Ecclesiastes Part 2: Plug Into the Power

Good morning, everybody. Great to be with you another beautiful day, and this is the second and final week, in her time, in the Book of Ecclesiastes. I'm over the last week. Several people pointed out to me that Ecclesiastes is a difficult book and I agree with you. And it's difficult in part because it doesn't read like a story. It's not one of those books in the Bible like genesis which is in the beginning and then so on and it's like a story or the gospel of Matthew which is the story of Jesus life from birth and death. Resurrection Ecclesiastes, doesn't doesn't begin with Once Upon a Time. It doesn't end with happily ever after. I think that for me it's helpful to think of Ecclesiastes more like a photo collage than a story. Have you ever seen one of these photo collages like a big sometimes teenagers might have them on the wall in their bedroom? Bob would you might turn me down? Just a little bit of

I'm off in a photo. Collage will have service General theme, maybe my senior year of high school for example. And a teenager might put many photographs all kind of overlapping kind of loosely organized on a large bulletin board. And they might even amidst the photos include little souvenirs, like maybe a program from a School awards banquet or a dried corsage from prom.

Or a ticket stub from a concert they attended. And if you were to take that collage and remove it from your child wall and give it to a stranger and ask them to tell you about your child's wife. They probably have to do a little bit of studying. They have to make judgments from the photos and a souvenirs and maybe try to organize the themes in their minds a little bit and they might want to ask some question. Something for some more information to help them understand that this is what Ecclesiastes is Solomon has lived most of his life and he puts together a collage.

And in between the snapshots of his life, he's thrown in some wise observations and here and there he puts a souvenir and maybe a poem, it's not all laid out. Chronologically It's sort of like the photos in a collage overlapping, a little bit random. Sometimes we find a snapshot of Solomon in deep distress. Saying I don't see the point in anything. I've done, it's all meaningless but other times he's urging people to fear God and at other moments, he's enjoying pleasure. And there's great truth and wisdom. We can learn from Solomon's collage, but we have to do a little bit of sifting, a little organizing, a little research.

Maybe read about Solomon and other parts of the Bible, where it's more like a story so that we can understand where he's at in Ecclesiastes. Last week, we looked at some of the darker moments in Solomon's life, as he looked back on his Pursuits and accomplishments, everything seems Hollow. Some things seems like they ought to have meaning but nothing really seem to have lasting value in the end. Well, today, we're moving at a chapter 3 and Solomon stone is very different Let's read from Ecclesiastes. Chapter 3, if you have your Bibles please turn there. Ecclesiastes 3.

There is a time for everything and a season, for every activity under the heavens, a time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to uproot, A Time to Kill. And a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing a time to search. And a time to give up a time to keep, and a time to throw away, a time to tear. And a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate a time for war. And a Time For Peace, what do workers gain from their toil. I've seen the burden, God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart yet. No one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there's nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live that each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil. This is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear Him.

Well, Solomon, we hardly recognized you today. What happened to you since last week? The first two chapters were filled with Despair and meaninglessness and no matter how hard a person works in the end, it is without meaning. There's no point to any of our Pursuits. But here in the next chapter, we find Solomon is telling us everything has a place and a time. And he speaking about design and purpose and significance. And how there's a reason for every Pursuit Last week we saw Solomon looking for meaning and fulfillment by obsessing over one Pursuit at a time. So he tried pleasure, he chased down. Every pleasure is her desire to see if that would bring meaning and fulfillment. And he had lots of fun but in the end it wasn't what he was looking for. So he switched gears and he said, well maybe fulfillment is found in hard work. So we went down that path became a workaholic even though he accomplished great things, It ultimately was not the meaning of life and he continued on and on one by one. Trying to find the one Pursuit. That was the secret to a meaningful existence by here. If we see, Solomon has learned an important lesson, all of these Pursuits. Are part of a great design. They all are designed to have their place in the universe. They are designed to be enjoyed in certain times and for certain purposes, it's not that one of these things is the secret of life. It's that God has designed them all to be part of his plan. There are times to enjoy pleasure and there are times to work. There are times to weep and times to laugh. And all of these activities have their place. And they speak of the universe that has been designed by a Creator, they speak of meaning, and of a great plan, and a beauty and wonder And Solomon here, sees that it is good for people to be happy and to do good to eat and drink because these things are a gift from God.

Do you know what happens to Solomon? Which caused this change in perspective?

He remembered his creator.

