Get Out of the Stands

Someone has defined the game of football as 60,000 people desperately in need of exercise watching 22 people desperately in need of arrest Maybe a pretty good Description of football, but it is also sadly, I believe become a metaphor for The way we operate in this life in society, especially in Western culture today. We have become a Spectator society We've become the kind of society that takes the easy path that doesn't like to venture out and take any risks That does not like to get involved would prefer to watch life go by there is no Better symptom of that disease in our society today than reality television another Contemporary Christian artist has put out a song today called leaving Eden and in that song He describes how this world has become something much different than what got intended it to be when he created mankind and One of the symptoms he says that one of the ways he describes it is I would not know what reality was if I did not have reality TV and it's sad isn't it that something that is not real at all that has no resemblance to real life is passed off as reality and we think that's real life and we prefer to sit back and watch it We are a spectator society as Christians there is another angle to this that I think sometimes Disturbs us it should disturb us I believe and that is the thinking that this life is only the waiting room for heaven That really there's nothing worthwhile in this life that we are saved only for heaven and it is only in heaven that there will be Reward and joy not in this life Now before I go any further I must say please don't misunderstand what I'm saying I am fully aware of what Paul says in Romans 8 and the older I get the more I realize it by experience That we grown here in this body and in this life we do grown And we have a hope and that hope is what awaits us in heaven and if we have here what we hope for Then what's the use of hope in the biblical sense of looking forward to what God's prepared for? I fully understand that I embrace that I think I understand it better the older I get But it's possible to swing all the way to the other end of the spectrum Based on some kind of distorted view of worldliness and take the view that there is nothing in this life that is worthwhile There is nothing in this life to be enjoyed We just endure this life until we get to heaven and that's not biblical either In fact Solomon is helping us to see In the book of Ecclesiastes that there is a lot in this life that should be viewed everything in this life that God's place before us Should be viewed as his gracious and good gift and we should enjoy it thoroughly I Read last week of quote I want to read it again because it's so appropriate today as well From Walt Kaiser and his excellent little commentary on unecclesiastes He says cohellaath and that's the the Hebrew word for teacher and it's what the writer calls himself cohellaath urges acceptance of the grace and joy of life not pessimism Nealism and blind determinism Believers are to be rebukeed for rejecting God's worldly gifts and refusing to use them in a proper way Out of a distorted view of worldliness where every pleasure Ordained by God from Anz' enjoyment is either denied or begrudgingly used Many have developed a superpious unhappy and even miserable existence This text and he's referring to the text that we're going to be looking at in Ecclesiastes 9 This text proclaims liberation to them brother and sister rejoice in God's good gifts and ask for his ability rightfully To use them What we have seen in the book of Ecclesiastes is that at the latter part of the book and I'll ask three four chapters of the book Solomon is pulling together all the strands of truth that he's been dealing with and he's developing the concept Okay now put it all together This is how God intends for us to live We've seen that life with meaning and purpose really begins with a relationship with God That's where it has to start and that's the center and focus of any life that has purpose and meaning and fulfillment is A relationship with God and we know from the New Testament that that relationship with God Is entered into through faith and Christ Based upon he did what he did when he died for our sins on the cross When we embrace Jesus as our Savior We come into a relationship with God But that only begins to help the pieces of the puzzle fit together as far as this life is concerned Yes, we are forgiven and justified and set free from sin heaven is our home and that is our hope But we still have a life here to live And what Solomon is saying is Enjoy what is put in front of you here if it's material possessions if it's your job if it's your family if it's food and drink or the simple things of life Enjoy them fully. That's what we saw last week in Ecclesiastes 9 verses 7 through 9 Now he's following that same train of thought beginning in verse 10 this morning. We're going to look at verses 10 and 11 and 12 today And Solomon basically is giving us today two more elements of a biblical approach to life If we're going to have a biblical approach to life We must live with enjoyment of the simple and good and and godly gifts that he gives us But we also need to live with enthusiasm Live with enthusiasm Notice how Solomon says that I think you'll understand why I've chosen that word to describe verse 10 Whatever your hand finds to do do it with all your might For in the realm of the dead where you are going there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom But in the first half of the verse Solomon describes how to live with enthusiasm And notice again how he says it He says whatever your hand finds to do do it with all your might In other words put yourself fully in the