Funerals Are Better Than Birthdays (1-4)
1 We should value our name/reputation over our smell. This seems related to funerals, where we reflect upon the person’s reputation. A good name > the stench of even the best perfume sprayed upon a corpse.
2 Excellent verse for funerals. No one looks forward to going to funerals, but they serve as important reminders of our mortality.
Mourning > Feasting: Would you skip Thanksgiving for a funeral? You won’t naturally appreciate funerals more than feasts, but they’re better for your soul. Most of us would prefer to avoid funerals and thinking about death—which makes funerals that much more crucial.
Funerals help us reflect on what is truly important in life (character > possessions). Mourning teaches us about living. Facing death teaches us to treasure life.
3 How is sorrow better than laughter? It doesn’t feel better. Are we supposed to mope around with a perpetual frown like Eeyore? “Nobody likes me…”
What’s wrong with happiness? The Preacher has already commended joy (Eccl 2:24; 3:12, 22). What are we to make of these seemingly contrasting verses? Should we pursue happiness or sadness? We don’t have to be Debbie Downer, killing everyone else’s joy with negative comments.
Outward appearance doesn’t always reveal our heart. We can wear a joyful mask when we are being eaten up by sadness. Routinely suppressing your sadness will not bring lasting joy. Rather, it’s better to allow others to see your sadness, relieving the tension in your heart—which eventually makes room for gladness.
4 Funerals > Mirth (entertainment). Why would you be at a funeral unless you were invited? Don’t avoid death/cemetaries/funerals.
People increasingly uncomfortable with death. Funerals = celebrating life, so we don’t have to think about death at all. We avoid the language of death by talking about a person’s “passing” or “departing”. I do that myself, so don’t take that as judgment. We should be sensitive, but the point is still valid.
Funerals help us think rightly about life and death.
Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
The first funeral I remember attending was for my Jr. High youth pastor, Oscar Diego. I mentioned him before, but he drowned at Millerton Lake while on a trip with the youth group. It was one of the greatest influences upon my love for ministry.
God teaches us, often through death, how to enjoy Him and His gifts.
Repentance involves mourning over our sin. The pain of death, when it is felt (not avoided), reminds us of the resurrection joy that awaits, because Jesus Christ was victorious over death. Now we can agree with Paul…
Philippians 1:21–23 ESV
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
› The Preacher transitions from the superiority of mourning to…
Wisdom Is Better Than Foolishness (5-12)
5 At my sister’s wedding that involved dancing and acting silly. It was fun. I would not have preferred a rebuke no matter how wise…He’s not suggesting we never laugh or dance. There is a proper time for it (Eccl 3:4).
But refusing wise rebuke = neglecting mourning. Don’t replace rebuke with tickling each other’s ears! We’re terrified of causing offense. But, a rebuke grounded in truth, is loving.
6 A play on words “thorn” and “pot” (sound similar in Hebrew). Ryken, “The laughter of fools is like nettles crackling under kettles.” Thorns crackle in the flame, but quickly turn into smoke. The laughter of fools is short-lived.
Mourning and rebuke are infrequent, yet they can deepen your joy. We must separate “joy in God” from “superficial laughter in life under the sun.”
Joy is not the problem, but the shallow pursuit of joy divorced from reality. Always feasting and never mourning. Always laughing and never hearing rebuke. That’s living in denial. And that’s the escapist culture that we live in.
7 Bribes and oppression are rejected by the wise. They know the love of money brings corruption.
8 Patiently seeing projects through to the finish is much more rewarding than the flash-in-the-pan start (P90X? I made it to P2X).
9 Fools are quick to anger. Anger escapes the heart in fits and bursts, rash, typically unjustified.
10 Anger > Nostalgia. Always dreaming about “the good ol’ days” is unwise. If v.8 warns against pessimism about the future, v.10 warns of the temptation of nostalgia for the past.
11 Good = Wisdom + inheritance. If we are wise we will manage our money well. More money is good as long as you have the wisdom to use your money well (generosity, passing it on).
12 Wisdom is more important than money.
God teaches us, often through foolishness (our own or others), how to enjoy Him and His gifts.
Pursue wisdom!
Proverbs 4:5–7 ESV
Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.
Joy is related to suffering:
• “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” (Jam 1:2).
• “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (Jam 1:12).
• “In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy” (2 Cor 7:4).
• “…for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part” (2 Cor 8:2).
Accepting the tension that suffering brings into one’s life is a sign of maturity.
› It is a sign that we are being conformed into the image of Christ…
Conclusion
In Jesus Christ we find “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3).
Jesus those who mourn will be comforted…those who weep now will laugh…and the persecuted will receive the kingdom of heaven.
Paul this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
Finally, through the “foolishness” of the cross where we see God’s power and wisdom in accomplishing redemption (1 Cor 1:18f). The cross is where all of our threads end. At the cross we see the climax of mourning and foolishness which culminate in our salvation and everlasting joy!