Sermon Tone Analysis

The other week I took my car in for some work.

The man was very nice and after making some observations he came back with a long list of repairs that were needed.

\\ \\ As he talked me through the list he pointed out what the problems were and how much the solutions would cost.

He also warned me I could be endangering those in the car if I ignored some of the problems.

\\ \\ *This morning we will be looking at Ecclesiastes 6:7-12 where Solomon will be doing something similar to my mechanic.

(READ)* \\ \\ These verses close the first section of this book.

Solomon has been making observations about life around him and now he summarises what he has seen.

\\ \\ Like my mechanic Solomon points out the major problem that he has seen with life under the sun.

He then presents the solution and finally he warms us of the dangers of ignoring that solution.

*I.

**In verses 7-8 we see the Problem \\ \\ *

*A.    *7  /All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied./

According to Solomon the problem is that people are caught up in this endless cycle of striving for satisfaction but never achieving it.

\\ \\ Solomon uses our constant need for food as a picture of a greater hunger in our soul.

Solomon literally says /yet his soul is not satisfied.

/  \\ \\ *Q: Are you ever tempted to believe that if you could only get that one thing then you would be satisfied?

\\ * \\ In chapters 1-6 Solomon has given us a whole list of things that people, including himself,  pursued in order to gain ultimate satisfaction.

\\ \\

·       Some hoped that the next new thing would satisfy.

1:9;  That /next thing/ could be anything from a new car to a new spouse.

·       Solomon tried higher education hoping if would fulfil him.

1:16; 

·       Then he built grand estates with gardens and servants 2:4-5; 

·       He looked to riches, sexuality and the arts for meaning.

2:8;

·       In 2:9 Solomon said he looked for satisfaction in achievement and recognition.

·       He pursued hard work in 2:11;

·       He was optimistic that worldly wisdom would fill the void.

2:12;

·       And last week he added a large family 6:3; and a long life 6:6 to that list.

\\ \\

*Q:* Did any of these things deliver ultimate joy and satisfaction?

Not according to Solomon.

He declares it vanity to think otherwise.

They only offer fleeting satisfaction.

They cannot provide what man desperately longs for.

\\ \\ *Andii Bowsher  */When we try to deal with our spiritual hunger in these ways it’s a bit like starving people trying to satisfy their hunger by eating grass.

It does indeed fill their stomach and may take away some of the hunger pains but malnourishment is still an issue and death draws closer./

*B.

*Solomon discovered that this is a universal problem for mankind.

v.

8  /For what advantage has the wise man over the fool?

And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?

\\ \\ /The wise and the foolish both fall this trap of seeking satisfaction in the wrong things.

Worldly wisdom may help someone get more stuff but even a mountain of stuff cannot satisfy the soul.

\\ \\ Taking a vow of poverty does not take away the problem either.

Just read Martin Luther’s struggles before he put his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

\\ \\

*C.    **What are we to do?  *We have this deep longing in our souls for ultimate satisfaction but we look around us and nothing in this world can satisfy.

\\ \\

*II.

**In verse 9 Solomon begins to look at the Solution \\ * \\ 9  /Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: \\ \\ /

*A.    *We have a similar saying today:/  /A bird in hand is better than two in the bush.

Better to be content with what is before your eyes than constantly hungering for that which does not satisfy.

\\ \\

*B.    *This is only a brief summary of what Solomon has already said a few different ways in Ecclesiastes.

\\   \\ 2:24  /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,/ \\ \\ 3:12-13  /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./ \\ \\ 5:18-19  /Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God./ \\ \\ You will notice that in all three of those passages the ability to enjoy work and possessions and even food comes  as a gift from God.  Satisfaction cannot be found outside of Him.  \\ \\

*C.    *The dissatisfaction we feel in life ought to drive us to the only one who can satisfy us.

\\ \\ *(ILL)* In 397AD Augustine wrote these words “/O God you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you/” \\ \\

·       This rest is what Jesus was inviting us to experience when He said /come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest./

(Matt 11:28) \\ \\

·       The woman at the well went from one man to the next trying to find satisfaction but Jesus showed her a better way.

He said:  /Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.

The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life./

(John 4:13-14) \\ \\

·       He told the crowd who was looking for bread to satisfy them, “/I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst/.

( John 6:35)

If you try to satisfy yourself with anything else you will never find rest.

Jeremiah’s words that I quoted last week have been coming to my mind regularly; /The LORD is my portion, says my soul,/ (Lamentations 3:24)

David said it like this in Psalm 16:8  /I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure./

\\ \\ *Q: Can you say the Lord is all you need?

Q: *Have you set the Lord always before you?

Putting the Lord first in your life is the only solution to the problem of dissatisfaction that people experience.

\\ \\ Yet the truth is, many don’t believe this.

People do feel dissatisfied but because of sin they also feel they can fix it themselves.

So they try yoga, psychology, crystals, alcohol or countless other methods to try mask their emptiness.

None of them work.

*III.

**So in verses 9b-12 Solomon warns people of the Danger of ignoring God’s solution.

\\ \\ Q: *What happens if you recognise the problem but reject the solution given here?

\\ \\

*A.    **You will continue to experience vanity.*

/ /v.

9b /this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

\\ \\ /Solomon is saying this about those who follow the /wandering of/ their/ appetite /instead of finding their satisfaction in the Lord.

\\ \\ I often hear this advice given to young people: /Follow your heart./

That sounds a lot like following the wandering of the appetite.

It’s telling them to do what seems best to them.

\\ But this is bad advice even for a Christian who has been given a *new* heart by the Lord.

It’s bad counsel because there’s still a remnant of sin in your life that might steer your heart in the wrong direction.

\\ \\ The Lord says trust in Me but your heart may tell you to trust in wealth or something else contrary to God’s Word.

\\ \\ To avoid wasting your life /striving after wind /you need to follow the Lord’s directions.

\\ \\

*B.    **If you reject God’s solution you will also end up striving against God’s sovereignty.

* \\ \\ 10  /Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he./ \\ \\ We think we will be satisfied if we could just arrange the circumstances of our life as we see fit.  *But verse 10 reminds that it is not in our power to do that*.

\\ \\ When Solomon says  /Whatever has come to be has already been named.

/It draws our attention to the one who did the naming.

\\ \\ It was the Lord who called the sky, sky and the sea, sea.

In the Bible the one doing the naming has the right and ability to rule over what is named.

God has the right and ability to rule over everything that He has created.

\\ \\ Solomon is also reminding us that God has established His will and it is not for us to question it.

Instead we ought to accept and rejoice in it because it is good and perfect.

\\ \\ There is another not so subtle reminder of who is in charge.

He says /and it is known what man is.

/What is man?

Basically dust fashioned by the sovereign hand of God and brought to life by the breath of God.  \\ \\ We are not physically or morally able to raise a dispute with the sovereign Lord.

\\ Isaiah 45:9 says: /“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots!