"The Clock Is Ticking"

Ecclesiastes 9:1-10                                    In Ecclesiastes we found a guy named Solomon who was faced with the monotony of life who tried to find meaning in all of those things and more, and as we've seen, in the end he concludes that everything is meaningless. 1) DEATH CAN MAKE LIFE MEANINGLESS This passage (vs. 1-6) is the crescendo for Solomon's point about the meaninglessness of life. Solomon reflects and sees the reality of death in this cursed world. He sees how the righteous and the wise and their actions are in God's hands and how man does not know if that indicates God's acceptance or rejection. We also see in (9:2) that godliness is not a guarantee of prosperity or comfort, we cannot look at our circumstances to determine if God is for or against us. Jesus spoke to this in Matthew 5:45 in the Sermon on the Mount. "So you will be like your Father in heaven, since He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteousness." (Matthew 5:45) The problem is that most people, instead of reckoning with death, waste the little time they have on the earth with distractions. Many do not think about death but instead live as if they have an endless supply of days ahead of them. Solomon calls this foolishness. Not contemplating death causes you to be an unwise person. 2) DEATH CAN MAKE LIFE MEANINGFUL! In (9:7) Solomon tells us that in the face of death's harsh reality, we should enjoy life. "And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:17) 3) JESUS DELIVERS ABUNDANT AND ETERNAL LIFE Ecclesiastes depicts in detail the curse of sin and death. Death's tyranny makes life meaningless because IF this life is all there is, then death will cancel everything out. However, Jesus died so that we could have abundant life, not just with Him in heaven but also here on earth. "I (Jesus) have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)