Wednesday, March 19, 2025 PM

Speak with notes, write them down, because that's what keeps me from droning on, as my family will attest. Brian had asked what we're thankful for. I am thankful to be alive. Some of you know, most of you may, I was in a pretty serious car accident on March 1st, actually two years to the day that my wife was also in a car accident, which she reminded me of.

So if you guys ever want to do anything on March 1st, we're staying home. But we had, as a family, been reading through Ecclesiastes, and Ecclesiastes has a lot to say about life, death, and what happens in between.

The Meaning of Havel and Life Under the Sun

What I'd like to do is do a quick survey and then bring out some of the things that I thought were relevant and important, just given the situation that we've gone through, and some of the things that I have gleaned, and some things I should have known, and Ecclesiastes helped to remind me.

Ecclesiastes, one who calls an assembly. Ecclesiastes comes from Ecclesia. What is Ecclesia? Church. Assembly. It means assembly. We transliterated Ecclesia to church. So Ecclesiastes is one who calls an assembly.

That's just the basic word for it, basic definition. But there is a word in Ecclesiastes. It's used 38 times. Sometimes it's translated vanity. Sometimes it's translated meaninglessness. It's the Hebrew word, Havel.

How you translate this word colors your entire reading of this book. And I've done some, I'm not much of a Hebrew scholar. I've studied some Greek, but Hebrew is very foreign, and the way it translates into our modern languages, it can be a little clunky at times.

But as I was reading through this, and then I got online, I learned how it was pronounced. I thought it was Havel because the the middle letter is Beth in Hebrew, but it's Havel. Concretely it means mist, vapor, or breath, and is thus translated in some ways like Isaiah 57, actually uses vapor, uses breath.

Figuratively or metaphorically, Havel can be translated light, short, transient. And the interplay between those two definitions is the theme of Ecclesiastes. Its key message is that life is a gift. It's unpredictable, and it's mysterious, and it is short, and you will die.

You need the preacher's wisdom to live it joyfully, so don't don't waste it. This is written by the preacher, Qoheleth. He's probably Solomon, reads like Solomon. A lot of the Proverbs he puts in there are Solomon, Solomon-ish.

It's the king speaking to his people. It's the preacher giving wisdom. The preacher says, this is what life is like. He uses the phrases under the sun. Everyone's under the sun. The rich and the poor, the righteous and the unrighteous.

The big and the small, the powerful, the weak. Life under the sun is just.

Life.

When you see under the sun, he's saying this is just life. Then you see another phrase, chasing the wind, or striving after the wind, grasping the wind. It's an impossible task. He says, you do this, it's like chasing after the wind.

It is an impossible task, fruitless. So there's this phrase that he uses often. Havel is Havel of Havels, all is Havel. Is he saying, vanity, vanity, all is vanity. Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.

Is that what he's saying? Let's dive in and see what else the preacher, what else Qoheleth has to say about life in general. Because my understanding, my reading of this book is not simply that life is meaningless without God.

Even people who try to live without God, their lives do have meaning. They're used as examples of what not to do and there's judgment. And God executes judgment on the wicked. That's not meaningless. It's horrible.

It's awful. But it does show the justice of God. And your life lived for God is also not meaningless. Nothing that God does is meaningless and nothing that God does in you is meaningless, but life is a gift.

It can be short, it can be transient. The gifts that God gives you can be temporary. So as we read, there's nothing new under the sun in chapter 1. He's saying that life can be a little monotonous. And it's brief.

And even with wisdom, life is still Havel. Life is still short. Life is still vaporous. It doesn't mitigate that. It's better to be wise than a fool. And he says that several times. But in your short life, it is better to be wise than a fool.

But just being wise doesn't mitigate the fact that your life is short. It's striving after the wind, thinking that if you just get enough wisdom, you're going to mitigate the fact that life is a gift and you're going to grow old and you're going to die.

And maybe forgotten. Pleasure is also Havel. He found pleasure in his toil. So that's true. You could find pleasure in what you do. I like my job. I love my job. My job is pretty cool. But I'll reach a time when I won't be able to do it anymore.

I'll be too old. But it's nice for now. But it's a temporary gift. I was reminded of that very recently. I could have survived the crash, but I could have lost my sight. Or I could have broken my neck.

I got hit so hard that I spun this way, went up on my side, and I'm staring at a ravine. This is where the toll road is, because it's down. So I would have gone a little bit harder, spun a little bit more, would have gone over the railing and down.

