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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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1/28/2001
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Seven Ways To A Better Life
Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
Skip Heitzig
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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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21 Ecclesiastes - What's the Point? - 2000

21 Ecclesiastes - What's the Point? - 2000

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. Be a Person of Character (v. 1)

  2. Take a Tour of a Mortuary (v. 2)

  3. Make Time for Sadness (vv. 3-4)

  4. Welcome Constructive Criticism (vv. 5-7)

  5. Learn Patience Along the Way (vv. 8-10)

  6. Make Wisdom Your Defense (vv. 11-12)

  7. Trust God to Balance Out Your Life (vv. 13-14)

Pondering the Principles:
  1. How are you known by your friends and acquaintances? What traits make up your name?

  2. Travel back in your mind to a painful experience. What did you feel? What did you learn? How did it make you a better person? What it show you about eternity?

  3. Who in your life can speak frankly with you about your attitude, marriage, work ethic, etc? How do you receive such criticism?

  4. Make a quick list of days of adversity and days of prosperity over the past year. Do they balance out? Is there more evil or more good? Could this be skewed by perspective?

Transcript

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Have you ever misjudged a person that you met? You size them up, only to be very wrong about them once you really get to know them. Malcolm Forbes used to tell a story about that. It seemed that a couple some years ago-- she was dressed in a faded gingham dress, he, the husband, had a threadbare homespun suit-- got off the train in Boston, Massachusetts, and walked into the office of the president of Harvard University-- the waiting office where the secretary was.

The secretary sized the couple up as a bunch of hicks. And she thought in her mind, they shouldn't be here at Harvard. And they walked up to the desk, and they said, we'd like to speak to the president. And she snapped back, he's not in. And they said, we'll wait. And she snapped back, he won't be in all day. They said, we'll wait.

And so much to her chagrin, they waited for hours, which really bugged her. Well, he was in, she just didn't announce that. And she walked back to the president's office and said, look, there's this couple here in their tattered clothes. And I don't know why they're here, but if you just speak to them a few moments, then they'll leave I hope.

So the president got up, and he was kind of tiffed that he had to go out and spend any time at all with people like that. After all, he was so busy. He introduced himself, and the lady of the couple spoke up.

She said, sir, we had a son who attended Harvard University for a year. He loved it here, but he died accidentally about a year ago, and we would like to build a memorial at Harvard to honor our son. Well, he wasn't excited about that. In fact, he said, with all due respect, madam, if we were to build a statue for every student who attended Harvard and died, this place would look like a cemetery.

She said, you don't understand. We don't want to build a statue, we want to build a building at Harvard in honor of our son. And he said, building? Do you realize we have $7 and 1/2 million in the property here at Harvard? You know what it costs to build a building?

And she heard that figure-- 7 and 1/2 million-- and she turned to her husband in the threadbare suit and said, is that all it cost to build a university? We ought to just build our own. Now, the president was confused, bewildered at this couple. And they got up, and Mr. And Mrs. Leland Stanford walked out of the office, only to be welcomed in Palo Alto, California.

And there, they built the university that bears their name-- Stanford University-- a memorial to the son that Harvard no longer cared about. The mistake that the president of Harvard University made is a mistake you and I often make with certain experiences in life-- trials, adversity. If we were to take a vote, how many of you would like to have trials, tribulation, adversity gone from your lives? It would be unanimous.

But those very experiences that we may deem as bad may be the best thing for us. They may be good. It's a misjudgment.

Solomon misjudged. He made a series of mistakes, and the first part of the book that we've already uncovered bears that out. Here's a guy who looked to the good experiences in life to bring him fulfillment-- money, fame, intellectualism and learning-- only to say at the very end, man, it's all empty, all vanity. Now, he looks at some of the bad circumstances, experiences in life, only to say, I've changed my outlook. These things can be good.

In this section-- beginning really in chapter 7, and a little bit in 6, but really in 7-- we might say that Solomon is back now. After that period of disillusionment, now his tone has changed. He speaks clearly, definitely, and spiritually. It's a great outlook. He's sort of like the prodigal son. He's come to his senses.

The theme of the paragraph-- verses 1 through 14-- the theme is the better life. That's why I've given the name of this message seven ways to a better life. The term better is used 11 times in this chapter. Something is better than something else.

