As I said, we are coming to the end of Ecclesiastes. We're not in the very end today, but we are close to it in Ecclesiastes chapter 11 and 12. Our scripture reading is Ecclesiastes 11 verse one through Ecclesiastes 12 verse eight. If you are able, I invite you to stand for the reading of God's word. This is the word of God, it is faithful and it is true. Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth. And if a tree falls to the south or to the north in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgment. Remove vexation from your heart and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near, of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them. Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain. when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut, when the sound of grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low. They are afraid also of what is high and terrors that are in the way. The almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails because man is going to his eternal home and the mourners go about in the streets. Before the silver cord is snapped or the golden bowl is broken or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain or the wheel broken at the cistern. and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the preacher. All is vanity. The grass withers and the flowers fade, and yet the word of our God stands forever. Please be seated. So the title for today's sermon, Never Try, Never Fail, this comes from a quote from the 2005 movie Robots. If you remember that cartoon, some of you kids will remember it, I remember it, because those are the kinds of movies I remember. But Crank, the robot, is speaking to the main character and he says to him, do you want my advice? Forget it. Never try, never fail. Those are the words I live by. And I think sometimes those are words that many of us live by. Never try, never fail. Another deep theologian, if you don't want to take your instructions from cartoon robots, perhaps Homer Simpson is more your style. After his kids had experienced some sort of disaster, Marge said to him, do you have any advice for your children? He says, kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try. Now this admittedly only applies to a portion of our passage here today but I think that many of us actually live this way and we disguise it or we rename it as conservative living or being discerning or being wise or being careful or prudent As I said last week, we are in the middle of Solomon's concluding remarks to the book of Ecclesiastes. He begins his conclusion in chapter 9 and it follows all the way through to verse 8 of chapter 12. We recognize this as sort of the end of it because the chapter 8, or verse 8 of chapter 12 is the same verse as the opening in chapter 1, in verse 2 of chapter 1. And so here are his bookends. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. Or as we've been recognizing, that it's not merely a meaninglessness of life, but the brevity of life, that all of life is a vapor, that it's inconsequential, and how are you to live your life, if your life is so brief, how do you live your life? Because when we try to define our brief lives by the things we see under the sun, we come away despairing, and we come away upset, and hurt, and depressed, because if all I have is this brief life, and it's here today and gone tomorrow, then everything I see in this world is just as brief, and what on earth is the point? Solomon has said, but there's more to life than just life under the sun. There's life under the heavens, life under God's gaze. And yes, you have been created to live your life under the sun, but not to the exclusion of God. And so how are we to live our lives on this brief How do we live on this earth, our brief lives that we have been given, gifted by God, how do we live those in light of God's presence with us, in light of God's goodness? And chapters 9 to 12 summarize the conclusion sort of like this. which doesn't sound very hopeful. But then Solomon's point is everyone dies, so enjoy the life God has given you in chapter nine. Then chapter 10 says, enjoy that life being guided by wisdom rather than folly. Now in chapter 11, he returns to enjoy the life that God has given you. And in chapter 12, he reminds us because everyone dies. So here is the conclusion of Ecclesiastes. Everyone dies, so enjoy your life guided by wisdom. Enjoy your life because everyone dies. In our seeking to enjoy life, we're to enjoy it, as chapter 10 reminded us, guided by wisdom rather than folly. But these passages today can be broken into three sections, as they are in your outline. So the first six verses, live life boldly. In verse seven to 10, enjoy life wholly. And then chapter 12, verses one to eight, before life gets moldy. Live life boldly, enjoy life wholly, before life gets moldy. Now I wanna start with the last section. I wanna start with chapter 