Living Life Backwards Pt.7

Last Sunday, Carlos Price taught us from Ecclesiastes chapter 7. And exhorted us to learn to love the limitations of life from chapter 6 of David Gibson's book. Carlos showed us how choosing to live with godly wisdom. In this complicated life brings glory to God.

So this morning we'll continue on that theme in looking to God. For wisdom. In this age of complication, Chapter 9 in Ecclesiastes this morning is a summary of what Solomon, or Solomon's nickname of preacher. What preacher has covered previously, it's a time in Ecclesiastes to catch your breath.

It's a time to meditate. On what Solomon or preacher has been talking about. Over the last several chapters and what we've been looking at as we've met together at 9:30 on a Sunday morning. It's a time to meditate, to marinate in some of the most unusual writing in scripture.

So let's jump in. So who do you think Controls your life. How in control do you think you are? I know that there's some of you out there that have a wiring that like to be in control.

I got this. I've made my list. I've got my calendar. I know how the day is going to go.

This is set. This is sweet. I'm in control. Some of us are a lot like that, some of us less so.

I thought I was in control. On April 24th of 2018. When I was visiting a friend in the hospital at the skilled nursing facility just off of Van Buren down by the National Cemetery, left my friend, got in my car, my blood sugar dropped. A dark curtain came down over my face as I lost consciousness behind the wheel of my Prius.

At that very moment Christ took the wheel of my Prius. Drove me out onto Van Buren Avenue, turned left down Van Buren, drove all the way down Van Buren Avenue through all those busy intersections, unconscious. Unconscious. Probably a dozen more opportunities for me to lose my life.

The Lord took me past my house. And down to Indiana where the Lord turned me right into that gas station right there at Indiana in the freeway. Van Buren, Indiana crashed into a telecommunications pole. With the paramedics on site, giving me some glucose, regained consciousness, Julie was called 2 days in ICU at Riverside Community, stabilized me, transported me to LA for back surgery where I received 2 rods, 9 screws.

And was heading into 3 months of rehabilitation under the care of my beloved Julie and 40 or 50 of you here from Cornerstone loving on me, providing for me with every need we had. I thought I was in control. Ha, not really. The Lord met me in that time, preserved my life.

taught me a lot about humility, taught me a lot about my dependence on Him. Take a look at your handout this morning. Look at bullet number 2 on the review and introduction section, for I considered all this in my fill in that blank heart. Please look at verse 1, Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 1, an amazing place to start.

Consider this carefully. For I considered all this in my heart so that I could declare it all, that the righteous and the wise and their works are. In the hand of God. The objective this morning is to recognize that you're not in control of your own life.

The objective is for you to step in faith with your eyes on Christ and offer your life up to Him. Submit to Him. Sure, make your list. Sure, keep your calendar, but set those things aside and say, Father, I am in your hands.

My life belongs to you. Preacher offers a close look at the picture of life and more importantly, death in God's word. He asks simple yet profound questions. Like, why do the good die young?

Why do those who are evil live a long life? We're going to consider these questions this morning. As we look at death, as we look at what it means to live well in preparation for that day that is coming, when you and I will stop breathing. Here is the lens through which the writer of Ecclesiastes sees life and death.

This is verse 7 of chapter 9. Go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. What? Read that carefully.

Underline that. What in the world? Let's do it again. Let's say Jones that.

Go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart. For God has already approved what you do. This verse is the, this verse is the entire book of Ecclesiastes in a nutshell. It summarizes the entire book, the entire message.

Preacher wrote, actually we'll unpack this first later on this morning as we move through the verse. So we just wanted to get things warmed up here. Preacher wrote this book to destroy any notion we may have that we can be like God and know it all, have it all, do it all, achieve it all, be happy forever and have all the answers. This is preacher's message.

This is the Lord's will. That you and I understand this very clearly, that we won't have it all, do it all, achieve it all, be happy forever and have all the answers. This morning together, let's look at three hammers, hammers, H A M M E R S, three hammers that preacher uses to shatter our illusion that we can control our own lives. Hammer number one in your notes this morning.

The one thing in life that is certain is our death. So write death in that blank verses 1 through 6. This is the starkest of realities. One, this is the same end for everyone.

