Once again we are back in the book of Ecclesiastes. I am excited to talk about three important rules for living life in the futile world.  

Ecclesiastes is a book about how to get through life under the Sun with all it’s imperfection and pain.  It gives us wisdom for living in a futile world. It teaches that life is toil and trouble and tears.  It’s unpredictable, unfair, it’s a breath, we will all die and that could happen any moment.

But surprisingly, Solomon preaches joy IN the vanity of life.  We accept the futility and mystery, and we go enjoy God and His gifts! Go eat your bread with joy! Find joy in your labor. 

We saw that Solomon’s ultimate answer to life is to fear God and obey Him. “When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.”  These are the big messages of the book.  Enjoy life and fear God.  

But there is other wisdom sprinkled throughout the book that can really help us navigate our way through the drama and danger of life under the sun. This morning I want to cover three more rules for life under the sun.

*First: Because of the futility of life under the sun, you need to be yoked to a friend. “Two are better than one.” Three are even better. “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken”. These kind of companions, must fear and obey God. That is a given. Paul said, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” 

So we are to team up with two or three. We’re to SEEK out  companions for the journey through life and be faithful to them. Commit yourself to long-term relationships. Be a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Doing life alone is not good. Doing life alone is dangerous. Isolation might work in a perfect world but this world is harsh, even brutal at times, it has lots of ups and downs. We are strangers and pilgrims here.  It’s better to make this pilgrim journey with faithful friends.  

You don’t get into a two or three cord relationship by complaining that nobody loves you.  You do not get into a two or three cord relationship by blaming other people for not being there for you. You develop these friendships by choosing to lay your life down for someone else.  You risk yourself to have these kind of relationships. They cost you something.  

Jesus left his glory and comfort in heaven to come be with us.  He suffered rejection and humiliation and unfathomable physical pain for us. His death on the cross is what saved us. But the cross also demonstrated His love for us and he showed us there, how to be a friend.  “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend.” And Jesus said, “I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.

Paul told believers at Corinth you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 2 Cor 7:3 That is the attitude of life by which you gain these close friends Solomon advises us to have. 

Ruth told her mother-in-law, “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” Ruth 1:16,17  

In everyone of these examples, one person took the initiative to be loyal, loving and faithful.  Each of these people made a costly, long-term commitment to someone else.  You can’t guarantee the faithful response of the other person, but you cannot have faithful friends without BEING that kind of faithful person first.    

Solomon gives us four reasons two are better than one.  

*Two will have more success. “Two have a good return for their labor.” You accomplish more together.  I shudder to think how diminished my life and work would be without my wife and without deep connections with fellow elders at DMFC and my fellow-elder and co-laborers here at RLC.  I don’t think I would have lasted in home-building OR in the ministry on my own.  Paul needed Timothy and other fellow workers.  We all do. 

*Second reason: You can pick each other up when you fall. Verse 10 “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!”  Life under the sun is not easy. You’ll fall, or get knocked down or fail at something.  You’ll suffer some defeats.  If you are yoked to a good and godly friend, they will be there to pick you up.  If you are just out there floating around, without deep connections, you might stay down. 

*Third reason: You need other people to keep warm. Solomon said, “how can one keep warm alone?”.  Travelers in those days often had no warm place to stay and the only way to keep from freezing was to lie down together.  Solomon gives this as a reason why we need to travel together and stay together.  This applies to our souls as well as our bodies.  We need each other to stay warm spiritually. We grow cold and numb and insensitive to the work of God, when we wander about on our own. We need the warmth of deep connections with other Christians to keep us warm.  

*Fourth reason: You need a friend to defend you when you are under attack. Verse 12 “Though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” The image here is of a person being attacked or robbed. You need a friend to defend you, and withstand the attacker.  Life under the sun involves being under attack.  Someone will accuse you, or sue you, or slander you. You need a friend in those situations.  We are attacked by spiritual forces of darkness. We have an enemy of our souls. The world opposes us!  You need spiritual friends who know how to fight. Paul called his friends fellow soldiers. He was talking about brothers who would stand strong in the fight when things were going down, when things were going bad. You need to be in two or three cord band of brothers, fellow-soldiers.

