In this enlightening episode, we delve into the timeless wisdom of King Solomon as preserved in the book of Ecclesiastes. We explore the profound teachings on mortality, the purpose of life, and the urgency of action. Solomon’s assertion that there is no work, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave challenges the conventional ideas of the immortal soul and encourages us to make the most of our time here and now. Ronald Dart takes us through a journey of self-reflection and practical living. By examining common human behaviors and drawing parallels to modern-day scenarios, the episode reminds us of the
00:00:03 Introduction to the Episode and Solomon’s Wisdom
00:25:48 Recap of Life’s Principles and Conclusion
SPEAKER 02 :
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, how did your week go? Did you get all the way to the bottom of your list of things to do, finally ticked off every one of them at the end of the week? You thought, hey, this is good. I got everything done I intended to do this week. Or do you still have a whole bunch of big stuff hanging over your head and think maybe you’ll get to it someday? We’re talking about the things that make life work. And we’ve consulted the wisest man who ever lived. His name is King Solomon. His words are so important that they are preserved in the pages of the Bible. In fact, his work is like a gold mine. We’ve already, in these broadcasts, been able to mine a treasure of ideas and attitudes and laws that have everything to do with how your life works. The keys to success and the warnings of failure stored up in Solomon’s books are priceless. There’s one. Very special statement from the ninth chapter of Ecclesiastes that deserves to be put on the wall where you can read it every day. I mean, put it up there in needlepoint or carve it out of a piece of wood somewhere or print it out on your computer with some special fonts and tack it to the wall. It says this. It’s in verse 10 of Ecclesiastes 9. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave where you are going. Now that’s a sobering piece of work there. Fundamental to understanding what Solomon is saying here is the fact, inescapable, that Solomon does not believe that man has an immortal soul. I know that’s fundamental to a lot of Christian belief, but Solomon doesn’t think so. Listen to what he says. Whatever your hand finds to do, you do it with your might because there is no work, no device, no knowledge, no wisdom in the grave where you and I are going. What Solomon is saying that the only chance you have of getting anything done is here and now. In fact, none of the Old Testament writers teach that man has an immortal soul. It’s a concept that I would think was foreign to them. In fact, the earliest teachings that we know about of the immortal soul are actually found in Greek philosophy. And we have to ask ourselves, in the New Testament even, where we come across concepts that we think teach an immortal soul, are we really drawing our faith from the Bible, or are we reading a philosophy into the Bible? But that’s another subject, and I’ll leave it for you to get your Bible in concordance down and study for yourself to see what you think. But it’s plain that the Old Testament writers believed in a resurrection of the dead and life beyond death, but there’s no suggestion anywhere there that they believed in the immortality of the soul as is commonly believed today. In fact, Solomon expressly denies that. He says, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, because you’re not going to get a chance after you go to the grave. Whatever work or device or knowledge or wisdom, it’s not in the grave. That’s where you’re going. So what does Solomon say to me here about making my life work? One of the most important things about this passage of Scripture is that I have a finite period of time in which to do whatever it is I am going to do. I don’t have forever to get this thing done, and I had better get with it if I’m going to get anything done at all. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Get after it, pilgrim. because you only have a limited amount of time in which to get it done, and it’s over. You know, Jesus said something rather similar. He said, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night comes when no man can work. And that’s a simple analogy or metaphor for the fact that you must work while you’re alive, because when you’re dead, you can’t get anything done. Listen to the context of what Solomon had to say from verse 1 of Ecclesiastes 9. For all this I considered in my heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise and all their works are in the hand of God, and no man knows whether love or hatred awaits him. All things come alike to everybody. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean, to him that sacrifice and to the guy that doesn’t sacrifice. In other words, to the religious person and the one that’s not. It comes to the good person. It comes to the sinner. It comes to he that swears an oath as to the man that fears an oath. What is this evil that happens? There is an evil among all things that are done under the sun that there is one event to all. Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live. And after that, they go to the dead. What Solomon is saying is, I don’t care how you live your life. If you’re good, if you’re bad, if you’re wicked, you’re evil, you’re indifferent to life, you’re all going to the same place. You’re going to die. And they’re going to take you out and bury you in the graveyard. And that’s all there is, he says. He says, there you go, you’re dead, you’re buried. Now, there may be a resurrection for you later. But Solomon says, in the grave where you’re going, you’re not going to get much work done. Now, keep in mind that Solomon is taking a human’s eye view of all of this. And from that point of view, you cannot dispute what he says. In the end, the same thing happens to everyone, doesn’t it? We die. I mean, do you know anybody that’s 150 years old? Who do you know that’s not dying, that isn’t on their way toward the grave? We watch them, the great men, the noble, the entertainers, the George Burns of the world. They live for a long time, but they all die. Well, aren’t I the cheerful soul today? But the earlier in life you adopt this thought and make it your own, the greater person you are going to be. And that is that you’re not