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Ecclesiastes 12:1 (ESV)

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.”

 

            Several times in the book of Ecclesiastes, we see things that go against popular human wisdom.  The writer of the book realizes that not all hard workers are rightly rewarded in a fallen world.  He recognizes that not all that seems pleasurable is really profitable.  The writer even shows how discouraging it is for a man to realize how futile things seem in this life.  Yet, when all is said and done, in chapter 12, the author recognizes the overall justice of God.

 

            Also, in the beginning of chapter 12, Solomon calls upon his readers to follow God while they are still young.  Verse 1 tells us to remember the Lord in our youth, before the evil days come.  From verses 2-8, Solomon describes the decline of the human body with senses dulling and pleasure waning.

 

            What got my attention about this passage is that the command is the very command that many in our culture think not to obey.  Many people waste the prime years that they have for service to God, intending to get right with God in their latter years.  Many people waste their years of health, planning instead to serve God in retirement.  Thus, such people miss the blessing of spending their strength, not on earthly good that perish, but instead on the eternal glory of God and treasure which will last forever.

 

            Perhaps you are a young person reading this.  Perhaps you plan to serve God when you think you have more time.  Let me assure you, you won’t have more time.  It won’t get easier.  You will always have an excuse.  The better path, the path that leads to true satisfaction, is to call upon the Lord while he can be found.  Turn from self and sin and embrace Christ.  Trust in Jesus for salvation.  Then live for the joy of seeing and taking pleasure in the glory of God as you serve him with the vigor of youth.

Jeremiah 38:4

 

Then the officials said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.”

 

            A major theme of the Old Testament is the exile of Judah to Babylon.  God had set up his glorious temple in Jerusalem.  So long as Jerusalem stood, the people of God assumed that they would be safe from enemies.  Even when the people did not follow God faithfully at all, they assumed that Jerusalem was impenetrable.  But, early in the sixth century BC, the Babylonians came into Judah.  Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers threatened the very city of Jerusalem.

 

            As Jeremiah and the people of God were hiding behind the walls of Jerusalem, the prophet had a word from God to the people.  It was God’s determined will to have the Babylonians carry off the people of Judah.  There was no longer anything that could be done.  Nebuchadnezzar was going to win this battle. 

 

           
There was, however, a twist in Jeremiahs’ words.  God promised that, if the people voluntarily walked out the city gates and surrendered to the people of Babylon, they would be safe and well-cared-for in Babylon.  God would even protect Jerusalem, not allowing the soldiers to burn down the city.  All the people had to do was obey.

 

            The problem here is that walking out and surrendering to the invaders is counterintuitive.  It sounds absurd to say that the best strategy is to walk out the gates and yield the nation to the Babylonians.  How could that possibly be what god wanted them to do?

 

            Thus, the people rejected Jeremiah’s words.  In fact, if you’ll notice, the arguments were pretty valid-sounding.  What Jeremiah was saying sounded to be something that would weaken the soldiers’ resolve.  Jeremiah’s words did not sound like the call to arms that the people thought they needed.

 

            You know, this kind of conflict between Jeremiah and the people is a very common kind of conflict in the church today.  Sometimes what seems most practical is not at all what will most honor God.  Sometimes the pastor of the church has to call the people to do what seems absurd to the people.  Sometimes that pastor has to steer the people away from trying things that sound good on the surface but which do not ultimately help the church to bring the gospel to the nations.

 

            Think about it for a moment, and this will make sense.  There are many who would have the church do basic marketing—find out what the people want and give them what they want.  The problem with this strategy is that a lost world does not want God (cf. Rom 3:10-12).  Thus, the call to preach the gospel, a truth that calls men sinners in desperate need of grace, is not what the world expects or wants; however, the biblical gospel is what we very much must preach.  The wisdom of the world would say to make everything in the church as shallow as possible so as not to challenge or offend anybody; however, the Scriptures are plain that the people must be fed by the deep truths of the word of God and not mere baby food.

 

            Jesus did some counterintuitive things.  Remember John 6?  There Jesus offended a huge crowd of people who were seeking him for food and fascination.  He taught them hard truths, and they didn’t like it.  Instead of softening the message, he let them go their own way.

