Ecclesiastes 3:1-13, 1 Thessalonians.

5:16-18 A Resolution for a New Year Sermon preached January 5, 2014 Opening In late June 1998 I got hit on the back of the head with a snowball. We had driven all the way from the Grand Canyon to Wyoming and had climbed the back side of the Grand Tetons in our rented Ford Taurus and when we got to the summit of the pass, we got out of the car and from about 11,000 feet we could see it seemed halfway across the continent. And there was still snow at that altitude so my two older children snuck behind me, packed together some snowballs and nailed me right on the back of the head so the snow leaked down my collar down my back. I retaliated in kind. That was a great moment Ill always remember and treasure. And as we begin a new year together as a congregation of Christ-followers, I want to help us consider how we are going to live during the coming year. The Lord Jesus made us a promise - that he came to give us abundant life, or as the NIV translates it, I came that they (my followers) may have life, and have it to the full. Today I want to consider just one dimension of what it means to have life to the full - and that is, to celebrate and enjoy great moments during the coming year. Ecclesiastes Passage Were going to discover how to do this through looking at our passage from Ecclesiastes. The book is attributed to King Solomon, and is classified as wisdom literature and the purpose of wisdom literature was to teach people how to live a life blessed by God. How to live in the everyday - in your relationships with your spouse and family and neighbors, in your business dealings, in your personal morality. And there is a key idea behind wisdom literature - that God has designed the world so that there is a way of life that leads to blessing - and we align ourselves with the way God intends life to work, and well find blessing. Ecclesiastes is the story of how one man - traditionally thought to be King Solomon but he only calls himself The Preacher - went on a quest to find happiness in life. And he had enormous resources at his disposal - something like if you won $300 million in the lottery and you devoted your life to trying every worldly delight to 1

see what brings true happiness. And his hypothesis was, you find true happiness by extracting maximum pleasure from life. And so he engaged in a research project to test his hypothesis. Now remember, hes hugely wealthy, and hes the king. He has essentially infinite resources, he can buy or command anything he wants. Sound like a research project youd like to sign up for? I mean, can you imagine? Maybe you have - like fantasies of you actually winning the lottery - you have so much money you can do anything you want. So Solomon goes for it - and he says that he didnt deny himself anything enjoyed the best of food and wine...he had hundreds of wives and concubines and enjoyed the delights of sex with them...he commissioned building projects and helped design the structures and watched as they went up...built parks and gardens to enjoy...and the man sampled every possible sensual delight. And at the end of the research project, what was his conclusion? Its at the beginning of the book where he writes, in despair, Meaningless, meaningless, all is meaningless! In the King James language, Vanity, vanity, all is vanity! Its all, he says, a chasing after the wind. The preachers experiment reminded me of a story I read in sixth grade thats stuck with me, a lot more than geometry did. Its the story of a man who died and went to the afterlife. And hes greeted by someone who is his personal servant, who is available to get him anything he wants and the servant tells the man you can have any pleasure you desire - anything - whatever you want, as much as you want, whenever you want. And the man, goes for it - tries it all - for a while hes happy but after a while he gets bored and angry and yells at his servant, I hate this - what kind of heaven is this? I dont want to stay here - I want to go to Hell! And the servant says, Why sir, wherever did you think you were? The preachers conclusion So - at the beginning of the book the preacher cries out, Vanity, vanity, all is vanity - that the route of seeking ones own pleasure leads to a crushing emptiness - and then in two other places in the book he tells his readers, heres what Ive figured out is the purpose of life. First conclusion about how you find meaning and happiness in life - he says, at the end of the book to fear God - meaning, honor and love God and keep his commandments. Because all human beings are going to have to answer to God for the conduct of their lives. And thats a consistent biblical message, and its a 2

good way to live, to realize that our lives are a gift and what we do with out lives matters, matters to God so much that one day well be ushered into Gods presence and theyll roll the video of our life and everything weve been or done will come to light. Not in the sense that God is just itching for us to screw up and then point that out - its that we are majestic beings created in the image of God and what we do with our lives matter, we matter, and were accountable. So - thats part one of the preachers prescription about how to live our lives - and then part two - and he says we should work hard...and enjoy the good moments of life. Do you best, to live fully, and enjoy the life youve been granted. And this same advice is repeated four more times in Ecclesiastes - eat, drink, enjoy life, be happy. Eugene Peterson in The Message translates it like this: (Project) Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, Drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yesGod takes pleasure in your pleasure! Dress festively every morning. Dont skimp on colors and scarves. Relish life with the spouse you love Each and every day of your precarious life. Each day is Gods gift. Its all you get in exchange For the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! Whatever turns up, grab it and do it! (Eccles. 9:710). And thats a word Id like us to consider as we begin a new year. Defense of this idea Now this is not a word we hear often in church - especially in Presbyterian, Calvinist churches - were all about duty and sacrifice and service, and we have a long history of deep suspicion of pleasure. I mean, we come from the Puritan strain of Protestantism and one definition of a puritan is a person who is deeply suspicious that someone, somewhere, is having a good time. Maybe it would make more sense on the first Sunday of a new year to preach about giving more of your time, your wealth, your resources to serving the Lord Jesus Christ to challenge you to a year of regular bible reading or to a deeper commitment to prayer or some other challenge to live more faithfully as a follower of Jesus Christ - but heres the thing - this IS a way to live more faithfully as a follower of Jesus Christ - to enjoy the 3

