The Wisdom of God

Ecclesiastes 9-12

Ecclesiastes, so far has shown us that life is more than material goods.  We saw that we cannot purchase purpose and meaning and especially, we cannot purchase happiness.  Life is more than stuff

Luke 12:23 (ESV)

For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

In Solomon’s second sermon he taught us that God has determined our lot in life and we bring glory to Him when we are thankful for the everyday things He gives us. Contentment with our circumstances is really contentment with God.  When we live in a truly thankful spirit we are glorifying the Lord.

In his third sermon, he taught us about the things in life that we would assume to be good and bad.  He basically writes that we shouldn’t assume that prosperity leads to happiness and don’t always assume that adversity leads to sadness.  Again, his focus is with the material world and its ability to provide meaning for us.  He hits a very important point when he concludes that God must be honored and worshipped no matter what things may look like to us because we are not privileged to see the complete picture.  We cannot see the ending and so we must be careful when we make conclusions about if what God is doing is good or bad.

When we don’t understand God’s purposes we must trust in God’s person. What we know for sure about God from the Bible must trump our inaccurate perceptions of life.  Here’s why, we are fallen sinners God is perfectly holy.  Second, we are finite and God is infinite.  We see the present through sin-smudged glasses and God is orchestrating the present with perfection.

As we learn these great truths from King Solomon we also sense a little bit of frustration and even emptiness in Solomon’s true claims.  He saw some truth but was still surrounded by darkness.  He was getting very close to real meaning but it still seemed somewhat elusive.

He was the wisest of the wise but still all Solomon had was man’s wisdom.  What he lacked was wisdom of another sort.  Our lives are a quest for meaning, so was his.  His search led him to the final ultimate conclusion.  It looks like at the end he got it right, not by man’s wisdom but by God’s

The conclusion of Solomon’s Sermon Series on life is found at the end of the book.

Eccles. 12:13-14 (ESV)

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  [14] For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

We are not let in on the details concerning how God worked in Solomon’s heart to reveal this to him, we can only wonder.  The bottom line for us is that there is only one true source of wisdom and as Solomon discovered, we’re not it.  Humans do not have wisdom within them.  We need it but it cannot be found within us.

It seems as if Solomon possibly could have read the Book of Job and gleaned godly wisdom from some of its pages.  Perhaps in his quest for meaning, he turned to the ancient scrolls for answers.  Maybe he longed for true wisdom until he concluded the truth or perhaps he read his Bible. Continue Reading

The-Grass- is- Always- Greener Syndrome

Ecclesiastes 6-8

Many of you have heard the old saying that the grass is always greener on the other side.  I can picture a farmer leaning against a wooden fence with a straw hat on examining the condition of his grass.  As he looks down, he sees bare patches and other blemishes in his field.  Looking over the fence to his neighbor’s field he sees nothing but green healthy growth.  What this farmer doesn’t see are the many blemishes in the neighbor’s field because he’s not standing in it but looking at it from a distance.

The idea that God has been restrictive and stingy to us and encouraging and giving to others is an age old trick of the devil to get us trapped in sin.  Many marriages, fortunes, and property have been sacrificed because people always think someone else’s’ stuff is better than ours. Continue Reading

A Biblical Alternative to the Winter Blues

I’m sick of the snow.  How much longer will it last? Will it snow next week?  How many school days will we have to make up?

As we sit in the middle of Feb., we may find ourselves not only battling the snow and bitter cold but also battling unrest, boredom, depression, and being discontent.  It’s so timely that in God’s sovereignty we find ourselves in Ecclesiastes in the dead of winter.

Last week, we came to the conclusion along with King Solomon that the only way we can discover meaning and purpose in life is to loosen our grip on the created material world and tighten our grip on Christ.  We can do this as we realize that all the things we have come from God and he is the One to be worshipped not the stuff He gives us.

That sets up this week’s sermon from Ecclesiastes.  God has a plan for His people.

God’s Sovereign decree or will for man is often missed because man has too much of his time and concentration focused on material possessions and worldly endeavors.

Solomon makes a very forceful and clear argument for the thesis sentence in the second round of his book.

Truth Taught- God has determined our lot in life and we bring glory to Him when we are thankful for the everyday things He gives us. Continue Reading

The Puzzle of Significance

Plastic, cardboard, and painted on smiles are the things this world has to offer.  We find ourselves striving for these things because, so often, we think we will find happiness and meaning through what the world offers.  We believe lies when it comes to happiness and contentment.

The first lie we’re tempted to believe is that lasting happiness can be purchased  Our society tells us that happiness comes from the things we buy.

Another lie we believe is that wisdom and knowledge bring lasting meaning to life.  Our society believes that its ills can be fixed through education.  Education, they say, is the answer to a better society.  Education is a good thing and beneficial in many ways, however, like materialism it will never bring our lives meaning.  You cannot out smart sin.  In fact, all education does is introduce us to more and more evil.

The next lie is that pleasure will produce lasting happiness and meaning.  Eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow we die will never bring us meaning to life.  Why are we here?  What is our purpose?  These are questions King Solomon asked and longed to find the answers.

If your own life experiences were not enough to convince you of the meaningless life the world offers, King Solomon shows us in an amazing way just how vain and trivial life can be.  He writes the Book of Ecclesiastes for the purpose of showing the world that a life void of the Lord is a life full of nothing.  A life without Jesus Christ is a meaningless and futile life. Continue Reading