The End of All Mankind

It's such a joy and privilege to worship with you guys.

Please turn with me to Ecclesiastes.

If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.

We'd love to give you a copy that you can have and you can use this morning.

Ecclesiastes almost smack in the middle of the Bible after Psalms and Proverbs.

We're in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 today.

Ecclesiastes 7 · chapter mention

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

Father, there are so many ups and downs and good things and bad things that litter our lives.

And we need humility, Lord, to accept the lot you've given us.

And we need your wisdom, Lord,

to live in light of our impending death

and with hope in the life after.

So, Lord, take all the misconceptions and functional misbeliefs that we have this morning

that prevent us from living in light of the wisdom you give to us here in this book of Ecclesiastes.

Please, conform us to your will.

Humble us and glorify, magnify your grace in Jesus Christ toward us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please stand, if you are able,

as I read from Ecclesiastes 7, God's word.

Amen.

Amen.

A good name is better than precious ointment,

and a day of death than the day of birth.

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,

for this is the end of all mankind,

and the living will lay it to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter,

for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise

than to hear the song of fools.

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,

so is the laughter of the fools.

This also is vanity.

Surely oppression drives the wise into madness,

and a bribe corrupts the heart.

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,

and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,

for anger lodges in the heart of fools.

Say not, why were the former days better than these?

For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

Wisdom is good with an inheritance,

an advantage to those who see the sun.

For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,

and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

Consider the work of God.

Who can make straight what he has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity, be joyful.

And in the day of adversity, consider.

God has made the one as well as the other,

so that men may not find out anything that will be after him.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

Ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden

and were cast out from the Garden,

and without access to the tree of life,

humanity has been on this quest for immortality,

and even ancient stories tell of this.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is a Mesopotamian story dated 2100 BC,

tells the story of Gilgamesh,

who after the death of his companion Enkidu,

imparks on a perilous journey to find the secret of eternal life.

But interestingly enough, he is spoiled by a serpent in his quest.

In the third century BC,

Emperor Qin Shi Huang of China searched repeatedly for the elixir of life

when he found an inscription that predicted his death.

He got so angry that he searched the entire town over

to find, identify the culprit,

whoever inscribed about his death.

When he couldn't find the person,

he decided he'll kill the entire town off

and pulverize the stone upon which his death was predicted.

He was so obsessed with escaping death

that many people think that he died of poisoning from mercury

when he drank what he thought was an elixir of life

to give him immortality.

Similarly, European alchemists sought,

were rumored about the philosopher's stone,

which they hoped would grant eternal life.

I think that piqued the interest of some of the kids here

who's read the Harry Potter series.

This quest for immortality is still going on today.

In 2013, Google launched Calico Life Services,

which is a biotech company founded for the purpose of solving death.

Venture capitalist and founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel,

has pledged to fight death by investing in anti-aging research.

In 2021, founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos,

invested in Altoslav,

a company that hopes to develop life extension therapies

that will halt or reverse human aging.

But seeking eternal life apart from God

is a fool's errand.

History bears that out,

and we see that in God's Word in Ecclesiastes 7, 1-14.

This passage teaches us instead

that we should live knowing that we'll die

and die knowing that we'll live forever.

My first point is going to be this.

Death is the end of all mankind.

I'm going to spend the bulk of my time in that point,

establishing that point from this passage,

and then I'm going to conclude with my second point.

Eternal life is the end of all Christians.

At the end of chapter 6,

the preacher of Ecclesiastes last week asked the question,

for who knows what is good for man

while he lives the few days of his vain life,

which he passes like a shadow?

What is good for man while he lives?

And then in chapter 7, verses 1-14,

the word good, often translated better,

occurs 11 times.

So he's trying to answer that question

that he has raised for us

with a series of better-than statements.

This is what the good life looks like

in light of inevitable death that is fast approaching.

And the preacher's answers,

characteristically, upend our expectations.

First better-than statement is this,

in verse 1,

a good name is better than precious ointment.

The comparison is even stronger in Hebrew,

which is literally,

a good name is better than good ointment.

This echoes the wisdom of Proverbs 22.1,

a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,

and favor is better than silver or gold.

You might remember from the Bible,

the story of Mary anointing Jesus' feet

with precious ointment.

It says that she broke a jar

that contained a pound of expensive ointment

made from pure nard.

