Death Makes Everything Vapor | Ecclesiastes 3:16-22 | 06/14/26

When we observe

and not even carefully

our own

societal issues,

the places where we would expect

justice to happen, court of law, right?

Our legal system, our judicial system,

our political system. When you hear the

word politician or you hear the word

lawyer, does it have positive

connotation or negative connotation? I

thought about starting with lawyer

jokes, but I didn't want to offend some

of the people who've gotten their JDs in

the past, right? But we know of many

lawyer jokes and politician jokes. And

it's kind of sad that we are accustomed

to political corruption. If we found out

that some political leader engaged in

marital infidelity, would we be shocked?

If they

endorse some policy for their own

capitalistic gain, would we be

surprised? It's kind of sad that we're

no longer shocked by the very places

that should evoke justice and we

tolerate, we expect injustice.

And this is not just out there. It's

even in the church. Too many stories.

Would you be shocked if we hear of

another pastor in the United States

engaged in marital infidelity or

laundering money to get rich?

Kind of expected. The very place where

there should be righteousness is the

very place where we tolerate and sadly

sometimes expect corruption.

This is the world that we live in and it

doesn't take careful observation to

notice. But it's not just observation

that's going to be sufficient. We need

to observe

and reflect.

See, wisdom doesn't come automatically.

Just because you grow older and have

more experiences

doesn't entail that you'll end up wise.

Sadly, we know lots of older individuals

who are foolish and living foolishly

near the end of their days. What is

required is that not only do we have a

slew of experiences and careful

observation, but we pause and we

reflect. And that is exactly what the

preacher in Ecclesiastes does. He's

wise. And one thing that he does

typically is he observes the world

around him very carefully and then he

pauses to reflect. and his reflections

have put him in a jumbled state. He's a

bit discombobulated,

but there's still sufficient insights

that we can glean and that he has

gleaned from his observation and

reflection. And as he's seeing the world

and he's observing, he's noticing that

the things that people have told him his

whole life of what really matters,

graduating and getting a job and having

enough in your bank account saved so you

could have an early or good retirement.

And in his mind, he would have just put

that not in terms of working in

retirement, but as wealth is not what

really matters. or others who think that

we'll fill our lives with pleasurable

experiences and go on as many vacations

as we can eating fine foods then I'll

have a good life and he goes and does it

he observes he reflects and he realizes

that too does not really matter and then

he thinks he has an edge on most people

because he might be one of the wisest

people around and yet even in his wisdom

he observes he experiences and then he

reflect Lex and he says even my own

great wisdom

does not really matter. And that's

that's where we are right now in the

book of Ecclesiastes where the preacher,

this guy, this assembly man, who is he?

He's just somebody part of the assembly

who's now speaking from his wisdom and

saying the candidate items of what would

make for a really terrific life turn out

not to be what really matter. and he's

tried it out himself. He's filled his

life with pleasure. He's filled his life

with wisdom. He's filled his life with

good work only to find none of it really

matters. And as I've made this

distinction before, there's a difference

for the preacher between what really

matters and what matters. Nothing he

says entails that the things he does

isn't important at all or is valueless.

What he is discovering though is that

the thing that people have built their

lives around, trying to experience more

goods, trying to get ahead in their

work, trying to experience as much as

much as they can, even as noble as

trying to become more wise does not

really matter. To build your life around

those things, will leave you high and

dry.

And now we're going to come to a place

in Ecclesiastes where the preacher will

do some careful observation

and see things that appear threatening

and then we'll he'll reflect. And I want

us to share in his observation and

reflection and then see what we as

postresurrection Christ followers will

have to think about and glean from the

preachers's wisdom. So, if you have your

Bibles, please turn to Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

Ecclesiast chapter 3. And we're going to

read from verse 16

to chapter 4:E3.

So, sometimes you don't want to follow

chapters and verses. Those came way

later. They that they came in the 13th

century chapters. And I believe verses

came in the 16th century. So, some

sometimes you don't have to follow the

chapters and or uh verses.

So we'll read from chapter 3:16 to

chapter 4:3,

a reading from the book of Ecclesiastes.

Moreover,

I saw under the sun

that in the place of justice

even there was wickedness,

and in the place of righteousness,

even there was wickedness.

I said in my heart, God will judge the

righteous and the wicked. For there is a

time for every matter and for every

work.

