Chs. 5 & 6

5:1-7

5:8-20

6:1-6

6:7-12

Recap

A. Find out :

1. How were they to approach God's house? v.1a

2. What were they to do? v.1b

3. What further did he counsel? v.2

4. Who speaks many words? v.3

5. What are we to be careful about? v.4-6

6. What should be our view of God? v.7

B. Think :  

1. Why do you think he first of all counsels listening rather than doing?

2. How do words reflect the heart?

3. How can words lead us into sin?

    

C. Comment :

       Solomon now turns to consider our activities before God. For the Jews the house of God was the Temple , but today our bodies are the temple of the Lord and there is no physical "house of God", but the truths are the same, meaning whenever we draw near to God.

      God doesn't want meaningless sacrifices, he says, that are offered by people continuing to sin. No, when you draw near to God listen to God that He may show you your wrong. Don't go to God full of words of your wonderful commitment to him unless you have carefully thought through what you are thinking and feeling and are completely sure you mean it. Jesus said (Matthew 12:34) that the mouth speaks what the heart is producing therefore when we come to God we need to check our hearts out first so that foolish or careless words don't just pour out, for what we say God will hold us to.

       What if we have made a foolish and wrong vow? Judges 11:30-40 tells of a most terrible and misguided wrong involving a vow. What should have happened there was that Jephthah should have confessed that he had sinned in making the vow and sought God's forgiveness rather than fulfil it. Jesus Christ died for every sin of ours, even making foolish vows we can't keep.

D. Application?  

1. Don't be casual in approaching God, check your heart and words.

2. Jesus died for all sins.

   

Chapter: Eccles 5

Passage: Eccles 5:8-20

A. Find out :

1. How is injustice seen? v.8,9

2. Why is wealth not the answer? v.10-12

3. Why also is it meaningless? v.13-15

4. What does this produce? v.17

5. What is the best man can hope for? v.18

6. Where does contentment come from? v.19

B. Think :

1. Why does gaining riches never satisfy?

2. How is poverty NOT a viable satisfactory alternative?

3. What therefore is the hope of man?

C. Comment :

       At the end of chapter Solomon had spoken of the pointlessness of a life of work, but concluded there that we have to work and the best we can hope for is to find satisfaction in it with God's help. In this passage he treads similar ground.

      First he observes that injustice is seen in the form of the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor. From there he notes that the rich who seek after riches are never satisfied and not only that, they have to leave it all to someone else when they die. In other words he covers virtually the same ground as before but from a slightly different angle, that of wealth gain. His conclusion again, is that the best we can hope for is some sense of satisfaction in our toil and an ability to be content with what we achieve, and that can only come from God.

     Solomon was clearly in the position to be able to speak about such things, as he had achieved much in his life-time, but in the course of it he had moved away from the Lord (1 Kings 11:4) and he then felt that he had lost all real meaning in work. The warning for us is quite clear! In a day when striving for achievement is rampant we must realise that without the Lord it is, truly, all meaningless!

D. Application?

1. Riches in themselves are not wrong, it is the absence of the Lord that is

    wrong.

2. Can I be content with what I have, now?

Chapter: Eccles 6

Passage: Eccles 6:1-6     

A. Find out :

1. What does he see God giving? v.2a

2. But what does God apparently not give? v.2b

3. What does he consider is essential? v.3a

4. How is the still-born child described? v.4

5. Yet what advantage does it have? v.5

6. So what again does he insist is essential? v.6

B. Think :

1. What pleasures does Solomon state here that a man can have?

2. Why does he say all these things may be meaningless?

3. What is the obvious state of his mind here?

C. Comment :

     Yet further Solomon complains bitterly about the frustration of achieving "great things" in life and becoming very rich and yet not being able to enjoy it. The word "enjoy" is the key to this passage (v.2,3,6) and it is the inability to enjoy his prosperity that Solomon rails against.

      The inference is (v.2c) that he either dies before he is able to enjoy his wealth or they are taken from him by another. The combination of these two possibilities is born out in v.3 with his reference to not receiving a proper burial. Previously he has touched on the inability of the rich to enjoy his wealth because he is never satisfied and keeps striving for more but here we have a further problem of the rich: the challenge of others seeking to overthrow his might and position. In many ways the rich are not to be envied!

      This is a highly poignant passage with the comparison to a still-born child. It is clearly an anguish of Solomon's heart and the lesson to us must be clear: learn to have contentment, with God's enabling, with whatever you have, else you will fall into the frustration and despair of Solomon.

D. Application?

1. Do I take for granted all I have (as little as it may be), do I grumble over

    my lot in life?

2. Lord, grant us contentment in you.

Chapter: Eccles 6

Passage: Eccles 6:7-12     

A. Find out :

1. For what does man work? v.7

2. What does he infer is the foolishness of wisdom with poverty? v.8

3. What just produces discontentment? v.9

4. What is new in life? v.10a

5. What is it you cannot do? v.10b

6. What happens with many words? v.11

B. Think :

1. How does this passage seem fatalistic?

2. In what ways does he say life appears meaningless?

3. How would you approach someone who was feeling like Solomon?

C. Comment :

      Frustration! A man works for food but it never satisfies him so he needs to continue working to get more food. Frustration! A man tries to be wise but what does it help him when he had no food? It's better to be content with what is immediately before you than to dream and strive even more. Thus Solomon argues in the first part today.

      Life is already decided, nothing new will happen that hasn't happened before and I have a place in life that is difficult to change. Some people are stronger and mightier than me, so why bother! The more you talk about it the more it all seems pointless. No one seems to have real answers, so what's the point!

      Here is the conclusion of a philosopher, a thinker: it is all pointless and hopeless! That IS the correct conclusion for the man without God! That is exactly the truth, and those of us who are Christians tend to forget that truth and take for granted the wonder of life with a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Solomon helps us see and feel the frustrations of so many non-Christians around us today. They desperately NEED Christ to bring meaning into their empty and fruitless lives.

D. Application?

1. Lord open our eyes to the horror of living without the knowledge of you!

2. No God = no meaning in life!

RECAP - "God, Riches & Values" -  Ecclesiastes 5 & 6

SUMMARY : 

  - warning against rash speaking before the Lord

  - observing in respect of wealth that:

  - the rich seem to get richer at the cost of the poor

  - riches never seem to satisfy the rich

  - riches cannot be taken past the grave

  - failure to enjoy prosperity makes it meaningless

  - contentment is a gift from God

  - expressing frustration at the pointlessness of a world that

     seems unchangeable.

COMMENT :

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS:

PRAY :

PART 4 : " What is Wisdom? "