Grosey's Messages

Ecclesiastes 11 Habits For A Happy Life

Perhaps the greatest folly of life is to think it is predictable.  THEY RECKON IT'S A DOGS LIFE, don't they. I'm never quite sure what that expression means. But if you're anything like the Russian pooch that was out for a walk one day back in the 1890s, you've got reason to complain. The poor unsuspecting pup was minding his own business when he was hit by a falling meteorite. And killed instantly. Life can be very unpredictable, can't it. Someone has said: "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." James 4:13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Sometimes even the most optimistic lose heart. We feel we are ineffective. We see our sins and failures. We see difficult obstructions. Even when we do not know how God will use our work to advance his kingdom, we should continue to pray, continue to serve, and continue to hope, "knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58). The Preacher takes this perspective in Ecclesiastes 11, where he tells us to live boldly, not letting the uncertainties of life hold us back from taking risks by faith for the glory of God. The better part of spiritual wisdom is not caution but courage through Christ.

You win some, and you lose some. And you never quite know which is going to be which. You never quite know which way the worm's going to turn. Life in the world we live in is an unpredictable thing. Well what ought to be our attitude to such a life? Should we be bitter?  Should we be negative? Should we be distraught? What should be our attitude to life? William Glasser ( the world renowned psychologist, author of the reality Therapy and choice Therapy schools of psychology), said on the Today Show a couple of years ago that there are seven habits for unhappy people:  criticizing, blaming, complaining, nagging, threatening, punishing and rewarding to control.

He said that we have a choice about how we face life, and if we utilise these habits, we'll become very unhappy people with mental illnesses.     Well I don't know about all that Glasser thinks, but, Solomon here in chapter 11 has something to say about the way you view life, and the effect of your viewpoint. The way you view life will affect whether the uncontrollable events of your life make you bitter or better.

In Galatians 6:7-10 the apostle Paul tells us we reap what we sow.

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

You have a choice about how you face life. If you take a self-centred attitude towards life, you are going to reap a very isolated lifestyle; people will avoid you as a cold and hostile person.

In the movie, As Good As It Gets, the lead character, Melvin Udall, portrayed by Jack Nicholson, is choosing to obsess and compulse to deal with what is so obvious from the beginning of the film: he has no satisfying close relationships at all.  To cope with the pain of his disconnected life, Melvin is choosing an assortment of obsessive and compulsive behaviours that are an inadequate attempt to restrain the anger that he immediately feels whenever he has to deal with people he finds frustrating. When the movie begins we find him angry at almost everyone around him. He also appears unaware of how severe his anger is and how much of a danger it is both to himself and to others. But he isn't unaware. He knows exactly what he's doing.  He is a particularly nasty man who verbally abuses most of the people he encounters.  Karen (Helen Hunt) knows a lot about Melvin. She is "his" waitress in a restaurant near his apartment where he eats every day and where he is both obnoxious and weird anytime he is frustrated. For example, Melvin brings his own sterilized plastic tableware; he won't use the knife, fork, and spoon the restaurant provides. And he insults anyone who is sitting at "his" table when he comes into the restaurant to eat. He doesn't seem to care about the awful scenes he creates.  This self preoccupied attitude always leads to unhappiness.  Who wants to be around a grouch? Who wants to live with a self obsessed person? Sowing such selfish behaviour reaps the fruit of isolation.

I. "SPREAD YOUR BREAD" (1-2).

1 Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days. 2 Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, For you do not know what evil will be on the earth.

What does this phrase mean? This phrase, "Cast your bread upon the waters," was a proverb in Israel for what looked like wasteful expenditure. No one would take good bread and throw it in the river; he would be regarded as a wastrel for doing that. But here we are enjoined to do that very thing. This is not encouraging us to be spendthrifts, to thoughtlessly and carelessly give away our money, spending it like a drunken sailor. What is meant is, be willing to take a chance where a real need is evident.   When you see people in need, though you do not know how they are going to use your money -- it may not be apparent that they will even use it wisely -- nevertheless, be generous; that is what he is saying. "Cast your bread on the waters," for in the wisdom and purpose of God it may very well return to you some day when you are in need of help. I could relate several stories of people who helped strangers, although they had no idea that their help was even going to be used properly; then at some later time when they found themselves in serious trouble, that person or that deed reappeared in such a way as to help them in their time of need.   It could also be referring to a business idea—shipping grain was very profitable, but fraught with risks. This idea of casting your bread on the waters was the idea of sending your produce to an overseas market where you may never see the benefit for a long time, if ever, due to the risks involved in seafaring trade. It has the idea of a generosity of heart "Give a portion to seven or even to eight," was a way of saying, "Give to as many as you can, and then some." Be generous people.

