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All That Glitters...
Ecclesiastes 6
Skip Heitzig

Ecclesiastes 6 (NKJV™)
1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:
2 A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.
3 If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he--
4 for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.
5 Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man,
6 even if he lives a thousand years twice--but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?
7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied.
8 For what more has the wise man than the fool? What does the poor man have, Who knows how to walk before the living?
9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
10 Whatever one is, he has been named already, For it is known that he is man; And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he.
11 Since there are many things that increase vanity, How is man the better?
12 For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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21 Ecclesiastes - What's the Point? - 2000

Living in a prosperous country has its advantages. It also has its problems. Solomon understood this since his own nation was experiencing economic growth through free trade and low unemployment. But he was willing to see both sides of the economic coin. Today we consider the personal problems that prosperity can bring and solutions to those problems.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon delves into the hard issues of life, and attempts to find satisfactory answers that avert despair. Pastor Skip Heitzig examines Solomon's search for meaning.

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Outline

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  1. Lavishness Without Joy (vv. 1-2)

  2. Longevity Without Satisfaction (vv. 3-6)

  3. Labor Without Fulfillment (vv. 4-12)

Pondering the Principles:
  1. How can wealth, longevity and a stable job be both a blessing and a curse? What makes the difference? How does the transition occur? What needs to change?

  2. Why is it so easy to ignore the soul, even though it is the eternal part of a person.<

  3. Commit to memory the three solutions to these common problems. Apply them this week.

Transcript

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We are coming to the time of the year where we think about our income because it's being taxed. It was Ronald Reagan, who once said of our government that we have the propensity-- he says, if it moves tax it. If it continues to move, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.

There was a bar, a local bar, that boasted that its bartender was the strongest guy around. That he could take a lemon and squeeze all of the juice out of it, collecting it in a glass, and that no one else could squeeze one more drop of lemon juice out of that lemon. In fact, the standing bet, the wager, was $1,000 to anyone who could extract one more drop out of the lemon.

Well, a lot of people tried. Weightlifters came in, and stonemasons, and carpenters. Give me that lemon. After the guy would squeeze it, couldn't do it.

One day, a very short, thin, slight little guy in a polyester leisure suit with dark-rimmed glasses came in and said in a squealy voice, I'd like to try. When the laughter died down, the bartender took out a lemon and squeezed it, and then handed the withered rind to the little guy. And the little guy grabbed it and squeezed. And one drop, and two drops-- six more drops came out.

Everybody's jaw was dropped, that this little guy could manage it. So the bartender paid up-- $1,000. He said, before you leave, what do you do for a living? Do you lift weights? He didn't look like it. What do you do? And he goes, I work for the IRS.

I figured you needed that about this time of the year. But it leads me to something else. The reason income tax is become such a big issue is because there's a large amount of income that we have as a nation. We are the most prosperous nation on the earth. And we have just gone through a decade of unparalleled prosperity in our nation.

Ever since the Gulf War ended, unemployment has gone down, interest rates have gone down, the median income has risen 13% in the last 25 years. But there's been this, of late, increase in our prosperity as a nation. Now, I know it looks like there's a decline in that. It's what has people up in arms. A recession, people are talking about. But still, we are the most prosperous nation on planet Earth.

Are we better off because of it? Some would say, well, yeah we are. Well, are we happier because of it? You see, it seems to me that the more wealth we have, the more wants we have. A study was done-- I read it some time ago-- that a hundred years ago, the average American could produce a list of 70, seven-zero, 70 wants. Things that he or she felt they needed. Today, the average American can produce a list of 500 wants.

I don't have a new computer. I need it. DVD player, got to have it. 500 things that we need that we want. Whatever you own presently has competition, right? Whatever you own now has competition.

It's called the new model. It's going to be out soon. Don't know when, but it's going to be better than what you have now. It's going to do more. The fashion you wear now will be outdated by next year's fashion. The computer you own-- if you own a computer that's a few years old, it's probably a doorstop by now. I mean technology changes so rapidly.

And that's why chapter 6, all 12 verses, is especially apropos for Americans living at the dawn of the new millennium because our era, our present era, closely parallels the era of King Solomon, who wrote this book. At the time that King Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, the economy was never better. The borders were enlarged, there was an international trade going on that was very, very strong. Unemployment was down. Things were good.

But there's an old saying-- all that glitters is not gold. In other words, things aren't always as they appear. And a premise that runs through chapter 6 is that prosperity isn't all good. Prosperity isn't all good. There are some dangers that are associated with it. Now, the opposite truth emerges in chapter 7, and that is, adversity isn't always bad.

We want to look at three problems that Solomon brings up in chapter 6. Problems that are common in a culture, in a nation, in a society that has seen such success. And with each problem, we want to look at a corresponding solution to that problem. The three problems mentioned are lavishness without joy, longevity without satisfaction, and labor without fulfillment.

Let's look at the first two verses. "There is an evil," says Solomon, "which I have seen under the sun. It's common among men. A man to whom God has given riches, and wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all that he desires, yet God does not give him the power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction."

Lavishness without joy. Notice the description in verse 2 of the man-- riches, wealth, and honor. In other words, he has a strong asset base, he has expendable cash, and he's famous. That's the dream of a lot of people.

Do you remember the show that was hosted by Robin Leach? Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. And he'd say, look at this mansion in the French Riviera, and this car. And there's always these folks who had it all.

But he makes a strong point in these verses. He says it's common among the rich. There's this suspicious lack of joy. Solomon says, "God does not give him the power to eat of it." That's a Hebrew idiom for, he can't enjoy it. He's got it, but he doesn't enjoy it.

Now some people, commentators, scholars who write books on books of the Bible believe that Solomon was referring to an actual person in history, a real life example. In fact, some have even specified the Persian King Artaxerxes III Ochus, who had it all and lost it all. Others think that he is referring to himself. It's autobiographical.

And he mentions in verse 2, a foreigner consumes it. An invader comes and consumes it. Some unannounced person comes into the kingdom and takes everything that he has. This could be not just a foreign person. He could refer to a foreign experience-- maybe be a disease that comes in and takes his enjoyment away, or a natural catastrophe happens that renders him a period of hopelessness in his life, like what happened to Job.

In a modern setting, a lawsuit that drains all of your income, all of your resources, and all of your joy. Sometimes, the wealthiest are the most joyless.

Now, Solomon isn't generalizing. He doesn't say everyone's like this. But he does say, in verse 1, it's common among men. Look at the faces of the wealthy, the most wealthy. Their looks betray the emptiness that is inside. The multimillionaire Andrew Carnegie once said, "Millionaires seldom smile."

A British newspaper asked the public, who are the happiest people on Earth? And then they filled an article with who are the happiest people on Earth. The first four mentioned are a craftsman or an artist whistling over a job well done. These were the prize-winning answers.

Second, a little child building sandcastles. Third, a mother, after a busy day, bathing her baby. And then finally, number 4, a doctor who's finished a difficult and dangerous operation, and has saved a human life.

Did you notice not a single millionaire is listed? Not a single king, or emperor, or investor was listed in that article of who are the happiest people on earth.

When I lived in California years ago, I had a boss. I worked with him, but really I worked for him. He was a doctor. He never smiled. Now, by all outward appearances, we would think this guy has reason to smile, but he never smiled.

Maybe he just never smiled when I was around him, maybe that had something to do with it, but-- he lived in Laguna Beach. Beautiful view of the ocean out his front yard, drove a Porsche to work every day, had a lot of money. Never smiled.

I lived in Huntington Beach, drove a beat up old pickup truck. I worked part-time during those years, just a half a day so that I could serve God and surf the other half. Those were synonyms to me in those days. Life was good. I just enjoyed life, happy-go-lucky joy, smiled.

And I'd sense in him a sense of spiritual hunger. And I tried to talk to him about Christ, and his response was blah, just vitriolic. Didn't want to hear it, opposed to it. Never smiled.

