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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Dr. Wes Bredenhof > Wisdom means remembering your Creator | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) Psalm 100 Psalm 90:1-3 Hymn 80:1-3 Hymn 1 Hymn 80:4-6 Scripture reading: Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8 Catechism lesson and text: Lord's Day 9 and Ecclesiastes 12:1 |
Beloved congregation of Christ,
If you don’t know him, Jordan Peterson is one of the most influential figures of our day. He’s a Canadian psychologist known for speaking up against many of the present-day trends. He’s a conservative in many ways, but he’s not a Christian. Maybe he will be someday, we can pray for that, but he’s not yet.
Peterson was once asked about wisdom. “How do you define wisdom?” was the question. He paused and thought about it for a moment. Then he said, “Well, there’s the Old Testament view, that the “‘fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.’” But then he went on to add more. He spoke of wisdom as the “knowledge of your own capacity for malevolence” – malevolence is evil doing. He said that wisdom is the knowledge of your own limitations, and a few other things. But he didn’t come back to the fear of God or expound on that.
It’s remarkable that he mentioned the fear of God at all and we can give him credit for that. And we can’t expect much from someone who’s not a Christian. Nonetheless, we should notice that apart from the first bit about the fear of God, his answer was totally directed to the horizontal plane. The vertical dimension isn’t taken into account. It’s all about you in yourself, and nothing to do with God. If we put it in the terms of the author of Ecclesiastes, Jordan Peterson is speaking mostly about life “under the sun.” Life “under the sun” is life considered apart from God. That’s actually the opposite of the fear of God.
This afternoon we’re going to learn about wisdom. Our catechism lesson from Lord’s Day 9 teaches us that we have a heavenly Father who is our Creator. And Ecclesiastes 12:1 teaches us that wisdom means taking him into account in our lives. We’ll focus on that passage this afternoon as I preach to you God’s Word, Wisdom means remembering your Creator.
We’ll learn about:
- When to do this
- How to do this
- Why to do this
The author of Ecclesiastes calls himself “the Preacher.” Some think it was King Solomon, the son of David. Others look at the kind of Hebrew used in this book and think the author must have lived a few hundred years after Solomon. It’s a question I don’t think we’ll ever resolve. I also don’t think it’s a question we need to answer to understand the message of Ecclesiastes.
The overall message of the book is that life “under the sun” is vain. Life without taking God into account is pointless. When the Preacher says, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” he doesn’t mean that as absolute truth for every single person. Rather, it’s truth for those who don’t take God seriously.
Our passage occurs near the end of the book. As the book concludes, the Preacher speaks to the beginning and end of human life. He speaks about youth and about old age. He speaks to how we should think wisely about these vastly different stages of life.
That brings us to the command of our text: Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth. The first thing to notice is that all human beings have a Creator. As we confess in Lord’s Day 9, God created heaven and earth and everything in them. He created it all out of nothing. At the beginning, God spoke and there was light. God spoke on the second day and created the earth and the heavens. On each of the following four days, God spoke and created everything that is, including humanity. The Bible teaches us that all this really happened in space and time. There really is a Creator who really did create the universe and everything in it.
As I’m sure you know, the world has a different story of origins. It doesn’t involve a Creator. It involves nothing suddenly becoming something and then a long, long story of that something evolving into other things. Eventually, a species known as homo sapiens appears on the scene. Jordan Peterson is just one of many who holds to that story of origins. Yes, sometimes he’ll talk about the Bible’s story of creation, but he describes it as a myth, a story that reflects and shapes the human imagination. He doesn’t actually believe the Bible’s story of creation to be true, to be history. Jordan Peterson takes the same approach to the resurrection of Jesus. It’s a myth – not history.
Contrary to that, the Bible presents both the resurrection and creation as real history that happened in space and time. There is a Creator who ought to be remembered. And he really did create in times past and he continues to be involved with his creation. Our Catechism speaks about his work of providence briefly in Lord’s Day 9. We’ll look at providence more fully in Lord’s Day 10. But for now we can note that God’s providence means that he is our Creator in a more direct and immediate way as well. Yes, he created Adam and Eve at the beginning of history, but by his providence, he also created each one of us in our mother’s wombs. Psalm 139 tells us that God is the one who knits us together in our conception. He controls all the natural processes involved. And he sends the Holy Spirit to be the Lord and Giver of life. Every human being is physically alive because of the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in Acts 17, it is in God that we live and move and have our being – and specifically, through the work of God the Holy Spirit. So God is our Creator in a real and powerful way.
And we’re to remember him in the days of our youth, it says in Ecclesiastes 12:1. Now you might read this and think that this is directly addressed to young people. And yes, it is. But it’s not exclusively addressed to young people, as in pre-teens, teenagers, and maybe those in their 20s. It’s not only for them. The word that’s used for “youth” here in the Hebrew speaks of a time of life when you are robust and have energy. You’re able to work vigorously. The following context speaks of a time of life when that’s no longer the case.
