Sermon nuggets Mon Feb 23
Theme -Life isn’t Fair
Scriptures- Eccl 3:16-4:3
Life Isn’t Fair
I don’t like to watch TV much anymore. The stories seem gory. The relationships shallow. Immorality abounds. Even the cartoons are filled with vulgarity and selfishness. It’s a far cry from teaching values and responsibilities to young children.
That is not to say there weren’t good guys and bad guys, nor incidents when Larry, Moe and Curley, or Laurel and Hardy didn’t act with responsibility. (I realize most younger adults don’t have a clue about whom I refer.) Still such silly humor brought out lessons of the wise and the foolish without crudeness and lewdness.
I delighted in the stories that ended with, "And they lived happily ever after." With Roy Rogers, Gene Audrey, cartoons and other stories of my preschool and early elementary days the guys in the white hats won and those who were crooks were met with justice for all their evil deeds. But it wasn't long before life ran contrary to the simplistic approach of good triumphing over evil. We see that good does not always prevail like it is suppose to. Evil sometimes does. There is no question that is a difficult to answer the obvious question "If God is all powerful and all good, why does he allow evil to succeed?"
As we looked a last week at the poetic statement of the sovereignty of God, there is a time and a purpose for everything under heaven. All these events in life are like stitch work to a tremendous tapestry. Though we can only see the backside of threads and colors that look a tangled mess, God on the other side sees how each stitch fits perfectly into his great and cosmic plan. We mentioned that God has a plan and a purpose that brings him glory and the procedures is using men to carry out those plans in different ways. But man does not always understand. Why do the innocent suffer? Why does evil prevail? Why do evil things seem to be increasing?
This week Solomon reflects on some of the injustices of our existence. Evil does abound. What do we do when we are victims? Life isn’t always fair.
It was to a world that was very unfair and full of evil, Jesus came. The presence of evil gives us increased awareness of the need of a savior.
The cries repeated in the Bible are “How long, O Lord, How Long?” When life isn’t fair we long for the one who will bring real and lasting justice.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues, Feb 24
Verses-Eccl 3: 16,17 And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment-- wickedness was there, in the place of justice-- wickedness was there.
17 I thought in my heart, "God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed."
There is the Presence of Injustice
Life isn’t fair. People expect government to make fair judgments when it comes to justice. How often to people leave courtrooms to find that justice as not served? Of course the same is true at home between siblings, or in school with classmates, at work with employers, or even at church when people feel like something isn’t right and fair about how people are handled or accepted.
Justice in the true form is using God's absolutes and perfect standards. The symbol we use for justice is a woman with a blindfold, meaning that she is blind to favoritism. She is holding a balance so that things are done true to the way they should be. All people from all economic levels all nationalities and races will be judged equally and without partiality. But for now, in this world, we know that isn't so.
A report came out on the way the police and justice system in Minnesota treat Afro-Americans differently for the exact same crime and the exact same offense as white people. We see that when people are able to pay the money for a very good lawyer justice is not always served.
In many other countries bribes are considered a way of life. In politics appointments are granted not so much on ability to serve but on how much people pay in work or money for the victors campaign.
Charles Colson told when he was in prison many inmates with limited education had no understanding whatsoever why they were there. Many were not represented and had been discriminated against. Others with certain reputation and wealth commit crimes and get fines or reprimands with light or no sentencing. One missionary told me that in Ethiopia an African could be arrested and if his family went to the authorities to inquire why their loved was arrested they may end up in jail for asking. Bribery, power, influence, wickedness abound.
Solomon as a king was instructed to be fair and just. Whenever we do not get our own way we often think things are done unfairly and we are the victims of injustice. We don't have the objectivity of seeing life through the eyes of the other person as well.
We see robbers getting hurt in the homes that are being robbed and suing for injuries and winning. We see illustrations of someone confessing to horrible crime, but didn't have the wording correct when the police read his rights and the case was dismissed. We see school officials treating popular families differently in regards to discipline and even grades. And if we say everything is in the control of God then why does God who is completely just allow this?
