Enjoy Life!

This morning we are focusing on a major theme in the book of Ecclesiastes: Life’s pleasures are gifts from God to be enjoyed as such. In order to demonstrate the fact that this is a major theme, I would like to read six passages which repeat this theme, and then comment on what each one adds to the others:

This morning we are focusing on a major theme in the book of Ecclesiastes: Life’s pleasures are gifts from God to be enjoyed as such. In order to demonstrate the fact that this is a major theme, I would like to read six passages which repeat this theme, and then comment on what each one adds to the others:

A. Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”

1. In this verse we are told that this is not mere human advice. This is from God. I.e. God has given these things to us to enjoy. He is the One who has enabled people to enjoy these things in life.

B. Ecclesiastes 3:12–13 “I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.”

1. What is being recommended is not just a joyful attitude, but one that leads to service of others: doing good.

C. Ecclesiastes 3:22 “So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?”

1. In other words, since we don’t know what’s going ahead, we should not worry so much about the future, but just enjoy the good things of life today.

D. Ecclesiastes 5:18-19 “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.”

1. Here God gives the rich permission to enjoy their riches as gifts He has given.

2. In the same vein, 1Timothy 6:17–19 adds some reminders the rich need to keep in mind: “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

E. Ecclesiastes 8:15 “And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.”

1. We don’t have to be grumpy, bitter, sour, resentful, discouraged. We can choose joy: not just because it’s more healthy and helpful, but because each one who lives before God has plenty of good reason to be joyful.

F. Eccl. 9:7–9 “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.”

1. Here marriage is added to the list of food, drink and work. This not only says something important about marriage, but it proves that the food/drink/work list is not an exhaustive one.

2. It doesn’t just mean enjoy your wife, enjoy your marriage, though that is probably implied here as well. But it says to enjoy life with the wife you love.

3. Now we’ve already seen in Eccl.2 that, just like everything else, sex is not ultimately fulfilling.

4. And of course, no matter how happy it is, marriage cannot satisfy either.

5. And yet, what a blessing from God when a husband and a wife love one another and walk through life together. In spite of the hardships, the differences, the frustrations with each other. In spite of the burdens of life, the aging process, the weariness that sets in as you approach the end, there is a great blessing in walking through life together with a person you love. This is good. And from God.

6. It doesn’t change the vanity of life, but as we journey through this life, God has given us pleasures which ease the burdens and cheer us on our way: life with the spouse you love, good food and drink, and many other similar blessings.

II. These verses are a good corrective to an error which has plagued the Christian for almost 2000 years and done untold damage: the error of asceticism.

A. Asceticism says that if something feels good, it must be wrong; that the things of the earth, like eating and drinking, like fun and games, like sexual pleasure and having nice things, are inherently evil.

B. It is not hard to figure out how asceticism came to be.

1. Seeing others looking to futile pleasures for happiness

2. Seeing others ruined by pleasures

3. Seeing things which are a part of the lifestyle of the wicked and not wanting to partake of any of it

4. Focusing on negative commands in the Bible

5. Latching on to verses like Romans 13:14 “Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” without paying attention to verses like these in Ecclesiastes.

C. And it’s true. Certain things God made are so splendid, so attractive that men often stumble over them. They turn them into idols. They stop seeing a thing like this as something made to point us to God, and they begin to get absorbed in it as an end in itself.

1. Idolatry is always a danger: worshiping the created rather than the Creator.

2. But there is also an error in being so afraid of worshiping something God made that you call it evil.

D. Two problems with asceticism

1. Asceticism denies the goodness of “God who made the world and all things in it” and “gives to all people life and breath and all things.”(Acts 17:24-25) and “who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” (1Tim.6:17).

a. And if we reject God’s creation, we reject God.

2. Asceticism doesn’t actually help against sin.

a. Col.2:20-23 “These [rules] have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

E. Life is not to be about denying oneself the pleasures of this world, but about enjoying the pleasures of this world under God.

F. We need to have a holy fear of idolatry. But we also need a holy fear of not enjoying and not being grateful for the things God has given us.

1. God made all these things for us! They are His gifts to us. Just because some people turn them into idols and worship them doesn’t mean we should think of them as evil. Even though some people misuse them we mustn’t forget that they are of God; they are His good gifts to His children.

