Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1577

March 12, 2023

Ecclesiastes 9.1-12       Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus (This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“Eat, Drink, and Be Merry”

 

But all this I laid to heart, 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. ²It 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. ³This 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. ⁴But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵For 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. ⁶Their 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.

 

⁷Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. ⁸Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. ⁹Enjoy 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. ¹⁰Whatever 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.

 

¹¹Again 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. ¹²For 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.

 

• The Same for All

 

Chapter nine is the beginning of the end of Ecclesiastes. The author has offered perspectives that shake up our preconceived notions about life and death. Vanity of vanities is not what we would prefer to conclude about life on the earth. But Ecclesiastes gives a convincing argument to that end, to our end. Ecclesiastes asks us to consider the unfairness we so often see in life. “Only the good die young”, as the song goes, and more often than not it seems the evil live on to old age. Yet, Ecclesiastes throws us a bit of a curve ball in the perspective of verse seven: to eat, drink, and be merry. We will get into that later in this message. Ecclesiastes 9.1-6 remind us that we all will one day pass from this earth. What is that old saying, the only certainties in life are death and taxes?

It is the same for all. This is what Solomon has observed. Whether righteous or wicked, good or evil, clean or unclean...for the living know that they will die. Knowing that we will someday come to an end, the hope of Ecclesiastes is that our various idolatries of control: that we can take all this with us when we die or that the world revolves around me, all of these ideologies are shattered. In the realization that it is certain that we all will face death, the ultimate question is how shall we face life?

The book of Hebrews reminds us of this certainty for all people, ²⁷And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, ²⁸so 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 (9.27-28). It is appointed that we die. Of course, the good news is that because of what Christ has done, offering Himself to take on our sin, now we are saved, saved from the wrath of God, saved from eternal condemnation.

It is perhaps the keenest observation in verse three, ³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Basically it is the thought we often have, life isn’t fair. What happens under the sun, in our time of life, is not how things should be. The Bible understands this unfair situation. It is implied in writings such as Isaiah 65,

¹⁷“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. ¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. ¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. ²⁰No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

The certainly and the unfairness of life under the sun will one day come to an end. Under the new heaven and new earth all that will be washed away, no more unfair death, no more weeping, no more distress. While we face the certainty of death under the sun, God has bigger plans for His people where life is fair, life is good, life is eternally joyful and glorious in the presence of Christ.

Even with all the trouble we see under the sun, that is, limited to time and space, life is still worth living! Yes it is! ⁴But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵For 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. With life, there is hope. In Christ, there is hope. We know there is more to come with God. So Ecclesiastes gives us this poignant statement that a living dog is better than a dead lion. The point is that, under the sun, while on this earth, still alive we have opportunities, choices, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to keep silence and a time to speak. Death robs us of those opportunities. But in life, God reaches out to us in Christ, regenerating our hearts that we might know, not just life under the sun, but abundant life under the sun, and more, life eternal. In this life we are invited to trust God, believe in God, follow Jesus, learn that we are not the center of the universe or that we are in control of everything, but to know our limitations and put our lives under the care of the Living God!

 

• The Uncertainties of Life

 

While there are certainties in this life, there are also many uncertainties. We look ahead to Ecclesiastes 9.11-12. More observations are given. I saw under the sun, time and chance happen to all. We do not know our time. Death suddenly falls upon us. The best team does not always win. The hardest worker does not always get employee of the month. The deserving do not get rewarded but everybody gets a trophy! We know these uncertainties well. We have seen many instances where we may have thought something would and should turn out one way, only to see that nothing makes sense with the final outcome. Our tendency is to live as if the one certainty of life under the sun will never come and the uncertainties are the only certainties. That is a mouthful! Sometimes everything goes as planned and the just get the right reward, but it is not certain. I’m reminded of Murphy’s Law, all who work on projects in the workshop know that law, “anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. In my experience it is the last bolt of five that breaks off the head. These are the uncertainties of life.