John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

And who objects but Judas Iscariot,

who says that the ointment could have been sold

for 300 denarii.

One denarius was the wage of a common worker

for a day's work.

So 300 is 300 days worth of work

for a common laborer.

So that's almost an year's worth of salary

for a common laborer.

And that's how expensive that perfume was

that she broke to anoint Jesus with.

So you can tell from this

that even back then, like today,

some perfumes were genuine luxury items.

But still, verse 1 says this,

A good name is better than precious ointment.

How precious then is a good name?

In light of this,

sullying your good reputation

for the sake of gaining wealth

is a height of folly.

But this is also a sharp warning

to those of us who would never dare

to steal a precious jewel

from someone that we know,

but don't think twice

about stealing their good reputation

with gossip and slander.

A good name is more precious

than any jewel.

I'm sure you've all had the experience

of someone on the streets

walking by you.

Sometimes they run by you

and they're like in these exercise clothes

and then you just get this whiff of perfume.

And no matter how fragrant

that perfume is,

it's delightful to our senses,

it only lingers for a fleeting moment

and poof, and it's gone.

But a good name stays with you.

Your reputation precedes you.

What good is it if you wear an ointment

that smells of fragrant jasmine

when your name or your reputation

smells of rotten eggs

and sewage

and sweaty socks?

Do people smile at the mention of your name?

Do they bless the memory of your name?

Or do they curse the memory of your name?

So far, verse one sounds like a nice,

neat, predictable proverb.

But here's the kicker,

the rest of verse one.

And the day of death

than the day of birth.

A good name is a precious commodity,

but whether you have a good name

or a bad name,

you're going to die one day.

And it serves us to remember that fact.

The day of death

is better than the day of birth.

This is not what we'd expect people to say,

but it is consistent

with the message of Ecclesiastes we've seen.

Early in chapter six,

we are told that a stillborn child

is better off

than the man who lives a long life

but is never satisfied

with life's good things.

In chapter four, verse two,

because of the oppression

or the robbery,

the extortion

and injustice in the world,

the preacher said,

I thought the dead

who are already dead

more fortunate

than the living

who are still alive.

But better than both

is he who has not yet been,

has not seen the evil deeds

that are done under the sun.

Repeatedly,

we're told

that life under the sun

is a vanity

and a striving after wind

for all our days

are full of sorrow

and work.

Our work is a vexation.

Life is hard

and life is miserable.

One of the privileges

of being a pastor

is that many of you

do me the honor

of confiding in me

and bringing me

into your pains

and struggles in life.

I hear about some of your

debilitating physical

or mental conditions.

I think of our sister,

Jenny,

still at the hospital

since her open heart surgery

last Monday.

I hear about how you are treated,

some of you,

at your workplaces.

I hear about your

painful family history,

baggage with your family members

and relatives.

even two days ago

when I was visiting

Caleb,

Caleb born in the

neonatal intensive

care unit,

I walked through

dozens of rooms,

infants hooked up to tubes.

this life is messed up.

Mark Twain had this to say

in his autobiography

at the end of his life.

A myriad of men are born.

They labor and sweat

and struggle for bread.

They squabble and scold

and fight.

They scramble for little

mean advantages

over each other.

Age creeps upon them

infirmities follow.

Shames and humiliations

bring down their prides

and their vanities.

Those they love

are taken from them

and the joy of life

is turned to aching grief.

The burden of pain,

care,

misery grows heavier

year by year.

At length,

ambition is dead.

Pride is dead.

Vanity is dead.

Longing for release

is in their place.

It comes at last.

The only unpoisoned gift

earth ever had for them.

And they vanish

from a world

where they were

of no consequence,

where they achieved nothing,

where they were a mistake

and a failure

and a foolishness,

where they have left

no sign

that they have existed,

a world which will

lament them a day

and forget them forever.

Then another myriad

takes their place

and copies all they did

and goes along

the same profitless road

and vanishes

as they vanished

to make room

for another

and another

and a million other myriads

to follow

the same arid path

through the same desert

and accomplish

what the first myriad

and all the myriads

that came after it

accomplished

nothing.

It sounds like Ecclesiastes,

doesn't it?

It's plagiarized.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mark Twain got it

halfway right

because he's missing God

from the picture

but he gets

this observation

about our fall

in the broken world,

right?

So then why are

so many people

desperate to stay alive

a little longer?