Those are the four reasons Solomon gives us that two are better than one. He is reasoning with us to stay in relationships.  This rule that two are better than one is often applied to marriage.  It’s not primarily what Solomon is talking about, but is does apply. So if you are married don’t just be two people in the same house, work together, help each other succeed. Be FOR each other not AGAINST each other. You are not competitors. Pick each other up, keep each other warm, defend each other. 

David Gibson said he saw two problems that are really disobedience to Solomon’s advice.  “I see some people who do not seem to want to make friends.” (The actively choose to do life alone.) “Others make no effort to retain friends. They throw them away for the slightest cause.” That’s a problem.  Godly friends are to be highly valued.  You don’t throw them away for the first offense, or the first thing you have to bear with. If we pay attention to this scripture we will seek to be in faithful relationships.

*Second rule for life in this fallen world.  Stop cursing others and pay little attention when others curse you.  This may sound like an odd rule for life under the sun.  But this wisdom has probably kept me out of more trouble than any other advice in the book.  

First, do NOT curse others even in your thoughts.  10:20 “Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.”  To curse means to tear down, condemn, to speak of them with contempt.  Do not allow yourself the satisfaction of speaking evil of others in your heart.  Probably most of us would be careful about speaking evil outwardly of others. But Solomon goes deeper than that.  Don’t even curse them in your heart.

You think you’re doing that in privacy.  But Solomon said people will find out. People WILL know how you feel about them in your heart and it will damage your life. 

Jesus said, out of the heart come evil thoughts, and slander. Be quick to renounce and repudiate ungodly thoughts about others. 

The other side of this is that you are to pay little or no attention when others curse you. 7:21-22 “Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken or you may hear your servant cursing you. For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.”  At some time in some situation you WILL hear that somebody has said bad things about you. So how do we deal with that? 

Solomon said, stop listening so carefully to what other people say.  Some people are just waiting for people to say something that offends them.  This is saying don’t be so sensitive to what people say. But WHEN you do hear others saying something critical or condemning about you, the answer is NOT to turn around and curse that person for saying those things.  

INSTEAD realize you have done that too.  Stop focusing on HOW terrible it was of THAT person to say something against you. Tamp down your outrage. Stop wallowing in the offense. And just realize you have said hurtful thing about others too “many times”.  Can any of us say that is not true?! Don’t make a monumental sin out of something someone else does and think it’s nothing when you do it. What they said was bad evil, sinful, but by acknowledging the reality of your own critical words at times you find yourself able to overlook and forgive and bear with one another.  

So stop cursing and stop making such a big deal about it when others curse you. 

*Third rule for life: Live your life to the fullest and leave the results to God.  11:1 “Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.  Give to seven, or even to eight.… 4 “He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap.... Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.”  This is a call to  wholehearted living!  Be fully engaged in all you do. “It’s a call to action rather than paralysis.” 

Work diligently. Give generously. Don’t be overly cautious about life.  Live with abandon. Take some risks or you won’t accomplish anything! Plunge in and go for it. This is how we are to come at life under the sun! 

Solomon acknowledges that life is inscrutable. It is beyond our understanding.  It is unpredictable.  Verse 2 “You do not know what misfortunes may occur on the earth”.  We are powerlessness to change so much that happens.  Verse 3 If a huge tree falls to the south then there it will lie.  If the clouds are full of water, it IS going to rain.  We don’t control these things.  On top of that we can’t begin to understand the plans and actions of God!  Verse 5 NLT “Just as you do the not know the mystery of a baby growing in it’s mother’s womb so you cannot understand the activity of God.”  We don’t know which will succeed sowing seed in the morning or evening! 

But with life’s uncertainty, Solomon preached whole-hearted living! “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” E 9:10.  “Cast your bread upon the waters”. Take risks. Keep working and trust God with the results.  

This is a warning against being too measured, too careful.  Verse 4 “He who watches the wind will not sow and he who looks at the clouds will not reap.” If you wait for perfect circumstances you’ll never get anything done. John Gill said, “If nothing is done till all difficulties are removed, no good thing will ever be done.” Of course we should be wise in our plans. We probably all know people whose approach to life is ready, fire, aim. 

