"Final" Thoughts

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 55:16-23

Psalm 55:16–23 ESV

But I call to God, and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice. He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me. God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, Selah because they do not change and do not fear God. My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant. His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.

Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15

1 Thessalonians 4:13–15 ESV

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

Sermon

Good morning church.

I was glad when they said to me, let us go and Worship in the house of the Lord.

Well to just get this out of the way. Happy Mother's Day! to all the mothers, people who may one day be mothers have mothers. To Those who celebrate Mother's Day for whatever reason, happy Mother's Day to you.

And today, we will be having a Mother's Day sermon... Kind of… We'll be having a Mother's Day sermon just like we had an Easter sermon just like we have... Other sermons… So we are going to do what we always do: We just keep going through this book.

But how then can I say This is a Mother's Day sermon? Well what do you usually get when you go to church on Mother's Day... You know… another church. What will you hear? It'll be a sermon on “Why mothers are important.” okay… or “How to be a good mother.” Great.

Well. Mothers are important because God gave them to us… It's part of the fabric of how God made us with families and mothers, Part of How God has ordained life here under the son is that we all have mothers… so that's why they're important… there's their whole Mother's Day sermon there.

And and how do you be a good mother? Well... you teach your children what the word says. And so, what mothers need today I believe is to just go through God's word to continue, going through it to hear words to be instructed so that we can then teach our kids. And so that's why this is a Mother's Day sermon. And maybe... I don't know. I might surprise you we might try have specific application... Or maybe not… you'll have to pay attention and find out… Which is a long way to say we are just going to continue our way through the Book of Ecclesiastes.

And you know, we start with a normal Mother's Day sermon title. We have this week “final thoughts”

you might be thinking, maybe some of you are excited. Does that mean this is the last sermon in Ecclesiastes? No. It does mean that, sorry. Though, we're getting very, very close to the end. But the idea of this being the final thoughts, as we read it, there are two things… And there are two ways to read this…

The things we are going to talk about and think about that Solomon's going to wrestle through are final things, right? So we're still talking about death, Happy Mother's Day! we're still talking about these difficult painful subjects. But the other reason these are the final thoughts is from here. After this passage, we will get to In many ways, the main case that Solomon's been building to. there is an old Joke that when the pastor says “in conclusion” there is only 30 minutes left of his sermon.... well, Solomon is kinda saying “in conclusion” and he has three more chapters of his book... But here a lot of the, when you think of Ecclesiastes... the depressing hard difficult, vanity, those sorts of things… Those sort of wrap up this week, and then as we go on, it'll be a lot of wisdom.

How to live your life... wise words… Some confusing words, you know, to make you long for some sermons to come.. I know everyone's been waiting for, it'll be in a few weeks: Ecclesiastes 11:1 “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” cast your bread upon the waters, what's going on there?

So we have a lot of wise words to come but here we are going to deal with the last sort of very heavy, heavy section, Where Solomon's going to reflect on and think on final things end, things end of our life, sort of things and he will bring to us wisdom. But here at the end, his tone might begin to soften (just a tiny little bit!) and he will give to us here something that we desperately need.

Let's get to it. Ecclesiastes chapter 8, verse 16. I'm going to go into chapter 9, verse 6. This morning.

Ecclesiastes 8:16–9:6 ESV

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out. But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Let's open with a word of prayer.

Our Father in Heaven. We thank you For today. We thank you for another day that you have made that we may rejoice and be glad in it. We thank you for the precious gifts that you have given us today, especially we do think of mothers. We thank you that you have made us such that there are those who care for us, who nurture us. And so we thank you for that, but more than that even we thank you for your word. That you are. Ultimately the one who cares for loves us holds. Us keeps us and teaches us. And so we do pray that you would teach us according to your word this morning, we pray that you would reveal yourself to us Give us eyes to see and ears to hear. May, we be a people who hear your word and are changed. It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. And amen.

Well, here we go. Our final thoughts. Here is a very difficult Rather brutal... in some ways… section. There's a lot of hard things that we have to work our way through. But we're gonna end somewhere. I think that's very good. But let's start here the way I want to look at this passage. There's Large sections. So we're just going to look at the words that tie them together because they tell us a lot.

The first section. Verses 6, the end of chapter eight. So 16 and 17 of chapter eight. This is the “cannot” section.

“CANNOT”

Solomon here is going to wrestle with and and deal with and sit in what we cannot do. And what can't we do? a lot! But what specifically can we not do here? Well. We can't sleep.

This isn't just like a, you know, “cpap's not working... Can't get sleep.” He says, I applied my heart to know wisdom to see the business that is done under the Earth... I'm starting to think and here's what happens. Neither day nor night. Do one's eyes see sleep.

There's no sleep here. There's no rest. More than just what he has been saying… this one is going to be a bit deeper and more difficult… Right. Go to bed tired and wake up tired. The grind of each and every day starts to wear upon him.

