"Ecclesiastes” Contentment in Life
Ecclesiastes: What is Life? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Greeting:
Greeting:
Good morning everyone
Welcome visitors
Come back tonight and Wednesday night
Lesson Text:
Lesson Text:
Ecclesiastes 4
Opening:
Opening:
This morning we continue on in our study of the book of Ecclesiastes
I encourage you to all get out your Bibles and follow along with us as we study together...
Be turning to chapter 4 this morning..
As you are turning there a little recap for us or maybe for those that hasn’t been here for some of the lessons...
We are going through a study of Ecclesiastes, a book often accredited to Solomon who we know was said to be the wisest to live...
And we are searching for the same thing, the same answer that really he was searching for...
What is the meaning of life?
How can I find and live a life of meaning and of purpose?
The preacher as he calls himself back in chapter 1, has searched far and wide in the first 3 chapters...
He has turned to everything under the sun in his search for meaning..
Pleasures, knowledge, wealth, fame, fortune...
None of that though has given him meaning or purpose...
The preacher is living this life with the view that all is vanity, all is hopeless, all is loss...
And that is exactly what life is on this earth, when we can’t see beyond this physical life...
When we fail to live with this above the sun, this vertical view, a perspective on life that includes God and eternity at the forefront of our mind...
If we live that way, then that's when we see the true message of the book...
That is when we see that this life is vanity, it is hopeless when God isn’t in it...
That is sort of the whole book summed up, but we are going through looking at and seeking after some wisdom that the author has for us...
So this morning I want to continue on looking at our study as we look at chapter 4 and 5 together...
Lesson:
Lesson:
As we come to chapter 4 this morning we will see here through about chapter 10 sort of a change in the way the teacher writes...
This section of the book begins to read a lot like Proverbs...
Sort of tid bits of wisdom and changing topics as you read throughout...
All while still centered around this main idea that we have saw trough the first 3 chapters of vanity, and finding meaning...
So here in chapter 4 we will look at a few of those pieces of wisdom…
Some of those tid bits of knowledge we can gain…
Here we find Solomon still continuing for this search of meaning…of purpose in his life…
In chapter 4 we are going to see he makes three observations as he looks around at life under the sun…
Solomon notices some things about life under the sun…
Although this was written about the world he observed many many years ago, we can look around today and see its still very much the same way…
People today are lonely, people today are hurting, people today are trying to prove themselves while living a life totally disconnected from God…
Look at me there in the first 3 verses…
Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun:
And look! The tears of the oppressed,
But they have no comforter—
On the side of their oppressors there is power,
But they have no comforter.
Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead,
More than the living who are still alive.
Yet, better than both is he who has never existed,
Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
If you remember last week Solomon ended off chapter 3 sort of on a high note right?
We mentioned last week that there are bits and pieces throughout the book when we find the teacher come to this realization of meaning in life with God…
But he isn't totally convinced yet, it isn't totally obvious really yet…not until the end of the book
But we find that here, the teacher says “I then returned to consider all the oppression that is under the sun”…
Solomon cant help but notice something that is disturbing, something that is disheartening…
There are people that are suffering…
There are people crying, there are people facing injustice everywhere he looks…
We touched on this last week just a little bit, but boy are we spoiled in that regard here in America aren’t we?
We aren’t no where near oppressed as some people are in this world…
We aren’t somewhere where we are all alone with no one to help, no one to care for us…
All while being oppressed by government or other groups…
Four times though, does the preacher reference the tears and the absence of comfort for those people…
A sad life…
Maybe we aren't living under oppression in some regard, but you can find oppression anywhere…
Look around in the life you live right now and what do you find?
Families are broken, Christians being persecuted, the weak and poor are exploited and taken advantage of…
People suffer even maybe if it is in silence in this life…
I think it would be easy for us to sometimes maybe think, evil wins…
That this is just how the world is and there is nothing we can do about it…
Well if we are living under the sun, then thats true…
If our perspective on this life doesn’t go beyond the horizon so to say…
If it doesn’t look past this life, if its not a perspective that includes God, then this again is a depressing idea isn't it?
To know we are suffering, oppressed, sad, with no help?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
What a beautiful thought that is isn’t it?
How amazing is it to know that God the Father is the God of all comfort…
Paul says He comforts us in all our tribulation….
