What Kind of Party?

 Today we are continuing our study in Ecclesiastes. To summarize chapter 9, Solomon is basically saying- “If we knew the day of our death that would change the way we lived every other day of our life!”

We would look at all our activities, all our stuff, and evaluate if those things were worth our time. We would make sure to focus on the people who matter the most to us. If we knew when we would die- especially if that date was sooner than expected, it would change the way we do things and the way we interact with others.

But because we are unaware of our end date, we tend to live life as if our days are infinite- like they will go on forever.

In chapter 9, Solomon shares his regrets. He looks back on his life and says “Sheesshh, I should have trusted the Lord- I should have invested my life, my time differently.” So in today’s message, Solomon warns us of this regret and he encourages us not to make the same mistake.

 We should make the best of every moment God has given you. Do not take a single year, day, hour, minute for granted- because life is short and no one knows how much longer they have. 

Ecclesiastes 9:1- So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.

This verse makes it clear: everything- your whole life- is in God’s hands. Whatever comes in and out of our life goes through the Lord.

If we are blessed with riches, health, or friends- Those are blessings the Lord has provided. If we are sick, poor, and lonely- those too pass through the hand of God; for he knows exactly what will come and exactly what we need to fulfill his call.

No matter what circumstances you are in, He wants you to

1.)    Embrace them- Knowing that God has a plan and a reason (Jeremiah 29:11)

2.)   Walk through them- trusting God is good and He is with you (Joshua 1:9)

3.)   Draw closer to Him- without questioning His love(1 John 4:16)

But when we are hurting, those are not our natural reactions.

Personally, when I am going through something uncomfortable, I put all my energy into fixing it. If there is something I want, somewhere I want to be, or some group I want to be in, I put all my effort into chasing after a life God didn’t give me.

I am constantly working to change my circumstances, instead of embracing where the Lord currently has me.

In Phil. 1, Paul shows us how we are supposed to respond when we are uncomfortable.

Phil. 1:12-14 - Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.  As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.  And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

Paul was in prison because of his faith and he is still focusing on God’s plan! If I were thrown in prison for my faith, I would not have this attitude.

Instead of complaining, Paul decided to embrace where he was. He decided to tell his cell mates and the prison guards about Jesus! He see his bondage as a blessing because it is leading others to Christ.

God used Paul to reach a group of criminals and jailers that would have never been reached otherwise. Instead of complaining, Paul trusted that He had been put there for a reason.

If Paul had been like me (complaining, angry, and feeling sorry for himself) then these people would not have seen the Love of Christ- God’s purpose was to love them through Paul. We don’t always understand or see the big picture, but if we simply trust- God can do BIG things!

Let’s continue on with the chapter…

Ecclesiastes 9:2- All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with a good man, so it is with the sinner. As it is with those who take oaths, so it is with those who are afraid to take them.

“DEATH!”—The wicked “d” word. Death is a subject we don’t like to discuss. After all, death is depressing. And who wants to be depressed?

Yet, I would argue that we are not prepared to live until we are prepared to die. Ecclesiastes 9:2 explains that death is the great equalizer. It doesn’t play favoritism and it overlooks no one. The same destiny overtakes us all.

We can work out, take our vitamins, drink bottled water, stick to a Paleo diet, join a cross fit gym, stay away from McDonalds, and avoid the new Dunkin Donuts on Shepherd…. (I applaud those of you who actually do these things… I do not have this kind of discipline)

However; you will still have the same fate as me and everyone else who loves to eat sugar!

The point is: Everybody dies and how you view death absolutely controls how you live life.

Ecclesiastes 9: 3- This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.

Our hearts are full of evil, we live with madness in our hearts, and then we die? Great lesson today….

What Solomon does here is connects sin to death. In Romans it says “The wages of sin is death.” So the only way we can avoid death is if we eliminate sin.

Alright who can volunteer to do that for us? None of us! No one is capable of it because we are all sinners. This is why Jesus Christ, God’s clean, pure, and holy son came to die. Jesus died to cover our sin with his pure and sinless blood so that we could spend eternity in Heaven!

For those of us who understand this, we look at death differently. When we grasp this picture, when we truly know God- we understand what awaits us. Death turns from being an enemy to actually being a gift!

If we place our faith in Christ, death frees us from sin and allows us to enter a place of overwhelming Joy, where we will be face to face with the Lord!

Hebrews 9:27 says: “It’s appointed once for a man to die, then for judgment.”

We are all going to die, and how we live our life now/who we choose to follow, determines how we will live in eternity.

The bible teaches that we only have one life and when we die we will stand before the Lord. He ultimately determines our fate (where we will spend eternity).

Will we spend eternity in everlasting joy? Or will we spend eternity in everlasting punishment?

So knowing this, how are we going to live? What needs to change in our life? We see two things in Ecclesiastes 9.

1.)    Be careful how you live (vs. 1-3)

But as we continue in chapter 9, we are told….

2.)   Live life to the fullest (vs. 7-10)

Hmmm…. Those two things seem somewhat contradicting to me. Let’s continue and see how we are supposed to do both of these things.

Ecclesiastes 9:7-10-

Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Here is what we are to do:

1.)  “Go eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart”

I think this is every girl’s dream- “Laura are you telling me I am commanded to quit this diet I am on and just eat chocolate with gladness!?”  Well not exactly.

God is not telling us to go and be gluttons. We shouldn't just put whatever we want in our body- no. But He is saying this:

“Go eat your food with gladness!” Get a group of friends together and go out for dinner or have a dinner party.

When I think of good food, I think of good company, because usually with one comes the other right?

Go have a barbeque! - Our class social team will be looking for volunteers after class to throw us a great social!

