Introduction:
How to Live By Faith:
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-22)
- Appreciate every season of life. (Eccl 3:1-8)
- Acknowledge there's more than this. (Eccl 3:9-11)
Deuteronomy 29:29 - The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
- Allow God to be in charge. (Eccl 3:12-15)
Deuteronomy 10:12 - And now, Israel,what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul...
- Accept injustice (for now). (Eccl 3:16-22)
Acts 17:30-31 - The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:40-00:54
Open up your Bibles with me please to Ecclesiastes chapter 3 as we continue our series when life seems empty The question for today is just simply this what's the alternative?
00:56-00:59
Right. What's the alternative he started this writing?
01:02-01:12
We're looking for the quest for meaning right in chapter 1 verse 3 He says, "What does a man gain by all his toil?" Like, "We work so hard, what do we get at the end, really?
01:12-01:20
What really matters?" And we saw the last couple of weeks that he says, "Life seems empty.
01:21-01:40
It's nothing but, it just seems like endless repeating cycles over and over on the hamster wheel we go." Last week we saw pleasure and projects and possessions, the things that we think we're going to get in life that are going to make us happy.
01:41-01:42
He says they don't matter.
01:44-01:50
And we've seen this phrase so many times, "Under the sun, under the sun." That's what Solomon is saying here.
01:50-02:05
He goes, "Look, if this is all there is, then life's pretty empty." At the end of chapter 2, God is brought into the picture, and that's how we closed last week.
02:05-02:10
Solomon makes a bold statement that enjoyment comes from God.
02:12-02:18
So the tone of chapter 3 that we're looking at today is radically different.
02:19-02:28
So if you made it through the first two sermons and you came back, and you listened to the first two and you decided you're going to stream again, congratulations.
02:29-02:32
Achievement unlocked, stickers will be handed out.
02:33-02:34
Congratulations.
02:35-02:59
The tone is different because spoiler alert, the alternative to hopelessly plodding through life is believing and understanding that God is there, that God is active, that God is sovereign, that God is with you.
03:00-03:11
So Solomon is showing us here in chapter 3 that the answer to this question of what's the meaning of life - he says faith in God is the answer.
03:12-03:12
But here's the thing.
03:14-03:16
We touched on this last week.
03:16-03:20
Faith is much more than saying I believe in God.
03:21-03:24
See, for some people, they think that's what faith is.
03:24-03:25
I believe in God.
03:26-03:32
I acknowledge that there's a higher power, and that is not the sum total of faith.
03:34-03:35
Though it starts there.
03:38-03:50
And I have to share this with you, church, because there are too many Christians, too many Christians that say they believe in God, but they don't act like they do.
03:51-04:04
There are too many Christians that honestly, if we followed you around with a camera crew Monday through Saturday, the truth is you act more like the world than you do like a redeemed child of God.
04:07-04:08
It's true.
04:10-04:14
Even those of us in the church can get caught up in pursuing worldly things.
04:17-04:29
And we saw last week that yes, God wants to give you things to enjoy, but too many Christians living like Ecclesiastes 1 and 2, thinking, "This is gonna make me happy," and it fails, and then we're in despair.
04:29-04:46
"I can't believe how horrible my life is." So, they were asking, "What's the alternative?" Chapters 1 and 2 have been about life under the sun, apart from God, that's what we're looking at today, is the alternative.
04:46-04:51
So very simply on your outline, how to live by faith.
04:51-04:54
All right, faith is more than just, I think God is there.
04:54-05:04
Solomon really gets into specific detail on here's what faith in God actively and actually looks like, all right?
05:04-05:08
So here it is, number one, write this down, appreciate every season of life.
05:10-05:10
That's faith.
05:11-05:19
When you learn and intentionally go after this, appreciate every season of life.
05:21-05:22
Look at the first eight verses.
05:25-05:43
"For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die." Now, hang on a second, I gotta stop here because I know some of you over a certain age you're going to start playing that song in your head.
05:44-05:45
Who sings the song?
05:45-05:46
Go ahead.
05:47-05:47
The birds, right?
05:48-05:51
Do everything, turn, turn.
05:51-05:52
You know that song?
05:56-05:56
Who said no?
05:57-05:57
All right.
