Ecclesiastes 12:1-14

Finally, the last chapter of this book. I get it now when so many commentaries simply say this is a hard book to give a commentary of. It’s been confusing to me over the years, but one thing I knew I could do was use this book as a tool for evangelism. Last week, we talked about casting our bread into the water. What happens when we do that? 3 things, right? Ducks eat it, fish eat it, or it dissolves. Does it return to us? Does it collect back at the shore? If it’s made out of plastic maybe…but seriously, when you throw your breadcrumbs into the water, it floats away. Do you remember what bread symbolizes in the Bible? God’s Word, Life, fellowship, and our wealth. All of these things should be given generously, right? Freely we give, freely we will receive. Be ready to cast out into the deep if Jesus calls you to something crazy. Make sure it’s Jesus calling you to it, but if it’s His will, there’s no stopping it.

Old Solomon is going to impart his last recorded words of wisdom. In the Hebrew, the book isn’t called Ecclesiastes, it’s called Quohelet, which means Preacher. It wasn’t written to THE church, or a congregation, and if not, then who was it written for? Let’s hear those last words now of the wisest man to live, next to Jesus.

Ecclesiastes 12:1–2 NKJV

1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”: 2 While the sun and the light, The moon and the stars, Are not darkened, And the clouds do not return after the rain;

Remember now your Creator. Thruout this book, we’ve discussed the fact that Solomon, the preacher, has used the word Elohim for God, this is an impersonal creator God, and even though here, he’s talking about The Creator, but again, the word he uses for Creator means former or shaper, like someone who is forming clay into something. When someone has only known wisdom and riches in their life, what happens to them? Do they get you? Do you get them? I own a business, it’s successful, but I don’t make money with it. Others who have run their businesses to enrich themselves have done it right in the eyes of this world, haven’t they? Who are they usually focused on? Themselves. I try to take care of our employees. That has a tendency to get us in danger because it stretches finances, but it’s worth it to take care of our employees.

In Proverbs 22:6 “6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” Here Solomon is reminding us that there will come a time in our lives when we look back at all the time wasted. Isn’t that the truth? I wasted SO MUCH TIME! Is it OK to waste time? It depends on how you’re wasting it. Sitting with your kids looking at the stars or the clouds? Reading a book? Watching your wife do a puzzle? Playing “Call of Duty?” You only have so much time. Solomon is talking to his son letting him know, while you’re young, serve the Creator. It pains me that Solomon had the chance here to use another name for God, instead he choose the word that litterally means “to create.” YOU HAD 1 JOB MAN!

While the sun and light, moon and stars are not darkened…Solomon now goes into metaphors about what happens to your body as you get older…Sun and light, moon and stars darkened, this is pretty clear Solomon is stating there will come a time when our light starts to extinguish. Let’s look at the next couple of verses:

Ecclesiastes 12:3–8 NKJV

3 In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, And the strong men bow down; When the grinders cease because they are few, And those that look through the windows grow dim; 4 When the doors are shut in the streets, And the sound of grinding is low; When one rises up at the sound of a bird, And all the daughters of music are brought low. 5 Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way; When the almond tree blossoms, The grasshopper is a burden, And desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home, And the mourners go about the streets. 6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well. 7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. 8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “All is vanity.”

Explain each of these as metaphors of how we are getting older.

In your Bibles, is there something special about “Remember Your Creator?” It’s in italics in the NKJV. That means, in the original manuscripts those words aren’t there. In the KJV it’s not there. These words get added to help further explain a narrative. If we remove the words, it still makes sense for us, doesn’t it? Just putting your eyes on these words, when you see them, they’re to help make the words flow better for us.

In these verses, Solomon is talking about old age to death. All we are is dust in the wind. Dude. Right? As we get older, the harder it is to change, isn’t it? Ever try to walk away from that pepperoni pizza? You can’t walk away from pizza. I’m sorry, you can’t.

As we get older, life gets harder, and what happens when life gets hard? We lose sight of what’s important, don’t we? We start focusing on that shoulder pain instead of playing catch with the kids, right? To the point where we go…Nah, you guys go play. We miss out on so much just managing pain, don’t we? We break down, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

In the end do we have pleasure at the end of our life? So, like in Ecclesiastes 12:1 “1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them” Now it makes more sense, train up your children when they’re young. Train yourself while you’re young. Don’t wait till the end of your life to live for Christ. You’ll look back and see those wasted years and you’ll be stuck like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, if only the coach had put me in for the championship game…we’d have won.

