Mothers and Others (Exodus 2.1-10)

 All Age Talk for Mothering Sunday

A long time ago, God’s special people, the Hebrews, were slaves in Egypt.They had to work hard every day. No weekends, no holidays. No sick leave. The Egyptians were cruel and they made them work harder and harder.

‘Can’t we just have a little break, just to rest for five minutes?’ They said. ‘No! Work harder!’ said the men in charge of the work.

This is the man in charge of the whole country. Does anyone know his name…? He was called Pharaoh. He lived in a big palace. He had lots of servants. Even his servants had servants. And he didn’t care about God’s special people at all.

Pharaoh hated God’s special people, the Hebrews. ‘If I make them work really, really hard, they’ll be too busy and too tired to have families,’ he said. ‘Then there will be no more of them.’ But guess what happened? God’s special people the Hebrews had even more babies, and there were more and more of them.

So Pharaoh decided to do a terrible, terrible thing. He decided that all the Hebrew babies under two years old should die. ‘No!’ people said. ‘That’s not right!’ But Pharaoh was a horrible man and he said ‘Yes.’

About this time, a Hebrew baby boy was born. Does anyone know his name…? Moses. How do you think his mother felt about Pharaoh…? Scared, frightened, upset... ‘Pharaoh wants to harm my baby’ she said.  ‘I’ve got to do whatever I can to keep him safe.’

Moses was cute and smiley. Like all babies, he gripped your finger when you put it on his little hand. But like all babies, he cried a lot. Pharaoh’s soldiers were nearby, searching every home. She couldn’t hide him in the house much longer. Does anyone know what she did…?

She put him in a small basket, and went down to the river. There were reeds and bulrushes by the river bank.

‘No one will think to look in the river. I will hide him here’ she said. Then, when it is safe, I will come and get him. How do you think Moses’ mother felt now…?

I think she was happy that he was safer. But I’m sure she was so sad not to be with him. I expect she shed a few tears. He will be hungry and will have to wait for his milk. He will need a nappy change and have to wait for a change.

Meanwhile, Pharaoh had a daughter. She was a young woman, and she lived in the palace too. But she was not like her father at all; she was kind and loving. She loved children and enjoyed playing with them. One day, she went down to the river to wash and guess what she saw? What do you think…?

She found baby Moses and picked him up, and loved him.

‘This must be one of the Hebrew babies’ she said. ‘I must help to keep him safe. I will ask one of the Hebrew women to give him milk until he is older.’ Guess who she found to look after the baby...? Moses’ mother.

‘I will pay you to care for him until he is weaned and walking’ she said. So Moses was safe.

He grew up to be a great man of faith. He led God’s special people the Hebrews out of slavery to freedom. And all because he had a mother who hid him to save his life. And Pharaoh’s daughter who was like a mother and cared for him too.

Like Moses, some children don’t live with their mums. A dad or a grandparent or a foster mum looks after them instead. But they love them just like a mother does.

Today, on Mothering Sunday, we thank God for our mothers, and also those who are like mothers who cared for us when we were small – and who love us always.

Today as well, we have brought Charlotte to baptism. Charlotte has a wonderful loving family. And today, through baptism, she now has a Christian family who love her and care for her too.

May she, like Moses, be safe and loved all her life. And may she, like Moses, become a spiritual giant! 



Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 26 March 2017

Youth and Old Age (Ecclesiastes 11.7-12.8)

Introduction

There were men who retired in a certain town. They met up for a chat every day on a particular park bench. Ten years passed, then twenty. One day one said to the other, ”You know, my memory isn’t what it used to be. Can you remind me of your name?” Silence. So he repeated the question. Again there was a long silence. Finally, the other bloke turned to his friend and said, “When do you need to know by?”

The thing is, the older I get, the less far-fetched that story seems… As it says on the birthday card; “At my age I’ve seen it all, done it all, heard it all. I just can’t remember it all.”

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that we left off at the end of chapter 6 last Sunday and today we’re picking up in the middle of chapter 11. So what happened to chapters 7, 8, 9 and 10?

There are three answers to that question; and they are each practical in nature. The first reason is that chapters 7-10 repeat the exact same themes as chapters 1-6. There is very little that’s new there (in fact, nothing new under the sun) but so as not to send you home feeling entirely short-changed, I am going to summarise those 4 chapters in a hundred words after I give you reasons 2 and 3.

The second reason, I have to be honest, is that Ecclesiastes is a challenging book to preach on and, because of its recurring themes, I was beginning to run out of material that enabled me to say anything new.

The third reason is that I want to finish Ecclesiastes before Palm Sunday, which is three Sundays away. Then it’ll be Easter. It wouldn’t do to have a reading on the Day of the Resurrection saying “life is meaningless and we’d all have been better off if we’d never been born!”