We all have the same end, the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the nice and the nasty, the believer and the unbeliever, the honest and the deceiver, we all go into the ground. We all go into the ground. Death. And the way death does its work is evil.

Consider this with me. Death and the way death does its work is evil. Many, many examples of this point this morning. I just point to the example of Ryan Bonnameno.

Ryan Bonnaino was a Riverside native, served two tours in Iraq, came back to Riverside out of the armed services, joined Riverside Police Department, was chasing a suspect in Fairmont Park in, forget the month, maybe November of 2013, slipped on a grassy slope chasing the suspect. The suspect engaged him, took his weapon, and with Officer Bonnaminio begging for his life. The suspect shot him to death. It was Earl Green.

Now life in prison. Another example, Kobe Bryant. What a career. What fame.

What glory, what riches. What a wonderful, beautiful family. Retired last year about this time, taking a helicopter ride on a foggy morning with his 13 year old daughter. Helicopter went down in the fog, Kobe and his daughter.

Dead And many, many, many more examples. Those that lost their lives at the Capitol protest two weeks ago, they didn't go there expecting to lose their lives. They didn't go there expecting to to meet their Maker. One woman did 4 tours of duty.

In Iraq survived that, lost her life at the Capitol Hill protest. Under the sun, look at verse 3. We see in verse 3 this reference to under the sun. What does it mean under the under the sun is a reference to on earth and in our perspective.

We see this used a lot by Solomon in Ecclesiastes. There's nothing new under the sun. Under the sun is from our perspective. And as we here on Earth see things, why should the drug dealer and the human trafficker receive the same as the upright?

Under the sun, it does not make any sense to us, the righteous and the wise. The righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands. When you put these two things together, that God knows the big picture that we do not know, and what we do know of our little picture is that death is the certain end of us. Whoever we are, and whatever we've done, then life is worth living.

Look at verse 4 with me if you will. He who joined with us, he who has joined with all the living has hope. Even a living dog preacher says is better than a dead lion. This is a stark way to put it, but the point is clear.

To be alive is to have the day of opportunity in our hands in a way that does not exist when we are dead. This is the point of verse 4. To be alive is to have the day of opportunity. We're going to talk a lot about opportunity this morning.

To be alive is to have the day of opportunity in our hands in a way that does not exist when we're dead. This is the point of verses 5 and 6. Death is certain for us all. I love the way David Gibson, the author, puts it, the time is coming when all the things you think you are.

I'm sorry, the time is coming when all the things you think are most important in the world, all your strongest emotions, your love, your hate, your jealousy, the time is coming when all that will go cold and vanish and be forgotten. Think about your loved ones that have passed away. Think about what you remember about them. You'll be interested, I think.

To remember mostly what your loved ones have left you with memories, things they said. Things they did. The way my dad put his work boots on, my dad was a pastor, but on weekends, Saturdays, he would work around the property. Put his boots on.

They were ankle boots. He would only lace them up halfway. Guess what I do? I lace up my work boots halfway.

My mom, how she would give instructions in the kitchen. These are the things that endure. These are the things that we remember. Death makes no sense and will and will leave our face tear-stained and our hearts broken.

But death is like this. Death works like this. God comes to us and Jesus and says, trust me. Walk with me, love me.

Put your hand in mine. Believe my word. Stop trying to understand everything and to be in control of everything. To tie up all the loose ends.

To have perfect peace and wealth and health and happiness. Stop striving for all these things. If you can't see that life doesn't make sense. Then something is coming your way that will prove it to you.

Death is coming. Death is coming. Before we talk about preparing to die well in verses 11 and 12, let's take a quick look at verse 7. We've touched on that this morning.

What an incredible piece of scripture. I repeat, go get. Go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. This is the NIV translation, the new international version.

What a remarkable verse. What does this mean? Right at the start, we see this verse go. Go.

is a direction to seize the day with joy and gladness. This, this verse reveals the heart of God to give us a life to enjoy his gifts. I'm reminded of an early scene in the really old movie now. I really date myself talking about this movie.

