Ecc Week 8 Outline

Outline 1

Intro/Welcome

Are you who you want to be today?

Who do you want to be in 30 years?

Why endings are more important than beginnings?

Wedding day

Business venture

church

friendship / john mark & Paul

Pray

be not as we are, but as God means for us to be

Conclusions

Turning point in the book

Solomon now focuses on conclusions “What gain is there?”

Since we cant’ really argue with God who is the stronger man

What can we gain in this life?

Wisdom is advantageous

in this life — Ecc 7:5-6

Wisdom #1 Endings are More important

Ecc 7:1, 8

What you become, what you end up as is vastly more important than where you began, than where you started

even than where you are.

What he means is character — not perfume

perfume you put on to mask the stink

we want people that carry about the aroma of Christ (2 Cor 2:15)

Wisdom #2: Grieving is better than escaping pain (Ecc 7:2-4)

It is better to grieve the sin, sadness and suffering in this life

True wisdom leads to more grieve, more knowledge more sorrow (Ecc 1:18)

Laughter, pleasure, distraction, escape are all ways of avoiding reality of a fallen world (life under the sun)

But grieving brings healing

allows the wounds to be bound up and healed — that is made whole.

Everything else is just avoiding reality — But God grows us in our pain

that is where all the vegetation is — in the valleys not on the mountain tops

It is the rain (tears) that makes plants grow not the drought

Wisdom #3: Patience over Pride

Ecc 7:8b-10

pride and impatience lead to anger (or our forms of it)

anger is unresolved pain — un-grieved pain

anger will destroy us

weeping and gnashing of teeth (anger, rage)

anger gives a foothold to the enemy

unresolved anger leads to much defilement and bitterness (Heb 12:5ff)

unresolved anger is the opposite of grieving pain.

bitterness and resentment lead to regret (“don’t say why were former days better” (Ecc 2:10)

this is a tell tale sign of unresolved anger.

Gospel —

How do we do this?

Jesus is the Wisdom of God

How can we enter into our pain into the hevel of life?

Look to Jesus Christ

who went before us

endured pain (the cross) despising the shame

for the JOY set before him.

He is with us in our pain, death always precedes resurrection.

Christ has done it — he has led the way

and he will lead the way

and he will complete the work he began (Phil 1:5)

B/c of God’s redemptive plan (Rom 8:21-22)

Application

Don’t wait for life to happen to you.

Assess where you are.

Make a plan

Enter into reality with Christ’s help and with the church

Greive the pain, heal from it

get rid of anger and deceit

and become the person God made you to be

make a plan to heal, to grow

Spiritual disciplines?

God’s people, word and spirit

Groups?

Outline 2

What advantage is there? What gain can there be in this fallen world? What hope can we have?

Conclusions:

Wisdom is better than folly.

Wisdom preserves your life — prolongs your life — leads to true life — true living

What does wisdom allow us to see? (how does it prolong our life — make us better?)

God is in control we are not (He is sovereign and good)

Wisdom means listening to Wisdom (Get wisdom Prov 4:7)

The end matters more than the beginning so make a plan

grieving is better than galavanting

patience is better than pride (and anger)

Outline 2a

What advantage is there? (what gain?) — Solomon’s Conclusions for Wise Living

Wisdom is the advantage — preserves and prolongs life, but does’t prevent death. (Ecc 7:11-12)

Five Ways Wisdom is Gain in this fallen life.

Wisdom says… “listen to wisdom” Ecc 7:5-7

this means avoid song/words of fools

Such as — taking the easy route — bribes and blackmail.

Wisdom acknowledges… “God is control, I am not.” (Ecc 6:10-12, 7:13-14)

You can not wrestle with God and (Ecc 7:11)

enjoy prosperity — remember in adversity.

