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.
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The book Ecclesiastes is a Father teaching His son about life.
Qoheleth is a rich, wise, honest man, who tried all that life has to offer, and in the end, he found it all wanting.
He tried all of the best foods & drinks - and at the end of even the finest, most well-aged wine bottle you could find, he couldn’t find happiness.
He tried pleasure,
And whether it was music, love, or the most greatest of hobbies,
Qoheleth couldn’t find meaning!
And in response to this, Qoheleth concludes: “That’s life - so enjoy what you can while you can.”
However, in Ecclesiastes 12:9, something changes once again in.
The verse reads:
Did you notice it?
What changed?
The voice of the narrator
It’s gone from 1st person to 3rd person.
And it’s not because Qoheleth is going nacisist mode and speaking about himself in the 3rd person.
It’s because another voice is stepping in once again, to speak on what we’ve been hearing throughout the book of Ecclesiastes.
Why do I say “Once again?”
Because if you remember, that’s how the book starts.
So the book starts in 3rd person, with the voice of the narrator, and then it returns at the end once again to the same voice of the narrator.
And if you’re not tracking with me on that, think of movies that have a narrator who speaks outside of the story.
For example, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
“The Princess Bride”
A Christmas Story
A Christmas Story
And, Winnie the Pooh!
Who has a modern day Qoheleth in the form of a depressed donkey named Eeyoh!
Now, what genre of literature did we say that the book of Ecclesiastes is?
Hint: same as Proverbs
It’s wisdom literature.
Because in it, it’s a father teaching his son about wisdom and life through the eyes of Qoheleth.
Which is why it’s a story behind the story.
That’s just how it works with narrated stories.
And we see this in Ecclesiastes 12:12
Now, about those lessons to be learned:
Look at verse 9 of chapter 12.
What’s the narrator, or the Father saying here about the words Qoheleth has spoken?
Look at verse 10, and remember “The preacher” is simply a Hebrew name, which is the word Qoheleth.
So what does the father say about Qoheleth’s words?
He was diligent, or thorough in his pursuit of the truth.
He didn’t look for simple or pat answers.
And he didn’t treat things with a surface-level investigation.
He was honest and truthful about what he found.
When it comes to meaning under the sun, He checked his biases as the door, and said, “I’m going to follow the evidence no matter where it leads me, nor how depressing the conclusion might be.”
And because of this, the Father says: “beware of anything beyond these.”
He’s saying, Qoheleth was responsible and honest about the truth with you, so you would do well to listen up!
And yet, so many people completely INGORE what Qoheleth is saying!
And I think this is why so many people - even Christians - don’t like the book of Ecclesiastes.
Because when they read it see what Qoheleth is saying, it’s depressing!
it bums them out!
And instead of dealing with the cold, harsh, reality of existence as we know,
They would rather put their heads in the sand and pretend like everything is ok
And at the end here the father tells his son not to do that, and instead to listen to the words Qoheleth has spoken about life under the sun.
And what has he told him?
In our book under the sun, we find 3 things:
Life under the sun is a struggle:
Qoheleth has looked at life under the sun, and he concluded it’s the pits.
It doesn’t matter if you’re wise o a fool, you die and are forgotten.
Toil away all day, and tomorrow you wake up and have to do all over again!
And, even if you are successful, whatever you accumulate is probably going to be given a moron when you die, at that moron is gonna squander it!
A lot of times people - even Christians want to act like life is awesome.
That if you have a can-do
Glass is half-full attitude about things, then you can chase the American Dream and live happily ever after.
And in response to this, Qoheleth says: “That’s nonsense - total and utter rubbish!”
Because even if you marry your one true love - they or you (or both) are going to get cancer and die!
And not just when you’re old and gray!
It could be when you’re 30 with young kids!
“Who knows” Qoheleth says:
For it seems almost at RANDOM!
And because of this, Life under the sun has NO SOLUTIONS - which is the 2nd conclusion Qoheleth came to.
As Feltner points out - this is clearly Qoheleth’s main proverb.
Which is simply to say that “You cannot draw straight with crooked lines!”
When you child get’s their driver’s license, and get’s hit by the bus and dies,
No amount of money in the world,
No amount of fine-aged wine
No amount of romance
And no amount of hobbies is going to make sense of it!
Study away, Qoheleth says: you won’t be able to make any sense of life when tragedy strikes.
For it brings us to our knees, and eventually to our graves.
Qoheleth would be the world’s WORST motivational speaker!
He’d be fired on day one!
But Qoheleth doesn’t care, because Qoheleth is after the truth regardless of how unpleasant it might be.
And since life under the sun has no solutions to the ultimate problems that we face, life under the sun can’t bring real meaning and satisfaction, which is our 3rd point our book gives us.
The more knowledge you acquire, the more questions you end up with.
The more wine you drink, the more you want and need, which leaves you feeling empty.
The more success you gain, the more you need to repeat it and gain more of it (Tom Brady/Michael Jordon).
The better the romance you experience, the more you feel destroyed with your spouse died.
Everything in life under the sun is like grabbing a snake by it’s tale!
It might be fun and exhilarating for a moment, but it’s going to come back to bite you!
And in response to this, the Father says: “Son, be careful - for life under the sun cannot give you meaning or purpose!”
“It WILL NOT satisfy you - SO DO NOT BELIEVE THE LIE!”
How are we tempted to believe the lie?
That’s Qoheleth’s conclusion.
Which as we saw with his other statements, is basically him saying, “Enjoy what you got while you can, and don’t offend God, cuz He can take it from you early!”
And that’s partly true, but it’s not the full solution!
In verse 13, we find it though, through the conclusion of the narrator - or the Father.
Here the Father tells us something very similar to what Qoheleth told us earlier, which was:
“Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, with eery secret thing, whether good or evil.”
When it comes to life under the sun, everyone tends to think the world revolves around them.
When you walk into a room, it’s just obvious who the most important person there is
And it’s you - OF COURSE!
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