going to live forever. You are going to die. It will require a miracle from God to give you life after death. And what you’re going to get done, you’d better do it now. Now, I’m not suggesting that you get in a hurry to go to the grave, only that you accept the fact that you have to go there sooner or later. But Solomon is saying, whatever you are going to do about your life, you ought to be about doing it now and diligently. For to him that is joined to all living, there is hope. For a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die, but the dead don’t know anything. Neither have they any more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Now, he’s not ruling out the resurrection here. He’s talking about life as you and I experience it. And he’s saying that you’re better off being alive than you are dead, because if you’re alive, you at least know you’re going to die. If you’re dead, you don’t know anything. And no more is there a reward. In a sense, he means that you’re not going to earn anything. You can’t work and produce something and then enjoy it as a result of your work. And the memory of them, that is your memory of life when you go to the grave, is gone. Also their love, their hatred, their envy is now perished. Neither have they any more apportioned forever in anything that is done under the sun. Just gone. Now, do you see what I mean about Solomon and the immortal soul? He knows nothing of it. In fact, he specifically denies it. He says the dead don’t know anything. which is a little different from the idea that we die and we go to heaven and we sit there and look back down on the earth and we can see the things that are going on down here and maybe we can weep for things that happen here or rejoice in things that happen here. But apparently, according to Solomon, no. At least he sure didn’t know anything about it. The theologians will have to wrestle with the implications of a man of Solomon’s wisdom and knowledge who denies the idea that man has an immortal soul. Now, and by that I mean the traditional idea of the immortal soul. He does not warn you that if you are wicked, you will burn in hell forever. He just says if you’re wicked, you’re going to die. If you’re righteous, you’re going to die. He just puts us all in the same boat and says this is what’s going to happen. Well, how does this affect me? What do I do about this? What does this have to do with making life work? Stay with me and I’ll come back and we’ll talk more in a moment.
SPEAKER 02 :
Join us online at borntowin.net. That’s borntowin.net. Read essays by Ronald Dart. Listen to Born to Win radio programs every day, past weekend Bible studies, plus recent sermons, as well as sermons from the CEM Vault. Drop us an email and visit our online store for CDs, DVDs, literature, and books. That’s borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 03 :
So now that Solomon has us thoroughly depressed, he’s told us we’re going to die and told us we better get busy with life because it may not be so terribly far away. How do we live the rest of the day? What are we going to do with this day? Well, he continues on and actually in the process helps us with one of life’s niggling little problems. In verse 7 he says this, Go your way. Eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, because God accepts your works. Let your garments be white, and let your head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vanity which he has given you under the sun, for that’s your portion in this life and the labor that you take. And then he gives us our phrase, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, because you’re not going to get a chance in the grave. Now, I think a lot of us go through life with nose to the grindstone and working so hard that we never get a chance really to take a break and enjoy the things that we’ve earned. In fact, there’s a perversity in human nature that makes us feel guilty if we do. I take a day off work. I feel guilty. I ought to be in the office. I ought to be mailing out more of these widgets. I ought to be sending out some promotional brochures. There’s stuff to get done, and here I am on the golf course. What am I doing? And you can’t even enjoy a nice round of golf because you’re worried about getting back to the office. You can’t enjoy your wife, and you can’t enjoy your kids, and you’re – running yourself ragged in your business or whatever it is you’re doing, and your kids are left to themselves. Solomon says, hey, what do you think you’re doing? Life is here. You’ve got it now. You’d better start living some of it now. Eat your bread with joy. Drink your wine with a merry heart. For God accepts your works. Treat yourself to some nice clothes. Let your head lack no ointment. In other words, get yourself a nice hairdressing, or rather yet in modern terminology, maybe a little cologne or for a lady a perfume. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love. Have a good time together, folks. It isn’t all work. If it is all work, you’re going to be one miserable so-and-so. Now, from what Solomon says, we derive some serious life principles. Life is short, so get to work. Failure is easy, so work hard. Enjoy your life. Enjoy your work. Enjoy your family. God gives you that. Keep your life in balance. Now, sure, all of us are going to have to work long hours at times in order to get a breakthrough in business. But you do that too long, and you neglect your family. And when all is said and done, it’s going to wind up being gravel in your teeth with no joy. Now, there is yet another principle buried in this passage here. Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. It is a principle called second effort. Football coaches try to teach it, but frankly, some runners have it and some of them don’t, and it’s a hard concept to get through people’s minds. Maybe you can get hold of it. If you ever watch football at all or know anything about it, you know that the ball is handed off to a runner and he hits the line and the men grab him and try to throw him to the ground. Ordinary runners go down when they get hit. Great runners, when they get hit, give it one more surge, one more effort, one more push. And if you watch the game, you’ll notice after a while that it’s the ones who keep struggling, who keep the knees pumping, who keep the legs going, who keep struggling and straining that break loose on occasion and go all the way. When you’re hit, when you are stopped, sometimes in life, all it takes is one more push to break through, a little extra effort, second effort they call it, pushing onward. Sometimes people give up when one more push would have got them through. You know, it doesn’t matter if it’s a business or a game. You can’t afford to give up if the end is in sight. How many businesses are there out there that have gone in the tank because the owners gave up just short of the point where they would break through? How can you know that one more push will not get the job done? Well, yeah. Of course, there comes a place where if you’re lying on the bottom of the pile and you’ve got about four big 300-pound linemen lying on top of you and the whistle has been blown, it is time to stop struggling and give up the ball. And so there is a time when you have to recognize that you’re flogging a dead horse, when there is no point in going on. But you know, the point in making that decision is not when you first get hit. It may not even be on the second hit or the third hit or the fourth hit. Because sometimes you can get knocked around pretty bad in life. But if you keep the legs moving, if you keep driving, if you keep working at it, you can break out of it. Also buried in this principle is another one that Jesus gave to us. He said, which of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattle will say to him by and by when he’s come into the field, go sit down and get yourself something to eat? Now, the passage in question is found in Luke 17 and verse 7. And, you know, politeness says, you know, we’ve got this servant. He’s been out in the field working all day. He’s been feeding your cattle, plowing your fields, and working his tail off. And so he’s come in the house. He’s sweaty and he’s tired. You know, humanly, you’d say, yeah, let’s tell this guy, go get yourself something to eat. You’ve worked hard today. You deserve a break. Jesus didn’t say that. He says, rather, what you’ll say to him is, You make ready so I can eat. You dress yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you shall eat and drink. Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I don’t think so, Jesus said. No, that’s not me speaking, folks. This is Jesus saying this. I don’t think he would, he said. So likewise you. Now here comes the lesson for you, the person who’s in the position really of the servant who’s just drug his tail in from the field and sweaty and tired and worked all day long. When you have done those things which are commanded you, say, we’re unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do. So you got yourself a job. It was a contract, and you went out and you did the job that was contracted. You came back to the office. You pick up your money, and you go home. Nobody owes you anything. You worked. You were paid. You went home. No one owes you a bonus. No one even owes you a pat on the back. You just did your job. Now, there’s an enormous difference out there in the working world between people who do that and people who give more. People who will go above and beyond, people who will deliver something beyond what you pay for, either in the form of service or a little extra goods, good measure, pressed down, running over, to use a biblical term. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find an employee who will do more than he’s required to do? Who will go above and beyond? Jesus here, as well as Solomon, leave us with a life principle. You’ve got to work hard and you’ve got to go above and beyond if you expect to really be successful. And the fact is that if you want to get a job and hold a job and be appreciated by your boss, your employer, you’re going to have to give him more than he’s paying for. If you want him to feel any sense of obligation to you, any thanks toward you, you may not get that anyway, but you certainly have no right to it if you haven’t done something above and beyond. Now, there’s a funny little life thing in here, a doctrinal thing, if you will, concerning the Bible that’s also important, I think, to understand. There’s a long-standing argument that goes back and forth between those who believe in works and those who believe purely in grace for salvation. And many do not understand at all the role of the law or the commandments in the life of a Christian. But maybe if I can put it to you this way, you can understand it. Jesus said, Likewise, when you shall have done all these things which are commanded you, you say, We are unprofitable servants. We have just done our duty. Okay, then, the commandments of God are our duty, and when we have done them, we have earned nothing. The truth is that whenever you tell your neighbor the truth instead of lying to him for personal gain, you don’t deserve any reward. You’ve just told him the truth. That’s what you’re supposed to do. If you lie to him… There is a penalty, and you become guilty, and you lose your reputation, and there are consequences to that bad behavior. The good behavior is simply your duty. It’s not anything that earns you a reward. And so keeping the law is merely keeping out of trouble. It’s odd, you know, but the Pharisees seemed to think that they were doing God a favor by keeping his law. Whereas in actual fact, all they were accomplishing in the observance of the law was to live a clean life. That’s what they were supposed to do. So in keeping the law, you have no special reward coming. You’re an unprofitable servant if that’s all you’ve done. You have only done your duty. Salvation is much more than that and is a gift of God that comes to us by grace through faith.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll have more for you after these words. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only and request the program titled Making Life Work Number 10. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791 or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44 and tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now there’s one more thing that comes out of this, and it’s also reflected in Proverbs the 6th chapter in verse 6. I didn’t understand this little proverb the first time I read it. I’ll read it to you and see how it grabs you. Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her meat in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. Now, if you’re going to follow the example of ants, these little fellows are really diligent. Diligent, persistent, hardworking. I mean, just try to keep them out of the house. Just try to solve the ant problem in the summer when the weather’s dry and they’re coming through the woodwork hither and yon. You want to shut off the flow of ants. They are among the most resourceful of creatures. I used to read that scripture, and I think when I originally marked it in my Bible, I marked it as an example of diligence. And I guess sort of it is, but it’s not exactly the point. Listen to what he says. Go to the aunt, you sluggard. I know what that means, you lazy lout. Consider her ways and be wise, who having no guide, overseer, or ruler, does her job. In other words, she does her job without having to be told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and to be motivated to do it and pressured to do it and whipped to do it and driven to do it. You know, if you think about it, if we got down there and we went out and got ourselves a job in a factory somewhere making, what shall we say, widgets. That’s what everybody says today when they want to talk about making something that nobody knows what it is. We’re going to get us a job in a factory making widgets, and there are going to be ten of us in here on the floor making these things. Now, if all of us could go rolling in there and didn’t need any supervision or any help or any guidance or any training or any equipment or tools or anything of the sort, we can go in there and turn these things out and sell them and get the profit back to us. Let’s say we might be able to make $10 an hour. But on the other hand, if we’re the kind of people that if somebody doesn’t watch us, We’re going to turn out an inferior product. If somebody doesn’t check on us, we’re going to take 30-minute breaks instead of five-minute breaks. If somebody doesn’t watch us, we’re going to do careless work or we’re going to disappear from the job or come to work drunk and turn out who knows what we might turn out. If somebody doesn’t watch us – now, if we’re that kind of people – What the manager of this plant is going to do, he’s going to find one of us, one of us 10 guys or gals, and he’s going to appoint that one as a foreman, supervisor, director over all of us, right? Now, how’s that guy going to get paid? The rest of us kind of get paid per widget. I mean, we’re turning out the work. We’re actually producing a product, and we can actually get the product. But how does the guy who’s working for us get paid? Well, the way he gets paid is, and about the only way it can work is out of the total profit and loss thing. The manager’s got to pay $10 an hour, approximately $100 every hour, for the widgets he gets out of there. And if he has to give some of that $100 to a supervisor, where does that leave you and me? Well, it means we’ve got to take $9 or $8.50 or $8.00. So he can pay this other person who is diligent, who doesn’t have to be supervised, who in fact can supervise others, part of the produce of this factory. So we, us lazy louts who don’t really apply ourselves and are careless in our job, we’re not entitled to earn as much money as we would otherwise get because we have to be supervised. There’s a real lesson right there for you in the way you live your life. And if you’re going to go to work for somebody else, you’re going to wind up giving a certain amount of your production to the person who has to supervise you on the job. You’re going to have to give up some of your production to the person who provides you with the tools. You’re going to have to give up some of your production to the person who puts the roof over your head, who does all the bookkeeping. You’re going to have to share some of your production with the people who actually go out and sell these things to the public, you know, and so on it goes. Now, there’s a little lesson in there, and that is if you really want to make your life work, maybe you ought to think about going into business for yourself. But I’ll tell you this, don’t do that until you have learned the lesson of the ant, who can work without a guide, who can work without an overseer, who can work without a ruler, and will do the things that ought to be done when they need to be done. And also, if you’re going to work for yourself, you need to be prepared to be a profitable worker. That is, you need to be ready to go above and beyond and do more than anyone would normally think you’re going to do. Because you can’t manage your own business nine to five. You can’t do your own work like that and only just work nine to five, Monday to Friday, and forget about it the rest of the time. If you’re going to succeed in your own business, you’re going to have to really work hard. And that takes us back to the principle we started all this thing with where Solomon said, Whatever your hand finds to do, my friend, do it with your might. Do it hard. Work at it. Drive yourself at it. And then this little caveat, be sure to remember your family and take some time for yourself and enjoy the fruit of your labor, or else you’re just going to burn yourself out. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that when you start thinking about what makes life work, it slowly becomes clear that there are reasons why it does and there are reasons why it doesn’t. And it’s a shame in a sense that a lot of us live our lives, we go muddling on down the road just sort of assuming that things happen. And that it’s good luck or it’s bad luck or, boy, that guy sure is lucky. Look how well he has done. And we don’t really realize that this fellow is working like a dog. That’s one of the reasons he’s as lucky as he is. Nor do we consider that one of the reasons that we’re not any luckier than we are is because we’re letting down on many very important things. We’re not working with our might. We’re not going above and beyond. We’re not working without a guide or an overseer or a ruler. We’re not really keeping the nose to the grindstone. If you’d really like to study some of these principles about making life work, drop us a line or give us a call. We’ll tell you how you can get a hold of the entire series of Making Life Work. Our address is Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas, 75791, or call us at 1-888-BIBLE44. Until next time, this is Ronald Dart saying, Reach for the Stars!
SPEAKER 02 :
The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 01 :
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