Old things New Podcast

Prayer.Reading: Prov 2:1-5.Meditation.The climax of the first chapter of Proverbs is a clear and open call from Lady Wisdom, an open invitation to everyone to come and get wisdom for themselves: “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks” (Pr 1:20-21). Everything we saw in our first series of studies in Proverbs 1 brought us up to that point. Here’s a brief overview of the flow of thought in chapter one: verses one through six told us that gaining wisdom was the aim of the book; verse seven showed us that the foundation of wisdom is the fear of the Lord; verses eight and nine told us that we would need to listen with an open heart; verses ten through nineteen warned us of the dangers of being tempted away from the path of wisdom and into the path of sinners; and verses twenty through thirty-three then gave us this call from Lady Wisdom herself.With this in mind, the call of Lady Wisdom to come and get wisdom leaves us with a very immediate and obvious question: How do we get wisdom? In Chapter 2:1-5, that is exactly the question that Solomon answers. As we launch our expedition into this chapter, we’ll see that getting wisdom is not some mysterious, mystical transaction. What we’ll find here is clear instruction on how to actually do this. To get wisdom, and become the man or woman of God that your were made to be, there are certain things that God says that you must do. To use the metaphor of 2:4, I want you to think of gaining wisdom as being like mining. If you want wisdom, you’re going to have dig, work hard, and gather the wealth of wisdom.Now if wisdom is like mining, then we can think of chapter one as getting equipped with the tools. If you’re going to mine, you need a pick-axe, a helmet with a light on it, and all sorts of other pieces of gear. We need a warning about what dangers to avoid, but we also need to learn how to use the tools. We need on-the-ground training, and that’s exactly what we find in chapter two.Be ye doers of the word...I love the simplicity of wood-chopping. You get a block-buster, you get a whole bunch of sawn-off chunks of tree, and you get to work. You split every single one of those things – especially the stubborn ones. Then there’s step two. You stack the wood. It takes work, but you know exactly what you need to do. I sometimes wish I had such a clear grasp of everything else in life! As we take a tour of Proverbs 2:1-5, we’re going to see that getting wisdom is, in a sense, as clear and simple as chopping wood. You don’t have to be a genius to get this.There’s actually a skill to gathering wisdom, and 2hapter 2:1-5 is a lesson designed to equip you with the skill you need to become wise. Mining involves certain skills – as does every profession. Mining for wisdom also involves certain skills. Again – getting wisdom is not a mysterious process, it doesn’t come to you on the top of a mountain by divine revelation. There’s a real cause and effect relationship between seeking wisdom and having wisdom. In other words, if you don’t do these things that we’re going to be talking about in Part 1 of this book, the things laid out for us in Proverbs 2:1-5, then you won’t get wisdom any more than if you tried to get diamonds by having a picnic outside the entrance to a mine. In a sense, it’s as simple as that.Now think about this – it’s actually huge! You will not get wisdom by accident. You weren’t born with it. You’re not going to be a great, wise person by default. But the good news is that you can actually get it, and nothing you can desire can compare to wisdom. This is so, so important. In the next few chapters, we’re going to lay out a series of very practical instructions on what God calls us to do so that we might get wisdom and become mature men and of God. So here’s the application: pay close attention to the next few chapters and be prepared to put them in to action. And for now? Here’s your challenge: Read Proverbs 2:1-5 ten times, and write down in your own words the actual things that you’re being told to do. And come armed to the next chapter ready to get equipped, and get stuck in. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayerReading: Prov 1:32-33.Meditation.Wisdom is ultimate. The warning of today’s passage takes no hostages. If you ignore her voice, you will be destroyed. If you listen, you will have security and – ultimately – salvation. Why is wisdom so important? The reason why is because, in this call of wisdom, the gospel itself is laid out before us. Those who will not fear God, which is the baseline of wisdom, will be killed and destroyed. Those who listen, trust, and act will be secure. That is nothing less than faith in God’s word.We learn in the New Testament that all God’s treasures of wisdom are hidden in Christ. As we’ve noted earlier in these studies, the Book of Proverbs is therefore nothing less than the voice of the risen Christ speaking to us today. It is the gospel in Old Covenantal wisdom garb, but it is the gospel nonetheless. In concluding our opening study of the Book of Proverbs, in a sense we have but concluded an introduction to wisdom. Attention must then continually be given to this Book of Wisdom.Be ye doers of the word...Notice that word there in our text: “complacency.” In fuller context we read: “the complacency of fools destroys them.” Are you complacent with the word of God? Do you go about your week with little or no time for reading it, for studying it? Do you neglect it? It’s a dangerous game to play. I’m assuming, probably, since you’re reading a book like this, that you are in fact diligent in your attention to God’s word. Probably you can recall to mind times when you haven’t been. Take that as a warning and exhortation never to return to such spiritual habits, but perhaps take this also as an opportunity to share these words with someone who needs them.Even faithful Christians need this as a regular warning and reminder, and perhaps a specific warning. If at any point in our lives we are complacent with the word of God, it will bring about suffering and anguish in our lives. If there is some “small” sin that you tolerate, it will still be like a little viper latching in to your hand and injecting poison into your blood stream.But there is great promise in wisdom as well: “but whoever listens to me dwells secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” Again, this reflects ultimate security in Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom are hid. Those who embrace Christ will dwell securely, and will enter in to eternal life. But the same principle holds true in our daily living as well, we must daily walk in God’s grace given through Christ. In other words, stay near to Christ. Walk with Christ. Examine the daily decisions that you are making: Are they pleasing to Christ? Are they helping you to love Christ? The things that you watch, the things that you think about – which voice are you listening to? Is it wisdom? Or is it the voice of the world?This passage is a call to devote ourselves to word of God. Set aside time each day to read it. Set aside time to study it. Study the book of Proverbs carefully. Study the whole counsel of God, listen to the words of wisdom. And, by the grace of God, take action on what you hear. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration.Dear Heavenly Father, I give thanks to you for these words of wisdom that you have laid up for me this morning. I thank you for warning me of the dangers of spiritual neglect, and of the importance of turning my ear to your word, that I might gain a heart of wisdom. Thank you that, in your wisdom, you have made a way for us to get security and salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. I confess that I have often neglected to listen to your words, to my own hurt. Please help me to constantly turn my ear unto you, that I might truly get and grow in a heart of wisdom. You are most wonderful above all things, and wisdom is most precious, please help me and give me a heart of wisdom as I continue to seek that I may grow in your word. I pray also for your people in my local church, that their hunger for your word may increase, that their desire to grow in wisdom may grow within and compel them, and that you may draw them ever nearer to yourself. Let us treasure your word together I pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayerReading: Prov 1:24-31.Meditation.We ignore wisdom’s call at our own peril, and to do so invites certain destruction. It will do us good, then, to consider the way of the fool that we might avoid it for ourselves. The first mark of a fool is that they refuse to listen to wisdom. A fool, if they were to even read these words at all, would read and forget them before the day was out. A fool would refuse to listen, and would ignore the advice of wisdom. Now fundamentally, let’s be clear, this rejection is a rejection of Christ. The Book of Proverbs is not a moralistic book, it is gospel-istic. The words of Proverbs are not just the words of some wise old sage, these are the words of Christ. In Colossians 2:3 we read that all of the treasures of wisdom are hidden in Christ. Christ is God’s revelation of wisdom, and so the Book of Proverbs comes to us as Christ speaking to us. The ignorance of fools is first and foremost a rejection of Christ.But the scorn of wisdom intensifies in verses 26 and 27: “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a stormand your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.” As the fool refuses to listen to wisdom, their calamity follows. If we refuse to listen to wisdom, that will be our fate too. Terror, distress, and anguish is the lot of the fool. This is no laughing matter, wisdom is not some optional thing that you can take or leave. The opposite of wisdom is disaster.Wisdom is patient, persistent, and available to all, but the time then eventually comes when wisdom is silent. To those who refuse to listen, calamity comes, and ultimately their doom also follows. If a person willfully ignores the call of wisdom and the correction that she offers, there is a point of no-return that eventually comes. Our choices always have consequences. Verse 28 presents a terrifying image: “Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.” Here we find the thought that one day it will be too late to listen to Christ speaking.Be doers of the word…The “scorn” of wisdom that we’ve been speaking about works on two levels. On the one hand, this is the stuff of everyday life. Let me give you an example, consider Proverbs 13:4. “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” If a man lives his life as a sluggard until he is 55, never saving his money and never using it wisely, he can’t get those years back again. He can’t go back to being 25 and make up for lost time by living diligently. In that sense – he has been foolish. The picture of wisdom laughing at his calamity is that it can’t be undone, he now has to eat the fruit of his ways. In a sense we all face these kinds of consequences from our foolish choices. If we didn’t work in school, we can’t go back and do it again, our choices have consequences. However, one of the beauties of salvation in Christ is that, while we can’t undo these things, God will forgive us for them.The second level of wisdom’s scorn speaks to an eternal outcome. Eternal judgment is the ultimate doom of the fool. If we reject Christ, we will face ultimate destruction. Verse 32 thus says: “For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them.” That is the doom of fools.Where do you stand with God? Each of us needs to consider for ourselves: Where do we stand with Christ? It really is a matter of the heart. Let me put it this way, when the Word of God comes to us, our hearts will respond in one of two ways: we will accept God’s word, or we just won’t want it. So if you hear the word spoken, and your inner response is: “I just don’t want it”, or: “I am not willing to forsake my sin”, then that is a very dangerous place to be. And, again, this is a special warning for young people. A young person might grow up in a christian family, they behave well, they know all the right answers, but they also know that as soon as their chance comes they’re going to live life their way. If there is a young person reading these pages thinking such things, then you need to hear the truth: the ignorance of fools is in your heart. That goes for all of us who are set on some path of sin as well. We must listen to wisdom. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration.Lord Jesus, please keep me from the deadly pride that hears your voice yet turns away. Please open my heart to receive your word while mercy still calls. Save me from the folly that forgets your counsel and must later eat the bitter fruit of its own ways. Please grant me a tender spirit that trembles at your voice, gladly forsakes sin, and walks in the path of life. Let me not seek you when it is too late, but today make me a hearer and doer of your word, resting in your forgiving grace. Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

Wisdom’s Help PrayerReading: Prov 1:23.Meditation.Have you ever needed help? Have you ever felt yourself to be helpless? I sometimes feel that the Christian life is nothing but a growing sense of my own helplessness. But, as we sometimes sing, our God is mighty to save. In Proverbs 1:23, God offers us four particular kinds of help through these words of Lady Wisdom.First, wisdom offers correction: “If you turn at my reproof.” As we begin our quest to gain wisdom here at the beginning of the Book of Proverbs, one thing is sure: at times, it’s not going to be pleasant. The reason for that is because we need reproof so that we may repent and turn from our sinful conduct. Every Christian needs correction, and even discipline. As we continue through the Book of Proverbs, we should expect a spiritual workout. We don’t enter this world born with wisdom, but rather foolishness is our natural estate. We need correction, and wisdom offers it to us.Second, wisdom calls for repentance: “If you turn at my reproof...” It’s one thing to listen to what wisdom is saying, and hear her words of correction, and that is certainly essential. The next step, however, will be that we must also respond to what wisdom is saying. We must turn at her reproof. We must stop going in the direction we’re heading, and head in a new direction. Consider Proverbs 19:9 as an example: “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.” As we consider that proverb, the reproof is clear: stop bearing false witness, stop lying, otherwise we will perish. We could open that up more, but the simple point is there: wisdom calls for an actual change in the way we’re living.But a mere call to change is not enough, because our own hearts are often inclined to follow in foolish ways. We actually need a heart transformation, and wisdom does not fail to deliver, because the third thing she offers is divine empowerment. “If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.” Now at this point, it’s helpful to remember the basic unity between the Old and New Covenants. The Old Covenant looked forward to Christ through shadows and symbols, the New Covenant comes with the full revelation of Christ. It still remains, however, that across both covenants God remained the same. Whether under the old or the new covenants, spiritual transformation has always been a work of his Spirit. Wisdom thus offers nothing less than a divine promise of help from the Holy Spirit.As we hear the voice of wisdom calling and turn, God gives us his Holy Spirit, and then comes the fourth offer of help: wisdom opens our heart to the word. “If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.” At all times, scripture reveals that it is his word that transforms us as we listen to him speaking through it, and see his glorious excellence revealed to us. In 2 Tim 3:16-17 we read: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” We receive wisdom, not by anything we possess, but by God’s enabling power. He pours out his Spirit upon us, and he opens up his word to us.Be ye doers of the word...In a practical sense, what this boils down to is that: (1) we need to listen to wisdom; (2) we need to turn from our sin as wisdom warns us of our sin; (3) we need to prayerfully look to God for the provision of his Holy Spirit; and (4) we need to prayerfully study the word of God – and particularly the Book of Proverbs. Listen, repent, pray, study. Repeat. Listen, repent, pray, study. Repeat. As we begin to live out these things in our lives, God has promised that he will go to work to put wisdom in our hearts. So then, wisdom is calling. Wisdom offers help to us. Listen to her voice, turn at her reproof – change your life as you become aware of changes that are needed. Pray for God’s enabling help, and give yourself to the diligent study of his word, and especially to the Book of Proverbs. We might feel helpless at times, but help is close at hand. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration.Heavenly Father, I thank you for the help that you provide in time of need. I thank you for your word, for your Spirit’s powerful work in the hearts of your people, for rebukes and correction, and for clear directions for our repentance. I pray that you would help me to heed your corrections in my life, and to turn away from sin. Please help me, Lord, pour out your Spirit upon me. Without your Spirit’s help, my will and affections would be utterly set against you and all your wise corrections. I am a simpleton and a fool, but you are able to work wisdom into me. Please give me wisdom, and please pour out your Spirit on me. I pray too, may you pour out your Spirit upon all the saints, and upon your people in my local church – that they too may hear the voice of wisdom, and turn at your reproof. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayerReading: Prov 1:22.Meditation.One of the very important insights that we gain from the Book of Proverbs is that, by nature, we are not wise. When we are young, our default setting is what the proverbs call: “simple” (see Prov 1:4). What this means, very simply, is that: unless you have gained wisdom, then you don’t have it. Wisdom does not come automatically. Let me put it even more plainly. If you have never invested yourself seriously into the Book of Proverbs, then there is a gaping hole in your life and there will be a serious lack of wisdom. I say that because the Book of Proverbs is one of God’s chief means of grace for gaining wisdom. I wish I’d studied this book as a younger person, and if you are a young person (or know of one) then there is an amazing opportunity before you right now to seek wisdom.Be ye doers of the word…One of the major reasons Solomon wrote the Book of Proverbs was to exhort the young to use their youth in the pursuit of and growth in wisdom. I say this primarily to the young, but if you are older you may still take up this pursuit without delay. Like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Babylon, we may prove ourselves wise and exceptional by the pursuit and exercise of godly wisdom. You could spend your youth on youthful pleasures, which is the accepted pattern in modern day Australia and countries like ours. But let me urge you: don’t neglect the serious study of the Book of Proverbs.I’m not saying don’t enjoy your youth, it’s a gift from God and ought to be received and enjoyed with thanksgiving. As 1 Tim 4:4-5 says: “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” But I am saying remember your Creator in the days of your youth. If a young person invests themselves into the proverbs as a teenager, or even from the age of 9 or 10 (or younger), they will be wise and godly beyond their years as they grow older. They will be equipped to make a real difference in this world for the cause of Christ.That ought to be something we all pursue, regardless of age. But perhaps if you know of a young person who might benefit from these studies – share it with them. But even if you are older, again, it’s never too late to start. You can’t wind back the clock, but you can use what time you have right now to invest yourself into this book. Paul Washer has a great series of studies in the early chapters of Proverbs – that may be another excellent way to pursue this goal. Don’t stay simple, wisdom is crying out. Don’t neglect the Book of Proverbs and thus become a scoffer. That’s what the scoffer and the fool is ultimately doing – ignoring wisdom. Don’t let that become you. Don’t walk away from wisdom’s cry and forget what you’ve heard. One final challenge for today – go back through and re-read all the studies we have covered so far in the Book of Proverbs! Repetition is a crucial part of learning. And may Christ speak so that we can get wisdom. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration.Heavenly Father, I thank you that wisdom speaks to us through your word. I thank you that you have opened the treasuries of your wisdom to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you would please forgive me for the many, many times when I have neglected this provision in the past. Even many years I have wasted, and while I cannot now recover that opportunity, I pray that you would forgive me and greatly help me now to repent with what time I have left appointed for me. Help me, please, to give diligent attention to the getting of wisdom. I pray for my local church, that you would give all of us a zeal and hunger for wisdom, that we may pursue it and grow in it. All glory be to you this day, in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayerReading: Prov 1:20-22.Meditation.For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. So spoke Solomon the Preacher in Ecclesiastes 3. In one sense, you could describe our lives as a series of opportunities. When we are young, we have the opportunity to learn. When we have grown we have the opportunity to choose a vocation, a marriage partner perhaps. We have the chance to use the strength and energy of our youth; we have the chance to invest in our children when they are young. We have the chance to take care of our health in our middle years – or to neglect it. This principle also works on a smaller scale. We have the chance to use our time well each day, the chance to exercise and set our priorities. A key thing we need to see, however, is that those opportunities are not permanent. Once they have passed us by, we can’t get them back again.Now the choice before each one of us is simply this: As all these opportunities pass by in life, will we use them well? Or will we waste them? In a sense, this is the real question that’s before us in the final segment of Proverbs 1. It’s a call to listen and to listen carefully. Living wisely, in a sense, is simply the art of choosing carefully and well, to the glory of God and the good of ourselves and others. It is this discernment in choice that the book of Proverbs is designed to give to us. Verses 20-21 are an invitation to get that wisdom. Wisdom is calling, and she is calling us now.“Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks.” In the Book of Hebrews we read that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword. As we read God’s word, we are not religious observers merely studying a text. As we read, wisdom is calling to us – even now. There are two things we ought to notice about this call of wisdom.First, we notice that wisdom is available. Wisdom “cries aloud” and she “raises her voice.” She’s not hidden from anyone. She’s in the street, the marketplace, at the head of noisy streets, at the entrance of the city gates. The emphasis is clear: wisdom is available. No one will be able to come before God at the end of their lives and say that it wasn’t their fault, because wisdom has been freely offered to all. It’s offered to you even now, and each time you engage one of these devotional studies. If we refuse to listen, then on the judgment day it will be recalled. God will say to us: You heard my call. On Sunday 25th July 2021, wisdom called to you. She calls to you right now, will you listen? It is crucial that we do.The second thing we ought to notice about wisdom’s call in these verses is that wisdom has competition. In verse 21 we read:“at the head of the noisy streets she cries out.” Wisdom is available, but wisdom is not the only voice in the marketplace calling out for your attention. We saw sinners calling in verse ten, and the world is full of voices.Be ye doers of the word…There are probably voices and distractions in your mind right now. When you finish reading this meditation, and go on to the next thing in your day, there will be more voices. On your screens, maybe it will be certain people in your life, maybe episodes that you watch regularly, maybe social networks, maybe games, maybe something else. Each day there will be a constant stream of voices grabbing for your attention in the market place of life. The question is: Which voices are you going to give your attention to? Which ones are you going to give your time to? The answer we give to this question will have eternal consequences. Wisdom is calling now, listen carefully. Give your attention to her voice, and consider which voices are getting an ear in your life that would cool your love for Christ. Tune them out! Listen, listen for the cries of lady wisdom. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration.Lord, my life is sustained by your mercy alone, and I thank you that you speak and give wisdom. Your help is available to all who will heed. Lord, the voices of the world are loud, and the answer of my heart is all too ready to listen. Please help me Lord, help me to give the ear of my heart consistently to the hearing of your voice. And may your people in my local church too have listening ears, quick to hear what you would say, quick to act and do in accord with wisdom. This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayerReading: Prov 1:10-19.Meditation.The world is on the road to destruction, they are plunging after sin headlong: “their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.” The attraction of sin spurs them on and, as we’ve seen in our proverbs episodes, it is attractive. There is even a temporary sinful pleasure that comes with it, but the bottom is simply this: sin brings death. For those who follow after the enticements of sin there is simply no other outcome, as verses 17-19 clearly say. Let me then lay before you three considerations of the destruction of sin revealed in our passage.Firstly, we see that sin desires evil: “their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.” For those who have no space for Christ, they are on that broad way to destruction (Mt 7:13). There is an eagerness in the heart of sinners to pursue evil. As Christians, we would do well to pause and meditate on this: any desire that we have that is not drawing us closer to Christ is evil and destructive. Consider that, and we ought to hold back our feet from such paths. Sin desires evil, and evil leads to destruction.Secondly, sin also brings misery. Sin is like a giant leech that would suck the very life out of you. “Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors” (Pr 1:19). Consider this the next time you’re engaged actively in sin. Whether you’re giving in to lust, giving in to anger, pursuing selfishness, idolising material possessions, or indulging in laziness – these practices are like vampires that would suck the life right out of us. When we engage in sin, that’s what’s happening – our life is being taken away from us. There is no gain to be found in it, it brings misery and death. Thus: “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it” (Pr 27:12).Sin desires evil and brings misery, and – finally – sin brings death. That’s the bottom line. That’s how it was even from the beginning, as God told Adam concerning the forbidden fruit that on the day he would eat of it, he would die. Sin is blind to this truth. “For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.” Godless people don’t even see their danger. They don’t understand that as they pursue their sin, they are committing suicide. Psalm 9:15 says: “The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. The LORD has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.” So also in Proverbs 5:22 we read: “The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.” Evil never pays off, it always brings death, and neither you nor I will be the exception to the rule. If we follow after it, it will bring misery and death to us. Proverbs 11:19 says: “Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die.”Be ye doers of the word…Sin promises much: power, prestige, security, but it delivers suffering and death. This is why we must constantly draw near to the cross of Christ. As we come bloodied and bleeding from our sin, our life is literally ebbing away. We must come to the fountain of Christ’s side. We must eat of his flesh and drink of his blood, as it were, that our souls may be revived. This is how our spirit is renewed, and how our peace with God is established. This is the only way that the life-draining effects of our sin can be reversed. In Christ our strength is found, and so we must cling to him. We must keep short accounts with him, laying our sin there at the cross. When you do that, instead of having your life drained away, you will find your life renewed in Christ.Follow hard after Jesus Christ. Follow like your life depends on it, because it does. Keep your eyes on him like a man who will drown if he looks at the waves – because you will drown. You will sink if you take your eyes off Christ. Proverbs 24:1 says “Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them, for their hearts devise violence, and their lips talk of trouble. Set your eyes on Christ, keep your eyes on Christ. There is no other way to be saved, and there is no other hope on earth.What’s been distracting you lately? What is it in your life that’s been drawing you away from Christ? That thing, whatever it is, will kill you. Hold back your feet from the paths of sin. If sinners entice you, do not consent. Instead, open the door of your heart wide to Christ. Invite him in, let his word abide in you, and your soul will be furnished with rich food. You will be satisfied, and you will be delivered from this present evil age. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration.Righteous Father, we confess that we have listened to the promises of sin, envied evil, and allowed our feet to wander down the destructive paths of sin. We have believed the lie that sin brings gain, while it has only brought misery, weakness, and distance from you. Please have mercy on us, draw us again to the fountain opened at the side of the Lord Jesus, and wash us clean from our sin. Consecrate us to follow hard after you, to keep our eyes fixed on our Saviour, and to walk steadfast in righteousness. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayerReading: Prov 1:10-14.Meditation.One thing we need to recognise from this passage is that the enticements of the world are dangerous because, on some level, we find them to be truly attractive. They have a magnetic power to the sin that remains in our hearts. There is something in us, even as Christians, that answers to and desires to respond to these temptations. One of the reasons that we need to beware of worldly attractions, is because we may well find ourselves attracted. We must especially beware when we notice in our hearts that we are being drawn toward certain sins. When Eve was in the garden, the temptation gained power over her. When the fruit and what she thought it offered got a hold on her heart, she was truly attracted to it.Here then is the danger of sin. No one is attracted to a spoonful of rat poison, but when that rat poison is hidden in a big piece of warm, moist, chocolate cake covered in icing, well, that’s another story. But why is sin so attractive to us? It seems insane! I think that we see in our passage the answer is this, sin promises fulfillment: “we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder”. A basic aspect of human nature is that we go after things that we think are good, and we avoid things that we think are bad. Those general rules apply to almost everything we do in our lives. Even the things that we don’t want to do, that we don’t think are good, are often done in pursuit of something else we do want. For example, you might not like your work, but you do want to get the pay packet.The desire that we have for good things is designed to find it’s fulfillment in God, for God alone is good and the source of all that is good (Mt 10:18). The problem with sin is that it tries to make God replacements. It looks at the creation that he has made, and it idolises the creation over the Creator. The problem is that sin always lies. It says something will be good, but in the end it leads only to death. The fruit in the garden was the original example. Satan deceived Eve, and she thought it would be good to eat the fruit, but it was a lie because eating brought only death and judgment. Every sin follows the same pattern, it promises something good but delivers a spoonful of poison. Lust will promise fulfillment, but leave you empty and hollow. Money will promise you power if you devote yourself to it, but you’ll always want more. Anger will promise justice, but it will itself destroy you. Fame will promise you attention, but your soul will still be parched and empty. Sin promises fulfillment, but it does not deliver. As verses 18 and 19 in our passage say: “these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.”Be ye doers of the word…The application for our lives in this is quite simple: don’t be deceived by sin. When you’re tempted to commit some sin, and something in your heart feels the pull of it, look your heart in the face and preach the truth to it. Don’t be sucked in to the lies, don’t believe for a second that sin can offer what you’re looking for. It will give you a flash of pleasure and then leave you worse off than before. Measure your desires by the Word of God, and seek your fulfillment in Christ alone.You can’t beat something with nothing, and what is needed to beat the temptation of sin is total fulfillment in Christ. That is the way of wisdom. Psalm 16:11 says: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” The invitation of Isaiah 55:1 comes to all of us: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.” Do you know what it is from experience to be satisfied in Christ? This is is central to our faith, Christ must be our first love. It is only as we continue in the love of Christ that we gain the needed strength to shut the door on sinful temptations. So then, seek fulfillment in Christ alone.If there are any young people reading these words – again – these verses are especially directed to you. As you look at the world, you might see that there are all sorts of pleasures and possibilities on offer. You may be tempted to go out and sample some of them. The attraction that the world lays before you is a lie, because there is no satisfaction to be found there. All you will find is a temporary fix of pleasure, and then misery to follow. Be wise and learn from Solomon, remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Find satisfaction in your soul through Christ, and if that sounds strange to you, talk about it with your parents. Talk about it with one of the elders in your faithful, local church. All of us must come to Christ – whether we are young or old. If you are not young, consider sharing this post with a young believer. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration.Dear Lord, I thank you for the warning of these words. I pray that when I am tempted to sin today, and in days to come, that you may bring them to my mind. Help me always to consider the emptiness of sin and the promises of fulfillment that it offers. I pray that your people in my local church may likewise become more and more aware of these lies of sin, and that all of us may come to see and know that only Christ can satisfy. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

