(A) Living for pleasure: the unbalanced life. See Eccles2v1to3.

It is very foolish to eliminate all pleasure from life. There were periods in my career as a schoolteacher that work and church commitments almost ousted leisure activity. My only recreation was a game of hockey on Saturday afternoons. I can recall one gruelling winter when I had to work through my February half-term holiday. I got no rest and paid for it with unpleasant stress-induced symptoms. It was the last time I worked throughout an holiday.

It is good to do things that give pleasure. Now that I am retired I am able to go bird watching once a week, ramble in the countryside when the sun shines, play cricket mid-week, search for wild flowers in season, play scrabble with my friends Edward and Dorothy and read lots of books. The danger is that I will get the balance wrong a spend too much time on leisure pursuits.

Solomon got the balance wrong and gave himself over to pleasure. He tried living purely for pleasure as an experiment. But that also proved to be meaningless. v1. A life of merry-making disgusted the Teacher because it accomplished nothing. He asked rhetorically, "And what does pleasure accomplish?"

There are a growing number of people who when they reach retirement age give themselves wholly over to enjoying themselves. Christians need to watch out that they do not fall into the same trap. It is important to get the balance right otherwise life will become increasingly futile. God said, "Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God." Christians tend to stress the significance of the day of rest but in retirement it is important to remember the six days of labour.

A few weeks ago Pastor Hawkins, a gracious Grace Baptist minister in Suffolk, died aged 78. He died in harness. He never retired from the pastorate. I admire Pastor Hawkins for continuing to work until he was called home. Ideally that is what we all should do. However, I do not feel guilty about retiring from my job as a teacher because I was worn out and the quality of my work was deteriorating. I would feel very guilty, though, if I just lived for pleasure. I am pleased to work for my church and spend two or three hours a day writing for my website. I would be better pleased if I knew my writing did some good!

It is vital to get the balance right. Jesus enjoyed life with his disciples in the early days of his ministry. See sermon on Luke5v24: It isn't natural. He made vast quantities of top quality wine for the wedding feast at Cana. This must have contributed to the merriment of the occasion! But a life devoted entirely to pleasure will not satisfy. It accomplishes nothing and is a waste of the time God has given us to use for him. Jesus went around doing good.

Before I preached at Whepstead, the Church Secretary, Tony, invited me to tea. I asked him how he was getting on with the youth work. He is 65 and has been working with young people for nearly 30 years. Tony said, "It doesn't get any easier. I often feel very apprehensive and fearful before a session is due to start. It is wonderful later in the evening when it is all over and I am able to sit back in my armchair and relax with a cup of coffee." There is no leisure more enjoyable than that we know we have earned.

(B) Living for work: the misdirected life. See Eccles2v4to11 and v17to23.

The Teacher had a very busy life. He worked very hard. It cost him something for he writes: All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. v23. It is not possible to build houses, plant vineyards, make gardens and parks, establish an irrigation system, run a huge herd of cattle and flock of sheep and support the arts without making a great deal of effort. He did his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill and great were Solomon's accomplishments. Yet the many achievements of the Teacher gave him no abiding satisfaction. He concludes: I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun.

Why is this? The Teacher made a great mistake. He worked for himself. He says: I built houses for myself..... I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself....... I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. This is the root cause of his disallusionment. The Teacher realises that he must leave the fruits of his labours to another. He complains: For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. v21. The Teacher finds this painful because he is fundamentally selfish. He has toiled and laboured for himself - not for those who come after him or for anyone else.

There are three motivations for work. Many like the Teacher work for themselves. They work to acquire possessions, self-esteem and status. I have just read in todays Daily Telegraph that a French chef committed suicide because he was downgraded In the Gault-Millau guide from 19 to 17 points out of 20. If his main concern had been to produce a good meal for his customers he would not have felt so disillusioned. It was a terrible mistake to be so preoccupied with status.

It is easy, as the end of life approaches, to share the Teacher's bitterness. I know a man who worked all hours during the last war to earn enough to acquire a farm. He then slaved away to pay off the mortgage and build up some capital. Eventually he sold his farm for about half a million pounds and retired. When he died his brothers did not get a penny. He said to himself, "I worked for it and they shan't spend it." The old farmer left all his money to charity. The Teacher said of his life work: Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done ...... nothing was gained under the sun. v11. That is the inevitable conclusion of a man who has worked purely for self; there is no gain. Jesus said, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? AV Mark8v36.

