- 10 months ago
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Please enjoy this message delivered by Pastor Mark Hudson.
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LearningTranscript
00:00Most of us know this phrase, and probably some of us have actually tried to do what this phrase is all about.
00:08I think at least we know what this phrase is.
00:13And the phrase that I'm referring to is the phrase, keeping up with the Joneses.
00:17You know what I'm talking about?
00:19Yeah, at least you know the phrase.
00:20Some of you, some of us, at one time in our life, may have actually tried to keep up with the Joneses.
00:26You got the concept.
00:28Jill Cartini, in A Slice of Infinity, was talking about this one idea of keeping up with the Joneses.
00:33And really, what is the value in it that she wants to save?
00:38See, this whole mentality of keeping up with the Joneses depicts the competitive, though often subtle, nature of materialism.
00:48It's advancement or accomplishment.
00:50We keep tabs on the status and stature of our neighbors.
00:53We keep a careful eye on those we deem in front of us in some way.
00:58At times, this is a literal metaphor, our neighbor right next door.
01:01Other times, it's just a ghostly image of excellence, happiness, or success.
01:05Keeping up with the Joneses.
01:07They get a new car, we get a new car.
01:09They pick their house, we pick their house.
01:11But of course, ours is always better than the Joneses, right?
01:14Isn't that the whole idea, keeping up with the Joneses?
01:16Right.
01:16This elusive thing?
01:18Then she makes this comment.
01:19If we could step back from our current pursuit, would we see its absurdity?
01:27Would we admit the fleeting nature of success and fame and treasure?
01:33Would we divulge the weariness that arises within the innocent human desire to keep up with the elusive Joneses?
01:39Perhaps it is true, as a wise man once said, that many of our curious ways are a meaningless chasing after the wind.
01:48Sound familiar?
01:49Those of you who have been here for the last four months?
01:52Meaningless chasing after the wind.
01:56There are many fleeting things in this world, including the grumblings of our own appetites.
02:01Including the Joneses.
02:02But he who made the Joneses withstands the test of time.
02:08And it's exactly what Solomon has been trying to say to us over these past few months,
02:13is there are certain things that are ultimately important in life.
02:17This life is temporary.
02:19It's transitory.
02:20In relationship to what we've had in human history so far, our brief lives are just a whisper.
02:27So what's important in this time of temporariness, transitoriness,
02:31this time that when sometimes it does seem meaningless and void?
02:36What is our attitude?
02:38That's what Solomon is trying to tell us over the last several months.
02:42And as we conclude it in chapter 12, he wants to say something to us extremely important.
02:48He says,
02:48When the creator is forgotten in youth, it leads to many regrets in old life and an empty existence.
02:56He started in chapter 11, verse 7, talking about youth.
03:00And he's going to continue on talking about youth.
03:02He's going to pick up that thread again and discuss it.
03:05But not just to the youth.
03:07He's addressing us who no longer fit into the category of youth, at least the way our body feels.
03:14I know your mind is different.
03:15In my mind, I still feel like I'm a youth.
03:16But my body, it doesn't react as quickly after a long airsoft game on Saturdays as it used to.
03:22Okay?
03:23You understand what I'm saying?
03:25We have a mentality of youth, but our bodies doesn't quite feel like that sometimes.
03:29So it's not just for young people.
03:31It's for all of us he wants to address.
03:34The question for us today, again, with what is ultimately important in life, is why do the shiny things of this world consume our time and energy?
03:46Why?
03:48When we know it's all temporary.
03:52Why does the shiny things of this world consume our time?
03:54Do you remember that movie, Disney movie, Up?
03:58Okay?
03:58And the one dog that could talk?
04:01And this same dog, every now and then, he would go, squirrel!
04:04Squirrel!
04:05That's kind of how we overshine things in life, isn't it?
04:07Oh, squirrel!
04:08We just get fixated on something.
04:10Keeping up with the jokes is when we forget it's all temporary.
04:19Here he continues his thought.
04:21He wants to lay out an argument for all of us.
04:26Not just you.
04:26He's going to address to you, but it's for all of us, this whole thing.
04:30He's continuing discussion he started in verse number seven, chapter 11.
04:33Look at verses one through eight in your Bibles with me, please.
04:35Hopefully you brought your Bible, if not, physical Bible on your phone, iPad, whichever works.
04:42Verse number one.
04:42Remember also your creator in the days of your youth.
04:48Before the evil days come, and the years draw near, of which you will say, I have no pleasure in that.
04:55Life is not what it used to be.
04:58Before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain.
05:07Clouds are turning after the rain.
05:08We're worse than blue skies.
05:10In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few,
05:19and those who look through the window are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut.
05:26When the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low.
05:34They are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way.
05:40The almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails,
05:46because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets.
05:53Before the silver pour is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken,
05:59or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,
06:04and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
06:11Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, all is vanity.
06:16So picking up this thought of the youth, he wants to first call young people to remember.
06:23To remember.
06:24It's not just for young people.
06:26In fact, it's dressed in young people, but you know what?
06:28Sometimes young people don't get this concept.
06:30They think they're going to live forever.
06:32Now all you young people that are here, I'm not picking on you.