What is keeping him up? he thinks about all the things that God does… Verse 17 “and I saw all the work of God.” And what happens.. well Ultimatly the answer to “what are all the works of God is: “I don't know.” Because verse 17 continues: “Man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun”

I cannot find out and know all that God has done. This is the final resignation of Solomon to the thought that he's been building on over and over and over again. There's a time for everything, a time, to be born, a time to die, A time to mourn a time to laugh, God's in control of them... And I may not know how that all works. All of these things …

The things that God does right that there's vanity, that takes place that the good things happen to bad, people and bad things, happen to good people. And here's the point Solomon is making you cannot Understand it all.

Verse 17. Then I saw all the work of God and that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun... We can't know all that God is doing. No matter how hard you work, you're not sleeping day or night, you don't get to sleep. What are you doing? You're trying to ponder and understand all that God is doing, you can't know it. However, much man may toil, he will not find it out.

Even though a wise man claims to know it, he cannot… here's that word again… cannot find it out.

Anyone. Anyone. Who comes to you and says, I can tell you all exactly everything how God is working everything out in all times in every season Is lying. We cannot know that. For God is above us. The foolishness of God is higher than the most lofty thoughts of man and to dare to say that you know all that God is doing is… as Job learned… to speak of things, far too great and far too wonderful for you to ever even utter.

So if some wise person… and here we should probably read this a bit sarcastically… if some “wise guy” claims that he can know everything. He's lying. He can't know it. No one, the wisest man, the greatest Guru, most wise Shaman, most gifted Pastor, most eloquent person, most wise person, they cannot know everything. Specifically, they cannot know All the works of God.

So, stop trying

How can we make this a Mother's Day sermon? It's okay. To not have all the answers. It's hard work. Being a mom, it's hard work, being a parent. Kids may come and ask hard questions. It's okay, not to know the answer. Solomon's been saying this a lot. I feel like I've been saying a lot in this book of Ecclesiastes. What's the real answer here? I don't really know. We trust God.

We cannot know. And as we get to the final thought here. It's a reiteration of what we've been saying. So trust in God, you can't know it. All you won't understand it all, okay? God is still good. His works are good. The Works of his hand is good. James says every good and perfect gift comes from his hands. God is good. Trust in that. You can't know it all. That's okay. I'm standing before you today. Admitting I don't have all the answers and anyone who says they do is lying. Solomon has said, even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.

And As he thinks through this he starts to think. Is everything the same?

“SAME”

But all this, and I think that in chapter nine here, when he says all this, he really means all of Ecclesiastes, all the vanity, all the pain, all the sorrow, all the toil, all the wisdom, all of this. I laid it to heart examining it all. And what does he realize? Here's a first important. That the righteous and the wise and all their deeds are in the hand of God. Okay. God is sovereign… but Solomon’s not done… this is a good news bad news situation for a second… because Here's the problem. Here's the problem. He lays it out for us:

Whether it is love Or hate Man does not know, both are before him.

This is a difficult saying and this is what we'll be talking about Thursday at Grace group. So if this question is laying on your heart, come Thursday night, but I'm going to try to give you the quick quick short answer here.

Solomon looks, he says, look the righteous the wise and all their Deeds, everything they do God holds in his hands. Here's what is hard to determine sometimes. Does God hold me and hold my Deeds Out of love Or hate.

Now, that's a hard question. That's a real question, though. Again we we we're called to look back to what we talked about last week and good things happening to bad people and specifically here Bad things happening to good people.

We read and we know that like Paul says that no discipline is Pleasant in the moment... But there's those times that weigh on our heart where we think: But is this discipline? Or is this just anger? Is God out to get me? Or is God trying to teach me something?”

These are difficult questions and the man that Solomon is talking about here doesn't fully know. And why doesn't he know? Because it feels like both are before him. It's the same for all. And now he goes on this thought, we've been dealing with over and over and over again. All die... the righteous and the wicked, they die… the clean, and the unclean, they die... those who offer a sacrifice, those who don't offer sacrifice they die… the good one he dies… The Sinner he dies… the one who swears an oath, who promises to follow and love God He dies… the one who does not do that, it just lives his life However, he also dies…

This is an evil. Solomon says that is done under the sun. That the same event happens to all. It's the same.

BUT… “Same” is the word, this ties this together... But is it really the same?

Solomon's given us the answer here. It's hard to know sometimes is this love. Or is this hate? It feels the same. But it's not.

It feels the same sometimes. But it's not.

Here, I think it being Mother's Day Is helpful. Because we, as parents seem to know and understand this Well... But yet, when we're children, Sometimes it's hard to see.

Jayden when he was a kid… I’m gonna pick on him because he's helping in the nursery and can't defend himself. Just kidding. You know, we would talk to him. And he would... He would tell us a lie... Now we got to discipline a kid, every parent's favorite thing in the world to do.

