Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 26 – July 1989

 

Remember Your Creator

 

Sermon by Rev. J. Haverland on Ecclesiastes 12.

Reading: Psalm 71; Eccl. 12; John 10:7-18.

Theme: The need to turn to God and serve him while we are young.

 

One of the saddest features of the last ten or so years has been the rise of a generation of street kids.

Children and young people who are out on the streets.  Who wander around during the day and have nowhere to go at night.  Who sleep out in garages and sheds and bus shelters and have no place to call home.

Their lives are empty.  They have no aim, no goals, no ideals.  They live without a sense of purpose.

There are other lost kids around too.

Those who come from good homes, have a solid bank account, are successful in an apprenticeship or at university, have plenty of friends and loving parents.

But their lives are often just as empty.  They too have nothing to live for.  They are also frustrated and lost in the world.

The lostness of these young people is the lostness of everyone in this world who has forgotten about their Creator.

This is why we are urged to remember our Creator.

To remember means that we should recall something to mind.  To remind ourselves of something so that it is fixed in our minds so that it shapes our lives, controls our thinking, moulds our behaviour.

We are to remember God in such a way that he becomes the controlling force in our lives.

So that he dominates and directs.

This is addressed to all of us.  To young and old.

But the preacher here directs this exhortation particularly to young people.

Because the best time to remember God is when you are young.

There are a number of reasons for this.

Let's consider four of these today.

1.  We should remember our creator in our youth because Youth is a time of Searching.

In many cultures children go from being children to adults in one move.  Often this is marked by an initiation into manhood or womanhood.

In our western culture we have an extended period between childhood and adulthood which we call adolescence.

A time in which young people want to be seen as mature adults in their own right, but they are not yet ready to take on all the responsibilities of adulthood.

This produces certain tensions during these teenage years.

Young people in this period sometimes feel inadequate and insecure.

They feel inferior and lack self-esteem.

They often aren't quite sure who they are and are searching for a sense of identity.

Now it is in this time of searching that we need to remember our Creator.

Because the answers to these questions come in knowing our Creator.

The answer to feelings of inferiority comes in knowing that we are made by God, in His image.  We can feel good about who we are when we know that we are His children.

In the same way the answer to a struggle for acceptance comes from the knowledge that God has accepted us.

He accepts us just as we are.

It doesn't matter how beautiful or handsome you are.  Doesn't matter whether you are tall or short, big or small, round or thin, intelligent or not.  God sent his Son to save the lost.  In Jesus God is reconciling lonely sinners to Himself.  To all who receive Jesus, God gives the right to become children of God.

God accepts you because of your relationship with Jesus.

You are important to God because you belong to Him.

You need to remember your Creator especially because this is a time of searching.

2.  Secondly you need to remember your Creator in your youth because it is a time of selfishness.

Selfishness is one of the main characteristics of human nature.

We are all selfish.  We are all more concerned about ourselves rather than about others.

But this is particularly seen in young people.

Young people don't have any other responsibilities.  They don't have anyone else to think of except themselves.

And this tends to make them more obviously selfish.

This is often true also of young couples, especially before they have children.

You only have yourselves to live for.  You can please yourself, do your own thing, live for your own pleasure and enjoyment.

It is easy in this situation to live selfishly, without much consideration for others.

To forget about God and to neglect your neighbour.

It is because youth is a time of selfishness that the preacher reminds us that we are to remember our Creator!

God calls us to live for Him, not for ourselves and our own pleasure.

Here we are to follow the example that Jesus gave us.  He came to live and to die for us.  He lived a selfless life and died a selfless death for us.

In the same way we are to give ourselves up for Him.

We are to serve our Saviour with our time, our talents, our money, our families, our homes.

Our inclination is to be selfish.  But we are to remember our Creator.

Youth is a time of searching, a time of selfishness.

3.  Thirdly youth is a time of setting patterns.

Our youth is the period of our lives during which we change the most.  Physically, mentally, socially, spiritually.

We are to remember our Creator at this time because it is in these years that we are setting patterns.

During these years we are laying a foundation for our later years.

These are the years that we are forming our ideas, setting priorities, establishing goals.

The further we go on in life the more difficult it will be to change these patterns.

Habits are formed, ideas are set, patterns are fixed.

You will notice that most old people have a particular routine of doing things.

They always do it that way because they have always done it that way!

Once you have done something for 60 or 70 or 80 years, it is difficult to change.

That is true of our ideas too.  And also of our ideas about God.

If a person has ignored God for 70 years it is not likely that he will suddenly search for him.

Now thankfully there are marvellous exceptions to this and we can be thankful for God's graciousness in pulling some older people back as an answer to prayer.

But it is generally true that the longer a person lives without God, the harder it is to change that person.

Some young people say that they will turn to God when they get a bit older, after they have done their own thing for a while.  After they have enjoyed themselves.

But experience shows that if you put it off now, then you will put if off forever.

This is the time to remember your Creator.

And keep on remembering Him so that you continue in the good patterns you have established.

Make sure that you set good patterns of devotion in your family life and personal life.

Patterns of attendance at worship and participation in Bible studies.

Habits of hospitality and a concern for others.

We need to pray for the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit so that we can live lives that are patterned on our Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to remember God now because youth is a time of searching, of selfishness, of setting patterns, and finally:

4.  Youth is a time of strength.

Vs.2-7 of Ecclesiastes gives us a picture of old age.

Old age is described with a number of images and metaphors.

It is a time of darkening shadows and of clouds settling over your life.

The watchmen of the house, which are your hands, start to tremble.

The mighty men stoop; those are your legs.

The grinding ones are your teeth and those who look through windows are your eyes.

All these begin to weaken and fail.

You don't have the energy you used to have.

Your sleep is restless.

You are afraid of heights and busy roads.

The fragile nature of our life is pictured as a beautiful golden bowl hanging on a silver chain.

A link in the chain breaks and the bowl is broken.

It is pictured as a broken and deserted well whose pitcher is shattered and the wheel crushed.

It is often a difficult time of life as the body and the mind weaken.

The preacher wants to use this as a reminder that we should remember the Creator in the days of our youth.

Before the evil days come and the years draw near when you say I have no delight in them.

Youth is the time to remember the Lord because this is a time of strength.

It is now that you have the vision and the health to serve the Lord with vigour and with joy!

This is the time for action and service!

But this is not just addressed to the young.

This is addressed to all of us.

This is, in fact, the final word that the preacher has for us.

He has examined all of life.

He has seen the confusion that exists when people do not know God.

And so his last word points us again towards the Almighty God.

Fear God.

Worship God.

Approach Him with awe and reverence and honour.

We need what Luis Palau has called a "heart after God".

A heart that yearns for God...
            longs to know its Creator...
            loves to fellowship with Him.

And if we love Him like this we will want to keep His commandments.

This is the direction the preacher points all of us into.

Young and old, men and women, boys and girls, single and married.

The conclusion, when all has been heard is:
            Fear God and keep His commandments.
            Because this is the whole duty of man (RSV, NIV).
            Literally that last phrase of vs.13 reads: Because this is the whole of man.

This is where man finds his wholeness.

When we find God we become complete people.

We become what we should be as human beings.

We are restored to the image of the One who created us.

We are brought into a wholeness of Life!

This is why our Lord Jesus came.
            He came to give us life!
            Life in all its busyness and joy!
            Life in all its fullness and abundance!
            Life in all its eternity and glory!

Do you want to enjoy this life?

Then listen to the final conclusion of the preacher:

"Fear God and keep His commandments.
 Because this is the whole of man."

AMEN