Better Together

If you have a bible turn to Ecclesiastes 4. I have titled the message this morning. Better Together.

You can be surrounded by people and still feel completely alone. You can work hard, build a life, and still wonder, “Who is this for?” Deep down, we know something isn’t right—we weren’t made to carry life by ourselves.

And that’s exactly what Ecclesiastes 4 shows us.

In Christ, authentic community strengthens us, bringing joy, purpose, and resilience through every challenge.

Lets read our text.. Ecclesiastes 4 “1 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. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. 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. 5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. 6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. 7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 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. 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 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! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. 13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.”

Several points to unpack the first is this..

Life alone is crushing.

As we come into these opening verses, you can feel the shift. This book is nothing but shifts it feels like. Such is life am i right?

The Preacher isn’t on a mountaintop—he’s down in the valley again. He’s looking out at the world, and what he sees isn’t good. There is oppression, hurting, sorrow, and its not just evil that is present its the absent of comfort.

He says, “I saw the tears of the oppressed… and they had no one to comfort them.” Not once, but twice he says it. No one to step in. No one to sit beside them. No one to say, “You’re not alone in this.”

That’s what makes the suffering even heavier. It’s not just pain—it’s pain in isolation.

And if we’re honest, that’s still one of the hardest parts of life, isn’t it? It’s one thing to walk through something difficult—but it’s another thing to feel like you’re walking through it by yourself. No support. No encouragement. No one to help carry the weight.

And the Preacher looks at that kind of world—and it breaks him.

So much so that he says something shocking. He says, “The dead are better off than the living… and better than both are those who have never even been born.” In other words, he’s saying, “If this is what life is—pain, and loneliness—then what’s the point?”

And that’s not new, is it? Faithful men like Elijah and Jeremiah had moments just like this—moments where the weight of life pressed so hard they just wanted it to stop. I have had those moments, hearing from you you all have had those moments, and when you are isolated or feel isolated it makes things worse.

When you feel alone everything is worse it is magnified. The pain feels deeper. The questions feel louder.

And here’s what I want you to see—before we ever get to “two are better than one aspect at the end of the sermon,” we have to understand what life looks like when it’s lived alone. It’s empty. And it can drive a person to despair. Its outright crushing..

But then the Preacher shifts again. Because not only is isolation a problem… striving without contentment is too.

Look at verse 4… and this is where he begins to show us that contentment is not optional in this life—it’s necessary.

So if isolation crushes us… and striving empties us… what’s the alternative..

Life must have contentment .

You look at the text and you see that the preacher is saying that alot of the work man does is envy of his neighbor. Interesting perspective.

But when you think about it it makes alot of sense. While there is people who work hard despite their neighbor if we are honest our neighbors often produce alot of envy in our lives.

In our hearts we all want more, and sometimes that means more stuff, more money, more of what the world can give us.

envy does not breed contentment. It isolates. Envy is so dangerous in fact that its part of the 10 commandments Exodus 20:17 “17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.””

In our day and age where we can see what others have and we do not I believe contentment is one of the hardest things to find in this generation.

“I was talking to a man recently from Austin, and he started telling me about his job—how every year he gets to go to the F1 race… not just attend, but be on the track… meet the drivers… even sit down and talk with guys like Max Verstappen.

And as I listened, I caught myself thinking— ‘Man… I wish that was me.’

And preparing for my message the Lord checked my heart thinking about that moment and others.

Because that wasn’t just appreciation… that was envy.

And here’s the danger—envy doesn’t make you thankful for what you have… it makes you restless for what you don’t.

And if you live there long enough, you’ll spend your life chasing more… and still never be satisfied.”

“And when life becomes about chasing what others have… you stop enjoying people… and start competing with them. And that kind of life will always pull you away from the very thing you need most— each other.”

The preacher puts that in even more prospective when he says..

6 Ecclesiastes 4:6 “6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.”

One commentator I read said.. The quiet person is peaceful and composed. Rather than always striving for more, he or she is satisfied already. The contrast is reinforced by the difference between having a single handful and having "two hands full." The person with two hands full is a two-fisted consumer, always grabbing as much as he can and always grasping for more. But sometimes less is more, and the quiet person has found the right balance. His hands are not folded, like the fool. He is working hard enough to have a decent handful of what he needs in life. But that is enough for him. He does not keep demanding more and more but accepts what God has given.

Have you learned to be content? The quiet person is like Jesus, who always shows us the best way to live. Jesus did not fold his hands in idle-ness. Neither did he envy people who had more possessions than he did, which included almost everyone. He simply worked hard in the calling that his Father had given him—the calling to seek and to save lost sinners. As he worked, Jesus trusted his Father to provide for his daily needs; he was content with the basic things in life.

Now Jesus invites us to live the same way—the better way that we see in Ecclesiastes. Work hard, but be content with what you have. Find your satisfaction in the goodness of God, like the little girl who misquoted Psalm 23 but spoke better than she knew. Rather than saying, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want," she said, "The Lord is my shepherd; that's all I want." Most of us want so many other things in life that it is hard for us to say that, but whether Jesus is all we want or not, the truth is that he is all we need.