So here’s the summary of chapters 7-10; basically they say this: you may as well face the facts about life and death. None of us know in detail how it’s going to unfold, whether things will work out well or not; some things are beyond our control. Nevertheless, one thing is certain; the same fate awaits us all. One day, none of us will be here. In the meantime, do what you can to live wisely rather than foolishly and don’t put all your trust in people – they’ll let you down. It pays in the long run to be respectful rather than rude. Most of all, enjoy life’s blessings as a gift from God.

There you go; four weeks of sermons in one minute. Some of you look like you’re thinking “why can’t it always be like this?”

We all want to live happy lives. The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote, “Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” That was one of his most famous quotes but Solomon, hundreds of years before him, said much the same thing in this book.

But both were mistaken. There is something even better than happiness. Happiness is the emotional response we have to circumstances around us. If good things keep happening to you, chances are you’ll be happy in life.

But God wants to give you something better than a happy life; he wants to give you a blessed life. You can enjoy a blessed life even when bad things keep happening to you. That’s why in the same passage where Jesus says, “the world is going to hate you” he also says “your joy will be complete.” To be blessed is to have God’s amazing grace and abundant favour lavished on you.

Youth

Today, as we draw towards the end of the book, after going round in circles a bit, Solomon at last gets to the point. I think the whole book can be summed up by what he says in 12.1. “Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say ‘I find no pleasure in them.’”

We’ll come to old age in a while, but I want to begin by looking at youth. 11.7-10 is about enjoying yourself while you’re young. God wants that. As I mentioned a few weeks back, it says in 1 Timothy 6.17, “God richly provides us with everything we need for our enjoyment.”

“Light is sweet” Solomon says “and it pleases the eye to see the sun.” This is probably why Barbados is a more desirable holiday destination than Bolton. I woke up on Wednesday, drew the curtains, and there was this dazzling crimson, orange, purple sunrise stretching out on an opal blue sky. Birds were singing. There was dew on the grass. The air smelt clean. I was in Stockton on Tees but, just for a moment, it felt like paradise.

Life is a gift. There are so many blessings to being alive. When you take the time to count them one by one, you see how many there are. Even simple ones like opening your eyes every day and seeing the light of the sun. Learn to cultivate a grateful heart. It’s good to start each day by saying, “thank you Lord for every good gift.”

“However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all” it says in v8. You appreciate life more when you’re satisfied with what you have than when you’re envious about you don’t have. You’re better off being a contented person with little than a covetous person with much.

Being young has some obvious upsides. On the whole, you’re healthier, you’ve got more energy, greater physical strength, fewer creaking joints, you tend to adapt better to change, you’ve usually got a better memory and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you.

No wonder people covet youth. Bob Hope once took a massive risk and asked a woman her age. This is how he remembered her reply. “She said she was approaching forty, and I couldn't help wondering from what direction!”

Solomon lived before the new covenant, before Jesus, before God’s revelation of eternity was fully made known. So for him, when he says in v8 “Let them remember the days of darkness, for here will be many. Everything to come is meaningless” we need to remember that this is what it looks like “under the sun” rather than beyond the heavens.

All the way through this book his basic point has been, “you will value life much more if you remember that you are going to be dead much longer.” It’s what we call today a secular outlook.

This is Solomon confirming what the New Testament says; without Jesus it’s all loss. There is no hope for those who have obstinately shut Jesus out of their hearts, lived for themselves instead, and taken that stubbornness to the grave.

One day, Jesus met a rich young man (Luke 18). He was just like Solomon in his prime; he had it all. He was young. He was privileged. He was loaded. He was free. He could do what he wanted.

But he’d just got to a point when he realised that one day all his wealth would be gone. And that his money couldn’t buy him everything. So he started wondering if there was maybe a way he could keep it and, maybe like Peter Pan, stay young forever… He was looking for the secret of eternal youth.

So he approaches Jesus and says, “Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?” And Jesus looks at him and says, “You know, don’t you? You’ve read the Ten Commandments.” “I’ve been doing all that ever since I was in shorts, I can tick all the boxes; I’m good” he says.

But Jesus, as always, sees the real issue. “Your identity, your security, your pleasure is in all your money. You want to have your cake and eat it. No, you have to choose. If you’re really serious about living blessed, leave that behind. I’m telling you, you’ll have spiritual treasure instead. Then you can come with me.” The Bible says his face fell. He was crestfallen.

Two people watched a hearse drive by on the way to a funeral. It was a very well-known celebrity who died with fabulous wealth. One said, “How much did he leave?” and the other said, “Everything.”

So Solomon continues. He could have written this for the rich young ruler;

“You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.”

In other words, it’s a fascinating world, travel well, live adventurously, explore possibilities, avoid pain if you can and don’t let anxiety consume you. But, whatever you do, remember God.

The Passage of Time

Time drags when you’re young and time flies when you’re older. Einstein was once asked to explain his famous theory and he famously replied, “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.”

Five minutes of added time for a fan whose team is desperately hanging on seems like a day, but five minutes for a fan whose team has failed the entire second half to breach the opposing defence feels like 10 seconds.