1989, Dead Poets Society. Robin Williams, he's a teacher of an, of an exclusive boys school, on the East Coast. And in the early stage of the film, Robin Williams has his, I think at that point it's a literature class, and he's trying to instill into his boys to go for it. He gathers them around a glass cabinet in the hallway of the school where there's an array of pictures of alumni that have passed on decades ago.

And Robin Williams beckons his boys and says, Come in, lean into the case, hear, hear the voice of the dead boys and hear what they're saying. And then Robin Williams, under his breath, whispers so that all the boys can hear Carpe diem. Carpe diem, or seize the day, right? Seize the day.

This is God's command to you and I. God's heart for you and I that we go, that we seize the day that we carpe diem. He exhorts, let's focus on, let's focus on the word approved at the end of, verse seven. The NASB has approved and the King James and the New King James has accepted your works.

I like that accepted your works. That's a better translation. Let's reread verse seven together, the last half of it, for God has already accepted your works. What is, what is this what is this a reference to?

This is a reference to what is called in the New Testament, the New Covenant. This is a reach forward from the Old Testament to the New Testament, which is God's new provision for living. It's clear from the New Testament that God has given us the gift of approval or made us righteous. which we receive by faith in Him.

This verse is recognition, even in the Old Testament of a relationship of righteousness based on faith that has already been established. It is true that the basis was laid in our Lord's coming into this world and in and in His subsequent death and resurrection. Yet it is applied to all people in the Old Testament as well as in the New who had faith in what God declared, who believed in His word, and thus were given the gift of righteousness just as we are. Preparing to die well also includes focusing on how to live.

Before we talk about living, let's take a look at the many things in life that are uncertain from verses 11 to 12, and chapter 9. What do you think it means to die well? To die well doesn't mean that when death touches your family, you don't have a broken heart or experience suffocating grief. To die well means that you realize death is the limit that God has placed on creatures who want to be gods.

Let's do that again. To die well means that we that we realize and recognize. that death is the limit God has placed on creatures who want to be gods just like us. To die well means that I realize that death is not just something that happens to me.

It happens because I'm a sinner. I realize that in a sense I caused my own death. To die well means that every time I see a coffin or a funeral procession, I'm reminded that the world is broken and fallen and under the curse of death and that I am a part of it. It means that I'm not owed 10 years by God.

It's only by His mercy that I'm not consume today. And that since the day I was born, I have lived under the sentence of death and am amazed that God has spared me as long as He has, including that day back in April of 2018. Dying well means that I have been laying up treasures in heaven, and that is where my heart is. It means that everything I have in this world I hold with open hands.

Why? Because I love Jesus more than anyone and anything. And I'm happy to go home to Him. This is one of the challenges this morning, beloved.

What do you love the most in the world? We'll talk a little bit more about that as we progress. But we love Christ more than anyone or anything else. And we're happy to go home.

Let's look at hammer number 2, that preacher provides for us, the many things in life that are uncertain. Verses 11 and 12. Let me read those verses with you this morning. Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 11, I again saw under the sun, you, you now know what that means, under the sun, the way we see it, what we can observe.

I saw I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors and neither is bread to the wise or well to the discerning nor favor to men of ability, for time and chance overtake them all. Moreover, man does not know his time like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare. So the sons of men are ensnared. At an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.

So much there, so much to consider. It's so interesting. It's so interesting that we tend to live our lives as if the one thing that is certain, what's the one thing that's certain? Death.

We tend to live our lives as if the one thing that's certain will never come. Well, the many things that are uncertain, we live as though they're certain. Yeah, I'm going to go get that job. I'm going to get that degree.

Oh, I'm going to go get her for a spouse. Etc. etc. Of course, maybe 9 times out of 10, the race does go to the swift and the battle does go to the strong.

The wise financial planner has money in the bank. The brilliant college graduate gets the great job and the well educated get the breaks, but not always. But not always. Look at verse 11 for time and chance.

To happen to them all. Chance is a bad translation. A better translation is happenings happen. To them all Happenings happen.

To the mall, or in our vernacular we would say life happens, right? Life happens, we understand that. In other words, situations arise, circumstances change, unforeseen events occur just like a fish swimming along. Or a bird Landing for some food that out of the blue they're trapped and caught and they never saw it coming.