There was a rich, old man who was very cranky, had a bad attitude. And he went to go see a rabbi who lived a very simple life. And the rabbi wanted to somehow get the lesson across to this rich, crotchety old man that his attitude stunk and why. And so the wealthy guy comes to see the rabbi, and the rabbi says, come over to the window and look outside. What do you see?

Guy says, oh, I see some men, and some women, and a few children playing. Fine, said the rabbi, and took him to the other side of the room where there was a mirror, and perched the man in front of the mirror and said, look at the mirror. What do you see? And the old, cranky rich man said, well obviously, I see myself.

Interesting, said the rabbi. For in the window, there is glass. And in the mirror, there is glass, but the glass of the mirror has a little bit of silver applied to it. And no sooner is this silver applied to the glass than one ceases to see others and sees only himself. His riches had done that to him, made him self-consumed. Lavishness without joy.

What is the solution to that? Verse 2, notice the phraseology-- "A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all that he desires. Yet God does not give him the power to enjoy it, but a foreigner consumes it." A key thought in that verse is that joy doesn't come from stuff, from investments, or from fame. Joy is a gift from God.

And that's been one of Solomon's ongoing themes in this book. Enjoyment comes from God.

I remind you of a few verses back, back in chapter 2. We already read it and went through it. But in chapter 2, Solomon says-- listen to it-- "For without Him," that's without God, "who can eat or find enjoyment? The man who pleases God, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness. But to the sinner, He gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God."

You know what the solution is to a joyless life? Pleasing God, not pleasing ourselves. If you are living to please yourself, no matter how lavish your surroundings, there's no joy. It's a joyless life. But if you live to please God, that's the secret of real joy.

Now, I know we live in a country that guarantees you life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But happiness is never found by direct pursuit. Happiness is a byproduct of pursuing God. "Seek first the Kingdom of God," Jesus said, "and all these things will be added unto you." Joy is found in pleasing the Lord.

When you hear that term, pleasing God, and you're thinking about it. OK, I'm going to live to please God. What does that mean exactly? Does that mean I have to achieve a level of performance? Here I am, I'm performing for God at this level. Does that mean I have to sell everything, go overseas? Maybe. Maybe not.

The issue isn't performance. The issue is attitude. The issue is trust. You know how you please God? Faith, trust. The writer of Hebrews said, without faith, it's impossible to please God.

One day, people came up to Jesus. And they asked the profound question, what must we do to work the works of God? Jesus said, here's the work of God-- believe in Him whom He has sent.

So the idea of pleasing the Lord isn't so much a matter of perspiration as motivation. I want-- Lord, I just want to please You. I want to live my life to bring glory and honor to You. When your motivation is that, you're going to end up doing the right stuff. It'll happen naturally when that's your motive.

George Mueller is a name that comes up whenever somebody discusses living by faith. He ran orphanages in Bristol, England on faith. He wouldn't tell anybody his needs-- anyone. And yet, God provided for his needs. This is what he said. 90% of the difficulties in life are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be.

And when you live that way, and your motivation is to please God, to honor Him, something happens inside. It's called joy. The byproduct of that is a joyful heart.

On March 11, 1830, a little school girl-- who had a tutor, by the way-- was studying, in England, the genealogical charts of the royal family. And as she was being tutored on the royal family, she discovered her name. She was shocked. It was her first discovery that she would be the next queen of England.

At first, she broke down and she wept. Then she turned to her tutor-- little Vicky, Queen Victoria. And she looked up at her tutor and she said, I'm going to be good. It was the discovery of who she was and who she would become that caused her to rise to a higher level of performance.

And so here we are. We're children of God, causes us to rise to that level of, I want to please the Lord. That's my attitude. I want to do that. When that happens, joy is produced because you are fulfilling, now, the very reason for which you were created.

You were created to bring pleasure to God. Did you know that? You're on the earth, you're in this country, you have a life for one purpose, originally. And that is to bring pleasure to God.