But there is just as much danger that we become too cautious, too hesitant to act.  And it leads to a shriveled up approach to life. It leads to a small life, a life with anxiety, worry and fears of the future always keeping us from doing the good things we could and should be doing. 

Year ago I read a biography on Christopher Colombus.  I remember only one line from it.  Colombus’ greatness is NOT that he discovered America but that he weighed anchor. (He lifted the anchor out of the water and started  the journey) It was the audacity, the courage, the pluck to head across the ocean with all the unknowns. He had information but not certainty.  In life under the sun there is no absolute certainty! You must act without certainty and leave the results with God. The people who know their God will take action!  

Going back to verse 1 “Cast your bread up on the waters and after many days it will come back to you.” Old commentators usually took this to mean to scatter your gifts freely to people. Most present day commentators take it to mean something like ship your grain across the sea and the goods you trade for, will come back to you.  So if you want to receive goods and payment for your grain you have to put it out to sea, with the risks of that.  Solomon is advocating a certain attitude toward life here!

The NIV translates verse 2 “Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight”. The phrase seven or even eight is an expression that means to do something fully or completely or as much as you can!  Whether Solomon had in mind generosity or investing, the point is to do what you do to the utmost.  John Gill “It best to take the passage as commending (whole-hearted) activity whether in business or benevolence, without anxiety about results which are in Higher Hands.” 

Solomon said God WILL reward your diligence. “After many days it will return to you.”  But you have to trust in that! You have to take the risk to go live your life, to put yourself out there for people and life trusting that after many days the reward will come back to you.  This applies to giving and to life. Jesus said “give and it shall be given to you” but the giving always feels like a risk.  But Jesus said it will come back to you pressed down, shaken together and running over.”  

Paul said, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary”. And “he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also read bountifully.”  Sowing bountifully is to be our approach to life! We go do as much good as we can all the time because God is a rewarder, even if we have to wait for it.    

*Solomon warns against being inactive because of small dangers. Don’t let a little wind keep you from sowing your seed; don’t let a few clouds keep you from reaping. We can be people who are so attuned to potential dangers and problems that we become passive and inactive in the body of Christ, in our work, in our labors for the Lord, in every part of life. Solomon warns against this! 

Then he concludes his point with verse 6. “Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.”

Don’t let the imperfect nature of life under the sun make you  unwilling to work and to work diligently.  Do let the imperfect nature of life keep you from taking risks, or make you paralyzed by fear of failure.  Instead Solomon said “Get out there and sow!!!”  Sow your seed in the morning and in the evening.  The point is to always be sowing, work hard, work consistently.  Do the best you can every day and leave the results with God.  You don’t know what will succeed so just keep sowing! 

This applies to serving Christ! It is a rule for all of life.  If you serve people based mainly on what results you see or don’t see, you’ll be up and down, starting, stopping - all fired up one day, then ready to quit the next.  If you keep your eyes on all the problems of sowing into people (it’s too windy, it’s too cloudy) you never begin to sow into other people’s lives. There is just always a reason to not reach out, always a reason to not serve, to not give, to stay uninvolved.  Solomon’s advice is a lot like Paul told Timothy.   “Preach the word, in season and out of season.”  That’s kind of what Solomon said.  Morning and evening!  Sow your seed! We are all called to that kind of relentless faithfulness.   

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 

Go live for Jesus with abandon! Go work for the kingdom with abandon.  Without looking too much at the immediate results or the problems.  Go do your WORK for the Lord. The reward will come. YOUR LABOR is not in vain.  After many days it will return to you!  But you have to go!  You have to take the risk and reach out and get involved in serving the King of Kings.  And mostly we do that by serving and loving and reaching out to one another. We are not to stay in a place of inactivity.  

This is the approach to life that God tells us to have through Solomon. It’s a call to a courageous way of living. It is an attitude of the heart. It is a whole-hearted, risk-taking, adventurous approach to life. This could be life-changing for you this morning.