I said in my heart with regard to the

children of man that God is testing

them, that they may see that they

themselves are but beasts. For what

happens to the children of man and what

happens to the beasts is the same. As

one dies, so dies the other. They all

have the same breath, and man has no

advantage over the beasts, for all is

vanity. All go to one place. All are

from the dust, and to dust all return.

Who knows whether the spirit of man goes

upward, and the spirit of the beast goes

down into the earth. So I saw that there

is nothing better than that a man should

rejoice in his work, for that is his

lot. Who can bring him to see what will

be after him? Again, I saw all the

oppressions that are done under the sun.

And behold, the tears of the oppressed,

and they had no one to comfort them.

On the side of their oppressors there

was power, and there was no one to

comfort them. And 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 and has not seen the evil deeds

that are done under the sun. The word of

the Lord.

When we read this, we're not just

looking to what the preacher is trying

to tell us. We're looking for what God

is trying to teach us in this text. And

I've been reflecting on this passage for

the last month. What God has been

teaching me and I hope he teaches you is

that God calls us to lament and to labor

in and for him. That God invites us to

lament and to labor in him and for him.

So I want us to cut this up into two

main pieces. one where the preacher is

facing injustice

and then where the preacher is facing

death and then I want us to reflect as

postresurrection

New Testament Christians what we can

also glean from the preacher. So let's

first talk about his facing injustice

and as I've been saying he's engaged in

observation and reflection. So so note

in verse 16 what does he say? I saw I

saw under the sun that in the place of

justice there was wickedness in the

place of righteousness there was

wickedness. So beginning with

observation he sees uh this person is

the king that he's a king in Jerusalem

son of David so from a royal lineage and

royalty also had a legal judicial

authority. So he's seeing how things can

be played out in terms of fairness,

justice, righteousness. And what does he

see? He sees that at those very places

of justice and righteousness, there's

wickedness. Now, what what would he have

in mind as a king in Jerusalem? He has

specifically in mind the court of law,

the law courts. That's where you would

see justice. And in fact for Israel,

what is supposed to be

overlaying the the the overlaying

framework by which they make their legal

declarations,

Moses's law, the law. And yet he's

saying that's the very place it's not

happening. We see almost immediately

from Solomon on and especially as the

kingdom goes on and on until the exile

where they forget about the law. It's

not until Hezekiah and then Josiah where

the law comes storming back and they

realize how good and lovely and

beautiful the law is before then there's

a time where they have forgotten all

about it and they're doing what all the

other nations do worshiping all the

other gods and the very places where you

should have justice is the very place

you don't and one reason why I think

this fits in the wisdom literature of

the Old Testament is this is a common

motif when you read the Psalms, when you

read the Proverbs, when you read Job,

what do we find? That the righteous

suffer and the wicked prosper.

The oppressors get richer and the

innocent get crushed.

This is what he's saying. And does it

look any different today?

It's strange to me that we who are

relatively comfortable and wealthy, we

can squabble about what I would regard

as

minor issues,

forgetting that there is this whole

trade of industry that continues to

enslave and oppress people. I mean, the

sex trafficking industry is grotesque,

but we'd rather be on YouTube and

squabble amongst each other.

Let's carefully observe and see there's

injustice where there should be justice

in the very places where there should be

justice. As I mentioned at the

beginning, I mean, how many churches

does it look like they're profiting?

where there's time and time accusations

of pastors and church leaders and elders

who are scheming and laundering money,

whose homes are elaborate. There there

are pastors who will preach against the

prosperity gospel and then go home to

their mansion

and we think ah my a mighty man of God.

This is I'm flabbergasted.

And I think that this is where the

preacher is also befuddled,

discombobulated that this is the world

he lives in. Now

the preacher is not untethered. The

preacher is not a 20th century European

philosopher wearing his beret and

smoking his pipe with elbow patches. He

is a person tethered in the history of

Israel as a son of David. and whether or

not in his time and generation they're

obeying the law, they understand their

identity as cemented and tethered into

the law. And so as a person of the law,

he knows something. And this is what he

knows. Read the rest of verse 17. I said

in my heart, God will judge the

righteous and the wicked.

See, he sees that there's injustice, but

he knows because he knows the law enough

that in the end justice will be done and

it will be God who will carry it out.