Now all of us-- or at least most of us-- may be good Christian people, but we can always be better than we are. There's always room to grow. There's always, I hope, that ceiling of maturity that is above us.

The issue as we get into this is what things are better? Not just good, but better. That's where this list comes in. And if you just look at the outline that's in your bulletin, some of us may off the bat disagree with the list.

I mean, after all, take a tour of a mortuary? Make time for sadness? Welcome constructive criticism? What kind of a list is that?

It's a wise list, according to Solomon. Let's get into it, and we're going to take these things that are comparative in Solomon's writing that is this is better than that. And we'll give them to you in the form of directives-- seven ways, or seven steps you might say, seven nuggets of wisdom that lead to a better life.

Number one-- be a person of character. Look at verse 1. A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth. Now, in the ancient times, on joyful occasions, they'd bring out the best perfume, cologne, ointment they call it. Not only on joyful occasions-- sometimes, they bring out the ordinary stuff on a daily basis to cover up the smell-- the body odor.

They didn't shower like we shower, they walked long, dry, dusty sweaty roads, and sometimes rode on donkeys. You can use your imagination and figure out what that would smell like. The precious ointment would cover that up.

Sometimes, ointment was so precious it was very costly. Remember, Mary of Bethany took and poured oil of what-- spikenard on Jesus. Judas complained that it could be sold for 300 denarii, or $25,000 to $35,000, in one little vial of ointment-- very costly stuff. The idea here is it's not how you smell, it's what's in the inside of your life-- the character-- that is most important.

So think of the finest cologne-- the stuff that you have or that you'd like to have, whether it's DKNY or Armani or Polo or whatever-- and translate that verse something like this. A good personal name is better than a designer brand name. Your character, your reputation-- but better your character-- is of supreme value, or should be, in your life.

Your name-- when a person accomplishes something, we say he or she made a name for themselves. They have a good reputation, good character. If you go out to the parking lot, and you see a car with a name stamped on it-- Porsche, or excuse me, "Por-sha." What do you think? Do you think, piece of junk? No, you think craftsmanship, precision, quality, and high cost. But it has a name because of the reputation that has been garnered over the years.

A good name endures. A cologne or perfume may attract a person initially, but it only lingers for a while, then passes. Whereas a good name-- a good reputation-- endures.

Sort of like a restaurant. You know, every restaurant smells good on the outside. Don't care what kind it is. You walk by a restaurant, the whiff is wonderful. But you don't yet know what's inside. There could be E. coli, and botulism, and all sorts of bad things lingering in that good smell.

And so you go in the restaurant and you sit down. Now, the chef has to produce the goods. It has to be a good meal. And if the good meal is good consistently, the restaurant gets a good name. Hey, you ought to try that restaurant. Oh, yeah, I walked by. It smells good. Oh, but it is good if you go inside. It's better. It's a good name.

How you live then determines how you are known. Do you have a good name? When people hear your name, do they go, great guy, great gal, or oof, yeah. Yeah, I know all about that person. Heard all about that one.

There's a judge up in Washington state that has an interesting way of motivating drivers. If you get convicted for drunk driving, you have one of two options. Option number one, says the judge to the person on the other side of the bench, number one, you can go to an alcohol treatment program. It's longer than just the night school, it's a whole program for alcohol treatment. And some people say, well, I don't like that.

OK. You can take option number two, which is you must drive around with this bumper sticker that the judge will give you to place on your car. This car is owned by a convicted drunk driver. He says most everybody takes option number one, because nobody wants the image that that bumper sticker would portray. We care about what others think, so a good name is better than precious ointment.

Following on that is a piggyback thought-- and the day of death than the day of one's birth. Now, don't confuse it. He's not saying it's better to die than to be born, obviously, because you can't die unless you have been born.

What he is simply doing is taking two significant days in your life and contrasting them-- the day you got your name at birth and the day that your name appears in the obituary column. He's comparing those days. And the point is this-- life that is lived between those two events determines what kind of a name you leave behind-- a reputation.

The Indians have a great saying. They say when you were born, you cried, and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way so that when you die, the world cries, and you rejoice. That's character. Be a person of character.

