39. The Investment of a Life

Posted on Posted in Sermon Notes, Prayer Meeting, 2017 Tagged with , , , ,

Hymns: RHC 542 Saved By Grace, 334 Sweet Peace, the Gift of God’s Love, 109 Jesus Is All the World to Me

Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes

(Remember Now Thy Creator)

The Investment of a Life

Ecclesiastes 11:7-10 

7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: 8 But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity. 9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. 10 Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.

 

OUTLINE

(1) Let It Be Sweet (v7-8)

(2) Let It Be Joyful (9-10)

 

INTRODUCTION

Life! We can only live once. Time moves in one direction and that is forward. And there is no winding back of time and life. How then shall we live it? How can we live it to the fullest? The investment of a life. How precious and yet how fleeting! Cherish life. Live it well!

Solomon has been analysing the make-up of a good life and he provides us the final analysis and gives to us a perspective of a good life.

(1) Let It be Sweet (v7-8)

(2) Let It Be Joyful (v9-10)

 

(1) Let It Be Sweet (v7-8)

7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: 8 But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

How can life be sweet? When it is lived in the light. The portrayal of light is a picture of God’s presence. When God’s there in the human heart is light and there is sweet peace. This sweetness comes when man is reconciled to God through Christ.

John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

 When a man is connected with the Giver of light and life, his life is sweet. There is a sweetness in that relationship. Once he was lost, now he is found. And he can enjoy life to its fullest.

Recall Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. This woman was seeking for true love, she has had five husbands yet could not find true love! Jesus came to provide her the gift of true love. To be connected with His heavenly Father through His Son Jesus Christ.

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

This is that life with God. Truly, Solomon cannot offer anything better than to show his reader the true Light. That it is sweet. a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold!

The Apostle Paul says well, 1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

Where there is righteousness and light, bringing peace and joy, it dispels sin and darkness, sorrow and misery!

This is the sweet life. There is no condemnation for such a life lived with the living and true God.

These days of darkness are not sweet but bitter and miserable. Could it be referring to sickness, disease and finally death?

Surely, even for the Christian living in the light such a life cannot be sweet? Far from it.

The Apostle Paul puts it well in 2 Corinthians 4:13-18 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Recall Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:…

The word “beautiful” literally means “beautiful” or “lovely”. When we have God in perspective of life, as one pastor puts it, “our times become “sensible” and “meaningful” When all that falls together, when the pieces of the puzzle fit into one another, beauty emerges”.

He continues to say, “Does it not remind you of a chorus of worship? Christians love to sing when they gather. It was born out of this statement in the book of Ecclesiastes.

 

In His time, in His time

He makes all things beautiful

In His Time.

 

Lord, please show me every day

As You’re teaching me Your way

That You’ll do just what You say

In Your time.”[1]

 

I am reminded of a poem that the late Elder Tow Siang Yeow wrote in his reflection of this passage:

 

Time, thou unfathomable entity

                  Inscrutable and intangible

Beginning in the midst of antiquity,

                  Lasting till the end of time.

Variously described by sages:

“Illimitable, never resting thing

rushing swift and silent”,

“The subtle thief of youth”,

                  “An ever flowing stream that

                                    bears all its sons away”.

 

Yet, a gift of God to all as

                  It is the stuff that life is made of.

For does not Somomon intone, “There is a season

                  And a time for every purpose under heaven,

A time to be born and a time to die”?… (Eccl. 3:2).

 

A time when we were young and naughty

Viewing the world through blinked eyes.

Ensconced with doting mums and dads…

                  A time to leave the roost!

                  Learning to fly the hard way –

One day soaring aloft; the nest is empty,

The scene is over: time to reminisce!

 

It’s God’s allotted time to run the race

Patiently and unswervingly to victory –

Or straying from the straight and narrow

Path, regretfully, falling by the wayside!

 

So teach us, O Lord, to “number our days

That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Ps. 90:12).

                  Ever prepared to be on time for

                  that “blessed hope”, the glorious

appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ

                  and at the last trump,

to ever be with the Lord. Amen. 

  • Elder Tow Siang Yeow (6 Nov. 1927 – 25 Nov. 2015 Age: 88)

At the tomb stone two bible verses – “I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice and supplications. (Psalm 116:1) and “Precious in the sight of the Lord is His saints” (Psalm 116:15).

Life is darkness and vanity when we indulged in the flesh and pay the price of vanity in wasted years.

 

(2) Let It Be Joyful (v9-10)

9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. 10 Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.

The word “Rejoice” is in the imperative, a command to live life joyfully. Let your life be happy!

The word “man” is literally “the Adam”, the man whom God made from the dust of the ground and who fell into sin and will return to the dust as a judgment from God!

God, it is literally “the God”, the living and true God. Knowing Him and His love will bring true joy to your life.

Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

This is the recipe for happiness – Love God and love your fellow men!

There is a way to enjoy life that will bring no rebuke at the end of life. This is the life in the spirit when we bear the Spirit’s fruit. There is not rebuke in such a life. A life lived not in the flesh.

Galatians 5:22-26 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Those who do the works of the flesh shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).

(1) Adultery – sexual sin in marriage

(2) Fornication – any sexual sin

(3) Uncleanness – immoral lust,

(4) Lasciviousness – shameless lifestyle

(5) Idolatry – worship of false gods (mammon-greed)

(6) Witchcraft – sorcery (deceptions and secuctions of idolatry),

(7) Hatred – enmity, hostility

(8) Variance – contention

(9) Emulations – an envious and contentious rivalry, jealousy

(10) Wrath – anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again

(11) Strife – intriguing for office, fractiousness (desire to put oneself forward)

(12) Seditions – dissension, division

(13) Heresies – dissensions arising from diversity of opinions and aims

(14) Envyings – promoted by envy

(15) Murders – killing

(16) Drunkenness – intoxication, make drunk or become drunk

(17) Revellings – feast and drinking parties till late night (half-drunk)

When Christians indulge in sin, it affects not only ourselves but those of our family members. We are to take time to examine ourselves. If we are sinning habitually we are to check our salvation.

The Apostle Paul was asking the believers in Galatia to “stand fast…in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1).”

When we come to accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour, He has by the finished work on the cross set us free from the bondage of sin. In the sight of God, we are free men. Sin no longer binds us. We have the power to say “no” to sin! Hence the Apostle Paul pleads with the Christians in Galatia to “stand fast” – “to stand firm, persevere, persist, keep one’s standing.”

And in verse 1b, “be not entangled” is a command that forbids the continuance of an action, most frequently already in progress, in this case, it demands to desist from the action. The Christians in Galatia have been entangled with the works of the flesh.

The Apostle Paul states emphatically in verse 16, “Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

When we walk in the spirit, we will not fulfil the lust of the flesh. “will not fulfil” not only forbids the action but most frequently used when the action has not begun.

 

CONCLUSION

May your life be sweet and joyous! Amen.

 

[1] Charles Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge, W Publishing Group, 2004, 65.