Remember God To Enjoy Your Life and Your Death

Remember God to Enjoy Your Life and Your Death

I don’t know about you, but Ecclesiastes has proven to be even more of a blessing than I had anticipated when we first dove into this book. First of all, let’s just stop for a minute and see the goodness of God’s providence in bringing this book to us to be explored, read, studied, and applied during this uncertain season.

Think about it, none of us could have predicted what 2020 had in store for us with the COVID-19 pandemic. In an instance we had our ability to meet stripped away, our favorite stores and shops closed down, an economic downfall was on our hands, and at the beginning of all this was a fairly ludacris shortage of toilet paper that I’m still trying to process. It has undoubtedly brought more uncertainty and unprecedented polarization within our nation that we frankly weren’t prepared for, whether physically, emotionally, relationally, or spiritually.

Ultimately, we saw how quickly all that we trust to make our lives function properly and go off without a hitch halted in an instance, and there was nothing we could do about it.

I suppose you could say we saw more clearly than expected this year the vanity or smokescreen that is our life and existence and it is against that backdrop that God sovereignly led us into the book of Ecclesiastes. How good He is!!!

Throughout this book, we’ve seen themes that speak directly to our life and living. In a cursory overview we’ve seen:
• The tragic reality of the fall
• The “vanity” of life
• Sin and death
• The joy and the frustration of work
• The grateful enjoyment of God’s good gifts
• The fleetingness of all contained in these themes because life is coming to an end

Now here we are at the end of the book and Solomon gives us his final words of wisdom for how we ought to live in light of all of this. Here are his three pieces of instruction for the reader:

• Remember your Creator in your youth
• Fear God
• Keep His Commandments

This morning we are only going to look at the first of these three points from Ecclesiastes 12:1-8, and Kirk will bring us home next week as we look at the fear of God at the end of this book.

But before we begin reading, I’d like to draw our attention to two reasons Solomon tells the reader to remember his Creator in the days of his youth and why that is wise living. Here's why:

Because…
• Death is certain
• Death is final

So, let’s start now by looking at the first five verses of Ecclesiastes 12 and see what Solomon has to say about the certainty of death.

"1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— 5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets."

If you haven’t figured it out by now, these eight verses that we’ll be looking at this morning are extremely poetic. And while I love poetry especially as an artist and musician, it can definitely be a hurdle in understanding the point of the text. But it can also be a tool used to really paint a picture and drive a point home in a way that a linear, more literal approach can’t. And that’s ultimately what Solomon is trying to do here. He is metaphorically telling his young listener, “Hey listen to me! Don’t wait to reconcile with God until later. Remember your creator now in your youth because the evil day is coming! What evil day? That’s another way of saying 'the days of death and dying.'"

Look at the beginning of verse 2. He says to remember your Creator before the light of the sun and the moon and the stars are darkened. In other words, remember your Creator before the lights go out. Often, youth is compared to the dawning of light, and old age is compared to twilight. Solomon is saying, “There is a fading capacity for joy in this life as the sun sets and the stars and moon grow dark.”

This might seem obvious, but this life can only be enjoyed, well, while you’re living in it. This means that the joy that comes from simply existing and experiencing the things this life brings can only produce a figure of joy that is passing away.

I mean if there is one thing we are certain of, it is that death is imminent because it is immanent.
It is imminent in the sense that it is nearer than any of us realize. Solomon has been preaching this to his young listener the whole time. From the very beginning, the tone has been vanity of vanities. It’s that Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, literally referring to a “mist”, “vapor”, or “mere breath”, and metaphorically to something fleeting or elusive.

Remember Jason brought out that great example of breathing out and trying to catch your own breath vapor in your hand. Solomon has been saying all along life is like that! Elusive, fading, and unstable.

We continue to see that in verses 3 and 4. Solomon compares the deterioration of life to that of the deterioration of a house. The idea here being the “keepers of the house” as referring to the arms and hands that shake in old age, “the strong men” as the legs that once supported this frame but are now bent and crippled underneath it, and “the grinders” as the teeth that once were strong and competent to chew good food but are now ground down and practically not useful anymore.

We see this metaphor perhaps in our own homes, right? I mean stuff simply deteriorates faster than we’d like it to. It’s this very principle that keeps Home Depot and Lowes alive and well and extremely busy even during a crisis.

Not that we needed any more poetry than what we have to uncover in this passage, but I found this portion from C.H. Spurgeon helpful when approaching our text this morning:

"How brief the distance between life and death! In fact, there is none. Life is but death's vestibule, and our pilgrimage on earth is but a journey to the grave. The pulse that preserves our being beats our death march, and the blood which circulates our life is floating it onward to the deeps of death. To-day we see our friends in health, to-morrow we hear of their decease. We clasped the hand of the strong man but yesterday, and to-day we close his eyes. We rode in the chariot of comfort but an hour ago, and in a few more hours the last black chariot must convey us to the home of all living. Oh, how closely allied is death to life… Empires rise and flourish, they flourish but to decay, they rise to fall. How often do we take up the volume of history, and read of the rise and fall of empires? We hear of the coronation and the death of kings. Death is the black servant who rides behind the chariot of life. See life! and death is close behind it."

