Dennis R Wiles

FBC Arlington

August 7, 2022

2022

Re- . . .

AUGUST 2022 Re-Joice

August 7 – September 3, 2022

The Power of the Gospel

Philippians 1:3-6

Theme for August 2022: RE-JOICE

WHAT DO THESE WORDS MEAN?

Joy – A deep and abiding sense of the presence of God that transcends circumstances.

Partnership – A shared commitment to sharing the Gospel.

Gospel – This incredibly good news that culminates in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ!

Day of Christ Jesus – The final Day of redemption and judgment.

Paul expresses his deep, heartfelt gratitude for two primary reasons:

1. The Partnership in the Gospel

2. The Power of the Gospel

Luke Stehr

Community Engagement Coordinator

The End of the Matter

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.

Proverbs 27:14

Cause: Loud Blessing Early in the Morning

Effect: Angry neighbor

“Qoholet surveys the physical (toil and death), economic (labor and gain), and sociopolitical (injustice and the supreme power of rulers) realms as well. The world does not operate according to our ideal expectations … These are the exceptions that occur in the life of God’s people, who are saved by God’s grace yet are marked by fallen human nature.”

· Elaine Goh

How do we live well when the world doesn’t operate according to our ideal expectations? If everything is meaningless, fleeting, vain, or foggy, what do we do?

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 evil or good.

“Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King.”

· Mr. Beaver, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:30-31

Tracing Wisdom from Proverbs through Job and eventually to Ecclesiastes, a believer in God embraces Torah obedience while growing in faith. Such obedience demands serious engagement with the harsh realities of life (such as the suffering of the righteous, toil, and death), and the ultimate presence or absence of God .. A believer in God grows from a simple faith to a faith in crisis and then a renewed faith.

-Elaine Goh

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:9-14, 17

Dr. Jack Goodyear

July 24, 2022

Good Governments

Ecclesiastes 10:16-17

Unlucky the land whose king is a young pup, ​

And whose princes party all night.​

Lucky the land whose king is mature,​

Where the princes behave themselves​

And don’t drink themselves silly.​

-Ecclesiastes 10:16-17 (The Message)

“Despite their radical differences in terms of theology, both Williams and Jefferson agreed on the desirability of religious disestablishment, Williams because he sought to maintain a pure church and Jefferson because he sought political stability...It has lent political stability by diverting social discontent into the religious sphere, and it has ensured religious vitality by guaranteeing untrammeled expression in the free marketplace of American religion.”

– Randall Balmer, Blesses Assurance​

 1. Good government requires leaders of good character

2. Good government requires good followers​

3. Good government requires church and state separation​

“The gospel we preach and teach is not an individual gospel or a social gospel. It is a gospel that knows no limits in its application to life. It is a message for the total man, and hence it is also a message for every aspect of the world in which we live.”

– T. B. Maston​

“Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.” – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. ​

“For the church to be the church and the state to be the state requires that the identity of each be clearly maintained. Allegiance to God and allegiance to Caesar are never to be the same, and in fact suggest always a conflict or tension with which the Christian knows he must live. National loyalty is not the supreme allegiance of man…The very mixing of allegiance to God with patriotism, so characteristic of many of the militant organized movements today crusading under the banner of Americanism, is a dangerous threat to both the freedom of the state and the freedom of the church.”

– James E. Wood, Jr.​

“Christianity has adjusted itself much too easily to the worship of power. It should give much more offence, more shock to the world, than it is doing. Christianity should take a much more definite stand for the weak than for the potential moral right of the strong.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer​

“The rising tide of American nationalism, which seeks to express itself in terms of religious faith, would make religion in America a culture religion or tribal faith. To be a good American and to be a good Christian are not one and the same and can never be… God and religion are not something our nation can possess or which can be contained within our national life; nor is God some national resource we can harness or use to serve our national interests...The mere claim of a nation that it is on God’s side is of no real consequence at all, and may actually be more an expression of blasphemy than godliness.”

