back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 7-12-2020
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And in love before you made the world's foundation. 00:15:17.240 |
You have raised me up so high above my station. 00:15:56.240 |
By your blood, by your blood I have redemption and salvation. 00:16:04.240 |
Lord, you died that I might be, but you have sung. 00:16:49.240 |
As your touch my sleeping spirit was awakened. 00:16:59.240 |
On my darkened heart a light of Christ has shone. 00:17:06.240 |
Called into a kingdom that could not be shaken. 00:17:20.240 |
So I'll send to faith by grace and grace alone. 00:17:27.240 |
I will run the race by grace and grace alone. 00:17:40.240 |
I will reach the end by grace and grace alone. 00:18:07.240 |
Oh, great God of highest heaven, occupy my lowly heart. 00:18:27.240 |
Let no vice or sin remain that resists your holy word. 00:19:21.240 |
Through the gospel of your son, lay me in this home. 00:19:44.240 |
Call me now to live a life that's dependent on your grace. 00:19:54.240 |
Keep my heart and guard my soul from the evils that I face. 00:20:04.240 |
You are worthy to be praised with my every thought and faith. 00:20:14.240 |
Oh, great God of highest heaven, glorify your name through me. 00:20:27.240 |
You are worthy to be praised with my every thought and deed. 00:20:37.240 |
Oh, great God of highest heaven, glorify your name through me. 00:20:49.240 |
This time our sister Katerina will come give her testimony. 00:21:10.240 |
My name is Katerina, and I have the privilege of sharing my testimony with you all today. 00:21:16.240 |
I grew up in a Christian home with parents who taught me about God, 00:21:21.240 |
brought me to church, and enrolled me in Christian school. 00:21:24.240 |
I was often described as a good kid as I followed the rules and I stayed out of trouble. 00:21:30.240 |
But good appearances are not enough to save me. 00:21:34.240 |
God is all-knowing, and he saw the depth of my sin. 00:21:38.240 |
God is also holy, and so my sins against him were not just minor indiscretions, but cosmic treason. 00:21:47.240 |
I deserve judgment, but God was rich in mercy, and he loved me greatly. 00:21:53.240 |
He sent his only son to be condemned in my place. 00:21:57.240 |
Some of you may know that my husband and I are adopting a little boy from Korea. 00:22:02.240 |
I can't even begin to fathom the amount of love it must have taken for God to give up his only son. 00:22:09.240 |
This profound display of love and gospel truth changed my life at the young age of five. 00:22:18.240 |
I still vividly remember finding a small space in our home on our playground 00:22:24.240 |
and praying quietly that the Lord would forgive me of my sin and that he would use my life for his purpose. 00:22:31.240 |
In that moment, I was justified, but I'm still being sanctified. 00:22:36.240 |
In particular, I struggled a lot with control. 00:22:40.240 |
Those who know me know that I like things very neat and very tidy. 00:22:46.240 |
I believe that if I worked hard at something, that it should yield the results that I expected. 00:22:53.240 |
This was often manifested in my relationship with other people. 00:22:58.240 |
I worked hard for other people's affirmation, but disappointments would often cause me deep despair and anger. 00:23:07.240 |
In hindsight, I see how God withheld certain friendships from me 00:23:11.240 |
because he knew that they would become idols in my heart. 00:23:16.240 |
It is in vain that I struggle to control my life. 00:23:19.240 |
My hope cannot be placed on things that change, because otherwise my hope and my joy will also fluctuate. 00:23:27.240 |
Rather, the safest thing for me to do is to trust and surrender in the Lord, 00:23:31.240 |
one who is unchanging and in control of all things, because then I can be content in every circumstance. 00:23:38.240 |
At the age of 16, I chose to undergo sprinkling as a profession of my faith in Jesus. 00:23:45.240 |
At the church that I grew up in, this was the method of baptism, 00:23:48.240 |
and I believed at that time that it was sufficient as an act of obedience. 00:23:53.240 |
This past year, God has led me to meditate on Romans 6, specifically verses 3-5, which states, 00:24:00.240 |
"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 00:24:07.240 |
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, 00:24:11.240 |
in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 00:24:17.240 |
