Enjoy the gift of each other!
Extreme makeover (home edition) • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Title: Enjoy the gift of each other
Text: Ecclesiastes 4
D.T. The answer to the problem of loneliness is community!
Introduction: We are currently in a series called “Extreme home makeover” . The point of this series is to look at our lives, our families and our faith, and realize that sometimes it needs work. The scripture we’ve used to work on our lives is the book of Ecclesiastes. The conclusions of our previous chapters are to realize that life is a gift, and we should enjoy it. Realizing that life is a gift to be enjoyed will ultimately help us be more fruitful in maintaining a strong family, a good faith, and focus on what life means. However up to this point, there haven’t been many things in Ecclesiastes which directly point to the importance of family. This changes in Ecclesiastes chapter 4.
READ Ecclesiastes 4:1-8
Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. 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. The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
Solomon starts this chapter by talking about all the problems he sees in the world. It’s Ironic that one of Solomon's conclusions in Ecclesiastes is that “there is nothing new under the sun” we see on display here.
It doesn’t matter what time someone has lived, people are always going to see problems around them. People aren’t dreaming these problems up out of thin air either. The reason people have always seen problems around them is because there have always been problems!
Problems like oppression and lack of justice for the oppressed people. This is certainly not a problem unique to Solomon's time, but one that continues to this day. (Rwandan rebellion) These problems are so serious that Solomon grabs the attention of the reader by making a jaring hyperbolic statement. Those who’d never been born are better off than the living.
This obviously leads the reader to ask the question Why would he say this? What problem is so bad, it makes him say this outlandish statement? As we go through the chapter, Solomon begins to clarify which problems are the worst.
In verse 8 Solomon talks about a person who has neither a son or a brother (In other words a family.) While the man is rich, he is never satisfied with his riches. Eventually he asks himself a question. Who am I doing this for? Who am I leaving this to? The answer is nobody. He’s the type of person who could walk into a restaurant and buy everyone's meal, but no one wants to sit with him.
Out of all the problems that Solomon mentions, we see the recurring theme of Loneliness.
It’s really easy for us to underestimate the destructive power of loneliness. Robert Putnam wrote a book called “Bowling Alone” about the collapse and revival of the American community. In this book he cites one stat which is absolutely mind boggling.
If you decided to join a social group, you cut your risk of dying over the next year by half. Lack of social capital (loneliness can be hazardous to your health)
People divorced from community, occupation, and association are first and foremost among the supporters of extremism.
Faith communities in which people worship together are arguably the single most important repository of social capital in America. “The church is people,”
The problems of this world are bad enough as they are, but to attempt to navigate these problems alone is the epitome of all the problems. A person attempting to navigate the problems of the world alone is truly isolated.
So what’s the answer?
READ Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
The answer to the problem of loneliness is community!
Two are better than one, if one falls the other can pick them up!
An individual person may be overtaken, but 2 are better positioned to resist him.
A cord of three strands is not easily broken
Earlier in the chapter we asked if it’s pointless to allow ourselves to be thrown into a game of keeping up with the Joneses, and it’s foolish to allow ourselves to be slothful and lazy, then what are we left to do? We don’t stop working, instead we reevaluate and recalibrate. When Solomon speaks of toil through the perspective of what an individual person can gain, then it’s pointless and a chasing after the wind. However when people toil together for the sake of their family? They are rewarded for their toil. Our work is no longer about what we can gain for ourselves, but rather what we can provide for our community!
In the first half of the book of Ephesians, Paul paints an incredible picture of the depth of the grace of Jesus. This would eventually beg the question. God, you’ve done so much to show us love, how can we show love to you? According to the apostle Paul God answers that question by saying. You want to show me love? Then love others?
In Peter's reinstatement Christ asks Peter “Do you love me?” When Peter answers yes, Jesus responds by saying “Feed my sheep”
While our lives are obviously enhanced by God’s love, it’s absurd to suggest that God’s existence is enhanced by our love. Because of this God tells us If you want to love me, make sure you show love to others!
So how do we show love to one another? Through our communities!
Our families (Ephesians 5:22-27
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives submit to your husbands (Not always for their sake, but because God commands you to love him by loving one another)
Husbands love your wives, giving yourself up for her (Obviously this means a willingness to die. However this also means to give yourself through toil.
Our Children (Ephesians 6:1-4
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Our social families(Ephesians 5:21
submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Submitting to another out of reverence for Christ.
The question I leave us with is this, do we have a family? A community? An opportunity to love through loving others?
