Does the fun and enjoyment in your life reflect God's way? Ecclesiastes encourages us to enjoy life, but remain mindful that without God and His promises of the future, it would all be worthless, it would all be temporary, it would all be vanity.
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Well, we just came back from a wonderful and inspiring Feast. I hope you had a wonderful Feast and a lot of fun too. We had a lot of enjoyment, a lot of fun at the Feast this year at Steamboat Springs. We sure did with our two-year-old grandson. He loves trains; Thomas the train and then there's I forget, Henry and we bought him a little motorized James. James and Henry were motorized and were chasing each other all over the floor. He's just full of energy and hugs and life and Caleb was the sweetest little bundle of seven-week old joy that you could ask for. Not that I'm a prejudice grandparent or anything.
But we had a wonderful, wonderful time and early tomorrow morning as I mentioned in the announcements we leave for Cincinnati for the tenth annual United Youth Camp Conference. We're looking forward to that. We're looking forward to catching up with other camp directors and finding out how things went at their camp from the inside view. They have a chance to talk about what things worked and what we can do better. Generally we have our annual review of our camp program and see what we can improve on and of course we always do that since winter camp is starting to ramp up. They're just getting started with applications so we have kind of a stop over there. We talked about creating the zone at our camps, pre-teen camps and our teen camps. Of course the zone is simply a phrase we use, a term we use to describe the atmosphere at camp.
It's our goal to help campers, pre-teens and teens and even the young adults who are at camp. It's our goal to help them develop and strengthen their relationship with God, to build Godly relationships with adults and peers, to relate their lives to the plan of God, to learn and practice spiritual values, to state positive challenges and to experience success. We realize that the positive experiences, the positive camp experiences can help campers gain a vision of their future, help see themselves in the Kingdom of God and lend some purpose and direction to their daily lives. Of course the Feast of Tabernacles, you know, we sort of describe our camp setting as a foretaste of the Kingdom of God and I see so many parallels. You know I go to the Feast of Tabernacles and focus on the Feast and come right back and I'm focused on camp, trying to get ready for a camp meeting and I see so many overlaps between the two because the atmosphere that we try to establish at the Feast of Tabernacles is one of looking forward to the Kingdom of God, a focusing on the Kingdom of God. The overlaps to me are just struck by the similarities.
We talk about the Feast of Tabernacles as being a time when we focus on the Kingdom, when we think about what life is going to be like as God establishes His Kingdom here and people begin to live by the word of God and living by His laws. So as I was thinking about what to speak about today, I thought well let me talk about something that overlaps with both. Camp is on my mind, the Feast is still on my mind and the fact that both of them are supposed to be fun is still on my mind. I think I'd like to discuss that a little bit with you, just coming back from the Feast and heading into camp meetings, I'd like to talk about that today. I'd like to look at some spiritual lessons that each of them has to offer; about fun and about having fun in life, that God has that for a goal for us. He wants us to enjoy things. These lessons I think are recorded in the bible by a person who we might call a bible foremost authority on fun and enjoyment. Now if you had to think of whom in the bible you would consider to be the foremost authority on joy and on fun, whom would you list? Who would you come up with? Who would you think of? You might think well Joseph was second in command and talk about being able to have anything at his beck and call; you could have all kinds of fun, second in command in Egypt? You had to have great opportunities for fun. Or maybe you think of Samson, his incredible strength. You could have fun with that strength as well. Of course it was destructive a lot of times and unfortunately that strength got him in trouble sometimes also, didn't it, especially with women? He had a few difficulties.
Maybe you think about Peter walking on water. I think walking on water would be fun don't you? I think that would be cool. That reminds me of a story I heard about this guy who was a bird hunter. He had just acquired a new dog, a new hunting dog, a new bird dog and he was so excited about this dog. He thought I want this dog to be real special so he taught him how to walk on water to retrieve the birds. He just couldn't wait for the opening of hunting season. When the season finally opened and he went hunting, he had his best buddy and he hadn't told him anything about his dog and he had him go hunting with him. So all day long they're out hunting, they're shooting birds and every time he shoots one the dog walks out in the water, grabs a bird and walks back but he doesn't say a word all day long. Finally they're on their way home and this guy can't stand it anymore. So he says, what do you think? His buddy said, well the hunting was pretty good. So he said, didn't you notice anything unusual? Well, yes, the birds were kind of thin, we didn't have quite as many as I thought we'd have. No, no I mean about my dog, did you notice anything unusual about my dog? Well yes, your dog can't swim. See I think walking on water would be a lot of fun. If you had that kind of power, wouldn't that be awesome?
But I've got somebody else in mind that I want to talk about in terms of being the foremost authority on fun and enjoyment. It is somebody who has such incredible wealth that is able to do anything he wanted. By now you're thinking of Solomon and that's whom I'm thinking of. He had all the wealth you could possibly imagine and in fact the bible tells us he did an experiment in fun to find out whether he could find meaning in life. The interesting thing is that we're blessed to have this; we're blessed to have the benefit of his experimentation recorded in the bible once he was old enough to analyze his life. I'd like you to turn to the book of Ecclesiastes if you would for me please. Ecclesiastes, we're going to start in chapter 2 because we find the statement in the first couple verses of this chapter where Solomon says that he was going to conduct an experiment. He wanted to find out some things about life. He wanted to find out about fun, about enjoyment. Solomon is generally believed to be the author of the book and is recognized. Chapter 1, verse 1 talks about him being the son of David, King in Jerusalem.
Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth; (My margin says that the word mirth means gladness) therefore enjoy pleasure;" but surely this also was vanity.
Verse 2: I said of laughter, "It is madness;" and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?"
See he set about to challenge himself to say all right, let me find out about this joy stuff, this fun stuff, this enjoyment, this mirth. Is that what it's all about? He tells us here he's started an experiment seeking fun. Now I'd like to point out that before we go any further in this that Solomon nowhere talks about immorality in the book as a means to fun and enjoyment or a greater meaning in life. He doesn't do that. He talks about fun more from a positive standpoint, in fact I like the way Expositor's Bible Commentary phrases it, this is their comment on another section of the book of Ecclesiastes but I love this quote. It says: "No serious thinker supposes that a Casanova is on the way to discover the purpose of living." So the teacher, or Solomon is not trying to set that either. He says: "The teacher sets his sight on those pleasures that many people would consider worthwhile in themselves. These are worthwhile endeavors; this is fun through doing good things, not immoral things." So we need to set that at the very beginning.
So Solomon tried mirth, he tried laughter and pleasure. I like humor, I like jokes, I like to laugh, I like to have a good time but he (Solomon) came to see in one sense laughter was a little bit meaningless in the long scheme, the greater scheme of life. They lack substance to really add a significant amount of meaning to your life. Hold your place in Ecclesiastes. As you may have already guessed we're going to be back and forth to the book of Ecclesiastes today. Stick a card, stick a finger; stick your neighbor's finger in the book. Well no, not your neighbor's finger but put something in Ecclesiastes; we'll be back there.
Proverbs 14:13 Even in laughter the heart may sorrow and the end of mirth may be grief.
Now joke after joke after joke can get you to laugh. Sometimes you can get to laughing so hard your sides hurt. Have you ever done that? It's kind of an interesting experience. It can be a lot of fun and it's enjoyable, in fact some research says laughter is good for you. In fact it's a kind of an internal exercise for your inners. It's good for you. In fact some of the books I've read say that families who are able to laugh at each other and at themselves and with each other, they find themselves growing closer, that they have closer family relationships than people who can't laugh at themselves. They can enjoy life. But that external stimulus of laughter and enjoying funny things alone they can't change what's deep down, what's inside of us, they can't change your heart. As I've said sometimes the end of mirth may be just grief, you come back to it. Sometimes you may remember the joke, I tend to forget them quickly, but you don't take a whole lot else with you other than, oh yes that was fun for a while.
Come back to Ecclesiastes with me. I'd like to continue where we stopped and look at what else Solomon had to say about his search for both fun and meaning in life. Let's continue in verse 3.
Ecclesiastes 2:3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, (O.K. let's try alcohol. Maybe alcohol can bring me some meaning in life. That's a good way to find out things, enjoy myself; have a good time. Sometimes we go to the Feast and we say God tells us when we go to the Feast we take money with us and we use that money for oxen, for wine, for good food, for drink, for wine, for food, for extra drink, for wine. We kind of emphasize the alcohol part and sometimes it gets emphasized too much. What I'd like to show you is that Solomon from the very beginning was not into excess in alcohol. Look at what he said:) I searched my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, (See Solomon was given incredible wisdom and he didn't drink himself, as we would say, stupid. He kept his wisdom about him; he kept his wits about him.) and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.
