Eat, Drink, and Be Ready

Lead Vocalist (Joel)

Welcome & Announcements (Hopson)

Good morning family!

If you received a connect card, please fill it out and put in offering plate

Announcements:

1) Discover Class

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Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Psalm 8:1-4)

Prayer of Praise (Susana Donahue)

He Calls Me Friend (with PBC Kids)

How Vast the Love

Prayer of Confession (Joel Whitcomb), Fear of death

Assurance of Pardon (Psalm 23:4-6)

Christ Our Hope In Life And Death

Dear Refuge Of My Weary Soul

Scripture Reading (Eccl. 9:1-12)—page _________ in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Hopson)

Prayer for PBC—Think rightly about death

Prayer for kingdom partner—Fox Hill Road Baptist (Nathan Cecil)

Prayer for US—Federal & state courts

Prayer for the world—Brazil

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

There’s a neighborhood in Venice, California where many people are enjoying the simple pleasures of life: eating pizza with friends, blowing out candles on birthday cakes, and binging late-night television. [1]

Halfway down the street, lives Bryan Johnson, who has no time for such foolishness. His entire life is devoted to a single goal: defeating death.

Johnson, is a 46-year-old multimillionaire tech entrepreneur who has spent more than $4 million developing a life-extension system called Blueprint.

He outsources every decision involving his body to a team of doctors, who use data to develop a strict health regimen to reduce what Johnson calls his “biological age.”

That system includes downing 111 pills every day, wearing a baseball cap that shoots red light into his scalp, collecting his own stool samples, and an apparatus that monitors his body as he sleeps.

It also requires him to defeat what he calls the “rascal mind”—the part of us that wants to eat ice cream after dinner, or make love at 1 AM, or drink beer with friends.

It requires an insane 17-step morning routine, including light therapy to reset his circadian rhythm, a strict workout regimen, and a diet that includes a breakfast of blended steamed vegetables and lentils.

Johnson thinks of any act that accelerates aging—like eating a cookie, or getting less than eight hours of sleep—as an “act of violence.”

He calls his strict health routine “the most significant revolution in the history of Homo sapiens.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Johnson is single. He says his lifestyle makes it very difficult for him to date, rattling off what he calls the “10 reasons why [women] will literally hate me” including eating dinner at 11:30 a.m., no sunny vacations, bed at 8:30pm, no small talk, always sleeping alone, and, of course, “they’re not my number one priority.”

His number one priority is avoiding death.

But here’s the question: is this really living?

Johnson’s life is so consumed with trying to avoid death that he has little time left for the simple joys that make life meaningful—friendship, laughter, love, even a slice of pizza with a friend.

In his obsession with defeating death, he has overlooked one thing that actually makes life enjoyable: the awareness that our time is limited.

Perhaps instead of all his new-fangled gadgets, it would help Johnson to read something old. Something, perhaps, like the book of Ecclesiastes.

Turn to Ecclesiastes 9.

The book of Ecclesiastes gives us a dark path to deep joy.

And our passage today stands in stark contrast to Johnson’s high-tech quest for immortality: we cannot avoid death, and the more we try, the more life passes us by.

True enjoyment comes not from denying our mortality but from living in light of it.

In other words: We can only enjoy life by preparing for death.

That’s the Big idea I hope to show you from God’s Word this morning.

But before we begin, let me say a few words about the structure of our text.

Once again, the Preacher is employing an ancient poetic device called a chiasm.

In this type of poetry a passage would be organized like a sandwich. The ideas on the outer edges would be similar, but in the middle is the meat. Whatever is in the middle is what the author is highlighting.

In 9:1-6 we learn about the reality of death. In 9:7-10, the Preacher tells us to rejoice. Then again in 9:11-12 we learn more about the reality of death.

So the two ends of our passage (9:1-6, 11-12) are like the bread on a sandwich. They tell us The Reality of Death.

And the middle of our passage (9:7-10) is like the meat on the sandwich. Here the Preacher shows us The Reason for Joy.

With God’s help that will be our outline this morning.

Let’s begin by considering…

1) The Reality of DEATH

Ecclesiastes 9:1a—But all this I laid to heart, ...

What’s the Preacher talking about?

To answer this question, we need to consider the context.

