Ecclesiastes 11:7-10 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
9 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. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
10 Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
INTRODUCTION
We have a game of sorts that we like to play in our home. We call it the question box. Creatively named, it consists of a box of questions that we pass around and ask one another. The questions range from “Which Lord of the Rings character are you most like?” to “Which passage in the Bible have you found most convicting lately?”
Another question in the box is “If you had to drink only one thing for the rest of your life, what would you want it be?” In that vein, if you had to pick one state of being to experience most consistently, what would you choose? Think about that for a moment. Excitement? Anticipation? Contentment? Satisfaction? Peace?
Let me suggest one more state for contention: serious joy, the focus of our passage for this morning. What if you could spend the rest of your days experiencing uninterrupted serious joy? Not a bad thought, is it?
As we wrap up chapter eleven and near the end of the book, the Preacher returns us to familiar ground with another loop on the Ecclesiastes slinky. God is sovereign and life in His world is often unpredictable and challenging, but there is always joy to be found. In our passage, the Preacher gets a bit more specific regarding the challenges of life and the joys that are available. Regarding the challenges, he explains that they are many, including aging, judgment, and death. Regarding the joys, he speaks specifically to the old and the young.
In all of this, we see the big idea is that even in this fallen, mysterious, often painful world, by God’s design and at God’s hand, there is serious joy for us to experience throughout all life. Experiencing that joy looks a bit different when we’re old than when we’re young, but it’s there for us all, all along. The main takeaway, then, is to rejoice in whatever good things God gives us, throughout whatever life God gives us.
SERIOUS JOY FOR THE OLD (7-8)
Again, the big idea of this passage relates to the serious joy that God has made available to us throughout our lives. In a somewhat oversimplified way, vs.7-8 address serious joy for those who are older (“a person [who] lives many years”), while vs.9-10 focus on serious joy for those who are younger (“O young man, in your youth…in the days of your youth”).
Look with me at v.7 as we dive in.
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
This is a beautiful, poetic description of a healthy disposition that we all ought to cultivate.
As you leave here this afternoon, the Preacher and I invite you to slow down, take a deep breath, and look around, Grace Church. Watch the sun set tonight or the sunrise tomorrow and be amazed at its sweetness. Hike up to the top of the hill at the back entrance of William O’Brien State Park and be amazed by the pleasantness of the sunlight on the changing color of the leaves throughout the St. Croix valley. Go to a lake (not Lake Alice) and look at the sun or moon reflect off the water and joyfully ponder the 10 billion lines of code God programed into creation to make it work like that, every time. Remember the God-given sense of relief you felt when you were camping in a scary storm, unable to sleep for much of the night, and then the first hint of morning sunlight awoke the dawn. Similarly, recall the gladness you felt the last time the sun came out after days and days of gloomy, cloudy, rainy weather.
Can you think of a time when the power was out in your house and you gathered around a candle or fireplace and the simple joy that brought?
The other morning, it was pitch black and 24 degrees outside as I walked to my truck. The sky was clear and the stars were brighter than I’ve seen in a long time. It was amazing and humbling and awesome all at the same time—serious joy.
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
All around us, continually, are caches of light-joy for all to receive. And that’s just a few simple examples of a very particular kind of sweet, pleasantness.
Now add to that the piles upon piles upon piles of similar joy embedded in the rest of creation. I can’t think of a better example of this than the commendation Paul Tripp gave to parents in his parenting seminar (“Getting to the Heart of Parenting”). I first heard this talk well over a decade ago and it impacted me so much that it’s still the first thing I think of when I come to passages like this.
“Think about this, everywhere you look you see the glory of God. God made soft and God made hard. God made cold and God made hot. God made water that boils on one end and freezes on the other. You probably used both ends today.
God made the amazing muscles of the human face that can create such expression just by flexing.
The lens of the human eye that focuses this close and all the way to infinity.
God made the endless timber of the human voice. Every human voice has a different timber to it, [such] that somebody can call you on the phone and they don’t even need to tell you their name because you recognize that timber of that individual voice. How awesome is that?
God made the delicacy of a human kiss and the endless variety of human hair.
Think just of the engineering of the nose. How many billion noses has God created and He hasn’t repeated a model? And the engineering is great. Can you imagine if your nose was upside down? Not only would it look weird, you couldn’t go out in the rain. Can you imagine if your nose was closer to your armpit?
Just look at your finger for a moment. The finger is an amazing design. It’s got this thin layer of skin on the end of it and this hyper constellation of nerve endings. On the other side is this ever-replenishing hard surface that you need to pick things up. Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with His glory. You don’t have to go any further than the end of your finger to see the glory of God.”
Tripp’s main point is the Preacher’s main point: God designed the world such that there truly are joy-caches everywhere we look. Our bouts of joylessness, then, are not due to a lack of available joy, but because we’re so busy and self-focused and narrow-minded that we miss what’s right in front of us. All around us, always, are things that have been placed by God for serious joy under the sun for all who will look.
