Ecclesiastes 9 (Acts 242)
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Opening
Opening
is broke up in 2 sections
Vs. 1 - 10 Death is unavoidable - this is the 6 time out of 10 that Solomon talks about death
Escape - vs. 3
Endurance - vs. 4-6
Endurance - vs. 4-6
Enjoyment - vs. 7-10
Enjoyment - vs. 7-10
Vs. 11- 18 life is unpredictable
Before we get into this chapter Host Ask your table the following questions:
Before we get into this chapter Host Ask your table the following questions:
What are some of the ways that people describe and talk about death?
Why do you think some people use certain terms and phrases to describe death?
Why do you think some people use certain terms and phrases to describe death?
How do we define death?
Do I define it by feelings?
Or by what I think about it?
Or by God’s definition?
Host have someone Read Ecc. 9:1-2
Host have someone Read Ecc. 9:1-2
1 For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them.
Ecc. 9:1
Teaching Points
Teaching Points
Ecc. 9:
Consider that life and death are all in the hands of God, we are all subject to the sovereignty of God’s will, we are not masters of our own fate.
Only God knows what the future hold
2 All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; To the good, the clean, and the unclean; To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.
Teaching Points
Teaching Points
Why live a Godly life if we all share a common end?
Yes, we share a come end in this life but we all don’t share a common destiny in eternity
The quality of life we live on this side of eternity is largely connected to how we live our life this side of eternity.
Host have someone Read Galatians 6:7-8
Host have someone Read Galatians 6:7-8
Discuss in what ways this law is universal, good or bad.
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Teaching Points
Teaching Points
Sovereignty and providence of God interacting with the free will of man which we find in the law of sowing and reaping
There is a law of reaping and sowing, what does this mean?
Discuss in what ways this law is universal, good or bad.
Host have someone Read the following verses:
Host have someone Read the following verses:
8 Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same.
7 “They sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; It shall never produce meal. If it should produce, Aliens would swallow it up.
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
18 The wicked man does deceptive work, But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.
Teaching Point
Teaching Point
The warning…..Do not be deceived God is not mocked.
· Don’t be deceived into thinking that you can sow whatever you want – wherever you want without consequence.
Host have someone Read 3
Host have someone Read 3
3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
Teaching Point
Teaching Point
How people deal with the reality of death reveals itself in the way they deal with the realities of life.
· Solomon pointed out some responses that people make to the ever-present fear of death.
Escape - vs. 3
Death will either bring out the best in people or the worst in people
Death does not create the problems it reveals the problems
Nothing good comes from trying to run from the reality of Death
Host ask your table the following question:
Host ask your table the following question:
What are something people do to try and run from the reality of death?
We must face death and in light of what it is in light of what God says it is.
When we face the reality of death and the fact that tomorrow is promised to no man we will face life with God’s truth and live our accordingly.
Don’t run from death and the topic of death but run to God
Endurance - vs. 4-6
Enjoyment - vs. 7-10
Host have someone Read 4-6
Host have someone Read 4-6
4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Host ask your table the following question:
Host ask your table the following question:
Why does Solomon say that a dead dog is better than a dead lion?
5 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun.
Teaching Point
Teaching Point
Endurance - vs. 4-6
Not everyone confronted with death runs headlong into the world trying to distract them from reality.
· >>>>
SOME pull up their boots by their own boot straps, - grit their teeth – stick out their chest and endure.
Some find hope in knowing about death
Live our life to the fullest
Our hope is a living hope because we have a living savior
Host have someone read:
Host have someone read:
3 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,
4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Host have someone Read
Host have someone Read
Teaching Point:
Teaching Point:
Enjoyment - vs. 7-10
Enjoying life the way God intended life to be
7 Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works.
Yes death is coming but do not stand around and brew but go and enjoy life
His counsel was not to go sell all and do all but to make all of the common experiences of life, the quality of life with those that we know and love
Host Have some read the following verses:
Host Have some read the following verses:
17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, Than a fatted calf with hatred.
1 Better is a dry morsel with quietness, Than a house full of feasting with strife.
Teaching Point
Teaching Point
There is nothing better to serve at a meal than love
Love turns an ordinary meal into a feast
Think through what you are serving up in your home
Think through what you are creating at your dinner table
8 Let your garments always be white, And let your head lack no oil.
Teaching Point
Teaching Point
He was saying: make every occasion a special occasion, even if it’s ordinary or routine
Love is the quality that will make this happen
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.
Teaching Point
Teaching Point
Solomon is talking about enjoying marriage as God designed marriage to be, a loving commitment that lasts a lifetime,
A wife that is to be loved all the days of your life –
You love her in the labor which you perform under the sun = no matter how difficult life may be….you love her.
Until you have no breath in your lungs to love her…you love her.
that is your portion in life = This is what God gave you to satisfy you.
22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.
God’s design for marriage calls us into the deep waters of life long commitment.
2 A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.
God’s design for marriage calls us into the deep waters of life long commitment.
God’s design for marriage calls us into the deep waters of life long commitment.
God did not call us to some shallow, conditional living arrangement that is based on convenience and lust.
Love does not hook up or shack up….THATS LUST.
Love STEPS UP by saying NO to convenience and YES to reverence .
commitment is “the foundation of any genuinely loving relationship
Commitment to God – His Word – His Way – His Spouse that is designed to be my portion
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
Teaching Point
Teaching Point
Go and enjoy your work
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.
2 Thes. 3
:!7
Put our heart into all that we do
Caleb at 85 asked the hardest part of the land
Be faithful and hardworking in all we do while we live!
How much of my might will I put into what God has put in front of me today?
If we fear God and walk by faith, we will not fear death
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
1corin. 15:
We live by faith and by fear!
Life is unpredictable
Life is unpredictable
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
:14-15
Host have someone Read 11
Host have someone Read 11
Teaching point:
Teaching point:
11 I returned and saw under the sun that— The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all.
Our abilities are no guarantee of success.
· It is generally true that the fastest runners win the races, the strongest soldiers win the battles, and the smartest and most skillful workers win the best jobs,
· it is also true that these same gifted people can fail miserably because of factors out of their control.
Christians don’t depend on such things as “luck” or “chance,” because their confidence is in the loving providence of God.
· We can through away our rabbit’s foot
· We trust God to guide us and leave time and chance” in His capable hands.
12 For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them.
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;
14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
If the LORD wills!
Host have someone Read 3-16
Host have someone Read 3-16
13 This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me:
14 There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it.
15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man.
16 Then I said: “Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard.
Teaching Points:
Teaching Points:
Finally, our opportunities are no guarantee of success
An example of wisdom not being rewarded.
· This poor wise man had delivered a small, poorly defended city from a siege by a powerful king.
· But the poor man’s wisdom went unrewarded because nobody remembered him.
Solomon said this example greatly impressed him,
· Though wisdom had proven better than strength, that is, military might (cf. that poor wise man received no benefit from his wisdom.
· His wisdom was despised and his words were not heeded, and he remained poor and unremembered
17 Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good.”