A. We Cast Our Bread Through Our Works Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all [men], especially unto them who are of the household of faith. we do it through our goods deeds and our kindness toward others. Notice John Wesley's Rule for Christian Living Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever... You can!

B.-We Cast Our Bread Through our Witnessing: Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.

Dr. John MacArthur has noted that some Christians are like the Arctic River, frozen over at the mouth -- they just don't say anything. We shouldn't be like that but we should talk to someone about Jesus every day of our life. Bishop Taylor Smith had a Christlike passion for soul winning. He was taken ill in San Francisco and ordered to the hospital, where, not long after, he died. One day Dr. Philpott and a friend visited him before his home-going. It was eleven o'clock at night, but as they reached his door and looked in they saw a nurse kneeling beside his bed and the Bishop had his hands on her head praying for her. They felt they could not intrude. Finally the nurse came out in tears and said, "That dear old man! I am the third nurse he has led to Christ today."

C. We Cast Our Bread Through Our Wealth: Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.  I am so unbelievably grateful to someone in this building today. You have done this for us. I am overwhelmingly grateful. Beyond words.

Martin Luther astutely observed, "There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, mind and the purse." Of these three, it may well be that we moderns find the conversion of the purse the most difficult.  But we all need to give, for all of us cant preach, or sing, or teach but through our gifts we can make it possible for others to do so.

Martin Luther said, "Be generous to everyone while you can, use your riches wher­ever you can possibly do any good."

Some one has said, there are three kinds of givers -- the flint, the sponge and the honeycomb. To get anything out of a flint you must hammer it. And then you get only chips and sparks. To get water out of a sponge you must squeeze it, and the more you use pressure, the more you will get. But the honeycomb just overflows with its own sweetness. Which kind of giver are you? 

A hiker was thirsty for a drink, but could not find water, until he came to an abandoned house. There he found a pump, and proceeded to pump with all the strength he had remaining. No water came forth. Then he saw a small jug with a cork at the top and a pencilled note, directing that the water in the jug be poured into the pump to prime it. At first the thirsty man questioned this, but when he followed directions he obtained satisfying water. Before going his way, he filled the jug with water so the next thirsty person could secure water. He added to the note, "Believe me, it really works. You have to give it all away before you can get anything back."  "he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (2 Cor. 9:6).

II. STOW YOUR FEARS (3-4).

3 If the clouds are full of rain, They empty themselves upon the earth; And if a tree falls to the south or the north, In the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie. 4 He who observes the wind will not sow, And he who regards the clouds will not reap.

Solomon is making a statement about the Sovereignty of God. He's saying that you and I may not understand the Sovereignty of God, we may not understand why a tree falls this way or that, or why it rains one time and not the next. Life is unpredictable. And that can make us fearful. We don't know whether its going to rain or flood.  And  because we don't know, there is no sense in us sitting around anxiously bemoaning this.  We need to get on. Fear about the future and the unpredictability of life can result in emotional paralysis--you never do anything!  The single person who gets heart broken may never go out on a date again. The person who loses their job may never get out to look for another job because they are fearful of rejection. Such fear can be deadly. Karl Wallenda was a famous tightrope, high-wire walker. So was his whole family. Thrived on danger and risk. Once said: "Being on the tightrope is living and  everything else is waiting." In 1978 Wallenda fell to his death from a 75 foot wire in San Juan, P.R. His wife, also an aerialist, later talked about that final performance: "All Karl thought about for three straight months prior to it was falling. It was the first time he'd ever thought about that, and it seemed to me that he put all his energies into not falling rather than walking the tightrope."