You might say, well, I don't like that. Well, tough, that's just the way it is. And the sooner you discover that and live that way, the happier you'll live. If you live to please yourself, no joy. You live to please God and bring Him glory and pleasure, you're fulfilling the reason you were created.

Revelation chapter 4 says, "And for thy pleasure, all these things were created and they exist. Great joy comes as a consequence."

So the first problem is lavishness without joy in a very successful culture. The solution is, pleasing God will produce joy.

Problem number 2 is longevity without satisfaction. Longevity without satisfaction. Verse 3, "If a man begets a hundred children," imagine, this is hypothetical case, "and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness or indeed he has no burial, I say a stillborn child is better than he. For it comes in vanity and departs in darkness and its name is covered with darkness. Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man. Even if he lives a thousand years twice, but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?"

And he's describing a long and prolific life, a life filled with uninterrupted years of having lots and lots of children. He mentions a hundred children. You know, in ancient times, the more kids you had, the more blessing from God you had. That was the common thought, and the idea here is longevity-- living a long time. Now, maybe this isn't hypothetical. Maybe this is autobiographical.

How many wives did Solomon have? 700. Well, you could have a lot of kids with 700 wives. Maybe he's speaking of his own family. You know, that would make home a very interesting place-- very noisy, filled with a lot of fun, 100 children.

But again, the emphasis here is longevity, living a long life without satisfaction. Verse 6, if he lived a thousand years twice. If you could live 2,000 years old on Earth, that'd be horrible, wouldn't it? Imagine how you'd look.

Now, longevity is becoming a concern in our country. You know that. The population is aging. There are more people who live over a hundred than ever before.

In the year 1900, just by comparison, the year 1900, the American male life expectancy was age 46. Man, a lot of us would almost be dead, or would be. The female life expectancy in 1900 was 48. Today, the male life expectancy is 75 and the female is 80, so we're aging. And all the exercise and diets-- they're paying off.

Doctors are telling us because we're becoming more conscious of that kind of stuff, and medicine has brought so many improvements that we're going to grow older and live longer. By the way, just for the record, those who live the longest in terms of their career-- renowned scientists are high on the list, number one on the list. Renowned scientists live the longest, followed by clergymen. I like that.

And third, educators, and fourth, the military personnel. But a point that Solomon makes here is living long doesn't necessarily mean living well. I mean, if life is bad already, longer's worse, all right? All the aches, and all the pains, and all the family quarrels, sometimes that last a lifetime. All the diseases that you have to fight. And what about burying all the people you love? The older you get, the more people that you love will die.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote in a letter to a friend, the only fear I have is that I'll live too long. There was a trim, slim octogenarian-- 80-year-old. Somebody said, how do you manage to stay so trim? He says, it's from being the pallbearer at all my friends' funerals who worked out all those years.

Now, in these verses Solomon gets very pessimistic. He dives into a bog of depression. He says, for that guy who lived so long but isn't satisfied, a stillborn baby, a stillborn child is better. Because at least a stillborn has no history to live up to, has no future to live up to. Nobody's going to attack it, take anything away from it, sue it.

That stillborn child will have no joy, but will have no pain that life offers. And in the end, we all go to the same place. If you live 2000 years old or you die as a baby, you die.

And we read this, and we think, man, this guy can get really low, can't he? He can get really pessimistic. You don't want Solomon counseling your marriage when he's going through one of these episodes. But keep in mind that Solomon's perspective by and large, throughout the book, is the perspective of living under the sun. That's the phrase he uses over and over again-- under the sun, on the horizontal level.

He's a pessimist. He calls himself in chapter 1, verse 1, the preacher. That's not a good translation, by the way. I'm here to tell you, because the Hebrew word [HEBREW] means philosopher, searcher, seeker. He's become a pessimistic philosopher.

It was Socrates who once said to young men, by all means, get married. If you marry a good wife, you'll be very, very happy. If you get a bad wife, you'll become a philosopher.

Solomon had 700 wives. He turned into a philosopher.

