"The End of the Matter"

Well, good morning, church. Would you turn with me one last time to the book of Ecclesiastes.

We are in chapter 12, verses 8 through 14. We've come to the end of our study in this rich and challenging

! And we get to hear today what Ecclesiastes calls the end of the matter. We come to the epilogue of

this book where the main message is summed up for us. When all has been said and all has been heard,

here is the main thing. So, as you turn to chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes, let me pray.

Father, how we long to be people of wisdom,

people who know what it means to live life as it is meant to be lived.

Give us ears to hear what the conclusion of this great book of Ecclesiastes has to say to us,

this book that you have inspired and preserved and through which you continue to speak today.

Guide us by your Spirit and lead us to your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found. In His name we pray. Amen.

All right, Ecclesiastes 12, 8 through 14.

Vanity of vanity, says the preacher, all is vanity.

Being wise, besides being wise, the preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying

and arranging many proverbs with great care. The preacher sought to find words of delight,

and uprightly he wrote words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads,

and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings. They are given by one shepherd.

My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books, there is no end, and much study is a

weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment,

with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

So, in this book of Ecclesiastes, we've been on a quest, a quest to discover the life well lived.

Or as verse 13 puts it, we've been on a quest to discover what is the whole duty of man.

That is, how might we live such that we could look back over our lives

and say, I've done all that I was meant to do. With this life I've been given, I've lived it well.

Now, are you on a quest to discover the life well lived?

Of course you are. Who isn't? Who doesn't want to look back over their life and say, I've lived it well.

With this life I've been given, I've done all that I was meant to do.

But, in this quest for the well lived life, Ecclesiastes has found many dead ends.

In fact, at times, Ecclesiastes has felt like nothing but a series of dead ends.

After all, listen to the words that serve as the bookends, as the frame for this quest.

Chapter 1, verse 2. Chapter 12, verse 8.

Vanity of vanities, says the preacher.

All.

But the life well lived, it's chasing the wind.

So, it seems that we've ended where we began.

Vanity.

So, is that it?

Is it all just a dead end?

Is there no such thing as the life well lived?

Are we just back where we started?

Well, yes and no.

Remember T.S. Eliot's famous lines near the end of his poem, Four Quartets?

He says,

We shall not cease from exploration.

And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time.

We've come back to this realization that all is vanity.

But what do we now know now that we've taken this quest?

Well, we know that in order to really find lasting meaning, lasting substance, lasting joy in this life,

in order to really find the life well lived, we need more than just life under the sun.

When the preacher says,

All is vanity,

the all he's referring to is all of life considered apart from God, our Creator.

And all there really means all.

There is no creaturely reality that can hold up the weight of a human life.

Your soul is like a treasure of gold.

It is heavy with beauty and glory and worth.

And the tragedy is that we try to hold up this golden treasure

with the thin reeds of pleasure and power and worldly wisdom.

And they all break.

And the soul falls with them.

But what can hold us up

if every creaturely reality is nothing but vanity and a fleeting breath?

Only the Creator.

Ecclesiastes is showing us

that we have to look beyond the frame.

The quest from chapter 1, verse 2, to chapter 12, verse 8,

has not been a dead end.

It has followed every alternative path

so that we might find the only true lasting road to a life well lived.

And that's why in the epilogue to this great book,

verse 11 can take this book so full of its dead end explorations

and place it among the words of the truly wise

and describe it like goads and like nails.

What's a goad?

Well, a goad was a sharp stick

that a shepherd would use

to direct sheep away from harmful paths.

And has not Ecclesiastes been like a goad?

Has it not prodded us and poked us

to see the futility

of so many of the dead end paths

that we're prone to take?

Try pleasure, Ecclesiastes has said.

See where it leads.

Try power.

Try wealth.

Try earthly wisdom.

Let's take those paths

and see that they're all vanity.

But after the goad comes the nail.

And then, you see, like a nail firmly fixed,

Ecclesiastes has given us something

that at last is stable and secure,

a place not just to hang a coat,

not just to hang a bag,

not just to hang a few bits of choice advice.

No, here is an anchor

upon which you can hang your whole life.

Your soul, in all of its weighty beauty,

can rest here and be secure and never fall.

You know, it's sort of like we've been staring

at a painting in a museum.

And inside the frame,

there's this picture of human life

that's ultimately empty and fleeting.

And as our eyes move across the picture,

we come to the edge,

we come to the frame,

and then we scan over

and we hit the frame again,

and we come down

and we hit the frame again.

And we think,

but everything I see in this picture is vanity.

And the more you stare at the picture

within the frame,

the more empty life becomes.