06:34It just happens to be in the text, so I'm getting out of the song, okay?
06:37Young people just think they're going to live forever.
06:40Everything's just going to go great all the time, but as we get older, we realize life is not like that.
06:44So all the way he's addressing to you, I think you and I who are not youth anymore, we get it.
06:48We understand what he's trying to say, and wish we would have taken that approach when we were younger.
06:53We get it.
06:56He immediately focuses our attention on the creator.
06:58And then talking about, of course, at death, the spirit returns to the creator, not necessarily to bless him.
07:03That's only if you trust Jesus Christ as your savior, but he returns to judgment, perhaps, and the creator, if you do not accept Christ and reject him.
07:11But we're accountable to the creator.
07:13That's what he wants us to understand.
07:14Death is an end to this life under the sun, but it is not annihilation.
07:19We continue living after this body goes into the grave.
07:23Our soul and our spirit is alive, and as believers, we go into the presence of the Lord.
07:28As an unbeliever, we spend time in hell until that judgment comes.
07:33As a creator, God has ultimate claims on every person, not just you, all of us.
07:42He made us.
07:43He wired us.
07:44I don't know if you noticed that we're not all the same.
07:46Did you notice that?
07:47I'm not talking about just how we look, how we look at the world, how we see things, decisions we've made.
07:55We're not all the same.
07:55He's wired us differently.
07:57Some of us are cognitive.
07:58Some of us are emotive.
07:59Some of us are kinetic.
08:00We're just different.
08:01But we're all created by the one creator.
08:04He is wired us.
08:06So he's saying, find how you're wired, what your purpose is.
08:10Live it out, because we're responsible to him.
08:14To remember God means to make him the center of our lives and passion.
08:19It's not just to think, oh yeah, God exists.
08:21No, it's more than that.
08:22By remembering he brings God into the central focus of our life,
08:27where he and from him flows everything else.
08:30In other words, I wrap my schedule around God, not God around my schedule.
08:36He's the center.
08:39It means more than just thinking about him.
08:41It means reverence for him.
08:43Remember how you were made, what your purpose is in this world, how you were created.
08:48In fact, one thing Jesus said that what we're to seek in Matthew 6 is to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
08:56This is the purpose.
08:57This is what we're created for, to seek God, his kingdom, and his righteousness.
09:02And all these things will be added to you that he talked about, that is food, that is clothing, that is shelter.
09:07So Solomon wants people to have this commitment early in life.
09:11You remember the creator of the days of the year.
09:14Don't wait until you get older.
09:18See, he is saying that it is not wise, young people, to sow your wild oats now and then later afford them.
09:26Because you're going to regret it.
09:29He's saying now is the time.
09:31Now in your youth, employ what I'm saying.
09:34And us as older, no longer youth, we get it.
09:37We understand that.
09:41Gene Lewis Severin Shriver says this,
09:43Unlike other resources, time cannot be bought or sold, borrowed or stolen, stocked up or saved, manufactured, reproduced, or modified.
09:54All we can do is make use of it.
09:56And whether we use it or not, it nevertheless slips away.
10:00Young people, those 30-year-olds are old.
10:04Remember saying that when you were a teenager?
10:06I was 30 years old, over the hill.
10:08No, time is going to slip away quickly for you.
10:11Now is the time.
10:12Now is the time to remember the creator, how he's made you, how he's wired you,
10:15and just serve him with all of your heart.
10:18Don't wait until later.
10:19Because then you'll regret it.
10:20Some of us came to faith later in life, and we look at all the wasted days we had before,
10:24and we regret that.
10:25We can't change, I understand.
10:27But we say, why didn't I know sooner what I know now?
10:32So then he launches into a poem about mortality.
10:36A poem about mortality.
10:39So, verse 2 is a discussion of unfavorable days that are coming.
10:44He says that it never cleans up.
10:46The clouds come after the rain.
10:48It should be blue sky.
10:49It's clouds again.
10:50In other words, it's one thing after another.
10:53Did you ever notice in your life that one thing after another seems to come?
10:55And sometimes it comes like in a week, or maybe two weeks, or maybe a month,
10:59and then you're okay for six months, and then all of a sudden it just dumps on you again?
11:02That's the idea here.
11:03It just never lets up.
11:04Life just never lets up upon you.
11:06So Solomon is now using a series of metaphors to depict old age.
11:12It's not allegory.
11:13Allegory is different than a metaphor.
11:15A metaphor is a picture.
11:16A metaphor is a picture of a comparison of unlike things.
11:19A symbol is a comparison of like things.
11:21So it's a metaphor, a comparison of unlike things to show, to paint a picture.
11:25It's not an allegory.
11:26Allegory is to assign a deeper meaning to a text, and there's no way to control what those meanings are
11:31so you can come up with anything you want.
11:33So we don't want to do that.
11:34It's a metaphor, a picture of old age.
11:37He's laying it out clearly.
11:38So the older person is being compared to a decaying old house.
11:43How do you feel about that?
11:45You're probably going, yeah, I get it.
11:48I get it.
11:49On his 80th birthday, John Quincy Adams was walking slowly along a Boston street.
