August 2, 2026 | Fleeting Joy and Uncertain Wisdom

Fleeting Joy and Uncertain Wisdom | Ecclesiastes 9

Ecclesiastes 9

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. 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. 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. But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.

I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.

The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. (ESV)

In “Fleeting Joy and Uncertain Wisdom,” Jed Gillis examines how Ecclesiastes 9 calls us to live in a broken and unpredictable world where death comes to everyone. Since we cannot control our circumstances or outcomes, we should trust God as the giver of every good gift. Solomon urges us to receive each day with gratitude, enjoy life with others, work wholeheartedly, and pursue wisdom even though wisdom cannot guarantee success. Life under the sun is fleeting, but God still gives us real opportunities for joy, meaning, and wise living.

Transcript of Fleeting Joy and Uncertain Wisdom | Ecclesiastes 9

Jed Gillis: This morning we'll be continuing in Ecclesiastes chapter nine. As we do that, children, if you're headed out the door to children's church, you're welcome to do that. You're also welcome to be in here with us.

I do wanna say, we don't always say it, but I do wanna say I love the noise of children as we gather as a family before our Father's throne. That's what we are, we're a family. we're not here to observe a performance. We're here to have the family, all the way from the smallest ones to the great-grandparents, gather at the throne of God and worship Him. So we do rejoice in that. And I pray that there will be not only children who are here today, but many other children who come and who sit in Berean Bible Church and hear the truth of God's Word and hear people around them worship. I pray there'll be many more who come, and they just, that's what they know as normal. I pray that's the way they grow up. I know that's the way many of us grew up. Not all of us. Many of us grew up hearing people who love Jesus sit next to us and sing. And if you think back, I imagine, like it is for me, that is such a strengthening help to my soul. So I pray that there'll be many more.

Life Under the Sun

Jed Gillis: In Ecclesiastes chapter nine, one of the things I want to call your mind back, we've used this phrase repeatedly in the book, the phrase Solomon uses, "Under the sun." And when we first started talking about Ecclesiastes, early on we talked about what that's like if you step outside and you look around, you look up at the sky. You will see blue skies, maybe clouds. I haven't looked out there in the last little bit. But you'll see blue skies. You don't see the stars. You all know they're there. You all know tonight you'll be able to go out and see them, assuming the skies are clear. You know there exists something above the sun, if you will, but the brightness when you walk out, your experience of the sun is so bright that you can't see those other things.

Solomon uses this phrase, under the sun, because this book is really interesting. He is not primarily telling you how you should live in eternity. He's saying you live under the sun. Your day-to-day life happens. You experience things, and this book of Ecclesiastes is really a book about how to live right now.

So what Solomon does is he does this kind of philosophical game, if you will. Maybe not game, but it feels kinda like it when you read philosophers. Something like a man named Pascal did, where he did something you might have heard Pascal's Wager, where essentially his argument is Christianity makes more sense. It makes more sense for you to follow Christianity whether or not you're certain that it's true. Because if there is no afterlife, then the same thing happens to the atheist as happens to the Christian. You die, and you stop. And Pascal's reasoning then was, but if Christianity is correct, then the Christian, the follower of Jesus, finds heaven in the afterlife, and the non-Christian finds hell.

So in other words, Pascal, the way he did is he said, "Okay, let's pretend you can't really know. You're not certain." But Pascal says essentially you have a lot more to lose if you don't follow Christianity.

In some ways, although, and we could debate whether that's great reasoning for Pascal and all kinds of things people have done, but in some ways, there's a similarity to what Solomon is doing because Solomon, as he goes through this book, he's saying, "If you just look at what you see under the sun, how should you live?" In other words, he's not saying think about living in eternity primarily. He's saying just look at what you can actually see under the sun. Does it make sense under the sun to live as a follower of God or not?