So Solomon never lost that wisdom even as he pursued fun and fulfillment to use the modern language. He never got wasted. He was always able to keep himself back a little bit from that, come short of that because he wanted to analyze his experiences. He wanted to know at the end of what he had done, he wanted to be able to analyze and put it all together and see whether he had really found some kind of key to the meaning of life.
In the 60's and 70's the hippy movement claimed they were looking for the meaning of life. Of course they were looking at the bottom of bottles and through drugs that are no worse or basically the same thing as getting drunk. That is what illegal drugs tend to do; they make you instantly drunk. The bible condemns drunk and this is a sin so the drugs do the same thing and what do they find? Do they find fulfillment in life? Do they find real meaning in life? No, most of the people in the hippy movement found more grief at the end of the needle, or the bottom of the bottle, they didn't find happiness. Of course at some point people will know where to find happiness, where to find real meaning in life.
We just came back from the Feast again and I'm sure you read Isaiah 2 that talks about people flowing to Jerusalem, all nations going up, looking to God and saying teach us your ways. We have the example of Israel. We see things going well for them, we see them being blessed, we see life going well for them; teach us so that we can have the meaning of life too. Both camp and the Feast are temporary settings where we can practice living like the millennium, the very start of the Kingdom of God while we still exist in this present evil world.
I'd like to look at some lessons here from the book of Ecclesiastes. Many of you probably know that the Jews read the book of Ecclesiastes during the Feast of Tabernacles or around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. The first time I learned that I thought wow what a bomber, what a downer. I've read the book of Ecclesiastes, that book seems to be a downer not a fun book to read. It took me a while to really get the connection with the Feast of Tabernacles and for that matter camps as well to see how this master of fun learned and passed along his wisdom to all of us. So let's look through the book of Ecclesiastes to see what lessons we learn. We laid the groundwork here of Solomon's approach, of his quest for knowledge while he sought joy and mirth and laughter and fun. Let's look at some of the lessons that he learned and some of the lessons that he passes on to us. One of the first things that I think comes across very clearly in the book of Ecclesiastes is the temporary nature of life. The temporary nature of anything that is in the physical realm; it's all temporary. If we go back to chapter 1 and he makes the statement:
Ecclesiastes 1:2 Vanity of vanities says the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
Now when we read the word vanity here in the book of Ecclesiastes, it's from a Hebrew word that can mean pride but if we think of it in terms of pride we're really missing the meaning. When you study into the book of Ecclesiastes and what he's saying by using this Hebrew word, there's a different nuance to the word. It really means emptiness. It really means like trying to grasp wind. You can't catch wind, you can feel it blowing on your hand but you try to catch it and there's no way to catch it, your hand is always empty. No matter how hard you grab trying to hold on to wind you can't do it. That's really the meaning of the word, not so much someone who's proud and puffed up but it's just that there's emptiness to it. You may have some marginal notes; I know in my margin it says absurdity or it says frustration or futility or nonsense and it means such throughout the book. So when you read the word vanity, don't think pride, think this is kind of emptiness, there's an emptiness to it, there's a temporary-ness to it, it's not lasting. That's the whole point, everything in the physical realm is temporary whether it lasts for 50 years, 100 years, 150, 500 years, 5,000 years, it's still temporary isn't it compared to God? There's emptiness in that. The Feast is a temporary thing. We spend 10, maybe 12 days and some of you may cheat and go before the Day of Atonement. That's great if you do, I'm only kidding. It's wonderful if you do, maybe you spend 14 days, a couple weeks. That's wonderful if you're able to do that but it's still temporary isn't it? After a while you come home. We usually run out of funds first right? Then we know it's time to come home. Maybe you're one that does not run out of funds, great. But the Feast is temporary; it's short, the same thing with camp. Our teen camps go about a week; our pre-teen camps we go 3 nights and then its time for them to go back home; it's all temporary. Life itself is temporary.
Verse 3: What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?
Verse 4: One generation passes away and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever.
