Sermon Nuggets Mon March 9
Theme- Ways of Worship
Verses Eccl 5:1,2 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.
Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
Worshipers need to be Responders
Last week we discussed the question of what God is doing about all the evil. He has done something by sending Christ, and He will do something by sending Christ again. We can be saved from evil's effects even though we live in an evil environment. It does not have to happen within us. We can respond as God intents. He will bring justice. That is a great thing about knowing Him and that is the worse thing if you don't know Him.
The two phrases I want to consider as we begin to reflect on Solomon’s wise words on ways to worship are “Guard your steps” and "God is in heaven and you are on earth.”
Worship means to ascribe worth. Specifically we ascribe worth to God. We realize our humility before Him and His awesome character. He is on the throne. He is in heaven. We are the ones who have sinned and fall short of His glory. We do not come to Him on our terms, but on His. We respond to Him in humility an guarding our steps according to His will and ways.
About the time of Stanchfield Baptist Church's beginning in 1866 De Tocqueville of France visited America. Upon his return home he wrote, "I sought for the greatness of America in her harbors and rivers and fertile fields and in her mines and commerce. It was not there. Not until I went into the churches and heard her pulpits flamed with righteousness did I understand the greatness of her power. America is great because she is good; and if America ever ceases to be good America will cease to be great."
What influenced the steps of our nation? It was the reverence for God. It was the response to His holiness and sovereignty. The beginning of wisdom certainly is positioning Him as Lord and ourselves as servants. It is opening our hearts for the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It is responding to his love by faith and living by His commands.
How does that enhance our worship from Sunday to Sunday? Are we not still responders to the holy and sovereign God? Ought we not to reflect on His power and our need for Him? Ought we not to acknowledge in our own hearts that we need holiness and have no place else to turn but come into His presence to be made holy, forgiven, and right before God?
We must remember the reality of the strength of our nation is God. The reality of the strength of our lives is God. We need worship. We need to come together before Him. We need to keep getting off the thrown of our lives and put Him in His rightful place in our hearts. We need prayer. We need the Bible. We need fellowship. We need to guard our steps according to Him in order to thrive in a upside down, lust filled world. Worship makes the difference. America is closing its doors to the very power that made it strong.
Who would have thought that evil would now be acceptable and part of society’s policies? The world view of this age has so filled the church. Worship needs to focus on God and not on us. We need to be responders. He declares what is good and bad. We respond in guarding our steps and seeking to submit to His authority and truth.
ACLU may be gaining increased power in these days limiting our freedom of Religion, but it cannot limit the works of God. Political laws can enforce relativism and restrictions against preaching the whole counsel of God, but He is still in his Heaven not to be judged by man, but to be the judge of all mankind. The schools may be required to teach acceptance of alternative life styles and outlaw prayer and Bible from curriculum but that does not change truth from the Lord. Planned Parenthood can continue to fight for the right of a woman’s choice and laws allow for embryos to be harvested for stem cell research, but the right to life belongs to God and He will bring about His power in His time. Our entertainment and media might continue with vulgarity, profanity, pornography, promiscuity, violence, and vices of all sorts until most of the popular considers that normal and rightful behavior, but to guard our steps is a commitment to a life designed by God to bless and not curse. Sexual freedoms of the day yield to any and all lusts of the mind and flesh but to come to the lawmaker of the universe is to guard our steps and find true freedom in being in sync with the purpose for our creation- to reflect the image of God and give Him glory.
The beginning thoughts on worship is responding to His sovereignty love and power by reverently coming before Him as HE is, not how we want to remake Him.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues March 10
Verse Eccl 5:1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.
Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
Worshipers need to be Listeners
Since Worship is ascribing worth to God and recognizing His rightful place, we respond to who He is in our hearts and in our actions.
As we come to worship the Lord one important but often missing element is listening. We learn most by listening. We respond to what the Spirit of God reminds us or teaches us.
Quieting our hearts before the Lord is part of prayer asking the Lord to help us to listen. There is an important place for praise and singing and making our requests known, but silence help us to focus.
Worship is founded upon a relationship and it doesn't happen until first we hear from God. Part of listening according to the Psalmists to do to a bit of self review. “Search me of God and know my heart. Ps 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
The Bible is full of references that talk about vain sacrifice in worship, as also mentioned here. How often do we go through motions of worship without actually participating in it. I confess that trying to direct a worship service too often gets in the way of my actual worshipping as a pastor. My attention isn’t on the Lord but thinking of what to say, how many verses to use, The length of time things are going to take, whether this fits better with that or if a song is too high or too low, how long will that train whistle be this week? That gets in the way of worship for me.
What goes through your minds at set times of worship. Fortunately that is not the whole story. But listening and quieting our spirits before God is one of the ways of worship.
The reason I ask for people to pray before the service, the reason I wish our prayer warrior groups during the week will grow with people dedicated to prayer is that we might meet with God and Him with us, as a church and as individuals. God wants to meet us. Job offered many questions and complaints in his time of suffering, but it was when he listened that true connect with a holy and awesome God took place. There are different times in a service when God may speak. It may come through the preaching, it may come through S.S. class. It may come thorough special music, or listening to organ, or comment in the foyer, or something you read in a bulletin, or listen to on the radio, but do you desire to listen?
There is no better time to listen to God than also having time alone with God in personal prayer, Bible reading and devotions I will say that you cannot grow as a Christian unless you have personal prayer and time with God. S.M. Lockridge says, "It is important to pray in a dialogue, than a monologue because we wait to hear what God says, which is more important than what we have to say anyway because we don't know what to ask for in the first place."
What is God wanting to say to you today? What about when your come to church? The Sabbath was set aside to meditate and rest and listen to God to change our activities that we might be better listeners and worship.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds March 11
Verses – Eccl 5:2,3 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.
Worshipers need to Reflect
I would like to encourage you that if you are not involved in a Bible study to come to church Wednesday nights and take in the study on “Experiencing God” by Henry Blackabee.
The Scriptures and the study of them are an important part of worship. Study and meditation reflect on what God has to tell us and what we can learn from the Word of God. From the verses that call us to worship, it is great to remind ourselves of the greatness of grandeur of God. WE are blessed to reflect on His character as revealed in the Word. He is Holy. There is nothing like knowing Him. He is making himself known to you and me.
Worship is to think and meditate and reflect on the object of our worship. You come to birthday party or a retirement party for the purpose of honoring the person. You talk about that person you review what he has done, you give him gifts, you sing to him. In a much greater way we are blessed when we talk about Him, talk to him, share our love and honor him by singing to him and thinking about his great accomplishments. That's worship.
I think of the Hymn, "Have your own way Lord, have your own way. Thou art the Potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after your will, while I am waiting, yielded and still." God is our creator, he is not our errant boy. Where we command the Lord around, Friends, we are His creatures and we are creatures for His glory we need to reflect on his person and see him as he rally is and see us as we really are, sinners saved by grace. We need to go into the house of God with receptive attitudes and gaze upon His presence. To be rebuked for our pretense and hypocrisy and superficiality and religiousity.
We are foolish mortals He is God. But the joy of worship is that this great God desires that we be blessed by meeting with Him and when we do it is awesome and the desire to know Him more grows.
We not only reflect on his glory, but reflect on man's situation. Before we can become what we want to be there must be a healing of things that might stand in the way between me and the Lord. And when Isaiah saw the presence of the Lord his response was "Woe is me I am ruined for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." Isn't it interested that this good man is immediately convicted of his mouth. Sin must come from the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that is only possible when we are open to him and realizing that in his purity we are selfish and prideful we are seeking our ways and not his ways. We want our pleasure and not his pleasures,
Prayer is not to change God, but to change us. More than confess reflection in prayer is to praise, to make our requests known to God, to thank Him for His goodness to us. Prayer begins by quieting ourselves before the Lord not only to listen, but to reflect and as the Spirit of God brings things to mind our reflection turns into praise and prayer. We set ourselves aside from our regular activity to gaze upon His beauty and reflect on Him, ourselves, and others from a divine perspective.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs March 12, 2009
Verses- 4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.
5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.
6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?
Worshipers need to Obey
In addition to our prayers we come to worship with our sacrifices. The sacrifice of a fool is one who does so without meaning or intention of giving without commitment. Commitment is to recognize the object of our worship and offer ourselves to be used by Him. It is the giving of one’s tithes and offerings (or sheep and oxen) and seek repentance, forgiveness and make promises of obedience to God.
We must act on our promises. In this passage worship is responding in obedience to the things that you say to God you are going to do. When you make a vow fulfill it, even if no one else does. We are to be obedient to what God wants of you and me.
We are cautioned not to make vows. Solomon is convicted, I believe because he has now been cursed and his family is going to lose most of the kingdom. IKing 11:11 “So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.”
He failed to keep a vow when he promised to God he would be faithful to Him and not worship any other gods, yet through lust, many wives, and adultery due to wealth and prestige and power, Solomon became an old fool and God judged him. Friend we need to take seriously the vows we make before God.
There are vows people make especially when they are faced with crises. They make solemn pledges to the Lord, as if we could bargain with God anyway. "Lord, if you will make me well I'll go to church faithfully, if you save the life of my son or daughter, then I'll give 10% of all I have. If you allow me to get out of this alive, I promise I'll be a preacher for you, Lord." There are examples of Kings in the Bible who make foolish and thoughtless vows. We must never think that making a vow will merit God's favor.
I believe our nation makes a mockery of the vow of marriage with such a flippant attitude toward divorce. I believe we are judged for weak Christian commitment that vows to trust and obey and we make the things of this world more important than the things of God. We sing I have decided to follow Jesus, the cross before me the world behind me, but no one would ever know it as the things of this world become increasingly important in our lives and God gets the leftovers. Do you think God will forget your commitments to him? People dedicate their children publicly to God and many never carry through on their vow to bring up their children in the admonition of the Word and with the people of God in fellowship.
The problem with the lack of growth in the Christians life boils down to simply to two problems: A lack of faith or a lack of obedience.
Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” If you want to understand the will of God for your life the first thing is to be an obedience servant. God doesn't want you to marry people that are not Christians. If the Bible teaches tithing you will not get very far without fulfilling that promise. When Jesus teaches us to forgive our trespasses as we forgive others who trespass against us, that means we must take the first steps in seeking and also willing to forgive other's sins. That is part of worship not to be envious or drunk, or gossips, or busybodies or any such things.
Worship is not just receiving from God, but giving to God. We give him ourselves through sacrifices and obedience as His loving servants.
Pastor Dale.
Sermon Nuggets Fri. March 13, 2009
Verse Eccl 5:7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.
Worshipers need to be in Awe
What helps us think about the awesomeness of God? Certainly the truth of the Word, the teachings from the Bible, reflections over how God has been active in the world as well as in your personal life are part of it. But God has also ordained music to be ways for us to respond by declaring and thinking about his awesomeness.
Music is an emotional expression of one’s self. It is a spiritual experience through which we can sing, listen, play and pray. Truths are also conveyed through music. Unfortunately, we can also convey false doctrine and trite man-centered theology. Hymns and spiritual songs need to be evaluated as to it’s Biblical truth. But music, even without words convey expressions of feeling. Is it entertainment, or praise worship or testimony to the Lord?
Lets be honest. Lots of music is subjective. So much of how different cultures worship is through various styles of music. Even within a Midwestern Baptist church people worship differently. Some enjoy classical, others country. Some like gospel, others like Spirituals. Some appreciate rock others prefer quieter expressions. Rather than force one another into their preferred style it does us well to recognize diversity and appreciate the awesomeness of God. He is the focus of all that should be done. But this is not saying everything goes. Much of music is only a tribune to our own egos and pride.
Worship music that lifts up our Lord and helps us declare His glory and His work and His ways with a heart that desires to be vertical in our attention is the goal. People that play guitar, or piano, or organ, or bongos can enhance sounds from which the awesomeness of God is expressed.
Look at Him and reflect on His presence, His sovereignty, His faithfulness, and loveliness. Realize that you can place all your faith upon Him. Give Him every area of your life for you can't do anything about it of much worth anyway. Then put to practice the things you have promised to Him that you would do.
