Sermon Tone Analysis

Mountain climbers could save time and energy if they reached the summit in a helicopter, but their ultimate purpose is conquest, not efficiency.

Sure, they want to reach a goal, but they desire to do it by testing and deepening their character, discipline, and resolve.

God could create scientists, mathematicians, athletes, and musi­cians.

He doesn’t.

He creates children who take on those roles over a long process.

God doesn’t make us fully Christlike the moment we’re born again.

He conforms us to the image of Christ gradually: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” ().

In our spiritual lives, as in our professional lives, and in sports and hobbies, we improve and excel by handling failure and learning from it.

Only in cultivating discipline, endurance, and patience do we find satisfaction and reward.

And those qualities are most devel­oped through some form of suffering.

Suffering.

Trials and Tribulations.

Circumstances.

Difficulties.

What is the deal with it?

The issue of human and christian suffering has been a very difficult topic to address and apply to our life in Christ.

It has been throughout all church history and in my ministry.

Why does the Lord allow bad things to happen to his people?

The actual existence of evil in this world has been for years a philosophical problem.

Godfried Libnetz calls it the problem of evil and has sparked a discipline called theodicy.

It goes like this Originating with Greek philosopher Epicurus,[20] the logical argument from evil is as follows:If an omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient god exists, then evil does not.There is evil in the world.

Therefore, an omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient god does not exist.

Simply how can a loving and all powerful God allow evil to exist.

Evil exists so therefore either God is not all-powerful or He is not all loving or does not exist.

Man this problem has been a problem for many over the course of Christian history and has been an issue for many who I have ministered to.

Suffering has caused many over the years to fall away from the faith.

To turn their back on God.

To walk away disgusted and disappointed with God.

Crying God has forsaken me.

The reality with suffering and evil things in the world are there for trails and testing.

Suffering does not cause us to fall away from from what we believe, its shows us that we never believed to begin with.

Solomon sheds some light on this issue and we will look at it today.

If an omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient god exists, then evil does not.There is evil in the world.Therefore, an omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient god does not exist.

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

Accept It

The Good Days and Bad Days

God is in Control

The first thing we will consider today is how difficulties in life could be by the hand of the Lord and the best thing for us is not to figure it out, but simply accept and trust.

Second, we will see how both the good days and bad days come from the hand of the Lord.

Finally, we will see that no matter what the circumstances, the whole universe is held together by Him and for Him and for that we should always rejoice.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to reject what God does in rebellion and to think of bad days as those where God has abandoned us, it is the grace, compassion of the Lord, and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to take joy in trials of many kinds and become partners in the suffering of Christ so that we may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.

I. Accept It

- Things are the way God wants them to be.

A. The Preacher so far… He studied the seasons of life and time of death, learning when it was time for this and time for that.

Qoheleth watched the way people worked hard and played hard in life under the sun.

Solomon saw how they lived and how they died all under the sun.

We have seen here in he invites us to consider and observe God’s work in the world.

He studied the seasons of life, learning when it was time for this and time for that.

He watched the way people worked and played.

He saw how they lived and how they died.

Here in he invites us to consider God’s work in the world.

Ryken, P. G. (2010).

Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p.

162).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

B. And now here we go… He asks a rhetorical question: Who has the power to straighten out what God has made crooked?

The answer, of course, is no one.

Things are the way God wants them to be and no matter how hard we try, we do not have the ability or the power to overrule and undo what the Lord has done.

C.

He starts verse 3 with the statement, “Accept the way God does things.”

Ra’ah - to consider something, to see, to understand in the sense of accepting.

Why?

There is nothing we can do about it.

Even if we decided not to accept it, there is nothing we can do about it.

So since we can do nothing about it, you might as well accept it.

Ryken, P. G. (2010).

Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p.

162).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

D. Accept what?

The way the Lord does things.

Why?

Because there is nothing we can do to undo what he has done.

Nothing we can do to what He has undone.

E. So when the Solomon talks about something “crooked,” he is not referring to something that is morally out of line, we all know that God could never be the author of evil.

Qoheleth is more talking about some trouble or difficulty in life we wish we could change but cannot alter.

F. It is still true, of course, that there is nothing we can do to straighten out what is crooked.

We cannot change what God has done unless and until God wants to change it.

We are under the power of the sovereign and omnipotent ruler of the entire universe.

We do not have the power to edit his plan for our lives.

And we see it do we not?

G.

All the science, ingenuity, and philosophy of man has not been able to undo what has been done.

The ability of mankind has always been able to recognize that there is something crooked or broken, but not able to do much about it.

Diseases that we cannot find a cure for.

Natures destructive power… we see it coming but cannot do anything to stop it.

We still cannot decide is eggs are good or bad for us.

We all thought that high cholesterol levels were a result of diet, not we are finding that it is hereditary.

H.

One of the areas we see this is psychology.

With all my studies in psychological theory, it has become clear to me that psychologists do a great job of identifying and describing the problem with our behavior.

What they do not do a good job with is fixing it.

Identifying the problem great, finding a solution.

No. Rebirthing, theophostics, hypnosis, conditioning, electro shock therapy, lobotomys.

I.

We cannot by strength, wisdom, ingenuity, or knowledge do anything to do what God has undone or undo what God has done.

God even makes it clear.

It is still true, of course, that there is nothing we can do to straighten out what is crooked.

We cannot change what God has done unless and until God wants to change it.

We are under the power of the sovereign and omnipotent ruler of the entire universe.

We do not have the power to edit his plan for our lives.

But far from driving us to despair, the sovereignty of God gives us hope through all the trials of life.