You know life is just a short event. Some pessimist would put it, (I'd almost hate to say it) but some pessimist would say life is hard then you die. I don't like that saying because it shouldn't be that way. We ought to enjoy life. God wants us to enjoy life and in fact that's what I hope I show you. You're saying by now, man what a bummer, what a terrible book to pick after the Feast after we're supposed to have fun. I hope to make the connection. I'm giving you a little bit of a downer side of it as a start because we're always supposed to remember this physical realm is all temporary. Now God wants us to enjoy it, we'll come to that in a minute when we're in this temporary state but it is temporary and we have to always remember that. All right, let's go on to the next one. There's a lot of places we could read about life being nothing but a vapor and so forth but I won't turn to other scriptures, it's made very clear here. What profit is it? It's temporary; it's vanity, it's short, it's passing.
Second point from the book of Ecclesiastes: Physical things were not meant to be totally fulfilling. They weren't intended to give us the real lasting fulfillment in life. On top of temporary things are about, it's not what physical things are about. I sometimes think about the President of the company I worked with in Accounting at Oil and Gas Pipeline Inspection Company in Houston and he used to say when we got to talking about what he was doing and what he was looking forward to buying and all and he would say life's a game and he who dies with the most toys wins. I remember him making that statement and the first time I heard it, it kind of shocked me that somebody would actually put that in words and of course he was joking. He knew I was involved with the church and he had a religious side to him as well but it was sort of a point to say that he realized that really wasn't true. It's not all about the toys that we are able to gather or put together or to accumulate. Let's go back to chapter 2 and see that Solomon makes this very point that physical things are not meant to be totally fulfilling. Look at all the things that he had.
Ecclesiastes 2:4 I made my works great, I built myself houses (Now most of us are lucky to have one house but he had houses, plural. He had so much money he could build a house on this hill and he could build a house over on that one and in another city and he could have palaces wherever he wanted, all over the country, so he built them) and planted myself vineyards.
He made gardens and orchards. He planted all kinds of fruit trees. My Dad used to like to plant fruit trees and he was always telling me I'm too late, I should have planted this 20 years ago. We moved in this house 20 years ago, I should have planted the trees then, the fruit trees. Of course I haven't learned too much from him although I have planted a few fruit trees.
Solomon planted all kinds of fruit trees and then he made special ways to water them. He made water pools as he said in the next verse, verse 6 to be able to water all of these growing trees.
Verse 7: I acquired male and female servants and had servants born in my house.
He was wealthy beyond imagination.
Verse 8: I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delight of the sons of men and musical instruments of all kinds.
You know I get inspired listening to groups like Vocal Majority. We had a chance to go listen to them not too long ago. A hundred voice male chorus, all trained voices. I listen to them and I hear the harmonies and the nuances of their singing and it just moves me, it inspires me. Can you imagine 500 trained voices all singing together in unison? One thousand, ten thousand, how many did Solomon have? I don't know. I don't buy them, I pay money and go see them and that's it. He bought them. It was music on demand. Whatever he wanted he could assemble them and they sang for him. Well I guess in one sense I can buy a C.D. can't I? I can own them on C.D. I know the Vocal Majority on C.D. But all of the things that he was able to do, it's incredible. He said:
Verse 9: So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
That phrase keeps coming up again and again.
Verse 10: Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my reward from all my labor.
Verse 11: Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.
It was futility; it didn't last. It was fun, he enjoyed it at the moment but it didn't really give him fulfillment and that's the point, you can't set your heart on physical things for fulfillment.
You know God gives us second tithe to enjoy a higher amount of normal standard of living at the Feast. It's good; God wants us to enjoy that. He designed it that way, but it's not just to pamper us. He uses the opportunity to enjoy a little bit nicer things in life and they're fun but they're not the whole goal by themselves. He wants us to understand that. Now we'll turn back to Deuteronomy a little while later here.
The third lesson from the book: You know it's a sad fact that many people never learn to truly enjoy and appreciate what they do have. You know you look at this list that Solomon talked about, what he was able to gather, what he was able to produce, what he was able to have; there's not a one of us in this room, well I think I know most of us in the room anyway; none that I know of that has what Solomon had, not a one of us. So we can look at that and say I don't have anything. The old saying do you look at the glass half empty or half full? Most of us tend to look at the glass half empty. I don't have this, I don't have that, I don't have the other and yet God's intent is that we learn to see the glass half full. I am blessed with this thing, I am blessed with that thing and I should enjoy what I have. We often buy into the message of the United States that whatever we have isn't good; my car runs but it doesn't have any style though, I need that new flashy model I see on T.V.; the one where they do stunts. Do you ever see those little captions, closed track, try this at home kind of a thing? You know they're doing some kind of fancy stunts with these vehicles but they make it look like man, this vehicle is so much fun I would be awesome if I had that. It's all meant to make us want more. My car doesn't have the moon roof, doesn't have the power windows, doesn't have door lock, doesn't have an 1800 center sound system that will deafen anyone within a quarter mile or whatever it is that you think is the real deal that you want. It's not going to bring you happiness. Look at verse 24 of Ecclesiastes 2.