You know the saying, “You’re only as old as you feel you are.” There’s something to that, biblically speaking. You could be in your 50s and still be in the “days of your youth.” You’ve still got your health, you’ve got energy, you’re in the prime of life. That could even be true of someone in their 60s or sometimes even 70s. You see, youth here isn’t defined by the number of years in your life, the number of your birthdays. Youth here is defined by your health and strength. And that’s going to differ from person to person. As a pastor, I’ve known people in their 80s who were far healthier and stronger than some people in their 50s. I remember one man in the church where I grew up. I did some work for him one summer. He was in his 80s and he was lifting 90 kg concrete blocks with ease. Old Mr. Bosch was strong as an ox. And smart too; he learned New Testament Greek for something to do. Biblically speaking, he was still in the “days of his youth.”
So this is being addressed not just to young people, but to everyone who still has a good measure of health and strength. Now is the time to use that health and strength to remember your Creator. Eventually decay does set in. You lose muscle mass, something called sarcopenia. You get weaker. You get arthritis. Bones get brittle and break more easily, osteoporosis. Your immune system isn’t as strong. You become ill more often. Your balance isn’t what it used to be. Your mind isn’t as sharp. For some people all that happens sooner rather than later. And you just don’t know when it will happen for you. You don’t know God’s providence and what he has in store for you in terms of health. So, instead of using your youthful robustness and vigour to pursue sinful things, give the best of your time and strength to God, to remembering your Creator. The Preacher tells us that this would be wisdom. Don’t waste the days of your youth, but remember your Creator.
So I can well imagine that some of our older members who feel like the days of youth are behind them are wondering then, “What does this mean for me? Am I exempt from remembering my Creator in the days of my old age?” The answer is no, you’re not exempt. You still have some strength and energy left. You’re still alive. You’re responsible to use whatever strength and energy you have to remember your Creator, even in your old age. By doing that, you also set an example for those who are still in the days of their youth. Young or old, God calls all of us to remember our Creator.
Now let’s look closer at how we do this. That’s our second point this afternoon.
When we hear the word “remember,” we might think of it merely in terms of recall with your mind. You “remember” where you left your phone or you “remember” your PIN for your bank card. But the Old Testament often means much more than this with the Hebrew word for “remember.”
To “remember” is often used in the context of the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is God’s special relationship with his people. In this covenant, God makes beautiful gospel promises that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He promises to be our God, our faithful Father in heaven. But there’s also something God expects from us. In some places of the Old Testament, that expectation is defined in terms of remembering God. To remember God is to acknowledge him and intentionally live in that covenant relationship with him. To remember God is to first of all have faith in him, to trust in him, and then also to follow him with one’s whole heart.
What we have to keep in mind is that this covenant of grace can’t function in a healthy way if it’s just a matter between God and us. We’re sinful people and no matter how hard we try, that is not going to change this side of eternity. We so often forget our Creator and don’t take him seriously. We don’t acknowledge him and we don’t follow him the way we should. We’re sinful people and God is a holy God. His holiness means he can’t and won’t have anything to do with sin – that’s non-negotiable. This is why we need a Mediator in the covenant of grace. That Mediator is Jesus Christ. He is the one who steps into the breach between God and us and he brings us together. He does that by virtue of his perfect obedience and his sacrifice on the cross.
Christ always perfectly remembered the Creator throughout his life. Even when all his strength and energy was virtually gone, even on the cross, he remembered the Creator and called out to him. He did that in your place. He presents his obedience to God and says, “Here, this is hers. Here, this is his.” And God accepts that.
And by dying on the cross in our place, Jesus has paid for every time we have forgotten our Creator, whether in the days of our youth or otherwise. If we look to the Mediator of the covenant with faith, we are forgiven. You are forgiven. You can have a healthy and friendly relationship with your Creator through what Jesus Christ has done for you as your Mediator.
Now with that in mind, we can approach Ecclesiastes 12:1 from the perspective of forgiven Christians who are thankful to God for their deliverance. Because we’ve been delivered by his grace, we want to remember our Creator in the days of our youth. We want to trust him and obey him.
The fact that he is our Creator reminds us how we have this obligation towards him. The Creator has claims on his creatures. If God is our Creator, then we owe him our loyalty and obedience. But further, if God is our Saviour through Christ the Mediator, then we want to give him our loyalty and obedience out of love and gratitude.
Now that’s already one good reason to pursue the wisdom of remembering your Creator. But our passage speaks of another one. That’s the last thing we’ll learn about this afternoon.
Our passage speaks of the normal progress of human life. Wisdom literature in the Bible often does that. It speaks in general terms of how things go.
In general terms, one is young, vivacious and energetic, and then eventually one gets to old age and the associated decay and break-down of the body. Obviously there can be exceptions. Sometimes there’s a child who doesn’t live very long. Or a teenager who dies tragically in an accident or due to illness. But those are exceptional circumstances. The normal course of things is what’s found in our text.
