Sermon Nuggets Mon March 23
Theme- Seeking Satisfaction
Verses: Eccl 6:1, 2 I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men:
God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
Seeking Satisfaction in Things
As we have been going through Ecclesiastes I am reminded how often Solomon addresses the emptiness of materialism. Perhaps it is for a reason, since it has such a grip on our society. We do re-evaluations of things in our lives at economic downturns like what are experiencing, or end life issues when we reflect on what is really important.
When we used to take our kids to McDonalds they always wanted the same thing. There were not so interested in the food as the prize. The prize in those colorful boxes was worth maybe 20 cents but for the moment getting it was all that mattered. McDonalds called this a Happy meal. You were not just buying hamburgers fries, and a dinosaur stamp. You were buying happiness.
When they tore into the bag and ripped open their prize the happiness didn’t last very long. It was over in a matter of seconds. I thought of suing the company for false advertising. Happiness was an illusion. Not one child says, “Remember that Happy meal? What great joy I found there.”
I did the same thing when little prizes were put in cereal boxes. I told Mom how much I loved the cereal only to leave it on the shelf after the prize was obtained.
When you get older you don't get any smarter; your Happy Meals just get more expensive. All day long the advertising industry wants to highlight discontentment and lure us into buying their product that will change our lives and bring satisfaction. TV actors smile with renewed energy after they used the product. We seldom smile.
Last week as we studied about wealth the wise King concluded it does not bring satisfaction. All that people strive to accumulate in this world will eventually be taken away. We concluded chapter 5 by reminding ourselves happiness is a gift from God. All your money as well as your ability to enjoy it is a gift from God. But in chapter 6 he reflects on five other ways people continue the treadmill of seeking satisfaction.
Solomon was in the unique possession having anything he wanted. There was nothing that his heart desired that he couldn’t get. The lure of the lottery is that one can finally be rich enough to get whatever they wanted, cars, vacations, new homes, education, sex, clothes- then they will be satisfied.
Too often self esteem is wrapped up in things. But the more things people consume the more they are dissatisfied. Until our piles grow beyond our house and we build larger storage buildings to keep it all in.
The evil, Solomon says, is when you get all the things that you thought would make you happy and they don't. Even though he was wise enough to know the Lord allowed him to have these things, satisfaction was not found in those things. God did not give him that.
"Millionaires seldom smile" said Andrew Carnegie. John D. Rockefeller said, "Great wealth is a burden destroying the real zest of life and burnishing peace from the heart." Solomon said it thousands of years before. Satisfaction is not in things.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Tues March 24, 2009
Verses- Eccl 6:3-6 A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded.
Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man--even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
Seeking Satisfaction in Family and Retirement v.3-6
I wasn’t sure if I should highlight Retirement or Family. Prosperity seems to mean enjoying life as an older person.
When I wrote this sermon I was a younger man and enjoying my family at home. Now that I have turned a corner I think ahead of how to “finish well”. When the children leave it is an adjustment again to daily activities. Solomon had well over 100 kids. I wonder if he could keep all their names straight. But he reflects over what is must be like living 2,000 years on earth, that thought does not appeal to him. He is discovering these latter days are not that much fun. Death ends it all and at the time of burial what difference does it make how nice the casket looks or the beauty of a floral display except in the memories of the loved ones? Funerals are for the living, not for the dead. Rich and poor, family filled or by one’s self death ends all relationships and all we have is left behind. In his despairing thoughts someone never born or dying as an infant means he does not experience the pain of this fallen world.
Solomon certainly sees life from the dark side when his heart is troubled. He tells us that satisfaction is not always found in families. Family certainly is more satisfying than things. A man rich with family is blessed if there is love. But did you ever really stop to think that is a gift from God? It is not something we produce ourselves.
I feel frustrated when after all I try to do to warn Christian young people not to marry non Christians, and they still look at immediate emotional desires instead of God’s word which brings wisdom for the long view. An innocent relationship soon turns into something deeper and more involved. Faith in Jesus is the spiritual glue for bonding of hearts.
Another misconception is thinking a wife or a husband will make us fulfilled. “And they got married and lived happily ever after.” That is great for fairy tales, but all good marriages take a lot of work, patience, forgiveness, and learning to give, give and give some more. No spouse can meet all your needs. It is a wonderful thing to have a mate who helps you face the realities of work, kids, stress, tension and financial challenges. Love is an emotional support but must be based on long range commitment even when days are not so happy. Trust is earned when one proves trustworthy during the hard times as well as the fun ones.
But Solomon tried to make his family his way, not God's way and he was very unhappy. In his day the foreign nations around him showed their wealth by having lots of things, but they also showed off, by having lots of wives. So Solomon thought, “I'll show them, whose greater”, and took 1,000 wives as an object lesson to them of his extreme wealth and you can image how many children he had. He did not follow God's direction for marriage. He did not marry only one believer. He married for physical attraction; he married for sexual stimulation; he married for political alliances. He married to show his power and his greatness and found family life did not bring to him satisfaction.
I know there are many men who leave work and absolutely dread going home. There are many women who dread when their husbands come home. There are children whose worse times are when they have to be with their families.
Now let me say this. My family means more to me than anything in this world, next to Jesus Christ. There is nothing that can cause more joy but also more hurt and disappointment as one's family.
Many a young wife thinks having a baby will help regain the love of a husband, but find after a baby comes more stress is added to an unhappy relationship. As parents get older there are obligations and responsibilities that adult children take over. In-laws will also be affected with these life changes that can be draining in family relationships and resources. Love takes commitment in all stages of life.