That is the story of Moses's law. From

Exodus to Deuteronomy, the story of

oppression and rescue and the

deliverance of God's way of life. I

think sometimes even we as Christians

think of law as a bad word. Whereas in

if you look at the majority of the

Bible, including the New Testament, law

is a good word. What Paul is rallying

against is not law, but the abuse of the

law. People who are misusing the law.

The law is God's way of life. And he had

a way of life for a particular group of

nomadic tribes that he built into a

nation. He built into a kingdom. And the

lesson of the people of Israel is that

God is in charge and will be faithful to

his covenant. So in the end, justice

will be done because God will take care

of it. This is not a 20th century

European agnostic philosopher. This is a

man of God's law who understands at

least this much.

But notice what he says in remaining of

verse 17.

He says,

"For there is a time for every matter

and for every work."

That alludes back to the beginning of

chapter 3.

A time to kill, a time to heal, time to

plant, a time to pluck up. There's a

time for all of the various seasons. So,

if there's a time of injustice, what

should you expect in this life? A time

for justice. Justice will come. But if

you're in a he word and remember he

world and he is mist. It looks like you

could grab it but you can't. It's like

clouds. You think you could jump around

on it but you can't. You can't hold on

to it. In a he world. Yes, justice will

come but you can't hold on to it. It too

will pass and injustice will come again.

And then it too will pass and justice

will come again. And on and on. at least

in his mind with his incomplete

knowledge you'll keep having the cycle

of injustice and justice and I think

that's informative for us yes if

injustice is occurring it won't last

forever but justice won't last forever

as things are be so we should not expect

to build a utopia I I I think this

should temper our Christian political

expectations I I'm big on Christians

getting involved in politics. I myself

care deeply about it. And yet I think

sometimes we can be tempted to the

synretatism of believing that once we

establish the right policies and the

right people in the right positions,

then we'll have everything solved and

fixed.

There was a time where for a few people

that seemed to be true. Until the Lord

returns, there is no utopia and we

should temper our expectations in a he

world. Yes, there will be injustice. And

yes, there will be justice, but

injustice will creep back in. Okay, so

he observes things. We see that he's

tethered to the law, but he's about to

see something even worse. Jump now to

chapter 4, verse one.

And he says, I saw all the oppressions

that are done under the sun. And behold,

the tears of the oppressed, and they had

no one to comfort them. On the side of

their oppressors there was power, and

there was no one to comfort them.

One of the worst sites that he can see

now in his careful observation is

oppression, enslavement, where the

powerful crush the powerless.

And again, if we remember that he is a

son of David and a king of Jerusalem

whose history is the history of the

people of God wandering from Egypt into

the promised land is that his own

history is a history of oppression. So

there's some sensitivity, there's some

PTSD going on in the history of

oppression. Now, if we also see this

from Solomon's perspective, what do we

know about Solomon himself? That he

eventually became an oppressor.

And this is the story of Israel's

monarchy. God had been faithful to

Israel the entire time, but the monarchy

itself became oppressive. And God said,

"I won't stand for that." Look what I

did to the Canaanites because of their

wicked oppression. I kicked them out of

the land. And if you play the same game

as they, then you too will be expelled

from the land. And sure enough, what

happened in 6th century BCE? We see the

very people of God in their disobedience

who've become oppressors expelled from

the land.

Oppression then is a

is a very sensitive topic for the

preacher and for the people and for the

original audience to this book both

because of what they have experienced as

victims

but also what they had become.

And notice the language here

and there was no one to comfort them.

How should we think about the book of

Ecclesiastes?

I don't know why people keep calling

this a philosophy book. There's no

systematic argumentation.

The the person is wise, but he's Jewish

wise. He's immersed in the law and the

wisdom literature born within Israel. So

he's not giving an argument. He's

experiencing, observing, and then he's

reflecting.

And what he's what he's doing then is

emoting when he says there's no one to

comfort. This isn't a linear reasoning

process. This is him crying out look at

the tears of the oppressed.

That is how it comes across. If you

don't believe me, go read Lamentations

Lamentations 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 and you tell me if there's

similar style and language between

Lamentations 1 and what's happening

here. This isn't somebody arguing his

way like Kamu or Sartra. This is

somebody who's seeing his own people

oppressed potentially seeing himself as

the oppressor and can't believe that

this is happening in a world governed by

God. And so he's emotionally freaking

out. And that's something I think that's

worth us remembering

because notice then what he says in the

next two verses because if you think

he's speaking like a philosopher, the

next two verses are complicated. And

which is why I think some people

interpret the preacher as only preaching

worldly wisdom or contradicting himself.