The greatest act of God is the cross. The awesome mercy, justice, love and sovereignty is displayed by the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of the Lord. The story of the Bible is God. His story shows how He redeems mankind unto Himself by faith in the works of His Son.
The problem with worship today is we're living in a self-centered era. We don't come to worship to have our needs met, we come to listen to God, to reflect on His beauty. We come declare His worth. We come to thank Him. We come to be changed by Him. We come to confess sin. We come to be empowered to make a difference in the world around us together as a body as we allow Him to live in and through us in a different way than our neighbors who do not know Christ. We are to be obedient people.
Where is your heart? Is it right with God today? Are you able to have the barriers removed by allowing him to do it?
Lets not forget the instruction of Amos 5:23-24 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
That’s awesome. That is worship that embraces the heart of God in all we are and do.
Pastor Dale
Friday, March 13, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Life Still Isn't Fair- Ecclesiates 4:4-16
Sermon nuggets Week of March 2 Eccl 4:4-16
Sermon Nuggets Mon March 2, 2009
Theme- Life Still Isn’t Fair
Verses Eccl 4:10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Living in an Unfair World
How many examples are needed to build a case? Last week we identified some of the areas of life King Solomon uses to show the evils of our world.
It seems odd justice takes time. Gathering evidence for conviction can be a long process. When illegal drugs are continually affecting our society, the plan is not only to stop the seller on the street, but more time is taken allowing drug transactions to continue, so the law enforcement might be able to get to the supplier, and ultimately the source. Letting some go for awhile hopes to produce more evidence against producers and sellers on a higher level.
When there is graft in government, there are some who wait and let it continue until more clear examples are exposed for a guilty verdict. But what about all the abuse in the interim? Does that seem fair?
Since God knows the hearts and motives of each individual He doesn’t need to gather any evidence. I might get impatient with evil around me, but I am reminded that if God immediately judged evil, I would be the one found guilty. There would be no time for repentance or justification if evil was immediately dealt with.
I want fast justice done when I am the victim, but when I have committed a sin I certainly am glad I have been granted some time to be put under conviction and hopefully, ultimately allowing the power of the Spirit to bring repentance and cleansing from my sin of evil- for all sin is evil before a Holy God. His patience is only a testimony to His grace. He wants to see more repent and be saved.
Solomon looked at evil from the eyeglasses as one who was in power but aware of the ultimate power of the Lord. He saw himself as one anointed by the Lord to lead the people. He became aware that part of his part in God’s plan to deal with evil for now.
God’s plan for now is to invade our evil, change our hearts and allow us to be messengers of truth and righteousness as we carry out His work. We are to invade the world of darkness. It is taking the truth to people one by one and seeing hearts changed.
The Spirit filled servant girl, the soldier, the fisherman, or the teacher each affect lives in ways that go contrary to the works of Satan.
When Solomon was fed up with the injustices of the world around him it was his responsibility to bring justice to those he could. When he witnessed the oppression of others in power it was now awareness of that problem that now became his problem to stop it. When prejudice occurred he was to see where he might have been affected by prejudging others based on race, or economics, or position.
There is a day coming when God who knows the hearts and minds of each person and each action will make things right. The cross was the turning point in the defeat of evil. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives at our request to continue the cleansing process. When evil seeks to stop the spread of the truth, it cannot succeed.
We will continue this week with other things seen by Solomon that needs changing. It is not enough to just see it exposed, but become the hands and feet of the Lord to affect our lives, our families, our churches, our societies. IT is a job too large for any one of us. But it is God’s design to change us so we can be change agents in the world.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues March 3, 2009
Verses- Eccl 4:4-6 And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
The fool folds his hands and ruins himself. Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.
There is the Presence of Envy
Solomon sees another problem that pits neighbor against neighbor and person against people. People often do what they do out of sense of competition and jealousy instead of self fulfillment. Envy results in resentment instead of working together with others. Envy causes rivalry among the workers. Envy is the opposite of contentment.
What if an employer hires a secretary to work on getting report out? Toward the end of the working day he realizes that she isn't going to complete the task, so he brings in another secretary to work for a couple of hours until the project is completed. He gives the first secretary her regular salary but out of gratitude for coming in, he gives the second secretary the same amount of money. Is that just?
Part of our interpretation of justice is from man not from God. In fact, that is the very story that Jesus gives in Matthew 20:11-15 of people working in the field. Murmuring employees were motivated by greed. They wanted more money than those who did not work as long or as hard. Rather than rejoicing that the other laborers were treated with generosity and grace, there was resentment against the employer and those hired later. People who were content with their pay no longer were. The issue wasn’t that the employer didn’t keep his end of the bargain, they felt the rules changed when some others were hired. But who makes up the rules? Whose money was it? Can’t the owner give whatever he wants? Other people were able to feed their families and provide their needs. Would it have been better if the employer just gave money away as an act of charity?
Competition breeds discontent. When government lays out rules and local practices influence how we ought to act, people lose the concept of God's sense of justice. Honoring Him and receiving salvation is a matter of God's grace not our works. God forgives sin to all who truly repent, even if they are on the death bed. If a young person is taken at the age of 10 with cancer how would that affect his reward in heaven compared to someone who was granted good health and long life and served the Lord for 70 years? What is fair?
The problem we have is the question of jealousy and envy and rivalry. The question in our mind is how we compare to others, not how we relate to God. Are we carrying out what God’s call is on our life without regard to others?
Much of the motivation for achievement is envy. The reason professional sports and entertainment salaries have gotten so out of line is jealousy. The disciples will argue over who is the best of all the disciples, who will be able to sit on the right and the left hands of Jesus.
Envy is an evil. It leads to cheating neighbors, and cutting corners to improve profit and resent another’s accomplishments. Cooperation among Christians can easily fall into competition among Christians. Do we wish others will fail so that we can succeed? What is in our hearts?
Discontent, bitterness, and hatred result too often from envying or resenting others accomplishments or position.
Solomon looked around and noticed people who were at peace withdrew from the frenzy of competition. They looked to God for their inner contentment.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds March 4, 2009
Verses Eccl 4:7-8 Again I saw something meaningless under the sun: There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. "For whom am I toiling," he asked, "and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?" This too is meaningless-- a miserable business!
There is the Presence of Discontent
Solomon, in his discouraged state uses an example of a man who is all alone with no one to leave the fruits of his labor. The man thinks over his hard work but what is it worth? He is not content. Things do not satisfy the desires of his heart.
For many it doesn't matter how hard they work, they just don't seem to get ahead. If they do, they come to the startling realization that it has all been for nothing. How timely in our economy. Those who have saved for a lifetime find the downward spiral of the market leaving them very little. Those who put blood sweat and tears into a new home and borrowed what they could to have their place of dreams now face foreclosure. College funds have dwindled with a feeling of hopelessness. Another man finds he got a $100 raise a month to find his rent is not $150 more a month. What good is it you can't seem to get ahead? Why bother? All the effort, work, and savings amounts to nothing.
The man who lives for selfish interests never finds lasting happiness. Mental health professionals are finding business booming when economy gets tough. Suicides are up. Depression increases. Despair seems to be contagious.
Part of the context of this passage is not just whither someone is successful but the loneliness that comes with not sharing it.
How often did we get the very thing we wanted only to find it did not bring the contentment we sought? Discontent occurs through selfish pursuits when the person is all alone.
There is value in hard work, in doing a job well. But perhaps more than the product is the process that develops our character. Many women who are seeking careers over homes and family are starting to feel the pains of discontent. They have found, like Solomon, things that matter the most do not get our best attention
This weekend I watched Rain Man movie on TV. Due to bitterness of losing his mothers and having a wealthy, but hard father a son leaves home and never contacts his Dad for years. He is pursuing an expensive car dealership when he gets the news his father died. Out of obligation he attends the funeral. At the reading of the will he discovers he does not get the $3 million dollars. Further investigation reveals he has an autistic brother in an institution. He is brilliant in some areas of calculations, but cannot carry out normal activity. Enraged he “steals” his brother from the home thinking taking care of him would allow him to get the money.
The movie shows the contrast of the pursuit of material things compared to a new relationship with a brother he didn’t know he had. The things he wanted did not bring contentment. In time a new found relationship began to mean more to him than he could imagine.
Things that too often get our attention are soon gone and fly away.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs March 5, 2009
Verses- Eccl.4:13-16 Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning.
14 The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.
15 I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's successor.
16 There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
There is the Presence of Fickleness
What commands our loyalty? Are we loyal to traditions just because that is what we are used to? Are we loyal to a country right or wrong? Are we loyal to a political party regardless how things may change? At what point do we switch loyalties?
Maybe as an older king, Solomon realizes that his time is up and he does not have the support that he did has a young king. He observes people are basically a dissatisfied lot .Leaders find you can’t always please people.
Just because a person is older doesn’t mean he or she exhibits wisdom. Just because a person is younger or doesn’t look like we want them to look, doesn’t mean they don’t have insight and thoughts that should be accepted.
Our times change rapidly. Solomon shows that popularity fades quickly. People change allegiances. Someone can be imprisoned and become a king or ruler. I think of Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned for over 25 years becoming an influential African leader. Someone can come from poverty and with the right circumstances be very popular. Rags to riches as been an attraction in a nation that claims anything is possible. The reason so many were excited about the election of an African American President was that avenue was closed in the past solely based on racial prejudice.
But Solomon is losing popularity. Is it because he is becoming senile? Is it because even in his day, there is a movement to a youth culture? People are attracted to young and new ideas, but are quick to reject them and the persons when those ideas do not work.
Ruth Graham wrote in Christianity Today a number of years ago , “Some people seem more prone to fall than others. One young Christian was impulsive and older Christians were waiting for him to fall and it wasn't long before they obliged. He said later that the greatest stumbling block in the beginning of his Christian life was not his old drinking buddies, but skeptical Christians waiting for him to fall and sin and be flat on his face so they could say, "I told you so."
Many have the gift of discernment when it comes to the faults and the failures of others. Jesus said, "If a brother be overtaken in a fault you who are spiritual restore such a one. The nicest thing we can do for our heavenly father , wrote St Teresa of Avilla, "Is to be kind to one of his children."
Solomon unfortunately started out with an intimate walk with the Lord. Through the years as his popularity and riches increased other things took more of his attention and wandering away from the Lord is not uncommon. Before one notices they have lost their first love.
Fads come and go. Unfortunately so do Christian fads. Fads might be seen in churches to become popular. Change is not always bad, but fickleness is jumping from attraction to attraction. Stability comes when we know what we believe and from that foundation explore the world and thought through the lens of our Creation and His truth as it is revealed for us in the Bible.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri March 6, 2009
Verses -Ecc 4:9-12 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
There is the Presence of Help
These verses are in the middle of the list of evils we have been looking at. How do we deal with an unfair world?
There is advice that Solomon gives in our evil world. We need friends and other people.
Solomon emphasizes three reasons for friends and family. First, if one falls down, one can help him up. We can assist one another in need. If you have a need others will help you and you can help them. I am so grateful for folks willing to stop for stalled cars. I can do nothing to help another stalled car on the road other than a ride or a phone call. But people are a tremendous resource of support and assistance.
Secondly, one can help keep another warm. There was a variety of areas where shepherds were keeping their sheep. There were travelers on trade routes sometimes through deserts and open areas which were cold. Often people had only their outer garment. At night they would sleep in a huddle or close together for added warmth or for defense and safety.
The third example of the importance of others is safety. Walking down a street or riding with another gives added security and deters robbers and muggers and others who want to prey on the defenseless. A cord of 3 strands is not quickly broken. The more that are united in efforts the stronger the alliance. Man's most important relationships next to God are family and society and church.
I have used these verses at weddings. It makes a nice devotional as husband and wife become each other’s best friend. The third part of the cord is the Lord that builds a strong relationship.
As Adam was lonely and sought a helper fit for him, helper fulfilled development of personality when love and truth and devotions with another is ideal according to God's great plan and relationship. Society means government to regulate community life and provide order for living together. The church is a spiritual family with various gifts needs for fellowship, for balance in teaching and training in righteousness in supporting God's work financially and praise and worship. These principles work as well. But without friendship one is discontent, and without God we all stand discontent and life looses its meaningfulness.