Does that mean we’ve lost our race if we’re old and we turn to the Lord? NO WAY! It just takes a lot more focus. Some of us catch fire and don’t turn back. You clean up your lifestyle, your eating habits, you realize that your days are numbered and the end is near and you want to stay on the playing field as long as you can. I was taught rugby by 60 year old men. I was 20, and I was tough, strong, fast, and smart. And cocky. Those old men taught me how to play rugby, how to cheat and not get caught, but most of all, DON’T TAKE AN OLDER PERSON’S WISDOM LIGHTLY. They weren’t dumb, they were treacherous. The first practice this guy comes running right at me. I outweighed him by at least 50 lbs. He gave himself up to be tackled, shifted his arms and shoulders back and exposed his party ball around his waist. I hit that thing and crumpled like a rag doll AND I CRIED. I never cry, ask my wife, I don’t when it hurts. I cried, and this piece of iron stood over me and, because play was stopped, and very loudly said “Hurt’s, don’t it?” He stunned every bone in my body, but he was fit. He couldn’t lose the beer gut, but he wanted to work with kids and teach them the sport he loved. These guys were awesome mentors. We need people like that in the church, eager to teach what they know, teach their experiences, the don’t do what I did’s. Once you turn your life over, you’ve got work to do.

Solomon is coming near the end of his life, but this last part of the message is oddly specific, is it not? Does it sound like he’s talking to someone specific? Who do you think it could be? Let’s continue

Ecclesiastes 12:9–12 NKJV

9 And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright—words of truth. 11 The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. 12 And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.

There it is. Who is this book written to? The preacher’s son. Who was this son? Rehoboam. The kid living in the basement waiting to inherit dad’s kingdom. At the beginning of this chapter, we talked about Proverbs 22:6 “6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” Solomon missed the boat with Rehoboam, didn’t he? You bet he did. But, was this book written from an upright frame of mind? I think Solomon was brutally honest in his description of life under the sun in this book.

Why King Solomon refers to himself in the 3rd person baffles me…maybe he didn’t want to be there anymore either. I’ll talk about myself like I’m not even here, but he taught people what he knew, didn’t he? He spoke truth. Even thru-out this book, he spoke truth of life under the sun, without God, without a Savior. Verse 11 I’ve heard old pastor’s use often and it hits home to me. The words of the wise are like goads, what are goads? It’s a stick that’s used for prodding and motivating animals. A wise person’s words should be motivating, shouldn’t they be? Your seat should get uncomfortable at some point in a sermon…as you think we’re talking about you without using your name! Those words direct, correct, and encourage.

“And the words of scholars like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd.” Charles Spurgeon said that a good pastor uses allegory or metaphor to drive home his points like well driven nails, and then bends them off so they don’t come out. We don’t do that very often now, do we? With old nails, though, that’s how you would fasten things permanently. That’s the job of a preacher, to make it stick. Solomon is hoping against hope that his son will not do what he did, chasing after all this information, all this stuff, all these women, because it doesn’t matter in the end. He got so caught up in chasing the things of this world, he neglected his duty before God to train up his child. He talked a great game in Proverbs, but the you can write all the books you want, the preacher needed to practice what he was preaching. What does he say at the end? These last recorded words of King Solomon

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 NKJV

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.

Fear God and keep His commands. This is as close as Solomon comes to identifying the God he wants his son to obey. He could have said Yahweh, in 1 Kings 8 he used the one true God’s name, but he didn’t. His distance from the Lord now from then is evident. Thru this book, it begs the question, did Solomon live a life of obedience? No, he only obeyed himself, he sought after himself, he sowed to the wind and, in the end reaped the whirlwind. He knows he’s empty, and he doesn’t want his son to grow up like he did. The next book after this is from King Solomon’s young years. Why that’s next I couldn’t tell you yet. I don’t know enough about what book was placed where, and why. Maybe I’ll study that as we’re going thru the Bible.

We have to ask ourselves a question here though, why is this book in the Bible? I believe it’s here for a couple reasons. 1) so we can learn that our story is meaningful. And 2) how destitute is this world that doesn’t know Jesus. How empty and vain.

How do we make connections with a hurting person? We show them we hurt too. Why does AA invite people who are successful back? Because they know what the class has been thru, what they’re going thru, AND what they’re going to go thru. They know how hard it is, how lonely, how sad. They need a hero.