One thats great to know, its reassuring to know that we receive comfort from God during these times of oppression, injustice, sadness, that the teacher writes about…
But notice what Paul says, why does God give us comfort? Why does he comfort his children, Christians?
So that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with that same comfort that we received from God…
How often do we do that?
How often do we care enough about others to try and comfort them?
Or is it that once we are good thats all that matters…
I got what I wanted from God, my problems fixed, sorry about yours…
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Scripture is clear that for us as Christian’s, those who should be living with this above the sun mindset, one needs to know God will comfort us, but two that we should comfort each other…
This life isn’t just about me and me first…
It’s about others and the care we show to them…
That is one lesson I think we can learn here in chapter 4…
Look with me now at verses 4-6…
Solomon as he looks around at this world notices another problem to go along with oppression…
Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
The fool folds his hands
And consumes his own flesh.
Better a handful with quietness
Than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.
What does Solomon notice about these individuals?
Why were these people working that he sees?
He says, “For all that all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor.”
People are working…
Not because they love God…
Not because they love serving others…
But because they are wanting to outdo everyone else…
They want what everyone else has, what the neighbor has, or even better…
We have this problem bad here in America don’t we?
We look across the road and we see the neighbors car, the neighbors house, boat, the neighbors family their husband, wife, etc…
And what do we do?
We start comparing, we starting working towards doing whatever it takes so that we can have that…
We want that green grass on the other side of the fence don’t we?
A quote I have used a lot before and one I am sure you have heard, but it’s probably the one I try to use the most in life…
A quote often accredited to Theodore Roosevelt…
And a quote I believe is highly supported and sort of the message we find here from the preacher…
“Comparison is the thief of joy”
We worked really hard we saved up our money we were so happy to buy that first car we had…
We cleaned it up, we loved it, we thought it was the greatest and nicest thing in the world…
We wouldn’t have traded it for nothing…
Until we saw the one our buddy got, right?
Then what does that do to how we feel about ours?
Comparison is the thief of joy…
We live in a world today where social media I believe has amplified this…
Everyone is perfectly content and happy with what they have…
With the house, job, family, vacation, etc. that they have until what?
Until we get on social media and we see what someone else has done…
We see someone else’s job, family, vacation, etc…
Then suddenly we become less and less happy with ours don’t we?
That is what the preacher is getting at here…
He is saying again under the sun, with that perspective on life, all people do is work so that they can have what others have…
He tells us that comparison is going to steal our joy and he gives us sort of two extremes of this doesn’t he?
He tells us if we aren’t careful and we keep working with this under the sun mindset, if we keeping letting comparison rob us of our contentment then these two things could happen…
Look in verse 5 and 6…
In verse 5 he says…
The fool folds his hands
And consumes his own flesh.
He says the fool folds his hand…
He refuses to work and what happens?
Laziness destroys him…
If we aren’t careful we might get to the point we just throw our hands up and say you know what?
I give up… I am just going to not do anything…
If I can’t have what they have, or if I can’t have what I want to have, then what is going to happen?
We are going to lose what we do have…
And verse 6 he says…
Better a handful with quietness
Than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.
We have here sort of the polar opposite of verse 5 don’t we?
Instead of one being lazy and sort of giving up…
We find here the workaholic instead…
We find someone that never rests…
He has two handfuls of labor and anxiety and worry…
Remember what the preacher said earlier, that the more one has it only brings more what?
Worry anxiety etc…
The teacher here tells us the answer to the correct way we should live…
A handful with quietness…
He says both hands full, he says that is grasping for the wind, that same phrase we have seen already…
A handful of quietness though is how we ought to be living…
It reminds me of what Paul says over in Philippians…
Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Paul says that he has learned in whatever state I am to be content..
I think that might be one of the hardest things for any of us to do isn’t it?
Notice even Paul said though he had to learn this… it didn't just happen
He had to learn to be content…
And where did he end up drawing the strength to be content?
From Christ right?
Again showing the answer to this life, is a life with that above the sun mindset, a life with Christ…
Look with me now in verses 7-8…
Verse 7 again “ I returned and I saw vanity under the sun…”
So more vanity the preacher sees in this life…
Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun:
There is one alone, without companion:
He has neither son nor brother.
Yet there is no end to all his labors,
Nor is his eye satisfied with riches.
But he never asks,
“For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?”
This also is vanity and a grave misfortune.
Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Notice what he has done here…
He started with the one that is oppressed…
Then he went to the one who envies and isn’t content with his labor…
Now…
What does Solomon observe here?
What type of person is he talking about here?
He observes someone that we could say is a lonely man right?
This is someone that has wealth, success, possessions, this person has seemingly everything someone would want…
Someone that has pursued wealth and fame and fortune..someone that has labored so much in that direction in life that what has happened?
He has no one to enjoy it with…
He is alone, no family no friends, he is alone…
He keeps asking “For whom do I labor?”
I saw a quote when preparing this lesson that said…
“Many people spend their entire lives making a living, but they never make a life.”
I thought that was pretty powerful…
Success, a life that we look back on one day, all that we done and accomplished…
That success will just be empty if there is no one to love and enjoy it with…
As Christian’s, someone that should be living with an over the sun, above the sun mindset…
We need to never be willing to sacrifice our marriage, our children, our family, our church family just to earn a dollar…
We need to be careful to never replace those beautiful God given relationships for material gain…
I know that people may get tired of me saying this even though I hope you don’t but thats why we find the instructions we do in Hebrews…
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Oh here we go again, the preacher telling me I can’t miss service
This isn’t the preacher just preaching and harping on you to attend service so you can check your box…
And really its not meat all, its God saying this…
God designed it this way fr the very same reason we find here in Ecclesiastes…
It is not good for man to be alone, we see that in the plan for marriage, we see that also in this relationship for the church…
How can we expect to be encouraged, stirred up, motivated and encouraged if we are never here?
If we never attend services or maybe only on Sunday morning and not the rest of the time?
The teacher teaches us that if we allow something else, money, joy, work, really anything in this life to get in the way of our relationships, especially the relationship between us and God and us and the church, we have a problem…
Turn back with me to verses 13-16 as we finish out the chapter together…
We find the final idea the preacher presents us with…
Better a poor and wise youth
Than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more.
For he comes out of prison to be king,
Although he was born poor in his kingdom.
I saw all the living who walk under the sun;
They were with the second youth who stands in his place.
There was no end of all the people over whom he was made king;
Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him.
Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
What do we have here?
We have two kings right?
An old foolish king and a younger king…
This younger king, rises to power, takes the thrown…
Sort of reaches the peak and pinnacle…
We see there was no end of all the people who he was king over…
Yet what does the preacher say?
“Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him.”
He says, “Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind.”
What can we learn from that, what is the teacher getting at here?
We are not a king, but what is the message for every one of us?
From kings to the very bottom of the totem pole?
Really a lesson that he has sort of already told us before…
That one day we are all forgotten right?
What we accumulate, whatever power we reach here on this Earth what is gonna happen one day?
Forgotten, not going to matter…
We finally get to where we wanna be in this life, we have worked and worked and worked to get to this pinnacle and what could happen?
It could all be taken away…
There is no stability in this under the sun life…
But there is with God…
Our wealth, fame, fortune, position, job title, all of that might be able to be taken away from us…
All of that might be forgotten or replaced…
But as a Christian, as someone that should be living with this above the sun mindset, we have something that can never be taken away…
Our faith, our hope, our soul’s reward, that home in heaven prepared by God for His people…
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
How beautiful is that to know this morning?
To know that there is something better out there for us?
There is something above the sun, a home that is incorruptible, undefined, never fades away…
A home that has been reserved for you…
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
This morning with that thought in mind as we get ready to conclude this lesson…
Think about your life…
I want you to know there is something out there that is better…
This life of oppression, envy, loneliness, this life isn't all there is…
There is a better life out there, a life worth living every day…
The Christian life, a life for God…
This morning I want your o consider your life, if you are not living a life for Christ lets change that today…
If you are tired of living life under the sun, if you know youn want something better, choose Christ…
Choose Him today and every single day for the rest of your life…
Scripture has laid out very plainly for us the plan God has made…
A plan he created for us to follow…
Hear believe repent confess be baptized…
If you’ve never obeyed the gospel, I encourage you to today…
This morning if you are a Christian already, maybe you’ve realized that this life has become a distraction for you…
Maybe you’ve realized find yourself fallen into one of these ideas we have looked at this morning…
Maybe we have allowed these things to overshadow what really matters in our life, and thats our relationship with God…
If we know we have sinned, if we have left the faith, if we have things in our life thats not right then lets change that today…
Let’s come back home while we still can…