 

            Don’t get me wrong, we are not supposed to assume, if people don’t like us or our message that the fault cannot lie with us.  Often people are offended by us because of our personalities or how we treat them.  Often people dislike us for reasons that have nothing to do with the gospel.  In those cases, we need to repent, change, and love people well.  However, when we find that people truly are offended by the cross, we dare not remove that stumbling block.

 

            Perhaps the best illustration of this passage is one we have not yet pondered, but we must before I wrap up.  You know that Jeremiahs’ message is much like the gospel.  The people are in danger of being destroyed by an army.  The only solution is to surrender to the very ones who will destroy them otherwise.  Well, we are in danger of being destroyed by God.  Everything in human nature and human wisdom says to keep trying to do good and to somehow get into God’s good graces.  But the true gospel tells us to stop trying to fix ourselves and to fall on the mercy of God, the very one who will destroy us for breaking his laws if we do not get under his grace. 

 

            Christians, much of the word of God seems counterintuitive.  Are we willing to trust God enough to follow his word, even when it makes no sense to the world around us?  Are we willing to make moves that are foolish in the eyes of the world?  Are we willing to love a gospel that the world hates and sees as closed-minded, outdated, chauvinistic, homophobic, anti-scientific, and many other bad things?  I hope so, because to love that gospel is to love the one God of the universe who will save our souls if we simply place our trust in him.  Surrendering to God will lead us to many paths the world sees as crazy, but that is the terror and joy of the life lived for Jesus.

Jeremiah 36:23-24

 

23 As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. 24 Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor Did they tear their garments.

 

            I have to say, reading this text is always shocking to me.  Jeremiah, clearly a man who brought the word of God, has written a message from God for the people.  The king hears it, but does not like the message.  So, what does he do?  He takes a knife and slices the scroll up as it is unrolled.  The king then tosses the scraps into the fire, burning up the word of God and ignoring the warnings of the prophet.

 

            I grew up in a home that was not a Christian household.  However, as I grew up, my parents instilled in me a respect for churches and the Bible.  No matter how superstitious that fear was, the concept of a person cutting up the word of God and feeding it to the fire would have astonished me even as a non-believing child.  How much more awful is it to me as a grown up pastor?

 

            Yet, I have to do a double-take and ask myself some serious questions.  When I hear the word of God and put forth no particular effort to obey the clear commands of God, how am I different?  I know that my righteousness is not of my own making.  I know that obeying no law will get me to heaven.  Yet, when God has clearly spoken to me in his words and I still fail to take those words to heart, am I really different than the king who warmed himself next to a fire of scripture?

 

            I’m not wanting to be overly dramatic here, but I think we all can learn from this.  If we love the word of God and the God of the word, we will hear and strive to obey.  Let me tell you, this is not always as easy as you might think.  God’s commands are not always in line with my thinking.  God wants me to love people I don’t’ want to love.  God wants me to offer forgiveness to people I don’t want to speak to.  Gods’ word wants me to help those I don’t really want to help.  Gods’ word tells me to lay down my supposed rights when I don’t’ want to lay them down.  God’s word tells me to love my wife in a way I don’t naturally want to love her.  God’s word tells me to not be entertained by things I find entertaining.  God’s word tells me to think more lowly of myself than I do.  God’s word tells me to set my heart on heaven when this world is constantly screaming for my attention.

 

            No, It is not easy for me to not be just like that king.  Yet, I know I must not be like him.  I must hear God’s word and put forth the effort to follow it.  I have to change.  It is not merely outward behavior either.  I have to change from the inside in order to love the word that shows me my flaws at every turn.

 

            How about you?  Where might you need to stop cutting away columns of Scripture?  What words from God do you hear and immediately disregard?  How might God be calling you to love him and his word more?

John 4:51-54

 

51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

 

            On his way home, the royal official who had asked Jesus to come and heal his son met his own servants heading to Cana.  Jesus had not agreed to go with the man, but had said that his son would be well. The servants  were seeking him to tell him wonderful news.  His son was well!  The fever was gone!

