Ecclesiastes 11

In this chapter of Ecclesiastes we can read about one of the things we as Christians should be doing and that is giving. We should be giving Christians. I love the rhetoric used in this chapter to show how we should be givers.

Cast Your Bread on the Water

In verse one we read that we are to cast our bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. I read this and wondered why would I want to throw bread on the water, sounds funny and then even that I would find it after many days, no thank you, I do not want soggy bread. What the teacher is trying to show the student is that he should give. This phrase, “Cast your bread on the Water,” is saying, do not keep your leftover bread for yourself. Eat what you will and give the extra to someone in need. Jesus shared this in Matthew 10:8 which says, “You received without paying, give without pay.” God has given to us and we should give to others. As we read that the teacher says, “after many days it will come back to you.” Just like you giving, someone will give to you. God has his way of paying us back but that should never be our motivation, even if we got nothing back for giving, we should give because God loves us.

As the teacher continues with his lessons on giving, verse two encourages to give not just to one person but to several. We should not think, I gave to this person who was in need so I am done with giving in this life, I did my part. That is not having a Biblical mindset. We should give all the time and to several people. I encourage you this Christmas season to give to those in need. We live in Riverside where the unemployment rate is over 14%. That means that there will be several jr. highers whose parents are maybe out of a job this Christmas. Think of ways you can help those in need whether it is a neighbor, a friend, a classmate, or even a stranger. There should be no excuse for not giving. We see in verse 4 the teacher gives one that some may say, “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds  will not reap.” We can not say, I will start giving once I have more money or we can pay off this debt first. Start now as we know the times are short.

Have a giving heart as Christ gave his heart for us to have eternal life will show others who Christ is. I should give so people can come to Christ. I should give because Christ tells me to in the Sermon on the Mount.

Ecclesiastes 10

We can see when we read this chapter that the example of the fool. I would say this chapter uses the fool or the ways of the fool as a teaching example of how not to follow the ways of the fool. The last few verses especially look somewhat like Proverbs does in foolishness and wisdom. I do not know about you but reading verse 1 really caught my attention.

It says, “Dead flies make the perfume’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” First off, I am not a fan of flies, I actually despise flies. Why, because they are annoying; they hover around you and like to be a problem during bbq’s. As this is more of a proverbial statement, it is a true statement. Most likely the flies ended up in the perfume because someone left the lid off of the ointment and because someone left the lid off, it ruined the perfume. The same with us and sin, a little sin can ruin us. 1st Corinthians 5:6 says, “A little leaven certainly can affect the whole lump.” Just like the teacher said, “A little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” A little playing around with sin outweighs the righteous living. That is why it is so hard to go back once you messed up. Think about it, once you lied, you have rebuild trust and prove that you are sorry and that you will not lie again. The person you lied too will always question if you are telling the truth. Once you cheat at school you have to prove yourself that you are not cheating anymore and your teacher will always have in the back of their mind if you cheated to get that grade.

How to keep the flies out of our ointment

It is interesting that this metaphor is used to describe a wise living because we are a sweet smell to God. Just like flies can ruin the smell of perfume, sin ruins it for us. It shows how we should view sin, as disgusting like dead flies in perfume. It started great but now it is disgusting and has this nasty smell going on. In order for someone to keep the flies out of their perfume they would need to cover it with a lid. Some action needed to be done and the same with us. We need to cover ourselves or guard ourselves so we do not find ourselves with flies. In the Holman Old Testament Commentary on Ecclesiastes it suggested the guarding yourself with doing private acts of growth. How true is that, if we focus just on the public offices of a Christian, like teaching, and forget the private actions we are not growing. How are you with Bible reading? What are you getting out of it? What is God showing you through his Word? How are you with private prayer? What has God revealed to you? If you practice the private actions with God you can be ready for the public responsibilities that will come your way.

Ecclesiastes 8

In the first few verses, 1-9 we read what the teacher says about obeying authority.  As Christians we have a few questions dealing with authority, do we have to obey what authority says? Who is our authority? What if authority tells us to do something that is against God or what the Bible says?

As these are questions I know I have asked before as well as have been asked by others, the teacher in Ecclesiastes talks about our roles to authority.

Keep the Kings Command

“Keep the Kings Command,” the teacher says in this section of the Bible. Verse 2 says, “Keep the kings command, because of God’s oath to him.” God has allowed those who are over us for a reason. We need to be careful with our complaints as well as our actions towards those in authority. The reason is God has allowed them there for a reason. When Jesus was walking around on earth in Jerusalem he understood that God allowed Caesar to be in control and God can bring Caesar down from the place of power. Even Paul knew that God is truly in control but places rulers and kings for his purpose. He brings them up and can bring them down (Romans 13:1-2).

