Living a Good Life: Prepare to Die, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In Ecclesiastes 9, King Solomon confronts the idea of death and offers us wisdom about how to live in a way that prepares us for death. In this message, Pastor Rich reminds us that whatever difference we can make for eternity happens now. This life is a gift entrusted to us for a time. What does it look like to live it out in light of eternity? Let's listen as Rich answers this question from the text.

We have been discovering how to make sense of the journey, and as we make sense of the journey we can live a good life. That is, of course, only because of God's self-disclosure. In this portion of Ecclesiastes, verse chapter 9, I have prepared this message today, prepare to die. Now, this is not something that we have put out on the streets, probably wouldn't be prudent to do that, particularly in today's environment, but nevertheless, it is something that we need to discuss because it is something that Solomon challenges us to do. Christians, is death a taboo issue for you?

It ought not be. If we are people of hope who worship the God of hope, Solomon is challenging us to prepare to die because he says in verse 1, all of this I laid to heart. What is it that he has laid to heart? The brevity of life, as we studied at the end of chapter 8, the brevity of life, that's the point of it's meaningless, it's vanity, it's like a vapor, it's like we're not going to find our ultimate meaning and purpose here.

We've got to look somewhere else for it. Not only the brevity of life, and I've been challenged with that this week, as my kids are scattered all over the world, including my wife, over in Poland. Friday night, I was home alone, Ashley was working, and I had been working on a project in the house, ceiling work, oh joy, oh rapture.

And I said, I've had enough of this. And I took a bike ride up to Pilot Mountain, motorbike, by the not up, you know, I just want to be clear. I had to clear the brain out a little bit, you know, that's why I put that helmet on. So right up to Pilot Mountain, and it's been a couple of years since I walked around the Jomioki Trail, which is the trail that goes around the Knob up there. And it's been a while, and we used to do that all the time when our kids were little, right? It was a favorite pastime. Who wants to go hiking? I do, I do, I do!

Right? And so I'm walking around the trail, and here I am, and I come across places where the kids love to climb. I know you're not supposed to do that, but that's between you and me, okay? They love to climb up, we'd climb up there and eat some snacks and stuff like that, and I got choked up. You know, it seemed like that was a year ago, and the kids were, you know, little.

And I walk farther along, like, there's the route that Anna tripped over and skinned her leg up, you know, it's just all that kind of nonsense. And then there's this big stone tablet, it's like the big stone table in Chronicles of Narnia, right? You know, it looks like that, and the image of our whole family around that big stone table eating snacks, keeping them from fighting, you know, just very, very meaningful moments. Life is short. Oh my goodness, the brevity of it, right?

Solomon says, all this I laid to heart. In the brevity of life, as we studied last time, we need to enjoy God's gifts. We need to enjoy them. We don't worship them.

They are not our chief good. We need to worship God, not his gifts. Let me ask you something. Do you love God or do you love his stuff? There's a big difference between the two, and Solomon challenges us on that. In the brevity of life, we understand that we need to enjoy God's gifts, not worship them, not abuse them. But we also need to embrace the mystery. There are some things that we just cannot understand because God's ways are so much higher than our ways. And so as we transition from chapter eight and into chapter nine, we see clearly that Solomon is leading us to his conclusion.

This is all one work. And so we need to read it all in its context. We can't isolate one passage and build a theology from that. We need to read it in light of the conclusion that he draws from this. As we're going through some of this, some of it is like merely an under the sun perspective. But then when you draw God into the picture, then you have a reference from beyond the sun. While we live this experience under the sun, one thing becomes clear from verse one of chapter nine.

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. What becomes clear from that is you are not in control. You are not in control. His ways are higher than our ways. Our ways are in God's hands and we cannot attain his knowledge. We do not know our future. How could you be in control when you can't even know your future? Jay Stafford Wright says there is purpose beyond happiness and sorrow. You cannot use good and bad events as criteria to decide whether God loves you or not. Take that to heart.

Solomon did. You have been given life and gifts from God, but you are not the owner, the controlling owner of them. You are a steward. Do you understand the difference between the two? If you think it is yours and you can do with it as you will, then you are living in the bubble of a make-believe life. You are not a controlling owner. You are a steward of the things that God has entrusted to you – time, wealth, relationships.

All of it. A gift from God. You are a steward of it. And this becomes clear from Solomon's teaching. So as you have been given these life and gifts to be a steward of them, that is reflected in the common phrase that we find in the book of Ecclesiastes where Solomon says, this is your lot. This is your lot.

News flash. Life existed before you did. And it will continue to exist after you are on this earth.

And sometimes we need to be reminded of that, don't we? I am not the center of reality. I don't need to be seeing myself as the greatest and most important reality because I am not. I am not the controlling owner of what is. I am a steward of what God has entrusted to me.

And this requires a beyond the sun perspective and reference. When it says in verse 1, the righteous and the wise, that their manifested deeds is from the hand of God. Because it is from the righteous, what is righteous and wise points to the fact that there is a God. That there is good.

This infinite God who has given us all things. Otherwise, nothing makes sense and ultimately nothing matters. The truth of the matter is you are not in control.

Have you dealt with that? Because when we come to verse 2, what becomes very clear is that something is very wrong. Now some of you control acts in here right now might be thinking, yeah, something's wrong because I'm not in control. But that's the very reason why things are very wrong is because man thinks he can be in control. And it's a delusion. Man thinks he knows better than God.

That's why things are messed up. He says in verse 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. He who sacrifices him will not sacrifice. As the good is, so is the sinner. He who swears, as he who shuns an oath, this is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all.

The same event, what is it? They go to the dead. The living will die, says in the text. Same event happens to all, to the righteous and to the wicked.

And at surface under the sun, it doesn't make sense, does it? And so some might be tempted to ask, well, what's the point? Why be good?

Why be righteous? The good and the bad end up in the grave. And the point of the matter is life is hard and unfair. It is broken. Life is hard and unfair.

It is broken. And these people that have a bumper sticker on the back of their car that says life is good, they're lying. Life is hard and unfair. And all that means is just simply that they have not encountered the harsh realities of life because every one of us will encounter them. Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't things in life that we ought to enjoy. And Solomon tells us that. I've said it already in the sermon today.

We are called to enjoy God's good gifts, but we also have to come to terms with the fact that life is hard and unfair because it is broken. Why is it broken? Because man thinks he knows better than God. That's why. Indeed, something is very wrong.

And why is that? Because man thinks he knows better than, thinks he's better than God. Verse three, look what verse three says. The end of verse three. 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. Full of evil and madness is in their hearts. This is at the heart of mankind.

This is where the problem is. He said in the last verse of chapter seven, God has made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. Meaning, man's made his own plans thinking he knows better. Full of evil and madness. Why does he say, now full of evil we can understand, right? But why would he say madness? In other words, what are you saying that every one of us have an element of madness in our hearts?

Are you willing to confess that? Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him. The one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.