Without God Life Makes No Sense. Ecclesiastes

"Without God life makes no sense." Ecclesiastes 4:1-16

We come to the midpoint in our study in Ecclesiastes and I have always thought the reasoning and thoughts of Solomon in Proverbs ...Song of Solomon and here in Ecclesiastes are really fascinating.

Why are his thoughts fascinating?...because his knowledge was beyond ordinary mans knowledge..even till this day.

Kings and Queens from other countries would come to hear this man speak.

God blessed this man with everything that most humans try to achieve in life and he surpasses them all because of God's blessings of knowledge and riches.

With all the knowledge...with all the riches...prestige and power....In Solomon conclusions he found out the answer to life's most important question ...that even my wife knew the answer...

....on our refrigerator she placed a hand written note years ago and it's still there today that says: "Without God life makes no since"

I have a very smart wife....most of the time.

I believe that Solomon's blessing of knowledge from God was not only a blessing for the king to rule His people but, it is a continuing blessing for Gods people today because in Proverbs and here in Ecclesiastes is a library or reservoir of how we can live a life that is pleasing to God and man.

We don't like to evaluate sin because it's a natural way of life to us But, the wisest man to ever walk this earth besides Jesus...this man Solomon wrote an evaluation on every natural sinful human character that we were born with...either here in Ecclesiastes or Proverbs ...

God preserved the words of Solomon for a reason...that reason is for us to listen...learn and look at ourselves closer in our walk with Christ and pleasing to God.

We are going to look at a few of Solomon's conclusions about sin and the dos and don'ts in our walk with our Lord.

*Part of this lesson comes from chapter 4 of Ecclesiastes and lets read beginning in verse 4..Solomon says:

Ecclesiastes 4:4 Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

5 The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.

6 Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

7 Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.

8 There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

Here Solomon is evaluating mans work and success..his conclusion is that all of mans drive for achievements is based on envy or jealousy of his neighbor.....also once man has achieved his goal in riches...prestige ...power....he still feels empty....feels it's all meaningless and false pursuit for a balanced life.

The writer rates envy or jealousy the most vicious of sins.....it rots the mind and leads to other sins and self destruction.

Dwight L. Moody once told the story of an eagle who was envious of another that could fly better than he could. One day the bird saw a hunter with a bow and arrow and said to him, “I wish you would bring down that eagle up there.” The man said he would if he had some feathers for his arrow. So the jealous eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but it didn’t quite reach the eagle because he was flying too high. The envious eagle pulled out another feather, then another—until he had lost so many that he himself couldn’t fly. The hunter took advantage of the situation, turned around, and killed the helpless jealous eagle.

**Moody made this application: If you are envious of others, the one you will hurt the most by your actions will be yourself.

I have heard it said: As rust corrupts iron, so envy corrupts man.

Envy ...jealousy is not only the main ingredient in the corporate main stream but, it is much at work in our Christian community.

The really sad and dangerous thing about it in Christians is that it is a silent killer.

Where the envy and jealousy is very plain to see and is expected in the lost....it lays in the heart of a Christian and it eats away at those who are infested with it.

Sooner or later it will surface from the heart and then it grows to other sins....like greed...covet... but the worse thing it separates friends...family...co workers and churches and church fellowship.

When I say envy...jealousy is a silent killer in a Christian......a Christian knows it's wrong because the Holy Spirit revels that it is wrong.