The Bible is not a series of short, chopped-up social media posts. It’s a collection of books that together form a grand story of redemption.

If you grabbed a book off the shelf at the library, would you open it up to the ninth chapter and begin reading? Probably not.

In the same way, if you want to truly understand your Bible you can’t just read the verse of the day. You need to read chapters, you need to read books.

Thankfully we have been studying the book of Ecclesiastes for several months now, so hopefully we can remember what the Preacher has been talking about.

In chapter 8 he talked about evil rulers and injustice.

In chapter 7 he also talked about evil and injustice.

So when Solomon says “all this I laid to heart”, he’s talking about the evil and injustice under the sun. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people.

Alright with that in mind, let’s keep reading.…

Ecclesiastes 9:1b—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.

The Preacher makes two observations about life under the sun that we need to understand:

First, he says that all of this is in God’s hand.

Sometimes the wicked prosper. Sometimes they get away with it. When that happens, God is in control.

And sometimes good people suffer. Little kids die. Missionaries are martyred. When that happens, God is still in control.

The second observation the Preacher makes in verse 1 is equally important: you cannot determine whether God loves you or hates you based on your circumstances.

Pastor Bubba and I were on a visit together a few weeks ago and someone brought up Elon Musk. That day he had become the first person to reach a net worth of $500 billion. And the person we visited said something about how God had really blessed Elon. Pastor Bubba wisely responded, “Is it a blessing?”

You can’t tell. God could give one person a million dollars to harden their heart. He could cause someone else to lose a million dollars so they cry out to Him for salvation.

Whether your life is easy or hard, you cannot look to your circumstances to determine whether or not God loves you!

This is especially clear, when you consider what the Preacher says next...

Ecclesiastes 9:2—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.

Beginning in this verse, the Preacher shifts his focus entirely to the reality of death.

Except for the middle of his chiasm, in verses 7-10, every other verse we’ll study today highlights some truth about the reality of death.

First, notice that…

A) Death is UNIVERSAL

That’s clear from verse 2 which we just read.

Righteous people die and wicked people die. Good people die, and evil people die. Clean people die, and unclean people die.

Rich people and poor people, black people and white people, young people and old people, smart people and foolish people, famous people and forgotten people, powerful people and weak people—everybody dies!

In the words of Shakespeare...

“This world’s a city full of straying streets,

And death’s the market-place, where each one meets.” [2]

Or in the words of the Psalmist,

Psalm 89:48—What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

The answer to this rhetorical question is NOBODY! Death is universal!

All of us know this. And yet, all of us are tempted to act as if we will be one of the exceptions.

In his book Being Mortal, surgeon Atul Gawande writes this about the ways we fight death: “Our every impulse is to fight, to die with chemo in our veins or a tube in our throats or fresh sutures in our flesh. The fact that we may be shortening or worsening the time we have left hardly seems to register. We imagine that we can wait until the doctors tell us that there is nothing more that doctors can do. They can give toxic drugs of unknown efficacy, operate to try to remove part of the tumor, put in a feeding tube if a person can’t eat: there’s always something.” [3]

Perhaps you’re thinking that people act this way because they don’t have any hope for eternity. But the statistics suggest that many of those who call themselves Christians are no better (and may even be worse) . . .

According to a study in The Journal of the American Medical Association, “people of religious faith (95% of who were Christians) were three times more likely to choose aggressive medical treatment at the end of their lives, even though they knew they were dying and that the treatments were unlikely to lengthen their lives.” [4]

Certainly modern medicine is an amazing thing. And it’s certainly not wrong to use aggressive medical treatments. But even though it’s a subtle line, there is a difference between fighting for life and fighting against death.

If you’re fighting against death, you’re fighting a battle you will not win.

And to make matters worse, death isn’t just universal. . .

B) Death is DESERVED

Ecclesiastes 9:3—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.

The Preacher says we deserve to die because our hearts are full of evil and madness.

This is not the way it was supposed to be.

God is the author of life. He created a perfect world, without sin and without death. Death exists as a punishment for rebellion.

He told our first parents that the day they disobeyed Him they would surely die.

And when they rebelled they immediately died spiritually, and they began dying physically.

And like a fixed genetic trait that is passed down to every single one of your children, sin has been transmitted to every single one of us.