11:55A friend asked him, how is John Quincy Adams today?
11:58The former president replied graciously, thank you.
12:01John Quincy Adams is well, sir.
12:03Quite well, I thank you.
12:05But the house in which he lives at present is becoming dilapidated.
12:09It isn't hovering upon its foundations.
12:12Time and seasons have nearly destroyed it.
12:15Its roof is pretty well worn out.
12:17Its walls are shattered, and it trembles with every wind.
12:20The old tenant is becoming almost uninhabitable,
12:24and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon.
12:28But he himself is quite well, sir, thank you.
12:31I think we've been there before, right?
12:33Yeah, it just seems to wear down, isn't it?
12:36It doesn't behave like it used to behave anymore.
12:38And so he's depicting old age with a series of pictures of a decaying house.
12:43So he starts off with the keepers of the house,
12:46which is a picture of our arms or our hands, the keepers of the house.
12:51The straw man is bent.
12:53That's our legs.
12:55The grinders are our teeth.
12:57The grinders are few.
12:59It's hard to eat when you only have a few teeth.
13:02Windows, that's the eyes.
13:03That's what we look out of.
13:05The doors are our ears.
13:07The doors are shut, which means we don't hear as well.
13:10Now, you think teenagers just have selective hearing.
13:12Well, actually, at a certain point, we just don't hear as well as we used to.
13:17The daughters of song, speaking about the vocal cords that grow old and weaken
13:21and cannot sing as they used to sing.
13:25We have the mobility that decreases and fears arise.
13:29And then the almond tree blossoms, which,
13:31the almond tree blossoms in winter, which is an interesting thing,
13:34and its blossoms are white.
13:36So the picture is white hair.
13:38White hair.
13:41Blossoms in the wintertime.
13:43There's an old Hasidic saying that says,
13:45for the unlearned, old age is winter.
13:49For the learned, it is the season of the harvest.
13:53It's the season of the harvest.
13:55Well, the thing is, you cannot reap what you do not sow.
13:59If you're going to harvest something in your old age,
14:02you've got to plant the seeds in your youth
14:04so that they come to fruition and maturity
14:06and are then harvested in our older age.
14:11So sow the seeds now that will be harvested later.
14:15Then it says, the grasshopper drags itself along.
14:17We've all seen grasshoppers before.
14:18The grasshoppers, they spring, or if they've got wings,
14:20they come up and they fly around afterwards.
14:22A grasshopper dragging himself along on the ground
14:25simply tells you he doesn't have a belong in his life.
14:28He's about ready to die.
14:30That's the picture.
14:33An unknown author said this.
14:36See if you can relate to her.
14:38Everything is further away now than it used to be.
14:42It is twice as far to the corner,
14:44and they've got a hill, I've noticed.
14:46I've given up running for the bus.
14:48It leaps faster than it used to.
14:50It seems to me they are making steps steeper
14:53than in the old days.
14:54And have you noticed the smaller print
14:56they use in the newspaper and the telephone books?
14:59Yes.
15:01There's no sense in asking people to read aloud.
15:05Everyone speaks in such a low voice.
15:06I can totally hear them.
15:08Even people are changing.
15:10They are much younger than they used to be
15:11when I was their age.
15:13On the other hand, people my own age
15:15are so much older than I am.
15:16I ran into an old friend the other day,
15:19and she had aged so much
15:20she didn't even recognize me.
15:26I got to thinking about the poor thing
15:28while I was combing my hair this morning,
15:30and in doing so, I glanced out a reflection,
15:33and would you believe they don't make mares
15:35like they used to make him anymore?
15:37I think we get it.
15:39Solomon's painting a picture.
15:40He's saying, listen, life is temporary.
15:42At some point, we're going to move down this avenue
15:46towards what we understand as old age.
15:49Have you lived your life for God?
15:52That's the center.
15:53That is the most important thing.
15:55Or has it been a series of keeping up with the Joneses
15:58or doing whatever I want?
16:02And then there's this paradox here of old age.
16:03You can't hear,
16:05but then the smallest chirping of a bird
16:07in the morning wakes you up.
16:09You can't even sleep anymore in the morning.
16:11You get it super early.
16:14As Christians, we understand
16:16that we are physically dying every day.
16:19We get it.
16:19We understand this body is decaying.
16:23But that doesn't cause us despair.
16:26For we know the Holy Spirit
16:28is renewing us daily inside.
16:32Yes, this is decaying.
16:33It's becoming like a house
16:35that's dilapidated.
16:37But the Spirit is at work in me
16:40and in you, believer, every day.
16:43In fact, Paul said this in 2 Corinthians.
16:45So we do not lose heart.
16:47Though our outer self is wasting away,
16:50our inner self is being renewed day by day.
16:53Yes, it's true.
16:54It's decaying.
16:55But it doesn't mean that life is over.
16:58Not until I take that last breath.
16:59And until I take that last breath,
17:02my center, my passion
17:04is God himself.
17:08Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect, said,
17:10the longer I live,
17:11the more beautiful life becomes.
17:14See, what you want to do
17:15is you want to say,
17:16oh, look, it's getting so bad for me now.
17:18Low is me.
17:19It's all over with.