What do we do with evil? We have acknowledged that our times are not God’s times and He will make things right eventually. That involves faith in the righteous and fair judge of the universe. Another important point to consider is defining fairness. Everyone and everything is not the same. Fairness is not sameness, nor is it treating everyone with man’s standards. What is fair? I am afraid we are pretty subjective about those answers and look to one another. Such comparisons bring us back to envy and jealousy, competition and dissatisfaction.
God has done something about it. He sent His Son to be our savior. The evil around us is only for a time. As mentioned, this passage was introduced by saying God does have all things in his hands. There is a time when all evil will be done away with. There is judgment. It will come to you and me. Things are not the way God designed them. There is grace that Jesus Christ came to have the punishment for our sin and our evil that we may trust Him, repent from our sin and ask him to saves us from all its effects. For all outside of Jesus Christ there is payment of Hell. For those saved by the blood of Jesus Christ there is Heaven. Now is the time.
God gave His son Jesus, to correct the wrongs and make them right. He came to bring to us resurrection so that all will be justified. He suffered so we might be approved unto God. He said I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Mon March 2, 2009
Theme- Life Still Isn’t Fair
Verses Eccl 4:10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Living in an Unfair World
How many examples are needed to build a case? Last week we identified some of the areas of life King Solomon uses to show the evils of our world.
It seems odd justice takes time. Gathering evidence for conviction can be a long process. When illegal drugs are continually affecting our society, the plan is not only to stop the seller on the street, but more time is taken allowing drug transactions to continue, so the law enforcement might be able to get to the supplier, and ultimately the source. Letting some go for awhile hopes to produce more evidence against producers and sellers on a higher level.
When there is graft in government, there are some who wait and let it continue until more clear examples are exposed for a guilty verdict. But what about all the abuse in the interim? Does that seem fair?
Since God knows the hearts and motives of each individual He doesn’t need to gather any evidence. I might get impatient with evil around me, but I am reminded that if God immediately judged evil, I would be the one found guilty. There would be no time for repentance or justification if evil was immediately dealt with.
I want fast justice done when I am the victim, but when I have committed a sin I certainly am glad I have been granted some time to be put under conviction and hopefully, ultimately allowing the power of the Spirit to bring repentance and cleansing from my sin of evil- for all sin is evil before a Holy God. His patience is only a testimony to His grace. He wants to see more repent and be saved.
Solomon looked at evil from the eyeglasses as one who was in power but aware of the ultimate power of the Lord. He saw himself as one anointed by the Lord to lead the people. He became aware that part of his part in God’s plan to deal with evil for now.
God’s plan for now is to invade our evil, change our hearts and allow us to be messengers of truth and righteousness as we carry out His work. We are to invade the world of darkness. It is taking the truth to people one by one and seeing hearts changed.
The Spirit filled servant girl, the soldier, the fisherman, or the teacher each affect lives in ways that go contrary to the works of Satan.
When Solomon was fed up with the injustices of the world around him it was his responsibility to bring justice to those he could. When he witnessed the oppression of others in power it was now awareness of that problem that now became his problem to stop it. When prejudice occurred he was to see where he might have been affected by prejudging others based on race, or economics, or position.
There is a day coming when God who knows the hearts and minds of each person and each action will make things right. The cross was the turning point in the defeat of evil. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives at our request to continue the cleansing process. When evil seeks to stop the spread of the truth, it cannot succeed.
We will continue this week with other things seen by Solomon that needs changing. It is not enough to just see it exposed, but become the hands and feet of the Lord to affect our lives, our families, our churches, our societies. IT is a job too large for any one of us. But it is God’s design to change us so we can be change agents in the world.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues March 3, 2009
Verses- Eccl 4:4-6 And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
The fool folds his hands and ruins himself. Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.
There is the Presence of Envy
Solomon sees another problem that pits neighbor against neighbor and person against people. People often do what they do out of sense of competition and jealousy instead of self fulfillment. Envy results in resentment instead of working together with others. Envy causes rivalry among the workers. Envy is the opposite of contentment.
What if an employer hires a secretary to work on getting report out? Toward the end of the working day he realizes that she isn't going to complete the task, so he brings in another secretary to work for a couple of hours until the project is completed. He gives the first secretary her regular salary but out of gratitude for coming in, he gives the second secretary the same amount of money. Is that just?
Part of our interpretation of justice is from man not from God. In fact, that is the very story that Jesus gives in Matthew 20:11-15 of people working in the field. Murmuring employees were motivated by greed. They wanted more money than those who did not work as long or as hard. Rather than rejoicing that the other laborers were treated with generosity and grace, there was resentment against the employer and those hired later. People who were content with their pay no longer were. The issue wasn’t that the employer didn’t keep his end of the bargain, they felt the rules changed when some others were hired. But who makes up the rules? Whose money was it? Can’t the owner give whatever he wants? Other people were able to feed their families and provide their needs. Would it have been better if the employer just gave money away as an act of charity?
Competition breeds discontent. When government lays out rules and local practices influence how we ought to act, people lose the concept of God's sense of justice. Honoring Him and receiving salvation is a matter of God's grace not our works. God forgives sin to all who truly repent, even if they are on the death bed. If a young person is taken at the age of 10 with cancer how would that affect his reward in heaven compared to someone who was granted good health and long life and served the Lord for 70 years? What is fair?
The problem we have is the question of jealousy and envy and rivalry. The question in our mind is how we compare to others, not how we relate to God. Are we carrying out what God’s call is on our life without regard to others?
Much of the motivation for achievement is envy. The reason professional sports and entertainment salaries have gotten so out of line is jealousy. The disciples will argue over who is the best of all the disciples, who will be able to sit on the right and the left hands of Jesus.
Envy is an evil. It leads to cheating neighbors, and cutting corners to improve profit and resent another’s accomplishments. Cooperation among Christians can easily fall into competition among Christians. Do we wish others will fail so that we can succeed? What is in our hearts?
Discontent, bitterness, and hatred result too often from envying or resenting others accomplishments or position.
Solomon looked around and noticed people who were at peace withdrew from the frenzy of competition. They looked to God for their inner contentment.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds March 4, 2009
Verses Eccl 4:7-8 Again I saw something meaningless under the sun: There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. "For whom am I toiling," he asked, "and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?" This too is meaningless-- a miserable business!
There is the Presence of Discontent
Solomon, in his discouraged state uses an example of a man who is all alone with no one to leave the fruits of his labor. The man thinks over his hard work but what is it worth? He is not content. Things do not satisfy the desires of his heart.
For many it doesn't matter how hard they work, they just don't seem to get ahead. If they do, they come to the startling realization that it has all been for nothing. How timely in our economy. Those who have saved for a lifetime find the downward spiral of the market leaving them very little. Those who put blood sweat and tears into a new home and borrowed what they could to have their place of dreams now face foreclosure. College funds have dwindled with a feeling of hopelessness. Another man finds he got a $100 raise a month to find his rent is not $150 more a month. What good is it you can't seem to get ahead? Why bother? All the effort, work, and savings amounts to nothing.
The man who lives for selfish interests never finds lasting happiness. Mental health professionals are finding business booming when economy gets tough. Suicides are up. Depression increases. Despair seems to be contagious.
Part of the context of this passage is not just whither someone is successful but the loneliness that comes with not sharing it.
How often did we get the very thing we wanted only to find it did not bring the contentment we sought? Discontent occurs through selfish pursuits when the person is all alone.
There is value in hard work, in doing a job well. But perhaps more than the product is the process that develops our character. Many women who are seeking careers over homes and family are starting to feel the pains of discontent. They have found, like Solomon, things that matter the most do not get our best attention
This weekend I watched Rain Man movie on TV. Due to bitterness of losing his mothers and having a wealthy, but hard father a son leaves home and never contacts his Dad for years. He is pursuing an expensive car dealership when he gets the news his father died. Out of obligation he attends the funeral. At the reading of the will he discovers he does not get the $3 million dollars. Further investigation reveals he has an autistic brother in an institution. He is brilliant in some areas of calculations, but cannot carry out normal activity. Enraged he “steals” his brother from the home thinking taking care of him would allow him to get the money.
The movie shows the contrast of the pursuit of material things compared to a new relationship with a brother he didn’t know he had. The things he wanted did not bring contentment. In time a new found relationship began to mean more to him than he could imagine.
Things that too often get our attention are soon gone and fly away.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs March 5, 2009
Verses- Eccl.4:13-16 Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning.
14 The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.
15 I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's successor.
16 There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
There is the Presence of Fickleness
What commands our loyalty? Are we loyal to traditions just because that is what we are used to? Are we loyal to a country right or wrong? Are we loyal to a political party regardless how things may change? At what point do we switch loyalties?
Maybe as an older king, Solomon realizes that his time is up and he does not have the support that he did has a young king. He observes people are basically a dissatisfied lot .Leaders find you can’t always please people.
Just because a person is older doesn’t mean he or she exhibits wisdom. Just because a person is younger or doesn’t look like we want them to look, doesn’t mean they don’t have insight and thoughts that should be accepted.
Our times change rapidly. Solomon shows that popularity fades quickly. People change allegiances. Someone can be imprisoned and become a king or ruler. I think of Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned for over 25 years becoming an influential African leader. Someone can come from poverty and with the right circumstances be very popular. Rags to riches as been an attraction in a nation that claims anything is possible. The reason so many were excited about the election of an African American President was that avenue was closed in the past solely based on racial prejudice.
But Solomon is losing popularity. Is it because he is becoming senile? Is it because even in his day, there is a movement to a youth culture? People are attracted to young and new ideas, but are quick to reject them and the persons when those ideas do not work.
Ruth Graham wrote in Christianity Today a number of years ago , “Some people seem more prone to fall than others. One young Christian was impulsive and older Christians were waiting for him to fall and it wasn't long before they obliged. He said later that the greatest stumbling block in the beginning of his Christian life was not his old drinking buddies, but skeptical Christians waiting for him to fall and sin and be flat on his face so they could say, "I told you so."
Many have the gift of discernment when it comes to the faults and the failures of others. Jesus said, "If a brother be overtaken in a fault you who are spiritual restore such a one. The nicest thing we can do for our heavenly father , wrote St Teresa of Avilla, "Is to be kind to one of his children."
Solomon unfortunately started out with an intimate walk with the Lord. Through the years as his popularity and riches increased other things took more of his attention and wandering away from the Lord is not uncommon. Before one notices they have lost their first love.
Fads come and go. Unfortunately so do Christian fads. Fads might be seen in churches to become popular. Change is not always bad, but fickleness is jumping from attraction to attraction. Stability comes when we know what we believe and from that foundation explore the world and thought through the lens of our Creation and His truth as it is revealed for us in the Bible.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri March 6, 2009
Verses -Ecc 4:9-12 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
There is the Presence of Help
These verses are in the middle of the list of evils we have been looking at. How do we deal with an unfair world?
There is advice that Solomon gives in our evil world. We need friends and other people.
Solomon emphasizes three reasons for friends and family. First, if one falls down, one can help him up. We can assist one another in need. If you have a need others will help you and you can help them. I am so grateful for folks willing to stop for stalled cars. I can do nothing to help another stalled car on the road other than a ride or a phone call. But people are a tremendous resource of support and assistance.
Secondly, one can help keep another warm. There was a variety of areas where shepherds were keeping their sheep. There were travelers on trade routes sometimes through deserts and open areas which were cold. Often people had only their outer garment. At night they would sleep in a huddle or close together for added warmth or for defense and safety.
The third example of the importance of others is safety. Walking down a street or riding with another gives added security and deters robbers and muggers and others who want to prey on the defenseless. A cord of 3 strands is not quickly broken. The more that are united in efforts the stronger the alliance. Man's most important relationships next to God are family and society and church.
I have used these verses at weddings. It makes a nice devotional as husband and wife become each other’s best friend. The third part of the cord is the Lord that builds a strong relationship.
