Sermon Tone Analysis

Learning.

Education.

Our quest for knowledge.

It is something many, like Socrates and Aristotle, have said is the actual meaning and purpose of life.

Analytics and Statistics.

Examination and the accumulation of knowledge is foundational to what it is to be rational beings, to being human.

The thirst for knowledge by many can and has become an obsession for some, but the interesting thing is that satisfaction still does not come.

We can’t get no satisfaction through wisdom.

Moreover, the increase in knowledge only brought more frustration and confusion.

That is why many even say ignorance is bliss.

Some have done the bizarre things like read encyclopedias (i’m guilty of it) and still feel like I’m no better off than someone who has not read it.

Maybe more depressed though.

Some have done the bizarre things like read encyclopedias (i’m guilty of it) and still feel like I’m no better off than someone who has not read it.

Confusion with the apparent potency of knowledge continues… Misguided.

Education is not bad, but the obsession of it leads to idolatry.

Many in our world continue to follow what Voddie Bauchman calls the God of Education.

Even in Christian communities, the goal of getting our children into a good college outweighs the child’s need for discipleship.

Smart well educated students instead of mature and faithful christians.

We do not raise our kids to be good people, we raise them to be good christians.

They got into Harvard, but in the end they are going to hell.

What good is that?

We teach all work and no play.

My friend got a job at a prestigious law firm in California over two graduates from Harvard.

He went to University of Hawaii law school which is one of the lowest ranked law schools.

He didn't even get that great of grades, but he still graduated passed the bar.

But he spent much of the time going out and partying with others at the school.

He played alot.

Now how in the world did he get the job over two Harvard law school grads who said all work and no play?

One of the guys who he hung out partying with, was the guy who was in charge of hiring.

This is why I tell people today… study yes, but do not neglect networking.

In this case it was not what you know, but who you know.

And that is how we can have hope today.

We see the meaninglessness of life under the sun, but the scriptures show us how we can truly have life under the Son of God.

We cannot get no satisfaction through wisdom yet we do not need to despair, hope is not about what you know, but who you know.

Learning.

Education.

Our quest for knowledge.

It is something many have said is the meaning and purpose of life.

Examination and the accumulation of knowledge is foundational to what it is to be rational beings, to being human.

The thirst for knowledge by many can and has become an obsession for some, but the interesting thing is that satisfaction still does not come.

Some have done the bizarre things like read encyclopedias (i’m guilty of it) and still feel like I’m no better off than someone who has not read it.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

The Quest

The Tragedy

The Inability

The Sorrow

The Gospel

The first thing we will explore is the quest of the preacher to find the meaning of everything in the universe.

The second thing we will uncover is the unfortunate tragedy of the bad business God has given to the human race.

Third, we will see the bad business and how we are unable to do anything to fix it.

Fourth, we will bring to light the actual sorrow that comes from the increase of knowledge.

Finally, we can rejoice in the beauty of the good news of the Gospel for knowledge of the Son is so much more than knowledge under the sun.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to be deceived into thinking that worldly wisdom will bring purpose and meaning to our lives, it is the light of the Gospel and the power of the Spirit that will show us that true boasting should not be in wisdom, but in that we truly know the Lord.

It is not what we know, but who we know.

I.

The Quest

- He wanted to know everything about everything under the sun.

A. He opens this section with a description of himself.

Again we see a good description that strengthens our assertion that the author is Solomon.

Solomon is the preacher.

After Solomon the kingdom was split.

Rehoboam, Solomon’s son ruled in Jerusalem, but this was not over Israel, but Judah.

B. Just a bit of Hebrew grammer… he speaks in the perfect tense when he says “I … have been king.”

This tells us that he is writing near the end of his reign, after he has been king for some time.

Writing from the vantage point of age and experience, he is telling us the story of what he has learned about life.

C.

He is on a quest for wisdom and knowledge.

He is asking the ultimate questions.

Again he wants to know the meaning of life.

Qoheleth was a Renaissance man.

He wanted to know or to examine as much as he could about as many things as he could.

He wanted to examine it all, take it all in, he wanted to leave nothing out, he wanted his conclusions to be as definitive as possible.

He wanted to investigate and examine every area of human behavior and endeavor—“all that is done under heaven” ().

In short, he wanted to know everything about everything under the sun.

The fact that he speaks in the perfect tense (“I … have been king”) tells us further that he is writing near the end of his reign, after he has been king for some time.

Writing from the vantage point of age and experience, he is telling us the story of what he has learned about life.

II.

The Tragedy

- The quest successfully ended in tragedy.

A. What did Solomon discover?

What will we discover if we embark on a similar quest?

Well, the preacher came up empty.

We will look at this even more, but first... something astonishing.

B. It is tragic.

Ecclesiastes

C. Sooner or later it hits us.

Life hits us with its best shot…fire away.

Many things in life make us feel unhappy and we have no control over it.

Growing up and seeing the bad relationship that our parents have or had, unkind comments that people make about us, things we do not have but wish we did, the recognition we think we deserve but never get, the job, the position, even the ordinary frustrations of daily life—all of these circumstances make us feel unhappy.

It can be so frustrating.

Sooner or later most people end up feeling the same way.

Many things make us feel unhappy.

The bad relationship that our parents have, unkind comments that people make about us, things we do not have but wish we did, the recognition we think we deserve but never get, even the ordinary frustrations of daily life—all of these circumstances make us feel unhappy.

D. But Solomon is giving us something worse.

His word for unhappiness (Hebrew ra’) is more negative.

Properly speaking, it refers to something bad or evil.

And existence is the Hebrew in-yan … more literally… business.

Ryken, P. G. (2010).

Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p.

38).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.