The Attributes of God:

Finding Enjoyment in life. Ecclesiastes 2:24-26   “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This, too, I see, is from the hand of God.”               How do we find joy in a disjointed and broken world?  So far in our study of Ecclesiastes, Solomon has led us down a dark and foreboding path that seems hopeless.  Yet even as he challenges us to take an honest look at life, one that confronts us with all the absurdities of a fallen world, he does not lead us to despair and hopelessness.  Having shown the futility of our labors, he reminds us that we can still find enjoyment in our work.  Even though our work does not provide ultimate meaning, that does not mean that it is without purpose and merit.  Instead, we are to still recognize the gift of life and work.  Even in a fallen world, God still gives us this life to enjoy.               When we first read verse 24, it seems that Solomon is extolling a hedonistic life of eating, drinking, and pu

Evaluating our Career “For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?” Ecclesiastes 2:18-23               In creation, God assigned the responsibility to care for the garden to Adam and Eve.  Part of God's purpose for humanity was to explore, create, and develop the garden He prepared for them.  The responsibility to labor and work is part of the “It was good” of God’s creative plan.  Rather than work being a struggle, it was God’s design for humanity.  Proverbs point out that part of living within the context of God’s moral order  (which is the essence of wisdom) is working diligently with our hands (Provers 12:11, 6:6-11). However, when humanity rebelled against God, one of the effects was that our work became corrupted and distorted. It is plagued by the futility that characterizes all aspects of our life because of sin.  Instead of work being an expression of our worship of God and the enjoyment of his creative work, it will bec

The Limits of Wisdom Ecclesiastes 2:1-17 “And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.”               If following God does not protect us from the hardships of life, then what is the point?  Sometimes, our circumstances seem to contradict the hope God promises us.  So, how do we reconcile the promises of God with the broken world we live in?  This is the question that Solomon confronts us with.  In the book of Proverbs, we repeatedly find the assurance that God blesses the wise while bringing hardship upon the wicked. We see the same promises in the New Testament.  Paul reminds us that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28).  However, in Ecclesiastes, Solomon sees a different world in which the righteous suffer the same hardships as the wicked.  Death strikes both.  So, what is the point of pursuing wisdom if the outcome is the same?  This is the same question that plagued Job as he sat on an ash heap suffering from boils and felt the u

The Futility of Pleasure “I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure.  So enjoy yourself.’ And behold, it too was futility.” Ecclesiastes 2:1-11                           In his pursuit of meaning and purpose in life, Solomon embarked on a journey that would take him down many paths.  However, these are not just the paths a person takes when they are unhappy, but the paths that all people take as they seek to find the significance and happiness of life.  In his pursuit of meaning, he embraces different avenues representing all people.  As we read the book of Ecclesiastes, we must see ourselves.  The pursuits of Solomon serve as a mirror to reflect our pursuits in seeking to discover meaning, purpose, and contentment in life.             The first path Solomon proposes is the one we are most familiar with in our consumer-driven society, and that is the pursuit of pleasure and possessions.  To find joy in life, he embraced the lifestyle that has become the mantra of our c

The Endless Pursuit of Wisdom Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 “And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after the wind.” You do not know until you know that you don’t know! In the pursuit of becoming the “expert” of anything, there is a process that we often go through. We start to study a particular field of research and gain an initial knowledge of the topic so that we soon begin to feel we understand it. At this stage, we might even describe ourselves as an “expert.” Yet, as we continue to learn, we soon realize that the more we know about the topic, the less we know. The actual experts are not the ones who feel that they know everything about a subject; they are the ones who have begun to understand how much they do not know. During COVID-19, with all the controversies around it, a friend told me that they had done internet research and had a pretty good idea of how the immune system functioned.   However, when I would ask my son, w

Finding Meaning in the doldrums of life. Ecclesiastes 1:3-11 “What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the Sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.” We all know the drudgery of life with its endless pursuit of the American dream. It seems the more we earn, the less we take home. The harder we labor, the more the debts pile up. The rat race becomes an endless jog on the treadmill where we are forever running but remaining in the same place. This is the reality that Solomon reminds us of. After our life we end up with the same thing we started: nothing. The rich, the poor, the powerful, and the forgotten all end up in the same pine box. All the works and achievements of man are transitory. We are confronted with the question, “What advantage does it give us to labor and spend our whole life pursuing what this world has to give us?”      No matter how many advances we make, we still find ourselves back in the same pla