Ecclesiastes 2:24 There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, was from the hand of God.
This is what God wanted. God wants you to enjoy eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of your labor. He wants you to enjoy things and this thought is repeated numerous times throughout the book. He wants us to take time to enjoy what we work for. He used a phrase that was popular a number of years back, stop and smell the roses; take some time to look at what God has blessed you with. To another phrase, count your blessings. Think about what your blessings are; focus on what God has given you, not on what you don't have. That's one of the lessons of this particular book. Don't get caught up in the rat race and think I always have to have more, better, bigger, and faster. If a little is good, a lot is better. Isn't that our motto in the United States? It is part of what's the problem with our whole economy is. People have been focused on you have to have more and you have to have it now and you deserve it and you need it and so people went out to buy things that they didn't need and they put it on credit cards that they couldn't afford and sooner than later it collapses. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in my bible it's across the page.
Ecclesiastes 3:12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice (Speaking of mankind) and to do good in their lives,
Verse 13: and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor – it is the gift of God.
See this is a blessing from God to be able to enjoy what He does allow you to have. Down in verse 22, the very last verse of the chapter.
Verse 22: So I perceived that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after Him?
Chapter 5, turn over, in my bible is one page over. Chapter 5 in verse 18, over and over again it is stated that this is a blessing from God.
Ecclesiastes 5:18 Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage.
It's what God desires, it's what God wants, He wants us to enjoy. Turn with me to chapter 8, a few chapters over.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commended enjoyment, (He found there is something good about mirth, about joy, about fun, about enjoyment, enjoying things.) because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor for all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.
Now did you notice how many times as we read that thought expressed slightly differently over and over again in the book of Ecclesiastes, did you notice that it described joy and contentment in life revolving around the word work? Yes it's a 4-letter word but it's a good 4-letter word, it's one of the good 4-letter words. Work. Work to have things and then enjoy what you have; enjoy what you've produced. Now that's a part of the human psyche, there's something inspiring and satisfying to the human spirit or the human psyche about working hard for something and then being able to enjoy it. Here in the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon says over and over it goes and this is your heritage, this is a gift from God that you are able to do that, you work hard and then you're able to enjoy what you have produced. God wants you to do that. This feeling of satisfaction of doing a job, working hard for something and then being able to enjoy the fruit of it, it taps into the higher part of the essence of the human spirit, the spirit in man, it makes it very different than the animals and I would say is a part of the essence of God Himself. Remember Jesus Christ said: "My Father works, even to this day and I work." God is about work. He's not about idleness, slothfulness, He's about work and He says there's nothing better than to enjoy that sense of fulfillment, that sense of accomplishment. You know every Sabbath when we come here to this building I look around and I think about many of the individuals who came out here and worked to help build this building; various parts of it, a lot of different work, a lot of hands, a lot of backs have a little bit of part in this project and it's nice to be able to come and say, yes it's nice to see the accomplishment of that. You know that thought of being able to enjoy what you're blessed with is certainly embraced by God at the Feast.
Turn with me back to Deuteronomy chapter 14. I mentioned we'd go back to this briefly. We read it before the Feast. I'd like to turn back to it. We see in this passage the Sabbath right before the Feast. A number of you were gone already but we read this passage about tithing, being careful to tithe, about your increase in verse 22, year by year be faithful in keeping this tithe that God has established.
Deuteronomy 14:23 And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstlings of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
Verse 24: But if the journey is too long for you so that you are not able to carry the tithe or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you when the Lord your God has blessed you.
Verse 25: Then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses.
