The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: Learn to make God your point of reference as early as possible.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans says at the end of the day, nothing matters more than where you stand with the Lord. Fear God, keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. This is The Alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

Life has a way of lifting us up one moment and letting us down the next. Today Dr. Evans explores the tension of joy and frustration living side by side, and why those ups and downs can leave us searching for something more. Let's join him as he sums up the wisdom of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, showing us how to move from temporary satisfaction to lasting purpose.

Dr. Tony Evans: He comes to chapter 12 and says, "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth." This is something that you parents who have teenagers would do well to go over with them, this chapter. He says to start off with God while you're young. Make Him your point of reference as early in life as possible.

Youth can be relative because you don't really know how old you are until you know when you're going to die, but nobody knows when they're going to die, so we don't know who the old people are. He says, "I want you to remember." To remember doesn't just mean to remember in the sense of thinking about or recalling. When he says remember your Creator in the days of your youth, he is saying learn to make God your point of reference as early as possible.

Many of you, when you were in college, even if you went left, you couldn't break away from Mama's God because they had raised you in church and they got that thing stuck in your head. You want to drive it home. It may not look like it's registering now, but you want to create a God-consciousness as early as possible, even if as early as possible is today.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them." The evil days are the days that he's getting ready to describe of old age, when life no longer is enjoyable. Age has set in, sickness has set in. Some of you have parents or loved ones, perhaps, who have Alzheimer's or something, and there is no pleasure in life anymore because you can't enjoy it, maximize it, participate in it, or you're so limited in your participation.

When there is still vim, vigor, and vitality, remember God-consciousness and do it early on. He says before the evil days draw near, before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain. Before things get dark and before, after a refreshing rain, the clouds come. In other words, before stuff gets gloomy.

Before gloom sets in, remember your Creator. He doesn't say God; he says Creator. Remember the source and the sustainer of life, that life is tied to God. He created life, so He wants to be your point of reference for living. He's talking about God the life-giver, not just God the name. Jesus said, "I have come to give you life." He wants Him to be your point of reference for life before things get too gloomy due to time and age.

In verse three, he goes a little further: "In the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, the mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idly by with their few, and those who look through windows grow dim." What he's describing is the aging process. The first thing he says is the watchmen of the house tremble. You've seen people with their hands and their arms trembling due to age and Parkinson's setting in, or some other thing that has allowed the nervous system not to function. You've seen the trembling.

When the mighty men stoop, you walk bent. You can't move because the mighty men now aren't strong and vigorous anymore. Back in the day, I ran 10 miles a day. Back in the day, but the mighty men, oh how the mighty have fallen. I had to have knee surgery, it'll swell up if I go too much, because time has a way. Don't some of you be looking at me like that; I know some of you know what this feels like.

How many of you, when you get out of bed in the morning, feel it? That means you're getting old. You get out of bed and you've got to take a minute to get it together, to get the blood flowing so you can start rolling. Time has its way with the mighty men. The core is not. He says the grinding ones are idle because they are few. You're losing your teeth. Back then, they didn't have dentists like we have who can make false teeth and fake it to make it.

Those who look through the windows grow dim. Eyesight. That's where I've got a lot of you, because I don't wear glasses and I haven't had surgery, and I can see all of you. But he's saying things grow dim through the windows. The doors of the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low. The doors open and close. Doors are talking, speaking. While the speaking, the doors of the street are shut because of aging and not being able to communicate like you used to.

The sound of the grinding mill is low. Hearing aid. Things are low; you can't hear now. We all have loved ones who deal with this, face this, or different aspects of this. One will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. You rise at the sound of the bird because you can't sleep. The eight hours do not go uninterrupted, even if the thing that wakes you up is that you've got to go to the bathroom because age changes that.

All the daughters of song will sing softly. You can't take a lot of noise now. Time has this effect. Furthermore, men are afraid of high places and the terrors in the road. You're scared to go out at night now because the older you get, the more fearful you become. You want to get in before dark. You're young, you want to go out, but you get older, you want to get in when it's dark.