06:03-06:08
Well, most of us will appreciate that music.
06:09-06:13
Some of us are going to be pleasantly surprised when we Google that later.
06:15-06:19
So anyways, it's really hard not to sing this, We're going to read it, alright?
06:21-06:27
For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.
06:29-06:32
A time to be born and a time to die.
06:33-06:37
A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted.
06:38-06:40
A time to kill and a time to heal.
06:42-06:45
A time to break down and a time to build up.
06:46-06:48
A time to weep and a time to laugh.
06:49-06:51
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
06:51-06:56
A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together.
06:56-07:01
A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.
07:02-07:04
A time to seek and a time to lose.
07:05-07:07
A time to keep and a time to cast away.
07:08-07:09
A time to tear and a time to sew.
07:12-07:14
A time to keep silence and a time to speak.
07:15-07:17
A time to love and a time to hate.
07:18-07:22
A time for war and a time for peace.
07:24-07:26
Now look, here's the thing.
07:26-07:30
I could go through this list and dissect every one of these things.
07:33-07:38
And that would probably take me another 30 to 40 minutes.
07:39-07:40
But I'm not going to do that.
07:42-07:46
because I just don't think that's the point.
07:47-07:56
I think the point, what he's saying here is, look, there is an appropriate time for all life experiences.
07:56-07:59
And he's not just giving a description of life.
07:59-08:02
You know, sometimes we laugh and sometimes we cry.
08:02-08:04
Oh wow, that's very profound, Solomon, thank you for that.
08:04-08:05
He's not doing that.
08:05-08:10
You see, God has been brought into the picture and here's what he's saying, and you can't miss this.
08:10-08:14
He's saying, look, this is what God has planned.
08:15-08:18
These seasons of life are not accidental.
08:19-08:22
God planned these seasons of life for you.
08:24-08:29
And in this list, you see, obviously, it's two different things, right?
08:29-08:41
It's, we could say, to paraphrase, to sum up, there are pleasant things and there are unpleasant things, right?
08:45-08:51
Solomon's saying, picking up where he left off in chapter two, he goes, look, God wants you to enjoy life.
08:51-08:53
He absolutely wants you to enjoy life.
08:53-09:00
But listen, enjoying life includes all of these seasons.
09:07-09:11
You know, I love going to the Chinese buffet.
09:12-09:14
Anybody else love the Chinese buffet?
09:15-09:16
Come on, some of you?
09:17-09:21
I love the Chinese buffet, love it.
09:21-09:26
I go through with my plate, and first thing I'm looking for is General Tso's chicken.
09:27-09:28
That's the first thing I'm looking for.
09:29-09:35
And then you'd also like those fried chicken pieces with that bright red sweet and sour sauce you put on.
09:35-09:36
You know what I'm talking about?
09:36-09:41
Ha ha ha, oh, but I don't leave until I find the Chinese donuts.
09:41-09:43
Have you had a Chinese donut, ladies and gentlemen?
09:45-09:47
Or like me, have you had more than you should have?
09:48-09:49
Love those things.
09:50-09:53
And I make sure I know where those things are, and I load my plate up with those things.
09:55-09:56
And, um...
09:57-10:00
But of course, when I go through the buffet, there are certain things I avoid, right?
10:02-10:08
Like whether it's the, I don't know, the fried intestines, or the still cookies or the fish heads or whatever, I don't know.
10:10-10:15
But there's certain things that I'm like, "Well, I'm not...that's for somebody, but that's not for me." Right?
10:18-10:30
You're like, "Well, why are you telling us this?" Just simply saying this, church, if life was a buffet, we'd only choose the good parts, wouldn't we?
10:33-10:43
If we had the option, wouldn't you just choose the happy, the good, the cheery, the lovely, the comfortable?
10:46-10:46
Wouldn't you?
10:46-10:47
I would.
10:49-11:02
But God knows if we had that option and we did that, that would completely ruin us.
11:08-11:15
Listen to this, people who are protected from everything end up impossible to live with.
11:19-11:32
People protected from any hardship or bad things, they end up every time selfish and shallow and entitled.
11:33-11:36
Boy, we see that more than ever in our culture today.
11:38-11:40
You know, and this has been going on for a while.
11:42-11:47
You know, where you see it pretty obviously is in participation trophies for kids, right?
