Rejoice and Do Good

 

Second Sunday after Christmas 2022. 1. 2.

Ecclesiastes 3:12

 

Rejoice and Do Good

 

 

◎ Peace be with you!

Welcome to the house of God.

Today is the first Sunday of the New Year 2022.

I pray in the name of the Lord that we all make new decisions for our spiritual growth in grace with the new year.

 

◎ Today’s text is the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and the main verse of today, Ecclesiastes 3:12. Let’s read it together.

“I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime.”(NASB)

 

[A] There is a time to die.

◎ Ecclesiastes 1:1 says “The words of David’s son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem.”(NAB)

 

◎ The title “Ecclesiastes” given to this book is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name “Qoheleth” meaning, “the leader of the assembly.”

In other versions, instead of “Qoheleth,” it was translated as “the Teacher” or “the Preacher.”

The book is concerned with the purpose of human life. While admitting the existence of a divine plan, it considers such a plan to be hidden from man.

 

◎ OK. Now let’s pay attention to today’s text, Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

Let’s read the verse 1 and 2 together.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot.”(NIV)

 

◎ The author of the book, Solomon says, “There is a right time for everything.” And he says, “a time for giving birth and a time for dying.” Something happens and something else happens. These things happen over and over again.

 

◎ What is the author trying to say here?

Solomon points that God has a plan for us.

He provides cycles of life. In other words, it is God’s providence.

 

◎ There are two categories in God’s providence: “General providence” and “special providence.”

“General providence” means God’s intervention in the universe. It refers to God’s continuous upholding of the existence and natural order of the universe.

And “special providence” refers to God’s extraordinary intervention in the life of human beings.

 

◎ Anyway, in the chapter 3, the author particularly emphasizes the fact that everyone is born and someday dies. Everyone’s life has its beginning and end. Remember that everyone dies(Memento Mori)!

 

◎ Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses.

Moses asked God to teach this wisdom!

Let’s read the verse 12 of Psalm 90. Let’s read it together!

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”(NIV)

 

◎ Hebrews 9:27 says, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”(ESV)

And James 4:14 says, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”(NIV)

 

◎ Just knowing that man dies one day is not called wisdom.

Human life is short as water vapor that comes up and soon disappears.

Human life is limited, not eternal.

 

◎ So we should not waste time until we die.

We should live our lives according to the will of God.

This knowledge is said to be true wisdom.

 

[B] What we will see last only a short time.

◎ OK. Let’s read the verse 11 of Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

Let’s read it together!

“He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, without the possibility that mankind will find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.”(NASB)

 

◎ Look at the phrase “He has also set eternity in their heart.”

God put a sense of past and future into the heart of mankind.

“Eternity in the heart” means that our eye to see beyond the visible world.

God has given man an eternal perspective so that he can look beyond the routine of life.

God did not give the eternity to other creatures except humans.

It is a gift only given to humans.

 

◎ But the problem is that people have lost their eyes on the eternal world because they are obsessed with the visible world, material world.

Most people are concerned to eat and live in this world.

So they forgot that humans are mortal.

Don’t forget the fact that human are mortal.

Let’s read the first message together.

“God is eternal, but humans are mortal.”

 

◎ The apostle Paul teaches us an amazing spiritual truth.

Let’s read 2 Corinthians 4:18 together.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”(NIV)

We should remember that the visible world is not all.

 

◎ Jesus preached his disciples as a parable of a rich man:

The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” And he said, “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.”(Luke 12:16~18)

 

◎ Then, what did God say to this rich man?

Let’s read the verse 20 of Luke 12 together.

“Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”(ESV)

 

◎ Who is a foolish man in this story?

Yes, a man who thinks the visible world is everything is foolish!

 

◎ If men trapped in the visible world, then they become ones who only know about themselves. No more they look for God. They are no longer concerned for their neighbors. They don’t interested in the eternal world. They don’t want to know about after death.

The Bible says that these are foolish!

 

◎ Then what men should we be?

We should be wise men! Isn’t it so?

Wise men would prepare for the eternal world beyond this world.

 

◎ So how should we live in this world as we prepare to enter the eternal world?

Let’s read the verse 12 of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 once more.

“I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime.”(NASB)

 

◎ Qoheleth teaches two things for a wise life.

One thing is that to rejoice with the gift from God.

And another one is that to do good while we live.

 

[C] Rejoice with the gift from God.

◎ Let’s read the verse 13 of Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

“That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil - this is the gift of God.”(NIV)

 

◎ The routine of life is a gift of God:

To eat, to drink, to sleep comfortably and to work hard, to enjoy the fruits of our labors, and to worship, to love one another, to pray for one another, for these are gifts from God. We should enjoy thankfully the gifts of God.

 

Let’s read the second message together.

“Rejoice with the gift from God!”

 

◎ One of the famous verses, 1 Thessalonians 5:16~18 says “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”(NIV)

 

◎ It is a blessing to pray and to give thanks in everything to God in grace. And this life will give us happy.

 

[D] Do good as long as we can.

◎ Another one, a wise life is to live by doing good while we live.

Good is towb in Hebrew that means what God is pleased with.

What God is pleased with is to do things what belongs to God.

 

◎ In Proverb 2:9 says, “Then you will understand righteousness and justice, as well as integrity, every good course.”(CEB)

And Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”(ESV)

 

◎ Only what God is pleased with, what belongs to God, and working according to the values of the kingdom of God are recorded in front of God. And what belongs to God is eternal.

OK. Let’s read the third message together.

“Do good as long as we can!”

 

◎ Thank you God. It’s the new year!

I hope we all live with grateful mind for our lives God has given us.

And I hope we all will be blessed children of God who do good and share benefits to many people during the time God has given us.

 

◎ Prayer:

Gracious God.

Thank you for giving us the New Year.

We hope that the new year will be full of gratitude, praise, joy, and love in the will of God.

We want to make God pleased by doing good as long as we can.

So Holy Spirit help us.

Amen.