Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Episode 590: In this episode, we explore Ecclesiastes chapter 11, where Solomon offers wisdom for both the young and the old. The chapter emphasizes the fleeting nature of youth and the importance of remembering one's Creator. We discuss the balance between enjoying life and being accountable for our actions, drawing parallels to the motto of Jamestown: "Love God and do what you want."
Whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or you’re just starting to ask questions, there’s a seat for you here.
Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.
Subscribe, bring your questions, and get to know the Bible one conversation at a time. Head over to TheBibleGuys.com for more information!
You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Chris, Jeff, it's a big day. It's Friday. That's right, Friday, Friday. It's it's the day after the day after New Year's is it? Yeah? I thought that was two days ago, So I said, it's the day after the day after New Year's. Oh, I thought you were like stumbling. Yeah, you're stumbling, and you thought it's the day after day after New Year's. Hey, so when we get to Monday, it'll be the day after the day after the day after the day after the day afternoon years. Yeah, yeah, very very much. This is this is our poor listeners and sixty five more of those Oh yeah wow. Okay, So anyways, the reason why I wanted to highlight that is not only is it the day after the day after New Year's, but it's also the most important day of the week. Yeah, because this is it's the. First one of the year, one the year of the year. With what made Chris mad this week dumb the most important segment we did. Yes, it's very important. People. People must log this away in their brains. So what made Chris mad. Well, I have to tell you, Jeff, it happened yesterday. I have one ready to go. So we're coming out of the Christmas season. By the way, I've noticed most of the things that make you make you mad this week are very fresh. Yeah, you have a lot of that. You have a lot of things. I mean, it's it's it's always fresh wounds. Well, you know what it is. People are just dumb, Jeff. And that's what makes you mad. Yeah, okay, there's just no shortage of dumb people. You're right, You're right, you know. And by the way, you mean that with all the love you can. By the way, by the way, the last time I shared, we got Chris mad. I shared the guy with hanging the lights right, and I said something I didn't want to say. Oh yeah, you got Yeah, don't say it again. I'm not gonna say it again. Okay, but but I remember I said. Oh, we should be record that people and then and then you were like oh no, no, no, no, They loaned it. They loved it. I didn't have a single person that didn't come up to me and say, oh, you shouldn't done that. They all came up and be like, oh my gosh, that was so funny. But I felt so bad. Because I was like, I was in the church lobby after a service and I got like twenty five comments of people saying stuff, and you know you sort of want to say, wow, that message that you just gave was really powerful, right, No, no. No, didn't want to talk about what makers mean. Said about that guy, And I was like, okay, all right. Anyways, anyways, so here's the thing. We have no shortage of done people. I were coming out of the Christmas season. I made a significant purchase. Okay, it wasn't like over the top significant, but it was pretty significant. Especially for me. It was your biggest gift this year by far. Yes, and uh and so and and and so. What I discovered through the I'm trying to get non specific here, but what I discovered was is that the salesman sold me things that I did not need. Clearly he upsold he sold you and and so. I mean, hey, the best salesman are taught to upsell. Yes, but looking back, it was all careless, Like he sold me the wrong things, Jeff. So not only the upsell you stuff where it costs you more, he sold anything wrong stuff. Is the things that did not work did not work. They did that work got he got a Christmas bonus because of you. Well he did, because I have I know for a fact that the more you sell, the more you get in that particular job. Right. So anyway, so yeah, he's. Like, oh yeah, add this at this, ad this, and you could you could get this special little thing. It's so cool. It'll be like, you know, mounted and all this. So so anyway, he sells me this mount that doesn't even work, doesn't didn't even check. And so basically I look back and I thought to myself, I now know what he did, which was and I hate say it this way, but I do believe it, so I'm going to say it. He was not thinking of me in those moments. He was thinking of him, yes, And so that made me mad. He had he had a he had a live whale on the hook and he's reeling him in. That's all they do. And now I. Have yet still, because I have thirty days, I have yet still to go back. And now I have to like take this, you know, this box that was opened, it was pulled apart, that is now taped shut, and it's like bulging because I can't fit everything. Back in the box right and I got you know, I. Couldn't even