As Adam was lonely and sought a helper fit for him, helper fulfilled development of personality when love and truth and devotions with another is ideal according to God's great plan and relationship. Society means government to regulate community life and provide order for living together. The church is a spiritual family with various gifts needs for fellowship, for balance in teaching and training in righteousness in supporting God's work financially and praise and worship. These principles work as well. But without friendship one is discontent, and without God we all stand discontent and life looses its meaningfulness.
What do we do with evil? We have acknowledged that our times are not God’s times and He will make things right eventually. That involves faith in the righteous and fair judge of the universe. Another important point to consider is defining fairness. Everyone and everything is not the same. Fairness is not sameness, nor is it treating everyone with man’s standards. What is fair? I am afraid we are pretty subjective about those answers and look to one another. Such comparisons bring us back to envy and jealousy, competition and dissatisfaction.
God has done something about it. He sent His Son to be our savior. The evil around us is only for a time. As mentioned, this passage was introduced by saying God does have all things in his hands. There is a time when all evil will be done away with. There is judgment. It will come to you and me. Things are not the way God designed them. There is grace that Jesus Christ came to have the punishment for our sin and our evil that we may trust Him, repent from our sin and ask him to saves us from all its effects. For all outside of Jesus Christ there is payment of Hell. For those saved by the blood of Jesus Christ there is Heaven. Now is the time.
God gave His son Jesus, to correct the wrongs and make them right. He came to bring to us resurrection so that all will be justified. He suffered so we might be approved unto God. He said I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Pastor Dale
Friday, February 27, 2009
Life Isn't Fair Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:3
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
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
Friday, February 20, 2009
Times and Seasons Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
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Sermon Nuggets Mon Feb 16
Theme: Times and Seasons
Verses Eccl 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
God has a Pattern-
One man rushed into a suburban railroad station breathlessly and asked when does the 8:01 train leave? "At 8:01" Well its 7:59 by my watch. 7:57 by the town clock and 8:04 by the station clock, Which am I to go by? "You can go by any clock you wish but you can't go by the 8:01 train, for it has already left."
Time is important in our culture. We are much more time conscious than at any other age. Computers are continually being upgraded for milliseconds are too slow. Clocks rush and whirl, and control our lives. The question remains, "Are we following the right clock?" God does not follow our timing. We are in subjection to his timing. Someone said life is like a coin, you can spend it any way you want, but you can spend it only once. You can never repeat it.
Time changes things. More correctly I should say that things change with time. When I returned to Detroit the last time it was no the place I remembered it as a child growing up. The big back yard shrunk considerably, new freeways and buildings were put up. Little tiny trees were now huge and overgrown. Some large trees were gone. Neighbors are mostly gone. What happened to it all? Time passed and things change.
But there are things we can take security in. Time. It has a pattern. We can trust that in 24 hours a new day will greet us. We can pattern our lives around 7 days and call it a week. We measure our Holidays by months within a year. This is all part of a gift from God to bring consistency in our inconsistent lives.
The writer of Ecclesiastes has a beautifully written view of time in Hebrew poetry that reveals important truths of time. Time is in the hand of God. The question is, "Are we?" Whose clock are we going by? For we can rush around with wrist watches on but as far as eternity goes, many don't have the foggiest idea of what time it is. Solomon explains some things from God's time table.
There is right time for doing things, and there are wrong times for doing things. All things are under God's sovereignty. Are you walking in the plan and will of God for your life? Are you running and functioning according to God's time table or yours? As hard as man tries to control his life he is not its master. There are reasons for things that happen to us.
There are two words Solomon uses: time and season. As they are translated for us one emphasizes an opportunity or moment that is important. The other seems to emphasize the sequence or chain of events on the other. Both are of God.
You don't have to be a philosopher or a scientist to know that time and seasons are a regular part of life no matter where you live. Were it not for the dependability of God-ordained natural laws, both science and daily life would be chaotic, if not impossible. There is an overruling providence in our lives. From before our birth to the moment of our death, God is accomplishing his divine plan.
The consistency of the world’s rotation allows within a day to be the God divine pattern for our life on earth. The seasons also are ordered by God as we rotate around the sun experiencing the pattern of summer, winter, spring and fall (not in that order). From that pattern we govern our days, work, and life. With consistency there are things that we plan, like birthdays, and holidays, and times of planting and harvest. We see our body needs sleep within a day. Work patterns are organized around the clock that serves us 24 hour segments.
From beginning of creation it seemed there were two main divisions of daily time- Gen 1:5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-- the first day. Gen 1:14-18 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.
God made two great lights-- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night…And God saw that it was good.”
In spite of the many changes there is also the awareness that tomorrow is a new day given to us by His grace. Today is a day that is a gift. You have 24 new hours. It is not an accident. It is from God. It was patterned after His creative time table. The 7 days became a week. The week was divided up so Sabbath was a day of rest. The weeks turned into months also regulated by the rotation of the moon. The months into years.
The pattern of God’s world into which we are born is seen as good. It shows us not only his creative genius, but consistency upon which we can depend the functioning of our lives.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Tues Feb 17
Theme- Times and Seasons
Verses- Eccl 3: 1-3 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
God Has a Plan
Everything has a purpose and place according to God's plan. God has a plan for your life.
There are 28 events mentioned, 14 pairs of contrasts. The contrasts of events in life highlight the cycle of balance in our earthly experience. This beautiful portrayal of the seasons of life becomes one of the more loved portions of the Old Testament. Lets look at four contrasts today.
There is a time to be born and a time to die. We have no control over when or where we are going to be born. We have little control over matters regarding our death. Even some who seek to commit suicide are unsuccessful and bear the ramifications of those actions.
Under certain circumstances Doctors will indicate time of birth by inducing labor in a pregnancy, or by cesarean section. Medical science will have increasingly at its disposal machines and equipment that prolongs life, sometimes beyond what might be one considered clinically dead. Morally and ethically our society has been debating as to when life begins at conception or at birth with abortion and life questions. It is a means of debate at what point do you consider the person dead, or continue with life supports?
I am glad for many advances in medicine, but we also need to arouse some caution, for the issues of life and death are in God's hands.
The Bible teaches us it is appointed unto man once to die. God knows when that appointment is, just as you planned your birth and when and where you were to come into this world.
My father had a fear of flying. My mom would try to convince him by quoting the Bible verse, "it is appointed unto man once to die." She would then explain if it is his time to go he can't prevent it and if it isn't, he is not going to die. He replied, "Well it might not be my time to go, but it might be the pilot’s time. I’m not flying!"
"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power, to tell just when the hand will stop - at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own! Live, love, toil with will; place not faith in tomorrow for the clock may then be still."
Another comparison Solomon relates to the harvest- there is a time to plant and a time to sow. We still cannot control the weather. Rain snow and frost keep us from fields. Yet we rejoice at planting time. We must make preparation for now for what you want to receive in the fall harvest.
Our lives are like that too. God allows times for us to plant and someday we will reap the results of what we have planted. You plant and sow evil and rebellion and sin, you will reap the results of what you've planted. If you plant goodness and love and kindness you will reap those results. If you live to yourself you will reap the consequence of that, and if unto God those rewards will be yours. Young people should think this is usually planting time. For many older people they realize the harvest is closer. We just never know. Are you ready? Jesus tells us the fields are ripe for the harvest, We need workers and missions.
There is also a time to kill and a time to heal. Perhaps this has aspect of war in mind, perhaps what is referred to is disease and plagues were some die and some live. But there are many applications and illustrations.
I think of the shepherd who tenderly cares for the lamb and sheep brings it to maturity to health and just the right size only to sell it to the market and have it killed for meat.
Sometimes in churches there is a time for taking out the cancer and sin and disease but cutting off members who are not living for God and causes disruptions to the fellowship and ministry. There are times for reconciliation and revival and healing and forgiving.
There are times for tearing down and for building up. Times to do away with the old and bring in the new, buildings but certain traditions too if their time has served it's purpose. Things just do not remain the same.
I think of the time when we start as a missions to Swedish people There was the time when Swedish was the right language and a time when it was no longer the right language. People change. Maybe in our own lives there are things that need to be thrown out and other things need to be implanted and allowed to grow.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Weds Feb 18
Theme Times and Seasons
Verses- Eccl 3:4-8 (There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:) ….a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Perplexing
Just when people think they have figured out the puzzle of life experiences pop up for which they seem unprepared. As soon as some have figured out the formula for peace and pleasure and passion something happens to disrupt that.
Not only do we experience the joys and sorrows of this world, part of the plan of God is to be in the center of our lives regardless of wht is happening on the outside.
There is a time to weep and a time to laugh. Life has mixture of pain and sorrow along with pleasure and excitement. I have not met a family yet that doesn't experience tragedies and difficulties as well as joys and happier times. In the musical drama, Fiddler on the Roof, one of their romantic songs, "Sunrise, sunset” expresses this-“Sunrise, Sunset, swiftly fly the years; one season follows the others, laden with happiness and tears."
There are times of mourning and times of dancing. There are times of grief and sorrow and emotional pain. The times of dancing and celebration are those times in our lives when we want to express our joyful emotions. But just like the joy of births there comes the sadness of death. There are funerals and there are weddings; there are births and there are divorces. It happens. God is the one constant in our inconsistent world.
There is a time to scatter stones and to gather them. Casting away stones from a field that need to be prepared for planting, or sometimes in war they would scatter stones so the enemy would have a rough time with the blockades in their way. There is the time to gather them for peace and friendship. There is a time for gather them to build buildings and fences and constructions. The need of the moment dictates what should be done.
There is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. Certain a time for calling one another brother and sister in Christ is embracing new believers into the family of God and demonstrating the family of God in community. Times when political enemies see it is not to their advantage to squabble and quarrel, but important issues requires the coming together for the importance of the country. There are times of love making for husbands and wives and times of celibacy, times to search and give to give up searching.
There are times to keep some things and other times to throw things away. Pack rats as well as spent thrifts need to be aware of the extremes of squandering money and hoarding it as well as throwing it away and spending it freely. There is time to mend and a time to tear.
Tearing clothes sometimes symbolized anger, or wrath, or grief, or taking of serious vow or hearing the bad news, and other time when they would be mended where things are o.k. again.
There are times to be silent and time to speak. I sure wish I would be so in tuned to God that I would know those times. We sometimes use silence as subtle weapon of revenge, or escape from social interaction, and sometimes a virtue.
One tourists staying in a little Vermont town joined a small group of men just sitting on the porch of a general store and the visitors tried in vain to strike up a conversation, getting no results then he finally asked, "Is there a law against talking in this town? "No" replied one Vermonter, "Ain't no law against it, we just like to make sure it's an improvement on the silence."
There is also a time for love and time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Is there a time for hate? Jesus said, unless we hate mother or brother meaning putting anything ahead of God is a sin. Hate evil and love the good. There is a righteous hatred and there is the rest of Christians to seek peace with others, but when peace cannot be gained and there is no other alternative available sometimes it is Gods' will to fight. When dictators takeover lands and when oppression and chaos goes unchecked, when injustice and abuse are running on a rampage then there is time for confrontation.
Do we seek to know God's plans? When life happens don’t be surprised but secure knowing that God has brought his people through and will promise to do so until this struggle and puzzle is over.
If your trust is in your circumstances, God what you and me to know it will change one way or another. Therefore we need someone who does not change but consistent in the perplexities of life.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Thur Feb 19
Theme: Times and Seasons
Verses- Eccl 3:9-13 What does the worker gain from his toil?
10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.
13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-- this is the gift of God.
God Has a Procedure
A plan is the goal that is set before you. The procedures are the activities needed to accomplish that plan. This involves the managing and the executing of the task. There are plans within the will of God, and the procedure is the use of men and women to carry out those plans of God. We have plans and we have procedures.
God has made everything's beautiful in his time. How dumb to try to build the roof before you build the basement. It won't work to paint the walls before you put in the pumping and the electricity. If things are done in order it is beautiful in it's time and in its purpose. But best of all He has set eternity in the hearts of man. We don't understand this time table but God does.