Now, Solomon knows what he thinks. He's not in doubt. Solomon's saying, "Yes, I believe in God." He's not questioning that, but he is saying if I... If he gives this, like he talks to an atheist, for example, he talks to a skeptic and says, let's just assume you don't know for sure. With just what you can see, how should you live right now?" That's a lot of what he's doing, and he's going to continue that in this section in Ecclesiastes Chapter 9.

Reading Ecclesiastes 9

Jed Gillis: I'm gonna read beginning verse one.

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. 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. 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.

But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol to which you are going.

The Certainty of Death

Jed Gillis: And we can all go, "Thank you for that cheery note, Solomon."

Starts with bad news, what sounds like bad news. I want you to frame it this way, the way you think about it. He's starting by saying, again, under the sun, with what you see, what can you be certain of? We use this phrase, the only certain things are death and- Taxes. Taxes. Right. There you go. Solomon doesn't talk about taxes here, but we use this phrase.

We're like, "That's what certainty is." If you look at what you see under the sun, what can you have confidence in? I know this will happen. Solomon says, "Under the sun, the only thing you know is death." You're sure that'll happen. You're not really sure about everything else. A commentator I read titled this whole section The Fate of Death and the Gift of Life.

I think he's right. He gets the tension. There's a fate that we feel like, I cannot possibly escape. But if you're alive to know that, then you also know you've been given the gift of experiencing life now. And there's this tension. I know I'm going to die under the sun unless Jesus returns first. I'm gonna die. I also know right now I have opportunity to experience life that's been given to me. How should I live then? Th- that's Solomon's question, where we're going to go, is in light of these things, how on earth am I supposed to actually live?

And we could probably, if we read this first section, you'd say Solomon sounds like a pessimist. And those of you who are pessimists would give the same answer Solomon would say, which is, "No, I'm a realist." Solomon's "It's not pessimism to say everybody's gonna die." Every human you've ever seen will die. Every human who's ever lived, outside of, okay, we could talk about Enoch and Elijah Outside of those, even Jesus died. Everyone faces the exact same thing.

Solomon says this is just realism. If you're going to live, in other words, if you're going to live however you choose to live in your life, you say, "I don't care about God, I wanna go live and do something else," you still have to face the fact that you're gonna die eventually. If you're going to live and say, "God really is everything I am dedicated to. I live my whole life for God," you face the fact that you're gonna die eventually. We all face physical death under the sun. It's like the one observable certainty.

And notice the way he describes this at the beginning of verse one, this phrase, "All this I laid to heart." Now, I could just start and I could say, "We're all going to die," and many of us could go, yes," but we don't stop and think about it. We don't take that truth and put it right at the core, the center of who we are and say "This actually matters." We like to forget it

I like to forget I'm going to physically die one day. I like to forget my parents or grandparents either have or will physically die one day. We like to forget that our kids or our grandkids will physically die one day.

But that's not wisdom to forget that. Solomon says, "I'm taking this truth, this fact that everyone faces this, I'm gonna put it at the core. I'm gonna take it to heart so that I actually live in light of that." He says, "I examined it all. I thought about it. How the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God."

And then he gives you this phrase, and some of these phrases are a l- I'm gonna paraphrase a little to try and help get the sense of what Solomon is saying. When he says, "Whether it is love or hate, man does not know, both are before him." Good and bad, prosperity and adversity, love and hate, joys or sorrows, it's all those... These words can wrap up all of those things. He's saying you don't know for sure what your experience is going to be like today, or next week, or in the next 10 years. So is it gonna be good? probably some of it will. Is it gonna feel bad? Probably some of it will But you don't know. You don't have that certainty. This is what he's taking to heart. He's saying, "There are good things and bad things in this life, and I don't know which one tomorrow is going to bring. What I do know is that eventually we all face the same thing, physical death."

And everyone faces it. Notice it when he goes on in verse two, he gives you these pairs meant to draw you, or maybe it's not so much aimed at us sitting here in church. Maybe it's more aimed at the skeptic, though it's helpful for us too. Maybe it's more aimed at the skeptic who says, "Why should I care how God says I should live?"

