August 23, 2026 | God the Giver

God the Giver | Ecclesiastes 12

Ecclesiastes 12

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”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets—before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (ESV)

Ecclesiastes 12 reminds us that life and its pleasures are fleeting. God calls us to enjoy His good gifts without trying to hold onto them forever. Rather than chasing control or judging wisdom by outcomes, we can trust God as the good giver of every season. Remembering our Creator leads us to respond with joy, gratitude, fruitful work, and obedience. As fears of failure, death, and uncertainty lose their grip, the fear of God becomes the guiding force in our lives. The message of Ecclesiastes is not despair or anxiety. It is an invitation to fear God, keep His commandments, and rest in His goodness.

Transcript of God the Giver | Ecclesiastes 12

Reading Ecclesiastes With a New Perspective

Jed Gillis: As we've gone through the Book of Ecclesiastes, I imagine that you have, like I have, you've been reminded, not only from scripture, but just from your experience, you've been reminded of how many things in life you can't control, how many things in life you wish you could control.

And sometimes there are things that we joke about, like the weather. Sometimes there are things like technology, and the program projecting words freezes up repeatedly for whatever reason. Sometimes they're things like the response of your friend or your child or your parent or your grandchild. There's so many things that we struggle with because we really aren't in control.

And as we've worked through Ecclesiastes, one of the things that I've heard from many of you has been that we've often gone through Ecclesiastes and it feels like it's just a depressing book. And it feels like it's despairing, and you read through 11 chapters of this guy ranting about how bad life is, and then you get to the end and he just says, "Well, I guess do your best, 'cause that's all you can do." And I get why people... why you can read through it that way, and for many years that's kind of how I thought it was.

I've found it really helpful to take a little bit of a different theme, but I also find that sometimes when somebody shows you, walks through scripture a, a different take than what you've normally read, and then you go back in maybe two months or five years and you read through it again, and it's like, "Wait, what? What did they say about this?" Because if you're like me, if you spend 10 years reading it one way, and then you hear a different perspective on it, it's easy to remember the 10 years and not so easy to remember the new perspective.

So that's why if you did get a paper bulletin, on the back of that bulletin, and if you didn't you can grab one on the way out, on the back of that bulletin is a summary. It's not really a summary of everything in Ecclesiastes. Okay? If you look at it and go, "My favorite passage is not represented," you're probably right. It's a summary, and the point of that summary really is not even to say every important theme in the book, but to say if you wanna go back to Ecclesiastes and read it and think, "I don't wanna read it as if it's just depressing and miserable all the time," these are the themes that I find most helpful to kind of pull those together.

Everything Under the Sun is Fleeting

Jed Gillis: To start with, when he says, "Vanity. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity," when he describes wisdom and pleasure and life and all these things as vanity, he means that they're fleeting. Everything in life is fleeting. You probably have felt that some this week. You probably felt that some in the past few months.

Everything in life, it doesn't last forever. The best, most exciting things... I love, since I've stood up here, I've looked out and I've seen two really little babies, and that's wonderful. That's such a joy. And those of you who have had really little babies and then looked back at your, you know, now 35-year-old, you're like, "It's not the same." It's good, hopefully, but it's not the same. you're not holding them in your arms. Everything in life is fleeting.

The Desire to Control Life Is Frustrating and Robs You of True Joy, Meaning, and Wisdom

Jed Gillis: The second point there in this summary is that the desire to control life is frustrating. That's what Solomon describes as striving after wind or trying to grab the wind. It's frustrating, and it actually robs you of true joy and meaning and wisdom.

Life Includes Evil, Injustice, and Weights of Sadness - So Truly Mourn

Jed Gillis: The third thing is that life includes evil, both moral evil when people do something wrong on purpose and things that just feel weighty and sad. Life includes evil, injustice, and the weights of sadness. So you need to truly mourn.

There are things in life worth being sad. About Don't believe the at least a certain era of like Disney movies where everything's just happy all the time. No, that, that's not actually what this life was made to be after the fall. There's sadness. There are difficulties. There are things worth mourning. There are injustices worth being upset about.

