Sermon Tone Analysis

Many times when we are face to face with situations that seem impossible, it is amazing how with the help of other people the impossible can become possible.

Trying to get though life, it is difficult and sad to have to walk though it alone.

Friendships.

Partnerships are an important piece to the puzzle of life sometimes.

It is important to have someone to share our lives with.

Being alone is not really a good thing.

Even those that like to be alone, don’t really want to be alone alone.

Companionship is something we feel and desire deep deep down inside.

It is real, so real that it does really weird things.

MIT professor Dr. Sherry Turkle tells the following story:

MIT professor Dr. Sherry Turkle tells the following story:

Years ago I spoke with a 16-year-old girl who was considering the idea of having a computer companion in the future, and she described the upside to me.

It's not that the robot she'd imagined, a vastly more sophisticated Siri, was so inspiring.

It's that she'd already found people to be so disappointing.

And now, for the first time, she explained to me, people have options.

Back then I thought her comments seemed prescient.

Now I find them timely.

"There are people who have tried to make friends, but stumbled so badly that they've given up," she said.

"So when they hear this idea of robots as companions, well … it's not like a robot has the mind to walk away or leave you or anything like that."

Turkle admits that robots may not break your heart, but they are also incapable of real love.

She adds, "These robots can perform empathy in a conversation about your friend, your mother, your child, or your lover, but they have no experience of any of these relationships.

Machines have not known the arc of a human life.

They feel nothing of the human loss or love we describe to them."

But because companionship and friendships are so necessary for us all that a loveless robot is better than nothing.

So we see that the need for partnership is real, but what if we think there are other things that can replace it.

Working, gaining wealth, gain, and more gain at the expense of friendship.

Go for the money instead of relationships.

Solomon gives us some insight into this.

We will explore today why he says 2 are better than 1.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

Me, Myself, and I

2 Are Better Then 1

The Friend of Sinners

The first thing we will look at today is the meaninglessness of isolation and lack of community even with me, myself, and I. Second, we will Solomon’s conclusion that companionship is truly better than isolation and loneliness because 2 are better then 1. Finally, we will see the isolation and separation we had from the Father because of sin, but because Christ is a friend of sinners, we were reconciled to the Father with a bond even stronger than a cord of 3 strands.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world may cause us to chase selfish gain instead of meaningful relationships, it is the truth of the Scriptures, the love of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to see and desire fellowship in Christ and with His body the church.

I. Me, Myself and I

- The vanity of isolation and loneliness.

A. I once used the cord of three strands to make a point to a person once about their isolation.

He told me he has three stands…me, myself and I. Clever, but wrong.

B. The preacher tell us a sad sad story.

We do not know who the man is, not mentioned by name.

He is quite alone.

There is no wife or children therefore no heir for all that he has gained.

He is working for himself and there is no one else to share in the blessings.

The man is not mentioned by name, but he lives and works alone.

If he has a wife, she is not mentioned, so perhaps this is the biography of a bachelor.

But even if he does have a wife, he does not have an heir—a son or a brother to inherit his wealth.

So he is only working for himself, not for the blessing or benefit of anyone else.

C. Looking at this man, Qoheleth saw meaninglessness from the beginning to the very end.

He saw the endless days of work done.

Day after day hour after hour working away from dawn to dusk.

60 to 70 hour work weeks?

Having no wife and child, he could do this.

Derek Kidner calls him “the compulsive money-maker.”

But for what purpose?

No matter what he gained or accomplished, the man had no one with whom to share it.

He was working too hard to make any friends or start a family.

The man is not mentioned by name, but he lives and works alone.

If he has a wife, she is not mentioned, so perhaps this is the biography of a bachelor.

But even if he does have a wife, he does not have an heir—a son or a brother to inherit his wealth.

So he is only working for himself, not for the blessing or benefit of anyone else.

As the Preacher looked at the man’s life, he saw that it was vanity from beginning to end.

There seemed to be no end to the man’s work.

Day after day after day he kept working away, from dawn until dark.

How long was his workweek?

Sixty hours?

Seventy hours?

Yet the miser was never satisfied; he always wanted more.

Derek Kidner calls him “the compulsive money-maker.”

But for what purpose?

No matter what he gained, the man had no one with whom to share it.

He was working too hard to make any friends or to start a family.

Ryken, P. G. (2010).

Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p.

114).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Derek Kidner calls him “the compulsive money-maker.”

But for what purpose?

No matter what he gained, the man had no one with whom to share it.

He was working too hard to make any friends or to start a family.

Ryken, P. G. (2010).

Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p.

114).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

D.

Here he was, making constant sacrifices to advance his career and build up his bank account, yet never even considering whether it was all worth it.

But we see it here.

The Preacher could see that it wasn’t worth it; the man’s sacrifices were worthless.

His possessions could never satisfy his soul, and without anyone to share it with, his life would end in utter unhappiness.

Ryken, P. G. (2010).

Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p.

114).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

E. We had a neighbor who told us that having children was a good thing.

He didn’t have children, but chased money and success and regretted it.

It was really sad to see.

Here he was, making costly sacrifices to advance his career and build up his bank account, yet never even considering whether it was all worth it.

The Preacher could see that it wasn’t worth it; the man’s sacrifices were worthless.

His possessions could never satisfy his soul, and without anyone to share it with, his life would end in unhappiness.

Ryken, P. G. (2010).

Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p.

114).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

F. What the Preacher saw is a warning for all of us against isolation, selfishness, greed, and a sinful addiction to work.