for long, but darkness will come, youth is fleeting so
remove vexation from your heart.
- To not drink from the deep well of goodness that God gives you is sin.
- How can we live in a way that rejoices in all days? By remembering the Lord.
- How can you see this joy or lack of it affecting you as you turn 60, 70, 90?
2. Dying - The End of Days
- There will come a day when you are not youthful, when, as the passage states,
the lights will dim and go out. How you have lived will affect you. One
commentator put it as when you are young you are building the house you will
live in when you are old. The bitterness and grumpiness will be thorns and briars
around the door, there will be a stench from dead plants instead of the aroma of
flowers. You can make it a prison or a palace. You hang beautiful pictures in that
house or you can sow weeds.
- Your hands will tremble, your legs will be weak and bent, your teeth will fall out,
your eyes will fade, your ears will grow dull, and so on. It is a sad degradation of
before. Time no longer heals but breaks down and will end your life. This is what
we are all headed towards.
- You can fight against that or embrace the life you have before you have the real
gain of life, of going home to God. It starts now, with being thankful for little
things. Otherwise you will be thankful for nothing, and no one likes the old, bitter,
cantankerous person.
- What are your thoughts and attitude of your future state?
- How might it challenge and shape you presently?
3. Last thoughts of wisdom
- Why are all these words written down in this book?
- Solomon arranged and wrote these words down and ultimately it is the Lord, for a
purpose, that we might be changed. Words have power to change, especially
God’s words.
- They are there to delight. Without the words of God, there is no beauty for there
is no truth. This “gloomy” book has told us over and over again to enjoy life. You
will be tempted not to or to look in the wrong places.
- And they are there to correct. They are goads, sharp sticks to keep us on the
path. The bible should make you wince from time to time.
- What attitude is struggling in you? The pleasure of the bible, or the pain of the
bible? There ought to be both.
- A test for delight is when was the last time you were surprised by the bible? You
should read it like a child expecting to learn new things about God.
- A test for pain is when was the lat time you were humbled and wept? When did
you submitted to what it said even if you didn’t like it?
Application
- This is one of the more challenging books in the bible. I pray that it affected you that you
were jabbed with a sharp stick and reminded of the joy we are called to have in God.