Well,

people are desperate

to stay alive

because they fear death

but once you remove

the fear of death

from the equation,

a clear-eyed view

of life's suffering

and oppression

and injustice

leads to the inevitable

conclusion

that the day of death

is better than

the day of birth.

If your motto is

life is good,

I think that's

a New England company,

right?

If you expect

everything in life

to make sense

and you expect

good things

to happen to good people

and bad things

to happen to bad people

and if you expect

people to be nice to you

because you're

a nice person,

if you expect

to be successful

because you're

a hard-working person,

if you never expect

to get sick and die

because you exercise

and have a healthy diet,

then you will be disappointed

because that's not

how this life works.

We live in a fallen

and broken world

and if you don't figure out

how to align your naivete

with this harsh reality,

then you will become

disillusioned,

discontented,

angry,

and bitter

but if you know

that the world

isn't fair,

if you know

that the day of death

is better than

the day of birth,

then you can be thankful

for the surprising number

of blessings

in your life.

You can rejoice

at the few things

that actually go

the way they should go

and you can enjoy

the good gifts

that God has already

given you

rather than grumbling

and complaining

about what you don't have.

Imagine that you drive

a 30-year-old clunker

of a car.

I know this from experience

because my first two cars

were like that.

When you drive a car like that,

you don't care

that the AC doesn't work

or the heat doesn't work

or that when you roll

the window down,

it gets stuck

in the middle.

You're just happy

that it started

and now you don't have

to walk somewhere.

You can drive.

But imagine that you have

a brand new car.

Even if the smallest thing

doesn't work,

it annoys you greatly,

frustrates you.

The tiniest scratch

on that shiny thing

upsets you

because on a new car,

you expect everything

to be perfect.

You expect everything

to work

the way they're supposed to.

I think often people

expect the world

to be like that.

We expect there

to be peace

and order

and justice

and righteousness.

It's as if

the rest of humanity

is living in denial

that we have been

caught off

from the Garden of Eden

and from the Tree of Life,

that we live in a fallen

and broken world

that's been subjected

to futility.

as it says

in Romans 8.

So saying

that the day of death

is better

than the day of birth

is a sober-minded

recognition

of this reality

that the world

is not the way

it's supposed to be.

It's important

to note here

that the preacher

is not commenting

here on the implications

of life after death

on eternity

because of course

that has an impact

on whether your day of death

is better than the day of birth

or not.

And I'll address that later.

But that's not

the preacher's concern here.

He is simply

making the observation

that all creation

has been subjected

to futility

and that there is

because of that

vanity in this life

and the day of death

is better than the day of birth.

Far from having a death wish,

Ecclesiastes does not

have a death wish,

the preacher of Ecclesiastes

repeatedly tells us,

and if you've been with us

in this series

you know this,

he tells us again and again

to enjoy life.

Joy is a major theme

of the book of Ecclesiastes.

Remember,

we find the thesis

of Ecclesiastes

in the five parallel passages

throughout the book

where he tells us

to receive

and enjoy life

as a gift from God

rather than striving

in vain for gain,

seeking to control life

and to leverage life

in order to get ahead

in life

and to make something

of life.

That's not how

we're supposed to live.

If your life is

go, go, go,

all be from one appointment

to the next appointment,

from one project

to the next,

from one rung

on the creator ladder

to climbing

to the next one,

then we will never stop

and actually enjoy life.

In other words,

you don't begin to live

until you know

that you're going to die.

And the book of Ecclesiastes

seeks to remind us

that we don't have to wait

until the doctor tells us

of a terminal diagnosis.

We're already terminal

because we have

a spiritual disease

called sin.

Romans 5.12 says,

sin came into the world

through one man

and death through sin.

And so death spread

to all men

because all sinned.

So then we should live

knowing that we'll die.

In 2018,

there was a Washington Post

article about

Veronica Bennett,

a TV producer

who ran a popular blog

series on aging

called Time Goes By

on the Washington Post.

This interview was conducted

shortly after Bennett

was diagnosed

with the rare form

of cancer,

terminal cancer

in her body's soft tissues.

And her doctors

told her that there

is no cure

and that she might

expect to have

six to eight months

of good health

after which her body

will start deteriorating rapidly.

And the diagnosis

completely changed

the then 77-year-old

Veronica Bennett's

perspective on life.