As a couple looks forward to retirement there are unexpected events that are thrown their way. Retirement accounts are no longer there to enjoy the “good life”. Financial difficulties of adult children sometimes demand help which can drain a bank account. Many a grandparent finds the need to raise the grandchildren after they thought their child rearing days were over. There is no better robber of joy than ill health and unexpected disease. And there stark reality comes that no matter how much family means to us we must leave each and every one of them. Death comes to us all. Kids grow up and marry. Some get divorced, Some have broken relationships some move out of the area. But eventually all my family will leave me by death or I them. I cannot keep them here forever.
When we lay to rest our loved ones the greatest pain is the grief of sorrow of separation. Love is worth it. But the pain of death and adjustments will affect us all our days and the longing for heaven becomes stronger. The desires of this earth lose more of their meaning. Happiness here becomes a short lived illusion. That is why faith in an eternal God and knowing life is ours beyond the grave, give hope.
The only thing you can take to heaven with you is your children, if they know the Lord. There is a forever family that is also greater than our blood relatives. We find the rest of the story in the person of Jesus Christ. When one comes to faith in Jesus Christ life takes on a different purpose. One is part of a new family. There is a love that is beyond even family love. But outside of Jesus Christ we can say, It is better never to have been born at all than never to have been born again! Christ brings meaning to our relationships now and forever. Joy comes when He is at our center of families and prosperity.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Weds March 25, 2009
Verse- Eccl 6: All man's efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.
Seeking Satisfaction in Food
Now we come to some proverbs. We work to eat and eat to stay alive to work and the cycle continues. No matter how good or how much a meal we have, in just a short time we want to eat again. Hunger is only satisfied for a few hours at the most. We constantly need food. Satisfaction is short lived.
More times than I wish to admit I was so full I didn't want another bite. I had to take food home from restaurants. I skipped dinner because lunch was so much. But by 10 pm I was hunting around the refrigerator looking for morsels. I skipped and skimmed on some days when I knew that a pot luck is coming up or we were going out to eat, or having someone over for dessert.
I was watching the Biggest Loser program a week ago when some contestants were allowed 24 hours of luxury. They could go off their diets. But temptation was too strong. They not only ate some food they longed for they also binged in drinking and eating resulting in feelings of remorse afterwards when some gained wait and others didn’t lose anything in spite of all the work outs they did other days. The sin of gluttony is a temptation that gives in to the lusts of my stomach.
But God lets people like me discover in various degrees the consequences of thinking food will satisfy. Many who are grossly overweight eat to cover up troubles, or tension or worry or anxiety. If I have a particularly stressful day I want to eat more and reward myself with goodies that are only to be used sparingly. "I deserve it" I say to myself. I owe it to myself, I lie. Then instead of doing things according to the wisdom of my mind, one yields to gluttony.
Look at Prov 16:26 "The laborer's appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on." If one is hungry he learns to work. It is a great motivation against laziness.
Now in Hebrew poetry hunger and appetite probably means the hunger of the soul which is not satisfied, which may mean that work doesn't bring satisfaction to an empty life. Hard work doesn't bring relief from depression if there are conflicts that feed the soul with discouragement.
Food does not satisfy. It is pleasurable for a time but unless there are life changes, we pay the consequences for unhealthy eating habits.
Someone asked me an interesting question. “Pastor, is it wrong to ask God to bless the meal when you know it is unhealthy junk food?” What do you think?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs March 26
Verses- Eccl 6:8,9 What advantage has a wise man over a fool? What does a poor man gain by knowing how to conduct himself before others?
9 Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Seeking Satisfaction in Ambition v. 8 & 9
I certainly am glad I don’t have to live those teen years over again. The insecurities of self doubt, seeking acceptance by others, and wanting to be liked is seeking too often to live up to others expectations. Ambition can be good, but how often what I want is influence on what others have. How to get what I want isn’t always the best for me.
It is naïve to think those days are over when we are older. We constantly compare ourselves with others looking for acceptance, and especially self acceptance. Our ambitions motivate us to do better. Our frustrations and depression come too often by situations over which we have no control or say. Fame and popularity don’t last. Embarrassments come when we don’t think we are accepted by what we say or do or wear or how far we come to meet the expectations of others and especially our own expectations.
The Lord knew what he was doing when he gave us that 10th commandment, “Thou shall not covet.” We compare ourselves and judge ourselves by what they have, their status, their positions, and their abilities. If we are poor we dream what it would be like to be rich. We might see someone who is smart and want to be like them. We listen to someone musical and dream about those talents. If we have a small house we envy those with bigger ones. Many times our dreams make us dissatisfied with the reality.
Soren Siebold wrote this parable: The Terribly, Tragically Sad Man. I am condensing it.
"Once there was a boy who lived in a big house on a hill. One day the boy said to God, "I've been thinking and I know what I want when I become a man." "What?" asked God.
"I want to live in a big house with a porch across the front and two St. Bernards and a garden out back. I want to marry a woman who is tall and very beautiful and kind, who has long, black hair and blue eyes and who plays the guitar and sings in a clear, high voice. I want three strong sons to play football with . When they grow up, one will be a great scientist, one will be a Senator and the youngest will be a quarterback for the 49ers. I want to be an adventurer who sails vast ocean and climbs tall mountains and rescues people.
"That sounds like a nice dream" said God. "I want you to be happy."
One day playing football the boy hurt his knees; he couldn't climb tall mountains or even tall tress, must less sail vast oceans. So he studied marketing and started a medical supplies business.
He married a girl who was very beautiful and very kind who had long black hair, but she was short, not tall and had brown eyes, not blue. She couldn't play the guitar or sing. But she prepared wonderful meals and painted magnificent pictures of birds.