12, those eight verses in chapter 12, and my reasons will become clear, especially at the end when I tell you my reasons. So let's look at this last section first. Live your life with joy and boldness before life gets moldy. These seven verses, in chapter 12, it's a lot of imagery, isn't it? It's sort of a, it's a poetic look at a certain aspect of life. Not poetic in a romanticizing sort of way though, poetic in a, let's use imagery because to speak plainly is painful. And so what is it that he is speaking of? I don't know if you notice that in our English Bibles, verses 1 to 7 is one sentence. So it is one long sentence that begins in verse 1 and ends in verse 7. It all goes together. And Solomon is speaking here of growing old, of getting old. He calls aging, or at least the last phases of aging, an evil. He calls them evil days. As we get older, we experience more and more evil days. He says, you will get to a point that you will say, I find no pleasure in my days anymore. The skies that are darkened by storms just return to more cloudy storms. The storms don't even bring a break in the season. It's just one storm after another. And look at the imagery that he uses and realize that he's talking about our bodies, isn't he? He says, when the keepers of the house tremble, So you get to a point where steady work becomes hard and that fine skill is no longer there because your hands start shaking, your body starts shaking. He says the strong men are bent pretty soon, things that never used to hurt before. Now you get up in the morning and they hurt for no other reason than brushing your teeth the wrong way. Or he says the grinders cease because they are few. And yes, he is talking about losing your teeth. When your teeth fall out and they stop grinding because they don't have a matched pair anymore and there's nothing to grind against. He says, those who look through windows are dimmed. Can I get a witness of just how hard it was to sing today for some of us of a certain age? Because as you look through the windows, you're like, You hold it for me, and then I'll hold it for you for the next verse." And it's like, it's somewhere. Oh, there it is. No, I lost it. There it is. But the windows grow dim, and you're like, well, that never happened before. And pretty soon, you're complaining about how small the writing is on everything. And when did they start writing things so small? He says, the doors of the street are shut. The sounds of grinding are low. You're even startled by the sound of a bird. The things that you can hear startle you now, which isn't to say that you can hear everything. You can't hear most of the things in the street. The sweet song of daughters is low now. What did she say? Or you just despise it. What is this noise these kids are listening to these days? You're afraid of what is high. You're afraid of what's in your path. It's frightening to consider how many different ways you can fall now as you get older. He says, when the almond tree blossoms, it's a nice, isn't that a nice fancy way of saying when our hair turns white because almond trees are blossoming. So Bob is a beautiful blossoming almond tree. Or when the grasshopper drags itself along. You know, grasshoppers are wonderful pictures of life and energy when they're hopping, when they're bouncing from place to place. There's nothing more sad than seeing an old grasshopper that's supposed to bounce, and all he can do is drag himself along. And you just think, that poor thing. He should be fish bait. Or maybe more than all of that, our desires fail. There's things that you think, oh, that would be nice. I'm too tired. I want a nap. Our desires fail because you are heading to your eternal home. There are already mourners in the street. The silver cord snaps, the golden bowl breaks, the pitcher is shattered, the wheel at the cistern is broken, and dust returns to the earth, and the spirit returns to God. It's brief. It's all brief, it's so brief, it's a vapor of vapors. And so now you can see why we would start here instead of end here. Who wants to end a sermon on that note? Not me, so we start with that one and work our way backwards. But the whole point, what he's saying is, remember that this is all one sentence, and so the whole thing starts with, and so, remember your creator in the days of your youth. Isn't it interesting that the world, and sometimes this worldly philosophy soaks and sneaks its way into our own philosophy too, but the world would say the opposite of this. Don't worry about God when you're young. You're young, live life, enjoy it. There'll be plenty of time to turn to God when you're older. Go ahead and live for yourself now. When you go to college, that is not a time to get involved in campus ministries. That is a time for you to sow your wild oats, for you to get out there and live a little. Solomon is saying, no, remember God, remember your creator in the days of your youth, because