All my childhood I wished I could grow up more quickly. Did you? But the older I get, the more time seems to accelerate. There’s a clock in Chester Cathedral with a short poem by Henry Twells called Time’s Paces and it talks about this phenomenon.

When as a child, I laughed and wept, time crept.
When as a youth, I dreamt and talked, time walked.
When I became a full-grown man, time ran.
When older still I daily grew, time flew.
Soon I shall find on travelling on - time gone.
O Christ, will You have saved me then? Amen.

So Solomon comes to a conclusion from all his swaying to and fro, from all his internal debating, from all his glass half-empty and glass half-full moods.

And here it is (12.1): “Honour and enjoy your Creator while you’re still young” as The Message version puts it. How many of you came to faith before you were 25..? That’s why it’s vital to remember your creator when you’re young. In later years, the human heart becomes harder. That’s not to say you can’t become a Christian when you’re older – but it’s rarer.

The easiest time in life to forget God is, in my opinion, in your twenties and thirties.  I used to belong to a Youth Discipleship group when I was in my late teens. Kathie used to go too. There were maybe 20 of us and we’d meet for simple life-related Bible teaching, testimony, prayer and praise every Tuesday night. It was the highlight of my week. Everybody there was full-on for God.

But when we got into out twenties and thirties, we all got busy. Some got diverted and distracted. Others moved away and couldn’t find a good church. Some of us had problems. Now, only four or five of us as far as I know are committed Christians.

Old-Age

What about old-age? Remember Solomon is an old man when he’s writing down Ecclesiastes so he’s speaking from experience. Someone once said, “Youth for pleasure, adulthood for business, old age for God.” Solomon spent most of his life believing that and now he’s saying “no, that’s all wrong.”

Of course, to very young people, everyone looks old. A little girl came out of church once after learning about Noah’s Ark and she asked her grandfather, “Grandpa, what was it like in the ark with Noah?” He could have seen the funny side but, honestly, he was a bit offended. So he said, “Excuse me, young lady, I was not in the ark with Noah.” She looked very puzzled and said, “Well, how come you didn’t drown then?”

In v2-5 Solomon describes what life is like for him now he’s very old. This will one day be me. It occurred to me this week that I am just ten years away from qualifying as a member of the Lunch Club. The count down to the free bus pass has begun.

Verse 2: Remember your Creator before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain.

Growing old is like going from summer to autumn to winter. Days get darker, and the light fades more with each day.

Verse 3: Remember your Creator when the keepers of the house tremble, (he’s talking about his shaky hands) and the strong men stoop (in other words, my back is hunched over now), when the grinders cease because they are few (he’s talking about his missing teeth that can no longer manage steak) and those looking through the windows grow dim (this is about his eyesight. First he started squinting and needed glasses for reading, then he needed bifocals to see distances as well and no sooner was that sorted out he got cataracts).

Verse 4: Remember your Creator when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades (he’s saying I no longer really understand the world with all its changes now my working life is behind me), when people rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; (he’s saying my sleep gets disturbed by the slightest noise and my nocturnal trips to the loo. The fading sounds are a reference to becoming a little hard of hearing).

Verse 5: Remember your Creator when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets (he’s thinking I’ve become vulnerable; I’m less steady on his feet, I could fall down the stairs and I can’t defend myself like I once could); when the almond tree blossoms (that’s grey hair) and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred (here’s Solomon saying ‘the spring has gone from my step. He looks at his harem and says ‘I’m too old for all that now.’)

It’s a very moving and poetic description of the declining powers of old age. Your grip weakens, your joints stiffen, you sag in all the wrong places, and your hair disappears from your head and starts to sprout in your nostrils and ears instead. One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.

What a tragedy when, like Solomon, you have no assurance about life after death. You cannot look forward with anticipation. And you cannot look back with satisfaction. The silver cord snaps and the well is dry. The party’s over. The glass is empty. The bar’s closed. Life is done.

Solomon tried everything and summed up his entire life as useless, vanity. “A tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing” as Shakespeare put it. He took a lifetime to learn that the most important things in life aren’t things and the best things in life are always free.

Don’t get to where he got to. When I look back at my four score years and ten I want to see more than a broken rope and a shattered water jar.

Ending

John Wesley said as an old man, “When I was young I was sure of everything. After a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before. Now, I am hardly sure of anything except what God has revealed to me.”

If your first 25 years are springtime, 25-50 is summer, 50-75 is autumn, and 75-100 is winter, what season of life are you in? When I was in the springtime of my life I never thought that one day I’d be in autumn, but here I am. And winter is next.

As surely as the earth turns round the sun, teenagers become adults, who become mature adults, who become elderly.

What if Solomon could log on to Ask Billy Graham.com? What if he asked, “Dear Billy, when I was young, I loved God and followed him with all my heart. But when I got older, I got distracted and wondered away from faith. Now, I’m close to death and feel I’ve wasted my life. I bet God is angry with me. Is it too late?