Because of his business, he lived in a city near the top of a tall apartment building. He didn't have room for two Saint Bernards, but he had a fluffy cat. He had three daughters, all very beautiful. The youngest, who was in a wheelchair, was the loveliest. They loved their father very much. They didn't play football with him, but sometimes they went to the park and tossed a Frisbee-except for the youngest who sat under a tree strumming her guitar and singing lovely songs.
Then one morning the man awoke and remembered his dream. "I am very sad." He said to his best friend. "Why?" asked his friend.
"Because I once dreamed of marrying a tall woman with black hair, and blue eyes who would play the guitar, and could sing. My wife can't play the guitar and sing. She has brown eyes and she's not tall. "
"Oh But your wife is beautiful and very kind," said his friend. "She creates splendid pictures and delectable food." But the man wasn't listening.
"I am very sad.” The man confessed to his wife one day. Why?
“Because I once dreamed of living in a big house with a porch and having two St Bernards and a garden out back. Instead I live in an apartment building"
"Our apartment is comfortable. We have love, laughter, paintings of birds and a fluffy cat-not to mention three beautiful girls.” But the man wasn't listening.
"I am very sad," the man said to the therapist. "Why? "
“Because I once dreamed that I would grow up to be a great adventurer. Instead I'm a bald business man with a bad knee."
"The medical supplies you sell have saved many lives”. Said the therapist, but the man wasn't listening. So his therapist charged him
$110 and sent him home.
"I am very sad" the man said to his minister. "Why?"
Because I once dreamed of having three sons, a great scientist, a politician and a quarterback; instead I have 3 daughters and the youngest can't even walk."
“But your daughters are beautiful and intelligent.” Said the minster, “They love you very much and they've all done well. One is a nurse, the other an artist, and the youngest teaches music to children." But the man wasn't listening.
He was so sad that he became very sick. He lay in a hospital room. Tubes and wires connect his body to blinking machines that he once sold to the hospital. He was terribly, tragically sad.
Then one night when everyone except the nurse had gone home. The man said to God. "Remember when I was a boy and I told you all things I wanted? "
"It was lovely dream." said God.
"Why didn't you give me those things?" asked the man.
"I could have" said God, "But I wanted to surprise you with things you didn't dream of. I suppose you've notice what I've given you; a kind beautiful wife, a good business a nice place to live, three lovely daughters, one of best packages I've put together."
"Yes interrupted the man, "But I thought you were going to give me what I really wanted."
"And I thought you were going to give me what I really wanted.” Said God."
"What did you want?" asked the man. It had never occurred to him that God was in want of anything.
"I wanted to make you happy with what I'd give you." said God.
The man thought. Then he decided to dream that he wanted most were the very things he already had.
And the man got well and lived happily on the 47th floor, enjoying his children's beautiful voices, his wife's deep brown eyes and her glorious paintings of birds."
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri March 27
Verses- Eccl 6:10-12 10 Whatever exists has already been named, and what man is has been known; no man can contend with one who is stronger than he.
11 The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?
12 For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will happen under the sun after he is gone?
(NIV)
Seeking Satisfaction in Philosophy v. 10-12
There is value in all pursuits when one seeks meaning and satisfaction in who he is and what he does. It allows life to be examined and as the philosopher Socrates said to Plato, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” The search for meaning, some will say, is more important than the conclusion. Just to discover more of truth and expose falsehoods is of value, the philosophers will argue.
I minored in Philosophy at the University. I enjoyed listening to various arguments but I was more interested in the conclusions rather than the process of arguments. Yes, I learned the faulty reasoning when I studied logic. But I confess, I was frustrated reading volumes of writers and thinkers who were going down the wrong path. Of course, the bases of such education was there was no absolute truth. Find what people say makes sense and follow truth for you. It is all relative.
The value of it, I confess, was minimal. It did help me sort out thought process, and helped me to see how other people arrive at some conclusions in their dialogues and exploration of meaning. But since I experienced Jesus Christ and discovered truth didn't come from my conclusions but rather His revealtion, I decided to devote my life to answers, not just the questions which leave people floundering.
Solomon is wise. He brings people down the path of both experiencing life and thinking about it. As he presents the various answers to satisfaction, he reveals the inward emptiness when faced with death and no hope. If that is all there is, what is the meaning of all this endless search? Man left to himself is finite. He does not know the future, he cannot second guess God. He cannot make his life better doing things his own way.
I see a vast number of people running after meaning in man-made philosophies, spirituality, and political pursuits.
The nation is at a deadlock when various political powers are at odds to solve the world problems and financial principles that will bring us out of the economic crises. The reason they differ is their philosophy of financial recovery.
But Solomon argues that meaning for anything within ourselves is insufficient. We were made to have a relationship with God not a religion. Going through man made rituals to appease God don't work and even religion leaves us dissatisfied.
vs. 10 whatever exists has already been named. This observation tells us God is sovereign. One poet said it, "Not til the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly. Will God unroll his canvas and explain the reason why.. The dark threads are as needful in the weaver's skillful hands. As the thread of gold and scarlet in the pattern He has planned."
What is man? He is the clay. God is the potter. God is infinite; we are finite. God is all powerful; mankind is limited in strength and ability. God is faithful; we are unfaithful and inconsistent. The point is clear. (Ish 45:9-12) Clay pots don’t argue with their maker.
What about the future? Are you fearful? Who knows what the future
holds? The satisfied person is not the one who gets everything he or she wants. It is the person who has stopped wanting.
If you devote your life only to the pursuit of happiness you will be miserable; however if you devote your life to doing God's will you will find inner peace in the purpose for which He made you. The preacher reveals that satisfaction is a gift that comes by faith in Him.
