Ecclesiastes, along with Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and the Song of Solomon, is in the Wisdom Literature section of the Old Testament. These books deal with the way the world works. They mix direct statements with analogies and word pictures. Sometimes it addresses big problems—like why is there evil in the world—and other times it deals with smaller issues that can be addressed with common sense—reckless words are harmful so watch your mouth. Wisdom Literature is like philosophical writings of today with one BIG difference. Philosophy (love of wisdom) seeks to understand ourselves and the world around us in a humanistic way. Wisdom Literature seeks to understand ourselves and the world around us in a theological way. And, of course, Wisdom Literature is inspired by God.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
Life “under the sun” doesn’t make sense unless you have an “over the sun” perspective.
Fear God: Ecclesiastes 12:13
Martin Luther explained fearing God using “servile fear” and “filial fear.”
Servile fear: The emotion of a tortured prisoner.
Filial fear (“filial” means “family” in Latin): The healthy love and respect children have for parents.
Fear of God: Love, honor, and respect for my Heavenly Father.
Prepare for Judgment: Ecclesiastes 12:14
God as Judge (Genesis 18:25; Judges 11:27)
Jesus as Judge (John 5:22-29)
Characteristics of a Judge (from J. I. Packer, Knowing God)
• The judge is a person with authority.
• The judge is a person identified with what is good and right.
• The judge is a person of wisdom, to discern truth.
• The judge has the power to execute sentence.
The doctrine of the final judgment . . . stresses man’s accountability and the certainty that justice will finally triumph over all the wrongs . . . This doctrine gives meaning to life . . . [it] means that history moves to a goal. Judgment means that evil will be disposed of authoritatively, decisively, finally. Judgment means that in the end God’s will will be perfectly done.
-Leon Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment, 72. Quoted in Knowing God, 144.
The Coming Judgment
Matthew 25:31-41
When the Son of Man comes in his glory . . . he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another . . . Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world . . . Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Call on the coming Judge to be your Savior, today!
DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH RON MOORE
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LIVING GROUNDED
Learn more about how you can grow deeper and embrace the foundational truths of the Christian faith with Living Grounded. Whether you’re just starting out in faith or you’ve been a Christian for years, Living Grounded offers truth, wisdom, and encouragement for every stage. Contact gdevore@biblechapel.org to get connected.
CAREGIVING
Do you have a need we can pray for? Do you need someone to walk alongside you? Do you know of another person who needs care? Let us know at caregiving@biblechapel.org.
CAMPUS FACEBOOK GROUPS
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FIND AN ENCOURAGER TODAY! JOIN A SMALL GROUP
Community Groups are our easiest on-ramp to community at The Bible Chapel; these groups use sermon-based questions to dive deeper into weekly messages. Visit biblechapel.org/smallgroups to learn more and sign up!
Ecclesiastes: Fearing God
September 18, 2022 • Ron Moore • Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes: The Problem of Evil Part 2
November 20, 2022 • Ron Moore • Ecclesiastes
Evil is all around us. From hatred, envy, and jealousy to sex trafficking, dealing deadly drugs, school shootings, divorce, and even gossip. Evil wreaks havoc in countries, communities, and families. This is not the way it’s supposed to be, but it’s the way it is in this life under the sun. Last week we addressed the question, “Why Does Evil Exist?” (https://subspla.sh/nsztwyb). Here is a quick review: Why Does Evil Exit? · God did not create evil. Everything he created was good (Gen. 1:31). Evil is the absence of goodness. · God did not create us to be robots. He gave both angels and man free will (Gen 2:8-9, 15-17) · Some angels rebelled against his will (Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:12-18). · Adam and Eve rebelled against his will (Gen 3:6) · Sin and evil entered the human race (Rom 5:12) This week we will address: “Why Does God Allow it?” Why Does God Allow Evil to Continue? God gave free will to the angels, and Satan (and his followers) rebelled and were thrown down from heaven (Isa 14:12-14; Eze 28:12-18). Adam and Eve fell for Satan’s lie (Gen 3:6), and sin and death became a part of the human experience (Rom 5:12). The world “under the sun” that Solomon wrote about is not the way it’s supposed to be. Sin has invaded our planet, led by Satan—the father of all evil. Jesus called Satan “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). Paul calls him “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2). Ephesians 6:10-12 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Satan at work and man infected by sin - this is not the way it’s supposed to be. So, why doesn’t God put a stop to it? In life under the sun, as soon as God stops evil, he stops free will - reducing man to robots. For instance, murder (a great evil) is the end of a process made up of lesser evils. If every lesser evil were taken away, man would be stripped of free will. Why doesn’t God judge and remove from the earth all who commit sins? No one would be left! Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. God did not create us as robots, nor does he turn us into robots. In a real world with real choices, the same natural laws that allow us to build cool resorts and develop medicines can be abused to make weapons, bombs, bullets, and illicit drugs. Sometimes God allows evil or sin to test and grow us. James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Romans 5:3-5 …We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Sometimes God allows evil to discipline us. Hebrews 12:5-8 “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. God sovereignly uses evil to work his perfect purposes. Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. The book of Ecclesiastes needs to be read backward. Life under the sun doesn’t always make sense, but the answer is always Jesus! Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Love and evil intersected at the cross. Jesus paid sin’s penalty fully and finally. One day, in God’s sovereign timing, he will call time on this world. Evil will be abolished, and those who know Jesus will enter eternal life. Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH RON MOORE Get Ron’s Daily Devotional to your inbox each morning; visit http://biblechapel.org/devo. LIVING GROUNDED Learn more about how you can grow deeper and embrace the foundational truths of the Christian faith with Living Grounded. Whether you’re just starting out in faith or you’ve been a Christian for years, Living Grounded offers truth, wisdom, and encouragement for every stage. Contact http://gdevore@biblechapel.org to get connected. CAREGIVING Do you have a need we can pray for? Do you need someone to walk alongside you? Do you know of another person who needs care? Let us know at http://caregiving@biblechapel.org. CAMPUS FACEBOOK GROUPS You’re invited to connect with The Bible Chapel family in your campus Facebook Group. Look for Facebook Groups at http://facebook.com/biblechapel and click on Groups on the left side. FIND AN ENCOURAGER TODAY! JOIN A SMALL GROUP Community Groups are our easiest on-ramp to community at The Bible Chapel; these groups use sermon-based questions to dive deeper into weekly messages. Visit http://biblechapel.org/smallgroups to learn more and sign up!