For if we have been united with him in death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in resurrection like this." 00:24:24.240 |
Through this passage, God led me to realize that baptism is meant to display his death and resurrection. 00:24:31.240 |
Just as he died, was buried, and was raised, my baptism shows how I die to myself and my plans. 00:24:40.240 |
I am buried and then raised to live a new life with him. 00:24:44.240 |
My decision to be baptized through immersion is an act of obedience to the convictions that God has placed in my heart through his word. 00:24:52.240 |
I am a child of God, and my aim in this life is reflected through the words of Apostle Paul in Galatians 2.20, 00:24:59.240 |
which states, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 00:25:06.240 |
In the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." 00:25:13.240 |
May he receive all glory and praise. Thank you. 00:25:49.240 |
Baptism is communion with Christ's death by coming out of the water, symbolizing communion with Christ's resurrection. 00:25:55.240 |
I baptize you in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 00:26:35.240 |
All right, we're grateful again to be able to hear her testimony. 00:26:41.240 |
What a fellowship of spirit that is, thinking through how God has led us. 00:26:46.240 |
I know perhaps a lot of you guys could sympathize with learning things when you were young, 00:26:51.240 |
and then following in obedience as you continue to walk with him. 00:26:55.240 |
This morning, I have the privilege of sharing with you, essentially from my devotions, 00:26:59.240 |
a bird's-eye view of the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:27:04.240 |
Because I'm going to be giving a bird's-eye view of it, we're going to be hitting a lot of passages. 00:27:09.240 |
And so just as a forewarning, I'm going to ask you to refer to, 00:27:13.240 |
and kind of jump around just a little bit, between from passage to passage. 00:27:19.240 |
And before we jump in, we will take a moment to ask for the Lord's blessing on our time, so let's pray. 00:27:29.240 |
We thank you so much for your incredible grace, you showering your mercies and your love upon us. 00:27:37.240 |
Thank you so much for Cat and what you have done in her life. 00:27:40.240 |
Thank you, Father God, for the light that you shine through her. 00:27:43.240 |
And we pray that every single one of us would have a fellowship of spirit and unity 00:27:48.240 |
because of the grace we receive, because of our common relationship with you. 00:27:52.240 |
This morning, God, as we open up your word, this morning as we hear your truth, 00:27:56.240 |
grant to us greater conviction that God, our faith, would be grown and matured. 00:28:05.240 |
Back almost, like, 12 years ago, I used to teach at an academy, an after-school academy, 00:28:10.240 |
and I used to teach lots of subjects from English, 00:28:13.240 |
but one of the subjects was actually what's called public forum debate. 00:28:17.240 |
Now, within the world of debating, there is a really common term that they use, 00:28:22.240 |
which is the horror of the status quo, okay, the horror of the status quo. 00:28:28.240 |
And what that means is if you're debating and arguing anybody, 00:28:31.240 |
you have to show somebody why they need to hear you, okay? 00:28:36.240 |
If you're trying to win an argument or you're trying to enact a policy 00:28:40.240 |
or you're trying to convince your wife that you need a new tool in the garage, 00:28:44.240 |
you have to show and convince her or anybody that there is a need for this. 00:28:49.240 |
For example, if I did need a new tool, I could show her all day, like, 00:28:53.240 |
"Look how this thing shines. Look how sharp it is. Look how amazing and great it is. 00:28:58.240 |
Look how much on sale it is." But what's she going to say? 00:29:01.240 |
She's like, "I know it looks great, but you don't need it." Right? 00:29:05.240 |
"You don't need it." So what do I have to do? 00:29:07.240 |
I have to explain to her, like, "Oh, my goodness, you know, I just spent and wasted three hours 00:29:11.240 |
because I didn't have the right tools. I almost cut my hand. 00:29:14.240 |
You don't want me to hurt myself, do you?" Right? 00:29:16.240 |
I have to go over to my neighbor, like, Jim's house to borrow this tool, 00:29:19.240 |
and I know you don't like Jim. You know, like, whatever it may be, 00:29:22.240 |
you just start to enhance the horribleness, how bad it is right now that I don't have this tool. 00:29:30.240 |
That's what's called the horror of the status quo. 00:29:34.240 |