The apostle Paul wrote, “I have learned the secret of being content”. It is learned behavior, an acquired skill. Satisfaction comes not in religion or philosophies of man, but in the relationship we can have with our creator. Faith points to Jesus who began his kingdom at his revelation the first time and promises that at His return it will be revealed to the entire world. That forever hope in the Almighty gives us the power to endure all things. That faith in truth from God is what allowed Abraham to be willing to offer his son Isaac. That hope allowed Paul to say while in chains, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" God allows us to hunger and thirst, to be discontented so we will be hungry enough and thirsty enough to search for one that can truly satisfy.
As we looked last week, Eccl 5:19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work-- this is a gift of God.”
This gift brings salvation, which we now know is by faith and trust in Jesus Christ as He was revealed to fulfill what Old Testament saints longed to understand.
Pastor Dale
Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Dangers of Wealth Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
Sermon Nuggets Mon March 16, 2009
Theme-Dangers of Wealth
Verses- Read Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
Dangers of Wealth
In a Prayer book by Michel Quoist he reveals use and abuses of money. He looks at a $20.00 bill and prays "Lord, This bill frightens me. You know its secrets, you know its history. It scares me, for it cannot speak.
It will never tell all it hides in its creases. It will never reveal all the struggles and efforts it represents, all the disillusionment and slighted dignity. It is stained with sweat and blood. It is laden with all the weight of the human toil which makes its worth. It fills me with awe, it frightens me. For it has death on its conscience.
All the poor fellows who killed themselves for it, to possess it for a few hours, to have through it a little pleasure, a little joy, a little life. Through how many hands has it passed, Lord? And what has it done in the course of its long, silent journeys?
It has offered white roses to the radiant fiancée. It has paid for the birthday party and fed the rosy-cheeked baby. It has provided bread for the family table. Because of it there was laughing among the young and the joy among the leaders. It has paid for the saving visit of the doctor, it has bought the book that taught the youngster, It has clothed the young girl.
But it has sent the letter of breaking the engagement, it has paid for the death of the baby in its mother's womb, It has bough the liquor that made the drunkard, It has produced the movie unfit for children, and has recorded the indecent song. It has broken the morals of the adolescent and made the adult a thief. It has bought for a few hours the body of a woman. It has paid for the weapons of the crime and for the wood of the coffin.
O Lord, I offer you this bill with its joyous mysteries, its sorrowful mysteries. It can serve or destroy man. I thank you for all the life and joy it has given. I ask you forgiveness for the harm it has done. But above all, Lord, I offer it to you as a symbol of all the labors of men indestructible money, which tomorrow will be changed into your eternal life."
We get a realistic picture of the problems of our riches from the richest man in the world. Solomon probably got in our standards $30 million a year. So when Solomon speaks we should listen. There are some important considerations regarding money.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues March 17
Verses- Eccl 5:8-12
8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.
9 The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
Danger of Wealth can be Desires- Dissatisfaction
Discrimination
History shows that people in power too often abuse and mistreat or ignore others. Unfortunately, money is a discerner of persons. Those with money tend to have power and the danger is discrimination is against those who do not.
Jesus was discriminated against because he was only the son of a carpenter and not of the more privileged class. Jesus was oppressed, abused by the powerful leaders of his day who tried to kill Him because of the threat of His teaching, and the increase of His followers. But Jesus was the ultimate victor by rising again from the dead and promised to come again to take with him all those who believe in Him. Are you ready for his second coming? If He were to come today do you have confidence that you will be taken with him? You can have that assurance you know.
But from these verses we also see that wealth has been the means for
discrimination. Justice is for the wealthy for the poor cannot afford a competent lawyer. Influence happens when people have money.
In the musical drama, Fiddler on the Roof, the main character, Tevye asks God to make him a rich man. He said openly that there is no dishonor to be poor, but it is no great honor either. He dreams of what it would be like to follow the ways of a rich man. He will get respect, and be a man of influence. He would impress his neighbors by building a big house and staircases that don't go anywhere, but just for show. People will come to him and ask his opinions on all matters..why? Because he is a wealthy man.
Notice if you are a poor man people are not interested in your opinions. You do to have prestige in the community. There is discrimination. You are given the feeling of not being important.
Wealth discriminates when it comes to justice, it discriminates when it comes to elections, it discriminates when it comes to pleasures.
The Bible tells us to be people who speak up for the rights of the oppressed, and to stand in seeking justice for the poor. We are given resource by God in part to assist those who have needs. To feed, to clothe, to help, to provide health service, and assist in emergencies, and to carry out the works of Jesus Christ. Prov 19:17 "He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and he will reward him for what he has done." God has a heart for the oppressed and poor, and wants his people to as well. He will reward us for kindnesses done in his name.
Prov. 22:22,23 "Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them."
Beware of your wealth that it not be used to discriminate against those who do not have it. Be careful of your attitudes toward those who do not have money, lest you and I be guilty of judging people in ways that God says is sin. Be alert that if you have been given more resources that needed to meet your needs God wants you to share some of it so others can be helped. For man desires to discriminate based on people's possession.
If God gives you blessings, on not another, what should your attitude be? If he gives you material gifts in order to serve Him, care for needs and help others how should that change your opinions regarding wealth?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds March 18, 2009
Verses – Eccl 5: 10-12 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.
11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?
12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.
Deception
If you were given today $5,000 what would you do with it? What would make you happier?
Another danger of wealth that Solomon experiences is the promise of something it does not produce. The lure of money is deceiving. People desire money for they believe it will bring happiness. But it does not.
There is something within us that tells us whatever we have, we want more. Money promises satisfaction, but never produces it. Few people are actually satisfied with what they have. Who among us can say, I need an want no more? Is not there another item, another goal, another purchase that we have set our attention on?