Can you define the word Hero? Here’s the definition: an illustrious warrior; a person admired for achievements and noble qualities; one who shows great courage. How do you become a hero? The same way you become a warrior? You have to change everything, don’t you? We just celebrated veterans day, our veterans gave up their lives, their freedoms, their comfortable lifestyles so we could live free. Thank you for being what I couldn’t be…so that I could be me.

To become a hero, you have to be different, don’t you? Is that a Biblical principle? Romans 12:1–2 “1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

To become a hero, you have to be set apart. That’s a Biblical principle also. It’s the word Sanctify. John 17:11–19 “11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” You have to set yourself apart, do the hard things, make the tough choices, stand for what is righteous and good, defend the weak. Heros do that.

To become a hero, you also have to sacrifice. John 15:13 “13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” That’s not just your physical life…it’s your phone, it’s the video games, it’s the big game on TV…people need people. Thruout the creation story, over and over again God says “It was good, it was good, it was good” Then God says this Genesis 2:18 “18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”” Did He make a mistake? NO, He designed us to need each other. He didn’t say whoops, something’s wrong here, where did I put that....No way, He made woman because he knew we’d forget where our car keys are every stinking day. He wanted us to long for each other, because together, we long for HIM! To be a hero, you have to lay something down. Your life is on that phone, lay it down and just go be with someone, no distractions, no games. Just go, be with them.

If you don’t see yourself as the hero the people in your life need right now, the way you change that not to just love them with words or speech, but with actions and truth. 1 John 3:18 our memory verse. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. What is asked more than anything by our teenagers? YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE! If you’ve never told them, they’re right. Tell them. Let your guard down and let your kids know you’re a big failure like they are, but remind them that failure is a word that describes the fact that you didn’t get it right the first time, and you get to try again. Hero’s inspire hope in people. They overcome, they get persecuted, made fun of, they get knocked down, but they get back up. The most powerful moments in movies these days is when we see the protagonist hopeless, when we witness them hit the wall, or in most cases the wall hit them. The rest of the story is what that wall made them into. We have so little faith in the Lord, but he has great faith in us. He brought you thru your bad choices, and even someone else’s bad choices so you can stop the cycle, break the chains. What’s new under the sun? What didn’t Solomon know about? Jesus, and he has us, and we have him. The one who knows our worth and counted the cost and paid the price so that we could have eternal life with him. Is your sin worth your soul? Your soul was worth dying for, to Jesus.

Why does Paul describe the “Armor of God” in Eph 6? Why does he encourage us to put it on? Let’s turn there Eph 6:10-20. Why does Paul give us this description? Is it because he’s chained to a Roman Centurion in prision? Partially, but it’s because he knows that we are at WAR. He knows what’s coming for this world, and this world needs soldiers. Soldiers who are willing to shred who they were and leave it in the dust and not look back, and definintely not play around with it or look back longingly for those old days. I’m sick of the man I once was, and you know what? It took good parents who loved me enough to teach me the things in this book of the Bible, as I learned from their failures and successes. It also took a good woman to stand beside me, to be a wall when I needed a wall, to be a shield when I needed a shield, and to be a stone when I needed sharpening. It also took good brothers to set their jaws and hold me accountable.

WORSHIP TEAM

This book is in my Bible to teach me that my story is meant to be told. My story can change people’s lives like it changed mine. And that it took all of Jesus’ blood to do it. I’m forever grateful, and I want that to be seen in everything I do. I will answer for every stupid thing I’ll do today…to my wife first, but I’ll answer. I’ll answer for the direction of this church body. I’ll answer for the time I spent or didn’t spend with you all. I’ve got a full-time job, a big family, and serving you all. I don’t sleep much right now, but that’s OK. Some things I can’t take off my plate. God makes a way where we see no way.

Just like mine, your story is worth the price that was paid for it. I encourage you all to adopt that same mindset. Who are you to those around you? Are you graceful? Are you merciful? Are you kind? Are you thoughtful? Are you sacrificial? If you’re not, I can guarantee you if you changed that, they would wonder what in the world has happened to you. And, when they ask you why, you tell them why you have the hope in your heart. This book was put in the Bible so we are reminded how we used to look at the world. We all need the reminder and we need it more often than we think. So often we get caught up in our holy huddles and shut the world out so long we miss when the shadow overtakes us. We forget that our lives were in utter chaos, and they might be right now for you…but God made a way for us, for all of us. But God…how many of have that story. It’s time you share it. It’s time some of you sit down with your kids and get real.

CLOSE AND PRAY