You know, anything could have happened. But the fact is, I walked away with a couple of bruises here and a little scratch there. And why? That was just what God wanted done. The preacher addresses things like this.

It's kind of mysterious. So even though pleasure is havel, that it's temporary and there's nothing new under the sun, it's still better than folly. But the reason it's so havel is that your labor and your works are going to pass to another.

That's the end of chapter two. It passes to another. Your great works, you can enjoy your work and things that you build can be amazing, and it's going to pass to someone else. How many people off the top of their head know the name of their great, great grandfather?

Mine's William Racer Evans, on my dad's side. And I don't know the others.

Passes away.

Not that they weren't important, but they were short. It was temporary. Life was brief. That being said, chapter three, this is that famous phrase where there's a time for this and a time for this and a time for this.

God has appointed a time for this. Peace and war, live and to die. Koheleth reminds us that God is in control. This is his world and everyone, life under the sun, lives under his rule. Yet, he says, although God has put eternity into our hearts, yet we cannot find out what he has done.

Verse, chapter three, verse 11, he has made everything beautiful in its time. He knows what he's doing. He hasn't just appointed a time for everything. He's made everything beautiful and perfect and honoring to his glory in its time.

He has also put eternity into our hearts. We want to know this. We want to seek him. We want to know what's going on. And yet, he cannot find out what God has done. Life is mysterious. I don't know why I walked away without a scratch.

Not a clue. I got some good news. That's a piece of good news. I got some good news coming from the insurance company and some very bad news from the insurance company. It's prosperity and calamity. It's mysterious.

I don't know why, but I do know who is sovereign. That being said, what do you see in verse 12? Because of this, there is nothing better for them to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. And that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in his toil, for this is God's gift to man.

We saw that in chapter 2, verse 20. I didn't actually write them out. So verse 25, chapter 2 says, there is nothing better for a person that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This is from the hand of God.

Chapter 3, verse 12, take pleasure in your work and your toil. This is from God. And verse 22, so I saw that there was nothing better that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Take pleasure in your life, take pleasure in your food and drink, take pleasure in your work.

That's what he's calling us to do. Yes, things aren't always going to make sense. Yes, havel means short and vaporous and enigmatic. Sometimes it's mysterious. Sometimes you don't quite know what's going on.

And God is still in control. Chapter 4, life will have challenges. There are going to be oppressions and envies, even if you're successful. But it's better to go through life with a friend or partner.

This is where we have that verse, the threefold cord is not easily broken. We get that in wedding ceremonies. The context of that, which is a beautiful moment, but the context of it is like, life's hard and it hurts.

And sometimes people, even if you succeed, they're going to be people that are jealous of your success, envies. But when that is just life and it's easier when you have a partner, when you have a friend.

We want to help you keep each other warm, support one another, fall down, the other picks them up. Life is better together. You just see these themes, this wisdom that Kohalath keeps giving us as you go through your life.

You might be tempted at some points as well. Okay. Life is short. It's a gift. Just wisdom isn't going to help me. Just pleasure isn't going to help me. God's still in control and life is hard. Okay. And I'm supposed to be nice to people or have some friends or being married.

You know what? Okay. Life is a little difficult. You know what I really need? I need some religion. That's what I need. So he says, all right, you might be thinking that you might be tempted to think that.

Reverence, Joy, and Friendship in a Fleeting Life

In chapter five, he says, hold on a second, guard your steps. When you go into the temple, into the house of the Lord, don't multiply your words. Don't be foolish. Don't just, you know, start adding in and says, okay, we've gone through a bunch of really good wisdom, you know, from God here.

You know, don't be foolish. When you go into the house of God, take worship seriously. He's not saying, you know, don't go to the temple. He's saying, God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few.

Verse two, just take it seriously. You fear God. Those challenges, those oppressions, those things that he says, okay, I know this stuff is coming and it keeps the right perspective. So the wise guard their steps when they go into the house.

Oppressions will continue. Don't be surprised. The rich will increase their worries. It's quickly gone. He's just saying, these are aspects of this life. So based on that, verse 18. Behold, I have seen what is good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil, which one toils under the sun in the few days of his life.

God has given him for this is his lot. Again, he returns to it. He adds one aspect here, though. The enjoyment of it is also a gift from God. Next chapter is a great evil. That means a great disaster.

When Gohil that uses that word, it's not talking about sin.

He's talking about disaster.

