Anthem Hayden

This week, one of our elders, Pat Himenes, shared about the purpose of the Church. Unfortunately, many individuals and congregations have strayed
from God’s vision of His church. It is imperative that we allow God and His Word to define these things for us. Teaching out of the Gospel of Matthew, Pat reminded us of how God defines the church and its role in the world. Pat encouraged and reminded us that each and every believer is part of the church and has a very active role to play.

The book of Ecclesiastes ended as it began, with the Preacher exclaiming, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, all is vanity.” In Solomon’s strictly “under the sun” mentality, this was a wise and correct conclusion. Although it was completely
avoidable, it seems as though Solomon’s life ended in obstinate rebellion against the Lord. Praise God that we are not bound to such vain existences! Therefore, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

In this week’s study, we reexamined 1 Kings 11, which details King Solomon’s downfall. In 1 Kings 11:38, the Lord specifically states that He expects the king of Israel to walk in His ways, and to do what is right in His eyes by keeping His
commandments. We then turned to Ecclesiastes 11, where Solomon encourages others to walk in their own ways, doing what is right in their own eyes - the very thing he did with his own life. We ended in Colossians 3, which is a beautiful depiction of what it looks like for believers to walk in the Lord’s way and do what is right in His eyes.

This week’s passage is both confusing and frustrating. How do these seemingly random proverbs fit in with the larger context of Solomon’s search for the meaning of life? What point is he trying to make? The entire chapter seems as superfluous
as the vanity of vanities that he so frequently mentions. In contrast to this, we turned to 1 Kings 8. In this beautiful passage describing young Solomon’s dedication of the temple, we read about the overwhelming glory of the LORD filling His temple. In fact, the glory of our God is the exact opposite of vanity of vanities. He alone can provide identity, worth, purpose, and fulfillment. Tragically, Solomon somehow forgot this. Will we?

This week’s installment of Ecclesiastes focuses on the certainty of death and the uncertainty of life. In Ecclesiastes 9, Solomon used the term “under the sun” six times, more than any other chapter in this highly encouraging book. Since Solomon had ruled out any hope of the afterlife, all that remained for him was a fearful expectation of death. While King Solomon correctly identified that all people (whether good or bad) face death, he incorrectly concluded that physical death is the end of our existence. Praise God that through faith in Jesus we no longer have to live in fear of our physical death! “Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

In this week’s passage in Ecclesiastes, Solomon’s overall focus seems to be on authority. Beginning with strong admonition that people ought to obey their king and respect his authority, Solomon then turns to his perceived lack of justice in the
world. The wicked seem to prosper while bad things happen to good people, and God seems slow to exercise His authority to bring judgment upon the wicked and their many sins. To Solomon, who insists upon viewing everything from a strictly under-the-sun perspective, this all seems like vanity and madness.

One of our elders, Jake Rider, shared this week’s message out of Ecclesiastes 7. This is another chapter where Solomon primarily communicates through numerous proverbs. Many of these elevate death over life, sorrow over joy. In contrast to Solomon’s gloomy pronouncements, the New Covenant helps us to see that God uses the hardships of life to grow our faith and to bring Him glory. With Christ, even our sorrows can be redeemed. This abundant life is found only in Jesus Christ. Because of His death and resurrection, we no longer need to fear physical death or anything else in this life.

This week’s passage is challenging. Solomon continues to fall deeper into the darkness of a life lived strictly under the sun. In these verses Solomon bitterly complains that worldly things fail to bring real and lasting satisfaction to his soul. Although he correctly describes such a life as grievous evil, toil, darkness, and vexation, we see no signs of Solomon turning his heart back to the Lord. Like many of the previous weeks, this passage carries a clear warning - do not look to the things of this world to bring satisfaction to your soul.

In the previous weeks, the Preacher has railed against the vanity of wealth, success, self-indulgence, toil, wisdom... practically anything of which he could
think. However, Ecclesiastes 5:1-7, radically switches gears. Instead of attempting to illustrate the vanity of yet one more aspect of life, Solomon seems to affirm some very sensible ways to approach worshiping the Lord. While there is undeniable truth in the wisdom offered in this passage, closer inspection reveals that Solomon’s “under the sun” approach is still alive and well. Solomon’s idea of worship is heartless religious duty, not passionate worship of a good and loving God.

At first glance this chapter seems to cover an assortment of unrelated topics. However, upon closer inspection we see that each topic ties into a larger
theme- that of relationships. Beginning with the large societal relationship between the oppressed and their oppressors, the Preacher works his way down relationships between two and three people. Although His view is strictly “under the sun,” even Solomon must admit that there are many redeeming aspects of being in healthy relationships with others. The person who is to be most pitied is the lonesome individual.