Life Also Includes God, His Gifts, and Meaningful Work - So Truly Enjoy

Jed Gillis: But life also includes God and His gifts, so there are things to enjoy. That's part of what Solomon does, is he says there's highs and there's lows, there's ups and downs, there's prosperity and there's adversity. So really be excited about the good things, and really mourn the sad things.

I think that's why we sometimes think he's just being depressing through the whole book, because he's serious about being sad about things that are sad. But he's also serious about joy. In fact, if you go back, you could, check this. If you go back and look in Ecclesiastes, he mentions joy more often than he mentions vanity. We often see vanity all over the place, and we miss joy, but he says both.

Trust God for His Goodness Rather Than Trusting Self for Control

Jed Gillis: So the conclusion is trust God for His goodness rather than trusting yourself for control. Now maybe you get here and you get the question that I listed last. If I'm supposed to pursue what's wise and good, I can't trust myself for control. I know I can't control the outcomes in my wisdom.

How Do I Know What Is Wise and Good if I Don't Control the Outcomes? Fear God and Keep His Commandments

Jed Gillis: Well then, how do I know what's wise and good if I'm not sure of the outcome? See, we often do this. We say wise investment is whatever investment makes money, but that's not necessarily true. We think if you drive wisely, it's however you drive that keeps you safe. Maybe, or maybe you drive wisely and you still get in an accident. See, we can't guarantee outcomes, which means I can't measure what's wise and good based on outcomes, not solely. So how on earth am I supposed to know what is wise and good?

And the answer to that question is where Solomon ends, "Fear God and keep his commandments."

Say, "I'm not sure how this outcome... I think this is what God says is wise, but I don't know how it will turn out," so fear God and keep His commandments. "I think this is a good path in life, but I don't know how it will turn out." Do I know for sure it's good? Solomon's answer, "Fear God and keep his commandments." That's what we'll get to at the end.

Reading Ecclesiastes 12

Jed Gillis: But let's read together. I'm gonna begin in chapter 11 and verse 8 to give us a little context.

So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity, or fleeting. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment. Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body. For youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

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.' Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain.

In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed and the doors on the street are shut when the sound of the grinding is low and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low.

Before we continue, I know there's a lot of pictures there that maybe you go, "I'm not sure what that is." Get the overall sense as we finish reading through it of the pictures, and we'll go back to them.

They are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way. The almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets. Before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "all is vanity."

Enjoy What's Good, Even Though It Fades

Jed Gillis: So in this last section, Solomon begins with telling you, "Enjoy what's good."

He talks to the young person especially and says, Enjoy the good that's there. Take the joy that God gives and the good gifts that God gives you and enjoy them. Enjoy the good wherever you can because you know, and here's the overall picture, there will be days of darkness. There'll be days of difficulty.

Remember, he's used this phrase under the sun over and over in this book. And we've talked about it. It's worth revisiting. If you walk out, if you look up at the sky, you will see brightness. You'll see the dazzling daylight, but you won't see the stars. You know they're there. You know if you could see past the sunlight, you'd see stars.

But under the sun, where you are here right now in the daylight, all you can see is the dazzle of the sun. It's the brightness of the sun. And so when he gets to this, he tells you this truth. While right now life on this earth may look bright and dazzling and shiny and distracting and all of these things, there's a time when that fades.

Now all of us who aren't kids anymore, at least, we know a little of what that's like. Probably in different ways. You think of kids when they're young. My little four-year-old decides she wants to go from one end of the house to the other, and she just runs. I'm guessing if you're over 60, you don't do that for fun just to run to the other side of your house Like, it was fun and it's so fun for her. It's like, this is exciting. This is what life's all about. And some of those things fade.

And you say, "There are other joys, but running across my house for fun's not one of them." You probably remember things like that. Maybe it's foods. I used to really like Twizzlers when I was a kid. I didn't eat them for, like, 20 years, and then I ate one. I'm like, "This is red plastic. Like, what is this?" I thought they were great. But the thing that excited me faded.

