March 23, 2011

Ecc 9
Comedians love to make jokes about their spouses. That is probably because most people can relate to their jokes. Living joyfully for a lifetime with one person for most people is a chore. It takes work that the selfish cannot endure. I think my wife is probably going to have a special reward at the Bema seat of Christ for the graceful way in which she has endured me for the 34 years we have traveled thus far. She is a real gem. I was greatly enriched when the Lord gave her to me as my wife. I remember the comedian/preacher Bob Harrington, pastor of Bourbon Street, used to make a lot of depreciating jokes in his sermons concerning his wife. Even as a young teen, I often wondered how she felt about those jokes. Obviously, I was not privy to his marital situation, but I was not all that surprised when the news announced that he was divorcing his wife and soon married another woman.
Is the Preacher being sarcastic when he says, “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun?” I think he is being sarcastic. “Apart from God, Your spouse is the best thing you are going to get! Ain’t life grand?” Remember throughout the book of Ecclesiastes the phrase, ‘under the sun,’ seems to speak of life lived apart from God. Like the comedians of our day, he is offering up a truism that we have difficulty living with because we refuse to submit to the complete plan of God!
It is only by submitting to the complete plan of God that we will be able to make sense of the direction that life takes us. Because only by submitting completely to Him can we really see life in the proper perspective of His glory. When the NKJV translates, “Live joyfully,” it gives a footnote indicating that it should be literally translated, “See life joyfully.” The only way that life can be seen joyfully for a lifetime with a spouse is that we see it together through a perspective that is above this world. It must be seen through an eternal perspective. It must be seen through the glory of God. What is He doing in our lives to bring glory to Himself? Anytime I cease to see life joyfully with my spouse, it is because I have ceased seeing Him, and I focus on my spouse’s faults.
When I focus on Him what do I see? I see the mystery of the Trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, yet They are three persons. Classically stated, “There are three persons in one essence.” Henry Thiessen explains the great practicality of the doctrine this way:
It allows for eternal love. a. Love was before creation, yet love needs an object. Love is always flowing among the persons of the trinity. b. Only God can reveal God. By God the Father Sending God the Son, God could be manifest. (and is still manifested today through the Holy Spirit) c. Only God can atone for sin. This is accomplished through the incarnation of God the Son. d. It is hard to conceive of personality existing without society. The persons of the Godhead relate one to another in perfect harmony, a perfect society. “If there were not trinity, there could be no incarnation, no objective redemption, and therefore no salvation; for there would be no one capable of acting as Mediator between God and man.”
There is eternal love and joy flowing within the Trinity. That is why marriage without Him is impossible. My marriage is to reflect Him/Them. It can only be mocked under the sun. Submitted fully to Him, it can be achieved. That is why we must focus upon Him. When we look at the Baptism, the Transfiguration and the Glorification of Jesus, we see that the Father truly loves the Son. When we look upon the Son on the cross, we see that the Son truly loved the Father. He went there because the Father sent Him there. His love for the Father is clearly demonstrated! Where would I go for my wife? Where would my wife go for me? Hmmm. . . Comedians make marriage jokes because it is at the same time desirable yet impossible apart from Him. The good news is that submitted to Him, He makes it possible because He has already done it! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john