The almond tree blossoms. When the almond trees blossom, they're white. Graying. Graying because of aging. The grasshopper drags himself along. If you are a grasshopper dragging, you're old. Grasshoppers jump. If you see a grasshopper dragging, that hopper has been here a long time. So you're dragging. You go two feet and you're dragging because you have to be helped along, the strength is just not there.

The caper berry is ineffective, for man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about the street. That's your funeral. In other words, under the sun, this is where we all go. We all age. Being saved doesn't make you younger physically. It doesn't change that. As Paul said, though my outward man perishes, my inward man is renewed day by day. You're supposed to be getting older physically and younger spiritually. That's the way it's supposed to work.

Guest (Male): When Dr. Evans returns in a moment, he'll underscore the urgency of turning to God before time runs out. Before he does though, today's lesson is called "The Sum of the Matter." It's the final message from Tony's exploration of the book of Ecclesiastes, in a series he called "How to Avoid a Wasted Life."

This nine-part sermon collection explores what the book of Ecclesiastes teaches us about the transient nature of worldly pursuits and the importance of living a life that transcends wealth and possessions. Through it, we've been discovering that a life lived with God at the center is a life of genuine purpose and fulfillment.

If you missed any of the powerful messages in this series, we'd like to send them all to you as our gift in thanks for your financial support of this ministry. Along with the complete "How to Avoid a Wasted Life" audio package, we'll also include a special bonus: a copy of Dr. Evans' powerful book, "Experiencing God Together."

In it, he shows how loving and serving others becomes a pathway to experiencing God's presence more deeply in your everyday life. Visit us today at TonyEvans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222 to take advantage of this offer while there's still time. That's online at TonyEvans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. Dr. Evans will return with the conclusion of this final message from Ecclesiastes right after this.

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Dr. Tony Evans: He comes to verse six and says, "Remember, remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed and the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel of the cistern is crushed." That is, before the body breaks down. These can be tied to the silver cord in verse number six, the silver cord being broken, the organs deteriorating, the central cord going down, your body.

The golden bowl, the head that holds the brain, is crushed. The pitcher of the well; what does the well do? The well pumps, so you've got a pump that pumps life into us, the heart. The wheel of the cistern is crushed. He's talking about the operating systems of your life breaking down. They break down; that's what happens as we age. Organs don't function like they used to.

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. That's what happened. You remember God created man, but man did not become alive until God breathed into him the breath of life. He is the giver, sustainer, and taker of life. If under the sun this is all you've got, vanity of vanity, saith the preacher, all is vanity.

This is where everybody winds up. It's like the man who I may have mentioned who said, "I was dying to finish high school so that I could go to college. Then I was dying to finish college so I could start my career. Then I was dying to get married and have a family. Then I was dying for my kids to get 18 and leave. Then I was dying to retire, only to discover today I'm just dying."

You look back and you say, what's it all about, or where did all the time go, or is this all there is? Because he's talking about life under the sun. He says when you look at it that way, emptiness of emptiness, says the preacher, all is emptiness. Meaningless, meaningless, says the preacher, all is meaningless.

In other words, you can find fun, good times, happy times, nice times, good family, good fellowship, good friends; you can find all that under the sun. But if this is all you have to look forward to, there's not ultimate meaning in that. There's periodic fulfillment along the way, but not ultimate meaning. Remember, bring God to bear, integrate Him into this emptiness.

In addition to being a wise man, the preacher also taught the people knowledge, and he pondered and searched out and arranged many proverbs. Solomon is the preacher, and we know he's arranged many proverbs. He's written most of the book of Proverbs. He's given us wisdom in the book of Ecclesiastes by teaching us to live wise and remember wisdom has to do with decision making, choices.

His job as the preacher is to impart wisdom. Then he gives a description in verses 10 and 11. The preacher sought delightful words to write words of truth correctly. He's not compromising the truth. Truth is an absolute standard by which reality is measured. He wants to be correct, accurate, and he wants to record them so that whether it's on a CD or whether it's written down in a paper or book, those words are communicating and are effective in the communication so people get the message.