Pray.Reading: Prov 1:10-14.Meditation.In our last few meditations, we have learned a few insights into how our sinful nature generally works. It is self-centred, it is greedy, and in verses 13 and 14 we now also see that sin is evangelistic. God has made us to be social creatures. We are designed to live in community, and we naturally reach out to other people to connect, to love, and to live. That connection is designed to be a powerful force for good, but sadly our sinful nature can also use those connections to be a force for evil as well. In our passage we see an example of this as Solomon warns his son against being enticed to fall in line with sinners. There is a call to action in these verses: “Come with us… throw in your lot among us”, and the call comes with a tempting motivation to reward: “we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder.”In this passage, we see thieves trying to draw a young simpleton into their way of life, but the same principle holds true for you in your life as well. The world will not leave you to yourself, it will constantly be seeking to draw you in to its ways. Vanity-Fair will offer all manner of temptations, it will bait the hook of sin with every possible enticement seeking to draw you in. When the world tempts you to love the things of this world, be wary. If there is anything in your life that is tempting you and luring you away from Christ as your first love, flee from that thing. Do not walk in the way of with sinners, hold back your feet from the paths of the world. Do not abandon the world, and do not cease to bring the gospel to lost sinners, but keep an ear open for worldly evangelists as well, and when you hear them coming – close the door of your heart to temptation.Be ye doers of the word…As I’ve already said, and as scripture teaches, we cannot take ourselves out of the world. We ought not to try. We are called to engage the world, and to do good to all people (Gal 6:10). As we live in the world, however, we must be careful to guard our hearts – because the world will lay things before us designed to entice us into sin. The application in all of this is simply to avoid sin and temptation. As Jesus said to his disciples in Gethsemane “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”When you notice a worldly enticement has some pulling power on your heart, be especially careful to avoid it. Run, like Joseph ran from Potiphar’s wife. Avoid such enticements like a deadly plague. Run from them as though they were a pack of wild dogs trying to tear you apart! Because that is what they are. As verse 15 says: “my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths.” Remove enticing godless influences from your life. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration.Dear Lord, as I look back on the life that I have lived, I can readily think of many times when I have allowed the enticing power of the world to lead me into sin. Even now, as I consider my way of life, I can see still that there are various entertainments and enticements that would draw my eyes away from Christ, down from that which is above, and would set my mind and affections on that which is below. Lord, please forgive me for my sins, and help me now to set my mind on Christ above, seated at the right hand of God. Please fill my heart with love for him who died for me. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 5:8.MeditationI rarely buy the newspaper, but just this last Wednesday (at the time of writing) I picked up two different papers, and let me share just a little of what I read. I warn you that these stories are troubling, but there is a point in sharing them.A four year old Melbourne girl was admitted to hospital this week. Weighing only 9.3kg, she had suffered severe neglect at the hands of her auntie, who was her guardian. She was severely malnourished and could not have survived much longer. When the case came to light, it was discovered that she had hardly attended pre-school, and the government worker charged with overseeing the girl also admitted that they had sometimes filed welfare reports without even seeing her.Here is another story. As William Dearing, a citizen of Melbourne, was singing the victory song of the Melbourne Football Club after his favourite team’s win at the MCG, a disgruntled supporter of the other team walked past and deliberately knocked the beer out of his hand. Mr Dearing, infuriated, knocked the man down and repeatedly beat him while he was on the ground. Mr Dearing got off from the courts with next to no penalty.One more story. Two drunk teenagers severely beat and injured an off duty and elderly police officer. There were worse stories than these as well, but I will not go into them now.My point is that even from a randomly selected newspaper on any given day there are numerous stories of darkness, and hearing so many of these stories may easily tempt us to despair. As Christians it is worse still, because these stories are only the ones the media is willing to report. It really is just the tip of the iceberg.For example, they will not print the story of Australia’s mass murder of unborn infants. That is a story unfolding every day in our country. Nor will they respond with outrage as the government protects the rights of those who murder these infants. There are laws against even praying within the vicinity of an abortion clinic. Another story the media will not tell you is the story of our country’s infatuation with sexual perversity. In fact the media often serves that agenda by trying to tell us that sexual immorality is normal and healthy, something to be celebrated.You may be aware that in Victoria, even as we speak, the government is discussing the possibility of criminalising normal Christian practices such as praying and discipling. Why? Because it rejects the idea that homosexuality is sinful. Now I am not denying that the church at large has mishandled and unfairly treated homosexuals and the issue of same sex attraction at different times, but what is being discussed attacks basic Christian practices.As Christians, we’ve see things like this getting worse and worse in recent history, and we are tempted to stand open mouthed in shock at the world around us. I was in a pastoral situation a few years ago in another church context, and as I was talking with a Christian man in his forties, he shared that as he looked out on the society around him he increasingly felt driven to depression. As he looked at everything that was wrong with the world he felt so overwhelmed that he simply did not know how to handle it. Life seemed full of darkness to him.As you talk to Christians it is not unusual to hear this kind of sentiment. It is not usually as severe as that example, but still many Christians find this matter difficult, challenging, perplexing, and depressing. There are so many things wrong in the world around us that we hardly know how to take it in, and just when you think it is as bad as it can get, something worse inevitably happens. Again and again.As the Book of Ecclesiastes continues, Solomon has a word for us on this issue. In verse eight he says: “If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter.” While we stand gaping and shocked at the world around us, Solomon also looked on at similar sights all those years ago. He saw all the horror, but his response was quite different. He quietly turns to us and says that we should not be surprised.Why would he say that? That is the question we will be dealing with in the next few meditations. Moving on from the topic of fearing God in worship, Solomon is teaching us how to respond with godly fear to societal sins, oppression, injustice, and unrighteousness.Let’s remind ourselves of the labyrinth metaphor once again, it’s very helpful. One of the images I have used in this book to help us understand Ecclesiastes is the image of a labyrinth. Just as a labyrinth is vast, complex, mysterious, troubling, and easy to get lost in, so in Ecclesiastes we find a book that is mysterious, troubling, perplexing, and difficult. Yet in every labyrinth there is a centre, a goal that we are seeking to reach. So it is with Solomon.As we read in Ecclesiastes 12:13, he wants to show us how to fear God in a fallen world. Throughout the book Solomon is leading us toward that destination. Sometimes he shows us dead ends in the labyrinth, pathways in life that we ought not to follow because they take us far from the fear of God. These are pathways that lead nowhere and achieve nothing, pathways of vanity. But he also leads us along pathways of life, pathways that show us how to live in the fear of God. Each passage can be seen either as a dead end where Solomon shows us what not to do, or as a good pathway where he shows us the right direction.This of this passage as something like a T intersection in the labyrinth. We find ourselves walking toward a great wall, a wall that is high and wide and long, and a wall that seems impossible to get around. This is the wall of all the world’s injustices, oppression, and unrighteousness. As we approach this wall we have two choices. We can turn to the right hand or to the left. Solomon’s aim is to show us the right way. He points out the dangers and then directs us in how we ought to go.He begins with the dangers, and in this meditation we’re focusing on the first danger – the danger of the shock response. We’ve been talking about it already. As we see the society around us we may be tempted to feel a certain way. We may feel shocked. Like the Christian I mentioned earlier, we may look at this world and feel depressed or angry. In our anger we might ridicule the government or the people in our society, and we do sometimes see Christians willing to do that. Bitterness is a real risk. So is self righteous superiority, feelings of helplessness, and the slow evaporation of our joy. These are very real responses.So here we are at the feet of this great wall. There is no way around it, no way over it, and no way through it. We simply fall down and sit there, overwhelmed at the injustices of society. In Solomon’s language we are amazed or shocked at what we see. “If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter.” But we are amazed. Aren’t we? Shocked into stunned silence at the new low we’re watching unfold.But Solomon says: “No”. Don’t be amazed at this sight. Do not be shocked when you see corruption, oppression, and injustice in the world around you. That is his instruction. Do not be overly downcast by the oppression of the poor. Do not fall into despair at injustices. Do not be shocked by moral corruption in the world around you. Do not be self righteously indignant. Do not grow bitter. Do not feel hopeless. Do not let your joy be choked out by these concerns.But there is an obvious question here. Why does Solomon tell us not to be shocked and amazed? After all, we do see some quite shocking things. Why would he tell us not to be shocked that tens of thousands of Australian infants are being slaughtered every year?Solomon does not leave us floundering on this question. He does not simply tell us to toughen up. Instead he directs us to look to God. He says, “If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter.” Then he gives the reason. “For the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.”What does he mean by this?When we feel shocked by the state of our society, what exactly are we feeling? We feel many things. We may feel anger, outrage, disgust, or loathing. Perhaps even hatred. We may feel nostalgia for what life was like seventy or eighty years ago, or at least for what we imagine it might have been like. We may feel a desperate desire for change while knowing we are powerless to bring it about.Part of what we feel is a loss of control. Somehow we think things should not be this bad. It becomes hard to believe that this is actually happening. It can begin to feel as though there is a giant black hole in our society and everything is being slowly drawn into it.But Solomon says: “Do not be amazed at this. This is a fallen world. We should not be surprised to find that sin truly is a hideous thing. It should not shock us to see that the corruption of mankind is vile and repulsive. Evil is not polite or well mannered. It is not a mischievous pet dog that occasionally makes a mess. Sin is a horror, a beast that destroys everything it can sink its teeth into.”Solomon has faced that fact. Sin is deep, black, vile, and destructive. It is a horror revealed in the mass slaughter of innocents. It is a corruption that shows its true colours when people celebrate and pursue depravity. This is sin.Yet even this is not Solomon’s main point. Simply recognising the horror of sin is not enough to give us the strength we need to face it. We must return to Solomon’s puzzling statement: “the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.”Our politicians may do many things. They may legalise immorality. They may attempt to outlaw the gospel itself. They may misrepresent Christians as uneducated bigots. Sinful men may oppress the poor. The weak may be beaten, abused, or murdered.What is Solomon’s response to all this? He points us to the heavens. There is always a higher authority. Even those who seem powerful are not authorities unto themselves. There are others above them, and still others above them. Above all there is God himself, and the Father has placed his Son upon the throne, and given all authority unto him (Ps 110; Mt 28:18-20). As we read in Romans 13:1, “there is no authority except from God.” Everyone is answerable to him, and when we see oppression that truth is a comfort.So we ought not to be amazed at the corruption of the world around us. Instead we should be steady and confident in the sure knowledge that all is under God’s authority. Sinners will answer for their crimes. Oppressors and abusers will be judged. Justice and righteousness will prevail over those who violate them. All will be made right.Armed with this knowledge, when we see these injustices we will not be shocked. We will not respond with depression, anger, rage, hopelessness, or bitterness. Instead we will respond with confidence in God. We look at the people around us in the world who think they own the place, yet even their combined power is only a drop in the bucket compared with god. As Psalm 2 tells us, “he who sits in the heavens laughs.” The Lord sees the tumult of the nations and he is not shocked.So in the face of the tumult of the nations we look to him, and we stand confident that nothing will prevail against him and his anointed Son. If preaching the gospel becomes outlawed in Australia, we will march forward unflinching and we will preach the gospel. Christ is King! If we are surrounded by mockery and scorn and accused of bigotry and hatred, we will stand silent before our accusers and look to the one who justifies. As the scripture says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” There is always a higher authority. God the Son sits enthroned above the heavens, at the right hand of the Father on high.So when we see the oppression and wickedness of this world, Solomon simply reminds us that the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. Ultimately all are accountable to God. When you see injustice, remember who is on the throne, and let your appeal be to him. SDG.Prayer of Confession & ConsecrationO Lord, we confess that when we see oppression, injustice, and the darkness of this world, our hearts are often filled with anger, bitterness, fear, and despair instead of steady confidence in your rule. Forgive us for being amazed at the corruption of fallen men, as though sin were a strange thing in a fallen world, and for forgetting that there is no authority except from God. Teach us to rest in the truth that the high official is watched by a higher, and that you stand above all as the righteous Judge of the nations. Consecrate our hearts to trust you, to pity the lost, and to walk in courage and love as we bear witness to the gospel in a darkened world. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 5:1-7MeditationWe’re going to talk a little about vows. Now it must be said, this topic is not really something that comes up at all for modern evangelical or even reformed Christians. It is pretty much off our radar. That is not because we do not make vows, but more because we do not think about them.In Solomon’s day, vows were a specific aspect of temple worship. There are multiple passages in God’s law dealing with vows, and there are multiple examples of vows in scripture, including in the New Testament.But where do we start to get our heads around this curious topic? A vow in Solomon’s day, generally speaking, was a specific commitment that someone made to God. We see Jacob vowing to serve God in Genesis 28:20. We see Hannah asking God for a child, and vowing to offer the child as a servant to God if he granted her request in 1 Samuel 1:11. Leviticus 7:16 speaks about the vow offerings in the temple. So vows were commitments and offerings, generally made publicly in the context of temple worship. This is why Solomon refers to the messenger in verse six. This was a person from the temple who had come to collect on the paying of the vow.Solomon’s warning here is that if you commit something to God, you had better be prepared to pay it. Because if you do not, it is a sin. In fact, this is so serious that Solomon says, “why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the works of your hands?” There are serious consequences for not paying vows. God is angry with it. He may even discipline you by destroying the works of your hands.Now, maybe you hear that and think: “Phew! Glad we don’t have vows today!” Well, don’t speak too soon!The temple offerings connected with vows have all fallen away, that is true. That which foreshadowed Christ has now been revealed in him. But this does not mean that the principle of vows or vow-making has simply evaporated.Let me show you what I mean.Forget about vows for a second.Let us completely drop the word for a minute.Forget about the offerings and the ceremony.What is really at stake here in what Solomon is saying? The real issue here is speaking the truth. Now that is true in a general sense. In Matthew 12:36 Jesus said that on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. That is sobering, is it not? Every word we have ever spoken is on record, and it will be put to the test and shown up for what it is. Our words matter, and what we say matters. If you lie to someone, that is a serious sin. Proverbs 6:16–17 says that God hates a lying tongue. He hates it. It makes him burn with anger.Now. Here is where vows fit in. It is one thing to speak the truth generally, it is another thing to keep our commitments and speak the truth to each other. But when it comes to making a vow, what we are really talking about is our commitment to God.If you make a commitment to God, if you tell him you will do something, then speaking the truth becomes so weighty that the Bible has a whole category for this kind of commitment. That category is called a vow. The temple ceremonies surrounding vows have passed away, but if you commit to God himself that you will do something, then you had better believe that God will take that seriously, and he will expect you to do what you have committed to do.“When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.”God takes what we say to him with absolute seriousness. And this is not just Old Testament teaching. Whether you are in the Old Testament or the New, God hates lying. Look at Ananias and Sapphira in the Book of Acts. They publicly committed to give their wealth to the church. They made a vow. But then they held some back. They lied to God, and God struck them down.Now how does this apply to us?The first thing is this: do not be rash with your mouth. Solomon has already told us that in verse two. Deuteronomy 23:22 says that if you do not make a vow, you are not guilty of sin. Vows are optional. Ananias and Sapphira did not have to offer their possessions. “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?” (Acts 5:4). So if you are considering making a vow, do not rush into it.The second thing is this: keep the vows you make. You might think you do not make any vows, but the truth is that you do. You have made a commitment to God in believing in Jesus. You have committed yourself to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. That is the real heart of the vow. We vow to give our whole lives as an offering to God. That is the picture behind the laws of the vow.But there are other commitments as well.Every time we confess our sins publicly in church, Sunday by Sunday, we are telling God that we are sorry, and we are committing to repentance. How often do we reflect on the things we have repented of?Sometimes we also make commitments to God in the songs that we sing. In Psalm 119, in the Book of Worship that our church uses, we sing: “Upon your precepts and your ways my heart will meditate with awe; your word shall be my chief delight, and I will not forget your law.” Have we lived up to that? We sometimes sing a song called: “Brother, let me be your servant.” Verse 3 of that songs says, “I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night time of your fear. I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.” That is quite a commitment, and God takes note when we sing it. Have we done it? What songs do you sing in your church?What about our membership vows? The Book of Forms in our church, which we use when we make membership vows, says: “I promise to do all I can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to strengthen my love and commitment to Christ by sharing faithfully in the life of the church and its means of grace, honouring and submitting to its supervision and discipline, and I join with the people of God in doing the work of the Lord wherever I am.” And every time someone else professes their faith, we as a congregation in our church reply by saying: “Thanks be to God! We rejoice in your profession and promise you our love, encouragement and prayers.” Have we given our love, encouragement, and prayers to each other? If we kept that vow, church splits and broken relationships would be unheard of. Difficulties, yes. Church discipline, perhaps. But church splits, no.Solomon has laid out before us here a very difficult path in the labyrinth in this series of meditations from Ecc 5:1-7. It is narrow and steep. He has called us to guard our steps as we come to worship, to be prepared, and to have our hearts ready to listen to the voice of God speaking to us. He has called us to guard our tongues and not to speak rashly or thoughtlessly. He has called us to be committed to the public worship of God together in the presence of the saints. He has called us to take seriously the commitments that we make to God in worship.Solomon is not playing around here. This is serious. Public worship is not a time to relax and take it easy, or to have a laugh and a joke. It is a time to fear God.Now I don’t know about you, but as I was writing this series of meditations I experienced one particular sensation again and again. The sensation I am talking about is the sensation of my own failure. The feeling of shame as I saw my own failure.I have not kept my membership vows. I have often not even considered the songs that I sing, let alone recalled what I committed to do in them. His word has not been my chief delight, as I have sung in Book of Worship 119-a. And every single time I have sinned I have forgotten his law, which I promised to remember.The weight of our failure is great, and indeed far greater than we can even begin to fathom. Perhaps you have felt similar sensations in reading these meditations. Because the truth is that this path Solomon is showing us is a path that we cannot walk by ourselves.As we draw to a close in this section, let me suggest some additional application for you to take away.First, re-read these meditations and consider your failure honestly and earnestly before God. Work your way through the material and honestly confess to God your failures. Do not hold anything back. Admit that you do not prepare for worship as you ought. Admit that you do not come prepared to listen to the word. Admit that you do not put into practice the things you have heard. Admit to God that you do not keep the commitments you make. You have not kept your membership vows. You have not even remembered the commitments you have made in song. Lay it all out before him and confess that you have failed.And having done that, know this. The infinite blood of Christ has covered everything. All your failures in worship. All your shame. All our apathy. All our lack-lustre singing. All our inattention to the preaching of the word. All our unnecessary absences from worship. All our lack of preparation. All our failure to keep our vows. He has covered everything.Because here is the real heart of the vows in Scripture. It is not primarily about the vows that we fail to keep. It is about the vow that Christ has promised to us. The vow to cover our sins. The vow to forgive. The vow to uphold. And the vow to bring us safely to the end.While we all fail to keep God’s law, he will not. He will keep every single word he speaks to us. And he will graciously cover our every failure and lead us in the way everlasting.Here is another application. Every time you hear Christ make a promise in the pages of scripture, every time God commits himself to do something, cling to his promises. He will keep them. Unlike us, his word is good. Not one word of it will fall away. Rejoice in God.Now having confessed your sins and repented of your failures, here is the next thing you must do. Earnestly commit to do what you have not done.Earnestly commit to prepare for worship. Pray and prepare your heart. Earnestly commit to attending worship faithfully if you have not already. Earnestly commit to come and listen diligently, to gather and apply everything you hear preached each Sunday. Earnestly commit to singing sincerely. Earnestly commit to praying and giving your amen in the public worship of God. Earnestly commit to keeping your membership vows. Perhaps even memorise them to help you do that.And as you commit to doing these things that God delights in, confess freely to God that it is not within you to keep your commitments. Sincerely ask him in prayer to enable you to keep them. Put things in place in your life that will help you to do that, and pray continually as you seek to do them. As you spend time, for example, before the service on Sunday preparing for worship, and your heart feels cold, cry out to God to help you.And when you fail, as you surely will, do not despair. Repent again. Confess your sins. Cry out to God. Take his hand, which he will surely extend to lift you up. Then stand with renewed resolution in Christ and keep walking the path that lies before you. May God grant each of us to worship him in spirit and in truth. SDG.Prayer of Confession & ConsecrationO Lord our God, we confess that we have come before you carelessly, with wandering hearts, unguarded lips, and promises we have not kept. You have heard every word we have spoken, yet we have often forgotten the vows we made in repentance, in song, and in the fellowship of your church. Have mercy on us through the blood of christ, who has covered all our failures and whose faithful promises never fail. Renew our hearts by your Spirit, that we may fear you in worship, speak truth before you, and offer our whole lives to you with sincerity and joy. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 5:1-7.MeditationWhen we come to worship God, we come to listen, therefore our words must be few. That’s what we learned in our last meditation. But part of worship is about bringing our own offering as well. We must come and speak. Or, to be more accurate, Solomon instructs us to come and speak a little. He makes this very clear: the words of our mouths, even if they aren’t many, are not to be treated lightly. Reading again in verse 1, “To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.” Solomon’s main thrust in this passage is to call us to guard our own tongues in worship.Fast forward to a modern day worship service. When you think about these words in that context, right away you may be thinking: How is this relevant to me? Maybe you think of worship services as largely passive. You sit back and receive. That is faulty thinking for two reasons. First, even listening is a proactive activity. We must come prepared to listen. If we come tired, lazy, distracted, or preoccupied, we will not be able to obey that instruction. We must come prepared to listen. But second, worship also requires engagement. As we meet to worship, this is a conversation. We pray. We amen the corporate prayers. We sing. We speak. We profess our faith, we affirm and receive new baptisms. Even the meditations of our hearts are visible before God in worship. Worship includes speaking on our part, even if you don’t think of it like that very much.Solomon’s warning here is sobering. He speaks of offering the sacrifice of fools, and then says they do not even realise that what they are doing is evil. That is a strong warning. It is possible to turn up to a worship service and do evil. More than that, it is possible not even to realise it. It is possible that we offer the sacrifice of fools. To help us guard against that, Solomon opens it up further in verse two:“Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.”First, there is the obvious instruction: let your words be few. In the first place, be sure to pray for your pastor. “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” This is why it is a fearful thing to become a preaching elder. It is best to be quiet in the worship of God. It is best to come to listen. And yet those who are to teach are required to speak more, and God will judge them more strictly for this reason. Please pray for your pastor. Please pray that God would spare pastors in our churches from leaking their own foolishness into the preaching of his word. Please pray that he would make the truths of the sermons living realities in the life of your pastor and in the lives of the people in your church.Second, consider a modern idea we see in the church today. In most churches something highly valued is greater involvement by the members. People come up to give testimonies, share a word, lead the singing, do this, do that. I attended a High Anglican service once where more than half the congregation stood up at different points to do or say something. Yet what we see in these verses shows that this mindset gets it wrong. You do not need to give everyone airtime. It is the opposite. We need to come with our lips sealed, our tongues guarded, and our ears open. That is what you do when you meet with God. It is not about “getting involved” in the sense that everyone needs to have a turn at being the leading visible figure-head. It is about falling at the feet of God to worship, sitting attentive and ready to listen.When Isaiah met with the Most High God, he did not begin by speaking about what part he could play. As he saw the Lord high and lifted up upon his throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple, with mighty seraphim flying, the foundations shaking, and the house filled with smoke, Isaiah did not say: “How about I give a testimony of my life”. He cried out and said, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Is that the sense we have in our worship services?This is why the reformed tradition in the past has deeply valued reverence in worship. It ought not to be reverence in an old-fashioned, stuffy, or traditional sense. It ought to be reverence because this is the God of heaven we are dealing with. So let us come with sincerity and reverence into the house of God’s people, where God meets with us.Let your words be few, but there is an inverse truth here as well: let the words you do speak be sincere. Solomon does not say let your words be none. He says let your words be few. There is a time to speak in the house of God.In praise, we are told, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” As we sing to God, there is a sense in which we offer the new covenant equivalent of old testament sacrifices. That is what this text is saying. So come prepared to sing your heart out to God, and come prepared to engage your mind as you sing. If we sing to God while our minds drift and our hearts are not engaged in what is being said, then we are offering the sacrifice of fools and doing evil, and we do not even realise it. Do not rush into the presence of God. Do not hastily begin singing without thought. That is foolish behaviour. Better to still your heart for a moment, seek the Lord’s help, be still and know that he is God, and then turn your mind and heart to offering the sacrifice of praise.And in prayer also, do not be rash. Come prepared to the prayer meeting, with your thoughts ordered and ready to pray. On Sunday, come ready to pray as well. Come ready to say amen to every prayer that is spoken. There is nothing that tests your spiritual mettle like the quality of your prayer life. SDG.Prayer of Confession & ConsecrationHoly God, we confess that we have been rash with our mouths and careless in worship, offering distracted hearts and unguarded words before you. Forgive us for the sacrifice of fools, for singing without thought, praying without sincerity, and drawing near with lips when our hearts are far from you. Teach us to come with reverence and humility, to listen well, to speak little, and to mean what we say in your presence. Consecrate our tongues and our hearts, that through Christ we may offer the sacrifice of praise with clean lips and undivided devotion. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 5:1-7.MeditationAs Solomon opens up his words of wisdom on worship, he starts with this basic instruction: come to listen. Verse one says: “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.”In the first place, we know that Solomon is talking about worship because he refers specifically to the house of God, the Temple of God. It was the centre of worship in the Old Testament, the heartbeat of sacrifice, worship, and instruction in the Word of God. Let me make a parallel for us here. As you know, we do not worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. Under the New Covenant, worship is no longer focused on a place. It is focused in a people. In Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians 2:19-21 we are told that the temple is no longer made of bricks and mortar, but of living souls. As the Spirit of God dwells in the hearts of believers, it is believers who are being built up into the house of God. And in the First Epistle to the Corinthians 3:17 we also see this plainly: “you are the temple.”What this all means is that, just as Israel gathered to worship in the physical temple under the Old Covenant, so as we gather together with God’s people under the New Covenant we are gathering for worship. There is a parallel between the Old Testament temple and the gatherings of the church in the New Testament. So then, Solomon’s advice applies to what we do in public worship together.The first thing he says is this: “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.” Do not come to worship ill prepared. Do not come carelessly. Do not come without having considered what it is you are doing. Guard your steps. Guarding our steps suggests that we ought to be prepared for worship. We ought to be on guard, and one does not need to be on guard unless there are dangers involved.Have you ever considered that as you come to worship God, there is danger? We will open up in these meditations what the nature of those dangers are, but let that sink in for a moment. You would not carelessly go bungee jumping or sky diving. You would not normally help as a volunteer firefighter without training and preparation. And yet we must ask ourselves: Do I come carelessly to worship? Do we prepare our hearts with prayer? Do we come prepared to engage in what we are about to do? If we are not on guard, then our defence is open to attack and we are vulnerable. Be prayerful, diligent, and ready for worship.Worshipping God is serious. Our God will not be mocked, and he will not wink at sin. To be flippant in worship is to be foolish.So you are prepared for worship, but prepared for what? Verse one says, “To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools.”Two things stand out here.You come prepared to worship, and one of the things you come prepared for is to listen. Has it occurred to you that as you come to worship, you come to hear the Most High God speak with you? Sunday meetings are no social club gatherings. They are a solemn, joyful, fearful meeting between the Lord of heaven and his redeemed people. Therefore come prepared to listen. Come to worship expecting by faith to hear from God. Pray in advance that God would open your eyes and the eyes of all who attend. Pray that he would show you clearly what he is saying. Pray that he would prepare your heart to receive his message and enable you to repent and change as a result.Perhaps you leave church feeling bored sometimes, feeling there was nothing to interest you. Before you blame someone else, ask yourself, did you pray before you came? Did you cry out before the service that God would deal mercifully with you, that he would open your hard heart? Guard your steps when you come to the house of God. Prepare your heart to listen.Listening does not only mean properly engaging while you are hearing what God is saying. Listening means taking it away, repenting, and taking action on what he has commanded you to do. The mark of sincere listening is sincere change in our lives. Take note of the application you receive each Sunday, and be diligent to put it into practice in prayerful reliance on the Holy Spirit.There is another assumption here (i.e. the second thing of two I mentioned earlier). The assumption is that you will come. It is a terrible thing to be so careless with the worship of God that we view it as optional. It is a gross neglect to come to church only every so often when you feel like it. There are times when missing church is necessary, and to a degree that is a matter between each one of us and God. Yet it remains true that we must not be careless with worship. Gym enthusiasts make every session. Movie lovers attend the cinema every week without fail. We make time for the things we love. But what is our attitude towards meeting with the Most High God? If we are not regular in worship, it says something.We have seen that the call to worship is a call to come and listen, but worship is not about listening only. The Reformed tradition has always understood worship to be a conversation. It is a conversation between God and his people. That is the structure of our worship. Do you come ready and prepared to listen to God speak in worship? SDG.Prayer of Confession & ConsecrationHoly God, we confess that we have often come into your presence carelessly, without guarding our steps or preparing our hearts to listen. We have treated worship lightly, allowed our minds to wander, and failed to tremble at your word or expect you to speak. Forgive us for offering you distracted hearts and empty words, and cleanse us from the pride and dullness that keep us from sincere repentance. By your Spirit, make us watchful, teachable, and ready to obey, that as we draw near to listen we may be changed and built up as your dwelling place. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 5:1-7.MeditationIn the words of John Piper: “Mission exists because worship doesn’t.” In John 4, Jesus tells us that God is seeking worshippers. The highest end for which we were created was to glorify God, to declare his excellence, to revel in his beauty, and to enjoy him forever. And yet, as we reflect on our own worship, how often are we truly so enraptured by God’s beauty that we would say we are reveling in it? Do we delight to declare and sing of God’s goodness? Perhaps we do not delight in God as we ought to, and perhaps sometimes our hearts are cold in worship. But I hope that you can say: “Yes, yes I do delight to worship God, and I lament that my heart is not warmer towards him.”The most important thing we can do as Christians is to glorify God and worship him. It follows, then, that one of the most important topics we can talk about is worship. In this next passage in the Book of Ecclesiastes, which we will unfold over the next few meditations, Solomon has some startling insights to give us about worship.As you will know if you have read Ecclesiastes before, this book can be very difficult to understand at times. Throughout our studies, I have been using a governing analogy to help you understand how this book works. I have said that the Book of Ecclesiastes is like a labyrinth, an immense, perplexing, sometimes mysterious maze. It is easy to get lost, easy to find yourself in a dead end with no way of getting to the middle. Solomon’s aim in this book is to show us how to get to the middle. His goal is to teach us how to fear God in a fallen world. At the end of the book, in Ecclesiastes 12:13, Solomon says, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” To reach this goal, Solomon leads us through this labyrinth.He does two kinds of things to guide us. He shows us the path to walk on in a positive sense, winding his way through, leading us in good directions, teaching us the fear of the Lord. But at times he deliberately takes us to dead ends so that we can know what to avoid. Every passage can be thought of as either a dead end or another stretch on the path toward the end goal, part of the right trail in this labyrinth. Sometimes Solomon leads us down dead-end paths, and other times he leads us down paths that positively teach us the fear of the Lord.At this point, I’m introducing chapter 5:1-7, and in light of our governing metaophor, Solomon’s purpose here is very clear. He’s not trying to show us a dead end in these verses. In these verses he wants to take us deliberately down a very important path in the labyrinth, a path that is crucial if we would seek to live life in the fear of God. The topic on Solomon’s mind here, again, is worship.What do you think of when I say worship? Take a moment to ponder that question. Do you think of emotions? For many churches today, the primary goal is to experience something emotionally in worship. Maybe you think of routine and comfort. Maybe you think of preaching, as if preaching is the main thing when it comes to church on Sunday. Maybe it is just a religious word. Maybe it is a word you treasure and value because it reminds you of the goodness of God. Whatever the case may be, as Solomon unfolds worship through the eyes of wisdom, there will probably be something, perhaps a number of things, that you did not expect.I should warn you right up front: the path Solomon leads us on today is central and important, but it is not easy. True to form, Solomon does not pull any of his punches. What he has to say is deeply confronting. There truly is a danger in careless worship. This may not be comfortable, but for anyone sincerely desiring to grow in godliness, it will be beneficial. Let’s follow our guide, then, and see where he takes us in the next few meditations. SDG.Prayer of Confession & ConsecrationLord, I confess that my heart is often cold in worship, and I have failed to delight fully in your beauty and glory. Forgive me for seeking comfort, routine, or fleeting emotion instead of exalting you with all my soul. By your Spirit, kindle in me a true love for your excellence, that my praise may rise with joy and sincerity. I consecrate myself anew to glorify you in every thought, word, and deed, and to walk faithfully in the fear of the Lord all my days. Please help me to grow in wisdom in the next few studies, that I may worship you in a way that is pleasing to you. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 4:4-16.MeditationNow we have a peculiar little story in verses 13 through 16, it’s almost a parable. Solomon tells the story of a foolish old king who did not know how to take advice. We will open this up a bit more later, but for now notice the old king. What was the defining mark of this king? That he did not know how to take advice. He did not listen to people. He had cut himself off from good advice. And so the poor and wise youth was better than the hard-hearted and isolated old king.Envy and laziness both tend towards isolation, but here is another cause: the inability to listen. Listening to no one but ourselves is a sure way to reach a dead end in life. You can have all the riches in the world, but a poor wise man who listens is better than a rich king whose heart is hard. Fearing God requires a listening heart. It requires a heart that listens to God, and a heart that listens to good advice from others. It requires a heart that looks for good advice from others.If we see this tendency in ourselves, the tendency not to talk with others, we ought to take note of this warning.If you simply do not talk to others there cannot be a relationship. That is a danger in itself.The tendency to argue with others, or an argumentative spirit, is an indicator of someone who does not listen.The tendency of inattention, giving people only half of our attention; or perhaps of talking too much, these are not good signs.Someone with a tendency to talk a lot may struggle to listen.There may be a tendency not to show real interest in others, for this foolish king would not have been one to ask sensitive questions of others to better understand them.It may be someone who interrupts, someone who formulates what he wants to say while the other is talking.It may be someone who lacks a genuine interest in the other person as they are speaking, or someone who is quick to form opinions on others.All these things show us tendencies towards isolation and individualism. As and if we follow these patterns ourselves, we live in our own mental bubble, and we are not open-hearted. We are becoming like the old king of the parable. Perhaps it was old-man Solomon reflecting on himself.As Solomon has shown us, being self-focused is a dead end in life.But what then can we do? Perhaps as we have looked at some of these areas, you have noticed some of these patterns in your own life. I certainly have. At different points every one of us will be self-focused in some way or another. So how do we respond?As Solomon points out, rather than living in isolation, we must seek to live in community. We must rather be the poor, wise, youth, if that is what it comes down to. It is the cure of Christian fellowship that we need. Two are better than one (v. 9), and a threefold cord is not quickly broken (v. 12). There is strength in numbers. Better is a poor but wise youth who listens than an old and foolish king who does not.Where does this leave us? Consider a few points of application to ponder.First, it is only as we turn to God that we can find restoration from the isolation that sin brings. As we have seen in these meditations on individualism, isolation is destructive. In the biggest sense, however, our isolation is ultimately an isolation from God. Although we were created to be in relationship with him, through our sin we have cut ourselves off. Even as Christians, when we pursue sin, we are running from God to try to do it ourselves. This world is full of people who do not know God and who have not come to God.If that is you, as you read these words, if you have not come to Christ, then there is one message to hear: if you remain isolated from God, you will find yourself alone in a dead end. Your life will pass you by. Even if you are successful, as the poor, wise young man in verses 13 through 16 was, it will not be long before you too depart from this earth. As that young man was forgotten, so too will we be. And as we come to eternity, if our relationship with God has not been restored, we will find ourselves isolated in damnation for all eternity.If you do not know God, then you need the message of the gospel: God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. Come to Christ, believe in him, and God will restore you to himself. There is only one ultimate answer to isolation, and that is to come to the God of love revealed in Christ.And as Christians this is just as true. Without him we can do nothing. Christ is our daily solution to dealing with the sin that so often threatens to isolate us. To the degree that we allow sin to lodge in our hearts, we will find that God is not near. Keep short accounts with God. Confess your sin regularly across the day. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Here is an application for fearing God and avoiding isolation: keep your heart warm towards God. If you do that, you will have a fountain in your heart, a fountain that works to bring unity and harmony rather than division and isolation.As we are united and restored to God, as we keep near to him, we are also restored to one another. The unity and harmony that we have together in Christ is the basis of finding unity and harmony in our marriages, families, friendships, and churches. Christ is the only true means of unity on a human level. Christ is the key to killing individualism in our own hearts and to drawing together as well. We need to live the gospel out in our human relationships. Humility and confession should feature regularly. Forgiveness and restoration should follow every time. We need to keep short accounts with one another; this is basic to building unity and relationship. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. That text is sometimes used at weddings as a reminder that two humans, bound together with God, will be strong. While that was not Solomon’s purpose, the principle is good. As we cling to one another in friendship and love, and cling together under God, we will be strong.A few further words of application.First, we saw that envy tends towards isolation. Here is application for defeating envy: seek your satisfaction in Christ. Envy looks at what its neighbour has and wants it. But God, in place of this, calls us not to desire anything but him. Delight yourself in God alone, and he will give to you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). A sure antidote to individualism is a heart that is fully satisfied in Christ. As we are satisfied in Christ, we will no longer envy what others have. We will no longer put up barriers and objectify people. We will delight in Christ, and we will delight in others, and we will seek to help them delight in Christ. So seek your satisfaction in Christ. As a practical way of doing that, think about the things you are doing each day. As you think about those things, ask yourself if they are helping you to be satisfied in Christ, or if they are hindering you. That question is a good internal measure for searching our own hearts.Second, prayerfully look for ways to serve others. We saw in verse 5 the way that laziness tends to isolate an individual and make him useless. Sometimes the reason we feel lonely is because we are not proactive in service. Idleness can perpetuate loneliness. Often, the antidote to isolation may be to prayerfully and actively seek to serve others. If we get up, get active, and seek opportunities to serve others, we may find that our friendship grows as well. Always be praying and looking for ways to be a blessing to others. Christ has blessed us, that we may bless others. SDG.Prayer of Confession & ConsecrationFather of mercy, we confess that we have loved our own thoughts more than your wisdom, and have isolated ourselves through pride, envy, laziness, and an unwillingness to listen. We have cut ourselves off from you and from others, choosing self over fellowship, and we grieve the coldness of heart that has followed. Please draw us again to Christ, restore us to yourself, and warm our hearts by your Spirit, that we may delight in you above all and keep short accounts with you and with one another. Consecrate us to lives of humble love, attentive listening, and joyful service, that bound together with you and your people, we may reflect the unity and grace of our Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 4:4-12.MeditationWe’ve seen that envy and laziness as forces of individualism, but Solomon has two more insights to give. Reading from verse 9: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”Solomon gives us a small picture in these verses, but there is a great deal there to see. The basic point is clear, isn’t it? It is not good to be alone. The one who is alone will not find help in the day of trouble, he will not find warmth in the cold, nor will he have protection in a time of danger.And so let me ask the question plainly: Are you an isolated person? Are you cut off from close relationships? Are the relationships you do have distant? Do you keep to yourself? What Solomon is saying is that this tendency is not good. It is destructive.In terms of our faith, if we do not have companions, we will have no one to lift us up when we stumble. In despair, there will be no one to offer us hope. We might easily fall into doctrinal error or even heresy. And just as our bodies are cold when we are alone in the nighttime of winter, so too our spirits grow cold in isolation. By ourselves, our affections may well grow cold, and we will have no one to warm us.And so the question remains: Do we have close relationships together? And more importantly, do we have a close relationship with the Lord? Do we draw near to him? Do we draw near to each other? God did not create us to do life alone. It is not good for man to be alone. He created us to do life together, to love God, and to love one another. Whatever path in life we walk, we can be sure that walking alone is not good. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 4:4-5.MeditationSolomon has another observation on individualism for us in verse five: “The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.” Now, like last time, you might be asking again: What has this got to do with individualism? Let me try and show you. Notice the description of this man. The first thing we see is that he is lazy. He sits, he folds his hands, and he does nothing. And as a result, he consumes himself.Notice too that Solomon draws our attention to this man’s isolation. Perhaps you are asking: Where do we see isolation here? Look closely. He does not serve others. He is not with others. He is not talking to others. He is eating his own flesh, focusing on himself. There is an emphasis here on the way he is absorbed in himself, and in doing so he is destroying himself. Just as there is a connection between envy and isolation, so too there is a connection between laziness and isolation.This makes sense when you think about it. It could well be that the reason so many Australians do not get to know each other is because they cannot be bothered. It takes effort to try and get to know your neighbours. It takes a willingness to serve, and sometimes to deal with difficult people. Laziness says, I can’t be bothered. And as it sits there by itself, it is consumed.Now that is true literally in the sense of work. If you do not work, if you are lazy, you will have no money and no food. But it is also true socially and spiritually. Laziness really is a force of spiritual destruction. It isolates the one who is lazy and cuts him off from usefulness, love, and service in the community of God’s people. Laziness in our devotional life will leave us isolated from God. If we are too lazy to listen to him, and too lazy to speak with him in prayer, it will be destructive in our lives.And so again we need to consider ourselves in this area as well. Are we lazy? Are we letting idleness grow in our hearts? Are we apathetic about growing in Christ? Are we neglectful in seeking the Lord? Are we unproductive? Are we generally isolated because we are not putting the effort in to grow in relationships with others? If we are lazy, we will not grow. We will start consuming ourselves. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 4:4-8.MeditationThere is a prevailing sickness in our culture today. You will find this sickness quarantined behind closed suburban doors and high fences. You will see its symptoms in next door neighbours avoiding eye contact and a friendly wave. There are train carriages full of this disease all across our major cities each day. You notice it when you look up from your phone and realise that almost everyone on board is glued to their screen. This disease leaves people bedridden night after night as they sit alone, watching an endless stream of episodes on flickering screens. And worse still, we might even find symptoms of this disease in our own hearts if we look closely, in our tendencies to avoid other people and to close ourselves off.You see it sometimes in churches as well. People standing after church by themselves for awkward minutes on end. Closed circles of people who know each other well and talk to no one else. People not knowing each other’s names. The sickness I am talking about is the disease of individualism, the compulsive tendency that we each have to be self-oriented and self-contained. This disease has always existed among sinful people, and it is something we will all need to fight against, even as Christians.And even if you are “a social person”, you will probably still find that you are not immune to this sickness. As we will see in our passage, it is possible to be surrounded by people and yet still live in a radically individualistic way. It is possible to interact with others and yet still be almost entirely self-absorbed, self-focused and self-contained, with other people becoming a means to an end for our own goals.As Solomon continues to lead us through the vast labyrinth of life, in our passage he notices something else in this broken world and brings it to our attention: the plague of individualism. And without question, what he will show us is that individualism is a dead end. It is a sin that we must resist, and an influenza for which we must find a cure. Individualism is a sure way to avoid growing in the fear of the Lord.There is, however, a positive side to Solomon’s message here. As we have seen before, Solomon does not want to lead us down dead-end paths. He is not a despairing old skeptic. He is a man of wisdom, and he wants to show us the pathway to life. He wants to teach us how to live life in a fallen world in the fear of God. And again, as we will see here, what he shows us is that we are not designed to love and fear God alone. We are designed to live together. To fear God is to live together.You find this right there at the creation in Genesis 2:18: “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone.’” Walking through the labyrinth of life is best done in the company of others. In our next meditation we will look at the cure for individualism, but first we must understand the problem. So let’s consider the disease of individualism. I want us to be better able to spot this tendency in our own hearts, and I want to show you, as Solomon does, just how much of a dead end isolation really is.Generally speaking, individualism, thinking, and behaviour that is self-absorbed and self-contained, rears its head in all sorts of ways. In broad terms, it really is just a basic aspect of sin. While we were created to put God first, others second and self last, sin gives us a new equation: self first, others second, God last. In that sense, sin is individualistic by definition. So we are not going to see everything there is to see about individualism. There is too much to cover. But in our particular passage, we are given some unique insights as we listen to the voice of Christ speaking through Solomon. As we know, all wisdom ultimately comes to us from God in Christ, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:30. Never forget that Ecclesiastes is a book of God’s wisdom, not merely Solomon’s.We see Solomon’s first observation in verse 4: “Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbour.” This may have been written thousands of years ago, but it is a cutting-edge commentary on modern Australia. We see this, do we not? A busy economy, people industriously toiling away in life. But Solomon looks below the surface and says that this toil, generally speaking, is driven by envy.We live in an economy of envy. You see this in workplaces. Our vocations were designed to be a means of glorifying God and serving others, yet in verses 7 and 8 we see a worker who lives alone and works for no one but himself. Instead of serving one another, what we so often find today is that work revolves around climbing the ladder. What people call career progression is often nothing more than corporatised envy. Pursuing excellence is one thing, and it is to be encouraged. But pursuing excellence does not necessarily mean being better than everyone else or being in charge of everyone else. God did not design work to be driven by envy, but by love service.You might ask at this point, what does envy have to do with individualism? But that is exactly the point. We may not realise it at first, but envy is actually a characteristic of individualism. If you are absorbed by getting what others have, who is your attention focused on? You see it there in verse four: the man does not love his neighbour, he objectifies him. He does not rejoice in his neighbour’s prosperity. His neighbour becomes nothing more than a benchmark for his own goals and desires. Envy, by definition, is individualistic. It does not treat other people as people. It separates people and poisons relationships.We can see many examples of how envy poisons communities around us. People toil in their careers, treading on others to get higher, sacrificing their families in the process. We see it on social media, where people are absorbed by impressing others and envying what others have. There is a lifestyle many Australians pursue: holidays, a beautiful partner, lots of money, not having kids so that those things are easier to obtain. These pursuits often feed on envy. And envy is a dead end. It will not lead you to the fear of God. It will lead you down a winding labyrinth path until you find yourself sitting alone in a dark corner.Solomon opens up the individualism of envy further in verses seven and eight: “Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, ‘For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?’ This also is vanity and an unhappy business.” You see it clearly. This man works and works and works. His eyes are never satisfied with riches. He never stops to ask himself, ‘Who am I doing this for?’ He has no one in his life. No son. No brother. He is alone, consumed by individualism, and yet he is still not satisfied.What Solomon is saying is that this too is a dead end. It is hevel. This man will work and work and work, and in the end he will have no one. He will die. His riches will disappear. His life will be over, and he will have nothing. This is what envy does. It isolates its victims and destroys them.So we must examine our own hearts. Do we see envy at work within us? Are we workaholics, so focused on toiling and earning that we push all other people out? Is your life a lonely life? It may be that the reason for that loneliness is an all-consuming devotion to work. Our work can become a means of filling our own cravings rather than a means of serving God and serving others. Work can take up all our time and leave us with no time to serve anyone else. Consider this, pray, and tune in to the next meditation to look at the cure! SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:16-4:3MeditationVerse 21 is one of those awkward Ecclesiastes sayings. It’s one of those verses that makes Christians want to avoid the book altogether – and plenty, it would seem, do just that. I want to take a moment to explain it. Let’s just start by reading it together: “Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?”Straight away you are probably thinking, hang on, the New Testament talks about an afterlife. Is Solomon saying there is no afterlife here? What does he mean?Well, he means exactly what he says.Let me put it this way. If someone from your church, let’s say, was to die in the next few seconds, would you be able to tell me where their spirit is? No, you would not, would you? In verse 16 Solomon makes the point that he is observing life under the sun. And from life under the sun, we literally cannot see the spiritual realm. What happens to animals when they die? We do not know. That is Solomon’s point in verse 21. We have no idea. What about the spirit of a man? You do not know for sure. It may have gone up to heaven, it may have gone down to hell.That is not to say we cannot have assurance or confidence that a faithful believer has gone to heaven. In God’s grace, we can have confidence. But only God knows categorically where a person goes. That is Solomon’s point. From where we are standing, we do not categorically know a person’s eternal destiny. There is a level of mystery in the afterlife for us, and we need to acknowledge that and leave it with God.Some commentators say that Solomon is denying the afterlife altogether in this verse, as though he were some kind of cynical agnostic. Perhaps you have thought that yourself. There are three reasons why that reading is deeply flawed. First, it clearly contradicts other very clear passages of Scripture. If you say Solomon does not believe in the afterlife, you deny the infallibility of scripture. That interpretation is therefore heretical. Second, Solomon has already spoken about the afterlife in this passage. In verse 17 he refers to God’s coming judgment. He would not speak of judgment if everything ended with death. Third, Solomon plainly admits the afterlife later in the same book. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says, “the spirit returns to God who gave it.” To read verse 21 as a denial of the afterlife is irresponsible exegesis and a pathway to heresy.So Solomon has taken us on a journey. He has shown us that injustice and suffering exist. He has shown us that judgment is coming. He has shown us that none of us are innocent, and he has pointed us towards righteousness.As we wrap this up, there are two pieces of application. Really, we have been on the gospel journey together. The problem of suffering should lead us to repentance and restoration with God. But Solomon also gives us insight for living with injustice in the world as Christians, because even after we are saved, injustice remains.The first application comes in verse 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?” At first glance, this feels almost random. Solomon has been talking about oppression, injustice, death, and judgment, and suddenly he says, go and rejoice in your work. But it is not random at all. It is profoundly helpful. It shows us how to live by faith in a world full of oppression.There is great injustice in the world today. But what can you do about it? Of all the oppression and evil that exists, how much can you actually change? The truth is, very little. We cannot even stop ourselves from committing injustice half the time, let alone fix society. Even people in positions of power are largely impotent in the face of it all. That is not to say they cannot do good. William Wilberforce shows us that they can, and as far as we are responsible, we should do what is right. But the world is broken. As Solomon has already told us, What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.”So Solomon is saying this. Do not break your mind trying to fix everything. Just do the work God has given you to do, and enjoy it. You are not the Messiah, and God is not asking you to be. He is asking you to be faithful with what he has placed in your life. Rejoice in it. Leave justice to God. Judgment day is coming. He will sort it out.The second application comes in chapter 4:1–3. “Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them. On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.”This is troubling language, but Solomon is not making a doctrinal statement. He says, “I thought.” He is recounting his own thoughts in despair. With all his wisdom, the oppression he sees overwhelms him. The pain is so great that he feels it would be better never to have been born.Ecclesiastes needs to be read more like a psalm than an epistle. We are being given a window into Solomon’s inner struggle. And the application for us is this. Be wary of despair. The injustice of the world can weigh so heavily on us that it pulls us down into hopelessness. If that happens, do not deny the reality of suffering, but do not be swamped by it. Flee to Christ for refuge.As we consider the pain of this world, we remind ourselves that God will judge and make all things right. And this should even move us to pity our oppressors. They will answer to God. Do you want them to get what they deserve? No. We are called to pity them and bring Christ to them.There is only one true oppressor in this world, and his name is Satan. Everyone else is enslaved to him. Spiritual slavery is the worst oppression of all, and the source of every other injustice. And so when you are tempted to despair, let it drive you to Christ, and let it move you to bring the good news to others.Do not try to save the world. Live faithfully. Take the joy of Christ into every room you enter. Trust God. Leave justice with him.“Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord, “I will repay.” Live faithfully, rejoice in Christ, and bring the good news to the captives. The light that has shone in Christ is greater than all the world’s evils. He has called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. And for now, that is enough. SDG. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:16-18.MeditationLet’s face it, the last two meditations have been heavy going. And yet, even in this seemingly grim passage, Solomon gives us a spark of hope. As we consider this spark in light of the gospel, it bursts into full flame. Solomon has already shown us that injustice exists, that judgment is coming, and that none of us are innocent. But here is where he wants to take us next: Innocence is possible. And yes, that means innocence for you and me. Look closely at verse 17.Solomon says that God will judge the righteous and the wicked. There is hope there, isn’t there? Because if you can be righteous, then you can be innocent, and you will be judged not guilty. So tell me, which camp do you want to be in? The righteous or the wicked? There is really no question, is there? Righteous people are innocent people. They are people who have a right standing with God.The immediate problem that this presents for us is that there has only been one righteous person in the history of the world. To our dismay, as we saw last time, we are excluded from the category of “righteous” because we are all guilty. Psalm 14 makes it clear that all people are corrupted, and Romans 3 says the same thing. Now you might be thinking that this does not sound very hopeful so far. Fair enough, so far it’s not very hopeful.But here is the thing. While the problem is that there has only been one righteous person, and we are thus excluded, therein also lies the solution. That man, that one righteous person, was Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a blameless life. He never did anything to be ashamed of. He never had any secret or evil motives. He never lied. He was perfect, and he was the Son of God. And it is through Jesus, the Bible teaches us, that God has made it possible for our slate to be wiped clean. Because Christ laid down his life so that anyone who believed in him could trade their guilt for his innocence. To all who would believe in Christ, they will be forgiven. Read the Gospel of John. It’s all there!Be ye doers of the word…For anyone who believes in Christ, who has confesses their sins to him, owns up to their guilt, turns from their sins, and asks for forgiveness, when that judgment day comes there will be no fear and no guilt, because Christ took it all on their behalf.And so when God the Father opens the books against us on judgment day, and every sin we have ever committed is brought out, those sins will also be crossed out with red ink, or more accurately, they are crossed out with Christ’s blood. You see, in Christ, God’s justice and his mercy have kissed each other. Because he takes our punishment, we can be declared innocent and righteous.Death and judgment approach, but in Christ there is refuge. He is a strong tower for the weak. He is hope to the hopeless. He is forgiveness to the guilty. He is the bread of life, the light of life. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is God with us. He is Immanuel, salvation to his people. He is everything, and upon him we stake all our help. Our help is in the name of the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. We cannot be under any delusion on this point. Salvation is one hundred per cent a work of God. And that is not just talking about conversion either. He is everything and does everything. He saves us from ourselves each and every day, and he will bring us safely home. SDG.Prayer of Confession & ConsecrationO righteous and merciful Father, we confess that we stand guilty and exposed before your judgment, with no innocence of our own to plead and no refuge in ourselves.Yet we praise you that in Jesus Christ, the one truly righteous One, that you have offered to trade all the guilt of sinners for his blameless life. We come to you for mercy in him, please wash away the guilt of our sins with his blood. Please help us to sincerely turn from our sins, even as we commit ourselves to do it. We rest our whole hope in Christ alone, we thank you that you have provided him to be our strong tower and daily salvation. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:16-18.MeditationIn our last meditation we faced up to the hard reality that injustice exists. Now, if the average western person was writing the script, our next play would be this: injustice needs to be dealt with. Makes sense. But if we want justice, we need to realise things might not turn out how we expect.Qohelet does take us on a next step, and it seems counter-intuitive at first blush. We think: injustice exists, therefore God should stop it. But no, Solomon takes us somewhere else. Injustice exists, he says, and now the next thing you need to understand is that judgment is coming. What exactly, then, is the connection between injustice and judgment?Follow closely with Solomon’s thought in the text. In verse 17 we read, “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.” A day approaches, Solomon says, when God will judge the righteous and the wicked.Now straight away we want injustice and suffering to disappear, but Solomon’s answer is far better. Yes, injustice exists, but God is coming, and he is going to set things straight. Every single evil act in history will be accounted for, and punishment will be dealt out accordingly. Abusive fathers will get what is coming for them. Tyrannical dictators will answer for the ocean of blood on their hands. Even the least and most careless word will be recalled and brought up for judgment. Every mean-spirited act we have ever committed. Every selfish decision we have ever made at the cost of another person. Every failure to care for those under our charge. Every brash, callous, or cruel word we have ever spoken. Every lustful thought, every dollar stolen, every opportunity abused, every duty neglected. Every single sin in the history of the world has been recorded. And the day of judgment is coming, unstoppably, irreversibly, and with absolute certainty. Justice is coming. God will judge the righteous and the wicked.We cannot deny that injustice and suffering exist, but you can bet your life that God will make it right. He is a God of justice. And there is some consolation in that, isn’t there? All the wrongs we see in the world, people will answer for them. Even the wrongs against us. The day approaches when every single one of them will be accounted for. “Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord.So we have seen two things from Solomon. We have seen that injustice exists, and that God’s judgment is coming. But Solomon takes this one step further.The idea that judgment is coming is comforting. It is good to know everything will be made right. But it is also concerning, because everything will be made right. And that means judgment is also coming... for us. We will not be exempt. Our secret pride will be uncovered. Our pretensions, posturing, and manipulating will evaporate. No lie will work with God. There will be no hiding of the truth or blame-shifting with him. It may work with everyone else, but not with God. We will be absolutely laid bare and shown up for exactly what we are. Everything we have done in secret will be brought to light. Our secret lusts and fantasies will be flushed out of our minds and displayed. Secret motivations that we covered with smiles will be revealed. Hurtful words pretending to be caring will be shown up for what they really are. Our secret feelings of anger, hatred, and bitterness will be revealed. Everything.Think about the thing you are most ashamed of in your life. Think about the things in your that make your face burn. They will be displayed on a proverbial IMAX movie screen for everyone to see on judgment day. Judgment is coming, and with judgment comes punishment.Can you see what Solomon is doing here? He is teaching us a new approach to the problem of suffering. He is teaching us that we too are actually a cause of suffering. We are not innocent bystanders. Solomon does not seek to explain suffering away. He shows us where the blame belongs, and it is not with God.Look at verse 18: “I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.” We have no grounds to complain about injustice, because we ourselves are the cause. We are a race of beasts. We bicker, and fight, and hate, and rage. We complain, and drink down bitterness every morning like it was coffee. We abuse people for our own ends and manipulate them to get what we want. And no one is innocent.If we are looking for an explanation as to why God permits injustice, this is one of the key reasons. He permits it to exist to show us that we are guilty and beastly. He permits it to bring us to repentance. If God simply cleared out all the injustice in the world, we would all drown like rats on a sinking ship, because we are the cause of it. In permitting injustice to exist, God is giving us opportunity to repent.So let this lesson sink in clearly. The reason injustice exists in the world today is so that you can repent. This is the truth. It really is us who are to blame. We have inflicted pain on others. We have dealt unjustly. We have abused and manipulated and hated. We have walked this world with a total orientation of selfishness. We have been beasts, not men. We have traded compassion for hard-heartedness. We have traded kindness for rudeness and harshness. We have traded patience for a quick temper and anger. We have traded love for lust, service for selfishness, and grace for greed. We are guilty.In Psalm 130 the psalmist writes, “Lord, if you should mark iniquity, who can stand?” And so we are called to see this and repent.Solomon is pretty brutal here. Brutal, but honest. He drops these severely troubling realities into our laps and then he just leaves them there. Let them do their work in your heart, and be sure to follow-up with the next meditation where we will look at the pursuit of innocence.