17:19I can't do anything anymore.
17:20No, I like what he says.
17:22The longer I live,
17:23the more beautiful life is.
17:24And that's what Solomon wants us to understand.
17:26Yes, you're getting old.
17:27I understand that, he said.
17:29But don't let life pass you by.
17:34And then what follows in verses 6 and 7
17:36is artistic description of death.
17:38Silver bowl is broken
17:39and we're on the cistern
17:40and the silver cord is snapped.
17:42All that stuff is a picture of death.
17:45Something broken that doesn't function anymore.
17:47It doesn't work anymore.
17:50Even our physical desires begin to wane.
17:54I think we can all agree with this
17:56because to grow old and face death
17:58is one of the hardest things to do in life.
18:03It's the hardest thing to do.
18:06Things don't work like they used to.
18:13There's a guy that David knew,
18:15King David in the Bible,
18:16old man.
18:18David wanted him to be with him
18:20and he responded back like this
18:22and see if you can identify with him.
18:242 Samuel.
18:26I am this day 80 years old.
18:29Can I discern what is pleasant
18:31and what's not?
18:32Can your servant taste what he eats
18:34or what he drinks?
18:36Can I still listen to the voice
18:37of singing men and singing women?
18:39Why then should your servant
18:41be added burdened to my Lord, the King?
18:43We get it.
18:45But it doesn't cause us to despair
18:47because we are alive now.
18:50We are breathing now.
18:51We are active now.
18:52And until we take that final breath,
18:54Solomon wants to make sure
18:55that we are focused on God
18:57for all things.
18:58Totally dependent on him.
19:01And yes, you learn it now.
19:03Don't wait until they're there.
19:06Verse 8 brings us back
19:07to the same thought that he made.
19:10It's like two bookends.
19:11Chapter 1, verse 2
19:12and chapter 12, verse 8
19:13are like two bookends.
19:15Look what they say up here.
19:15Vanity of vanity,
19:18says the preacher.
19:19Vanity of vanity.
19:19All is vanity.
19:20That was chapter 1, verse 2.
19:22And then chapter 12,
19:23we're saying vanity of vanity,
19:24says the preacher.
19:25All is vanity.
19:25We're going, oh,
19:26throw our hands up in the air now.
19:28Nihilism.
19:29Not on the other side
19:30would be hedonism.
19:32Oh, just throw our hands up in the air.
19:33All is despair.
19:33No, the problem is,
19:35or the help, I should say,
19:36not a problem.
19:37The problem is
19:38that we forget
19:38what is in between
19:39chapter 1 and chapter 12
19:41of Ecclesiastes.
19:43If we forget
19:44all of the wisdom statements
19:45he has made to us,
19:46how he has directed our life
19:48towards God
19:49and towards enjoying life
19:50that he has given us
19:51under the sun right now.
19:54If we forget
19:55all of that stuff,
19:55then it is vanity of vanities.
19:57And it is despair.
19:59But you and I
20:00are not the same people
20:01as we were four months ago
20:02when we started
20:03the book of Ecclesiastes.
20:04Hopefully, we are wiser people.
20:07And we can understand,
20:08yes, it is temporary.
20:09It is transitory.
20:11And some things
20:11are meaningless in life,
20:12but it doesn't mean
20:14that I can't live life
20:15to the fullest,
20:16to the glory of God
20:17and for my good.
20:20Life is meaningful
20:21without God
20:22under the sun.
20:23It is.
20:23It's meaningless.
20:25William Law suggests
20:26we pick and choose
20:27according to how we
20:28feel upon death.
20:29He says, no, no.
20:31He says this,
20:31the best way
20:33for anyone to know
20:33how much he ought
20:35to aspire after holiness
20:36is to consider
20:38not how much
20:39he will make
20:39his present life easy,
20:41but to ask himself
20:42how much he thinks
20:43will make him easy
20:45at the hour of death.
20:48Without God,
20:49life is meaningless.
20:51But when we focus
20:52on this concept
20:53of holiness,
20:54we realize that
20:55God is desiring
20:57for us
20:58to be conformed
20:59in the image
20:59of the sun,
21:01that we look like Jesus.
21:04Death is an intruder
21:05to the human race.
21:06It angers me.
21:07I don't like
21:07to do funerals.
21:08I don't like funerals.
21:09Weddings are fun.
21:11Funerals are not fun.
21:12Death is an intruder
21:13to the human race.
21:14It wasn't at the beginning.
21:16It came through Adam
21:17and Eve,
21:18directly through Adam
21:19according to the scriptures.
21:22It's a result
21:23of the fall
21:24and we are told
21:25at the,
21:25at the,
21:27after the fall
21:28and when God's speaking
21:29to Adam and Eve,
21:29he says this to Adam,
21:30by the sweat
21:33of your face
21:33you shall eat bread
21:35till you return
21:36to the ground
21:36for out of it
21:38you were taken
21:38for you are dust
21:40and to dust
21:41you shall return.
21:44That's humbling.
21:47That's humbling.
21:49He bore me.
21:50He made me.
21:51But I'm going to return
21:51to dust someday.