life throw yourself into it With the attitude that this is a good gift that gods given you put yourself into it do it with all your might And and he's building upon what he's just said about that joyful attitude Remember verse seven he said talking about gladness and joyfulness Verse eight always having a festive attitude toward life and then verse nine enjoying life and building on that Basically, he's saying now go after life Go after it be enthusiastic about it throw yourself fully into it with this joyful attitude A joyful attitude will affect you and everybody around you It will generate enthusiasm for life and all that God's given you And the key to having that kind of an attitude of joy and enthusiasm about life is to be able to see all of life as a good gift from God And he intends us to enjoy it and live it to the full That The key is to be able to see that joyful perspective that positive perspective on all things One man expressed it this way when his son brought home a report card that had all F's and D's Is everything good about that? Well, this dad evidently found something to rejoice in he looked at his son. He said well at least son. I know you're not cheating I Guess that's good You have a choice as to how you view life you have all of us have a choice as to how we view life And Solomon is basically saying there is no place for a Defeatest attitude that just kind of drifts along in life and really ends up being a spectator in the stands Watching what's happening on the field because you're thinking won't do any good anyway And life is so hard and so tough Note again what Solomon says Whatever Your hand finds to do the idea of your hand finding to do is whatever God places before you Each day and as the day goes along whatever your hand finds to do whatever whatever That includes your work When God places work before you do it with all your heart Dut with all your might It includes your home life do that with all your might love your family with all your might It includes your play play with all your might It includes travel travel when you travel travel with all your might When you pray pray with all your might when you worship worship with all your might There is no room for a lätharjeac worship among the people of God Do it with all your might. Don't sit back in the stands and just watch it happen. Participate. Be enthusiastic about it. I love what missionary Jim Elliott used to say. Jim Elliott was one of the five missionaries martyred early in life in 1956 by the Acha Indians and Ecuador. This is what he wrote. He said, wherever you are, be all there. Live to the help every situation you believe to be the will of God. As what Solomon's saying, whatever your hand finds to do, whatever is in front of you in a day, go at it with all your might. Do it with all your might. That's contagious. It's infectious. There are too many people around us today. Grim profits of doom, with frowns on their faces, proclaiming that everything is going down the tubes. Our country is going down the tubes. Our world is going down the tubes. Everything is bad. There's no sunshine. It's all clouds. And I understand there are great challenges today. You can choose to focus on those if you want to. I'm not going to. I don't think that's a biblical philosophy of life. I'm not going to put my head in the sand, but I'm not going to choose to live with that kind of fear and that kind of pessimism. There's much that God has put in front of us to enjoy and to live. And Solomon is saying, whatever your hand finds to do, throw yourself into it. Do it with all your might. It's no wonder people aren't interested in Christianity. At least the kind we pedal is not very attractive to most people because it's so dead and pessimistic and dry. People look at it and say, where is the life in that? Where is any joy or peace or life in that? So Solomon says, live with enthusiasm. Throw yourself into whatever God puts in front of you. Do it with all your might. And then he tells us in the end of the verse, why to live with enjoyment? Notice what he says. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. Four or because, here's the why. Because in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. Now there have been some who have said, well, here comes Solomon's pessimism coming out again. This pessimistic view of life that does not believe in life after death. That's not at all what Solomon's saying. We've already seen in this book. He's well aware that there is life and activity after death. He's already talked about that. He will talk about it very clearly in chapter 12. In fact, he'll end the book with that. It's a thrust of his in the book. Solomon's not saying, the writer of this book is not saying, there's nothing after death. There's no life after death. There's no activity in heaven. He's not saying that. He's already talked about that. He's fully aware of that. He knows that. Remember, although it's not in this verse, in many of these kinds of passages, he's already seen that he uses the expression under the sun or in this life. The idea is here, right here, in this life, on this planet during your one lifetime. That's the only opportunity you have for those things, working, planning, knowledge, wisdom. You will not be able to change anything about your life once you die. You only have that one opportunity. This is not a denial of life after death. It's saying there's only one opportunity for activity in the presence of God. There's only one opportunity for you in relationship to this world. It's gone when you die. It's much like Jesus said. And I used this verse last week. It's appropriate again. Please ask John chapter 9 and verse 4, where Jesus said, as