And Solomon says, you should care because everybody's gonna face death." It's true of the righteous and the wicked. In other words, those who have a, a right relationship to God, those who stand in a right relationship with Him, and those who don't both face death. The believer in this room who is the closest to God, whoever God would know that is, and we don't know, will face physical death. Maybe there's somebody in here who's not a believer at all. They'll face physical death.

It's both, both cases, the good or the evil, so those who do good things and those who do bad things, which is related to righteous and wicked, but not exactly the same. Those who do good deeds face death. Those who do evil deeds face death. The clean and the unclean, so those who like within religious circles are seen as respectable, I can associate with them, and those who within religious circles are like, "No, they're not respectable, I can't associate with them," they both face the same certainty, death. He uses this phrase, "To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice," so the religious and the irreligious. You can come sit in church every single day of your life And still face physical death? You can never set foot in a church and still fa- face physical death. Solomon's saying, this is an, an important thing to take to the core of who you are to say, "I am not, in this body, infinite." We sang about forever, and one reason for doing that this morning is the contrast that says, when Solomon gets here, he says, "Those who have died forever have no more share in all that's done under the sun." Your physical body is not forever, and some of you say, "I'm really glad. I'd like a new one." All of us really say that.

He says those who swear, just like those who shun an oath, in other words, those who are people of integrity, when they give their word, they keep it. They will also face physical death. Those who say, "I'm not gonna take any oaths. I'm not gonna give my word 'cause I'm not a person of integrity anyway, and I won't keep it."

Now, he's not saying that these are equally good, right? He's not saying, "Hey, you can be wicked, you can be righteous. That's all the same in God's eyes. You can be good, you can be evil." He's not saying that. Not his point. Don't hear that. What you need to hear is he's saying regardless of which of those categories you fit in, you face physical death.

The Brokenness of the World

Jed Gillis: So he continues in verse three, "This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all." We need to understand evil carefully here. Th- this doesn't mean evil like murder or stealing, like somebody is intentionally, morally doing something bad. It can mean that. That word can mean that in the Old Testament, but it can also mean, this is just broken. It's weighty. It's heavy.

When you go to a funeral, you don't go to the funeral and think necessarily somebody sinned and that's the problem. You just go and say, "This isn't the way it was supposed to be." When you get the cancer diagnosis, you don't think somebody sinned. You think this isn't like it's supposed to be. there's an evil, not moral evil, but a, a weight of brokenness, a sorrow that he says, "In all that is done under the sun, what is it, that the same event happens to all?" As I have been beating the drum over and over to say we all face physical death, I hope you all feel, "Ah, it's not the way it should be."

That's not the way God made his world to start with. That's what we're supposed to feel. There is this evil, this brokenness.

The Madness in Man's Heart

Jed Gillis: Not only is our world broken, he goes on, he says, "The hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live." Not just this world includes evil, but our hearts do, which could be, again, that could be moral evil. We sin. We do wrong things. That is definitely a possibility. It could also be broadening that out and saying we feel the weight of the brokenness within us. It's not just out there. I feel it in my heart. And because I feel that, because I say death isn't w- the way it should be, sometimes I do crazy stuff.

I was thinking, I don't know this guy's motive, so I'm not trying to say this is his motive, but there's a climber named Alex Honnold who maybe some of you have seen. He, he became famous, I think, at least when I knew of him. He climbed, El Capitan, which is multiple thousand foot climb, and he climbed it without ropes and without anything, just free climbed it. National Geographic, Free Solo, if you've seen that, that's him

It's crazy. It really is. I'm not saying he's sinful, I'm saying it's crazy. I can't imagine doing it. I literally watched that movie and I was like, my heart rate was up and I was, like, breathing faster, and I'm sitting on my couch. I had to like not think about what it would be like to be him.

When they interviewed him, he said, "Those of us who are climbers like this, we all know people who have died." We do it anyway.

There's a craziness sometimes because you say, "We're all gonna die," and you feel the weight of that. "I'm gonna die anyway, might as well go do crazy stuff so at least I feel alive right now."