She said,

it colors everything.

I've always lived tentatively,

but I'm not anymore

because the worst

has happened.

I've been told

I'm going to die.

All kinds of things

fall away

at just about

the exact moment

the doctor says

there is no treatment.

She started making

immediate changes

to the way she lived.

Here are some things

that she stopped

doing immediately.

Some of these

are quite funny.

No more try-to-stay-healthy

extended exercise routines

every morning.

An activity that she

formally forced herself

to do

but never enjoyed.

No more watching her diet.

Palliative care

is very different

from preventative care.

No more worrying

about whether

memory lapses

were normal

or an early sign

of dementia.

Well, it doesn't matter anymore.

And no more worrying

about what other people

are going to think of her.

And here are the things

that she wanted to do

and have more of.

Ice cream and cheese,

her favorite foods.

walks in the park

near her home.

A romp with kittens

or puppies

licking her

and making her laugh.

And deep conversations

with friends.

These kinds of

perspective shifts

are not uncommon

when people receive

terminal diagnoses.

Welsh photographer

Sir Ridwin Hughes

created a short film

entitled

What Matters Most?

Question Mark.

Which documents

the lives of people

who have received

the terminal diagnosis.

And one of her subjects

in the documentary

is a 30-year-old woman

named Megan McClay.

She says that

after being diagnosed

with stage 4 eye cancer,

she says this,

I'm able to have a perspective

on what is important to me

that I didn't have before.

I value spending time

with my family,

being with my partner more,

being more present

with myself.

I feel like we're always

striving for more,

a bigger home,

a bigger car,

a bigger this,

and a bigger that,

but we forget to see

what we actually have

in front of us.

Her diagnosis also changed

the perspective

of her boyfriend

who said this,

instead of always doing

what I thought

was a helpful thing

and taking action,

being away and working,

I've not calmed down significantly.

Me and Megan

are able to have

as much meaning

within our time together

as possible

because we won't have

that time in the future.

Remember what I said to you

about Pastor Tim Keller

a few,

maybe last month or so

when he was diagnosed

with pancreatic cancer?

Which would eventually

take his life.

When faced with death,

he finally stopped

trying to make a heaven

out of earth

and realized that he needs

to make a heaven

out of heaven.

And as he and his wife,

Kathy, did this,

they noticed a change.

Quote,

this world becomes

something we're actually

enjoying for its own sake.

Instead of trying to make it

give us more

than it really can.

So oddly enough,

we've never been happier.

Day to day,

we've never enjoyed

our days more.

We've never enjoyed

hugs more.

We've never enjoyed

food more.

She'll say,

this would be great to make.

We've never enjoyed

walks more.

We've never enjoyed

the actual things

we see,

touch,

taste,

hear,

and then smell

around us more.

It's ironic,

isn't it?

We don't begin

to live until

we're expecting

to die.

It's only when

we keep death in view

that we begin

to truly enjoy life.

That's the meaning

of verses 2 to 6.

Verses 2 to 3,

loosely parallel,

verses 4 to 6,

and you can tell

that by the repetition

of words and themes

that bind them together,

words like house,

mourning,

heart,

laughter,

fool,

wise,

they both compare

the house of mourning

to the house of feasting

and conclude

that the house of mourning

is better.

They both include

a better than statement

saying that sorrow

is better than laughter

and that the rebuke

of the wise

is better than

the song of fools.

They both include

a rationale statement,

an explanation statement

that explains

this surprising proposition

and it begins

with the word for

and the reason it gives

is death

because all our lives

end in death.

The laughter

and the songs of fools

that make us forget

this troublesome

reality of life

are vanities.

Going to a funeral

is better than

going to a party

because what's waiting

for us at the end

of our life

is not a party

but death.

The heart of the wise

is in the house of mourning

but the heart of fools

is in the house of mirth.

The preacher

is not saying

that we should never

throw parties.

I was at two of them

yesterday.

But this is what it means.

When you come face to face

with the brokenness

of this fallen world

you can be driven

into despair

and cynicism.

And to avoid that

there are only two ways

you can deal

with the problem.

The first way

is to party

like there's no tomorrow.

This is the route

of escapism.

Drink away your sorrows.

Dance the night away.

Divert yourself

with endless comedy shows

so that you can forget

your trouble.

