Most have heard if not seen the reality television show called Who Wants to be a Millionaire hosted by Regis Philbin. And the guest is asked a series of questions and each question is worth an increment of cash. And somebody can walk away in an instant, if you answer the questions correctly, a millionaire. And he always ask the questions and then the people think about it a while and they answer the question. And then Regis always asks that question, is that your final answer? And you either win or lose based on yes or no.
One day, indeed, we will all give a final answer before our creator. And the stakes are a lot more than a million bucks, but an eternity with or apart from God. The stakes are high. In fact, Jesus asked, what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but he loses his own soul?
Now, we don't think much about finality, especially while we're young. But the whole idea of a final answer becomes a more grave issue as we get older and we approach what some call the golden years. Now, Solomon is going to describe age in this section. But it's not going to sound all that glittery, all that golden. It might sound like the tin age rather than the golden age as you read the description that is before you.
I've discovered that most people are afraid of growing old. In fact, many are in denial that it will ever happen to them. What a rude awakening when you once discovered you've arrived. The first time somebody refers to you as an older person. I beg your pardon?
I don't know what's happening with the cameras. I couldn't tell you. Odd things. Maybe we'll get them back one of these days. Or if not, maybe just shut them off. There you go.
Last week I was purchasing something and it was something for a missionary and it wasn't cheap. I was going to send it to him overseas. And the gal behind the counter was trying to figure out a way to discount it so that I wouldn't have to pay as much. And she turned him me and she said, you know, I could give you a senior citizen's discount. She's now dead, I'll have you know.
Somebody wrote this. You know you're getting old when. You know you're getting old when all the names in your little black book end in M.D. You know you're getting old when you get winded playing chess.
You know you're getting old when you look forward to a dull evening. You know you're getting old when your knees buckle and your belt won't. You know you're getting old when you're 17 around the neck, 42 around the waist, and 126 around the golf course. That's for nine holes.
You know you're getting old when you sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there. You know you're getting old when you try to straighten out the wrinkles in your socks and you find you're not wearing any. Ew. You know you're getting old when your pacemaker accidentally opens your garage door. And you know you're getting old when you bend over to tie your shoes and you wonder what else you could do while you're down there.
I think that Solomon is older when he comes to the conclusion of this book. I won't say how old older is. I'm not going to even go there. But Solomon has been on a search, hasn't he, for the meaning and purpose of life. Why am I here? Where am I going? How can I find satisfaction?
Now, keep in mind that Solomon had more money to pull off an elaborate search and do things that we would only dream of. He was like the Bill Gates of the 10th century BC In Israel. And so he tried things. He looked at life between birth and death and all of the experiences that are possible. And his answer in looking at them all was, vanity of vanities. All is vanity.
In modern vernacular, we would say, I tried them and I came out with zip, zilch, nada, nix. Nothing satisfies. Why? Because of the recurrent phrase used 29 times in the book, under the sun, it was all from the horizontal. It was all looking at life apart from God.
Toward the end of the book, he moves above the sun. And here at the conclusion of the book-- and this is the final installment, the conclusion of the whole matter-- he returns back to God, back to a place of wisdom. He understands that life is short. In fact, he may have even been thinking of something his dad wrote.
In Psalm 103, David said, our days on earth are like grass. Like wild flowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows and we are gone as though we had never been before.
This final chapter, he covers the basics. He takes it all down to the irreducible minimum, the inevitable for most people; aging, dying, and preparing. Those are the three things we look at as Solomon closes this journal, the basics; aging, dying, and then preparing. Let's look at the first five verses together. Even though we read verse one last week, look at it again.
Remember now your creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come. And the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them. While the sun and the light, the moon, the stars are not darkened and the clouds do not return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men bow down and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look through the windows grow dim and the doors are shut in the streets and the sound of grinding is low, when one rises up at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of music are brought low, also they are afraid of height and of terrors in the way, when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper is a burden and desire fails.
That's a description in very picturesque terms of aging. Did you notice in verse one is a general description? Then he moves into a specific description. The general description of aging, according to Solomon, is difficult days. Remember now your creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come, times of difficulty.
Somebody once noted that old age ain't for sissies. And perhaps all of the younger years and midlife years were in preparation for the toughest time, the most difficult time, age. You think it's tough being a teenager? Just wait. You think it's tough making a living for your family? Just wait. Solomon would say, the real difficult days lay ahead.