I think that's a little bit. Now, that may not be his motive, but that's a little bit of what Solomon's getting at. He says, "Look, there's evil in this world. Death comes to all of us, and in the hearts of the children of man, we feel it." And then there's some just madness, sometimes sin, sometimes just craziness that comes out because of this certainty, this fear.

Life is Better Than Death

Jed Gillis: And we might conclude, because it's dark, if we stop and just go, "Yes, death," and that's all we think about, right? It feels dark. It could swallow us up. We might be like, what's the point of living if all we're gonna do is think, we're gonna die eventually?'"

And so Solomon says, "No, death is not better than life." And he gives us this phrase, probably not what any of us want on our tombstone here, but he says, "He who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion."

Not a real great rallying cry probably. But here's his reasoning, what he's doing. and even the word hope here probably means something more like certainty than anything else, which is how we often use it in scripture. What he's doing is saying, "If you're alive, you have the opportunity to experience the good of life. Once you die..." Remember, Solomon knows there's something over the sun, but he's talking under the sun. Once you die under the sun, there's no more joys of life. When you're alive, you at least have some certainty you know you'll die. I know that's not much of an encouragement, but that is the way Solomon's reasoning.

And so he guards us against saying, "If we all face death, what's the point? Maybe death is better than life." Most of us aren't even honest enough to ask that question, but I don't assume that everybody in this room has never asked that question. I assume probably some of us have.

If Death is Coming, How Am I Supposed to Live?

Jed Gillis: And Solomon is saying there is a certainty, there's a joy of this gift of life right now, even though you know death is coming. So how on earth, knowing all of that, how am I supposed to live? If we put all of that and take it to heart, go, "This is heavy. It's weighty. what am I supposed to do?" And there's some wrong options that we could often do. If you trust yourself instead of God, so you pursue control instead of resting in God's goodness, you try to control all your outcomes. I don't wanna die physically. You're gonna be frustrated in that goal eventually.

Some of you have-- are really interested in pursuing health through nutrition and exercise. Wonderful. Probably wise. It's not gonna make you live to be 200. I don't know what that number is, but 200 won't be it Right? You'll be frustrated in that goal at some point. If you try to guarantee your desired outcomes, you'll be reminded over and over of your lack of control. And when I want control and I'm not in control, I get scared. So I feel fear, which leads to all kinds of wrong ways of living. So we might--

if you take just a moment, I want you to live in the fact, two things, and I promise we'll get to good news on the other end of it. Live in the fact of two things. Life is unpredictable. There's adversity, there's prosperity, there's good, there's bad. And the certainty you do have is death. Okay, those are our two things. We like to forget it. Oh, I know that, but please don't remind me. Okay, but let's stop and feel it for a second.

We Often Let the Certainty of Death Rob Us of All Joy Now

Jed Gillis: Often our responses are like this. If life is unpredictable, then I live in constant worry I go, "I don't know if it'll be good or bad. I know death's coming." So I'm constantly worried I'm gonna make the wrong choice and I'm gonna ruin all my hopes and dreams. We don't say it that way, but we kind of live like that. Since life is full of ups and downs, I'll live in fear just waiting for the other shoe to fall.

You ever been there? Maybe some of our younger people don't even know that phrase. Like you're sitting back going, "Life has been really good." That means something's about to break. This relationship has been fantastic. We've been getting along really well. It's about to blow up. Which it might, right? That's part of the ups and downs, the unpredictability. But we live in fear because we go, "I want to make sure it's all good." I can't control that.

We might say, "Since life can't be manipulated, since I can't control it, I'm just gonna live with bitterness and cynicism. I'm not gonna get too excited when it's good, because then maybe I won't be too sad when it's bad."

In other words, you can take this truth that life is unpredictable and that death is certain, and you can let it rob you of all the joy of experiencing life now. Because you're full of worry, you're full of fear, you're full of cynicism. You can let it steal the joy of experiencing this life right now under the sun and the good that God has put in it.

