Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

Ecclesiastes chapter 7, I’m going to read the first four verses for our text and study this evening. A good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men and the living. will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word. This evening. Suppose you are in the hospital. Your daughter has been involved in a serious car accident. She’s in surgery, and you’re waiting in the waiting room. And the surgeon comes out after several hours, you know, there’s sweaty stains on his outfit. His eyes are downcast and he says to you, I’m sorry, we’ve lost her. Your daughter has died from complications due to this severe car accident that she’s been in. That is a difficult thing for any family to endure. It’s heartbreaking. It leads to sobs and tears when we have a loved one that passes away. There’s hardly a sharper pain than that of losing a loved one. Death is a difficult thing to face. Solomon, as usual, looks at life much differently than the world does. He sees problems in riches and position. popularity what the world thinks is good. But here, he sees good coming out of death and sorrow what the world thinks is all bad. Why is this? It’s because Solomon is looking at things from a biblical perspective. From God’s perspective. People think that riches in position and popularity will gain them security or satisfaction in this life, but they will not. We have repeatedly emphasized that only a relationship with God will do that. People think that sorrow and death are always bad, that these things are curses, that there’s no beneficial value to death and sorrow. But Solomon sees that God indeed may work through death and sorrow to actually benefit your souls. So he talks about tears and agony and he puts it in a different light. He puts a positive side to them. So I want to talk tonight about the benefit of sorrow. Now, just by way of introduction here, your Bible provides directions. for living and should really avoid the mistakes of the past. Someone has said experience is the best teacher that we can have. Or it’s a great teacher. Why is it then that so many people do not learn from past experiences? Are they dunces? Are they just complete fools? Mankind shows little evidence of learning anything from history. Sadly, even in our schools today, I remember when I was in high school, they stopped teaching history. Wanted to social studies. As if history is, well, it’s just not that important. So we’ve gotten away from history. If you don’t learn from the past, your boundary, repeat it is the common expression that people use. Why is that each generation decide that they can experiment with public morals and personal ethics? They can make up their own rules for what is acceptable. Why is that? You would think that simply reading the results from past experiments in ethics and morals in society would be enough. Take, for instance, the Roman Empire’s decline and fall. It had its moral and personal ethics. Prostitution was rampant. Homosexuality was rampant. Infocide was rampant. Multiple wives were rampant, and certainly sexual imbrate. morality of all kinds were rampant. Drunkenness was very common. The cruelty of the Columseum and people being torn to shreds by animals and people cheering it on and so forth. This was their society. I think it’s just too easy to think that we, in our generation, will do things right. Somehow or other, we’re going to do things better. same error as they fell into the past. You’ve heard that expression. Some people just have to learn the hard way. Well, sometimes God puts people through the school of hard knocks. You can either learn by taking heat onto his word and what he commend you to, or you can learn the hard way. The problem is we have a lot of self-confidence, self-deception, and And we do not learn as we should. The Bible says you reap what you sell. And so we somehow rather think we can ignore God’s providential experiences that he’s brought into our lives. But if we do, it’s just plain full-hearty. So you must avoid repeating past mistakes. Your Bible provides the right directions for life. Because the Bible is God’s Word, because God is man’s creator and knows man inside and out, he knows what’s best for man. He knows what’s beneficial. If we would pay more attention to what God says, we could avoid many painful experiences. Remember what the scripture says. The way of transgressors is hard. Transgressing is a violation of the law of God. So we don’t learn to follow God. law then we learn a hard way as the Bible tells us we need some spiritual discernment about these things the difficulty is that we all sin and we sometimes do very stupid things we find God’s way is not always easy because it cuts against the flesh and we try to take shortcuts try to take bypass matter when we get into trouble yet through the end-willing of the Spirit the light and guidance of the word of God, you may learn what God would have you to do. The Bible is a very practical book. You can’t read Ecclesiastes without realizing it’s utterly realistic. He gets right down to the nitty-gritty of life in this book. Solomon has focused on the dark side of such things as living a purposeless life, engaging in just formalistic religion, being consumed by materialism. He’s dealt with all these issues. But now he addresses the whole matter of hard experiences, suffering, and even death in these first few verses of this chapter. Now some people say, well, when things get tough, the tough get going. well life has a way of breaking you down. Life has a way of tearing your heart out, crushing your spirit, crumbling the toughest individual. It beat you up. It can leave you in despair. You may desire to live a quiet and peaceful life, but I’ve got news for you, trouble, hunt you down. You cannot escape it. The question is, how do we respond to these difficulties? Is there any redeeming value you in the darkest moments of life, in the sorrows that we experience, and death of loved ones, and so forth. And Solomon tells us here in this section of scripture, yes, there is. Now, we would think if we read the story of Joseph, and if we read in