This is what the reply would be (and I know because someone did ask a very similar question).

“Yes, it would’ve been better if you had never turned away from God. But listen: he still loves you, and Christ died for you. God’s promise of forgiveness is for all who know they need him: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1.9). Don’t let another day go by without Christ, but confess your sins to Him and ask him to be your Saviour and Lord. Then ask him to help you walk with him every day.

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 19 March 2017

Finding Contentment (Ecclesiastes 6.1-12)

Introduction

In over 30 years of preaching, I’ve never yet begun a sermon with a weather forecast. But, ladies and gentlemen, that all changes today!

As we head through March, I understand we can expect plenty of unsettled weather with some strong wind and rain over most of the country. The latter stages of the month should see things calm down with drier weather expected. And apparently, according to someone I talked to this week, there’s a heatwave on the way.

It was so good to walk outside on Tuesday, without a coat, and hear birdsong, and see spring flowers and buds appearing, and have the warmth of the sun on your face. It really lifts your morale doesn’t it?

But not everyone cheers up when the sun comes out. “Under the sun” is a phrase that turns up 28 times in this book of Ecclesiastes (and nowhere else in the whole Bible). Solomon is always talking about life “under the sun” and yet he goes through the whole book moaning about what a drag it all is.

“Ooh, everything’s so meaningless. I’m bored. I work all day for nothing. What’s the point? Life is so unfair. It would have been better to have never been born.” This guy is pretty heavy. He’s the bloke who lives in a palace of bling and yet says, “Start each day with a smile. Get it over with!”

That phrase “under the sun” is important though, it’s key, because it defines Solomon’s vision of reality. It’s a world view that is strictly limited to this earth and this life.

·         That’s it

·         There is no spiritual dimension

·         There is no thought of eternity

·         There is no room for God

·         Imagine there’s no heaven, and no religion too

Actually, you don’t have to imagine it; you can go there. It’s a place called North Korea…

But for Solomon, living under the sun which is how has spent most of his days, is just life on earth, going round in circles, then death, then nothing. This is where Solomon got to when he drifted away from God for years and years – most of his life – and he ended up disillusioned and miserable.

But not everyone comes to the same conclusion Solomon came to, we must be honest. Some people never go near a church, never pray, never think about spiritual things at all, live comfortably and say, “I’m very happy in life. I have no existential angst. I’m fine. I don’t feel the need for spiritual things. I don’t feel empty. Why do I need Jesus?”

Do you know people like that? The thing is, whenever we say this, we talk and act like our lives are going to go on forever, even though we know deep down they won’t. We may well live a few years longer than our parents, but the death rate is the same today as it’s always been; 100%.

We all have to face up to it – and this is why Solomon feels so wretched; he’s at the end of his life and he so wishes he could start again. If he could, he would put God right at the heart of his life. “I would have been happier” he says. “I would have been more at peace. I wouldn’t have made a pig’s ear of my relationships. I would be facing the inevitable satisfied that I had lived well and confident about what awaits me on the other side.”

And he would have been right to think that. Academic research that has been done that bears this out very emphatically.

Dr. Simon Dein from University College London, having reviewed a wealth of literature on human wellbeing, wrote this:

In the majority of studies, religious involvement is correlated with:

•    Wellbeing, happiness and life-satisfaction

•    Hope and optimism

•    Purpose and meaning in life

•    Higher self-esteem

•    Better adaptation to bereavement

•    Greater social support and less loneliness

•    Lower rates of depression and faster recovery from depression

•    Lower rates of suicide and fewer positive attitudes towards suicide

•    Less anxiety

•    Less psychosis and fewer psychotic tendencies

•    Lower rates of alcohol and drug abuse

•    Less delinquency and criminal activity

•    Greater marital stability and satisfaction

This is the way God has wired us; to live in relationship with him. Though our sinful nature rebels against it 24/7 we are incomplete without God; something is missing.

Instead of benefiting from all the things those studies identified, Solomon found that everything he lived for turned out to be like a wisp, a vapour; just when he thought he’d grabbed hold of it, it was gone.

Life passed him by. And now as an old man, looking back, trying to make sense of it all, he says, it was as futile as chasing the wind. In modern English we say “spitting into the wind.” “Pointless”, in other words. “Meaningless” as he repeats here no less than 33 times.

Enjoying Life

Let’s turn to today’s reading, chapter 6. It’s about contentment - and the lack of it. “I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on the human race…” says Solomon.

We all want contentment don’t we? We all want to enjoy life. Well, the word “enjoy” appears 4 times in the first six verses.

In v1-2 you’ve got people who appear to lack nothing. They’ve got it all; they’ve money, they’ve got every possible material comfort and they’re popular. All that is a gift from God, says Solomon, but he adds this important detail. Although God provides these things he doesn’t automatically give the ability to enjoy them.