Finding Lasting Purpose in Life Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 “Vanity of Vanities! All is vanity.”               For the modern reader, the book of Ecclesiastes remains perplexing and confusing.  How do we understand a book that, at first glance, borders on unremitting depression?  The sage (undoubtedly Solomon) shocks the modern reader with his initial statement summarizing his view of life, “Vanity of Vanities! All is vanity.”  This enigma is seen in the translations, which point to a hopeless view of life.  The English versions of the Bible translate the word as “vanities, absolute utilities, everything is meaningless, completely meaningless, everything is nonsense, life is useless, all useless, everything is pointless.”  This would lead one to conclude that Solomon was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown.               Is he presenting a life without hope? Hardly.  At the core of his message are two themes that are woven throughout the book.  The first is a theme central to our view o

Learning the Joy of Giving Phil. 4:15-23 “Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increasing to your account.”   One of the hardest things to do is surrender our finances to the ministry of Christ. We are willing to give of our time and energy, but it is difficult to let go of the purse strings. However, to give God everything, we also need to give Him control of our bank account. As Paul closes his letter to the church at Philippi, he ends with a commendation and expression of gratitude for the financial support the church has given him for his ministry.  When Paul was ministering to the people at Philippi, they caught a vision for Paul’s ministry and became one of his primary financial contributors. As Paul commends them, he does not just see them only as financial backers but as partners in the work (1:5).  In commending them for their help, Paul makes it clear that he is not writing because he wants more financial support but because he sees their contribut

Discovering Contentment Phil. 4:10-15 “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am.   In his classic work, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs writes, “If I become content by having my desires satisfied, that is only self-love; but when I am contented with the hand of God and am willing to be at His disposal, that comes from my love to God.” Of all the virtues, contentment is perhaps the most difficult to possess. We can show love for others, rejoice in God’s blessings, and forgive others when they wrong us, but to be content in every circumstance is like trying to catch the wind. The closer we come to attaining it, the more elusive it becomes. Daily, we are bombarded with carefully orchestrated advertisements to drive the point home that we are not content. Advertisements do not sell products; they sell a pipe dream. They sell the promise that if we buy their product, we will find contentment. In the 80s and 90s (I

Thinking Rightly. Phil 4:8-9 “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”               What we think is what we become.  To transform our lives, we need to change what we think about and focus on.  In this passage, Paul reminds us to shift the focus of our thoughts to change our behavior and actions.  In keeping with the spirit of exhortation, Paul again gives us two commands.  As are the commands in the previous verses, the focus is not upon a momentary act but a continuous response that we are to ingrain within our lives.  The first command is the appeal to think about the right things.  This is more than just a momentary thought; but to give careful thought, to ponder and let one’s mind dwell on something.  It speaks of an ongoing focus of our mind.    Where does our mind gravitate to when we have nothing to think about?  When we have nothing demanding our attention, what requires our considerat

Cure for Anxiety Philippians 4:4-7 “rejoice in the Lord always…be anxious for nothing.”               At first glance, it seems Paul is concluding his letter with several concise, unrelated statements.  In these verses, four commands are given (the command to rejoice is repeated for emphasis). Each of these commands implies an ongoing lifestyle rather than just a momentary act wrought out of a sense of urgency.  In other words, we are to live constantly manifesting these characteristics: “Rejoice, let your gentle spirit be known, do not be anxious, make known to God.”  In verse 7, we see the conjunction “and,” which gives the results of what precedes.  In our reading of verse 7, we often connect it only with verse 6.  The result of prayer is God’s peace.  While it is undoubtedly true that prayer is central to gaining freedom over fear, we should also not disconnect it from the preceding commands.              In verse 4, the command is repeated twice to “rejoice!”  Joy is one of the fr

Responding to Conflict Phil 4:1-3 “I urge Euodia and urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord.”             One of the myths people have is that Christians should never have conflict.  While it is true that we should be characterized within the church by love and unity, the reality is that we are still affected by sin.  Consequently, we still have differences of opinion that lead to conflict even within the church.  As he is writing to the believers in Philippi, Paul addresses a problem within the church.  We do not know the nature of the disagreement, only that Euodia and Syntyche were in the middle of a disagreement affecting the whole congregation. Paul felt it necessary to address them specifically and publically in the letter.  This suggests that the conflict affected the entire congregation and that the issue was well-known in the church.   When individuals have a conflict that continues to escalate, it often can lead to people taking sides and ultimately dividing the church