What is the solution to this problem? The answer is found in Solomon's own words. Look at verse 3. "If a man begets a hundred children, lives many years so that the days of his life are many, but his soul," and notice this, "is not satisfied with goodness..." Satisfied with goodness. You see the word satisfied-- [HEBREW]. That's the Hebrew word for satisfied. It means to have enough, to be satiated with.

Now, the goodness is there. He's got the goodness-- long life, lots of kids. The goodness there, he just doesn't notice it. That's the problem. So that the solution is, notice it. The solution to this is thanks-giving. The solution to a person who's not satisfied is to be a thankful person. Notice the goodness, mark the goodness, thank God for it.

We have become a nation of victims the last several years, the nation of complainers. The national anthem is becoming the whine. We talk about what we deserve, our rights. I don't deserve that, I deserve better. We've forgotten how to thank.

The British magazine called The Economist wrote, tongue in cheek, about life in the United States of America. And they said, concerning us, if you lose your job, you can sue for the mental distress of being fired. If your bank goes broke, the government has insured your deposits. If you drive drunk and crash, you can always sue someone for failing to warn you to stop drinking. There is always somebody else to blame.

We have forgotten how to thank. We're so busy counting the bumps in our road, we forgot to count the blessings.

If we grow old like that, if we live a long life with that outlook-- the goodness is there, we just don't see it. We're not satisfied with it because we're always looking back and living in regret.

Why didn't I finish school? Why didn't I move to that other location, and get that job when I had the chance? Why didn't I marry that other person? Always looking back rather than looking upward to God and giving Him thanks for what we have, and we grow bitter.

Do you know anybody like that? Old and bitter, worst way to live. Once, when Jesus was going on His way from the northern part of Israel, and He was going down toward Jerusalem, He stopped through Samaria and Galilee. And there were 10 people-- 10 men that had leprosy. Jesus healed them all.

One leper came back and glorified God. That's how the scripture frames it, glorified God, thanked God. Thank You, Jesus, for healing. Jesus said, where are the other nine? Where are the other nine? Didn't I heal 10 of you? Only one is going to give Me thanks? Where are the other nine?

90% didn't thank God. Only 1% thanked Jesus. I wonder, is the percentage any different these days? All of the blessings, Psalm 103. The psalm that says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits." And then those benefits are listed.

I was reading up, I think it was Newsweek-- a little article on how Americans pray. They noted that Americans pray. We do it a lot, but it's usually give me, give me, I want, I need. You know, personal petition. The article writer said, there's not much thanks-giving. And then he concluded that Americans treat God as if He were a divine Santa Claus. Those were his words, a divine Santa Claus. Where's the thanks-giving and all that?

Now the solution, then, isn't to look backwards regretfully. The solution is to look upwards thankfully. And you know what will happen when you start thanking? You start feeling satisfied because you noticed, oh, that's a blessing. I've taken it for granted. Thank You, Lord. Oh, and there's another one. I buried that one. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord.

It creates a satisfaction, which is the opposite to how you have been trained culturally. Culturally you've been trained, once you have something and are satisfied, then be thankful. God says, first be thankful. I've already given it to you. You just don't notice. Then you'll be satisfied.

Thankfulness comes, and then satisfaction comes. Do that this week. Thank God for your portion in life. Whatever it is, thank Him for your portion in life. Thank Him for your family, for your husband, for your wife, for your children, for your parents, for your job. Oh, but I hate my job. Yeah, but you got some money because of it. It's paying your bills. Thank God for that job.

And for all the challenges in life that you have that make you strong, thank Him for it. I'm not going to thank God for that person in my life. I'm not going to thank God for that lousy job. God didn't give me that job. The Devil gave me that job, forget it.

That's how we're tempted to think. As you're tempted to think that, just remember that 400 years ago when your forefathers landed on this country, and they were busy digging graves-- seven times the amount of graves to put dead people in it than huts to put living people in. Seven times the amount. They managed to carve out a day they called Thanksgiving.

Thank you God for what we have. And that's the solution. So pleasing God will produce joy. Thanking God will produce satisfaction.