Verse 5 takes us another step closer from deterioration to the very nearness of the funeral, in other words, life is almost at its end. Let’s look at verse 5 again together. He’s talking about the very vigor and excitement that leaves us in old age and compares it to the fear of heights and "terrors in the way" or as the NASB says, "terrors in the road."

Things that may have not been a hurdle for a young man now become intimately more difficult. We see this in some of our elderly friends and family. It’s harder getting in the car and venturing out into society the older you get. Things that were so easy, like a trip to the store at night when the kids go down to bed, isn’t the same as when you were young.

Solomon then moves to the physical appearance of the deteriorating life as he compares it to the almond tree blossoming, the grasshopper losing its bounce, and the man's desires failing. I’m sure you know this but an almond tree is a white blossoming tree, and similarly, the hair loses its pigment. The grasshopper that once jumped and flew with such strength and dignity now painfully drags himself from place to place. All that delighted man's soul and that he desired so vehemently in his youth, like food, drink, music, and sex fail him as his old body fails him. All these things that produced life and desire fade with age.

And then at the end of verse 5, Solomon makes this claim that moves us from the certainty of death to the finality of death when he says all of this is because “man is going to his eternal home."

This brings us to our second point that verses 6-8 reveal to us; death is not only certain, but it is also final. Let’s look back at verses 6-8.

"6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity."

Here we really get two pictures of the finality of death. In the first picture, we see this golden bowl that’s attached to a silver cord. The cord is snapped or broken and the bowl shatters and breaks and Solomon is saying, “Death is the breaking point. It’s this moment when the function of the cord ceases and the object at the end of the cord comes crashing to its end. If you’ve ever seen something precious and fragile shatter, that’s the end of it. There’s no coming back from it. You can try and superglue the thing back together, but the actual integrity of the object has been removed and is no more."

The second picture we see is a pitcher lowered down a well. When the wheel breaks, the pitcher crashes, and the life-giving water that pitcher once carried is no longer available or renewed. It served its purpose and now that it has crashed down to the bottom it no longer has any function.

Then in verse 7, he moves from the metaphorical, abandoning the imagery and says, “All this deterioration leads you back to one place, the dust. And the spirit of that soul onto its eternal destiny."

Solomon's telling his young reader, “That’s it! Future fixed, death is final in this life, there’s no coming back from this. Vanity of Vanities, you’ve deteriorated to where you’ve been headed this whole time, right? We were born to die!”

At first glance, what a devastating reality for a young man. He has all this life in front of him and this old preacher is saying at the end of his you’re born and then you blink and then you die. And why is this the young man might ask? Or he might think, “This seems unfair, I’m so alive right now why does it have to end like this!?"

Answer: because like we said at the beginning, if there is one thing we are certain of, it is that death is imminent because it is immanent.

We’ve spent the last bit talking about the imminence of death but not the immanence of death, and if you’re not careful you’ll miss one letter that changes the entire idea.

You see, while our homes deteriorate due to a design flaw, our bodies are imminently deteriorating to death because the sin that resides in them is immanent. This is a bit of a grammar lesson but the difference between the words imminent and immanent is crucial here. Imminent means to draw near, but immanent mean to dwell within, and both are accurate descriptions of our death problem. While we see that deterioration is happening faster than we can perceive, it is important that we see that it’s been happening since we were born. This is our greatest problem! Because of the fall, sin has been killing us, not just physically, but spiritually since we were born and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it!

But this is where the gospel comes to the rescue in our Ecclesiastical dilemma. This is what the preacher is telling his young reader. He’s saying all is vanity and there is nothing you can do about it, so remember your Creator while you're young and know that He is the only one that can do something about this condition! As we’ll see next week, what’s the wisest thing you can do in light of this imminent death? Fear God, and keep His commandments, in other words, remember and bow the knee to your creator, the only one who can save you from this fate! Don’t wait because you don’t know how quickly this deterioration might take place! For some, it will be gradual, but your house may deteriorate in a fiery car crash today, or in an unforeseen heart attack, and since the certainty and finality of death are fixed, you’ve returned to dust, and returned to your Creator that will either serve as your judge or your savior!

But this is joy for the believer! Here is the third and final point that we didn’t mention originally. Why remember your creator?

Because:
• Death is certain
• Death is final
• AND DEATH IS LIFE FOR THE BELIEVER!