Verse 26: And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires; for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
God says I made this available for you and I want you to have fun with it, I want you to enjoy it. God tells us to save a tithe of our income, which He calls His and then He gives back to us to keep the Feast and He tells us to spend that money. It's over a month's work of income during an 8-day period, have fun with it and rejoice. We ought to get a sense of accomplishment out of that for whatever amount our second tithe is. Sometimes we think it's not very much but if we've only earned $10,000 in a year, well at least feel good that you've got $1,000 of second tithe. You know there is a sense of accomplishment for whatever amount you worked that you've got a sense of accomplishment for that. Again if you're at an age in life that you are able to work and for some, as we get older we are on a more fixed income and different things, I understand that but I'm speaking in general terms. It means we've done something good through the years and we're able to enjoy what God wants us to enjoy. He wants us to get a sense of fulfillment out of that, don't be ashamed of it. This principle of course is always important, not just at the Feast, to enjoy it, to appreciate what we do have. I remember Mr. Armstrong talking about we Americans often know possibly the greatest sin of America is our lack of thankfulness, our ingratitude. We're not grateful for what we do have and yet God commands us to be thankful, appreciate what you have and get some enjoyment out of that. The Feast should help us focus on being thankful for what God has given us. He blessed us physically for the year and He certainly blessed us spiritually with spiritual food, with inspiring messages and we talk about that at camp too. We try to help our campers, teens and pre-teens appreciate the facility, the activities we have, we try to get them involved, to be totally involved to try everything, enjoy all there is to enjoy about your camp experience.
Let's go back to the book of Ecclesiastes as we move through. We come to another lesson. Actually the next passage that tells us about appreciating what you work and labor for gives me a transition to the next point which is relationships so let's pick it up in Ecclesiastes chapter 9.
Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.
There's that word again, work. What you put forth effort for, God is happy to reward you for that.
Verse 8: Let your garments always be white and let your head lack no oil.
Verse 9: Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life, which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life and in the labor which you perform under the sun.
Again we find this principle, this transition to relationships. Now we really hit on something, relationships, something that takes far beyond the realm of the animal world. Not only does the spirit in man allow us to gain satisfaction, that feeling of accomplishment for working hard and being able to enjoy the results of our labor but it also gives us the ability to enjoy friendships and relationships with others. I think it would be a dull life indeed if we were a hermit and never saw anybody else, just live all by ourselves; weren't able to share any of our accomplishments, any of our fun with anyone else. Now maybe if you're an introvert that sounds like heaven. No other people! Now I don't think introverts always feel that way either, extroverts, introverts, they're just preferences. But I think if we had no relationships at all we wouldn't enjoy the love that family is supposed to bring us. You see that's what he talks about; this too is a blessing from God that we can enjoy the relationships, the family is supposed to be a blessing to us, that it's supposed to bring us a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. You know the irony is that Solomon never accomplished this, isn't it? Think about it. Solomon never knew what it was to love one woman who deeply loved him back. A thousand women in Solomon's life and he never experienced that. What a sad commentary on his life because having lots of women didn't bring him happiness. Having good family relationships and a good family unit does bring us fulfillment. You know back in Deuteronomy 14, I didn't point it out, but that little phrase you and your household; you and your household go and enjoy what you have at the Feast. See God is about relationships and He wants us to enjoy with others the things that we're able to accomplish and the things that He's blesses us with.
Let's look at the next principle in the book of Ecclesiastes. Next we find a like principle here that is really an anchor in our world of mediocrity. It's a principle that will give you a good name; that will make you an invaluable employee; that will make you someone a boss will love to retain. It won't make you necessarily the best at everything but it will be an obvious window to your heart and soul that people will realize that you're interested in doing the absolute best that you can, whatever that may be, you're interested in giving your best to whatever you do instead of being selfish and just trying to get for yourself. It's the next verse, Ecclesiastes 9:10 and when I mention the verse, many of you have it memorized and you know exactly what it says.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
Now there are a lot of aspects, a lot of facets to that and we can look at it from many different angles. The angle I want to look at it from is simply this: We live in world of mediocrity. God is not about mediocrity. God is about doing your best. He's about working and He's about working hard. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Our world was founded on the selfish way of greed, get, and competition.
Where only the strongest and the best are appreciated and that's not right. Unfortunately in a whiplash reaction to that false view of life, it left most of humanity feeling inferior and a worthless society has now gone to the opposite extreme of saying that everybody's equal. It doesn't matter what your skills are, it doesn't matter what your talents are, it doesn't matter how hard you work, it's unfair if you don't get recognized the same as everybody else and that's unbalanced in the other direction. In many areas of society lowers the bars of basic standards so everyone can feel good about getting over the bar and that's not God's way. We need to recognize that some people need a little help. We need to value and appreciate, accept everyone as a potential part of God's family. If someone needs help getting over the basic bar, help him, but then don't turn around and say that somebody who works hard shouldn't be recognized for the work that they put forward. But enjoy what you do by doing your best and you see these tend to build on each other don't they? When you think about it and look at this, first of all the temporary nature of physical things, physical things are a life, physical things weren't meant to be totally fulfilling, appreciate though what you do have, enjoy relationships along with what you have, do your best at everything that you do. Work hard and that principle is repeated in the New Testament.