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:16.MeditationOne of the most common objections to Christianity you will ever hear is this question: If there is a God, why does he allow suffering? Nobody likes it when things hurt. Perhaps people have raised this question with you before. There are unbelievers who deny God, and then the reason they give is because they think he should not or would not allow suffering if he really existed. Maybe you’ve asked this question yourself.So what do we say? What is our answer? Why does God allow suffering?I want to reframe the question slightly. When someone says, “Why does God allow suffering?”, the assumption is that we should not have to suffer. In other words, an injustice has occurred. We are assuming that the suffering should not have happened in the first place. And so the question of suffering is, more fundamentally, a question of injustice.Solomon tackles this question head on in the Book of Ecclesiastes, and in the verse we are meditating on particularly. He doesn’t address it academically or theoretically. He takes on the question in all its grim reality. As we think of starvation in some countries, oppressive dictatorships, and things like the slave trade, this question looms large. More personally, as we consider the wrongs we have suffered at the hands of others, our faith may be tested. And so the question is there: Why does God permit suffering to exist?This is a big topic and a challenging question.In previous meditations I have likened Ecclesiastes to a labyrinth, a giant maze that is puzzling and perplexing. As Solomon addresses the problem of suffering here, we are faced with another enigma. This question leads us into a part of the labyrinth where it is easy to get lost and despair. There are many twists, turns, and dead ends when it comes to this issue. Solomon is going to lead us down a series of paths to help us understand it in the next section of chapter three, and this is a journey that we need to take to understand how we may fear God in a fallen world.In this meditation, we set out on that journey. The first thing we need to do with the problem of suffering and injustice is to admit that it is a reality, and we see this in verse 16. We need to admit that injustice is real, come to terms with it, be honest and say that it exists. A Christian cannot answer the question by pretending it’s not there. This is exactly where Solomon begins in verse 16: “Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.”Solomon does not pull any punches or deny the truth. Injustice is a reality. We certainly see this in the world around us. Over the last hundred years (at the time of writing) we have seen the injustice of the Nazi regime, or Russia under Stalin as he robbed and oppressed his citizens. We see it in Australia today. We see the injustice of abortion. We see it on a very personal level too. In chapter 4 verse 1 Solomon says: “Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them. On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.”There are many people crying in the world in this moment. Sex slaves and paupers, orphans with nowhere to go. There are bruised and battered women and children living under the roof of tyrannical Australian husbands and fathers. There are husbands living under the constant oppression of the sharp tongues of their wives. Perhaps you yourself have been abused in some way. Injustice is everywhere. Even something as simple as being teased by someone, even a friend, or being accused unjustly can hurt deeply.As Christians, we do not try to hide from the truth. We do not pretend that life is all roses and butterflies. One of the strengths of Ecclesiastes is that it tackles the issues of life head on. We must face up to this painful reality: there is profound suffering and continual injustice in the world today.But there is a flip-side to this coin. We ought to admit that there is injustice, but you cannot have injustice unless justice itself is both real and possible. We see this clearly in verse 16: “in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.” There actually is a place of righteousness. But how do we know what justice really is?The answer is simple: God is the standard of justice, and he reveals that standard to us in his word. As Psalm 33:4 says, “the word of the Lord is upright.” Without the word of God, there is no standard of justice. So as soon as we confess that injustice exists, we must also affirm that God is the standard of justice. Fearing God in a fallen world does and must include a humble submission to God, and an acknowledgment that he is and has set the standard and measure of justice.If you reject God, you do not have a standard of justice. You are left with billions of different opinions about what justice is. If there were no God, injustice would not be possible, because justice itself would not be real.This insight should equip us in evangelism. An unbeliever may say that if God existed, there would be no suffering. But without God, the idea of injustice and suffering does not make sense, because there is no standard. So when a non-believer asks, “Why is there suffering and injustice in the world?”, you can respond lovingly, patiently, prayerfully, but firmly, by asking: By what standard are you measuring justice? SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:9-13.MeditationSolomon says in verse nine that the deepest pulse of the human soul is the desire for beauty and joy and goodness. We long for it. We want to see it, and taste it, and touch it, and hear it. We want fulfillment and laughter, and wonder, and beauty, and joy. There is an insatiable, ravenous desire in every heart, longing to be satisfied with goodness and beauty. We are compelled to pursue it, and we always want more. The truth is that there is an infinite hole in our souls, constantly longing and craving to be filled with something good. That is what Solomon means when he says in verse 11, “He has put eternity into man’s heart.” And nothing in this world can fill that hole.But there is something else here as well. This desire for goodness and satisfaction is not doomed to emptiness. God made us this way. That desire for goodness, truth, and beauty is a gift from him. As verse 11 says, “He has put eternity into man’s heart.” He did that for a good reason. The reason is not to deny us joy. The reason, in Christ, is to fill us. Why would he make a hole in our hearts as wide and infinite as eternity itself? There is one single reason, because he wants to fill it.Our souls were designed to feast upon God. They were designed to be lavished with his love again and again. We were designed to be drowned and immersed and saturated and overcome by his beauty and goodness. The psalmist puts it this way in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord.” Again he says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And the earth has nothing that I desire besides you.” God the Father, revealed through Christ by the Spirit, is our ultimate good. This is the reason he has saved us, so that he, the source and substance of all that is beautiful, God himself, will satisfy our hearts.Have you ever noticed how much you enjoy the company of people you love, friends and family? When we enjoy dinner or conversation together, hours pass like minutes. We could just keep talking and talking. It is a delight to come to know one another more deeply. We drink in each other’s attention and delight in the connection we share. This is a small picture of what life with God is meant to be like. Knowing God is like a constant conversation. We delight in his presence. We speak with him and we listen to him. And, astonishingly, as he draws us to himself through Christ, and as he sees us as being in Christ, he delights in us.This is why God pictures our relationship with him like the relationship between a husband and wife. In that relationship there is deep and profound intimacy and connection. There is love and nearness, and joy, and beauty, and pleasure. So it is to be with our God.If you would gain in life, if you would find what is good, start here. Stop stressing and start trusting God. Embrace the mystery of God’s providence. You cannot work out why he has appointed everything in your life, nor should you try to. Verse 11 tells us that we cannot find out what God has done from beginning to end. His plan is too big for us. Solomon is saying, walk by faith. We may question God’s providence and agonise over why certain things have happened, but the truth is that we cannot and will not fathom the fullness of God’s plans. His work is eternal, as verse 14 says. It is so wide and deep and high that we can never get around it, over it, or under it. His work endures forever. No one can add to it, and no one can take away from it. God is the sovereign ruler of history. Everything that happens is sovereignly appointed by him. So do not resist it or endlessly question it. Embrace it. Live as a child trusting your Heavenly Father. He does all things well, and he makes all things beautiful in their time, even the hard things.There are two more applications. Trusting God can sound abstract, so what does it look like in everyday life? Solomon says it means at least two things. Do good, and enjoy life.First, do good. Verse 12 says there is nothing better than to do good. As we live the Christian life in dependence on God and in thankfulness for our salvation in Christ, one question we can prayerfully and continually ask is: How can I do good right now? If we ask that question in any circumstance, and look to the word of God for guidance, we will be equipped to live well. As God answers that question and empowers us by his Holy Spirit to live it out, we will live lives that are pleasing and honourable before God and before others.Second, take pleasure in all your toil, as verse 12 says. There are two ways of enjoying things. There is a self-oriented enjoyment, which every sinner is naturally good at, and there is a God-oriented enjoyment. Solomon is teaching us the second kind. In verse 13 he tells us to take pleasure in our toil, not as pleasure in isolation, but as pleasure rooted in the knowledge that this is God’s gift to humanity. We enjoy life as a gift, not as an entitlement and not as an addiction. We do not abuse what we have. We enjoy it for what it is, a good gift from our Heavenly Father. When we drink a glass of wine and taste it on our lips, our souls are not filled with a mindless craving for more. They are filled with wonder and thankfulness that God has done all things well, that he has made taste buds and the vast variety of food and drink to go with them.Think of it this way. Watching a movie or enjoying a piece of art with someone is very different from doing it alone. There is a shared awareness of the experience. We talk about it afterwards, enjoy it together, and learn from it together. Enjoyment in life should never be done alone. Sometimes it will be with other people, sometimes it will not, but always it should be with God. We must learn to enjoy life in his presence, in constant prayerful communion with him as we receive his good gifts. In the quiet chirping of birds on a warm summer evening, as we sit in the shade and hear children laughing in the garden, a sigh of contentment rises, and with it a note of thanksgiving to our God. As we run on the beach or walk in fresh air, we laugh at the sheer exhilaration of life and exult in the glory of what God has made, worshipping him with all our souls. As we watch small children laughing and running, we too laugh in wonder at the mystery and beauty of the life God has made. As we enjoy life, there should be a constant awareness of God’s goodness and grace, an inescapable sense of his presence in all that we do.My Dad once said to me, make sure you enjoy life. Our Heavenly Father would have us do the same. Enjoy your sleep, enjoy your work, enjoy your food and drink. That is what he has made them for. And above all, enjoy him.Everything in life is empty without him, as chapter two shows us, because he is the true source of all joy and peace and beauty. If you would have good in life, if you would see life and beauty and truth, then the answer above all answers is this. Pursue Christ. Love the Lord your God with all your mind. Search the Scriptures so that you may understand. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Cry out to him and learn to delight in him. Love the Lord your God with all your soul, for he has purchased your soul with the blood of Christ. Love the Lord your God with all your strength. Spare nothing. Constantly strain after him. Only in Christ will we find our best life now. Only in his beauty and goodness will our souls find lasting peace and rest. Only as we rest in him will we find ultimate and eternal rest.And on that day, when we stand in the new creation in new bodies, every single day will be a day in which we see more of his beauty, further and deeper, and it will never end. He has put eternity into our hearts, and in the fullness of time he will fill our hearts with eternity, never-ending, everlasting joy and peace. More and more and more, without end. His infinite beauty and goodness will be our portion forever. So brothers and sisters, as you look forward to that day, make it your business even now to pursue him with all that is within you. Do good. Seek Christ. Enjoy the gift of life. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:9-11.MeditationSolomon has challenged our perception of the good life, showing us that life as a gift from God is itself a goodness to be thankful for. And yet, the question stubbornly persists, doesn’t it? Is there any good in life? We still want and desire what is good, and with the brokenness of the world around us, the question is pressing. And Solomon has more to say to us. Because believing in God is not just about some cold-hearted fatalism. No, what Solomon will go on to show us is that this longing in our hearts, this too, is a gift from God.And so the first thing he says in verse 11 is that he assures us that there is good in life. It’s not just an endless misery fest. It’s not a hopeless enterprise where we are doomed to despair and pain. In verse 11 we find this wonderful affirmation: He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Life is God’s gift, and everything is part of his wonderful and beautiful plan.And so we may ask: iI there anything good in life? My friend, in God’s plan, let me tell you with absolute certainty that everything in life is beautiful. Every single thing in existence plays its part in a symphony so magnificent, so breathtakingly beautiful, so astoundingly good, that no eye has seen it, no ear has heard it, no heart has imagined it. And note carefully that word: everything. He has made everything beautiful. There is nothing in all existence that falls outside of his good and perfect plan—not pain, or suffering, or toil. We serve and love a good God.We do not serve a God who takes pleasure in pain. He is not sadistic. He is not evil. He is not dark or twisted. He does not take pleasure in destruction.Our God is a God of beauty. He is good. And everything he does is good. There is not the barest shadow of darkness in him. And we see his goodness everywhere, don’t we? He has made a world full of colour, an endless variety of flowers and fantastic creatures. He made the vastness of space and all its awe-inspiring wonders. He made people. He made laughter and kindness, and compassion, and tenderness—in fact, he is those things. When we see laughter and kindness in the face of a friend, we are seeing a reflection of God’s beauty and goodness. He is love.And so our God is a God of beauty. He is Himself unspeakably, unfathomably, and infinitely beautiful, and the source of all goodness and beauty.It is this sovereign God who has made all things beautiful in their time. Every single thing in existence, every leaf on its tree, every fibre of clothing, every bird on the wing, every invention and artwork, every composition of music, every second of time, every person in history—all of it has been custom-designed, minutely and perfectly, to manifest his beauty and goodness. He has made everything beautiful in its time.Now take note here, because there is something important to see. Notice that the passage does not say God will make everything beautiful in its time. It says he has made everything beautiful in its time. Every moment has its beauty for those whose eyes are open to see it. Every created thing in every single place is beautiful as it plays its part in his plan.Maybe you have watched a skilled artist drawing a picture. It is quite amazing to watch the picture unfolding, to see the skill of the pencil strokes, to see the mind of the artist materialise before our eyes on paper.So it is with God, but his canvas is the canvas of creation, and his brush strokes unfold in ten thousand countless places in every single moment andmedium. History is his masterpiece, and moment by moment he is painting, always and in everything.And so it is that Solomon reminds us of the truth: “we cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (verse 11). How can we possibly hold the master plan of God in our puny minds? How can we possibly conceive of the beauty that is unfolding on the canvas of history? We cannot even see it in our own lives. All we see are glimpses. We see the smile and hear the laugh of a small child as we pick them up. We hear a beautiful piece of music. Something clicks in our hearts as God reveals something beautiful to us from his word. Small adjustments. Small steps on the path of sanctification.Now maybe you have an objection here. What about the bad things? How can God possibly say that he has made the bad things beautiful in their time? How can cancer possibly be beautiful?Well, let me take you to a hill. It is a hill outside Jerusalem, 2000 years ago. It is dark, and there is a man on this hill, bloodied, beaten, and crucified. His lips are dry and cracked. Tears run down his face. His body has been whipped. He has been shamefully stripped and nailed to a cross. He is the very embodiment of shame. He is scorned by all. Even his loved ones are cowering and afraid at a distance. And it is worse still, because this is no mere man. This is the Son of God. Bleeding, crying out in agony. And even God himself has abandoned his Son. Mankind has met its Creator, and it has crucified him. It is ugly. It is shameful. It is the most hideous act of evil that has ever been committed under the sun.Now let me tell you something about the cross of Christ. Because as the worst crime of humanity was committed, as the full darkness of our sin was revealed, as the ugliest thing in history transpired, as our faces were twisted and contorted in anger at him, as we whipped, beat, nailed, scorned, scoffed, and taunted him, as the most unthinkable evil in the history of the world was perpetrated, as the wrath of God for sinners was borne in full by Jesus on the cross, as the single ugliest, vilest, and most disgusting act of history was committed—in this disgrace, God was doing the most beautiful thing that has ever happened in history. He was reversing pain and suffering and evil. He was redeeming our souls.Because from this act of redemption, in all its ugliness and pain, from this single act hearts and lives would be transformed. Souls would be rescued from the very pit of hell. Through the cross, all the evil and darkness and defilement of this world would be, has been, is being, and will be washed from the face of history. And so, as the Saviour hung bleeding and dying, we see the most beautiful sight that a sinner could ever behold. We see the sight of our Saviour redeeming us. Our life, our hope, our Christ. All our desires for goodness are wrapped up and bound up in him.And so, how can our personal sufferings be made beautiful? The answer is simple. They are beautiful because they are miniature images of the cross worked out in our own experience. Think about that. Philippians 1:29 says: it has been granted to you not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him. We image the gospel through our sufferings. We image Christ through our sufferings. And as a selfish sinner is transformed by a selfless Saviour, let me tell you, that is a beautiful sight. He has made all things beautiful in their time. And in the fullness of time, you will see the way that he has used your sufferings to draw you nearer to himself, to make you more like Christ. Is that not a beautiful thing?We may complain about our suffering, but we really are in no place whatsoever to have an opinion on that. Are we in the place of God to judge whether or not our suffering will serve his good purposes? When God was designing the brain, do you think you would have looked over his shoulder and made suggestions? There is not one human alive who even understands the brain, much less could we possibly be in a position to judge how well it was made. No, when we look at a brain, we do not offer suggestions, we marvel. We worship God that he has made such a remarkable thing as the human brain! And God’s plan in history is no different. It is incomprehensible to us. What right do we have to think we are even worthy of an opinion? No, as we look at what is before us in our lives, it is not ours to question or complain. We need to remember who is in charge. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

A new perspective on finding joy (Ecc 3:10).PrayRead: Ecc 3:9-11.MeditationOne thing we must always remember, says Solomon, is who is running the show. Take a look at verse 10: “I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.” Stop for a moment. Do you see what he did there?Solomon’s very first response to the bigger question he’s asking here (i.e. is there anything good to be found) is to recall what life really is. Life is not the sum total of our own efforts. If life were something we ourselves invented, then we might ask whether there is anything good in it. When we make something, we usually have a purpose in mind. But we did not invent life. It is not a plan that we made and then executed. It is not something we designed. It is not something we achieve. It is something we have been given.Life is a gift of God’s grace. And so life is not first about what good we can get out of it. It is about what God has designed it for. That is what Solomon points to in verse 10, and that is an important shift, one that we need to make.When you receive a gift, by definition you are not entitled to it. It is not something you control for the purpose of self-satisfaction. It is something given to you by someone else.And so we may ask, is there anything good in life, as though we are entitled to something good. No. Wrong question, says Solomon. Start here: life is a gift from God. Pause for a moment and feel the weight of that. Your life is a gift from God. All this business of life that we are engaged with is the gift of God.In itself, this should be enough to answer the question anyway. Is there any good to be found in life? Well, who gave it to us? God did. So tell me, when the all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful, altogether good God of the universe gives a gift to someone, will it be good? It is a foolish question really. Of course it will be good. Everything he does will be good and perfect in every possible way. He does not do things that are not infinitely and unspeakably wonderful.The issue is that when we ask whether there is anything good, our expectations are shaped by what we think of as good. Yet we are not in the place of God. And so we must give this question over to God by faith, and simply receive the gift of life and everything that he has in it for us. We are not entitled to something good, because life was never ours to begin with. Life, and everything in it, is the gift of God and belongs to him. As we saw in a recent meditation, he ordains every season and circumstance. In spite of what we may think or feel, we must trust that our God does not do anything useless, fruitless, hopeless, or worthless. He does all things well.Here, then, is a golden piece of application. Whatever may occur in your life, remind yourself that this is a gift from God. God has given you your life. Whatever is on your plate right now is what God has called you to do at this point in your life. In your family situation, with a spouse or without a spouse, in your workplace, in the place where you are living, everything you do and all the business you are engaged in is given by God’s sovereign appointment.This matters because we are so vulnerable to complaining. We do complain about our circumstances, and we do feel profoundly dissatisfied with them at times. But we must remember that these things are the gift of God. That is a reality check. In all your circumstances, then, do not ask what you can get out of this. Ask instead: How can I serve God in this? How can I grow in Christ through this? How can I look to him to enable me to walk on the path he has given me? And if anyone lacks wisdom, scripture says, let him ask of God and he will give it. So we must always keep this fresh before our minds: life is a gift of God. It is crucial for fearing God in a fallen world. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:9.MeditationIn the spirit of Ecclesiastes, let me pose a very un-cheerful question to you: If there was nothing good in life, would you really want to be alive? If misery was your only companion, would you want to be here? I think our honest answer to that question would have to be no. If there was no good, no beauty, no satisfaction, peace or joy, if there was only pain, and suffering, and misery and darkness, we would have no reason to live. You see, there is a God-given desire in the human heart, a desire in each of us, a longing to find goodness and joy, to see beauty.As Solomon has taken us down the pathways of the labyrinth of life, we have considered the frustration of life under the sun. He has shown us the impossibility of understanding all of life’s problems. What is lacking cannot be counted, he said in Chapter 1. He has shown us our inability to fix it. What is crooked cannot be made straight. He has shown us that no matter how much material wealth and pleasure you gain in life, none of it is lasting or ultimately fulfilling. All of the wealth, possessions, power and prestige in the world will come up empty. You cannot hold on to them, and after our few short years of life they will all be stripped away. Our wealth will go to someone else. Our work will be cut short. Beauty will sag and disappear. Music will fall silent as our hearing fades. Everything is temporary and fleeting. Life’s seasons are constantly changing. And so we have seen that there is no permanent and lasting good to be found in what is done under the sun.Solomon has looked everywhere, and so at last, as he continues on his discourse in Chapter 3, and having considered all the possibilities, he asks the grand question: Is there anything good at all? Is there anything to be gained from life? This is what he is really asking in verse 9: What gain has the worker from his toil?”Now probably, when you read that question with this particular translation, you think he is talking about work. What gain has the worker from his toil? The idea in your head is likely this: What benefit does a labourer get from all the work that he does? What is the good of work and employment? But that is not what Solomon is asking here. He is asking something much bigger.There are two words I want to bring to your attention in verse nine. The first is “worker”, and the second is “toil”. That word “worker”, what gain has the worker, is not referring to an employee. Let me give you another word instead: doer. What gain does the doer have in all his doings? Solomon is referring to the general sense in which we are all active. People are always busy doing stuff. Life is full of business and doing things. That is what Solomon is getting at here. For all the business and happenings and movement that there is in this world, what benefit does a person really have?Now the second word is “toil”. “What gain has the worker from his toil?” Ecclesiastes is a book that echoes Genesis repeatedly, and he does that here. This word “toil” echoes and reminds us of the original curse. In Genesis 3, God said that man would sweat, that he would toil in a fallen world.So this toil is full of difficulty, anguish and, well, it is toil, isn’t it? That is consistent with the life that we know. We are always toiling. We are often struggling. Getting through life is not a breeze.And so Solomon’s question here is this: For all of life’s struggles, what good can we gain? He is asking if there is anything good for us in this difficult life. For all of our toil, is there anything of lasting benefit for us?Maybe you have felt like this before in your life. Sometimes it all just feels like it is too much. The bad things are so numerous and heavy that they seem to block out all the good. Maybe you feel like there is just no real good in life. For all of your struggles and toil, what have you really gained? As you toil along at the daily grind, will anything ever really come of it? After four decades of work. As we are in the trenches of parenthood, and it seems like day after day after day we are struggling along and the end is not in sight. As we walk day after day feeling the constant burden of loneliness. As we sit by helplessly and watch relatives bicker and fight, and we can do nothing. These things are a burden. We struggle to make ends meet. We struggle to find reasons to push on. Life feels like a barren wilderness. Is there anything good?The world will try to say “yes”, and it will peddle every lie under the sun to try to meet your need. Whether it is drinking, or entertainment, or education. Joining the gym to get the body of a greek god. The endless stream of advertising telling us that this time the new product will make us happy. Whether it is travelling, or voting for the right political party. Even so-called preachers will try to tell you that you can have your best life now. The world will try to sell you the lie that there is something under the sun that can ultimately satisfy you.But you know it, don’t you, that your hunger is far deeper than any of that. This is why Hollywood superstars, with all the wealth and prestige and opportunity that life can offer, sometimes get to the top and commit suicide. Because none of those things can fill the hole in our souls. The world is full of empty promises and would-be gods.And so Solomon muses: Is there anything good that will come of our lives? As he ponders his own question, the answer he gives us is quite different from anything the world offers. He does not promise a new car or experience. He does not promise you your dream job or a beautiful spouse.The path Solomon leads us on in the next part of our text is far deeper than anything like that. What he shows us is that there is something wrong with the question. You do not really need an answer to this question. What you really need is a whole new way of looking at things. I wanted you to feel the weight of the question in this meditation, and consider now the oddity of his answer before we begin unfolding it next time: Is there anything to be gained? Wrong question.If we’re looking at the world around us, at everything under the sun, and asking: What is to be gained? We are looking in the wrong place for our gain. This question is a set-up to wean us from vanity. It’s the beginning of a call to lift our eyes above that which dwells under the sun, and consider him who dwells in heaven. As an immediate application, this is a reminder of Colossians 3:1, which says: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” Christ, he is the one upon whom we must set our attention! Let your mind be occupied with him, let your focus be absorbed with him.Maybe you do feel the weight of Solomon’s original question. All Christians do at times, which is why God ministers to this need in Ecclesiastes. Maybe your heart does long for something good. But here’s your application for this meditation: park the question. Park the earthly longings of your heart. Forget the dissatisfaction you have with the things in your life for a moment. Suspend everything, and come prepared to see a whole new paradigm in our next meditation. And above all, seek the things that are above. What’s one thing you can do differently today in pursuit of that goal? SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:1-8.MeditationThere is a time to weep and a time to mourn. What we see here is that we must be prepared, because days of sadness will come. The goal of this life is not to be always happy or always comfortable, because there is a God-appointed time to mourn. Living in a fallen world means that we should expect tears and mourning at times. As Solomon says elsewhere, there will be many dark days. And so, in preparation for those days, we should not think of suffering as something unusual, but rather fortify our souls now and be prepared for when those times arrive. Our Saviour was a man of sorrows, and God has ordained our sorrows as well, for our good. Remember the promise of verse 11, He makes all things beautiful in their time. Our tears will turn to pearls in the fullness of time, and we are called to believe that.There is a time to laugh and a time to dance. This is one area where many of us might do well to be challenged. How expressive are we in our joy? What cultural avenues exist in our lives to express ourselves exuberantly? To dance, Solomon says, there is a time to dance. When did you last dance? And yet many of us find ourselves uncomfortable with bold expressions of joyful emotion. There is also a time to laugh, and laughter is good for the soul. It is a gift of God. Perhaps we need a push in this area sometimes. Perhaps we need to think about it more deeply, and learn again how to enjoy God’s good gifts with gratitude and freedom.Verse 5 tells us, there is a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together. There will be times when we gather resources and build projects, and there will be times when we throw resources away. Either way, we must remember not to become too attached to these things, because as surely as we gather, the time will come to cast away. Our projects and possessions in this life must be seen as temporary opportunities to further the kingdom, not as things upon which we set our hearts. Our treasure is not built out of stuff. Our treasure is Christ, seated at the right hand of God.There is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. We will have seasons of singleness and seasons of intimacy. There are times and relationships where embracing is appropriate, and there are times and relationships where it is not. Relationships, particularly sexual relationships, can easily become idols to us. The world around us tells us that we should have an unfettered right to sexual fulfilment, but sex serves a higher purpose, and at times it is right to abstain. And so, whether in marriage or in singleness, these relationships must be held lightly and seen for the temporary things that they are. In the next life, marriage as it now exists will cease, as Jesus himself said. In all our relationships, then, our highest goal must not be personal satisfaction, but growth in Christ and faithful service to God.There is a time to seek and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away. There is a time to tear and a time to sew. Once again, this reminds us to hold our possessions lightly. The true value of what we own is measured by the degree to which it helps us love, serve and honour Christ. As we consider purchasing something, or as we reflect on what we already own, we should ask how it helps us fulfil life’s real purposes. You may probably heard of the KonMari method, where you go through your house and get rid of anything that does not spark joy. Perhaps we need a Christian KonMari, where instead of asking whether something sparks joy, we ask how useful it is for kingdom purposes. We might do well to ask ourselves more often why we are buying something in the first place. And if a thing has served its purpose, then perhaps it is time to cast it away, or even give it away. Our purpose in having things must never be simply to have things. Things can so easily become idols, and our materialistic culture is habitually idolatrous when it comes to stuff. We buy and buy and buy, but as Christians we must know why we buy. Do our possessions enable us to love and serve Christ better, or do they hinder us?There is a time to keep silence. There is a time to stop speaking and listen, a time to pause and ponder what has been said, and a time to be still in the presence of the Lord. The best time for silence is when God speaks. We must learn to quiet our thoughts and become skilled in the art of receiving the wisdom that God gives.There is also a time to speak. We must learn to tame our tongues and use them well, because if we do not, we will not be prepared when the time to speak comes. God’s Word is full of wisdom about the use of our tongues, and we must be diligent students of it. There is a time to name the name of Christ before the world. There is a time to speak a word of kindness to a broken soul. There is a time to offer instruction to the simple, to ask wise questions of our elders so that we may learn, and to lift our voices in praise to God. There is a time to seize opportunities to share Christ with the lost, and a time to speak words of repentance. Perhaps above all, we must pray for wisdom, so that we will know how to speak well, and how to speak at the right time. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:1-8.MeditationThere is a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted. There will be seasons of hard work in life. Planting is by definition a time when you invest rather than gain. You work hard, and you give of your resources. This runs counter to the right now mindset of many Australians, who would rather spend in advance than work hard at the grind-stone and save. Yet there will be seasons of hard work, and we must embrace those seasons. So work hard at your jobs, work hard at your relationships, work hard in your homes and in raising your children. Work hard at your marriage and invest in it. Even reaping itself is hard work, but the day will come when we will reap a mighty harvest. There will be harvests in this life, but the greatest harvest of all comes in eternity. Honouring Christ in this life will mean working hard.There is a time to kill. This probably jars a little against modern western ears, and the reason for this is that today sin has completely twisted our minds. We refuse to kill murderers, for example, and yet we defend to the hilt the right to slay unborn innocents. The death penalty is seen as abominable, but abortion clinics are treated as practically a civil right. Yet God, in his wisdom, declares clearly that there is a time to kill. We must look to God’s Word to learn the standard of right and wrong. In Gen 9:6 we read, Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. The reason our lives are precious is because they image God, and modern society has almost completely lost this insight. There is, in fact, a time to kill. When somebody murders somebody else, they deserve to die, because in murdering another person they have committed one of the purest acts of hatred against God possible. To murder is to show oneself to be worthy of death. There is a time to kill. And beyond this, it is always a good time to be killing sin. There is a time to kill, and so we must be skilled in the art of spiritual warfare. We must take up the sword of the Spirit each and every day. We must wage war against, and kill, our sinful nature every day.There is a time to heal. Has it ever occurred to you that if you are sick, then by definition, in God’s good and perfect plan, it is not a time to heal, because you are always in exactly the season of life that God wants you to be in. This does not mean do not seek healing, and it does not mean do not ask for it in prayer. After all, there is a time to heal. But since there is a time to heal, we must also accept the fact that there is a time to be sick or injured. Think about that, and it will help you live patiently through sickness.There is a time to break down, and a time to build up. In a fallen world, sometimes a thing may be so thoroughly corrupted by sin that all that can be done with it is to break it down and destroy it. Destroying things is a sad but necessary part of life in a sinful world. Conversely, there is also a call upon our lives to be building up in Christ: building up one another in Christ, building up our families in Christ, building a business, and building an education. There is a time to build. As we saw last week, we are called to be constructive with the gifts and opportunities that God gives us. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:1-8.MeditationThere are particular seasons of life that Solomon brings to our attention in verses 2 to 8, and he starts with the big guns. There is, he says in verse 2, “a time to be born, and a time to die.” These are the great realities of time, the bookends of life.There is a time to be born, and this reminds us straight away that we are not in charge. When we were born, we had no say whatsoever about anything: where we would be born, when we would be born, what we would look like, who our family would be, our country of origin. All of this was determined for us in the sovereign decree of God.We should therefore be thankful and content with our lot in life. This challenges some of our sinful thought patterns. For example, did God make a mistake by making you look the way you do? When we wish we looked different, that is what we are saying. Did he make an error in judgement by giving you certain abilities but not others? When we envy the gifts of others, that is exactly what we are saying. Did he drop the ball when it came to limiting your opportunities? When we complain about these sorts of things, what we are really saying is that we do not trust God. No, wisdom humbly accepts the circumstances which God has decreed in our lives.There is a time to die. Have you ever thought about the fact that God knows the precise moment when you will die? He knows the circumstances under which it will occur, and what is more, he appointed it. There is a time to die.The great question with death is this: Are you ready for it? It is possible that your appointed time to die may be in the car park after church tonight. It may be lying in your bed many years from now. We do not know. But what we learn here, and what we are warned about in many other parts of scripture, is that we must be prepared for the day of our death. Hebrews 9:27 puts the matter plainly: “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” So let me ask you: are you ready for judgment?Listen carefully, because this is extremely important. The cold, hard truth is that we cannot stand up under judgment. We are guilty. Psalm 130 says, “Lord, if you mark iniquity, who shall stand?” If our sins and evil were brought against us, who could maintain innocence? The honest answer is: no one. No one is innocent.Maybe you are thinking that your good will balance out the bad. My friend, that is a dangerous idea. There is no cosmic scale where good and bad deeds are weighed against each other. Think of it this way: if a man lives an exemplary life, works hard, gives to charity, raises a family, loves his children, and then one day, at age 56, shoots a man in cold blood, he will face the full force of the law. Not all the good deeds in his life will earn him a let-off for his crime, nor should they. This is justice. And God is a God of justice.Perhaps you think that is fair enough for a murderer, but that eternal hell is too harsh a penalty. Even if you have done the wrong thing at times, you think you do not deserve hell. Truth be told, you think it is unjust for God to send people to hell. You reject the idea. Let me tell you now that it is perfectly just for God to do so. Let me explain why.According to Scripture, God is a perfect spiritual being of absolute and infinite purity, goodness, and holiness. Note that word infinite, because it is very important. If you steal one hundred dollars from someone, there is a certain value attached to that. Justice may require you to return the one hundred dollars and compensate them with some extra. That would be just. But imagine if you stole one hundred dollars and were then forced to pay that person one hundred dollars every day for the rest of your life. That would be unjust.The problem is that when it comes to God, we have small thoughts of sin. Maybe you think you have only stolen a hundred dollars from God. You think your anger, irritability, or lust are not really that bad. But we have not merely stolen one hundred dollars from God. Let me show you how this works. Every time we sin, it is a sin against Almighty God. Psalm 51 says, “against you, you only, have I sinned.” Every sin against God is by definition a sin against his infinite goodness. Are you following me? Again, note the word infinite. He is infinitely good, and so anything wrong we do against him is against his infinite goodness. What this means is that any single sin at all, because it is against the infinite goodness of God, is a sin that is by definition infinitely bad. A single act of spite or hatred echoes infinitely against God’s goodness. For this reason, it is just that our punishment should also be infinite. Infinite punishment in hell is entirely just on God’s part.So let me ask again: Are you prepared to die? Are you prepared to face judgment?If you do not know the answer to that question, there is only one hope of escape. That hope is to cast your soul on Christ. This is the message of the gospel: Christ died to save wretched sinners. He bore the punishment of God’s infinite wrath on behalf of all who would believe in him. If you cannot say that you know Christ, then let me tell you plainly: you are not prepared for the day of your death. It is a sobering thought.I know this is bad news, but it is because things are so bad that we call the gospel the good news. And here is the good news for you: even if you have not yet come to Christ, there is nothing whatsoever hindering you from doing so right now, even in this moment. Come and believe. Come and drink freely of God’s forgiveness in Christ. Admit your sins, accept Christ, and follow him. There is a time to die, but in Christ we will be prepared for that time. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 3:1-8.Meditation“Time flies,” we often say, don’t we? And probably it would be a cliché, if it weren’t such a constant and powerful reality. Time really does fly by. As children, we don’t tend to notice it. I distinctly remember waiting for my parents to stop talking after church on Sunday; five minutes felt like an eternity. In our twenties, we feel invincible, and existence still seems timeless. And yet, as life goes on, we realise the truth as the decades continue to roll by at a startling rate. The older among us are acutely aware: time flies.In Psalm 90, Moses says, “like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.” That is what our lives are like.Things are continually changing. An older sibling moves out of home and gets married. New babies arrive. A career changes. We move house. Elderly relatives die. The seasons of life are constantly moving, and everything continually changes.And so, in the midst of this changing life, it is important to ask ourselves: How can we use our time well? This is why, again in Psalm 90, Moses prays: teach us to number our days. We must use what little time we have wisely, redeeming the time. In our passage, Solomon very helpfully instructs us on how to do that. This book is all about the “hevel” of life, the shortness and transient nature of existence. Solomon wants to teach us how to be aware of time so that we can use it well.Picking up in verse 1, Solomon says: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Let’s pause here for a moment. Solomon is not just waxing lyrical about the nature of life. Yes, we have different times and seasons, but what he is saying is far more profound. He is saying that there is an order to time. One translation puts it this way: for everything there is an appointed time.And if time has been ordered, then someone has ordered it. We should not misunderstand Solomon here, because the overarching truth he is pointing out is that God is behind the seasons of time. God appoints times and seasons. We do not live in a random universe. Everything has a God-appointed time; for everything, there is a season. Solomon even says this explicitly in verse 11: “God has made everything beautiful in its time.” Note: God has made. As Ephesians 1:11 puts it, God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.”Let us not beat around the bush: Solomon is saying that God is the sovereign ruler over all history. He ordains time and all its seasons. One of our hymns calls him the “Potentate of Time.”In God’s good order, there are different seasons in life. There are appointed times for different purposes. One does not live as a child when they are 40 years old. One does not begin university studies at the age of 10, unless one happens to be a child prodigy.There are three life-applications that flow out of this meditation.Firstly, we must accept the seasonal nature of life. We must accept and embrace the natural changes of life. You can try to resist the change of time, and many people do, but it is as futile as trying to reverse a tidal wave with your bare hands. God has ordered it. This might seem like basic advice, and yet many people rebel against God’s ordained seasons. Our culture is often in outright rebellion against them. Everyone wants to be in their twenties. Teenagers look forward to the freedom of their twenties. People in their thirties pretend they are still in their twenties. People in their forties and fifties do everything possible to hold on to their youth. And even those actually in their twenties are often dissatisfied; all the travelling and partying in the world cannot bring true satisfaction.Even in our final years, rather than contentment and joy in God, there is often a sad lamentation that our best is behind us, which is not true. Euthanasia is another example. One reason it is gaining traction is that people refuse to accept God’s appointed seasons, whether old age, sickness, or difficulty.We might think ourselves immune to these mindsets. And yes, we will and should oppose euthanasia. But do we not sometimes long for a season to end, or pine after one that has gone? We do. No, says Solomon, we must embrace the seasons of life that we are in. They are ordained by God and are in his hands. Honouring Christ, fearing God, will look like living in and engaging with each season in its proper time.Remember, this is not just Solomon speaking to us. This is Christ speaking words of wisdom to us. Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24; Col 2:3). He says to us: “I have saved you. You are in my hands. I have ordained the seasons of your life. Whatever comes to pass for you is under my control.” Accept these seasons and all that they bring. They may not be what you hoped for, but your seasons have been custom designed by God. He calls you to embrace them, and one day he will show you the glorious things he has accomplished through them. Do not idolise a change in circumstance; live and walk through your seasons in reliance on him.The second application is that we ought to focus on the present season. Not only do we embrace the seasonal nature of life, we throw ourselves into each particular season. We are aware of life’s stages, the advantages and temptations of each, and we seek to please Christ in them. If we are young, we use our energy and freedom to grow in Christ and serve others. We listen to and honour those who are older because they have experience. If we are older, we do not long for days gone by. We give thanks for them, we may reminisce at times, but we do not live in a fantasy land of seasons past. Instead, we apply ourselves to the present time. We pray for the younger, mentor and disciple them, as Titus 2 instructs. As parents, we throw ourselves into the tasks of our season. As singles, we learn to take advantage of the gift of singleness while we still have it.Prayerfully applying our minds and searching the scriptures allows us to live for Christ in whatever season we find ourselves. If we struggle with longing for what we have lost or do not yet have, we can replace daydreams with prayers of thanksgiving, recalling our present blessings one by one and giving thanks to God. We can also consider prayerfully the opportunities and advantages of the present. Remember, each season is limited. If we do not focus on the present, doing good, we may find ourselves with regret later when the time has passed. Everything changes. Christ has placed you exactly where you are, but you will not be here forever. Even our time in this world is fleeting.Finally, we may draw from this that we are called to live fully in each moment. We must live in the moment of each day. It is easy for our minds to wander instead of focusing on what is happening now. We may think about later tonight, next weekend, or the next chapter of a book we are reading. But fearing God in each season includes applying our minds to the present moment, living in today. God wants us aware of the season and engaged in the moment, with our minds in the here and now.Today, that might mean listening well to a sermon. Later, it might mean driving safely or going to bed on time. Jesus says in Matthew 6:34: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”When we set aside time for morning devotions, having our attention fully there is essential. At work, we keep our focus on the task. When someone is speaking to us, we listen. Whatever we do, we need to be self-aware of what is happening, why we are doing it, and deliberately engage in it. Verse 3 reminds us there is a time to break down and a time to build up. You cannot build well if your mind is on demolition; you must apply your attention appropriately to the present.This is particularly relevant today, in an age when technology scatters our attention. Our phones ping in our pockets, drawing us away. We scroll through feeds and receive countless messages in seconds. Christ says: be self-conscious about how you use your phone. Set aside times for emails or social media. Ask yourself why you are on it, what purpose it serves, and how it helps you live for Christ. Once you know the purpose, determine how much time it deserves. Hours or minutes?Ephesians 5:15-16 says: “Look carefully – carefully – then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time.” Time is a limited resource, and careful diligence is required to use it well. We are often aware of our money, but time is far more precious. Each second spent disappears from the bank of our lives. There is a total account, and one day it will all be spent.When Christ saves and restores us to God, forgiving and redeeming us, he redeems our time as well. It belongs to him. He gives it to us and calls us to use it for him. Christ imparts wisdom: walk carefully and wisely. He has ordered the seasons of our lives and given us one day at a time. Live in today, focus on what is before you, and be aware of the seasonal nature of life. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 2:24-26.MeditationWe see a change in Solomon starting at verse 24, because in God’s plan of redemption our labour may become fruitful again. So let us take a quick look at verses 24 and 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, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”The first thing to see here in verse 25 is that although we now live in a fallen world, and although we no longer have endless time to work and develop the earth, still something of the goodness of work endures. It really is amazing what can be achieved in one lifetime, and even in the mundane everyday of work there is enjoyment to be found. It is satisfying to work on a project and bring it to completion. It is satisfying to labour for a day, earn money, and enjoy a good meal at the end with friends or family. These are good gifts of God and they should still lead us into thanksgiving and worship.Life is short, and yet while we are here God has given us these things to enjoy, to give thanks. The taste of a hearty meal at the end of the day is an opportunity to taste God’s goodness in a very tangible way, and it tastes like a well-cooked steak with mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes. As we taste we give thanks to our Maker. He loves to give us good gifts, and he still gives us gifts, abilities, and talents, and he expects us to use them to serve Christ.Even in a fallen world the workplace is still a place to worship, serve, and enjoy God. That is what it is supposed to be. And as a word of application, while we may not have forever to develop our gifts and abilities, we should still use what we have to develop and subdue the creation to God’s glory. If you have natural, God-given abilities in a certain area, why not develop them? Why not find ways to use them in his service? Use them for the extension of his kingdom. Everyone will be different here. Some will be mathematicians, some artists, some builders, and some doctors. The way we all contribute in different areas is part of the glory of it all. It is a good thing to use your particular God-given talents and develop them to serve others, including in the marketplace. If you did not do this you could not provide for your family, and there would be no tithes to bring into the church. As a word to parents, it is good to keep an eye on our children, seeing the areas they enjoy most and are gifted in, and perhaps encourage them to develop those areas.But redemption in the workplace is not just a personal redemption. We have seen that God created work with a grand vision, a cosmic vision that encompassed all humanity. The final thing we need to see is that Christ’s redemption also redeems work in a cosmic sense as well. That is what we see in verse 26.The original design for work may have been lost at the fall. We cannot live forever. We cannot escape the effects of sin on work: greed in the marketplace, a world full of darkness, creation groaning, workplaces corrupted and barely a shadow of the glory of what might have been. And yet in Christ there is hope and redemption.When Christ came to earth he came to save sinners. He came to undo the works of Satan. When he saves a sinner he does not just save their soul. Faith in Christ is not a purely spiritual thing. Christ did not spill his blood to deliver only our souls from hell. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. Redemption has a very earthy aspect. Christ forgives a drug addict for sticking a needle into their arm and committing actual physical acts of violence. He forgives adulterers for what they did with another person who was not their spouse. Sin works itself out in very tangible ways, and so does salvation. Christ’s work of redemption, our salvation, will unfold in the workplace. It will unfold in grace to graceless colleagues, and in loyalty, honesty, and hard work towards our bosses. And it will also unfold cosmically as well.Death robs us of any lasting benefit from our work. So we must ask: Is it all for nothing? Is it all lost? A pipedream? Are we doomed to work for a lifetime and then watch our labours crumble to dust and become nothing? The answer to that question, according to verse 26, depends on whose side you are on. Are you with God, or are you playing life for yourself? Are you for Christ, or against him? That is the ultimate issue at stake.Verse 26 says: “For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to the one who pleases God.” Do you see what is happening in that verse? To the sinner, the sinner is doomed to the despair that Solomon has been talking about, doomed to work for a few short decades and then watch it all slip away. But to the one who pleases God there is blessing and knowledge and joy.And you see it there, do you not? All the wealth of the wicked flows into the coffers of the righteous. This is why Christ said that the meek shall inherit the earth. This is why Proverbs 13:22 says: “the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous.” In Christ, as we waltz out of Egypt dancing at our redemption, as they did with Israel at the Exodus, so always the Egyptians will pile up wealth and gold on God’s people.We see this principle at work even in this life. Many godless men made contributions in shipbuilding in years gone by, and yet it was the missionaries who used those ships to bring the gospel to the Pacific Islands. Many godless people contributed towards the invention of the iPhone, and yet we can use it for eternal gain, to spread the gospel, to publicise and listen to sermons, to access thousands of Puritan books. All the wealth of the wicked will ultimately be stripped from them. It will do them no good unless they turn to Christ, and in Christ we will benefit from it to the glory of God.The final thing to remember is this: in our labour and work we must always depend on Christ. Verse 26 twice mentions the one who pleases God, and it is this one who will benefit. Now let me ask you, who has ever pleased God? Not me. Not you. At Christ’s baptism God himself declared: “Behold my son, in whom I am well pleased.” It is only in Christ.In Christ all the promises and wisdom and joy of God are given to us. True meaning in work is restored. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says it plainly: brothers and sisters, be “always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.” Without Christ all our labour and toil will be in vain. In Christ we will find meaning and purpose and eternal reward for our labour. It will endure across the generations and it will echo into eternity.So go in Christ. Go to your workplace in his grace and strength, and consider how you may use your gifts and talents and opportunities best to honour him who saved us.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 2:18-23.MeditationEcclesiastes is like a labyrinth, a giant maze. One of the things Solomon does in this maze of life under the sun is show us which paths not to walk down, the dead ends, and which paths we should walk down, the paths that lead and instruct us in the fear of the Lord. Remember, that is where Solomon wants to take us ultimately. This book is designed to teach us to fear God. We see this clearly in Ecc 12:13, where Solomon says that the end of the whole matter is to fear God. His ultimate destination, if you like, in the labyrinth of life, is to teach us to fear God as we live our lives.In Ecc 2:18-23, Solomon is showing us a dead end in the labyrinth: the frustration of work. In verse 18 he says, I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun. His soul is vexed. In fact, in verse 20 he says, I gave my heart up to despair. Solomon is recalling and recording the way he felt about his work.The first obvious question is this: Why did he feel this way? Why is he so vexed and troubled? Why does he consider his work and turn to despair?To put it bluntly, the reason Solomon is in so much despair here is a reason that will largely be completely foreign to the average modern person. If we get depressed about our work or do not like it, we might feel that way because our boss is overbearing, or we are not having fun in the job we are doing, or the pay is low, or our colleagues annoy us or make life for us, or we are discontent because we think the grass would be greener elsewhere. I am not trying to undermine these things, because they can be valid challenges. But what Solomon is getting at is far deeper.Let me put it this way: Have you ever thought about what work would look like if the fall had not happened? That is a serious question. It is not one we often ask. We can imagine what relationships might look like without the fall. There would be no hatred, selfishness, bickering, fighting, or anger. Relationships would have been harmonious, loving, and selfless. Things would have been great. But what about work? If the fall had not happened, what would work have been like?Many things might come to mind, but perhaps the most obvious is that there would be no retirement. With no death and no aging, retirement would not exist. It opens up a whole new idea about work. You would not have just a few decades to develop your skills and experience. You would have endless centuries. Year after year to work, grow, build, develop, achieve, and complete projects. It is hard to imagine. Forget about leaving a legacy; you would live a legacy and build one that kept going.This may sound strange, but I want to put to you that this is actually what work was supposed to be like. Yet there is an even deeper question here. When you take the limitation of time out of the equation, you are forced to ask: Why do we have work? Why do we get up day after day and do things? Let me give you a few answers from the modern mindset: you work to get money; you work to get the stuff you need to live, such as food, a place to live, and transport; you work to enable you to do the things you actually want to do. Work, for many people, has become a means to different ends.I want to put to you that this is very far removed from what God intended for work and from what Christ intends for us in work. In Genesis 1 we find out what work is for. In Genesis 1 verse 28 we read: And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.Fill the earth and subdue it. That is what work is about. It is about developing God’s creation so that God may be glorified. In Christ we are restored to this calling, and even to a higher calling in the Great Commission, though we will come to that later in Ecclesiastes 3. Work is about developing God’s creation, subduing it, and having dominion.What does it mean to develop and subdue God’s creation? You see it everywhere. People subdue the elements, form and manipulate metals, discover their properties, and push these developments into new arenas. They build and construct. Think of the discovery of fire and electricity, and then the things you can do with them: cars, phones, computers. There are other areas too, like music. We discover principles of music and art and find new ways of making and experimenting with sound. We create beautiful things in painting and sculpture. With the written word we achieve endless things. We grow food and care for our environment. This is part of what it means to develop, nurture, subdue, and take dominion of God’s creation.When God created the world it was a vast storehouse of untapped possibility. When he looked at Adam and Eve he said, go, discover, build, subdue, construct. Multiply together, have families, watch your children develop what I have made, work with them, work together, do amazing things, and you will see more and more of my glory, and you can show others the wonders of my creation.This is what work is really about. It is about worship. It is about developing this world so that the wonders of God’s infinite mind may be displayed before all, so that we might see his wonders in and through his handiwork. The world is a great book, the book of nature, as the Belgic Confession says, and even today with all our technology we have most likely not yet read the first page.Work was supposed to be magnificent. It was not a drudgery to be escaped. It was not a tool for self gain. It was a means for declaring and beholding the glory of God. It was a means for serving, benefiting, and loving mankind. Even today that is how it is meant to work. When we see grand feats of engineering we ought to think, this is the world God has made; this is the dignity and honour of being created in his image. It is also meant to serve one another. When you receive good customer service from someone who genuinely cares, you return and recommend them. The problem with capitalism and the free market is not the system itself but that fallen man is self oriented rather than service oriented.Imagine the world as it was meant to be before the fall. Imagine artists honing their craft for centuries. Imagine Bach’s compositions after two thousand years of playing and composing. Imagine transportation and space travel in a world where scientists had perfect harmony in their relationships as they worked. You quickly stray into science fiction, and even then, the fallen imagination of most writers falls short of what could have been in God’s creation.My point in all this is that these ideas actually inform Solomon’s frustration over his work. Scripture has a contour that runs from creation and paradise, to the fall, to redemption and hope in Christ. We have looked at creation, and what we see now in Solomon’s vexation is the fall. In verse 18 he says, I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool.Solomon’s true frustration with work has nothing to do with the cosmetic complaints we have today. He senses the true consequences of the fall in his work, and that is what drives him to despair. He knows he could spend decades working and building, as we saw earlier in chapter two. He built magnificent buildings and gardens, great vineyards, and he formed choirs of musicians. Solomon’s achievements were staggering. Yet he saw clearly that the day of his death was approaching. At the end of verse 19 he says, This also is vanity. It is passing. It is hevel, temporary.We can achieve great things in a lifetime of work: huge projects, new inventions. Steve Jobs took technology to a whole new level. But what is gained? What good does an iPhone do for Steve Jobs now? We die after all. We do not get to live on and enjoy the benefits of our labour. Verse 21 says, Sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. In a fallen world we no longer get to develop the potential that was there. We barely begin, then our bodies break down, and everything we have achieved is left to someone else. In verse 19 Solomon says, Who knows whether that person will be wise or a fool.Here is the true vexation of the workplace. In verse 22 Solomon asks what we gain from it. The answer is nothing. We cannot keep it, cannot hold on to it, cannot ensure the next generation will carry on our vision. Most likely, everything we have done will crumble and be forgotten. Our wealth will be squandered by fools.This is what Solomon truly hates, and it is a godly thing to hate sin and its consequences. One consequence of sin, one aspect of the curse, is this innate frustration that has become part of our work. When Adam was cursed, the curse was in relation to his work. He would no longer sow and reap vast productivity. He would sow and battle thorns and thistles.We can barely grasp the vision of what work was meant to be under God, much less achieve even a shadow of it. This is lamentable. So much of God’s glory might have been displayed, and now work has been reduced to a pale, selfish, sinful shadow of what it was created to be. Worse still, fallen man has twisted it beyond recognition. People ply their skills in perverse ways: prostitution, thievery, abortion doctors, the slave trade that still exists in many parts of the world. Work in a fallen world, without Christ, is a dead end. Yet in Christ there is hope. Your labour is not in vain in the Lord. As we feel the weight of the curse of sin in the workplace, the frustration of the fact that both our our work and our very hands are disintegrating before our eyes, let us rest in Christ’s work, and commit what work we do unto him. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 2:18-26.MeditationOne very important question every Christian should ask is this: What are you supposed to do once you have become a Christian? What should or will change in our lives? Is it only our Sunday mornings that change, or does being a Christian shape our life during the week as well?Some imagine that it means becoming hyper spiritual. Perhaps it involves becoming disconnected from the things of this world, going to Bible studies every day instead of working, using every possible spare moment to read the Bible with as much fasting as possible, or even withdrawing from everything and joining a monastery.Others imagine that being a Christian simply means adding certain things to an otherwise ordinary life. We still do mostly the same things as before. We have families, we go to work, we buy a house, yet we also include a fair amount of Christian activity. We go to church, we join a Bible study, and we try to have a daily devotional time. Christianity becomes a kind of “segment” of our lives from this perspective.But what does it actually mean in real, everyday life to become a Christian?I want to make a little bit of sense of this question in this meditation, and here is where I want to start. I want to begin by asking you to consider what it is that actually changes when you become a Christian. I have one word for you. Listen carefully: everything. Absolutely everything about your life should change in some way. Let me explain what I mean by that.In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come. When we come to Christ, repent of our sins, put our faith in him, when his blood covers us and God forgives us, and we submit our lives to him as Lord, what happens is that we are, as Jesus says in John 3, reborn. Something basic and fundamental in our very being changes, our very spirit receives life. This spiritual rebirth, which occurs when someone comes to Christ, can, should, and will change everything.Now, don’t get me wrong. Becoming a new creation in Christ does not mean that we cease to be human. We still eat dinner, have a job, raise kids. In short, we still live in God’s world. But the way we view these things, the way we live in all these areas of life, undergoes a paradigm shift. You could say we gain a Christian worldview, we begin operating from new assumptions about life and the world. We view everything from the perspective of faith in Christ, and this change should flow out into everything we do. In Romans 12:2 the Bible calls this renewing your mind.Raising children, for example, should look very different for Christians than it does for those who live without God. Living as a Christian single should look very different from living as a godless single. The books we read, the movies we watch or choose not to watch, will be informed, shaped, and defined by our faith in Christ. Everything we do will, in this sense, be different, changed, and redeemed.We cannot address all of the connections to this issue in this meditation, we’ll follow up with a closer look in the next few. Overall, however, we see in this passage that there is one particular area of life that Solomon focuses on. It is a big area, one where we spend a huge portion of our time. It touches on a fundamental aspect of human identity. It goes back to one of the main things we were created to do in Genesis 1. In modern terms, we simply call it: “work.”In some form or another, many of us go to work each day, or have spent or will spend most of our lives doing it. There are office workers, labourers, garbage collectors, missionaries, and home makers, which is a vocation too by the way.So how should we as Christians think about and do our work? What does it mean to honour Christ our Saviour in the workplace, as we pursue a vocation? Have you given much thought to the relationship between your work and your faith? If not, well it is high time to start. Ecclesiastes, not to mention plenty of other passages in scripture, give plenty of attention to work. If you have thought about this before, then let’s open the scriptures, and the wise will become wiser still. We’re going to be giving this topic some prayerful consideration across the course of the next few meditations and see what wisdom Solomon will bring us. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 2:14-18.MeditationWe find a most peculiar encouragement in Ecclesiastes 2:17. Look again at the end of verse 17: all is vanity and a striving after the wind. All is a breath. All is fleeting. All is insubstantial. The blessing I am speaking about here is this: that life is short.Now maybe that shocks you. Maybe you are thinking, short? I do not want life to end! I want to see my grandchildren. I want to enjoy the good things for as long as I can. And that is ok. It is ok to desire to see your grandchildren. In fact, let me assure you, one of the things Solomon will show us later in the book is how to enjoy life. He is not a killjoy, far from it.But my point here is not to say that these things are not good. My point is to say that the affliction you are now suffering, the burdens you bear, they truly are momentary and light.Ask anyone over fifty: Does life go quickly? You had better believe it. Life will fly by. And as you start looking back over the years, and you hear Solomon say life is but a breath, you realise, yes, it is so true.Years go by. Decades. Life passes. Childhood. Teenage years. Your twenties, they will be over just like that. And in just a few more short decades you will be nearing the end.We are tempted to fear this progression, to feel apprehensive about the shortness of our time. A much better approach is to see it as a blessed mercy. Absolutely, enjoy God and his gifts in this life. But see too that the shortness of life is a blessing.Again, why do I say that? I say it because we can know with absolute certainty that these hateful things in life, sickness and suffering, death and disease, their power is limited, and it is waning. It is like winter in Narnia. This life is quickly passing, and we are small drops in a large bucket, but Jesus continues to move. The winter is thawing and the spring of a new creation is nearing; each day it is nearer.And so when that day comes, when you close your eyes in this life for the last time, this is not a day of sorrow but a day of gladness, because to go and be with Christ is much better. And when you close your eyes on that day, you will open them again and you will behold unspeakable things, and all the shadows and darkness of this life will be gone. The sound of victory and joy and glory will greet you. The faces of long lost loved ones will be there, smiling. You finished the race. Your spouse, who you have not seen for thirty years, in Christ he will be there. The ache in your heart, the pains, the sense of loss at dear friends’ departure long ago, all these burdens will fall from your shoulders as you are reunited again.But even this is not the best part. Because on that day you will see him, the One who died to save you, the One who rescued you from darkness. He will be there. You will see the wounds in his hands, his feet, his side. You will see the smiling face of the One who has loved you. And in Christ, if you have put your faith in him, you will be welcomed home.And even this is not the end. At the last day, as the trumpet is sounded, our old bodies too will rise in resurrection, and a new heavens and a new earth will be there. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.A new world, Eden restored and enhanced. Blessing and light and life and wonder and hope and joy. All this is the heritage of those who are in Christ, who have put their faith in him, who have believed and followed.This life is just a breath. It is a breath with numerous joys and blessings, and it is a breath with countless burdens and sufferings. There will be many dark days; we will suffer under the common curse. But either way, it is nonetheless still just a breath. And so these clouds that loom so dark above us now, these clouds that we so much dread, they will soon break, and the sun will shine, and we will know fully, as we know now a little by faith, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed.Call me crazy, but the book of Ecclesiastes actually gets me excited, because it teaches me to enjoy life’s gifts without clutching at them, and it teaches me to look past today’s sorrows to a brighter future, and again and again it reminds me: not long. We are not long for this world, and we will soon see him who has loved us and saved us. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayRead: Ecc 2:12-14.MeditationSolomon’s point in this passage is not so much to highlight the value of wisdom, which we considered in the previous meditation. He does far more of that in the Book of Proverbs. No, his purpose here is to point out a certain frustration in life that seems to be at work in spite of wisdom: the reality of the suffering of the wise.You see, we may be living wisely, but as Solomon goes on to say in verse 14, “yet I perceived that the same event happens to all.” As he observes the world, takes it all in, and reflects on it, he notices something. He notices that whether a person is foolish or wise, he might just as easily be struck down by a common evil. This troubles Solomon deeply. And so he says in verse 15, “Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.”If we are to make sense of this, we need to start by being honest. Solomon is right. Calamity may strike both wise and foolish people, the godly and the godless. We should not hide from that fact, nor put up a fake Christian veneer that pretends these difficult truths are not real (such as the prosperity gospel teaches). True Christianity is not about living an ignorant life in search of some false happiness. We are called to have a realistic view of things. And so let us be clear: this happens. One person might spend his life drinking, living immorally, being a godless person; another might live wisely, honouring God, obeying him, pursuing Christ. And both might be struck by cancer.This is a great source of vexation to Solomon. Wisdom, so it seems, is not the answer, because it does not offer deliverance from these troubles. And so Solomon asks the question: Why live wisely if things might go wrong just as easily? What is to be gained from it? Ultimately, he says, the bottom line is that we all die anyway. Verse 16says: “the wise dies just like the fool.” And so he finishes with that most troubling comment: “and so I hated life.”Before we explain this, let me say one thing: perhaps you can relate to Solomon here. Perhaps you sense this reality. Perhaps you have struggled with it. Things do not seem just. Why be a Christian if we are just as prone to troubles and difficulty? What is the point?So how are we to understand this? How do we make sense of the fact that these things happen? And how do we make sense of Solomon’s reaction? Christians are not supposed to hate life, are they? Are we not supposed to meekly, calmly, and happily accept everything?There are a couple of things that help us see what is going on here, and how we can learn to fear God through it.The first thing, again, is to admit that Solomon is right. There is a common curse that afflicts the godly and the ungodly alike. We are all vulnerable to sickness and death.Let me put it this way. You might be familiar with the idea of God’s common grace. He sends his rain on the just and the unjust alike (Mt 5:45). Many godless people enjoy countless blessings from God. They enjoy food, shelter, families, friendship, a beautiful world in which to live. Theologians call this the doctrine of common grace. God extends his common goodness to all people.But something we do not often consider is the doctrine of the common curse, and this is what we see Solomon wrestling with here. When Adam fell and mankind was cursed, things like sickness and bodily death entered the world. In this present life, whether you are one of God’s people or not, we are all afflicted with the common curse of our race. In Psalm 90, Moses also wrestles with this reality. All people are subject to sickness and bodily death. That is the way it is in this present life.The first step in dealing with this unpleasant and difficult reality is to admit that it is true. Humanity has invited the judgement of this curse upon ourselves by rejecting God. We deserve it. In fact, we deserve far worse. The corruption of our world, and all the suffering that follows, is our fault, not God’s.The second thing to see is that, especially as Christians, it is actually acceptable to be grieved by this common curse. That is what we see Solomon doing here. In verse 17 he says that he hated life because what was done was grievous to him. And to an extent, he is right. The fall and all its effects are a hateful thing. We ought to despise sin and all its consequences. Solomon is not just a bitter old man who hates life. He is not a grumpy pessimist. He is a man who looks on the world through the eyes of wisdom and is deeply disturbed and burdened by the reality of death. He finds it grievous, he says in verse 17. He hates what has happened to this world.As we walk with Solomon here, he shows us something profound. He shows us that it is acceptable and necessary to grieve over the devastating effects of sin. It is acceptable to weep over the grave of a loved one, because death is a horror. It is acceptable to be deeply disturbed by the common curse under which we all live. It is acceptable to feel a surge of hatred when you see a body struck down by sickness, hatred at the existence of sin in this world. Because this reflects the heart of God. God hates sin. He hates it so much that his plan through Christ is to eradicate it completely. He will not tolerate one iota of evil. His mission is to obliterate all sin, darkness, and moral pollution in his world. He hates it.So it is acceptable to be disturbed by sin. In fact, when you gain wisdom, that should be a normal response. This is why Solomon says in 1:18 that in gaining wisdom you will also gain vexation and sorrow, because you will increasingly come to see the world as it truly is.One thing to keep in mind here, however: we have an advantage over Solomon. As we grieve over sin and learn to hate it and all its consequences, we also learn to long for the world to come. Solomon did not have the benefit of God’s full revelation. Many things were not yet revealed. The afterlife, for instance, was far more mysterious to him than it is to us. So learn from Solomon. Learn to grieve and to hate death. But do not wallow in it, as Solomon is tempted to do here. Let your grief drive you to Christ.In 1 Corinthians 15:19, the Apostle Paul says that if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.Yet in spite of the grief of death, in spite of the frustration of the common curse, we know that we have our hope in a Saviour who has conquered death. The One who came to earth and healed, who made the blind see, the lame walk, and the deaf hear. The One who gave his life so that we, his people, might have life abundantly. We belong to a Redeemer who is reversing the curse.And in this sense, the grief and trials of life are actually a mercy. They are friends in disguise, blessings thinly veiled as curses. That may sound strange, but suffering in this life is a blessing, because it teaches us to run to Christ. It weans us off lesser goods and forces us to look to the greatest good, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus. Suffering teaches us to set our hope in Christ.As you struggle, you may be tempted to bitterness. You may be tempted to foster hatred in your heart as you feel the burden of the common curse. In fact, arm your mind, because in this life you almost certainly will be tempted to hate life. Arm your mind with this knowledge: the path of suffering is the necessary path to glory and true fulfilment in Christ.When our Saviour walked on this earth, he felt and lived with the weight of the common curse. This is why we sing that he was a man of sorrows. Isaiah says he was acquainted with grief. He knew what it was to live in a body that grew weary. He knew what it was to stand by the tomb of a loved one and weep. He experienced the longings and burdens of this life. He knew what it was to stare into a tomb and feel the coldness of death creeping towards him, more deeply than we ever could.Yet in spite of this, in spite of the horror he faced, he walked the road to Calvary.And my friends, no matter what sufferings you bear, no suffering can compare to his – which he endured for your sake. He endured mocking, rejection, shame, pain, bleeding, whipping. And above all this he endured the holy wrath of God against sin. He suffered the anguish of ten thousand infinite hells heaped upon his shoulders.Brothers and sisters, we do not have a Saviour unfamiliar with suffering. We have a Saviour who has suffered more deeply than any of us ever will. He walked that path.So remember this in a dark world, when you are tempted to hate life. Think often on it. Look to Christ upon the cross. Though the world sees him hanging there and thinks he is a fool, remember: the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.We may suffer sickness; Solomon is right. We may lose loved ones to death, and it will hurt. It will tempt you to bitterness. It will tempt you to hate life. But in all this we can be sure: Christ has conquered. He did die on a Friday. But he rose on a Sunday. And in his resurrection is our hope.If in this life only we have hope in Christ, then we are most to be pitied. But we do not have hope only in this life. Christ is risen. He is coming again. You will see Him soon. The sun will rise, and darkness will be no more. SDG. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

The Goodness of Wisdom (Ecc 2:12-14).PrayRead: Ecc 2:12-14.MeditationIf nothing under the sun can give us lasting joy, where do you go from there? It can feel as if there is nowhere else to go. So do you give up? Do you despair? In this passage Solomon tries something else. He asks the question: If “stuff” is not the answer, what about wisdom itself? Can you find peace and meaning in this life in the pursuit and possession of wisdom? After all, if the answer is not in possessions, perhaps it is in wisdom.This is where he begins in verse 12: “So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly.” What he is saying here is that he wants to consider the value of wisdom in comparison to wickedness. When he says madness and folly, that is a shorthand reference to moral evil, and we see that clearly as the passage continues.I turned to consider wisdom. And so the question sits before us as well. Perhaps you feel jaded about life. Perhaps you are struggling to find meaning. Perhaps you have realised that life’s pleasures do not provide ultimate and lasting satisfaction. Solomon’s question then becomes relevant to you. What value is there in wisdom? Can wisdom itself help us make sense of life? Is it worth pursuing? Can it bring any lasting goodness for us?The first thing Solomon shows us about wisdom is that we must see the goodness of wisdom. As Solomon considered the world around him the answer was quite obvious, in verse 13: “Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness.”Solomon goes on in the first part of verse 14 to paint a colourful picture of how this works in daily life: “The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.”When we walk in accordance with God’s wisdom, when we walk in righteousness according to the law of God, we are doing what we were designed to do. When you do what is right, things simply work. Wisdom allows you to see the way life is supposed to go. Or, in Solomon’s language, it is as if you have your eyes in your head. The foolish person, on the other hand, is like someone wandering around in the dark. They run into things, they injure themselves, and they lead others astray as well.Let me give you a few examples of what this looks like in everyday life.When a man cheats on his wife, he loses everything. His reputation, friendships, perhaps his relationship with his children, and most likely his marriage. It is hugely damaging. Children’s lives are harmed. The spouse is deeply wounded. And so is the man who did it, for he has done immense damage to himself as well. He does not have his eyes in his head. He is a fool who chases after what is evil.Another example. When a man lives a life of violence, he will likely be injured or even killed by someone else who is violent. People in drug gangs are always placing themselves in dangerous circumstances.Another example. When a man lives as a thief, there is a good chance he will be caught. He will have a criminal record, perhaps do jail time, and he may find it hard to get work later on.Even something as simple as forgiveness makes the point. Christ calls us to forgive each other. Holding grudges leads to bitterness, hatred and conflict. Forgiving one another leads to healing, love and restoration. Wisdom sees this, and folly ignores it. The fool says in his heart that there is no God, and he spends his life wandering in the dark.So Solomon says, there is no question. If you walk in the ways of wisdom you will find that things in life simply work, because God’s moral laws are woven into the fabric of the universe.There is definitely more gain in wisdom than in folly, Solomon says. In Proverbs we are often exhorted to pursue wisdom, and as a side note, we should. We should seek to know, to understand, and to obtain God’s wisdom. We should be constantly reading his sord so that we may grow in wisdom.This wisdom ultimately comes through Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:24 says that Christ is the wisdom of God. As we turn to God by faith in Christ, repenting of our sins and believing in him, we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to receive the wisdom of his word as we ought to. As we follow Christ, as we look to him, we should grow in wisdom. If you have not read the Book of Proverbs in a while, it might be a good time to start. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

And so, at the end of all, Solomon looks back and realises that there is no hope for lasting happiness under the sun. Where does this leave us? Are we destined for disappointment? Is despair our only option? Is our desire and search for contentment a form of madness?We have seen the dead ends, have we not? Money, alcohol, music and the arts, industry, technology and grand projects, and sexual love. And yet, as Solomon has shown us these dead ends tonight, we have nevertheless progressed in our journey. As we walk the paths of the labyrinth, we are getting closer to the destination, step by step.On the question of happiness and lasting satisfaction, the answer is clear. If the only place you look is under the sun, then you will not find it. There is nothing in all the world that can meet our deepest desires. You could gain everything, as Solomon did, and you will still gain nothing in the end. If we chase these things, we will find ourselves, as the prodigal son did, wasting away in a muddy pen full of dirty pigs. As the Lord Jesus said, what does it benefit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?Solomon does not want to drive us to despair, but he does want to lift our eyes away from trying to find satisfaction in the things of this world. Stop looking for joy in things under the sun, he says. Where, then, should we look? The end of the matter is this; all has been heard. Fear god. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)Do you know god actually wants you to be happy? Do you know that, for all who are in Christ, followers of Jesus, god works all the things in our lives together for our good? Do you know that in Christ it is his purpose to banish every evil and painful thing from your life? Do you know that in Christ it is his plan to ravish your soul with unending, increasing, unspeakable pleasure and joy for all eternity? Each day your joy will increase. Each day you will marvel with fresh delight as you see more and more of god’s infinite beauty. Each day he will show you something that will make your eyes grow wide in wonder and make your heart sing loud in worship.Listen to these words of Jesus in John 15:11: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Did you see what happened there? Jesus actually wants our joy to be full. He wants us to abound in joy. He wants us to rejoice in the Lord always, and again he says rejoice (Philippians 4:4). “Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name.” (Psalm 97:12)But the key here, as Solomon so clearly shows us, is not to set our joy on the things of this life. They cannot satisfy. The key is to learn to find our joy in god. “Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.” (Psalm 105:3) “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.” (Zechariah 2:10)The answer to finding true happiness is this. Seek it in god and you will find it.The world is full of people on a me-centred search for satisfaction. Yet there is nothing that can meet our infinite appetite for eternal joy. That is why there is so much misery, because we live in a world full of people looking for something where it cannot be found.God designed us for joy, but it is a joy that may only be found in him. As we find our joy in him, we will be properly fitted to enjoy his gifts in this life as well, and we will be fitted for the infinite and sublime delight that awaits us in the world to come.So, in closing, let me ask you, where have you been searching for joy? Have you been looking in wine bottles and fine dining? Have you been looking in your workplace? Have you been looking for it in your spouse, or in a spouse? Perhaps money and possessions are where your heart lies.As Christians we are vulnerable to search in these places, and yet our treasure is in Christ, our redeemer and our saviour, the one who gave himself for us, who has loved us and restored us, the one who forgives and has forgiven us. The kingdom of god is like a pearl discovered in a field, and the one who finds it sells all that he has to purchase that field.The love of god provides a joy that no earthly treasure can afford, a satisfaction that transcends circumstances and flows as a fountain unto life eternal.There is only one place where we will be satisfied, in Christ himself. Christ, the full revelation of god in all his beauty and glory and majesty. You remember the words of Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” If you have Christ, then you have infinitely more than Australia’s top ten rich list. Have you ever thought about that? If you have Christ, then you have more than all the celebrities, sports stars, millionaires and world rulers combined. If every rich, influential, beautiful and important person in the world could somehow pool all their resources and give them to you in exchange for Christ, then you would have gained nothing and lost everything. If you have Christ, then you have food that this world knows not of.And yet, in spite of this, our appetites for him are so poor, are they not? We live as though heaven and hell were not realities. We live as though the gifts of this life were more precious than the giver. When a bride comes to marry, she does not rejoice most of all in an expensive wedding, or a feast, or a beautiful wedding gown, or even in her friends and family. She rejoices in her husband.Do you rejoice in Christ? Does your heart yearn and bleed for his return? Take Solomon’s words to heart. Come now, test your heart with pleasure. Come and see the riches and wonder and beauty that are ours in Christ.There is an invitation before you this week, an invitation to look past the temporary pleasures of this life and to delight in Christ.This invitation cannot be accepted by accident. If you walk carelessly into this week, your sinful desires will strive to take your heart.Set your heart to seek the Lord. Delight yourself in god alone, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Confess your weakness. Confess the smallness of your desires for him. Ask him daily to strengthen and enable you to seek him. Then pursue him violently, desperately. Run to him as a lover runs to her husband returning from war.Jesus has saved you. His heart yearns for you. He longs to wean you from the lesser desires of your heart, and he longs to fill you with infinite and eternal delight. As we go into this week, may the Lord so change and challenge our hearts. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayReadEcc 2:1-11.MeditationWhat about love? The pleasures and delights of sexual relationships? As Solomon looked around, he saw that this was an obvious candidate for satisfaction and joy. In verse 8 he says, “I got many concubines, the delight of the sons of men.” And there’s no doubt about it: sex can be a true delight. It is a gift of God, as we see in Proverbs 5:18 where Solomon says, “rejoice in the wife of your youth.” And so Solomon looked here for lasting joy too. In 1 Kings 11 we read that he loved many foreign women. It says he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. In Jewish culture, a concubine was basically a wife of inferior social status, which is why 1 Kings 11 notes particularly that Solomon’s 700 wives were princesses. So what it is saying is that he had 1000 wives—700 of whom were princesses, and 300 of whom were normal women.The point is that when it came to the area of sex, if anyone could ever find satisfaction and joy there, it was Solomon. He had his pick of every beautiful woman that he laid eyes on. He experienced love.And so we ask: Is there satisfaction to be found in sex? This is a particularly relevant question for us today. We live in a time when sexual fulfillment is basically seen as sacred. The highest crime a person can commit is to dare suggest that someone should not pursue their sexual desires. Every person, apparently, is entitled to pursue whatever manner of sexual fulfillment takes their fancy. And we see every perversity under the sun—marriage partners leaving their spouses to pursue someone more desirable, university students sleeping with someone new every weekend, sad lonely people staring at naked bodies on computer screens, people pushing the boundaries: men with men, women with women, men trying to live as women, and women as men, people with animals, even trees. I read an article about a woman who married a bridge. If you can imagine it, it’s out there. And if it is still taboo generally, there is a group somewhere fighting to normalise it. Sexual fulfillment is a modern-day religion with many followers.But if you are looking here for ultimate fulfillment and happiness, Solomon says, think again. Even if you could have 1000 wives as Solomon did, it would all leave you empty. All is passing. Beauty fades. Our bodies age. And sexual fulfillment is not the answer.And if you are looking in this area, fantasising, do not be fooled. No man or woman can give you lasting fulfillment. Marriage was not designed to do that. It was designed to image and glorify Christ (Eph 5), and to sanctify us. In fact, the apostle Paul warns us that those who marry in this life will have trouble (1 Cor 7:28). When two people come together, it is a union of two sinners. Perfect sexual harmony will not be possible. In fact, sex is not so much a means for personal satisfaction as a means for learning how to serve another above yourself. If anything, it will probably show us up for how selfish we are. The answer to fulfillment in life is not a good sex life, and Solomon provides an epic example of this. In fact, all he gained from 1000 beautiful women was apostasy. His wives led him astray, and he worshipped false gods.Again, marriage is a good gift, and in a sense it points to the best of gifts in the love of christ. But marriage itself will not satisfy. If we choose to marry, our highest goal cannot and must not be our own satisfaction—for we will be disappointed. Our goal must be to serve and glorify the living God. There is joy in marriage, but it is a temporary institution here on this earth. In the new heavens and the new earth, Jesus said, we will neither marry nor be given in marriage. SDG. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayReadEcc 2:1-11.MeditationDo you listen to much music? I feel like I have a soundtrack for every season of my life, and the right music at the right time can touch the soul in profound ways. Some people live for music. Some devote the lives entirely to it. In verse 8 of our passage, Solomon calls us forward, because there are more dead ends he wants us to see in this labyrinth. There was no answer in alcohol. Industry and achievements did not work. All our money will be blown away in the wind. What else is there? What else can we try?How about arts and culture? Again, we can hear the critics saying that Solomon is still thinking too small, he needs to sample the finer things of life. The real answer to lasting happiness is in pursuing and appreciating the higher pleasures of the arts and music! And so, in verse 8 he tests this pleasure as well. He says he got singers, choirs, professionals, the finest musicians money could buy.Music can be a kind of drug to many people. Next time you are on a train, take notice of how many people have headphones on. And there is no doubt about it, music is a wonderful gift and something to be enjoyed. But of itself it, can it fill the longing of the human heart. We always need more, don’t we? A new song might get stuck in our heads for a few days, but then it wears off. It doesn’t have the same effect any more. Yesterday’s favourite eventually becomes tiring to hear. We need new songs and new artists. You could pour a lifetime into music, both doing it and appreciating it. And then at last, as arthritis takes our fingers and our ears grow dull, the music would cease. No answers there.Music is a carrier for a higher glory. A heavenly glory. We must tune our hearts to the delights found in God alone. Perhaps the psalms will help us, they are heavenly songs after all! We ought to pay attention when the Lord gives us a book of songs in his Word! Which other songs can boast divine inspiration? Here, then, is an application for us: start looking for ways to bring the psalms into your life. SDG. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