the New Testament of Paul’s imprisonment, we would realize some good things came out of bad situations. God. can do this. And so there can be a good purpose in the evil that comes your way in life. So your Bible provides directions for living. We ought to follow it. But let’s see what he actually says here. The Bible teaches you that funerals are better than birthdays. Versus one to four. In verse one, he talks about two things. The importance of a good name and the vast of the day of death. A good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. Now, a precious ointment is some type of expensive perfume, if you would, like Mary used to anoint Christ before his death. Very expensive, exotic, perhaps. Cost a fortune to purchase it. someone box by you, they have an attractive scent on, and they get your attention. In fact, a lot of the scents that are produced are for the purpose of alluring, the opposite sex, and so forth. The contrast which Solomon provides here is this, is to have a good name is better than fine perfume. Why is that? Why would that be true? A good name represents something about your inward character, your reputation, your integrity, your godliness are all connected with it. Perfume is just something you put on the outside to make you smell better. It may smell nice, but it’s all external. It’s all cosmetic, if you would, in nature. You can be a serial killer and smell nice. It doesn’t tell you anything about the person’s character. As one Scotsman said of an overly made-up woman, if it takes that much manure, it cannot be very great soil underneath. To have a good reputation and character far exceeds any outward adornment, any expensive perfume, no matter how nice it may be. And not only that, it lasts beyond the time you’re here on Earth. You may die and people will remember who you were and what you were like. This is why it’s better than perfume. Now, the day of death. He says it’s better in the day of death than it is the day of one’s birth. Now, we might find that hard to believe, too. It sounds odd. We have to think about that. Why is that the case? Aren’t birthday the, you know, the time of joy and happiness and celebration? And we certainly celebrate. when a baby is born into this world. And every year we celebrate that date that that that person came into the world. I remember when my dad got in his 80s, we started kidding him. There were so many candles on the cake. We said, we’ve got the fire truck sitting outside, Dad, just in case something catches on fire here. Solomon isn’t condemning birthday parties here. He’s not saying it’s wrong to celebrate. your birthday. That’s not his purpose. But he is thinking about a person with a good name dying. Obviously, the wicked die in their sins will find the day of death much worse than the day of birth. Because they’re going to lift up their eyes in eternal hell being tormented by the flame where their worm dies not and the flame is never quenched and so forth. But think of the case of the right. When you were born, what kind of world are you ushered into? A sinful, corrupt, degenerate world. Right? Ah. But when you die, what happens? You’re carried by the angels into heaven and you go into a perfect world where there is no sin. There’s joy and happiness forever. Today thou shalt be with me in paradise is how Jesus. classified heaven. For me to die is gain, Paul says. Remember what Jesus prayed in this high priestly prayer. Father, I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Behold the glory of Christ in heaven and see our Savior. So a good name and the day of death are better. Better than precious ointment. better than being having a perfect. Notice something else here. Death causes you to think about life. Verse two. It’s better to go to the house of morning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men. And the living will lay it to his heart. It starts out very small, ankle high. But as you walk along the brick sidewalk, the wall grows higher. and higher, listening more and more names. Somewhere along the path, the significance of what you’re looking at hits you. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial bears the names of nearly 50,000 men who gave their lives and service to their country there. It’s a lot of people. This earth is really a big graveyard. 34,000 GIs died in Greece and nearly 300,000 lost their lives during World War II. Daily, people are dying. And being planted in the earth. It would be rare if you open the newspaper and didn’t find an obituary column. Have you ever found a paper? We have no deaths today to report. I have never seen one like that. Birthdays are feast days. We celebrate. We get the cake, we get the ice cream, we give presents, and maybe it’s a time to look back on life and what you’ve enjoyed your past year. The days of death, when you go to the funeral home, cause you to look forward because you’re forced to think one day that’s going to be me me. One day people will be gathering at my funeral and I will be in the casket. So death causes you to reflect upon life what you’re doing here and where you’re headed. When you pass out of this life. That’s the value of funerals. People think, you know, when you go to a funeral, it’s all about eulogy and praising the dead and all this. What I think about funeral is I got to preach to the people who are here because they’re going to be. They need to be prepared to die. That’s really what funerals should be about. I can’t do anything for the person that’s already dead, but I can hopefully put it upon the people who are there to think about the fact that they’re going to die one day. Bereavement even can cause the most thoughtless soul to think about spiritual realities in a way that partying and having fun cannot. It forces you to think about your creator. Prepare to meet thy God, Scripture says. It may even cause you to pray out of fear and dread of what may await you. But the most important thing is that you’re ready to die. For me to live is Christ to die is gain. Paul says, I’m ready to go. I’m ready to be offered up. It’s only through a relationship with Jesus Christ. you can be ready to die. And interestingly