Ecclesiastes 6:1-9 / David VanAcker

1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place? 7 All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. 8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Our passage for this Sunday morning gives us the recipe for the most miserable life. Do you want your time under the sun to be as unbearable as possible? If so, you’ve come on out and invite your friends. I'm joking, of course. The point of this passage is NOT to encourage us to make use of the most miserable life recipe. It is to help us avoid it and escape from it.

The big idea of this sermon is that the most miserable life is the life that has access to every possible under the sun source of joy, found them all insufficient, and has not been given the gift of joy in God. The main takeaway, therefore, is to fix our eyes on Jesus.

Service Order

Memory Verse

Lamentations 3:31-33 [For] the LORD will not cast off forever, ³²but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; ³³for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

Service Times

Prayer
8:30-8:45am
Sunday School
9:00am-10:00am
Worship Service
10:30am-Noon

Berea

We will continue in our survey of the whole Bible; this week we will be studying Joel. The kids will be continuing their Sunday School classes; 2-4yrs (nursery), 5-8yrs (Grace for Kids room), 9-12yrs (conference room).