Things change and often when we least expect it, like a fish caught in a net or the proverbial bird snared in a trap. Disaster can strike at any moment. The uncertainties are those things that “suddenly fall upon us” (9.12). James in the New Testament (4.13-17) also knew this truth…

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—¹⁴yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

“If the Lord wills!” Good words to live by. Words that Ecclesiastes and James and all the Bible trust for our outlook on life. “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise!” Things happen. Uncertainties are certain to come. Ecclesiastes invites us to ask a question knowing the certainty that we will all meet our end and knowing that we do not know for certain when that will be, how then shall we live? Sandwiched between certainly and uncertainty, what does life look like? We may find the answer a bit odd considering all that we have seen in Ecclesiastes thus far. In essence he says, live well! Live now! Carpe Diem – seize the day!

 

 

• Wisdom in Simplicity

 

In between the certainties and the uncertainties is the gift of Ecclesiastes, verses 7-10,

⁷Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. ⁸Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. ⁹Enjoy 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. ¹⁰Whatever 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.

 

Ecclesiastes, in many ways, is written to challenge any view that we can be like God in the same way that Adam and Eve were tempted to think they could be like God (Genesis 3.5). The temptation to eat of the forbidden fruit was to be able to discern good and evil and be like God. The temptation was to think that we could have more wisdom than we are capable. Ecclesiastes helps us realize that our wisdom is limited. Yes, we can know a great deal, and we even are taught that we have the mind of Christ, but we do not have all that God has. Our thoughts are not His thoughts. We are given a little bit of wisdom, a mustard seed size perhaps, but we are given enough to bring glory to God, to make wise decisions, to discern the ways of God for life and faith.

A core understanding is verses 7-10 is that God gives us life as a gift. It could be taken away tomorrow. We simply do not know when we will be gone from this world, or anyone else. But there is wisdom in that, wisdom in knowing that we do not know everything. Wisdom in realizing that we could be gone in a moment. We hear about that type of scenario when the doctor says you have three months to live. What do we do with that three months outside of getting all our affairs together. From the perspective of Ecclesiastes we eat and drink with a merry heart! That same kind of idea in the New Testament is given through Paul who says to live is Christ, to die is gain. To live on this earth is to know the joy of life in Christ. But we also know that at death we have gain because we go to be with Christ at that moment. Joy, joy, joy!

The simple things in life are the best things in life. Life itself, simply having the gift of life is reason enough to proceed with joy. Eat, drink, enjoy, for God has already approved what we do, that is, God takes pleasure in our pleasure. God takes delight in the life He has given. It is not unlike the pleasure we take when our children are pleased and happy. Life is more about the gift God has given and the gifts God has given than all the other things under the sun. All else truly is vanity because we will only take with us that which God has given through Christ, life eternal, joy forever, delight in God.

Verse eight speaks of a white garment and oil on our heads, signs of plenty and goodness. Verse nine about enjoying married life and I would extend that to mean family life and friendships as well for not all will marry. The point of all these verses, 7-10, is that we are given a life on this earth, under the sun, and God wants for us a life of joy, not just happiness, but joy, for joy digs deeper than happiness. Happiness can be swept away by the uncertainties of life, but joy is rooted deeper. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice (Philippians 4.4).

I suspect we have all thought this thought, “If I knew then what I know now, I would have…” This is what Ecclesiastes nurtures in our hearts, to know now that life under the sun is not forever, that things change, and that God has given us a tremendous gift of life, so live it to the fullest. If that means a bucket list, so be it. If that means service to others as much as possible, go for it. If that means waking up each day with a smile on our faces, let it be. But I would add that true joy can only be known in the pursuit of God, His Kingdom, and His righteousness. Matthew 6.33-34 is but one example of the call of God to rejoice in this life. Seek God. Seek His face. Obey His commands. Follow Jesus Christ. Rejoice in the Holy Spirit. Proclaim the message of life to whoever will listen.

Here is the simple truth: we can only eat, drink, and be merry in right relationship with Jesus Christ who died that we might live! We can only rejoice in this life because God has given us new life in Jesus who bids us to come a die to self that we might live to God. This is the merriment of this life. And all of the joys we find under the sun are but a glimmer of what is to come in eternity.

 

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”— (1 Corinthians 2.9).

Amen.

*This sermon series reflects the work of David Gibson in his book Living Life Backward.