What does he mean? Well, let me give you a few difficulties associated with age. Here's one, guilt. A lot of us look back and we feel guilt-ridden because we didn't make the right choice. We should have done something when we didn't. There's remorse. There is regret. That is often associated as one grows older.
Another reason for difficulty, I would say, is fear. Many times an older person is gripped with a sense of fear for a lot of reasons, fear of few days left, a fear of lack of income to sustain them at the end of their life, fear of being vulnerable because they're older and weaker, fear of being alone. There's other difficulties associated with age, and that is a sense of uselessness. It's probably because of all those stupid parties we give people, over-the-hill parties. And you reinforce that message over time. You're over-the-hill man.
And so as we grow older, we think, I'm useless. I'm in the way. I'm over the hill. Let me address that. That's not true. You're wrong. And I'm sort of ashamed at our culture that idealizes youth and diminishes the importance of age.
You know, in many eastern cultures, they've got it right. The older you get, the more valuable you become to that culture. And the idea is to glean the years of experience and wisdom and to treat in esteem those who are older. And, by the way, some of the greatest accomplishments a person has made in life are not while they're young, but when they finally understand and figured out life and gotten mature enough to do something about it in their older years.
How old was Moses when God called him? Was he 20? He was 80. Life was just beginning at 80. The first 40 years of Moses' life, you might say that Moses was trying to be something. That next 40 years of Moses' life, God showed him he was nothing. And the final installment, the last 40 years, God showed Moses that he could take nothing and do something with it. And life just began.
Here's another example. At age 83, William Gladstone, the great statesman, Christian statesman of Britain, was elected for the fourth time in a row as prime minister of Great Britain. J.C. Penney was also a Christian at age 95. He was still keeping office hours. Get up. Go to work.
Frank Lloyd Wright, 90 years of age, considered still a brilliant inventor and architect, as was Edison. Michelangelo at 89 painted what some think to be his greatest work of art called The Last Judgment. I stood in front of it in Rome, magnificent, to realize he was 89 when he painted that. And the following year, he was on his back, not in a casket, but on a scaffold, painting the top of the Sistine Chapel at age 90.
John Wesley, the evangelist, preached the gospel until he was 88 years of age. And get this. When he was 88, he had logged on horseback. This isn't on a jet airplane with frequent flyer miles or by train or by car. He has logged 250,000 miles on horseback, preached 4,000 sermons, had written volumes, still going at 88.
There's an old English proverb that says, the older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune. Some things get better with age. And you know what? Some people get better with age. Nothing to be ashamed of.
There's an Agatha Christie quote, a humorous quote. She said, an archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have because the older she gets, the more he appreciates her. Well, that's the general description, difficult days.
He now elaborates on the difficulty in the next few verses with very colorful imagery to heighten emphasis. You may start thinking, as we work our way through this, a little too colorful for you. But he deals very honestly with age.
Let me just say this, that the words we're about to expound on are more relevant for Americans right now than they ever have been in the past. You know why? Because Americans are growing older. You might say, it worked. All of the health foods, all of the exercise, they're paying off. Chances are you'll grow to your old age. And I won't say what that is exactly.
In 1900, just 100 years ago, only 4% of the American population was aged 65 or above. Today it's 12%. That's three times in 100 years, three times the amount. Today, there are 12,000 Americans over age 100 and the numbers are increasing. I just talked to a couple in our church. Their grandfather died this week, 109, now in heaven.
These verses are also going to be meaningful to you if you're a caregiver. And the older we grow as a population, that's a reality, where children and grandchildren will care for aging parents and you're watching this process unfold before your eyes. It describes the weakness of age. And even though some people desperately try to avert that through surgeries, et cetera, it didn't work.
Verse two, the idea is, remember now your creator while the sun and the light the moon and the stars are not dark and the clouds do not return after the rain. Most commentators believe this refers to the failing mental processes. Your memory goes. Your mind starts going.
It's sort of the first mark, isn't it? Some of you are going, oh, yeah. I'll be the first to nod. I am already doing this. Who stole my keys? Nobody. You just, again, forgot where you placed them. Isn't it funny that just about the time your face clears up the mind goes? It's not fair, is it?
I found this. The author said, one of the most disturbing aspects of aging is the growing inability to recall vitally important information, such as where you put your slippers. This affliction becomes particularly pronounced when you go upstairs to get something. Halfway up, you realize that you have no inkling of what you were going upstairs to fetch. Then you have to decide whether to go back downstairs and try to remember what you needed or continue up and look for something that needs bringing down. Unable to decide, you resort to sitting on the landing and sulking, only to discover that you have completely forgotten whether you were originally upstairs going down or downstairs going up.