In exactly the same way men and women have their lives turned upside down by a disaster they never saw coming and which they always thought would happen. To who? To somebody else. to somebody else.

As we grow up, our childhood dreams of being a firefighter or a ballerina are replaced with dreams of a degree, an apprenticeship, a spouse, a child. A great job then a house with lots of room for family to gather to laugh, eat and talk together. Preacher says you may. You may do all these things or maybe Maybe you'll be dead next Sunday.

Maybe you'll never get that job or get married and have kids. Can you see what preacher is trying to say? Here it is, and I've got it in bold caps in my notes. Put your faith in something that is not under the sun.

If I was a tattoo guy, that would be a great tattoo. I'm not advocating that. Put your faith in something that is not under the sun. We see this often in Scripture.

I'm reminded of Genesis chapter 37. what happened in Genesis 37. Joseph, the youngest son of Jacob, the favored son, the favorite son, the son with a coat of many colors. The Lord gave him visions and dreams, and he shared those with his older brothers, infuriating them.

Joseph, great life, right? Great life. Favorite son, chilling at home with Dad. Then one day he says, Joseph, go out and check on your brothers tending sheep.

OK, Dad, I'll go out and see him, check on them. Joseph goes to see his brothers. They see him coming in the distance and they prepare a plan to do away with him, to kill him. They reconsider the plan and they decide to sell him.

Sell him. And that's what they did. Wow. Dear Joseph did not see that coming.

But once again God had his hand on Joseph. And then also in the New Testament. Where we see David Gibson referring to preacher's twin brother James. Take a look at James chapter 4, verses 1314, and 15.

We'll read that together. Come now, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. Amen. Amen. Amen.

So the question for us is what does a life of beauty and meaning look like? So get this. What does a life of beauty and meaning look like poised as we are between these two extremes? On the one hand, my death is certain.

On the other hand, the timing of my death is uncertain. What should life in the meantime look like? Preachers answer. Is challenging and simple.

Life between now and then. Looks like a life well lived. Hm, looks like a life well lived since we'll be dead one day. Live today to the fullest.

While you can to God's glory. The path of wisdom along life's road is to enjoy the gifts God has given you. I repeat, The path of wisdom along life's road is to enjoy the gifts God has given you, the simple things that give you pleasure. The simple things that give you pleasure.

What are those? I use our brother Alvin Davis as an example. I got Alvin's permission to speak of him this morning. about Alvin Davis.

about his life. Of fame, Major League Baseball traveled the world. A life of great adventure. But what are the things that Alvin Davis values the most in his life?

what they are laughing with his 100 year old mother. Gathering with his adult children. and his grandchildren. These are the things.

That filled Alvin Davis's heart. Spending time with his dearly beloved Kim. Of all the things that you would consider in Alvin Davis's life, Fame, prestige, Mr. Mariner, etc.

etc. etc. It's the simple. Sitting around the table enjoying a meal with his mother, his wife.

His children and his grandchildren. I ask you to use that as a model. Make a point. of enjoying the gifts God has given you, the simple things that give you pleasure.

Let's look at hammer number 3 that preacher uses. To shatter any illusion you and I may have that we are in control of our lives. Let's look at verses 7 to 10 together. We've already looked at verse 7 and we're focused on our new motto of gift, not gain.

Life is not about The meaning that you can create for your own life or the meaning that you can find in the universe by your own work and ambitions. Get this, please. You do not find purpose in life by finding a partner or having kids or being rich. You find meaning and purpose when you realize that God has given you life in His world.

And any one of the above things is a gift to enjoy. That's the key. As the Lord gives us gifts, it's a sign of His pleasure in us. When we enjoy His gifts, we are experiencing His favor.

What is it about verse this is what verse 8 is all about. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. In Scripture, sackcloth and ashes were worn to show what grief, right?

Grief and sadness. But white was worn to reflect the sun, and oil was used to nourish the skin. Both were worn to show joy and happiness. Just because we're going to die, it doesn't mean that we don't dress with care.