when you're old, you're old. You know, the whole idea of youth is wasted on the young. Well, the opposite is true also. Wisdom is wasted on the elderly. By the time you're wise enough to do anything, you're too tired to do anything about it. And so yes, I agree, youth is wasted on the young. They have the energy, but they're a bunch of fools and they waste their energy. But then by the time you're smart enough and you've figured life out, you're too tired to do anything about it. And Solomon is saying, listen, remember your creator in the days of your youth. Because it's not as easy as you think to just have a complete turnabout. It's not impossible, nothing is impossible for God, but to live your entire youthful existence as though it is all for me and all about me, then when you get old, you're just angry and cantankerous. Because life was all about you, and now you're old and tired, and so all the young people annoy you just like when you were young, the old people annoyed you. Solomon is saying, no, remember your creator when you are young, when you can do something about living for Christ. Beyond that, Solomon has warned over and over again, you don't know how many days you have. Nobody knows how many days God has given to us. This notion that there will be time later is ridiculous. I mean, even our secular world knows this when they, you know, write songs for us about raising our children and how, you know, now the cat's in the cradle and there's a silver spoon and you thought you had all this time to connect to your children and now they're old and now they hate you and now you wish they would come back to see you, but they don't. And so you listen to old 70s songs and cry a lot. At least that's what friends tell me. Solomon's saying, hey listen, do you still have your teeth? Are you still a little unbent by the world? Do you still have any vigor in your step? Then remember your creator. You still qualify as in the days of your youth. It is never too late to remember your creator. Now, acknowledging your creator may not be the struggle you have. Maybe you're fully aware of who your creator is. For many of us, the issue isn't that we deny that we are going to grow old if God allows it. It's not that we deny that we're going to die. It's that we are afraid to live. Very few of us are afraid of dying. Perhaps the issue is that we're afraid of living, and that is what he is addressing in chapter 11. Solomon says, listen, Life under God's gaze shouldn't be so fearful. Live your life boldly. Live your life. Cast your bread on the waters, he says in verse one. Now, have you ever tried that? Does that seem like wise living? You go to the ocean, you know, it's nice, you grab a loaf of bread and you throw all the bread onto the water and you say, well, some of it'll come back. Does that seem like wise and healthy living? Solomon seems to be using this sort of maritime metaphor, which is funny because Israel was not known for their seafaring abilities. Israel viewed the ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, as chaos itself, like chaos incarnate. They were deathly afraid of the ocean. And so he grabs this metaphor that perhaps they wouldn't even understand. He says, basically he's saying, stop being so afraid. Live, do something. Take some risks. Don't be so undone by what's unknown and what seems scary. He says, yeah, if the clouds are full of rain, it's gonna rain. When a tree falls, it lays down where it fell. And if you spend your life worrying about what if, what if, what if, you will never do anything. It seems like, I mean, I'd say that, I don't wanna sound like I'm some old curmudgeon, like I belong in chapter 12 here, but we may as well say, like sometimes it seems like the younger generations are more and more and more afraid of trying something new, of going, stepping out on a limb, of saying, I wanna learn a new thing, I wanna try something, I'm gonna do something. And so young men, who need a practical 99% guarantee that she'll say yes if I ask her out. They won't ask a girl out at all. So they'll send friends, and we'll just test the waters for me. Does she like me, but does she like like me? Does she, but, well, okay, so she like likes me, but would she actually say yes if I asked her out? And if she says, but what day would she say yes to? Because I don't wanna ask her out and find out she's busy that day. I don't know if my heart could handle that kind of rejection. And so girls are sitting around wondering, where are all the men? And the men are sitting around leveling up. That was a slam on video games. I apologize. I do like video games. They're a lot of fun, but not in the place of asking a girl out. Guys, are you kidding me? Or young couples having children. Well, it's not, we have to be ready. We have to get ready. We have to be financially prepared for having children. Well, good luck with that. You'll be 80 and then you'll think, now we can have