Sometimes he does. Just a few verses back, in 5.19, it says God does give those with wealth and possessions the gift of being able to enjoy them. God gives contentment to some but he withholds it from others.

Contentment in life is not something we can obtain ourselves and it’s not a human right. Enjoying what we have is a gift of grace.

Do you thank God for the blessings you receive from his hand and that you are able to enjoy them? Both are a gift of God.

I think this is another self-portrait by Solomon; here’s a king who had all the toys, but none of the joys. Here’s a man who always thought about the gifts and never about the giver.

Ian Parkinson was speaking at New Wine a couple of years ago and he talked about a time when he was a curate in Middlesbrough and they had a visit from a Ugandan church leader. This was a guy who sometimes went weeks without being paid, he had a family that sometimes just drank water for a week at mealtimes because there was no food to put on the plate. He lived simply. He had suffered greatly.

Someone took a photo of this man with the home group which was hosting him (these were the days when you had to send a film off and wait a couple of weeks – remember that?) When they looked at the photo a few weeks later they were quite shocked.

Because here he was in this group photo surrounded by about 20 people, all very comfortably off, certainly in comparative terms. When they passed the photo round someone asked “who looks the happiest person in the picture?” And it was this Ugandan pastor, just beaming from ear to ear. It wasn’t that anyone else was unhappy; it’s just that the joy of the Lord was on him. He radiated this almost supernatural happiness. His contentment was in God, his cup overflowed and he enjoyed his blessings.

We know poverty can be devastating, it can be crushing, but in a strange kind of way, those whose mind-set is not to be consumed by riches because it’s not an option for them, are often somehow liberated. It’s only when we step outside of our own culture that we see sometimes how compromised we can get serving mammon rather than God – certainly I felt that very strongly when I was in Ethiopia last year.

Visiting homes in some run-down neighbourhoods in Addis Ababa, and seeing the joy of the Lord on the faces of Christians living there, somehow put the inconveniences of our 10 year-old car and high-maintenance garden in perspective.

Listening to the budget and the debate that followed this week, it struck me that last year, our government in London borrowed £1,150 for every man, woman and child in the country just to give us what we demand as our present standard of living. And still we’re not satisfied.

So much for money and material possessions... We know deep down they can’t really give us the quality of life we want. But what about family? What about health? Surely they can?

But, Solomon says in v3 that he’s noticed after a lifetime of observation, that even if you have 100 kids and live to a ripe old age you can still be thoroughly miserable and die unloved and unlamented.

This is what v3-6 are about. What could be sadder than having no mourners at your funeral, and your family only hanging around long enough for the reading of the will? You’d be better off never to have been born says Solomon.

I’ve done enough funerals in my time to know that it’s relatively common for children, grandchildren, brothers or sisters to want nothing to do with the ceremony and not have a single good word to say for their deceased close relative.

Then in v7-12 Solomon says a few more things about contentment.

Firstly, back to the treadmill of work. “Everyone’s toil is for the mouth, yet the appetite is never satisfied.” In other words, we work to eat for the strength to go on working and eating.

A Yorkshire farmer was interviewed on TV about his working week. “What’s the hardest thing about life on the farm?” asked the reporter. "Milking cows” he said. “And the hardest thing about milking cows is that they never stay milked."

One of the most popular stories in Greek mythology is the myth of Sisyphus. He was condemned by the gods to pushing a rock up a hill, watch it roll down again and repeat the exercise every day. This is what work feels like for many people.

It’s all a bit depressing, isn’t it? So here are a few one-liners about jobs to lighten things up a bit.

-          The worst job I ever had was being a human cannonball at the circus. The boss fired me on my first day.

-          I left my job at the helium gas factory. I refused to be spoken to in that voice.

-          My friend refused to believe his dad had been stealing from his job with the Highways Agency but when he got home all the signs were there.

-          I don’t think I got that job at Google. They never responded to my telegramme.

-          My brother’s an underground sewer inspector but he's become disillusioned with his job. "It feels like I'm just going through the motions" he said.

If Solomon was a vineyard owner, I reckon he’d moan about the weather, and complain about the toil of picking the grapes, and gripe about working the winepress, and whinge about the tedious job of bottling it all. Every year, the same old cycle. That’s his tone in Ecclesiastes.

Compare that negative, godless outlook, to what Benjamin Franklin said. “Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.”

Ending

I’d better wrap this up. If I lack contentment, why is that? There are two possibilities; one is healthy and one is unhealthy.

1) Discontent can be healthy. This is when we compare our lives with what they would be like if we only walked in obedience with God, in line with what he wants for our joy and well-being.

For example, if a married couple are unhappy about their marriage their lack of peace might motivate them work it out, improve their communication, or mend whatever is broken. That leads to contentment and blessing.

2) Discontent can be unhealthy. This is when we compare ourselves with other people and envy what they have.

