Keep Striving to Finish Well (2)

On average, your life will last about 36,792,000 minutes. You’ll sleep for about 12,300,000 of them…eating will consume another 3,000,000…work will take care of most of 13,000,000 of them…that leaves you with approximately 8,000,000. Once you deduct time fro washing, you’re down to about 6.5 mil…if you’re eighteen, then you’ve already used a quarter of your allotment, which means you’ve only got about 5 mil discretionary minutes left.

What are you going to do with them? What are you going to do with this wonderful life of yours that God has entrusted to you?

Life is powerful, but it is passing.

It is filled with purpose, yet lacking in durability.

By the time you leave here today you will have lost at least 60 minutes (I’ll try not to take too many of them)…tick, tick, tick, tick…

time marches on and your life grows shorter by the minute, by the second, by each and every breath…by each and every heart beat…(thump, thump, thump)

We find ourselves today landing this plane on our study of Ecclesiastes. (I know finally).

We have journeyed far and deep into Solomon’s journal of discovery to find what will bring meaning to his life.

Now we come to the text that sets all those things into perspective.

And what we have before us today is a text that is not for the faint of heart.

Please turn in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 12.

One of the beautiful aspects of Scripture is that God used the experiences and talents of the writers to confront us head on with the truth!

This text is no exception…so for our final thought from Ecclesiastes we want to focus our attention on this main thought...

Main Idea: Live a God-Centered Life While You Still Can!

In this text we are confronted with 3 truths that ought to motivate us towards a life that is laser focused on walking in His ways.

Live A God-Centered Life Because God is Worthy of it (1)

Eccl 12:1 “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”;”

We’ve said from the beginning of this study that we are to view everything we read in light of Eccl. 12…so here it is…at the end of his journal Solomon admonishes his readers with the command to Remember…

also = this is the 2nd time he makes this call…Eccl 11:8 “Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be futility.”

Solomon is not being morbid, he is being realistic…enjoy the days of your youth, but understand this…dark days are part of life and death is inevitable…we only have one life, and it is important that we get it right!

One of the beautiful aspects of Scripture is that it doesn’t always paint a rosy picture of life as some want to believe…the Bible gives us a great dose of reality…and when the reality of life sets in, we often want to view life from the bottom side of the stitches and its a mess…but when we begin to view life from our relationship to the Creator, life is enjoyable and beautiful.

Remembering in Scripture is not just a recalling of information that one has memorized…it means to think of, to concentrate on, to remember, it is intentional...it is often a recalling of information followed by action that is appropriate with that recall.

The first occurrence of this word is in Genesis 8:1 “But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.” and again in Gen 9:15 “and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.”

It is used of God in respect to His covenant promises and is followed by an action to fulfill His covenant.

All throughout the OT you see God acting upon His remembrance of the covenant He makes with Abraham...

The new covenant promise is Jer. 31:34 ““They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.””

The action is forgiveness!

When OT saints prayed to God to remember it was a call for God to act upon His covenant promises.

When used of men it means more than to simply recall information…it means to retain in thought so as to act appropriately.

So what does “remembering our Creator” look like...

Remember He is your designer.

Psalm 139:13 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.”

You are not some chemical accident…you are not some glob of cells…you are not a product of your environment…you are wonderfully made the exact way God designed you…He is your Creator.

Remember He is dependable.

He is sovereign, powerful, and all knowing…he knows everything, he knows everything about you…he knows how you work and what you need…he knows what it takes to get you to where He wants you to be.

Many times God brings us to the edge of ourselves so we would stop trusting in ourselves and depend completely on Him.

Remember He is to be your delight.

Remembering God is to be loyal to Him.

Remembering God is to have a desire to be with Him and to love Him.

We are to remember God while we are young (his audience is in part, his son and those in his court)

Don’t let the excitement of being young cause you to neglect him.

Don’t buy into the lies that say “now is the time for me to live for me…there will be time for that serious, religious stuff later.”

Don’t go through life believing you’ll get serious about serving God later.

He is saying, do it now…don’t wait…regardless of where you identify yourself on the age spectrum…NOW is the time to live a God-centered life…before it IS too late and you have nothing but regrets!

Remember your Creator has come to you in Jesus Christ!

Live A God-Centered Life Today Because Life Grows Frail (2-5).

Eccl 12:2-5 “before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim; and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street.”

To prove his point, Solomon now provides a collection of metaphors that accurately depict the process of growing old.