Ecclesiastes: The Problem of Evil
November 13, 2022 • Ron Moore • Ecclesiastes
Evil is all around us. From hatred, envy, and jealousy to sex trafficking, dealing deadly drugs, school shootings, divorce, and even gossip. Evil wreaks havoc in countries, communities, and families. This is not the way it’s supposed to be, but it’s the way it is in this life under the sun. The two questions we want to address this week and next are these: Why Does Evil Exist? Why Does God Allow it? Why Does Evil Exist? The Bible does not ignore the problem of evil (Eccl 4:1-3, Psalm 13:1, Habakkuk 1:2-4) - nor do secular philosophers. The Greek philosopher, Epicurus (341-270 BC), expressed the problem this way: · God wants to abolish evil, but he cannot, he is impotent. · God can abolish evil, but he does not, he is wicked. · If God can and wants to abolish evil, why is there evil in the world? · Therefore, God must not exist. A conversation about the problem of evil must begin humbly. We are finite beings seeking to understand the infinite God. Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Everything God created was good (Gen 1:31). So, how does evil exist? · Evil is the absence of good (like darkness is the absence of light). The church father, Augustine, wrote, “Evil has no positive nature; but the loss of good has received the name ‘evil’.” (The City of God, XI, Chapter 9). · God gave man the freedom to choose. He did not make us robots. Theologian Peter Kreeft says, “To prevent all evil, you must remove all freedom and reduce people to puppets, which means they would then lack the ability to freely choose love” (Quoted in The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel, 42). · God also gave angels the freedom to choose. Satan and others rebelled against God and were cast from heaven (Isa 14:12-15, Eze 28:12-17). · Standing in the Garden of Eden with the freedom to choose, Adam and Eve gave into temptation and sin entered the human race (Gen 3:1-7, Rom 5:12). · All sin and evil are the result of man’s rebellion against God (Rom 1:18-32). C. S. Lewis wrote, “Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who much lay down his arms” (Mere Christianity) God allowed for the possibility of evil because of his great love for us and his desire for us to love him freely. · God knows it is only possible to truly believe in him if there is a choice to believe he doesn’t exist. · God knows we can truly love if there is a possibility to hate. · God knows we can truly repent only if there is a choice to walk away. · God knows we can truly worship him only if there is a choice to refuse worship or worship something else. God loves you so much that he gave you freedom, and when our freedom led us straight into sin, he sent his Son to pay sin’s penalty. That’s love!! That’s grace!! Next week: Why does God allow evil to continue? DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH RON MOORE Get Ron’s Daily Devotional to your inbox each morning; visit http://biblechapel.org/devo. LIVING GROUNDED Learn more about how you can grow deeper and embrace the foundational truths of the Christian faith with Living Grounded. Whether you’re just starting out in faith or you’ve been a Christian for years, Living Grounded offers truth, wisdom, and encouragement for every stage. Contact mailto:gdevore@biblechapel.org to get connected. CAREGIVING Do you have a need we can pray for? Do you need someone to walk alongside you? Do you know of another person who needs care? Let us know at mailto:caregiving@biblechapel.org. CAMPUS FACEBOOK GROUPS You’re invited to connect with The Bible Chapel family in your campus Facebook Group. Look for Facebook Groups at http://facebook.com/biblechapel and click on Groups on the left side. FIND AN ENCOURAGER TODAY! JOIN A SMALL GROUP Community Groups are our easiest on-ramp to community at The Bible Chapel; these groups use sermon-based questions to dive deeper into weekly messages. Visit http://biblechapel.org/smallgroups to learn more and sign up!