kids. And that's what Solomon means when he says, and now you don't even have desire. You don't wait to have kids till you're ready. You ignorantly and blindly go forward and say, I'm going to have kids now because I'll never be ready. And then they're a delight, and they sanctify you, and you hate them for it. But it's OK. But if you wait till you're sanctified to get married, or you wait till you're sanctified to have kids, it's a ridiculous notion. I should probably make this offer to all of you. I should probably give the Boths a dollar or something. So the Boths and I were meeting together, and this was a few months back, and they were talking about how BJ had recently lost his job through no fault of his own. The company downsized, and they said, you know, and we were right at the verge of thinking about trying to have kids. And I said to them, like any good pastor would, well, what's stopping you? And he said, well, I don't have a job. I said, well, the job you had, were you guaranteed you'd have it in 40 weeks? Did you know that job was gonna be here in nine months from now? He's like, no. I was like, well, then why assume that you won't have a job nine months from now? So yeah, you don't have a job right now, but you will. So just stop trying. Stop stopping and see what happens. And then they texted me a couple months later, and it just, the only thing the text said was, I blame you. And I think I'm pretty powerful, but I'm almost certain I had very little to do with it. This is what Solomon is saying. Stop staring at the clouds. Stop worrying about, if you stare at the sky, you'll never sow. If you worry about when the rain's coming, you'll never reap. He's saying do something, do anything. It isn't wisdom that says, but what if I fail? What if it doesn't work out? What if she says no? That's folly that says that. that says, I don't know what God has in store, but I'm 80% certain it's bad. And so I won't try, I won't do anything. Imagine if our toddlers approached life the way we approach life. Do you realize you would have never learned to walk if the way you approach life today is how you approached life as an infant? I mean, the only way you learn to walk is by getting up and falling. I mean, when Jacob was learning to walk, he skipped walking and went straight to running. And for Jacob to run, it was amazing to watch, because for him to run, he just leaned forward and moved his legs so he wouldn't fall. So he'd lean forward, he'd start falling, and his legs would go, and then he'd fall. And I never said to him, Jacob, you're never gonna get this, sit down. Why, that's the fourth time you've fallen today. I think you're an idiot. No, we don't do that, we say, yes, get up and fall, and get up and fall, and get up and fall. I just read something this week that said that Thomas Edison, this could be folklore, who knows, Thomas Edison, a thousand tries to make the light bulb. I'm sure it's not exactly 1,000. But anyway, 1,000 tries to make the light bulb. And an interviewer came and interviewed him, and he said, well, how does it feel to have failed 1,000 times to invent this light bulb? And Thomas Edison is supposed to have said, I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention that required 1,000 steps. and we're so scared of failing that we won't take any steps forward and we won't do what's needed. But living boldly for God also involves giving boldly for God. In verse two, Give a portion to seven or even to eight for you don't know what disaster may happen on earth. And yes, this could have to do with financial investments, you know, spread your wealth around because you don't know what's going to happen, but it also very much has to do with giving, giving to others. And it's interesting that he takes us to like what Israel would have considered the perfect holy amount of giving. Give to seven. And Solomon says, give to eight, go beyond your holy requirement, go above and beyond. You don't know what disaster is coming. It's interesting, wisdom under the sun says, save and stockpile and protect yourself because you don't know what disaster is coming. Godly wisdom says, give to seven, give to eight because you don't know what disaster is coming. Some of you will barely remember this, some of you will not know what I'm talking about at all, but in 1999, the United States and all the world had this great freak out moment where we realized that all of our computers, the dates on the computers were two digit dates, so it was 88, 89, 90, 91, and then we started getting closer to 1999 and people started wondering, what's our computer gonna do when we go zero, zero? I mean, is it gonna assume it's 1900? Will the world crash? And there were all kinds of predictions and speculations that everything in the world, financial systems would die on January 1st, 2000. And it had that cute name, that horrible name, Y2K. And we were all preparing for it. And how many