Keep your place in Ecclesiastes and turn to Colossians 3 with me. We find the New Testament tells us the very same thing and it actually adds a little bit more. Not only is it for our emotional fulfillment in this physical life that we're to work hard at whatever we do, but also we're given another reason in the New Testament as Christians. We're given another reason for working hard.
Colossians 3:23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
Verse 24: knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
See not only do we work hard at whatever we do; giving our best because it builds character in us, but we do it because we realize our real reward comes from God. We're to work at whatever we work at as though we're working for Jesus Christ. Now some people have bosses that they don't necessarily think even fit in the same sentence as Jesus Christ, right? Guess what, that's part of our challenge isn't it? Another passage says work hard not just for the good but also to the froward. Work hard, do your part regardless of what everybody else does, regardless of what your boss does and what kind of person they are, you still need to work as though you're working for Jesus Christ. That's a part of your internal character and makeup because God sees us all the time. He knows when we're slacking and when we're working hard, doesn't He? He knows if we're just getting by, trying to do the bare minimum or if we're really giving of ourselves on our job. He understands and knows that. He always sees us.
The teen and young adults seminars here at the Feast were on willing to do the hard things; to fight against the pulls of society, to fight against the expectations of society that tend to lower the standards; to fight against that, to work hard for what we know God ultimately wants to give us. Be willing to do the hard things, be willing to work hard, even when it's kind of difficult for someone who's hard to work for. So work, do your best at everything.
Lastly we have the principle in the book of Ecclesiastes, in one sense this has all been building up to this point. This physical life is temporary; all physical things are temporary. Physical things were not meant to be totally fulfilling by themselves but you need to appreciate what you have. Enjoy relationships, do your best at everything, work hard. Then he says as we get near the end of the book, go to Ecclesiastes 11 where he tells us we need to think about keeping ourselves God centered. We see that focus at the end of the book.
Ecclesiastes 11:9 Rejoice O young man in your youth and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes;
You see we try to encourage our young people to do this. Reach for the stars and if you've got a goal, go for it. Don't let somebody talk you out it, don't let somebody tell you that you can't achieve that goal if it's within the realm of Godly principles, Godly things. At camp somebody must have been the goal to be the worst behaved camper possible. Don't search for those goals; don't reach for those. We don't have many of those at all, we really don't. We've got a wonderful group of campers. But don't let somebody discourage you. If you've got a goal, go for it. I've heard of individuals who like to sing and somebody came up to them one time and said man you can't sing worth a hoot. They shut him down. Now maybe he needed some singing lessons, maybe he needed to take some voice lessons, but if that's his goal and you like to do it, go for it! Walk in the ways of your heart; go for your goals. Rejoice in that time of youth.
I saw a lot of people standing in the 50 and older group and there are a lot of us that are over that 50 mark and eventually you find that you can't quite do all of the things that you did when you were younger. So he said enjoy that time, it's temporary. Sooner or later you're going to hit that mark and I hope you're blessed with continued life so you can hit that mark. Sooner or later you're going to be at the 50 mark; so enjoy your youth, enjoy your young times; the times of your life as you're growing up and maturing. Then comes this 3-letter word, but, but why does God always have to throw that in there? But that means hold on before you go jumping off the cliff in that direction, realize there's a limit to it. Just like I said earlier, Solomon was able to set the limit so that he didn't loose his wisdom. There's a limit, enjoy it to a certain level and then realize there's a level beyond, which you shouldn't go. But he says:
But know that for all theses God will bring you into judgment.
Verse 10: Therefore remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity.