Only God can know what is good for people and knows what will happen (Ecc 6:12)

Wisdom sees that… “endings are better than beginnings”

So make a plan to make a plan

live for the last day not the present day (Ecc 7:1, 8)

Wisdom says… “better is sorrow than laughter” (Ecc 7:2-4)

Face reality, grieve brokenness (Ecc 7:2)

deal and heal from pain (Ecc 7:3)

this redeems sadness into gladness

Wisdom says... “cultivate patience not pride” (Ecc 7:8-10)

patience is trusting and waiting on the Lord (who is in control) and will lead to a better end.

Pride is trusting in yourself and leads to anger, resentment and regret.

Application of Wisdom

Look to the source of Wisdom and live by it.

Jesus Christ — The Word of God.

Do what the Word of God says — listen to wisdom

Believe what the Word of God teaches

God is good, soveriegn and loves you.

Make a plan for your life — including the Word of God

Grieve your pain

Check your pride

Wait on the Lord

We need God’s Spirit to do this — you can’t alone

We need God’s people around us — you can’t do this alone.

Outline 3

Intro/Welcome

Halfway through the book, Solomon shifts to offering his conclusions rather than his explorations

your final day is more important than your first day

True in marriage, sports game, school, job…etc.

Solomon ended his days in repentant reflection

Paul ended his days declaring he was the first among all sinners.

Jesus ended his life abandoned by his friends, beaten and crucified.

what it means to end well may not look like what the world declare to be ending well (right — most toys wins)

So what does it mean to finish well?

to have your last impression count more than your first.

Let’s see what Solomon has for us today.

Pray

Endings are better than beginnings.

Ecc 7:1,8

How do we end well?

listen to wisdom (Ecc 7:5-6)

don’t take the easy way

Wisdom will preserve your life

God is in control you are not / Go to god.

lamenting over laughter

sorrow is better than laughter

WHY? — ECC 7:13-14

patience over pride.

pride leads to anger

patience leads to peace

why? God is in control and you are not (Ecc 6:10-12)

Wisdom beyond death

Jesus Christ — power for now and forever.

Transferred notes

Because the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth isn’t just when Jesus comes back

It is a Kingdom that is among us. (Dallas willard)

Truly-wise living — is living in the Kingdom that is here and now.

A Kingdom that is both now and forever.

Application 1:

Jesus is the wisdom of God

he came to redeem us

to save us from our folly

to free us from our sin

to show us the way to truely wise living.

and it begins now and goes on forever.

You see even more important than our final day our eternal state.

Wisdoms ays get right with God

enjoy eternal life, in this life in the next.

Contemplating the glories of heaven will infor how you live now

will empower not to focus your life on the here and now but on the now and forever.

This is true wisdom and in the end we get the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and now we get the Kingdom Heaven among us.

Choose wisdom — the Word of God

Choose reality — grieving rather than laughing

Choose patience over pride

Come to the only one who can make these a reality in your life

Jesus Christ

now and forever.

Second

Again, the Word of God teaches us how to do this.

it teaches us that God is good and Sovereign

and most of all that God loves you.

that God is not being cruel to you.

that God has not forgotten about you

That God has not abandoned you.

The Cross

This is why the Cross is so important.

it is the anchor of our faith.

it is the ultimate symbol of God’s love for you and I.

It is where his goodness is ultimately displayed.

it is what removed the sin of pride and all other sin so that we can be with God here and now.

It opened up the pathway to be filled with God’s very presence which leads to the kind of hope we long for — a living hope.

Everything I have said about wisdom, grieving, patience, goodness and sovereignty is true because of the Cross.

Because God came through.

Because in Christ, death was defeated.

Because in Christ every affliction we experience is ultimately preparing us for an eternal weight of glory

everlasting joy in the presence of God forever.

I’m convinced that one of the most effective ways that Satan can attack us is to prevent us from coming to the Word of God

by distracting us

convincing us it is boring and irrelevant

But it is life for us.

We live by the word of God

and one of the most important things we can learn to do is to

be fed and led by the Word of God

it is what teaches us all that we have talked about today.

Will we choose wisdom? that means — will we come to the Word of God and live by it.

Will we deal with our pain and brokenness or run from it? — this is a decision we make to have hope rather than to cope.

Will we cultivate patience by waiting on the Lord and recognizing pride?