Last March, at age 88 my mother finally succumbed to many health challenges and died. Her last few years
health-wise were brutal. Scoliosis, chronic pain, feeble legs, two strokes, a fading mind. Honestly, it was
agonizing for my sisters and me to watch her fade.
But my mom loved Jesus for her last 48 years. I’m not very sentimental, but my one cherished possession of my
mom’s is her Bible. She loved her Savior, Jesus, and his words in this book. She loved learning and growing. And
this Bible is filled on almost every single page with handwritten notes. Questions, cross references, comments,
and more. This is a photo of one page from Ephesians 2, one of my favorite passages.
My mom can’t speak to us this morning, but she can speak through and with me. She and I speak to all of you
who are young that today’s passage is for you. Today’s passage, Ecclesiastes 12 (you may turn there) has a crucial
message from God designed just for you who are young.
Passage
Ecclesiastes 12:1–8 (CSB)
1 So remember your Creator in the days of your youth:
Before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, “I have no delight in them”;
2 before the sun and the light are darkened, and the moon and the stars, and the clouds return after the rain;
3 on the day when the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, the women who grind grain
cease because they are few, and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly,
4 the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all
the daughters of song grow faint.
5 Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its
spring, and the caper berry has no effect; for the mere mortal is headed to his eternal home, and mourners will
walk around in the street;
6 before the silver cord is snapped, and the gold bowl is broken, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the
wheel is broken into the well;
7 and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile.”
Vs. 1a
The first half of vs. 1 is the key to the passage. Here is the only command in our passage today: Remember your
Creator in the days of your youth.
Remember
The word, “remember” is key.
Throughout Scripture and from our own experience, we recognize we forget things.
But worst of all, we can forget God. This doesn’t mean a knowledge of God has been wiped clean from our brain.
It means God is not on our minds. He is not in front of us. We are not acknowledging the reality and power and
presence of God. We aren’t living as if he really is our Creator and he owns us.
Moses told Israel,
Deuteronomy 7:18 CSB Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt.
One of the most significant events in Israel’s history—their deliverance from cruel slavery—is spoken of more
than 100X in the Old Testament. We might think they would never forget this incredible display of power and2
mercy, but they needed reminders to remember. For Israel to forget their God was a terribly devastating
occurrence, for it would lead to turning to other gods, like a spouse turning to another lover.
Even for us today, Jesus told us to remember him and his work on the cross.
Luke 22:19 CSB And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which
is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
It is a grievous and ungrateful moment when we forget Jesus.
So the Teacher says to you who are young, “In your life here on earth “under the sun,” remember your Creator.
Keep Him at the forefront of your mind and your life. Live as if you know and believe that you belong to your
Maker.”
Creator
Then it’s quite noteworthy that he says, “Creator”. About 40 times in this book he speaks about the name “God,”
but here for the first and only time he calls him, “Creator.
”
Why? What are the implications? This is a theme from Genesis to Revelation. One of the themes of this unique
and unusual book is that life lived apart from God our Creator is futile. The Hebrew word is hebel. Like a vapor.
Living life here “under the sun” apart from our Creator—with him in our rearview mirror—such a life is perhaps
like eating cotton candy. It tastes sweet for a moment, but then there is nothing to chew and there is no
substance to it.
If we want a substantial, non-futile, hope-filled life, it begins with remembering where we came from.
We are not here by random chance nor by accident or by fate. We are planned by the Lord who made the
heavens and the earth.
The implications of God as our Creator are many. Let me briefly offer two of those:
One implication of God as our Creator:
1.Purpose
Speaking of the greatness and deity of Jesus, Paul says,
Colossians 1:15–16 CSB …For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the
invisible… all things have been created through him and for him.
If you want purpose and meaning in your life, don’t start with what career you have. Start with God. He has
made you for him. For his purposes, not your own.
A second implication of God as our Creator:
2.Worship
Psalm 95:6–7 CSB Come, let’s worship and bow down; let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker. God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care.
For he is our
We worship the One who has created us. He is our Good Shepherd who loves us and cares for us. powerful yet tender picture of our Maker towards us. So we worship him.
What a
God as our Creator means that he owns everything and everyone. He is our Ultimate Authority. The Lord of all.
The King of kings. He is not some distant deity who is content to let the world run out of control, doing whatever
we please. He has inserted himself into this world in constant, active ways. The most powerful way is when he
sent his Son, Jesus, into this world to save us from our own sins and from God’s wrath. And someday, Philippians
2 tells us, every knee will bow to Jesus and every mouth will confess that he is Lord.3
The Teacher, the author of Ecclesiastes, has spent years living life without regard for God. Forgetting his Creator.
But now in his later years he has come to his senses, and he tells us with wisdom from heaven, “In your younger
days, don’t waste them. You have your whole life in front of you, so don’t waste them. Remember that you are
not self-autonomous. Self-autonomy promises life and freedom, but it delivers death and slavery. So remember
to whom you belong. Don’t forget him or keep him on the sidelines of your life.”
