Human tendency has always been to maximise prosperity and minimise adversity. In fact for most of us—if we’re honest—adversity is avoided at all costs. In a less significant scenario, it is why we are tempted to quit in the middle of a run or workout.

In a more significant sense, it is why, on our best days, we fail to see God at work in our difficulties. And on our worst days, we place the blame squarely on Him.

But the Teacher challenges us to higher thinking. He calls us to operate in wisdom and see that, as opposed to ignoring God or blaming God in adverse circumstances, The wise consider God in adversity and prosperity—because He’s in control in the midst of both. If we can get our hearts around this message today, then how we approach every moment of our lives will be filled with redemptive potential.

Vanity | Death At A Funeral | Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:14

So many of us have been lured into believing that enjoyment is found in money and products and the pursuit of them. We think we can enjoy what we attain, because what we gain is enjoyable in itself.

In fact in both the pursuit and the acquisition we think we have the power to produce joy for ourselves. But if we are honest, endless hours have never actually satisfied. And no product we’ve been able to purchase has ever produced a lasting happiness, let alone joy.

We are willing to bet that every one of us has saved for something we believed would alter our emotions, or reposition our status, or become a symbol of our accomplishment, and when we finally got it, the let down was more than we could have possibly imagined.

So, yes, I LOVE his story, because it gives me hope and should give you hope as well. We too can choose the counterintuitive path.

We can choose to organise our lives around living rather than around working for things. We can choose to not pursue the American dream and instead enjoy God’s vision for us.

This is at the heart of what the Teacher wants us to see today. It’s not that money or the things we can buy with it are inherently evil. The issue is if we love money and the life it can provide for us, then we will miss what it is we are actually searching for—joy. Even stronger, the Teacher says that Only God gives the power to enjoy money and possessions.

Vanity | For The Love Of Money | Ecclesiastes 5:8-6:9

Have you ever asked yourself the question, "Why do I go to church?"

I believe this is an important question, because I'm willing to wager that there are a hundred reasons for the hundreds here. Maybe you attend because you grew up going to church, and it is tradition to do so. Maybe you go because you hope to build some great relationships. Maybe you go because you want to change the world and believe it is possible through faith in action. Perhaps you even go because you hope to find the answers to life's questions or even more simply, someone invited you.

But what if there were one reason above any we could come up with that should be the reason we are here? What if there were one reason that gave perspective to any other we could possibly have?

There is… God is awesome.

Vanity | Awesome | Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

Isolation robs us of rewarding lives.

But it is hard to avoid some measure of isolation in a society whose first god is materialism, and second is individualism. We are enculturated from a young age to believe that we CAN and SHOULD do it all on our own. And if we can’t, something is wrong with us.

And this ideology permeates everything, including faith, where a “me and Jesus” mentality rules the day, though the scriptures are clear that it is “we and Jesus,” and that we belong to one another.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, this “get it done on your own,” “I can do bad all by myself,” “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” individualists mentality is not new to the human saga, it is an issue as old as personhood itself. It was an issue during the Teacher's times as well, as life, culture, the economy was driven, above all things, by rabid individualism, and solitary existences.

But standing in contrast to the message of the culture, is the message of the Teacher—Relationships gift us rewarding lives.

Vanity | Better Together | Ecclesiastes 4:7-16

We are often not content with what we have or where we are in life.

There is not a person on this planet who’s not struggled with discontentment. We find ourselves dissatisfied in marriage, but the trend is to look for someone new to solve our discontent, rather than work on the relationship we're in. We want our children to perfectly reflect every aspect of our leading, and live through them the desire to erase former failures. When they don’t, we feel unsatisfied with them.

We change jobs, schools, churches, neighborhoods, and relationships like clothing—which we also swap out with a frequency now, not seen by previous generations. And as much as it is often a personal struggle, that only hinders our own lives, what we’ll see today is that just a little discontentment can have wide reaching societal impact.

Vanity | Dust To Dust | Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:6

We think time belongs to us, and we can do whatever we want with it. And anything that comes against our time, is an assault to our very existence. Whether we have ever voiced those thoughts or not, we know this to be true of ourselves. Something in this past week didn’t go as planned. How did we react? You didn’t get the grade on the test you expected, that you poured multiple hours studying for. How did you respond? The person you’ve poured days into investing, turns their back on you and rejects your help. What’s your response?

Because we think time belongs to us, and we should be able to do whatever we want with it. We think we’re the King of the Clock. The Masters of Time; Acting confidently that Time should be obedient to us. And yet life as a self-proclaimed Time Master drives us to autonomous, angry, anxiety laden lives.

Today we dive into the third chapter of Ecclesiastes to hopefully discover the truth that can help us see time properly. Time belongs to God and, this demands we stand in awe of Him.

Vanity | Time | Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves. - Blaise Pascal

Vanity | Enjoyment | Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26

Imagine if you ran my leg of the 400, and you ran with the goal of finishing my 400; but you were not doing it to pass the baton. In fact, you couldn’t care less about anyone else and ran my portion, threw that baton to the side and left the track with a smug look of victory. Without the baton, your team, that is depending upon you, could not finish the race. How could they?

While this is a hypothetical situation/an imaginary situation, it is actually seen quite often. Not so much on the track, but in how older generations interact with the younger. The problem is that we think the race ends when we’re done.

Every generation struggles with me-centrism. Every generation thinks their generation was the best generation. You can often see that in the skepticism that is vocalized. “We didn’t have these problems in my generation.” “I don’t understand these young folks.” “I wish we could get back to the good ole days.” “Facebook? I remember when we had MySpace?” “Snapchat? Remember Twitter?” “Musically? I remember when we had Rapchat?" ”Lebron James? We had Michael Jordan.” We pit one generation against the other! In many ways, we give up on the next generation. But what we’re going to see today in God’s word is that God loves the next generation. It is the responsibility of every generation to tell about God and what He’s done to the next.

Stand Alone Sermon | God Of Generations | Psalm 78:1-8

In Western culture, self-actualization and “success” have become such important idols that many will pay any price to get them. We believe that if we have enough education or experience and work hard enough, it doesn’t matter who we step over (or on!) to climb the ladder. But the reality is that skill and knowledge can only get you so far: Fifteen percent of the reason [people] get a job, keep that job and move ahead in that job, is determined by [their] technical skill and knowledge – regardless of their profession…. What about the other 85 percent?

Cavett quotes Stanford Research Institute, Harvard University and the Carnegie Foundation as having proved that 85 percent of the reason people get a job, keep that job, and move ahead in that job has to do with [their] people skills and people knowledge.

What this quote shows is that, Christian or not, we must learn to value the people that God has brought into our lives, especially in the workplace. Not surprising, what these institutions discovered is actually a biblical principle. The Scriptures teach us that no matter who we work for or with whom we work, we should treat them, and the situation, as though we were serving Jesus himself (Colossians 3:23). We do not get to push people aside, but rather we honor them, as though we were serving Jesus.

In so doing, we combat the fear and competition that so easily sets in, as we strive to keep up in the workplace. Instead of seeking our own way forward, we learn to seek one another’s best, and in so doing honor our Lord, Jesus.

Relationship: Messy and Marvelous | Coworkers & Teammates | Leviticus 19:13, Colossians 3:23