Recognizing our Citizenship Phil. 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”               In verses 20-21, Paul uses the analogy of citizenship to redirect our focus.  As a Roman citizen, Paul understood both the benefits and responsibilities that citizenship brings a person.  However, more than anything, citizenship defines our priorities and focus.  In the previous verses, he had warned that they were in hostile territory as Christians living in a godless world.  Paul warns that they would face opposition, for there is a fundamentally different worldview between citizens of this earth and citizens of heaven.               If you visit a different country, you soon realize that their culture, customs, and values are often radically different from our own.  They communicate in a different language.  They dress differently and have different values.  This is also true regarding Christians and the world in which we li

Who are our Models Phil. 4:15-19 “Brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.”               Everyone has someone they look up to and try to emulate.  They have lived a type of life and have attained accomplishments that we want to have for ourselves. Some of our heroes are well-known and have become public figures who lived before us and whose writings or social media have impacted our lives. We know them through their writings or podcasts and have sought to live by their words.  Other people are more obscure and unknown.  They are the people with whom we have had personal contact and who have influenced our lives by how they live.  Their impact has not been through their words but through their example.  They have lived how we want to, so we look to them as individuals who have paved the path before us.  For other people, their heroes may have attained fame and recognition.  They follow their podcasts and see them as “soc

Who are our Models Phil. 4:15-19 “Brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.”               Everyone has someone they look up to and try to emulate.  They have lived a type of life and have attained accomplishments that we want to have for ourselves. Some of our heroes are well-known and have become public figures who lived before us and whose writings or social media have impacted our lives. We know them through their writings or podcasts and have sought to live by their words.  Other people are more obscure and unknown.  They are the people with whom we have had personal contact and who have influenced our lives by how they live.  Their impact has not been through their words but through their example.  They have lived how we want to, so we look to them as individuals who have paved the path before us.  For other people, their heroes may have attained fame and recognition.  They follow their podcasts and see them as “soc

Setting the Right Goal Phil 3:12-16 “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Look on the internet for famous quotes regarding goals, and you will find a plethora of statements, each extolling the value and importance of setting goals that drive us to act and sacrifice to attain them. Some goals we set, we obtain. I set a goal of obtaining my Doctorate by the time I was 40. I achieved this goal in 2000 when I earned my Doctor of Ministry degree (at age 41). Other goals we make are changed as we go forward. When I started ministry, I had the goal of becoming a Bible College/Seminary professor teaching biblical languages. Yet God had other plans, and as he moved me into rural ministry. My goal changed from teaching languages to encouraging and strengthening rural churches and pastors. Other achievements we never set as a goal. I never set a goal to write books, nor did I think of myself as a writer, yet God has led me to write six book

The Ultimate Value Phil. 3:7-11 “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.”               The value we place on something is measured by what we are willing to sacrifice to attain.  If you want to know what you value, look no further than your calendar and checkbook.  Daily we make decisions and choices between the innumerable options we have presented. Those choices involve either our time or money or, in most cases, both.  Yet these are assets that we have in limited quantities.  We only have so much time in 24 hours and so much money in the bank.  If we value money, we will sacrifice our time to spend more hours at work to get more money only to hoard it in some bank account, never to be spent in fear that we do not have enough.  If we value things, we will spend our money to buy and accumulate them. Some might ar

The Basis of our Salvation. Phi. 3:1-6 “For we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”               The danger of self-deception is that we all think we are getting to heaven.  We look at others and see ourselves as no worse, perhaps even better.  If we live a good life, show compassion for people, love others, and attend church on Sunday, we believe we are good enough to get to heaven. We equate being religious with being righteous.  For most of his life, Paul relied upon his good works and religious activities for salvation.  For Paul, salvation was based upon being a faithful Jew who upheld the rituals and obligations required by the Old Testament law and Jewish traditions.  From a Jewish standpoint, Paul was exemplary.  Anyone who looked closely at Paul would be impressed by his dedication to fulfilling all Jewish requirements.  In verses 5-6, he lists his credentials that would impress anyone.  He

Reorienting our Priorities Pt. 2 Phil. 2:25-30 “Because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.”               What we value is revealed by what we are willing to sacrifice to attain.  For Epaphroditus, the value he placed upon his service for Christ was demonstrated by his willingness to risk his life for the advancement of the gospel.             We know little about Epaphroditus.  He is only mentioned in this letter (2:25; 4:18).  His name suggests that he was a Greek raised in a pagan culture and home.  His name comes from the Greek goddesses of love and beauty, suggesting that his parents were worshippers of this deity. We also know that Epaphroditus was associated with the church at Philippi and that he had been sent by the church with a financial gift to help Paul in his ministry.  When he arrived in Rome, Epaphroditus intended to remain with Paul and help in the ministry.  However, while he was with P