It might be your physical strength, your body. It might be different things you were interested in when you were younger, and you say some of that stuff fades, and for all of us, eventually it will fade even more. The dazzle, the display of excitement of life under the sun, this world looks so exciting, but at some point it fades.

That's why we have to keep getting bigger and bigger toys. Right? The little toddler can play with a ball of string for hours and hours. They can read one book over and over. Ask me how I know sometime. They can read the same book and they love it. But if you're older, you probably go, "I've gotta get different books." I need something a whole lot more expensive than that ball of string Because we know the excitement, the dazzle of things under the sun fades.

Remember Your Creator, Before the Evil Days Come

Jed Gillis: That's the picture that he's giving you here when he gets into chapter 12 and he says, "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and years draw near of which you will say, 'I have no pleasure.' Before," here's the picture of darkness, "before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain." Before life doesn't seem so dazzling and exciting, which could be age, but it can also be other things. You might say, Well, I had this stretch of life that was really good, and then I've had so many things happen that have not been good, that it feels like everything is just darkened in my eyes.

It doesn't have to be that you were once four and now you're 85. It might be that life felt really good 'cause everything was working well, and then difficulties came and clouded over the dazzle of what's under the sun That's his picture. Remember, there will be days of darkness. So enjoy the good while you can. Enjoy the good while you have opportunity.

Life Fades for Everyone

Jed Gillis: And then he continues that picture with these phrases that probably don't stand out to us as to exactly what he's doing. He talks about four different groups of people, the keepers of the house, the strong men, the grinders, and those who look through the windows.

And you're like, "Am I looking through the window? Like, does that count? What is that?" Eh, I believe what he's doing is giving you this overall picture of the community as a whole. Keepers of the house was a phrase for, male servants. Like, these were guys who were working. They were doing physical labor around the estate, would be the word we'd use, but around, around the property.

They kept the house. They took care of things, but they were servants in the social hierarchy, if you will. Strong men, often that phrase is used to describe something like, like the nobles, the powerful, maybe physically powerful, but they don't have to be physically powerful. So you have the servants, and you have the nobles.

Those tend to be male words, and then the next two, when it says grinders, it talks about, grinding flour, like people would make meal, make flour. That was, like, the female servant equivalent of keepers of the house. You have female servants. Those who look through the windows, frankly, I don't think anybody knows for sure what that means, because that was an ancient reference that we don't really know exactly. But one guess that makes sense from some of the other references is that it basically parallels strong men as nobles. You have the women, the no- female nobility, if you will.

So he's saying, like, it doesn't matter who you are. If you think you're powerful or if you think you're just a lowly servant, it doesn't matter if you're male or female, it doesn't matter how you wanna divide society up. His point is everybody has this same reality in their life, that what once was dazzling and exciting about this life will fade. Everybody has the same reality that when we face aging, but not necessarily literally aging, we face the sense of we were excited about something, and it wears out. This life is fleeting. It fades.

When we face that reality, we also face fear. That's the picture. He talks about the keepers of the house tremble. The strong servants who, like, they shouldn't be afraid, but they are. The strong men are bent, the nobles who used to be mighty and powerful, and now they're weak, and they can barely hold themselves up.

The grinders, see, so the people who are making flour, like you need that in an ancient world if you wanna have bread, you need somebody grinding flour. The grinders stop 'cause they're like, "There's not enough of us to do any good anyway." Fear.

And instead of gazing out the windows, instead of looking at what's going on, they're shutting the windows and hiding away. The picture is of like an aging community, not only aging people. Think about... assuming that Solomon wrote this, and assuming he wrote it towards the end of his life, think about what happens right after Solomon's life.

He's reigning over Israel at prosp- probably the most prosperous time. They have so much wealth. But what happens right after he, he dies, his son becomes king, the kingdom gets split. I imagine that Solomon's looking out at the community, at the kingdom, and he says, "Oh, I can see how this is going to go badly." He says, "30 years ago it looked really great. Everything was doing really well, but man, I see some problems coming." That's probably what he's describing. He's saying, "I look out at Israel and it still looks good and rich. But it's fading. It's fleeting. I know my sons are gonna have some problems, and I don't know how they're gonna work through it. I think that's what he's thinking about is the community in Israel that he's talking with.