 

            The man asks them a question that teaches us as much as it teaches him.  He asks when did the boy get well.  When the servants give him the answer, the man realizes that the boy was healed at exactly the moment when Jesus told him that he would live. 

 

            Think of the great power of Jesus.  He healed a boy from twenty miles away, a boy he had not ever physically met.  He healed the boy immediately, not over time.  He healed the boy completely, not a little bit.  And, let’s remember, this boy was on the verge of death, otherwise his father would not have been nearly so desperate.  Jesus has great power.

 

            Because of all these circumstances lining up, the royal official now understands who Jesus really is.  He believes.  The way that this “believes” is used, it certainly tells us that this man has come to real faith in Jesus.  He recognizes that Jesus is more than a magician or doctor; he does things only God can do.

 

Remember John’s prologue:

 

John 1:11-13

 

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

 

            When we truly believe in Jesus, he gives us the right to become God’s children.  He gives us eternal life. 

 

            This man wanted Jesus to come to Capernaum so that his son could be healed.  Instead of doing what the man asked for, Jesus heals in a way that the man did not expect, and by doing so, Jesus reveals himself to the man.  The man believes, and thus becomes a child of God.  He tells his family about what has happened, and the entire family comes to believe in Jesus.

 

As the puritan preacher Matthew Henry wrote, “The nobleman himself believed.  He had before believed the word of Christ, with reference to this particular occasion; but now he believed in Christ as the Messiah promised, and became one of his disciples.”  Henry continues, “What a blessed change was here in this house, occasioned by the sickness of the child!  This should reconcile us to afflictions; we know not what good may follow from them.”

 

            Like the first of Jesus’ miracles in Cana, this one results in a group of people having true saving faith in Jesus.  True faith in Jesus leads you to life.  The boy lived, physically, but so much more than that.  The boy and his entire family lived, spiritually, because of their faith in Christ.

 

            Not only should you believe that Jesus’ words are true, you must also believe in Jesus for life.  He does not allow you to seek only the signs he can perform or the warm fuzzies he can give.  He demands that you seek him.  When you do, he promises to give you more than physical earthly goodness, he promises you life, true goodness, with God.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-3 (ESV)

1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. 2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

 

Ecclesiastes 12:14 (ESV)

For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

 

            The book of Ecclesiastes has at times a strong sense of despair.  The author does not like the way that things happen in life.  It does not seem fair.  Why do the good not get the best of life?  Why do the evil prosper?  Why do the good suffer?  Why are the evil not punished?  Why are hard workers not always rewarded?  Why are slackers sometimes rich?

 

            The major lesson to learn in such passages is to see that these things feel wrong.  Indeed, they are wrong.  If everything worked exactly as it should—if sin were not a factor—everything would be fair.  Hard work would be rewarded.  Folly would be punished.  But our world is sin-darkened.  All of creation is fallen because of the fall of man in the garden.  Since that time, not everything has appeared to be fair, right, or just.

 

            Let’s make two quick points about the fact that not everything appears fair or just.  First, remember that you have greatly benefitted from the fact that the wicked are not always immediately punished by God.  All of us have sinned.  IF God gave us justice, all of us would have died the moment of our first sin.  The fact that you draw breath, that you are reading a blog on a computer, that you live at all is a reminder that God has been more gracious to all of us than we deserve.  WE have all benefitted from this oddly functioning universe.

 

            Second, to keep the Book of Ecclesiastes in right focus, you must have the end in mind.  God will set all things right.  God will judge every sin.  God will reward all righteousness.  God will ultimately put all of the universe in order, so don’t fear a lack of justice.

 

            And, in case that concept of God punishing every sin has you worried, remember that Jesus Christ died to pay for the sin of all of God’s children.  Every one of the Christian’s sins has been justly punished in Christ on the cross.  Every one of the lost persons’ sins will be punished rightly in that person’s eternal condemnation.  God is just, and he will do right justice.  This is why we call for all people everywhere to repent and turn to Jesus for grace before their lives come to an end.