The second way

is to look at death

squarely in the eyes

come to terms

with your own mortality

and significance

acknowledge that

you don't have

all the answers

and cultivate humility

and submission

before God.

That produces

gratitude and joy.

The first way

is folly.

The second way

is wisdom.

The first way

inebriates you.

The second way

sobers you.

This is why sorrow

is better than laughter

for the sadness

of face

by the sadness

of face

the heart

is made glad.

The word translated

made glad here

is a Hebrew word

that often means

to do good.

So I actually prefer

the rendering

that the new

international version has.

It says

a sad face

is good

for the heart.

Or the King James version

says this

by the sadness

of the countenance

the heart

is made better.

A cure

for heart sickness

surprisingly

is a vial

of medicine

called

a dose

of reality

the reality

of death.

Confronting

the realities

of suffering

and death

in this life

makes us sober

and humble.

It forces us

to shed

our delusions

of grandeur

and immortality.

It instills

in us

deep in our bones

a freedom

of insignificance

and the humility

of wisdom.

This is why

sadness of faith

is good

for the heart.

In contrast

the laughter

of the fools

is like the crackling

of thorns

under a pot.

This is an image

of a pot

you're cooking

in a pot

you have some water

or some food

soup in it

and underneath

what's burning

is a whole bunch

of thorns

that you have

no use for

but to burn.

And as the thorns

are burning

and the twigs

are burning

they crackle.

They crackle

because of the

pressure of the heat

the thorns

crack open

and the little bit

of moisture

that's left in it

evaporates immediately

and pops.

It's like a mini explosion.

That's what the songs

and laughters

of fools

who seek to escape

this reality of death

are like.

They crackle with life

for a fleeting moment

and then they're

reduced to ashes.

So remember death.

Christian author

Randy Alcorn

writes this

in his book

Heaven

that ancient merchants

often wrote the words

memento mori

think of death

in large letters

on the first page

of their accounting books.

I think that's

a healthy practice

that we could

recover.

Philip of Macedon

father of Alexander

the great

commissioned a servant

to stand in his presence

each day

and say to him

Philip

you will die.

What a job.

In contrast

Francis Louis XIV

decreed that the word

death

not be uttered

in his presence.

Be more like

Philip of Macedon

than Louis XIV.

Think of death.

I read last week

about an author

who writes her own

obituary

every single year.

A practice

that she learned

while accompanying

our mom

who was volunteering

at a hospice

and one of the

training

that you do

when you volunteer

for hospice

at this place

was to

write your own

obituary

so that you could

imagine yourself

in the shoes

of the people

who are

spending the end

of their lives

there.

And so she

started doing

this practice.

Try writing

your own

obituary

one day.

It forces you

to think about

what people

will say

about you

after you

die.

What will

they say?

Will they say

that you

loved well?

That you

loved Jesus?

You walked

with him?

Will they say

that you knew

how to receive

and enjoy

the good gifts

of life?

Or will

the clinical

recitation

of your

string

of accomplishments

suggest that

you lived

life for gain

and that you

got a lot

of things done

but you were

never truly

known by anyone?

That exercise

will clarify

your priorities

in life.

Some accomplishments

that you have

prided yourself

in or hope

to accomplish

one day

will ring

hollow

in the light

of the certainty

of death.

It says

in Psalm 90

for all our

days pass away

under your wrath.

We bring our

ears to an end

like a sigh.

The years of our

life are 70

or even by reason

of strength

80.

Yet their span

is but toil

and trouble.

They are soon

gone and we

fly away.

So teach us

to number

our days

that we may

get a heart

of wisdom.

We should all

seek to get

this heart

of wisdom.

Number our

days.

But we also

need to remember

that the heart

of wisdom

is not immune

to corruption.

That's what

verse 7

teaches us.

Surely oppression

drives the wise

into madness

and a bribe

corrupts the heart.

The word surely

is actually a translation

of the same word

that in verse 6

is translated

as 4.

The translators

couldn't discern

the logical connection

between verses 5

and 6.

So they started

a new thought

but it's actually

supposed to be

connected to verses

5 and 6.

It's another reason

clause explaining

why it is better

for a man to hear

the rebuke of the wise

than to hear

the song of fools.

We should pay

attention to the

rebuke of the wise

for oppression

drives the wise

into madness

and a bribe

corrupts the heart.

