Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.15UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.55LIKELY
Sadness
0.22UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.68LIKELY
Confident
0.02UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.93LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.68LIKELY
Extraversion
0.27UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.62LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.45UNLIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Sermon audio available [[here|http://www.firwoodchurch.com/podcast/ecclesiastes-under-the-sun-part-3-the-pleasure-test/]].
! 1. INTRODUCTION
//
!! i.
First Clarification – Under the Sun
//
As we considered last week, Solomon is engaged in a great experiment.
It is important, therefore, that we understand the scope of his enquiry.
Solomon uses the phrase ‘under the sun’ twenty eight times throughout Ecclesiastes to define the scope of his investigation.
He also similarly uses the phrase, ‘under heaven’,
'And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven…' (Ecclesiastes 1:13a)
We must ask, then, what does Solomon intend us to understand by this phrase, ‘under the sun’ or ‘under heaven’?
In the first week of this series, we considered the way in which Solomon examines life in this fallen world.
The key reference point for understanding Ecclesiastes, then, is Genesis Chapters 1 to 3 which describe God creating all things, man rebelling and then this same creator God judging and cursing his creation to futility.
It is as if Solomon reads this portion of Scripture and then determines to trace out the consequences of the fall and subsequent judgement in the world around him.
It is true, therefore, that Solomon sees life as frustrating, painful and inscrutable.
There is no suggestion in this book, however, that Solomon is either atheistic or agnostic.
There is no suggestion of an absence of God.
Rather, Solomon understands that the world is this way precisely because of God.
This leads me to my second point of clarification.
!! ii.
Second Clarification - God has given
//
We find that Solomon’s outlook upon this vain existence under the sun is profoundly theocentric.
As we considered last week, Solomon understands that this world is as it is because God has willed it thus,
'…It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.' (Ecclesiastes 1:13b)
It is an unhappy business that God has given.
Solomon looks at the world and sees suffering, injustice and frustration and yet there is no attempt to distance the Creator from his creation.
Solomon instead sees the hand of God active in all that he has made.
This requires careful consideration.
There are three principles which help guide our thoughts as we consider such weighty matters.
!!! a.
People are responsible for their own decisions, sin and the consequences of their actions
//
This is a fundamental principle that is found on virtually every page of the bible.
Indeed, Ecclesiastes ends with a dire warning,
'For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.' (Ecclesiastes 12:14)
Similarly, the Apostle Paul warns in the New Testament,
'For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.' (2 Corinthians 5:10)
The warning of Scripture is clear; God will hold all people to account (as Paul writes) for every deed that is done (as Solomon adds).
This truth should be cause for sombre reflection.
Few believers would question this truth if challenged doctrinally, but, when it comes to practice, we too often look to blame others for our own shortcomings, failings and sin.
The phrase, ‘it’s not my fault’ is as common within the church as it is without.
The warning of Scripture is clear; I sin and I am held responsible for my sin.
The promise of Scripture is similarly clear; for those who receive Christ, the penalty for sin is satisfied at the cross.
!!! b.
God is sovereign over all creation
//
This is a difficult and profound truth reiterated throughout Scripture.
Indeed, in Ecclesiastes, Solomon urges the believing community to remember that God is Creator (Ecclesiastes 12:1) and that this same God provides good things for men and women to enjoy (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25).
Scripture presents a God who creates, regulates and reigns over his creation.
Consider then the words of Jesus,
'And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.'
(Matthew 10:28-31)
This God, our God, is awesome.
Jesus says that not even a sparrow falls to the ground outside God’s sovereign design.
The truth of this is amazing.
Now, I do not know how many sparrows are currently living and doing whatever sparrows do at this particular moment in time, but I am willing to guess that they number in the millions.
Our God knows each one and, more than this, God exercises his sovereign will over every sparrow.
And not just sparrows.
Jesus is not suggesting that God has a thing for sparrows, but rather, if God is interested in a sparrow, how much more is he concerned with cats, dogs, horses, cows, lions…
Jesus expects believers to derive great comfort from this, ‘Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.’
This is the same truth which underpins Solomon’s observation that,
'…It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.' (Ecclesiastes 1:13b)
Scripture presents a sovereign God who holds all things in his hand, be it peace, blessing, calamity, wickedness or even death.
God is and remains in control.
God is at work moving, ordaining and decreeing all things in accordance with his sovereign will.
This is why the Prophet Isaiah is able to proclaim,
'I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the LORD, who does all these things.'
(Isaiah 45:7)
Interestingly, the word translated ‘calamity’ in Isaiah is the same word in Hebrew that underlies the phrase ‘unhappy business’ in Ecclesiastes.
Both Solomon and Isaiah understand that God is in control.
In the midst of the horror of war, God is in control.
In times of famine, starvation and want, God is in control.
In the day of disaster when a Tsunami wipes out a hundred thousand people in just a few short hours, God is in control.
This leads me to my third point.
!!! c.
Although God is sovereign over all things yet he cannot be implicated in any wrongdoing
//
The third glorious truth is that although God is sovereign he cannot be implicated in any wrongdoing whatsoever.
His sovereign rule over all things does not in anyway compromise his character.
This is why the Apostle John is able to write so emphatically,
'…God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.' (John 1:5b)
The struggle for believers then is to balance these glorious truths: we are responsible for our own sin and God is sovereign over all things without ever compromising his character.
He is light and in him is no darkness at all.
I find this ultimately reassuring and echo the words of Pastor John Piper who has written,
'We believe that all the wrestling to understand what the Bible teaches about God is worth it.
God is a rock of strength in a world of quicksand.
To know him in his sovereignty is to become like an oak tree in the wind of adversity and confusion.
And along with strength is sweetness and tenderness beyond imagination.
The sovereign Lion of Judah is the sweet Lamb of God.'
As we grapple with these weighty truths we can better understand what Solomon intends when he writes that it is God who has give this unhappy business to the children of man (Ecclesiastes 1:13).
As we understand this, we better understand what it means to live this life under the sun; this life ordained by a sovereign creator God.
And so we move into our text for this evening.
! 2. THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
//
'I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself."
But behold, this also was vanity.
'I said of laughter, "It is mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?"'
(Ecclesiastes 2:1-11)
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9