– James E. Wood, Jr.​

“To some, you’re too conservative. To others, you’re too liberal. To be a Christ follower is to be faithful amid tension. To stay engaged, to remain hopeful, to love anyway, to walk with integrity, and to bear witness to the love, mercy, and grace of Christ. This is becoming increasingly difficult, but such is our call as followers of Jesus. It’s not merely what we believe but also how we engage.”

– Eugene Cho, Though Shalt Not Be a Jerk​

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

– Micah 6:8 (NIV)​

Katy Reed-Hodges

Minister of Congregational Life

Consider God!

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

13 Consider what God has done:

Who can straighten what he has made crooked?

14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover

anything about their future.

“Although certain ways of being and behaving are wiser than others and in general tend toward life rather than death… in the end we must remember that the universe is not a predictable machine but a personally governed and complex space. Wisdom is not magic. God is not an object to be manipulated, more does God’s world belong to human beings. If God makes something crooked, it is beyond human power to make it straight.” – Dr. Iain Provan (Regent Seminary)

The consensus regarding sovereignty:

1) God is the good and just governor of nature and history in that he not only created but also sustains, guides, provides for and judges everything;

2) Nothing at all can happen in either nature or history that God does not at least allow;

3) God’s sovereign governance of nature and history is both “general” (i.e., through natural laws built into processes) and “special” (i.e.; extending to details of people’s lives).

Meticulous Providence – Whatever happens in nature and history is completely, exhaustively willed by God and not merely permitted. (Calvinism)

Limited Providence – God restrains himself for the sake of a certain, limited degree of autonomy of both nature and human agency. Promotes true moral freedom of choice. (Arminianism)

There is one wiser than Solomon

Dr. Gary Stidham

UST BSM Director

"God’s Words Shape God’s People"

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

George Müller, 1805-1898

"Before I die, I’d like to read more of the Bible, Because I still know little of the excellence of

Christ."

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

1Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the

sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not

be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so

let your words be few.

3 A dream comes when there are many cares, and many words mark the speech of a fool.

4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your

vow.

5 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.

6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?

7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.

1. The Word of God: Sufficient

2. The Worship of God: Reverent

J.C. Ryle, 1818-1900

"Let us never forget that our feelings about Sundays are sure tests of the state of our souls. The

person who can find no pleasure in giving God one day in the week is manifestly unfit for

heaven. Heaven itself is nothing but an eternal Sabbath.”

Curt Grice

July 3, 2022

“Redeem the Time!”

4th of July… America’s Independence Day… a celebration of freedom

Freedom is precious, but easy to take for granted.

Like good health, freedom is not always appreciated until it’s lost.

John 8:31-32,36

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

2 Corinthians 3:17

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Wisdom Literature… designed to help us gain insight and perspective

Qoheleth… the Teacher… the one who addresses the assembly

Seeking to understand life "under the sun"… reflecting on a broken world from a limited human perspective in light of God's majesty and sovereignty

Proverbs

“…for gaining wisdom and perspective; for understanding and insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life; doing what is right and just and fair. Wisdom will protect you. Understanding will guard you.”

Ecclesiastes

Life is short, complex, and uneven.

Life is mysterious and paradoxical.

There is goodness, joy, celebration, and love.

There is evil, sorrow, pain, and suffering.

We live amid blessing and brokenness with an eye toward eternity.

Wisdom comes from God. We gain wisdom by living in union with God. Wisdom involves discovering and embracing God’s perspective by listening to his voice and being attentive to his prompting. Reverence, knowledge, and devotion to God is the beginning of true wisdom.

Psalm 1 person (tree)

Identity: who am I as a follower of Jesus (root)

Growth: what is God doing in me? (trunk)

Impact: what is God doing through me? (branches)

The FBCA Way

Feed yourself spiritually

Bless others generously

Connect with others intentionally

Advance God’s kingdom faithfully

Ephesians 5:15-16

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Colossians 4:5

“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.”

Psalm 90:12

“Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (NIV)

“Teach us to consider our mortality, so that we might live wisely.” (NET)

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

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 have 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.

