Basking in the Sun (Pt 1)

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

I’m crazy about Ecclesiastes. There is a part of me, I guess, that’s looking forward to finishing it in a month or so. But another large part of me is going to be sad when we’re done. As much as anything, I have enjoyed the work that it’s taken to at least try to understand what Solomon is talking about. I was talking with a staff person just this last week who mentioned that from their perspective it must take a lot of time meditating, studying, working to try to figure out Solomon’s flow of thought and what he really means because it’s not always obvious right when you look at it or read it for the first time and I totally agree with that and yet that’s That’s exactly what I love.

I mean, how can you not love going into something completely clueless and then coming out with what I think is some clarity on the other side? That’s fantastic. Especially when it comes to these truths about what life is like and how to then approach life under the sun.

been a very beneficial, profitable study for me. Sometimes, admittedly, it’s been a little bit overwhelming as the week goes on and as Sunday gets closer and I realize, oh no, I still have like no idea what he’s talking about in this verse or in this paragraph and yet I’m supposed to stand up on Sunday morning and explain it to everybody else. There have been sometimes a panic in the study and nevertheless the whole process has been profitable for me hopefully it’s been the same for you. However as good and as engaging and as difficult as my study of Ecclesiastes has been, that has been the easy part to try to figure out Solomon is talking about. That’s been the easy part. Though his wisdom is deep, though his references are often obscure or unclear, though there aren’t actually a lot of fantastic commentaries to help me out when it comes to studying Ecclesiastes, though my Hebrew is weak, the tough part, the real challenge for me, has been trying to follow Solomon’s call to enjoy the process. Figure out what he’s talking about. That’s one thing. Actually

doing what he’s talking about. That’s an entirely different story. Enjoy the process. Obviously, that’s been a theme throughout the whole book. I stated at the start, and I have mentioned repeatedly over the last three years, my eagerness, my personal eagerness, my pastoral eagerness, my husbanding, fathering, life eagerness to learn about enjoying the process. However, it is a daily dog fight. There are more rocks in my pockets than balloons. I like my chocolate bitter sweet. I listen to more minor chord music. I am probably more comfortable at a funeral than I am at a birthday party. And I think I look better holding an umbrella than I do in sunglasses.

That’s just kind of the general approach to life for me. And there is no doubt. Don’t get me wrong, God appoints seasons of heaviness and sorrow and darkness and clouds. He regularly defines and forms His people with rain, but He does also provide sun to bask in, and He expects us to do that. It’s not just an option, it is an expectation. That’s tough for me. Maybe I’m afraid I’ll like the sun too much, and so then when it goes away, I won’t know what to do. I won’t be prepared. Maybe I’m afraid that too much sun will make me weak. I don’t really know. It doesn’t really matter what the reason is. And I’m going to own this next sentence, okay?

It is ungodly, it is sinful to not enjoy the process, to not bask in the sun. Last week we talked about preparing for a rainy day. That was Chapter 11, Verses 1-6. And this morning we need to talk about enjoying a sunny day. The paragraph is alive with light and sun and the dawn and rejoicing. The skies are blue. The air is warm. Solomon calls us to bask in the sun. We are exhorted to sprawl out in the warmth, in the light of life, to revel in it, to make the most of every day under the sun that God gives us. And whereas last week, we looked forward to things that are uncertain, and therefore what we’re supposed to do today, how we prepare for the things we’re uncertain about, this paragraph tells us what we’re supposed to do today in light of what is certainly coming.

We know that some things are coming. There’s a lot of things we don’t know, but we do know for sure that there are many dark days ahead and then you die. And for what we are certain about, there’s a way to prepare. There’s a responsibility that we must all be busy about today, enjoying basking in the sun. Just as we prepare for a rainy day, we ought to bask in the sun today. So really two primary thoughts, one in verses 7 and 8, one in verses 9 and 10. We are to bask in life, verses 7 and 8, and we are to bask in youth. Verses 7 and 8 are basking in life. We ought to bask, revel, enjoy life because Solomon says life is good.

And in verse 7, He gives us the reality of life’s goodness. The reality, the truth, the fact of life’s goodness in verse 7. This is not a statement of perspective or opinion or from a certain kind of cheery personality that likes early mornings. Verse 7 is something that even Eeyore must agree with. It’s reality. This is a fact universally true and acknowledged. Mr. Weinberg, I think it was yesterday morning near the end of his post, talked about plenty of sunshine coming my way. Was that in your post? I was at Starbucks. I had read that in the morning. I was at Starbucks working on my sermon notes yesterday afternoon, and Zippity-Doo-Duck came on the audio overhead.

