"Advice for Subjects"

A Sermon on Ecclesiastes 9:7-10

March 2, 2003

by Rev. Stephen C. Magee

Exeter Presbyterian Church

Ecclesiastes 9:7-10

7 Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works. 8 Let your garments always be white, And let your head lack no oil. 9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

Introduction: Rulers and Subjects

By now you are becoming accustomed to the fact that the author of this great book of wisdom has written it in such a way that the great majority of the passages in the book have a parallel passage on the same or a related topic.

In the case of today’s passage, I think it will help us greatly to realize that the parallel passage was about wisdom and rulers. In that passage we saw the tremendous benefit of true wisdom to rulers. We also noted how very rare true wisdom is.

Everyone is not a ruler, and that is a good thing. It is a difficult challenge and a heavy burden to be the one (or one of the ones) in charge in any enterprise. Heavy hangs the head that wears the crown.

That earlier passage (7:19-8:8) contained some important advice for rulers, and words extolling the beauty and power of wisdom in a wise ruler. Here we have advice for the mass of us who are not rulers, in a particular sphere, and the advice contains words extolling the beauty of simple enjoyment of the life we have been given. This is our portion in life.

There is some sense in which we are all called to be leaders in some sphere of life, although none of us are rulers in every sphere. Even President Bush is not an elder in his church, and the ministers of this Presbytery have no particular ruling role in the civil arena. Every head of household has a duty to use the authority that God has given him to rule with wisdom in his house, but beyond that most local level of government, that household ruler may be a “subject” in every other sphere of life. In fact, most of us are “subjects” in almost every sphere.

How are we to live as those who are subjects? In light of the parallel passage on rulers, this is the particular focus in today’s passage. How are we to live wisely and with joy in a world where others rule?

Solomon's advice is quite clear here, and can be easily paraphrased. "Live the life that you have been given now with joy. Enjoy your food, your wine, your wife, your work as long as you live. Dress and groom yourself like a person who is expecting to enjoy each day." (That is the meaning of the clean garments and anointing oil for the head that Solomon refers to.) "For one day you will die, and your life on this earth will be over. Again, live the life that you have been given now with joy."

How to be Christian and miserable:

While the advice given by Solomon is quite simple and very powerful, it is advice that is often ignored. In fact, it would seem that many, even within the Christian church, are set on a determined course quite different than the one presented in this passage. Many are apparently determined to be both Christian and miserable. How can such a thing be accomplished? Let me present to you an easy to follow, four-step plan by which Christians saved by the grace of God can still manage to be miserable.

1. Set your heart on things that are not yours.

If you want to be miserable, it is important for you to set your heart on earthly things, and particularly on those earthly things that you do not now have. If you do this, you will be well on your way to being miserable.

2. Take no enjoyment in what you have been given.

Closely connected to the prior point and flowing from it, it is important to avoid the enjoyment of what you actually have been given by God if you want to be truly miserable. Even occasional reflection upon the goodness of God in giving you the earthly blessings that you have in your possession can disrupt much progress toward misery. It is not enough to look longingly at what you have not been given. You must also be careful not to enjoy today the things that are yours today.

3. Confess everyone else's sins but your own, in Christian love, and consider everyone else's trouble your business.

While Jesus tells us in the sermon on the mount that each day has enough trouble of its own, the person seeking misery must push aside that observation, and seek to make every trouble in the world his own. There is a word of caution that should be added here. To be truly miserable you must make sure that you focus on yourself as you invade the lives of others.

Here caution must be followed in order to succeed at being miserable. The problem here is that bearing the burdens of others with a focus on aiding them will actually reduce your own misery. The key is to get in the middle of the lives of others while maintaining your own self-centeredness. Focus on how their suffering makes you feel, rather than doing something to actually aid the other person or to point them to the joys that are theirs in Christ.

In doing this, it is helpful to ignore many of your own duties, and then take offense at the fact that your family is wondering why you are not working. Don't they understand that you are busy with people (who, by the way, are not particularly appreciative of your care for them)?

4. Consider continually how much better everything would be if you were in charge.

As one who is subject to the rule of others above you, it is a great aid to misery to regularly consider, and to appropriately comment to sympathetic ears concerning the obvious truth that the people who are in charge are not doing a very good job. It should always be plain and obvious to you what steps rulers should be taking. Avoid praying for your rulers, and resist them in their efforts to lead, while maintaining a veneer of being supportive. Be quick to speak, slow to listen, and maintain a stockpile of anger as you attempt to cope with what you don't have, and with the general foolishness of rulers who should know better.

You can do these four things and not be a Christian. They are, after all, the way of the world. But if you will do these things, though you may be a Christian, you will also be miserable.

Solomon suggests that there is a better way for us as we live in the fear of God and in subjection to human rulers. There is a way of happiness for us in this passing world of death and sin - this world that is under the righteous wrath of God. There remains a way of quiet and peaceful submission, a way of current enjoyment in the glory of precious promises that God has given us through Christ our Lord.