Now the second part of verse 7 can be taken out of context. “and drink your wine with a joyful heart.” This by no means gives any of us a free pass to go booze it up. But what it means is simply enjoy your life and stop living as if Christianity is a set of do’s and don’ts.

Christianity is not holiness by abstaining- Don’t eat this, don’t drink that, live by these rules and you will be holy- No that isn’t how it works.

We are not about holiness by abstaining, but we are about holiness by redemption! Meaning you can enjoy this world in a way that is redeemed and in a way that pleases the Lord.

Galatians 2:19-21 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

So back to my point- we don’t have the right to go crazy; but we do have the right- in fact God encourages us- to ENJOY LIFE! To HAVE FUN!

Last week Jared briefly said something about the phrase “partying.” In our culture, the word party, many times implies debauchery- but this is because our definition of “party” has been altered by Miley Cyrus. (Seriously her new music video is awful- spare yourself and don’t watch it!)

When we hear “party” our minds automatically think- sex, drugs, alcohol, money, rap music… but this is not the only way to “party.”

Drinking is not a bad thing, Money is not a bad thing, Food is not a bad thing, in fact Sex is not a bad thing (wow I just said that in a room full of single Christians)…. These things are not good or bad things- However; the way you partake in these things and the way you handle yourself around these things can be good or bad.

Are you “partying” in a way that is redeemed and honors the Lord? Or are you partying like Miley?

As Christians, we are called to show others how Christ intended for us to party!

Holiness by following a set of rules teaches people that: “You can be a good person by living a boring life.” And that is not how Christ intended for us to live- He came to give us life!  

Enjoying life is evidence that you Trust God!

2.) “Always be clothed in white”

“In memory of that I wore……”

Why are we instructed to wear white? Does this literally mean we should all go stalk up on white clothes and then continue wearing white after Labor Day? My mother would call that a sin, (No one should wear white after Labor Day!)

This is simply an illustration of the way we need to live- we need to live our lives as if we were “dressed in White.”

White symbolizes cleanness. When we get together for formal events, men often put on clean/crisp white shirts and women on their wedding day wear white…. So when I think of people getting dressed in white, I usually think of formal events. We all want to look our best for these occasions. So what Solomon means by “always be clothed in white,” is:

We need to ask the Lord to cloth our hearts in white…. Give us a pure heart.

When we are “clothed in white,” we can stop setting rules and simply follow Christ. Then we will be free to do whatever we desire (like eating and drinking) because our desires will be HIS.

When we are in white, the way we go about doing things, the way we “party” will reflect our formal white attire- our pure intentions- our joy in the Lord!

Solomon also says….

3.) Always anoint your head with oil….

In Old Testament times, they did not have all these fancy eye creams, face lotions, and treatments that many ladies keep in their bathrooms. Back then, they used oil to keep their skin nice and smooth.

Guys, when you get married- you will find little jars of things all over your bathroom… don’t even bother asking us what they are- most of the time we don’t even know. But ladies, you know what I am talking about… we walk into a department store and the next thing you know we are in a panic! “If I don’t buy all this stuff, I’m going to look 85 in a year!!”

Now Solomon is not saying we all need to go rush and get Botox to stay looking fresh, but what he means by this is: as Christians, we need to take care of ourselves! Not only physically, but also, we need to take care of ourselves spiritually.

Many of us, myself included, feel pressured to be at everything, give to everything, facilitate/lead/or host everything…. We get so caught up in doing things that we forget to anoint ourselves with spiritual oil.

When we do not take the time to rest, we grow tired and are unable to enjoy life the way Christ intended.

Ecclesiastes 9:9- Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun--all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.

So that is what we are supposed to be doing- enjoying the life that God has given us. We are to eat, drink, wear white, and anoint ourselves with oil.

If we do all these things in Christ, then we will be doing our lot in life and we will be joyful. But I believe the most important of these is anointing yourself with oil- Solomon saved the best for last.

If I am honest, I struggle most with this one. Lately I have been struggling with bitterness. I believe my bitterness comes when I go, go, go…. do, do, do… say yes, yes, yes… and don’t take time to rest. I do not make time to physically rest yes, but more importantly I do not set aside time to spiritually rest.

When I am not anointing myself with the word, with “spiritual oil,” and I continue filling my calendar (even if it’s full of “church” events) I get tired. I start resenting people around me when they don’t recognize the effort I am making.

I grow bitter towards not only certain friendships, but I grow bitter towards the Lord. I begin thinking- “why do I even try. I am not benefiting from all I am doing- I am just plain tired and I want to quit.”

Lately I have felt the Lord saying: “Laura- you are trying to please an earthly crowd, you are not wearing white, and you will never succeed! Slow down- come to me and rest! Stop doing things to please the world, even- stop doing things to please the church. You simply cannot please everyone.”

Wouldn't you rather please God? He tells us: “Come to me and I will fill you with overflowing joy.”

We have to make sure time with God is our #1 priority- and that may mean erasing a few other activities.

When we live with bitterness, envy, doubt, loneliness… or whatever it is you are currently feeling, that might be an indication that you need to get a new white outfit and anoint yourselves with some spiritual oil.

So in conclusion of all this, maybe some of you are feeling convicted for some things going on in your life. Maybe it is an attitude. Maybe you are holding on to bitterness in a certain situation?

Then it is time to anoint yourself with some spiritual oil and ask the Lord to soften your heart. Life is too short to hold on bitterness- 1 cor. 13 says: “love keeps no records of wrongs.” Don’t let the small things rob your joy or keep you from enjoying life.

Remember…. John 10:10 says- I came to give life—life in all its fullness.

 That is what a Christian life is! A life full of food, drink, work, friends, and joy- all these things with Jesus. He should be the reason we like to party!