As Josh said when we first introduced

this book, there's a plethora of

interpretations. And some

interpretations say, "Yeah, he's not

really giving us godly wisdom. He's

giving us worldly wisdom." Other

interpretations say he's contradicting

himself. I think if you see it in the

way that we've been suggesting as a

person tethered to God's law,

that he's not contradicting himself and

he's not just giving us worldly wisdom.

I think he's giving us godly insights

even if they're incomplete.

And so notice what he says in verse two

and verse three. verse two, he he says,

"It's better to be dead than to be

alive."

That's kind of shocking. And then what

does he say in verse three of chapter 4?

It'd be better never to have existed at

all than to have lived and to die.

What What's going on here?

If if you look at other places in

scripture, there's other kinds of

emotional evocation that you see in this

kind of thing. Elijah does things like

this. You see this in Jeremiah, right?

You you see this kind of language of I

I'd rather not live. Uh do they mean it

or is it an emotional outburst? I've had

emotional outbursts. Alyssa can tell you

about my emotional outbursts. that there

there were times where my struggles of

lack of sleep and physical discomfort

was just so overwhelming that I say

things like I don't want to be alive. I

I've actually said those words. Now, if

I paused and thought, then do I want to

no longer exist? The answer would be of

course not. I know some people struggle

with that. And that's a different issue.

I'm talking about the those of us who we

just are so fed up and frustrated that

we emotionally outburst, but we don't

really mean what we're saying. But this

is our way of just going

I don't want this to be the case. And

that's what I think he's doing. And and

here's some evidence for this that I'm

not just making this up. When we get to

chapter 5 and he sees the oppression,

he knows God is in charge of of it all.

So we have to read Ecclesiastes in all

of its form, in its entire form. The

preacher knows that even though there's

oppression, God is in charge and is

above the oppressors. And there's other

places where he does recognize wisdom is

valuable and living is valuable and

enjoying your life and your work is

valuable. It may not be the thing that

really matters, but they are of value.

So I don't think he really means, man, I

wish I were actually dead or man, I wish

I were never born. I think he's

emotionally

expressing himself. He's having an

outburst.

Now for us as Christians, what can we

glean from this?

Notice,

notice that he knows justice will be

done by God in the future. And in

chapter 5, notice that the preacher

knows that God is the one fully in

charge. And yet, even with all that

knowledge, what is he doing?

I can't believe more oppression.

I think we can glean some insight from

that that it's good for us to engage in

lamentation,

emotional expression to the Lord that

life is terrible.

I've seen

in person on social media somebody

engaged in lament. This is terrible.

And I think a very good well-meaning

person will go, "Yeah, but God is in

control."

Now, let me just be cautious here. Some

people need to hear that. Some people

don't believe that God is in control.

And so, they need to have the message

that God is going to take care of it.

But I think there's people like the

preacher who knows that God is in

control. And yet, they can't make sense

of what's going on. and their life is a

wreck and everything they see around

them is a wreck and all they can do is

there is no one to comfort them. How

long do people have to die from

malnutrition? How many hundred millions

of women have to be abducted and

enslaved in sex trafficking

and yet we complain that the coffee

isn't as good? I do. This is me

describing my own sin. The coffee wasn't

as good as last time.

H

when we think of lamenting,

here's the good of lamenting. The good

of lamenting is reminding ourselves this

is not okay.

That we actually do live in a world

where God is just and we are expressing

that what we see is not part of what God

desires for creation.

This is why I think sometimes it doesn't

help to just go to someone and say,

"Yeah, but God is in control." We

already know this when it comes to

suffering. When people are suffering,

you go, "Yeah, yeah, but God will bring

a good, you know, God God has a good

plan for this." That that's true. That's

true, right? Romans chapter 8, that is

Romans 8 · chapter mention

absolutely true. But that doesn't help.

It's not as though the person, if

they're a faithful Christian, doesn't

know that. But that's not what they need

at the time. I think similarly here, I

think we sometimes just need to tell the

Lord, "This is a frustrating, terrible

situation, and we have no one else to

come to, but we're coming to you because

we know you're the one that's going to

make it right, but this stinks. So, do

something about it already." And this is

why I think we're we're called to

lament. Now, if this were the only

instance, if Ecclesiastes and the

preacher were the only one to ever do

this, I'd say, "Hm, maybe, maybe not."