Christians and even pastors that I knew there means of preparing was to hunker down, stockpile resources, guns, ammunition, gold, food, not so they could be a source of care for their community, but because the world's gonna end, gotta take care of me and my own. And Solomon says, no, that is not godly wisdom. That is selfishness that comes from folly, that comes from your heart, that is given into fear, that comes from sin. Godly wisdom says give generously, give boldly, because you don't know what disasters are coming. You know, one answer to I don't know what disasters are coming is none. Why do we always assume, since I don't know what disasters are coming, they're going to be awful? Why not assume, because I don't know what disasters are coming, God's going to take care of me? Solomon says, look, you don't even know how the spirit comes to the body being formed in the womb. How on earth can you claim to know what God is doing? I mean, there are things that are so close to home you have no idea what God is doing. Why claim that you now know all of the future of what he's doing? So yes, sow your seed in the morning and then don't withhold your hand in the evening. I think it's at least based on some of these metaphors that Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 9, where we began today's service with our meditation. Paul says, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Solomon says, live and therefore give boldly. That's life under the sun, acknowledging the gaze and presence of God. But he also returns to a point he made in chapter nine. He says, enjoy life. Enjoy life wholly. He says, light is sweet and pleasant. Enjoy it. After two weeks of rain in Stafford County, wasn't it a delight when the sun came out again? Solomon says, enjoy that. Enjoy it. Our hearts are so So humorous, aren't they, when it comes to weather? You know, it gets to a certain temperature that goes high, and we moan and wonder when it's going to cool down. And then it cools down, and we moan, and we wonder, when is it going to be warmer again? In verse 80, it says, If you live many years, enjoy them. Has God given you many years? Enjoy them. Be grateful for those many years. Look back on them with gratitude and joy in your heart. And he says, yes, there will be days of darkness. Of course there will. So why focus on that? He says, it's all so brief. It's all so vain. It's all so vaporous. Both the positives and the negatives, they're so brief. So why look back on your life and seek to skim through only the negatives? Why not look back and see the joy, the delights, the things that God has given to you to enjoy? In verse nine, if you're young, rejoice. You're still young. You have so much ahead of you. Walk in the ways of your heart. Is there something you wanna do? Do it. Is there something you wanna try? Try it. It's not just a negative point that he's saying. Now, recognize, so do whatever you want, and then God's gonna spank you. That's not what he's saying entirely. He's not saying, do whatever you want, but know that God's gonna judge you for everything you wanted to do. No, it's that God has a judgment on these things. God has said what's good, what's bad, what's right, what's wrong. He has cast judgment on these things. So do what you want, but in light of what God has said, hey, this is a good thing to do, so do it. This is a good thing to want, so want it. This is a good thing to try, so try it. But what if I fail? Well, what if you don't? What if she says no? What if she says yes? What if this relationship hurts me? Well, here's inside help for you, it will. Every earthly relationship is going to hurt you. You are going to be hurt because on earth, your only choices are sinners or dogs. Cats are not a choice, they're of the devil. But you can't have a relationship with a dog. I mean, you can fool yourself into thinking you can, but you can't. I mean, it's a dog. You're gonna have a relationship with people, it's going to hurt. There are going to be times that they sin, and they don't just sin in theory, I hate to break it to you, they sin in practice. And so these people in your lives, it's not just theoretical things that they're doing, they're actually saying things and doing things that hurt you, and sometimes on purpose. But sometimes there's reconciliation, and sometimes there's opportunities for forgiveness and for repentance. Well, what if they laugh at me? Some will. Some will laugh at you. Some will mock you. Some will only emphasize the things you did wrong. Some of that will come from the Christian community. As Christians, isn't it amazing that we always know the better way to do something that someone else is doing in the church, but we never lift a finger to do it? We're always convinced that we know a better way. I know a better way to do Kids of Hope. I know a better way to run the nursery. I know a better way to put the bulletin together. I know a better way