It's a great disaster to have all this stuff and not the gift to enjoy it. And usually surrounded by a whole bunch of people who want a piece of it. So you look like you have a bunch of friends and you don't.

He says, it's actually better to be stillborn than to someone who has all this stuff and can't relax. They have no rest. At least the stillborn have rest. It's tragic. It's a tragedy. It's a great evil disaster.

To have all these things and to not be able to enjoy them. So what is good for a man who has the few days of his life there in verse 12? What is that? I think Gohil has actually has already answered it and answered it several times.

So he moves on chapter 10 and this, you start to, excuse me, chapter 7 and you start to get proverbs. You start to get wisdom and folly and wisdom and folly. And you just start to, he moves through the rest of the chapter doing the rest of the book doing this.

And he says things like in his short life, in his Havel life in chapter 7, he sees the righteous die early and the wicked live long. So that's mysterious. He doesn't know why. But he goes back to this.

This is still true. We are still to fear God. And he hangs on to those, those two, those two certainties, even though life can be hard to understand, challenging. It's true that we should obey, in it we should obey the king and fear God.

Those new generally, your life is easier when you obey the law and fear God, generally true. Sometimes the wicked, their lives are prolonged while the righteous die early. But he says they will ultimately face judgment.

That's in verse 13. It's true. So as he continues on in chapter 8, though a sinner does a hundred evil things or prolongs his life. Yes, I do not know. It will be well with those who fear God because they fear before him.

But it will not be well with the wicked. Neither will they prolong their days like a shadow because he does not fear God alone. Eventually they will face judgment. They will. But right now it's not what it looks like.

And that's confusing. That's mysterious. It's hard for us to understand. So what does he say? What is the response? What's the proper response to, well, I'm doing all the right things and other people are getting ahead.

He says, I love how he does this, and I commend joy. Verse 15, for man has nothing better under the sun, but to eat and drink and be joyful. For this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

And verse 17 reminds us that I saw all the work of God that man cannot find out the work that he has done under the sun. It's still hard for us to understand why God's doing it this way. Still in control.

It's still a mystery. Eternity is in our hearts. We want to know. And sometimes we just don't. So I commend joy. And it's still going to be a little mysterious. In chapter nine, it reminds us that death comes to all of us.

The deeds of the righteous and the unrighteous are in the hands of God. And the same event happens to both. Death, it's coming. So verse seven, go eat your bread with joy. Drink your wine with a merry heart for God has already approved what you do.

I don't know how many times he's told us to enjoy our meal. Are we up to like seven? Let your garments always be white. Let not oil be lacking on your head and enjoy life with the wife whom you love. Enjoy your meal.

Enjoy your spouse. Enjoy your family. Enjoy your work. Because you don't know when this is going to end. You don't know. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life, all the days of your meaningless life, all the days of your empty life, or all the days of your misty, vaporous life.

Because your days are few. Think that Solomon here or Koheleth is telling us more than just life is meaningless or life is vain. The reason a lot of our Bibles are translated vanity is it comes from the Latin Vulgate, vanitas.

And that's kind of what he was going for, what Jerome was going for when we went through Havel. But you might have missed it a little bit.

It happens.

But you can watch several, you can get online at any point and listen, it's like, yeah, okay, there's more to this. Not every video that you're going to watch is going to be good. Just understand I went through a bunch of them.

But you just get this feeling that it's more than just emptiness and meaninglessness. Chapter 10 is more generic Proverbs, the wise from the fool. Chapter 11 is the wise use of money and your youth, don't waste it.

There are ways to use it properly. I mean, life is actually better. You know, when you got some money in your pocket, that's true. That's generally true. How did the wise use, you know, talk about casting out your bread on waters, being very generous when you have stuff to be generous to your friends, and diversifying investments, all sorts of stuff is in there.

And enjoying your youth while you still have it. It's don't waste it being in anger, vexation, don't waste it in those kinds of things. So live life to the fullest. God has actually commanded you to live life joyfully, he's commanded it.

So do it.

Remember Your Creator and Fear God

And as he closes out this book, with Remember Your Creator, he has vivid descriptions of old age and death. They are, they're poetic. So this is remember your creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come, and life gets hard.

Start early. Because it's coming. And these apt descriptions of old age. Before the sun and light and the moon stars are darkened, or it's hard to see the clouds return after rain. In the days when the keepers of the house tremble, your arms, and the strong men are bent, your legs, and the grinders cease because there are few teeth.

