Rev. David Holwick G Ecclesiastes Series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 16, 1997
Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:1
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[well-received, but pump up judgment facing bad actions]
I. Seize the day.
A. The potential and tragedy of youth.
"Grass Rides" and monument in Ipswich.
Monument from Harvard library in middle of glen.
Dedicated to bright, gifted young man - who died in 1912.
Recalls movie with Robin Williams, "Dead Poets Society"
Vivid scene: he shows students pictures of school athletic
teams from previous century.
They are young and vibrant - and dead.
Life is short.
Seize each day and make it count.
#4040
B. How much do you get out of life?
1) Can life truly be fulfilling?
2) Only God can make it so.
II. Life is meant to be enjoyed.
A. Life is good.
1) Creation has much light and beauty.
2) Enjoy time in this world.
a) There are many things we cannot know.
b) There is one we can - life.
1> Choose life over suicide.
A> Suicide of Kurt Corbain.
B> Death-obsession of youth culture.
B. Youth is good.
1) God wants young people to be happy. 11:9
a) Follow heart and eyes - sounds dangerous.
1> Not hedonism, responsibility emphasized.
2) Don't idolize youth.
a) I am not young anymore.
1> Takes me twice as long to get up from skiing spills.
b) All our years can be cherished. (11:8)
III. There are always limits.
A. Positive statements are harshly balanced with negative.
1) Enjoy life - darkness is coming. 11:8
2) Be happy - you will be judged. 11:9
3) Banish anxiety - youth and vigor mean nothing. 11:10
B. Judgment is coming.
1) Death in view?
2) It should be a great motivator.
In 1982, "ABC Evening News" reported on an unusual work of
modern art - a chair attached to a shotgun.
It was to be viewed by sitting in the chair and looking
directly into the gunbarrel.
The gun was loaded and set on a timer to fire at an
undetermined moment within the next hundred years.
The amazing thing was that people waited in lines to sit and
stare into the bullet's path!
They all knew the gun could go off at point-blank range at
any moment, but they were gambling that the fatal blast
wouldn't happen during their minute in the chair.
#2075
a) Very foolish, but no more foolish than not taking God
into account.
b) Defying God leads to self-destruction.
3) Immediacy of death should motivate us.
A university professor once told of being invited to speak
at a military base one December.
There he met an unforgettable soldier named Ralph.
Ralph had been sent to meet him at the airport, and after
they had introduced themselves, they headed toward the
baggage claim.
As they walked down the concourse, Ralph kept disappearing.
Once to help an older woman whose suitcase had fallen open.
Once to lift two toddlers up to where they could see Santa
Claus.
And again to give directions to someone who was lost.
Each time he came back with a big smile on his face.
"Where did you learn to do that?" the professor asked.
"Do what?" Ralph said
"Where did you learn to live like that?"
"Oh," Ralph said, "during the war, I guess."
Then he told the professor about his tour of duty in Viet Nam,
about how it was his job to clear mine fields.
He had watched his friends blow up before his eyes, one after
another.
"I learned to live between steps," he said.
"I never knew whether the next one would be my last, so I
learned to get everything I could out of the moment
between when I picked up my foot and when I put it
down again.
Every step I took was a whole new world, and I guess I've
just been that way ever since."
The abundance of our lives is not determined by how long we
live, but how well we live it.
Christ makes abundant life possible if we choose to live it
now.
#3147
C. We need a goal worth reaching.
1) Our ways matter to God.
2) He will hold us accountable for how we live.
IV. The priorities of the life that matters.
A. The test of eternity.
1) All we can give is our time.
a) When we work, we are paid for our time.
b) When we play, we are taking "time out."
c) Life is a series of decisions regarding how we will
spend out time.
2) All of Ecclesiastes stands under weight of eternity.
a) Without God, life is meaningless.
3) Does what we are doing make a difference in eternity?
a) Jesus tells us not to be preoccupied with the mundane.
Matt. 6:28f
b) We are always very close to the next world.
B. The test of humanity.
1) Only people last forever.
a) Death is real, but life isn't short.
Listen to how C. S. Lewis describes how we should regard
our next door neighbor:
"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods
and goddesses.
You need to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting
person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,
if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to
worship.
On the other hand, they might be a horror and a corruption
such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.
All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to
one or other of these destinations...
There are no ordinary people.
You have never talked to a mere mortal.
Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations - these are mortal,
and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat.
But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry,
snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting
splendours."
- C. S. Lewis
The Weight of Glory
#4039
2) Serve others, better them, love them.
C. The test of conformity.
1) Measure goals and priorities by this - does it conform me
to Jesus Christ?
a) We need to ask if we are becoming more like Jesus. Phil 2
2) Bow knee before Jesus now, not when forced to later.
V. Know God now.
A. Many young people drift when thinking about their place in life.
Tony Campolo tells the story of a college sophomore who
entered his office and plopped down in the chair.
He said, "Doc, I've decided to drop out of college."
Campolo leaned forward and said, "Why in the world do you
want to drop out of college!?"
A glassy veil dropped over the student's eyes as he looked
longingly out the window of the office as he said,
"I need to find myself, Doc.
