Please turn with me to Ecclesiastes, chapter 6.
On Friday, I had the privilege of attending the funeral of the father of some friends of mine. In fact, this was the third funeral I've attended this summer and fall—three too many funerals.
I'm sorry to begin on such a down note, but there's a lot of clarity at a funeral.
At a funeral, it is easy to reflect on the most important things in life. How do you want to be remembered? What do you want people to say about you? What do you want to have left behind? At a funeral, it is a lot easier to think about what really matters, what is worth fighting over, and what is worth pursuing. This is hard to do when we're going about our daily lives. And the reason I'm bringing all of this up right now is that this is exactly what our passage today asks us to reflect on.
If you are just joining us, for the past eight weeks, we have been studying the book of Ecclesiastes. What we have seen so far is the Teacher, as he is called — King Solomon — observing the world around him with the wisdom God has given him. We learn from the Old Testament that King Solomon is the wisest man who ever lived, the wealthiest, and among the most powerful.
We are now entering the second half of the book, and in today's passage, Solomon is moving from his observations about the world to his advice based on his observations. And he starts with three questions. Let's read.
The Three Questions
Ecclesiastes 6:10–12 (CSB)
10 Whatever exists was given its name long ago, and it is known what mankind is. But he is not able to contend with the one stronger than he. 11 For when there are many words, they increase futility. What is the advantage for mankind? 12 For who knows what is good for anyone in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell anyone what will happen after him under the sun?
These three questions: what is the advantage for mankind? Who knows what is good for anyone in life? Who can tell anyone what will happen after him under the sun? They are really pointing at one question: what is the good life?
To answer that question, Solomon takes us to a funeral.
The Answers are Found at a Funeral
Ecclesiastes 7:1-4 (CSB)
1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. 2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, since that is the end of all mankind, and the living should take it to heart. 3 Grief is better than laughter, for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad. 4 The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.
This passage sounds strange to our ears: the day of death better than the day of birth, sorrow better than laughter.
Why does Solomon say this?
He says it because Death is not just an enemy — it is also a teacher.
It sobers us, clears our minds from all the amusements and distractions we use like walls, and forces us to ask the deepest questions: Who am I? What is my life?How will I stand before God?And for the Christian, it reminds us that because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, death is not the exit to extinction, but the entrance to eternity.
One writer pictures it this way: outside every funeral home, God holds up picket signs that read, “Life is brief,” “Death is inevitable,” and “Walk wisely.”Every casket and urn seems to ask two questions: “How are you spending your time?” and “What will be said of you when people gather for your funeral?”
Funerals, our passage tells us, are a time for the living to take to heart that our days are limited
and our times are in God’s hands.
In ancient times, when a victorious Roman general returned to the city, they would throw a massive celebration in his honor, and the masses gathered, singing his praises.
They would place a slave next to him in his chariot, whispering in his ear: “Memento mori,”“Remember, you will die.” Centuries ago, Christians took this up as a sort of motto. A fun historical side note is that the skull-and-crossbones image we associate with pirate ships was originally a Christian symbol.
My understanding is that there are old, old cemeteries in Europe where the gates have the skull-and-crossbones motif with the Latin phrase “memento mori” beneath it. Over the centuries, the deep and insightful Christian meaning was lost, and it just came to represent creepy cemeteries and death, and so pirates took it over to intimidate people.
It's not only victorious Roman generals that need to hear the phrase “memento mori” — we all do. It is better to be in a house of mourning than a house of feasting because A birthday party or a wedding reception doesn’t usually make us think about the end of our lives.A funeral does.
It strips away the illusion that tomorrow is guaranteed. And if we take that to heart, it changes how we live today — with gratitude, humility, and a greater awareness of what really matters.
And it is once we are there that we can begin to answer the question: “What is the good life?” Solomon starts to do this for the rest of the next several chapters and through the end of the book.
In light of the fact that everyone — great, small, wise, foolish, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, powerful, weak — everyone dies, what is life about? What is the good life?
His answer can seem a little cynical at first. If we keep reading, we'll see that his answer is along the lines of, "Well, there isn't really a good life to be guaranteed to anyone; there are some things that are better than others. And that's about the best we can do if all there is is life under the sun and there is nothing else after that above the sun.”
And so he starts to help us see what's better. You'll notice that we've already seen the word better four times in our passage so far, and we're going to see it four more times in the next several verses.
So far we've seen that he says that keeping our mortality the fact that we will die, in view is better than living in denial. Let's keep reading to see what else he says is better.
Good, Better, Best
Ecclesiastes 7:5-6(CSB)
5 It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person than to listen to the song of fools, 6 for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.