And because he is all we need we should be teachable.

We are better together when we are teachable.

One of the most dangerous places you can get to in life… is the place where you think you’ve arrived. And it happens easier than you think it does.

Where nobody can tell you anything. Nobody can correct you. Nobody can speak into your life.

Because the moment you stop being teachable… you start drifting—even if you don’t realize it.

And here’s why this matters for what we’re talking about today—

You cannot have real, biblical community… without a teachable spirit.

Because community means people are close enough to see your blind spots… and love you enough to speak into them.

This goes from your pastor to the smallest of kids running around making that joyful noice that you may have noticed during your time here today..

We all need a teachable spirit. Key word all, and one of things that I want to go back to from last week is that God uses those seasons to make us teachable. If we miss that we miss how God unfolds our life. Look at the illustration we get in verses 13-16

Ecclesiastes 4:13–16 “13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.”

The preacher gives us this powerful illustration to think about. He gives us a picture of an poor wise youth, and a old king.

The illustration here teaches the importance of wisdom. There is a young wise youth who is superior to the old. And you might at first glance say how can a poor young youth be better than a king who has it all..

Because one knew how to take advice the other did not. ( we get our advice not from tik-tok- social media random google pages our feelings or the world we primarily get our advice through the Word of God the Power of the Holy Spirit and good Godly council. You can get advice even from good hearted people sometimes and it be bad advice but in biblical community the goal is to have our advice be from the Word of God as best we understand it.

The king who is older now probably had in this life alot of advice that he took all the way to a point. You watch those movies or read even in the Bible kings had people pouring into them all the time, some times it got them in trouble because the advice was bad other times it saved their life.

But the king in the illustration said. he did not need advice anymore. all of us have to be teachable to grow and teachable to become wiser. No matter where we are at in this life. Because if we get to a place were we say we know it all we are like the foolish king.

Let me ask you something—

Who actually has permission to speak into your life?

Not just encourage you… but correct you?

Who can say, “Hey, you’re off here”… and you’ll actually listen?

Because if the answer is “no one”… you’re in a dangerous place—whether you realize it or not.

Because the king didn’t just lose wisdom— he drifted into isolation.

When you stop listening… you start separating.

And when you start separating… you end up alone.

And we’ve already seen where that leads.

So really you are given a few options..

A teachable spirit keeps you connected. A prideful spirit will leave you alone.

or

The moment you think you don’t need people… is the moment you need them the most.

or

You don’t outgrow the need for counsel and this is the right place to be— you grow deeper into it.

Noone is without need for wise council.

AND all that just sets us the idea that we are better together.

We are better together.

In our new mission statement as a church. The F in F.A.I.T.H. in the statement is for fellowship.

Part of our name is Agape Life Fellowship.. It says in our mission.. Christian fellowship is key to a healthy, strong church. Beginning in the days of the early Church, the community of believers devoted themselves to teaching, prayer, and fellowship. They did so regularly, encouraging one another to do good works. As a result, the body of Christ is called to be a light - because of our salvation and our relationships with one another. As a community, we are called to be unified because Christ died to make us one. We are called to be of one mind and spirit, united in love and purpose. We are to lift one another up when we are down and be there for one another. We are also called to use our gifts to equip and encourage the body, helping one another grow into Christlikeness.

Now when we look back at Ecclesiastes 4.

The result of living life alone life isolated is something like this story that was written in the Minneapolis Tribune. The writer of this story told the tragic story of a man who worked as hard as the man in Ecclesiastes .When he died at the age of fifty-one, his obituary said the cause of death was coronary thrombosis, but most people knew better. At the office six days a week, often until 8 or 9 at night, his friends and family said that he had simply worked himself to death. Yet on the day of his funeral, when the company was already making inquiries about his replacement, the president looked around the office for candidates and said, "Well, who's been working the hardest?" But the killer line was delivered by the dead man's wife.

When a friend said, "I know how much you will miss him," she said, "Oh, I already have.

If life lived alone is all their is what is that toil even for.

Life together is more fruitful we have seen that in this merger. Though it hasn’t been easy. Alot of people have this idea when you have more people in your life your life will get bogged down that can be true and though it seems like that sometimes the reality is you go further. If you have that better together attitude.

The more people you have around you the more people you have to lift you up.

“If they fall, one will lift up his fellow.”

Notice—it doesn’t say if life gets hard… it assumes it will.

The question isn’t will you fall? The question is—who’s there when you do?

One thing about the church is it might knock you down God’s God might knock you down, but it will pick you back up if you put your hand out .

It will keep your warm. This isn’t just a physical illustration its a relational one. Life gets cold, and in that coldness what do we want to do isolate, see you need others to keep your faith warm, to me there is nothing better than having others around you who are red hot in your faith knocking you down if you need it, but also picking you back up.

And when you have others around you the enemy will not be able to hold you even if you drift away from the Word, they will seek to drag you back in.

