Reading from Sunday, September 5

Hey friends. What's goin on?

Reading for September 5
Ecclesiastes 10:1-12:14
This is the end of Ecclesiastes, and it is a very strange book. I haven't done one of these in months, but I think Ecclesiastes deserves a book report.

Book Report: Ecclesiastes
I think I may need to read this book again because I feel like everything the Teacher says contradicts something else he says earlier. Maybe that is a creative choice to show the meaninglessness of everything, but everything he says seems so finite and absolute.

As he goes through his observations and conclusions throughout the book, he always comes back to the idea of living this life to the fullest. "Eat, drink and be merry." A very selfish mantra, indeed. He reaches this conclusion because he says that there is nothing to hope for after death. Now. Obviously he would have a different conclusion if he had written this book after Jesus' time on Earth - in fact those themes seem to be in direct contrast to the themes of Paul in the NT. Paul says not to focus on this life, but the life after death and to focus on things unseen rather than seen. The Teacher tries to convince us to live this life, our only life, to the fullest, without even a mention of an afterlife. That's not to say that he has abandoned all concepts of spirituality.

The book closes with these verses:

 ¹³ Now all has been heard;
       here is the conclusion of the matter:
       Fear God and keep his commandments,
       for this is the whole duty of man.
 ¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment,
       including every hidden thing,
       whether it is good or evil.

That kind of rhetoric comes in so late that it almost seems like an after thought. God is hardly mentioned at all in Ecclesiastes and this guy just spent twelve chapters saying that our entire lives are meaningless then he tows the OT party line of "Fear God and keep his commandments"? I don't have anything against that order, but it just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the book.

On the other hand, this book as a whole has been incredibly eye-opening for me. I am starting to see how worthless and meaningless all of our daily activities are. Here's a perfect example. Ever since I was about 11 I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. For various reasons and circumstances I never did become a teacher, and I've always been a little bummed about that. But after reading this book, I started to consider why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place. To make an impact on kids' lives. That was my reason. Kids who will grow up and eventually die and in 150 years my contribution will have made no lasting impact. Sure I would have an opportunity to make those kids' time on Earth more fun or give them a better outlook on school, but to what end? Really, when you're thinking in the scope of eternity, it makes non difference if I am a teacher or a hitman. It really is true - everything that we do is completely without meaning.

But what does that mean for the modern Christian? Aha. Here is my conclusion to the matter:
Everything that The Teacher said is true. Our lives have no measurable meaning in the grand scheme of things. We are born, we live, we impact others around us negatively or positively, then we die. The next generation comes and the cycle repeats. Our existence is of no value to the Earth or the universe or whatever. Have I appropriately established our lack of worth?

Now - think of what Christ has done for each and every one of us. He came, suffered the pain and torture that each one of us worthless beings deserved so we could experience joy in our short lives, and more importantly, so we could experience the ultimate joy in the afterlife in Heaven - finally in perfect communion with our creator.

When I first started reading this book, I thought I would get an answer to why we are here. I didn't get my answer. Instead I got something better. I learned that even though we may not know our reason for existing, even though every action we take will yield no real consequence in the end, that our eternal creator who sees generations come and go chose to die for us anyway.

Bam.

2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Paul is encouraging the recipient of his letter to be giving with their money. It's very targeted and specific and I'm not seeing any real application to our lives today.

Skip.

Psalm 49:1-20
Wow - this is a perfect companion psalm for Ecclesiastes but it goes a little bit beyond the meaninglessness and gets into the eternal.

 ¹⁰ For all can see that wise men die;
       the foolish and the senseless alike perish
       and leave their wealth to others. 

¹³ This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,
       and of their followers, who approve their sayings.

 ¹⁴ Like sheep they are destined for the grave, ^[d]
       and death will feed on them.
       The upright will rule over them in the morning;
       their forms will decay in the grave, ^[e]
       far from their princely mansions.
 ¹⁵ But God will redeem my life ^[f] from the grave;
       he will surely take me to himself.

So in the same way that The Teacher expressed the idea of no man being immune to death, this Psalmist said that wise men and foolish men "alike perish".  But in verse 15 he introduces the idea of going to Heaven. Come to think of it, the idea of Heaven is very scarce in the Bible as a whole. It is not mentioned very often at all. Anyway - that's that.

Proverbs 22:20-21
We should all totally memorize this one!

 ²⁰ Have I not written thirty ^[a] sayings for you,
       sayings of counsel and knowledge,
 ²¹ teaching you true and reliable words,
       so that you can give sound answers
       to him who sent you?

So helpful.