Sometimes What Looks Good Doesn't Pan Out

Jed Gillis: And so then he continues in verse five, and he gives us three pictures here that again, we may not get all these pictures. The almond tree blossoms. Like, what's that have to do with anything? I don't have an almond tree. You probably don't have an almond tree. but the picture is this is one of the earliest flowering plants in that area. So the idea is at the very beginning of spring, there's this excitement of this plant's gonna bloom, and it's gonna produce a great crop. He chose one that bloomed early on purpose, just like he said, "Remember with excitement, with joy in the days of your youth."

He says, "Look back at the beginning." But then the grasshopper drags itself along. You're like, "What on earth does that mean?" the picture is like the grasshopper eats so much, it's gorged itself so that as it's walking, like its belly's dragging the ground.

Have you ever tried, I've done this, we, I don't have almonds, but I do have blackberries, and then we've had plums, and we've had blueberries. We have different things like that. You know how you watch and you go, "It's almost ripe. It's just about to be ripe. I'll give it one more day." You go inside, you come out the next day, and what's happened? The birds ate them all, or the bugs.

This is the grasshopper devourers. You go, "Oh, this is a great crop." But then over time, the locusts, the grasshoppers come and they eat your crop before you can enjoy it sometimes. Or in the metaphor he's using, at the beginning of your life or at certain stages in your life, you have all this excitement looking forward. Blooms, blossoms, there's all kinds of potential, and then sometimes you get down the road and you say like, the locust, the grasshopper of time has just eaten away that potential.

Then he says, "And desire fails." That's an attempt to, paraphrase what literally says, "The caper berry is ineffective." Desire fails probably makes more sense, but basically they would use these caper berries. They thought that would keep them young and youthful in various ways and keep them enjoying life, and at some point it stops.

That's what they're saying when it says, "Desire fails." It'd be like if we were to say, "I am going to, I'm gonna exercise and eat healthy so that I can stay young and strong forever." And we know that doesn't work It might be good. It might keep you young and strong for a while, but at some point, you're not gonna be young and strong.

Desire fails, or the things you do to try and keep yourself going as a young and strong person, eventually they're ineffective.

Death Happens

Jed Gillis: The whole picture, he's just really in this whole metaphor, he's saying everything is fleeting. Everything in this life is fleeting because, as he continues, man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets because death happens.

Now, this is the reason we feel like Ecclesiastes is sometimes depressing, and it is true that Ecclesiastes tells you repeatedly, you are not going to live in this body and this life forever. Death is real. Decay is real. Your body will not work as well at 95 as it did at 12. I could bring those ages in a lot too.

But Ecclesiastes keeps this in front of you. Young people, Ecclesiastes keeps it in front of you because it's easy for you to forget. Some people in this room, it is very easy to remember that their bodies don't work the way they used to. Some of you, it's like, "Yeah, I've heard about that somewhere." But Ecclesiastes says even for young people, remember death happens.

This is what is going to happen, and he gives this beautiful picture, four pictures really. The silver cord is snapped, the golden bowl is broken, the pitcher is shattered at the fountain or the wheel broken at the cistern. He's just taking things that they viewed as wonderful and valuable, and he's saying they're gonna end. At some point they break.

You take a picture of a wheel, it's a cycle, and that's what he did at the very beginning of the book. He said there are all these cycles of weather, of all these different things, one generation and then the next. There are all these cycles. In your life, you go to sleep, you wake up. It's a cycle. You keep doing it. And his point is eventually that wheel, that cycle, breaks. It doesn't last forever in this life. But it is wonderful.

Nobody hearing this would say, "Well, if the golden bowl breaks, then there's no point in ever having a golden bowl at all." Nobody would say, "Well, I had this wonderful silver cord that I used for all this decorative... It was great, but if it's ever gonna break, then I shouldn't have ever had it at all."