When you look at the Book of Ecclesiastes, you guys know, in general, this book is not like an upbeat book. 00:29:41.240 |
This book is trying to summarize for you the horror of the status quo 00:29:45.240 |
when King Solomon looks at the world from a bird's-eye view as king. 00:29:51.240 |
As one of the wisest men to walk the earth with discretion, understanding, 00:29:55.240 |
with prose, poetics, and proverbs, he is giving to us a reality, a picture of the world. 00:30:02.240 |
And that's the wisdom we're supposed to gain from this book. Okay? 00:30:06.240 |
Turn your Bibles to chapter 1, verse 1, Ecclesiastes. 00:30:11.240 |
The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem, 00:30:22.240 |
When he is looking at the world, he is trying to convince you and give to you wisdom. 00:30:39.240 |
And my case to you this morning is going to be that, no, King Solomon is not exaggerating. 00:30:52.240 |
I want to begin in King Solomon's argumentation. 00:30:56.240 |
He tells you that this world is absolutely pointless. Okay? 00:31:03.240 |
What I mean by that is when something is pointless, it means there's no goal here. 00:31:17.240 |
And he says, "There's nothing. It's all vain." 00:31:20.240 |
To prove this point, he gives us a couple categories. 00:31:23.240 |
And he says, "You know what's pointless? It's all the work you do." 00:31:27.240 |
Chapter 1, verse 3 tells us, "What advantage does a man have in all his work, which he does under the sun?" 00:31:35.240 |
And then he gives to you in the rest of the book this rationale. 00:31:37.240 |
"Well, you know what I've seen? I've seen a guy sweat, toil, labor for days, sacrifice, and everything. 00:31:46.240 |
I've seen a guy work until he's old, and he doesn't even get to enjoy it, and he gets to give it to his son, who squanders it away." 00:31:55.240 |
And if you recall, God Himself has told us, "There is a pointlessness built into the current system, 00:32:02.240 |
because man will work by the sweat of his brow, and he will till the ground, but it will bear no fruit." 00:32:09.240 |
There is a fruitlessness into the pattern of the world. 00:32:12.240 |
Speaking of pattern of the world, we realize that King Solomon teaches us there is a pointless pattern to everything he sees. 00:32:20.240 |
For those of you guys, again, thinking about maybe work and sometimes how fruitless it is, many people complain, 00:32:25.240 |
"Oh, the drudgery. You punch in, you punch out, and the day just repeats itself, and it's just like a wheel. 00:32:32.240 |
You just keep going and going. I don't know how much more I can take this." 00:32:36.240 |
Starting from verse 4, Ecclesiastes chapter 1, verse 4, King Solomon says this, 00:32:41.240 |
"A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 00:32:45.240 |
Also the sun rises, and the sun sets, and the hastening to its place, it rises there again, 00:32:50.240 |
blowing toward the south, towards the north, the wind continues to swirl." 00:32:55.240 |
What is he saying? He is saying in poetical form, 00:32:59.240 |
there is just this monotonous routine and pattern to the world, and whether you like it or not, it's just going to happen. 00:33:09.240 |
And what's going to happen is you're going to work, and then you're going to die, 00:33:12.240 |
and then the pattern is going to repeat itself, and someone is going to replace you. 00:33:16.240 |
And King Solomon has this angst, like he's a king. 00:33:19.240 |
And he asks this question, "I'm a king after another king." 00:33:23.240 |
And then you remove a guy, and another guy comes in. 00:33:26.240 |
There is this grievous thing, even if something is horrendous or something is good, 00:33:30.240 |
there is this pattern in life that you cannot escape. 00:33:37.240 |
I see sometimes people tell me, "Pastor Mark, I quit." 00:33:40.240 |
"What did you quit?" "No, no, no, it's just my job. I just couldn't take it anymore." 00:33:45.240 |
"I just didn't see a future. Every day was the same." 00:33:48.240 |
"I couldn't see advancement. I couldn't see myself learning anything." 00:33:51.240 |
"And so now I just quit." "Do you have anything lined up?" "No, I just couldn't take it." 00:33:58.240 |
And part of it is there is a rhyme and reason behind that. 00:34:01.240 |
Do I think it's the wisest thing in the world to quit without something in Don Deck? 00:34:07.240 |
But there is a rhyme and reason through that, and King Solomon sees it. 00:34:12.240 |
When people start to feel this kind of angst of the patterns and the pointlessness, 00:34:21.240 |