Solomon's advice is stow your dears.  Have done with letting them dominate your life. There is no sense in it. The Lord Jesus said similarly: Matt 6:27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? Such worry is just plain unprofitable and unhelpful.

A farmer once asked his neighbor if he could borrow a rope.  "Sorry," the neighbor said, "I'm using my rope to tie up my milk"  "Rope can't tie up milk!"  "I know," said the neighbor, "but when a man doesn't want to do something, one reason is as good as another". What lies are you telling yourself?  What excuses are you making?

Nevertheless, the Preacher says, you will never reap if you never sow!

Rather than watching the wind and the clouds, imagining all the diffi­culties and waiting for better circumstances, we should try and do what we can with whatever God has given us in life. Pursue the dream you believe that God has given for your calling in life. Get involved in ministry. Show mercy to someone in need. Start a friendship with a neighbor, and pray that God will use that relationship to lead your neighbor to Christ.

Do not hold back because of fear, but step out by faith — not faith that your own efforts will succeed, necessarily, but faith that God will take what you offer and use it in some way for his glory. But whatever you do, do not use the sovereignty of God or the uncertain difficulties of life as an excuse for not doing anything at all. "If there are risks in everything," Derek Kidner writes, "it is better to fail in launching out than in hugging one's resources to oneself."

III. REST YOUR FAITH (5-6).

5 As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes everything. 6 In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, Either this or that, Or whether both alike will be good.

There is much about God that we do not know. Life has many variables, which demonstrates that God has the final say. I noticed something Thursday I'd never noticed before. Why does a rose have thorns? If you believed in evolution you'd say that it chose to develop thorns to protect itself from people.  What ROT! A rose cannot design itself.  But there is the handiwork of a Designer there. God has placed with the exquisite beauty of the rose the reminder that in all the aspects of life which we face, there is beauty, and there is pain. Yes all our joys are mixed with pain, and our pains with joy. We are not to delight overly in the beauties of this earth, so as to forget the Creator who made it, and the heaven that is to come.  And the pains all have their mixture of joys in them so that we will not despair and lose hope.

Do the best you can and leave the outcome to God (6). In the popular movie, Forest Gump, the movie begins and end with a feather, seemingly floating randomly in the end. It only appears to be random, because it lands at Gump's foot. At the end of the movie the feather reappears. One of the characters voices a question that went something like this: "Do things happen simply by chance or is there some kind of destiny at work in it all?" The answer that came back was, "Both."

You cannot know God's purposes in life or the entirety of His plan for your life, but you can know God, and trust Him with it all. The Lord Jesus said, Matt 6:28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

"you never know," but it is equally true that "you will never reap if you never sow." So work hard for the kingdom of God. Live boldly and creatively. Try something new! Be a spiritual entre­preneur. Even if you are not completely sure what will work, try everything you can to serve Christ in a world that desperately needs the gospel.

IV TUNE YOUR HEART

Tune Your Heart  By Rejoicing  (7-9)

7 Truly the light is sweet, And it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun; 8 But if a man lives many years And rejoices in them all, Yet let him remember the days of darkness, For they will be many. All that is coming is vanity.  9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; Walk in the ways of your heart, And in the sight of your eyes;

Tune Your heart By Rejoicing

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks this question, "What is the chief end of man?" The answer? "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." You wouldn't know it by looking around, would you? It seems to me that many Christians just endure life rather than really enjoy it. For many there is relatively little laughter, only occasional excitement, and almost no ecstasy. It doesn't have to be that way. Jesus said, "I have come that they might have life and might have it to the full" (John 10:10b). I assume He meant that.

At the end of this remarkable treatise, the wisest man who ever lived urges us to really live it up, to go for it, and to delight in being alive but without losing our perspective. Three key commands are found in our text: rejoice, remove, and remember. Together they provide a desperately needed balance, for there are many who go for the gusto but fail to pay attention to the consequences. On the other hand, others are so serious about life, or so overwhelmed by it, that they have no idea how to enjoy it. Watch for these three commands as we read from 11:7 to 12:1.

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

This common theme of Solomon's reminds me of a little story I found about Monastery Life. A young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to helping the other monks in copying old church manuscripts by hand. He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the original. So, the new monk goes to the head abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small error in an earlier copy, it would never be corrected! In fact, that error would be continued in all of the subsequent copies.

