Eccl 8v14ff Why Bad Upon The Good 2
I) Why do bad things happen to good people?
A) File: eccl 8v14ff why bad upon the good 2.doc
B) Audio: Why do bad things happen?
C) Preached: 4/22/07
II) Some basic questions: Some basic answers.
A) VT Shootings – raises questions. shocking. emotional.
B) Why is there evil? Disobedience to God
C) Why is there death? Because of sin
D) Why do bad things happen? Because of sin – we are inextricably joined in this life.
1) God’s answer to Cain.
2) Ten Commandments: 4 for God, 6 for others.
(a) Jesus’ two commandments.
3) Therefore, our sins affect one another
E) The ultimate question – why do bad things happen to good people? Not same Q. No justice? No fairness?
1) Let’s ask the wisest man in the world – Solomon
2) He addressed this issue in wrestling with the meaning of life.
III) READ: Ecclesiastes 9:1-10. The problem: The same things seem to happen to everyone whether they are good or bad.
A) The thinking started in the previous chapter: Verse 8:14.
B) But Solomon concludes this is ‘vanity’ in V 8:14.
1) VANITY: meaninglessness, empty.
2) What he means:
(a) Solomon was reflecting upon life – and what a life!
(b) He was seeking what was truly meaningful and worthwhile. He systematically eliminates topics. He experienced these things – and they were not the answer
3) What did he see: He notes that there is no pattern, good or bad to either. God seems to allow good and bad to happen to the good and bad in a random or meaningless fashion.
(a) 9:1 Even the righteous and the wise, even though them and their deeds are in God’s hand, not even they know what lies ahead – either love or hate. Anything can happen.
(b) 9:2 Good things and bad things come to all, whether good, bad, religious, not-religious, clean or unclean.
(c) We know by our personal observations – he’s right.
(d) What Job must point out to his friends – their error.
4) 8:16 In his search for meaning in life, Solomon tried to figure this out.
(a) But look at 8:17, by God’s design, we cannot figure it out. So Solomon calls it VANITY. We cannot answer the question – it will not aid in our quest for meaning in life.
5) So, why do bad things happen to good people? or Why do good things happen to bad people? Ans. Unknowable
(a) Solomon says that we cannot know.
(b) Sum: It’s not what happens to us in this life, it’s what we do with this life..
6) But not all is lost – there much useful information here. We are on a need to know basis with God. To live this life, we do not need to understand the answer to this question – but he does give us what we need to know right here.
(a) Even better than understanding Why is to understand how to deal with it. God’s Word here is practical.
C) Look at the wisdom of Solomon displayed as he explains what we really need to be thinking about when we observe things like the shootings at Virginia Tech. HOW TO HANDLE LIFE.
IV) Endure vv4-6
A) V4: “Where there’s life, there’s hope” That motto goes as far back as the third century B.C. It’s part of a conversation between two farmers who are featured in a poem by the Greek poet Theokritos. “Console yourself, dear Battos,” says Korydon. “Things may be better tomorrow. While there’s life there’s hope. Only the dead have none.”[1]
B) V4: Better to be a living dog than a dead lion. Dogs hated.
C) Though we will one day die, we have a ‘living hope.’ 1 Peter 1:3-5. imperishable inheritance, guarded for a salvation.
1) We have a savior who defeated death for Himself and us.
D) V5-6: The dead cannot add to their reward, their race is over, they can no longer affect their eternal destiny, but the living know that death is coming and we can still make a difference.
E) But we must avoid a false hope, simple positive thinking.
1) Rather a living hope – assurance. A Spirit within us that testifies that we are children of God.
2) An annoying boldness on ‘reality’ shows. A self-deception that keeps us from facing reality.
F) True hope is a knowledge. In the New Testament, the Greek word for hope is just as well translated, expectation.
G) Hope can get us through anything. However it is God’s intention that we do more then endure, we must enjoy.
V) Enjoy vv7-10
A) A recurring theme for Solomon 2:24-25 says, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”
1) BEC – “Don’t sit around and brood, get up and live!”
B) Solomon shares several ways to enjoy life: (Wiersbe – BEC)
1) Enjoy your meals
(a) Traditional Hebrew meals – lite dinner after dark. Bread, wine, vegetables, sometimes fish, rarely other meat. But dark, work is done – family together.
(b) Modern times – one of the primary indicators of how children are being raised. Very important!
(c) Prov. 15:17 ““Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred”
2) Enjoy every occasion
(a) V8: garments white, oil on your head. Traditionally, white garments (a symbol of joy) and an anointed head were for a special occasion. Solomon is not being literal – suggesting we attack each day as special.
3) Enjoy your marriage
(a) If anyone could say so – Solomon. “House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.” Prov. 19:14
(b) Marriage is a commitment to love, which is a verb. Do we show up every day with our white garment/anointed head attitude at home?
(c) An event like this past week – don’t you hold one another just a moment longer when you embrace?
4) Enjoy your work
(a) Do it with your might – “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Col. 3:17
(b) Make the most of all opportunities now – no other chance – not after death – to make a difference. We will be judged only by what happens here – not after.
(c) Col. 3:23-25 “3 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.”