Matthew 10:28 says, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Again we’ll hear more about this next week.

Don’t you see, Solomon is saying “Hey young man, remember your Creator, fear Him, love and keep His commandments and live!" This is the hope of the Christian! There are two deaths and two resurrections that we have to look forward to!

Please listen to this resurrection life we have in Christ! “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:5-11

This is the gospel! We were made to live with God! We die to our sin when we remember our creator and cry out to God like the man in Luke 18 “God be merciful to me a sinner!” We see our desperate need for a savior, repent, believe, and trust, and live! Yes, we remain in sin's ugly effect, but we are freed from its power to newness of life.

When this gospel transformation becomes our reality, even our physical death is a means to live! Yes, this is the second resurrection. We die and go through the deterioration process, but we pass from this life and go home! And why is heaven home? Because our Christ is there! The one whom we have loved and toiled for, the one whom we’ve sinned against and felt a deep sorrow thereafter, the one who forgave us that sin by his blood, the one we’ve sung about, talked about, prayed to, rejoiced in, the one we’ve loved because He first loved us, is living there and has prepared a place for us! Can you believe it? Why Lord why? Because He loves us!

Listen one more time to Spurgeon: “There cannot be heaven without Christ. He is the sum total of bliss; the fountain from which heaven flows, the element of which heaven is composed. Christ is heaven and heaven is Christ. Oh, to think of heaven without Christ! It is the same thing as thinking of hell.”

Can you see it, smell it, taste it? It’s the aroma of Christ that is worth living for and Solomon is saying, “Hey young person, you don’t want to waste your life, you don’t want to watch yourself and all you’ve worked for and heaped up for yourself deteriorate, you don’t want to get to the end and realize Vanity of Vanities? Then remember your Creator while you're young! Remember that death is certain, death is final, but for the one who remembers his Creator and worships Him, death is life!

There is one reality that is a shared reality for every living creature. Human beings both saved and unsaved share this experience, plants, animals, protoplasm, viruses, micro bacteria, macro bacteria, anything that has an existence shares one reality. What is this reality? Death. For the human race death truly is the great equalizer.

It doesn’t matter how much you had or didn’t have, how much money you made or didn’t make, if you were a CEO or a janitor, believed COVID was a conspiracy or an imminent doom, what side of the aisle you fell on politically, none of it will matter! What will matter is if you remembered your Creator and said take my life! I want to die with you so that I rise with you!

So, this morning if you are young and hearing this, heed the words of the wisest old fool in history at the end of his life and don’t throw away your life thinking you’re invincible. Your life is deteriorating at a rapid pace and eternity awaits you and that is all that truly matters! And if you are old and hearing this right now, and have lived a life not remembering your Creator, know this, you're still breathing if you can hear this. So run to Him now! Confess your need before deterioration has its way, and rest that your best years are ahead of you in eternity with the God who loved you and gave Himself for you! Man. God help us in this way.

So, remember your creator in your youth so that you cherish him in your death.

Yes, enjoy good things, work hard, pursue wisdom, do all that the preacher commends to his reader throughout this book. But ultimately, remember that all of that is coming to an end and if those are the things you ultimately loved, you will be supremely disappointed when death comes knocking.

But, if you enjoy those things all the while anticipating that the giver of those things is your ultimate reward, that you will see Him one day and stand before Him in His likeness and forever be satisfied, then death and deterioration become close friends and not to be feared.

Death no longer is the grand disappointment and disaster but rather the means to your greatest end, which is ultimately your eternal beginning.

I don’t know about you, but I was totally undone last week listening to Claire’s “Story Of Faith” that Jason shared. So simple yet so profound that I thought I would share one more time his piece of advice he said he’d give every young person. This is what he said:

"Fall in love with Jesus Christ. Do pay too much attention to the actual works that you do but fall in love with him and do everything you can to obey Him. The only one thing the Lord asked us to do is to love Him. That’s what He wants. He wants us to love Him because He knows if we love Him we will obey Him and if we obey Him we will have a happy life regardless of circumstance."

You may be sitting here thinking, or watching at home thinking. This feels impossible. My heart seems to fall in love with everything in life but God. And you’re right, it is impossible left to yourself. But again listen to the words of this dear 99-year-old man who said, “One of the prayers I would suggest every young person pray is this: Sovereign Lord, you will never leave us or forsake us.”

You see, it is God who works this love into your heart, it is His Spirit that leads you to remember your Creator in your youth, and He won't fail you!

This is why you remember your Creator in your youth, fear God, keep His commandments and live, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

This morning I’d like to close us with a prayer from this little book called, Prone To Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration that seemed to appropriately sum up my heart's cry and hopefully our hearts' cry as a church as we go to God and ask Him to work these things into our hearts. So please pray with me and then will sing in response to God’s great word.