And your heart sinks

and your spirit drops.

Is this all there is?

All is empty.

But then one of those,

you know, one of the guys in the museum

with the blue coat comes over

and taps you on the shoulder and says,

friend,

friend,

look beyond the frame.

Lift up your eyes.

Turn around.

Lift up your gaze.

There is more to be seen.

So as Ecclesiastes comes to an end,

as we return to the frame of vanity

in verse 8,

we're beckoned

to leave vanity behind,

to step beyond the frame,

to leave the dead-end paths,

and to find

that the life well lived

is the life lived

in the presence of God.

verse 13 and 14,

the end of the matter.

All has been heard.

Fear God

and keep His commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed

into judgment

with every secret thing,

whether good or evil.

And so in these last two verses,

we see

the contours

of a life well lived.

We see first

the heart

of a life well lived.

And what is that heart?

It's a heart

that fears God.

What does it mean

to fear God?

In the Bible,

to fear God

means to live

in awe

of His reality.

And that's a bit different

than how we usually

use the word fear,

isn't it?

We usually say

we're afraid of something

because we're scared

it's going to hurt us

and we want to run away

and hide, right?

But this kind of fear,

the fear of God,

doesn't necessarily mean

you want to run away

or hide.

It's the sort of feeling

you get in the presence

of something

truly majestic,

truly great.

Natural beauty

perhaps provides

the best analogy.

You know,

when you stand

on the edge

of something like

the Grand Canyon

or when you see

20-foot waves

rise in the ocean

during a storm,

that combination

of power

and beauty

fills your heart

with awe.

And yes,

you know

that a 20-foot wave

is dangerous

and so it's scary

in that sense.

but even if it

wasn't going to hurt you,

even if you were

safe on the shore,

you would still

look at it in awe.

That's a bit

of what the fear

of God means.

To understand

God's character,

the perfection

of power

and beauty,

of wisdom

and goodness,

to understand

the excellence

of God's character

and being

and to feel

the reality

of it.

And to fear

God

means

that the reality

of God

is the shaping

reality

of your life.

It means

that you care

more

about what

pleases God

than what pleases

other people.

It means

that you care

more about

God's approval

or disapproval

than the approval

of your colleagues

or neighbors

or classmates.

It means

that the reality

of God

is the standard

by which you

measure all

other wisdom,

all other goodness,

all other beauty.

That's why

verse 12

can say,

My son,

beware of anything

beyond these,

of making many books

there is no end,

and much study

is a weariness

of the flesh.

You know,

those words

weren't just penned

in the midst

of finals week,

right?

Ecclesiastes,

notice,

Ecclesiastes

isn't saying

we should

never

read books,

never study,

never explore ideas

and see where

they lead.

He's saying

beware.

Beware

of chasing

after

every new idea.

You can always

find one more

path to explore,

one more idea

to chase,

one more pleasure

to experiment with.

Humans will

always be

contriving

yet another way

to try to find

meaning and purpose

under the sun

apart from God.

But in the end,

Ecclesiastes

says it will only

lead to weariness.

real wisdom.

The heart

of a life

well lived

is fearing God.

There is no book,

no podcast,

no TED Talk

that will give

a better foundation

for a life

well lived

than this.

Fear

God.

After all,

what else

could you put

at the center

of your life?

that could

compare to this.

God

is the perfection

of beauty,

the pinnacle

of righteousness,

the sum

and source

of all truth,

the very ground

of being

itself.

God is the one

from whom

and through whom

and to whom

are all things.

Why would you

dance in the shadows

when you can

step into the light

and be flooded

with light?

fear God.

But how can we grow?

How can we grow

in the fear

of God?

Well, friends,

on the one hand,

the fear of God

is ultimately

something that only

God's Holy Spirit

can bring about

in the human heart.

Only the Holy Spirit

can open the eyes

of our hearts

to understand

and worship God

as God truly is.

but on the other hand,

the means

that the Holy Spirit

uses to do His work

is so often

and regularly

the Word

He has inspired.

Do you want

to grow

in the fear of God?

Do you want

the reality of God

to be the controlling

reality of your life

so that you can

be liberated

from all the petty

little fears

that drive you?

then meditate

upon the character

of God

revealed

in the Word of God.

Study His attributes.

Ascribe to Him

the glory He deserves.

Praise God

for who He is.

Meditate on His perfections.

When you read Scripture,

prayerfully keep an eye out

for those descriptions

of who God is

and what He is like.

You know,

often we go

to Scripture

looking for

a little bit of advice

to do this

and a little bit

of comfort to do that

and those are good.

We should go to God's Word

for everything.

But do we go

to behold God

as He has revealed

Himself to us?

