Living Well

It is my opinion that our culture is dying. As a result, many things are changing. Many things are falling apart. Old questions are being answered in new ways and so many of those new ways are not at all good. One of those questions goes something like this: What does it mean to live well? What is that supposed to look like? You may not hear the question posed in this way, but it is being answered by the choices that people are making.

This is a question that we Christians must answer well. So much depends on that. For one thing, we are called to make God look as good as He actually is. How we live will greatly affect our ability to do that. I’ve also described evangelism to you in terms of other people coming to you. How you live will affect the possibility of that happening. And then, answering that question poorly will lead to great sorrows for you.

So, for reasons like these it is important for you to know, with as much clarity as possible, what living well looks like. Because of what is going on around you, it is increasingly difficult to do that. There are many counterfeits that confront you every day. And they can be very persuasive.

This morning we’re going to work on getting a good answer to our question: What does it mean to live well? We’re going to do that by using a part of the Bible that takes a long, hard look at that question, Ecclesiastes. We’ll start with snippets from this part of the Bible to see some foolish choices that people make on this topic. Then, we’ll see what Ecclesiastes has to say about making some wise choices.

Now, listen to Ecclesiastes.

A Funeral Sermon

I preached a funeral sermon today. This is the heart of what I had to say.

I thought it would be good to consider some of the wisdom of King Solomon, one of the wisest men of all time. So, let me read to you from

 ​​​​​​​​It is better to go to the house of mourning ​​​​​​​than to go to the house of feasting, ​​​​​​​for this is the end of all mankind, ​​​​​​​and the living will lay it to heart. ​​​

This is Solomon's perspective. To be sure, there are times to rejoice and to celebrate; times of feasting. But there are also other times, times like today, spent here, a place of mourning. And according to Solomon, it is sometimes be better to be experiencing a day like today instead of a day of celebration. Now, why is that? Why does Solomon say this? It's because, 'this is the end of all mankind'. One day we will die, each one of us. And Solomon's hope is that we 'will lay it to heart'. It is his hope that we will take the fact of our coming death seriously.

You see, once we die we will stand before God, and he will evaluate our lives. This has already happened to Dick. And it will happen to each one of us. The question to ask at this point is, 'What does God look for when he evaluates someone?' Jesus has told us. He said this in the Sermon on the Mount: 'You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.' God will be looking for perfection, complete and absolute perfection. But who is perfect? Are you? I am not, and I am quite sure that no one in this room is. Does that mean that we will all fail the test when God evaluates our lives? To fail is serious. Those who fail are condemned.

This is where Jesus comes in. He was and is perfect. And he offers his perfection to anyone who will become his disciple. So, while coming to Jesus is certainly about the forgiveness of our many sins, it is also about receiving his perfection. That is the only way any will pass God's test. Those who have entrusted themselves to Jesus will pass the test. They will have the required perfection, Jesus' perfection.

So, you can see why Solomon said what he did. It's good to come to a place like this, a house of mourning. It's good to pause and to consider whether you are ready to have your life evaluated by God. To all who are ready, all who follow Jesus by faith, he will provide perfection. Because of that the day of their death is a day of great joy for them. It is a day of happiness. And it is that because they know - they know - that when they stand before God to have their lives evaluated they will hear him say, 'Welcome home.' Because of Jesus' gift they will pass the test.