5. The Preacher’s Conclusion: 11:9-12:14
a.
Enjoy the simplicity of youth while you can, 11:9-12:8
b. The
best that can be said: fear God, 12:8-14
The Preacher has worked hard trying to find
meaning in life through an “under the sun” philosophy. But he has struck out again and again. This may be frustrating, or “full of
futility,” but we can be thankful he has been honest. And he has walked this futile path so that we
don’t have to. We would do well to learn
from him.
Years ago, as part of job training for my
wife, we took a bus trip to Colorado City, a planned city. We were going there to look at the fields of
streets without houses, so that we might be encouraged to buy a lot and eventually
build on it. As we travelled a
representative of the company was giving us a pep talk. His whole pitch was that this was our
opportunity to get in on the ground floor, with a certainty of making a lot of
money eventually. At some point he said,
“You may have heard that money can’t make you happy; but we all know that’s not
true.” It’s like the old saying: “Money
isn’t everything, but it way ahead of whatever’s in second place.”
This is common in humanity. I remember the early years in our trips to
Ukraine after the Soviets left. The
primary goal of many people was to become like Americans, to have a car or two,
to have big houses, and so forth. The “lust
of the eyes” is a strong desire. We
tried to tell people of the spiritual sickness evident in our country, even
with all the money; but most people rejected our words.
Here is the point. All these situations I am sharing are evidence of futile living. And the Preacher has experienced more than we ever will. And he has concluded that life built on any of those foundations is doomed to futility. He has been honest.
Don’t get the idea that the Preacher is merely suffering from some severe type of depression. I’m convinced that he is simply coming to the
only possible conclusion when one omits a personal, infinite God from his life. And there are two tragedies in this
matter. The first is that the people
around us without knowledge of God through faith in Jesus Christ are in the
same position as this preacher, whether they know it or not, and many of them
do know it. That ought to spark us to
greater involvement with the unsaved for the sake of their salvation. But the second tragedy is that many
Christians are living just like the world “under the sun.” We’re caught up in living for riches,
hypocritical worship, pleasure for pleasure’s sake, and so on. We ought to be a witness by the fact that our
lives as Christians show forth an eternal purpose in Jesus Christ rather than
the temporal meaning evident so often in the Church. May this book, in its negative way, lead us
to a more perfect alignment with God’s purposes for us in Christ.
The Preacher’s final advice is to “fear
God.” What does this mean? To fear or respect or have reverence for God
requires that we know who He is and what He requires of us. That means we must be those who seek
God. That is where “fear” begins. He says that if we seek Him we will find Him
(1 Chr. 28:9; 2 Chr. 15:2; Deut. 4:29; Prov. 8:17; and especially Acts
17:24-28). But remember that “finding
Him" must eventually involve something beyond General Revelation. In the OT God spoke in many ways; at the last
He spoke through His Son (Heb. 1:1-3).
And as the Body of Christ, Christians today have one responsibility that
involves the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May we be faithful!
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