All of the sequence is moving perfectly with eternity and Christ's second coming in mind. That is exciting unless you are not ready for His coming. We need to keep eternity in mind when we think of God's timing.
There is one thing that we all have in common. We are different in just about every other way, but the president and the farmer, the business owner and the executive and the maintenance worker all have 24 hours a day. No one has more time than any other. We can all claim equality there. Gods' procedure is a desire that those hours be filled to carry out his plan.
Acts 17:26 “For one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."
We live in this generation. I see this as an extreme indication of God's grace. God has called you and me to be born in this country. No reason we couldn't have been born in the tribes of jungles and live under the power of witch doctors and idol worship. No reason you couldn't have been born a Jew and lived under the tyranny of Adolph Hitler in World War II, or a Vietnamese indoctrinated under the communistic philosophy. But born with the privilege of education, of material goods, food, beauty in land are all grace of God.
Now the question is what are you going to do with these privileges that God has given to you? We are not the master's of our fates, God is. He directed you to make some choices, but relatively few. One important choice you make, are you willing to accept his plan for your life, or rebel and live unto your own selfishness? That makes difference in the procedures you follow.
God controls our times. There is plan and we can be part of it and in that plan we discover our fulfillment even in the difficult times of life. Gal. 4:4 "When the time had fully come, God sent his Son born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive the full rights of sons."
God's procedure of this plan was redemption through the cross. God’s desire is that people may come to eternal salvation. When we see our life in light of that plan life can take on meaning as we carrying out the procedures for Kingdom living. It makes little difference if we work as an executive, a farmer, a minister, or a janitor when our value comes in knowing God and making Him known.
Someone wrote, "God's help is always sure- His methods seldom guessed; Delay will make our pleasure pure, Surprise will give it zest. His wisdom is sublime, His heart profoundly kind; God never is before his time, and never is behind."
If God gives us a task he gives us the time to complete that task. We need to get rid of that which gets in the way of completing the task.
Martin Luther was within God's procedures, of accomplishing redemption through spearheading the reformation. His cook was also in that procedure to provided services to accomplish the same purpose. But he had a different task that wasn't in the limelight. Unless the Lord builds the house those that build it labor in vain. Planning and delegating, execution and review are part of the time management but the most important component is prayer. For all his intellectual genius, dynamic personality, and highly trained skills, Luther knew that the starting place for every true accomplishment was prayer coming before the one who directed his steps.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Fri Feb 20
Theme- Times and Seasons
Verses: Eccl 3:14-15 “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.”
God has a Purpose
The plans are the blueprints; the procedures are steps to carry out the plans. But if one is building a building, the blueprints reveal the plans. The construction workers, banks, and civil authorities are part of the procedure to see that building built. But why build the building to begin with? What is the purpose?
Why did God decide to build mankind? Why did he put creation in place? The Bible reveals the purpose of creation were to display His glory and for His pleasure. We were created to revere Him as our creator. All that is done might bring glory to God, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. The reason for His forgiveness and working with us to come to Him by faith is that we might glorify Him. Storms reveal His power. The universe displays His wisdom. The order of nature displays His control. Evil will be completely defeated and His promises will be completely fulfilled and we will then bow every knee and every one will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.
God loves His glory which is His purpose to display it that all will marvel and worship Him. God performs our salvation for His own sake that we delight in divine love and commitment. He justifies people called by His name in order that He may be glorified, (Ezek 36:22-23,32). We are reminded that God could have started all over again if He wished with a different group of people. But His glory is displayed in His purpose, plan and procedures to bring about our redemption.
Jesus taught us to be humble about our life and our lack of knowledge of it by trusting God’s goodness. When God is in control our tragedies can be made into blessings. Charlie Shedd said, “A truly effective life does not result from getting God to help us, but when we turn our wills over to Him and ask that we might be of assistance to His purposes”.
Psalm 90:12 "Teach us to number our days aright hat we may gain a heart of wisdom.” We set our priorities on Him and not on ourselves.
Eph 5:15,16 "Be very careful then, how you live not as unwise, but as wise making the most of every opportunity or redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
The movie “The End of the Spear” that came out a couple of years ago reminded us of the story of the martyrdom of the 5 missionaries killed by savage Auca Indians in Ecuador. It revealed again how the wife of Jim Eliott and the sister Nate Saint continued to minister in the village. They were willing even to die so they would bring glory to God. Within 2 years 50 accepted Jesus Christ. It opened the door for further and greater evangelism of the world. Steve Saint, Nate’s son, told the story how through treachery and lies of one of the people they turned on the missionaries fearing for their lives. But the murderer became saved and became one of the spiritual leaders bringing a people group to eternal salvation.
Will you have been found faithful, redeeming the time and letting our days and hours be committed to him? He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything he has promised long ago through his holy prophets. His plan is use our time. His procedure is to use talent. And His purpose to bring him glory. "
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Mon Feb 16
Theme: Times and Seasons
Verses Eccl 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
God has a Pattern-
One man rushed into a suburban railroad station breathlessly and asked when does the 8:01 train leave? "At 8:01" Well its 7:59 by my watch. 7:57 by the town clock and 8:04 by the station clock, Which am I to go by? "You can go by any clock you wish but you can't go by the 8:01 train, for it has already left."
Time is important in our culture. We are much more time conscious than at any other age. Computers are continually being upgraded for milliseconds are too slow. Clocks rush and whirl, and control our lives. The question remains, "Are we following the right clock?" God does not follow our timing. We are in subjection to his timing. Someone said life is like a coin, you can spend it any way you want, but you can spend it only once. You can never repeat it.
Time changes things. More correctly I should say that things change with time. When I returned to Detroit the last time it was no the place I remembered it as a child growing up. The big back yard shrunk considerably, new freeways and buildings were put up. Little tiny trees were now huge and overgrown. Some large trees were gone. Neighbors are mostly gone. What happened to it all? Time passed and things change.
But there are things we can take security in. Time. It has a pattern. We can trust that in 24 hours a new day will greet us. We can pattern our lives around 7 days and call it a week. We measure our Holidays by months within a year. This is all part of a gift from God to bring consistency in our inconsistent lives.
The writer of Ecclesiastes has a beautifully written view of time in Hebrew poetry that reveals important truths of time. Time is in the hand of God. The question is, "Are we?" Whose clock are we going by? For we can rush around with wrist watches on but as far as eternity goes, many don't have the foggiest idea of what time it is. Solomon explains some things from God's time table.
There is right time for doing things, and there are wrong times for doing things. All things are under God's sovereignty. Are you walking in the plan and will of God for your life? Are you running and functioning according to God's time table or yours? As hard as man tries to control his life he is not its master. There are reasons for things that happen to us.
There are two words Solomon uses: time and season. As they are translated for us one emphasizes an opportunity or moment that is important. The other seems to emphasize the sequence or chain of events on the other. Both are of God.
You don't have to be a philosopher or a scientist to know that time and seasons are a regular part of life no matter where you live. Were it not for the dependability of God-ordained natural laws, both science and daily life would be chaotic, if not impossible. There is an overruling providence in our lives. From before our birth to the moment of our death, God is accomplishing his divine plan.
The consistency of the world’s rotation allows within a day to be the God divine pattern for our life on earth. The seasons also are ordered by God as we rotate around the sun experiencing the pattern of summer, winter, spring and fall (not in that order). From that pattern we govern our days, work, and life. With consistency there are things that we plan, like birthdays, and holidays, and times of planting and harvest. We see our body needs sleep within a day. Work patterns are organized around the clock that serves us 24 hour segments.
From beginning of creation it seemed there were two main divisions of daily time- Gen 1:5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-- the first day. Gen 1:14-18 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.
God made two great lights-- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night…And God saw that it was good.”
In spite of the many changes there is also the awareness that tomorrow is a new day given to us by His grace. Today is a day that is a gift. You have 24 new hours. It is not an accident. It is from God. It was patterned after His creative time table. The 7 days became a week. The week was divided up so Sabbath was a day of rest. The weeks turned into months also regulated by the rotation of the moon. The months into years.
The pattern of God’s world into which we are born is seen as good. It shows us not only his creative genius, but consistency upon which we can depend the functioning of our lives.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Tues Feb 17
Theme- Times and Seasons
Verses- Eccl 3: 1-3 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
God Has a Plan
Everything has a purpose and place according to God's plan. God has a plan for your life.
There are 28 events mentioned, 14 pairs of contrasts. The contrasts of events in life highlight the cycle of balance in our earthly experience. This beautiful portrayal of the seasons of life becomes one of the more loved portions of the Old Testament. Lets look at four contrasts today.
There is a time to be born and a time to die. We have no control over when or where we are going to be born. We have little control over matters regarding our death. Even some who seek to commit suicide are unsuccessful and bear the ramifications of those actions.
Under certain circumstances Doctors will indicate time of birth by inducing labor in a pregnancy, or by cesarean section. Medical science will have increasingly at its disposal machines and equipment that prolongs life, sometimes beyond what might be one considered clinically dead. Morally and ethically our society has been debating as to when life begins at conception or at birth with abortion and life questions. It is a means of debate at what point do you consider the person dead, or continue with life supports?
I am glad for many advances in medicine, but we also need to arouse some caution, for the issues of life and death are in God's hands.
The Bible teaches us it is appointed unto man once to die. God knows when that appointment is, just as you planned your birth and when and where you were to come into this world.
My father had a fear of flying. My mom would try to convince him by quoting the Bible verse, "it is appointed unto man once to die." She would then explain if it is his time to go he can't prevent it and if it isn't, he is not going to die. He replied, "Well it might not be my time to go, but it might be the pilot’s time. I’m not flying!"
"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power, to tell just when the hand will stop - at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own! Live, love, toil with will; place not faith in tomorrow for the clock may then be still."
Another comparison Solomon relates to the harvest- there is a time to plant and a time to sow. We still cannot control the weather. Rain snow and frost keep us from fields. Yet we rejoice at planting time. We must make preparation for now for what you want to receive in the fall harvest.
Our lives are like that too. God allows times for us to plant and someday we will reap the results of what we have planted. You plant and sow evil and rebellion and sin, you will reap the results of what you've planted. If you plant goodness and love and kindness you will reap those results. If you live to yourself you will reap the consequence of that, and if unto God those rewards will be yours. Young people should think this is usually planting time. For many older people they realize the harvest is closer. We just never know. Are you ready? Jesus tells us the fields are ripe for the harvest, We need workers and missions.
There is also a time to kill and a time to heal. Perhaps this has aspect of war in mind, perhaps what is referred to is disease and plagues were some die and some live. But there are many applications and illustrations.
I think of the shepherd who tenderly cares for the lamb and sheep brings it to maturity to health and just the right size only to sell it to the market and have it killed for meat.
Sometimes in churches there is a time for taking out the cancer and sin and disease but cutting off members who are not living for God and causes disruptions to the fellowship and ministry. There are times for reconciliation and revival and healing and forgiving.
There are times for tearing down and for building up. Times to do away with the old and bring in the new, buildings but certain traditions too if their time has served it's purpose. Things just do not remain the same.
I think of the time when we start as a missions to Swedish people There was the time when Swedish was the right language and a time when it was no longer the right language. People change. Maybe in our own lives there are things that need to be thrown out and other things need to be implanted and allowed to grow.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Weds Feb 18
Theme Times and Seasons
Verses- Eccl 3:4-8 (There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:) ….a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Perplexing
Just when people think they have figured out the puzzle of life experiences pop up for which they seem unprepared. As soon as some have figured out the formula for peace and pleasure and passion something happens to disrupt that.
Not only do we experience the joys and sorrows of this world, part of the plan of God is to be in the center of our lives regardless of wht is happening on the outside.
There is a time to weep and a time to laugh. Life has mixture of pain and sorrow along with pleasure and excitement. I have not met a family yet that doesn't experience tragedies and difficulties as well as joys and happier times. In the musical drama, Fiddler on the Roof, one of their romantic songs, "Sunrise, sunset” expresses this-“Sunrise, Sunset, swiftly fly the years; one season follows the others, laden with happiness and tears."