Solomon thought, God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed" The standards of God are meant to bring us to conviction and confession of wrong doing and plead for mercy before our creator. Instead society justifies failure as the responsibilities with social ills and environment redefining God's standard and not thinking any mercy is needed.
Acts 17:31 says, "For God has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead." Will evil prevail? Jesus reminds us and let us not forget it, Only for a time. Then all their deed and all our deeds will be brought into account by a righteous God. There will be no bribery, no expensive lawyers, no loopholes, no misguided judges. Almighty God will not be fooled and will not play the games of men. He knows not only every deed but also the motive behind the deeds. What hope do we have as sinners who stand condemned?
How about your life? Are you living like you are getting away with sin are you ignoring God and his laws?
We will have been given the opportunity of confess our sin, repent and turn from it, and plead for God's mercy for all have done evil in His holy sight. When we look to Jesus who paid the price and see what our sin had done to him none of us will consider it unfair when He forgives the repentant sinner for we see the mercy extended by the real righteous one.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Feb 25
Verses- Eccl 3: 18-21 I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.
19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.
20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.
21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"
There is the Presence of Mortality
As Solomon continues to look around there is another evil which affects every one of us. It is the evil of death. There is a futile observation no matter how hard you work, how much you gain, how much your are loved or despised, all die. From the viewpoint of this world mortality is our fate. In that sense man is nothing different than the animals.
If the passage didn’t mention God this could have been a current article by some of our leading scientists who promote the Darwinian philosophy. Animal rights people can argue we should treat mankind and all animals exactly the same. Atheists have this despairing conclusion that we are only animals and when we are dead, we are dead. When we are gone we are gone and man is nothing more than a higher form of animal life. That is the conclusion of the natural evolutionist. Man is a life like any other life on this earth whether it be an amoeba or bird or turtle, or chimpanzee or a human- we evolved within the animal kingdom and are a more complex animal, not however any better or worse.
Abortion and euthanasia rises when the sacredness of human life is no different than any other animal. Nazis would reduce human life to something subhuman for those who were Jewish or retarded, old or infirmed. 6 million people are exterminated. So what?
But Scripture has a different view. All mankind has the image of God printed upon them different from animals and most importantly have an eternal soul. The reason the early slavery masters and traders could misuse the Negro race was the convincing of white race that black people were really animals and did not have a soul. Many animals were better treated. Life was cheap.
But Solomon observes, even believing in God we are mortals. We will die. All our earthly accomplishments will be done. You cannot prepare for eternity once you are dead.
People don’t think it is fair when a young person dies. They don’t think it is fair when a loved one dies. They don’t think it is fair when a popular celebrity dies. Some people think is fair only when an evil person dies. But the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death”. I guess I qualify.
This evil of mortality is the curse laid upon all mankind.
Paul writes, even for the Christian, “For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” 1 Cor 15:16-19
If this life is all there is, then indeed morality and futility results. But there is more to come because of Jesus’ resurrection. Are you prepared?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs Feb 26
Verses- Eccl 4:1-3 Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed-- and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors-- and they have no comforter.
And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.
But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.
There is the Presence of Oppression
King Solomon, the rich ruler, still had responsibility for the poor of his country. His personal prosperity didn’t remove the misery of the poor. His wealth only showed up more their poverty. Oppressors are those that take advantage of the oppressed, the poor, the slaves, the prisoners, the prejudiced, the hungry. Tyranny has ruled.
We see the oppression recently with exorbitant life styles of CEOs, Wall street executives, banking officials while those they were suppose to serve experience massive layoffs. The personal greed and search for power is oppressive!
Although some minimum wage jobs are available it is not enough for the bread winner to feed and house his family. Many will use next to slave labor to live quite well. I wonder if we will see the day as after the depression when work is hard to come by those employed are worked longer, harder, and for less money lest they become the ranks of the unemployed. Pay cuts are needed to keep businesses open, but this too can be taken advantage of for those owners who care more for their greater wealth than the greater good of others.
