Untitled Sermon (58)

Last night at 2:00 something horrible happened. Without any input from us, nothing we could do to stop it really…the man…took an hour of our sleep.

It went from 2:00am to 3:00am. Just gone. Like sands through the hourglass…so are the days of our lives...

But if we’re being honest doesn’t much of life feel this way? We were looking at some old pictures last night—my wife is putting together some photobooks—and my kids are little…or we’re newly engaged…and it feels like just yesterday…like it was 2:00 am and then suddenly you blink and it’s 3:00am. Just passed away.

That’s the world in which the Quester has been guiding us. It’s a world that inevitably is marching toward death. And on that march he’s trying to find meaning....time keeps passing by…and he keeps looking for something solid to grab hold of.

Nothing seems to really satisfy. What he’s done on this journey is really take us between two poles. On one end you have the frustratingly absurd…it’s the conclusion of all these little quests to find meaning...

it’s like grabbing sand…just slips through your fingers…and he keeps coming to this conclusion meaningless…it’s all just meaningless…frustratingly absurd…that’s what life under the sun is like.

But on the other end you have what are called the seize the day passages...

2:24-25, 3:12-13, 5:18-20, 8:15, 9:7-10. And what usually happens is that these come at the tail end of a section on despair....it’s all meaningless…might as well just enjoy what you can when you can. That’s what it has felt like.

But here, in our conclusion…or right next to the conclusion. He flips the order. He starts with the seize the day. And there is something new right in the middle of it…which might mean that somehow that is going to pull it all together…listen in.

Ecclesiastes 11:7–12:8 ESV

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

In the 70’s the band Kansas sang, “all we are is dust in the wind”. It has some great lines like:

I close my eyes, only for a moment and the moment’s gone…

all we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see

It slips away and all your money won’t another moment buy

Dust in the wind all we are is dust in the wind…dust in the wind everything is dust in the wind.

You get the idea that the Quester might have been grooving to this song.

But he’s not just interested in observation. That Kansas song just leaves us with…well…here is how it is…but how do you live? What does that mean for me?

Do I just sit in despair? Do I just live and it really doesn’t matter? What do you do when life is like that hour you lose in daylight savings time…just gone?

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And just a side note…something I’ve really tried to think through in preparing to preach on this passage. I’m 43. That’s old as dirt to my kids and to the little ones that just came up for the penny offering…well, I might as well be just the same age the guy on the dollar. You’re just old…it doesn’t really matter.

But to many of you…well I’m just old enough to be your son…or your grandson. And if I talk about life passing by, you’re probably thinking…you ain’t seen nothing yet.

And what do we do with this message? I mean it feels like it’s mostly for young people—right. Don’t waste your life, seize the day before you get old…that’s what it kind of sounds like.

Well, what do I do if I AM old? You’re thinking the only seizing i’m doing is the kind that lands you in the hospital. What relevance does this have for me?

I think if you hang on here…you’ll see no matter how old you are…littlest tiniest babies to dear saint just a few grains of sand away from meeting Jesus…there is relevance here. Let me show you...

v7 light symbolizes life itself. Living, experiencing joy, being aware of the world and the good things. It’s just being truly and fully alive. To wake up and experience another day is blessing....and that’s true really no matter your age.

v8 if a person lives many years, rejoice in them all. ALL. Did you catch that? He’s not saying only if you’re young…but every day…this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it...

But…remember that the days of darkness will be many. That remember is going to come around again…it’s the thing that is going to pull our two poles back together.

What he’s telling us here, I think is that some people waste their life because they don’t realize they are going to die. They live for the moment and ONLY the moment. This remember…pulls you back toward the other pole.

Seize the day…but not as if you aren’t going to die…or as we see in verse 9.

Yes, embrace joy. Let your heart cheer you…follow your dreams…vote for pedro…BUT know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

You’re going to give an account of your life. But I actually think there is something else going on here too…I don’t think he’s really saying, “be sure you don’t enjoy too hard...” I think he’s telling us to enjoy the right things…yes....but the way this was interpreted for years…how it’s interpreted in the Talmud is:

“Everyone must give an account before God of all good things one saw in life and did not enjoy.” … For Qohelet, enjoyment is not only permitted, it is commanded; it is not only an opportunity, it is a divine imperative.

I gave you this spouse and you didn’t enjoy him/her. I gave you these kids and all you did was rage at them. I gave you this job and all you did was grumble. I gave you good health and you squandered it. You had so much to enjoy but all you did was grumble.

Or yes, maybe we could say you had all of these things that I gave you to enjoy but you wasted them on fleeting pleasures…you just went chasing after the wind and never had any substance to your joy.

That’s what he’s telling us then in verse 10…remove vexation from your heart…put away pain from your body...

it’s telling us when we’re young put away that dumb stuff that doesn’t have substance…that only brings harm to your body. Any of y’all feel that? Looking back at your life…you probably see this passage better than I do.

Or looking back and thinking, man I was so worried or anxious or fearful or distracted or grumbling or just whatever and I didn’t enjoy my kids. I didn’t enjoy those days of my youth.

And you tell us young whippersnappers…enjoy every moment it goes by so fast. And it’s like, “oh man…if I have to change another diaper…or chase this kid...” And your in the thick of things…I just can’t wait until they are older…

Then as chapter 12 begins we have another Remember. Here we are to remember our creator. Before it is too late.

It doesn’t just mean an intellectual remembering…no it’s saying orient your life around God…allow this to shape your whole view of life and how you handle this frustratingly absurd world under the sun that we live in.