“Rebuke from a wise person,” — the way we would probably say that today is “constructive criticism.” We have things to learn from each other. This is a restatement of the proverb that we should love rebuke because we become wiser as a result, and, as we are going to see, wisdom seems to be what we need to pursue in this life.
The contrast with the laughter of fools is that, yes, having fun is a really good time, but it doesn’t help you grow or change your life. It’s just like “thorns burning under a pot.” Have you ever thrown dried straw or pine needles on a fire? They burn up really quickly. It's really impressive when the flames flare up, but the flames don't last; they don’t heat the pot. But next, he says that while it is good to be wise, wisdom isn't a guarantee of success in life; even wise people can get sidetracked.
Ecclesiastes 7:7(CSB)
7 Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the mind.
And next, he encourages us to be patient and not to be hasty in our judgment of our circumstances.
Ecclesiastes 7:8-10(CSB)
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning; a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit. 9 Don’t let your spirit rush to be angry, for anger abides in the heart of fools. 10 Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” since it is not wise of you to ask this.
He's teaching us that in hard times, if we are wise, we will wait —not rush to judgment or anger —but see how a situation turns out. Even saying “things are really bad for me right now- I don't like how things are going. It was better in the old days.” You really don't know how your present circumstances are going to turn out. Withhold judgment and wait to see what God is going to do.
To finally get to the answer to the question he started with — ”Where can mankind find an advantage in this future world?” —he answers in verse 11: wisdom.
The Advantage? Wisdom
Ecclesiastes 7:11-14 (CSB)
11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance and an advantage to those who see the sun, 12 because wisdom is protection as silver is protection; but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.
He compares wisdom to a good inheritance and money. As we say, "money makes the world go round" or “money can't buy happiness, but man, it sure doesn't hurt either.”Solomon is saying that, as good as cash is for getting us through life, wisdom is even better.
We read Solomon’s story in 1 Kings. He asked God for wisdom instead of riches, and he found that he received both. But he's saying here that even if the money doesn't follow wisdom, still, wisdom is better because you will know how to navigate life that is in front of you, even if you can't figure it out in its fullness. And this is where he ends up in verse 13.
Who can discover what’s coming?
Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 (CSB)
13 Consider the work of God, for who can straighten out what he has made crooked? 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that no one can discover anything that will come after him.
These last two verses bookend with the first three. God is up to something in the universe for His glory and our good. We don’t get to know all the details of what He is doing or why. Good days andbad days both come to everyone, and there isn’t a lot we can do to control them. Living wisely will be better than living foolishly, but it does not guarantee an adversity-free life.
Ecclesiastes teaches us that there is no formula for guaranteed success and comfort in this life. There is no way to “set it and forget it” with life in this broken world, and this is from God! He doesn’t want us to go on autopilot! He keeps us in a position to realize our need for Him. He wants us actively engaged in a relationship with Him!
Solomon is emphasizing God’s sovereignty in carrying out His plan in the world, but he is not a fatalist or a nihilist! Solomon is also aware of something else: God has revealed himself to us. Solomon is fully aware of God's commands and his promises. God explains many, many things about his creation to us in His Word! Not everything is hidden! Revelation does happen through God's Word in Scripture, and as Romans 1 says, through observation of nature. We can know things about God and His creation.
And when we keep those things in mind, we can navigate life, even if we don't know how things will turn out. We are not omniscient, and we do not have a perfect perspective, so life can often feel confusing. But God does give us light to walk day by day with Him through His Word in the Scriptures.
All we can see is life under the sun, and if that’s all there is—nothing above the sun—then yes, it is confusing, futile. But Solomon knows there is a God in heaven, above the sun. Solomon says to trust God’s commands and promises, even though we don’t know the future.
But we Christians are in a much better position than Solomon was! God has revealed more since Ecclesiastes was written, through Jesus Christ! Because of Christ, we can say much more than simply “memento mori” - remember you will die, as Solomon does, we can also say, “remember you will rise” if you are in Christ! Death does not have the final answer. We do now know what comes next! The apostle Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica:
1 Thessalonians 4:14-18(CSB)
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus,God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
For we say this to you by a word from the Lord:We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout,with the archangel’s voice,and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.Therefore encourage one another with these words.
The prospect of the resurrection, an eternity of life in a world freed from sin and futility, gives us hope. This life, under the sun, with all its confusion and futility, is not all there is.
The final answer to the question “How can you live the good life?” is that we can enjoy prosperity and endure adversity when both are put in their proper perspective in light of the coming eternity. The good life is lived by fixing our eyes on Jesus and the eternity He brings. Are you ready?
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