long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Knight is coming when no one can work. I read one commentary this week that said, that verse doesn't apply. I think he kind of knew people would think that's the same idea. That verse doesn't apply because it's only talking about the ministry of Jesus. Well, Jesus is in the context talking about his own ministry, but he quotes a proverb at the end that applies to everybody. The Knight is coming when no one can work. In other words, Jesus is telling his disciples, we've got one chance to do what God has planned for me to do in my ministry. It's here. It's now. It's in this life. And once the sun sets on life and Knight comes, it's done. There's no more opportunity to live this life. I said it last week. I'll say it again. Life is not a trial run. There's no going through life and saying, okay, now I know how it works. I'm going to go over and do it again. Do it better this time. You get one run through. There's just one ride through life. And what Solomon is saying is there is no opportunity for the kind of working and planning and knowledge and wisdom that you have the opportunity to have in this life. Once this life is done. And so he's saying, live it now. That's why I live life with enthusiasm because you have one chance to live your life in a way that will glorify God in a way that accepts and embraces his life. And embraces his good gifts as he's told us to and deliver the enjoyment and enthusiasm. You have one chance to do that. I found a poem that I cut out several years ago and I stuck it in my files. It's entitled simply now. It's an anonymous poem. If you have hard work to do, do it now. Today the skies are clear and blue. At least in the poem. Today the skies are clear and blue. Tomorrow clouds may come in view. Yesterday is not for you. Do it now. If you have a song to sing, sing it now. Let the notes of gladness ring clear as song of bird in spring. Let every day some music bring. Sing it now. If you have kind words to say, say them now. Tomorrow may not come your way. Do it kindness while you may. Loved ones will not always stay. Say them now. If you have a smile to show, show it now. Make hearts happy. Roses grow. Let the friends around you know. The love you have before they go. Show it now. That's what solven say. Don't wait till tomorrow. Don't wait till things get better. Don't wait for retirement. Live the life God has placed in front of you today. Throw yourself into it with enthusiasm. Live it to the hill. As Jim Elliott would say. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. Because this life will end someday. And there are no reruns. You'll be in the presence of God. And what you will answer for in his presence is this one life you were given to live. Don't waste the opportunities God has given you. Live with enthusiasm. So live with enjoyment. Live with enthusiasm. And then he gives us a third key to having a biblical approach to life. And it's this. Live with involvement. Now, it may not be clear at first why I have chosen that word to summarize verses 11 and 12. But let me explain what I mean by living with involvement. I think it really follows up on what Solomon is saying here. Don't make excuses as to why you will not get involved in life. Don't sit it out in the stands. Don't be a spectator in life. Don't be inactive, hesitant, passive thinking that well, you know, I really can't do anything anyway. I'm not very talented. I'm not very smart. I'm not really very skillful. I'm not as good as other people. So I'm just going to kind of ride this out. Solomon gives us two reminders about life that should prompt our thinking and remind us that that is not the way to live, that we should live with this enthusiasm about life that involves ourselves in life. First reminder is in verse 11. And it's this. Human ability is no guarantee of success. Human ability is no guarantee of success. He says, I have seen something else under the sun. The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong. Nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned. But time and chance happen to them all. These are amazing words. Solomon lists five different kinds of ability. The kinds of ability that we look at and say that's what makes a person successful. Look at them. There is. Where are we? Verse 11, there it is. It's being swift. That's a great human ability. Being strong. Being wise. And the Hebrew word has more the idea of clever. Really insight into how things ought to be done. Clever about things. Then being brilliant or we might say sharp, really sharp mentally. And then the fifth one is to be learned that the Hebrew word has more the idea of skillful. You know how to do things. Now we look at those five abilities and we say, man, that person's got it all together. That person is going to be a success. Swift, strong, clever, sharp, skillful. They've got it made in life. They are going to do well in life. That is surely the criteria for success. They got it all together. And that's what we would say about a person like that. And what Solomon is saying is it doesn't always work out that way. It's not that the Swift never win the race. Sometimes they do. It's not that the stronger army never wins the battle. Yeah, that happens. Solomon's point is that that's not a hard and fast rule about life. That it always happens. Because there are too many variables that you cannot control about life. And the way he states it at the end of the verse is time and chance happen to them all. Now, is he talking about luck or fortune or misfortune or bad luck? No. No. Solomon doesn't believe in that any more than I do. I don't believe that there's any such thing as luck or fortune, either good or bad, in the believer's life. God