Baptist Fellowship Church

Removing the Clutter

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

Today’s sermon centred around our cluttered lives. We have desks or rooms
where we keep piling things up until such time we are unable to see beyond
the clutter or are unable to find the things we want in our rooms.

Does this sound familiar? Are we unable to see beyond the clutter? Are we unable to find what is really important to us?

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon described how he had acquired great wealth and
built all he wanted, he could plant all kinds of fruit trees and made water
pools to water them. He had generations of servants.

What more did he need?

The answer is “more of everything”.

And so he gathered more, silver and gold and special treasures,
entertainers at his door step. Not only more physical things but even his
renowned wisdom was still with him. Still he needed to have more!

While this is an extreme statement of having “more than enough”, is there a balance for people who barely have enough to survive? Is this a true statement or “enough” has no absolute scale?

Whatever his eyes desired, he did not keep from them. He did not withhold
his heart from any pleasures. Yes, his heart even rejoiced in all his
labour. However, the point came where he looked on all the works that his
hands had done and on the labour in which he had toiled. Then he said, “And
indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under
the sun.” (2:11b)

How often does one hear, “I would like my children to have what I did not have?”

This is the typical statement that encourages one to toil
incessantly for a better life for one’s children, and yet neglecting their
spiritual needs. As the saying goes, one cannot light the candle at both
ends in all our toiling. It will run out too quickly on you.

The question here is not of abandoning one’s life or work ,but to find quiet time with the Lord and to place Him even in our work life. How does one do it?

In other areas, we seek the pleasures of life in our selfish worldly
pursuits. But, pleasure is but a moment. One cannot bottle up pleasure and
cannot keep it. In fact, it is so addictive it leads to more time and money
spent in pursuing it. Alcohol, drugs, smoking, illicit sex, pornography
are some addictive pursuits that keep requiring more of one’s life.
Proverbs 21:17 tells us that “he who loves pleasure will be a poor man; he
who loves wine and oil will not be rich.” It is not just monetary poverty,
but spiritual poverty as well.

How then does a leisurely pursuit of fishing or a game of football come in? Does this imply one cannot pursue such activities? It is a really matter of quantity or extent.

We need the Christ-like life that is dependent on the Spirit. In these
verses in Ecclesiastes, “I” is used 26 times. Me, my and myself are used 24
times. Yes, this self-centeredness reflects the futility of it all. In the
fruit of the Spirit, self control is one of them. Self control in all that
we do, not “Self controlling” all that we do.

The consequence of this cluttered life is the meaninglessness of it all.
Verse 17 and 18 reveals that ultimately, when one realizes too late what
has happened, one only hates the missed opportunities;

” Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was
distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I
must leave it to the man who will come after me.”

Finally, have we left the Lord out in all our clutter?
Are we unable to see him through the clutter of our desks? Are we missing Him when our room is too full of clutter?

Clear the desk, clear the room because all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Ecclesiastes concludes thus:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

Mr and Mrs ET Chua

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Sermons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.