VI) So we did not answer “Why do bad things happen to good people?” but we did learn what God wants – to truly live.
A) But how does that help others? Families, friends, etc.
1) Live your life with them! Invest it in the hurting around you – like Job’s friends at first. Weep, mourn, sit.
2) Share your hope with them – at the appropriate time.
3) Don’t pretend to know how they feel. Don’t reject their feelings. Don’t re-preach this sermon at them.
4) Focus on the positive and the good memories.
B) How do we answer those that ask this question? First find out if they want an answer or an excuse. Let me show you what Solomon learned. It’s not what happens, it’s what we do.
VII) Invitation
A) Come and pray for those affected by the tragedy.
B) Come to find the hope we talked about – have made a decision.
C) Come to join the church.
4/22/07 Why do bad things happen to good people?
Ecclesiastes 9:1-10. (See also Job)
Why do bad things happen to good people?
A) The answer: ___________________________
B) Rather, It’s not what _____________________ to us in this life but what we ____________________ in this life.
What then shall we do in this life?
C) ______________________ (vv4-6; See also 1 Peter 1:3-5;)
D) ______________________ (vv7-10; See also Eccl. 2:24-25; Prov. 15:17; Prov. 19:14; Col. 3:17, 23-25.)[2]
Where there is life, there is hope.
4/22/07 Why do bad things happen to good people?
Ecclesiastes 9:1-10. (See also Job)
Why do bad things happen to good people?
A) The answer: ___________________________
B) Rather, It’s not what _____________________ to us in this life but what we ____________________ in this life.
What then shall we do in this life?
C) ______________________ (vv4-6; See also 1 Peter 1:3-5;)
D) ______________________ (vv7-10; See also Eccl. 2:24-25; Prov. 15:17; Prov. 19:14; Col. 3:17, 23-25.)[3]
Where there is life, there is hope.
9:1-10
A) v1 – all this – the discourse of things happening both to good and to the evil continues here with pointing out that the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. [He works all things to the good…] Solomon considered all this and did not find the answer (8:17) yea, could not. But like many good searches, he did find something – namely what he describes here in ch. 9.
B) V2 – life plays out the same to all whether good or bad, religious or not, reverent or irreverent.
C) V3 – this is evil. We are all evil all of our lives. Madness is in us.
D)
II) Don’t be surprised
A) 9:3, hearts of man filled with evil.
1) This is EVIL, no other way to define it.
2) This word is avoided by the media and much of our culture. Remember when Bush was ridiculed for it?
(a) It is avoided because if there is evil, it implies there is good. These thoughts immediately turn one to consider what the standard is – where do we draw the line. Is there an objective source to go to for determining what is evil? There are some things that we can generally agree on but we generally draw the line around ourselves in order to justify ourselves. As soon as we embark on an endeavor to determine the line, no matter where we draw it, it will have some on the other side and this is what the media culture seeks to avoid.
(b) The media culture wants to be able to support relativism – everyone must find what is right for them. But events such as this force their hand.
(i) But they don’t want the discussion to go there because they want to remain God – they want to continue in their role of telling the public what is good and what is bad. How to act. What to like and dislike.
3) So to avoid simply labeling the event evil and responsibly reporting things in a way that people can be prepared to deal with evil, we must try to find the ‘cause.’
(a) What made this guy so upset? Could it have been avoided? What about our culture is responsible and what can we change to avoid more like him?
(b) How did he get the weapons? Shouldn’t we have stricter gun control – that would avoid this problem. What kind of gun was used? How many rounds of ammunition did he purchase? What if he had smaller clips?
(c) Did school security fail in some way? How could people have been warned sooner? Can the buildings be made more secure?
B) Pure and simple the problem is EVIL and how it manifests itself in man. It is the evil intentions of man’s heart. It is a willful disconnect from the creator resulting in minds that are unable to do good.
III) Don’t charge God with evil, just the world.
A) What we know in our hearts about God makes us expect the righteous to be rewarded and the wicked to be punished but it is not what we see in this world.
B) Either God is not really this way or
C) We are right about God and there must be some other way in which He rewards and punishes.
D) The second option is, of course, true. “vanity that takes place upon the earth.”
1) Matthew Henry, “No fault is to be found with God; but, as to the world, This is vanity upon the earth, and again, This is also vanity, that is, it is a certain evidence that the things of this world are not the best things nor were ever designed to make a portion and happiness for us, for, if they had, God would not have allotted so much of this world’s wealth to his worst enemies and so much of its troubles to his best friends; there must therefore be another life after this the joys and griefs of which must be real and substantial, and able to make men truly happy or truly miserable, for this world does neither.”[4]
IV) Enjoy what God has given you.
A) Don’t ask why these should die, but rather why I live.
V) We cannot know?
VI)
April 15, 2007
Sermon Series: Walking with God. Learning what it means to walk with God by walking with Jesus through His ministry.
Today’s Message:
When we walk with God, we will bear fruit. John 15:1-17.
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[1]Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Satisfied (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1996, c1990), Ec 9:1.
[2] A) Unknowable; B) happens…do; C) Endure; D) Enjoy.
[3] A) Unknowable; B) happens…do; C) Endure; D) Enjoy.
[4]Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996, c1991), Ec 8:14.