Amen, man. It is— let me just tell you guys, it is so encouraging to see what the Lord is doing in the church right now. It is unique. I've been around for many years and what the Lord seems to be doing right now with this Horizon plant, with people coming to Alpha, coming to know the Lord through Alpha, with people coming to Regen, really getting unstuck from, from things that have kept them stuck for years, people finding connections and friendships and home groups. Like, it just seems the Lord is doing some unique things. I hope you feel that and recognize that. And next week we're gonna start a series on how do we join what God is doing and what kind of church does God want us to become in this next season? So I hope you will join us for that. But today we're gonna end our series in the book of Ecclesiastes.
And so I wanna invite you to turn your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. And we're gonna read all of chapter 12, and you're gonna find 2 things. First, there is a long, slow, lyrical, poetic description of what it's like to go from being a young person to a middle-aged person and a middle-aged person to an old person, and an old person to passing on to the next life. That sets the stage then for the final summary, the conclusion that brings all the lessons of this book together so we might learn what the Lord has for us.
So Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 1, this is God's word. 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 also afraid 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, when 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 the words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings sayings. They are given by one shepherd. My son, be aware 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. This is God's Word.
And Lord, we pray for your illumination, for you to bless the hearing and the preaching of your Word today. Amen.
Well, when I was a kid, my parents brought me to a place where I learned a disturbing but fascinating truth about the world around me. I I was on a trip to California. And so my parents decided to take me to the Universal Studios backlot in Hollywood. If you've ever done the backlot tour, you'll know it's interesting. It's fascinating. I was excited because I loved movies. I loved television. And I was excited to see some of the places from the, you know, some of the movies I'd seen. And so I was excited. And yet I learned something profound. Disturbing on that backlot tour, which is this, that all of the cool buildings that you see in a lot of the films that I grew up with, there's no building behind them. Instead, it's just a false front or a facade. So you'll have a saloon and you'll think, man, I can't imagine what it's like to walk through the big double doors of the saloon. And if you go up to the saloon and you walk through the double doors, you know what's behind there? Nothing. There's nothing there. Right? And you're like, what is this? Or there's, you know, a bank or a beautiful old mansion. You think, oh my goodness, I can't imagine the tables and the draperies and the fine things. There's nothing there. It's just dirt. It's just a big dirt lot behind it. And so as a kid, I became disturbed initially because I thought, what? Are you— do you mean to tell me that movies and television are not real? That it's not real? Those aren't real places? I thought they were real places. And so I learned this disturbing truth, but it was fascinating. It was actually fascinating because I became fascinated, like, well, how does then it work together? And I became kind of enamored with the science of and the art of filmmaking.
Now, that experience of realizing, okay, everything looks beautiful from the outside, but as soon as you walk through the door, door. It's just a dirt lot behind. That is what it's been like to read the book of Ecclesiastes. And that is exactly where we land at the very end, because Ecclesiastes 12 has this long, slow, lyrical, poetic meditation on, of all topics, death. This is what it's like to live your life and age and get slow. Things slow down and then you die. That's the end of Ecclesiastes. And you think, what, what, why, why would you think about this? Because The writer of Ecclesiastes, the preacher, wants us to take in that disturbing truth that we might determine what truly matters in the end.
6 · Catalogs Ecclesiastes' systematic dismantling of common life pursuits—wealth, pleasure, accomplishment—revealing each as an empty facade
Because if you— this is Ecclesiastes. If you listen to the preacher, he will help you walk through door after door after door that everybody in our world is running through. They're going, hey, if you just make more money, here's the house. And you walk through, there's nothing there. If you just satisfy your appetites, go through this. There's nothing there in the bag. If you build great works and accomplish great things, you'll— well, people are gonna forget about you and that'll be blown away. That's what Ecclesiastes says over and over and over. All these things people around us are running to, the writer, the preacher is going, nope, not there, there, not, nope, nope, nope, nope. And he gets us there that we might soberly assess what really matters in life.
7 · Structural pivot announcing the sermon's two-part framework: epistemological (what should you learn?) and ethical (how should you live?)
So in the end, we're gonna ask 2 questions today. Number one, what should you learn as you go through this journey of life? What should you learn? And second, how should you live? What should you learn and how should you live?