Look, Grace Church. Look. Get your eyes off of your phone and TV and game system and yourself, and look at the joy-producing evidences of God’s grace that are everywhere, for everyone, continually. Of this, the Preacher concludes…
8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all…
While that’s true for all of us, you’ll notice that the Preacher is specifically addressing older folks here. I’ve noticed the temptations in myself as I get older, and I’ve seen it in the older people I’ve known and pastored over the years, to complain a bit more, to focus on the negative, to grumble about health issues and weather issues and noise issues and young-people issues, to pine for the good old days (Ecclesiastes 7:10).
There’s a reason the “old man yelling at clouds” meme exists.
The longer you live, the more sin and disfunction and brokenness you see. The older you get, the more (emotional, relational, physical, and spiritual) pain you experience. As the Preacher has made clear throughout Ecclesiastes, and as he will make clear again in the second half of v.8, he’s not unaware of these things. But no matter what or how many hardships you endure, none of them are able to take away the joy that’s available to you in each and every season of life.
You will witness and experience more hardship the older you get, but you will also witness far more of God’s work, you will also have had far more access to the blessings of God, far more chances to serve God, far more experiences of the grace of God, and far more joy-caches presented to you by God.
There are always fountains of joy. And the longer we live, the more we have access to them. Let us hear the words of the Preacher and rejoice in them all.
Once again, however, the Preacher wasn’t commending a flippant or naïve joy, but a serious joy—one with eyes wide open to the continual presence of darkness as well as the light under the sun.
8 … but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
If you want a more serious joy, in your joy, in the light, you must remain sober-minded by the memory of darkness past and knowledge of the darkness that is certain still to come. This is not cynicism, it is realism. This is not a call to lesser joy, but more mature and informed joy. This is not a wet-blanket, it is a stabilizing ballast. It is not the promise of melancholy, it is an escape from naivete. It is not a declaration that nothing is certain, it is an honest acknowledgement of the mysterious nature of life under the sun. It is not only a way out of flippant joy, it is the pathway to serious joy.
Older folks, we need you for this. We need you to help us see this. We need you to be joyful people in spite of all the hardship—the loss of friends, loved ones, hearing, and memory, creaky knees and sore backs, wavering bodies and energy, unanswered prayers and dreams.
We need you to point us to the joy-caches you collect when life is hard. We need you to prepare us for what is to come by being honest about it, while still tasting the sweetness, pleasantness, and the serious joy that God gives through it all.
Above all, older saints, point us to Jesus who, for the joy set before Him, entered the darkness that we might behold the True Light of the World. Point us to Jesus as your treasure that far surpasses every hardship that comes. Point us to the promises of Jesus which you have found to be your unshakable joy throughout all your days. Rejoice in Jesus all your days and let us see you do so. Show us the serous joy that is in Christ alone and which cannot be taken no matter what.
SERIOUS JOY FOR THE YOUNG (9-10)
As we just saw, the Preacher has a word concerning serious joy for the older men and women among us. And, as we’re about to see, he has a word concerning serious joy for the younger men and women among us as well.
9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth…
The fact that young people are inescapably naïve does not mean that wisdom calls them to postpone joy until they’re less so. Youthful, under the sun joy isn’t as full as it will be one day, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real joy.
In fact, it is often being naïve that allows for much of the joy of our youth.
We don’t/can’t really believe that one day falling won’t be funny and so there’s real joy in watching friends biff.
We don’t/can’t really believe that being married will be a challenge and so there’s real joy in living with a less-than-fully revealed version of our spouse.
We don’t/can’t really believe that we will be betrayed by a friend and so there’s real joy in unquestioned trust.
We don’t/can’t really believe that we will one day feel completely crushed by financial stress and that sleep will be hard to come by and so there’s real joy in spending our last few dollars on Taco Bell at 1am.
We don’t/can’t really believe that we’ll get cancer and so there’s real joy in not worrying about it at all.
We don’t/can’t really believe that we’ll have to burry a spouse or sibling or child and so there’s real joy in being with whoever we’re with, whenever we’re with them, without another care.
We don’t/can’t really believe that one day we’ll be on our deathbed and so there’s real joy in simple, silly things like trying to fit as many marshmallows in our mouth as possible or eating pudding through panty hose or rolling like a log down a big hill or playing guitar on the roof of a garage.
It is precisely because we don’t/can’t really know the hardships to come that the Preacher admonishes you to…
9 … let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth…
Young people, be happy. Find as many of God’s joy-caches as you can. As we’ll see in a moment, God isn’t indifferent to where you find your joy, but that doesn’t diminish the call to have a happy heart in the things God gives you. There is a deeper joy available to you as you age, but real joy is easier to come by when you’re young, so let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth.
The final two sentences of v.9 are a bit tricky to interpret. Nevertheless, I think the gist is clear: Seek the joy of youth, but be careful about where you find it, for God will hold you accountable for it.
