It has been awhile, but I am positing again!  This is an article that I wrote sometime ago, and I will be reworking it this week in preparation for the holidays, so I thought I would get some feedback, as I am rewriting it.

Here goes!

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: A Biblical Command or Prohibition?

In this season of feasting, and after spending a good amount of time as a congregation in the book of Ecclesiastes (Summer and Fall of 2001), it is right for us to continuing thinking through the reasons for feasts, lest we become worldly in our feasting and cut ourselves off from the great banquet yet to come.  To aid us in our thinking I will reflect on two seemingly contradictory statements in Scripture: The message of Ecclesiastes[1] and the apostle Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15:32.  It is my contention that though Qoheleth and Paul seem contradictory, they are not at odds with one another.  In fact, not only are they not contradictory, their messages are actually complementary, and aid us as we live in a world which is both one at the same time beautiful and cursed, a world which is a gift, and is passing away.

Let us begin in Ecclesiastes, where we can stir up our minds, and remember some of the elements of Ecclesiastes’ message.  In Ecclesiastes the oft repeated phrase “Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless” is matched in repetition only by the idea of eating, drinking, and enjoyment of life under the sun. 

There is nothing better for man than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 2:24-25

… moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.  3:13

This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot.  5:18

So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.  8:15

Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do.  9:7

It is not easy to miss the repetitious theme of Ecclesiastes: eat, drink, be merry, and enjoy your work.  The reason for this theme is that God has approved of this lifestyle (9:7), because he has given the gifts (2:24), and the ability to enjoy them (3:13).  This enjoyment of our time under the sun is our God given lot (5:18), because man is a creature, and is also subjected to the curse, and therefore must die.  Thus, prior to one’s death, the correct response to the good things of this life is the enjoyment of the gift God has granted, because one day our capacity to enjoy it will be diminished because we will die.

The reasoning of Ecclesiastes itself is straightforward enough, as creatures, we are finite, and death has come upon us and the whole of creation because of the sin of Adam.  But God grants gifts to us while we are alive, in fact, life itself is a gift to be enjoyed.  God not only grants the gifts to be enjoyed, but also the capacity to enjoy them.  Thus, by enjoying God’s gifts we give glory to the gift-giver.  That is, as we rightly enjoy the gifts that God has granted us, we give him glory as the great Giver.

Though that reasoning is mostly easy to follow, when one encounters Paul, it seems as though all enjoyment of life is nothing but a forsaking of the resurrection of the dead.  Because Paul writes,

“If with only man-centered realities I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised, 

            ‘Let us eat and drink,

                        for tomorrow we die’” (1 Corinthians 15:32, Personal Translation).

The context of this verse is Paul’s long and arduous (Yet important!) argument concerning the reality and magnitude of the resurrection to come, when Jesus the Messiah returns in all his glory.  The implication which he draws out in this verse concerns how Paul lives his life as an apostle.  If Paul simply had a man-centered view of life, that is there is no resurrection from the dead, then why would he fight with the wild animals in Ephesus?  That is, why would he venture to put himself in danger if this is the only life we live?  If there is no resurrection, then Paul’s fighting with lions is foolish.[2]  Even more, Paul argues, if there is no resurrection, instead of putting oneself in harms way, one’s lifestyle should be eating and drinking, for death will soon cut us short of such things.

Now we sense the potential contradiction.  One portion of Scripture argues that because of death’s reality we are to enjoy this life which God grants, because it is a gift.  Another portion argues that the type of lifestyle advocated by Qoheleth is the lifestyle of one who forsakes the reality of the resurrection of the dead.  With whom shall we side?  Shall we follow the seemingly sub-Christian advice of Qoheleth?  Or shall we follow the words of the apostle Paul, and instead of living lives which are filled with eating and drinking, offer ourselves up to suffering for the cause of Christ?  Or are these our only two options?  Maybe there is a third way in which we may understand these two vital truths concerning the Christian life?  A way which holds these two views in tension, which does not attempt to separate the two truths, but instead makes rightful distinctions, which guide us in our lives as Christians.  It is to this way that we now turn.

In our age of consumerism and materialism, the message of Ecclesiastes is an easy message to hear.  We hear, “Eat! Drink!  Be merry!” and we respond “Amen!”  This message in many ways is inoffensive to modern ears, except in one manner: it is God who gives.  There are many who like the eating and the drinking, but they do not like to ponder long the fact that God gives these things.  For if God’s provision is accepted, then thanksgiving is required.  There are many who hear this and shun it, for they do not want to thank God for the gifts that he has given.[3]  But, regardless, this is the message of Qoheleth.  If one has been given food, then let them eat with thanksgiving to God, who gave the food.  In fact, this is what our lives are to be here on earth: a life of giving thanks to God for his provisions, while he grants them. 

