Delta Church - SPI

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6; 7:13-14

There is a tension that runs through Ecclesiastes between what we can know versus what we cannot know. We know that God is in control of all our days. Yet also know that there is a lot we don’t know like why and how God allows certain things to happen in our lives. When our God-controlled days are touched by brokenness this tension is amplified because the wise understand that God is equally sovereign over all our days—good and bad. So how can we handle this tension? That’s what the Preachers guides us to see in our verses today. Main Idea—When my lot in life doesn’t make sense, consider the work of God. This is where the fear of the LORD leads us.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

In these verses, the Preacher is most definitely repeating one of his favorite themes in Ecclesiastes. Death is certain but this reality is designed to get us to live in light of the end. But this time, as the Preacher turns to the good gifts we are to enjoy under the sun he does so with an urgency yet to be seen in Ecclesiastes. The Preacher is shepherding us once again via repetition. The wise know looking long and hard at death paves the road to life. Death will come for us all, but how we live in light of this end is an apologetic in a world that needs to see Jesus. Also, the gifts God gives us to enjoy before we die are designed to make us homesick for our true country, heaven.

Ecclesiastes 8:1-17

Wisdom is good. It has its limitations, but it definitely is God’s gift given to us so that we might navigate life under the sun wisely. Sometime we need help from a friend. The Preacher is this friend and the help he gives us in Chapter 8 is to model for us how to be wise in daily scenarios that we experience. The invitation from the Preacher is to ride in his hip pocket and learn how to be wise by learning from another’s example. Main Idea—While wisdom has limitations, we must use our God-given wisdom to navigate life under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

Wisdom is very helpful! But, wisdom does have its limitations. That’s the message in the back half of Ecclesiastes 7. The invitation from the Preacher is to embrace these limits. Embracing these limits will help us to not make an idol of wisdom and embracing these limits can be a source of joy that throws us into the arms of the eternal, unchangeable, no-limits, all-wise God. Main Idea—The wise will not make an idol out of wisdom by embracing the limitations of wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:14

Ecclesiastes 5:1-6:9

Here in the middle of the Preacher’s sermon, we come to an oasis that is all about fearing God. The time has come to consider what we worship under the sun and how our hearts can be pulled from the ultimate treasure of God himself to little treasures that are good, but not worthy of our worship. This oasis (respite) in the middle of Ecclesiastes invites us to drink deeply of God and see how we can satisfy our souls in Him. Then from there, we can go forward in our journey under the sun rightly realizing how to interact with God’s good gifts that He gives to us. Main Idea—There are many treasures that call for our worship; but the treasure to be worshiped above all is God.

Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:16

Why is our world full of persistent injustice and oppression? How did we get here? The answer underlying our text this morning, is because we tend to only ask ‘How am I doing?’ instead of asking ‘How are WE doing?’ When the waking concern of my life is ‘I, not we’; when the dominant focus of my day is ‘me and myself, not you’; it’s not long before the people in your life will be seen as disposable products to be consumed in your pursuit of ‘me’. And from the soil of ‘me, not we’ injustice and oppression grows. Main Idea—In a world full of persistent injustice, Jesus brings a fuller answer to oppression that the world cannot offer.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

Whether it’s the shortness of time, the tyranny of time, or the vanishing nature of time—none of us live beyond the set boundary of seasons and times. And honestly, the time dominance of life under the sun makes some of us very uneasy. We are prone to view our time-bound nature as a liability—a limitation we often refuse to embrace and in aggravation cannot control. Things like this explain our frustration with time. So what can we do? Enter God’s gift of Ecclesiastes 3. The destination at the end of the journey is to see that our lack of control over the big picture of life and individual seasons of life is actually designed to produce hope that I can joyfully rest my times in God’s hands.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, 11:7-12:14