I've said before, I don't think the

preacher is an exemplar. I think he's

wise and we can learn and glean

insights, but I don't think he's

somebody worth imitating. But if we look

at the Bible, there are plenty of

exemplars who do engage in lamentation

in lamenting. First and foremost, our

primary exemplar, Jesus.

Jesus laments over Jerusalem, over the

disciples, over the lost house of

Israel. He sees them as sheep without a

shepherd. And he laments and he laments

most of all in the garden of Gethsemane.

I don't want to do this, father, but not

my will but your will be done. Jesus

himself laments. Is Jesus thinking God's

plan will get thwarted? No. Jesus knows

the most that God's will will be done.

And yet he can see the wrong that's

being done and lament. And I think we

too when we see the oppression and the

injustices being done in the world, it's

good for us to lament. And let me give

you something very practical.

If you don't know how to lament, pray

the Psalms. Worship the Psalms. The

psalter, the book of Psalms, has been

for 2,000 years the prayer and worship

book of the church.

And it kind of grieves me. I I love our

worship team and I've been a worship

pastor and I love the songs that we do,

but the overwhelming majority of our

worship songs are relatively positive

and they're about praise and

thanksgiving. There's nothing wrong with

that. You should praise God. You should

give thanks to God. But if you look at

the book of Psalms, nearly half of the

Psalms involve lament.

And there's one psalm that ends with no

happy conclusion. Most of the laments

end with God, hurry up, do something,

but I'm going to trust you. Like, ah,

that's nice. There's one psalm that

doesn't end that way. There's one psalm

where it ends saying, "It's your fault,

God. The end.

Now of course in a robust theology we

know God will be just but I think

sometimes we need to have those

emotional outbursts and we are licensed

them in scripture in the book of Psalms.

That psalm by the way is Psalm 88 and go

home and read that for yourself. If

you're supposed to pray the Psalms every

day and we've got about 150, you'd pray

them about twice a year. That means two

times out of the year you can express

your frustration to God with no

resolution.

The Psalms does it. No, if that's all

you did, if every single there might

just as a caveat, there might be some of

you where like every single day is it's

your fault, God. It's your fault, God. I

have met folks like that and and there's

a different kind of shephering that we

have to do for folks like that, right?

That's a serious condition and we we

we'd have to pray for them and serve

them. But I'm talking for you mature

Christians. Are we just going to go

around like, "Yeah, everything is great.

Everything is not great as there's too

many people suffering not just out there

even here.

People lacking medical care and

suffering from malnutrition and engaged

in sex trafficking happens here in the

Silicon Valley as much as it happens in

other countries.

And yet the rich get richer and the

powerful become more powerful. And I

complain that my restaurant didn't have

the right kind of food.

It is good for us to practice lament

because Jesus did. And as we pray the

Psalms, what we're not denying or

doubting that God is in charge. God is

in charge and he will make it all right

in the end. But what lamenting does is

confesses that we just don't know how

God's going to do it. And by our lights,

we're just fed up. Are we Are we going

to pretend that we're not? I've seen too

many Christians fall away because they

kept trying to put the hashtag blessed

life. I'm on a I'm on a cruise and I'm

getting richer and richer.

That is not the blessed life. If you

read Matthew chapter 5,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

we now can live the blessed life no

matter what we face. And one way we can

handle the difficult things is through

lamenting. I think God has invited us to

engage in the practice of lament. I now

want to turn to the other threat that

the preacher faces and that's death. So

turn to verse 18 and 19.

And he said, I said in my heart with

regard to the children of man that God

is testing them that they may see that

they themselves are but beasts. For what

happens to the children of man, what

happens to the beasts is the same. As

one dies, so dies the other.

Death is not anything new and this is

not the first time that the preacher

brings up death. But death is bringing

up something that he hasn't properly

appreciated.