I need to peel away all the layers that have been laid on
me;
I need to peel away the layers of identity created by the
church and by my parents and by my friends and by society;
... all the expectations and definitions created for me
by others -
I've got to peel them away and find the real me."
Campolo just shook his head and asked, "What if, after you
peel away all these socially prescribed layers;
after you pull away all the layers created by the church
and your family and your friends, you discover
THAT YOU'RE AN ONION!!"
The young man was stunned.
Then Campolo continued, "Now that may sound crazy, but what
do you get if you peel away all the layers of an onion?
Nothing!
The onion is nothing but the sum total of its layers - there
is no center!
And many people spend there whole lives trying to peel away
all the layers of their identity only to discover at
long-last that there is no "real me"!"
I believe that our identity - who we are - is not something
we find; rather it is something that is created.
It is not something within us; it is something created from
the outside.
Who we are is determined by what we are committed to - it
is determined by what our purpose is.
Many people commit themselves to good things.
But if the good things they commit to are limited to this
life, then they are ultimately false - nothing under the
sun is of any lasting value.
When you are committed to God and his service, you are
working for things that will make an eternal difference.
B. Positive approach to life must rest on something substantial.
1) Cheerfulness, courage - even sound morality - are not enough.
2) Be godly!
C. Our greatest challenge in life is the right commitment.
1) Letter from Becky Salmon this week.
Pastor Dave,
I hope that you can help me out.
I spoke with my roommates last night about religion.
We got into the conversation because it is Ash Wednesday
today and someone was explaining what the meaning was.
They seem very opposed to the idea of religion and it seems
like there are a lot of reasons why they consider it all
a fairy tale.
The Bible is nonsense and Jesus is not who we believe him
to be.
There are two girls that do believe in God and Jesus Christ
but they are still a little sketchy.
The others really don't have any feelings except opposition.
I am really bad at giving facts and answers etc.
I don't base my faith on those things.
God has shown himself to me in many ways.
It is easier for me to act like a Christian and worry about
myself than to talk about it with outsiders.
I need some work on that.
Thanks BECKY
2) Remember God - not just mental, commit ourselves to him.
D. Now is the best time.
1) Responsiveness of youth.
2) Believe when times are good, not when disaster arrives.
===================================================================
CATEGORY: Discipline, Guilt, Children, Parents, Fathers, Time, Opportunity
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TEXT: Eccl 12:1, Isa 8:4, Isa 49:15, Matt 7:9-11, Matt 11:16-17, Matt 11:25,
Matt 18:2-6, Matt 19:13-14, Matt 21:16, Eph 6:1-4
Number: 2293 Hard copy:
SOURCE: Dynamic Preaching Disk, Spring 1992 "A"
TITLE: "Help Wanted, Dad. Ask For Calvin And Hobbes."
AUTHOR: Dr. Lowell Strieker
PAGE: Jun 5 92 DATE: 4/1/92 Typist: ENTERED: 9/17/92
DATE_USED:
ILLUSTRATION__________________________________________________________________
: Leaving Dad Behind
Calvin: I wanna horsey ride!
Dad: (stirring paint) I'm busy, Calvin.
Calvin: You know, Dad, it won't be long before I'm all grown up. One day
you'll wake up and wonder how all the years slipped by. You'll look back
and say, "Where has the time gone? Calvin's so big. It's hard to remember
when he was small enough that I could give him horsey rides... " But those
days will be lost forever.
(Calvin is on Dad's back as they gallop toward a fence.)
Dad: I think I've worked through my potential guilt now.
Calvin: No, no! Jump the fence! (4)
-----------------------------
4. "Calvin and Hobbes," by Bill Watterson, San Jose Mercury News, June 25,
1987.
#2293
*
Subj: HI
Date: 97-02-12 10:59:18 EST
From: ifu97121@ccsun.strath.ac.uk (Rebecca.Salmon)
To: Dholwick@aol.com
Pastor Dave,
I hope that you can help me out. I spoke with my roomates last night
about religion. We got into the conversation because it is ash Wednesday
today and everything and someone was explaining what the meaning was.
They seem very opposed to the idea of religion and it seems like there
are a lot of reasons why they consider it all a fairy tale. The Bible is
nonsense and Jesus is not who we believe him to be. There are two girls
that do believe in God and Jesus Christ but, they are still a little
sketchy and the others really don't have any feelings except opposition.
I am really bad at giving facts and answers etc. I don't base my faith
on those things, I think that people believe for many different reasons,
God has shown himself to me in many ways and so I don't need the big bang
theory to be disproved etc. But, i was wondering if you had some
literature on that or the one girl mentioned about Noah's Ark-that is was
impossible. She also said the idea that if we all decendents of Adam and
Eve that there would be a lot of down syndrome in the world. I don't
really know how to answer these questions but, I thought maybe you might
have something I could read and give to them. I think they have some
really bad role models to base there thoughts on and that is always
really sad. But, there is not perfect person we all know that. But, if
you could help me out that would be great. It is easier for me to act
like a Christian and worry about myself than to talk about it. I need some
work on that. Thanks BECKY
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