Number two on our list-- take a tour of a mortuary. Now, before you say, oh, he's gone too far, look at verse 2. That's what he says. Better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men, and the living will take it to heart.

The house of mourning in our terms would be a church funeral service or a mortuary. In ancient times, they would go to a literal home of the person who had died. It was a seven day period of mourning. They would bury the person quickly in a sepulchre or in a tomb, and then the family and friends would gather in the house of mourning to help assuage and to help comfort the grief that is left behind.

Go to a mortuary rather than a party. You say, well, is Solomon sick? Is he macabre? Is he out there? No. I know most people would rather go to a party than go to a funeral.

However, there is wisdom here, because death reminds us of what's inevitable. He says the living are going to take it to heart. Death has a way of boiling life down to what is ultimately important.

Think of it this way. Today, 147,276 people will die in the world. There is going to come a day when you and I will be in that statistic. So from time to time, we are benefited by thinking differently and embracing what death shows us. We might retranslate this verse, to visit a funeral is more beneficial than a cruise vacation. A walk through a cemetery may be more beneficial than a weekend in Vegas, because you'll think about life very, very differently.

When I was a child, I remember going to a funeral of a parent of a friend-- a classmate-- and I remember being shaken. My mom and I talked about this recently. It disturbed me to go to a funeral. It really bothered me.

Today, funerals instruct me. I take them to heart. I realize we're all going to end up there. You know, the statistics on death are still pretty impressive. Every one out of one people die. People are dying who have never died before.

Nathaniel Hawthorne said, a grave wherever found preaches a short and pithy sermon to the soul. It does, doesn't it? It says, I'll see you later. So it's beneficial.

Look at verse 3 now. We come to our third step-- make time for sadness. Solomon says sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Solomon is not saying good clean humor is bad. He's not saying thou shalt not smile. Thou shalt not laugh. Thou shalt not have fun. He's not saying that, because we know from Solomon's writings that he extolled laughter that is sometimes beneficial.

Let me remind you of some of those proverbs. He said, a merry heart makes a cheerful countenance. Solomon also wrote, he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast, and a merry heart does good like medicine. These are beneficial ways. You have a continual feast when you have a merry heart.

My wife will sometimes look at me and say, what are you laughing about, or what are you smiling about? I say I'm entertaining myself. I have a merry heart. I just thought of something, and it's funny, so I kind of tell it to myself.

Sorrow can do you more good than laughter sometimes, because during periods of sorrow, you assess differently. You evaluate yourself on a different level. And by the way, laughter can sometimes be a cover up-- a veneer for a lot of pain.

I was reading a little history on Mark Twain that said he was sad and sullen and depressed, and sometimes the humor was just a cover up. Sammy Davis Jr. said-- who was a great comedian in our country-- he said, I hate my life. My life is so empty. So there's a place for sadness.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are those who mourn. It sounds really odd, because you know the word blessed-- it's a Bible word. It's a stained glass kind of a word that means happy or oh, how happy. So it sounds a little bit ridiculous to say, oh, how happy are the unhappy. Blessed are those who mourn.

But there is truth to that. It's not ridiculous. Now, there is a movement in the church-- not in our church, but in the church at large-- a sliver of a movement called the holy laughter movement, that says that you come to church and the spirit of God comes on you, and you start laughing uncontrollably. You just split a gut, and you fall off the chair, and you writhe on the floor and make animal noises.

According to this verse, and according to Jesus, we could stand a little holy mourning from time to time. It's good for us. Sorrow is one of the best teachers in life. It boils life down to the basics. It makes us evaluate at a deeper level. Times of sorrow make us more mature.

There's an old Arab proverb that says all sunshine makes a desert. That's why this place is a desert, because it's sunny most of the time. It's good to get a little rain clouds thrown in with it or snow storms thrown in, just to break it up a little bit. Sorrow is better than laughter.

There is a great poem by Robert Browning Hamilton. He says, I walked a mile with pleasure. She chattered all the way, but left me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow, and never a word said she. But oh, the things I learned from her as sorrow walked with me. It's a great teacher, good instructor. Solomon bears that out.