Many companies are going South of the border or to India, not because they can't make a profit with American laborers, but because their profits can increase so much more substantially when they don't have to share it with the common people in paying salaries. I do not see how that honors God. The rich get richer and the poor are oppressed by their cruelty.
This week I had read of the plight of slaves back in those days when there was beatings, hangings, and rapes all at the will of their masters, even while the masters were good and upstanding churchmen. I am aware of companies that let people go before retirement so they get out of retirement benefits.
There is outright oppression by other means also. Many are victimized by others. I talked to one young man who was regularly raped by a gang of homosexuals. The police had been informed but it resulted in further abuse by the gang. Another business in his inner city community pays a gang regularly money so his place will not be vandalized. When he missed a payment it was wrecked.
How can we withstand the oppression? By first seeking to be free from it ourselves. From attitudes harbored against others due to prejudice and pride. Too often the abuser thinks her or she is better than the others.
But there is a time when the united voices of God rise up and call for justice. God calls to stand against oppression and to minister to the oppressed. We have social responsibility.
After witnessing some of the abuse of oppression against others from a human point of view the writer concluded it would have been better if the oppressed hadn’t been born. The hard life some live seems futile. But like Psalm 73 reveals, the time to make things right is coming when the eternal fate of the oppressors is revealed.
This is the time of grace for people to be warned that judgment is coming. Those of us who have been redeemed can’t just wish it were better, but seek to help the ones we can. We cannot close our eyes to oppression. We may not be able to stop government oppression on a local level but we can change our actions and reach out to those who are feeling the pain of oppression, and speak for those who have no voice.
Pastor Dale.
Sermon nuggets Fri Feb 27
Verses- Eccl 3:22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?
There is the Presence of the Unknown
When I visit with someone who feels like life isn’t worth living, in addition to faith issues, I try to get them to see the immediate: they are contemplating a long term solution to a short range problem. Everyone one of the people who were in despair had circumstances in the future that changed their situation. They didn’t see it at the time, but things got better.
Indeed, Solomon tells us life is full of ups and downs. If things are going well, wait a bit it will change. If things are not going well, wait a bit it will change.
There are constant things in our lives that can provide stability. The sun will come up tomorrow regardless of what this day is like. There is a new day coming. Since Jesus died for our sins and since we have received His gift of salvation then the matter of the resurrection and eternal life has been settled. We will not die but only translated into His presence as our bodies are left behind.
But for now there is the burden of the unknown. Solomon admits life is not fair. One cannot see what will happen after him. Will it get better or worse?
When a couple stands before the preacher to get married they are full of dreams. Many of those dreams do not work out. Many of those marriages end in divorce. Who knows at the time photos are taking of a new born baby what the future has for that child? There are many turns in life that we experience over which we have no control. So what do we do?
For each generation life has gotten better as our standard of living has increasingly improved. For the period of time we have on the earth our lot is to work to provide for our needs, our family and keep on persevering until we die. That is our lot according to Solomon’s skepticism.
The work we do here is ended when we die. To seek enjoyment in your labor and in your life is a path that we all can take. It doesn’t make a difference if you work as a janitor or a CEO of a business. It doesn’t matter if your work is paid or unpaid. It doesn’t matter if you are a housewife, or a retiree with responsibilities to pay bills and volunteer services. What you have done for self, family, others, or for God awaits us today. What surprises does God have for you? You will not know unless you make yourself available to Him to change your plans and be open to His. If nothing else, your lot is to face your responsibilities doing the best you can.
Rev 14:13 “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."
We will speak more on the unfair life next week, but for today there is work to do, people to see, and projects await. We can see them as burdens or responsibilities that are our lot and in doing them our peace comes from knowing we serve the Lord.
Pastor Dale