Go to see

His holiness.

His righteousness,

His faithfulness,

His goodness,

His sovereignty,

His majesty,

His timeless eternity.

Do you need help

doing this?

Of course you do.

We all do.

We all need help

learning more

about who God

reveals Himself

to be in Scripture.

And thankfully,

God has raised up

teachers throughout

the history of the church

who help us

take the truths

of Scripture

about who God is

and understand them

and apply them

and make them shine.

You might consider

reading a book

like J.I. Packer's

Knowing God,

a wonderful book

to begin meditating

on who God is

and His glory

so that you might grow

in the fear of Him.

You might read a little bit

each day with your daily

Bible reading

and then spend time

each day

worshiping God

simply for who He is

and pray.

And pray that the Holy Spirit

would allow

the right awe

of God's reality

to rise up

in your heart

because that

is the heart

of a life well lived.

Fear God.

But in verse 13,

we also see

not just the heart

of a life well lived

but the direction

of a life well lived.

What is the direction

of a life

that is well lived?

Verse 13 says,

fear God

and keep

His commandments.

How different that is

from most of the advice

we receive

about living

a well lived life.

You know,

money,

fame,

impact,

friendship,

community,

family,

service,

these are the sorts

of ideals

that get held up

as, you know,

when you're really

on track

to live a well lived life.

Right?

But a truly

well lived life

is a life lived

in obedience

to God's commands.

Why is this the case?

Why obedience

to God's commands?

Well,

because God

is the creator

of all things.

He not only knows

how our human lives

work best,

but He also knows

how the very created

order works best.

Think of it this way.

When a carpenter

or a craftsman

is working

with a piece of wood,

they have to pay

very careful attention

to what?

To the grain

of the wood.

To the direction

and orientation

of the fibers

of the wood

as it is grown

in the tree.

Right?

Woodworkers know

that as they cut

and as they plane

and as they finish

the wood,

they have to work

with the grain.

Otherwise,

the wood

will simply chip

and splinter.

Going against

the grain

is a recipe

for ruining

the wood

and ruining

the project.

But if you can learn

to work

with the grain,

then you can create

things of beauty

and stability

and integrity.

And friends,

that is true

of our lives

as a whole.

You see,

God's commands

describe,

as it were,

the very grain

of the universe,

the grain

of created reality.

And so,

to obey

God's commands

is to live life

with the grain

of reality itself,

to live life

with the grain

of God's created order.

You see,

what that means

is that God's commands

are not some

sort of external

dictates

that are just

imposed upon

the foreign material

of the world.

Right?

No.

Because God

created all things.

Because He called

all things

into being

and fashioned them

according to His will.

Because of that,

God's commands

are His gracious

description

of the very grain

of the reality

He has made.

If it seems

to us

like God's commands

are strange

or counterintuitive

or out of place

or unrealistic,

it is not because

God's commands

are out of step

with reality,

but because we are.

Keeping God's commands

are the direction

of a life well lived.

But how do we

keep His commands?

How do we

keep God's commandments?

Anyone who has

tried to live

according to God's

commands set forth

in Scripture

will sooner

rather than later

be able to say

what the Apostle Paul

said in Romans

Romans 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7.

The things I want

to do,

I don't do.

And the things

I don't want to do,

those are the very

things I keep

on doing.

You see,

the human heart

by itself

cannot keep

God's commands.

There's a power

in us

that seems

to keep

driving us

to go

against the grain

of God's

good commandments.

And this

power

that drives

us against

the grain

is what the

Bible calls

sin.

And because

this power

is inside

of us,

there is no

outside-in

approach

that will fix

it.

We can try

to learn more

about the moral

life.

We can try

to learn more

about virtue.

We can try

harder to put

it into practice.

You know,

like Benjamin

Franklin,

we can keep

a meticulous

practice of

sharpening our

moral character,

focusing on one

virtue at a time,

keeping track

of it in our

journal,

charting how

much progress

we made each

week,

each month,

each quarter.

And we can

even join

together in

community with

others who

are striving

for the same

goals.

But all of

these things,

while good

in themselves,

are outside-in

attempts to

fix an

inside problem.

It's sort of

like painting

the outside

of a house

house, when

the real

problem is

that the

foundation is

cracked.

The only

hope we

have of

keeping God's

commandments

and living

with a grain

of reality

is an

inside-out

solution.

We need the

sin in our

hearts to be

dealt with

on the inside

so that then

our outward

actions can

begin to

change.

And where

does this

inside-out

solution come

from?

It comes

from God.

God, in

His grace,

has made a

way for a

new power to

begin inside

of us that

can liberate

us and

empower us to

obey God's

commands from

the heart,

that can subdue

the power of

sin.

