Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 | A Lesson at a Funeral

Hello

Quick recap!

Chapter 3 begins with a poem - one you may have heard, likely one you have heard at a funeral

Read 1-8

This poem can be summarised by verse 1

although there are a few things that are helpful for us to dwell on…

polar opposites to describe all that is between - the full breadth of the human life. It doesnt follow a linear pattern - life is made up of these things and all that is inbetween - in seemingly (from our perspective), a random order. Full of Complexities… and unplanned inconsistencies. No one can decide… today, im going to have 7 hours of dancing and 1 hour of weeping. This month peace, next month war, then let’s have a bit of peace again.

Heavy relational focus. weeping, laughing, mourning, dancing, embracing and refraining, loving, hating, warring, peace.

Not all things are good. This is life under the sun. Here and now. Life in God’s world that he created as good, but that is corrupted by sin. This poem reminds us, that we live, east of eden. Driven from the presence of God, and the serenity of the Garden in Eden.

But do you notice something…

There is nothing within this poem, that couldnt have been writen by a secularist who is viewing the world apart from God.

Life is full of stuff. Of things, of people. There is good and there is bad and there is eh.

No wonder if it often read out at funerals, even Godless ones. Ah we are in a chapel, we better have a Bible reading.

And hey, it makes sense… it portrays the totality of life - whilst recognising the reality, of death.

And sure, its unoffensive. No religious STUFF.

That is, when you take it out of context.

Imagine… the preacher, comes to one of these funerals.

He comes in, and he sits at the back, he doesnt know the deceased, he doesnt know the family.

But he sits, and he listens.

And then margeret, a cousin or something - gets up and reads his poem. Clearly just to tick the Bible reading off the list, they have no concern for yahweh.

and inevitably they stop at verse 8. SO… the preacher, determined to be heard, he stands up… and decides to give a lesson at a funeral.

So he walks down the isle, no one knows who he is but he walks with such confidence that people assume it’s his turn next.

and he walks up to the casket… and turns to the people seated, and he asks: v. 9

From his life. what profit does he have?

From all his toil under the Sun… for there is a time to be born… and a time to …well.

What does he have to show for it?

This is the preachers sucker punch, a sucker punch at a funeral.

You see this poem is not just there to show the preachers creativity or to prove that he gets what life involves. It wants us to ask the question…

if this is what life involves… its complex and its people, and it’s things and it’s out of our control and it’s not all good… what is to be done with it? AND - if there is no selfish gain from it, no profit, for the man in the casket.

If it can’t be lived for our gain… How should we live it? How should we live the time that we have?

This is the tension, or the problem that the preacher is going to answer for us in the rest of the chapter.

The poem is just a set up for the lesson at a funeral.

Live in Light of the Creator

Read vs 10-15

Truths

God is not restrained or bound by time. He is the creator. And therefore life is to be lived, in light of who he is.

This is why there is a great irony, with the poem being read at godless funerals, beucase one significant point of the poem (in context) is to say, this is our expereince of life… but it’s not God’s

We are in time, in the seasons, but he isnt.

We are enjoying the task of teaching young minds about the true story of everything, and at the centre of this task of discipleship is teaching our boys who God is.

Every Christian parent will know the challenge of explaining a divine truth in a way that is understandable to a small child.

But I feel like more often than not, im fumbling around in the dark when trying to answer the boys questions.

The other day i have archie and E in the car. Whats a planet? We are on a planet, called earth. Who created the earth: God did. and he holds it all together.

In the beginning - God doesnt have birthdays… Yeah but Dad, what about Christmas?

God has no beginning, no end, and he is not constrained by time.

But we are.

We live in it. And no matter what. It keeps moving at a consistent pace.

which inevitably brings change. It is messy - it’s laughing one moment and weeping the next. Sometimes, the season we find ourselves in is pretty ordinary, pretty monotonous. Sometimes, its bad, and it is full of greif.

And by the way the Bible, doesnt hide from that reality.

But it does give us hope. Hope that, God who is outside of time, for he is the creator, has made everything beautiful in it’s time.

Given the context, this doesnt mean, everything is intrisincly beautiful. (hate, war)

But everything is beautifully fitting. God makes each time, fit together beautifully.

IN the zoomed out, the big story, every season fits together beuatifully… beucase he makes it so.

HOW, well he is the creator, he sees all things from beginning to end.

The flourishing life is not found in trying to control or organise all the elements that make up your life. But instead in trusting God who does and will makes all things fit together beautifully.

Not all things are good. but God does work all things together for the good.

Look at the end of Ecclesiastes 3:11

11 Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

We all have a sense of eternity, but we cannot find out // or Fathom // what God has done, from the beginning to the end. We cannot grasp it, or manipulate or even predict it like a farmer - we cannot control the seasons and manipulate them to our ends.