8 · Exposits Ecclesiastes 12:9 to establish that biblical wisdom is the product of sustained intellectual labor—weighing, studying, arranging—not accidental accumulation
The first, what should you learn? You should get wise. Look at verse 9. Besides being wise, the preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. Now notice something. That's important here. Notice that the preacher, the writer of Ecclesiastes, who may well be King Solomon writing under a pen name, notice that all of these observations are the product of a man who spent years and years studying, considering, thinking, observing. All of this is the fruit of his study. Now, obviously it's inspired by God, but God used this lifetime of study.
9 · Applies the exegetical insight to the congregation: wisdom requires intentionality, not merely longevity
And it's important to remember that as we walk through life, none of us are going to stumble into wisdom by accident. None of us are going to become wise by accident. Now, if you live long enough, you'll know many things. You'll have to learn many things, but you can live a whole lifetime and never become wise, can't you? So it takes skill. It takes intention. It takes care.
10 · Announces the first of three practices for cultivating wisdom, structurally signaling a shift from general claim to specific instruction
And the writer at the end here directs us to look at 3 particular things to become wise. Number one, he says, search for beauty.
11 · Exposits Ecclesiastes 12:10 to correct a potential misreading: the preacher's systematic dismantling of false hopes is not meant to produce cynicism but to redirect toward genuine beauty rooted in truth
Search for beauty and truth tied together, but truth makes it beautiful. Look at verse 10. The preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. Now, here's one of the dangers of the book of Ecclesiastes. It's easy for us to maybe arrive at the end of Ecclesiastes as the preacher is going, see this thing? It's a false front. See this thing? It's a facade too. See that favorite trick from your film? Nope. It wasn't even real. They just did it with mirrors or whatever. He just is debunking all of life. And it can be, it can be, it can give the impression that in the end, we as Christians are just supposed to be arms-crossed cynics walking through life.
12 · Characterizes the habitual debunker—the friend who reflexively bursts bubbles online and in person—to illustrate what Ecclesiastes is NOT producing
Everybody knows a friend like this, right? The one friend who just seems like they delight in bursting people's bubbles. And you're like, oh, I love this book. I love this movie. And they'll be like, yeah, well, did you know a disturbing truth about the author of that book? You're like, whoa, whoa, why would you talk? You know, they're like, oh, I love this place. I love this place. Did you know there's an outbreak of cholera there? And you know, like, you're like, oh, why are you, why are you bringing this up? Or let me just say this. These guys, these people find their way online and they debunk everything online. If you post about anything you like online, I love this. Did you know that this, you know, like, whoa, whoa.
13 · Argues from Scripture's narrative arc that God is fundamentally pro-joy, pro-beauty, pro-delight—creation, Eden, the Promised Land, and Jesus' stated mission all testify to God's desire for human flourishing
Okay. So you might be tempted to think, well, that's, that's where Ecclesiastes delivers us to a bunch of cynical, grumpy Christians trudging their way through life. That's not it at all. Look at verse 10. The preacher sought, what? Sought to find words of delight. The Christian life is actually— the search for wisdom is actually a search for delight, for truth and beauty. When we are introduced to the God of the Bible, friends, we do not find a killjoy God. We find that God is a God of joy and life. He made creation. He made Grand Canyons. He made sunsets. He made sunrises. He gives humanity this beautiful garden to enjoy. He brings his people to the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. God is after his people delighting in life. And Jesus himself says in John 10:10, I have come that they might find life— they might have life rather— and have it abundantly.
14 · Argues that Scripture's negative method (dismantling false hopes) serves a positive goal: directing us to the narrow path of true life
So the trajectory of Scripture is to do this, to say, not here, not here, not here. You think life is there? It's not. You think life is there? It's not. But the reason it tells us that is that we might find the narrow path that does lead to true life. That's what wisdom is meant to be bent toward. And, and we find this— let me just give you 3 quick ways that are summarizing some of the things we've seen in Ecclesiastes. Where do we find this life? Where do we seek after this delight? The first is simply in creation. Over and over, the writer of Ecclesiastes has said things like, enjoy your meal, right? Enjoy your hot buttered toast, right? Enjoy that cup of coffee. Enjoy life, right? You see echoes of this in Psalm 19, which says the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims its handiwork. Because God is a glorious God, creation has glimmers and glimpses of his glory in it. There are glorious things all around us. The preacher says, yeah, you can live cynical, but that's not the way God would have you live. He would have you search out delight. So look for it in creation, in sunsets, in your kids' laugh, in Something funny that happened today, right? Enjoy, even in this fallen world, the glimpses of beauty around us.
