Kaleo San Diego Church

INTRODUCTION

Titan vs. Titanic

In 1898, 14 years before the Titanic made her maiden voyage, Morgan Robertson published his book, Futility, its alternate title was The Wreck of the Titan. The strange coincidence about this book was that this story was of an "unsinkable" massive ocean liner which like the Titanic, was on its maiden voyage from Britain to New York in the month of April, with 2,000 people on board. While it was attempting to cross the Atlantic in record time, it too struck an iceberg and sank.

Not only were the ships’ names similar, but Robertson’s TITAN was very similar in specifications as well. The Titan was 800 feet vs. the Titanic at 882 feet. Its displacement was 70,000 tons vs. the Titanic which was 66,000 tons. The Titan had a top speed of 24 knots which was the same as the Titanic. The Titan had 3 propellers called "triple screw" just like the Titanic. The Titan’s capacity was about 3,000 people which was the same as the Titanic. It had 24 lifeboats aboard vs. 20 on the Titanic. It was struck on the starboard side forward just like the Titanic. Many on board of both the Titan and Titanic perished because there were not enough lifeboats for everyone. Lastly, both the Titan and the Titanic shared the same month of April that their disaster happened.

What I find most fascinating about both the historical account as well as the fictional work of Robertson’s Titan, is the sad truth that many on board this great human accomplishment refused to seek safety by seeking a lifeboat. They were sure that their massive pleasure ship would never sink. They chose to place their faith in the engineering of man over the plain and clear truth that they were slipping into an icy cold grave. The band played, the stewards polished the brass rails, ladies continued to get dressed, and the men sat and gloried in the tremendous achievement of human transportation, all the while the ship sank foot by foot into its coffin.

How many of you read the obituary this morning just for kicks and giggles? No one! Here is the reason- we don’t want to think about death. We don’t want to consider our own mortality. We don’t want our comfortable numb to be interrupted by the harsh reality of our own temporary existence.

Obituaries

The last couple of weeks I have been reading the obituary section of the Union Tribune online. Not because I have a sick fascination with death, but because I knew that I would be coming to this section of Solomon’s message.

Yesterday, a 35 year old man who was 2 days before his 36^th birthday died in his sleep. He was working for a successful financial firm, had played football for Washington State University as a wide receiver, was becoming an influential activist for African-American rights. He was a leader in his community and was visiting his family in Florida when he went to bed and never woke up. They have no idea how he died.

Another man who was 54 and coached the U.S. Navy baseball program was shooting hoops with some of the neighborhood teens when he suffered a fatal heart attack and died.

Yet another was a Dr. who had a private practice for many years caught pneumonia and ended up at his son’s hospital who happened to be a doctor as well, and he died.

The one that struck me was a man who was a partner of a law firm here in San Diego, who was getting ready for work and died from a heart attack. No warning, just died. This man gets up and takes a shower, begins to put his clothes on so that he can go to work and he dies right in his own home.

I was thinking about this as I was preparing to teach on this passage in Ecclesiastes. Solomon has tried to find the meaning of life in philosophical inquiry and human pleasure as he experiments with what life is like without God as part of his equation. He contemplates the big questions of life, he finds himself frustrated and hopeless so he tries to find meaning in pleasure by pursuing wine like a 40 year old frat guy on a 20 year spring break, by pursuing sexual exploits that make Hugh Heffner blush, by pursuing work harder than a one armed paper hanger, by pursuing laughter until he cracks a rib, by pursuing leisure time, animals, real estate, etc., until at the end of the day he winds up having to stay away from sharp objects as he pops another Prozac to numb his empty hole of nothingness. Solomon discovers that he is on a wild goose chase without a goose.

Now Solomon comes to another of his great observations and experiments. Solomon tries wisdom and work, or in other words- getting smart and getting things done- our equivalent to getting a degree and getting a good job. But Solomon is confounded by his ultimate destination- death. Life is hard to understand, life is difficult to find meaning when we are mortal, life is frustratingly cruel when death stands in our way. Death acts as a great sandstorm that comes to flatten all of our sandcastles we are so proud of. Death is the great equalizer because no matter how high we build them, we all descend six feet under as we push up tulips. Paul calls death our last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26). This explains why we spend so much of our lives obsessing over it, fearing it, sanitizing it, ignoring it, exalting it, or trying to postpone it. Yet it comes for each of us closer each minute and in every breath.

