Ecclesiastes Speaks Today

6-May-19

I get a little frustrated these days with people who think they are so important. I have wanted to use chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes for some time and recent events have given me an opportune time to reflect on the words that God has given us. 

Everything is Futile

1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.

² “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher.
“Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”
³ What does a man gain for all his efforts
that he labors at under the sun?
⁴ A generation goes and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets;
panting, it returns to its place
where it rises.
⁶ Gusting to the south,
turning to the north,
turning, turning, goes the wind,
and the wind returns in its cycles.
⁷ All the streams flow to the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
The streams are flowing to the place,
and they flow there again.
⁸ All things are wearisome;
man is unable to speak.
The eye is not satisfied by seeing
or the ear filled with hearing.
⁹ What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Can one say about anything,
“Look, this is new”?
It has already existed in the ages before us.
¹¹ There is no remembrance of those who came before;
and of those who will come after there will also be no remembrance
by those who follow them.

¹² I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³ I applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.

¹⁴ I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶ I said to myself, “Look, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.”

¹⁷ I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind^.

¹⁸ For with much wisdom is much sorrow;
as knowledge increases, grief increases.

I don’t really want to unpack this because the words speak for themselves. What Ecclesiastes does say to us is that what comes after this earthly life is more important than anything we do or say on earth. I will say that I am not one who looks at the gloomy side of life but I do understand the reality of life. 

I also think of John J. McCloy. Who was John McCloy you might ask? I keep an article in my Bible written by columnist Donald Kaul (Pulitzer Prize winner 1987 and 1999) about Mr. McCloy as a reminder of how we are just a speck in time no matter how much money we have or how well known we are.

I have kept this article in an old Bible of mine tucked away in the 1st chapter of Ecclesiastes. At the time this article was important to me because of a spiritual death I was going through and was seeking some sort of resurrection from ruin. 

(Read a portion from Kaul’s column)

When Mr. McCloy died March 1989, there was little mentioned by the media and yet he was a powerful man who served in the Army during WWI and helped the Truman administration in rebuilding Europe after WWII.
So it is not important the epitaph that is written here on earth. It is important that our names are in the Book of Life so that God will see our face when we report to Him. 

I just heard about Verna Aeikens’ death and reminded also that for those of us who knew her, we will remember her in our own small way. There is no doubt in my mind that Verna and Richard are doing things together, maybe making a heavenly quilt, in heaven without pain in their new glorified bodies. 

I didn’t know them as well as some of you but they were faithful in coming to the Bible Study sessions as long as I have been doing them for the last five or so years. They were friendly, inspiring and faithful to the Lord.

We just lost a young woman in our church that went to school with our youngest son to a sudden illness. Why we ask for a person in the earlier period of her life? There are no answers but I am confidant that there was a reason known only to God. 

What I do know is this, life is short and we must enjoy each and every day and thank God for this life. 

Preachers today are mostly irrelevant because they do not make the Bible relevant to today. “We go to church, the minister preaches, I go home, that is what Christians do now.” Pastor Don Widman

Young people leave the church today because they do not see how the Bible is relevant to their lives. Face Book and the internet gives them the options of finding who they are by defining what gender they are to finding what is important in their lives by using pop culture as and example. 

Death seems to be a taboo topic in sermons and yet we deal with death at every funeral service held at church. Few understand that when we die, we do not just vanish, or body might but we are transformed and we do live forever whether it is in Hell or in Heaven.

Death is not considered by the young until a father or mother dies, then death becomes more real. Then the under taker becomes a more prominent figure on the stage of our life.

When I come face to face with death, I hope I can smile knowing death will not conquer me because of Jesus.

Isaiah 25: 8
He will swallow up death for all time,

And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces,

And he will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth:

For the Lord has spoken.

Revelation 21:4

And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes;

And there will no longer be any death;

There will no longer be any mourning, 

Or crying, or pain;

The first things have passed away.

I have been to a lot of funerals and it is interesting how different people mourn the loss of a loved one. For some there is almost a joy that the loved has moved to their heavenly home. For others there is much grief displayed. I’m not going to pretend to know their inner feelings or thoughts or say there is a right way or a wrong way. 

In my own loss of loved ones, I have experienced both sides. When my mother died, it was a relief that her pain had ended and I knew where she was; she was not in that broken body but in heaven. What joy that must be for her.

When my dad died, I was more sad for myself. Dad had lived a long life and toward the end he was miserable. All his old friends were gone and the woman that kept him sociable and active was gone.  Yes I knew I was going to miss him and the realization came over me when he was buried that I was now an orphan. However, I was happy for him.  

When some other relatives and friends have died, I grieved more for them than my own parents. Why? Because I was not really certain where they were going. 

So I ask you today, that if you have not made peace with God, forgiven those that have sinned against you, do it now, do it today. That is what really matters. 

It is not important what is said about you in an obituary, which is for those who remain. What is important is that your name appears in the Book of Life. 

I want to close with this prayer from ----

Psalm 20

1May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;

may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

2May he send you help from the sanctuary

and grant you support from Zion.

3May he remember all your sacrifices

and accept your burnt offerings.

4May he give you the desire of your heart

and make all your plans succeed.

5May we shout for joy over your victory

and lift up our banners in the name of our God.

May the Lord grant all your requests.

6Now this I know:

The Lord gives victory to his anointed.

He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary

with the victorious power of his right hand.

7Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

8They are brought to their knees and fall,

but we rise up and stand firm.

9 May the king answer us in the day when we call.

(Wouldn’t it be a fine thing if we could establish rules for membership of a church like the Home Owners Association does? We would all look the same; believe the same things and the church would just glide along on smooth ice.)Don’t use