And so I thought about that. But of course it was a beautiful bright sunny day yesterday. It’s understandable to everybody. That’s why they can play it at the Rite of Disneyland in English and it doesn’t matter what language you speak, you get the feel of the mood. You understand what it means to say, plenty of sunshine coming my way means that something is good, life is good, let’s enjoy it. This is a reality. Solomon describes it like this. Verse 7, light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. Light is a word that describes not just the absence of darkness, but the presence of something that illuminates and stimulates and perhaps even warms us.

And in this verse, light is a metaphor for life. Just as when we get into chapter 12, we’ll see darkness as a metaphor for death. Light is referring to life. In fact, in the Old Testament, it was regular to talk about the light of life. The vitality, the energy. It’s not just the absence of death when we talk about the light of life. We’re talking about the presence of vitality, of being alive and kicking. And Solomon says that light is sweet. I am disappointed with the translation of pleasant that the NAS has. Very rarely is that the idea of this Hebrew word. It should be best translated sweet. It’s the adjective typically tied to honey in the Old Testament.

If you want to know what sweet is like, you don’t need a definition. You need a taste. Get James Barnes to let you have one of the honey packets that he inevitably is carrying around to put in is hot water. Get one of those honey packets, open that up, and squeeze it onto your tongue. It’s an immediate sensation. There’s an unmistakable flavor. It is something that is sweet, that taste will last on your tongue long after the honey has been digested, and it is actually out of your mouth. It is the opposite of bitter. It is enjoyable. that is sweet, and that means that life is sweet. Life has a taste to it that is to be savored and enjoyed.

It isn’t just being alive. It is recognizing that life is worth living. And for as pessimistic as the preacher has been previously in the book of Ecclesiastes, you think of the couple times that he’s made statements It’s better off to be dead than alive because you don’t have to see all of the misery and all of the oppression in life Even as pessimistic as we could possibly play Solomon to be he still recognizes there is something sweet There is something tasty There is something alive and active and dynamic about life that you can’t get away from it is sweet and It is pleasant for the eyes to see the Sun. This is the place where pleasant is better used It’s a word good, it’s profitable, satisfying, it’s good, it’s pleasant to see and bask in the sun.

You know, earlier in Ecclesiastes when he talked about living life under the sun, he’s kind of talked about the sun as a haunting, inescapable presence that reminds you of how futile life is. is. And here though, he says, when you see the sun, that’s a good thing. He’s not just talking about anti-Washington days. He’s talking about when you see the sun, that means you’re alive. You have life. Certainly we can enjoy actual sunny days. But he’s saying it is pleasant. It is good to have a fullness of life. It’s more a comment about the kind of life, not just the fact of life. This is a life that sees and knows and enjoys the sweetness of life.

The last couple days are a perfect example of this. Friday and Saturday when the sun comes out, I saw people I haven’t seen in months. And I don’t mean that I saw different people. I saw people who were acting different because the sun was out. It’s like their whole life changes because of the weather. And to some extent, we all get that. We start wearing different clothes. We start acting crazy because the sun is out and it’s warm. Ooh. We’re outside every day, pretty much. To get into 128 this morning, you We had to spend some time outside. We’re outside every day, and yet something on Friday and Saturday made us say little phrases like this, I really want to go outside.

In January, you don’t hear people saying that a lot. No, there’s something about the sun and about light that is enjoyable that we want to bask in. Somebody who basks in something, basks in the sun, is somebody who just goes out, lays out, sprawls in the sun and tries to soak it up. We are to bask in life, and in fact that’s our responsibility to do that. Verse 7 is the reality of life’s goodness. Verse 8 are the responsibilities of life’s goodness. If you see the light and have life and taste its sweetness, you have responsibilities. You may be starting to think I’m starting to sound a lot like Oprah or maybe somebody on Oprah.

Maybe you’re feeling like my explanation of verse 7 is a little bit too touchy feely. Perhaps I think nevertheless that verse 8 supports the story, the responsibilities of life’s goodness. Anybody who breathes has work to do because they have a view of the sun and that demands certain things. Two particular responsibilities we have because of life’s goodness. Number one, rejoice. Number two, remember. First part of verse 8, second part of verse 8, rejoice and remember. We’re getting to verse 8. So, if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. Rejoice in them all. Verse 8 begins with, so, New American Standard has, indeed, meaning it hinges on verse 7.