And it's that the things that he's

trying to grab on to are he. And so in

that regard, he has no advantage. Human

beings have no advantage over the

animals, the beasts, non-human animals.

already in chapter 2 he said look the

wise have no advantage over the fools

and he's saying now humans have no

advantage over the beast let's be clear

what he's he's not saying that there's

nothing different between the wise and

the fool or human and animals he's not

saying that humans don't have cooler

special more dignified roles than the

animals what he wants to say is the

things that we keep thinking we really

really really care about having lots of

good pleasures gaining lots of wealth

becoming wise

You have no advantage because you can't

hold on to them any more than those

squirrels can gather their nuts and keep

them because in the end those nuts will

be gone come winter or they'll die

because of some predator and some other

squirrel will have those nuts. I mean,

that's what he's freaking out about.

When I die, my my money doesn't stay

with me. Someone else gets my money. And

so he says he hates his labor in chapter

2 because somebody else because my money

will then go to the government or it'll

go to people who don't deserve it. Woe

is me.

And I think that's worth us thinking

about.

It's it's easy to get so locked in with

a parochial perspective that your work

really really really really matters.

I think in part it's it's it's like road

rage. That's where road rage comes from.

Like my time and my two minutes earlier

matters more than your safety and

well-being.

And so we have such a parochial vision.

But if we think about can we carry take

any of these things with us? We can't.

In that sense, there's no advantage for

us over the animals. Notice what else it

says in verse 20. All go to one place.

All are from dust and to dust all

return.

Now, I think there's a Christian

temptation here that I don't think we

should jump to yet. Here's the Christian

temptation. Yeah, but we're going to

live after we die. So, solved. I don't

think so. I don't think that we are

appreciating what the preacher is trying

to point out for us enough. And I think

if we as Christians sort of jump too

quick to but we're going to live after

we die and that's going to be great have

missed

I think deep truths that both the

preacher and all the scripture is trying

to teach us. Here are some of those

truths that death is bad. Death is bad.

Don't don't believe me. Read scripture.

The overwhelming majority testimony of

scripture the way it talks about death

as what? As a bad thing. The way of life

versus the way of death. Death is not a

good thing. Why did death come about?

Because of our disobedience and

rebellion. It is a consequence and curse

of sin.

Now we as Christians know that Christ

has transformed death. Death no longer

has any sting. It's been defamed.

But it's still not a good thing. Even if

God can do something good out of

something tragic and terrible, it

doesn't mean that the tragic and

terrible thing is good. It just means

God can make our story great even within

tragic and bad things. So I think part

of us recognizing that death is because

of our sin and rebellion. Here's another

thing I think it helps us to recognize.

Death changes things.

If you follow Christ, we'll be together

forever in some party that I can't yet

imagine. But it will not be like this.

None of us will be married.

That's kind of sad to think about.

Whatever comes next is better, right? I

don't know what it is, right? Whatever

relationship I have with Alyssa will be

better than the marriage that we have

now, but it is kind of sad to think we

won't be married. Whatever comes next

will be different. There is a loss

because it is the loss due to our sin

and rebellion. And we ought to be sad

about that. Death does involve

separation. When somebody dies, we don't

ever get to have that relationship with

them again. Whatever comes is going to

be better. So, please don't hear me

wrong,

but we're not going to have the same

thing ever again. There is a loss, and

it's worth thinking and reflecting

about. And it's also important for us to

remember we're bodies. I think we can

hyper emphasize we're spiritual beings

and we are. We can connect to God who is

an immaterial being in ways beyond just

physical flesh and bone. But news flash,

you are physical flesh and bone. Your

well-being includes your spiritual

well-being and your physical well-being.

I think some of you, you need to pray

more and you just need to sleep more and

turn off your phones, right? I think

some of you, I'm going to talk to

myself, some of us just need to eat

healthier, cut down on the sodium and

the Panda Express and just have a

healthier lifestyle along with praying

and reading scripture a lot. We are

embodied beings. From dust we are and to

dust we shall return. So despite the

preacher's limited understanding, I

think he points us to some

uh helpful insights. Notice what he says

in verse 21. Who knows where the spirit

of man goes upward and the spirit of the

beast goes down into the earth? He

doesn't know. So he's agnostic about

life after death. And and if you look in

the Old Testament, there's

unclear, fuzzy, hazy understanding of

life after death. either there's no

understanding or it's a clear fuzzy

something like shaol smells a lot like

Hades. Uh it's not until second temple

Judaism and really in the book of Daniel

where you hear resurrection for the

first time where you start getting a

clear conception of life after death.