Turn your Bibles over to chapter 2, verse 1, and look what King Solomon says. 00:34:26.240 |
He says, "I said to myself," he's talking to himself now, 00:34:37.240 |
"I said to laughter, 'It was madness and of pleasure. What does it accomplish?'" 00:34:40.240 |
"I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely," 00:34:46.240 |
"how to take hold of folly until I could see what good there is for the sons of men" 00:34:50.240 |
"to do under heaven for the few years of their lives." 00:34:53.240 |
Basically, he said, "You know what I decided to do?" 00:35:00.240 |
"I decided to go look for some pleasure, at least in this short time of this whole monotonous routine." 00:35:07.240 |
And then he says, "I enlarged my works, I built a house for myself, I planted vineyards for myself." 00:35:13.240 |
He basically just says, "You know what? You name it, I had it." 00:35:17.240 |
Some of you guys are like on Redfin, on whatever websites, 00:35:20.240 |
you're like, "This might be a good time to buy. The rates are so low." 00:35:23.240 |
And then you think that buying that home is going to be grand. 00:35:27.240 |
You talk to any homeowner, they're going to be like, "Oh my goodness." 00:35:30.240 |
"This is broken, that's broken, there's no end." 00:35:37.240 |
"All that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them." 00:35:40.240 |
"I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor." 00:35:47.240 |
"Thus I considered all my activities which my hand had done, and the labor that I exerted." 00:36:00.240 |
He's speaking and he's saying, "Those of you who are younger, looking forward to your life, thinking," 00:36:05.240 |
"You know what? Once I get there to that job, once I have that home, once I have that possession," 00:36:09.240 |
"and you think you're going to be satisfied," 00:36:14.240 |
"None of it is satisfying, and none of it seems to have a point." 00:36:19.240 |
And that's why there are individuals who are filthy rich, because King Solomon was filthy rich. 00:36:23.240 |
There are individuals who have celebrity status, and they hate it. 00:36:27.240 |
Why? Because they realize, "I'm not sure there was a point to all that." 00:36:32.240 |
You know, this sermon is starting to sound like a real downer. 00:36:36.240 |
And as I was meditating and preparing for this, you know, I was doing devotions in this, 00:36:42.240 |
"Wow, King Solomon has such a bleak look on life." 00:36:48.240 |
The next point is that the entire world is helpless. 00:36:51.240 |
When you see that there are these woes, there are these patterns of life, 00:37:00.240 |
but what King Solomon says is, "It's helpless," meaning it's unfixable. 00:37:09.240 |
So I know we're flipping around here and there, but go to chapter 1, verse 12. 00:37:13.240 |
And he says, "I, the preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem." 00:37:18.240 |
Wait. He's king. He's got authority. He's got power. 00:37:22.240 |
If anybody can see something and be like, "Fix it," that's the king. 00:37:28.240 |
"I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been under the heavens, 00:37:32.240 |
and it is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. 00:37:37.240 |
I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, 00:37:40.240 |
and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind." 00:37:46.240 |
"What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted." 00:37:54.240 |
Number one, whenever you're trying to look for a solution, 00:37:57.240 |
you have to thoroughly understand the problem, but he says, "I tried. 00:38:04.240 |
I tried to wrap my head around it, and I couldn't 00:38:07.240 |
because it could not be counted how many things are wrong. 00:38:11.240 |
Just this past weekend when it was 4th of July, I went down to San Diego to visit. 00:38:14.240 |
It was wild because what ended up happening was right when we were there, 00:38:19.240 |
just before one of their neighbors, their 3-year-old drowned in the pool, 00:38:29.240 |
there was a man who drove off the cliff with his daughters, young daughters in his car. 00:38:34.240 |
If you're the type to like listening to news, you know what he's saying. 00:38:45.240 |
Even if you were king, could you even count all the vices, all the injustices that happen? 00:38:53.240 |
You keep reading chapter 1, verse 16, and he says, "I said to myself, 00:38:58.240 |
'Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who are over Jerusalem before me, 00:39:03.240 |