Number four in this seven ways to a better life is welcome constructive criticism. Verse 5-- it's better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools, for like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity. Surely, oppression destroys a wise man's reason, and a bribe debases the heart. Rebuke.

Now, nobody I know enjoys a rebuke. Do you know anybody that likes to be criticized? Have you ever had somebody come up to you and say, you know, would you rebuke me? It's just been a while. I could just stand a good rebuff.

We don't like it naturally. We grew up not liking it. You remember, I hope, how when your parents gave you the lecture. What did you do? Did You go, really? OK. No, you rolled your eyes. Admit it. Whatever.

And now it's coming back to get you. Your kids are doing that to you. Or the teacher in school would correct you on something, and you dug your heels, and you didn't like it. The officer hands you that little slip of paper and says, have a nice day, slow down. And you go, thank you. Take it from him-- I'm going to to contest this.

We don't like correction. Or the judge passes a sentence we don't like, or the pastor speaks about something that is really personal. I don't like this place. But well timed godly rebuke from the right source can be sometimes much more beneficial than anything else.

Notice how he talks about the song of fools. It's like thorns in a campfire. You can imagine that. It's a great illustration. You put thorns in a fire, it makes a lot of noise, but it doesn't last very long-- no lasting warmth.

A rebuke can be good. I can't help but wonder if Solomon didn't learn this from something his father David went through in his life. David erred, David sinned. And a prophet came into his palace one day named Nathan and pointed his finger and said, you are the man after he had committed adultery, and rebuked the King to cause him to get back on track. It was very beneficial to him.

And King David, Solomon's dad, wrote these words-- Psalm 141 verse 5-- let the righteous strike me, and it shall be a kindness. Let him rebuke me, it shall be as excellent oil. Let not my head refuse it.

And I just got to think that made a great impact in Solomon's life, because he wrote that principle over and over again in the book of Proverbs. Here's just a smattering. In Proverbs 15 verse 5, Solomon writes, a fool despises his father's instruction, but he who receives correction is prudent. Proverbs 17 10-- rebuke is more effective for a wise man than 100 blows for a fool. The idea is the fool just will not respond at all to the correction, but a wise man takes once. Proverbs 25 12-- like an ornament of fine gold is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear.

There are times in our lives when we really need a gentle embrace-- encouragement. We're down. But there are other times where a swift kick is in order. We're out of line. We need a good rebuke. It's the way we are.

John Wesley, the great evangelist and preacher of the 1700s, was speaking at a service one day. He was preaching a message. In the audience was a woman who was known as a critical lady. She was very censorious.

She was there, arms folded. Had that scowl on her face, as usual. And during his message, as he poured his heart out, all she could think about is how the tie he was wearing bothered her. He was wearing a new tie, and she just noticed that the threads were too long. Picture a 1700s bow tie, where it's tied and you got the long streamers.

So after the service, she came up to him and said, Mr. Wesley, the streamers on your tie are much too long. It offends me. And he was very gracious. Well, dear lady, do you know anybody who has a shears-- a scissors? And so he found somebody that had a shears-- a scissors-- put the scissors in his critic's hand, and said please, tailor it to your liking.

And so she did. She got up to it and started cutting off the streamers just below the collar. And afterwards, he said, now, you sure that's suitable? It's OK? It doesn't offend you? No, that's much better. It was horrible before.

And then John Wesley said, then may I have those shears a moment? I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I also gave you a bit of correction. I don't want to be cruel, but I must tell you, madam, your tongue is an offense to me. It's too long. Please stick it out, I'd like to take some of it off.

Amen. She needed a wise rebuke from a godly man to get her back on a godly tract. Paul said that to the Thessalonians. He said, to those who are unruly warn the unruly.

You don't walk up to a lady like this and say, God bless you today. She needs to be warned. And there are some times where Christians have an attitude like kids can have an attitude, and a rebuke is in order. And he says that's better. It's better than the praise, the adulation of the fools.

Number five on Solomon's list this morning is learn patience along the way. I've summed up a few verses. Learn patience along the way. Verse 8-- and it's one continuous thought-- the end of a thing is better than its beginning, the patient in spirit better than the proud in spirit. Do not hasten or hurry in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools. Do not say, why were the former days better than these, for you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

Now, he begins by saying the end is better. That makes sense. I mean, the end is when it's done. It's finished, it's fulfilled. There's no dream any longer. The dream is realized, the dream is accomplished. You don't have to dream, it's here.