15 · Argues that Scripture itself is a second domain of delight, citing Psalm 19's description of God's Word as sweeter than honey and more valuable than gold
Second, enjoy beauty in the Word of God. Now this is perhaps counterintuitive, but Psalm 19, which talks about the beauty of creation, says this, verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Verse 10, more to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. This is where the wisdom literature works together. The writer of Ecclesiastes is saying, that's dust, that's ash, that's dust, that's air. And the writer of Psalms is going, I know, but look at this. This is gold. This is sweet. This is delightful. This will bring you back to life. Now look, the reason I think this is so important is often when we think of our Bibles, maybe you've got the Bible by your bedside. When you think of your Bible, you might think when you see it, I should read this. I should. I really should. I should do it. You know, I should. Look, it's the same reaction we have when we see, you know, Every beginning of every January, everybody buys like a new kettlebell or a weight set or a pair of running shoes. And they sit there and they tell us, you should run. You should lift this weight. You should try the kettlebell exercise. And you're like, yeah, I should, I should. And then you don't, right? It's just, you move on. That's maybe the category we put the Bible in. Now, should we read God's words because they are God's words? Absolutely. But the thing we often forget that Ecclesiastes and the wisdom literature is trying to help remind us is that we should read God's words also because they are delightful, because they are beautiful, because they are powerful and profound and precise and illuminating and life-giving.
16 · Applies the search-for-beauty principle to content consumption—music, film, books, online media
I've heard from so many people that as we've studied Ecclesiastes, you've been surprised how relevant Ecclesiastes is for your life and had no idea it was in here. Guys, that's the tip of the iceberg. There's so much in And so to become wise means to delight in the truth and beauty of creation and in God's word. And then let me just say this. And then the— we live in a world of content. So it relates to that as well. When we think of music, when we think of movies, we think of books, when we think of hobbies, we think of things to spend our time on. Friends, gravitate as Philippians 4 would call us to the true and the beautiful. Look, our world is awash, music, television, videos, YouTube channels, all of that stuff. But so much of it is just dust and ash, isn't it? Gravitate to the true and to the beautiful.
17 · Personal conversation with Bob Coughlin illustrating wisdom in content curation: rather than defensive prohibition, point to abundance of good art
I remember years ago, Bob Coughlin, who's the director of music for our family of churches, he's a very accomplished musician. And so somebody was asking him, well, what if, because I'm a Christian, I don't— I miss out on some of the best music? Out there, right? You know, and, and, and they're trying to like frame it nicely, but you're basically, you know, you kind of know this guy just, he loves this one misogynistic rapper and he's just probably wondering if he can keep listening. Right. It's just, it's just like, well, I mean, what if I miss out on these great lyrics? And Bob just, his answer was the best. He could have just said, stop it. But instead what he said was, friend, there's so much good stuff out there. Why would you gravitate to the ugly parts? There's so much truth and beauty out in the world, in all of music and art and literature and life. Like, go find the good stuff and hold on to it. I promise you, you're not going to miss out. And I think, man, that's a word for all of us, awash in a sea of content, isn't it? That we should gravitate not just to like, well, it's on. No, to the true and the beautiful that line up with the beauty of creation and the beauty of God's word.
18 · Signals structural shift from first wisdom practice (search for beauty) to second, preemptively addressing listener expectation that a beauty-focused Christianity is pain-free
So that's the first thing, search for beauty. Second, You might go, oh, this is great. This is going to be a pain-free, happy existence. Then we arrive at verse 11.