21:55But for Christians,
21:57Jesus has reversed
21:58the corruptible nature
22:00of our body,
22:01of us human,
22:01our human body
22:02by his own death
22:03and resurrection.
22:04Yes, this is decaying
22:06but one day
22:07it will be placed
22:07into the ground
22:08and if Jesus doesn't
22:09come back before I die
22:10it will be raised up
22:12like his glorious body
22:13and it will no longer
22:14be corruptible.
22:15It will no longer decay.
22:17It will look just like
22:18his glorious body.
22:19And I long for that day.
22:232 Corinthians 5
22:24will be this,
22:25for we know
22:25that the tent
22:26that is our earthly home
22:27is destroyed
22:28we have a building
22:30from God,
22:30a house not made
22:32with hands,
22:33eternal in the heavens.
22:35Yes, it is corrupting
22:36but through Jesus Christ
22:37he has reversed that
22:39and we will one day
22:41be raised
22:42like his glorious body.
22:43In 1 Corinthians 15
22:45for this perishable body
22:46must put on
22:47the imperishable
22:48and this mortal body
22:50must put on
22:50immortality.
22:52When the perishable
22:53puts on the imperishable
22:54and the mortal
22:55puts on immortality
22:57then shall come
22:58to pass the saying
22:58that is written
22:59death is swallowed up
23:01in victory.
23:02Hope of death
23:03where is your victory?
23:05Oh death
23:06where is your sting?
23:08That is the great hope
23:09the resurrection
23:10from the dead
23:11that Jesus
23:12as the first fruits
23:13of the resurrection
23:14of the dead
23:14has promised
23:15all who believe
23:16on him.
23:18So now he offers us
23:19some final words
23:20here in verse 9 through 14
23:22for us to focus
23:23our attention on.
23:23Look at verse 9
23:25Besides being wise
23:27the preacher also taught
23:29that people knowledge
23:30weighing and studying
23:32and arranging
23:33many proverbs
23:34with great care.
23:35We know that Solomon
23:35wrote over 3,000 proverbs.
23:38The preacher
23:38sought to find
23:39words of delight
23:41and uprightly
23:42he wrote
23:42words of truth.
23:44The words of the wise
23:46are like goads
23:47and like nails
23:48firmly fixed
23:50are the collected
23:51sayings there
23:52given by one shepherd
23:53my son
23:55beware of anything
23:56beyond these
23:57of making many books
23:59there is no end
24:00and much study
24:02is a weariness
24:03of the flesh.
24:05All you graduates
24:05from school
24:06you know what I'm talking about.
24:08The end of the matter
24:09all has been heard
24:11fear God
24:12and keep his commandments
24:13for this is
24:14the whole duty
24:15of man
24:16for God
24:17will bring
24:17every deed
24:18into judgment
24:19with every secret
24:21thing
24:22whether good
24:23or bad.
24:25So he talks about
24:26first of all
24:27arranging all of these
24:28problems
24:28and putting them
24:28together in a way
24:29that we could read them
24:30and understand
24:31and grow wise
24:32from them.
24:32It was purposely
24:33put together.
24:34The ones he selected
24:35for the book of Ecclesiastes
24:36were not just random ones
24:37he chose those
24:38that were fitting
24:39his theme
24:40as he was unfolding
24:41his argument
24:42to us.
24:44Then he moves on
24:44to this thing
24:45about a goad.
24:46Now any cattle people
24:48know what a goad is?
24:49You know what a goad is?
24:50It's that which perhaps
24:51helps an animal
24:52move forward.
24:53In fact,
24:54a goad is not
24:54meant to be pleasant.
24:56Think about the animal.
24:58You're getting stuck
24:59with something
24:59or in some cases
25:00it's shocking you.
25:03It's there
25:04to motivate you.
25:07It's there
25:08to get you
25:08to change your behavior
25:09of the cow
25:10or the animal
25:10or whatever
25:11it is that you're
25:11trying to prod.
25:13It's like a cow prod.
25:15So it's painful
25:18it's to motivate movement
25:20it's to change behavior
25:21just like a cattle prod.
25:24And I was wondering
25:25this week
25:25do you suppose
25:26it would be illegal
25:27to use a cattle prod
25:28on my teenage son?
25:30Because I'd like to
25:31get it moving
25:31in a different direction
25:32sometimes
25:33but I think I'd probably
25:34go to jail
25:35for that.
25:35So I won't do that
25:37I promise.
25:37But I'd like to
25:38change his direction
25:39sometimes.
25:40See that's what
25:40the purpose of the
25:41word of God
25:41is supposed to do.
25:43It's not always pleasant.
25:45Because self
25:46gets in the way
25:47I know
25:48I recognize this week
25:50just how selfish
25:51oh I saw again
25:52as I've seen it before
25:53how selfish
25:54I actually am.
25:56So sometimes
25:57as I read the word
25:58it's not more pleasant
25:58for me
25:59but what it's doing
26:00is it's goading me
26:02to change my behavior
26:03and it's not pleasant
26:04but it's for my good.
