WISDOM FOR WOEFUL WORLD
Notes
Transcript
Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.
And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
Then Job answered and said:
“I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.
In chapter 1 & 2 Solomon is trying to find meaning in life outside of God. Solomon tries Intellectualism, Materialism, and Hedonism. At the end of his experiment he finds that life is vain or meaningless without God. Solomon could have let verse twenty-five been the end of the book. However, Solomon continued to write because he knew that we would have a problem with a Sovereign God. I believe that Solomon knew that we would, in some ways, have as much of a problem with God as we had without him.
Questions raised by this book:
Ø When bad things occur, what are your solutions?
Ø Do accidents really happen to people?
Ø Is Satan the cause of bad things in the world?
Solomon shows that no matter how you slice it, the sovereignty of God lies behind everything that happens. The existence of evil is one of the great philosophical problems of all time: How did evil come into existence from an all-holy God? In many ways Satan is sometimes easier to understand than God. Satan in a sense is very simplistic. He is a being of pure evil. That means his reasons for doing everything he does are easily understood. God, however, is a problem. It’s often difficult to interpret his actions in the short-term. If He’s good and all-powerful, why is there so much suffering in the world? Solomon tackles this in Ecclesiastes 3.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
(v. 1) Solomon clearly states that God has a plan and does not waver from it. He is the one who has made the appointed time for everything. God is sovereign over everything. He is not always pleased, but He is never perplexed. No evil action skirts his plan. No piece of the puzzle is left over at the end. God is sovereign or He is not.
(vv. 2-8) Solomon says life is going to be like this and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Solomon says that God is not your genie. God does not cooperate with us the way we think He should. As was said of Aslan, in the Chronicles of Narnia, “He is not a tame lion.” And when we realize this, it leads us to a very human response in verse 9.
(v. 9) Why should I work so hard when it’s all going to be destroyed? Why get married when you just end up fighting and hurting one another? Why have a child and deal with the stress and disappointment? Solomon is playing devil’s advocate. He is saying what all of us think and sometimes wish we could say. What profit is there? It is easy to get cynical. Do you ever feel like that? What’s the use? Why not punt? Solomon puts this in perspective.
(v. 10) How do we live with a God who doesn’t always make sense? How do we live in a world that is out of our control? The Hebrew translation of “sons of men” in verse 10 is “sons of Adam,” reminding us of the fallen state of man. It’s just hard to be a fallen man in a fallen world.
Ecclesiastes 3:11-15
Solomon gives us four platforms in which to stand.
Platform #1 - GOD IS WISE
Platform #1 - GOD IS WISE
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end
God is wise and even bad things have a purpose. He makes everything appropriate or beautiful in its time. Our problem with God’s wise plan is that He doesn’t ask you and me for our opinions. There is no suggestion box in heaven. We have to trust Him.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
God is more concerned about your character than he is your comfort. Everything that happens to you has spiritual significance. Don’t focus on the pain of the experience but on God’s plan.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
“When life is rosy, we may slide by with knowing about Jesus, with imitating him and quoting him and speaking of him. But only in suffering will we know Jesus. – Joni Eareckson Tada
Platform #2 - GOD IS MYSTERIOUS
Platform #2 - GOD IS MYSTERIOUS
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end
God’s plan is wise, but it is also mysterious. God has one plan from beginning to the end. He doesn’t react of the devil’s activities as though a cosmic tennis match were being played.
God has put eternity in the heart of every human person, and in every person is the question why. All through the bible we see men of God ask why bad things are happening.
Have you ever wondered where God was or whether He cared? Why do we ask those questions; because he has set eternity in our hearts? We intrinsically know there has to be some order and purpose to life. So even though we can recognize God’s work or purpose in some things, we have to squint our eyes and try to figure out all the things we can’t see. We ask questions like; “Why was I born this way? Why did my father treat me that way? Why did you take my friend? Why am I missing out on this blessing? We squint but we cannot see. He has put eternity in our heart but won’t give us all the answers. He does things in our lives that are not pleasing or pleasurable, but they are wise.
Platform #3 - DON’T LET WHAT YOU CANNOT KNOW DESTROY WHAT WE CAN ENJOY.
Platform #3 - DON’T LET WHAT YOU CANNOT KNOW DESTROY WHAT WE CAN ENJOY.
I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.
We cannot let what we cannot know destroy what we can enjoy. You can’t be God and control circumstances. There is nothing you can do about that. I talk from time to time to Christians who are upset because they are not God. I see the torment they experience because they can’t deal with their helplessness and confusion. But truth is that they’ve have never been able to understand everything that was occurring, good or bad. So what should we do? Solomon tells us not to get cynical and unhappy; instead, we should do good in our lifetime. In this short life you have to trust God and do good.
Everyone is going to die. In 2009 over 700 million people contracted the H1N1 virus resulting in over 250,000 deaths. The DOT tells us that 1.25 million people will die this year in automobile related accidents. Since January 22, 1973 over 62 million children have died because of abortion. America lost 58,220 soldiers in the Vietnam conflict. The National Cancer Institute tells us that 8 million people worldwide will die of cancer this year. Pastor, I thought you said you were going to comfort us today. We must first sober up before we receive comfort. Too many people have drank too deeply from the bottle of despair. We have forgotten all that God has brought us through and takes us through each day.
Jesus put it like this:
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
We live in a world broken by sin but we have a Father cares for his own. He tells us to stop worrying and start enjoying. Enjoy today-trust God and have fun. I don’t know what my life holds. Someday, a doctor may look up from his chart and tell me he found something that shouldn’t be in me. I’ll get cut, burned, and poisoned with a cancer treatment and I’ll be pretty miserable. But today I’m doing OK. So today I’m going to go home and take my Sunday afternoon nap. I know the day is coming when they’ll find something in me, or some car will cross the yellow line and hit me head-on, or this body will just wear out. But I refuse to let what I can’t control destroy what I can enjoy.
Platform #4 - REST IN GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY
Platform #4 - REST IN GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
We can rest in the sovereignty of God. God’s sovereignty is not meant to trouble us; it is meant to comfort us. Whenever anything horrible happens, there is only one thing I have to know: God is in control. His plan is perfect. I have no problem with God allowing things that don’t fit in my framework because I know I am a fool. But I will not live in a universe that is run by evil. If God is that weak, then I will crawl into bed and pull the covers up and never come out. Solomon tells us in verse 14 that everything God does will remain forever. He is not shortsighted and wondering how it will all work out. God’s goal is that men would fear Him. Mystery shouldn’t repel us; it should make us bow.
Don’t let the things you don’t understand about God affect the things that you do.
Conclusion
That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away
Everything that is happening now has been decreed in the past. Everything in future will happen according to plan. And God seeks or fulfills what is lost from a human point of view. In other words, in God’s wise arrangement of events, He can call back (seek) the past and connect it with the future.
God the Father turned what seemed to be the worst day in the life of the disciples into the best thing that ever happened to them. The death of Christ made no sense for three days. However, on the third day everything became crystal clear; this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men
this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
God doesn’t promise that there will be a “third day” when we will understand all the bad things that have happened in our lives. But He does give us the promises we need to place all our trust in Him.
He requires one thing of you in the face of this uncertainty: Don’t let what you can’t control destroy what you can enjoy. Don’t worry, just worship.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.