Nobody says that, and that's his point here. He says now when we look at our lives and you think, "Well, it's fleeting," the conclusion isn't, "Well, what's the point of having life at all if it doesn't last?" Point is, it was a great gift from your Father. A great gift from the Creator who has given you this opportunity. But it's fleeting.

That's where he gets to verse eight and he echoes what he said in chapter one verse two, the exact same phrasing, "Vanity of vanities," says the preacher, "All is vanity." Fleeting. Everything passes.

Remember Your Creator

Jed Gillis: But then going in, jumping back actually to the beginning of chapter 12 and looking forward to where he says, "God is the judge." He said, "Remember to enjoy God's good gifts." And then he says, "Remember there is a creator judge before the dazzle of life fades." Don't be like, "This life is so amazing. This is wonderful," and then get to your deathbed and be like, "Oh, yeah, there's a creator judge somewhere."

Remember that. Remember that beforehand. Interestingly, we have this great New Testament picture for remembering the creator judge that gets this really well. There's a story Jesus told about, a nobleman who had wealth, and he leaves his wealth with three different servants. One of them is given 10 talents. That's a whole lot of money. One of them is given five talents. That's half as much, but still a lot. And one of them is given one talent. And in that story, Mr. Ten Talent and Mr. Five Talent, they both, we're told in the text, they go and they invest, and they double that money and they bring it back. When the master returns, they say, "Here's your money."

In other words, they trusted that the master was gone, but he's gonna come back, and they used it wisely in a way that they said, "When he comes back, we're gonna give it to him and he's gonna reward." Mr. One Talent was afraid. He wanted to guarantee his outcomes. He says, "If I invest, I might lose it, so I'm gonna make sure that when the master comes back, if he does, I'll have one talent to give him back."

So he was afraid, he was anxious. He didn't trust the goodness of his master. He said, "I'm gonna control." You hear all the Ecclesiastes words? "I'm gonna control what's going on." And at the end of the day, Mr. Ten Talent and Mr. Five Talent wisely with joy, they trusted the goodness of their master and they were rewarded. Mr. One Talent, who pursues anxiety and control, he's condemned.

That's because Mr. Ten Talent and Mr. Five Talent said, "There's a good master who is a judge when he returns." Mr. One Talent said, "I'm not sure he's good." Now we're told he knows he was a judge. He knew that part. "I'm not sure he's good. I'm gonna be anxious and control everything."

Solomon, as he goes through this book, years and years before, is saying, "Don't be like Mr. One Talent, who's anxious and controlling, who doesn't trust the goodness of the master. Be like Mr. Ten Talent and Mr. Five Talent. Take the good that he's given you and use it. And use it knowing that he's a good creator and judge. Use it wisely." Because all of life is fleeting.

When You Take a Good Thing that is Fleeting, and Try to Make it Last Forever, You Ruin It

Jed Gillis: When you try to take something that is fleeting and try to make it last forever you messed it up. Think about a gallon of milk. Think about flowers. We can make beautiful fake flowers, but are they the same thing? I've seen some that looked really good. You go to smell them and like, "Nah When we try to make it permanent. Now you can dry them, but that's still not the same.

Think about your favorite coffee. Don't think too hard about it, 'cause I'll lose you. But think about your favorite coffee, and you sip a little. Oh, it's perfect, exactly the right temperature. I'm just gonna make it last for the next four hours. Better go ahead and drink that.

Think about stages of your life. I remember a friend of mine one time, was probably late 30s at the time, talking about college and said, "College was the best stage of my whole life." I understand some of that. I hope that's not true now, 'cause it's kinda sad. I had this one stage of life, four years. It was good. Past that, it's all downhill.

I don't think that's the way God meant for us to look at life. When you think about stages and you think middle school probably was one of the worst stages for many of you. And then you go up to high school, and you're like, "Ah, I'm top of the world." And then you go to college, and you're like, "Oh, now I'm a freshman. How do I handle..." We go back and forth on these stages, right? When you try to make a stage last forever, if somebody tries to act like a middle school boy for the rest of their life not good.