9 … Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
The ways of the heart and the sight of the eyes are the sources of our desire. In that way, we can’t help but to walk in light of them. But again, not all desires of the heart or eyes are equal. Not all joy is equal. Not all desires and joy found in them are good. Some desires are sinful and some joy is deadly.
The end of v.9 is, therefore, young people, an echo of what the Preacher said in 3:17 and a stern warning.
Ecclesiastes 3:17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.
Joy comes easier in youth, but so does sin. The lack of brain development, the lack of wisdom, the lack of walking through the trials of darkness, and the lack of sanctification, along with the lack of brain-developed, wise, holy, and tested friends all conspire to make the path of lust and sin wider and more welcoming than ever in our youth.
And so, young people of Grace, test the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes against the Word of God before you walk in them. Consider them carefully before you act on their promises of joy. Choose to be around older people (and not just people your age) to learn to test your desires and a more serious joy from them.
Test and consider all of your desires in the certain knowledge that God sees them in your very heart even before He sees them in your actions. God knows your thoughts better than you do. He sees everything you do with even greater clarity than you have. You have never and will never act in secret—every internet search, every dishonoring word to your parents, everything you do with your friends, every messaging thread. You might be able to keep your thoughts and deeds hidden from other people, but you can never, not even for a single moment, keep them from God.
More than simply knowing about the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes, though, God judges every one of them against His holy nature. And He is not indifferent to any of it. There is no inclination you have or action you take that God will fail to judge justly.
Although the Preacher seemed well aware of the fact of God’s judgment, we really aren’t sure what he understood concerning the nature of God’s judgment.
But we know what the Preacher didn’t—at least not fully. We know that for all who walk in the sinful ways of their heart and according to the lustful sight of their eyes, for all who find joy apart from God, God’s holy, just, and perfect judgment will be poured out with infinite wrath. The wages of sin is indeed death.
And we know something else the Preacher didn’t—at least not fully. We know that God’s holy, just, and perfect judgment will be poured out with infinite wrath in one of two (and only two) ways. Either it will be poured out on us in hell, in a place of “eternal conscious punishment” or it has already been poured out in full on Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
But how is it determined which it will be for us. Matthew 25 gives us a window into the answer.
Matthew 25:31-41 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. [That is, He will judge everyone as the Preacher promised, but did not fully understand, in v.9.] 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
But again, what is the basis for King Jesus’ distinguishing between sheep and goats? Within the context of Matthew 25 it is the love we have for Jesus, expressed in our love for those around us. Those who love Jesus in such a way as to be driven by it to love others are the sheep. Those who do not love Jesus and do not, therefore, love others are the goats.
More broadly speaking, and in Ecclesiastes’ terms, the sheep are those who find their joy in trusting in Jesus and the goats are those who find their joy in anything else. The sheep are those who are filled with joy in the knowledge that Jesus died to pay for their sins and rose from the dead for their justification, while the goats don’t see a need for forgiveness or are looking for it anywhere other than Jesus.
There is lots and lots and lots of joy available to you from the hand of God, young people, but it is, as I hope you’re seeing with greater clarity, serious joy. Under the sun, it is serious because, while it is everywhere, it is not just anywhere and God will judge it all. And it is serious because it is always mingled with trials. Above the sun, it is serious because it cost Jesus His life and is received only by wholly surrendering ours. And it is serious because it is eternal and in the very presence of the Triune God who judges all.
The Preacher concludes with these words…
10 Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
We first encountered the Preacher’s vexation in chapter 1. There I explained it as “an irritation, a frustration of the soul verging on anger” (Ryken, PTWC, 43). His command here is to put all of that away. And his command is rooted in the familiar refrain that we are born, we live lives that are filled with things that are hard and hard to make sense of, and then we die. That’s just how it is, the Preacher reasons, and so there’s no need to let it vex you. Take an aspirin for a headache. See the doctor for a broken bone or fever. Pray with a friend about a struggle. (Put away pain from your body.) And then focus on the joy, not the vanity.
As Christians, as those who have seen above the sun, we add to this the command and promise of our Lord,
Matthew 6:25-33 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life [do not be “vexed” as the Preacher said]…. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…
There, and only there, will you find perfect, pure, uninterrupted, undiminished, and unending joy.
CONCLUSION
The big idea, as I hope was clear, is that even in this fallen, mysterious, often painful world, by God’s design and at God’s hand, there is serious joy for us to experience throughout all life. Experiencing that joy looks a bit different when we’re old than when we’re young, but it’s there for us all.
But we, having received the fuller revelation of God, add to that the very good news that a type and magnitude of joy available to us in Jesus is immeasurably greater and longer than the Preacher could have imagined.
And the main takeaway, then, is to rejoice in whatever good things God gives us, throughout whatever life God gives us. But above all, it is to look through all of those things to the greatest treasure, Jesus Christ—who is lighter and sweeter and pleasanter and joyfuller and cheerfuller than all else; in whom there is only light and no darkness; who is the mystery (the vanity) of God revealed; who is the true desire of our hearts and the true beauty our eyes long to behold; who is the one means by which we can escape all pain and find all joy.