STUDY

Wisdom and Death- 2:12-16

12 So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been

Whether you are pursuing wisdom and devoting your life to study, to knowledge, and great insight as you try to figure out the world and fix this crooked mess that each of us are in, or you are a lazy pessimist that has lost all hope of changing the world since you can’t seem to change yourself, and you have adopted a fatalistic view of knowledge as a waste of energy and time, Solomon reminds us that no one has pursued the meaning of life in things and thoughts as much as he has.

13 And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. 14 The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.

It seems as if Solomon gives us hope when he tells us that wisdom exceeds folly. It seems as if Solomon may have found his way when he tells us that the wise man’s eyes are in his head so that he can see better than the fool.

We are hoping this will be it! We are hoping he will put his stamp of approval on wisdom to give us our ultimate meaning and purpose.

Instead, Solomon pops the bubble by telling us that the same fate falls of them both. Yet even in this, Solomon tells us that being wise is better than being a fool…at least you’ll be able to see the hole you fall into.

15 Then I said to myself, "As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?" So I said to myself, "This too is vanity." 16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die!

In the end, both the genius and idiot end up painted like a circus clown and stuck in a pine box to become worm food. And hardly anyone will remember them.

Doesn’t this trouble you? You are dying! Why bother learning anything? Why bother learning all that you do about stuff that won’t come with you? Our life is about 683,280 hours, and Solomon’s answer is simply that our lives, even though they are brief and with futility, has an enhanced quality to them when we are wiser than the fool. Even better, when we are wise to God and His purpose for our few days under the sun.

Biblical view of death:

"Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment."- Hebrews 9:27

Life is a mist that "appears for a little while and then vanishes." – James 4:13-15

"..the wages of sin is death." - Romans 6:23

"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" - Romans 5:12

The work of Christ has completely altered the meaning of death for the Christian, so much so that we can not consider it as the same experience of the unbeliever. Of course, the physiological aspect may be the same, and the souls of both groups continue to exist after the bodies have expired. But from the point of conversion, death has been robbed of its sting and power in the mind of the believer, so that his entire perspective and purpose for the rest of his life is no longer subject to or governed by the fear of death, as is the case with unbelievers. His life takes on real and lasting value, and his priorities and expectations have been altered. All this can only occur if death is no longer perceived as final or damning; otherwise, everything that we do remains meaningless and futile.

Hebrews 2:14-15 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-16 "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."

Death means the turning over of the unbeliever to a permanent state of suffering for a life lived in rebellion against God, but death for the Christian is simply the means by which God translates us into a permanent state of joy and rest.

Revelation 14:13 says, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord…they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." If "to die is gain" for the believer, this means that every Christian should want to die eventually – that is, after a life of fruitful labor for Christ.

Calvin says, when commenting on 2 Corinthians 5:8, "True faith begets not merely a contempt of death, but even a desire for it." To the extent that the fear of death lingers in our minds, generating the desire to endlessly delay it, we have not fully understood the gospel message.

2 Corinthians 5:5-8 says, "Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are athome in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord."

John 9:4, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work." Commenting on this verse, one writer remarks that it contains "a good argument to persuade every Christian to work while the time of his life lasts, for the night of death will come, when no man can any longer work out his salvation; but as the tree falls, so it must lie…"

Not everyone thinks like this. In Luke 12:16-20, Jesus tells the following parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'".

Life on this earth should consist of "fruitful labor" (Philippians 1:22) for God. Some people may think that since we will live with God forever once we die, it is reasonable to focus on materials things now, and only begin to focus on spiritual matters as we near death, or even after death!

A consistent application of biblical truth demands the opposite conclusion – since our existence continues after death, and since we cannot carry any material possessions or accomplishments to the next life (Job 1:21), let us focus on divine matters and accumulate spiritual riches.

The Bible also indicates that what we do in this life will influence our station in the next (Matthew 25:14-30; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15), since there will be a judgment when we go through the transition into the new creation; therefore, let us be wise and live coram deo, before the face of God – now, and not later.