Growing old is not for the faint of heart…it can be a depressing reality…our bodies may decay but our joy never needs to.

evil days — read in light of what follows…unpleasantness of growing old.

The springtime of life will turn into the chill of winter…you can count on it...

Rain will come, daylight will turn to twilight...

Solomon paints a picture of life like a house..

watchmen of the house tremble — arms and hands that were once strong are now shaky

mighty men stoop — the legs are no longer upright

grinding ones stand idle because they are few — teeth…there is not enough on the top to meet the few that are on the bottom.

windows grow dim — eyes

doors on the street are shut/mill is low…ears...a picture of deafness

daughters of song — vocal cords no longer able to make sweet music

arise at the sound of a bird — can’t hear very well, but he is up when the birds sing...speaks of insomnia

afraid of a high place/terrors on the road — afraid of falling, doesn’t like being jostled in the street, leaves early for everything so nobody will be around him...

almond tree blossoms — almond tree was a tree with white blossoms…speaking of his hair turning white if he has any left at all.

grass hopper drags himself along — decrepit old man who can barely walk

caperberry is ineffective — all desires are gone...

eternal home/mourners — the finality of death

Young people listen up…this will happen to you…it is inevitable…as soon as you were born your march towards old age began.

Wherever you are on the spectrum of aging there is no need to despair....

2 Corinthians 4:16 NASB95

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 5:1 NASB95

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

We need to face the reality here that everyone of us has an outward body that is decelerating at an accelerated rate…

the curse of sin impacts everyone and everything…including our bodies...

Solomon’s point here is well taken to understand that we have a responsibility to live for God today while we can because the days are coming when it will be beyond our physical capacity to do so!

Live A God-Centered Life Today Because Life Is Brief (6-8).

Eccl 12:6-8 “Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!””

Again, Solomon appeals to us to remember...

These are all memorable descriptions of death.

This world is not our home…none of us will live forever physically in these bodies we possess now.

Death is pictured here like the snapping of a silver cord and the shattering of a golden bowl.

The golden bowl is attached to the silver cord and the cord snaps sending the bowl to the ground…something precious is beautiful and broken…your light is extinguished.

That is how fragile your life is…when the cord is no longer strong enough to sustain the weight of the golden bowl, it snaps…you and I exist in this finite moment between time and eternity, and in one an instant we may be on the other side.

Death is also pictured as a broken wheel and a shattered pitcher.

The wheel was used to lift the bucket of water from the cistern…the pitcher was used to drink…

Both these items are destroyed and no longer useful to their owner…refreshing water is no longer available...

Solomon continues to motivate us by stating the reversal of creation...Genesis 2:7 states God created us from the dust of the earth and breathed into man the breath of lives…the words spirit and breath are translations of the same Hebrew word used interchangeably…the spirit returns to God who gave it.

In Gen 3:19, God cursed our bodies because of sin and declared they would return to the dust.

v 8 — He comes full circle…vanity…all human endeavors are meaningless without God…death is coming which makes all your pursuits meaningless…so wake up…and live for God now because death plays no favorites.

By stating death is a reality for all people, he calls us to remember God…to think about the truth that God made you and God made you for His purposes, so we are to seize every opportunity to live for Him today because tomorrow is not guaranteed!

Live A God-Centered Life Today Because the Judgment Day is Coming (9-14).

Eccl 12:9-13 “In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body. The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.”

What we have in this last paragraph is essentially an epilogue that applies specifically to the book of Ecclesiastes, it is a commentary on the entire book...but it also applies to the Bible as a whole…it establishes the authority of this book and the whole of Scripture to provide all we need for life and godliness.

v 9 — the words were chosen carefully, were well thought out and arranged in a specific order

v. 10 — they were written in a specific way and communicate truth.

v 12 — lots of books you could read, many things to research but they would only weary you in the end and never provide you with the answers you need.

The amount of “self-help” books that exist today is astronomical, the information of how to have a better life now is numerous, yet why we do have such troubles in our society where children are abused in the name of gender identity, men can be women, women can be men, murders haven’t ceased, corruption at every level of society is clearly evident yet there is no accountability…what is good is called evil and what is evil is called good…why does all this still exist?

Because unless God changes the heart, the heart of man will remain desperately wicked...