Light is sweet. It’s pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. So, indeed, therefore, Because of that, here’s what we do. And this is clearly a call to exalt and rejoice in and celebrate life. And that’s why I think that light as life, as a metaphor for life, and it’s pleasant to see the sun is talking about enjoying, basking in life, not just the actual sunshine or describing light as actually sweet. It’s a way to talk about a kind of life. who say demonstrates that. If a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. The call to see and savor the sweetness of the Son that is of life could not be more clear.

It’s our old friend Simhach. You may remember that Hebrew word from enjoying the process. Rejoice. Enjoy. Ask in all of the years that you’re given. Have fun. Put a smile on your face. If a person lives many years, if you get to be old, you’re to enjoy every year of your life that God gives you. If you get to be old, even if you don’t, rejoice in them all. Because the fact is, you died tomorrow, if you are busy enjoying however many years or days you have, then you haven’t wasted it at the end. So if you get to be old, then you need to have started now enjoying them all. Don’t wait to start enjoying them until later.

Enjoy them starting now, and that means you’ll be ready to go when it’s time. If you woke up today and you took a breath, which really you were breathing already before you woke up, but you were at least conscious of the fact that you took a breath, if you looked out and maybe you couldn’t see the sun behind the clouds but you knew it was there and you saw it yesterday then you have a responsibility to enjoy it. There’s something sweet in life for you to enjoy. Doesn’t mean that every part of the day is as fantastic as you could possibly imagine it. This is not a fairy tale, this is a planet of futility, okay? So there’s lots of difficulties and and dark days and trials and clouds and rain.

There’s plenty of those, but there is something sweet in your life today that you are responsible to enjoy because God gave that to you. There is something warm to embrace. There is something brilliant to see. Stop and smell the roses and rejoice. There’s a second responsibility of life’s goodness found in the second part of verse 8, and that’s remember. Remember, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. You really ought not waste time rejoicing. This is not a wet blanket coming in and smothering out your fire of joy. The remember part is an incentive to be busy and urgent about rejoicing, not for you to to just sit and whine and complain and miss the opportunity to rejoice today because you’re so fearful about tomorrow.

You’re so worried about all the coming days of darkness that you forget to enjoy the sun today. It’s a reminder where to remember that the days of darkness will be many. As sure as the sun comes up some days, clouds will cover up the sun in days yet to come. But you’re not dead yet. So, rejoice in the day that God gave you. The rainy, dark days come. We don’t have to look very hard for them. Their name is Legion. There’s plenty of them. Remember that, and so enjoy what you have right now. Thursday, this coming Thursday, my dad died two years ago. And for the last 13 or so years of his life, he was miserable, not just in his thinking.

He was actually miserable physically. He had all kinds of physical difficulties, all kinds of rainy, cloudy days that marked the days of his calendar. And we had to talk about this. He still had probably six or seven months to live at this point when we had this conversation, and I didn’t realize, nor did he realize, that he was going to die seven or eight months later. But all he talked about were his upcoming doctor’s appointments.

And all he lived for was to find some doctor who could figure out what was wrong with him so that they could fix it so that he could actually start enjoying his life again. He must have been taking at least 40 to 50 different pills a day over the last few years of his life for all kinds of different things. He was diabetic so he had to give himself insulin shots two or three times a day, had to watch what he ate. And there’s no doubt that he had a lot of physical problems that any of us would have been consumed by to some degree or another, I specifically encouraged him to stop waiting for it to be fixed, since there was no guarantee of that anyway. Stop waiting for that to be fixed and just enjoy something about what you have today. Go to the doctor, but don’t make your life about Doctors, take all of your medicine great, but take them with something you like drinking.

Enjoy something, find something about your life that is sweet for you to enjoy, whether or not you get fixed, whether or not you die, you’ve got something right now to savor. He heard what I said, but he didn’t really put that into practice, And so his life was more so characterized by discouragements and waiting for clouds to move away before he could actually enjoy the days that he had. And part of that was not remembering that there would be plenty of dark days. Don’t worry about it. Stop fretting the dark days coming and enjoy the sun, the light that you have now. And by the way, at the end of verse 8, all that comes is vanity.

