This Unpredictable Life

Opening Illustration:

When I was a kid I had a Nintendo. I got pretty good at the games and one game we played was Super Mario Brothers. I quickly learned to beat the game but then challenged myself to beat the game without dying even once. I played the game so often that I knew exactly what would happen on every stage. Nothing surprised me. I knew where every enemy would be, I knew when to jump, when to duck, when to run and when to stop. The game became very predictable to me. I was able to beat the entire game with only one man.

To get to that place I had to die a thousand times. Life is not like a video game. We can’t play it over and over until we learn to breeze through it perfectly without a single mistake.

This is our first and only time we get to play this game called life. We don’t know where every pitfall and enemy

is. This life is unpredictable. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 tells us about this unpredictable life we live.

1. Life is unpredictable because God is sovereign (1-6).

A. God is sovereign over the righteous and the unrighteous.

In verse 2 Solomon says, “it is the same for all”. Then he tells us who the “all” he is referring to are. Notice how he describes the people in this world.

The righteous and the wicked

The good and the evil

The clean and the unclean

Him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice

The good and the sinner

The one who swears and the one who refuses to make an oath

If you look closely you’ll see similarities between the two groups in these passages.

Neither know the future (1)

Neither are without sin (3)

Neither escape death (4-5)

Neither are remembered on the earth (5-6)

This crushes the Karma illusion so many in our world buy into. The idea of if you do good things good things will happen to you is not in Scripture. God cannot be manipulated by the righteous or the wicked.

You can’t say “God you have to fill my life with good things because I’m a good person.”

If that were true life would be predictable. You could say “It’s going to be a great day because I have been a great person.”

Could you imagine that? There’s a roadblock with lots of cars backed up for miles. The officer comes out and says “All the good people, come on. You guys get to go around. All you wicked people stay here. Your day is gonna stink.”

God doesn’t have to give you a great day because you’re a good person. God doesn’t have to give a wicked person an awful day.

B. Solomon expresses his frustration (3-5).

It’s natural for us to wonder why righteous people suffer and die. Martha was so upset with Jesus about her brother dying she said to Jesus “If you had been here He would not have died” (John 11:21).

Yet it was Jesus who decided to wait until Lazarus died to go and see him (John 11:5-6). Jesus let Lazarus die. That frustrated Martha.

I want to look at verses 4-5 because they have confused people. Some have used these verses to teach people are not conscious after death. That’s not what they’re teaching at all.

Solomon recognizes that a living dog is better than a dead lion. He goes on in the next verse to explain why.

The living have an understanding that they will die. In other words they can repent and enjoy life the godly way. The dead do not have that opportunity. When Solomon says that the dead do not know anything he is not saying that man ceases to exist at death. His point is that he cannot use wisdom to begin living his life for the glory of God. As well he cannot enjoy the rewards of life in general.

Let’s compare two lost people. One is a millionaire, he is the lion. The other is a beggar, he is the dog. If the millionaire dies before the beggar, the beggar is better off than the millionaire. The reason is because the beggar still has the opportunity to give his life to the Lord. The millionaire is lost for eternity.

Have you ever been praying for a lost person, and they die without Christ? I have. It’s frustrating. You know it’s over for them. God is sovereign over the day we die and that’s true for the lost and the saved.

James said our life is like a vapor. It’s like a puff of smoke. It’s here one minute and gone the next.

C. The sovereignty of God only bothers us when life is uncomfortable.

Have you ever noticed that?

Something bad happens and we ask the Lord “What did I do to deserve this?

Why don’t we do that when something good happens?

Lord what did I do to deserve:

These clothes

This food

This family

This home

This health

This sunshine

If you determine whether or not God loves you by the events in your life you’re going to be confused. One day you’ll think He loves you, the next day you’ll doubt His love. The truth is we must be willing to accept both good and bad in this world because what happens to us in this world is not dependent upon our goodness or lack of. It’s dependent on the sovereignty of God in our life.

2. Life is unpredictable because we are limited by time and chance (11-12).

A. Let’s define what Solomon means by time and chance.

Time- the length of your life or the length of circumstances in your life.

Chance- the events in your life.

Solomon says life is unpredictable because of time and chance (11).

Back to James. He said we should not say what we are going to do but rather we should say “If the Lord wills….” (James 4:15).

We live in a world of time and chance.

I have known people who had their retirement planned. They were looking forward to a wonderful time. They retired and left this world quickly after. Not only did that affect their plans it affected their spouses plans as well.

B. Solomon gives examples of people affected by time and chance.

The fastest runner does not always win the race.

The strongest does not always win the battle.

The wisest do not always have the necessities of daily life.

The smartest aren’t always the richest.

The most skillful do not always get favored.

Have you ever taken a person fishing for their first time, and they out fished everyone?

I’ve heard of guys going hunting for the first time and harvesting the biggest buck.

They had no skill but they succeeded!

This is how life is sometimes.

Maybe you should have gotten the promotion but someone less qualified did.