But just as this message can be easily accepted by many, it can easily be marred by deceit.  The evil one, who has been deceiving from the beginning (Genesis 3), can take the message of Ecclesiastes, and twist it so that we become worldly, and fix our eyes primarily on pursing the good things of this cursed age over and against the good things of the blessed age to come.  In fact, one can easily see this theological deception in what is called the “Health-wealth gospel.”  This gospel, which is no gospel at all, argues that no Christian should undergo suffering.  In fact, suffering is a sign of a lack of faith or the presence of sin in the Christian’s life.  This life, it is argued, is to be marked only by blessing, by eating, drinking, and being merry.  It is a life, which is to be free from poverty, sickness, disease, sacrifice, death, and tribulation, for these are signs of disbelief and sin.

This is where Paul’s corrective comes to play.  For he argues, that it is because of the resurrection of Christ, and the consummate resurrection to come, that Christians persevere and endure sufferings in this life and put themselves in harms way on account of the gospel, because this life is not all there is.  There is a life to come, the glory of which is not comparable to the sufferings which Christians presently endure (Romans 8:18).  Thus, Paul’s corrective to deceitful worldliness is that we as Christians who hope in a resurrection to come, of which Christ’s resurrection is the first and greatest portion, do not simply attempt to live a life of luxury in this age, for this age is passing away.  We do not go out of our way to avoid all suffering.  In fact, we know that all Christians who seek to be godly will suffer, for that was the lot of our master (2 Timothy 3:12).  Also we know that because of the power of the resurrection Christians will forsake great wages to serve, they will forgo stockpiling great amounts of food, so that they may give to others, they will deplete savings for advancement of the good news of Jesus, they will seek their restrictions rather than their freedom.

But some may still ask, do not Paul’s words forbid eating, drinking, and being merry?  I believe Paul’s answer to that would be “Banish the thought!”  Why?  First, because in the context, Paul is focusing on how the reality of the resurrection moves one out from a “this-world” approach to life.  Christians are not primarily concerned with this life, that is to the point where we must forsake the life to come.  Rather, we focus on the life to come, which causes us not to simply live lives that are focused with getting all we can get in this life.  Rather, the Christian will do some life-threatening acts because he knows that the life to come requires it.  Second, Paul himself advocates the theological lifestyle presented by Qoheleth.  In 1 Timothy 4:1-5 Paul writes,

¹ The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.  ² Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.  ³ They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.  ⁴ For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,  ⁵ because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer (NIV, italics mine).

            Not only is one able to take the teaching of Qoheleth to an ungodly end, but one may also take Paul’s teaching to an ungodly end.  Thus, we must consider what else Paul may say about eating, drinking, and the enjoyment of life.  In this passage it is clear that Paul does not forbid eating, drinking, and marriage, for that is the position of false teachers, whose consciences are seared.  Rather, he advocates a position similar to that of Qoheleth.  That is, the Christian is to receive what God has made with thanksgiving. 

            The conclusion of the matter then is this: as Christians, we are to receive the good gifts of God, which he brings our way, with thanksgiving.  As we seek to squeeze the joy out of the good gifts, we are giving glory to God as the Great Giver.  For, what father wants to see his son restrict his enjoyment of a gift which he gave in love?  God is therefore glorified as the Giver as we enjoy his goodness displayed in food, drink, marriage, families, etc.  But the Christian must also remember that this life is not simply about accumulating all one can in this life, for there is a life to come, which compels us to risk our lives for the joy of hearing “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:14-30).  For what father is pleased by a lazy son, who simply remains inside and eats, drinks, and watches television, while the rest of the family labors to put food on the table at Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts?  Thus, as we approach this season of celebration and feasting, let us do so with thanksgiving to the God who is the giver of all good things. (James 1:17).  Let us celebrate, and give glory to God the great Giver!  But, also let us remember that the Christian life is not simply about eating, drinking, and merriment.  For there is  a life to come, which requires us to face suffering, death, illness, and pain with faithfulness and endurance.  We must not be lulled into thinking that we must simply pursue good things in this life, but we must also not be deceived into forsaking the good gifts which God has given.

For the Glory of God,

Pastor Tim