And I really think what that means is, and then you die. There are plenty of dark days. You’re living. You have cloudy days. Those are tough enough. But all that comes is vanity. He’s talking about life on the sun. He’s concerned about life on this earth. He’s not denying an afterlife. He’s just saying that once you are dead, You don’t see the sun anymore, at least not in the same kind of experience. So enjoy it now. It’s a battle. It is a fight to stop and bask in the sweetness of the sun. Most of us use the sun to try to do something that makes us happy, rather than to actually enjoy the sun. This is a different way to talk about enjoying the process, because we use the sun to give us light to complete our task list, thinking that at the end, once all of the tasks are checked off, then is when we’ll have some joy.

We use the sun to try to get ourselves into a better position for joy, rather than to enjoy the sun while we’re doing our task list, whatever gets finished or doesn’t. We use the sun thinking that our accomplishments, our achievements, or our tan is going to be what makes us happy. Look, if you don’t enjoy being in the sun trying to get a tan, some of you have no hope of that never really having joy because you’re just going to fry or you’re just going freckle up, you’re never going to get tanned. However, you can still enjoy and bask in the sun, bask in life. You know, we’re hoping for another sunny day rather than enjoying the sunny day that we have right now. We are so busy, we don’t have time to enjoy it.

we miss out. It’s like the last day of vacation. And I know people who are like this who absolutely ruin their last day of vacation because they know that it’s the last day of vacation. Nothing else is wrong. Nothing else has changed. It’s just that, oh, it’s the last day of vacation. Tomorrow isn’t going to be vacation anymore. So therefore, I should worry about And then they actually destroy the hope for happiness that they had in the final day. They’re so worried about what’s coming tomorrow that they don’t stop and again, bask in the sun, bask in life now. We use the sun. We don’t enjoy it. That is a metaphor for saying we use life rather than enjoy life.

We’re using the process thinking that getting to the end of the process is the thing that’s going to make us happy. And the problem is you might never get there. But you have responsibility. This is an obligation that you have. You have breathed, taken breaths. You’ve opened your eyes. You’ve put on warm clothes. If you’ve held your mama’s hand as you were walking into Big Church, or if you sang songs and listened to other people praise around you and enjoyed those things, you ought to bask in the sweetness of life that God has given.

there is a particular group of people who are best able to bask in the sun, who pay the least amount of attention. And that would be you, the young people. And so specifically in verses nine and ten, Solomon addresses, for the very first time in Ecclesiastes, he addresses a particular, a specific group of people. This is part of the reason why I chose I used to teach the Ecclesiastes a few years ago anyway, because of this passage, starting in chapter 11, verse 9, goes into chapter 12. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes.

Five times in three verses. 9, 10, and chapter 12, verse 1. Five times in three verses, He talks about this particular group, young men, your youth, days of youth, youth, the days of youth. This is a not so subtle way of making a point that those people who are younger should pay attention and be specifically the ones who are putting into practice not only basking in life but basking in youth. George Bernard Shaw said, quote, the trouble with youth is that it is wasted on the young. And that is so totally a part of the problem that you who are most able and capable and ready to enjoy life are those who are least paying attention to that responsibility.

If you are trying to enjoy your life, you’re failing to remember the very specific Council Solomon will give us that you’re going to give account for how you’re enjoying life as well. And we’ll have to talk about that next week. You have enough to talk about in small groups before we even get to the specific instruction to bask in youth, just to bask in life. Are you doing that? I think that’s demonstrated not just by joke-telling. I’m not talking about basking in life just because you tell jokes. But there ought to be some smiles along the way. There ought to be a lot of thankfulness. and complainers are not basking in life.

Life for them is not sweet. Life for them is bitter. Are you basking in the sun while it’s there, not trying to hold on to it and end up ruining it? Like trying to save an ice cream cone. You know, there is a window of time to eat an ice cream cone. Don’t make the mistake of knowing that the ice cream cone is so good that you want to save it for later. Because you’re going to ruin it now. You’re going to get all sticky hands, it’s going to get all over the place, and it won’t be around later. Enjoy the ice cream cone while you have it now. That’s what life is like. If you can enjoy the sweetness of light and recognize how good it is to see the sun, then do that now.

Because tomorrow you might die. Father, help us to do that while there is more reminders about the coming judgment for how we are doing this enjoying of life, basking in life, basking in youth. is still the responsibility. And some of us, perhaps more than others, need to work on the enjoyment part. Some, perhaps more than others, need to work on actually working in the process part. But both are necessary in order to give you the glory that you deserve. Cause us not to be bitter and to enjoy the sweetness of life that you give. I pray all this in Christ’s name. Amen.