19 · Exposits Ecclesiastes 12:11's goad metaphor—wisdom functions as a shepherd's corrective tool, sometimes painful, always redirective
The words of the wise are like goads. You know what a goad is? A goad is the little stick that the shepherd uses to poke the sheep back away from danger and into the herd. And sometimes it would have a nail on it, like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings. They are given by one Shepherd. Right. So, so notice what he's saying. He's saying, listen, if you want to become wise in life, you need to search out the delightful, but you also need to become comfortable that wisdom, true wisdom is going to poke and prod and readjust you.
20 · Warns that wisdom-seeking requires willingness to be confronted—in church, in reading, in Bible study, in friendships, in counsel
If you want a pain-free existence, you're never going to become wise because The process of becoming wise means wisdom pushes and pulls and adjusts you into a shape that conforms to God, his character, and his word. Now look, often people will want to go to perhaps a church that will never confront them and what's going on in their life, or they'll never want to read a book that gets in their faith, or they only want to read the parts of the Bible that they agree with, or they'll only want to talk to friends. Hear me on this, that they know will agree with them. Right. Listen, it's so funny how many times we do this where it's like you have a decision coming up in life, you know, you should get some counsel and, you know, you should probably talk to somebody. So who do you talk to? You go to the friend that you think will agree with you. Right. Right. You're not going to go to like Bob, who's like, I don't know about that. You're going to be like, I don't want to hear from Bob. Shut up, Bob. I want to hear people that agree with me and are going to affirm me, right? Or they get online. Okay. You know, like, well, these people, these people don't agree with me. I'm going to find something. You can always find people to agree with you online, whatever you want to do.
21 · Calls the congregation to actively seek Scripture's corrective function and cultivate friendships that sharpen rather than merely affirm
And yet, if you want to become wise though, you will seek out the Bible's wisdom that pushes and prods and adjusts you. Into the shape of wisdom. Look, to become wise requires you to submit to the process of being confronted by God's word, of being confronted by the truth. Even wisdom literature also says that faithful are the wounds of a friend, right? And that iron sharpens iron, that we need people in our lives that help adjust us onto this path.
22 · Recapitulates the first two wisdom practices and announces the third, maintaining structural clarity and forward momentum
So first, we search for beauty. Second, we embrace the prodding of true wisdom. And third, we become specialists, very particular specialists.
23 · Exposits Ecclesiastes 12:12 to diagnose the exhaustion of chasing endless new ideas—diets, self-help, political promises, life hacks—all marketed as revolutionary but ultimately empty
Verse 12 says this: My son, beware of anything beyond these, of making many books. There is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Now, what is he saying? Well, the preacher is warning us warning us that every year there are going to be more books. Every year, right? Every year there's going to be more new world-changing ideas that redefine everything, that publishers will be like, this new idea, never before heard, is going to redefine everything. And then there'll be another one next year and the year after that. There'll be more new diets, more best practice lists, more marriage advice columns, more have a great retirement guides, more political speeches, more people announcing they finally have discovered the secret of life. And here's the reality: if you chase after all of them, you will end up walking through the door and finding a dirt lot behind.
24 · Interprets 'these' in Ecclesiastes 12:12 as referring to Scripture itself—the wisdom literature, law, prophets, histories
And, and the preacher just wants us to know the truth. My son, this is going to happen. So instead he says, be A specialist. Beware of anything beyond these. What's these? These is the Bible's wisdom. These are the sayings of wisdom literature, of the law, of the prophets, of the histories. These is the book you're holding in your hand. And so what is the preacher saying? He's saying this: practical wisdom isn't necessarily a bad thing, but new articles and new advice columns are endless and ever changing. And what you need to specialize in most is the particular skill of understanding the Bible and applying it to life. That's where you want to be a specialist. You want to be really okay at a lot of things in life and really good at one thing.
25 · Direct pastoral challenge to both the ambitious (who think career mastery will secure their life's meaning) and the self-deprecating (who think they lack the skills to succeed)
What's the— like, let me just challenge you, friends, especially the ambitious among us. What's the one thing you really want to get good at? You think if I am, if I'm good at this, then I'll be fine. If I'm good at closing sales, if I'm good at this, or I'm good at that, if I'm good at this, if I do that, then my life will matter. Friends, the only specialty that's going to matter in the end is going to be your familiarity with God's word and its application to your life. But similarly, if you're like, well, I'm not smart, I'm not fancy. I don't know all those things. I don't do all these things. Friends, you only need one thing to navigate life well in the end. Lots of practical advice. You need this book. You need this book. You need to get really, really dialed in with one thing.
