Ecclesiastes 6:12-7:14 | Sad Faces, Glad Hearts

Hello

Catechism: Why must the redeemer be truly God? That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffereing would be perfect and effective.

The second half - proverbial - going to work through the text.

Intro - What is good for Man? (Read 6:12)

Ecclesiastes 6:12

12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

Context of ECCL so far - Compounding argument.

In this short fleeting life, that passes like a shadow, where wealth and prosperity cannot satisfy, everything is never enough, what is good for man?

Man who is in Adam, who is a sinner and sins and lives within the frame of the corruption of sin.

What is good for man?

It is Good, to live life backwards.

This teaching comes to us with a series of sayings that are themselves, seemingly backwards.

It starts fine… v. 1a

It is better to have a respected name, a good reputation, to be known as honorable and trustworthy and a great guy, than to have precious/valuble ointment.

That is a proverb we can all approve.

But then it all seems to get back to front… (v1b) the day of death is better than the day of birth… WHAT?

Birthing suite Birth is excitment, its awww its new lie, its cute little lips and fingers and well, the day of death, is not that.

What is the preacher saying here?

In a moment he is gong to link the day of death, or mourning, with the wise. And the day of birth, or laughter, with foolishness.

The preacher is saying that the day of death is a better teacher than the day of birth.

Think about it this way, when you meet a new baby, what can you say about that boy or girl?

not a whole lot… other than maybe they look a lot like mum or dad

you can imagine what they may be, - but you are only envisaging potential.

In comparison, at a funeral, there is often too much to say about the person who has lived, and died.

this is what a eulogy is, the speech that honours and celebrates the life of the person who was.

I remember my grandfathers funeral… learning things about him I never knew.

In the same way that the day of death teaches us more about a person than the day of birth,

It can also teach us more about how to live our lives.

“The coffin is a better teacher than the Cot” - Gibson

This is what the next statements are trying to show us:

Ecclesiastes 7:2–4

2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Put it this way… Where is better to go to get an education on how to live wisely:

The preacher says you have two options:

You can go to the party house:

where there is consumption, drinking, food, drugs, songs, dancing, noise.

and what do you learn… you learn to live according to the patterns of a worldy culture which promotes life for ones own gain where god is your belly.

Or

2. You can go to the funeral home, the house of mourning:

and there, the preacher wants us to see, is where you are confronted through sombre reflection, with the reality of life and it’s end.

It is there, where you can learn to live life wisely, as you live it backwards.

It’s there where you learn to live with the end in mind.

Sad Faces, Glad Hearts

Now, before you think this would lead to a glum and morbid person, God’s word corrects us.

3b - for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.

or to put it this way the experience of sadness as we confront reality head on… leads to a perspective that we otherswise couldnt have. A perspective that leads to a wise, glad life. The life that enjoys the gifts God gives, and recognises that all comes from his hands.

We have 2 examples in our text:

vs. 5 - the rebuke of the wise is painful, but it is purposeful.

vs. 14 the day of adversity, came from the hand of the Lord - how often can you look back on suffering or hardship in your life and say… I experienced suffering, sadness, but my heart was made glad, as God was at work in me.

the sadness of face acts as a means of:

building our assurance,

fortifying our hope

strengthening our trust and undersatnding the love of God for us.

Death wants to invite us to be shaped so that we might be people of glad depth as we live life backwards.

As Iaian Provan says, ‘Death is an Evangelist’

It invites us to be trained by it’s wisdom.

How does this evangelist train us? what does it teach us?

1. It teaches us to be prepared to die well

 v. 12, and 14 frame this section.

God has so created everything so that we cannot find out what will be after us.

You can invest your whole life in building:

church

community

setting up your family

But what comes after you is not certain.

what is certain is that we all have the same end… and death is an evangelist.

It is an evangelist, not merely to live a life of wisdom that makes the most of the day…

But the evangelist that invites us to respond to the good news of the gospel.

You see death is only a reality becuase of our sin.

Adam and Eve, at home with God in the garden were given a mission and command to obey.

They rebelled, and Adam’s sin brought death for all mankind.

Sin which we all partake in, 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The reality of death then acts as a reminder of the chasm fixed between us and God.

becuase of our sinful rebellion.

Jesus tells a parable in

Luke 16:19–31 ESV

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

The end of all men is death - the rich and the poor, die.

And as the rich man found, there is a chasm between him and God, one tha cannot be passed over.

So he asks that Laz be sent to warn… they have the scriptures…

death is an evangelist that reminds us of the chasm, the chasm after we die and the chasm fixed now:

Jesus Crossed the chasm, Jesus came to us. the DIVINE MAN!

Who died,

who didnt stay dead, and invites all of us to place our trust in him.

And here is the gift, the promise of the gospel,

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Death invites us to place our hope in Jesus who died and rose again so that we might be forgiven and receive the joy of eternal life.

Urgency - Children

Although not only does living life backwards teach us to respond to grace now and consider what comes after, but it also invites us to live life, not wasting the time we have been given.