and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.' 00:39:06.240 |
I set my mind to know the wisdom and to know madness and folly. 00:39:09.240 |
I realize that this also is striving after wind, because in much wisdom there is much grief." 00:39:18.240 |
Brothers and sisters, when you look at the world, there is sin, there is wretchedness, 00:39:29.240 |
And for anybody who thought, "We can fix this!" 00:39:32.240 |
For anybody who thought, "If only we had greater know-how and wisdom!" 00:39:39.240 |
He was the king who was much wiser than any before him. 00:39:45.240 |
And he's telling us in wisdom, "I have dedicated myself to learn how to govern this kingdom." 00:39:54.240 |
And let me tell you something, it's been painful. 00:40:01.240 |
Now, when you think about this, he was a bona fide genius! 00:40:07.240 |
He was somebody who actually had the power to tell a subordinate individual, 00:40:11.240 |
"You, stop!" or kick somebody out or do this, and instantaneous. 00:40:15.240 |
He didn't even have to go through a procedure. 00:40:17.240 |
He spoke in the kingdom and it was, and yet still, he is convincing us, 00:40:29.240 |
I've got to be honest, as I was doing my devotions, 00:40:32.240 |
there's a part of me that's like, "Why so down, King Solomon? 00:40:39.240 |
You are probably the most bawl-humbug person I've ever read in the Bible." 00:40:44.240 |
I mean, there are many, but my goodness, chapter after chapter of this, 00:40:48.240 |
you know, for those of you guys who have read through Ecclesiastes, 00:40:52.240 |
Everything is futility. Everything is vanity. 00:40:55.240 |
Now, I might say to him, "King Solomon, I think you're maybe a little over-exaggerating. 00:41:04.240 |
And what King Solomon is going to say to us is, "No, you don't understand. 00:41:11.240 |
He is trying to show us in wisdom and prove to us 00:41:21.240 |
He tries to convince us and say the next point, 00:41:26.240 |
Not only is it pointless, not only is it helpless, 00:41:33.240 |
Turn over to Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 18. 00:41:38.240 |
In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 18, this is what King Solomon says. 00:41:42.240 |
"I said to myself concerning the sons of men, 00:41:45.240 |
'God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts. 00:41:52.240 |
For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of the beasts is the same. 00:41:57.240 |
Indeed, they all have the same breath, and there is no advantage for man over beast, 00:42:05.240 |
All came from the dust, and all return to the dust. 00:42:15.240 |
and the breath of the beast ascends down to the earth." 00:42:17.240 |
What he's saying is, why do you assume you're that much better than the beast? 00:42:22.240 |
Why do you assume your future is so much better? 00:42:26.240 |
Now truth be told, way of wisdom and way of righteousness 00:42:29.240 |
is so much better than folly, but there is this radical truth King Solomon 00:42:33.240 |
bears upon us to convince us, look at the world for what it is. 00:42:38.240 |
Whether you're wise or you're a fool, your destination is the same, 00:42:42.240 |
which is you will die the same horrible death. 00:42:46.240 |
This is the horror of the status quo, and his logic is sound. 00:42:52.240 |
Someone might say, "Wait a minute, Pastor Mark, you believe in fate?" 00:43:00.240 |
And what you realize is, you know what the dictionary definition of fate is? 00:43:05.240 |
The dictionary definition of fate is simply a development event 00:43:14.240 |
You see, King Solomon is trying to convince you in wisdom. 00:43:24.240 |
because his scenario is not too far off from ours. 00:43:28.240 |
To think that because you're wealthy, to think that because you're in power, 00:43:33.240 |
that the world is as it should be is actually false. 00:43:38.240 |
You do recognize the kind of time of peace we are in compared to the rest of history. 00:43:44.240 |
To assume that this is the way it ought to be, we are living in a unique time. 00:43:50.240 |
What's more, you don't even have to look that far into history. 00:43:57.240 |
You and I are living in a radical sense of privilege and peace compared to the rest of the world. 00:44:05.240 |
But then to assume this is the way it ought to be, King Solomon is saying, "You don't understand. 00:44:10.240 |
We are so subject to fate, because you are not in control. 00:44:16.240 |
And the humility you need to learn is actually you're just like the beast." 00:44:22.240 |
When you think about this, what he's saying is, "You're hopeless. 00:44:27.240 |