is in control of all things. Okay, so there's no luck about life. Solomon has already made a huge point of the fact that God is in control of time. Remember chapter three? There's a time for everything. And God makes all things beautiful in its time and his time. God is in control of the time. He's also made a huge deal in chapter eight of God being in control of every event. And by the way, the word chance here, the Hebrew word literally is the idea for occurrence. In fact, most commentators say it's the best word to use. A occurrence or event. So time and events will happen to us that are beyond our control and may change the result that we think will come because we're swift or strong or brilliant or skillful or whatever. There's a lot beyond our control. And these two things are beyond our control. Time. You have no idea what's going to happen in the future. You do not control time. Thankfully, chapter three, God does so we can trust him. There are events and occurrences in life in the future that you cannot control. Remember, you can't see around the corner. You don't know what's coming tomorrow, next week or next month. Thankfully, chapter eight, God does. God does control those things. So what Solomon is saying is it is not human ability that guarantees you success in life. So if you lack human ability, that's no reason to back away from life. If you lack skill or brilliance or power or swiftness, all the things that on a human level we think make it mean a person's really got life going for them. If you lack those things, that's no reason to back off. Because Solomon's point is nobody can control time and the occurrences of life. Only God can do that. And so what he's suggesting is you involve yourself in life even if you're not the swiftest or the strongest or the wisest or the brilliantest. I guess most brilliant. Even if you're not the best in all those things, you still involve yourself in life because time and chance happened to everybody. Time and future occurrences that we cannot control will happen to everybody. And so it's no reason to back away from life. Human ability is no guarantee of success. The converse of that human inability is no guarantee of failure. So involve yourself in life. Walk each step, each day recognizing that no matter what is around the corner, no matter what the future holds, no matter what may occur. Or event may happen to me, God's in control of that. And so I'm going to live life that he's given me and not back away from it. Not sit in the stands. I'm going to be an active participant on the field. Live with involvement because human ability is no guarantee of success. But he gives us a second reminder in verse 12. And that is that you cannot predict the future. You probably saw this one coming. But you cannot predict the future. He says moreover, no one knows when their hour will come. Interesting phrase, their hour. Mostly that it refers to death. It is obviously a momentous occasion, specifically identified with each person, almost like an appointment, their hour. The hour assigned to them. It probably is referring to death as the Bible sometimes does, as an appointment that we have. Not only to God, it is our time, our hour. He says no one knows when their hour will come. And then he gives a couple examples of that in life and the uncertainty of it. As fish are caught in a cruel net or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. You cannot predict the future. Not even when you will die. No one knows the hour when your hour will come. It's a sobering thought and it does not necessarily have to be a pessimistic thought or a negative thought. It can be a joyful thought if you know Christ and you realize the sting of death has been removed and you only enter into the presence of God. If I die this afternoon, it's the best thing that can happen to me in the sense that I'll be with the Lord. And I'll be in his presence. So it's not something to fear, but it is unpredictable. It is unpredictable. It's like a bird or a fish, as he says, starts out swimming, leaves its little coral reef or whatever in the morning and thinks it's out for a great day and all of a sudden runs into a net. I didn't expect that. Or a bird leaves its perch in a tree in the morning out for its morning flight and doesn't realize the snare that has been the trap that has been set for it in the next tree. Unexpected events. People are trapped by things that happen, things that were different than we expected. Unforeseen circumstances, what Solomon calls evil times, that fall unexpectedly upon them. You cannot predict the future. Now that works both ways. You can't predict whether you will have success or failure. You can't predict. You can't sit back and say, well, if I do this, then I know I'll be successful. That's in God's hands. You also can't say, well, if I don't do that or if I do this, I will surely not be a failure or I will fail. If I try this, I will fail. You can't predict that either. So Solomon's point is, don't let those things put you in the stands. Don't let that fear of the uncertainty of the future paralyze you and cause you to say, I'm not going to try anything. I'm going to watch life go by. No, that's not a biblical philosophy of life. A biblical philosophy of life is to live not only with enthusiasm but with involvement. To throw yourself into life, it is impossible to predict the future. You can't say that I'm going to be a success or I'm going to be a failure. You can't say that for sure. So don't let the possibility of either of those paralyze you into inaction. Get involved in life anyway. Throw yourself into it. Live it to the guilt, to the glory of God. That's what Solomon's saying. I love the writings of Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. He's written a lot of good books in the last 10 years or so. And a book he wrote last year is called Every Good and Debra. In that book, he tells a story of Mike. He says, Mike is one of 15 dormans serving a large Manhattan co-op. His apartment building is home to about 100 families. Now in his early 60s, Mike immigrated to the United States from Croatia as a young man and worked in many kinds of jobs from the restaurant business to manual labor. He's been a dormant in this apartment building for 20 years and is clearly distinctive in his attitude to his work, toward his work. To Mike, it's far from just a job. He cares about the people in the building and takes pride in helping with loading, finding parking spaces and welcoming guests. He sets the standard for keeping his lobby and the front of the building clean and attractive. Someone went and interviewed him one day and then Keller writes, asked what makes him drop what he's doing to get to the curb in time to help unload a resident's car after a weekend away. He responds, that's my job. Or they needed help. Why does he remember the name of every child? Because they live here, he says. At one point to the question, but why do you work so hard at every part of this job? He replied, I don't know. It's just what I need to be able to look at myself in the mirror in the morning. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try my best every day. He appears to work out of gratefulness for the job and for his life. He is glad to be in this country and for the opportunities it has given him. Keller concludes by saying this. He says most of the people Mike serves are professionals or business people who are probably glad not to be dormant. Some might even find the work of a dormant demeaning if they had to do it themselves. But Mike's attitude shows that he recognizes the inherent dignity of the work he is doing and in this he brings out its goodness and worth. And I might say he does it to the glory of God. Can you work as a dormant in a high rise apartment building in the middle of Manhattan and live life to the hilt? Live it with enjoyment and enthusiasm and involvement? Yes, you can. Mike is proof of that. What God is telling us is this. And what has been so impressed upon me this week is this. I urge you not to be a spectator in life. Get out of the stands. Get on the field. Get in the race. Get in the game. Live with enthusiasm. Live with involvement. The idea that I mentioned earlier that many folks are just waiting for heaven. You just got to kind of endure this life and wait your time out like you're serving time in prison until you can finally get the heaven. That idea of the Christian life is not a biblical view of life. In fact, it's backwards. The way the Bible presents it is exactly the opposite. Read Romans or Hebrews 12, one and two again sometime. And you'll remember that the way the Bible pictures the Christian life is the Christian life is a race. And as long as you're alive, you are in the race. There are people in the stands called by the writer of Hebrews, the cloud of witnesses who are witnessing your race. They're the people who died in the context he's referring back to the people that he's talked about in chapter 11, the great heroes of the faith and the Old Testament. They're the ones around in the stands, maybe 60,000 of them, maybe 60 billion of them. I don't know how many are in heaven, but they're watching you in your race. They have finished their race. They're in the stands. I'm afraid there are going to be some people that will get to heaven someday and realize that they miss their only chance to enjoy the game on the field. The God didn't intend for you to be in the stands until you die. That he intends for you to be on the course running your race, finishing your fight like Paul did when he's running the game. He's ready to die. He says, I've run my course. I finished my course. I've run my race. I've kept the faith. I fought the fight. And he could look back and say I was involved. I was enthusiastic about life and ministry. That's what Solomon is urging us to do. In a biblical philosophy of life, we've got to get out of the stands, get on the track, get on the field, and run and play and work and love and worship to the glory of God with all enthusiasm and involvement. Get out of the stands. Get on the field. Get on the track. Live with enthusiasm. Live with involvement. That is what Solomon says. Now let's pray. Enthusiasmately. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, that you have reminded us of something that I know I desperately need to be reminded of. Thank you for your word and how living and sharp it is that it pierces into our hearts and uncovers and deserts the thoughts and intents of our deepest intermost being. Thank you, Lord, that you challenge us to live in a way that gets us out of the stands that is not just watching a life go by but is thoroughly engaged every day with everything you put before us, whether it is work or play or worship or whatever it might be. That we do it with all our might and we don't let excuses about not being swift enough or strong enough or brilliant enough, keep us from being involved in what you've given us to do. Help us Father to live all out for your glory so that others around us will say, how can I have that kind of life and we can be a testimony of your grace. Help us this week to make an impact on others around us, not by being negative and pessimistic, driving them away from the Christian life, but by being joyful and enthusiastic and totally immersed and involved in the life you've given us. May we live bidnically this week in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.