There's a third problem and a solution that we'll look at in verse 7. And that is labor without fulfillment. "All the labor of a man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not satisfied. For what more has the wise man than the fool? What does the poor man have who knows how to walk before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. This also is vanity, grasping for the wind. Whatever one is, he has been named already for it is known that he is man."

Adam is the Hebrew word. That's what God made us-- man, mankind. "And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he. Since there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better? For who knows what is good for man in life? All the days of his vain life," Mr. Optimism, here, "which he passes like a shadow. Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?"

Back to verse 7. See the word satisfied? It's a different Hebrew word than the previous one. It's not the word [HEBREW]. It's the Hebrew word [HEBREW], which means to replenish or fulfillment in the context of work.

It's the guy who comes home from a honest, hard day at work. He's provided for his, family he's achieved his goal, he brings in a good income, he makes good investments. And he should be able to say, yes, I have achieved my goal. I have accomplished what I should accomplish.

But his soul isn't satisfied. The problem in verse 9, notice, he has a wandering desire. See that word, a wandering desire. After all the labor that he's put in, there's still no replenishment, no fulfillment in his work. Why? Because, look at verse 7. All the labor of a man is for his mouth. That's why.

He's living just to gratify the body appetites, to indulge the physical appetites. He's living on the level of an animal. That's how animals live-- just to gratify their body appetites. The air drive, the food drive, the water drive, the sex drive-- they just live to gratify body appetites. He lives for the mouth. And notice this-- yet the soul is not satisfied.

So what's the solution to a person who works hard and isn't fulfilled? It's to put the soul first, not the mouth. We put the mouth first, and say, OK God, I'm going to work on my mouth. I'm going to feed my mouth, and my family's mouth, and live just to gratify our needs. And I just hope that you'll take care of the soul.

No, the solution is put the soul first. Again, same principle-- seek first the Kingdom of God and all these other things like food, and drink, and clothes will be added unto you.

Big issue in politics is health care. You know what the biggest issue should be in our agenda? Soul care. How's your soul? Is it in good shape? Do you have soul food every day? Do you eat scripture? Do you read it and meditate on it? That's still my favorite part of the day is when I'm alone with God, and I feed my spirit on the Word of God consecutively.

Do you work out? Oh yeah, man, I'm buff. I go to the gym. And that's good, nothing wrong with that. But the scripture says bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things. Do you work your soul out? Discipleship, involvement with other believers, witnessing. Is your soul starving?

You know why the soul is so important? Because it's the part of you that will live forever. Your mouth won't. Your body won't. And even if you're very young and beautiful or handsome, you'll soon discover you're fighting a losing battle. So that the soul ought to be the most important thing in your life. That's your priority.

Verse 12, there's two questions he leaves us with. Number 1, who knows what's best for us? And number 2, who knows the future? What's the answer to that? God.

I mean, do you know the future? You might follow the weather, and they predict it's going to snow. But it didn't snow this week, they said it would dump. It snowed all around us. They predict and prognosticate economic trends, or the election-- who was right in predicting the election? Nobody.

Who knows the future? God. Who knows what's best for you? I do. Really? What about all those people I meet that said, if I only had her I'd be happy? Only to say later on, if I only didn't have her, I'd be happy.

You know who knows best for you? I'll answer it in the words of the old sitcom-- Father Knows Best. Your Heavenly Father knows what's best for you, what's most valuable, and here's the solution to all of these problems that plague a materialistic culture. Please God, you'll have joy. Thank God, you'll have satisfaction. Put your soul first, you'll have fulfillment.

There was a guy who loved books. I love the story because I can relate. I love books, I especially love old books. And this bibliophile-- book-lover-- had a friend who said that he had just thrown away an old Bible up in the attic. He said, yeah, I had this old family Bible. It's been in my attic, my ancestral home, for generations. I threw it away because, well, I couldn't understand. It was written all in German by Guten-somebody.

The book-lover said, that wouldn't be Gutenberg by any chance? That's it, Gutenberg. He said, friend, the Gutenberg Bible was the first book ever published in history. You had one of the first copies of a book, and one just sold recently for over $2 million.