The Bible is the only source of truth that will explain the reality of the human condition, the remedy for our brokenness, and the prescription for a life of meaning.

v 11 — it only fits then that these words, (and the entirety of the Bible) be like goads and nails in the wall.

goads were simply a stick to prod an oxen or beast of burden to get it moving, and get it moving in the right direction.

Everything we read here in Ecclesiastes, in the Scripture, are to have that jabbing, prodding influence on us..they are to sting and convict, to get us moving and moving in the right direction of walking in wisdom.

They should also act like nails hammered into a wall…embedded for a long time…the insights you gain for life ought to be with you for all time.

The reason is we know they come from the Shepherd…Jesus…all the truth of the Bible comes from Him so that when we read the words on the pages we hearing Jesus speak to us.

So listen to what Jesus says to you and to me...

Read v 13-14 again...

Eccl 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

Conclusion — the end of the matter…this is it…all has been said…this applies to every person...

Fear God and keep His commandments...

Although Solomon could not see Jesus specifically he is pointing us directly to Him.

A life of wisdom is one that thinks and acts in obedience to the revealed truth of who Jesus is and what He expects.

A reverent awe and obedience to Christ is our obligation…it is the responsibility of all humanity.

When God created man, He designed him for obedience, to walk in His ways.

But when man went his own way, all humanity plummeted into the depths of sin and was separated from God and the life He desired for us…so we needed God to rescue us.

Once we have been rescued, we walk in obedience trusting God, knowing that He will bring every deed into judgment, whether good or bad.

The world is corrupt and in dire need of a reckoning to set things right…we are told here that day is coming.

Knowing a final judgment is coming ought to motivate us to trust and obey.

Every action we take in this corrupt world finds meaning when we make it our goal to live for Him.

God knows what is going on everywhere and with every one.

No one will be exempt from God’s judgment..all humanity will have to stand before God and give an account...

The Shepherd is pleading with us to stop and consider the reality of the judgment day…to convict us, to goad us with the truth....

The bad news is all of us have fallen short and the truth of Scripture is meant to crush us in order to drive us to Christ...

The good news is that Jesus lived the life we could not live…a life that is without sin in perfect obedience to God’s standards…he died the death we deserved…he took the entire curse of sin and futility of death upon Himself to redeem us from the curse and sting of death.

Galatians 3:13 (NASB95)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—

By repenting from our own vain pursuits and turning to Christ in faith, He redeems us and gives us a new life that has great meaning.

There is now something new under the sun…2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” .

The truth of Scripture tells us that all will face judgment; and you will either face it in isolation and be eternally separated from Him, or you can face it in Christ and experience the joy of basking in the Savior’s glory.

Our lives are broken by sin, but after trusting in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, He gives you a newness of life that brings meaning to everything.

You don’t have to stay broken…you can be renewed by God…you can recover and pursue God’s design for your life…regardless of the mess you have made of your life, God stands ready to restore you.

Instead of seeking satisfaction in created things, seek satisfaction in your Creator.

Enjoy life the way God intended for you as you worship Him.

You don’t need to pursue a million pleasures…pursue Christ alone because all the pleasures of eternity are in Him…Ps 16:11 “You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

When we find our satisfaction in Christ, all the mundane things of life…scrubbing dishes, changing diapers, working your job, whatever course God has for you...are filled with meaning.

It is so important that we finish life well even with the mundane!

I’m reminded of what Paul says at the end of his life in 2 Tim 4:6-8...

2 Timothy 4:6–8 (NASB95)

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Before disembarking this plane, I leave you with two challenges...

Your search for a life that means something both ends and begins with Jesus.

What have you been or are you pursuing right now that takes a higher priority than your relationship with God?

Where are you looking to find that which you believe will satisfy you?

Ecclesiastes tells us that our relationship with God is the only thing that brings true, lasting satisfaction.

Do you need to experience the newness of life that only Jesus can bring?

Believer, what has filled your time and pursuits that has pushed Jesus aside?

Regardless of where you land on the age spectrum, it is never too late to live for God today!

In a previous ministry, I had the honor and pleasure of baptizing a 96 year old lady who was afraid of being dunked in the water but knew she needed to be obedient, no matter what…she didn’t know how much time she had left, but she wanted to make sure she got it right…(she would be killed in a car accident just two weeks later)

What is holding you back from living for God and walking in obedience to Him?

The conclusion of the matter is to fear God and keep His commandments…Jesus said it…that settles it.

How will you respond to what Jesus declares to you today?