For example, that same married couple are unhappy in their marriage because they compare their spouse to someone else they think they would rather be with. That leads to discontent and misery.

I think this is what Solomon is saying in v9; “Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite.”

People sometimes imagine life would be better if their husband had Brad Pitt’s physique, or their wife had Rhianna’s figure, or if they had Michael McIntyre’s sense of humour, or Jessica Ennis-Hill’s sporting talent, or Stephen Fry’s intellect or Richard Branson’ money.

Is Richard Branson happy? Possibly. But someone once asked him, “How do you become a millionaire?” He said, “Start off as a billionaire and then go into the airline business!”

We live in an age which has more opportunity for personal dissatisfaction than any other time in history. Facebook presents us round the clock with pictures of beautiful people eating amazing meals, and living in perfect homes. Advertising is a strategy of creating discontentment to such a degree that we willingly part with our money to make us feel better again.

The prayer of a discontented person is “Lord, help me to have what I want.”

The prayer of a contented person is “Lord, thank you that I want what I have.”

But let’s end by looking at Jesus. No one was more content in life than him. The Bible says he was anointed with the oil of gladness.

Was he privileged, wealthy, comfortable, popular and upwardly mobile like Solomon?

In fact, he went from King of Heaven, enthroned in glory, adored by angels and crowned with honour to:

-          growing up under military occupation

-          a manual job in a sweaty workshop

-          no romantic relationships, no marriage and no children

-          not having his own home and often sleeping rough

-          being supported by the charity of a few devoted women

-          being deeply unpopular with the people who made the rules

-          rejection, betrayal and desertion by few friends

-          the denial of a fair trial

-          a beating and crucifixion, blame for the sins of the whole world

If Jesus was like me, he would have never left heaven. But not once in the Gospels does Jesus show the slightest hint of discontentment. Living in Christ is how you find contentment.

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 12 March 2017

Work and Wealth (Ecclesiastes 5.1-20)

Introduction

I’m interested to know, how many of you, before this year, had ever heard a sermon on Ecclesiastes?

And how many of you had heard a series of talks to cover the whole book or a major part of it?

This is the fifth of eight talks on Ecclesiastes and it’s a bit deep and philosophical isn’t it? It can even be quite discouraging in places. It’s probably why few preachers choose to speak on it.

I feel a bit like the new teacher who was trying to make use of her Psychology A-Level. She started her class by saying, "Right. Everyone who thinks they're stupid, stand up!" After ten long seconds, a young boy stands up.  The teacher says, "Do you really think you're stupid?" And he says, "No, miss, but I hate to see you standing there all by yourself!"

Anyway, now we’re half way, let’s do a quick summary of what we’ve read up till now.

You’ll remember it was written about 3,000 years ago by Solomon, towards the end of his life. Picture the pathetic scene of an unhappy and lonely old man in a sumptuous palace with lavish treasures and a thousand women, but with no peace and no friends.

He’s lived for himself and shut God almost completely out of his life. But not quite completely. There are a just a few flashes now and then of openness to God, where he admits that he’s missing out spiritually.

And notice, every time he does start to talk about God he seems to cheer up. We’ll come to one of those moments today.

But mostly, in this book, Solomon describes how he looked for ultimate answers to ultimate questions anywhere but to God.

So right in the middle of our Bibles we find, to our great surprise, even embarrassment, a book with six ‘isms’ which seem totally out of place.

Together, they create a mood which is the polar opposite of everything else we find in the Bible.

The six isms are (in alphabetical order):

·         Cynicism – yeah right, nothing is as good as it looks

·         Defeatism – oh, what’s the use? 

·         Existentialism – just live in the moment

·         Fatalism – whatever will be will be and there’s nothing you can do about it

·         Hedonism – live for pleasure, party hard, you’re worth it

·         Pessimism – knowing my luck it’ll rain tomorrow

This is how life can turn out for someone who forgets the creator he knew as a child, only to conclude as death approaches that he has wasted his life. It’s back to the drawing board with no time to draw anything.

What’s chapter 5 about? Mostly it’s about work and wealth.

At the end, Solomon says, “Take pride in what you do, and do it well. And look, if you can find job satisfaction – that’s great. Then when you get home from an honest day’s work, you can appreciate some nice food and a good drink, in a place you can call home. But ultimately having a job is a gift from God who loves you and wants the best for you.”

But Solomon, remember, is debating in his own mind about whether life is worth living and whether you can find lasting happiness. In the middle section of this chapter he makes the case for “no, it’s not and no, you can’t”.

The difference in Solomon’s experience between “life is boring” and “life is great” is his attitude towards God. In v8-17 he sounds dejected. In those ten verses, when he says everything is meaningless, he doesn’t mention God once. He is out of the picture.

But in v18-20 when Solomon cheers up and says, “You know, life’s good”, in three short verses he mentions God four times.