11:48-12:30
We have kids, we have kids in sports, and I know in a lot of sports, and somebody might be offended by this, and that certainly isn't my intention, but the horse is already out the born but like I just really have a hard time with that like every kid in the league gets a trophy and I listen I'm not I'm not like Scrooge okay I'm all for celebrating kids. But this idea of, "You know what? You're always a winner.
12:31-12:50
You're always a winner." No, you're not. I think it's about time somebody stood up and said, "Look, we're having a game today and half of y'all are gonna be losers." But Joey, Joey, you deserve a trophy, Joey.
12:51-12:52
No, Joey does not deserve a trophy.
12:54-12:56
Joey wasn't even on the field.
12:56-13:01
Joey's sucking oranges for the whole game on the side, and we're gonna give a trophy for that?
13:01-13:02
But Joey's a winner.
13:02-13:03
Joey's not a winner.
13:06-13:07
Joey needs to get his head in the game.
13:08-13:09
Joey needs to do better.
13:10-13:11
Do better, Joey.
13:15-13:22
Listen, your kids need to learn the sting of defeat.
13:23-13:26
And I know as parents, we want to protect them from that.
13:26-13:30
We are hurting them by protecting them from that.
13:31-13:36
They need to learn what it's like to get knocked down and then kicked when you're down.
13:36-13:37
They need to learn that.
13:40-13:42
Your kids need to learn how to strive to do better.
13:43-13:49
Your kids need to learn that wasn't a good enough performance and I need to learn from that and I need to do better.
13:49-13:50
Your kids need to learn that.
13:51-13:52
And you know who else needs to learn that?
13:52-13:52
You do.
13:54-13:54
And I do.
13:56-14:02
And that's why Solomon gives us both sides of the coin, just saying it in different ways.
14:02-14:04
He goes, "Look, there's seasons of joy and there's seasons of sorrow.
14:05-14:07
There's happiness and there's sadness.
14:09-14:11
There's victory and there's defeat.
14:12-14:13
There's highs and there's lows.
14:14-14:17
God gives us both of these seasons.
14:19-14:20
That's Solomon's point.
14:20-14:29
And you have to learn how to appreciate these seasons of life if you're going to be the person that God's creating you to be.
14:31-14:35
You know, I love dogs and over the course of my life I've had a lot of dogs.
14:37-14:45
And there is nothing in the world outside of a baby, a human baby, but there's nothing else in the world greater than a puppy.
14:47-15:59
And having dogs, I've had quite a few puppies, and this is going to sound like a really morbid thought, but every time I have a puppy adopted into our home, I don't know why, I don't want to be this guy, but I always think, you know, someday, someday I'm going to have to say goodbye to this dog. I know that's horrible, isn't it? I'll stop laughing. Come on! I don't know if you're burying my soul about my poor puppy that I'm going to put down and some of y'all are laughing? Man. But I think someday I'm going to have to put this puppy down and that's a horrible thought. But you know, I could choose to avoid that season of putting the dog down by never getting the dog in the first place, right? That's so hard to put a dog down. I'll just, I will just never get a dog in the first place. But you see if I do that, if I forfeit getting the puppy, you know what that means? Means I also forfeit the years of joy that I get from that dog.
16:02-16:25
Do you see the point? There's good seasons and there's bad seasons and God says look I'm gonna walk through both of them with you. And if we can get serious moving on from puppies to like humans right? I know there are couples that are like I don't want to have kids. Why? What if I miscarry and kids are expensive and teenagers are weird.
16:26-16:27
And I just...
16:30-16:36
It's a lot of potential heartache and hassle and pain and...
16:36-16:37
It is.
16:39-16:48
But do you know what you are forfeiting by making that choice?
16:50-16:51
Do you see Solomon's point?
16:53-16:57
You can avoid getting the puppy.
16:57-17:03
You can avoid trying to have the baby so you never have to experience the bad, but then you forfeit the joy.
17:06-17:13
God wants you to experience seasons from his hand, even hard times, and he wants you to appreciate them.
17:13-17:14
And you're like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, hang on a second.
17:15-17:27
We were just singing about how awesome God is, and we talked about the cross, we gathered around the Lord's table." So I thought God loved me and is for me, and he is.