You don't have to be a ruler

or have everything that you want

in order to be happy.

This true happiness of a peaceful heart and a quieted soul at rest does not require that you be the ruler of everyone and everything. There are many people who are in charge of many things and many men and women who can purchase whatever object they desire who are nonetheless deeply dissatisfied. And there are many who are weak and poor in this world who have yet discovered peace with God, and are able to enjoy simply the gifts that God has given them in this brief life under the sun.

There are, however, some important matters of advice that you must take to heart if you wish to live in the peace and joy that the Lord has for you in this difficult world here below.

Advice for those lacking something in a world with much death:

1. Embrace the great sufficiency of the work and wisdom of God in Jesus Christ.

First, you will never truly be able to maintain a sincere and stable peace of soul, if you have not settled the issue of your eternal condition. You may be able to enjoy moments here and there, and you may appear to others to have an easy-going manner, a love of life, and a pleasant disposition, but deep in your soul there is a question that needs to be addressed. You need to know that you are loved by God, and that you belong to God. When your body is lowered into the grave, where will you be? Is your only hope in that body which will die? One day your body will rest in the grave. There is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom there? You know this. How can you live a life of hope unless you truly know that you are accepted by God?

The day of your death may come suddenly, and you cannot have real peace and joy that will last by simply ignoring your soul. There are different ways that people cope with this. Some recognize that there is nothing they can do about their mortality, so they try not to bother their hearts with things they can do nothing about. This works well at age eighteen, but is less satisfying at eighty. Some busy themselves with current concerns, or fill their ears with laughter or pleasures in order to avoid the most important questions of life and death. This may seem to work for a time, but the events of their lives have a way of putting the frenzy or pleasure-seeking on hold, and then they begin to think, "What happens to me after I die?"

The kind of enjoyment that our souls seek is a solid peace and fulfillment, not the cheap thrill of cotton-candy pleasures. The person who has a working and solid hope, is actually able to have a more secure enjoyment of the passing pleasures of this life. We will not be able to enjoy temporary things in as full a way as we should until we embrace God's solution to our biggest need. We need eternal life, but our sin has earned death and hell for us. There is only one answer that I know of to this most important dilemma that everyone must face. God demands perfect righteousness. Christ alone has provided that righteousness for us in His perfect life. God demands that sin be punished. Christ has taken that punishment for us in His perfect death. Nothing else is sufficient for the task. You must embrace the perfection of Christ for you to have true peace.

2. Believe that God knows what He is doing.

The second point of advice flows from the first. If Christ has shown himself perfectly powerful and wise in His life and death, perhaps He can be trusted in what He is doing with your life and death. If you believe that He is "for" you in terms of your eternal salvation, surely you can trust Him for the events of your life.

Has the God who has ordered things so well in the life and death of His Son, ordaining His suffering for your salvation, suddenly lost His perfect wisdom in ordaining all the events of your life? You may find yourself subject to someone on this earth today who is less than prefect in his wisdom and integrity. Are you able to believe that God knows what He is doing on this matter? If you can not trust the Lord in all the events of your life, you will find it most difficult to have the peace and joy that your heart desires.

3. Enjoy what He gives you.

Now that these two most important matters are settled in your soul - eternal life and God's sovereignty and love in everything that He has remaining for you under the sun - you are poised to enjoy each moment that He gives you - each person - each event or thing - as a good gift from His loving hand. Confident in the righteousness of Christ and in the gospel of His love, now accept each day as God's good gift to you.

You need food and drink, God has given you food and drink. You need clothing and bodily health. God has given you a measure of these things. You have sought the love of a marriage partner, and the intimacy and companionship that God provides through this blessed institution of covenant commitment, and God has provided this for many of you. You seek useful work, and the gifts and energy necessary to pursue this work. God has placed you in a job where you can serve Him and others.

Some may lack something today, and yet our heavenly place is secure, and we have been granted great pleasure in the Lord today, and bright hope for tomorrow.

4. Invest in heavenly real estate.

Finally, let you who are subjects here below not only rest in Christ for eternal life, and rest in God's wisdom for your earthly life, and enjoy the good gifts that God has granted to you daily in His perfect wisdom, but also remember the words of Jesus who has assured us that we are to seek first the kingdom of God, with the confidence that God himself will grant us all things that are necessary for life and faith.

Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Conclusion: "God has already accepted your works."

Through all of the real struggles that you face on this earth, remember that God himself has accepted your works in the perfections of Jesus Christ. Through Christ alone you have been justified. God has even prepared works that you should walk in them. So walk with joy. Your works have been accepted long ago.

You can be both Christian and miserable, but it is not recommended. Trust in the perfection of the reign of Christ, and walk in joy day by day, knowing that He has given you many good gifts.