The Apostle Paul explains it like this...

Romans 5:12—. . . sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

Perhaps you’re tempted to think you can somehow deal with the problem if you stop sinning. But notice the Preacher says in verse 3 that the problem is deeper than our actions. The problem is our hearts.

This means the problem isn’t just what you do it’s who you are.

And notice, he calls our heart problem “madness.”

In his commentary on Ecclesiastes, Gordon Keddie writes this: “People dread mental illness with all its attendant problems. How much more should they flee from the madness of unbelief in God and unrepentance toward the Lord Jesus Christ! The worst madness in the world is the mind-set and heart commitment that runs from God to enlist with Satan’s legion of spiritual terrorists.” [5]

Dear friend, repent of your spiritual insanity and trust in Jesus!

Death is deserved because evil and the madness of sin has corrupted every one of our hearts.

But wait, there’s more...

C) Death is ULTIMATE

Ecclesiastes 9:4—But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

In a Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy is atop his doghouse, typing away. Charlie Brown arrives on the scene and is handed what Snoopy has written. It reads, “As it says in the ninth chapter of Ecclesiastes, ‘a living dog is better than a dead lion.’ ” Charlie Brown gives the paper back and asks, “What does that mean?” Snoopy examines it and replies, “I don’t know, but I agree with it.” [6]

I think we can do a little better than Snoopy, don’t you?

In Solomon’s day, dogs weren’t typically house pets. They were mangy, miserable scavengers. Lions were considered regal, powerful and majestic.

And yet, a living dog is better than a dead lion because the lion has lost everything.

In verses 5-6, the Preacher shows us everything death takes from us...

Ecclesiastes 9:5-6—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.

The dead have no hope, no knowledge, no wages, no memory, no emotions, and no portion in this world. Meanwhile, the world keeps spinning and people forget them.

Even Elon Musk—with all his billions—will eventually die and leave every single penny behind.

Death is ultimate because death takes everything.

In an article recounting her journey dealing with the death of her father, Pulitzer Prize winning author Kathryn Schulz, says this:

“The universe consists of losing, and life amounts to a reverse savings account in which we are eventually robbed of everything. Our dreams and plans and jobs and knees and backs and memories, the childhood friend, the husband of fifty years, the father of forever, the keys to the house, the keys to the car, the keys to the kingdom, the kingdom itself: sooner or later, all of it drifts into the Valley of Lost Things.” [7]

In his book Remember Death, pastor Matthew McCullough reflects on this problem from a Christian perspective...

“We often focus on what we don’t yet have. We believe the key to our happiness lies in gaining more of what we want. But when we learn to recognize the ubiquity of loss, we come to see that our problem is greater than we imagined. Even if you get everything you want out of life, everything you believe you need to be fully happy, in the end it will never be yours. The more you have, the more you have to lose. And the more you love what you have, the more deeply it hurts when you lose it.” [8]

Death is ultimate because it takes everything from everybody.

This is hard to hear, isn’t it?

Well, if all this wasn’t bad enough, the Preacher has one more nail for the coffin...

D) Death is SUDDEN

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12—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.

This is, perhaps, the most terrifying truth about death.

There’s no timer, no date you can circle on the calendar. You can’t plan for it.

The Preacher says life is unpredictable. The fastest athlete doesn’t always win the race, the strongest doesn’t always win the fight. Sometimes fools strike it rich. Life isn’t predictable.

And neither is death. Like a fish caught in a net or a bird in a trap, death often comes suddenly without warning.

You know this is true, even if it’s uncomfortable to admit it.

Sometimes death comes with a warning: after a prolonged battle with a deadly illness, or after a century of life under the sun.

More often than not, death comes out of nowhere: a heart attack, a head-on collision, an aneurysm, or a bullet can take your life in a second. Without warning, without a chance to say goodbye, without an opportunity to prepare.

DARLENE

Psalm 39:4–5—O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before You. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah.

Loved ones, this is sobering stuff isn’t it?

Death is universal—all of us will die.

Death is deserved—all of us deserve to die.

Death is ultimate—it takes everything from everybody.

Death is sudden—you do not know when and where death will come for you.

But this isn’t the end of the story.

The Preacher isn’t writing to depress you.