There were two elderly gals in the same church, both sisters in the Lord, both discussing the difficulty of aging. And one was looking right into the eyes of the other and she said, you know, the worst part is that your memory goes. I have known you all my life and, for the life of me, I can't remember your name. What is it? And the second gal paused for a long moment and said, do you need the answer right now?
Verse three begins a more detailed description of age. And by the way, the metaphor that Solomon chooses is that of a mansion, an old estate that was kept by a lot of different people. I'll show you what I mean. When the keepers of the house tremble, the keepers of the house are the hands, the arms that guard your body against attackers. And just like you have guards keeping a palace, they begin to shake, loose strength.
Do you remember the film some years back On Golden Pond where Henry Fonda played Norman Thayer, that aging man with his wife and he began forgetting things and shaking? And every time he'd do something his wife, played by Katharine Hepburn, would say, Norman, you old poop. Remember that show? And that showed how age can be so frightening to those who are going through it.
The keepers of the house tremble. And the strong men, it says, bow down. Those are the legs. The pillars that support the trunk begin to weaken over time. That's where like in the illustration. Your knees buckle. Your belt won't.
There are exceptions. Some people grow old with vigor. George Beverly Shea, the voice of the Billy Graham Crusades in song, just celebrated his 93rd birthday, strong as ever. And there was a birthday celebration back in North Carolina at the Cove, the training center. And the younger members of the team got up in their 60s and 70s and negotiated the steps slowly. He hopped up on the stage. Wonderful. I guess the thing about being in your 90s is you don't have much peer pressure to worry about.
Notice the continuation of the description. The grinders cease because there are few. What does that refer to? Your teeth, the grinders. The grinders cease because they are few.
In Hebrew, it is a feminine word that refers to the female workers in an estate who would grind the flour to make the bread. As they grow older, there's few of them because they die off. But here it speaks of the teeth, that you end your life as you began, especially 3,000 years ago when they didn't have the dental care we had.
Those who looked through the windows grow dim. That's the eye sight. Again, it's feminine in the Hebrew. It speaks here of those who look through the windows. As the women of the estate would grow older, they wouldn't go outside. They were frightened because of safety reasons. And they would simply, without socializing, peer through the lattice of the windows on the streets below.
Fading, failing eyesight, eye disease, cataracts that grow over time. We change prescriptions, don't we? I've done it since sixth grade. And sometimes the glasses get so thick you could burn ants with them. They're just huge.
That's the body. It just debilitates over time. And if you're over 40, you've noticed this action, right? You got to push stuff a mile away just to look at it.
Verse four, the doors are shut in the streets. You know what that refers to? The sinking of the mouth because of the loss of teeth, the keepers-- or the doors shut in the streets. Courtyards went around the ancient homes in the Middle East. And there was a gate right out into the street. And the idea here is that the mouth cavity, because of tooth loss, the doors, the lips fall inward.
And the sound of grinding is low. Now aged, Solomon describes that person without teeth. There's not the noise anymore like there is in my house when my 14-year-old chews, not much of that going on.
When one rises at the sound of a bird, loss of melatonin in the brain. You're sleepless. You wake up at any noise. You know what I woke up to today? The sound of a bird. It should be a joyful noise, right?
But this verse was in my mind. And it was way before the alarm. And I heard the chirp and I thought, uh-oh. I'm there.
All the daughters of music are brought low. That's the ears, the increasing deafness in old age. Daughters of music refer to the sensitivity of hearing, those three bones connected to the nerves in your brain that lose sensitivity as you grow older. And you wonder as you grow older, why is everybody suddenly talking so softly? Why are they mumbling? They're not. It's that the daughters of music have been brought low.
Verse five, also, they're afraid of height and terrors in the way, the fear of falling. The older you are, you look at things like a curb as, oh, man. How am I going to do that? A flight of steps, non-negotiable. Forget it. The terrors of driving, going out at night in the car. Don't want to do it.
This says the almond tree blossoms. When an almond tree blossoms, it turns white on top. So what does this refer to? Your hair going gray, white. This is before Clairol, of course. This is ancient times.
The grasshopper is a burden. Difficulty in mobility, the limbs are stiffer, the legs sag, drag. And it says, and desire fails. And most commentators see this as referring to sexual desire as a product of age. Now, some of you may be comforted to see that this is the last on the list, but it's on the list.