He says we read about Solomon's life in other parts of the Bible were told that he began with a closer walk with the Lord. As a Young Man Solomon became king and he prayed to God for wisdom. And God was pleased with his request and he gave them wisdom. And later, Solomon built got a beautiful Temple and God was pleased with him and God's presence. Filled the temple, that Solomon built But eventually and gradually Solomon, forgot his creator. How did this happen? Well, Solomon got busy. He was busy being King, he became ambitious and was working on his building projects. He was acquiring wealth, he was pursuing pleasure. All the stuff we heard last week. He was busy somewhere along the way. He forgot to remain connected to his creator. No, he didn't do this spitefully. Didn't go through some major Rebellion against God. In fact I'm sure through his whole life if you ask Solomon would have told you that I believe in the one true God of course. Yet he didn't remain remember, remain close to God. He forgot to bring God with him. He was just doing life and forget to commune with God. He wasn't asking God to direct his work. He wasn't asking God to help him find meaning in life, he was just doing it on his own. And when Solomon did life without God, he found that life became very Hollow. Pleasure lost, its meaning work became something he ended up hating. Solomon Park last week about how we only live for a short time. We die and are buried in the ground like animals. He had forgotten about eternity. And life after death. He had forgotten his creator. There's a movie, which is played on TV, ad nauseam around the holidays, and I'm sure most of you have seen it. I'm not going to name the movie one time. I was speaking to a church member at a different church and in our conversation, I quoted a funny line from a particular movie because it had something to do with what we were talking about. A few days later that person came back to me and said I'm a little surprised and disappointed in you. We rented that movie recommended and watched it with our children, and there was some language in that movie. I said, I didn't recommend you watch it. I just quoted a line from it to make a point. So I'm not endorsing a movie today, nor will I name it?

In this movie, which is a stupid comedy, but kind of funny, the main character is hosting Christmas at his house. And it relatives are coming from far away. Lots of people will be staying over for several nights and the main character wants this to be the biggest and best Christmas ever. Everybody's welcome. We're all going to get along and we're going to feast and it's going to be like the good old days. And he also determines that he's going to decorate his house for Christmas like never before. And he kind of reminds me of Jim Williams a little bit. He dragged boxes and boxes of lights and ornaments up to the roof and Staples wires all over the house. He has music set to play in light switch with flash and twinkle and his lawn decorations, which will move And he nearly killed himself a few times as the latter slips, and he gets his sleeve stapled to the the roof. And he's hanging there by his coat and in the end he's exhausted and banged up like he is completely covered his house and his lawn and bulbs and wires and decorations. And as nighttime fall this time, to turn it on and he excitedly makes the whole family come out into the cold and stand in the snow and there's a drum roll Rhythm and a countdown. And then the moment of truth and he dramatically connect, the plug of the extension cord and nothing. Wait a second. Let's try unplugging it. And plugging you down. Shake the wires. Nothing and he's confused in the families. Disappointed, they go back inside.

He doesn't understand, he checked the bulbs, before you put them up, they all work, he checked the wires and decorations but for some reason all he has is a house covered in wires and light bulbs in ornaments that aren't doing what they're supposed to do. Well, that was Solomon. He had decorated his life. He had used all of the best decorations available work, family, pleasure, money, knowledge. All the stuff that we desire to decorate our lives with, but something was wrong. The lights weren't shining the animatronic lawn ornaments were moving. The Christmas music wasn't playing. He had worked so hard to decorate his life. But it lacks something. His soul wasn't satisfied. I wonder if you can relate. Are you finding that the lights aren't shining in your life? you've decorated, well, you've Pursued all the decorations you thought would bring meaning and happiness and contentment. You chase that college degree. You got that job. You got married to that person who was going to complete you. You went to the parties that were going to brighten things up.

You lost that weight? You had the kids were going to be your everything. You bought that house, you retired with that pension, you went on those vacations. You remodeled the house And after all that effort, if you're honest. Sometimes, perhaps you wonder what it was all for. You have all the lights in the decorations but they aren't doing what you feel. They're supposed to do. And if this is the case for you, I wonder if it's possible that you have forgotten your creator. And you might say, of course, not look at me, I'm sitting in church. But are you abiding in him? Are you in constant fellowship with God? Moment-by-moment

Jesus spoke in John chapter 15 and he said remain in me as I also remain in. You no Branch can bear. Fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine. Neither, can you bear fruit unless you remain in me? I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Have you remained connected to your source of power or have you forgotten your creator? In this comedy movie, The frustrated main character, finally discovers why his lights weren't working. There was a problem at the other end of the extension cord and he was able to discover this problem and connect the lights to the power. And suddenly all the lights came on, they twinkled and shown in the music, played in the decorations moved in the house was transformed. Once the lights were plugged in later in the Book of Ecclesiastes in chapter 12, Solomon rights. This remember your creator in the days of your youth before the days of trouble come and the years approach. When you will say, I find no pleasure in them. Solomon tells us, I used to think back when I had forgotten my creator that since you only go around, once that you need to cram your life full of something, I just needed to figure out what that something was. Do you cram it for pleasure or hard work? I do all the hard work he can before you die. Or is it something else? But now that I have remembered God, I know the thing we need to do while we still can is to remain connected to the Creator. Don't waste time, hurry up and remember your creator

Have you forgotten your creator? Do you leave them at church? Every Sunday when you go home. Like some of your Bibles which have been sitting in the lost and found for months.