Another motivation for working hard is the work is worth doing for its own sake. At the end of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's, 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,' an account of a day in one of Stalin's labour camps, the inmate, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, went to sleep content. It had been: A day without a dark cloud. Almost a happy day. A contributory factor to the happiness of that day was that he'd built a wall and enjoyed doing it.

The Teacher does recognise the worth while ness of doing a job well for its own sake when he says, perhaps, slightly more positively: A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. v24. But a time does come when a man can no longer work. It is then that it would be consoling if there were some reward for your labours. I always thought as a young man that if I taught all my working life in the same area then when I came to retire I would enjoy some ongoing relationships with a few of my pupils. This hasn't happened. A teacher does not benefit from the happy relationships with pupils that he had during his career. So when the work ends so does the satisfaction and then, what is left? It is tempting to say with the Teacher: This too is meaningless.

Christians work for God. They serve God because they love him as their heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ because they love him as Saviour and Friend. However, they are encouraged to look forward to their reward. Paul says when writing to Timothy, Command those that are rich to do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves on a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of life that is truly life. 1Tim6v18. He also says when writing to the Corinthians: For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved but only as one escaping through the flames. 1Corv11to12.

It is clear from these and other Scriptures that Paul is looking forward to his reward. His brief remark to the Corinthians when writing about the resurrection from the dead is very telling: If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. 1Cor15v19. If we are living primarily for self we are spending a life time building with wood, hay or straw and in that there is no gain. We need to take both Paul's and Jesus' advice and lay up treasure in heaven. If we do this then we shall eventually take hold of the life that is truly life. This is the Christian's hope and it is that hope which keeps us serving the Master cheerfully.

(C) Living for knowledge: the misdirected life. See Eccles2v12to16.

Most of us are interested in making good investments. I was glad I bought my house when I did; that has proved a sound investment; so too has this computer. Some of my other investments have not turned out so well. We are told today that, "Knowledge is power." Western Countries are making huge investments in education and training. Never has so much knowledge been more widely available. Type the name of an obscure wildflower into a search engine and a couple of hundred websites will show up.

The Teacher was not convinced that knowledge was a very good investment. He says, Like the fool the wise man too must die. v16. The same fate overtakes both the wise man and the fool. When the wise man dies everything is lost. It is a poor investment when everything in the end is lost.

It is only a tiny number of mankind who are remembered from one generation to the next. Solomon's words are true: For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. I walked slowly around Westminster Abbey a few weeks ago. Many of the monuments and memorials to men and women, famous in their day, meant nothing to me.

There is another worldly saying that does contain a greater measure of truth: 'It's not what you know but whom you know that counts.' I am very pleased to know a reliable plumber, a conscientious electrician, a trustworthy painter and decorator, a helpful motorcar mechanic and a good gardener. Between them they have saved me from a lot of grief.

In the late 1960's schools were in turmoil. It was the time that many Grammar schools were abolished and Comprehensives put in their place. Most staff had to reapply for jobs. I applied for the Head of Geography post at the County Upper School. This was not very wise because I had already upset the headmistress at a pre-reorganisation meeting. Before the interview my headmaster invited me to some social gathering he had organised after school. It is a wonder I agreed to attend. During the course of the evening I got into conversation with a rather effiminate individual with tightly curled hair. It must have been one of my better days. I had no idea who he was but I chatted to him in a good humoured, amusing and animated fashion. When I attended the interview for the job at the County Upper School the headmistress was distinctly frosty but there was one man who was on my side - the Deputy Chief Education Officer for West Suffolk. Yes, it was the man with the curly hair whom I had inadvertently impressed with my wit and charm at the headmaster's party. He ensured that I got the job. It was a strange providence. It illustrates, in more ways than one, how important it is to know the right people.

Jesus said, Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John17v3.

The only investment that yields lasting dividends is the time we take getting to know Jesus and through him becoming intimate with the only true God.

Take the name of Jesus with you
Child of sorrow and of woe;
It will joy and comfort give you -
Take it then where'er you go

Precious name, oh how sweet,
Hope of earth and joy of heaven.