Listen to how

Paul describes

it in Romans

8, just

after confessing

the things I

want to do,

I don't do,

the things I

don't want to

do, I

just keep

on doing

them.

He says,

where do I

go for

rescue?

He says in

Romans 8,

God has

done what

the law

weakened by

the flesh

could not

do.

You see,

the law is

the ultimate

outside-in

approach,

trying to

do better

in our own

willpower.

But God

has done what

the law

weakened by

the flesh

could not

do.

How?

By sending

His own

Son.

In the

likeness of

sinful flesh

and for

sin,

He condemned

sin in the

flesh in order

that the

righteous

requirement of

the law

might be

fulfilled in

us who

walk not

according to

the flesh,

but according

to the

Spirit.

What Paul is

saying is this,

God the

Father sent

His Son to

take on our

fully human

nature in

the Incarnation

and united

to our

humanity.

Jesus not

only lived a

perfect life

for us,

but also

died to

pay sin's

penalty for

us.

And on the

third day,

when Jesus

rose again,

He demonstrated

that sin

was defeated.

And now,

for everyone

who admits

that they

can't beat

sin on their

own,

and who

turn and

trust in

Christ as

the one

who did,

God not

only promises

to forgive

their sins

on account

of what

Jesus did,

but He

promises to

give them

new hearts

through the

Holy Spirit.

That is,

everyone who

trusts in

Jesus as

Lord is

granted a

new internal

power by

the Holy Spirit

to enable

them from

the inside

out now to

obey God's

commands.

Friend,

do you

know this

inside-out

power?

that only

comes through

Jesus Christ,

the one who

condemned sin

in the flesh

so that you

might be made

alive to walk

in His Spirit.

Do you

know that?

Of course,

Ecclesiastes,

!

right,

only saw the

need and the

importance of

keeping God's

commands.

But today,

we also see

the lengths

that God

has gone

to make

us able

to keep

His commands,

sending His

own Son for

us,

pouring out

His Spirit

upon us.

So,

have you

trusted in

the risen

Lord Jesus

to receive

this enabling

and empowering

grace?

us?

Or are you

still trying

the outside-in

approach?

And how

much longer

will you

keep trying

until you

realize you

need a much

more radical

solution?

Not a new

strategy,

but a new

heart that

only God

in Christ

by His

Spirit can

give.

But friends,

don't you see,

don't you see

what good

news this is?

God doesn't

just create a

world and

then reveal

His commands

that describe

the grain of

that world

and then say,

good luck,

have fun with

that.

God is

willing to

condescend to

us,

sinners though

we are,

willingly live

and die and

rise again so

that we might

be filled with

His very

Spirit and

being able to

live at last

with the grain

of His

created world.

Of course,

we'll never

live that

perfectly in

this life.

Sin still

remains in

our hearts

even after

becoming new

creations.

And it will

remain there

until the

new creation

when Christ

returns.

But as we

keep in step

with His

Spirit,

as we depend

upon His

enabling grace,

this new

birth inside

of us will

surely work

itself out

and our

lives will

become lives

well lived.

life.

So Ecclesiastes

ends by

showing us

the heart

and the

direction of

a life well

lived.

Fear God,

keep His

commandments.

But there's

one more

thing.

In the

final verse

of the

book,

we see

the horizon

of a life

well lived.

What is the

horizon that

we must look

toward if we

are to live

the well lived

life?

Well,

according to

the last

verse of

this book,

it is God's

perfect and

complete

judgment.

This is

really the

only thing

that can

give life

any lasting

meaning.

Arthur Miller

wrote a play

called

After the Fall,

and in that

play,

one of the

characters,

Quentin,

sort of

gets at

this when

he says,

it's a long

quote,

but I think

it's really

meaningful.

This character

in Arthur

Miller's play

says,

you know,

for many

years I

looked at

life like

a case

at law.

It was

a series

of proofs.

When

you're

young,

you prove

how brave

you are

or smart.

Then,

what a

good lover.

Then,

a good

father.

And finally,

how wise

or powerful.

But underlying

it all,

I see now

there was

a presumption

that one

moved on

an upward

path towards

some elevation

where,

God knows

what,

I would be

justified or

even condemned,

a verdict

anyway.

And then the

character says,

I think now

that my

disaster really

began when

I looked up

one day and

the bench

was empty.

No judge

in sight.

And all

that remained

was the

endless

argument

with oneself.

The

pointless

litigation

of existence

before

an empty

bench.

Which,

of course,

is another

way of saying

despair.

If the

bench is

empty,

friends,

then human

life is

just one

long,

despairing,

pointless

litigation

of existence.