As soon as we acquire what we desired, the desire is not satisfied, we want something else. Wants are like that. Someone asked that proverbial question, “who is wealthier the man with a million dollars or the man with 10 children?” The answer is the man with 10 children because he doesn't want any more.
Let’s be realistic that for most, whatever you have, you spend. Those who have grey hairs usually are the ones who can tell you that happiness is not found in the acquiring of many goods. Some of the most unhappy people are millionaires.
Churches have risen to attract people with the desire to get richer by Biblical principles. Those attracted will be deceived. If we follow the biblical principles we may or may not become wealthy. It is a perversion of Bible teaching that makes the Bible focus on material wealth. There is a great amount of smoothing phrases and the misuse of Bible verses out of context that entices people who are automatically wanting to having a better lifestyle attracted.
"God doesn't want the devils people to have all the diamonds. He made them for his children to enjoy." Sounds great doesn't it? Now what is the attraction? God or diamonds? Zig Zigler preached God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He's a wealthy God and we are his heirs. Zigler teaches that Humility in the area of finances is “stinkin thinking.” Through the power of positive thinking God will make you wealthy if you only believe." It is heresy when people make God a means to achieve greater financial end, instead of the end Himself. It is a false teaching that motivates you to give money into the offering plate thinking that by giving you will get richer. You have given for the wrong reasons. If you give out of your desire and love for God and for the needs of carrying on his work and witness. If you give to help those in need. If you give because you want to give of yourself in this way in your honor to God without expectations of material return that is what the Bible teaches. God gives out of grace not out of our schemes of manipulating Him.
If you had the option of having God give you the joy of his daily fellowship of the blessing of money which would you chose? Think about that. That answer may explain why there are so many miserable Christians today. If God meant for his people to be wealthy in this world's goods then why was Jesus poor, and didn't have a place to lay his head? Why did he borrow coins, and tell the rich young ruler to give all his money away and follow Jesus? Why did Peter and John tell the crippled man, "Silver and gold we have none, but such as we have you give you. In the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk."
Solomon says that the sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but he abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep" (vs. 12) There have been studies on insomnia and there is a correlation between sleep patterns of people compared to their income.
Those who work and don't have responsibilities of running businesses as employers sleep better. Those who are responsible for the larger corporations have increased sleeping and eating problems than those employed by them.
Solomon tells us to guard your desires. There is a danger of deception when what we have doesn’t produce what we really need.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nugget Thurs March 19, 2009
Verses Eccl 5:13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him.
Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.
This too is a grievous evil: As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind?
All his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.
Destruction
The parable of the wise and foolish man illustrates the danger of wealth. IT is a foundation that is sand. It will leave us as many are discovering in these hard economic times. When our foundation is on money, jobs, health, family we are destroyed when they are taken from us. When it is on Jesus Christ and things of heaven faith is following the Lord whose dividends will never fade.
There is great disaster when people lose what they have obtained and accumulated. There is a Biblical principle that is so obvious but so ignored. Let me remind you- You cannot take it with you. Everything you have on this earth will be taken from you eventually. Sooner or later you are going to lose it all. Why don't we live that way?
Maybe it's because we think we will acquire as much as we possibly can to enjoy what we can until we lose it.
Why do so many people have personal economic disaster? Solomon who is many times a millionaire knows that answer. Part of the answer is discontent. People want more than what they can afford, and their lives are centered around what they possess instead of Who possesses them.
We are witnessing the devastation of foreclosures when loans were given to people who could not afford them. Banks and mortgage agencies are experiencing great losses. Devaluation of homes make those investments pummel. Material things will not sell. People seek elevated lifestyles beyond their income. They accumulate debt early. Many young couples today feel pressure to live at the level of their parents, not realizing that it took their parents 30 or 40 years of work to reach that level.
Consumer debt in our economy is a vicious cycle. To avoid that trap we must commit to living within our incomes throughout our whole lives so that becomes a life pattern.
If we look beyond overspending to the root cause, we often find a low self-esteem or a need for significance or approval. There really is an emotional disaster inside and the finances become a symptom of the real problem. When people lose it all there is nothing for which to fall back on and there is emotional devastation.
My wife's grandfather was believed to commit suicide because he lost money in the stock market crash. Possessions become so much a part of self esteem that life loses it's meaning when it is gone. Self worth found in dollars is lost when the dollars are gone.
Solomon also sees situations beyond a person’s greed that will cause them financial disaster. It may be no problem of their own. It can be a loss of income from a lost job, it might be a thief or a robber, it can be the stock market crash, it might be flooding of farmland, it can be the misfortune of a customer or client that does not pay off their debt causes the company to go bankrupt. Some are left penniless today because of war, or fire, or other disasters.
Many are devastated financially, but more than that. Their hope is in their possession and without their possessions and wealth they are lost and in despair. Friend whatever the cause of the loss, money will never last.
When Jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get to heaven, he was trying to shock his listeners into an understanding of the damage that wealth causes spiritually. There are people who cheat, steal, and murder for money. There are people who abuse the rights of workers, fudge on the quality of products they are selling, or the bribes, and misrepresentations of goods for the sake of profit all to no avail for the Lord cannot be tolerant of the ways we make money at others expenses.
The disaster is when the God of gold damns our souls to hell for we have sought foundations of life in ways of the world and wealth and not Christ.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri March 20
Verses- Eccl.5: 18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him-- for this is his lot.
19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work-- this is a gift of God.
20 He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.
Discontent
Another danger of wealth is discontent. We already discussed discrimination, deception, and destruction. Solomon sought contentment in worldly things and was disappointed. Whatever diversion it allowed passed to an unsettled mind and heart. He tells his subject that contentment is found in wealth that is beyond riches and gold. The focus of real wealth is found in faith in God's provisions. Can a person find satisfaction when his needs are met?