You see, when we take something that's fleeting, and is good. I love middle school kids. I love middle school. I like teaching them. I love middle school boys. But I don't really want my son, when he's 35, to act like a middle school boy. Because if you try to take anything that's meant to be fleeting and make it permanent, we're gonna keep this forever, it's not good. That's the issue as you go through Ecclesiastes. A fleeting life does not need to be a futile and pointless one. It's only futile and pointless if you try to make it last forever. If you try to say, "This is where all of the joy I can have is in this life right now," you try to make it permanent then it'll feel pointless. Fleeting things are not bad unless you try to make them permanent.

Trust God, Not Yourself

Jed Gillis: So that's where the phrase I said earlier, trust God for His goodness rather than trusting yourself for control. And this is one of the big lessons throughout the book. You actually can't at the same time do both of those. If you are trusting yourself for control then you're not trusting God for His goodness in that issue.

Now, if you're like me, you can flip the switch back and forth, and you can be like, "I'm worried and I'm trusting myself for control," and then 10 minutes later you can be trusting God for His goodness. Sure. But in the moment that I'm trusting myself for control, I'm not trusting God for goodness. And if I'm trusting God for His goodness, then I'm not trusting in myself for control.

If you depend on your control for your emotional wellbeing and safety. Read that part again. If you depend on your control for your emotional wellbeing and safety, then you're not really resting in God's goodness. You're resting in yourself. So knowing that life is passing, trust in His goodness.

Ecclesiastes Specifically Addresses Young People

Jed Gillis: Now this text specifically addresses young people, so I'm gonna say specifically some things to young people. You're all young compared to somebody. And the, the whole principle really applies regardless. But I do wanna specifically talk to some of my young people in the room.

Death and Decay Are Real, You Are Not Indestructable

Jed Gillis: There's two things Ecclesiastes tells us that especially when you're young, I want you guys to hear.

First is that decay and death are real. That means you're not invincible, you're not indestructible, you're not all but eternal. One day, I know we can look around and you can look at people and go, "One day, probably not too long, they might not be here on this earth," but one day you won't be either That's true for all of us.

You're not invincible. I found out some of you know I had, arm surgery, tore a bicep tendon, and you know, I did not, before I picked up that weight, I did not think there was any chance my bicep tendon was about to tear. Like in theory I knew it was possible, but I wasn't, like, thinking about it. It's always true for us. We don't always think, "Oh, life's fleeting. My body might break. One day some of these joys won't be here." Like you- we don't think that all the time.

In the ancient world, people your age had seen death a whole lot more than you guys have Both human death and animal death, you know, we-- you could easily, sometimes you could be fifteen or eighteen and have never seen anything die except maybe a roach, which you celebrate. Right?

But in the ancient world, that's not how it worked. In the ancient world, people this age had probably already seen multiple family members die and be buried. It was easier to remember, oh, death and decay are real, than it is now. Your time is limited. If you're 10 or 12, your time is limited. If you're five, your time is limited.

You don't have forever in this life. That's obvious when you're older. It's less obvious when you're young. So what do you wanna pursue under the sun? What do you wanna do with your limited time? If I told you, some of you young people, if you're gonna go hang out with your best friend, you have two hours to... that's it. Two hours. You don't get to see him again for another three months. You'd be like, "I'm making the most of this time. We're gonna do something fun for two hours," right?

But it feels real different when we say you probably have 70 years. But it's gonna pass, too. Feels a lot longer, but what do you want to do with your time? What do you want to pursue? What good things do you wanna pursue? How do you want to love God? Because this book, Ecclesiastes, is not primarily a book about what to do. It's primarily a book about why and how you should do it. It's not mainly telling you, do this, do this, do this. It's mainly telling you, "Life is fleeting, so here's the kind of way you should live." That's true if you're young, it's true if you're old. So young people, your time is limited. Death and decay are real.

God is a Good Giver, So Live Responsively to His Goodness

Jed Gillis: Second piece of a, really of a Christian worldview as a whole, God is a good giver, so you should live responsively to His goodness. I use responsively because I want you to think about the fact that God's goodness comes to you. Now, how do you respond?