Aging Vs. 1b-7
Now the Teacher takes careful thought into telling you young people WHY you should remember your Creator
NOW. Today.
Why should you? Because you are going to grow old, your health and all about you will begin to fall apart at some
point, and then you will die. Your body will be buried in the ground.
This is certainly not the first time the Teacher has talked about the end of life. Multiple times in the previous 11
chapters he talks about death. Now with much poetic language, the Teacher gives us some graphic descriptions
of life when we get old.
Let’s look at some of the descriptions of old age.
1 …Before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, “I have no delight in them”;
Remember your Creator before life gets much harder.
2 before the sun and the light are darkened, and the moon and the stars, and the clouds return after the rain;
Darkness, clouds, and rain describe a life fading physically and mentally. Friends die. We have many
regrets and painful memories from our decades of living.
3 on the day when the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, the women who grind grain
cease because they are few, and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly,
Our strength fades. Physically we stoop over. The grinding of grain may be metaphorical for teeth. Our
teeth “grind” food but as we age, the teeth fall out. They “become fewer.”
The aged see more dimly as our eyes deteriorate from cataracts and macular degeneration.
4 the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all
the daughters of song grow faint.
The aged lose their hearing, and they can’t even hear the noisy activities.
They wake up earlier when the birds start chirping, but the sounds of life grow faint.
5 Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its
spring, and the caper berry has no effect; for the mere mortal is headed to his eternal home, and mourners will
walk around in the street;
Fears increase as we age. Dangers from heights and traveling and people.
“The almond tree blossoms” reflects the white blossoms of an almond tree, picturing the hair getting gray
then white.
The caper berry was thought to give good health, but in old age even that doesn’t stop the deterioration
of body and mind.
Mourners walking around the street at the funerals of the aged.
6 before the silver cord is snapped, and the gold bowl is broken, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the
wheel is broken into the well;4
Silver and gold here may represent a beautiful and delicate golden lamp suspended by a silver cord. It
finally breaks.
The beauty of life is ending.
7 and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
This is the capstone. Our bodies return to dust. Literally. A body buried for many years literally becomes
dust, just like after cremation. This mention of dust hearkens back to Genesis 3. When man first fell into
sin, God brought a curse, a judgment on him.
And the Lord said,
Genesis 3:19 CSB You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you
were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
The author in Ecclesiastes reminds us through great imagery that in the end our lives fail, both bodily and
mentally. These bodies we so love and care for will surely fade, ultimately becoming mere dust.
Our spirits live on, though, he says. But our lives will fade.
If we step back and look at vs. 1-7 and the graphic language the author uses, we see this:
… days of adversity … no delight … darkened, … clouds return ….. tremble, … stoop … cease …. see dimly, …
shut …. fades;
… grow faint. … afraid …. loses …. no effect; …. mere mortal ….. mourners ….snapped, ….broken, ….
shattered …. broken … dust returns …. spirit returns
In very graphic language, the Lord is painting a word picture of the deterioration that happens in our old age.
Futility
So what is the conclusion? Vs. 8:
8 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile.”
The book begins and ends with this.
Life here under the sun is going to fade and die out. Even if we have a full and fruitful life, in the end, we
return to dust. And there is a futility, an emptiness like vapor from our mouths.
Many of you in this room are like me, we can personally relate to the Teacher’s description of an aged life.
My birth father died when I was 10 years old. My mom died last March after many years of deteriorating health.
My step dad is 94 with dementia and is in his last days, sleeping 18 hours a day.
In the past 3 years, I have watched four good friends die from cancer, dementia, and accidents. It’s sobering and
grieving.
The years are flying by like a jet. I’ve been in Ames 48 years, and sometimes I think, “How did time possibly go
that fast?”
Many of you can share similar stories as you witness bodies and minds fading, whether your own or someone
else’s.5
So What is the Point?
So what is the point?
It’s not to be gloomy, depressed, and pessimistic. The point is to wake us up while we’re still young to live out the
call of vs. 1: Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.
All of us who are older, I suspect, would say to all of you who are younger, “Pay attention to what the Teacher
says in vs. 1.
Love the Lord now. Love him in your best years. Your most energetic years. Don’t wait until you are less busy.
Don’t say, “Maybe tomorrow I will follow Jesus.” Stop with the excuses of putting God on the sidelines.
Don’t let the world’s distractions get in your way.
Don’t be like the Teacher, the author of Ecclesiastes, who wasted many years of his life without God in his front
view. Years of NOT remembering his Creator.
Remember your Creator now while you are young.
Application
So what should we do?
First, like vs. 1, let me speak to you who are young. What should you do?
Remember well.
Just what the Teacher in Ecclesiastes tells you: Remember your Creator.
Be wise, not a fool, and remember the One in heaven who created you. absolutely futile.
If you don’t, life truly is utterly,
So remember he created you for himself, not for yourself. Don’t put him in the rear view mirror.
So how can you remember well?
•Walk through a cemetery this week.
