I LOVE THE STRUGGLE

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Find enjoyment in your toil and know your season to know your priority.

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Transcript
We are going to read a decent amount of the book of Ecclesiastes - so we will stay in this book but will be going through multiple Scriptures.
This is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It quite possible is in my top 3.
Because it really has formed me and my approach to life.
Something about me … I LIKE to play DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
Dad told me once I would make a good used car salesman in another life
TALK ABOUT WHY YOU CAN BE ABRASIVE — LOSING FRIENDS TO DECONSTRUCTION — I want people to know WHY they believe WHAT they believe
So sometimes I’ll say things - not even because I believe it - I just want to see how you react to it and if you can defend yourself against it.
BECAUSE I DO BELIEVE FOR THE CHURCH TO REACH THE WORLD AND THIS GENERATION - WE MUST BE ABLE TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THE WORLD IS ASKING
IT WILL BE WITH THE PASTOR/APOLOGIST
IT WILL BE WITH SPIRIT - AND TRUTH!
IT WILL BE THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT — AND THE LOGICAL TEACHING OF GOD’S WORD
IT IS HEART AND HEAD — WE HAVE TO LEARN TO HAVE A WARM HEART AND A COLD HEAD
A dog only fights over a bone he is afraid to lose
A fear of questions is an insecurity of belief
“Ecclesiastes” is the Latin translation of the Hebrew name Qoheleth (sometimes written Kohelet), which the NLT translates as “the Teacher” or the ESV translates “the Preacher”
The Preacher, who is teaching us, is teaching us the meaning of life.
This book contains the secret to the meaning of life
The word “meaningless” appears 35 times in the span of 12 short chapters.
The Preacher walks us through situations and seasons, all of which, point to the meaninglessness of life - APART FROM GOD
Our life is nothing more than striving after wind - APART FROM GOD
Like Job — we have to read it with the ending resolution in mind
Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 (ESV)
13 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.
THE KEY
FEAR GOD - KEEP IS COMMANDMENTS- this is man’s full duty in life
Life is meaningless APART FROM GOD
So now - let’s go back to the beginning
Ecclesiastes 1:1–3 (ESV)
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
Immediately the Preacher opens with the frustration of everyone on earth: is what I’m doing, does it even matter?
What’s the point?
Am I making a difference?
Is there something for me at the end of this race?
Throughout our lives, I know we’ve all experienced moments like that.
Where it seems every road we go down is a dead end.
And isn’t it funny how when it rains it pours? Like we’ll have a frustration at work and then that’s the week the fridge goes out?
You and your spouse have a fight and thats the week you have to buy 4 new tires on the car.
Sometimes it feels like life is just tires spinning in mud
Because we’re never satisfied with ourselves.
Ecclesiastes 1:3 ESV
3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
As soon as we gain one thing — we are fighting to gain the next thing
Because desires and dreams left unchecked will always lead to sin.
We think — if this and that could happen — then I’ll be happy and accomplish my dreams
The problems you face in your singleness you’ll carry into your marriage
The problems you face in yourself you’ll carry into your parenting
Why?
Because we must Fear God and Keep His Commandments — anything outside of that will only lead to dead ends. Frustration. Meaninglessness. Vanity.
Ecclesiastes 1:11 (ESV)
11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
This is the cycle of humanity — endless, meaningless, forgetful toil. Struggle.
next verse
Ecclesiastes 1:13–14 ESV
13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
And this is really the sentiment that is carried out this book
Is life meaningless? Is it nothing but endless busyness?
We live in culture that is OBSESSED with busyness.
We need constant stimulation.
We play on our phones as we watch TV
We compare ourselves on social media
We don’t know what we did last week but we sure know we were busy!
We live at an unsustainable pace.
A vast majority of which is self-inflicted
We can’t say “no” - we have no boundaries - so our lives are controlled by our calendars. Instead of vice versa.