Again, not pride, that's not what he's saying. They're temporary; they're passing, they're like grasping for the wind. If you want to remain like a child forever, it's not going to happen. Well, it shouldn't happen. Some people grow old physically but don't mature emotionally. But your physical frame gets older. Childhood and youth are vanity; they're temporary, they're passing, they will pass away. You will age. But he says remove sorrow; remove that from your heart, put away evil from your flesh. In other words, remember to enjoy life. Have a wonderful time but remember God at all times. Remember that there are limits, remember that God is there and remembering that He is there will help you think in terms of the long-term consequences. So you will limit yourself, you won't go across the boundaries of what makes something no longer fun because you won't go beyond the boundaries that are detrimental to you, that will bring you pain and suffering and heartache. So remember to keep it to the right level.
Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come and the years draw near when you say: "I have no pleasure in them."
Before services I was talking with some people and the older men were trying to cheer me up and they said sometimes, as you get a little bit older you have aches and pains and they looked at me and they said you'll get there too. I said well thanks for the encouragement. But the fact is, as we get older we do have some aches and pains, don't we? But God is saying, enjoy your youth, enjoy the times of your life when you can do the things that you really like, run, jump and enjoy whatever you can do. There comes a time when you can't jump quite as high. There comes a time when you can't run quite as well. But keep God in mind from the very beginning. Some people want to wait until they get older in life and then suddenly they say I need to find God, I need to think about God. God says don't do that because by then you've accumulated a lot of negative consequences in your life and God doesn't want us to have those. He wants us to enjoy life and the way to enjoy it properly, the way to have the most fun in this physical life is to keep God in mind; to not go beyond what is going to be good for you, to not get to the point that it begins to cause heartache and suffering.
Down in chapter 12, verses 13 and 14 here is in one sense the whole conclusion that Solomon has been relentlessly driving to. We sorted out temporary-ness of life and as he comes through the book and as we look through the lessons that he learned from his pursuit of joy, happiness and mirth what does he come down to? His conclusion is in verses 13 and 14.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
The whole enchilada, the whole of life if you want to boil it all down, here it is. Here's the answer, fear God and keep His commandments for this is man's all.
Verse 14: For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.
Now we read that word judgment and we tend to think negatively don't we? When I read it you thought judgment, I've got to be careful, I'll be judged. Judgment isn't all negative. Judgment is positive too. You know the passage where Peter says judgment is now on the house of God, how do you view that? Do you look at that, that God is just watching us to see there I did it, now I can smash them, I can throw them in the lake of fire. God isn't that way. God wants to give you eternal life; He wants to give you the Kingdom. Jesus Christ said: "Fear not little flock, it's your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." Judgment has to do with positive rewards as well, not just negative. Do we see it that way; do we feel it that way? Do we see our God as a loving Father that He is? I think that's part of the lessonof the book of Ecclesiastes. Keep God foremost in your mind and remember Him always. Let Him direct your steps including how you pursue enjoyment in life and you'll let that focus in Deuteronomy 14. Isn't it? I didn't empathize it but he said do this so you'll learn to fear God. Enjoy what you have, enjoy your Festival tithe so you'll learn to fear God. Show Him respect and honor at the Feast and of course again our pre-teen and our teen camps are no different. Our main objective is to help campers build their relationship with God. We focus on that; campers tell us they love that; they enjoy that. They like Christian Living classes and the focus on God.
So the book of Ecclesiastes has some wonderful lessons for us about what's really important in life, life lessons. There's some wonderful things to learn there and in reviewing them we see some great parallels to both the Feast which we just kept and camp which is the focus of mine now as we get ready to head into these camp meetings this coming week in Cincinnati. God wants us to enjoy life and when you look at it, this whole book of Ecclesiastes when I first thought about it, Ecclesiastes and the Feast of Tabernacles, I thought there's a contrast here, something's not right. He's always putting the brakes on fun. When you properly understand it, he's not putting the brakes on fun in the book of Ecclesiastes, he's saying enjoy life, work hard and enjoy what you do have, appreciate what you have. Now keep in mind that there's a consequence, good or bad to whatever we choose to do so make sure your fun is going to be fun tomorrow too and for eternity. But enjoy life, there's a balancing act that needs to be there and that's the way the Feast of Tabernacles should be for all of us; a lot of fun, a lot of enjoyment, a lot of good things, enjoying family, being able to spend time with family but always a recognition that without God and His promises of the future it would all be worthless, it would all be temporary, it would all be vanity, it would all be grasping after wind.
So enjoy life, but enjoy life God's way and when we enjoy life God's way, He'll reward us not only with joy now; but also with joy, happiness and fulfillment for all eternity.