But we try, and often, we wish we could.

This desire is witnessed in how we love to fantasise that we are time travellers.

we love reminising about the past. - the good old days. (if we could just get back to when times were simpler).

Or we think that when we just get out of this season… Then things will be better.

We fantasise about living in a different time. We dream of escaping now.

But we can’t, and we certainly can’t manipulate it for our own gain.

We assume, that the circumstances of the next season will be better, if we could just escape this one. And the preacher in his poem says, maybe,… maybe not.

So the preacher comes along and says… stop trying… there is a different way to live.

Applications

And that is, to Seize the Day… Carpe Diem

Although the preachers call to seize the day is far different than the secularist mentality.

It is to:

joyfully and patiently receive the gift that God has given

v. 12

To joyfully receive!

Seize the day may be the wrong term, receive the day.

Recognise that it is from the hand of God, so stop trying to escapte it - you can’t control it, or whats next! so stop trying.

This is the freedom that comes when we accept in our own limitations.

Much of our anxiety and our worry, comes because we refuse to beleive that we arent in control. and therefore we refuse to trust God.

we are in time, only he is not.

so cast your trust and hope upon him alone.

Philippians 4:4–7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

God is the creator, he is the giver, and he is working all things, good bad, medium, and fitting them together beutifully. and even though we can’t see the end product, we can trust that he does.

receive the day, but trusting God in it.

2. do good for the glory of God

To seize the day is to do good.

It is for the glory of God, because everything that we do, is in light of what God has done!!

Ecclesiastes 3:14

14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

Our toil is temporary, but God’s is eternal.

And all God does is so that eople may fear him. Know him, revere him, be in awe of him.

any good work we do is for his glory, is in light of the creator.

(GOSPEL)but it is also in light of the saviour - is first based on his saving work of Grace.

It is a gift from the creator to be used for his glory.

So to receive the day is to do good - It is no longer a life that is centred on the self for personal gain, but a life that is turned outwards towards ones neighbour, that constantly asks “what is good”

Matthew 5:14–16

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs Contemporary Significance

The biblical carpe diem, then, is not a self-centered response to the uncertainties surrounding life after death, but a worshipful response to the God of creation, who is also the God of new creation and resurrection. - Iain Provan

Now the second lesson at a funeral that the preacher would have us learn, is that we should

Live in Light of the Judge

Read verse 16-17

Truths

this is another place where Ecclesiastes differs from nihilism.

One issue that many have had with it is they say that it essentially promotes a nihilistc view of life.

Nihilism is the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.

The Nihilistic creed is essentially, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

Eat Drink and be merry, for we will die and then comes judgment.

… No wonder the godless, stops at verse 8.

Now, let’s deal with this idea - living in light of the judge - through its parts.

Firstly, the preacher would have us learn our lowly, humble estate before God almighty.

v. 18-22

The preacher isnt saying we are no different from animals… he is saying that when it comes to the reality of death… we are all heading in the same direction.

he is saying, before God, we are all creatures, and his proof - look at the guy in the casket - we are all going down.

From dust to dust. We are not infinite, we are not divine, we are not God.

We all live as creatures in his world, under his judgement.

We cannot decide the timeline of our lives as much as we can’t determine the boundaries within which we should live it.

Only God can, and does.

To live life, by our own standards, is the pinacle prideful foolishness. And it will be shown to be when we stand before God in judgement.

Let us learn our lowly, humble estate before God almighty.

When we do, then living in light of the judge is firstly,

A Comfort.

look at vs 16

When we look around and we see injustice and wickedness.

war instead of peace

hatred among brothers

When we behold assassinations in the public square

or the murder of the defensless in the womb

the many corruptions of sin. And we greive and groan, that this must be made right!

What do we do? vs. 17

God will judge… All things will have thier day in court.

Nothing will be overlooked, nothing wrong will be left. Evil will be dealt with.

But it’s not only a comfort, it is also a call.

Living in light of the judge is a call to Holiness

God judges both the wicked, and the righteous.

Eat, drink, be merry, embrace the gift that God has given today - for we are all going to dust. Then comes judgement.

All our works will be brought to light.

And God is just! no sin will be left unpunished, in this life, or the next.

So is there anyway to escape punishment and be brought into God’s favour? Yes, through the redeemer and who is the Redeemer? The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 9:27–28

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Christ is coming back and he will judge the living and the dead.

“those eageraly await him” - eagerly awaiting judgement.

We can eagerly await judgement, only if we know we have already been made right with the judge.

We have already been forgiven. Redeemed by the redeemer.

By Faith.

Romans 10:9 “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Summarise the Lesson at the funeral.

Pray.