26 · Story of sound designer Ben Burtt's extreme commitment to his craft—literally having his wife drive over him to capture authentic sound—illustrates what mastery of a singular skill looks like
One of my favorite filmmaking stories is the most dialed-in guy I've ever come across was this guy, I think his name was Ben Burtt or Burtt, I can't remember the name, but he was the guy that found the sound effects. He was the sound designer for films like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. He was only really good at one thing in life, but he was really good at it. So at one point, they were making that scene in Indiana Jones where Indiana Jones is under the Jeep and he's holding on and he's getting like, grrr, under the thing. And the guy couldn't get the right sound. He couldn't figure it out. He tried lots of things. So in the end, he resorted to grabbing a microphone, convincing his wife that in their gravel driveway, she should drive over him. With the recording equipment on so we could get the right sound. Look, this is a guy that was really good at one thing. Right. And when you watch that scene, you don't even realize it, but you're like, man, this feels very visceral. This feels very realistic. It was. A dude got driven over by his wife to make that sound. Right.
27 · Applies the illustration directly: Christians must become specialists in Scripture with the same single-minded commitment Ben Burtt brought to sound design
Similarly, Christians, we're to be really, really good at one thing. And that's the word of God. Really good at that. So if you want to be wise, search for beauty, embrace the prodding of God, and become a specialist in God's word.
28 · Structural hinge marking the shift from epistemological instruction (what to learn) to ethical instruction (how to live)
That's how you will navigate life well. Now, how do you live? How do you live well is the second question.
29 · Frames Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 as the book's capstone summary, acknowledging the sprawling topics covered (birth, death, work, sexuality, seasons) and identifying these two verses as the interpretive key that brings coherence to the whole
And so verse 13 helpfully summarizes the whole book for us. Now, I love Ecclesiastes and the writer of the preacher here because he knows, look, we've talked about a lot of things. We've, we've gone from birth to death to life to work to sexuality to wonders to seasons, all of that. Here's the final thing. Verse 13, 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.
30 · Extended illustration of the Hollywood executive screening room—the moment of final evaluation when a director's entire work is reviewed by those with power to release or reject it
Every film you've ever made has gone through one particular defining moment, and it is the executive screening room. I was fascinated by this when I heard this. So here's what happens. When, when they started making lots of films in Hollywood, they built these tiny theaters, not for a big audience, but for like 15 people. And what would happen is the director would bring in literally the rolls of film, right? They'd have these rolls of film. They would bring them into the executive screening room, and everybody who would put money into the movie, and the studio heads, and the people that were actually going to release and market the movie, they would all sit there, and everything the director had would just be on these rolls of film, and they would sit there in the front row trembling, praying for laughter or gasps or something, right? And you hear these stories of like, I knew the the film was going to work when they were laughing from the first minute. Or directors going, yeah, half hour in, people started checking their watches. I knew we were in trouble. Right. What happens is all that they've done goes on the screen and gets weighed and evaluated.
31 · Connects the screening-room metaphor to Ecclesiastes 12:14's judgment reality: your life is moving toward a final review where every word, deed, thought, and omission will be evaluated by God
That moment is where Ecclesiastes 12 ends. It says, friend, whoever you are, you know a couple of things. One, you know that your life is a slow, march to the end. And at the end, everything in your life, the end of the matter will have been heard. The last thing will have been spoken, and your life will get reviewed by someone. Everything you've done, all of your words, all of your deeds, all of your thoughts, all of your actions, all the things you said and didn't say and should have said, it all goes on the screen and it will be weighed.
32 · Exposits 'fear God' in Ecclesiastes 12:13 by defining fear as giving due weight/reverence, contrasted with the book's 'vanity' theme (vapor, dust, wisp)
And the writer is giving us a chance to think today about that day and saying, in the end, what's going to matter? 3 things are going to matter. Number one, did you live your life in the fear of the Lord? Now, the reason this is important is that the fear of the Lord is not sort of jump scare fear. It's not hiding under the covers fear. The word here has the overtones of, of giving due reverence and respect, of, of giving— literally the word is giving due weight to the Lord. Now, this is, this is a contrast because all of Ecclesiastes, what's the theme been then? But somebody give me the first opening lines of Ecclesiastes. What does he say? Vanity of vanity, right? And we said, what does that mean? It's vapor. It's dust. It's a wisp of smoke. I wanted to keep doing the match thing every week, but the elders said that's not a great idea. So, I could have matches with me right now and illustrate this, but apparently the fun police— no, I'm just kidding. They're fun. Right? It's this wisp of smoke. Everything. This is a wisp. That's a wisp. This is a wisp. That's a wisp. And it all— it's like at the end of the book, the writer blows it all away and there's only one thing left, the Lord.
33 · Develops the 'weight' metaphor into an ethical framework: if God is the only reality with true weight, then every life decision should be evaluated through the lens of what honors Him
The Lord from before time, the Lord at the end of time, the Lord, right? The weight of who God is is the only thing that does not blow away. Then that means everything else in life needs to be lived with with the question, what honors the Lord? How does the Lord and the reality that he is there ruling and reigning and judging change the way I think about this moment? I'm about to do this. What would the Lord think about that? Would this honor him? Would it not honor him? Would he delight in it? Would he put it far from him? Right. All of that. It's almost like centuries ago when there was— Galileo was the guy that discovered, hey, I don't think we're the center of the universe, which, as you can imagine, that was a hard meeting because we all arrive in the world thinking that we are the center of the universe, and then we discover slowly, progressively, wait, I'm not? Right? That's every toddler. That's why they're having a hard time. And every person like me too.
34 · Extends the Newtonian gravity metaphor: just as celestial bodies orbit the greatest mass, so human lives should orbit God who has true weight
So you realize, okay, I'm not the center of the universe, but it was Newton who realized why everything in the solar system orbited the sun. And what he discovered was that because of the laws of gravity and motion, everything in the solar system will rotate around whatever has the most weight. Right? The weight of one object pulls everything else into orbit around it. And so when we say, okay, fear God, for this is the whole duty of man, what we're doing is we're being progressively pulled from us trying to get everything in life to orbit around us to saying, no, actually the universe does orbit around the Lord. And your Christian life is a progressive working every area of your life to orbit around who the Lord is and what he has decreed. And, and what he has done. And so in the end, the summary judgment of your life is how did you do with that? How did you do pulling your life into orbit around the Lord?
35 · Completes the orbital metaphor by illustrating consequences of deviation: just as Earth's orbit must be precise or life perishes, so human life devolves when out-of-orbit from God
Now, it works well when we orbit around the Lord, doesn't it? I mean, if the Earth moved just slightly in solar system scale further from the sun, we would all freeze to death and just slightly closer to the sun. We'd all— well, we'd all be living in Phoenix, Arizona all year, uh, right? If it's just a little bit, just a little bit. And that's what happens in life when, when we, when we are out of orbit in a sense from the Lord, everything devolves and crashes and burns. So the question is this: did you fear the Lord? Look, life is complicated. There's a million decisions to make, but one question often cuts through everything. How can I live this moment in the fear of the Lord? How can I honor the Lord with this decision, this action, this word, this conversation? We fear the Lord.
36 · Exposits the second element of Ecclesiastes 12:13—keeping God's commandments
And the second is related. Keep his commandments. Keep his commandments. The Lord has basically laid out, this is the way life works, right? This is the way you're meant to live. And the question at the end of the day is, did we keep his commandments?
37 · Analogizes Scripture to a director's statement—the orienting document that tells every participant in a film what the story is about, why it matters, and how to execute it
Look, one of my other favorite little movie quirks is that often directors will write what's called a director's statement for all the cast and crew, because there are hundreds of people that work on films these days, right? There's like a guy that's working on a piece of wood that's in scene number 3, right? There's a guy fixing the hair on the wigs for scene 8. There's a guy playing the trombone for the score in scene 10. Like there's all these things. So the directors will write a statement and it'll be 1 to 3 pages and everybody on the film will have to read it. And it'll, it'll include what is the movie about? Why are we making it? And how are we making it? Right? What are we, what are we doing here? Why are we doing it? And how is it going to work? Friends, that's what the Bible is. For human beings. It is the Lord saying, here is what the story of your life and the world is about. Here's why it's about that. And here's how we're going to work. Right.