In other words,

even those who

possess wisdom

are not immune

to corruption

and therefore

we should be open

to listening

to the rebuke

of the wise.

The word translated

oppression here

in scripture

refers to

dishonest gain

by means of oppression

which is why

it is sometimes

translated as robbery

or extortion.

The NIV

translates it this way,

the extortion

turns a wise person

into a fool

and bribe

corrupts the heart.

Both clauses

in verse 7

are referring to

the potential

for money

to corrupt

the person

who has wisdom.

It could mean

that the wise,

even the wise

can buckle

under the pressure

of extortion

and do something foolish

or it could mean

probably more likely

in my mind

that when the wise

person gains

a possession

of influence

or authority

in some kind

of office

by the virtue

of their wisdom

they can be tempted

to use their station

in life

to gain more,

to extort.

And if you do that

then you've forfeited

your heart of wisdom.

And if you take

a bribe

that colors

your judgment

then you also

have forfeited

your heart of wisdom.

And once again

remembering death

can fortify us

against the allures

of money.

As we talked about

last week

in chapters 5 and 6

earthly money

is expiring currency.

It's going to lose

100%

of its value

on the day

you die.

So why

sacrifice

your integrity

for death?

That's a bad trade.

So remember death

and go to a funeral.

Write your obituary.

Let the remembrance

of death

protect you

from the allure

of money.

Similarly,

verse 8

echoes earlier

verses,

better is the end

of a thing

than its beginning

and the patient

in spirit

is better

than the proud

in spirit.

That sounds like

verse 1, right?

The day of death

is better

than the day of birth.

The crib

is full

of hope

and potential

and we've been

rejoicing

the coming of

babies

in this season

in our church.

But there's really

not much

you can say

about a newborn baby.

Right?

What's the same thing

that everybody says

when they look

at your newborn baby?

Oh,

I think she looks

like the mom.

Oh,

I think he looks

like the dad

because there's

not much else

we can say.

It's all potential,

no reality.

It's not the crib

but the coffin

that tells us

what a man

or a woman

is really worth.

What they were

really like.

Better is the end

of a thing

than its beginning.

So don't lose heart

because you've made

a mess of your life

up to this point.

Jesus is a strong

redeemer

and he is indeed

making all things

new.

There's still hope

for you

and we're going

to talk more

about that.

You probably

don't know

who George Mallory

is.

You guys know?

Anybody know

who George Mallory

is?

I didn't know

who he was

until I googled him

earlier this week.

He's believed

to be the first

person to scale

Mount Everest.

Why don't we

know about him?

Well because

he never made

it back down.

He died

on the summit.

The name

you probably

have heard of

is Sir Edmund

Hillary

who is widely

known as the

first person

to summit

Mount Everest

because he

made it back

down.

As many people

have said

it's not how

you start

that's important

but how you

finish.

and when

you keep

the end

in sight

it will

help us

to be

patient

in spirit

rather than

proud in

spirit.

Why be

proud of

who you

are and

what you

have

accomplished

when you're

still in

the middle

of the

race?

Don't

join that

infamous

list of

YouTube

compilations

of people

who celebrated

too early

and lost

the race.

You are

not finished

yet and

much can

happen

between

now

and the

end.

Don't

take

where you

are at

this stage

of your

life,

your current

spiritual walk

with God

for granted.

The race

is not

over.

You need

to persevere

till the

end.

Better

is the

end of

a thing

than its

beginning.

Keeping

death in

view also

brings our

priorities

into focus.

We can

know better

that some

things are

not worth

fretting

about.

It makes

us patient

in spirit

rather than

proud in

spirit.

Do you

really care

that much

about what

people think

about you

when your

day of

death is

approaching?

Do you

really care

that much

that your

wife didn't

have dinner

prepared for

that day

or that

your husband

didn't put

the dirty

laundry in

the washer?

Do you

really care

that much

that your

roommate

talks too

loudly on

the phone

or leaves

the common

room area

as messy?

Do you

really care

that much

that your

kids spilled

a drink

and made

a mess

on your

pristine

carpet?

Does that

matter when

the day

of death

fast

approaches?

The patient

in spirit

is better

than the

proud in

spirit.

Verse 9

is thematically

connected to

verse 8

by the repetition

of the word

spirit.

Be not

quick in

your spirit

to become

angry,

for anger

lodges in

the heart

of fools.

Anger is

our emotional

response to

perceived

wrong.