What hope do you have? You're going to strive, you're going to toil, you're going to labor, 00:44:31.240 |
but when it comes down to it, you're going to face the same exact consequence 00:44:43.240 |
That is an absolute reality. Let me just say something here. 00:44:50.240 |
But I am willing to bet a lot of you, I'm willing to bet a majority of you, 00:44:55.240 |
you know very well there is nothing guaranteed that you're going to have 70 years of your life. 00:45:00.240 |
The vast majority of you probably by the time you hit high school, you already knew somebody who died way too early. 00:45:06.240 |
You probably already know individuals that have, you can say, it was so unfortunate. 00:45:12.240 |
But the fact of the matter is none of us are guaranteed that. 00:45:16.240 |
You're going to have a sad state of hopelessness. 00:45:20.240 |
Now moving to the second kind of section of the sermon, and transitioning, 00:45:25.240 |
you could take a look at this and just say, "Wow, this is just so sad." 00:45:29.240 |
But there is a question, what do you do with this knowledge? 00:45:32.240 |
When you see, like King Solomon sees, when you see the pointlessness and the meaninglessness, 00:45:38.240 |
when you see how helpless it is, when you see how hopeless it is, what are you supposed to do? 00:45:44.240 |
Because the scenario is so far above and beyond worse than we think it is. 00:45:53.240 |
Just right now, some of you guys know I'm in school. 00:45:56.240 |
I have to write a paper on youth suicide and to look up statistics. 00:46:02.240 |
The sad state of affairs is in any given day there are over 135 individuals who commit suicide in the U.S. 00:46:12.240 |
But that's not even counting just simply individuals who have attempted suicide. 00:46:16.240 |
The attempt count is above 1.4 million per year. 00:46:21.240 |
Okay, King Solomon, my point to you was King Solomon is not exaggerating. 00:46:27.240 |
If you try to sit and count, if one death is grievous, how many more is 50,000? 00:46:37.240 |
How many more individuals were at 1.4 million individuals attempting suicide in America? 00:46:43.240 |
What I'm saying here is, what do you do with that? 00:46:49.240 |
Turn your scriptures over to chapter 2, verse 17 of Ecclesiastes. 00:46:56.240 |
And when you think about this, if we actually believed and saw like King Solomon, 00:47:02.240 |
that all your feeble attempts to fix stuff didn't work, 00:47:05.240 |
as a matter of fact, maybe some of us desperately looked to other people to help us. 00:47:09.240 |
And we desired other people to come and save us. 00:47:12.240 |
And we recognize people themselves are very disappointing, 00:47:15.240 |
and sometimes when people try to get involved, it just makes matters worse. 00:47:25.240 |
Well, King Solomon says this, verse 17, chapter 2, "So I hated life, 00:47:31.240 |
for the work which I had done under the sun was grievous to me, 00:47:35.240 |
because everything is futility and striving after wind. 00:47:45.240 |
Ecclesiastes chapter 4, for the sake of time, just listen to this. 00:47:50.240 |
He says, "I look again at the acts of oppression which are done under the sun." 00:47:56.240 |
"And I so behold the tears of the oppressed, that they have no one to comfort them. 00:48:00.240 |
And on the side of the oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. 00:48:05.240 |
So I congratulated the dead who are already dead, more than the living who are still living. 00:48:09.240 |
But better off than both is the one who never existed." 00:48:40.240 |
And I'll tell you what, even in my own heart as I was doing devotions through these passages, 00:48:50.240 |
There was a part of me that was resisting and saying, "Ah, King Solomon just sounds like a bitter guy." 00:48:58.240 |
Maybe it was because he was relishing in all these pleasures and it got to his head. 00:49:05.240 |
King Solomon actually begins to show us there was another way for me to behave. 00:49:16.240 |
It's the way what I like to call, "You just do the best with what you got." 00:49:21.240 |
You essentially kind of deceive yourself and you lie to think you try to make the most of what you have. 00:49:26.240 |
And the motto that a lot of parents teach their kids is, "You know what? 00:49:29.240 |
When you get lemons in your life, what you do is you add a dash of sugar and you make lemonade." 00:49:37.240 |
What's really interesting is to some degree King Solomon gives this kind of advice in almost a sarcastic tone. 00:49:44.240 |
