Sermon Tone Analysis

In his book, Connecting, Larry Crabb writes:

A friend of mine was raised in an angry family.

Mealtimes were either silent or sarcastically noisy.

Down the street was an old-fashioned house with a big porch where a happy family lived.

My friend told me that when he was about ten, he began excusing himself from his dinner table as soon as he could without being yelled at, and walking to the old-fashioned house down the street.

If he arrived during dinnertime, he would crawl under the porch and just sit there, listening to the sounds of laughter.

When he told me this story, I asked him to imagine what it would have been like if the father in the house somehow knew he was huddled beneath the porch and sent his son to invite him in.

I asked him to envision what it would have meant to him to accept the invitation, to sit at the table, to accidentally spill his glass of water, and hear the father roar with delight, "Get him more water!

And a dry shirt!

I want him to enjoy the meal!"

The Westminster shorter catechism question number 1 asks the question, “What is the chief-end of man?”

The answer is very profound.

“To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

We spend a great deal of effort proclaiming the need to glorify God, but do we spend enough time declaring the need to enjoy our Lord.

Some might say, well if you look at life there is not much to enjoy today.

Sure there is difficulty in life but we cannot nor must not lose sight of all the gifts the Lord has given to us.

There is still much to enjoy.

There is still much to be thankful for.

Solomon make this very clear today.

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

Make the Most of It

Godly Pleasures

Gratitude

The first thing we will look at is how even though we are face to face with difficulty the Lord gives us enough to make the most of it.

Second, we will uncover some of those gifts, not guilty pleasures, but godly ones.

Finally, we will look at how in all enjoyment we should always give the Lord thanks.

Thesis: Even though sin and the pattern of this world may cause us to despair over life’s circumstances, the Lord continues to provide for us enough to enjoy while we live life under the sun and enough for us to see the wonderful life under the Son.

I. Make the Most of It

- Life’s enjoyments are not guilty pleasures but godly pleasures—or at least they ought to be.

Life’s enjoyments are not guilty pleasures but godly pleasures—or at least they ought to be.

Life’s enjoyments are not guilty pleasures but godly pleasures—or at least they ought to be.

A. This may be surprising… Solomon shifts gears.

From the very beginning of Ecclesiastes, he has been telling us mostly about the troubles of life.

Our existence under the sun is meaningless, vanity, and striving after the wind.

But it seems it does not stop there.

This is not his only theme.

He speaks to pleasure as well as to pain.

This may seem like a surprising perspective for Qoheleth to take.

From the opening words of Ecclesiastes, he has been telling us mostly about the troubles of life.

Our existence under the sun is vanity and striving after the wind.

Yet this is not the Preacher’s only theme.

He speaks to pleasure as well as to pain,

Ryken, P. G. (2010).