17:27-17:28
And you're like, "Okay, okay, okay, all right, all right.
17:29-17:32
So why in the world would God want me to experience hard times?
17:33-17:46
If God loves me so much, why would he want me to experience hard times?" Because you're never going to know that God is a comforter until you're in a place where you need comfort.
17:48-17:56
You're never going to know that God is a provider until you're in the place where you are completely lacking and you need Him to show up.
17:58-18:04
You're never going to know that God is present with you until He's all you got.
18:07-18:18
So you see, hard times, they have this way of building your faith and teaching you perseverance in ways that don't happen during good times.
18:19-18:27
So look, we have to learn, church, we have to learn to appreciate every season of life.
18:29-18:29
Right?
18:30-18:33
Number two, we have to acknowledge that there's more than this.
18:34-18:35
Look at verse nine.
18:37-18:42
He says, "What gain has the worker from his toil?" That's the original question.
18:42-18:43
That's how he started this.
18:44-18:46
And he circles back to that.
18:46-18:48
But now we're in a new point of view.
18:48-18:50
We're acknowledging God now.
18:51-18:51
See, same question.
18:52-18:56
But now that God's in the picture, how does that change the way that I see things?
18:58-18:59
Here it is, verse 10.
18:59-19:09
He says, "I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with." He has made everything beautiful in its time.
19:11-19:15
He says everything's beautiful, some translations say appropriate.
19:17-19:20
helpful even when it appears to be negative.
19:22-19:35
And the question is, "What do I gain from my work?" Well, really, the work doesn't change, but my perspective on its purpose, that's what changes, you see.
19:38-19:40
Look at, picking up verse 11 still.
19:43-19:51
It says, "Also put eternity into man's heart." This could be a whole other sermon.
19:52-19:53
Eternity in man's heart.
19:54-19:58
Do you realize that's a quality of man that evolution just cannot explain?
19:59-20:00
Evolution can't explain that.
20:01-20:05
You look at any other animal, like the aforementioned dog.
20:06-20:07
Look at any other animal.
20:09-20:23
When its physical needs are met and it feels safe, there's no restlessness, there's no dissatisfaction, but man is different.
20:25-20:37
Even when our physical needs are met, there's so often this longing for more, this understanding that life is more than just like having a good meal and making sure I'm not in danger.
20:38-20:40
We know that there's more than this.
20:41-20:43
We know there's something beyond this.
20:44-20:48
You're like, "Well, how do we know?" It says right here, "God put that there.
20:48-20:50
God put that in your heart.
20:51-21:03
You know there's more than this." The rest of verse 11, he says, "It's so that he cannot find out what God has done from From the beginning to the end.
21:06-21:10
As we grow in knowledge, the more we know, the more we know we do not know.
21:11-21:13
And we can't comprehend God's plan.
21:15-21:20
And we just have to acknowledge that there's more than this.
21:21-21:22
That's what he's saying.
21:22-21:25
We can't solve all of life's mysteries.
21:27-21:31
And we have to acknowledge that, that there's answers that we don't know.
21:34-21:35
Why didn't God heal my child?
21:37-21:42
I prayed and I prayed and I fasted, and why didn't God heal my child?
21:44-21:52
Why did God provide me this job and I moved and it brought so much misery into my life?
21:54-21:55
Why would God do that to me?
21:58-21:59
I could go on.
21:59-22:00
There's a lot of whys.
22:01-22:01
Why?
22:01-22:02
Why would God do this?
22:03-22:04
Why did this happen?
22:06-22:09
And there's one verse really that answers all of these questions.
22:11-22:14
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Deuteronomy 29.29.
22:15-22:24
It says, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law." Do you see what that's saying?
22:24-22:29
It's saying that there's some things that God knows that you don't.
22:30-22:33
Please don't tell me that was a shocker to you today.
22:34-22:36
But sometimes it is, right?
22:36-22:37
Why, why?
22:37-22:39
The Bible says there's things that only God knows.
22:40-22:43
And the stuff that God wants you to know, do you know what he did?
22:44-22:44
He wrote it down.
22:46-22:47
It says here, it's right here.
22:47-22:49
Everything I want you to know, it's right here.