26:10That God-eating use
26:11goes on a person
26:12named Paul
26:13Acts 26
26:14and when we have
26:16he's talking about
26:17his salvation experience
26:18in the Roads of Damascus
26:20and when we all
26:21fall into the ground
26:21I heard a voice
26:22saying to me
26:22in the Hebrew language
26:23Saul
26:24Saul
26:24why are you
26:25persecuting me
26:26and that's Jesus
26:26we know talking to him
26:27it is hard for you
26:30it is hard for you
26:30to kick against
26:31the goads
26:32so what we see
26:33is that God
26:33was using goads
26:34to change
26:36Paul's way of thinking
26:37about who Jesus was
26:39and I'm sure
26:39it wasn't pleasant
26:40for Paul
26:41he was trying to get him
26:42to move in a different direction
26:44so even God
26:45uses goads
26:46and he uses it on us
26:47sometimes too
26:48the goal of the wise person
26:52is to have the right word
26:54at the right time
26:56with the right attitude
26:57words of the wise
26:59Proverbs 15 says
27:00to make an apt answer
27:02is joy to a man
27:03and a word in season
27:04how good is it
27:06so the goal
27:07of the Bible's wisdom words
27:09is to stimulate
27:10and direct us
27:12to exercise wisdom
27:14in our daily living
27:15that's what it's all about
27:16that's what it's all about
27:17we read the word of God
27:20we ingest it
27:21we let the spirit
27:21speak to our hearts
27:22and sometimes
27:23it's goading us
27:24sometimes it's encouraging us
27:26sometimes it's rebuking us
27:27sometimes it's correcting us
27:28but the goal
27:30is change lives
27:31that look like Jesus
27:32and it comes from
27:33words of the wise
27:35wisdom words
27:37William A. Ward said
27:40the mediocre teacher
27:42tells
27:42the good teacher
27:44explains
27:45the superior teacher
27:46demonstrates
27:47the great teacher
27:49inspires
27:49this is
27:51our great teacher
27:52this is what gives us
27:55direction
27:55and inspiration
27:56in life
27:57it is our all
27:58it is what God
28:00has used to reveal
28:01himself to us
28:02so that we can know him
28:03God's wisdom words
28:06are to inspire us
28:08to holy living
28:09then he talks about
28:10nails
28:11nails
28:11here
28:12think of a nail
28:13so once the wise
28:15saying is driven
28:16into our hearts
28:17and mind
28:18the nail
28:18fixes it
28:19that's the idea
28:20nails
28:22provide strength
28:23and stability
28:24providing a foundation
28:25to build
28:26a person's
28:27life on
28:28so the wisdom
28:29words of the Bible
28:30get
28:31nailed
28:32to our heart
28:34and to our minds
28:35so that what comes
28:36out of us
28:37our attitudes
28:38our actions
28:38are those which are
28:39pleasing to God
28:40it fixes it firmly
28:42in there
28:43we were talking about
28:44the Awana Club
28:45we have the Awana Club
28:46which teaches boys and girls
28:47the word of God
28:48throughout the year
28:49school year
28:49the purpose of the Awana Club
28:51is not only to lead them
28:52to faith in Jesus Christ
28:53but to take the word of God
28:55and to fix it firmly
28:56in their hearts
28:57so that throughout their lives
28:58the Holy Spirit
28:59can take the word of God
29:00and teach them
29:01and train them
29:01along the way
29:02it's to fix it firmly
29:04in their hearts
29:05that's the idea
29:05then he uses this term
29:09shepherd
29:09now in the ESV
29:10if you notice
29:11the church Bible
29:11we have
29:12or the ESV
29:12translation we have
29:13I'm not sure
29:13which translation you have
29:15in the ESV
29:16the word shepherd
29:17is capitalized
29:19now this is one
29:20of those times
29:21where I wish
29:21they wouldn't have done
29:22that
29:22they did it again
29:23in Psalm 2
29:24which bothers me as well
29:26what they have done
29:27by capitalizing
29:28I think they're right
29:29by the way
29:29the way they did
29:30I think it's right
29:31but I wish they wouldn't
29:32have done it
29:32let me explain
29:33what they've done
29:34by giving it a capital S
29:36which tells us
29:37automatically
29:37the shepherd is God
29:38which I think
29:39they're correct
29:39but that doesn't
29:41really say
29:42in the context
29:43what it is
29:44what they've done
29:45is they've
29:46interpreted the passage
29:47by putting a capital S
29:48there
29:49no no
29:49just translate it
29:51let us interpret
29:52the Bible
29:52just translate it
29:54so I think it is God
29:55and I think that they're right
29:56I just wish they wouldn't
29:57have done it
29:58so the shepherd
30:00most likely
30:00is God
30:01who gives us
30:03the truth
30:03that's revealed
30:04into his word
30:05and his word
30:05Psalm 119 says
30:07the sum of your word
30:08is truth
30:09and every one
30:09of your righteous
30:10rules
30:11endures forever
30:12so it is the one shepherd
30:14that gives us
30:15the truth words
30:16the one shepherd
30:17who puts the words
30:18together for us
30:19and for our good
30:20the one shepherd
30:21does this
30:22and if it is referring
30:25to the good shepherd
30:26Jesus Christ
30:27or God
30:28it pictures then
30:30the inspiration
30:30of God's word
30:31in other words
30:32this Bible
30:34although containing
30:3566 books
30:36is one word
30:37from God
30:37the one shepherd
30:39so that's the idea
30:41that he wants to tell us
30:42it is one word
30:43from one shepherd
30:44and if it is
30:45a good shepherd
30:46I think it is
30:47then he's saying