The head monk, says, "We have been copying from copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son." He goes down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where the original manuscripts are held as archives in a locked vault that hasn't been opened for hundreds of years. Hours go by and nobody sees the old abbot. So, the young monk gets worried and goes down to look for him. He sees him banging his head against the wall and wailing, "We missed the 'R'! We missed the 'R'! His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably. The young monk asks the old abbot, "What's wrong, father?" With a choking voice, the old abbot replies, "The word was . . . CELEBRATE!!!"

Actually there are a lot of Christians who have missed the R. They have forgotten to celebrate; they have missed the joy in life. But while the Teacher has frequently urged us to rejoice, he hasn't tried to hide the truth that life is tough. He's been brutally honest about the vanity, meaninglessness, and inequity that is all around us. But, he says, even though life is not easy or understandable, it is worth living.

And to keep life balanced we must REJOICE!! We need to live life fully every day. In the movie Braveheart, William Wallace (as portrayed by Mel Gibson) said, "Every man dies but not every man really lives." How true that is!

"Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth." Happiness is a choice, even for young people. "Now is the very best time of your life, so capitalize on it."

I suppose the author would be mocking young people by telling them to be happy if he didn't also tell them how to make that happen. But in fact, he offers some profound advice: "Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes." The NASB makes it even clearer: "Follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes."  Take some risks.  Go places!  Build some great stories!  Go on mission trips!!  Go help someone overseas!!

Out near Bourke on the road to Pera Bore there was a sign on that old dirt road : "Choose your rut carefully; you'll be in it for the next 30 kilometres."  Choose carefully.

And the Westminster Shorter Catechism wisely goes on to ask, "What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him?" But notice that Scripture contains the "rule" for enjoying God as well as glorifying Him. We know it abounds in instructions for glorifying Him, but how does it instruct us to "enjoy Him"? Enjoying God is a command, not an optional extra: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). But how? We cannot "rejoice to order," can we? True. Yet, Scripture shows that well-instructed believers develop a determination to rejoice. They will rejoice in the Lord. Habakkuk exemplified this in difficult days (see Habakuk 3:17-18). He exercised what our forefathers called "acting faith" – a vigorous determination to experience whatever the Lord commands, including joy, and to use the God–given means to do so. Here are four of these means—in which, it should be noted, we also glorify God.

Joy in Salvation

Enjoying God means relishing the salvation He gives us in Jesus Christ. "I will take joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakuk 3:18). God takes joy in our salvation (Luke 15:6-7, 9-10, 32). So should we. Here, Ephesians 1:3-14 provides a masterly delineation of this salvation in Christ. It is a gospel bath in which we should often luxuriate, rungs on a ladder we should frequently climb in order to experience the joy of the Lord as our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). While we are commanded to have joy, the resources to do so are outside of ourselves, known only through union with Christ.  Therefore repent and receive Christ as your Saviour or spend eternity in the Lake of Fire!Forever

Joy in Revelation

Joy issues from devouring inscripturated revelation. Psalm 119 bears repeated witness to this. The psalmist "delights" in God's testimonies "as much as in all riches" (Psalm 119:14; see also vv. 35, 47, 70, 77, 103, 162, 174). Think of Jesus' words, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11). Does He mean He will find His joy in us so that our joy may be full or that His joy will be in us so that our joy may be full? Both, surely, are true. We find full joy in the Lord only when we know He finds His joy in us. The pathway to joy, then, is to give ourselves maximum exposure to His Word and to let it dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16). It is joy-food for the joy-hungry soul.

Joy in Communion

There is joy in the Lord to be tasted in the worship we enjoy in church communion. The church is the new Jerusalem, the city that cannot be hidden, the joy of the whole earth (Psalm 48:2). In the Spirit-led communion of praise and petition; soul pastoring; Word preaching; psalm, hymn and wine receiving, abundant joy is to be found. The Lord sings over us with joy (Zephaniah 3:17). Our hearts sing for joy in return.