22:51-23:07
And you just have to acknowledge in those hard seasons of life, "Okay, I don't understand it, but God does, and I can be okay with that." That's called faith.
23:10-23:26
To say, "There's more than this. There's an eternity ahead, and there's an eternal God to trust with what we don't know." So what's the alternative how to live by faith? Number three, allow God to be in charge.
23:29-23:45
Allow God to be in charge. Look at verses 12 and 13. He said, "I perceive that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil.
23:46-23:53
This is God's gift to man." So again, man can't produce lasting enjoyment on his own.
23:53-23:56
He says enjoyment is a gift from God.
23:56-23:57
That was last week's sermon.
23:57-23:58
We're moving on.
23:59-23:59
Right?
24:00-24:01
Same concept.
24:02-24:07
He says, verse 14, "I perceive that whatever God does endures forever.
24:08-24:11
Nothing can be added to it or anything taken from it.
24:12-24:15
God has done it so that people fear before Him.
24:17-24:17
Stop there.
24:17-24:19
What's verse 14 about?
24:20-24:21
Here's the point of verse 14.
24:22-24:34
Just so you don't confuse the Almighty God with Santa Claus, Solomon reminds us that God is more than just someone upstairs handing out freebies to everyone.
24:36-24:37
That's what he's saying.
24:38-24:41
You have to get to this place where you realize that God's in charge.
24:42-24:50
He created, He provides, He establishes these seasons, and He goes, "Look, look, you can't add to what God's doing.
24:51-24:53
You can't take away from what God's doing.
24:54-24:55
You can't stop it.
24:55-25:04
You can't change it because He is God and I am not." You've got to get there.
25:07-25:11
But when you do get there, He says you fear Him.
25:13-25:20
Now fearing the Lord isn't just like being scared of Him, it's reverence.
25:20-25:23
It is a deep reverence.
25:25-25:26
To say, "He is the Almighty.
25:28-25:45
I acknowledge Him in all my ways because He is God." Again, Deuteronomy 10, look at this, it says, "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you?" See what it is?
25:46-25:55
"But to fear the Lord your God." To walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
25:57-26:02
In other words, Solomon reminds us here, you need to allow God to be in charge.
26:03-26:27
I know what you're thinking. There's somebody right now going, "Allow God to be in charge." Really? Allow God? Allow God? You're like, "Newsflash, goat boy, we don't allow God to do anything." And you're right. I just needed another word to begin with the letter A.
26:29-26:31
Look, I was trying to alliterate.
26:33-26:35
They said, "Why did you stick with that one?" Here's why.
26:38-26:51
Because, I kept "allow" in there, because even though we know that He is God and I am not, we try to play God ourselves, and we always fail.
26:52-26:56
And even as Christians, we pout when our prayers aren't answered.
26:58-27:06
In other words, we say He's in charge, but we don't always approve of the choices that He makes.
27:09-27:11
This is where I'd like to remind you that God is not a vending machine.
27:14-27:15
Do you know how God is described?
27:16-27:17
He's a Father.
27:18-27:19
Happy Father's Day.
27:19-27:20
He's a Father.
27:21-27:22
And do you know what that means?
27:22-27:23
That means a lot of things.
27:23-27:28
But it means He gives, and it means He withholds giving.
27:29-27:31
And it means sometimes He takes away.
27:32-27:35
Because as a loving Father, He wants what's best for His kids.
27:35-27:38
And He knows what's best for His kids.
27:38-27:40
And He acts on that knowledge.
27:43-27:46
Verse 15, He says, "That which is already has been.
27:47-27:57
That which is to be already has been." "And God seeks what has been driven away." That last phrase is really hard to translate from the Hebrew.
27:57-28:10
My best understanding of that is he's saying, another way to translate this, "God brings back what has already passed away." And I like that translation because it really goes with the rest of the verse.
28:10-28:11
It goes with the context.
28:11-28:14
You're like, "Well, what's the point?" Remember back in chapter one, the cycle?
28:15-28:16
Life just seems like a cycle.
28:16-28:17
Life just seems like a cycle.
28:18-28:20
Now he's cycling back to that.
28:23-28:25
You see the point is in chapter one, it was despair.
28:26-28:30
Oh, life just seems like a miserable, endless cycle.