But much in the Old Testament, you don't

really get that. And so he's he's

agnostic here. What what what can we

glean from that for us as Christians?

Because we do know there's life after

death. Christ has promised it and he

said so. But I think for us this might

help us think, well, why are we

following God?

Are we following God because we are

guaranteed life after death and that's

what we want? When I was a kid about 9

10 years old, I thought heaven was just

one endless mountain slope I could ski

down forever. Thought because someone

said heaven's the best place. Like

what's the best place? Skiing endlessly

forever.

Little did my small nine-year-old mind

not understand that if that truly was

what heaven

uh could be, it would in fact be hell.

It's not living forever. That's the

great thing. You just need to read

literature, folks. Read Homer's Iliad

and Odyssey

and you'll know that life forever can be

a curse.

Living forever is not guaranteed

greatness. What matters? What matters is

union with God.

And CS Lewis,

he felt like he went on the journey of

the Israelites where he believed in God

first but didn't believe in life after

death. And he wondered, why did God not

tell them about this great truth? And he

thought and and why did why not why

didn't God teach him about this? And he

thought, well, because they would have

been mercenaries. They might have

established their relationship with God

in order to gain this benefit

independent of God. What they had to

learn is that it's worth worshiping God

even if you don't live forever. And I

just want to end with that

discombobulating thought. If this is all

the life that you have and when we die

that's the end, would it have still been

worth worshiping and interacting with

God? I don't know about you, but in my

mind, I think it would

like the way I might thank you when when

some of you buy me a meal or make me

crumpets and I say thank you because

it's worth giving thanks for the good

that you've received. How much greater

than when you realize that person not

only has given you this life as a

blessing, but has promised you union

with him forever more.

Now, here's how he finishes in a

somewhat discombobulated way in verse

22. So, I saw that there is nothing

better than that a man should rejoice in

his work, for that is his lot. Who can

bring him to see what will be after him?

So, he says, you know what' be really

good for you to enjoy your work? If you

remember in chapter 2, what did he say?

I hate my work. I hate my labor because

I don't get to keep any of the yum yums.

That someone after me after I die gets

to keep the treats. I'm gone. I hate it.

But then he says, "But I recognize it's

good to enjoy it." Now, here are two out

of many interpretations. One

interpretation says, "This is a

consolation prize. You're going to die.

This is all you have. It's not that

great, but here's the best that you got.

So, just just try to enjoy it, even

though you're going to really hate it."

That's one interpretation. That was

really slanted. Clearly, I don't like

that interpretation, but there have been

some people who've tried to uh opt for

that. Here's the interpretation that I

think is plausible. And don't just

believe me. Read through Ecclesiastes

for yourselves and try to think what is

God trying to teach us through it. The

interpretation I think is most plausible

is that he recognizes that following

God's law, doing the work in the God's

way of life is valuable, but he just

doesn't know why. He can't fit the

pieces together. He gets it. This is

worthwhile tasks even if it doesn't last

forever. He recognizes what he does

won't won't stay forever, but somehow

it's valuable. It's not what really

matters, but it does matter. He just has

no clue how. And I think that's how we

should be saying this passage and what

God is telling us. And so, I want us to

now think about lamenting and laboring

now as postresurrection New Testament

Christ followers.

I already suggested as a practice for

you to lament.

But if you are now a Christ follower,

lamenting is a bit different.

Here are some of the ways in which our

lament is supercharged.

Number one, Christ is your comforter.

First John chapter 1, Christ is called

1 John 1 · chapter mention

comforter. uh some I think if you use

the ESV it says advocate but it's the

same word in John 14-16 that calls the

Holy Spirit comforter. It's the same

word. So I I hate it when they do that.

Jesus is our comforter. He comforts us

especially in his freeing us from

oppression.

Some of us are oppressed in different

ways. The greatest oppression was the

sin in our lives that enslaved us. And

Christ has released us and rescued us

from that oppression. So the rules are

no longer the same. We have Christ who's

our comfort. And then the Holy Spirit is

our comfort. You are not doing this

alone. John 14-16, Holy Spirit is called

comforter multiple times. The comforter

is somebody who advocates for you

legally. So they're kind of fighting on

your behalf, but they're also bolstering

and supporting you. You're not lamenting

alone. And that's so when when you lift

up your lament, yes, you're crying out

to God saying, "This is unfair, but

you're doing it from a place that's

supercharged by the Holy Spirit

himself." And if you don't believe me,

go read Romans chapter 8. When the world

Romans 8 · chapter mention

looks like it's suffering and we don't

see yet because everything is in birth

pains, the Holy Spirit does what?