30:48that these words
30:48given to us
30:49by the one shepherd
30:50are inspired by him
30:52in other words
30:53they're not just
30:54random things
30:55put together
30:55but things you can
30:56build your life on
30:57as a matter of fact
30:582 Timothy says this
31:00all scripture
31:01is breathed out
31:02by God
31:02and profitable
31:03for teaching
31:04for reproof
31:05for correction
31:05for training
31:06in righteousness
31:07that the man of God
31:08may be complete
31:08equipped for every
31:09good word
31:10or Peter tells us
31:11for no prophecy
31:12was ever produced
31:13by the will of man
31:14but men spoke
31:16from God
31:16as they were
31:17carried along
31:17by the Holy Spirit
31:18so we see the
31:19inspiration of God's
31:20word
31:20it is inerrant
31:21it is perfect
31:22it is without
31:22contradiction
31:23and we build
31:25our lives on it
31:26in fact Jesus
31:27talked about that
31:28in one of the
31:28discussions he made
31:29in Matthew 7
31:30everyone who then
31:31hears these words
31:32of mine
31:33and does them
31:34will be like a wise
31:35man who built
31:36his house on a rock
31:37and the rain fell
31:38and the floods came
31:39and the winds blew
31:39and beat on that house
31:40but it did not fall
31:42because it had been
31:43founded on the rock
31:44and everyone who
31:45hears these words
31:46of mine
31:46and does not do them
31:48will be like a foolish
31:50man who built
31:50his house on the sand
31:52and the rain fell
31:53and the floods came
31:55and the winds blew
31:56circumstances of life
31:57beat against that house
32:00And it fell down, and great was the fall of it, because it had no foundation.
32:06Psalm 119 says, I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
32:13So the one shepherd has put together the word for us, inspired, breathed out by him,
32:20so we can build our lives upon this word.
32:26A little thought game.
32:27On a scale from zero to 100, zero being not at all, 100 being completely.
32:36On a scale from zero to 100, how would you answer this question?
32:42From zero to 100, how much does a word of God affect your daily living?
32:52Zero is not at all.
32:54Now, no one can claim 100, none of us.
32:56No one is there yet.
32:57I'd like to be close to 100, but I'm not there yet.
33:00But how much of this affects our daily living?
33:04Or is this something that we randomly choose to look at, or maybe come to church and listen
33:08to a sermon, something that's encouraging and you think it's great, but you know what, that's it.
33:13That's my level of letting the word of God shape my life.
33:16I have been told, hey, stop, man.
33:20Faith is private.
33:22Faith is private.
33:23You know, don't ask me questions.
33:24Faith is private.
33:25Well, let me share with you.
33:27Faith is not a private thing.
33:30It may be highly personal to you, but it is not private.
33:33It should affect everything we do in life.
33:37Every thought we have, every action we have, every word that comes out of our mouth should
33:42be shaped by the word of God.
33:44It is certainly a personal thing, but it is not private.
33:47In fact, your spouse should know you are a Christian.
33:49There is also a warning in the text for us not to go beyond God's word.
33:58In other words, don't go beyond that.
34:00Don't go beyond these.
34:01That's what he says.
34:02Don't go beyond these things.
34:03In other words, adding our own opinion to the word of God.
34:06Please, you Facebook warriors, don't give people your opinions about the word of God.
34:10Please, I'm asking.
34:12Tell them exactly what he says.
34:13If they get mad, they'll get mad at God.
34:15But don't give your opinion.
34:16That's far from the word of God.
34:18Keep it to the word.
34:18Don't go beyond it.
34:20Don't go beyond it.
34:22In fact, Revelation talks about this.
34:24I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, which is the Revelation,
34:28the words of that book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the place described
34:33in this book, that is the Revelation, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book
34:38of this prophecy, not the words of the book that the prophecy is contained in, which happens
34:42to be the Bible complete, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the
34:47holy city, which are described in this book.
34:49We can study and study and study and study, but never come to godly wisdom unless we apply
34:56the knowledge and the understanding that we gave from studying.
35:00Verse 13 begins the conclusion of the book.
35:04He uses two imperatives, fearing God and keeping his commandments.
35:07Two imperatives are commandments.
35:09They're not suggestions.
35:10They're commandments to us.
35:10In fearing the Lord, we seek to please him, and to please him means obeying his commandments.
35:17I want to please my heavenly Father.
35:19And he said, do this, and I said, okay.
35:23In fact, Jesus said the way that we can test whether we love God is this.
35:27If you love me, you will keep my commandments, is what Jesus said.
35:31Short and succinct and to the point.
35:35It's the keeping of God's commandments that a person finds true wisdom.
35:39Then he says, the end of the matter is this.
35:42Fear God.
35:43This is the whole duty of man.
35:45Now, that's not man as opposed to a woman.
35:47It means mankind.