Christians who live as atheists now, and plan only to live the faith they profess after they have achieved some carnal goal, reached some worldly plateau, or when they near death, are deceiving themselves. Such thinking may indicate that the Spirit and life of God is not in them. God may well grant them genuine conversion at a later time, but meanwhile we should evaluate them and ourselves in the light of the words of Christ: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).

Work and Death- 2:17-23

17 So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind. 18 Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. 20 Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. 21 When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. 22 For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? 23 Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity.

Solomon talks about the "fruit of his labor" three times. His concern is that as he looks at himself and his life pursuing labor and fruit from it apart from God, it seems foolish and futile. He continues to think about life and work without God and it frustrates him. He continues to talk about himself, and what he did, and how wise and skilled he was. In this view work seems meaningless and to be avoided.

Yet we know that work is unavoidable and necessary. Work began with God who designed us before the fall to work for His glory and to build a culture that reflected His beauty and glorified Him. In Genesis 1:27-28 the Scriptures teach us that God created man and woman and blessed them and told them to be "fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it…" Man subsequently sins against God and God punishes ma by cursing the ground so that instead of labor being enjoyable, sin causes labor to be frustrating and God tells Adam in Genesis 3:18-19 that instead of a ground willing to yield its fruit as we enjoyably cultivate it, it will bring for "thorns and thistles" and that Adam would eat only by the "sweat of his brow."

This toil and frustrating labor that Solomon sees as pointless and futile is what we would expect to experience in a world that has become estranged from God. Instead of our ruling over the ground the curse causes the dirt to seemingly rule over us as we return to it and our bodies are eventually absorbed by it.

Yet God’s curse is not because He hates us, it’s because He wants us to taste the frustration that ensues when that which is supposed to be under our rule rebels against us. It is a picture of our fallen state that desires to rebel against God and desires to become a thorn and thistle to the one that rules over us. God shows us the Gospel in this curse so that Adam, Solomon, you and I would run to Him in repentance of our sin, seeking His grace and His reconciliation.

We try in vain to straighten out what has been made crooked in our own efforts and find that the curse is still in effect today. We work harder and longer than any other nation on earth and we end up hating our jobs, never finishing our work, and fantasizing about the myth of retirement when we won’t have to work anymore.

Yet even in our retirement without a formal job, we still have to work quite a bit just to live, and in this frustration and never ending labor, we still hate our lives like Solomon.

We work our entire lives at jobs we don’t like, to buy things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like, only to figure out too late that our death robes don’t have pockets to take this stuff with us and so it goes to someone else to enjoy the fruit of our labor. We end up giving our "stuff" to someone that didn’t have to work for it.

All our trophies move from our shelf to someone else’s who never had to work for what we’ve strived so hard to win.

The reason we just keep working harder is because if we actually stopped for a moment and tried to ask some fundamental questions as to why we are working so hard and what it’s going to ultimately accomplish, we would end up very depressed and needing to stay away from sharp objects.

Then, not only do we give our days to working hard without a sufficient base or reason behind our labor, we end up giving our nights to our work as we lay awake thinking about what needs to get done the following day. Our brains are trying to calculate ways to either numb our bodies from our work, or give you imaginary justifications for it so that you don’t slip on a pair of cement slippers and take a dive off of the Coronado Bridge.

It doesn’t matter how many hours you work, money you make, or how much you accomplish if you are trying to find meaning and satisfaction in your labors apart from God. We will find ourselves like Solomon and screaming out "I hate my life!"

Does this mean that we should all call in sick tomorrow since your pastor just told you it doesn’t make a difference? No! Just because there is no lasting fruit in labor apart from God doesn’t mean that there is no lasting fruit in labor.

Biblical view of work:

Paul declares in Philippians 1:22 "if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor…"

Paul also says that we shouldn’t just sit around and fantasize about "Left Behind" scenarios so that we don’t have to work. He tells us "if anyone is not willing to work, than he is not to eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10).

Proverbs is full of instruction to work and labor so that we can provide basic necessities for ourselves and for our families.

Yet just as God had given Adam the responsibility of cultivating and filling this earth for His glory, we are to do the same. We are to see our work as a promotion of God’s kingdom. As we labor we labor as "unto the Lord." As we work, we are to work towards God who gave us this design to draw us closer to Him. As we do our jobs, work our projects, and fulfill our responsibilities, God is the one that we are trying to please, not man.