Because what

you do

or don't

do

really doesn't

matter in

the end.

But what

if the

bench

isn't

empty?

what if

everything

you do

does

matter?

Down

even to

the little

things,

even the

things no

one else

sees,

every secret

thing,

as verse

14 says.

What if

every dollar

that you

spend,

and every

word that

you speak,

and every

simple act

of kindness

toward your

spouse,

or your

child,

or your

neighbor,

what if

all of

that mattered,

and mattered

for eternity?

What if

the whole

of your

life,

every

moment of

it,

wasn't a

flicker

on the

blank screen

of a

pointless

and meaningless

universe,

but what if

it was a

meaningful

thread in

a created

order headed

toward eternity

with a

holy God,

a God

who sees

every deed,

and who

will vindicate

or condemn

every act

in perfect

righteousness?

What if

the bench

isn't

empty?

It's

surprising

how this

book of

Ecclesiastes

ends,

isn't it?

For pages

and pages

we hear the

book wrestle

with the

fleeting

vanity

of existence

under the

sun,

exploring

every

dead-end

path,

and exhausting

every

earth-bound

road,

only to

discover

that

creation

leads us

headlong

to our

Creator.

And in

view of

this God,

no longer

does nothing

matter,

but everything

does.

Everything

matters.

Everything

has substance.

Nothing is

in vain,

because a

good and

holy God

has created

all things,

and this

God will

not allow

His creation

to go

unnoticed.

And He

will call

the entire

story of

creation

and every

work done

within it

to account.

God

will

save us

from the

creation

and

God.

The reality

of God

as Creator

and Judge

saves us

from the

despair of

meaningless.

We're

saved!

But does

it not

simply

introduce

another

despair

in its

place?

Who

can stand

before a

perfect

judge?

I mean,

think about

it.

every

secret

thought.

That's

pretty

harrowing,

isn't it?

Look at

these stained

glass

windows.

Imagine

every

secret

thought

was

displayed

on

these

stained

glass

windows.

Who

would

stay

in

this

sanctuary?

We'd

all be

running

for the

door.

If

every

deed,

even

our

secret

thoughts

are

exposed,

who

could

possibly

be

justified?

But,

friends,

the good

news of

the gospel

tells us

that the

one who

sits on

the bench

is also

the one

who hung

from the

cross.

The one

shepherd,

God,

who utters

the words

of wisdom

described in

verse 11.

That's what

Ecclesiastes is

talking about

there.

These words

of wisdom

come from

one shepherd

ultimately,

all true

wisdom is

God's

wisdom.

That one

shepherd

God who

utters

words of

wisdom,

the one

judge

God who

renders

perfect

judgment

in verse

14,

is the

same

God

who stood

in the

place of

sinners

and was

condemned

unto

death

so that

all who

trust in

Him

might be

justified

and live.

hope.

And so

there is

not just

meaning,

but hope.

The message

of the apostles

from the

earliest days

was this.

God has

fixed a

day on

which He

will judge

the world

in righteousness

by a

man whom

He has

appointed.

And of

this,

He has

given assurance

to all

by raising

Him from

the dead.

And when

that day

comes,

those who

have trusted

in Christ,

as the

Gospel of

John says,

will not

come into

judgment,

but will

pass from

death to

life.

This is

the horizon

of a life

well lived,

to trust in

Christ for

our final

justification,

and to know

that because

Christ rose

from the

grave,

our labors

are not

in vain,

but that

everything

matters.

And so

this is

where the

quest has

led us.

On this

quest for

a well lived

life,

we've

discovered

that on

the one

hand,

it is

true.

All is

vanity,

vanity of

vanities.

Yes,

that's

true,

but only

to those

who refuse

to look

beyond the

frame,

only to

those who

remain on

the dead

end paths,

only to

those who

persist in

chasing the

wind.

But for

those who

turn and

come to

know the

God who

raised Jesus

from the

dead,

our Creator

and our

Redeemer,

all their

life is

full with

unspeakable

meaning and

purpose and

lasting joy.

And as we

fear God,

and as we

obey God,

and as we

look to God's

judgment to

make all

things new,

then we

will live

lives that

are not

in vain,

but lives

that will

be meaningful,

gloriously

meaningful,

now and

for eternity.

Let's pray.

Christ,

in you,

all the

treasures of

wisdom and

knowledge are

found.

Oh, by your

Spirit will we

turn to you,

cling to you,

receive you,

follow you,

receive your

forgiveness,

receive your

power,

and live lives

that are truly

full,

full of your

meaning,

full of your

purpose,

full of your

joy.

Amen.