Let’s drill down a bit deeper into the middle section where Solomon is sounding off about life being meaningless…

By the way, before we do, have you ever thought about how silly it is to say that life is meaningless?

The Indian Christian speaker Ravi Zacharias once spoke at a University campus in the USA on “Man’s Search for Meaning”. During the Q and A, a student raised his hand and said “Ah, but everything in life is meaningless.”

Ravi Zacharias looked at him and said, “You cannot possibly mean that.” He said, “No, I did mean that.” So he asked the young man to stand and said, “This won’t take long. I take it, sir, that when you say ‘everything in life is meaningless’, you believe that your assertion is meaningful.” There was a pregnant silence. Then, hesitantly, he answered, “yes.”

“OK,” said Ravi, “if your statement really is meaningful then everything in life is not meaningless, and you yourself have demonstrated that your assertion is false. If, on the other hand, everything in life is indeed meaningless, your assertion was meaningless too and therefore, in effect, you have said nothing. You may sit down.”

Everything is not meaningless! It just feels that way when you spend your whole life looking for the next thrill, forgetting God, and then getting to the end only to realise you’ll be soon forgotten and all you worked for will be obsolete within a generation.

How the Other Half Live

We often think about the distribution of wealth as being about the wealthy and the needy. The winners and the losers. The haves and the have nots. The well-off and the ripped off.

But in the Bible there are four categories, not two. It’s more nuanced. So in the Bible there are two kinds of rich; good rich and bad rich. And there are two kinds of poor; good poor and bad poor.

Whether you have a lot of money or no money is unimportant. Your prosperity doesn’t impress God and your poverty doesn’t earn you holy points either. God is not concerned about the size of our bank accounts. He is interested in the size of our hearts.

Money is morally neutral. It’s the love of money that is the root of all evil.

So Jesus applauded Zacchaeus (good rich) because he gave back four times more than he ripped off. Wealth and godliness can coexist.

But he criticised the Pharisees (bad rich) because they made a big show about putting a lot on money in the collection. They were so well-off they didn’t miss it.

What about the poor? Again, there are two kinds. Jesus commended the widow (good poor) who put two almost worthless coins in the offering because it was all she had. She had a generous heart.

But he roasted the servant in his story (bad poor) because he buried his single talent and lazed around all day instead of going to work and earning an honest living.

And the Book of Proverbs warns over and over against becoming a sluggard, refusing to work and bringing poverty on the family.

 Ecclesiastes 5 is mostly focused on the good poor and the bad rich.

In v8-9, the poor are getting fleeced and the rich are ripping them off while they accumulate more and more.

This is why bankers, in a season of hubris, can plunge a whole nation into years of austerity but keep their jobs and still go home with excessive bonuses. While the lowest paid get most squeezed.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies produced a report this week. It says, based on official forecasts, that the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis will still be being felt two years from now, 11 years on. And the pain will be borne most by low-income households with children.

3,000 years ago it was the same old story. That’s what v8-9 say. There’s nothing new under the sun. And Solomon (v9) is king - he’s top of the pile; he knows he’s doing very nicely out of the system so he doesn’t rock the boat.

In v10-11 Solomon reflects that people always want more than they have. He thinks about his own life – because he loved luxury – and he says that people who seek wealth are obsessive about it but it’s never enough.

He knows that having lots of stuff causes sleepless nights. He worried about thieves breaking in, about his palace having adequate security. “The abundance of the rich permits them no sleep” he says in v12.

According to Sebastian Dillon the three things that the rich worry about most are:

1. Will my friends and family ask me for money? (Basically am I going to be bothered by scroungers all my life)?

2. Does my spouse really love me? (In other words, if the money dries up will my trophy wife disappear the next day)?

3. Will I get sued?

Has anyone here heard of Minecraft? … Don’t ask me to explain Minecraft – ask them.

I was talking to a 9-year old boy at Saint Mary’s school before Assembly this week and he told me he spends about 20 hours a week playing Minecraft. I thought “wow!”

It reminded me Homer Simpson who once said, "It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day."

I don’t even really know what Minecraft is about. The lad tried to explain it to me, but I’m afraid after about two sentences I glazed over and lost the will to live. My expertise in computer games peaked in about 1981 with Space Invaders. Remember that? Bip… bip… Peoww! I almost got to Level 2.

Anyway, three years ago, the Swedish creator of Minecraft, Markus Persson, sold his business to Microsoft for $2.5 billion. He bought himself a $70 million mansion in Beverly Hills with every creature comfort – including 15 bathrooms.

Living it up in style eh? But soon afterwards, in a series of posts on Twitter he said this:

“The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible... Hanging out in Ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want, and I’ve never felt more isolated… When we sold the company, the biggest effort went into making sure the employees got taken care of, and they all hate me now… Found a great girl, but she’s afraid of me and my lifestyle and went with a normal person instead.”

He announced the breakup of his marriage two days after his first wedding anniversary. He multiplied his wealth but lost his happiness.