Do you know how hard it is to convince a teenager that this is their future, this list, that growing old is going to happen to them? They're in perpetual denial for the most part. It's not going to happen to me. It happens to grandma and grandpa. But it just will never happen to me. It's like they have this perpetual fountain of youth.
Old age should be blessed. It says in Proverbs 16:31, the silver-haired head is a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness, if it is found. That's why he says-- he says it a few times-- remember your creator before those days hit you, before the die is cast, while you still have the ability without being so hardened and set in your ways to make these kind of very sensitive, spiritual decisions. Now is the time to log in those years of walking with God.
That's aging. Now let's look at dying. The end of verse five, for a man goes to his eternal home and the mourners go about the streets. You die and people attend your funeral. But notice it says, a man goes to his eternal home. You're going to go somewhere when you die. It's not the end.
Remember your creator before the silver cord is loosed or the golden bowl is broken. Silver cord, some think it refers to the spinal column, the spinal cord in particular, a picture, a lamp hanging on a silver chain that over time breaks and the vessel falls and crashes. And perhaps the idea is the spinal cord, because of an injury, maybe a fall severs and it speaks of death. The marrow on the spinal cord, by the way, that connects the brain and the nerves has a silver, pale silver, sheen to it. That's a possibility.
Or the golden bowl is broken. Most think this refers to the cranium, in particular the brain, maybe a sudden blow to the head that has killed a person. Or here's another way. The pitcher is shattered at the fountain or the wheel is broken at the well. Nothing pumping anymore. The heart has stopped.
But what I do want you to notice, here it says loosed. Notice the word loosed, what we just read, broken, shattered, and then broken again. Those are irreversible terms. Death may be tragic, but it's irreversible. It's where we are all going. There's an undertaker in Washington DC I hear that signs all of his letters, eventually yours.
But I draw your attention back to verse five after death, for a man goes to his eternal home. And then verse six, the dust will return to the earth as it was. The Spirit will return to God who gave it. Every one of you has eternal life in the strict sense. You will live on and on and on. You will never cease to exist.
Two things are eternal, the word of God and the soul of a person. Those things live forever. The great thing is we have an opportunity to choose the plot of real estate, where it will be. See, if you have remember your creator in the days of your youth, then your creator will remember you in the days of your death. If you've decided to follow God now and Jesus said, I will say to them well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Wouldn't you love to hear those words?
You remember your creator in your life, your creator will remember you and your death. But if you make a decision not to remember your creator in the days of your youth, then guess what? Your creator will not remember you in the day of your death. Our Lord Jesus soberly reminded us that many will come in that day and say, Lord, Lord. And Jesus said, I will declare unto them, depart from me. I never knew you.
So where will it be? You will live on after death. You have an eternal home. Where will that be? Consider that before the evil days, the dark days, the difficult days come. Consider it. Think about it. Deal with it.
A man who was driving his car down in Kilgore, Texas crashed. The car went down a ditch on the side of the road. They pulled him out of the car, unconscious, Took him to a gas station, a service station.
When he awakened, when he started to coming to, he was looking up and he started shaking violently. He couldn't talk. He just went into a panic, and they took him to the emergency room in a hospital. And here is why he was shaking so violently. As he was coming to after the accident, in a daze, he's looking up and it was a gas station. It was a shell gas station. The S had fallen off the sign.
Now, you can imagine the terror, right? You just had an accident. You're waking up and you see the sign hell, open 24 hours.
You know what? It is. The devil doesn't take a vacation. His shop isn't closed. It's always open for business. But so is heaven. Heaven is open 24 hours. And we can make a choice with the opportunities God has given us.
Verse eight is the familiar refrain, vanity of vanities. Says the preacher, all is vanity. He closes like he begins the book. But here, I think what he means by this is, oh, how futile to have lived your whole life without understanding the purpose and meaning of it, what a wasted life to go all through life not enjoying God.
You know it's got to be the most tragic way to live. The worst possible scenario of living is growing old apart from Christ. What could be worse than that? The difficult days, all of this description and then hopeless future, that's the worst. Vanity of vanities.
Finally, we'll close with this third slice of this chapter, and that is what I call preparing. He speaks about aging. He speaks about dying. And now, with that inevitability, comes preparing. In verse 9, he simply is closing out the book, giving his qualifications as author.
Moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many Proverbs. The preacher sought to find acceptable words. And what was written was upright words of truth.
He's saying, this is an honest recollection and research of my experience. I set it in order. I've thought about it. It's not haphazard.
The words of the wise, verse 11, are like goads. Those are things that prod you, motivate you. They would take a goad and hit at a cattle or sheep to get it to be motivated, to move. The words of the wise or like goads, the words of scholars like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. He is saying, what I have written is inspired by God to goad you, to motivate you so you think about life.
And further, my son, be admonished by these, by what I've written. Of making many books, there is no end. And much study is worrisome to the flesh. If you're a college student, you probably memorized that verse.
Let's hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Ready? Here it is. Here's his summary statement. Here's his conclusion. If you want to age right, you want to live right, you want to die right, then comes by preparing. Here's the conclusion of the whole matter.
Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. That's it. Here is the meaning and purpose of living well. This is how you do it. This is your all. Here's the summary statement. Here's the bottom line of life. This is man's all.
The Amplified Bible says, for this is the full original purpose of God's creation, the object of God's providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances, and the conditions under the sun and the whole duty for every man. Here it's all wrapped up in fear God, keep His commandments, for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Three thoughts; we should fear God, we should obey God, and we should be prepared to meet God and give an account. Most of us don't like the term fear of the Lord. We think of The Wizard of Oz and the Cowardly Lion shaking before the great Oz. It's not a superstitious fear. The best definition is a reverential awe that produces loving obedience before God.
The only fear that I really have, the only thing that makes me afraid, if I have the fear of the Lord, is that I might displease the one that I love. That's what it means. There's a relationship there of respect, of reverence, of worship. That produces something.
It says, obey God, or fear God, and keep His commandments. That's obedience. Jesus said, if you love me, what? You'll keep my commandments.
Folks, he did not say if you love me, you'll feel tingly and warm inside all over once a week. He did not say, if you love me, you will acquire more knowledge. He said, if you love me, you'll just do what I say.
You know, that's hard. Enthusiasm is a whole lot easier than obedience. It's easy to get worked up and enjoy the experience and forget about actually doing what the Bible says. Loving God is not an emotional goosebump. It's a commitment to obedience.
Here's the all. Here's the bottom line. Respect God. Revere God and do what he says, and then be prepared to meet him. For it says, God will bring every work into judgment, including what you think is secret. It is not.
Here's a sobering thought. If you're a believer this morning, if you're a believer, If you know Christ, you walk with him, you love him, you fear him, you obey him, as you're approaching old age, or maybe you're there and you're experiencing these things and they're hard, they're difficult, know this. Be encouraged and comforted by this. This is the closest you will ever come to hell. As bad as it ever gets, this earth, this experience is as close as you'll ever get to hell.
Now reverse that truth. If you're an unbeliever and you've decided, forget God. I don't care about God. I'll do what I want to do, then you're approaching the same years. And understand this is the closest you'll ever come to heaven. So you better look back on all those youthful experiences that you enjoyed and just savor them while you can because it's over after this.
Isn't age funny? Isn't it funny how when we're young it's endless, it seems? Youth is like a horizon that stretches out forever. Then we get older and time goes so fast.
I know we say it. I know it's cliché. But you tell a two-year-old, we'll do something next year, you might as well say, we'll never do it. You say next year to a 40, 50, or 60-year-old, it's like a week.
Billy Graham was at a university and they asked him. The students said, Dr. Graham, what is the most surprising discovery about life you've made? You know what he said? The brevity of it. The brevity of it. Or as Billy would say, the brevity of it. It's over like that.
If you're approaching older age, maybe here's a prayer you may want to pray. Lord, thou knowest I'm growing older. Keep me from the idea that I must express myself on every subject. Release me from the craving to meddle in everyone's affairs. Keep my tongue from the recital of endless details of the past which do not interest others.
Seal my lips when I am inclined to talk about my aches and pains. They are increasing with the years, and my love to speak of them grows sweeter as time goes by. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be wrong.
Make me thoughtful but not interfering, helpful but not bossy. And with the wisdom and experience I have gained, it does seem a pity not to use it all. But thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends left in the end. So help me to pray more, to talk less. And beyond all this, let me continue to flourish spiritually and bring forth fruit to thy glory even in old age. Amen.
There is the great admonition. Bring forth fruit. Remember your creator while you're young. Do it in your middle life so that, when you're old, you're still bearing forth fruit in old age.