38 · Contrasts God's commands with arbitrary studio-executive notes—God's commands are purposeful, designed for His glory and our good, not capricious demands
And so walking in the commands of the Lord is not this, you know, all these direct studio notes that we don't understand that are pointless. Like studio— there's all these famous stories of studio heads saying stupid things like the movie should have more yellow. I just feel like it would be better with more yellow. And the director is going, what in the world? What am I supposed to do with that? A banana? How many bananas? You want a banana in the movie? Like, and sometimes it feels like the commands of God may be just arbitrary. But friends, they are far from arbitrary. Everything the Lord has in his book, everything he says to do and not do has a purpose in it. And remember, God's goal is that we would, through following his commands, achieve his glory and our good. He says all of these facades are false. They're taking you nowhere. I know the path that leads to life. And so when we fear God and obey his commands, what we're doing is the most street-smart thing you could possibly do in life. We are navigating all the false facades and finding that which truly matters and how life is meant to work. By the author of life itself.
39 · Introduces the third requirement for living well: trusting God's final judgment (Ecclesiastes 12:14)
So we fear God, we obey his commands, and then the third and last line, we trust God. We fear him, we obey him, but then we must trust the reality of verse 14. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing whether good or evil. Look, the reality is this: in the end, God the ruler and judge of all will review all things, and there will not be anything in life, in your life, in my life, or in the world around us that will escape the review and judgment of God. But what that means, well, friends, is that we can live fearing God and obeying God if we trust God that in the end, he will have the final word. Now, in the science of moviemaking, you'd be probably surprised to learn like me that most films seem like utter chaos until they get into the editor's booth. Right? Because until you get to the editor's booth, you have, like, a scene of a guy in a coffee shop. You have a half CGI dragon. You've got, like, some music. You've got, you know, a guy in another scene taking his hat off. Like, it just seems like chaos. If at any moment you arrived and said, hey, what's everybody working on? You would go, this is not going to work. This doesn't— this is— there's nothing here. Well, I don't know what this is about. Until you get to the editor's room and it's this dark, famously dark room with just tons of screens and they're like, okay, now the hat guy, now this guy, now the coffee, now this thing, now the CGI dragon, right? It all goes together in the end. Friends, verse 14 is introducing us to the editor of the story of stories and saying in the end, When we might say, okay, that scene, it seems like they're getting away with this. In the end, he knows they won't. It might seem like this scene, this person is doing a heroic, beautiful, good thing and nobody's acknowledging it. And in fact, it seems like life gets harder, but in the end, the Lord has a plan.
40 · Personal pastoral example of a local minister whose decades-long care for his mentally ill wife receives no earthly recognition
Friends, it makes sense of life. We trust that in this life, when things don't make sense, there is a judge and ruler of all that in the end is bringing all things together for his glory and for our good. Look, there is a brother that I know that in town, he's an older man and he's been in ministry for many years, and his wife has dealt with for decades severe, severe psychological and mental issues in a way that she requires full-time care. And in a way that is personally painful, often. And friends, here's the reality. No one in this life, it seems, is seeing that or acknowledging it. But we trust that in verse 14, God, the editor and writer and director of the story of stories, will somehow turn that too for good. And in the end, no even small act of honoring God will go unacknowledged in the end.
41 · Mirrors the pastoral illustration with the opposite situation: those who have been wronged
And it also makes sense of life where somebody has deeply hurt you or somebody has deeply wronged you or you don't even know who has. It just seems like life has wronged you and you think, this person or that organization or this thing, they're just going to get away with it in the end. Verse 14 reminds us you don't know where the story's going. In the end, no one gets away with anything, not one thing. And so, friends, then, then it frees us when the Lord comes and says, this is your scene, and here's what I need you to do. I need you to love your wife like Christ loved the church, even when it hurts. And you're going, I don't know what this is for. And the Lord says, I do. I know what it's for. And in the end, it will be beautiful. Right? The Lord himself will bring everything under— in his rule and reign into something that is for his glory and for our good. So do you want to live well, friend? That you don't need to know a whole lot in life. You need to fear God, you need to do what God says, and you need to trust him that in the end he'll rule over all.