In v13-15 Solomon thinks about people who lose happiness and wealth. He’s seen people blow every penny on rash investments or gambling - and he’s seen families left destitute.

The former boxer Mike Tyson (that’s the gentleman on the left) earned $400 million during his 20-year career. Now, you would think that $400 million ought to be just about enough to see you through wouldn’t you? But no! Apparently not. In 2003 he filed for bankruptcy. His debts amounted to the GDP of a small republic, including a $9 million divorce settlement and $17.4 million in unpaid taxes.

“I have seen a grievous evil under the sun” says Solomon; “wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is nothing left for them to inherit.”

A Satisfied Life

I’ve shared several stories of the great and the good over the last few weeks. I’ve mentioned politicians, businessmen, sports stars, philosophers, recording artists, lottery winners – all of them thoroughly disillusioned by fame and fortune. I found many more and had to be very selective.

“I can’t get no satisfaction” sang Mick Jagger – and he was rolling in money, with unlimited drugs, fast cars and women in bikinis – all inclusive.

So what’s the key to a satisfied life? At the end of the chapter Solomon talks about living well and enjoying the simple pleasures of life. He says that’s good. But in v1-3 he gets to the heart of it all.

This is Solomon in one of his God moments. He says in v1, “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools... God is in heaven, and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”

He’s saying, “Watch this, this is really important. Take great care in how you approach God in your life.”

I think Solomon is talking about himself here in these verses; but not in the one who steps humbly into God’s house, who quietens down, who invests in his spiritual growth, who looks to hear from God. That’s who Solomon wishes he had been.

This is Solomon saying, “I’ve been a fool. I should have spent more time being still before God. I should have learned to slow down and tune in to the whisper of his voice. I should have just bowed in awe of God. What an idiot I’ve been.”

This is the greatest key to finding satisfaction in life; a healthy relationship with God.

Weary

I want to finish by focusing on one word; it’s a word I feel God impressed on me as I was praying over the passage and preparing this talk; the word is weary.

It’s not found in this chapter. He uses words and phrases like “meaningless,” grievous evil”, “never satisfied”, “what do we gain?” and “great frustration”.

But the word “weary” sums up the mood of this whole book. It’s got a slightly sad ring to it. It’s about tiredness, mental fatigue, jadedness. It’s when you’re burdened, weighed down.

For Solomon, as we’ve seen, the weariness is all about his despondency and regret for the wasted years of his life. He’s accumulated all his life but can now hardly bear to look at all his sumptuous wealth.

But I think the Lord wants to refresh weary souls today in several ways.

- First of all, I think there may be weary leaders here this morning. I’m thinking especially about leaders in church. You might think, “Well that won’t include me then.”

But I think up to about half of us here have some kind of leadership role; in Life Groups, in pastoral care, in administration, in prayer ministry, in youth work or in Messy Church, in Connect, in welcome, in worship, being on the PCC… if you’re the only person in church that arranges the flowers or washes the tea towels you’re a leader too and it wouldn’t happen without you.

Even Moses and Elijah, two of the most anointed leaders in the Old Testament, got weary at times. “Lord, what have I done to deserve having to lead this lot? I’m not doing this anymore” said Moses. “Lord, I’ve had enough, take my life!” said Elijah.

Are you weary? Has your love for what God has called you to do got burned-out?

- Secondly, I feel there may be some here today who are weary from living with long-term illness. You may have never asked anyone to pray for your condition. Or you may leap up to be prayed for every week. Sometimes an answer to prayer is instant. Other times it takes a long time.

Rob talked in Ablaze last month about laying the railway tracks on the Liverpool to Manchester Railway. There was one place on the line where the ground was soft. They laid tracks – and they collapsed. So they put some hard core underneath and laid them again – they sank again. They kept adding layers of hardcore until finally it hit the bedrock and at last the tracks were stable. For some of you today prayer might be like laying another layer of hardcore. For others, who knows?, it might finally be the day.

- Thirdly, some of you might be weary from living with difficult situations at work. Office politics, financial cuts, a terrible boss, a controlling colleague, a stressful environment… it’s gone on and on; and the attrition, the grinding down, has made you weary. It’s so hard to find the joy of the Lord (which is your strength) so you feel weaker and weaker…

- Fourthly, some here today might be spiritually weary. Every time you pick up the Bible and try and read it, it just feels dry. God’s not speaking to you through it like he used to. Or you might feel a bit detached and apathetic during worship. You used to love worship; it was like an oasis for your soul; where’s that gone? It’s become a bit of a drag. Or your prayer life has all but ground to a halt. God seems distant. Prayer is laborious. Your relationship with God has cooled.  

And fifthly, is there someone here who has not yet given their heart to Christ? You may feel like he’s been knocking on the door of your heart for years. Are you weary of resisting? Is this the day that changes?

Jesus said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, [or heavy laden] and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light...”

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 5 March 2017