Joy in Tribulation

Here, indeed, is a divine paradox. There is joy to be known in the midst of and through affliction. Viewed biblically, tribulation is the Father's chastising hand, using life's pain and darkness to mold us into the image of the One who endured for the sake of the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:1-2, 5-11; see Romans 8:29). We exult and rejoice in our sufferings, Paul says, because "suffering produces... hope" in us (Romans 5:3-4). Peter and James echo the same principle (I Peter 1:3-8; James 1:2-4). The knowledge of the sure hand of God in providence not only brings stability; it is also a joy-producer.

All of this adds up to exultation in God Himself. In Romans 5:1-11, Paul leads us from rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God (v.2) to joy that comes in tribulation (v.3) to exulting in God Himself (v. 11; see Psalm 43:4). The unbeliever finds this incredible because he has been blinded by the joy-depriving lie of Satan that to glorify God is the high road to joylessness. Thankfully, Christ reveals that the reverse takes place in Him – because of our salvation, through His revelation, in worship's blessed communion, and by means of tribulation. Enjoy! Yes, indeed, may "everlasting joy... be upon [your] heads" (Isaiah 51:11).

"But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment." Solomon is aware that youth is also a time of heavy peer pressure, and increasingly a time of great temptation, and so he stresses that he is not giving carte blanche to party hearty, to run wild.   We are to rejoice but to rejoice responsibly. We are to live it up but not mess up!

TUNE YOUR HEART BY REMOVING VEXATION (9,10)

But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. 10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, And put away evil from your flesh, For childhood and youth are vanity.

Solomon says, "Enjoy life passionately, but keep your eyes on the big picture – on heaven above"

Eccl 11:10 So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.  NASU Eccl 11:10 So, remove vexation from your heart  NAS RSV

Eccl 11:10 So then, banish anxiety from your heart  NIV

This is a word that combines the thoughts of anger and resentment. This is one of the great problems with youth. Young people tend to be angry and resentful when things do not go the way they like. God is warning them not to be trapped by that. ." Do not let it gnaw away at your spirit and thus find yourself an angry young man, a resentful young woman, not liking what God has given you or where he has put you.

Remove (11:10) Here in verse 10 Solomon instructs us to take care of our mental and physical health.

Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Refuse to allow worry to eat you alive. The world is full of professional worriers. Solomon says, "Don't sweat the small stuff.

Don't inflict unnecessary pain on yourself.  "for youth and the dawn of life are vanity," meaning they are elusive and ephemeral. One day we are young and vigorous, and then suddenly those days are gone–for good!

So why let a bitter old man consume your life for you? 

How do you get a good perspective on life that will carry you through?  Do you take the attitude to life of Melvin Udall in  As Good As It Gets?  Where nothing is worthwhile?

TUNE YOUR HEART BY REMEMBERING  Remember (12:1-7)

THERE'S JUST ONE THING YOU'VE GOT TO REMEMBER Enjoy it. But know that for everything you do, YOU'RE ACCOUNTABLE TO YOUR MAKER. You're going to be JUDGED BY GOD. Treat God as God. Because death isn't the end at all. And one day, everything you've ever said or done or thought, every hidden thing, it's going to be brought to light. It's going to be brought to judgement. We've seen it already, haven't we, how living now, living on this other side of Jesus, we can actually see things a whole lot clearer than King Solomon. He wrote Ecclesiastes hundreds of years before Christ. He knew death's not the end. He knew there was going to be judgement. Gods judgement puts life into perspective. God's judgement says WHAT YOU DO COUNTS. God's judgement says in the face of a seemingly unjust and unpredictable world, IT'S ALL GOING TO ADD UP; it's all going to balance. And the cross says to us, in the face of that judgement, in the face of all that - you can stand before God forgiven.  I want you to listen carefully to these words from the New Testament, it's from Hebrews 9:27. And it says exactly that. "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."

Remember what? Remember your Creator. That means to take Him into consideration, to trust Him. Please note how crucial the time factor is in our passage. "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before. . ."; again in verse 2, "before", again in verse 6, "before."

Remember God Before regrets mount up (12:1). The first verse of chapter 12 reads, "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, 'I have no pleasure in them.'"

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them"; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,

Remember God . . . Before old age sets in (12:2-5).

As William Glasser says, "It's Your Choice!"