I was visiting with a lady who was shut-in and asked her how she was doing. She looked at me and smiled. "Great, I was able to get up today and dress myself. I have something to eat, and a bed to sleep in." We chuckled.
But that statement caused me to think of my feeble complaints. I was frustrated with my schedule of uncompleted tasks. I was grumpy for not having enough money to purchase a vehicle I couldn’t afford. I was complaining about the weather. I realized after my conversation with the lady that I never once looked at what I had, only what I wanted that I didn't have. I was grumpy. She was happy. I had more than she, but she had more than me. She had contentment. I had discontentment because things could be better.
I never thanked God for a good nights sleep. Yet I slept well. I never thanked God for having a bed, or roof or able to get out of bed that morning. She seemed grateful for what I took for granted. It caused me to reflect on where wealth lies?
Solomon knew joy, not in things, but in the grace of God. All that we have is from God. It is not ours anyway. Our job, our talents, our abilities, our homes, our children are gifts. If we make them the end of our desires we are people without satisfaction.
If we see our job as a gift from God which has both practical and spiritual purpose it too takes on more significance. We don't have to worry about our life when we are in His will. We don't have to compete with others over what we purchase. We don't have to scurry around impressing people but have the gladness of heart in a right relationship with God and joyful with what he provides. If you love the Lord you'll enjoy your day, because God is the source of our pleasure. He is the source of our wealth. If we are diluted in thinking we have made our own money and we have earned our own riches then we have bankrupted the spiritual lesson of joy. We think we deserve it, when it is really an act of God's grace. We become prideful instead of thankful.
Some accept jobs because it provides more money, but with the added responsibility and prestige there is more stress. With less time at home family matters suffer. One soon thinks they become self made individuals instead of realizing the truth of Phil 4:19 Only our heavenly Father will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
God uses our financial resources to teach us how to depend on Him for our true necessities.
Many people are shaped by the consumer culture rather than the economics of Christ. They still feel if you earned it you deserve it. They have taken in by the half truth that says we glorify God with our money by enjoying thankfully all the luxuries He enables us to buy. The true half is this- We should give thanks for every good thing God gives us.
That does glorify Him. The evidence that many of our people are not rich toward God is how little they give to God and how much they own. Over the years God has prospered us. Yet it becomes an irresistible law of the consumer to have bought bigger and better things.
The New Testament tells us to be content with what you have. The wealthy especially need the warning not to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God (I Tim 6:17).
What is the promise of delight? It is to see what greater joy there is in the fellowship with the Lord and in service for Him. "O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him" If Christians can experience times of real fellowship with the Lord in genuine worship and prayer they will clearly see the great joy the comes from God Himself, joy and blessing far surpassing anything that could be purchased with money. The delight is in the giver of all good gifts, and the focus on the giver not the gift.
Make your investments not for the few years to come, but for eternity which is forever. Delight yourself in the Lord, then He will give you the desires of your heart. Then you will find that which is missed by those who think they have everything, but have missed everything. Then you will know God and His pleasure evermore. Contentment comes from within, not from what is on the outside. It comes from above, not in things below.
Pastor Dale
Theme-Dangers of Wealth
Verses- Read Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
Dangers of Wealth
In a Prayer book by Michel Quoist he reveals use and abuses of money. He looks at a $20.00 bill and prays "Lord, This bill frightens me. You know its secrets, you know its history. It scares me, for it cannot speak.
It will never tell all it hides in its creases. It will never reveal all the struggles and efforts it represents, all the disillusionment and slighted dignity. It is stained with sweat and blood. It is laden with all the weight of the human toil which makes its worth. It fills me with awe, it frightens me. For it has death on its conscience.
All the poor fellows who killed themselves for it, to possess it for a few hours, to have through it a little pleasure, a little joy, a little life. Through how many hands has it passed, Lord? And what has it done in the course of its long, silent journeys?
It has offered white roses to the radiant fiancée. It has paid for the birthday party and fed the rosy-cheeked baby. It has provided bread for the family table. Because of it there was laughing among the young and the joy among the leaders. It has paid for the saving visit of the doctor, it has bought the book that taught the youngster, It has clothed the young girl.
But it has sent the letter of breaking the engagement, it has paid for the death of the baby in its mother's womb, It has bough the liquor that made the drunkard, It has produced the movie unfit for children, and has recorded the indecent song. It has broken the morals of the adolescent and made the adult a thief. It has bought for a few hours the body of a woman. It has paid for the weapons of the crime and for the wood of the coffin.
O Lord, I offer you this bill with its joyous mysteries, its sorrowful mysteries. It can serve or destroy man. I thank you for all the life and joy it has given. I ask you forgiveness for the harm it has done. But above all, Lord, I offer it to you as a symbol of all the labors of men indestructible money, which tomorrow will be changed into your eternal life."
We get a realistic picture of the problems of our riches from the richest man in the world. Solomon probably got in our standards $30 million a year. So when Solomon speaks we should listen. There are some important considerations regarding money.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues March 17
Verses- Eccl 5:8-12
8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.
9 The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
Danger of Wealth can be Desires- Dissatisfaction
Discrimination
History shows that people in power too often abuse and mistreat or ignore others. Unfortunately, money is a discerner of persons. Those with money tend to have power and the danger is discrimination is against those who do not.
Jesus was discriminated against because he was only the son of a carpenter and not of the more privileged class. Jesus was oppressed, abused by the powerful leaders of his day who tried to kill Him because of the threat of His teaching, and the increase of His followers. But Jesus was the ultimate victor by rising again from the dead and promised to come again to take with him all those who believe in Him. Are you ready for his second coming? If He were to come today do you have confidence that you will be taken with him? You can have that assurance you know.
