Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Prayer
Last week we began making our way through the book of Ecclesiastes, and what we saw last week, is sort of the umbrella whose shadow covers the rest of the book.
Last week we saw that - ALL is VANITY!
We saw that CREATION is in a state of Futility...
AND that mankind is in a state of Futility...
And ALL of it due to the SIN of mankind.
Just look at Creation Solomon told us...
We see the futility of this world...
The sun continues to RISE…and go down...
The winds blow SOUTH and then back north...
Every stream flows into the sea and yet the sea is never full!
All of these things - pointers to the reality of SIN in this world!
Not only that but MANKIND is in a state of Futility...
One generations goes, and another fills it’s place...
We’re BORN, we live, and we certainly - DIE...
This is REALITY and this is our plight.
All is vanity....all is vanity...
and it’s this phrase that we need to get used to hearing:
The Vanity of...
The Pointlessness of...
TODAY - as you can see - it’s - The Vanity of Wisdom!
NOW - in my studies, i’ve come to find out that some people have trouble interpreting Ecclesiastes, because of what seems to be contradictions within it.
For example, in other parts of Scripture we see that Wisdom is to be sought!
Here we see that Wisdom is Vanity...
i was confused by this confusion....because...
The bible clearly teaches us about 2 kinds of wisdom!
WISDOM FROM ABOVE...
AND WISDOM that is - Worldly!
Ok, so there’s an EARTHLY, unspiritual, DEMONIC wisdom that we DON’T want...
BUT THEN...
We WANT this wisdom!
Ecclesiastes is NOT TEACHING us about THIS wisdom!!
Ecclesiastes looks out at the UNBELIEVING World and says - OK, let me tell you where you’re heading…regardless of what you ATTAIN in this world!
And so we need to know that as we head into this today...
The first thing we’ll see today is this:
SLIDE: The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom: Under the Rule of God
The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom
Solomon here says that he sought to SEARCH OUT by WISDOM, all that is done under heaven...
So he sought every avenue...
Walked down every road..
And came to understand...
That “Pursuing wisdom” even at its base level…is UNDER THE RULE of GOD!
There have been MANY - wise people that have walked this earth...
MANY UNBELIEVING - wise people who have walked this earth...
And the typical thought behind their wisdom is - THAT THEY themselves made it happen!
I work in an industry - the medical industry....where coworkers of mine need to often speak with Doctors...
Now, we typically think of Doctors as being - WISE...
What i’ve heard from many of my co-workers is that - a lot of Doctors are - arrogant people...
Why would that be?
Because they attribute their KNOWLEDGE to their cognitive ability...
They attribute their knowledge to THEIR OWN DOING!
This is who we are as HUMANS...
By DEFAULT!
By Nature!
*Struggle with Pride
Remember the time when Jesus stood before Pilate - and He said this?...
Jesus says - UHHH, No....rethink that son!
You would have NO authority over me…unless it had been given you from above!
But do you hear the PRIDE in Pilate’s thought process?
He just ASSUMES that his power has been - SELF-EARNED!
And Jesus says - NO, NO....Even your earthly, WORLDLY power - falls under the RULE of God!
Let’s go OLD Testament!
(Romans 9:14) - well, this is going to REFER to the OT...
The power of Pharaoh…UNDER the RULE of God!
We look around this world and we see many different kinds of RULERS...
The leaders of Afghanistan...
Iran
Iraq
Egypt
Brazil
Belgium
North Korea
Canada
Japan
ALL of them…GIVEN authority by God...
UNDER THE RULE of GOD!!
The world however - IN ITS PRIDE - would say - no, WE’VE attained this power...
We BOW to - NO ONE!
Truth is - If the World would humble itself - and bow to Jesus -
…it would end up seeing...
SLIDE: The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom: A Hopeless Task
The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom
It is an UNHAPPY BUSINESS - to seek WISDOM in this world…to rest in WISDOM of this world!
It is a LOUSY JOB - this is saying
And ONLY a CHRISTIAN would think this way...
the WORLD PURSUES worldly wisdom - and presses on - listen - IN HOPE!
In hope that all the answers will be found!
More and more we see the world HOLD UP - Science to try to DEBUNK Christianity!
More and more we see the WORLD fight against Christianity!
The World CLAIMS that Christianity is -
Mean!
How can it make this claim?
Because it doesn’t consider ULTIMATE reality?
It doesn’t think PAST THE GRAVE!
The world looks at Christianity and says -
I’m nicer than you are
I’m more loving than you are
I’m more understanding and caring than you are
The problem is - the world is stuck UNDER the SUN!
And throughout this book Solomon is going to be crying out - GET OVER THE SUN!
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