16th January 2024

16th January 2024 


Pray (ACts)


Read (Ecclesiastes 2v12-17)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


Christians don't believe in "karma" and I'm sorry to tell you that good deeds don't guarantee an easy life or bright future. What is karma? It's not the sauce you enjoy with your chicken on Friday night, instead the idea of karma comes from various eastern religions. In simple terms, karma describes the theory that if you put good things into the universe then you will receive good things back. Equally if you live a life of wickedness then you can expect bad things in your future. Furthermore, in those religions that believe in reincarnation, good karma is sometimes linked with how you will live your next life. Good people will be reincarnated in good ways like a rich King or a mighty eagle. The wicked will come back as a rabid dog or poverty stricken leper.


None of this is true but I'm always amazed at how the notion of karma has crept into society and even the church. As Solomon considered life and the search for meaning he was fairly certain that living wisely was a better path than living as a fool. He was sure that the wise life had more gain attached just as there is more gained in light than in darkness (v13). Try getting out of bed tonight and all the way to the bathroom with the lights off. It's a much easier task to switch the light on and use the eyes in your head to navigate.


The wise person sees clearly while the fool walks in constant darkness (v14). If we believed in karma we might say that the wise person is rewarded for their wisdom whilst the fool constantly bumps his head in the dark but Solomon didn't come to this conclusion. David's son understood that the same event happened to both the wise and the foolish (v15), death will come to both (v16).


Such knowledge caused a great melancholy to fall upon Solomon as he said that he hated life (v17). This can strike us as an extreme reaction but can we honestly say we've loved everyday and every sad event? I don't know anyone that enjoys seeing suffering in the world. Who looks forward to going to the Royal Victoria Hospital? Do you wake excitedly on the day of a funeral? There is much under the sun which grieves us and much which is a chasing after the wind (v17).


The frustrations of this world are common to both the Christian and the unsaved. Both succeed and fail. Both laugh and cry. Both live and die. Even so, the Christian who knows the worst of days has still no need of the world's pity. The one who has trusted in Christ has a blessed hope in both life and in death. Christ intercedes for us in our brightest and darkest of days and Christ calls us to His side when our final moment comes.


I may not have the answers to life's grievous questions and if I'm being honest I have often said "I hate life" but even so I trust my God and His providence. The pagan fool and the wise Christian both live under the sun but they couldn't be more different, it is as Paul once wrote "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1v18).


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
​Q43 What is the preface to the ten commandments? The preface to the ten commandments is in these words, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
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