But from these verses we also see that wealth has been the means for
discrimination. Justice is for the wealthy for the poor cannot afford a competent lawyer. Influence happens when people have money.
In the musical drama, Fiddler on the Roof, the main character, Tevye asks God to make him a rich man. He said openly that there is no dishonor to be poor, but it is no great honor either. He dreams of what it would be like to follow the ways of a rich man. He will get respect, and be a man of influence. He would impress his neighbors by building a big house and staircases that don't go anywhere, but just for show. People will come to him and ask his opinions on all matters..why? Because he is a wealthy man.
Notice if you are a poor man people are not interested in your opinions. You do to have prestige in the community. There is discrimination. You are given the feeling of not being important.
Wealth discriminates when it comes to justice, it discriminates when it comes to elections, it discriminates when it comes to pleasures.
The Bible tells us to be people who speak up for the rights of the oppressed, and to stand in seeking justice for the poor. We are given resource by God in part to assist those who have needs. To feed, to clothe, to help, to provide health service, and assist in emergencies, and to carry out the works of Jesus Christ. Prov 19:17 "He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and he will reward him for what he has done." God has a heart for the oppressed and poor, and wants his people to as well. He will reward us for kindnesses done in his name.
Prov. 22:22,23 "Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them."
Beware of your wealth that it not be used to discriminate against those who do not have it. Be careful of your attitudes toward those who do not have money, lest you and I be guilty of judging people in ways that God says is sin. Be alert that if you have been given more resources that needed to meet your needs God wants you to share some of it so others can be helped. For man desires to discriminate based on people's possession.
If God gives you blessings, on not another, what should your attitude be? If he gives you material gifts in order to serve Him, care for needs and help others how should that change your opinions regarding wealth?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds March 18, 2009
Verses – Eccl 5: 10-12 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.
11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?
12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.
Deception
If you were given today $5,000 what would you do with it? What would make you happier?
Another danger of wealth that Solomon experiences is the promise of something it does not produce. The lure of money is deceiving. People desire money for they believe it will bring happiness. But it does not.
There is something within us that tells us whatever we have, we want more. Money promises satisfaction, but never produces it. Few people are actually satisfied with what they have. Who among us can say, I need an want no more? Is not there another item, another goal, another purchase that we have set our attention on?
As soon as we acquire what we desired, the desire is not satisfied, we want something else. Wants are like that. Someone asked that proverbial question, “who is wealthier the man with a million dollars or the man with 10 children?” The answer is the man with 10 children because he doesn't want any more.
Let’s be realistic that for most, whatever you have, you spend. Those who have grey hairs usually are the ones who can tell you that happiness is not found in the acquiring of many goods. Some of the most unhappy people are millionaires.
Churches have risen to attract people with the desire to get richer by Biblical principles. Those attracted will be deceived. If we follow the biblical principles we may or may not become wealthy. It is a perversion of Bible teaching that makes the Bible focus on material wealth. There is a great amount of smoothing phrases and the misuse of Bible verses out of context that entices people who are automatically wanting to having a better lifestyle attracted.
"God doesn't want the devils people to have all the diamonds. He made them for his children to enjoy." Sounds great doesn't it? Now what is the attraction? God or diamonds? Zig Zigler preached God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He's a wealthy God and we are his heirs. Zigler teaches that Humility in the area of finances is “stinkin thinking.” Through the power of positive thinking God will make you wealthy if you only believe." It is heresy when people make God a means to achieve greater financial end, instead of the end Himself. It is a false teaching that motivates you to give money into the offering plate thinking that by giving you will get richer. You have given for the wrong reasons. If you give out of your desire and love for God and for the needs of carrying on his work and witness. If you give to help those in need. If you give because you want to give of yourself in this way in your honor to God without expectations of material return that is what the Bible teaches. God gives out of grace not out of our schemes of manipulating Him.
If you had the option of having God give you the joy of his daily fellowship of the blessing of money which would you chose? Think about that. That answer may explain why there are so many miserable Christians today. If God meant for his people to be wealthy in this world's goods then why was Jesus poor, and didn't have a place to lay his head? Why did he borrow coins, and tell the rich young ruler to give all his money away and follow Jesus? Why did Peter and John tell the crippled man, "Silver and gold we have none, but such as we have you give you. In the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk."
Solomon says that the sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but he abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep" (vs. 12) There have been studies on insomnia and there is a correlation between sleep patterns of people compared to their income.
Those who work and don't have responsibilities of running businesses as employers sleep better. Those who are responsible for the larger corporations have increased sleeping and eating problems than those employed by them.
Solomon tells us to guard your desires. There is a danger of deception when what we have doesn’t produce what we really need.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nugget Thurs March 19, 2009
Verses Eccl 5:13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son there is nothing left for him.
Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.
This too is a grievous evil: As a man comes, so he departs, and what does he gain, since he toils for the wind?
All his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.
Destruction
The parable of the wise and foolish man illustrates the danger of wealth. IT is a foundation that is sand. It will leave us as many are discovering in these hard economic times. When our foundation is on money, jobs, health, family we are destroyed when they are taken from us. When it is on Jesus Christ and things of heaven faith is following the Lord whose dividends will never fade.
There is great disaster when people lose what they have obtained and accumulated. There is a Biblical principle that is so obvious but so ignored. Let me remind you- You cannot take it with you. Everything you have on this earth will be taken from you eventually. Sooner or later you are going to lose it all. Why don't we live that way?
Maybe it's because we think we will acquire as much as we possibly can to enjoy what we can until we lose it.
Why do so many people have personal economic disaster? Solomon who is many times a millionaire knows that answer. Part of the answer is discontent. People want more than what they can afford, and their lives are centered around what they possess instead of Who possesses them.