Maybe you work harder and are paid less.

Life is not fair. We live in a fallen world filled with self-centered people. Most people are not concerned with what you and I deserve. That’s sad but it’s true.

C. We can’t control the events in our life, but we can control our response to them.

This is far more important than the events.

John the Baptist couldn’t keep Herod from cutting his head off. But John controlled himself.

Joseph could not control Potiphar’s wife when she made false accusations against him. But he controlled himself in prison.

Job could not control all Satan did to him. But he controlled how he reacted to those trials.

It’s our response to the events in life that determine if God is pleased with us or not, not the events themselves.

Do you serve Him when you don’t win the race?

Do you love Him when you don’t win the battle?

Do you praise Him when it seems you don’t even have the necessities of life?

Do you give Him glory even if your pockets are empty?

Do you say “God is good” even if you don’t get the promotion?

We do not have power over our circumstances, but we have the power to praise God in our circumstances.

3. Life is unpredictable because sinful people do not always value wisdom (13-17).

A. Solomon gives an example of how foolish people can be.

There was a small city with only a few men in it. A powerful king came to take the city over. A poor wise man in the city developed a strategy that gave the city victory over the powerful king. The people of the city were not grateful. They soon forgot about the poor wise man.

We would think these folks would be happy. Maybe they would put up a statue or reward the man somehow. But they didn’t.

Sometimes an individual seeks godly wisdom when he or she needs help. Just as the city needed deliverance, sometimes people need a quick deliverance. It may be an impending divorce, a wayward child, sickness, etc. During these times people seek after godly counsel. When the storm is passed, all too many times, the person will forget about the help they received and go back into their life as it was before the crises. They may even fail to give credit to the Lord for the help they received. They reason things just got better. Sadly, this is the truth of most of our society.

If you’re expecting a sinful world to praise you for wisdom you will be disappointed.

B. We should value wisdom even when the world does not.

Solomon says wisdom is better than weapons in verse 18.

We can accomplish more with godly wisdom than we can with weapons. The fool wants to fight first and ask questions later. The wise man uses his godly wisdom to bring peace. It only takes one foolish sinner to cause much harm. A foolish king can easily start a war that results in the death of many people. In the same way our foolish and sinful behavior can cause widespread trouble.

When we meet with problems, we should use wisdom to solve them. However, we should not be surprised when our wisdom is quickly forgotten by those who benefited from it and rejected by those who refuse it.

Life is unpredictable because people would rather be foolish than live their lives by the wisdom of the Word of God.

4. The unpredictable life can be enjoyed (7-10).

A. The righteous should be joyful (7-8).

The pure garment and oil in verse 8 represent purity and favor. They also symbolize someone who is attending a celebration. As righteous people we can eat and drink with joy because the approval of God rests upon us.

What a blessing to be in Christ!

Declared righteous!

Forgiven!

Holy!

If you are in Christ, you may not know what’s going to happen, but you know what has happened!

You have been saved!

I heard someone say:

You can tell what a church’s theology by what they sing. You can tell if they believe it by how they sing!

I don’t know what will happen to me if I live tomorrow. But I know what will happen to me if I die tomorrow! For that reason, we should enjoy this life.

B. The righteous should enjoy marriage (9).

Marriage is called “the grace of life” in 1 Peter 3:7.

The greatest earthly relationship one can have is the relationship of marriage.

It’s the most intimate.

The only relationship that is described as becoming one.

The Bible says he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord (Prov. 18:22).

If God gives you a marriage enjoy it!

Don’t wait to enjoy it until tomorrow. Life is unpredictable.

Marriage is fragile.

If not enjoyed, it can be destroyed by the enemy.

Marriage is temporary.

I’ve spoken with widows and widowers who said, “We were going to do so much.”

We’re too busy to do anything.

We’re too broke to do anything!

We’re too tired to do anything!

Keep saying that and one day one of you will be too dead to do anything.

There’s a lot of unpredictability in my life but the most predictable thing is when I get home Jennifer will be there. That is a blessing. Don’t take your marriage for granted. Enjoy it!

C. The righteous should live life whole heartedly (10).

Solomon says, whatever you do, do it with all your might!

Life is unpredictable but you can’t let that discourage you. You can’t have a fatalistic attitude. Every day is a gift of God. If you have breath in your body, you should live life to its fullest.

Enjoy the certainties you have.

You have today.

You have people in your life today.

You have strength to serve God today.

You have opportunity today.

You have resources today.

You may not have tomorrow but you have today.

Are you enjoying life?

Are you serving Christ whole heartedly?

Are you wholehearted in your marriage?

Are you wholehearted in your church?

Are you wholehearted at your job?

Enjoy this unpredictable life.

The key to enjoying it is to be content with what God has given us.

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!

You have the righteousness of Christ!

You have relationships with others!

You have readiness in your body!

Enjoy life!

Do you know Christ today? He is the ne who gives us certainty. We can know our eternal destination if we repent, believe in His work, call on His name for salvation.