The end is better, but to get to the end requires patience. How many a project has been destroyed by lack of patience? How many a relationship has been destroyed by a short fuse?

We get impatient, we get angry, we want to quit, but the value isn't just the start, it's the finish. Same with the Christian life. It's not how you start, it's if you finish well. The end of a thing is better than the beginning.

Now, I think you'd agree that patience is one of the most important things a Christian needs. Do you ever pray for patience? I bet when you do, like me, you pray for patience impatiently. God, give me patience now.

I heard about a young man who walked up to an older minister, and he sensed this problem within himself. He was a very impatient young man. And he walked up to the older minister, and he said, I'm so impatient. Would you pray that God gives me patience?

The old minister smiled, put his arm around the young man. Certainly. Let's go before the throne of God right now. Dear Father, send this young man adversity, tribulation, trials.

And the young man said, whoa. I asked you to pray for patience. What are you doing? He said, I'm honoring your request. And then he quoted to him that great passage in the Book of Romans, where Paul said, tribulation worketh patience.

You don't get patience from buying the best seller on how to have patience, you get it through trials and adversity. That's why it can be good. It works out patience in your life over time. It keeps relationships strong. It keeps you running the race all the way to the finish line.

Verse 10-- it's interesting. Don't say why were the former days better than these? Ever heard that? I remember the good old days. Listen, the good old days is just a combination of a bad memory and a good imagination. That's all it is.

Someday, you'll look back at today as the good old days. Time diminishes reality. It glosses over it. It chromes it. You see it differently, but it's the same.

Don't look back at the good old days. Make these days the best. Live patiently now. Look toward the finish line. Keep going.

When Solomon's temple had been destroyed and the people exiled into Babylon, when they came back to Jerusalem, they started building the second temple on the foundation that Solomon had laid but had been destroyed. Some of the people in the crowd were the older gentleman, and they remembered the first temple. And when that temple was going up, the foundations laid, they lifted up their heads and wept. Oh, the first temple was better than this.

The good old days. The young men, on the other hand, rejoiced in saying, because this was a new work of God. We still see that same attitude today-- people hesitant to change, looking back to the good old days. I remember when this church first started-- the Lakes Apartments. The good old days, I remember.

They're trying to recreate some experience. And my response is usually the same. I put my arm around them and say, that was then, this is now. These are the good old days. Carpe diem, as the poet said. Seize the day. Let this day be the best. So patience is needed along the way.

Sixth on the list to a better life-- make wisdom your defense. Solomon has a lot to say about wisdom, and he does here in verse 11. Wisdom is good with an inheritance, and profitable to those who see the sun, for wisdom is a defense as money is a defense. But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.

Now, that verse that I just read-- those two verses-- may seem a little bit awkward, because this is Hebrew poetry. Scholars call it parallelism-- complementing or antithetical, two different kinds of parallelism where they rhyme thoughts or they oppose thoughts. I want to read that verse to you in the New Living Translation. It just sort of uncovers the truth better.

Being wise is as good as being rich. In fact, it's better. Wisdom or money can get you almost anything, but it's important to know only wisdom can save your life.

A Christian ought to be a person of wisdom. Jesus says be wise as serpents, be harmless as doves. We often reverse that, and we're about as wise as a dove and harmless as a serpent. But Solomon said in the book of Proverbs that wisdom is preeminent. It's the main thing. Get wisdom with all you're getting.

Solomon liked to speak about wisdom. 28 times he mentions wise or wisdom in the book of Ecclesiastes. 125 times he mentions it in the book of Proverbs, so it's a big deal to him. But what is wisdom?

If you go to Webster's dictionary, the definition found there is wisdom is accumulated philosophic or scientific learning, i.e. knowledge. So we usually think of wisdom as IQ, or scores on the SAT, or how many degrees you have after your name. Biblical wisdom has little to do with scores on your SAT, or your IQ, or how many degrees. I know people that have a lot of different graduate degrees that aren't very wise. You might say they're dying by degrees.

