Seriousness is Better Than a Good Laugh

Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

These words in the book of Ecclesiastes were written by a man of whom God says was the wisest man who ever lived.  He was a king, one of the greatest kings in world history.  He was rich, so rich that his riches are beyond description.  He had 700 wives, and 300 concubines.   He experienced all the pleasure he ever wanted, he was looked up to by surrounding kings and queens who paid homage to him.  No kingdom in the history of the world was equal to the glory of King Solomon and his kingdom.  But King Solomon fell.  The bible tells us that his wives turned his heart away from God 1 Kings 11:3-4 "...and his wives turned away his heart.  For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God..." and King Solomon built temples to false gods and he began to live only for pleasure and feasting and he made God angry with him and God punished him.  It was after Solomon's fall when he saw his great failings and he turned back to God in his old age that he wrote the Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes.  It was after all his experience of life that he wrote these words:

  Eccle 7:1-4 "A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.  It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.  Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.  The heart of the wise in in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."
 
When Solomon wrote those words he was inspired by God the Holy Spirit, this is the teaching of God.  The message can be summed up in one sentence.  Seriousness is better than frivolity.  Here is a paragraph of relevance to our entertainment-crazed generation.  The four verses are  a series of paradoxes, apparent contradictions, they state the complete opposite of what the majority opinion is in this world.  That is to be expected because when it comes to the real meaning of life and real life values, the world is always wrong because the unsaved world does not know the author of life.  They do knot know the one who came to give us life in all its fullness so therefore its obvious that they are going to be wrong in their view of life.


1. The day of death is better than the day of birth.  V1  Two things are put in this verse because in the same way that a good reputation is better than precious ointment so is the day of your death better than the day of your birth.  How is a good reputation better than expensive ointment (perfume)?  A good reputation lasts, expensive perfume doesn't.  One is permanent the other is temporary.  A good name is better than a good smell.  In the ancient east expensive perfume was a status symbol.  But God through Solomon says being of good character having a good reputation is better than having status symbols.  Anyone can put on expensive perfume but a good reputation is better because it is real and it lasts.  A good reputation is not superficial, it is permanent. 

Only a Christian can say that death is better than birth.  At birth you have a whole life of problems and sin in front of you, but for a Christian, you have a whole life of problems and sin behind you, you don't have to go though it again, the past is over.  At birth you have a temporary, uncertain, changeable life in front of you, but at death you have a certain, real, permanent and unchangeable life in heaven.  The apostle Paul said to live is Christ and to die is gain.  It is gain to die.  Only a child of God can say that.  But they can say it because for them death is better than birth.

2. The house of mourning is better than the house of feasting.  V2  It will do us more good to go to a funeral than a festival.  Our Lord attended both, but one is better than the other.  That is not saying that we enjoy going to the house of mourning, it doesn't mean it is enjoyable, it does mean that it is better.  Some things that are better for us are things we don't enjoy.  It is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting.  At a funeral people are real, there is no showing off, there are no false faces, there is no dirty humor and people are not saying anything for rhetorical effect.  People are what they are, they see their need and the reality of life comes home at a funeral.   The world does not like to be reminded of reality, this is an unwelcome message to the unsaved. 

Why is it better to go to the house of mourning? the answer is in the verse.  Because that is the end of all men.  The lesson that it teaches us is that this is the destiny of us all.  If anything will set thoughtless people to thinking, this is it.  The living will lay it to his heart and start to think about it.  At a funeral people learn that life is brief and that death is certain and that they need to take to heart these things and live wisely.  This is not a lesson they will learn at a party.  The house of feasting destroys recollection and thinking properly.  Thinking is not done at parties.  Just have fun, just enjoy, don't think too much, just have a laugh.  But then die and face the consequences that you have blatantly ignored, and buried your head in the sand like an ostrich, and never want to think seriously.  In the house of mourning, you are looking at where you are going, you are facing it and there are no distractions.  The world tries to avoid this and they live in denial of reality.  Mourning is better than feasting.  God teaches the complete opposite of what the world teaches.

3. Sorrow is better than laughter.  V3  Jesus said if any man will come after me let him deny himself...   but is it all joy and fun to bear a cross?  Some evangelists say  "come to Jesus and you will never look back, he is everything you have ever wanted, you will be happy all the day, you will have great fun, the Christian life is a great laugh".  That is deceptive nonsense.  But then the converts are hit by their first burden and their first sorrow and they are gone because they were not told the whole story.  It's not a good laugh to bear a cross.  Not fun all the time.  But then the people that tried to half-convert them come alongside and say "I know you have made a profession but I didn't tell you about the cross you have to bear"  Jesus puts this right at the beginning, it doesn't come later.  There is sorrow in the Christian life and sorrows are better than laughter according to the bible.  Romans 9:1-2 "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart."  

Why did the apostle Paul have continual sorrow?  Because of his own people, a continual sorrow for them because he desired to see them saved and they were not saved.  There is a time for laughter, but with the lost all round us, laughter is not the most important thing when the lost are dying.  Too often there is not that sorrow at all.   In many places there is no burden for the lost, there is just frivolity.  If we really believed that our unsaved family members were going to be damned, in darkness and tormented forever like the bible plainly says, if we really believed Jesus there wouldn't be so much frivolity in Christian churches today.  If we really were able to hear the screams of the lost in hell crying" I am tormented in this flame", then many churches would not be characterized by frivolity and fun would not be the motivation for everything because there would be a burden if we believed what Jesus says.  The burden would bring a continual sorrow for the lost.

There is not a continual sorrow in churches today because there is no real burden for the lost because many people do not believe the destiny of the lost.  Churches are more interested in being trendy and unoffensive than urging people to the necessity of repentance from their sin and faith in Jesus Christ. The church today has mainly forgotten what she is and she has become a reflection of the world.  The church has forgotten that sorrow is better than laughter.  Why is sorrow better?  By mourning the heart is made better.  Its only when you are convicted of your sin and you admit that you are sinful that you mourn over your sin, and that will lead you to repent and you will be forgiven.  Without the sorrow there will be no repentance and no forgiveness.   In our ordinary lives, it's only the person who is not afraid to mourn and weep that will come to terms with death.  Others who never mourn because they never shed a tear and live in denial will never be happy people.  There is a release in mourning, by mourning the heart is made better.

4. V4 there should be a Therefore between V3 and V4  Therefore the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.  Are you wise?  Are you in the house of mourning?  Are your priorities right?  Is there a solemn seriousness and depth, a burden for people and their salvation?  The fools are in the house of mirth, they don't think seriously very much.   A life characterized by mirth, light-heartedness, shallowness and fickleness, that person is a fool according to God.  The house of mirth, the house of entertainment, distract your self from reality.  There are people today who are always looking for a punch-line when they are listening to you because they are always trying to turn everything to mirth, always trying to get a laugh in every situation.  That type of person according to the bible is a fool.

Do you believe this?  do you believe the plain teaching of the bible?  that death is better than life, that mourning is better than feasting, that sorrow is better than laughter and that the wise are in the house of mourning but fools are in the house of mirth?

There are two mentalities, two opposing mind-sets, two world views.  These are in complete opposition to each other.  One is the view of the world, one is the view of the Christian.  Our lives prove our profession.  The teaching of verses 1-4 teaches that happy times teach less than hard times.  That is why Christians look forward to the day when sorrow and mourning will flee away.

If you are not a believer, death will not be better for you.  Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  Consider these things and prepare. 
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The notes above were made by myself from the sermon by Paul Dowling of Whiteabbey Congregational (Reformed) at Sermon Audio.

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=71308161614