28:30-28:34
He says, you know what, when God's in the picture, it's completely different.
28:35-28:36
Completely different.
28:36-28:39
Because now, instead of despair, we see security.
28:40-28:41
God keeps us going.
28:42-28:44
He says, I don't see it as this hopeless cycle.
28:45-28:51
I see it as this plan that God is actively involved in making sure that it keeps happening.
28:54-28:58
A different perspective changes everything, doesn't it?
28:59-29:00
God is in control.
29:01-29:04
He appoints seasons, good and bad.
29:06-29:12
But there's a big problem for us, and that is that life sometimes doesn't seem fair.
29:13-29:45
where we're gonna close today. Number four, accept injustice. And I had to put parenthetically for now. Accept injustice for now. Listen, we're not delusional here. Even knowing that God is there, Even knowing that life is a gift from God, the reality is that things aren't always as they should be.
29:45-29:46
True or false?
29:47-29:47
True.
29:48-29:48
True.
29:49-29:51
Things are not always as they should be.
29:51-29:54
And that's what he immediately jumps into, okay?
29:55-29:56
Look at verse 16.
29:56-30:09
He says, "Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice even there was wickedness, And in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness." The place of justice, what's that?
30:10-30:11
That's like court, right?
30:12-30:14
Place of righteousness, what's that?
30:14-30:16
That's like the temple, right?
30:16-30:18
Or we would say in our day, that's the church, right?
30:19-30:19
You see his point.
30:21-30:27
Solomon says, "You know, something kind of bugs me is justice isn't always carried out in court, is it?
30:28-30:32
You know what bugs me is sometimes there are rotten people at church.
30:35-30:37
And for the person that's reading here, and you're like, "Oh, okay.
30:38-30:39
God's in charge, Solomon.
30:39-30:40
That's what you're saying?
30:40-30:41
God's in charge?
30:41-30:42
What about injustice?
30:43-30:54
Are you telling me that if God's in charge and I see injustice happening, I should just accept that?" And the answer is yes.
30:57-30:58
There's a couple reasons why.
31:00-31:01
Write these down.
31:01-31:04
First of all, letter A. Why should you accept injustice for now?
31:05-31:07
Because someday God will make all things right.
31:08-31:10
Look at verse 17.
31:11-31:21
He said, "I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work." Have you ever faced injustice?
31:22-31:31
Well, God might correct that during your lifetime, but if He doesn't, He appointed a time in the future when He absolutely will, right?
31:32-31:39
Acts 17 says, "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent." Talking about turning to Christ.
31:39-31:40
That's how you turn to Christ.
31:41-31:43
Repent, change your mind.
31:45-31:46
Commands all people everywhere to do that.
31:48-31:49
Look at this next phrase.
31:49-32:06
It says, "Because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed, and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead." Look, again, this is a whole other sermon, but no one's getting away with anything.
32:08-32:10
Someday all injustice is going to be made right.
32:13-32:14
So that's why you should accept injustice.
32:15-32:15
Here's another reason.
32:18-32:20
Injustice teaches us something about ourselves.
32:22-32:23
Look at verse 18.
32:24-32:28
Boy, this is a wild verse.
32:28-32:29
I've been chewing on this one all week.
32:30-32:42
He says, "I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them, that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.
32:44-32:47
Injustice teaches us something about ourselves.
32:47-32:48
You know what injustice teaches us?
32:49-32:51
Injustice teaches us that we are beasts.
32:54-33:00
There is a beastly quality in all of us that injustice brings out.
33:03-33:10
Because when we suffer injury, we tend to react viciously.
33:12-33:18
And here he's saying that God allows injustice to show us that we all have that quality within us.
33:19-33:28
You're like, "I don't know who you're talking to, Jeff, but there's nothing beastly about me." We'll see.
33:29-33:31
We'll see if that's true when you're treated unfairly.
33:33-33:34
We'll see how you react.
33:37-33:39
Because injustice brings that out of us.
33:41-33:49
For me, for example, one day I was leaving here on Swindon and I was heading towards the light up here, like heading to the village of Pine.
33:49-33:52
And I was going to turn right at this light right here.
33:54-33:57
And it was a green light and I was going to turn right on green, you with me so far?
