The Lord Lavishes His Eternal Wisdom

Sermon on Ecclesiastes 1: 1,2, 12–14; 2:18–26 by Pastor Pedersen

This morning I want you to think back to a time in your life long ago or maybe not so long ago when someone asked you this question: “So what do you want to do for the rest of your life?” Or “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Or “What’s next for you now that this or that different thing happened?” Can you think back and remember how you answered that question? Would you have a different answer to those questions if you were asked them today?  If I’m being honest when asked that question growing up I never responded “oh I know! I want to be a Lutheran pastor!” That thought would never cross my mind until Senior year of high school. A far more realistic answer from me before that point in time would have been “I want to be a soldier and join the military like my cousins” or “I want to create my own video game” or “I don’t really care as long as I have lots of money and even more vacation time.” Because at that time the wisest answer to the question: “What do you want to do for the rest of your life?” And that is a wise answer for all of us who live here under the sun, why not after all pursue the desires of our heart? What’s wrong with accumulating wealth so that we can buy bigger and nicer things for ourselves and close family and friends to enjoy? Well isn’t that real wisdom? Is that wisdom from the Lord? 

You see, Solomon was able to try everything under the sun. He had the wit and the resources to accumulate and try a bit of everything. He says “I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Today I want to challenge the way you think as we hear the words of the teacher tell us that our own goals or plans for our future may be utterly different and even meaningless compared to the plans that the Lord has in store for us. I hope that you all can relate to this because who in here has at one time set their sights or goals on one self-serving or even noble pursuit only to be blindsided by the Lord’s actual plans for you. And maybe it wasn’t until tragedy struck your life that a new pathway forward opened up. But are the tragedies we face evidence of God’s hatred towards us? By no means! Whether it’s through our own tragedy or triumph, the Lord is rich to us. In fact the Lord Lavishes his eternal wisdom on us: we who live here on earth but because of his wisdom we long for heaven, our home.

You see, we have quite the advantage as Christians, having the wisdom of the Lord available to us freely in his Word, especially since say around the mid to late 16th century. No longer is it necessary for us to go to someone like a priest and ask what the will of God is… because servants of the Lord took the time in the past to write down Scripture and teach us how to read it! And there in God’s Word we find that it is God’s will that his children, you and I, live here on earth knowing our citizenship is in heaven. And he willed it by himself, as the Lord humiliated himself by becoming like us in flesh and blood, and gave his own precious blood for you, God is satisfied and eternal life awaits you. We are adopted and elected as citizens of a holy kingdom. But what do we do in the meantime? Well our second reading actually fits quite nicely. The section in my Bible is headed under Colossians 3 “Rules for Holy Living” and here they are: “Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not earthly things.” I invite you to flesh out the details of the rest of chapter 3 with your siblings, spouse, or small group later but let’s pause for a moment on what our hearts and minds are to be set on, these things above, and let’s identify the things below that distract and deter us.

How often do you think about the Lord’s return? At the very least, we confess it together every other week in the Nicene Creed: “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” But how often do our opponents—the cares of this world, the devil, and our own sinful nature—draw our attention downward, fixing our hopes on the things below? Let me ask the question another way: Does the time you spend scrolling the internet come close to the time you spend in God’s Word, where He pours out His wisdom for this life and the next? Does your screen time reflect self-control—or distraction? Whether it’s social media or the news, how often do the things of this world consume our minds, holding us captive to what is temporary? We chase after what is fleeting, often more eagerly than we seek the eternal kingdom above. And what do these earthly things truly offer us, besides long days of toil and long nights of anxiety?

Do you find yourself nodding when Solomon asks: “What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest.” If you find yourselves caught up in any of these things that would deter and distract your hearts and minds from the good and pleasing things the Lord has done for you and has in store for you, then hear this piece of wisdom from our Good Teacher and Shepherd Jesus: WATCH OUT! BE ON YOUR GUARD AGAINST ALL KINDS OF GREED; A MAN’S LIFE DOES NOT CONSIST IN THE ABUNDANCE OF HIS POSSESSIONS. Yes, brothers and sisters, any plan or project that elevates our will over the will of God is one form or another of greed. And Paul says to the elect in Colossae in verse 6 that it is because of greed that the wrath of God is coming. Who can escape from God’s wrath? 

Thanks be to God, brothers and sisters, that God’s judgement seat is also his mercy seat. Thanks be to God, brothers and sisters that the day of God’s wrath is also the day of our salvation! Where our faith will be made into sight. Thanks be to God, brothers and sisters, that you have died, buried with Christ in your baptisms, and now you have been raised, your life is hidden with Christ in God. And because your life is hidden with Christ, when he appears you and I will appear with him not in shame or fear, not in guilt for our greed but in his gracious glory. You see, he has seen our greed and responded with grace. Selflessly giving himself fully so that the moments when our pride or greed tempts us we may be reminded that he has conquered our sins, and defeated the schemes of the devil, and overcome death that now is only a doorway to life. 

And since THIS much has been given to us already by the sheer greatness of our God, what else is left for us on this earth but the desire to lavish this reality, this benefit, this eternal wisdom with our children, and our friends, and all of our neighbors. That they may see this true wisdom to give and share our possessions as our Father in heaven has demonstrated for us by his son Jesus as the right cure for the world’s twisted wisdom to capture and accumulate possessions and wealth for our own selfish benefit. And as for how we share this wisdom? Friends, we have the freedom to decide! Whether it’s through school events, church events, or online evangelism, let’s keep exploring ways to grant saving wisdom to a world that desperately needs it. 

But for now we come back to the beginning, so what do you want to do for the rest of your life? Since we have such wisdom from God ready at our fingertips let us give our undivided attention towards it, studying it in solitude and also in public, with family and with friends. Share this wisdom with those outside of these walls so that they may escape from this wicked generation infected by greed so that things that are far greater than this fleeting life may become known to them. How about until he returns or calls us home we join in that ancient prayer of Moses we sang as our Psalm of the day: “Teach us to number our days in such a way that we may gain a heart of wisdom… May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us – yes, establish the work of our hands.” God grant that we encourage each other and strengthen each other up as brothers and sisters on our way there together, lavishing each other in the luxurious wisdom of the Lord, given to us for Jesus’ sake, Amen.