that the wife of the pastor ought to act. I know a better way that this should happen. I know a better way that this should happen. And nobody is willing to do anything about it. We're just, my gift is discernment. I'm not really gifted in the, action of the church. I'm more of the, I can see by the Holy Spirit everything you're doing wrong. So now you should fix that. Yes, unfortunately people will notice when you've done something wrong. Please don't stop. Please don't quit. It's like I explained to Jacob when he's practicing the music for Sundays. I'm gonna owe him $2 now, this is ridiculous. Unfortunately, no one notices when the music goes right. People only notice when you hit the wrong chord. Nobody notices when the bulletin flows perfectly and all the words are there and in order. Nobody thinks to acknowledge that. Nobody even thinks to say, hey, 82% of these words were bang on. No, all we think is, hey, one of those words on that slide is misspelled, and it's been misspelled for seven years. I know. I see it every time we sing that song, too. But then I go home, and just like you, I'm not thinking about it again till the next time we sing that song. So one thing that would help people be willing to try things, this isn't in this passage, this is just maybe to help us help one another try things and do things that are hard and difficult and will result in many failures, let's encourage each other. Let's tell each other how much we love what you're doing. I love what you're doing at Kids of Hope, Karen. I am grateful for it. Even when I don't have any kids in it anymore, I am delighted in the work that she does. I am delighted in the work that Megan and Joellen do in the nursery. And I know how hard that is, having been married to a nursery coordinator in Raleigh. I know the difficulty in getting blood out of a turnip. to get people to say, yes, I will help. It's hard, so let's encourage each other. Psalmist says, remove vexation from your heart, put away evil from your body, your youth is so brief. Stop worrying about what ifs. I mean, this is the biblical, this is the Christian equivalency of the seize the day speech. Carpe diem. Do something. Let the delights that God has given you come out in service to others. Start a new ministry. Reach out to someone and call them. Take a woman out to coffee. Just go to someone's house and say, hey, you have a lot of little kids. Would you like a nap or would you like to sit and talk over tea? Because I'm here for either. And then let her choose. and stop worrying about what's going to happen, about what are people going to think about, what's next, how am I going to take care of myself? Jesus, in His message in Matthew 6, He says, listen, don't be anxious about your life, what you're going to eat, what you're going to wear, what you're going to do. Listen, God knows you need these things. I mean, look at the birds, He says. They don't toil, they don't sow, they don't reap, they don't have barns to store for a rainy day, and yet God provides for them. Doesn't God love you more than He loves birds? Or look at the lilies in the field, they're so beautiful. They spring up and they're glorious and they're splendor and they're wonderful to see. And he says, you know, even Solomon didn't have clothing like the grass that we tear down and burn for fuel. Now, if God clothes the grass this way, isn't he going to take care of you? And he says, oh, my dear small faithed ones. Don't worry about your body. Don't worry about your future. God has this. God loves you. He even uses a bit of irony. He says, look, you have enough trouble today to worry about. Don't start borrowing worries from tomorrow. Solomon says, live your life boldly. which includes giving of yourself and of your treasures boldly. Enjoy your life wholly. Take delight in the things that God has granted you, whether it's many years or whether it's youth. Enjoy them. Enjoy them now. Remember your creator while you're young because you will, if God wills and allows it, you will one day grow old. Take joy and delight in the place that God has you right now. Let's pray. Father God, we're grateful to you for your goodness to us. You aren't just a creator who put things together and then walked away, but you are the creator and sustainer of life. You created us. and then not satisfied with merely creating us and watching us kill ourselves, you also redeemed us. You purchased us with the blood of your son. We are twice yours, created by you for yourself and for good works, and then saved by you for yourself and for good works. God, give us a delight in you that delivers us from fear of failure. Grant to us that we might live our lives boldly for Christ and that we might enjoy the gifts of life that he has granted to us. God, help us to remember our creator in the days of our youth and be satisfied in him. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand and sing together, satisfied.