Sermon Tone Analysis

*GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LIFE*

*“Living with Hope”*

*Ecclesiastes 9:1-10*

*During the 2007-2008 NFL regular season, New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady set the record for most touchdown passes in a regular season, paving the way for his winning the MVP award.

At the age of 30, he has already won three Super Bowls—an accomplishment that sets him apart as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.*

*In 2005, Tom Brady was interviewed by /60 Minutes/ journalist Steve Kroft.

Despite the fame and career accomplishments he had achieved already, Brady told Kroft that it felt like something was still lacking in his life:*

*Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me?

I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, 'Hey man, this is what [it's all about].'

I reached my goal, my dream, my life.

Me?

I think, 'It's got to be more than this.'

I mean this isn't—this can't be—all it's cracked up to be."*

*Kroft pressed Brady as to what the right answer was, and Brady added: What's the answer?

I wish I knew… I love playing football, and I love being quarterback for this team.

But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I'm trying to find.*

*ETERNAL HOPE – v.1-3*

*Death is not an accident, it’s an appointment (Heb.

9:27  */And just as it is appointed for people to die once and after this , judgment/*-), a destiny that nobody but God can cancel or change.*

* *

*The only way to be get the most out of this life is to be prepared to die.

*

*Death is a fact of life, and Solomon examined many facets of life so that he might understand God’s pattern for satisfied living.*

* *

*Woody Allen, “I’m not afraid to die; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”*

*But he /will/ be there when it happens*, as must every human being, because there is no escaping death when your time has come.

Life and death are “in the hand of God” (v.

1), and only He knows our future, whether to expect love (blessing) or hate (curse).

*Verse 2 tells us that */“Everything is the same for everyone:”/* *

*“*/As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner/*.”*

*If so, why bother to live a godly life?” someone may ask.

*

*“After all, whether we obey the Law or disobey, bring sacri-fices or neglect them, make or break promises, we will die just the same.”

*

*Yes, we share a common destiny on earth—death and the grave—/but we do not share a common destiny in eternity./*

*Christians have trusted Jesus Christ to save them from sin and death; so, as far as they are concerned, “the last enemy” has been defeated.

*

*Unbelievers don’t have that confidence and are unprepared to die.*

 

*Many people try to cheat death.

*

*Twenty-seven people are banking on the idea that modern science will someday find or engineer a fountain of youth.

Those twenty-seven people, all deceased, are “patients” of the Alcor Life Extension Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona, where their bodies-or merely their head!-have

been frozen in liquid nitrogen at minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit awaiting the day when medical science discovers a way to make death and aging a thing of the past.*

*Ten of the patients paid $120,000 to have their entire body frozen.

Seventeen of the patients paid $50,000 to have only their head frozen, hoping that molecular technology will one day be able to grow a whole new body from their head or its cells.*

*It sounds like science fiction, but it’s called cryonics.*

* *

*Stephen Bridge, president of Alcor, cautions, “We have to tell people that we don’t even really know if it will work yet.”*

*Nevertheless Thomas Donaldson, a fifty-year-old member of Alcor who hasn’t yet taken advantage of its services, brushed aside the naysayers and explained to a reporter why he’s willing to give cryonics a try: “For some strange reason, I like being alive…I don’t want to die.

*

* *

*Jesus is the only sure hope of eternal life.*

* *

*LIVING HOPE – v.4-6*

*The Christian believer has “a living hope,” not a “dead” hope, because the Savior is alive and has conquered death.

*

*1 Peter 1:3–5* /3// Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.//

According to His great mercy,//  He has given us a new birth//  into a living hope//  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,//  //4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable,//  uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven//  for you, //5 who are being protected by God’s power//  through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time./

*2 Tim.

1:10* - /This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel./

* *

*A hope that can be destroyed by death is a false hope and must be abandoned.*

As long as man is alive, *there is hope*; that is, he has something to look forward to.

In that sense, *a living dog is better* off *than a dead lion*.

Here the *dog* is spoken of, not as man’s best friend, but as one of the lowest, meanest forms of animal life.

The *lion* is the king of beasts, powerful and magnificent.

Comparing the lot of *a live dog* with that of *a dead lion,* Solomon affirmed that it is better to be alive and dishonored than to be honored and dead.

*The living* at least *know that they will die, *

*The *have consciousness and *hope,* things they can look forward to enjoying.

But *the dead* have no consciousness (they don’t know anything about what’s going on in the world) or hope of *reward* or enjoyment.

*John Maxwell tells about a small town in Maine that was proposed for the site of a great hydro-electric plant.

A dam would be built across the river and the town submerged.

When the project was announced, the people were given many months to arrange their affairs and relocate.*

*During those months, a curious thing happened.

All improvements ceased.

No painting was done.

No repairs were made on the buildings, roads, or sidewalks.

Day by day the whole town got shabbier and shabbier.

A long time before the waters came, the town looked uncared for and abandoned, even though the people had not yet moved away.

One citizen explained: “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.”

That town was cursed with hopelessness because it had no future.*

*FULFILLING HOPE – v.7-10*

*Missionary Jim Elliot once said, “Wherever you are, be all there.

Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”*

*Psalms 118:24 – */“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”/

* *

*Instead of allowing grief to consume one’s life, Solomon urges that whatever remains of the unexplained mystery in our lives must no prevent us from enjoying life.*

* *

*- Enjoy Living*

*Life was difficult in the average Jewish home, but every family knew how to enjoy special occasions such as weddings and reunions.

*

*That’s when they wore their white garments (a symbol of joy) and anointed themselves with expensive perfumes instead of the usual olive oil.

*

 

*But Solomon advised the people* to wear white garments/ always/ and to anoint themselves/ always/ with special perfume.

*We must not express our thanksgiving and joy only when we are celebrating special events.

*

* *

*Phillippians 4:4*/“Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again I will say, rejoice!”/

 

*Vance Havner wrote – Christian fellowship has almost become a lost art.

I recall how, as a boy, I sat before the open fire on a Saturday night while father and the visiting minister talked long and late about the things of God.

I remember John Brown, deacon in my first country charge, who used to visit my room and talk until midnight.

There was time in those days, but who can take time off today to meditate at the Master’s feet, like Mary of old, or to share His fellowship with other Christians?

Fellowship has come to mean a noisy after-session at church with coffee and cookies and a lot of idle chatter about everything on earth but spirit things.

How many Christian homes know how to converse about Jesus Christ?  *

* *

*- Enjoy Your Family*

*Solomon knew nothing about “live-in couples” or “trial marriages.”

*

*He saw a wife as a gift from God (Prov.

18:22; 19:14) and marriage as a loving commitment that lasts a lifetime.

*

* *

*It’s too bad Solomon didn’t live up to his own ideals.

*

* *

*No matter how difficult life may be, there is great joy in the home of the man and woman who love each other and are faithful to their marriage vows.*

* *

*Going to Walt Disney World without children.

Seeing the value in enjoying the time alone with Michelle.*

* *

*- Enjoy Your Work*

*The Jewish people looked upon work, not as a curse, but as a stewardship from God.*

*“Do it with all your might”/ /(NASB)/ /suggests two things: *

*Do your very best, and do it while you still have strength.

*

 

 

\\ *9:1.*

This verse closely relates verses 2-10 to the preceding section, as indicated in the NIV translation, *So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands.*

The “all this” that Solomon “reflected on” is human ignorance of the significance of righteousness and wickedness in God’s sovereign disposition of adversity and prosperity (chaps.