Or maybe it's not joy that's taken out of it. Maybe instead we say, "Since life can't be controlled, and I don't know what the outcome is, I'm gonna run from any risk. I'm just afraid of taking any risk." if you don't take risk, you can't do anything good either.

Some of you can remember when you were interested in connecting with your spouse, when you weren't married yet. There was a risk if you go talk to them, if you go ask them on a date, the risk is they might say no. Some of you, maybe your spouse did say no the first time. I know a few of those stories. If you don't take risk, you don't get good either.

If you're too afraid to actually step into some kind of meaning, what happens is you actually lose meaning. You lose meaningful work. You say, "I can't take any risk. I can't do anything. I just gotta hope nothing bad happens."

So when we know life is up and down, and we know death is certain, sometimes we lose joy. Sometimes we lose meaning and we're like, forget it. I'm just gonna sit here and wait for life to happen to me." Or sometimes we lose wisdom and we say, I don't know what's gonna happen anyway. Might as well live carelessly."

Solomon doesn't want you to lose joy, meaning, and wisdom. And more importantly, God doesn't want you to lose joy, meaning, and wisdom in your life. So Solomon has said, "If you rely on yourself for control instead of resting in the goodness of God, if you do that, you at least risk losing joy, meaning, and wisdom."

Receive the Day

Jed Gillis: So then how do you trust God? How do you live under the sun, not in a, pie-in-the-sky, one day it'll be better, eternity will be great. Not just like that, although that's true. Not just like that. How do you live now? And that's where he goes in verse seven. A, a commentator used this phrase. Maybe you've heard the phrase carpe diem, seize the day. The idea being you've gotta run out and make things happen in your life. You don't make things happen, nothing will, so you trust yourself to grab it and make it work. This commentator used the phrase, "Receive the day." I have no idea what that is in Latin, so if somebody wants to figure it out, let me know. He said, "Receive the day."

In other words, don't go out and grab it like I have to control it, but go, "God is a good God who gives gifts. Now, how do I receive those good gifts?" And he describes it here.

Pursue Real Joy Right Now in This Physical World

Jed Gillis: First he says to pursue real joy right now in this physical world. He says, "Go, eat your bread with joy, drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do." That probably raises some questions, right? Hold on.

First, he uses food and drink, necessities, basic provisions. He says enjoy them. Notice the way he describes it. He could have just said, "Go eat your bread," or, "Go drink your wine." But he doesn't. He emphasizes the internal response. "Go eat your bread with joy." Drink your wine with a merry heart.

He's saying receive God's good provisions not just as, "Oh, good, he met the bare necessities of what I need," but with joy. That's the emphasis. Not eat your bread with complaining. I know I like to do that too. I shouldn't. Not eat your bread with anger. I don't have as much as that person. Bitterness. I used to have a whole lot better food and now I just have this. Not do those things or eat your bread with anxiety. I don't know where the next one's coming from. I don't know if I'll have enough food for the next week. Not that you don't think about that and plan, but he says, in the moment when God has given you food, drink, shelter, clothing, basic necessities, we're not meant to just survive with them. We're meant to enjoy them.

You realize God could have made everything taste bad? Depending on what you think tastes bad, maybe for the kids in the room, it's like God could have made it where nothing tastes like ice cream and everything tastes like broccoli or Brussels sprouts or whatever. But he didn't. God didn't do that. God didn't have to make eating fun.

This past summer, we gathered together and ate food together, and it was good. And it wasn't just, that kept- keeps this body running a little more until it dies, 'cause that's gonna happen, and you mentioned that already. No, that's not the point. Solomon says, "This is the logical way for you to live. Enjoy what God has made joyful. Enjoy the provision. Eat your bread with joy."

Now, when he says this, I think this raises all the questions for us. Probably it's hard to even read what's around it, 'cause you go, "God has already approved what you do." You mean I can do whatever I jolly please and God just says, "Cool"? Doubt it. Right?