Most gravestones will show someone who is older, say 70, 80, or 90. But it won’t take long to find the grave of
someone much younger. But young or old, each one of them has met death. You will, too, soon. And the end
will come very fast, faster than you can imagine.
This can be uncomfortable to consider, so we can want to distract ourselves to avoid thinking of the futility. But
reflect on inevitable death. Reflect on the deterioration of the body.
•Pray like Moses
Psalm 90:12 CSB Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.
You may want to memorize this so that you can pray it often.
•Develop habits of remembrance
For example:
-Be devoted to the spiritual disciplines for the rest of your life.
Habits like Sunday worship, small groups, serving, evangelizing, memorizing, prayer.
-Part of that will include regularly breaking bread with God’s people to remember Jesus.
-Take advantage of the Advent season.6
Grab a devotional from the lobby; use it at the dinner table.
-Memorize key Scriptures.
Or write them on your bathroom mirror with a whiteboard marker.
Here’s one that is quite pointed to memorize.
Colossians 1:16 CSB For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him
and for him.
Ecclesiastes fully acknowledges the pain and the challenges of this world, the reality of death in perhaps in
decades, coming ahead. But all of that is intended to wake us up now, to see our Creator, to know what really
matters in life, and to walk with him today.
And I, along with dozens of others in this room who are older, can testify to the joys of walking with our Creator.
We can declare the help and the strength that God has given to us over the decades through many trials. And we
can testify that God is faithful. That he is worth it all. Just like is declared throughout the Scriptures. We can
testify that we have faltered and sinned and doubted at times, but the Lord has picked us back up. That he
strengthened us in our brokenness. We testify that life apart from God is indeed futile, absolutely futile. Yet we
also declare with joy and conviction that life with God in front view is worth it. So to all of you who are young,
rather than live a life of futility, remember well your Creator.
If you are older, what should you do?
End well.
If you have walked with Jesus for many years, end well. and hold on to us. Don’t coast to the end.. Word dwell richly in you (Col 3:16).
Rejoice in him. He is so good and powerful to keep us
Lean into Jesus all the more. Even as your body declines, let God’s
I think it’s tempting for most of us as we age and lose energy and strength to pull back. To grieve the losses of life
but not find comfort and strength from the Lord who loves us. We can wonder if our lives even matter any
longer.
We have witnessed decades of pain and futility in this world, and we can wonder, “Is it worth it? Does it still
matter? Is my Creator still relevant to me? If you didn’t walk with Jesus until your later years, perhaps you feel
the pain of many wasted years. Guilt and shame may rack you.
Let us end well by embracing God’s grace. End well by casting your sorrows and losses and pain and regrets at the
cross, and then marvel at God’s kindness to you.
End well by getting up tomorrow morning and walking with your Savior day by day. Romans 5:1 says that we have
been justified by faith in Christ, and so we are now at peace with God. He is for us with all his heart.
Steps you can take to end well:
•Strive to point young people to Christ
Start in your own family. Your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Pray for them continually. Love
them passionately. Speak to them boldly. Point them to their Creator, lest they live a life in futility.
Then find ways in the church to minister to young people. Kids in Sunday School. Teenagers. College students.
Young singles and families.
-Pray with them and for them.
-Have them for dinner.
-Join in men’s and women’s ministry activities to grow and serve alongside those who are younger.7
•Determine to be a lifetime learner.
One dear friend of mine passed away a couple years ago, but even to his final days, he had a passion to grow and
learn about God and the Scriptures. I pray I will be like that.
•Find new ways to serve the Lord and his people.
Though we will develop new limitations both physically and mentally, let us not lose heart. Let us find new ways
to serve the Lord in meaningful ways.
At some point, you may be like my parents who, in very poor health in their last years, couldn’t even go to church.
Even then, though, we can pray to find ways to pray, worship, learn. And ways to bring blessing to others, by
God’s grace, even to our final breath.
Do such things and you will end well.
Third, to all of us:
Hope well
Yes, as vs. 7 says, we return to dust. We die and will be buried in the ground. in terror of death. But let us remember the hope of the resurrection of our bodies!
But we don’t need to live our lives
If you know Jesus, take heart, be of good courage. The day you die will be the best day of your life. I have said
this before at funerals and I mean it with all my heart: The day of the death of a follower of Jesus is the best day
of his/her life. He/she will be in the glorious presence of our Creator and Lord.
And someday soon Jesus will return and resurrect the bodies of all who know him and love him.
1 Corinthians 15:51–53 CSB Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be
changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and
the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 For this corruptible body must be clothed
with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.
The resurrection overwhelms the futility of the world that we see throughout Ecclesiastes.
Let us cling to this hope to the very end of this life.
Conclusion
This book is so honest. It asks and answers so many deep questions that we should ask and maybe are afraid to
ask. Or we ask and have no answers.
It’s uncomfortable to think about death. But God through this author called, the Teacher, confronts our
uncomfortability head on. Because there is something greater. And SOMEONE greater. Our Creator is our Lord
and our Savior.
He offers us life in his Son. And he wants us to walk in him now. Today. When we are young. And even when we
are old.
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