enough, it’s only when you’re ready to die that you can truly live in this life. If standing alongside a casket cause you to reflect upon spiritual realities that it does your soul good to be in the house of mourning. Because as he says here, this is the end of all man. The living will lay at the heart. You should be laying at the heart. taking good consideration of these matters. So there’s benefit to be derived from it for one day the bell will toll for you. Death causes you to think about life. Sorrow is good for your soul. Versus three and four. Sorrow is better than laughter. For by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house. house of Marth. If you go to a banquet or a party or something of this nature, you’re focused on the pleasures and the delights of this world, having a good time, enjoying yourself. The atmosphere is light and happy and serious subjects are deliberately avoided. The theme is eat, drink, and be merry. Some people will do anything to avoid a funeral. They do not want to go there. I think I told you this before. One time I happened to stop in at the gym after I had been at a funeral for a relative of mine. And I walk in with a suit on and tie, and you’re not used to me seeing me like that. People were, you know, commenting on it. But as soon as I mentioned, well, I had to come from a funeral, they don’t want to talk to me anymore. That was it. That was it. That’s shut down the conversation. I don’t want to go there. That’s the way people are with regard to the funerals. They may send you a card in the mail or something of that nature, and you don’t give you their condolences. But they can’t stand the morbid atmosphere of being there where the casket is and with the dead are. They don’t want to look death squarely in the face. They don’t want to think about their own death. They want to put that unpleasant. this is as far away from their minds as they possibly can. But Solomon says, now wait a minute, the wise man is the guy that goes to the house of mourning. He’s better by it. The fool is the guy that goes to the house of earth and doesn’t even want to think about that. Your life can be enriched, even by the most harsh as much harsh as you go through in this life. Even when it comes to the death of the loved one. Obviously, normally, sorrows are considered enemies, not friends. And yet through tear-filled eyes, God may speak to your heart and it be made better by being there. It draws you closer to God. It rises, gives rise to serious thought. If anything else, it ought to make you long for a better world. as we read in the book of Revelation, where there’s no more death, neither is sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. I’d like to get out of this world and go to the next. Rita Nightingale learned this as she sat in the secluded shade underneath the hospital building in Lard Yeo Prison in Bangkok. The hospital was on top. It was built on stilts. the prison was underneath. She had been prison because drugs were found in her luggage, which really wasn’t her luggage. She was carrying it on for her boyfriend, who happened to have drugs in it, and unbeknownst to her. So in her despair and discomfort of that thigh jail, she was brought to faith in Christ. At first, she bitterly complained about the injustice of man. and God, that God would let such a thing happen to her that she’d get in prison. How could my boyfriend do this to me? Here she is. She’s in this miserable prison. But through the witness of some women missionaries who came by to visit her, and through a track that was given to her, Robert La Blas’ famous track, the reason why, God dealt with her heart. The track was the track. was given her by an elderly lady from our hometown in England. So here she is, in the darkest time of her life, in misery and sorrow, and what happens? God saves her soul through Jesus Christ. God had to get her attention. God had to humble her first. She had left God out of her life. And she said, and yet God in his love pursued me and ran me down and found me. in this prison. She writes this. Eventually, I emerged from under the hospital hut and went inside. I sat down in the waiting room, gazed out across the compound, blinking in the sudden bright sunlight. It’s not just us who were in prison, I suddenly thought. The whole world is in prison, and I’ve just been shown the way out. I’ve been in prison all my life. After reading a borrowed Bible, that evening she could say with simple sincerity of heart, I closed my Bible feeling happy. I might not know much about God, but I knew who he was. This is what the Bible teaches us. Death can be a heartbreaker, yes, if it’s a parent or child or friend relative. It’s very difficult to face for many people. But Solomon says, you know, there can be good. that comes out of all the sorrow in this life and even death. Tears and agony have a positive side. Spiritual reflection comes through this means. Being driven to God in a crisis is beneficial for your soul. That’s the upside of a funeral. So the question is this, are you prepared for death? The Bible says the wages of sin is death. You earn death. You get it rightly enough. But the gift of God, and that’s a free gift, comes to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord. It’s the eternal life that he grants us through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That’s the secret. We’re all going to die. We’re all going to have to face death, but there’s an eternal death to follow the physical death, and the only way to be prepared for that is to know Christ who grant you eternal life. life. And you shall never die in the eternal sense. And only that, but God is the one who ends up giving you a good name. He’s the one that changes your life so that you live in such a way that your character reflects something of His holiness. What do you think can you really live like? That’s what Solomon would have us think about tonight as we look at this passage of Scripture. So it’s not so far-fetched. When we look at it in that light, It seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? May God bless to us His sacred word this evening. Encourage us.