There are times of mourning and times of dancing. There are times of grief and sorrow and emotional pain. The times of dancing and celebration are those times in our lives when we want to express our joyful emotions. But just like the joy of births there comes the sadness of death. There are funerals and there are weddings; there are births and there are divorces. It happens. God is the one constant in our inconsistent world.
There is a time to scatter stones and to gather them. Casting away stones from a field that need to be prepared for planting, or sometimes in war they would scatter stones so the enemy would have a rough time with the blockades in their way. There is the time to gather them for peace and friendship. There is a time for gather them to build buildings and fences and constructions. The need of the moment dictates what should be done.
There is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. Certain a time for calling one another brother and sister in Christ is embracing new believers into the family of God and demonstrating the family of God in community. Times when political enemies see it is not to their advantage to squabble and quarrel, but important issues requires the coming together for the importance of the country. There are times of love making for husbands and wives and times of celibacy, times to search and give to give up searching.
There are times to keep some things and other times to throw things away. Pack rats as well as spent thrifts need to be aware of the extremes of squandering money and hoarding it as well as throwing it away and spending it freely. There is time to mend and a time to tear.
Tearing clothes sometimes symbolized anger, or wrath, or grief, or taking of serious vow or hearing the bad news, and other time when they would be mended where things are o.k. again.
There are times to be silent and time to speak. I sure wish I would be so in tuned to God that I would know those times. We sometimes use silence as subtle weapon of revenge, or escape from social interaction, and sometimes a virtue.
One tourists staying in a little Vermont town joined a small group of men just sitting on the porch of a general store and the visitors tried in vain to strike up a conversation, getting no results then he finally asked, "Is there a law against talking in this town? "No" replied one Vermonter, "Ain't no law against it, we just like to make sure it's an improvement on the silence."
There is also a time for love and time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Is there a time for hate? Jesus said, unless we hate mother or brother meaning putting anything ahead of God is a sin. Hate evil and love the good. There is a righteous hatred and there is the rest of Christians to seek peace with others, but when peace cannot be gained and there is no other alternative available sometimes it is Gods' will to fight. When dictators takeover lands and when oppression and chaos goes unchecked, when injustice and abuse are running on a rampage then there is time for confrontation.
Do we seek to know God's plans? When life happens don’t be surprised but secure knowing that God has brought his people through and will promise to do so until this struggle and puzzle is over.
If your trust is in your circumstances, God what you and me to know it will change one way or another. Therefore we need someone who does not change but consistent in the perplexities of life.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Thur Feb 19
Theme: Times and Seasons
Verses- Eccl 3:9-13 What does the worker gain from his toil?
10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.
13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-- this is the gift of God.
God Has a Procedure
A plan is the goal that is set before you. The procedures are the activities needed to accomplish that plan. This involves the managing and the executing of the task. There are plans within the will of God, and the procedure is the use of men and women to carry out those plans of God. We have plans and we have procedures.
God has made everything's beautiful in his time. How dumb to try to build the roof before you build the basement. It won't work to paint the walls before you put in the pumping and the electricity. If things are done in order it is beautiful in it's time and in its purpose. But best of all He has set eternity in the hearts of man. We don't understand this time table but God does.
All of the sequence is moving perfectly with eternity and Christ's second coming in mind. That is exciting unless you are not ready for His coming. We need to keep eternity in mind when we think of God's timing.
There is one thing that we all have in common. We are different in just about every other way, but the president and the farmer, the business owner and the executive and the maintenance worker all have 24 hours a day. No one has more time than any other. We can all claim equality there. Gods' procedure is a desire that those hours be filled to carry out his plan.
Acts 17:26 “For one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."
We live in this generation. I see this as an extreme indication of God's grace. God has called you and me to be born in this country. No reason we couldn't have been born in the tribes of jungles and live under the power of witch doctors and idol worship. No reason you couldn't have been born a Jew and lived under the tyranny of Adolph Hitler in World War II, or a Vietnamese indoctrinated under the communistic philosophy. But born with the privilege of education, of material goods, food, beauty in land are all grace of God.
Now the question is what are you going to do with these privileges that God has given to you? We are not the master's of our fates, God is. He directed you to make some choices, but relatively few. One important choice you make, are you willing to accept his plan for your life, or rebel and live unto your own selfishness? That makes difference in the procedures you follow.
God controls our times. There is plan and we can be part of it and in that plan we discover our fulfillment even in the difficult times of life. Gal. 4:4 "When the time had fully come, God sent his Son born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive the full rights of sons."
God's procedure of this plan was redemption through the cross. God’s desire is that people may come to eternal salvation. When we see our life in light of that plan life can take on meaning as we carrying out the procedures for Kingdom living. It makes little difference if we work as an executive, a farmer, a minister, or a janitor when our value comes in knowing God and making Him known.
Someone wrote, "God's help is always sure- His methods seldom guessed; Delay will make our pleasure pure, Surprise will give it zest. His wisdom is sublime, His heart profoundly kind; God never is before his time, and never is behind."
If God gives us a task he gives us the time to complete that task. We need to get rid of that which gets in the way of completing the task.
Martin Luther was within God's procedures, of accomplishing redemption through spearheading the reformation. His cook was also in that procedure to provided services to accomplish the same purpose. But he had a different task that wasn't in the limelight. Unless the Lord builds the house those that build it labor in vain. Planning and delegating, execution and review are part of the time management but the most important component is prayer. For all his intellectual genius, dynamic personality, and highly trained skills, Luther knew that the starting place for every true accomplishment was prayer coming before the one who directed his steps.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Fri Feb 20
Theme- Times and Seasons
Verses: Eccl 3:14-15 “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.”
God has a Purpose
The plans are the blueprints; the procedures are steps to carry out the plans. But if one is building a building, the blueprints reveal the plans. The construction workers, banks, and civil authorities are part of the procedure to see that building built. But why build the building to begin with? What is the purpose?
Why did God decide to build mankind? Why did he put creation in place? The Bible reveals the purpose of creation were to display His glory and for His pleasure. We were created to revere Him as our creator. All that is done might bring glory to God, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. The reason for His forgiveness and working with us to come to Him by faith is that we might glorify Him. Storms reveal His power. The universe displays His wisdom. The order of nature displays His control. Evil will be completely defeated and His promises will be completely fulfilled and we will then bow every knee and every one will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.
God loves His glory which is His purpose to display it that all will marvel and worship Him. God performs our salvation for His own sake that we delight in divine love and commitment. He justifies people called by His name in order that He may be glorified, (Ezek 36:22-23,32). We are reminded that God could have started all over again if He wished with a different group of people. But His glory is displayed in His purpose, plan and procedures to bring about our redemption.
Jesus taught us to be humble about our life and our lack of knowledge of it by trusting God’s goodness. When God is in control our tragedies can be made into blessings. Charlie Shedd said, “A truly effective life does not result from getting God to help us, but when we turn our wills over to Him and ask that we might be of assistance to His purposes”.
Psalm 90:12 "Teach us to number our days aright hat we may gain a heart of wisdom.” We set our priorities on Him and not on ourselves.
Eph 5:15,16 "Be very careful then, how you live not as unwise, but as wise making the most of every opportunity or redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
The movie “The End of the Spear” that came out a couple of years ago reminded us of the story of the martyrdom of the 5 missionaries killed by savage Auca Indians in Ecuador. It revealed again how the wife of Jim Eliott and the sister Nate Saint continued to minister in the village. They were willing even to die so they would bring glory to God. Within 2 years 50 accepted Jesus Christ. It opened the door for further and greater evangelism of the world. Steve Saint, Nate’s son, told the story how through treachery and lies of one of the people they turned on the missionaries fearing for their lives. But the murderer became saved and became one of the spiritual leaders bringing a people group to eternal salvation.
Will you have been found faithful, redeeming the time and letting our days and hours be committed to him? He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything he has promised long ago through his holy prophets. His plan is use our time. His procedure is to use talent. And His purpose to bring him glory. "
Pastor Dale
Friday, February 13, 2009
A Workman's Worry Ecclesiastes 2:17-26
Sermon nuggets Mon Feb 9
Theme- A WORKMAN'S WORRY
Verses-Eccl 2:10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.(NIV)
Reflections on Work
Last week we talked about Solomon's pursuit of pleasure. This week day we are going to look at his thoughts regarding work. Some of his work related to building and construction, as well as ruling and the administration of the nation. He worked with investments and the acquiring of many goods. There were things that kept Solomon very busy. Now he reflects on the place of labor. Solomon admitted that at the beginning he found enjoyment in his work. It was a delight to him. Do you enjoy the work you're doing?
One fellow went to the doctor's "Give it to me straight not all in the scientific language" "You're lazy."
"Thank you, Now give me the scientific word so I can tell my wife."
God made man to work. We are not meant to be lazy. We find purpose when we are able to earn a living. When God placed man on earth in the Garden of Eden it was a perfect environment. There were no slaves and servants, such as Solomon had to take care of all his needs and wants.
God had given Adam some responsibilities. He gave man work to do. Gen 1:28 says, "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule of the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Adam was given the assignment to care for that which God has created and to name the animals. Now isn't that something. God could have cared for it all, in fact he does. But He gave to man the responsibility to organize and work his creation as our enjoyment of what he has given to us.
One person tells the story of enjoying farm land that looked like from the magazines. It had beautiful crops and well manicured gardens and lawns. The person told the farmer, "Isn't God great to supply you with all this? "
He said, "He is, but you should have seen how it was kept before I came along." What some fail to realize is that it was God's intent that we work the soil; bring the crops into greater productivity. He gave man that job. But without the rain, sun and temperatures proper weather and the farmer would be out of business in a day.
There has been political debate over our environment. However you feel about global warming or protection of endangered species, as Christians we need to know that taking care of God’s earth is one of the responsibilities God gave to mankind right from creation. This is my Father’s world. We take delight in it, not abuse it. We were made to have dominion over the land and over the animals. God gave us work to take care of His world. It is a spiritual responsibility. The danger in man’s thinking is when he places himself as God in charge instead of recognizing our part in God’s design.
I am glad that we are spending much more attention to pollution and recycling. Some people because of the sin of greed and selfishness give no thought to future generations, and abuse God's resources for all people. The Lord God took the man and put him in the world to work and take care of it.
With unemployment the way it is in our economic crises, if you have a job, not only thank the Lord but work as unto the Lord as a gift from Him. If you are looking for work seek the gifts and abilities you have been given and let’s also help one another within our church family to pray, support, and encourage. Perhaps you can also give jobs to others to provide for themselves and families. I would like to post jobs and needs on Copes Computer every Wednesday.
Pray and participate. That is the plan for work as we serve God and one another together.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues Feb 10
Verses- Eccl 2:17-19 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.
Reflections on Weariness
The delight of work is when one can be used of God to see that needs are met, and help others in their times of need. The delight of work is to see some accomplishments. When you have finished a project or activities and have it said, "Good Job" can give some people worth. When others are helped or blessed, when goals are met, when purpose is fulfilled it is good and it can be a delight to be part of what God made us to be.
God gave mankind work to do. We will be working in heaven. It will be fulfilling as we carry out the work of the Lord and are part of His greater plan. But labor changed when sin entered the world. Things would not be as enjoyable any longer. Gen. 3:17-19 "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree which I commanded you must not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life."
As Solomon continues his thoughts on work it hits him that for all he delighted in achieving, some day that will all be gone and who knows what will happen when he leave it behind. Fools take over his dreams and accomplishments. Many entrepreneurs who work very hard lose their companies or sell them only to find their dreams fall apart and result in ruin.
How do the CEOs of large companies evaluate their work when the stock market is crashing? I heard on the TV people who are losing their homes who cry out, “after we worked all our lives for something it is now gone.” A bank or credit company will own the home they worked for and someone else will get for far less money the fruits of their labors. That is the feeling of futility.
The New Testament speaks on the importance of work in our fallen world. 1 Thes 4:11-12 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. And II Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
Gustov Ohler said, "Man like God, is to work and rest, thus human life is to be a copy of divine life. God created for 6 days, rested on the 7th day and then began to work again.