Biblical wisdom has everything to do with where you place God in your life and His word in your life. There's the wisdom. In fact, the Bible says that a person who puts God out is the opposite of wise. David said, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. That's a foolish person.

Wisdom in the biblical sense is somebody who is skilled at living godly-- skilled at living right. Solomon says when you live that way-- you place God in your life, you use the word of God-- it's a defense. It defends you. It defends you from making the wrong moves, going down the wrong rabbit trails-- diversions. It keeps you on track. No, that's dangerous, won't go there. That's wisdom.

Years ago, when a young man was being interviewed to become a pilot on the Mississippi River to run the steamboats, the interviewer thought that this young man didn't really understand the dangers of the river. And so he says, young man, do you know where all the rocks are in the river? And the young man says, no sir, I don't know where all the rocks are, but I know where they ain't. He got the job. That's really all that's important-- stay away from that stuff. Wisdom.

Number seven, and we close with this. Trust God to balance out your life. It sort of sums it all up neatly in these verses. Consider the work of God. Ponder it. Think about it. Mull over it. For who can make straight what he has made crooked all those adverse things that are mentioned in the previous verses that we would call crooked-- not right in life? Consider it.

For who can make straight what God has made crooked? In the day of prosperity, be joyful. In the day of adversity, consider surely God has appointed one as well as the other so that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

Your future is unknown to you. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. You don't know your future. You know your eternal future if you're in Christ. That's settled, but you don't know your future.

Oh yes I do, you might say. I've made all my plans. I know where I'm going to go to school. I think I know who I'm going to marry. I know where I'm going to live. I have a five year plan all worked out.

Oh really? Watch what happens to it. You don't know your future, but God does. James eloquently states it this way. Now listen, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to this city or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you don't even know what will happen tomorrow.

What is your life? It's a mist that appears for a little while and vanishes. You don't know your future, but God knows your future intimately. And God knows exactly when to give you prosperity, when to give you adversity. And like a wise physician, He'll write the prescription depending on what you need.

Some days, God will sort of get out his pen and write the prescription-- prosperity, joy, great fun experiences. He gives it to you, and you go, yes! Another day, He'll write pain, sorrow, affliction, and hand it to you. He balances life out.

One day you'll be in the house of feasting, the next day you might be in the house of mourning. One day you'll be enjoying laughter, the next day sorrow. One day you'll be praised the next day may be rebuked. God knows how to balance out your life.

He gives you enough blessings to make you happy. He gives you enough burdens to keep you humble. It's the balance of life. Trust God for that. It's going to happen if you're in Christ, get used to it. Learn from them.

Remember when Job was stripped of everything he owned and loved-- his property, his children, his health? He was sitting on a dunghill scraping himself with a piece of pottery, and his wife walked up to him and gave him that lovely godly advice. She said, curse God and die.

And he said, you speak like a foolish woman. And then he said, shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive trouble. So don't make the same mistake that the president of Harvard made with the Stanfords. Don't size up adversity and say, bad. But say maybe, just maybe, this is a prescription from God, because He loves me so much He's not content with this shallowness. He wants me to grow.

I want to conclude with a poem that I found. I don't know who wrote it. Every time I try to find a source, it just says author unknown. Fine. It goes like this.

When God wants to drill a man and thrill a man and skill a man, when God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part, when He years with all His heart to create so great and bold a man that all the world shall be amazed, watch His methods. Watch His ways.

How ruthlessly He perfects whom He royally elects. How He hammers him and hurts him, and with mighty blows converts him into trial shapes of clay which only God understands, while his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands.

How He bends but never breaks when his good He undertakes, how He uses whom He chooses, and with every purpose fuses him, by every act induces him to try His splendor out. God knows what He's about. God knows what He's doing. Let Him do it.

Additional Messages in this Series

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11/5/2000
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What's The Point Of It All
Ecclesiastes 1
Skip Heitzig
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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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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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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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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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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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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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1/7/2001
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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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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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1/21/2001
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All That Glitters...
Ecclesiastes 6
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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.
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2/4/2001
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Building A House Or A Home
Psalm 127
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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There are 19 additional messages in this series.
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