H- here's the point. He uses two specific examples, right? Eating bread, drinking wine. Especially in that context where drinking wine, and there's plenty of warning in Solomon where excess and drunkenness is a problem, but everybody drank wine partly because the water wasn't healthy. Right? So he's talking about your basic way to eat and drink. He's saying when you receive God's basic provisions, God's already approved that you receive the basic provisions, right? He's not saying, to use a silly example, he is not saying, "Go steal money with joy because God's already approved what you do." No, that doesn't work. He's saying enjoy the basic provisions.

In other words, sometimes God gives us gifts and we're afraid to enjoy them because we're like, "Oh, I don't know, he might not want me to enjoy this food. Maybe I should just eat it and survive. He might not want me to go eat a steak dinner that tastes really good. Maybe I should feel guilty about enjoying it so much." Solomon's saying, "Don't do that. God's given you good gifts that you can enjoy, so go enjoy them. God has approved of you using his good gifts."

It would be like a child who takes their Christmas present and they're like, "I don't really wanna play with this too much 'cause Mom and Dad might not want me to." No, that's the whole point. We gave you this gift to enjoy. Their gift may not be as big as their friend's gifts. That's a whole different conversation. But it doesn't matter, we want them to enjoy the gift, right? That's the whole point. When God provides for us food, drink, other basic provisions, he wants you to not just survive them, but to receive them with joy.

This is the simplest application I think I will ever give you from a sermon Probably within an hour or so you will eat lunch. Enjoy it. Enjoy the good taste 'cause God gave you that lunch, and God gave you taste buds and a brain that can interpret it. And when you taste it, that tastes good. That doesn't just mean I had joy. It means there's a good giver who gave it. Enjoy those things. He's told you to enjoy his gifts without second thoughts. Eat your bread with joy.

God Wants You to Enjoy Comfort

Jed Gillis: Then he goes on and expands this a little bit because it's not just basic necessities. He says, "Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head." Don't be ashamed of joy and even comfort and purity. All of those are kinda wrapped in his language. Don't be afraid of these. These were luxuries.

If you wore white garments, that meant one, you probably weren't out right before that working in the field, 'cause it wouldn't be white anymore. Especially in a Middle Eastern context where it's hot, white garments were partly cooler. It meant comfort. And it also pictures purity. Like, all of these things are wrapped together.

When he says, "Don't let oil be lacking." Y- you put oil on your head to celebrate, and you put oil on your head for comfort. It made you feel better. Your skin wasn't cracking and all those kinds of things. He's saying enjoy it. Don't be ashamed, not only of God's basic provisions, but enjoy where he gives you opportunity to have beyond basic provisions, to have comfort, to have purity, to have, we could say, a, a luxury. It's almost like that's okay.

Now, we could go down a whole different theological thing, and we could talk about, is he saying you need to go steal oil so you have enough to put on your head if you don't have any? No. Is he saying, go into debt and make sure you have enough oil to put in your head, whether or not that's wise? No. But he is saying, where he's provided you the means for this, don't be afraid to use the comfort and luxury and good that God has given you. Enjoy it.

This would be like, not say Christmas gifts, but if parents go, "Hey, we've had dinner. Kids, you want some ice cream?" And they're like, "No, I wanna make sure I don't enjoy anything beyond the basic necessities."

Your kids have never said that, I guarantee.

No, the point is the parent who is the giver has given something beyond the basic need, and the child honors the parent by enjoying it. That's the point. Solomon says pursue real joy in the physical world even though you know you face physical death at some point in the future.

Think ahead to your schedule this week. Where can you enjoy God's provision for your needs as an act of worship? I already gave you one. It's lunchtime. But you have a lot more of them. When you lay down to sleep and God gives you sleep, and it feels good when you lay down and rest, enjoy it. Not just because, "Oh, I made it through another day," because your good God who gives things gives you that joy.

Again, He didn't have to make it feel good to lay down and rest, but He did. So enjoy it. Where can you do that?