you know, And that makes me mad all by itself. Yes, affect it now it's another trip. Yes, And you're lugging this stuff. Yes, And now you're hoping and it'll take it back. And I'm almost positive he won't get a deduction, He'll still get that sale, which makes me even more mad. But here's a flip side to this sharing, okay, okay, is that I have had a lot of sales jobs, and I mean a lot. I mean a lot, and I only got sales jobs in college, and I had just a tremendous amount of variety sales jobs, more than any one person should have. And I am guilty of doing what this man has done. I've done the same thing in fact when I was and almost so. Is this kind of a what goes around comes around? It could be. I think what I'm doing is I'm humanizing cathartic confession. I'm humanizing this man. I'm humbling myself. I'm confessing and I'm saying. With some confession with Chris Sarbo. I'm saying that what he has done that made me mad I am definitely guilty of doing as a salesman in the past. In the past, Oh yeah, of course, in the past. Yeah, a long time past. Yeah, when I was a college kids, right and so and so I understand it, like really well, because I've done it, and now I feel extra bad about the things that I did to people now that I'm. On the receiving end of it. Oh well, so. You learned, well, you know, that's right. That's right. So anyway, I've done the same thing. I remember one time there was an older woman who I knew very well as a part of my church, and I was working at a selling used cars. I actually quit the job of that church, went to another church, quit that job, and then worked at this place selling used vehicles before I moved to Michigan. And so I worked there for like nine months. I was selling used cars, and I know that the lady from my first church, she was like literally like eighty something years old, and she's like, yeah, I want this car, and I'm like, oh, here's all the extras you want. And I gave her so many extras that she didn't need it. I knew she didn't need it, and she called me back out and said, I don't need this this side steps. It's actually in the way getting into this car. It's not high off the ground. I have this side step, it's too low. I can't believe you sold me the side step. Oh I don't know. I don't have to tell you. Go back in and try to get your money back. But I knew she didn't need that. I knew it. But it was a lot of money for me. Well, there you go. I feel bad. So even saying it, Miss Peggy Brown. So what do we do, she said, us, those that are uninformed consumers. What should we do when people are upselling us? Probably just assume that the salesman doesn't necessarily have your best interest at heart, which means, guess who's the Guess who's the person to trust the most when you're buying something. It's yourself. It's you. Yeah, yeah, Do you buy? Do you buy the warranties and stuff? Uh, extra warranties? No? I almost never do because the manufacturing warranty covers most of what you're going to need. And I've learned over the years that they make a tremendous amount of money. We well piles of money with the extended warranties. Yeah. I feel like if you never buy an extended warranty, you're going to get ahead of the game. Yes, so at some point you're going to get burned. You have to buy something, you have to pay for something. But over the life of all of the opportunities at home Depot and Walmart and best Buy, best Buy and all those places want to upsell you warranties, at a point you're going to save money if you don't buy them all correct, I agree? Oh good, Well see, there you go. So learn it from from the resident salesman scammer. Don't buy the warranties. Is that what you're saying. Yes, thank you for calling me the resident sales reformer, the reformed he's the reform she wow. Yeah, okay, all right. Ecclesiast, Chapter eleven. Oh speaking of speaking of people who, dang it. Do dumb things when they're young. Oh, here you go, I have some advice for the old. Speaking of learning things when you're old, Solomon is about to give advice for both young and old. There you go, there you go. That's that was the kind of transition I was going to do better. Job you made off the cuff. You made it. Yeah, Okay, So we're gonna read Ecclesiastes chapter eleven, and we're gonna start off in verse seven. And here's what it says. Light is sweet, How pleasant to see a new day dawning. When people live to be very old. Let them rejoice in every day of life. But let them also remember there will be many dark days. Everything still to come is meaningless. Well, thanks Solomon. Young people, it's wonderful to be young. Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do, take it all in, but remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do. There it is so Refuse to worry and keep your body healthy, but remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless. Again, Thanks Solomon, Back and forth. Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your creator. Honor him and your youth. Before you grow old and say life is not pleasant anymore, remember him. Before the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky, remember him before your legs the guards of your house start to tremble, and before your shoulders the strong men stoop. Remember him before your teeth your few remaining servants stop grinding, and before your eyes the women looking through the windows see dimly. Remember him before the door to life's opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint. Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets, Before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caper berry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral. Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don't wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well, For then the dust will return to the earth and the spirit will return to God who gave it. He is absolutely miserable writing this chapter. But at the same time he's talking about remembering your creator over and over and over and over. Yeah, yeah, so it talk about going back and forth. I mean, think about it. In verse nine through eleven, just in those two No. Nine and ten, he says, hey, do everything you want to do, take it all in, which is which sounds pretty careless. But then he says, but remember you must give an account to God for everything you do. You know what that reminds me. Of, By the way, Jamestown's motto when they came and settled in the United States. You know what James Town's motto was. It says, love God and do what you want. Oh, isn't that wonderful? And so it says, love God and then do what you want. So if the prerequisite is loving God, then you'll want. To do all the good things, do the right things, do the right things. Right. So Jamestown's motto is wonderful, right, and I love it. And so it's almost like what he says is he says the opposite. He says, do what you want, but remember love God first. Right, you're gonna we're going to give an account. Which was great. And then he says, so refuse to worry. But remember that youth and the whole life before you is meaningless. He goes, he goes wamp womp, and then he goes, oh, that's really and then wamp again, and then he goes back and then says, but remember your creator. And now do you still think that he is writing this meaning you're going to give an account to God in this life? Okay? You don't think it's yeah? Yeah, because he keeps flipping back and forth with the idea that when you obey God, good things happen in your life or should right, and yeah, I think this is purely that you give an account so while your judgment is coming in while you're living. Yeah. He doesn't seem to have any sense of eternity in his writings here, So I think about this my dad. I can remember reading through Ecclesiastes with my family one time when I was a kid, and my dad grew up in a good Christian home. They went to the that we lived in. They lived in Elba, Michigan. My dad grew up on a farm about three mile two miles from the house I grew up in, right so right around the corner, same community, small farming community. All of the families there was only one church in the area. All the families went to this little Methodist church like a block from my house. So they all did. They'd all come in every Sunday, all the teenagers, all the parents, all the farmers, all the men would stand around and they would make plans for the next year, whatever, for the next season, all the women. It was always some kind of you know, Sunday dinner after church kind of a thing they did all the time. And they had a really good community. They worked together, they helped each other out, they bailed each other out, all those kinds of things, everything you can imagine a small, rural, tight knit community would do. And so my dad grew up going to church, singing the songs, you know, being a good boy. And he turns eighteen and immediately leaves everything that has to do with Christianity. Now, his father died when he was a junior in high school. Fell over, had a heart attack out in the field and just died. So part of that was there was a bitterness and anger and I'm going to just do what Solomon says. I'm going to live footloose and fancy free while I'm alive, because you don't live long. He expected to die when he was forty nine too. That was kind of his idea. So he went for so long not serving God. Then he marries my mom, and you know, he was forty when he came to faith in Christ. My grandmother said she prayed for my dad every single day for forty years, that he'd become a Christian, every single day. And she lived on the property we lived. We had, We had some acreage. We had a little tiny eight hundred square foot house, and then right behind we had like a six hundred square foot house. Right behind it. My grandmother lived in that little little apartment, one bedroom, little house. And so you know, she's only one hundred feet from us. And so I was around my grandmother times, sneak and snacks in the middle of day. I go have lunch at my house and then go have lunch at my grandmother's house, you know, and whatever. She always had little uh butterscotches. Yes, always have butterscotch. It's so funny. I think every grandma had butterscotches from our generation. Yeah, And