03 Nov “The Emptiness Experiment | Part 5 ‘finding joy in the midst of unpleasant realities’
Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 8-9
ANNOUNCEMENTS
LIFE GROUP LEADER MEETING: November 4 from 6-8:30p . Go to the Events page on the HUB to register.
DEEP END PODCAST: Tuesday nights at 7:00p.. Come out and be a part of the audience. You can get your free tickets HERE
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-deep-end-with-tim-hatch-season-3-acts-tickets-69301718305
CLASSES; Baptism class is every 4th Sunday of the Month. at 11:30 / Growth Track runs the first 3 Sundays every month at 11:30 – this is a one and done registrants only need to attend one session / Starting Point runs every 1st and 3rd Sunday at 11:30 – details and descriptions can be found on the registrations which are located under Events on the HUB.
PROVIDENCE RESCUE MISSION: We go out there as a team on the 4th Sunday of every month to minister, cook and serve. See Christ MacEwen (chris@waterschurch.org) if your group is interested in helping on a given Sunday.
It does not take long for us to figure out life will hit us with unpleasant realities. In chapter 6, Solomon chased all he could set his eyes on and got it, then realized it as all meaningless. In chapter 7 he talks about the ‘now what’ and tells us that when we come up empty, we need God’s wisdom.
Ecclesiastes 8:1 (ESV)
When we get wisdom there is literally a smile on our faces. When we don’t have wisdom, we don’t know how to respond but:
~ Wisdom makes you HEALTHY and HAPPY.
It puts a smile on our face.
Ice-breaker question:
Q. What correlation between having wisdom and being happy/healthy can you describe from a personal experience?
3 EFFECTS of Wisdom (a review of last weeks message)
- Wisdom SEPARATES God’s BEST from what seems GOOD.
It separates what we think is right from what God says is best.
2. Wisdom PREPARES us to choose the HARD ROAD instead of the EASY escape.
Pleasure up front, pain later. God says the opposite: pain up front pleasure later.
3. Wisdom GROUNDS us in REALITY instead of FANTASY.
We can be so spiritual that we have no idea. Some people are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good. Life is hard, confusing and painful.
We MAKE PLANS and THEN… REALITY happens.
Pastor Tim gave us the example of the time we were looking for a building and he saw the Namco building was available. He marched around that building like they did in Jericho, praying and marching. But God say ‘no’ and Pastor Tim felt rejected, like a failure. But, that building is now destroyed and we have the building we are in now.
Q. What plans have you made that turned out differently than you planned?
3 Reality Checks from Ecclesiastes 8-9
- Life is UN-predictable.
We don’t know what to do. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
Ecclesiastes 8:7–8 (NLT); Ecclesiastes 8:17 (NLT)
We can make plans but we don’t even know when we will die or what tomorrow will hold. Not even the wisest people know. Anyone who tells us they have a quick fix, they are selling us something.
Q. What is a ‘quick fix’ you were offered and what is the danger in someone claiming to know what only God knows?
2. Life is UN-just:
This is a big conversation in our world today. We struggle with the same thing people struggled with in the past.
Ecclesiastes 8:10–11 (NLT)
There are wicked people who get honored. People that claim to work for God and hurt people is religious pretense. Our culture wants to put the death penalty behind us but won’t vote to end abortion. There has to be justice, but we don’t see it.
Q. What are some in-justices you have dealt with? Have you suffered as the result of someone else behavior and watched them get honor?
Ecclesiastes 8:14 (NLT
We have more access to more bad news than ever before. We get inundated with bad news and all the unjust realities.
3. Life is UN-fair:
We don’t have to live long to figure this out.
Ecclesiastes 9:11 (ESV)
Time and chance. Life is unfair and there are no perfect conditions. Sometimes the valedictorian ends up at Burger King and the college drop out lands a multi-million dollar job. This is the world we live in. Pastor Tim gave an example of Man Eating Food, a popular Youtube channel where a guy eats stuff. He gained success just by being in the right place at the right time.
Q. What experience of time and chance can you share?
How to FACE UNpleasant Realities:
- Live UNDER the Sovereignty of God.
Get a hold of the idea that God is in control. We don’t see the end from the beginning but He does. We don’t understand why certain things happen but our frame of reference is limited. God knows what should happen when.
Ecclesiastes 8:12 (ESV)
It will be well with those who fear God. Many of God’s ‘best’ experienced unfairness, unjustness and unpredictable events. Moses had to deal with Pharaoh, David lived unfairly in the
Wilderness, Daniel was conspired against so his religion would be outlawed, and Ruth was left broken and homeless.
Ecclesiastes 9:1 (ESV); Proverbs 16:9 (NCV); Proverbs 19:21 (ESV)
We may ask why we are in a particular job or neighborhood but we should surrender to what God has assigned to our lives.
Q. What example can you give of unfairness, unjustness or an unpredictable event that either you suffered or someone you know but overcame because of belief in God’s sovereignty?
2. Maintain an UNDESERVING attitude.
We need to guard ourselves from a spirit of entitlement. It is no an attitude God will bless. We should say ‘everything in my life is a gift.’ The world is bitter and blameful but we should live with joy.
A. CHOOSE JOYFUL VENTURES.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 (NLT)
Have fun! We should not worry about things we have no control over. We need an outlet, we need to do something. We need to find things to get our minds off of what we have to do. It is called ‘re-creation’. If we don’t create a playground for ourselves, the devil will create one for us.
Q. What outlet do you have to keep your mind off of what you have to do? What are some recreational activities you enjoy (if you have none, what would you like to start doing)?
1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (ESV)
Thank Jesus. It could be worse.
Ecclesiastes 9:4 (ESV)
Dogs were despised. A lions noble. He is saying here that it is better to be a scavenger that is alive than a dead person.
B. CHOOSE to ENJOY your LOVED ONES.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 (ESV) Enjoy
Spend time with your family and your friends. Married people be intentional about dating each other. Singles, be intentional about spending time with family and friends.
Q. Who are you intentional about spending time with and if you not are spending time with loved ones, how can you start making that a priority?
C. CHOOSE to ENJOY your WORK.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NLT)
Do what you do well. Joseph did a job he did not want but did it well. Our jobs belong to God. We don’t serve men, but we serve God. The gospel of Jesus should make us grateful, not entitled. We are not good but God loves us anyway.
Q. What are some aspects of work do you enjoy? Do you view work differently since you have become a Christian, why or why not (even if you are self-employed, work at a different job, work at home, stay at home parent etc.)?
The Gospel of Jesus makes us GRATEFUL.
God wants a relationship with us and to change our lives. Pastor Tim shared some of the letter Selena Gomez wrote to her younger self
(Read here).
1 Corinthians 15:57–58 (ESV)
3. Remember the UNSEEN victory of Jesus.
Ecclesiastes 9:13 (ESV)
Colossians 2:15 (NLT)
Ecclesiastes 9:14-15 (ESV) … he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered the poor man. This city experienced unjustness, unfairness and unpredictability. Jesus faced unjustness, unfairness unpredictability. He was a rich man who became poor so we could become rich. He faced the ultimate unjustness and was punished for our sins. Jesus won the victory over our spiritual enemies. Jesus experienced everything we experience for us. He won the unseen battle.
When the OUTSIDE of my life looks DEFEATED – I must REMEMBER the VICTORY of Christ over my ETERNITY is COMPLETED.
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