When you are connected to God, he infuses your life with meaning and purpose just as those Christmas lights are infused with lights. When they are plugged in the illuminates, all of the bulbs of life and shows us, that these things are all part of a wonderful plan. What are some of the light bulbs of Life? While one is pleasure like Solomon talked, a lot about pleasure is a gift from God Christian sometimes don't know what to do with pleasure. Should we ban it? Should we make it a sin? Is it okay to enjoy things while the truth here? As Solomon tells us is that God gives us pleasure as a gift. But if we're not plugged into our creator pleasure loses, its meaning and we can become slaves. To it like Solomon did, And it doesn't satisfy. It can hurt us. But when we are connected to our creator, we find. Pleasure is a gift from God and it moves us to respond to God with praise and thanksgiving. We sing a song here, which says every blessing you pour out. I'll turn back to praise. Pleasure is also a relief from the burdens of life. Pleasure is a little taste of the glory which is still to be revealed. It keeps us looking forward to our Eternal pleasure. It speaks to us of God's love for his children and how he Delights to give us good things. And if we are close to, our creator will understand that pleasure has a proper time and place. And if it is experience that way, it's a beautiful gift from God. Another light bulb of life is work. When we're not plugged to her Creator, work becomes a burden, it becomes an endless treadmill. But when we are connected to our creator, we realize work is a gift from God. We find satisfaction and were able to enjoy and express the creativity that God built into us, we can mow the lawn and then sit back and enjoy that feeling of satisfaction and understand that this day was a gift from God. And in the workplace, we can find relationship with the people that we work with. We can let our light shine brightly as we do quality work. Are employers should see us working as though we are doing it for the Lord people around us, should see our light shining and perhaps we can share with them. The hope of the gospel of Christ.

Parenting. Unplug from God. We make Idols of our children. Weep in all of our hopes and dreams on them. But when we walk in harmony with our creator, we realize, God is the one we worship. We're giving children as a gift to raise to instruct to enjoy for a while, and we can rejoice in that privilege knowing that they are not Gods but gifts, Children grow up, they move away. They make their own decisions but our God remains with us forever. Are marriages. Unplug from our source. We try to find people who will satisfy us, please us accommodate our desires. But when we remember our creator, marriage is a place to find Harmony through sacrifice and work and humility. When we plug Our Lives into the source of our power. When we remember our creator, then the whole world, which was meaningless and doll begins to shine to everything, there is a season and a time for every Pursuit under heaven

In the passage, we read earlier. We read God, makes everything beautiful in his time. You know, sometimes at my house when we put outdoor lights up, we'll use one of those timer devices so that each night they come on at a designated time. Well, some of God's lights are on a timer as well. You might be going through some hard times in life and you may wonder why certain lights aren't shiny. You are trying to be close to the Creator, but there are still painful things. You've been walking through. Let me promise you something. God has those lights on a timer? And he knows exactly when those lights are going to come on for you, you need to trust his timing. It's part of his perfect plan. And when we read in the Book of Revelation about, when we all get to heaven, we see that all the books are open and all the lights are on. No more Darkness.

Let's read with Solomon rights of the very end of the book of Ecclesiastes.

He says now all has been heard here, is the conclusion of the matter, fear, God and keep his Commandments. For this is the duty of all mankind, for God will bring every deed into judgment including every hidden thing whether it is good or evil. Before Solomon was saying your life is short. Get as much pleasure as you can. Your life is short, spend your life seeking knowledge and wisdom, your life is short, you better retire while you're still healthy enough to enjoy retirement know. Your life is short, Curry up and fear God. Remember your creator, start abiding in the vine so that you can produce good fruit. Once you are fearing God and obeying God and Walking With God, all the decorations of life will start making sense. The lights aren't what we worship. The decorations are not God. God is the one who made those decorations and he can make them work properly for us. If we plugged into him and Solomon. Cries out to us today, don't waste your time doing what I did you don't have to go through all those years of meaningless, existence, you don't have to reinvent this wheel just believe me and hurry up and remember your creator?

Not only do we have Solomon to look to as an example of how empty life is without a connection to our creator. We have Howard Hughes. We have Earnest Hemingway. We have Judy Garland and Marilyn, Monroe, and Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. Kurt Cobain Anthony Bourdain. People who had all the decorations that we lust after, but the lights just didn't shine.

you claim to be a believer, but you feel like the lights of your life aren't shiny the things which used to feel satisfying, don't anymore. The things that you hoped would be enough, Aren't Enough. If that is the case, I wonder if you forgotten your creator. You may have gotten distracted and forgotten to stay plugged in. You saw something shiny. And walked away from him down the road, to chase it. But that shiny thing isn't shiny anymore. Remember your creator go back. Like The Prodigal. Son returned home to your father because he will receive you and restore you and recharge you with his power. And if you've not experienced what it is to be a child of God, let me tell you. There is only one place in the universe to plug into the power. And that is at the cross of calvary, It's only by coming humbly to the Cross where Jesus died and accepting the Forgiveness of your sins. Through the death of Christ on the cross that you can access the power which can transform your life forever.

We're going to celebrate the Lord's supper. Now let's do this with the understanding that we are. Remembering the event was changed everything. The power supply had been severed by sin and Christ died to make a way to plug back into the power. Our Lives can once again shine with meaning and purpose. Let's do this. Now with great rejoicing and Thanksgiving going to ask if the men would come and help distribute the elements.