That’s the answer. That is what brings the poles together. Live for God no matter what age you are.

And then he starts talking about the “evil days” that are coming. I have no pleasure in them. This is an old and miserable person.

Many reach the twilight years and are just filled with regret. They didn’t listen to Q and chased after the wind…never caught it…or maybe they did…and discover its empty…and now just have regret. That’s what he’s talking about here.

Verse 2-5 is a poetic description of aging. sun…moon…stars darkened—fading mental clarity, joy, and energy. clouds return after the rain…you don’t recover so quickly. The hits keep coming…they aren’t spread out like they once were.

Your hands start to shake…the strong men are bent…hunched over…your grinders cease (losing your teeth)…the windows are dimmed—failing eyesight…doors shut—we’re isolated, we lose our hearing, we rise up at the sound of the bird because we can’t go back to sleep after we have to get up to use the bathroom at 4 am....

desire fails…you lose your passion…man goes to the eternal home and then mourners go about the streets because now you’re dead.

That’s one way to read it…the other is to see it as a house that is crumbling...

Or to view it as kind of a communal march toward death...

Or even to see it as marching toward the day of the Lord…

Verse 6-7 are really just metaphors for death…silver cord snaps, gold bowl breaks, pitcher shatters...

Again it could be any of these…but I really think it is vague enough to be all of them…if it’s a vision of cosmic decay…well, you’re going to feel that in your own bones…or national tragedy…same.

And then we reach the other pole again…this time seize the day ends with “it’s all meaningless”. He ends where he began.

All we are is dust in the wind...

I think Q identifies for us a couple of places that are missteps in light of this…one is the misstep of despair. You realize you are going to die and so you just check out…you despair. What’s the point of any of it.

That’s not wise, he’d tell us. Seize the day. God has given you this gift, you need to enjoy it. You’re going to give an account of your joy.

Or the other misstep is denial. You don’t live as if death is going to happen to you. And so you seize the day but you don’t do it in knowledge of the Creator.

And I’d say each of us probably gravitate toward one or the other of these. Maybe we see it as glass half-full or glass half-empty people. You gravitate toward seizing the day but might be prone to forgetting your Creator.

Or maybe you’re really good at being a realist and acknowledging that we’re all going to die, but it’s impacted everything and you aren’t able to seize the day or enjoy life. We need each other.

But that I don’t think is the overarching meaning where Q is going to take us…I think we’re supposed to feel a bit of that emptiness…or even our inability to really obey what is here.

You don’t have a little button you can push that says, “okay enjoy stuff.” Or “hey think about death and remember your creator…don’t botch it.” Well that’s forgetting the story of the gospel.

We don’t remember.

Given to vexation or destroying our bodies. Dismissing God’s gifts or destroying them…and we’re going to face God in judgment for that.

What have you not enjoyed. What have you enjoyed wrongly. And if we really grasp this it’s kind of terrifying. That we...dust in the wind that we are...will some day stand before the Almighty and give an account of how we spent our youth and how we spent our twilight years. Did we enjoy properly?

Well...no.

And just like how we can respond to the reality of death with either despair or dismissal so also can we respond similarly to this truth. We are guilty before a holy God. Do we dismiss that? Do we despair over it?

There is a third option. Dependence. Or as Q put it...remember...remember your Creator. I think part of the issue that we face...with despair or dismissal is that we don’t want to accept the reality. We want to say...we are more than dust in the wind...that can’t be true...what the Quester says here cannot be reality.

But it is reality under the sun. All we are is dust in the wind....well...kind of. While that’s true I think we add meaning to that. Well if I’m just dust in the wind then that must mean that I’m insignificant. I don’t matter. I’m vulnerable. I’m just kind of a nothing.

And we don’t like that. We either kick against that...I’m gonna make something of myself...but as Q found it still ends in meaninglessness...you still end up in a pine box. You die. People forget you.

Or we kick against that by just giving in. Fine if that’s the way you’ll have it, I’ll just buckle up, I’ll be crotetchy and a realist...I won’t enjoy life and I’ll make sure nobody else does either. Dust I am...so be it...I’ll just live accordingly.

But that other path is laid out for us in Psalm 103. It’s what gives dust meaning... Bless the Lord O my soul...and all that is within me....worship...you’re dust than can worship....

Remember the Lord...look what He has done...

Oh you matter...

Because the steadfast love of the Lord. The eternal love of God. He’s a big fan of dust...he knows our frame.

Let’s say that it took you something just really amazing...lots of shine and glitz and glamor...in order for you to enjoy it. What would you say of the king? He’s actually a miserable man, isn’t he? The more it takes for you to be “happy” the more it shows the depth of your misery, right?

Well what do we say about an eternally joyous Being...like God? Well, He’s able to delight in dust.

Or we might say that we know the character of someone by how they respond to vulnerability. It’s a really small person that takes a vulnerable human and uses them, or furthers their harm, or doesn’t protect them. That’s a small person with a small ego. But look what God does with dust...redeems, restores, forgives, pardons...

All of this drives us to the conclusion that we are dust...but dust held in the hand of the Almighty. Now that's something. Dust that the Son of God would die for. Dust that God says, “yeah...they aren’t enjoying things like they ought to. They are blowing these pleasures I’ve given them on silly things. They’ve got it all backwards. They are despairing. They aren’t seeing over the sun.”

Let’s go rescue them. Let’s go save them.

And I suppose that’s where we come to the decision for us...are we going to be dust in the wind that pretends like we aren’t....that pretends like we’re something more because of ourselves...I’m gonna make something! Or dust that just despairs...

Or are we going to say...here I am...?