Ecclesiastes: Social Issues
November 6, 2022 • Ron Moore • Ecclesiastes
The mid-term elections are coming this week. While I will never endorse political candidates, we do encourage you to vote. Who you vote for should be a decision made prayerfully between you and God. We want to do three things: • Consider the God-ordained role of government • Consider characteristics to look for in leaders • Determine how these characteristics should apply personally Solomon’s take on Government (Ecclesiastes 5:8-9) 1. In our life under the sun, there will be corruption in government. Don’t “be amazed at the matter” (Eccl 5:8). 2. Government, even with corruption, is better than anarchy (Eccl 5:9). Characteristics of Leadership I wrote a short book on characteristics to look for in a leader called Picking a President. In that book, I offered these seven characteristics of a leader worth following: Moral Courage. Prudence. Justice. Temperance. Faith. Hope. Love. Here you can view a pdf of the book: https://www.biblechapel.org/images/uploads/the_journey_picking_a_president.pdf FOCUS: Moral Courage. Prudence. Love. CHARACTERISTICS OF LEADERSHIP MORAL COURAGE Moral courage is the fortitude to do what is right even when it is unpopular or dangerous to your standing as a leader. Moral courage is demonstrated even when it is not personally expedient. The action may cause you to lose friends, your social status, or your position. When our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, they were putting their freedom, wealth, and lives on the line. Imbedded in the fabric of moral courage is honesty. A leader worthy of being followed keeps his or her word. Ecclesiastes 5:4-7 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear. Psalm 15:14 [A person who walks blamelessly] keeps an oath even when it hurts and does not change their mind…. Getting Personal We should never expect something in others that we are not willing to expect from ourselves. So, the questions get personal. • Are you a person of moral courage? • Are you willing to express what you believe even when you might lose some friends? • Are you willing to show your kids (and grandkids) that you have the fortitude to do what’s right even when it’s unpopular? • Are you a person of your word…even when it hurts? • Is your word your bond? James 5:12—But above all . . . let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. PRUDENCE Prudence is the ability to exercise sound judgment in practical matters. Solomon says that a person who lacks prudence has no foresight (Eccl 10:8, 15). They dig a pit and fall into it (Eccl 10.8). They don’t know the way to the city (Eccl 10.15). Prudence is not about being intelligent or knowledgeable. In Ecclesiastes, it is described as wisdom and discernment. Often, we select leaders because of their knowledge or stance in a particular area, or let’s face it—their charisma. However, we have no idea what our leaders will be up against during their time of leadership. Circumstances will define leadership. Abraham Lincoln was the only president whose entire time in office was defined by war. He said, “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.” We have many important issues in our country. Illegal immigration, inflation, energy costs, and security. We also have many biblical issues like abortion, marriage, and sexuality. Prudence in a leader is critical. And, quite honestly, it’s an area where one’s personal life is fair game. It is very reasonable to want to know how a person seeking office has demonstrated wisdom in his or her personal life. The strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special efforts, but by his ordinary course of action. -Blaise Pascal Getting Personal What do you think about the border issue? Not the southern border – but the border of your life. • How are you protecting your heart? • How are you protecting the hearts of your children? • What are you allowing to come across the borders of your home? Prudence is not something you learn from textbooks. It comes from engagement in God’s Word. Hebrews 5:11-14 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. LOVE One writer well says, “If love is the greatest of all biblical virtues, it is…the home for all the virtues.” We demonstrate moral courage to protect the people we love. We demonstrate prudence to guide the people we love. Love allows us to set aside our insecure pride and do what is best for others—not just what we think is best for us. Love is a hard quality to assess in leaders. Two authors explain that love might best be manifested in the idea of passion. Passion comes from the Greek word for pain or suffering. To say we love something or are passionate about something is a declaration that we are willing to suffer for it. What are candidates passionate about? That is, what are they willing to suffer for? What have they spent their lives doing apart from jobs and political office? What loves or passions made them pursue a political office? -Dan Taylor and Mark McCloskey For the believer, love always starts with Jesus (1 John 4:10). People will know you belong to Jesus, “if you have love for one another” (John 13.34-35). Getting Personal • What are you passionate about? • What would your kids (or grandkids) say you are passionate about? • Do you love the “glory of man that comes from man” more than the “glory that comes from God”? John 12:42-43 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH RON MOORE Get Ron’s Daily Devotional to your inbox each morning; visit http://biblechapel.org/devo. LIVING GROUNDED Learn more about how you can grow deeper and embrace the foundational truths of the Christian faith with Living Grounded. Whether you’re just starting out in faith or you’ve been a Christian for years, Living Grounded offers truth, wisdom, and encouragement for every stage. Contact http://gdevore@biblechapel.org to get connected. CAREGIVING Do you have a need we can pray for? Do you need someone to walk alongside you? Do you know of another person who needs care? Let us know at http://caregiving@biblechapel.org. CAMPUS FACEBOOK GROUPS You’re invited to connect with The Bible Chapel family in your campus Facebook Group. Look for Facebook Groups at http://facebook.com/biblechapel and click on Groups on the left side. FIND AN ENCOURAGER TODAY! JOIN A SMALL GROUP Community Groups are our easiest on-ramp to community at The Bible Chapel; these groups use sermon-based questions to dive deeper into weekly messages. Visit http://biblechapel.org/smallgroups to learn more and sign up!