35:49It is the whole duty of humanity to fear God.
35:53It's the whole duty of humanity to fear God.
35:57To fear God is the beginning of wisdom.
35:58It's a place where every human being must start, that they desire true wisdom.
36:04Psalm 111 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
36:06All those who practice it have good understanding.
36:10His praise endures forever.
36:12So, it is the duty of all humanity to fear God.
36:15To place him in reverence.
36:17Place him as a king and sovereign over us.
36:19To whom we bow our knees to.
36:23It is the whole duty of mankind.
36:25See, in the fall.
36:27You remember the fall?
36:28The fall of Adam and Eve in the garden.
36:29What was promised in them?
36:31You will be like God.
36:32God.
36:33It was what the promise was to them.
36:35One of them.
36:36The truth claimed.
36:36Actually, it's a lie.
36:37The truth claimed by saying to them, you'll be just like God.
36:42So, in the fall, humanity sought to become like God.
36:46But instead, they lost the one thing that made them truly human.
36:51The fear of God.
36:52And complete dependence on him.
36:54And since that day in the garden, it is only by God's grace that we are drawn back to him and to a relationship.
37:01Because we do not fear him.
37:05We do not love him.
37:07That is not natural.
37:08That is, the human side of us rejects all of that.
37:12In fact, we are enemies and hostile our minds, Paul said.
37:14In Deuteronomy 16, we read this to the nation of Israel.
37:20And actually, portraying the New Testament as well in multiple different places.
37:24And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you?
37:28But to fear the Lord your God.
37:30To walk in all his ways.
37:31To love him.
37:32To serve the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul.
37:36That is what God desires.
37:39Charles Bridges puts it like this.
37:41Here we walk with our Father, humbly, acceptably, securely.
37:47Looking at an offended God with terror, but at the reconciled God with reverential love.
37:53All the gracious influences on the soul, cherished under the power of the Spirit,
37:58all flow out in godly fear towards him.
38:02It is a whole duty of humanity.
38:05But the transitory nature of life does not lead Solomon to nihilism, all despair, or to hedonism.
38:12All pleasure.
38:14But to an intense piety.
38:17See, that's why it's not just for young people.
38:19It's for us as well.
38:20We read on something, oh, it's meaningless, it's void, it's temporary.
38:23Then this is giving up, wash it, just go do whatever we want to do.
38:25No, it's not nihilism, despair.
38:28Nor is it hedonism, that is the pursuit of pleasure above all things.
38:31It's neither one.
38:32In other words, it drives him to piety.
38:35To fear God.
38:36Well, not despair, but not hedonism.
38:41He can't control the future, he understands that.
38:43He's okay with that.
38:45He can't control the circumstances of his life.
38:47He understands that too.
38:48Or the tipperiness of everything that's around him.
38:51He gets it.
38:52But this leads him not to nihilism or hedonism.
38:56Instead, it leads him to a complete dependence on God and God's sovereignty.
39:02Amen.
39:03Amen.
39:04The book, In That's where the ethical and the end times statement.
39:08The ethical is this.
39:13If there is a God and he does judge, then everything I do matters.
39:21And the end time is future judgment.
39:24In other words, if there is really a God that's going to judge, then everything I do matters
39:29in this life.
39:32How I think, how I act, my attitudes, my words.
39:36In fact, in Matthew 12, Jesus said, I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give
39:39account for every careless word they speak.
39:42Everything matters.
39:44Oh, vanity, vanity, all is vanity.
39:47No, everything matters in life is what Solomon was saying.
39:51Colossians 1, so let us walk in a manner worthy of our Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing
39:55fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
39:59For the final message of the book is that everything matters.
40:04Everything matters.
40:06It is not vanity, it is not meaningless, it all matters.
40:10And he has taught us how to walk in this world under the sun.
40:14Yes, it's temporary, yes, it's transitory.
40:17But we walk holding the hand of our heavenly Father, who loved us enough to send his Son
40:23into the world that can be redeemed.
40:26And brought from underneath the sun to above the sun, to the throne of God, to his very
40:30presence.
40:31Everything matters.
40:33Everything matters.
40:36What Jim Winter said is, the purpose of the book of Ecclesiastes is not to drive us to
40:42despair, but to shepherd us into the presence of God.
40:46The preacher's conclusion opens our eyes to the barrenness of our landscape and directs us
40:52to the lush pastures of God's kingdom.
40:56And that's exactly what Solomon wants us to do.
40:59Let's pray.
40:59Father, we are not the same people we were four months ago when we started this.
41:08Psalm has laid out systematically for us all the things that we see and recognize as being
41:14true.
41:14We see them in the world.
41:15We understand.
41:16We understand the transitory nature of life.
41:20We understand that we can't control circumstances.
41:23We understand we can't control the future.
41:25We understand all this stuff.
41:28But it drives us to a dependence on you, the sovereign king of the universe, our heavenly
41:33Father, who loves us with an everlasting love, who will, as the song says that we sang, he will
41:40defend us with his love.
41:42It drives us to you, God.
41:44May our hearts be in tune with you, and may you be the center of our life and our passions
41:52as we walk in this world under the sun.
41:56In Jesus' name, amen.
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