And this guy was unfazed. He goes, ah, mine wouldn't have brought $2. It was scribbled all over by a guy named Martin Luther. How valuable would that be?

That is so typical of our culture. We put a high price tag on worthless stuff, and live for worthless stuff. And we throw away, on a daily basis, eternal stuff-- what's most valuable.

So pleasing God will produce joy, thanking God will produce satisfaction, caring for your soul will produce fulfillment. Those are the solutions to these problems. Place your soul first. And if you don't have a relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, put that first today. And tell Him, I commit my life to You, Lord I'm going to live for You, Lord.

Additional Messages in this Series

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2/4/2001
completed
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Building A House Or A Home
Psalm 127
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
The reason this psalm is important to us today is because of its author-notice Solomon was the one who wrote it. Here, the master philosopher-builder-entrepreneur reflects on the central core of human life-the home. The Christian leader John Henry Jowett wrote, "Anyone can build a house: we need the Lord for the creation of a home." I believe Solomon penned this psalm during the upswing in his outlook described in the second half of Ecclesiastes.
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1/7/2001
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You've Come To Church...Now What?
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
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Think about it: Its 2001, and here you are in church...again! Why? What are you doing here? Now, I'm not trying to discourage you from attending, nor do I want you to turn on your heels and high-tail it out of here. But I do want you to think about why you're here, what happens to you while you are here, and what happens afterwards. The beginning of this New Year is a good time to consider the value of commitments we have made.
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11/5/2000
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What's The Point Of It All
Ecclesiastes 1
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In the book of Ecclesiastes written by Solomon, the bell of disillusionment tolls over and over again. It is a book often quoted by unbelievers because it strikes a chord of familiarity. The deepest questions about life are probed by one of ancient society's most brilliant thinkers. Modern men and women would do well to consider this man's journal and especially his conclusions so as not to make the same mistakes.
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3/25/2001
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What Are You Doing With Yourself?
Ecclesiastes 11:1-6
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When Dr. Karl Menninger was asked, "What advice do you have for someone feeling a nervous breakdown coming on?" Astonishingly he replied, "Lock up your house, go across the railway tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person." I think Solomon would agree. In this section he is winding down his journal with this advice: Give yourself away!
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3/18/2001
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Watch Your Mouth!
Ecclesiastes 10:11-20
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An old proverb reads: "The ability to speak several languages is an asset, but the ability to keep your mouth shut in one language is priceless." There are times when that is true. The tendency to let our mouths rule, whether in a conversation or at a meal, can get us into trouble and harm others. Solomon, in poetic style, considers three foolish ways our mouths can be used:
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12/17/2000
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The Case For Companionship
Ecclesiastes 4
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God said it from the very start and it's still true today: "It is not good that man should be alone" (Genesis 2: 18). Loneliness and isolation are formidable forces in our fast-paced culture. Separation is easier than integration. Seclusion is easier than assimilation. But these are not better! God created us to be comfortably knit together n meaningful relationships, sometimes in marriage, and at other times as friends.
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1/28/2001
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Seven Ways To A Better Life
Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
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Steven Covey, the guru to the business community, wrote his best-selling book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and outlined a strategy for making life count. King Solomon wrote his own list, but by balancing over it you can readily see that the majority wouldn't accept these biblical directives. Let's follow along with this wise king as he takes us on a tour of these seven ingredients:
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1/14/2001
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Money Matters
Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
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Look again at the title, Money Matters. Most of us would say a hearty Amen to it. Money does matter to us: it pays the bills and buys us food to live. But how much is enough and how much will bring us happiness? Can we be trusted with money? Will we use it for the right purposes? In the end what will money profit us?
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4/22/2001
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Living Life To The Brim!
Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:1
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A wise pundit once wrote, "Your life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you can spend it only once." Each of us is assigned just one shot at this thing called life. There is an eternity that we are all moving toward. So much of that eternity is shaped by how we live our lives right here and now, and that is one of the sobering thoughts with which Solomon chooses to close his journal. His theme is: Life should be enjoyed to the fullest-within proper boundaries!