33:57-34:01
There was a lady coming the other way who would have been turning left on green.
34:03-34:06
And as I was turning right on green, she about hit me.
34:07-34:15
She didn't hesitate, slot and stop slot anything, slammed on the brakes, laid on the horn, and gave me the finger.
34:17-34:21
Now, right turn on green is still right away over left turn on green, right?
34:22-34:23
Okay.
34:25-34:27
She laid on the horn and gave me the finger.
34:28-34:30
And I gotta tell you, I don't know why.
34:30-34:32
That just bothered me for days.
34:33-34:34
I'm like, I was right!
34:35-34:36
The light was green!
34:36-34:39
I don't know why, when I get mad, talk like a Muppet or whatever.
34:41-34:48
I'm like, "I was clearly in the right! Who does she think she is?" And I'm like, "Beastly!
34:52-35:16
Beastly!" And I could give you probably a thousand other examples from my own life of how the Lord has shown me that when I perceive injustice, I turn into a beast. So do you. And God allows us to go through injustice so that we all have that quality in us. And you know, I was thinking about that this week.
35:16-35:38
I'm like, "Okay, God's allowing that to test us." But only, if only we had some sort of a role model who also dealt with injustice, but he trusted God so much that he was so graceful through the whole process.
35:39-35:45
If only we had somebody that suffered injustice that didn't get beastly because he had such incredible trust in God.
35:46-35:48
If only we had somebody like that.
35:50-35:51
We do, don't we?
35:53-35:59
And my reaction to injustice shows me how much more growing like Christ I have to do.
36:01-36:01
And so do you.
36:03-36:05
Then as we close here, we're like beasts in other ways.
36:07-36:12
He says verse 19, "For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same.
36:12-36:14
As one dies, so dies the other.
36:15-36:22
They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity." All go to one place.
36:23-36:30
All are from the dust, and to dust all return." He goes, "We're beastly.
36:30-36:36
We both breathe, we both die, we both go to the grave." What's your point here, Solomon?
36:36-36:49
Well, he's saying if we get away from this idea of faith and eternity and God and His purpose and His sovereignty and His seasons, if we get away from that, that's the one element that distinguishes us from the rest of the animals.
36:52-37:02
Verse 21, he says, "Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?" Actually in the Hebrew that's not a question, that's a statement.
37:05-37:07
Only God's revelation can tell us this.
37:08-37:12
Solomon's saying from a human perspective a dead man looks like a dead dog.
37:13-37:15
But from God's perspective it's not the case.
37:16-37:20
Even though we die like beasts, our spirits head in different directions.
37:21-37:25
And later he tells us our spirit returns to God who gave it.
37:26-37:31
Here the spirit of the beast ends in nothingness.
37:34-37:35
What's your point Solomon?
37:35-37:45
He's like, look, man and beast, we have different ultimate destinies, right?
37:46-37:58
We can't appreciate that we're actually going to be returning before holy God someday, different than the animals.
37:58-38:04
We can't appreciate that and live as if there's no difference between us and beasts.
38:06-38:25
Then verse 22, he says, "So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in His work for that is His lot. Summing it up. Right? Then He says, "Who can bring Him to see what will be after Him?" That's a good question. What's the answer?
38:26-38:37
Well, He just kind of leaves the question hanging, doesn't He? It's a rhetorical question anyways. Only God can reveal such things. But He just sort of leaves that question hanging out there.
38:38-38:46
So what's the alternative to the despair of an empty life?
38:48-38:54
It is, as Rich Sprunk preached recently, acknowledging God in all our ways.
38:56-39:15
Actually, I think maybe Solomon would say, "Acknowledging God in all of his ways." Circumstances, good times, bad times, he goes, "That all comes from God." And that's his choice for us.
39:16-39:22
And knowing that everything comes from God helps us to understand that everything really does have meaning.
Small Group Discussion
Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What does it mean that God “put eternity into man’s heart” (Eccl 3:11)? What are the implications of this?
How would you explain to an unbeliever that God allows even “bad” seasons into our lives (Eccl 3:1-8)?
Injustice shows our beastly side (Eccl 3:18). Can you give an example from your own life? How should faith make us adopt an attitude like Christ when He faced injustice? See 1 Peter 2:21-23.
Breakout
Pray for one another.