Maybe it's plan a meal and it's not just lunch today. Maybe it's like, "I really love this meal. I wanna make that meal and savor it." Savor it as an act of worship, not of the food, of God. Remember God's goodness to you in the basic things in this world and worship Him.

As I literally typed that this morning, I often, I sit Sunday morning at my porch and go through sermon stuff. Literally as I typed this about where can you enjoy God's provision this week in the simple things, a little hummingbird comes and flies in front of me, starts drinking out of the flower in front of me with the mists coming up out of the Smoky Mountains right behind it And it was beautiful.

And I could easily have just been like, "Eh, whatever, I'm doing something." Or I can stop and say, "God didn't have to make that way." By the way, I don't see hummingbirds at my house. The timing was quite unusual. Like, God made joy in the beautiful, simple things, and I can respond with anger and worry and cynicism, or I can say, "How do I find the joy in the gift of life that God has given me right now?"

Enjoy Life With Others

Jed Gillis: Not only pursue joy in what He's provided, though. Go on to verse 9, "Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your," it says, "vain," fleeting, your passing life, that's the point throughout this book, "that God has given you under the sun." It's right for us here to focus on marriage and say, God has given you your spouse to enjoy all those things with.

When I say go enjoy a meal, I don't mean just enjoy it by yourself and not eat it with anybody necessarily. I mean enjoy life with others, specifically in your marriage, which includes you, you spend all kinds of things in your life together, your trips, and your vacations, and your projects, and your conversations, and all of these different things. Enjoy life together.

Not everyone here is married. And really, his principle broadens further than just marriage, though. His principle is this: Don't just enjoy God's world by yourself. Enjoy it with the people He's put around you. That might be your children. That might be your friends. That might be your church members. That might be your neighbors. There's a lot of ways to do that. It may be the most comprehensive one is enjoying life with your spouse, but really pursue real joy in God's provision and pursue it with people.

We could conclude that since I'm gonna die anyway, maybe love and joy with other people is foolish and naive. Maybe I should just not pursue that. Solomon doesn't say that. He's like, "No, you've been given a gift of life to do-- to live with other people. Enjoy it."

Now remember I said if we d- if we view this the wrong way, you can lose joy or meaning or work. Or joy, meaning, or wisdom, sorry. What Solomon starts with is, don't lose joy. Go find it in the little moments of God's provision, in the luxuries as well as the basic needs, and in the people he's put around you. Don't lose joy. If you trust God for his goodness instead of trusting self for control, you shouldn't lose joy in this life, even though it's fleeting.

So think ahead to this week. Not just where can I enjoy God's gifts, but where can I enjoy it with people? How can I enjoy it with my spouse or my children? What can we do together as an act of worship, enjoying each other and God's creation?

Pursue Meaning in Your Work

Jed Gillis: But it's not just joy. He continues, and he says, "Whatever your hand finds to do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol to which you are going." Whatever you find to do, whatever fruitful good opportunities there are. In other words, don't lose meaning either.

Don't say, I can't control it, so I guess what I do doesn't matter. Why even bother?" He says, no, if you trust God instead of trusting self, you find meaning as well. He says that you shouldn't take and kind of try to save up your effort. I'm not gonna work hard in this life. I've got all eternity to work hard anyway. No, what you're gonna do it wholeheartedly. Do it to be fruitful.

That can feel like work. That can feel like play. It doesn't matter. He says, "Whatever your hand finds to do it with all your might." Work hard in the opportunities God has given you to be meaningful and fruitful in what you do.

We use this phrase around athletics. We say when an athlete plays hard the entire game, we say he left it all on the field. And we know what that looks like. What Solomon is telling you is that this physical life you have, it's like the game time, just leave it all on the field.

 Don't sit here and go I'm gonna save it up. I'm not gonna plan real hard right now because, eventually in eternity then I'll start planning. He's like, "No, there's not planning and wisdom like that in the future." He says, "This is your opportunity to be fruitful and meaningful in what you do. This is your chance to have," as he describes here, "work and thought and knowledge and planning and wisdom." Now, it doesn't mean there won't be thought and wisdom in heaven, but it's not fruitful and accomplishing things under the sun at this point, 'cause remember, the whole thing is this is under the sun.