Who is your authority? It could be anyone that has authority over you such as parents, law officers, public officials, governors, presidents, teachers, and pastors. Why do we need to be obedient? We need to look at what Paul wrote in Ephesians. Ephesians 6:5-9, we read about slaves and masters and even though we are not slaves as what Paul is talking about, we are under someone’s authority. What he points to in this passage is our attitudes being one of Christ, submissive and obedient. Our hearts, attitude, and respect should glorify Christ. Another question I have been asked is what if the authority asks us to disobey Christ? We need to remember that God is the true authority. Paul was not rebellious towards authority but he knew that he obeyed God over man any day. We know that the apostles were asked by the religious leaders to stop speaking about Christ and they answered that they could not BUT speak what they have seen and heard about Christ. If we are placed in a position to sin and go against God we need to be obedient to God but remember the early church and Paul did not have a rebellious attitude, they were just obedient to God. They did not get a crowd going to go against the king, they did not scream anarchy. They were obedient to God and used that as an opportunity to share Christ. Ask yourself, what is my attitude to all authority? Do I trust that God is in c0ntrol? Do I trust that God has placed them in power for a reason? How can I have an attitude of respect to authority while showing Christ in my life? We need more people that are obedient to Christ and have an attitude of obedience to authority  to a world that strives to rebel against authority. And most important, do you pray for those in authority? Pray that God reveals himself to them, that they would be wise in their leading, which they would desire to please the Lord in all that they do.

Ecclesiastes 6

As we have been reading about different discoveries that the teacher has found and learned from we now see that he takes a look at what the American dream is; enjoying life by being rich, successful, and having paradise right now. As we see that the ease of the abundance of our possessions does not exist. We try to collect as many toys as we can and we think that makes us something. The mentality of, the one with the most toys wins, is full of a lot of flaws.

In this short chapter we see a couple of points such as without God, life is a waste; without God, cravings won’t be satisfied; and only through God is life explained.

What I Made will Fail

When I was younger I would build with my Legos and have fun. No matter how hard I tried to build my castle or whatever I was working on, it never compared to one in the pictures. I needed to follow the directions to get it looking the same. In fact some of them I made fell apart pretty quickly. I failed in the engineering of my Legos, the same way with our lives. If we try to build them on our own we will fail. Sure, some will be successful as they  may be passionate, some may be rich as they could have drive and can handle money but ultimately they will fail. As we read about the teacher who was successful, had wealth, even a large family but we see that many people do not realize that they have been blessed by God and do not eve realize it. Verse 2 says, ” a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all the he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy it.” We need to realize that stuff, the materials in this life that can bring enjoyment are not our definition of joy. True joy comes from the Lord. That is how Paul was able to rejoice in the Lord while he was in prison. Paul lacked in materials yet was truly satisfied because of Christ.

We also have the tendency to think, we need more to stay satisfied. More food, more toys, more money, more power, and more success define our satisfaction. This is totally against what God has made for us in this life. We can only truly be satisfied with God. It is like filling up a car with water (which is not a good thing to do). If you fill a car up with water, it will ruin the engine, a car need gas. You can only fill the car up with gas then it will run. We can only truly be satisfied in Christ, if we fill up with pleasure, materials, or wealth we will end up broken, which should not be our ultimate goal. Without God, our cravings will never be satisfied. Verse 7 says, “All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.”

This life that you want, is not necessarily what God wants. Remember, He is in control of all things even present and future. He has placed you in your circumstances for a reason. He wants us to be content with him and not possessions or even people. So if your goal is to build up your bank account and that is it or have the best car, or biggest house. You will not be satisfied and filled with the joy that God intended. You will only be truly satisfied with Christ as your Savior, surrendering all of you and not part of you that means even your money, your dreams, and what defines you!

Ecclesiastes 1

Early tradition holds Solomon to be the author of Ecclesiastes. Some come to think that it was written much later than Solomon due to the style of Hebrew used. If we really think about it, the author of Ecclesiastes does not change the meaning of the book. Ecclesiastes is a book very relevant today as we live in a culture that is pursuing after everything and anything under the sun. Even once we try to pursue after whatever makes us happy we find ourselves truly not happy. We will call the author, teacher, as he is teaching the reader about pursuing after things in life and realizing the emptiness in this.

The Theme:

Right away in verse 2 we see the theme of Ecclesiastes which says, “Everything is meaningless, says the teacher, completely meaningless.” For the next few chapters this phrase will pop up as we explore different pursuits in life such as pleasure, popularity, love, success, human wisdom, and even life itself. After verse 2 we see some more verses about what is the point of life, as a generation comes and a generation goes but the earth remains forever (vs 4). Again we read that the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear filled with hearing. (vs8) Verse nine says, “History merely repeats itself. It has been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.” We could be depressed after reading this and think, what is the point than to this life. We will read that it is not about being the smartest person alive, because there will always be someone smarter. It is not about being the richest person alive, because there will always be someone richer. It is not about being popular as you will find yourself alone. It is not about finding pleasure in food, alcohol, love, etc because you will never truly be satisfied.

The point of this life is not to wake up and do the same thing each and every day and it is not to do something crazy everyday to switch life up. The point is what we read at the end of the book, to fear God and keep his commandments (12:13). We are called to pursue holiness and when we do, we may not be the richest, the smartest, the most popular but we see what the point of life is. Pursue holiness, that’s the point. I know this will never be spoken at schools and I will not be a motivational speaker with this, but it is truth. When you seek the things of the world as your end result and purpose of life, you will end up disappointed.

1st Peter 2:8-9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Pursue God knowing that it is because of Christ on the cross that we are here to live for God. Thank you Jesus for saving us, restoring us, setting us apart for your purpose in this life.