Paul gives us practical, as well as theological, instruction in the book of Ephesians 6:5-8: 5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

Then in all of this, as Christ sees our diligence and labor, as we honor Him by the work of our hands He declares "come to me all who labor and are heavy, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This of course teaches us about our attempts to earn God’s favor through work as well as our labor and burden of work itself. Christ becomes the rest we need from our labor and burden.

Joy and Life with God- 2:24-26

24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? 26 For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God's sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

God is not an absentee landlord. He is a gracious provider who not only gives us the basic staples of our life, but also its simple delights. We are never free to presume on His grace or predict our own future by trying to be our own sovereign. We are to enjoy this life as we can. We are to surrender to His decisions.

It is ultimately God who determines what kind of lot we are going to have in this life. Some of us may become very rich and some very poor. Some may remain healthy and others may become sick. Some of you may have great jobs and others, well…at least you have a job. It is false optimism that wounds us. If we try to guarantee our own permanent paradise by building the best sandcastles through wealth, wisdom, pleasure or achievement, we are doomed to futility.

If we take God’s gifts and decisions as they come with thanks and don’t try to manipulate our outwit God, we will find our pleasure in what He gives to us daily.

This is his great alternate conclusion to futility. This simply and direct advice is the result of his entire argument in these first two chapters. What is basically says, is that all our efforts to grasp the larger picture of God’s plan for the world and our lives will be reduced from an 8 x 10 to a 3 x 5. What Solomon couldn’t do with all his wealth, all his power, all his wisdom, we surely can’t do with our puny resources. So, we should look at life from an entirely different angle. To fail to do so is to crack our skills against an unbending wall.

This is the heart of the book, the key to its purpose and message is to break through the gloom and bring light to those places where life seems to puzzle us and leave us in the dark.

Since we are all going to die and life is a crooked mess, Solomon speaks to us and liberates us.

Instead of spending all our time trying to figure out life, we should stick close to God and enjoy it. If we spend too much time trying to figure it out through wisdom, and try to straighten it out through work, we will die before getting around to actually enjoying it.

Everyone gets certain gifts from God such as life, food, drink, and work, but only the children of God who walk with Him faithfully get the gifts of enjoyment and satisfaction. This is a great secret, that our stuff and our satisfaction are two different things and that our satisfaction doesn’t come from our stuff, but from our Savior.

We must come to Him in repentant faith to enjoy this life.

Lastly, we shouldn’t worry about those that are godless sinners who worship creation and ignore the creator, because He will take their stuff and eventually give it away to one of His kids to enjoy.

True wisdom is intensely practical and tied to enjoying your food, drinking your wine, and working your job for God. That is why we don’t need to be a glutton, we don’t need to be a drunk, and we don’t need to be a sluggard and lazy. God satisfies us, and then He enables us to embrace our lives with joy and levity of heart, because one day we will all die, and those who love Jesus will- like Jesus- rise from their graves to live apart from the frustration of sin and its consequences, the futility of life, and the fear of death.

Just like the Titanic, this great world- with all its inhabitants, is slowly sinking into the cold grip of death. Only those that believe they are in impending danger and trust in the lifeboats to save them will be saved.

The icy grave is the Moral Law- the Ten Commandments. Here is the evidence we are sinking: Jesus said if you look with lust, we commit adultery in our heart. No one who has had sex out of marriage, or any liar, or any thief will enter Heaven. The Bible says that if we hate someone, we are guilty of murder. We fail to put God first. We make God in our image. We break all the Commandments if we have broken one.

If we stay with the "ship," we will perish on the day of judgment, when all of our sins come out as evidence of our guilt. God, who is rich in mercy, has made a way for you and I to be saved and enjoy our lives in and with Him. Jesus Christ, the One whom the Bible calls the "captain of our Salvation" gave His life so that we could have a life with Him. He took our punishment upon Himself- suffering upon the cross for us. We broke God’s Law, but He paid our fine. He then rose from the dead, defeating death. God calls us to confess our sins to Him, to turn from our trust in an unsinkable ship, and place our faith in our only Savior. If we do, God promises He will forgive all our sins, give us life, and give us rest for our souls.

0 Comments | Login to Post Comments

Comment:

Name:

• Calendar
• Agenda