Jayden. You told a lie? We don't want you to be. A kid who tells lies. And for Jayden… this is the difference between two different kids, tell that to one one kid and she's like, meh, whatever, tell it the other And it would just break him. You're calling me a liar? Do you not love me anymore? No Jayden, We're not. There's a difference. It might feel to you the same, like we're just coming down on you, that we think you're a liar. But that’s not the case, We think you're called to something better. This is love. Not anger that we bring this to you.

As a parent, We can know and understand that -- as a kid sometimes it's hard for us to understand.

Blow that up to Solomon, says our life.

Sometimes when God does things to us, it's hard to tell. Is this out of anger or Grace. But he is our father in heaven. Can we know whether this is love or hate? Yes, we can. God loves us. Again Thursday, we'll dive into all the ways we know this and how I can be so confident saying this, you'll just have to trust me on this one.

You can know That God works all things out for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

He gives us his own son, will he not with him graciously, give us all things, that's our hope.

It may feel the same. It's not. And Solomon knows it's not. He's gone through this. This is why he was able to say earlier wisdom is better than folly though the same thing happens. Wisdom is better than Folly. Why? This is why: It's not actually the same.

How do I know this? We get to our last point. We get to the most important point: “HOPE”

“HOPE”

WE have hope… but again… it is Ecclesiastes hope… but hope nonetheless

But verse 4. He who is joined with all the living has, HOPE

That's the difference.

We get to the end living and dead. It's like, if you are alive, if there is breath in your lungs, there is still hope. Hope, for what? Well, let's deal with hope and Ecclesiastes first. And then, let me give you some hope in the rest of scripture, if you'll bear with me for a little bit.

What hope do you have? Well, Solomon says The hope you have. Is that you know, you're going to die! Congratulations.

Verse 4: The living dog is better than a dead lion, right? So here he's saying, well, it's better to be the weakest Most... dog does not mean Like we're not thinking of your pet dogs that you love here. A dog is like a scoundrel mutt that walks around with like a pack of other dogs causing a Ruckus. No one likes. Barely surviving.

Lion. Graceful, Majestic, powerful Beast.

He's saying the worst most hideous dog alive. Is better off than the most dead lion, right? But then the Point in verse verse 5.

Ecclesiastes 9:5 (ESV)

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing,

Right, we can't know everything. You won't know everything. It's impossible to know everything. But you know this: And the same event happens to us all that same event is here. And Solomon says, the living have hope for the living know that they will die.

What is he saying here? Here, he's hinting at We got to remember this phrase that's been repeated over and over and over again. “Under the Sun”.

Knowing that we will die. Helps us to see and understand. That there is more to life than what's under The Sun. When we started this series. I I convince the elders to let me buy books for everyone. There's still one more copy for free in the back. If you did not pick up your copy of “living life backwards”, there's still one in the back. It's free. Just grab it on your way out. The point of that book. Which has been the point of Ecclesiastes. All the way in chapter nine… maybe I should have waited to give you that book till chapter nine. But here that point comes to fruition.

Realizing that this life ends causes us to see that there's more to life than just this Life. It gives us an Eternal mindset. The mindset that was spoken of earlier in Ecclesiastes, when Solomon said, God has placed eternity in the hearts of man, but yet has done so in such a way that we cannot see the end from the beginning.

So, get out of under the sun. Here's the Hope: the hope you have is that there is more to life than just this.

What's the Hope?

First Thessalonians Chapter 5.

What's our hope? In 1st Thessalonians Paul is instructing this church. That has some sort of broken views, right? They have this warped sense.

The church in thessalonica... We cover this years ago Now, when we went through this series… There was this thought of like you die and then you're gone and then there's nothing. There's no hope for them... And what they're saying there is flying against what Solomon saying.. Solomon is saying: the living have this, hope to know you're going to die and that there's more to all of this and there can be value and there can be meaning… That's me saying the quiet part of Ecclesiastes.

You know, you'll die but there's more When we die, it's not just darkness and then nothing.

1 Thessalonians 5:6–10 ESV

So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

Paul is using a euphemism here. Sleep here =death.

We trust in God, why well because he has not destined us for Wrath, but to obtain salvation. So that whether we are dead or alive, we might live with him.

That's the point.

Earlier in Thessalonians. Paul had said we do not mourn like those who have no hope. Here's the point. We obtain salvation, that's our hope. And then through that... that becomes the lens that we see everything else.

We cannot know all that God has done, but what we can know is what we must know that is that Jesus came lived died and was resurrected on the third day — that you can know, that you must know.

It feels like everything's the same, but we can say this, this light momentary Affliction is not worth comparing to the weight of Glory. That is waiting for us in Christ. We have hope we have hope that one day. Either he will return or he will call me home. Either way, I will be with my savior in heaven. Praise the Lord for that. That's my hope.

And that's what I rest in.

And those are some pretty comforting, final thoughts.

Let's pray.