Sermon About Birthday Celebration

This Is the Day: Celebrating Life as a Gift from God

Opening

There is something wonderful about gathering like this. People have come from different places, different seasons of their own lives, and they have come together around one person, around one day, around the simple and profound fact that a life is being celebrated. That is worth pausing over. Not every culture stops to do this. Not every moment gets marked. But we are here, and we are glad to be here, and that gladness itself is a clue to something deeper that Scripture wants to show us today.

We are going to open two texts this morning. The first is short enough to hold in one breath. Psalm 118:24 in the Christian Standard Bible reads: "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." The second is a longer and more searching passage, Ecclesiastes 3:1-13, which begins with those famous words about seasons and times, and ends with a quiet, honest, and beautiful conclusion about what God intends for human life. Together, these two texts give us a complete theology of celebration, one that is joyful without being shallow, and honest without being grim.

Part One: This Day Belongs To God

Let us begin with Psalm 118:24. In its original context, this verse is part of a great song of deliverance. The psalmist has been through something hard. He writes earlier in the psalm about being surrounded, about being pushed and nearly falling, about crying out to the Lord in distress. And then the Lord answered. And then the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone. And then, out of all of that, comes this declaration: "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Notice what the psalmist does not say. He does not say, "This is a great day because everything went my way." He does not say, "This is a day I made for myself by working hard and making good decisions." He says the Lord made this day. The day belongs to God before it belongs to anyone else. Every morning that opens is a morning God has authored. Every birthday that arrives is a day that God has given before any cake is baked or any candle is lit.

That reframes everything about a birthday celebration. We are not simply congratulating someone for surviving another year. We are not just marking the passage of time with sentiment. We are standing before a day that God made and saying, together, "We receive this. We rejoice in this. We are glad." The joy is real, but it is grounded. It is not just a feeling. It is a response to a Giver.

Part Two: Time Is A Gift With A Shape

Now Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 takes us further. The Teacher writes in verses 1 through 8 about the rhythms of human life: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. We know these words. They have been read at funerals and weddings and in quiet moments when life felt complicated. But we sometimes stop reading too soon.

Verses 9 through 13 are where the sermon lives today. The Teacher asks in verse 9: "What does the worker gain from his struggles?" It is a real question. Time keeps moving. Seasons change whether we are ready or not. What does any of it mean? And here is the answer the Teacher gives. Verse 11: "He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end." And then verses 12 and 13: "I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts."

Read that carefully. The Teacher is not telling us to ignore the hard seasons. He has just listed them. He is not promising that every season will be pleasant. He is saying something far more durable: that within the full range of human experience, including the difficult parts, God has placed the capacity for genuine joy. And that joy, when it comes through ordinary things, through a meal shared, through work that means something, through rest that is truly restful, is itself a gift from God.

Part Three: What We Are Actually Celebrating

So what are we celebrating today? We are celebrating a life that has moved through seasons, as all lives do. We are celebrating time that has been given, not earned. We are celebrating the relationships in this room, because the people gathered here are not an accident. They are part of the shape of a life, and the fact that they are here, willing to stop their own busy days to be present, is itself a grace worth naming.

We are celebrating work, because Ecclesiastes tells us that the ability to find meaning in effort is a gift. We are celebrating rest, because the capacity to stop, to enjoy a meal, to sit with people you love, is not laziness. It is one of the ways God designed human beings to receive His goodness.

And underneath all of this, for those of us who follow Jesus, there is something even more foundational. The God who made every day, the God who set eternity in our hearts, did not leave us to figure out eternity on our own. He sent His Son. Jesus Christ entered time, lived through every kind of season the Teacher describes, and on the day that looked most like defeat, He became the cornerstone. The stone the builders rejected. And because of that, every birthday is not just a marker of years passing. It is another day on this side of eternity, another day of grace, another day to know Him, follow Him, and point others toward Him.

If you are here today and you have never placed your trust in Jesus Christ, this day that God has made is a good day to do that. Not because of the occasion, but because of the invitation that is always open. He receives all who come to Him.

Conclusion

Here is what I want you to carry out of this room today. Every day is a day the Lord has made. Every season of life, the laughing and the weeping, the planting and the uprooting, is held in His hands. And within all of it, He has placed the capacity for real joy. Not manufactured happiness. Not the pretense that everything is easy. Real joy, grounded in a real God who gives real gifts.

So today, rejoice. Be glad. Eat and drink and enjoy the good that is in front of you. Receive the people around you as the gifts they are. And give thanks to the One who made this day, who made this life, and who holds every season in His sovereign and loving care.

To God be the glory.

Sources Consulted

Allen, Leslie C. Psalms 101-150. Word Biblical Commentary. Waco: Word Books, 1983.

Kidner, Derek. Psalms 73-150. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1975.

Longman, Tremper, III. The Book of Ecclesiastes. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

Murphy, Roland E. Ecclesiastes. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word Books, 1992.

Provan, Iain. Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.

Christian Standard Bible. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017.