Money, money, money! (Ecc 2:7).PrayReadEcc 2:1-11.MeditationSolomon has found that both alcohol and work are dead ends in the search for satisfaction. What else can we try? As he looks around, he notices that people seem to like money and possessions. They chase after it. They hoard it. That is still true today. There is a constant chase for a higher pay grade. People buy lottery tickets in the hope of a dream. The pursuit of wealth has always loomed large under the sun. So Solomon sees all this and says, alright, let us see if wealth and possessions can do the trick.Verse 7 reads, “I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces.”In 2 Chronicles 9 we learn that Solomon had so much gold that he ate with golden cutlery. He drank from gold cups. His interior decorators specialized in gold. In the reign of Solomon, scripture says, silver was considered worthless. That is how much money he was racking in. He made Bill Gates look like a pauper. And yet, as he gains mountains of treasure, what does he find? Is it satisfaction? Lasting contentment? True happiness?It is vanity, says the preacher. All of it is passing away. You cannot take it with you. There is no real gain to be found in money. I heard a good joke from another preacher, and I am going to steal it and use it here because it illustrates a good point. There was a rich old man, and as he approached his death he made his wife promise to bury his money with him. She agreed to do that. After a time the man died. As they lowered his body into the grave, a friend noticed the wife dropping a piece of paper in with the coffin. The friend came and said, did you bury him with his money as he requested? And she said, yes I did. I put all the money into my account and wrote him a cheque, and he can collect it all just as soon as he cashes that cheque. What good can money do us? What lasting satisfaction is there to be found in it? To chase after money and heap it up truly is as foolish as trying to take hold of the wind. It is to seek after something that you cannot hold.And this is so challenging to us, is it not? Because it forces us to ask, what place does money hold in our hearts? How precious are our possessions to us?I know of an older couple through a pastor friend of mine. This couple were Christians, faithful, church-going folk. This is a true story. They were good at saving their money and using it sparingly, if that is a good thing. As they approached old age, they had to sell their farming property. They had bought it decades before, and for a number of reasons it had increased in value significantly. They had a lot of money, and their property was worth a lot of money. Yet as they went through the selling process, at one point it looked as though they might lose a significant portion of the equity in their property. They were full of anxiety and concern. The thought of losing that equity filled many of their waking hours and often occupied their minds with worry. My pastor friend said to me that these people had more money than most could ever dream of possessing, and given their thrifty lifestyle, it seemed highly unlikely that they would be using it all before they died.There is nothing wrong with leaving a good inheritance behind. In fact, that is a godly thing to do. Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” But as our hearts are occupied with money and possessions, as we strive for more of it, as we clutch what we have of it, we need to remember that it is temporary. Wealth is not to be gained for the purpose of satisfaction. It is to be gained so that Christ may be honoured.Here is a counter-cultural thought for us to consider as we think about our possessions, our money, our homes, the equity of our belongings. The question to ask is not, how can I preserve and add to what I have? The question is: How can I use what I have to bring honour to Christ? How can I use my savings to honour Christ? How can I use my home to honour Christ?The great cricketer C. T. Studd said, “Only one life, twill soon be past. Only what is done for Christ will last.” Money is not there to make life easier, more fulfilled, or better. Money is there to further Christ’s cause in the world. SDG. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayReadEcc 2:1-11.MeditationSo there was no answer in drink.But surely, Solomon, his critics say, you just need to do something more meaningful. Drinking is such a base desire. You just need to look for pleasure in something more meaningful.“Alright,” says Solomon, “try me. Let’s go with projects and industry, with development and achievement. Let’s pursue something more noble. I will build great houses, plant spectacular gardens with fruit trees, and design an irrigation system that the world has never seen. Our technology will take leaps and bounds.”And indeed, we see here that Solomon was a man of industry. You can read more about it in the book of Kings. He assembled a workforce of eighty thousand stonecutters and seventy thousand labourers. He spent thirteen years building a palace for himself. He built other palaces, administrative buildings, and courts. He built the temple of God itself, a magnificent construction. This wasn’t just a house project—Solomon made monuments and buildings that would be the envy and wonder of the world.And there’s no doubt about it: there is a certain satisfaction to be found in projects like these, in advancing technology, and in achievements at work. Even a humble, well-kept garden can bring immense satisfaction—a model ship completed, the interior of a house freshly painted. And as technology advances, our new phones continue to amaze us, opening up opportunities that people could not even have imagined four decades ago.Well, Solomon tried it all. He planned, he built, he labored. He achieved astounding things and amazed the world. And when he had finished it all—when his heart surveyed his achievements—he came to the end and realized: it is all vanity.Probably our children’s children will be doing things with their equivalent of a smartphone, things we cannot even imagine right now. They will be amazed to live in the early twenty-second century. But we won’t be there. We won’t benefit from it. Even the things we do now—our jobs, our projects, the advancements of technology that we enjoy—when we are dying in just a few short years, these things will not bring lasting contentment. We will not be able to take them with us. We will hold our phones in our hands and say: it is vanity. It is all a breath.“Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it,” Solomon writes, “and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”You can build the grandest of designs, you can achieve great things, but there is no lasting satisfaction to be found there. We cannot take these things to the grave with us.And in a culture of busyness, where being a workaholic is an easy temptation, we should take note of this. Our jobs will be satisfying to an extent; we can achieve and complete projects; but the working lifestyle can easily draw us in. The working world will take everything it can from you. I watched it happen in Canberra. Work will take as much as it can—if you give a little, it will ask for more, and then more. And soon you see executives with broken marriages, working long hours. And for what?Don’t follow the path of obsession with labour, Solomon says. There is no lasting happiness there. You won’t find what you’re looking for.We need a building project that’s larger than we are. Larger than anything this world has to offer. That project exists, it’s called “The Kingdom of God.” As we come to Christ for cleansing from our sins, he calls us into his agenda for history: the establishment of the Kingdom of God. As we labour in service to our Saviour, we find that our work is not in vain. Let go of the idols of workaholics, embrace the full satisfaction that is found in Christ alone. SDG. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayReadEcc 2:1-11.MeditationIn verse 3 Solomon begins with wine. People everywhere enjoy wine and alcohol, don’t they? That was true in Solomon’s day, and it’s still true now. I remember in high school, at university, and in the workplace, people looked forward to drinking on the weekend. For some of them, it was the highlight of their lives. You probably look forward to a good drink yourself from time to time, in moderation of course.So Solomon says to himself, everyone enjoys a good drink, let’s see if there’s an answer there. I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine, my heart still guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. Notice that he still used his wisdom. Solomon didn’t become a drunkard, but you can be sure he was having a good time.And what was his conclusion? Vanity. You enjoy a good night out, you wake up the next morning and it’s over. You do it again, and it’s over just as quickly. Then you grow older, and you lose your appetite for it. There’s no real satisfaction in drink.I met an alcoholic on the street once. It was a Sunday, and as we strolled through the park, we came across him and started talking. He didn’t look healthy. He told me he’d struggled with addiction for many years and had just been told by his doctor that his lifestyle was killing him. As I looked into his grey eyes, I didn’t see a man who had found satisfaction. I saw a man who was haunted. He was looking for a church, looking desperately for salvation. We invited him to come. We weren’t in our own area, but we knew of a faithful church nearby, and apparently he went along to the evening service there. I don’t know what happened after that.But I can tell you this: Alcohol promises much. Good times, enjoyment, pleasure. And to an extent, it gives you that. But it doesn’t last. And if you make drink your god, it will haunt you all the way to your grave. Only Christ can satisfy. SDG.Prayer of Confession & ConsecrationLord, I confess that I have often sought comfort and joy in the fleeting pleasures of this world rather than in you. I have looked for satisfaction in what cannot last and have forgotten that only your presence gives true delight. Cleanse my heart from false idols and quiet the thirst that leads me away from your living water. Teach me to drink deeply of your grace, to find strength and gladness in your will alone. I consecrate myself to you anew, that my life may be filled with your Spirit and my joy rooted only in your eternal goodness. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayReadEcc 2:1-11.MeditationThe truth is that we’re all on a search for happiness. Contentment, enjoyment, pleasure, joy, satisfaction. You can see it in the way that we try to avoid pain. You can see it in the way that we prioritise the things we want. Football fans in Melbourne dedicate their time and money to the sport because they enjoy it. Travellers save their money and spend their spare time holidaying because they enjoy it. Gym junkies search for self-worth and contentment in hours of exercise. Movie buffs lose themselves in the stories of the big screen, spending hours and hours of life searching for enjoyment. There are book-lovers, foodies, and workaholics. Everything under the sun.As I’ve been thinking about this, I’ve come to believe that everything a person does falls into one of three categories: escaping the things they do not want in their lives, enabling the things they do want, and actually doing the things they want to do. The world is full of seekers, people searching and looking for joy and satisfaction.You’ve probably noticed it in your own life. We have impulses and compulsions to pursue the things we want. We’re driven by deeper desires, both good and bad. And we fear and run away from the things we don’t want.As we embark on the second segment in Solomon’s Labyrinth (i.e. Ecclesiastes Chapter 2), he leads us on an epic journey for satisfaction, and he arrives at a quite staggering conclusion. Solomon is going to be showing us the reality about finding satisfaction in the stuff of this world.As we saw in previous studies, the world is broken. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. The next basic fact he shows us is that people want to be happy. Everyone is doing it. As Solomon sees this, he says to himself, “Well, if everyone is looking for satisfaction in the things of this life, I want to know, is there an answer to be found here? In all the things people chase after, can they ever meet our longing for joy? Is it possible to find true, full, and lasting happiness in this life?” That’s what the first part of chapter two is looking at: “I said in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.’”Solomon addresses this question head-on, and to put it bluntly, he tries everything. Every possible way of finding happiness in this world, Solomon searches it out by wisdom. Here we have the greatest king in the world, a man of unimaginable wealth, endowed with supernatural wisdom from God, with every possible resource at his disposal.And what is his conclusion on whether we can be happy in this life? “I said in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.’ But behold, this also was vanity.” In typical fashion, Solomon states his conclusion right at the start. He searched the world over, turned it upside down in his quest for lasting and full happiness, and came up empty. Everything passes away like a breath; you cannot hold on to any of it.You could gain everything in the world, and within just a few short years, it would all be gone. This is why Solomon says of pleasure in verse two, “What use is it?” He is not saying there is no pleasure to be found. See verse ten, where he says, “My heart found pleasure in all my toil.” What he is saying is that it is quickly gone. You cannot keep it, it is not lasting, you cannot hold on to it.This passage puts it starkly and really throws down the gauntlet to us, because it only takes a moment to realise that we do try to hold on to the pleasures of this world. Our hearts become deeply attached to the things of this life. We pursue them and make them a top priority. Solomon’s word of wisdom to us in this passage is simple: do not do it. It is a dead end in the labyrinth of life. That is what we will see here. If life is a labyrinth, if Ecclesiastes is a labyrinth, then what Solomon shows us here is a series of pathways that all end in dead ends. They will not take you to life’s meaning. In a materialistic age such as ours, this is a message we desperately need to hear.So let us ask the question plainly: Is there anything in all the world that could possibly satisfy you? Think about it. Imagine you were in Solomon’s position. You have all the money in the world, and you have the freedom and power to enjoy anything you want. The world is absolutely your oyster. That is what Solomon does in this text. He says in verse ten, “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.”If you woke up tomorrow and could have anything you wanted, with no job to go to and no worries to take care of, what would you do? Chances are, whatever your answer is, it is on Solomon’s list. Because in this passage, Solomon does not hold back. He goes for everything. There was no good thing he denied himself, no experience, no pleasure, no source of potential joy. That’s what we’re going to be exploring over the next few studies. SDG.Prayer of Confession & ConsecrationO Lord, you are the fountain of true joy. I confess that I have sought happiness in the fleeting pleasures of this world rather than in You. My heart has chased shadows and called them light, holding tightly to what cannot last. Forgive me for loving Your gifts more than Your glory, for seeking my satisfaction in what perishes. Please teach me to see that every earthly delight points beyond itself to Your eternal goodness. Grant me grace to seek satisfaction in You alone, and to spend my days delighting in Your will and resting in Your love. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

Note: Sorry, no picture this time - I have run out of my monthly usage on midjourney :( Want to support an upgrade to my subscription and ensure this doesn’t happen again? Why not become a paid subscriber! :) “I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.” Solomon is speaking here about the pursuit of wisdom: “I applied my heart to know wisdom.” Now, this is perplexing enough in and of itself. Why would Solomon say that applying your heart to know wisdom is like striving after the wind? He’s not suggesting that wisdom is worthless or that pursuing it is a waste of time. What he’s saying is that the search for wisdom and understanding is like trying to take hold of the wind. No matter how much wisdom you gain, there is always more to be found, and the more you gain, the more you realise how little you truly have.Let’s consider this from another angle: How deep is the wisdom of God? It is seen in every movement of time, every turn of providence, every particular in the natural world. The wisdom of God is everywhere. Now ask yourself: Is it possible for a human mind to fully fathom that kind of wisdom? Is it possible for us to understand everything there is to understand? Of course not, and that’s Solomon’s point.You could spend your whole life chasing after wisdom, seeking to understand both the pure and the crooked, but you cannot take hold of it. The more you gain, the smaller you see that you are. In that sense, to apply your heart to know wisdom is to try and catch the wind. It can’t be done. There is always more to be gained, and there is always more that lies beyond your grasp. This leads us into Solomon’s closing proverb in verse 18:“For in much wisdom is much vexation,and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”Here is a warning. As Solomon sets out to understand all that happens under the sun, he exposes the brokenness of the world, and our own inability to fix it. He also reveals our limits. We will not find complete answers to many of the questions that trouble us. We can no more grasp all wisdom than we can catch the wind. Again, he’s not saying that the pursuit of wisdom is meaningless, but he is warning us that it comes at a cost.If you want to go deeper, Solomon says, if you want to see beyond the surface of life and truly understand, then be prepared for sorrow. With much wisdom comes much vexation and sorrow. That’s the meaning of his second proverb.As you begin to understand this life more deeply, as you begin to see its meaning, you will also come face to face with uncomfortable truths. Wisdom opens your eyes to sorrow, to sadness, to grief.That’s not an easy pill to swallow. And yet, even as Solomon warns us, he invites us. Because following Jesus is, in one sense, an invitation to a life of sorrow. A life where we take up our cross daily and follow him. Yes, there is joy, hope, and encouragement in the Christian life, and we will see plenty of that as we continue through this book. But to follow Christ is also to become acquainted with grief, for that was the path that our Lord himself walked (Is 53:3).As you begin to understand and see sin for what it truly is, it will grieve you. As you begin to see what evil things have been done in this world, and how fallen humanity lives in rebellion against God, you will feel the burden of it. We see this throughout scripture, as the saints wrestle with life in a fallen world. The psalmist says: “My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.” Jeremiah teaches that it is good for a man to bear the yoke of affliction in his youth. Solomon will later say in Ecclesiastes 7:4, “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” And Isaiah foretells that our Saviour himself would be “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”Do not be deceived, to follow Christ is to walk the path of the cross. Wisdom will not lead us to a life free from trouble. And yet, as you consider this, remember: Our Saviour has walked this path before us. So let me offer this as a final point of application for life:“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” - 2 Timothy 2:3-4Do not expect an easy life.Do not expect a path free from sorrow and suffering.Expect to walk through a world full of crookedness.Expect to experience vexation of soul.And yet, take heart. Life will be hard. Perplexing. Troubling. But it will also be short, and there is glory waiting just beyond the finishing line. Arm yourself with the same mind as Christ our Saviour who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. This life is crooked. It is broken. And yet, for a time, we are called to live in it. But Scripture tells us that “this light and momentary affliction is not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us.”Ecclesiastes is a book that stares reality in the face, but it is also a book that fills us with hope and reminds us of how precious each moment truly is. It will not be long before you see your Saviour, perhaps sooner than you think. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. So as we walk through this broken, crooked world, resist the temptation to despair. Look by faith, and see things as they really are: See the temporary nature of this world. See that you cannot hold on to it. And see what lies at the end of the path of your suffering in Christ. SDG. 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On his quest to search out the meaning of life, here is where Solomon starts: I set my heart to search out by wisdom all that was done under the sun. And here is his conclusion, his summary based on everything he has seen in life (v14): “I have seen everything that is done under the sun,” says the preacher, “and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.” All is hevel, all is temporary and insubstantial. It’s over quickly, and it’s impossible to hold on to it. Solomon’s overarching observation on life is simply this: it is all passing quickly, it is a chasing after the wind.Solomon begins unpacking this big-picture conclusion with a riddle in verse fifteen: “What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.” Now what we have in this verse is a proverb. Check out the Book of Proverbs (also mostly written by Solomon) and you’ll find piles of these things. A proverb is a short, pithy, wisdom saying, a poetic expression – not intended necessarily to give you a quick easy answer, but an expression rather designed to make you think. You don’t speed read proverbs, you hold each one in your hand like a rubics cube and ponder it. You feel its weight, you consider its parts, you digest it slowly. That’s what Solomon wants us to do in here in verse fifteen, we’re not here for easy answers, we’re here to pause and consider. So let’s do that, let’s pause and consider what Solomon is saying here in this proverb.“What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.” What does Solomon mean by this? Well, in his quest to understand life, Solomon’s first observation is pointing out a single basic truth: that there is something wrong with the world. This is what he means when he speaks of crooked things – there is something wrong with the world. He also says that there is something missing in the world, this is what he means when he speaks of the things that are “lacking.” There’s something wrong with the world, and there’s something missing in the world – that’s what this proverb is meant to convey to us.And does that not make perfect sense? I was talking with an unbeliever a few months ago, and they were objecting to the Bible’s teaching that people are sinful. And I said to this person: “But surely you can see that there’s something wrong with the world?”And – unhesitatingly – this person agreed. There is something wrong with the world. When someone kills someone else, it’s wrong. When women or children are abused, it’s wrong. When families fall apart and the kids are scarred for life – something is wrong. And yet, these sorts of things happen every day in the world around us. This is the world we live in. Solomon is reminding us of Genesis 3, this is a fallen world.So then, as we begin trying to understand life, what Solomon is saying here is this: pay attention and take note, there are crooked things in this world, and there is something lacking.Now our tendency, when we see these crooked things, when we see the things that are lacking, is that we start thinking about how we can straighten what is crooked and how we can supply ourselves with what is lacking. That is a natural response to the world, you actually see people trying to do this all the time. Governments get re-elected by promises of straightening crooked sticks, they try and fill what is lacking with tax-payers dollars. And we do it on a personal level as well, we try and fix the crooked things in our lives, and we try and fill the gaping holes of what is lacking.But take note here of what Solomon is saying, because it’s profound. What he is saying is you won’t solve it that way. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and when it comes to what is lacking – forget about meeting the need, you can’t even count the problems! Here is wisdom: if you want to make sense of life, if you want to come to terms with what it means to live in a fallen world, then you need to realise that you do not have the capacity to make the crooked straight. You do not have what it takes to fill what is missing. Governments need to realise that it is not within their power to fix the world (this is why the election cycles become so tedious by the way). A generation comes, a generation goes, new promises and new plans, but the government is no messiah, and we cannot be messiahs either. Can you make a church healthy? Can you fix a broken family? Can you even fix yourself? Free yourself of that addiction? Make yourself a better person? As you look around and see the brokenness of a fallen world, a step in the right direction is to come to terms with your own impotence. As I’ve said before, Solomon doesn’t offer easy, pretty answers in this book – but he does offer honest ones.So we can’t make this crooked world straight – but it’s worse than that too. We’re so limited, that we can’t even get our heads around the problem: “what is lacking cannot be counted” Solomon says. And so there was Solomon, with more wisdom and understanding than anyone who had ever lived, and as he looked around himself at the world and tried to understand everything he saw, trying to fathom what was missing in the world, no matter how hard he tried, this was the place where he landed: “What is lacking cannot be counted.” In other words Solomon, the wisest man in the history of the world, was bewildered!So let me apply this to our lives: you are not called to fix the world, you’re not even called to try and get your head around everything that is wrong, because the simple fact is that you can’t. What’s wrong with the world? How can we fix it? How can you make sense of all the mess in your life? How can you fix the things that are going wrong in the lives of your loved ones? These are questions with only God-sized answers – and we are not God. This is how verse 15 teaches us to fear the LORD which, again according to Ecc 12:13, is Solomon’s ultimate goal in this book.To fear the Lord is to have a true and living grasp of our own limitations. You see, we are not God. We can’t solve all of life’s problems, we can’t fix the world. Think about this in the bigger picture of history, think about even the most influential people you’re aware of. Think of Abraham, King David, the Apostle Paul, Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin… in the grand scheme of things, these people are tiny. They didn’t save the world, they didn’t straighten out everything that was crooked, they didn’t solve everyone’s problems. They played one small part in the much bigger plan of a Sovereign God. To fear God, then, is to have a well-established awareness of our own insignificance. It is find our small part in the immensity of history, and to play that part faithfully. We are not called to straighten the crookedness of the world.No, this is what it took to straighten out a crooked world and supply what was lacking. It took God himself, coming to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When that baby was born in Bethlehem, the very foundations of the world were shaken. The shockwaves of God’s mighty power began to reverberate, and as history has unfolded, his power has continued to work through it all.Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Solomon tells us to begin by embracing our limitations. We are not mini-Messiahs, there is only one Messiah. Look to God. Look to Christ.At first glance, verse 15 of our passage might sound a little doom and gloom. Yet there is a glorious hope woven through it. A wonderful freedom and even a kind of glory in knowing your own limitations. You don’t need to get your head around all of life’s problems. You don’t need to live other people’s lives for them. You don’t need to solve everything. All you need to do, in any given moment, is live that moment in the fear of God. Look to him, and live each moment to please him.God doesn’t call you to change the world. He calls you to live each moment well, to depend on him, in Christ, through the Spirit.So know this: you can’t change the moments you’ve lost, and you can’t yet live the moments that haven’t come. What you can do is live this moment, right now, in the fear of God.Life will tempt us to ask big questions, questions that we cannot answer. They will perplex and challenge us. And yet, in the midst of this troubling existence, in the middle of life’s difficult questions, God speaks and says to us: I will do it. I will make the crooked straight.As Jesus was about to enter the world, the prophet John the Baptist declared, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight.” Ultimately, it is God who will fill what is lacking. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? It’s a question that has perplexed and troubled people throughout history. Philosophers have spent lifetimes searching for the answer, scientists have searched under microscopes and probed the heavens. World religions are full of seekers, all searching or thinking themselves to have found the answer. Some say there is no answer.But let me begin by asking you: What is your answer? Why are you here? Do you know? Have you ever seriously considered the question? As we launch into our passage, this is exactly the question that the Preacher seeks to raise, and it’s one he will continue to explore throughout the book. This is what he sets out to do, as we look at the world around us, he says, what does it all mean? How can we make sense of it all? Take a look in v12: “I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.”You can see it there can’t you? What Solomon proposes to do here is to apply his heart, and to search out by wisdom everything that us done under the sun. In other words, he proposes to apply his great wisdom in an attempt to make sense of the world, to see what meaning he can find. This is where he starts the journey in Ecclesiastes.We’ve been using the motif of a labyrinth to understand Ecclesiastes. For those of you who have ever walked into a maze, you know what to do first don’t you? You start exploring. You start trying to orient yourself, making sense of where you are and how you can get to the middle. Now entering into the labyrinth of Ecclesiastes, we don’t actually have to do that, because as soon as we enter, we find that there is a guide waiting for us in verse twelve. So let me introduce you to him: “I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.”Our guide is none other than King Solomon himself, the king of Jerusalem, and what he’s saying here is that he’s been on a quest, a quest to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. In other words, Solomon has used his wisdom to try and make sense of life. And as we enter the maze for the first time, this is what a wizened Solomon is saying to us: “I’ve seen it all,” he says, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun” (v14). He’s gone walking down the passages and pathways of life’s possibilities, he’s observed all the various activities of life, he’s considered the pathways of this labyrinth.Now an obvious immediate question here is this: Why should we listen to Solomon? Besides the obvious answer that this book is in the Bible, and therefore part of God’s revelation, let me impress upon you why Solomon himself is a particularly good guide. As we read the words of this book, we are listening to a man who, scripture says, was wise beyond any who were before him, and any who came after him. There was no one in history quite like Solomon. This was a man who was supernaturally gifted with the wisdom of God, as we learn in 1 Kings 3. In that chapter we read about how God granted any request that Solomon cared to ask, and here is what Solomon asked of the LORD: “Give your servant …an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” And Scripture says that God was pleased that Solomon had asked for this, therefore God said: “Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.” And so our guide is a man supernaturally endowed with the wisdom of God. Sounds like someone worth listening to!And Solomon reminds us of this again, and this is one of the reasons why we know that this is Solomon speaking in the book. You won’t find Solomon’s name in the book of Ecclesiastes, but it’s clear that he is the author. In verse sixteen he says: “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” We know for a fact that no one who came after Solomon could have made that boast, and – as the Son of David – there are no candidates before Solomon either. There’s just no question: Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. Now note that he’s not simply bragging here, he’s making a point that we need to understand. Not to put too fine a point on it, what he’s saying here is that if anyone in the history of the world was qualified to discover the meaning of life, it was him. He was rich, powerful, and gifted with divine understanding and wisdom. And so in terms of application, that should tell us straight away – here is a book worth listening to, a book worth investing in, and worthy of careful attention.So... getting more personal now, has this question ever troubled you? Have you ever had unanswered questions in your life? Have you ever looked at the world and been perplexed and challenged by what you’ve seen and experienced? Difficult things? Things that challenge your faith? Things that trouble you on the deepest levels? The death of a child. The death of a parent. A friend being struck down permanently with illness or disability in the prime of life. Opportunities that you look back and realise that you lost. Things that keep resurfacing as sources of regret again and again. Does the aging of your body trouble you? And if you’re young, make no mistake, it will happen. So many things in life that perplex us, and questions that trouble us. If you’ve felt the weight of these questions, then come now and sit at the feet of Solomon, listen and become wise. Commit to finishing this book, because this will take us on a journey alongside Solomon. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

The door in front of you is ancient oak and black metal. The stonework of the walls towers above, worn smooth by time, and half consumed by the deep green ivy splashed across the grey colourscape. A pale mist moves slowly in the air, hanging before these portals. The forest behind you is quiet in the early morning chill, and the distant birdsong hails a sunrise yet to come. The dull yellow light of the lanterns is caught visibly in the morning air, suspended in the morning mist. This labyrinth has outlived empires. Welcome to the door of the labyrinth, because that is what Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 really is.This passage introduces us to the themes and questions of the entire book, and in that sense it stands before us as an ancient monolithic entryway into the maze. As we make our approach to the doorway of the labyrinth, I want you to open your imagination and try to visualize what’s before you. This maze, as we come to it, is vast. As you walk up to the entrance, on either side you see again those great stone walls spreading out in either direction. As you look at the door itself, what stands before you is a great set of twin oaken panels, closed fast. Each one of these panels represents a mystery – the twin mysteries that will be turned over in our minds and considered again and again as the book unfolds. Verse two lays out these twin enigmas before us in a single expression: “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”This phrase is one of the most famous and well-known verses in all of scripture, but it is also one of the most troubling. “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity!” Why in the world would a Christian, of all people, say that everything is vanity? Now to help you to understand this, I want to begin by giving you a lesson in Hebrew. I want you to forget the word vanity for a moment. Where verse two says “vanity,” I want you to insert the word: “hevel.” Hevel, heveleem, says the preacher, hevel, heveleem, all is hevel!” (that’s a rough English equivalent of the Hebrew word, by the way!). This is what I want you to do: every time you hear the word “vanity” I want you to replace it with the word “hevel.”Now, unless you’ve studied Hebrew, chances are that this word means nothing to you, which is exactly why I want you to use it. Because the truth is that “vanity” is an unfortunately limited translation. When we say “vanity,” in English, we’re calling to mind ideas like: “pointless, meaningless, etc,” but these are not the main ideas that the Preacher is trying to convey. There are times when he does use this word with a nuance of frustration, but “meaningless” is far from the dominating concept that’s on his mind.What is “hevel”? Literally speaking, it means: “breath.” More literally, then, you could translate verse two as saying: “A breath! A breath! Says the preacher, all things are but a breath.” “Vaporous” also captures the meaning here. All of a sudden, that expression makes a whole lot more sense doesn’t it? A Christian wouldn’t call life meaningless, but vaporous, that makes sense. And so what Solomon is primarily doing with this word is that he’s using an image to express his idea. “Vanity” represents an attempt to translate the imagery of a breath into a concept. I suggest that it’s better to keep the image. After all, we often use images ourselves to convey meaning.You might see a powerful rugby player and say: “He’s a beast!” He’s not actually a beast, of course, but he’s strong and powerful, and plays the game hard. We might also say something like: “University is a doorway to the future,” or: “The office is a hive of activity.” We use metaphors like this to communicate something about a concept or idea, and that’s what Solomon is doing here.Solomon is saying: “A breath! A breath! All things are but a breath!” Now when we say a man is a beast, we’re highlighting his strength and his savagery. When we say an office is a hive, we’re highlighting that it is full of activity. When Solomon describes “all things” under the sun as being a breath, he’s highlighting two things (and these two ideas form the twin doors of our labyrinth). First, he’s highlighting the temporary nature of things (a breath is gone in a moment). Secondly, he’s highlighting the lack of substance in the things of this world. As a breath is insubstantial, it cannot be grasped or held, so too is this life under the sun. We cannot hold on to it. It is short, and it is fleeting – insubstantial, impossible to grab hold of. The shortness of life, and the temporary nature of all things – these are Solomon’s key themes in this book.So then, contrary to the “vanity” translation, the Preacher is not saying that everything is vain, or meaningless, although that sense may be conveyed inasmuch as things are fleeting and insubstantial. And, again, there are times when Solomon does use hevel to highlight that something is meaningless or frustrating, but his purpose here is certainly not to say that all things are meaningless – that is a misreading of the text, and sadly one which is very widely in vogue. After all, you only need to read further in the book to see that he doesn’t think everything is meaningless. There are plenty of times when he commends certain things as good. There is more gain in wisdom than in folly (Ecc 2:13), it is a good thing to eat, drink, and enjoy your work (Ecc 2:24). These are not the comments of a man who literally thinks everything is meaningless. The idea that everything is meaningless is likewise at theological odds with the rest of scripture, and so we must reject it on that basis as well.Again, to be sure, there is a certain frustration that comes with the temporary nature of life in a fallen world – particularly in a life where one does not fear God. We may indeed struggle with a sense of meaninglessness in life at times, and the Preacher is candid about that struggle at different points. Nonetheless, he does not say that all things are vain or meaningless. It is a very limited and misleading translation of hevel. Again – Solomon’s point is not to say life is meaningless, his point is to highlight how quickly life passes, and how insubstantial the things of this life really are.And so we have the two doors to this labyrinth of Ecclesiastes: the first door is the recognition that life is short, and the second door is the recognition that the things of this life are insubstantial, transient, or passing – impossible to hold on to. The doors now stand open before us – we’ve unlocked their mystery!As we step inside, we then see Solomon develop these themes further in verses three and four. We see in verse four that he wants us to know how short life really is, how quickly it passes: “A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.” And he also wants us to see that there is a certain lack of substance in the things that we do in our lives under the sun in verse 3: “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?”You see the frustration there don’t you? A man might work his whole life, and yet he himself disappears and no longer gains anything from his work. It’s as though a man breathes a puff of smoke on a cold morning, and he tries to take hold of it. It simply disappears in his fingers, it is a chasing after the wind.Life is a short and insubstantial thing – these are the twin realities that Solomon calls us to consider. I’m emphasizing this and repeating myself here because it’s so important that you get this – many commentators don’t. And, as you think about it on a personal level, these observations are true aren’t they? Life is short. Things quickly change. And the things of this world, however hard we may work, we cannot hold on to them. You could spend your whole life working, and you get to the end – and what have you gained? We pass away, and money won’t do us any good. Degrees, successful businesses, possessions – we can’t hold on to them, and so what have gained from all our toil?And it’s short too. Verse 11 says: “There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be.” It’s so true. Within just a few generations, our lives are nothing but a few words on www.ancestry.com. Let me put it this way: what do you know about your great, great grandparents? Most of us wouldn’t even know their names. And even if you know their names, what do you know about their lives? Their struggles? Their desires? Achievements? Failures? The truth of the matter is that within just a few short years, each one of us will be in the same position. Our great-great grandchildren will not know our names. And so the Preacher’s purpose is to bring our attention to just how short and insubstantial life really is, to show us how insubstantial our labours in this world really are.And the truth is that we need this reality check, because we tend to think of things as permanent and lasting, don’t we? The world around us, our homes, our church buildings, the earth beneath our feet, they all feel very solid don’t they? And yet time will surely wear them away. Riches similarly give people a sense of security. Our jobs, our health, our insurance policies. All of these things are walls in our self-made fortresses of security in this world. We build them up, and surround ourselves with them, and as we sit upon our self-made thrones, we think we are secure. But any one of these things could disappear in a moment. When your doctor tells you that you have cancer. When stock markets fail. When fires destroy homes. When car crashes take lives. We have no guarantee whatsoever that we will be alive tomorrow. And – what’s more – we have no guarantee whatsoever that things today will be the same tomorrow. Our money, our homes, possessions, they could all disappear at a moment’s notice. That is the nature of life under the sun.Now the culture around us seeks to ignore or alleviate these troubling realities, but the fact is that to fear God is to embrace this reality. Because it is in embracing the uncertainty, the impermanency of life, that we come to see that only God is worthy of our fear and trust.We have begun our journey in Ecclesiastes. We have walked through the twin doors, we have entered the labyrinth. And as we walked through those doors, we have been confronted with the shortness of life, and the way that our toil and work under the sun so quickly pass away. Now I want to draw these threads together, and apply what we have learned. How do these things help us to grow in the fear of God?Knowing that life is short, and that the things of the present world are insubstantial, what we see very clearly is this: life without God truly is futile. If you don’t have God, who stands above this fleeting world, then all you have is what’s here in this world. And if that’s all you have, then what you really have is a breath. You have something that will pass quickly, and something that you can’t hold on to. If you don’t have God, then this is what you can expect: a short life, 80 years if you are blessed (though it may well be less), and a life where everything you work for is stripped away from you. You can expect a life where nothing you can possibly do amounts to anything of lasting benefit to you. You can’t benefit from it, because you will be lying in a grave! And you will almost certainly be forgotten by those who come after you. Without God, life is a short, insubstantial, and futile affair.With God, however, we know for certain that – although our life is short, and although the things that we have are passing quickly away – our labour is not in vain. Because we know and serve the One who is beyond even time itself. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Cor 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.” As we come to God, through Christ, we have the promise that this life will not be futile. And even though it is short, eternal life awaits us. And rather than us being stripped of our possessions, death will be stripped of its power over us. As mist clears when the sun rises, so the hevel of Ecclesiastes will dissipate for those who trust in Christ. Without God, life truly is futile. With God, life now finds meaning, and the life to come awaits.Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 also teaches us to embrace the impermanence of this life. Not to fear it, not to lament it, but to embrace it. Because this book of Ecclesiastes, if it is anything, is a reality check. It speaks truth about what it means to live life in a fallen world. And so we need to realise that life is short, we need to realise that all the things that we do in this life under the sun are passing away, and in facing up to that reality in the fear of God, we can freely embrace it rather than fear it.Now what do I mean by embracing the impermanence of life? That sounds kind of spiritual doesn’t it? But what does that actually mean? What I mean by embracing life’s impermanency is that we must consistently pursue a mindset that is aware of life’s shortness. We must be always aware of how short our time is, and then live accordingly. It means we will know, at all times, how quickly we might lose what we now have, because as you live life aware of its impermanency, the way that you live your life will change.In this sense, the way that we view life defines how we live it. If you live with no sense of your own mortality, no sense that you will get old or die, then you will not sense the preciousness of time. And by extension you will then waste plenty of time. By contrast, if we live with a sense of life’s shortness, we will be inclined – by the grace of God – to use our time well. Let me give you an illustration on this. If you’re going on a holiday for 2 weeks in Europe, you’re going plan very carefully and try to get the absolute most out of your trip. You’re probably not going to plan to spend three days sitting in a hotel reading a book. You’re going to plan trips to see the sights, you know that your time is limited, and you want to use it well. You want to make the most of what you have. Now what we do for a holiday, we ought to do for life, we ought to live with an awareness of how short our time really is.The problem for us here is that we are constantly tempted to believe in lies, the lie that things will not change, the illusion of permanency. So often we live life as though the things we now have will always be there. But things do change. Children grow up and move away, our bodies age and decline. And this message is all the more timely in our generation because we live in a time where our culture idolizes youth, and constantly looks backwards at what’s disappearing – at extending our fleeting strength, and beauty, and youth. Don’t do this! the preacher warns. Instead, be aware of your own mortality, your own frailty. Be aware that we live in a fallen world, a world that is under God’s judgment for sin. What is now will not always be, even the stage of life that you’re in, it’s like a vapour. It rises, shifts in shape, and then disappears. In James 4:14 the Apostle says: “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes”Your goal on a holiday is to be refreshed, to see and experience new things, the wonders and goodness of God’s creation. Your goal in life ought to be to fear God and please him. As a pastor friend of mine likes to say: “Live for an audience of one.” Fear God. Part of what it means to fear God is to realise the shortness and impermanency of life. It is to live in the reality of the fact that death and sin are powerful realities in this age. It is to see the reality of our predicament, and thus to be driven toward God who alone can help us.This passage also teaches us to cease working for that which is impermanent. It’s so easy to pour the best of our lives, our effort, our time, into the things of this life. Whether it’s working toward a new house, working hard to save money, or simply being consumed by the pursuit of the pleasures of this life. And the preacher isn’t saying don’t work hard, or enjoy life, but he wants us to make a paradigm shift in how we view these things. And so in examining ourselves, we need to question our motivations.As I work in this world, as I pursue certain things in my life, why am I doing it? As I work towards getting a new house, am I making that decision in the fear of God? Is God part of my thinking process? As I save money, am I doing it with eternity in mind? With the kingdom in view? Or are money and possessions themselves dominating my thinking? As I enjoy life…is my mind increasingly filled only with thoughts of the pleasures that I may experience? Or is it moving beyond those pleasures to praise and thanksgiving towards the God who gave those things? These are the sorts of questions we might ask. How do I view my work? My leisure? And, above all, where is God in my thinking? Is my God an abstract God, or a God I can taste and worship in life’s pleasures? A God whose beauty motivates me to forego certain other sinful pleasures? A God who is so real to me, that I come to see my home and possessions for what they really are: passing and temporary?This passage teaches us to fear God by embracing the seeming futility of our lives. When things change in life, friends come and go, people die, plans and purposes fail, it’s easy for us to become disillusioned isn’t it? We feel alarmed as that which we relied upon is taken away from us. It’s easy for us then to loose hope, to live in anxiety and question what is to be gained by everything we’ve done in life. And, in a sense, there are no easy answers to these questions. God does not promise us that he will tell us why certain things happen in our lives. We lose loved ones, houses, possessions, and we do not know why, nor can we in most cases. But as we embrace the outlook of Ecclesiastes, we learn to see that this sense of futility or meaninglessness only grows and prospers when we treat the impermanent as permanent. We grieve, but not as those who have no hope.For when we see the passing nature of all things, that all is in the hands of God, we will be enabled to embrace the sense of futility in the sure knowledge that it isn’t at all futile. In this we will find a pearl of great price, as we grow in the fear of God, and trust Him, our security and sense of purpose will come not from the things or even the people of this life, but from the giver of life Himself. And so when things then change, when people change, when circumstances test us and our plans come to nothing, we need not despair, for our security was never in those things to begin with. Our help is in the name of the LORD, Maker of heaven and earth. And armed with the fear of God, we can embrace the mystery of life in all its uncertainty.Finally, this passage teaches us to fear God by showing us that nothing in this world can satisfy. You see we live in a culture where pretenders are legion. There are people and companies promising us that satisfaction is just one purchase away, you’ll get constant messages that fulfillment is just around the corner. You’ll find it on a 28 day cruise in the Bahamas. You’ll find it in a bigger house and a better car. You’ll find it after the next pay rise. You’ll bask in it when you retire. We must realise, however, that it’s full of lies, the whole thing, the whole fallen world system. The things of this life will not satisfy, for they are impermanent and changing. There is no satisfaction to be found in stuff. You will not find contentment by filling your world with appliances, holidays, and entertainments, it is all passing – a breath, a breath, all is but a breath! If you try to find your fulfillment in the things under the sun, they will disappear from your grasp like a breath on a cold morning, nothing in all this world can satisfy. And so let me ask you: Is that where you’ve been looking?Now the Preacher shows us these things so starkly, not to cause us to lose hope, but to cause us to look up through the mist of life and set the eyes of faith on him who is above, to fear God. In the bigger picture of God’s revelation, one of the big things that this passage is really saying is that only Christ can satisfy.We all want to be satisfied don’t we? Believers and unbelievers alike are on a constant search for happiness and fulfillment. Now here’s the thing, that longing for satisfaction can indeed be met. One of the most basic lessons of theology is the difference between us and God. God is infinite, we are not. And yet… that is not strictly true, because God has placed in our hearts an infinite desire for satisfaction. There is a sense in which we are infinite after all! Ecclesiastes 3:11 makes this very clear when it says that he has put eternity into our hearts. You see, there is a craving that drives humanity – generation after generation – to look for satisfaction, for peace, and for joy. And yet not all the world can fill this gaping hole in our hearts. Every pleasure, all the money in the world, none of it will lastingly or fully satisfy. Here is a key lesson of Ecclesiastes: only God can satisfy the eternal longing of our hearts. There is only one thing in this life that matters, only one thing that will satisfy. Only Christ.So stop believing the lies of materialism. Instead, seek after God. With all that is within you, seek him. Seek after him with all your soul, strength, heart, and mind. Let everything you do in this short life be aimed at this one goal: to know God, and to be known by him.Come to God. The doors are open you know. No, this is not just an evangelistic call here, though it is that. These doors are open to all of us. Is your spirit dry and withered? Is your walk with God a collection of platitudes that means nothing to your heart? Christ is the revealer of heaven, and full satisfaction in him is there for all who will seek and believe. You will not find God through eastern meditation or world religions, but nor will you find him through church attendance or getting involved in church life, activities and service. Live life to please Christ, and to be pleased by him. This is wisdom: fear the Lord. As we continue in this book, Solomon will lead us on these paths. Prepare to be uncomfortable. Prepare to have your eyes opened to joy unspeakable. Prepare to weep, prepare to laugh, prepare to make love, and prepare to make war – for there is a time for each of these things. I hope you will join me, there is much more to be seen in the labyrinth… SDG. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

For many Christians, the book of Ecclesiastes has been an enigma. Maybe you’ve noticed that for yourself when you’ve read it. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes says all sorts of things, many of which are troubling, perplexing, and even seem heretical on the surface. The main refrain of the book itself is a classic example: “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.” The NIV translates it: “Meaningless, meaningless, all is meaningless.” Our polite Sunday morning self, of course, doesn’t make any critical comments. But the honest question of every thoughtful Christian is inevitable: “Really? Is it really vanity? Is it really all meaningless? Doesn’t that go against what the rest of what the Bible teaches?” There are plenty of other passages in the book that similarly leave us scratching our heads.So what are we to make of the enigma that is the Book of Ecclesiastes? Do we just ignore the tough bits? Do we jettison it from our Bibles? (if not officially, then at least practically by neglect). Do we take a superficial approach to it, giving trite Sunday School answers to the difficult questions? Never truly exploring what it really means? And where does Christ fit in this book?As we open up this conversation, I want to put to you that the message of Ecclesiastes is both powerful and timely in an age of materialism such as the one in which we find ourselves. There’s no doubt about it, the book is uncomfortable, and if you’re looking for an easy ride, you won’t find it here. What you will find, however, is an honest assessment of life. Ecclesiastes is uncomfortable precisely because life itself is often uncomfortable. Things happen that we don’t understand, things that make no sense to us, things that make us feel afraid. There are things that happen in our lives that make it feel impossible to hold on to hope, indeed hope itself may completely evaporate at times (see Psalm 88). Despair and depression can take hold, and we live our lives feeling sightless and in a dark mist. In times like these, Ecclesiastes will prove to be a balm to the soul.Contrary to the teaching of some commentators, however, Ecclesiastes is not the ramblings of a man who has succumbed to these trials. The writer is not a jaded old cynic. On the contrary, this book is an antidote to these uncomfortable truths in life. No, it’s not intended to make them disappear, and it won’t give you an easy answer. In fact, at times it won’t even give you an answer at all to some of life’s difficult questions. But what it will do is put strength into your limbs and resolve into your hearts. It will not lead you on easy paths, but it will lead you on faithful paths. Paths that have been tried and tested, paths that will fill you with wisdom and perseverance, and – yes – even hope. I dare go further. God’s desire for us as he has penned these words through Solomon, is that we should deeply and richly enjoy life in the fear of God.But where do you begin in Ecclesiastes? How do you start to make sense of it? Trying to understand this book is much like holding a rubix cube and trying to solve it. You have no idea where to begin, and even when you think you’re making inroads, some new impossibility arises. The book is, in a sense, an enigma, but that’s part of the point. Wisdom literature in the Bible is meant to get you thinking, it’s designed to make you think, to consider, to wrestle with mysteries. Indeed, that is part of the journey toward hope. And so as we study this book, I want to begin by equipping you with the means to solve this riddle. The book is perplexing at times, but it is not unsolvable. In fact, it is designed to be solved, and in solving it we will be enriched and made wiser.So to begin with, I want to give you a few basic tools that you will need for understanding Ecclesiastes. The first tool you will need is a correct approach. If you’re going to make any sense of Ecclesiastes, you need to realise what kind of a book it actually is. Now this is true of any piece of writing. As you approach it, you need to know what it is, and that knowledge will then shape how you read it. For example, you don’t come to read a newspaper the same way you would approach a joke book. You read a murder mystery in a very different way than you would read a history textbook. In this sense, it’s very important to get the right approach as we come to the book of Ecclesiastes. We need to understand what kind of book this is. If you read a fantasy novel as history, you will be very confused. If you read an academic journal as a children’s story, it simply will not work – you need to approach the book correctly.One of the problems with the way we read Ecclesiastes is that, for many Christians, we try and read it the same way we would probably read a book like Romans. When we come to Romans, for example, it’s a letter, largely didactic in its flow of thought. It has a logical structure as it deals with doctrine, and it changes gears obviously as it directly applies doctrine to life in the latter part of the epistle.Now Ecclesiastes is not like that, it’s much more like a Psalm. Let me give you an example, Psalm 73 will serve well to illustrate for us. In Psalm 73, the Psalmist gives a personal account of his struggles with suffering. In particular, he recounts the way he experiences suffering as wicked godless people seem to live a life of luxury. In the first half of the psalm, the psalmist reflects on the mindset that he had as he struggled with this conundrum. In verse three, for example, the psalmist says: “I was envious of the arrogant” (v3). That’s a description of what he was thinking at that point in time. Or how about verse four, where he talks about how wicked people have no troubles before death, and that they are always at ease. Now if you took those kinds of statements in isolation, they don’t sound very Christian. “I was envious of the arrogant.” Not very Christian to be jealous of the lifestyles of wicked people! And yet the psalmist clearly says that he was, and he describes what it was like to be in that mindset.Now we don’t read Psalm 73 and think: “Whoa! This shouldn’t be in the Bible!!” We don’t read it and apply it by envying wicked people, that would be a complete misreading! What we rightly see is that this psalm is a divinely inspired description of the very real struggles that the psalmist faced. It’s a poem, a testimony of this man’s spiritual journey, and so as we read the Psalm we understand that there is a context for his statements.Coming back to the Book of Ecclesiastes, the whole book kind of works like Psalm 73. What we’re seeing in Ecclesiastes is the Preacher’s account of his own journey, a journey that has ups and downs. Like many psalms, it is heavily auto-biographical, and often uses poetic devices. In fact, as a living member of the human race, the Preacher is still on the journey as he writes, which is why he doesn’t resolve so many of the questions that he raises. The point is that they aren’t supposed to be resolved yet, not in this life anyway. And so in this book we’re often seeing a man wrestling with what it means to live in a fallen world as he lives in a fallen world. At times his frustration and sadness are palpable as he struggles to come to terms with what he sees in the fallen world around him, and as he seeks to reconcile what he sees with his faith in God. And although there are many questions for which he lacks answers, yet as he continues he nonetheless comes to his ultimate conclusion in Ecc 12:13: “The end of the whole matter is this: fear God.” When all is said and done, Solomon accepts the conundrums of life by faith, and calls us to do the same. As the Psalmist does in Psalm 73, Solomon finds rest as he too submits to God by faith. He doesn’t have all the answers to life’s mysteries, but he does know who the Lord of all is, and he knows that God alone is to be feared. So then, as we work through this book, what we’ll be doing is taking a journey with the Preacher. We’ll be observing and wrestling with what it means to live in a fallen world, and in so doing we will have a little light for our own paths as well.So that was our first tool for approaching the book rightly, you need to know what kind of writing it is. One other tool I want to give you at the outset is a metaphor, a metaphor for thinking about the book as a whole and for grasping what it is and how it works. Because while the book is similar to a psalm, it is not actually a psalm. I got this metaphor from one of the commentators, Philip Ryken, and I think it works really well as a way of capturing clearly what this book is all about and how it works.I want you to think of Ecclesiastes as a labyrinth – a giant maze. Complex, puzzling, hard, exasperating, and even dangerous according to Greek mythology. It’s easy to get lost in this labyrinth. And yet there is also a destination… you go in to a labyrinth to get to the middle, and King Solomon wants us to arrive in the middle as well, to get to his destination. So Ecclesiastes is like a labyrinth, and the labyrinth itself can be viewed as a metaphor for life as well – because life is exactly what Solomon spends his time talking about. Like a labyrinth, life is complex and puzzling at times, it leaves us with many mysteries and many question unanswered. And so the Preacher is on a journey through life, and at the same time he’s using wisdom to explore this life, exploring what it means to live life and how to live life in a fallen world in the fear of God.Now in this labyrinth of Ecclesiastes, as we make our way to the destination in the middle of this maze, there are two kinds of paths. There are paths that lead to dead ends, and there are paths that lead us to the destination – to the solution of the labyrinth of life. And one important thing to keep in mind is that as the Preacher seeks to guide us through this labyrinth, sometimes he shows us a dead end. He warns us of places we shouldn’t go. But as the book unfolds, he also leads us on good paths, paths that are part of the journey towards the destination.Now what is this goal? What do we find in the middle of the labyrinth? The Preacher makes it very clear to us. In Ecc 12:13 he states the goal of his book very clearly: “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” This is the place where he wants to bring us. This is the middle of the labyrinth, so to speak. The goal of life in a fallen world is to live in the fear of God, and everything that the Preacher writes in this book is designed to bring us to this goal. Whether by warning us away from wrong paths, or enlightening us toward right paths, the Preacher aims to teach us the fear of the Lord.You see there are many things in this life under the sun that are mysterious to us, many things that don’t make sense. The Preacher knows this, and admits it candidly. He faces up to life in all its difficulty, and his purpose is often not to teach us to solve these mysteries, but to embrace them by faith knowing that we cannot solve them. In this way we learn to trust God and live life in the fear of God. And so the Book of Ecclesiastes is a precious book in scripture, because it shows us what it means to embrace the frustrations that we experience in life. It shows us that even in the face of these frustrations, we may yet continue on and pursue the fear of God – both enjoying life’s blessings as gifts from God, and walking patiently through life’s trials as appointed by God.So, practically speaking, if you want to understand the Book of Ecclesiastes, this is a good way of doing it: at every point ask yourself the question: how does this part teach me to fear God? And really, as we work through this book, that’s the question that I’m constantly going to be putting to us: How does this passage teach us to fear God?Now, having said that, we have a basic idea as to how we ought to approach the book. We have a way of thinking about it, and now we can begin our study in earnest.So let’s approach the great doors of this labyrinth…Note: God gives his word freely, and he gives his gifts freely to the church. I want to follow his example, so I don’t put any of my content behind a paywall. If it blesses you in some small way, I give glory to God! However, it does take time, coffee, books, and effort to produce the content. If you’d like to support this work, or contribute towards improving it, I would welcome your coffee-flavoured assistance!Buy me a coffee! Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayerAlmighty God, Lord of Glory, O Light of Heaven, please chase away the shadows of my heart and open my eyes to your truth. I am so quick to wander, so prone to settle for shallow thoughts—teach me to think your thoughts after you. Let your Word burn with clarity in my mind and settle with weight in my soul. Make me hungry for what is good, wise, and eternal; keep me from being dulled by lesser things. Give me illumination not only to understand, but to walk in your ways with joy. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.ReadingGenesis 2:18-25.“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”MeditationGod designed the Woman to provide companionship to the man. This is a universal and enduring pattern of creation. Verse 18 makes this abundantly clear:“It is not good for man to be alone.” Men need companionship, and specifically they need female companionship in marriage. Communities matter, and the Lord designed women to be builders of communities. We need mothers, sisters, cousins, friends, elders, aunties, uncles. If you are a woman of God, this is a big part of your purpose: to provide community. Women are community builders. The wives of the patriarchs in Genesis were said to be “building their houses.” That’s a big job, building houses and communities. That’s a significant aspect of God’s purpose for women. The world doesn’t honour this design. In fact, they despise it. But we should know better—this is huge! Without women, we wouldn’t have communities.Be ye doers of the word….There are a host of practical applications that flow out of these insights. First: don’t live in isolation. This applies to both men and women. Don’t be an island. Don’t be a distant person. It’s not good for you, and you’re also depriving others of your companionship. None of us were made to live in self-sufficiency. We need each other. That’s not easy in modern society, which is potently individualistic. We don’t know our neighbours, and the sharp edge of loneliness is dulled by the second-hand connection of technology. But technology, useful as it can be, is no substitute for actual relationships. Whether you’re married or single, it’s important to offer your gifts in service of others. To actively seek to build real relationships. It is not good for us to be alone.Secondly, men need intimacy. This is the positive side of everything we’ve just been saying. Man needs relationship. He needs closeness. He needs company. Wives have a special role to play here. If you’re a wife reading these words, here is a “prophetic” word for you: God has called you to meet this need in your husband. He has given you that role. No one else can fulfill it. Your identity is image of God, but your job description is helpmeet. One preacher said, “there is no more effective way to destroy a man than to deprive him of companionship.” That is profoundly true. Your husband might be a big strong man, but it is well within your power to make or break him, even if you are both short and slight.And men, this responsibility falls on us too. In a sense, even more so. As heads of our homes, God will hold us accountable for everything that happens under our roofs. We are responsible to cultivate companionship with our wives. God gave them to us for this purpose, and we must not work against that by using them, neglecting them, or taking them for granted. If we do, we will crush them. Since sin entered the world, that is exactly our inclination. We must live with them in an understanding way (1 Peter 3:7). That means we will need to repent regularly. And constantly seek help in prayer. Husbands, we must cultivate companionship with our wives.And again, doesn’t this show all of us our need for Christ? It’s so easy to be self-serving in marriage. That’s a word from the wisdom of God’s word for the single as well. If you get married, prepare for an almighty battle with selfishness. But selfishness is not God’s design. We must repent of it, confess it, and seek the Lord’s help to honour him in our relationships.Now I want to speak directly to the single men for a moment. Single men: look for a woman who answers your need for companionship. When looking for a wife, look for someone you enjoy talking to. Someone with whom you can enjoy real fellowship in Christ. Don’t make physical beauty your number one priority (even though it has a lot of default pulling power in your mind). As one preacher said: “Cuteness on your arm will not make up for emptiness in your home.” That’s a word especially for young men, because you will be inclined to value outward appearance above all else. While that matters, it must not blind you to what’s most important. Look for a woman who loves Christ. A woman who can be your friend and walk beside you in companionship.And to single women—it’s the same thing. If you’re considering a relationship with a man, think carefully about how suitable you are together. Think about companionship. Think about whether this is a relationship where friendship and fellowship in Christ can flourish.And let me remind us all about the bigger Christological picture. As we think about companionship and intimacy in marriage, what it really points to is companionship and intimacy with Christ. And that applies to all of us, whether we are married or unmarried. Far more important than companionship in marriage is daily companionship with Christ. We must walk closely with him. We must be on intimate terms with him. Does that describe your life? Does it describe mine? Marriage will pass away. But the deeper reality of our union with Christ will only grow larger and brighter as time goes by. Seek above all things companionship and intimacy with Christ. And all of us, married and single, will flourish and grow, so long as we are near to him. SDG.Prayer of Confession & ConsecrationO Lord, I confess my tendency to retreat into myself, to live as an island when you made me for communion. Forgive me for choosing convenience over connection, and for withholding the companionship others may need from me. I repent of my selfishness in marriage and friendship, of the ways I have used people rather than served them. Please teach and help me to cultivate intimacy, not just with others, but with you above all. Please renew my desire to walk in understanding with those you’ve placed near me, and help me to honour your design for community.Consecrate my life again, that whether married or single, I would seek deeper fellowship with Christ, and offer my presence as a gift to others. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe

PrayerHeavenly Father, My soul looks up to you this day. Without you, Lord, I am nothing and can do nothing. Without you all hope is gone. I look to you on this new day, my hope is in you, Lord. Give me strength, according to your word. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Please give me today the daily bread of your word that my soul may live and not die. Please give to me a heart of wisdom. Search me and know me, O God, and see if there be any wicked way within me, and lead me in the way everlasting. My soul looks up to you, O Lord, I wait upon you for my help and deliverance. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.ReadingProv 1:10-12 - “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 11. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12. like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit”Meditation.Sin is greedy for gain, this is very clear in our passage today. “If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12. like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit” Sin is discontent, always wanting more. A sure sign that the world is enticing you is that you are being tempted in your life to prioritise material gain for yourself. 1 Tim 6:6 says: “godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”The way of the world is to seek to get more out of the world, and so when offers come your way to get something out of it – be wary. Examine your own heart – ask yourself: Am I content if I don’t get this thing? A better question might be: How would it glorify God for me to have this thing? Building wealth and working hard are good gifts of God, and there’s nothing wrong with building wealth, but the motivation is key. Greed for gain crosses the line into idolatry, and the world’s whispers will try and tempt you into this idolatry. 1 Corinthians 6:10 says that the greedy will not enter the kingdom of God.Be ye doers of the word…Let us then put off greed. Confess your tendencies toward selfish gain to God. And, having put off greed, enjoy His gifts in moderation, self-control, and thanksgiving. Hold the things of this world lightly in the palm of your hand. Beyond this, combat the mindset of greed with seeking that which is good. Sow to the Spirit. Do not toil for that which does not satisfy, go and read Ecclesiastes 2 and see how futile it is! Instead, invest richly in the things of God. Galatians 6:8 says: “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Seek first the kingdom of God. Proverbs 15:16 says: “Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.” We may gain all the world’s riches, but if we are not rich toward God, it will come to nothing. The world will try and tempt you with promises of gain, but only in Christ can this promise be realised. All the words of the world are nothing but wind and vanity. SDG.Prayer of Confession & Consecration.Lord Jesus, please forgive me for setting my desires and affections upon the things of this world. I thank you for your good gifts in this life, they are constant reminders of your goodness and generosity. Please help me, Lord, that I may have a right heart toward earthly goods. To give thanks in receiving them, and to live in such a way that I do not desire them more than I ought. Lord, please help me to treasure you above all things. Please help me to seek your kingdom first, and find all my delight in you alone. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Get full access to Old things New. at rcbhpastor.substack.com/subscribe