It is an unhappy business that God has given man to be busy with
He continues and speaks of how self-indulgence is meaningless
How trying to be the smartest is meaningless
How trying to accomplish more is meaningless
All is vanity and striving after wind
And so the Preacher he starts to give a solution - or maybe more accurately, he starts to give us a position in which we are to live
Ecclesiastes 2:24–26 (ESV)
24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
This is where the Preacher begins to give us the right position against meaninglessness.
The position against meaninglessness is to TOIL — is to Struggle.
READ IT AGAIN^^
You will have toil - so you might as well enjoy it while you have it
Toil is as good as life gets!
Hear me —
JOY AND PLEASURE ARE FROM GOD
And they come through Struggle. Through TOIL
Notice this — the toil is the same for the just and unjust
26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
the toil is the same for the just and unjust
— BUT THE OUTCOME IS VASTLY DIFFERENT
For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust
There will be struggle
But for the righteous - THERE IS JOY! REMEMBER OUR KEY
Hear me
There is a joy in your struggle
It is good that you have toil. That you have struggles.
Maybe we should stop wishing our lives were different and start looking at the season and place God has placed us in.
Your toil is a gift from God
Find enjoyment in your toil
We keep searching for this struggle-less life — AND IT DOES NOT EXIST
Christ will return, He is coming back for His bride, but on this side of eternity - there is no Finish Line!
So stop judging your life as if there was and as if you were behind in some way
This is what the Preacher continues on to say
Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 (ESV)
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
You can’t judge the outcome if you don’t know the season!
You can’t know your priority without knowing your season.
If you judge your harvest OUT OF SEASON - you will only be disappointed.
Ecclesiastes 3:12–13 ESV
12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
The simple joys in life are the greatest joys in life
Life will only be as sweet as those who you break bread and toil with.
Food is primarily for fellowship, not for fuel
Eating and drinking - aren’t just bodily functions that we have to do to survive.
It is a gift from God to remind us to stop and enjoy the life God has given us.
To recognize the season He has placed us in and the gift that it is.
By the grace of God, it is better for us to live with contentment (Ecclesiastes 4:4–6), to lead with a teachable spirit (Ecclesiastes 4:13–16), and to work in partnership with other people (Ecclesiastes 4:7–12)
Philip Graham Ryken
Contentment is a lost art in our culture today
Ecclesiastes 4:4 (ESV)
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Ecclesiastes 4:13 (ESV)
13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 (ESV)
12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Much of our toil is self inflicted.
We’ve made life a rat race.
We’ve turned it into something meaningless
Something horribly and needlessly complicated
Ecclesiastes 4:6 ESV
6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
Why are we striving for things God has not permitted for the season we are in?
Ecclesiastes 3:22 ESV
22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?
The tone is somber and expresses the conclusion that while there is a lot of activity in the world, it is tedious.
To use a modern image, we are like rats on a wheel, running constantly but getting nowhere.
Benji and Noah constantly making messes
It is pointless and meaningless to clean
Why????
Because there is a day coming… when my wife and I won’t have to clean up after my boys.
They will be grown and gone - and Paula and I will be empty-nesters
There will be no more messes to clean
No more noise
What is see as a toil, is really a gift
What I see as a distraction, is really a memory
What I think is a struggle, is really what makes life sweet
Know your season know your priority
Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 ESV
13 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.
Apart from God, life is meaningless.
This warning serves to undermine the tendency of all humanity to create their own meaning for their lives.
Wisdom, relationships, power, money, influence, and other areas are all put under a microscope, and the conclusion is that “all is meaningless” without God.
Do you want to toil for nothing?
Struggle for nothing?
Just stuck like a rat on a wheel?
Constantly frustrated with where you are in life?
Or more accurately - where you’re not?
Maybe that season is over.
Maybe we need to quit trying to put God’s new wine into an old wineskin.
What’s the season?
Know you season and you know your priority.
The struggle is God’s gift to the righteous and God’s judgement to the unrighteous
Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 ESV
13 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.
-Find Enjoyment in your Toil
-Know your season
PRAY OVER THEM
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