A lot of ways. One, enjoy it. And I hope you've heard that over and over in Ecclesiastes. Enjoy the good things God gives you. Like, really enjoy them. Even though they are fleeting, even though they don't last forever, really enjoy. That's responsive to God's goodness. If, parents, if you give your child a Christmas present, you want them to enjoy it. So that's one way to respond.

We respond to God's goodness with trust. When it feels good to us and when it feels difficult to us, we trust that God is good.

We respond to God's goodness with gratitude. God the giver gives you so many good things, simple things like breath and life, simple things like good smells and good taste, and bigger things like a family or a spouse or friends. All kinds of things that God has given, do we respond with gratitude?

We respond with fruitful work. What has God put in front of you to be fruitful in? Say, "God, you've given me this opportunity. I wanna take advantage of it." I wanna pursue living in a way that bears fruit.

And we respond as he gets to at the end of this book with careful obedience. Fear God and keep His commandments.

The Summary of Ecclesiastes: Fear God, and Keep His Commandments

Jed Gillis: That brings us back to the question I asked at the beginning. How do I know what is wise and what is good if I can't control the outcomes? And that's why he wraps up. Notice he gets here and he says, "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

He doesn't come here and say, "Forget the rest of Ecclesiastes. This is all you really needed to hear." That's not the point. It sits on top of the rest of the book. He didn't just say, "All the rest of that was despairing nonsense, so now fear God and keep His commandments." No, He's building the case he's built the whole time, and he says, "Now here's the summary of all of it. Fear God and keep His commandments."

I think it's important here real quick to revisit the fear of God. So many times we talk about it and we're like, "Wait, what does fear of God mean?" And we wrestle through that.

Why Does God Call Us to Fear Him?

Jed Gillis: What I wanna do instead is ask you this quickly. Why do you think God calls it that? He knew every misunderstanding that you could have when he says, "The fear of God." And yet he chose to use that term. So why does he do that?

And here in the book of, Ecclesiastes, I think this is why. We are all driven by a ton of fears, including the fear of death. Okay, when we, want to control things, and when we feel out of control, what do we feel? Afraid of something. Those fears drive all kinds of central deep things in our lives. In other words, when we are aware of our lack of control, we have all these different fears which drive us in the wrong place.

Now, if instead you say, "I'm not trying to be in control. I'm trusting God for His goodness," then what becomes the primary driver in my life isn't fear of death, it isn't fear of disapproval, it isn't all these other fears. What takes their place is my relationship to God. I think that's why he calls it the fear of God, because it replaces all of these other fears that drive you in the wrong direction.

When he says fear God, that's also saying don't fear all of these other things that drive you. Don't fear disapproval. Don't fear failure. Don't fear death. Don't let that drive you. Instead, look to God. Replace all those fears with this thing he calls the fear of God.

And that fear isn't because I'm out of control. My relationship to God is because I trust Him and I love Him so much. That's what brings fear of God. So fear God and keep His commandments. Let that be the deepest driver you have.

Ecclesiastes: The Antidote to Anxiety

Jed Gillis: The conclusion of this book is not despair. I hope you see that. The conclusion of this book is not passivity. I can't control things, so I'm just not gonna try, just see what happens. The conclusion of this book is not anxiety. In fact, I think rightly understood, this book is the best antidote to anxiety in scripture. You aren't in control and you aren't meant to be in control. But God the giver is.

Instead, despair and passivity and anxiety eat away at our joy and our meaning and our wisdom. So don't trust yourself for control, but trust God for goodness. And that means as you walk out of here, as you continue in your lives, enjoy God. He's a good giver who walks with you. Enjoy His good gifts, whether they seem big or small to you right now. Enjoy the opportunities He's put in front of you. You weren't made for worry and anxiety. That's what comes when you try to control everything. You were made to enjoy your God, enjoy His gifts, and to trust Him for life above the sun. To trust Him that this life that passes isn't all there is. And He is.

I want to ask you Would you repeat as we often do? God is good. And all the time.

You take a moment and respond to God in prayer, and we'll pray together.