We are witnessing the devastation of foreclosures when loans were given to people who could not afford them. Banks and mortgage agencies are experiencing great losses. Devaluation of homes make those investments pummel. Material things will not sell. People seek elevated lifestyles beyond their income. They accumulate debt early. Many young couples today feel pressure to live at the level of their parents, not realizing that it took their parents 30 or 40 years of work to reach that level.
Consumer debt in our economy is a vicious cycle. To avoid that trap we must commit to living within our incomes throughout our whole lives so that becomes a life pattern.
If we look beyond overspending to the root cause, we often find a low self-esteem or a need for significance or approval. There really is an emotional disaster inside and the finances become a symptom of the real problem. When people lose it all there is nothing for which to fall back on and there is emotional devastation.
My wife's grandfather was believed to commit suicide because he lost money in the stock market crash. Possessions become so much a part of self esteem that life loses it's meaning when it is gone. Self worth found in dollars is lost when the dollars are gone.
Solomon also sees situations beyond a person’s greed that will cause them financial disaster. It may be no problem of their own. It can be a loss of income from a lost job, it might be a thief or a robber, it can be the stock market crash, it might be flooding of farmland, it can be the misfortune of a customer or client that does not pay off their debt causes the company to go bankrupt. Some are left penniless today because of war, or fire, or other disasters.
Many are devastated financially, but more than that. Their hope is in their possession and without their possessions and wealth they are lost and in despair. Friend whatever the cause of the loss, money will never last.
When Jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get to heaven, he was trying to shock his listeners into an understanding of the damage that wealth causes spiritually. There are people who cheat, steal, and murder for money. There are people who abuse the rights of workers, fudge on the quality of products they are selling, or the bribes, and misrepresentations of goods for the sake of profit all to no avail for the Lord cannot be tolerant of the ways we make money at others expenses.
The disaster is when the God of gold damns our souls to hell for we have sought foundations of life in ways of the world and wealth and not Christ.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri March 20
Verses- Eccl.5: 18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him-- for this is his lot.
19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work-- this is a gift of God.
20 He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.
Discontent
Another danger of wealth is discontent. We already discussed discrimination, deception, and destruction. Solomon sought contentment in worldly things and was disappointed. Whatever diversion it allowed passed to an unsettled mind and heart. He tells his subject that contentment is found in wealth that is beyond riches and gold. The focus of real wealth is found in faith in God's provisions. Can a person find satisfaction when his needs are met?
I was visiting with a lady who was shut-in and asked her how she was doing. She looked at me and smiled. "Great, I was able to get up today and dress myself. I have something to eat, and a bed to sleep in." We chuckled.
But that statement caused me to think of my feeble complaints. I was frustrated with my schedule of uncompleted tasks. I was grumpy for not having enough money to purchase a vehicle I couldn’t afford. I was complaining about the weather. I realized after my conversation with the lady that I never once looked at what I had, only what I wanted that I didn't have. I was grumpy. She was happy. I had more than she, but she had more than me. She had contentment. I had discontentment because things could be better.
I never thanked God for a good nights sleep. Yet I slept well. I never thanked God for having a bed, or roof or able to get out of bed that morning. She seemed grateful for what I took for granted. It caused me to reflect on where wealth lies?
Solomon knew joy, not in things, but in the grace of God. All that we have is from God. It is not ours anyway. Our job, our talents, our abilities, our homes, our children are gifts. If we make them the end of our desires we are people without satisfaction.
If we see our job as a gift from God which has both practical and spiritual purpose it too takes on more significance. We don't have to worry about our life when we are in His will. We don't have to compete with others over what we purchase. We don't have to scurry around impressing people but have the gladness of heart in a right relationship with God and joyful with what he provides. If you love the Lord you'll enjoy your day, because God is the source of our pleasure. He is the source of our wealth. If we are diluted in thinking we have made our own money and we have earned our own riches then we have bankrupted the spiritual lesson of joy. We think we deserve it, when it is really an act of God's grace. We become prideful instead of thankful.
Some accept jobs because it provides more money, but with the added responsibility and prestige there is more stress. With less time at home family matters suffer. One soon thinks they become self made individuals instead of realizing the truth of Phil 4:19 Only our heavenly Father will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
God uses our financial resources to teach us how to depend on Him for our true necessities.
Many people are shaped by the consumer culture rather than the economics of Christ. They still feel if you earned it you deserve it. They have taken in by the half truth that says we glorify God with our money by enjoying thankfully all the luxuries He enables us to buy. The true half is this- We should give thanks for every good thing God gives us.
That does glorify Him. The evidence that many of our people are not rich toward God is how little they give to God and how much they own. Over the years God has prospered us. Yet it becomes an irresistible law of the consumer to have bought bigger and better things.
The New Testament tells us to be content with what you have. The wealthy especially need the warning not to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God (I Tim 6:17).
What is the promise of delight? It is to see what greater joy there is in the fellowship with the Lord and in service for Him. "O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him" If Christians can experience times of real fellowship with the Lord in genuine worship and prayer they will clearly see the great joy the comes from God Himself, joy and blessing far surpassing anything that could be purchased with money. The delight is in the giver of all good gifts, and the focus on the giver not the gift.
Make your investments not for the few years to come, but for eternity which is forever. Delight yourself in the Lord, then He will give you the desires of your heart. Then you will find that which is missed by those who think they have everything, but have missed everything. Then you will know God and His pleasure evermore. Contentment comes from within, not from what is on the outside. It comes from above, not in things below.
Pastor Dale
Friday, March 13, 2009
Ways of Worship Ecclesiates 5:1-7
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
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 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
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