And you know what is even more powerful than two a threefold cord.. Christ centered cord.

This can refer to more than one, but we miss it if we think that is all it is.

And that threefold cord is strong because God is at the center.

The strongest relationships in your life won’t just be built on chemistry or attraction or common interests or anything else anything but the strongest ones will be built on Christ.

Because when He is the one holding it together that’s where real strength comes from.

when we try to be the cord we will fail but when Christ is at the center real strength real better togetherness happens. Because we submit to him holding it all together not us. Him, His Word, His Spirit drawing us together..

Let me ask you plainly—

Are you actually living in a community that is better together..

Not just attending church… not just showing up… but known? supported? walking with people?

Because it’s possible to sit in a room full of people… and still live completely alone.

“You can’t live the Christian life on an island.” “Isolation weakens you—community strengthens you.” “God didn’t just save you something—He saved you a people.” to help you be better and all of us to be better together.

Because life can hit hard. It can be unpredictable. It can feel like you’re getting attacked from all sides. And if you’re walking through it alone—you’re vulnerable. That’s just reality. Even in nature, wolves don’t go after the flock—they go after the one that’s isolated.

That’s why God never designed you to do life alone.

There is protection in community. There is strength in unity. There is resilience when we walk together.

This is what the preacher is getting at—companionship isn’t just a nice idea… it’s a necessity. We are wired for this. We need each other. We need each other to be better together even when it hurts.

Because at the end of the day—there is strength in numbers. And what I have noticed especially lately is when taken the community as a whole striving for Godliness for the church those numbers can minister to you in ways that just one could not.

church… we really are better together.

So let’s bring all of this together.

The preacher has shown us what life looks like under the sun— alone, striving, chasing… and still empty.

And then he shows us the contrast— life the way God designed it. Not isolated… but connected. Not competing… but walking together.

So what do we do with that?

Let’s break it down—head, heart, and hands. today as we leave this place.

Head (What we need to understand)

God didn’t design me to do life alone.

Ecclesiastes 4 shows us the reality of life under the sun—life alone is heavy, empty, and ultimately unfulfilling.

We see the weight of isolation in oppression—people suffering with no one to comfort them. We see the emptiness of envy and striving—working hard, but only to compete, not connect. We see the futility of living for self—gaining more, but having no one to share it with.

And then the shift— Two are better than one. Because together there is help, warmth, and strength.

The truth is simple but deep: God did not design us to do life alone. Real strength, real joy, and real endurance are found in community.

Heart (What we need to feel)

I need others—and others need me.

If we’re honest, a lot of us feel this.

You can be surrounded by people and still feel alone. You can work hard, provide, achieve—and still ask, “Who is this for?”

There’s a longing in us for something more than just getting through life. We want connection. We want support. We want to be known.

And Scripture shows us—that longing is not weakness… it’s design.

But here’s the tension: We often isolate instead of engage. We compete instead of connect. We carry burdens instead of letting others in.

And the result? We feel the weight Ecclesiastes is talking about.

But when we step into real, Christ-centered community— There is encouragement when we fall. There is warmth when life grows cold. There is strength when we feel weak.

Because we really are better together.

Hands (How we need to respond)

Step into real, Christ-centered community.

This isn’t just something to agree with—it’s something to live out.

Don’t choose isolation—step into fellowship.

Don’t just attend—connect.

Don’t carry everything alone—let others walk with you.

Use your gifts to build others up, not just build your own life.

Pursue real relationships in the body of Christ. Be intentional about encouraging, supporting, calling others to a Godly walk and walking with others.

Because this is how God designed His church to function— a people who lift one another up and grow together.

And the reason this kind of life is even possible… is because of Jesus.

But before we even go there, you need to understand something—

You cannot truly experience the fellowship of God, or understand what it means to be better together… if you are not saved.

You can be around people. You can attend church. You can even be involved…

But apart from Christ, you’re still outside of the very thing God is building.

When we zoom out and look at the whole story of Scripture, we see this clearly— Jesus is the one who makes this kind of community possible.

He didn’t come to call people into isolation—He came to form a people. He lived in community, walked with His disciples, and taught them to love and serve one another.

And ultimately, He went to the cross to bring us not only into relationship with God… but into relationship with each other as His body.

Through Him, we are no longer alone. Through Him, we are brought near. Through Him, we are made one.

But here’s the reality— you can be around the church and still not be part of what Christ is building.

This kind of life… this kind of community… it begins with a response to Jesus.

A response of repentance— turning from living for yourself living how we want to live… turning from living how you want to live to how Christ wants you to live.

And a response of faith— trusting in Him as Savior and Lord.

And when you do— you’re not just saved from sin… you’re brought into a family.

So the question is simple:

Are you still trying to do life on your own… or will you come to Christ and be brought into what you were made for?

Because in Him— you’re not alone anymore. No matter how isolated you may feel if you are saved he washes you clean continues to clean you up, and places you in the body of Christ.

And church… we are better together.

Amen!