Turn your Bibles over to Ecclesiastes 5, verse 18. 00:49:52.240 |
So what I'm saying here is, number one, when you see the hopelessness of the world, 00:49:57.240 |
you can end up simply hating your life and wishing you never existed. 00:50:00.240 |
Or number two, you can do what's called, "You make the most of it." 00:50:07.240 |
Verse 18, "Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting, to eat, to drink, enjoy oneself in all one's labor, 00:50:14.240 |
in which he toils under the sun, during the few years of his life which God has given him. 00:50:21.240 |
I read that as though he was actually giving an advice. 00:50:26.240 |
I'm going to take a moment to do a little personal confessing here. 00:50:29.240 |
There was a part of me as I was looking at the wretchedness of the world through the eyes of King Solomon, 00:50:36.240 |
And I couldn't necessarily put a finger on it, but I think I want to explain it to you in this way. 00:50:45.240 |
And there's a part of me that wants to fight back and say, "But are you saying give up on everything? 00:50:50.240 |
Should I teach my own son, like, 'Don't go to school'? 00:50:54.240 |
Should I tell my church people, 'You know what you're doing? It's stupid. Stop.'" 00:51:02.240 |
You're supposed to still live, come to church. 00:51:09.240 |
But what's really interesting about this is in another passage, King Solomon tells a young man, 00:51:13.240 |
"You know what, young man? You have a short time to live. 00:51:16.240 |
Go pursue your passions. Go fulfill your lusts. 00:51:19.240 |
But just remember, God's going to judge you for all of it." 00:51:30.240 |
And so now, this is the center and heart of the message. 00:51:34.240 |
I'm trying to show you that King Solomon has words of wisdom for us. 00:51:38.240 |
Even if your heart is resisting, first recognize that he is seeing the world appropriately for what it is. 00:51:47.240 |
There is, yes, a temptation in our heart to look at King Solomon and say, "No, King Solomon." 00:51:52.240 |
Again, straight up, I was kind of like, "You know what? 00:51:54.240 |
Maybe King Solomon is doing this kind of like woke culture stuff." 00:51:58.240 |
Where he's like, "You think you have it good. You don't know. This is so bad." 00:52:12.240 |
Any kind of hope in this world is going to be a tragedy. 00:52:16.240 |
When you think that you're going to wisen up, when you think that you're going to self-improve, 00:52:22.240 |
so that incrementally you can make this life better, it's all monopoly. 00:52:28.240 |
I meditated deep and long about this, so jot this down in your notes. 00:52:35.240 |
Let me try to explain why I found this to be both in my heart and yet this to also still be vanity. 00:52:47.240 |
That game Monopoly, it's a game that takes a long time to play. 00:52:50.240 |
It's a game where you win property and you get to charge people rent when they land on it. 00:52:56.240 |
You know what's really funny is I googled that game and I asked this question of Google. 00:53:04.240 |
And what's really funny is there's so many entries. 00:53:07.240 |
There was like blog posts about this and some people responded by saying, 00:53:10.240 |
"You know when Monopoly ends? It's when you cry." 00:53:17.240 |
It's when your brother points the finger at you, accuses you of cheating, 00:53:20.240 |
flips the board and all your houses go flying. 00:53:28.240 |
And then somebody wrote, "You'd have to be one kind of special jerk to insist that we actually end the game." 00:53:34.240 |
Because you guys know who've actually played this game, how it ends. 00:53:40.240 |
The game ends when everybody else has to declare bankruptcy 00:53:43.240 |
and you're the only person standing with property. 00:54:03.240 |
He rolls and you know us as parents, we can count the squares faster. 00:54:29.240 |
Like miscount, be like, "Oh no, you land here." 00:54:36.240 |
Even though you know there's no chance for him to survive with $4. 00:54:45.240 |
There is this weird defense against King Solomon to say, 00:54:55.240 |
People are doing to King Solomon what people do in our day. 00:54:58.240 |
They hold blog posts and they interview people. 00:55:01.240 |
They're like, "Let's interview King Solomon." 00:55:03.240 |
They go over there and they're like, "What did you do here? 00:55:11.240 |
And King Solomon is going to turn to them and say, 00:55:14.240 |
"Your pursuit of reproducing this kingdom on earth, 00:55:24.240 |
You see, what you realize when you're playing that game, 00:55:31.240 |