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2/11/2001
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Life: A Realistic View
Ecclesiastes 7:15-29
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Solomon has graduated: Rather than tipping the scales completely towards pessimism, he balances out with realism. This is a realistic view at one of man's most puzzling problems. we will explore the nature of man with undiminished realism and find out what it means to us here and now.
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4/29/2001
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Is That Your Final Answer?
Ecclesiastes 12
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Solomon has run his course. His journey is completed. Years have passed since he began his search for meaning in life. After wearing several well-trodden paths of experimentation he now gives his final conclusion-his final answer as to the purpose of life. Boiling all of life down to its unavoidable terminus he leaves us with a few salient truths of guide our course through life.
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12/10/2000
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How's Your View?
Ecclesiastes 3:12-22
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Solomon was a torn and conflicted individual. He spouted a cynical glumness as he observed life, then he would lapse moments of optimistic spirituality in his journal. Perhaps that's nowhere better seen than in these paragraphs. Within the span of a few verses his divergent viewpoints can be seen. What Solomon faced is what we all face how to maintain a spiritual outlook while living in a skeptical world!
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11/26/2000
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How An Uplook Can Change Your Outlook!
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
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Solomon didn't have a sight problem as he looked around at his world to find fulfillment. His was an insight problem. He saw a world full of allurements that all promised to satisfy but could never produce. For a long time Solomon failed to gain the needed insight, because things on the horizontal plane aren't the source of enjoyment.  It was then that he momentarily turned his eyes upward and, with a flash of perception, had balance brought to his pessimistic perspective.
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3/11/2001
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Four Common Follies
Ecclesiastes 10:1-10
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The old saying goes, "Man is pretty much a fool: when it's hot he wants it cool; when it's cool he wants it hot-always wanting what it's not!" That might sound simplistic but folly is simply think of and living for the short-term. Solomon in his unique and pithy style points to several areas where folly is demonstrated in life:
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11/12/2000
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Common Paths On A Frustrating Journey
Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:11
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"The pursuit of happiness" is written into the script of the American dream. As a culture we take it literally and go for it wholeheartedly. Have you ever stopped to observe those on that pursuit? Have you ever met someone who stopped pursuing it because they found it?  Solomon, the king of Israel was able to create and finance his own dreams. He walked down many roads to find the illusive golden pot of happiness at the end of the rainbow.  But what was it he found?
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3/4/2001
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Certain Truths For Uncertain Times
Ecclesiastes 9:11-18
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Have you ever felt like life is a violin solo and you're wearing mittens? Things can get pretty frustrating from time to time, can't they? In fact how often have you heard (or said), "It's just not fair"? With this seemingly precarious nature of things we must bank on the certainty of other things-divine sovereignty and biblical authority.
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12/3/2000
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Caught Between Time and Eternity
Ecclesiates 3
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"Man is the only animal that worships." one observer noted. Have you ever wondered why people always seem to be groping for more than they have?  No matter what our lot in life, no matter where we find ourselves, we want to know what's on the other side of the wall! Is there more? We have the strange predicament of living in time and yet longing to outlive it. Here we discover one of the great truths of Scripture - God is sovereign over both time and eternity.
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2/18/2001
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Are You Getting Along With Uncle Sam?
Ecclesiastes 8
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In one of the most insightful writings about the working of human government, King Solomon shows the problems of it, the power of it, the failure of it, and the believer's relationship to it. We are citizens of God's kingdom, but we also have an earthly address. This means we are to be model citizens attracting others to our heavenly destination.
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2/25/2001
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A Matter Of Life And Death
Ecclesiastes 9:1-10
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You are alive! You will die! Those two absolutes are as basic as it gets. But how many people really live well? And how many really die well? Solomon's deep probing of the human condition and plan of God drives him to consider these two irreducible certainties. Concerning these two absolutes, there are some things we can't change but some that we can:
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There are 19 additional messages in this series.
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