42 · Executes the redemptive-historical turn: Ecclesiastes, like all OT, hands off to Christ for final resolution
Now let me try to wrap this up, because as we've walked through the Universal Studios backlot and seen all of the fake facades all around us, what are we meant to conclude? Well, one of the things we're meant to conclude is this, that in the end, the book of Ecclesiastes, like all of the Old Testament, hands us off for the final solution to the New Testament in the introduction of the person of Jesus Christ. And, and when we arrive with Jesus, one of the things we notice right away is that this Ecclesiastes scene plays out immediately when Jesus is tempted by the devil. Because do you notice what happens when Jesus is tempted by the devil? Jesus is brought to all the facades of the world around him, and the devil goes, okay, satisfying your appetite, are you interested in that? Or having all the power, or having all the money, or having all the notoriety, are you interested in those things? They seem important, they seem shiny, and Jesus just sees right through them and says essentially, you know what matters in the end? Fear God and Keep his commands, trust him. That's Jesus' answer.
43 · Contrasts Solomon (who tragically abandoned wisdom) with Jesus (the preacher of preachers who never did)
Now, if Solomon indeed was the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes, the tragedy would be that in the end he walked away from the path of wisdom into one of the facades. But Jesus, the preacher of preachers, never did. And Jesus, the wisest man who ever lived, did something that in this world of facades, in this world of dust and air, He built a doorway with his life, death, and resurrection. And what he did is by offering his life for us, he, the wise, gave himself for the unwise. He, the fearing God, gave us— gave himself for those who do not fear God. He, the obedient, offered himself for those of us who are disobedient. And Jesus, in his life, death, and resurrection, opened a doorway from the dust and air world around us into a world of eternal truth and life.
44 · Pastoral exhortation to Christians in difficulty: stay on the path
And in doing this, friends, he opens the door, and what we have then in the Bible is the path. Jesus says, don't go there, don't go there, don't go there. I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly. So keep walking the path, keep following me. And so friends, if you are in the middle of a difficult time as a Christian, let me encourage you, stay on the path. Trust Jesus, the wisest man who has ever lived, right? Every year there's some new talking head that explodes in popularity. Their podcast goes viral, their movie, their book, their whatever. Listen, they've come and gone for thousands of years. You know who hasn't? The man Jesus Christ. He offers the only path of true, lasting, forever wisdom. So follow him.
45 · Evangelistic appeal using the sermon's controlling metaphors—mortality (day ending, house shutting down) and judgment (executive screening room)
And then let me offer this. If you have been listening to this series of Ecclesiastes and you have not yet trusted Christ as your Savior and your Lord, let Ecclesiastes 12 sober you. The day is ending. The house is being shut down. Everything is being turned back into dust. And your day standing in the executive screening room may come far sooner than you think. Sooner than you think. So do not delay, friend. Walk through the only door that has anything behind it, the door of Jesus Christ. Make him your Savior, make him your Lord, and begin to follow him today.
46 · Closes with a devotional quotation from James Miller (d
Now let me give the final word to— there's a reading I found this week that is actually on the front table as you leave today. And it, it, it's a man reflecting on how what you sow in the early years of life, and if you follow the Lord, comes to fruition at the end. And this is, uh, James Miller, who went home to be with the Lord in 1912, speaking to us from the grave. He says this: Only Christ can make any life, young or old, truly beautiful or truly happy. Only he can hurt— cure the heart's restless fever and purify our sinful nature. A life lived with Christ grows brighter even to its close, its last days the sunniest and sweetest, its comforts nearer as earth joys fail. For such a life, death has no terrors, and the end is but the touching of the weather-beaten keel on the shore of glory. Amen.
47 · Closing prayer marking the end of the Ecclesiastes series
Would you stand and let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, as we turn from Ecclesiastes, may its message continue to live in our hearts. Lord, I do pray very particularly that you would not let us leave our interaction with this book unchanged. It is meant at times to comfort us. It is meant at times to prod us. It is meant at all times to change us. So, Lord, I pray that as we leave, as we are about to hear the siren songs of a thousand facades all around us, that we would hear very clearly the voice of Jesus Christ and seek to follow him. Amen.