The doors on the street are shut when the sound of the grinding is low, you start to hear things. He's like, well, you should be able to hear the grinding, but you couldn't hear that. But then one rises up with the sound of a bird, but then you wake up so easily with the smallest sound.

What's up with that? They're afraid of what is high because they don't want to fall. And you start going into the silver, so the silver cord is broken. You know, the golden bowl is, silver cord is snapped, spinal cord, golden bowl is broken, pitcher shattered at the fountain.

I mean, there's very graphic descriptions of dying. And he's saying, okay, so what's the verdict? He says it again. He repeats what we just read in chapter one, verse two. Vanity of vanity says the preacher, all is vanity.

Is that where we are? Emptiness, emptiness, all is emptiness, meaningless, meaningless, all is meaningless, or vaporous, vaporous, all is vaporous, short, transient, all is transient. So I think when it's all said and done, we have, we have the preacher's calling, um, in, uh, starting in verse nine, that's a nine through 14.

That's the conclusion summary. And he says, he was here to teach the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many Proverbs in great care. His intent was noble to teach them knowledge so that they have wisdom to live in this short life joyfully, to live this short life productively.

The preacher sought to find words of delight and uprightly. He wrote words of truth. Truth isn't meaningless.

Truth matters.

The words of the wise are like goads, like nails firmly fixed, like on the end of a stick. His words are cattle prods, ox goads, keeping people forward.

Ouch.

Okay. I'm, I'm, I'm going, I'm going. And they are given by one shepherd. Who does he attribute this wisdom from? The one shepherd, God. My son, be aware of anything beyond these of making many books.

There is no end and much study is weariness to the flesh. How many of us have studied something really, really hard come to find out that it just became obsolete. I mean, uh, programming languages are one.

Um, I, uh, I, I, I've worked really hard to learn a particular aircraft and it was the most important thing in the world to me at that time. It is now in the boneyard. Nobody flies it. Nobody cares. And I have that stuff stuck in my brain and the penguin analogy, your brain, it can only hold so much.

You heard me ever say this, the iceberg where you'll hold so much and then you'll put one more. Oh, something else fell off. Something important fell off.

Oh, I don't know.

Yeah.

Somebody gives me some random facts and it's like, oh, very important. Penguin just fell off there. I hope I didn't need that one. You know, it's, it's, there is much weariness and study. So you gotta know some stuff to be good at your job, but focus on what's important.

That's what he's saying. Wisdom is good. It's not everything. Chapter one told us that that wisdom can be Havel as well. It's not going to mitigate the fact that it's likely short. So this is the conclusion that applies to all people.

The end of the matter. And after all has been heard, fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. This is not some appendix he's put at the very end. He's saying fear God. How many times did he say it several times throughout the book?

This isn't, and some critical scholars would say, well, you know, this is just somebody put an appendix at the end to try to give us the conclusion. No, this is something he's, this is well-worn material.

Fear God, keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment and every secret thing, whether good or evil. So obey his call to enjoy this fleeting life.

Obey his call to trust him and to submit to him and to receive this short life as a gift. Keep in mind his character. Remember who he is. Remember he is sovereign. Remember into whom's house you are entering.

Keep in mind who he is. This is your anchor in the mist. It is your anchor in this short and misty life. Even when what he does is very mysterious. And this judgment applies to all people. We skipped over some of the parts where he was saying, you know, judgment is coming for this guy.

Judgment is coming for this guy. You know, oh, and as you're, as you're using your youth properly, you know, good, enjoy it. But judgment is coming as well. You're accountable. So life is short. It is a gift.

We are to enjoy it and we are accountable. What does that mean? This is Solomon speaking to Israel and as us as Christians, looking back through the lens of who Christ is. Like the preacher calling to Israel, I'm calling to you and including myself in this.

Look to Christ, who is our life, who is our joy, who is our shepherd. He is our righteousness. And he is the one who will advocate for us when we die.

Because we will.

Christ carries this book came into stark relief for me. Just a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to share that with you guys.

I don't know.

I don't know why I walked away without a scratch. No idea. And I'm not. I'm not pulling a Trump or says, oh, God has great things for me. That's why you preserved me. No, it's it's sometimes life is mysterious.

I I'm just thankful. And life is is very brief and. It could end for any one of us on the car ride home. So remember the shepherd, look to him, trust him. So I hope that was profitable to you guys as well.

So in our time of prayer, you can add that to your thankfulness and your praise for who God is. And thank you for allowing me to share that with you guys tonight.