Or not be concerned about how we look. Rather, we are to look after ourselves. God's world is meant to be a place of color, life, and beauty. Enjoy life with a purpose.

Enjoy life with your spouse. Whom you love in verse 9. Cherish and protect that person God has given you. If you're too busy to enjoy life together, then you're too busy.

It's vital to see that eating, drinking, dressing, and loving in these verses is not an exhaustive list of God's gifts. It's a representative list of what it looks like to love life and to live it to the full. God created the physical world of hands, food, drink, culture, relationships, and beauty. Why to enjoy.

Sin fractures. and distorts everything that causes us And causes us to not understand everything, but sin does not uncreate everything. Sin fractures, but it doesn't uncreate everything. If we tap into preacher's worldview and train of thought, David Gibson thinks an expanded list would go something like this, if you have your book, You can open to page 114 and I read.

This list that David Gibson thinks is an expanded list. Of things that you and I can pursue, ride a bike. See the Grand Canyon, go to the theater. Learn to make music.

Visit the sick. Care for the dying, cook a meal, feed the hungry, watch a film, read a book, laugh with some friends until it makes you cry, play football, run a marathon, snorkel in the ocean, listen to Mozart, ringing your parents. David Gibson is from Scotland. Ring your parents means call your parents, right?

Write a letter, play with your kids, spend your money, learn a language, plan a church, start a school. Speak about Christ, travel to somewhere you've never been, adopt a child, give away your fortune and then some. Shape someone else's life by laying down your own. shape someone else's life by laying down your own.

Amen. Amen. And you can add 100 more. To this list.

Just know that one day all planning. Working Knowledge and wisdom will cease. So do them now while you can. Dying people who truly know they are dying are some of the most alive people.

You've heard these stories. As men and women of God, we are to love Him first and foremost, and then to see his glory in the created world. Note this truth that in the created world you can only truly enjoy what you do not worship. Let me repeat that.

Don't miss this. Don't miss this. In the created world you can only truly enjoy what you do not worship. If you worship food, or work or wealth Or kids Or anything else, then it will own you and control you, and you will never be able to enjoy it.

Worship the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And enjoy these other things the Lord brings into your life. The Lord uses various tools to make us homesick for heaven. Death, sickness, uncertainty, disaster, sorrow and grief are all used by God to dislodge us from our security here.

Are we secure here? Yeah, I think so. I think we think so. I think, I think so.

The Lord uses various things to shake us up, to dislodge us. From our security here. But so are the gifts He gives. His gifts are intended to make us homesick for heaven, precisely because they are so good.

As Julie and I sat on Crystal Cove State Beach two Saturdays ago, as the sun was setting, we were in awe of the beauty of the evening, worshiping, praying, celebrating his goodness. In the beauty and the gift of His creation, the gift of that place, the gift of that moment. Notice the wedding imagery. In verses 7 to 10, food, drink, white garments, oil, and a husband and a wife.

This is because the Bible's picture. Of the best life has to offer us is simply a foretaste of a wedding banquet still to come. The beauty, the grandeur, the glory of which cannot be put into words. David Gibson in the book, says Jeffrey Mayer's meditation on Ecclesiastes called A Table in the Midst captures the book perfectly.

We eat and drink as we vanish from the earth like a vapor. You younger folk in the audience this morning. You haven't thought much about your life being a vapor, but I promise you those in my generation. I very much thought about how our lives are but a vapor and are quickly passing away.

But one day, we will eat and drink in the city of the king, where death will have vanished forever. Let's close our morning in prayer. Father God, We bow, we worship. We're overwhelmed by the truth and the power of your word.

We're overwhelmed by your goodness to us. We praise you for the gift of life this morning. We praise you for the gift of your love. We pray that you would continue to do your Amazing work in each one of us.

Shake us free. Of the illusion we have that we are in control. We pray that each of us in our own way. Sooner than later.

will release these things and say, Lord, you take them. All my dreams, all my desires. All my goals, all my plans. You take them, your will be done.

Your will be done. We ask your continued blessing upon the morning this morning. As our church gathers, thank you for those who have joined us live streaming. We ask your blessing and your care as we continue in worship and thanksgiving to you in Jesus' name.

Amen.