Specifically-

2. It teaches us to ask the question, ‘At your funeral, what will you be remembered for?’

The fool: is always living life forwards. He goes to the funeral of a loved one, and he just thinks about getting out of there.

getting back to his fast paced life of consumption and business and wealth and stuff - the life that tries to escape reality.

and he gets to the end of his time, and looks back and realises, there was no gain.

But the wise, lives life backwards.

He goes to the funeral of a loved one, and he sits and thinks, this will be me one day.

He allows the reflection upon that reality to shape him.

He thinks, what will they say about me? what will they say about you?

Living life backwards should urge us to consider what defines the life we are living now. What do we value most, what do we give our time and heart to.

What will they say about you?

He really loved his:

job - he achieved so much

family, freinds, community

hobbies, knitting, lifting, riding, footy, fishing or gardening

Which may all be good things, but due to one thing that is omitted, they are just nice pallatable ways of saying… he was a selfish sinner.

What will they say at your funeral, will they say, or first importance, will they say that the thing most notable about your life is how you loved Jesus, and trusted Jesus, and sought to use all you had and all you did to glorify Jesus. (job, family, freinds, community, hobbies).

or Were you a person so distracted with your own endevours or your mind numbing entertainment that you never took the time to deliberatly use your realtionships, your craft, you community, your words as a means of exalting Jesus.

The Apostle Paul had much to boast about in his life from a human perspective. but he says this…

Philippians 3:7–11

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

I think if we were to look back on our lives from our own funeral, we would be dissapointed if we were summarised as someone who’s faith was counted among the many things we did.

Instead,

No… ‘he counted evertything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,

Living life backwards in this way should cause us to do what

Ephesians 5:15–21 says

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

3. Living life backwards teaches us wisdom for life

The living will lay it to heart.

he gives us 3 examples: firstly the preacher warns us of

Wisdom is good, (11-12), but it is also limited (23-24).

It is fragile becuase we are fragile, so

a. The corruption of dishonest gain

Ecclesiastes 7:7 Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

oppression/extortion - bribery, are sins that are driven by a desire for money.

The wise man is not impervious to the lust for money. We can all be tempted by the allure of living life for selfish gain becuase there is always something new and shiny that seems fulfilling.

And if we could just break free from the limiations of our salary cap, then we could have it and be happy.

The preacher is teaching us to be people who cannot be bought! Don’t be fooled by the dollar signs.

He is saying, live life backwards.

Becuase in that day, you will regret the shameful gain and the trampling on others.

So instead live with integrity, and be hardworking for the glory of Jesus,

and what you do have - to hold loosely to it, receive what we have been given as a gift

generosity, to use it to bless others.

This is the glad depth of those who have been trained by wisdom.

Job 1:21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

b. it teaches us to have a patient attidute towards life

v. 8 returns to the idea that the end of a thing teaches us more.

The end should dictate wise behaviour.

Namely,

The wise person learns to live with patience, not reacting but considering the best path foward.

This is contrasted to the fool who arroganlty or angrily reacts to situations.

There is a righteouss anger towards sin and wickedness

Proverbs 14:29

29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.

Notice that patience is contrasted to pride.

normally we would contrast humility with pride. It seems that the patient life is an expression of a humble life - the person who trusts God - who believes and rests in his soveriengty will recognise that thier hasty response is not the answer, but a prayerful patience is will achieve the best outcome.

Sinful Anger, is a manisfestation of pride, as it is the emotional response of those who don’t get what they want.

All of which, most significantly impact our relationships.

when you snap at your spouse, or lose you cool towards your children

or holding resentment against a collegue or freind

You are responding out of arrogance and anger.

Which is both sinful, and unwise

Living life backwards, by the grace of God, should change how we value others and seek to respond with patient humility.

c. It teaches us to live now, and to long for heaven

English Standard Version Chapter 7

10  Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”

For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

living life backwards, teaches us that time is only moving in one direction, that there is only 1 end for all men.

It is therefore foolish to try and wind back the clock.

Nostalgia is a funny thing… It makes a false promise much like worldliness.

Worldliness promises that we can have heaven on earth… all you have to do is get there.

Nostalgia promises that we had heaven on earth… All you have to do is get back.

Nostalgia remembers good times out of context, we remember a holiday, or a song or a place or a group of people… we remember the ideal good and true and beautiful.

But us we remember we forget that really, we were facing the many challenges we face today then as well.

If we were to go back, we would realise, just like what worldliness offers, it is an empty promise.

Sin.

Both though, reveal a longing… a longing we all have. for heaven for home.

For safety, for beauty, for love, for true love.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “God has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

Thats why we feel that things arent right. Becuase we have a sense of what was, what was broken and what was lost in the garden.

We lost home with God in the garden.

And the only way that longing is satisfied,

isnt through going back and experiencing the good times again

and it isnt through getting everythign we have ever wanted through wealth and pleasure

It is through being found in Jesus.