The commencment

Text: Ecclesiastes 9:7-12

Title: The commencement

D.T Learn to be content where your feet are.

Introduction: READ Ecclesiastes 9:7-12

Ecclesiastes 9:7–12 ESV

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.

Ecclesiastes may be in the Old Testament, but it REALLY feels relevant to our lives today. This passage hits you over the head with how easily we relate to its words.

This passage is also relevant to our series “Extreme faith makeover” because Solomon's conclusion is that we take joy in our gifts, career, and family. Three aspects that sometimes require a makeover within our faith.

We are going to work though the passage over the remainder of our time. However before we do that I want to tweak how we approach this text.

This book was written with the 21st century western civilization in mind. So the way it presents its case doesn’t always follow the way we think in the 21st century United States.

So I’ve tweaked how we approach the text slightly. We are going to start by looking at verses 11-12 first, and we’ll finish by working through verses 7-10.

As we work through this text, there is something specific I want you to imagine. I want you to imagine these words are being spoken during a graduation commencement speech with hundreds of idealistic young graduates waiting to leave their mark on the world listening.

Fortune is fickle

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 make up a section of this passage I like to call “fortune is fickle” and it’s just Solomon being real about the fact that worldly success is unpredictable that is most influenced by time and chance.

Ecclesiastes 9:11–12 ESV

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.

If this was a commencement speech it may sound like this

To those on athletic scholarships he may say. The best athlete on the field doesn’t always win. In fact you may see less talented athletes win more awards. You may even see less talented athletes make it to the professional level.

To the wise and stable kids he may say. Just because you are wise and you stay on top of your finances and stay out of trouble, that doesn’t mean you are going to have food on the table. You may see people who live fast and loose provide for their families more easily than you.

To the valedictorian and honors students he may say. Scoring a 31 on your ACT doesn’t guarantee you will get the best job. You may very well see people less smart and talented than you get the promotion. This may lead you to say “I should open up my own business. That’s great, but it doesn’t change anything. You can have the best company or firm, and you may also see inferior companies and firms get the majority of contracts and clients.

During the span of your career you may see a golden age akin to that of the roaring twenties! Or you may see hardship akin to the great depression.

When you see the super rich and successful, they may very well have talent. However what set them apart from everyone else is the fact that somewhere along the way they caught lightning in a bottle.

This would be a rather depressing commencement speech, It make have put a damper in the spirits of the idealistic and eager graduates.

That’s why it’s really important the speech doesn’t end there. Instead Solomon says “since everything we just discussed is true, what do we do next?

The key to contentment. Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 provide the key to contentment

Ecclesiastes 9:7–10 ESV

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Solomon starts by saying the word go! Anytime this word is used in the bible, it's meant to encourage the listeners to spring into action. Don’t be idle, instead be proactive, move with purpose and direction.

If Solomon was delivering this as a commencement speech he’d say “don’t let everything we just discussed discourage you. Don’t let these words cause you to be idle or apathetic. Get up and make the most of the life God has given you

If God has blessed you with food and drink, enjoy those blessings

Enjoying a nice cool drink on a summer evening. Enjoying a BBQ on a warm day, or hot chocolate when its cold, or comfort foods

Even if the doctors have put you on a diet where you can only eat kale smoothies, you enjoy those kale smoothies!

God will use you whatever your career is.

In verse 7 Solomon says God has approved what you do. Translations like the KJV, NKJV, and NASB articulate this passage better. Those translations say “God has already approved your works”

Solomon isn’t saying our works save us, that idea is contrary to scripture. However Solomon does seem to be saying God has approved your labor in life. In other words whatever your trade or career God has approved it because he can use you regardless of whatever career path you choose.

This idea is reinforced in verse 10 where Solomon says whatever your hand chooses to do, do it with all your might. In other words whatever your labor or career, really invest yourself in that work.

This is actually really important for young adults to hear. Many young believers struggle and stress with the question “What does God want me to do with my life? This passage reminds us that God can use us in WHATEVER we choose to do. (List careers)

Enjoy the blessing of family. The readers during the time of Ecclesiastes would have mostly been men, so I think we can say spouse and wife are interchangeable words. Enjoying the blessing of family means the giving of affection to your spouse Ephesians 5:25), the active quest for the enjoyment and encouragement amid the responsibilities and duties of life

Conclusion If I had to sum up this commencement speech with one phrase, it would be this. Learn to be content where your feet are. God has given you the gift of his salvation, and the gift of life. At times life is plentiful, at times life is turbulent, in those times I hope we can rejoice in the fact that time has been given to us in the first place. Let us enjoy our time of taking pleasure in food and drink, let us enjoy the time of our labor, and let us always enjoy our family. Through it all, let us Learn to be content where your feet are.