Intercedes, prays for us with what?

Groans.

too deep for words. Paul tells us when

suffering is abounding and all YOU HAVE

IS

you have the Holy Spirit who's praying

when you don't know how to pray. That

changes the game of our lament. When we

read the Psalms and pray them and we

lament, we have the Holy Spirit with us

comforting us. See, we we we don't

understand the picture. How does it all

fit in together? H what good are you

going to bring of this when somebody has

just been assaulted? What good are you

going to bring of this when genocide

just has occurred? What good are you

going to bring from this? What we don't

have is an answer. What we do have is

the loving hand of a parent who puts the

hand on the child who's at the operation

table and you know everything's going to

be okay even if it's scary. God doesn't

always tell us how. And I think in part

because we can't understand how. What we

do have is the loving hand of a parent

who says it's going to be all right. And

the more that you know your parent, the

more that you can trust that everything

will be all right. Will you be scared in

the chair? Sure. I was I had one minor

operation, gallbladder surgery. This the

minor operation. I was freaked out. And

then the anesthesiologist came and said,

"There, there, Eric." I thought, "You

know my name." because he had a chart,

right? We know about doctors. If they

don't have charts, they don't know

anything. But I was so touched. He's

like, "Oh, here's your medical history.

High cholesterol, blah, blah, blah." I'm

like, "Oh, you know me. I was so

comforted in my care because he knew

me." How much more the Holy Spirit who

knows you and who will comfort you in

the hardship. So, let us lament, but

lament with the Holy Spirit. And lastly,

then, when we labor,

we don't labor alone.

I I don't know how your labor is going

to be made valuable. I only know that it

will be valuable. And here are ways that

we as Christians can think of it as

valuable.

Labor is great when you're doing it

together.

There's just something fun. I've moved

boxes with some of you. And what makes

it great is not the moving of the boxes.

It's being together. We've decorated

this room together. And what's fun, at

least for me, is not the decorating,

it's the being together. You get to be

with Christ and the spirit in your

prayers. The spirit prays with you and

unites Christ to you. And I want to

encourage you to be practicing this the

presence of God in your prayer life. And

then finally, your work can be made

valuable in ways that we don't

understand if we entrust that there's a

master plan. Uh when I used to go to to

Mexico and to Arizona for mission trips,

uh if you know me, you know how not

handy I am. You don't want to trust me

with a hammer. But we we would we would

work on the roof because the church was

leaking down in Mexico or Arizona. So

we're standing up there and the

contractor would say, "Do this." And

some very simple task. It was totally

menial. Just like take this, stand over

here, drop that. Take this, stand over

here, and drop that. The task was so

puditively meaningless, pointless,

worthless. But it was my contribution in

the end. No more leak for the church.

Not because of me, but because there was

a contractor, somebody who could see the

whole plan, who knew how all of it fit

together and then would make everybody's

work be a valuable contribution in

building the house or the church in the

way that it's supposed to be. And that

is who we have. We have the master

contractor, God, who's architecting and

orchestrating everything so that all of

your labor, even if you think it's

meaningless because it's small and

little, because it's moving one object

to another object, can be made valuable

in building for God's kingdom. What this

means is that your labor today is not in

vain if it's work done in the Lord. were

to quote 1 Corinthians 15:58. Therefore,

1 Corinthians 15:58

be steadfast, immovable, always

abounding in the work of the Lord,

knowing that in the Lord your labor is

not in vain.

I don't know how it is that God's going

to take changing diapers and make it

part of his plan to build for the

kingdom. I don't know how God's going to

make vacuuming or sitting in your

office. You're not working for your

employer. You're working for God. And

somehow God can take the laborious

computer or paperwork that you do and

turn it into a way for him to build for

his kingdom if we do it for and in him

empowered by the spirit in labor for

God's in Christ's kingdom. And so I want

to encourage you this week as you lament

and as you labor, think, what are you

doing today that's for God?

Knowing that he can make it valuable,

not because you're trying to infuse it

with value, but it's part of God's

perfect plan to build for his kingdom.

Let's pray.