He's going to be the first person out, but I feel so bad. 00:55:33.240 |
I just want to, like, give him some of my houses 00:55:51.240 |
I am a parent thinking regularly about, "Oh, my goodness. 00:55:57.240 |
What life are they going to have in America now 00:56:09.240 |
But then do I teach them, 'But you, son, you have potential. 00:56:19.240 |
Sacrifice this and that so that you can succeed.' 00:56:24.240 |
Only to have them return to me later and say, 00:57:00.240 |
to introduce you the third way that you can respond 00:57:06.240 |
When you see the hopelessness, the helplessness, 00:57:21.240 |
God has already told you, brothers and sisters, 00:57:30.240 |
You need to call upon the Lord and hear His wisdom. 00:57:34.240 |
God has already told you that this generation 00:58:08.240 |
And you don't need all of King Solomon's wisdom 00:58:15.240 |
of people who have been rich, wealthy, famous, 00:58:18.240 |
who hate their lives but it's so unsatisfactory, 00:58:36.240 |
He spent 11 chapters in the book of Ecclesiastes 00:58:39.240 |
showing you that there is no hope in this world 00:58:55.240 |
when you will say, 'I have no delight in them,' 00:59:10.240 |
I can't read that whole section because of time 01:00:22.240 |
you may even look to this church asking them, 01:00:47.240 |
Faithful men who have walked this world with courage 01:00:57.240 |
Take a moment to get there in your scripture. 01:02:00.240 |
He's going to make sure that you're blameless. 01:02:19.240 |
is to make sure we're thinking on this level. 01:02:22.240 |
And so I want to give some final exhortations to you. 01:02:28.240 |
that make sure that you're not evaluating this world 01:02:35.240 |
But rather, you're seeing things in the Spirit. 01:02:39.240 |
You're seeing things according to the eternal perspective. 01:02:56.240 |
and this generation right now in this moment, 01:03:10.240 |
What do you think King Solomon would say to you? 01:03:20.240 |
Still empty compared to what God has in store. 01:03:59.240 |
that we are speaking in the wisdom of King Solomon. 01:04:28.240 |
They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, 01:04:38.240 |
that they are looking for a country of their own. 01:04:41.240 |
If they had been thinking of the country they had left, 01:04:46.240 |
But instead they were longing for a better country, 01:04:51.240 |
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, 01:04:59.240 |
Brothers and sisters, as an exhortation to you, 01:05:02.240 |
is it pretty clear you're looking for a better country? 01:05:08.240 |
and you're looking at all the woes of the generation 01:05:17.240 |
that you're not just simply trying to defend your home here, 01:05:56.240 |
this whole world and all of creation groans in agony 01:06:05.240 |
we recognize that we have a true, unwavering hope in Christ. 01:06:15.240 |
where we can walk this world with confidence, 01:06:17.240 |
even if all things were to fade and fall away, 01:06:20.240 |
even if all our ambitions and desires are passing. 01:06:24.240 |
We thank you, God, that you prepare a way for us. 01:06:27.240 |
And Lord, I pray then that we would live by such faith, 01:06:30.240 |
that, God, we would live by such eternal hope. 01:07:52.240 |
Jesus, you rescued us through your great love. 01:09:03.240 |
Jesus, you rescued us through your great love. 01:10:54.240 |
Jesus, you rescued us through your great love. 01:12:01.240 |
Amen. Let's bow in a word of prayer as we end our service. 01:12:05.240 |
Lord God, we again want to say, Lord, that we place our trust in you. 01:12:13.240 |
Anything from the past, Lord, that seems to us too big of a burden. 01:12:18.240 |
All guilt and shame, God, you have dealt with in Christ. 01:12:22.240 |
But we also know, Lord, our entire future, our entire well-being, 01:12:30.240 |
That too, Father God, fully taken care of in Christ. 01:12:34.240 |
And so, Father Lord, we say to you that we trust you with all of our hearts 01:12:38.240 |
and we dare not place confidence in this world. 01:12:42.240 |
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling 01:12:45.240 |
and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, 01:12:49.240 |
for the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, 01:14:46.240 |
I'm just going to dismiss you now and just as before, 01:14:49.240 |
please go ahead and use either side of the church building. 01:14:52.240 |
We're just going to work from the front and just make a nice exit through the building, 01:14:55.240 |
trying to keep your physical distance as well.