7th March 2024

7th March 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Ecclesiastes 7v1-8)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


There is a famous question that most of us have been asked, namely “what would you wish for with three wishes?” In response we allow our minds to wander as we think of an answer which usually consists of wishes deigned to make our lives better. We would wish for more money or to have good health or any number of other “betterments”.


I love Ecclesiastes and how it constantly gives another perspective on life. It challenges opinions and forces a reassessment of priorities and this chapter in particular makes one question what a “better” life looks like. You might be surprised by Solomon’s wisdom in this regard. The wise King didn’t call us to imagine a better life with more money, instead he took his usual subverted approach to life’s questions.


So what is better in this vain world? A good name is better than precious ointment (v1). The day of death is better than the day of birth (v1b). It is better to be in the house of mourning rather than the house of feasting (v2). It is better to know sorrow than laughter (v3). It is better to be rebuked by the wise than to hear the constant praise of fools (v5). It is better to end a thing rather than begin it (v8) and it is better to be patient than proud (v8b).


Some of Solomon’s “betters” are hard to disagree with. Most of us would rather have a name that is respected than to have a house filled with fancy ointment and although a wise person’s rebuke is difficult to hear, it is to be preferred than a fool’s empty praise. But the day of death and the house of mourning? It’s a struggle to see the betterment in such circumstances.


Ecclesiastes is nothing if not brutally honest and the Preacher never hides us from the fact that life is often short and incredibly difficult. On the day of your birth it is all in front of you, the good and the bad. It is therefore better to get to the final day when you are just a breath from seeing Jesus which is better by far. In the same manner constant laughter and feasting offers us a temporary and false respite from some of life’s biggest questions. It is better to wrestle with the reality of death and it is better to experience the bitterness of sorrow.


At my father’s funeral I spoke about the practice of the Romans who in moments of great triumph would have a servant remind them “mento mori” or in our tongue “remember that you will have to die” It is good to remember death and our own frailty. Too many pretend that life will never be sore and death will never come. Indeed, life is full of distractions. Fools cackle and take nothing seriously (v6), tough days can cause even the wise to despair (v7a) and bribes can corrupt even a righteous heart (v7b). Therefore, it is better to reach the finish line and it is better to be patient along the road than to be filled with arrogant pride (v8).  


I don’t pretend that any of this “better” path is easy. We prefer to remain as children who spend their days pretending they are cops and robbers or doctors or nurses. But surely the extraordinary beauty of Ecclesiastes is that it doesn’t pretend. It shakes us from make believe and confronts us with all of life’s thorns. The better path is not to keep pretending but instead to see life in the extraordinary light of Christ. He counsels us that in this world we will have trouble but we are to take heart, for He has overcome the world.


In Christ we are the “overcomers”, we are those who refuse to pretend, we know that all is fleeting but Jesus has prepared for us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Maybe someone will bump into you on a day that your faith is strong. Maybe they’ll ask you what you would do with just one wish. Maybe you’d answer “I wish to see Jesus.”


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q87 What is repentance unto life? Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.
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