⛄Marsha⛄
But none of these things move me, (not knowing what shall befall me v. 23) neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24 KJV)
Begin forwarded message:
From: Marsha <mooseiddings@gmail.com>
Date: March 10, 2013 11:57:16 AM PDT
To: M_Iddings YouVersion <mooseiddings@gmail.com>
Subject: Holy Bible Notes for Ecclesiastes 4
M.Kelly
March 10, 2013
Eccl. 4:1-8
Consider the privilege we have to come to church and learn of the real world and see what life is like without God! This is purchased privilege by Christ that we can meet and learn these things. We can learn of the real world and our place in it.
Eccl. is full of golden nuggets of perspective. It is a gold chest full of these things.
Solomon had a giant intellect and he used it to find meaning under the sun. He writes as a man who has tried everything under the sun to find meaning. He has examined, science,knowledge, riches, ease, laughter etc. He has experienced life under the sun like no other. He is qualified to give us his perspective. His conclusion is there is no meaning to life under the sun. No meaning outside of God. It's a view that leads to depression and eternal destruction. It is the actually reality of the world that God saves His people out of.
We are saved out of the world. Don't save up your treasures down here where moth and rust will corrupt.
What is the purpose of all the events under the sun? It's so unfair and is so meaningless. It seems random and painful. But under heaven,how do we view these same things? It's a whole different story. God is working all the events. It's all ordained by God and all fulfills His purposes.
LIfe comes at us. The humanistic view is that we go after it and we can make anything happen. We don't choose most of what comes at us.
Our view under heaven must be, "What is God doing?" We would do well to cultivate this outlook.
We must look past the second causes to the One who has brought these things to us.
Finding meaning is the great pursuit of life. We are made with eternity in our hearts and the longing for meaning but can never find it outside of God. It is a sentence upon man because of his rebellion. This is how God's wrath is revealed. Romans 1 God gives man up to his vain ways and searching for meaning while in rebellion to Him.
Many decide it is better off to be dead or not even have existed than to be born into this world. Life is supposed to be better than it is.
What does an unsatisfied life point to? The fact that we are supposed to be satisfied.
We can't enjoy life because God has set eternity in our hearts and the only thing that will satisfy is if we find it in Christ Jesus!
1 Cor 1:21 God is pleased through the foolishness of the message to to save men.
The only reason there is any good in this world is because of the grace of God!
Salvation does not exempt us from problems, we are simply able to put them in perspective.
Salvation doesn't come to us so that this world would be heaven. It comes so that we may set our minds on things above! We have a sure hope in heaven!
The learning and growing Christian will work hard to understand these things. In the church, the gathered church of God is where God dwells and works among us and teaches us. It is why God sent His son. We may not esteem the church highly, but we should because this is where we can learn and grow and understand our place in it. God does not think lightly of the church. He is working all things for the good of the church. Everything that we see with our eyes and hear with our ears is for the good of the church.
In the passage today, Solomon examines how men do live in this world. He examines the ways that work or don't work.
We must cultivate a mind to look at things properly with a proper perspective.
Lesson 1
Exaltation of self motivates self. v.4
Some improve their skills to be envied by others or some improve their skills to be competitive with others. These are two different interpretations of v. 4. It has to do with receiving recognition. Many are driven to succeed in order to outdo others. We want to be the envy of the world. This is our nature. To deny this is to deny the essence of sin. The Fall has to do with man wanting to be like God Himself! It is in the nature of man to want to be in the place of God. We don't want authority over us and we want to be the final authority! We also want things that are exclusive to Him, such as worship....we are worth the praise and applause of others, so we think. We want recognition, honor and glory! We think we are worthy of these things! We want to be the object of other people's affections. Satan wants all of these things too. He wants to usurp these things from God and so do his children. Our sinful natures are the same as Satan's and we look like him. But we have been redeemed by Christ. We still have remaining sin that we must fight against, however.
We don't want others to be equal with us. We want the final word, the final authority! In whatever degree we are not this way, it is by the grace of God.
We are to improve our talents, but what is our motive?
Mens minds will either feed upon the evil of others or on their own goodness in order to boost themselves up and be admired.
What is achievement and what motivates us to achieve? Is it to gain admiration of others? Or is it to bring glory to God?
We must deal with ourselves only in the word of God.
Lesson 2
We are to improve our talents and be content with what we have.
V. 5 he talks about the one who doesn't labor at all.
V. 7-8 he talks about the one who is a work-a-holic, hoarding up goods for himself.
Labor and developing skills for our own glory is not the meaning of life. But we are to labor and improve the talents that God has given us.
Work and improvement of skills are good. We are made to work. Sin distorts this and we are lazy or we work hard but with the wrong motives....motives to gain glory for self.
v. 7-8 Working to get as much as you can with no real enjoyment but only greed.
v. 5 the one who doesn't want to work at all.
v. 6 is the remedy...one hand works and enjoys the things of the world and the other hand is towards God.
Never divorce your work from a heavenly perspective!
What is our motivation to work and develop skill? In whatever work God has called us to we are to view these in light of a conscience toward God. What is our goal, aim and end? It's to be to God's glory! Any lawful work can become our god for our own glory. We need to keep the balance....accept what God has given and be content with it. We often work hard to get what others have and will do anything to get it. Others won't work at all.
7-8 He labors for himself, no one else. He is never content, never satisfied. Prov. 27:20
Having for the sake of having and not using and enjoying it. They are too worried about what they have and striving to get more!
We need to labor properly. We need to work hard, improve our skills, in service to others to the glory of God.
No shame in being rich and enjoying that with a conscience toward God.
Prov. 16:19
Prov. 17:1
Prov. 30:7-9
Prov. 15:15-17
The motivation of why we do things must be dealt with!
⛄Marsha⛄
But none of these things move me, (not knowing what shall befall me v. 23) neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24 KJV)
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