He’s inviting you to take a dark path to deep joy.

He knows that We can only enjoy life by preparing for death.

So consider finally...

2) The Reason for JOY

In the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, the young boy and his tiger are sitting on the ground with their backs to a tree.

In the first frame, Calvin leans forward and says, “I don’t understand this business about death.”

In the second frame, the drawing focuses entirely on him. With his arms stretched out horizontally, he asks, “If we’re just going to die, what’s the point of living?”

The third frame shows them staring straight at the reader with baffled looks on their faces. They are silent.

Finally, in the fourth and final frame, an answer comes from the hungry Hobbes. He says, “Well, there’s seafood …” [9]

At first glance, that seems to be the Preacher’s answer. Yes, death is a reality. But we have a reason for joy because life is filled with good things to eat, drink, and enjoy.

Ecclesiastes 9:7–10—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.

There are seven times in Ecclesiastes where the Preacher explicitly invites us to pursue joy.

This is number six of seven. But this one is a bit different, because it is the strongest and most elaborate of all these invitations to joy. [10]

The word includes a series of commands—“Go!” “Eat!” “Drink!” “Enjoy!” and “Do!”—highlighting the urgency of joy.

We could spend a lot of time talking about all the gifts that God has given us to enjoy.

A loaf of freshly baked bread. A glass of fine wine. Comfortable and attractive clothing. Oils, perfumes, and body washes that make us smell good. The gift of marriage. Even the satisfaction found in a hard day’s work.

All of these are good in their place. All of them should be celebrated. All of them are gifts.

But our reason for joy has to be deeper then “well, there’s seafood.”

Otherwise, this is just “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die!”

The key to understanding our reason for joy is given in verse 7.

Let’s read it one more time...

Ecclesiastes 9:7—Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for—because!—God has already approved what you do.

What does the Preacher mean when he says “God has already approved what you do”?

Certainly he doesn’t mean that God no longer cares about sin and wickedness—after all he’s already talked about sin in this chapter!

In his commentary, Douglas O’Donnell writes: “This motive is a historical flashback to the garden of Eden, where the trees and plants were ripe for the picking . . . . It is also a theological fast-forward to justification by faith in Christ. We can eat and drink because we already have God’s approval. We do not have to work to earn God’s favor. We are already favored.” [11]

Justification by faith is, of course, the gospel doctrine that we are declared righteous by God—not because of our works, but solely because of our faith in the work of Christ.

We believe that Jesus came to this earth and submitted Himself to the reality of death.

Despite being the only human being who ever lived that didn’t deserve death, Jesus gladly endured the death we deserved by dying on the cross in our place.

But on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, demonstrating His power over death.

If you will turn from your sins and trust in Him, you will forever have God’s approval.

And if you have God’s approval—if you are declared righteous because of your faith in Christ—you can enjoy everything good this life has to offer. Because you’re not afraid of losing it anymore. You know that death doesn’t actually take anything away from you anymore. Instead, death ushers you into a world where you will experience pleasure so amazing that even the best days on this earth will not hold a candle to it.

Brother, sister, friend: You can only enjoy life by preparing for death.

Are you prepared to die?

Hebrews 9:27—. . . it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment

Are you prepared for judgment day?

The only way is to put your faith in the One who has already endured God’s wrath in your place!

If you’ve done that, you don’t need 111 pills and a 17-step routine to avoid death. You don’t need to deny every pleasure that threatens your wellbeing.

But if you’re not ready for that day, death will not wait for you to get ready.

The story is told of a rich and mighty Persian once walked in his garden with one of his servants. The servant cried that he had just encountered Death, who had threatened him. He begged his master to give him his fastest horse so that he could make haste and flee to Teheran, which he could reach that same evening. The master consented and the servant galloped off on the horse.

On returning to his house the master himself met Death, and questioned him, “Why did you terrify and threaten my servant?”

“I did not threaten him,” Death responded. “I was just surprised to see him here when I planned to meet him tonight in Teheran.”

You cannot avoid or postpone the day of your death. But you can be ready for it.

Turn from your sins and trust in Jesus today!

And if you have, eat, drink, and be merry! For yesterday you were dead! But in Christ, you are now alive.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Hallelujah for the Cross

Benediction (John 16:33)