Since the fall work took on a different meaning. Now toil became part of the curse of sin. We work not only because of the pleasure of work, but there are elements in all work that are burdensome. Chores, sweat, dirty, hard labor is part of the plight of man as farmers well know. Weeds and thistles, rocks and bad weather is part of our struggle.
Notice that Solomon delved into work but it wasn't long when the delight turned into drudgery. He was not fulfilled. It became wearisome to him. For all his toil it did not produce the lasting peace he was looking for.
Now let me say that Solomon had what we will never have-power, wisdom, fame, wealth, property, and abilities to pursue life under the sun to the fullest. However, life of people on earth is better now than it has ever been. You can read stories of how life was then, and even 200 years ago people lived with poor health, no hope, etching out living under slavery and oppression. There were days when child labor laws did not exist and textile companies worked children 6-10 years old 12 hours a day. There were people in slaughter houses who when injured on the job would lose their jobs. There were horrible unhealthy work conditions and people were at unmerciful hands of employers. We are cleaner, more attractive, more pampered, and have greater luxury than our parents and grandparent and they had life easier than their parents and grandparents. Have we made improvements? You bet we have.
I think of life in my days without cars without TV or stereos, without washing machines, dryers, microwaves. It is hard to imagine not using computers and cell phones and electronic conveniences. But we are not happier. We are just as sad. There is as much anxiety in our day as felt by Solomon in all his plenty and with all his labors. Weariness can come from emotional draining. It seems when there is no purpose more than the paycheck, people are weary in their work. Housewives can easily find it frustrating when all the days labor is destroyed as soon as kids and husband comes home only to do it all over again.
Do you feel as if you are on a working treadmill? Is your work drudgery or delight? What makes it so? How can it change?
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Weds Feb 11
Eccl 2:20-21 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.
Reflections on Workaholicism
Perhaps I should entitle this devotional “confessions of a workaholic.” Solomon reflects the feelings of the day that say even though we excel in our accomplishments and make it to the top, and even though you meet all your goals something is missing. It is not fulfilling. We have a measure of enjoyment in what we do, but if all our labor is monuments and trophies and things, there is really nothing to them. Vanity of vanity; all is vanity,.
God gave us work to do, but if God is not in the work we do all the energies we put in the work is worthless. Many people are burned out because they are so busy in their lives and in their work they miss out on that very thing that will give purpose.
Why do workaholics work so much? Perhaps it is because it appears to be a religious virtue. So many men work hard to provide for their families only to find they have lost their families. A simple life has become increasingly unpopular. Many Christians believe if they are not on the top of everything God must not be blessing them. There is a tremendous confusion over the way man interprets success and God.
There is an appropriate protestant work ethic in our society. It came from the conviction of having a fair wage for a fair days work. It is godly to do our best to please our employers, as well as to treat our employees with fairness and right compensation. There are Christian principles by which we need to guide our lives at home and at work. But our self esteem is not based on how many hours we put in or how much money we make, or how much we can show people we've done. Solomon reminds us that can be the very thing that brings dissatisfaction. For such a person work is his or her whole life. The workaholic is living in a performance oriented cultures. v. 23 says, All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest."
Compulsive workers overload days with toil; Fills nights with worry and misses the simple joys of God. I believe some of the real issues are not being addressed. For you see, work become an end in and of itself. It isn't the benefits of salary as much as the task is pleasurable. Some will not rest even if they are tired for tiredness is a sign of laziness. Most are motivated by power, seeking to be on the top, highly competitive and wanting to win and prove it to self.
But it isn't the hours that a man puts in that is important it is what a man puts into those hours. Luther said he had so much to do that he needed to spend at least 3 hours in prayer. We cannot have guilt trips because we do not spend 3 hours a day in prayer, nor feeling unworthy because we don't work 10 to 16 hours days 6 days a week. Many women who are increasing the work force are also finding themselves increase with many of the physical and emotional strains that men have. Women are increasing with heart attacks, ulcers, and high blood pressure.
Solomon said all this toil is vanity and chasing of the wind. As I read my words I feel hypocritical because I was awake at 2:45 AM not sleeping. I find too many things rambling through my mind. I think of the many things that just never get accomplished. There are also more people to visit, more programs to plan, more books to read, more sermons to write, more people who want to see you. The work can be most fulfilling or most discouraging.
Look at the life of Paul. He never stopped or slowed down infulfilling God's mission for his life to take the Gospel to the lost andhurting outside the four walls of the church. He pressed forward,tirelessly, until the very end when he was martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ. Despite the great personal sacrifices, putting his life on the line each day, fighting all of the obstacles he had to face each step of the way, Paul persevered!
The call to follow the Lord with all your heart, can be quickly clouded with personal responsibilities that call for our attention. Whither in the church or the world the wheel of the hamster cage runs round and round and we seem to get no further.
Ps 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Thurs Feb 12
Eccl 2:22 What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.
Reflections on Worry
I remember reading the story of one pastor who felt his main job was to be a servant to his people. He was run ragged and felt tremendous guilt over his increasing resentment of the very people he wanted to serve. He was getting phone calls up to 4 a day by a particular lady who expected him to be her errant boy. She demanded that he take her shopping each week because that was what the former pastor did. She wanted him to pick up her relatives from the airport. Finally when she called to have him help wrap her Christmas packages because that was the other pastor did he put his foot down. He worried he was not doing a good job as a pastor when he was seeking to live up to the expectations of all his people. His worries and over work were headed for burn out. He never felt he was doing a good enough job.
Now there is increased worry over losing jobs. The economy has caused great worry among the workforce also bit resulting in increased performance so people will not lose their jobs. When the competition is greater people are sticking to jobs they do not like and doing them better so they don’t get laid off. When cut backs are made it is easier now for employers to let go of the ones who are least productive and the blame goes to the bad economy. Outsourcing also gives higher paying jobs to countries like India which accomplishes the same work for a fraction of the pay.
I was aware of a successful engineer laid off from work. He was too embarrassed to tell any of his friends. Initially he didn't want even his wife and kids to know. To begin with he left the house and came home at the normal time, but spent his time looking for work until his wife found out. He certainly was too embarrassed to share this news with those in his church. Because he didn't work and couldn't provide for his family, he saw himself as failure and lost his self-worth. He had a hard time living with himself because so many men only find value in their labor, not in their life.
For lots of worry is really wrapped up in pride. Pride says we want to be self sufficient, and not depend on anyone else. Pride doesn't want to have the pity of other people. What finally brought this engineer to his senses was someone in his church did commit suicide because he didn't have a job and thought no one would understand. The place where there should be healing is the hardest place to put down our pride.
Perfectionists worry a lot. They have to have everything just right in their work. The problems come when they cannot do their work perfectly or make common mistake. There is increased anxiety and worry and Solomon understood that thousands of years before. Things do not bring satisfaction.
One worry of Solomon that he mentions is the fact that you work so hard to accomplish your goals, but after you reach them then what? There is the problem with others, fools, wrecking what you worked so hard to achieve. “Why bother?”, he asks in frustration.
When the main focus of our attention is on work it is no longer pleasurable but we become a slave to our anxieties and our worries, most of which we can do little about. Solomon reflected on this whirlwind of activity and decided changes need to be made. He was focusing on the wrong things and was miserable.
How do you look upon your work? Are you at peace with what you do and are doing? What worries you? What alternatives are there for your worries?
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Fri. Feb 13
Verses- Eccl 2:24-26 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Reflecting on Worth of Work
Whether you are seeking education, or pleasure, or work, the answer to fulfillment is found in Christ. Enjoyment of all things comes from God. Solomon tells us if we think we will have lasting enjoyment from our job that will soon fade away. But when we surrender ourselves to God's desires then enjoyment is gift from God, just like salvation is a gift. What happens on the inside makes a difference. Work, pleasure, and whatever possessions we might have can be enjoyed or not enjoyed depending on our obedience and perception of what God has called us to be and to do.
Man's work can make of him a slave, and lead him to an early grave, but if he waits upon the Lord, His labors bring him great reward. The man who recognizes all he has comes from the hand of God can partake of the simple lifestyle with the grateful heart. Even menial work can have significance.
God gifts to man are basic life functions; to eat, drink and find satisfaction in work. The contrast of the life of the sinner and the life of the godly presented here reflects this crucial dimension-A dynamic relationship with a living, loving God. The workaholic has no time for spouse, children, friend, let alone God, but the godly person makes his or her first priority to know God. When we know Him we have a new alternatives and new ways of understanding life. We have a new ways of relating to our work.
What are the simple pleasures? The first factor is to be able to eat and drink. When was the last time you enjoyed a meal? Psychologists have observed that many people who experience anxiety eat quickly, not enjoying their food and finding it tasteless. More acute anxiety may lead to not eating at all. Some of your biggest tycoons have such ulcer problems they live on mile, raw eggs and Maalox. Others overeat when anxious and worry.
The other simple pleasure is to find satisfaction in work. Are you enjoying your work? Do you realize that God can bless you in the moment by moment aspects of your labors? The capitalist work ethic makes a god of productivity while ignoring the personal impact. Do you believe God gave you the job that you now have? Are you using it to bring his kingdom light into your employment or with the people? Is God directing you to a different job? Ecclesiastes tells us that not our works or performance, but our relationship to God is what pleases him. When a person seeks that relationship then God grants wisdom, knowledge, and happiness.
Some people are so busy learning the tricks of the trade that they don't learn the trade. Our purpose is found in I Cor 10:31 so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." History has shown when people are saved from sin by Jesus Christ, it affects their whole life and witness even to those who are their employers and employees.
God has ordained work, even though sin has flawed it. God has ordained work to meet our needs. It is not always easy. But honest labor can be fulfilling if seen as a gift from Him.
Many retired folks find greater enjoyment in volunteer work since their financial needs are met. They are able to give of themselves in new ways to the Lord, family, church and God. There is a renewed joy in the accomplishments as God directs interest and gifts with his Kingdom.
If you let God set up your schedule how would your days change? How would that affect your life at work, at home and at church as well as your recreation?
Pastor Dale.
Theme- A WORKMAN'S WORRY
Verses-Eccl 2:10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.(NIV)
Reflections on Work
Last week we talked about Solomon's pursuit of pleasure. This week day we are going to look at his thoughts regarding work. Some of his work related to building and construction, as well as ruling and the administration of the nation. He worked with investments and the acquiring of many goods. There were things that kept Solomon very busy. Now he reflects on the place of labor. Solomon admitted that at the beginning he found enjoyment in his work. It was a delight to him. Do you enjoy the work you're doing?
One fellow went to the doctor's "Give it to me straight not all in the scientific language" "You're lazy."
"Thank you, Now give me the scientific word so I can tell my wife."
God made man to work. We are not meant to be lazy. We find purpose when we are able to earn a living. When God placed man on earth in the Garden of Eden it was a perfect environment. There were no slaves and servants, such as Solomon had to take care of all his needs and wants.
God had given Adam some responsibilities. He gave man work to do. Gen 1:28 says, "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule of the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Adam was given the assignment to care for that which God has created and to name the animals. Now isn't that something. God could have cared for it all, in fact he does. But He gave to man the responsibility to organize and work his creation as our enjoyment of what he has given to us.
One person tells the story of enjoying farm land that looked like from the magazines. It had beautiful crops and well manicured gardens and lawns. The person told the farmer, "Isn't God great to supply you with all this? "
He said, "He is, but you should have seen how it was kept before I came along." What some fail to realize is that it was God's intent that we work the soil; bring the crops into greater productivity. He gave man that job. But without the rain, sun and temperatures proper weather and the farmer would be out of business in a day.
There has been political debate over our environment. However you feel about global warming or protection of endangered species, as Christians we need to know that taking care of God’s earth is one of the responsibilities God gave to mankind right from creation. This is my Father’s world. We take delight in it, not abuse it. We were made to have dominion over the land and over the animals. God gave us work to take care of His world. It is a spiritual responsibility. The danger in man’s thinking is when he places himself as God in charge instead of recognizing our part in God’s design.