The words of the wise men are like goads. Back in biblical days, even today in many parts of the world, you have this long pole with a point on it, and they would poke the oxen with it to goad them. The goading is to push them along, to press them forward, to keep them going, to motivate them to movement.

This is the preacher. One of the emphasis of preaching is response. He wants words that are correct and true but that poke people to move, to goad them, to provoke them to action. This is what he wants to do; he wants to motivate to a response in the words that he speaks, the words that he writes.

Masters of these collections, the coming together of the writings, in Solomon's case, of course, it's the books that he's written. He says the goal of my writing is to goad them, these collection of work, and then like well-driven nails. You know when you say the expression, "He nailed it." Or even not an expression, you hang a picture and you drive a nail.

What are you doing? You are fixing that thing. You are locking that thing down. You've hit it. You've nailed that thing so that you know that they got it. You want to push them until they get it, until it's nailed down in their hearts and minds, decisions and choices. They are given by one shepherd.

The Lord is the one who pulls it all together. We have one shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's amazing how He can nail one sermon into a whole lot of other people's hearts at the same time. He can take one sermon and be talking to everybody with your name on it, because we only have one shepherd who oversees that which is truth to prick us to response.

Beyond this, my son, he warned: "The writing of many books is endless." Go to your library, you'll see that. "And excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body." I can testify to that. I've probably got 3,000 volumes in my library, and I'm tired of looking at them. They're helpful and they're necessary, but you don't run out of them because as soon as you finish one, somebody else has written a new one, and sometimes that somebody is me.

It's amazing how many books have been written based on the Bible. This book is so deep that theologians can't touch bottom, but it's so shallow that babies won't drown. Let's bring it all home. Solomon brings it home. He says to the preacher, bring it home. The conclusion: "When all has been heard." We really could just come up with two verses, he says.

When all has been heard, when you've read it all, heard it all, fear God, keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. You are not an exception. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. That ought to tell you a couple of things as we close.

That means the death he's been talking about under the sun is not the end, because he says it ain't over when it's over, because God's going to bring it all up again. This is bad news and good news for us all. The bad news is everything you've ever done, particularly from the point of conversion, is on tape. Everything good and bad is on tape. It's been recorded.

The good news is everything you've done, whether good or bad, is on tape. Well, you can't really erase the tape because you don't even have access to it, so you can't erase it. But since you're still here, the tape is still running. Even though you can't erase the tape, you can create new tape.

The conclusion of the whole matter is take God seriously, which is what it means to fear God. You take Him seriously by conforming to His will, obeying His commandments. This is the rule of life. I can sum up the whole book of Ecclesiastes with one phrase: enjoy your life in the fear of God.

Because if you enjoy your life to whatever capacity God gives you to enjoy it, that's legitimate. You enjoy your life in the fear of God. You maximize every day that God gives you. You close your eyes tonight thanking God for the day and, yes, struggling through the bad days with the fear of God. On verse 14, when you stand before Him, and yes, there will be bad things on all of our tapes, when He does the review, He says, "Yeah, well, it's a bad clip here, it's a bad clip there, but boy, a whole lot of good clips on this tape where you included Me in your life." So enjoy your life in the fear of God.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans, closing out his study of Ecclesiastes with a reminder that life is best lived when we make God a part of every chapter. As I mentioned earlier, today's lesson is the final installment in Dr. Evans' sermon series called "How to Avoid a Wasted Life." You can get the full-length version of all nine lessons in this series, along with a copy of Tony's book "Experiencing God Together," when you make a contribution to help support the ministry of The Alternative.

Just give us a call today to make the arrangements at 1-800-800-3222. A member of our friendly resource team is ready to help any time of the day or night. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or visit TonyEvans.org to take advantage of this special. Remember, this is the final day we'll be offering these two powerful resources together as a package deal. Again, that's TonyEvans.org. There are times when life can get so stormy we wonder if we'll make it through. But Dr. Evans says even when things are at their worst, there's a power we can tap into that's greater than any storm we'll ever face. Be sure to join us tomorrow to hear all about it.