And people

who get

angry often

are easily

offended because

they often

perceive what

other people

say and do

to be

wrong.

And they

often perceive

what other

people say

and do

to be

wrong

because they

are proud

in spirit.

Those who

are quick

in their

spirit to

become angry

are proud

in spirit.

This is a

sin with

which I am

intimately

familiar.

So if you

feel like

I am

calling

your cards

and reading

your mail,

don't worry,

I am just

reading my

own mail.

Oftentimes,

our anger,

unlike God's

anger,

is not

righteous

anger,

it is

self-righteous

anger.

In our

judicial system,

a judge

is required

to recuse

himself

if he is

personally

implicated

in the

case.

Because how

are you going

to judge

a case

impartially

if you

are

personally

affected

by it.

But when

we are

personally

offended

and affected

by something,

far from

recusing

ourselves,

we appoint

ourselves

the judge,

the jury,

and jailer

all at once.

We sit

in judgment

over the

person,

fooling

ourselves

that we

can discern

every motivation

of their

heart.

and then

instead of

seeking the

Lord's

guidance

and being

patient

in prayer

and seeking

the counsel

of wise

people around

us,

we quickly

pronounce the

verdict as

the jury.

Well,

yep,

that was

that,

and that

was wrong.

I'm right,

you're wrong.

And then

since our

verdict as

a jury

is impeccable,

we start

acting as

the jailer.

We jail

the offending

person in

the cold

prison of

our icy

stairs and

chilly

silence.

Or we

punish them

with hundred

lashes of

the tongue

by berating

them.

People

with anger

issues are

often wise

in their

own eyes.

In fact,

I would say

that they

are invariably

wise in

their own

eyes.

But the

preacher of

Ecclesiastes

pops our

balloons when

he kindly

reminds us,

anger

lodges in

the heart

of fools.

It's not

the wise,

it's the

fool.

So what's

the solution?

Look at all

the other

verses in

the passage

that mention

the heart.

Verse 2,

this is the

end of all

mankind and

the living

will lay

to heart.

Verse 3,

sorrow is

better than

laughter,

for by

sadness of

faith the

heart is

made glad.

Verse 4,

the heart

of the

wise is

in the

house of

mourning,

but the

heart of

fools is

in the

house of

mirth.

If you

don't want

the heart

of fools,

here's the

prescription

from

Ecclesiastes.

If you

want the

heart of

the wise,

then spend

some time

reflecting on

the end

of your

life,

so that

you might

grow smaller

in your

own eyes.

Make your

face sad

by reflecting

on death

and by

grieving your

own sins,

since the

wages of

sin is

death.

If you

are regularly

grieving your

own sins,

and the

death which

ineluctably

comes as a

result of

your sins,

then we

are well

on our

way to

becoming more

patient in

spirit than

proud in

spirit.

verse 10

gives another

invaluable

counsel to

fools who

think themselves

wise.

It says,

say not,

why were the

former days

better than

these?

For it is

not from

wisdom that

you ask

this.

People who

think themselves

wise often

bemoan the

good old

days.

I know

you guys

have done

this.

I have

too.

And it's

because they

accurately

perceive the

evils and

ills of

society today

that they

pine for

yesterday.

But such

thinking is

not from

wisdom.

In Exodus

14 and

16, the

Israelites

pine for

the good

old days.

And you

know what

their good

old days

were?

Slavery

in Egypt.

If anything

proves our

selective

memory and

the faultiness

of nostalgia,

I think

Exodus does

it.

They say,

oh, we

were better

off serving

the Egyptians

than wandering

here in the

wilderness.

Oh, when

we were in

Egypt, we

sat by the

meat pots and

ate bread to

the full.

When they

were actually

slaves,

worked to

the bone to

make bricks

without straw,

and they

were crying

out for

deliverance

from God.

people who

tend to

reminisce

dreamily about

the good

old days

likely don't

remember

accurately what

those old

days were

like.

Remember

Ecclesiastes

1, 9-10.

What has

been is

what will

be, and

what has

been done

is what

will be

done, and

there is

nothing new

under the

sun.

Is there

a thing of

which it is

said, see,

this is new?

It has

been already

in the

ages before

us.

The decadence

and perversions

that we see

in our world

and society

today are

nothing new.

They've been

around for

millennia.

Sure, they

didn't have