So right here in your life, whatever you start to do, even though life is unpredictable, and even though one day you'll die Leave it all on the field. Work.

And my question here is, what do you tend to do half-heartedly? Maybe because you don't know how it will all turn out. "I don't know how to control it."

And you talk about relationships with a friend, "Now, I'd really like to build a better friendship with him, but I'm not sure how it'll all work out, so I'm not gonna really try too hard at it." No, really build it. You say, "I don't know if I really wanna work super hard at my job, 'cause I just don't know what the end result's gonna be." Solomon says, "No, that's your opportunity for fruitful, meaningful labor." I don't know if I wanna go look for a new job because maybe I won't find a better one. He's like, "No, this is your opportunity for fruitful, meaningful labor. Whatever your hand finds to do it." 

If you think about something in your life you've been half-hearted in, something you think, "I'd like to do this, but I just haven't really pursued it." Now, it might be a crazy dream that you should just say, "I don't wanna do it." That's fine. But if you say, "No, I really wanna pursue this," what can you do this week that says, "I've put my hand to doing this. I wanna do it wholeheartedly. I wanna really take a step forward in this," relationship, job, project, whatever it is. Solomon's calling you to do that.

Pursue Wisdom

Jed Gillis: We can lose joy, we can lose wisdom. But if we trust God for His goodness, even though life's unpredictable, we won't lose joy because God has given us good things to enjoy. We won't lose meaning because He has put fruitful, good things for us to do. And we won't lose wisdom, and this is where he goes the next section.

Solomon says, "I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge; but time and chance happen to them all."

His wisdom is not going to guarantee your outcome. You can have wisdom and yet sometimes the investment doesn't pay off.

You can be the fastest person, but sometimes you trip and you lose the race. You can be the strongest person, but sometimes a fluke happens and you get beat in the battle. Solomon says you're not going to guarantee these outcomes.

But he gives us this picture, this story that I'll really paraphrase starting in verse 13. And he says there was a little city. That little city had a few men in it, and this whole big army came against it. And this would be a really fascinating story if we knew the whole story, but we don't. And somehow, the wisdom of the poor wise man delivers the city that he saved.

So is wisdom better than strength? Yes. Solomon says that. Wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. Wisdom is better, but did it give him memory? Did people remember him? No. Did it change the fact that life is fleeting? No. Did it guarantee the outcome? Did he know ahead of time this is exactly what's going to happen? No.

And we'll get more into wisdom next week because the next chapter includes a whole lot more about wisdom. But what Solomon emphasizes here is that you don't live this life without wisdom, even though wisdom doesn't guarantee your outcomes. Instead, if you trust God for His goodness rather than trusting yourself for control, you don't lose joy, meaning, or wisdom in living under the sun.

Conclusion

Jed Gillis: So there's your three questions where do you need to seek God's wisdom knowing that you face death, knowing that life is up and down? Where do you need to enjoy God's good gifts knowing that death comes, knowing that life includes adversity and prosperity? And where do you need to step into meaningful, fruitful work that maybe you've been half-hearted in? Where do you need to step into that even knowing this life doesn't last forever?

Solomon says this is the way you receive the day that God has given. Every step, every week.

I take that and put it into three quick sentences. Reality is frustrating because this world is broken. Death happens. Control is impossible because this world is unpredictable. Time and chance happen to them all But joy and meaning and wisdom are possible because God is a good giver. That's Solomon's whole philosophical worldview of how to live under the sun in a nutshell.

I want to encourage you to take a moment to spend time with God To think on the sobering truths that Solomon mentions, but also ask God how you can pursue joy and meaning and wisdom this week, trusting the good giver, not trusting yourself for control.

I invite you to take a moment, respond to God, and then we'll sing together.