I am glad that we are spending much more attention to pollution and recycling. Some people because of the sin of greed and selfishness give no thought to future generations, and abuse God's resources for all people. The Lord God took the man and put him in the world to work and take care of it.
With unemployment the way it is in our economic crises, if you have a job, not only thank the Lord but work as unto the Lord as a gift from Him. If you are looking for work seek the gifts and abilities you have been given and let’s also help one another within our church family to pray, support, and encourage. Perhaps you can also give jobs to others to provide for themselves and families. I would like to post jobs and needs on Copes Computer every Wednesday.
Pray and participate. That is the plan for work as we serve God and one another together.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues Feb 10
Verses- Eccl 2:17-19 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.
Reflections on Weariness
The delight of work is when one can be used of God to see that needs are met, and help others in their times of need. The delight of work is to see some accomplishments. When you have finished a project or activities and have it said, "Good Job" can give some people worth. When others are helped or blessed, when goals are met, when purpose is fulfilled it is good and it can be a delight to be part of what God made us to be.
God gave mankind work to do. We will be working in heaven. It will be fulfilling as we carry out the work of the Lord and are part of His greater plan. But labor changed when sin entered the world. Things would not be as enjoyable any longer. Gen. 3:17-19 "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree which I commanded you must not eat of it. Cursed is the ground because of you through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life."
As Solomon continues his thoughts on work it hits him that for all he delighted in achieving, some day that will all be gone and who knows what will happen when he leave it behind. Fools take over his dreams and accomplishments. Many entrepreneurs who work very hard lose their companies or sell them only to find their dreams fall apart and result in ruin.
How do the CEOs of large companies evaluate their work when the stock market is crashing? I heard on the TV people who are losing their homes who cry out, “after we worked all our lives for something it is now gone.” A bank or credit company will own the home they worked for and someone else will get for far less money the fruits of their labors. That is the feeling of futility.
The New Testament speaks on the importance of work in our fallen world. 1 Thes 4:11-12 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. And II Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
Gustov Ohler said, "Man like God, is to work and rest, thus human life is to be a copy of divine life. God created for 6 days, rested on the 7th day and then began to work again.
Since the fall work took on a different meaning. Now toil became part of the curse of sin. We work not only because of the pleasure of work, but there are elements in all work that are burdensome. Chores, sweat, dirty, hard labor is part of the plight of man as farmers well know. Weeds and thistles, rocks and bad weather is part of our struggle.
Notice that Solomon delved into work but it wasn't long when the delight turned into drudgery. He was not fulfilled. It became wearisome to him. For all his toil it did not produce the lasting peace he was looking for.
Now let me say that Solomon had what we will never have-power, wisdom, fame, wealth, property, and abilities to pursue life under the sun to the fullest. However, life of people on earth is better now than it has ever been. You can read stories of how life was then, and even 200 years ago people lived with poor health, no hope, etching out living under slavery and oppression. There were days when child labor laws did not exist and textile companies worked children 6-10 years old 12 hours a day. There were people in slaughter houses who when injured on the job would lose their jobs. There were horrible unhealthy work conditions and people were at unmerciful hands of employers. We are cleaner, more attractive, more pampered, and have greater luxury than our parents and grandparent and they had life easier than their parents and grandparents. Have we made improvements? You bet we have.
I think of life in my days without cars without TV or stereos, without washing machines, dryers, microwaves. It is hard to imagine not using computers and cell phones and electronic conveniences. But we are not happier. We are just as sad. There is as much anxiety in our day as felt by Solomon in all his plenty and with all his labors. Weariness can come from emotional draining. It seems when there is no purpose more than the paycheck, people are weary in their work. Housewives can easily find it frustrating when all the days labor is destroyed as soon as kids and husband comes home only to do it all over again.
Do you feel as if you are on a working treadmill? Is your work drudgery or delight? What makes it so? How can it change?
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Weds Feb 11
Eccl 2:20-21 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.
Reflections on Workaholicism
Perhaps I should entitle this devotional “confessions of a workaholic.” Solomon reflects the feelings of the day that say even though we excel in our accomplishments and make it to the top, and even though you meet all your goals something is missing. It is not fulfilling. We have a measure of enjoyment in what we do, but if all our labor is monuments and trophies and things, there is really nothing to them. Vanity of vanity; all is vanity,.
God gave us work to do, but if God is not in the work we do all the energies we put in the work is worthless. Many people are burned out because they are so busy in their lives and in their work they miss out on that very thing that will give purpose.
Why do workaholics work so much? Perhaps it is because it appears to be a religious virtue. So many men work hard to provide for their families only to find they have lost their families. A simple life has become increasingly unpopular. Many Christians believe if they are not on the top of everything God must not be blessing them. There is a tremendous confusion over the way man interprets success and God.
There is an appropriate protestant work ethic in our society. It came from the conviction of having a fair wage for a fair days work. It is godly to do our best to please our employers, as well as to treat our employees with fairness and right compensation. There are Christian principles by which we need to guide our lives at home and at work. But our self esteem is not based on how many hours we put in or how much money we make, or how much we can show people we've done. Solomon reminds us that can be the very thing that brings dissatisfaction. For such a person work is his or her whole life. The workaholic is living in a performance oriented cultures. v. 23 says, All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest."
Compulsive workers overload days with toil; Fills nights with worry and misses the simple joys of God. I believe some of the real issues are not being addressed. For you see, work become an end in and of itself. It isn't the benefits of salary as much as the task is pleasurable. Some will not rest even if they are tired for tiredness is a sign of laziness. Most are motivated by power, seeking to be on the top, highly competitive and wanting to win and prove it to self.
But it isn't the hours that a man puts in that is important it is what a man puts into those hours. Luther said he had so much to do that he needed to spend at least 3 hours in prayer. We cannot have guilt trips because we do not spend 3 hours a day in prayer, nor feeling unworthy because we don't work 10 to 16 hours days 6 days a week. Many women who are increasing the work force are also finding themselves increase with many of the physical and emotional strains that men have. Women are increasing with heart attacks, ulcers, and high blood pressure.
Solomon said all this toil is vanity and chasing of the wind. As I read my words I feel hypocritical because I was awake at 2:45 AM not sleeping. I find too many things rambling through my mind. I think of the many things that just never get accomplished. There are also more people to visit, more programs to plan, more books to read, more sermons to write, more people who want to see you. The work can be most fulfilling or most discouraging.
Look at the life of Paul. He never stopped or slowed down infulfilling God's mission for his life to take the Gospel to the lost andhurting outside the four walls of the church. He pressed forward,tirelessly, until the very end when he was martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ. Despite the great personal sacrifices, putting his life on the line each day, fighting all of the obstacles he had to face each step of the way, Paul persevered!
The call to follow the Lord with all your heart, can be quickly clouded with personal responsibilities that call for our attention. Whither in the church or the world the wheel of the hamster cage runs round and round and we seem to get no further.
Ps 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Thurs Feb 12
Eccl 2:22 What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.
Reflections on Worry
I remember reading the story of one pastor who felt his main job was to be a servant to his people. He was run ragged and felt tremendous guilt over his increasing resentment of the very people he wanted to serve. He was getting phone calls up to 4 a day by a particular lady who expected him to be her errant boy. She demanded that he take her shopping each week because that was what the former pastor did. She wanted him to pick up her relatives from the airport. Finally when she called to have him help wrap her Christmas packages because that was the other pastor did he put his foot down. He worried he was not doing a good job as a pastor when he was seeking to live up to the expectations of all his people. His worries and over work were headed for burn out. He never felt he was doing a good enough job.
Now there is increased worry over losing jobs. The economy has caused great worry among the workforce also bit resulting in increased performance so people will not lose their jobs. When the competition is greater people are sticking to jobs they do not like and doing them better so they don’t get laid off. When cut backs are made it is easier now for employers to let go of the ones who are least productive and the blame goes to the bad economy. Outsourcing also gives higher paying jobs to countries like India which accomplishes the same work for a fraction of the pay.
I was aware of a successful engineer laid off from work. He was too embarrassed to tell any of his friends. Initially he didn't want even his wife and kids to know. To begin with he left the house and came home at the normal time, but spent his time looking for work until his wife found out. He certainly was too embarrassed to share this news with those in his church. Because he didn't work and couldn't provide for his family, he saw himself as failure and lost his self-worth. He had a hard time living with himself because so many men only find value in their labor, not in their life.
For lots of worry is really wrapped up in pride. Pride says we want to be self sufficient, and not depend on anyone else. Pride doesn't want to have the pity of other people. What finally brought this engineer to his senses was someone in his church did commit suicide because he didn't have a job and thought no one would understand. The place where there should be healing is the hardest place to put down our pride.
Perfectionists worry a lot. They have to have everything just right in their work. The problems come when they cannot do their work perfectly or make common mistake. There is increased anxiety and worry and Solomon understood that thousands of years before. Things do not bring satisfaction.
One worry of Solomon that he mentions is the fact that you work so hard to accomplish your goals, but after you reach them then what? There is the problem with others, fools, wrecking what you worked so hard to achieve. “Why bother?”, he asks in frustration.
When the main focus of our attention is on work it is no longer pleasurable but we become a slave to our anxieties and our worries, most of which we can do little about. Solomon reflected on this whirlwind of activity and decided changes need to be made. He was focusing on the wrong things and was miserable.
How do you look upon your work? Are you at peace with what you do and are doing? What worries you? What alternatives are there for your worries?
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Fri. Feb 13
Verses- Eccl 2:24-26 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Reflecting on Worth of Work
Whether you are seeking education, or pleasure, or work, the answer to fulfillment is found in Christ. Enjoyment of all things comes from God. Solomon tells us if we think we will have lasting enjoyment from our job that will soon fade away. But when we surrender ourselves to God's desires then enjoyment is gift from God, just like salvation is a gift. What happens on the inside makes a difference. Work, pleasure, and whatever possessions we might have can be enjoyed or not enjoyed depending on our obedience and perception of what God has called us to be and to do.
Man's work can make of him a slave, and lead him to an early grave, but if he waits upon the Lord, His labors bring him great reward. The man who recognizes all he has comes from the hand of God can partake of the simple lifestyle with the grateful heart. Even menial work can have significance.
God gifts to man are basic life functions; to eat, drink and find satisfaction in work. The contrast of the life of the sinner and the life of the godly presented here reflects this crucial dimension-A dynamic relationship with a living, loving God. The workaholic has no time for spouse, children, friend, let alone God, but the godly person makes his or her first priority to know God. When we know Him we have a new alternatives and new ways of understanding life. We have a new ways of relating to our work.
What are the simple pleasures? The first factor is to be able to eat and drink. When was the last time you enjoyed a meal? Psychologists have observed that many people who experience anxiety eat quickly, not enjoying their food and finding it tasteless. More acute anxiety may lead to not eating at all. Some of your biggest tycoons have such ulcer problems they live on mile, raw eggs and Maalox. Others overeat when anxious and worry.
The other simple pleasure is to find satisfaction in work. Are you enjoying your work? Do you realize that God can bless you in the moment by moment aspects of your labors? The capitalist work ethic makes a god of productivity while ignoring the personal impact. Do you believe God gave you the job that you now have? Are you using it to bring his kingdom light into your employment or with the people? Is God directing you to a different job? Ecclesiastes tells us that not our works or performance, but our relationship to God is what pleases him. When a person seeks that relationship then God grants wisdom, knowledge, and happiness.
Some people are so busy learning the tricks of the trade that they don't learn the trade. Our purpose is found in I Cor 10:31 so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." History has shown when people are saved from sin by Jesus Christ, it affects their whole life and witness even to those who are their employers and employees.
God has ordained work, even though sin has flawed it. God has ordained work to meet our needs. It is not always easy. But honest labor can be fulfilling if seen as a gift from Him.
Many retired folks find greater enjoyment in volunteer work since their financial needs are met. They are able to give of themselves in new ways to the Lord, family, church and God. There is a renewed joy in the accomplishments as God directs interest and gifts with his Kingdom.
If you let God set up your schedule how would your days change? How would that affect your life at work, at home and at church as well as your recreation?
Pastor Dale.
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