There are the days of your youth and then evil days come. The word “evil” here isn’t used in the sense of something morally bad. It’s used in the sense of something we experience as being bad. These are the tough days, the hard days. And it speaks here of days, which is a shorter period of time. You know how people with health problems will sometimes say they have good days and bad days. That’s how the decay associated with old age often begins. It comes in fits and starts.
But then eventually, it becomes years. The hard times become longer and eventually become sustained. Decay and breakdown are obvious all the time. The following verses in chapter 12 speak poetically about the experience of many elderly people. A good study Bible will explain all the different metaphors for you – I’m not going to go through them all. Suffice it to say that the Preachers notes how the elderly experience things like fading eyesight, dental problems, trouble sleeping, and other woes. In verse 1, the Preacher speaks of these years as those of which people will say, “I have no pleasure in them.” There’s no delight in those years. Life becomes bitter and burdensome. Sometimes death even becomes attractive.
Now listen carefully, the point the Preacher is trying to make is that if you’re waiting to take God seriously until old age, the challenge of doing so is going to be so much greater. People who haven’t been remembering their Creator in the days of their youth aren’t suddenly going to find it easy to do that later when they’re burdened with the pains and troubles of old age. Old age isn’t the time to start taking God seriously. It’s better to do that when you’ve still got youth, health, and vigour on your side.
If you’ve got the energy now, if you’re in the days of your youth, so to speak, make the best of it. When you get old, the challenges can make it hard to develop good habits. For example, habits of Bible reading. But if you’ve developed a habit of Bible reading while you’re young or youngish, when you’ve still got the energy, that habit will travel with you into old age. Even though old age might be tough, that habit will encourage you and strengthen you with God’s Word.
Or take memorization. It’s a proven fact: as you age, it becomes more difficult for your brain to process and retain new information. Your memories can get cluttered in your mind. It takes longer to learn and remember new things. But if you’ve spent time memorizing Scripture while you’re in the “days of your youth,” when your mind is still fresh, those memorized Scriptures will often still be there in your sunset years. You may get to a point where you’re not able to read anything anymore. But if you’ve stored away Scripture in your heart when you were young and had the vigour to do it, you can get a lot of reassurance and comfort from those memorized passages. Yes, it takes time and work, but you’ve got the ability to do it now. Take advantage of it and you’ll find rich dividends further down the track.
Of course, remembering your Creator in the days of your youth also speaks to so many other parts of our lives. Talk to elderly people and find out what they regret about the days of their youth. I doubt any of them will say, “I regret that I went to church twice every Sunday.” It’s unlikely you’ll hear any of them say, “I regret that I went to study the Bible with my brothers and sisters.” Or, “I regret that I chose to follow the Lord and didn’t have sex before marriage.” Regrets will often be related to ways in which they didn’t remember their Creator when they were young. Loved ones, you don’t want to have those kinds of regrets. Right now, if you’ve got the vim and vigour of youth, it doesn’t matter how old you are, now is the time to remember your Creator. Take God seriously in your life. Take his Word seriously. Be serious about being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Not doing so is foolish. It’s foolish to ignore and forget about your Creator when you’re youthful. It’s foolish to put God to the side and think you can do without him. Or perhaps that you’ll have time later to work on your relationship with him. That’s foolish for two reasons. The first is the one in our passage. It’s the fact that old age makes it hard to break old habits and patterns of thinking. The second reason is that not everyone makes it to old age. We simply don’t know what God has planned for our lives. So Isaiah 55:8 says, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near…” Seek the LORD while you’re in the days of your youth. Don’t put it off.
Wisdom means so many things, but at its most basic level it does mean remembering your Creator while you can. Wisdom means trusting in God’s promises in Christ, acknowledging him in all your ways, and aiming to live for him more consistently. Those who do this aren’t promised that suddenly old age will go easy for them. Elderly faithful Christians who have long been remembering their Creator do still experience the decay described in Ecclesiastes 12. But wisdom enables them to face it in a God-glorifying way. Wisdom enables them to say with the old man who wrote Psalm 71, “O God from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds…You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.” In the end, that kind of wisdom gives comfort and hope. AMEN.
PRAYER
O God Almighty, our Father,
We worship you as our Creator. In six days you made everything that is out of nothing and that amazes us. We adore you for your handiwork, especially with humanity. You created us to remember you, to acknowledge you, to trust you, and to follow you. We confess that so many times we’ve failed to do that. We appeal to the perfect obedience of Christ to cover for us. We appeal to the sacrifice he made on the cross in our place. Because of what Christ did in our place, please forgive us for not remembering you in the days of our youth. We ask you to please help us with your Holy Spirit to more consistently remember you while we have the youthful strength to do so. We especially pray to you this afternoon for our children and young people. Help them to take advantage of their youth to develop godly habits that will serve them well throughout their life. We pray for our elderly members as well and all the challenges they deal with. Please be their help and strength and please help them to continue growing as disciples of Christ, even with the challenges that come with old age.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Dr. Wes Bredenhof, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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