2. One ancient rabbi said: “We will have to give an account for everything we saw and did not enjoy.”

G. Some fall away from Christ, not by falling into an immoral lifestyle, not by becoming atheists, but by constructing their own laws based on a wrong understanding of God’s creation.

III. Perhaps the Bible passage which confronts asceticism most head-on is 1Timothy 4:1–5: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”

A. 1b “devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,”

1. Though this teaching comes through men, it’s source is Satan himself.

2. This is very strange! Satan does not want us to enjoy God’s creation?

a. Wouldn’t you think that he would want us to over-indulge in earthly pleasures, e.g. wouldn’t you think he would want us to be sexually immoral instead of to forbid it?

b. The enemy of our souls wants us either to worship pleasures or to hate them. Either one is playing into his hands. What he hates is when we receive pleasures and enjoy them under and to the glory of God.

3. You see, Satan has liberal lies and conservative lies. He doesn’t really care which we believe, as long as he lures you away one way or another. Indulgence in pleasure and denial of pleasure are both demonic traps.

B. 3 “men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.”

1. The heresy described here is the heresy of repudiating things in God’s good creation, particularly marriage and certain foods. Others who embrace asceticism forbid dancing, wine, movies, plays, certain styles of music, sports, etc. all of which, of course, can be used for evil but which are not inherently evil and can be enjoyed in a God-honoring way.

C. 4 “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude.”

1. There’s a great memory verse for you!

2. The creation of God is not sinful. It is man’s heart that is sinful. Sin flows from within, as Jesus makes clear in passages like Mark 7:18-23.

D. 5 “For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

1. Of course, we can’t take pleasure in just anything pleasurable. Enjoyment which is unregulated, unprincipled or unrelated to God is not only wrong but dangerous.

2. “Sanctified by the Word”: Scripture tells us it’s all good. And it tells us when a good activity is not good.

a. E.g. marital sex is good, extramarital is not.

3. “Sanctified by prayer”: thankfulness, doing all things with a clear conscience before God (see Rom.14:6, 14)

a. When we are about to enjoy something we know God doesn’t want us to do, we don’t stop and thank Him for it first, do we?

IV.Life is hard. All is vanity. Hardship, pain and disappointment are a part of everyone's life. We have seen this in our times in Ecclesiastes.

A. This harsh reality has the potential to derail us:

1. Bewilderment about life and the universe

2. Pain and the burden of difficulties we face

3. Disappointment in the vanity of this earthly existence

B. But God wants us to enjoy life and not be sidetracked by these things. His grace is sufficient (2Cor.12:9). And God also gives us comfort food to cheer us along the way.

1. It's not enough for Him to just give us the power of survival. He prepares a milkshake or bakes cookies to serve us when we are sick.

2. God doesn’t just send us into a world of darkness and hardness, He has decorated the world with pleasant things and tasty things and beautiful things to encourage us along the way.

3. They are signs of His great love for His children.

4. E.g. when a child wrestles with his daddy, or plays hide-and-seek or peek-a-boo, the point isn’t that these things are just fun activities, but because it’s so wonderful for a parent and a child to play together.

5. Gift-giving is relational. It’s designed to communicate love. It’s designed to build the relationship, to have a good effect upon the friendship. This is true also regarding God’s gifts to His children. They are meant to warm our hearts toward our Father, to help us appreciate His fondness for us.

6. It's not the true food; it's not the true drink. (John 6:55) It's not the true work. But it's the outflow of the true love of God for His children.

C. And therefore we should take joy and pleasure very seriously.

1. I don’t mean you can’t laugh but you have to be serious. I mean you have to realize that a gift of God is weighty. It is not trivial because it is from God. It is given for our enjoyment, and ultimately for our enjoyment of Him.

2. A trip to a beautiful place, an exciting sports event on TV, a good rhubarb pie or chicken curry or mint chocolate chip ice cream, watching a good movie with my wife, a chance to kick a ball around with someone. These are not just enjoyable pastimes, they are gifts of a loving Father to me, His child. And if they don’t draw me closer to my Father, if they don’t remind me of His love, then they’re not being used or enjoyed right.

3. Pleasures never should be used for mere enjoyment. They are always ultimately for worship.

4. Just as a gift from a loved one begs for a thank you, so a gift from our heav