she always listened to Christian radio singing amazing Grace. She'd always be making something in the house and she made all kinds. She canned a lot. So she's always canning peaches or canning, you know something. And she always had freezer jam from you know, the strawberries we grew, so go get a freezer jam sandwhich whatever. So anyways, I can remember my grandmother saying, I prayed every single day for your dad for forty years. But I can remember my dad early on as a Christian. We read the Bible every morning and every night. You remember, my dad would tear up sometimes when we would read passages like these, and he would say, I wasted so much of my life because he thought he would die when he was forty nine. His dad did, right, So he's like, hey, my people don't live very long. I didn't even give my life to Christ till I was forty. He's still living, right, yeah, yeah, he's eighty six now. Yeah. So but I can remember in those days in his forties, and then as he went into his fifties, him feeling like he'd wasted his life. And so you know what he did, Instead of wallowing in the fact he wasted his life, his perspective on eternity was, I don't want to waste the last years of my life, right, So, man, my dad got on fire. He'd read through the entire Bible every year, at least once, sometimes twice a year. He was studying, he was learning, but he was also learning how to share his faith. I can't remember my dad. I've seen my dad personally, seen my dad lead two or three dozen people to Christ. Strangers. Then my dad just sit down, you know, my mom's out shopping something, my dad sitting at the mall, sit on the bench, and just start sharing the gospel. Some guy lead some guy to Christ. You know, I can remember going door to door. My dad would say, hey, Jeff, let's go. We're gonna go. Thursday nights, we go knock on doors and just say hey, we're from you know, the church that we went to in Flint, Michigan. And hey, if you died to day or one hundred percent, share, you go to heaven. You know, I don't know if it's a most delicate way to do it, but my dad just wanted to lead people to jails. Back then, people were definitely more open to it. And I've seen him share the gospel so many times. And then he was outrageously generous. And you know, I grew up poor, but then my dad became pretty successful. He started a business and he was very generous to the church, but he was generous to people struggled and were poor. He did everything good. So now my dad has been a believer longer than he wasn't right, right, So it was forty years not being a believer, wasting his life. And he said, listen, I lived for the devil with all my heart. He said, I wasn't thinking about the devil. I was thinking about myself. He said. I lived for myself with all my heart for forty years. So if God gives me forty more, I'm going to give him everything I've got. And so I look at my dad's life now, and my brothers, you know, we're all in ministry. We look at our dad and we go, that was a life well lived. Sure he wasted a few years, but he got it right. Yeah. And so the difference between Solomon and my dad is Solomon, I don't believe, had an eternal view, and so I just wasted my life. And now I'm at the end of that. I don't have anything. Whereas my dad saw, from this moment forward, I'm going to lay up treasures in heaven. I'm going to do everything I know to do. He became a holy man. He became a student of the Bible, he became a sole winner sharing the gospel. He became generous all those things. He raised a family well. And so I would say, if you're kind of reading Solomon and going maybe I've wasted some time. Okay, while you're breathing breath, do what my dad did. Don't waste another minute, right, go after it. Go after it with all of your heart. As committed as you were to yourself or to living wrong. Now, become that committed to doing the best you can for as long as you can, as long as God lets you breathe breath. Yeah, And I love I love I love that because there are so many people who I mean, think about the church patterns that we read about, you know, George Barnostats or whatever it is. It's like kids who get raised in church typically not always typically the sort of exit church when they're able to do it, when they can exercise their own free will, right, that's the typical pattern. And then when do they go back to church, Typically. When they're raising kids. When they're raising kids, right, so they have this window of life where you know, all these really important things happen, and then they go back for the sake of the kids. In fact, we just we just experienced our Christmas testimony video that way, right, let's go back because of the kids. That kind of thing, it's so common. And yet Solomon, think about what he's saying. He's like, don't wait, He's like, do it while you're young. Remember your creator, remember all these things. Don't wait until your hair grows white like an almond tree. Don't wait until you can't stoop over. He's like, don't wait until later. They take advantage now. And I love the fact that he's talking about remembering your creator and he gives