Greek concept of “time”:

· Aion = unbroken time (eternity)

· Chronos = linear time (clock)

· Kyros = right time (season)

Ecclesiastes begins by declaring that nothing matters. Everything is meaningless. Everything under the sun has been done before and will disappear like a vapor. Pleasure, wealth, and achievement can never satisfy the human heart.

Ecclesiastes concludes by declaring that everything matters – even ordinary, everyday things – if we are devoted to God, mindful of him, and orienting our lives toward him. God is the one who gives ultimate meaning to life.

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

“Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing… Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away.” Ann Voskamp

Daily Reminder Card

· The Lord's Prayer… morning side (orienting)

· The Prayer of Examen… evening side (reflecting)

Redeem the Time!

· Each day matters.

· God’s mercies are new every morning.

· Find joy in your journey.

· Live continually in God's presence.

“I See You”

Every sunset is a stained-glass window,

Every park bench is a pew,

There’s a sanctuary everywhere that I go,

When my eyes are open,

When my heart is open,

I see You. -JJ Heller-

Dennis R Wiles

FBC Arlington

June 26, 2022

2022 Re- . . .

SUMMER 2022 Re-Create

June 5 – August 6, 2022

Nothing Better!

Ecclesiastes 2:17-26; 3:22

Paradise Lost: Edenic echoes abound in creation, but the fallen nature of it all drowns them out with discordant tones of brokenness.

We live in the shadow of death.

In sum, death has pointed its headlights at us and started its engine. Therefore, we must learn from God how to enjoy what he has given to us, knowing that none of it can save or satisfy us . . . So it is with our spouses, our food, our work, and our place in the world. Neither of these can satisfy our souls or provide the gain that only God can give. Trying to use them as such will only disappoint us.

-Zack Eswine, Recovering Eden

There is someone wiser than Solomon!

The Hand of God is the key to our Hope in Life!

These creations are God-given and possess divine purpose. A joy resides within them for our notice and this by his design. We are meant to taste these joys for which God’s gifts were made.

-Zack Eswine, Recovering Eden

Find joy in the everyday --- that is where we live!

Dennis R Wiles

FBC Arlington

June 19, 2022

FBC Arlington 2022: Re- . . .

SUMMER 2022 Re-Create

June 5 – August 6, 2022

Wise Guys

Ecclesiastes 2:12-16

SUMMER 2022: Re-Create: A Study of Ecclesiastes

Paradise Lost: Edenic echoes abound in creation, but the fallen nature of it all drowns them out with discordant tones of brokenness.

Wisdom is no joke!

The Great Equalizer

There is someone wiser than Solomon!

Dennis R Wiles

FBC Arlington

June 12, 2022

2022 Re- . . .

SUMMER 2022 Re-Create

June 5 – August 6, 2022

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction!

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

FBC Arlington 2022: Re- . . .

SUMMER 2022: Re-Create: A Study of Ecclesiastes

Paradise Lost: Edenic echoes abound in creation, but the fallen nature of it all drowns them out with discordant tones of brokenness.

Where do people search for meaning and satisfaction?

Can anything in this world truly satisfy a human being?

There is someone wiser than Solomon!

Dennis R Wiles

FBC Arlington

June 5, 2022

2022

Re- . . .

SUMMER 2022 Re-Create

June 5 – August 6, 2022

Real Life in a Broken World

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

SUMMER 2022: Re-Create: A Study of Ecclesiastes

Many want to reshape this book and our sermons from it to sound like Isaiah or Paul, to align with the language of systematic theology, to comb the hair and remember our manners while in the presence of good company. But Ecclesiastes will not allow it. Bend it to your comfort zone, and you will miss what this God-inspired text reveals about him.

There is more to God than what Isaiah and Paul alone can show you.

-Zack Eswine

Paradise Lost: Edenic echoes abound in creation, but the fallen nature of it all drowns them out with discordant tones of brokenness.

The cyclical nature of creation points a deeper meaninglessness.

Human accomplishments seem so meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

There is nothing new “under the sun.”

There is someone wiser than Solomon!