good of life, to celebrate great moments. For instance: the command to rejoice is all over the Bible - rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice. One way we do this is by gathering on the first day of the week - and beginning our week by worshiping - by remembering and rejoicing in the saving acts of God - in the goodness of God. We start our week, with rejoicing. And our faith springs from the faith of the Israelites - and God commanded them to celebrate festivals and feasts so they could have a break from the grind and tragedy of life and simply celebrate. One of those festivals was the Festival of Succoth. The ideas was to remind the Israelites of their wandering in the wilderness for forty years. And so what they did, was build these temporary shelters out of sticks and fabric and have a camping vacation out in the country - theyd move out of their houses into these shelters and have family camping adventures. And the Christian tradition, in the Catholic and Orthodox branches of the church (which are by far the largest parts of the church) have feast days sprinkled throughout the year, where youd celebrate the life of a great saint like St. Francis by having - a party. This is a key point of our witness to the gospel False witness that life in Christ is a grim-faced grind Satan is the enemy of joy - hes a sourpuss...and wants you to be grumpy and burdened and joyless and for other people to look at you when youre like that and think, If thats what being a Christian in about, count me out Following Jesus is a challenge - there is work and sacrifice in being a disciple but well be all out of whack, like we have one leg ten inches shorter than the other, if we dont seek out great moments - theyll be a heaviness and grimness to life that will color life gray and stunt our growth in Christ We need to live in such a way that our lives give a positive testimony that God seeks our good and cares about our happiness within the textures of everyday life - life meant to be lived now, not endured until we die and float around heaven 4

My goodness - think of the power of the witness of Christians who enjoy life rightly Christians who are consistently joyful, Christians who love and rejoice in Gods gift of life, and who make use of the good things of life rightly. How do you do this? Look for opportunities to celebrate great moments, create opportunities to celebrate great moments. Things as simple as learning from our separated brethren the Jews - who have Sabbath meals on Friday night, the beginning of the Sabbath - the whole family is there no matter what and they light the candles and eat together - we could do that - probably unrealistic to have dinner together seven days a week, how about one day a week, its set on the calendar and youre together for a meal and maybe follow it with a family game night? Weekly unrealistic? Ok, then MONTHLY! Things like serving other people. Few years back I went on a mission trip to New Orleans to help build a Habitat House post-Katrina. Almost didnt go, had too much to do I thought but Susan urged me to go and it was great - spent five days hammering and sawing and putting down floors and putting up walls and at the end of the week we stood together on the second floor of the house and watched the setting sun and had a great moment, a sense of accomplishment. Things like hosting a dinner party. Thats another great biblical practice - the gospels are full of account of how Jesus was always going to dinner parties - well, host a dinner party, save your nickels and put together a nice menu and set a nice table and have some people over for a good meal and conversation. Maybe, maybe we need to get supper clubs going here. Things like, taking a trip. This is another Biblical practice - most Jews would make a pilgrimage at least once a year to Jerusalem and typically a group from a village would go together, would walk to Jerusalem and sing the Psalms of Ascent and as the sun set theyd set up camp together, sit around the campfire, sing some more, tell stories and fall asleep under the stars. Well for us, spend your money on experiences, not things - if youve never sen it take a road trip to the Grand Canyon or hike part of the Appalachian Trail or go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or go to a great concert. Spend your discretionary money on experiences, not things and your life will be richer. And finally, pay attention to your life. Get rid of distractions. Going to go on a little rant here - I like technology, I had a Palm Pilot before anybody else I knew, Ive had computers since the 80's, but people, you have to 5

stop staring at your phones. Was at a wedding reception during the past year and we were seated with a group, they were all from out of town and we tried to make some small talk with them, have some fun together, but every single one of them, and they werent all young people, they spent the entire time staring at their phones - in the middle of a party! You might say, well Scott thats because they wanted to escape being with you - but Ive seen this over and over again in all kinds of settings. People, put the phones - down. Turn off the TVs. Theyre robbing you of the joy of life. Are we prepared for this? My teacher Leonard Sweet once wrote this: We get flu shots. We get pneumonia shots. We make a family escape plan for getting out of the house if it catches fire. We keep an emergency roadside kit in the trunk of our car. We participate in fire drills and emergency evacuations. Some of us are prepared enough to stockpile bottled water, canned foods, prescriptions medications, batteries and blankets. We semi-seriously consider that this year we will get that generator. Preparing for disaster is something . . . we are prepared for. What about being prepared for . . . . joy? What about being prepared for . . . . pleasure? What about being prepared for . . . . blessings? The traditional Boy Scout motto of Be prepared taught generations of kids lots of useful skills. But those skills were put into practice by going fishing, rock climbing, toasting marshmallows over a campfire . . .fun stuff! They were preparing for good times, not just bad. As Christians we are called to be prepared - to enjoy great moments in these lives God has gifted us with.1

Conclusion Well, here we are at the beginning of a new year. Who knows what the year will bring? Surely, there will be challenges and suffering and setbacks even death. But even more surely, you belong to Jesus Christ in life and in death, the one who came to bring us abundant life, life to the full, maximum life. Lets be people who live it to the full. Happy new year! Amen. Endnotes 1. Leonard Sweet, Life Is Yours, found at www.sermons.com