all these scenarios. Remember him, remember him, remember him, because that's just great advice. And if you're a young person listening, you don't have to. Yep, it's common, but you don't have to. As a matter of fact, most of the best leaders you and I know in ministry didn't go down that. And I'm not saying that they were perfect, but they didn't just throw it all away, right, And so staying in it a long time, God, God then will raise you up to be a leader in ministry, whether you're in full time ministry or serving in the church or whatever. You don't have to and you can avoid a lot of that guilt and a lot of that brokenness. You know, when Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son, the story is primarily about the prodigal son, but sometimes we could celebrate the older brother stayed home. Prodigal son got a ring, some clothes, some sandals, and a party, and his older brother got everything else right right and every man, because that's how it worked. He because the prodigal son went and took half of everything right and then wasted it and wasted it, and the oldest son stayed home and had everything that the father had left. Prodigal son got forgiveness and love, acceptance and honor. But the next day, after the story get over, he worked for his brother. That's right. So so sure it's a beautiful picture and God will forgive us and bring us back. But man, I celebrate that older brother. He needs to get a better attitude, right, we all need better attitudes. But I celebrate the decision of the older brothers even more, right, so that there's this opportunity. So in the same way, we don't have to go off and wighe start life and then have those regrets. And so if we can, Like you said, I think you said yesterday or was it today that you said about Solomon? You know, if we would, oh, yeah, it was today. We need to take good wisdom from the people came before us. And we see Solomon's mistakes and he goes, I chased success and money and women, and I feel like I've wasted my life. Yeah, and so we need to learn as young people. We need to learn from those people. Go, I don't want that. Yeah. It reminds me of my wife's testimony. So I had the testimony of you know, I didn't really come to Christ until I was, you know, almost sixteen years old, and I had this crazy family and crazy stories and things that I you know, walked away from and experience. And then you hear my wife's story and she's like, well, except in Christ when I was five at this little tiny church with some red windows. And I went down the aisle and then I've been in church ever since the end. I love God and served him and been in church my whole life, you know. And her parents are still married. And by the way, get this, so my family. You've heard all the dysfunction of my family, right, just craziness. Her dad and mom were neighbors growing up. They started dating in kindergarten. It was a joke by their parents, right, or elementary school something like that, where it was sort of a joke. They were together and they've never been apart. Wow. And then they. Dated, they get married, They bought their starter home before he went off to war. Okay, and then they're still in their starter home. Wow. They've lived in the same place, which is why I always make the joke. And I say, okay, I said, so they've been married like sixty five years or something like this, and I said, he is grounded like the oak. Tree, and she is steady as the sun. Wow. That's the way it is. Is that. That's fantastic. Yeah. And then her story is like that too, right, And then that's the older son's. Story, right, Yeah, that's andres there's something beautiful about that. So you don't have to go down the path Solomon went down. Right. And then as Christians, we know about eternity. We have hope and eternity, and so you're living for more than just this life. And so because you know that you're living for more than just this life, you're laying up treasures in heaven, as Jesus said, and this life has an impact on eternity, then it gives you a different view. And so you don't have to go down the path that Solomon went. But if you're saying I feel the same way, the fact that you're able to hear Us talking, the fact that you can somehow function well enough in society to use some technology to listen, means you still have some sanity, you still have some physical ability, You have some So then make sure that every day the rest of your life, if it's fifty days or five hundred days or five thousand more days, every day, make it count from here on out. And this is what Solomon didn't seem to figure out until the very end. He's going to say it, he's going to say it at the very end of this book, but I'm getting ahead of it just a little bit and saying make every count. Now, it doesn't have to be the way that he's looking at it. So as you go into twenty twenty five, as we lean in this, this can be your best year. Yep. Titanic. Yeah, make you count, make it count. That's right, that's exactly right. Hey, that's that's all the time. We have for or no, that's all the time we have, so hopefully we'll see you on Monday on the Bible Gush