Ecclesiastes Chapter 6 Verses 1 – 2

 I am so totally convinced that Solomon isn’t the doctrinal Debbie

Downer! He’s making us think! He’s not making statements, have you

noticed? He’s asking questions! And in that, he’s prompting us to

hopefully answer in thinking about what he is saying.

 He’s not saying that this is the life that he is living. This life of riches

and wealth and honor, yet not able to enjoy it all. He’s actually saying

that he has lived that life and he has found it to not be what we all

think it is… Life containing in and of itself. So, he’s figured it out

and now he’s prompting us to consider also.

 If he tells us, we won’t care. We still want it all! Who cares what he

thinks!? We’ll be different, right?! That’s exactly how we instinctively

think! It’s why people don’t wear their seatbelts for example, and why

people can see one person go down the completely wrong path and

then follow them right down it!

 So, he’s not telling us because he can’t tell us and have it be as

effective as he wants. He’s flexing his wisdom here and having us tell

us by answering his questions!

 Notice in these verses this little treasure hunt he’s left us. God has

given riches, wealth and honor…, but that’s not all. Notice he says

there’s one thing God has NOT given. Power. The word in the Hebrew

is salat, which is translated, dominion or mastery. To be a master of

it.

 Man, here comes the bum rush of revelation! Here comes the BOOM!

Ready or not!? HA (sorry, that was from a song) Actually from a

group called P.O.D. which stood for “Payable on Death.” Interesting!

 Anyway, you get all that you get but if you don’t get this, you’ve

actually got nothing, it’s got you. And the answer to what is the thing,

Solomon gives it here, is mastery. That you would have dominion

over it all just as God originally decreed before sin was even a thing.

You don’t earn salvation and you don’t qualify through your own

actions of free will for riches, honor and wealth. All of that comes by

and through Jesus Christ. But check this out…, you do earn the power.

The dominion over it all! Because that dominion is a direct result of

your free will.

 This is why God commanded it of us all the way back at the

beginning. Genesis 1:28, “Then God blessed them, and God said to

them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have

dominion…’”

 Ok, keep walking a little further with me. The disciples were together,

afraid, discouraged, deflated, after Jesus had been crucified and even

after Jesus had been resurrected. They were behind closed doors

when Jesus comes to them. The scene is John Chapter 20. Check out

this scene…

 John Chapter 20 verses 19-22, “Then, the same day at evening, being

the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples

were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the

midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this,

He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad

when they saw the Lord. So, Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you!

As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said

this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy

Spirit.”’

 Here, they receive the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus during His

earthly ministry, and with that, the indwelling ever-abiding presence of

the Holy Spirit within the heart of man, a new thing, the New

Covenant, at that point, they are made perfect. Saved. It’s a must that

what I just said is true because darkness cannot dwell in the presence

of light.

 At the moment of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in my heart, in

your heart, that moment, and from that moment on, absolutely made

perfect in my heart of hearts. Still in the flesh, still imperfect in the

present, in this form, but in the spirit, I’ve been made well, completely

well and welcomed in the presence of the Father.

 Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also

loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and

cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might

present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle

or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

Completely made perfect at the point of salvation through the gift of

the indwelling presence of Light Himself!

 But wait, there’s more! There you have all the riches, all the wealth,

all the honor… But the disciples stayed in that room. John 20:26

says, “And after eight days His disciples were again inside…” Doing

nothing with their newly minted riches, wealth and honor! Got it all

but not grasped, not stepped into it all. What’s missing!? The same

thing that is missing in the lives of most Christians! POWER!

Dominion!!

 Acts Chapter 1 verse 8, at the ascension of Jesus, Jesus tells His

disciples, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come

upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all

Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth!” The “epi” of the

Holy Spirit! We need that and without it, we don’t take full custody

and partnership with God in the having of all we’ve been given in

Him!

 SO how!? Easy!!!!! Walk by the Spirit. Exercise your free will

towards wisdom! Give the Spirit control, make Him the jeffe, the boss!

If you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Which is bomb dot com because the flesh profits NOTHING! So, you

walk by the Spirit, and by default, you are operating in the POWER of

the Holy Spirit! That born-again second-nature becoming your default

and all cylinders begin to fire! This is the power to now enjoy all that

you have and have been given. Solomon didn’t miss this, he KNEW

this!

 Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and all these things shall be added to you!” So, the deal is this. All

that we have, in and out of the faith…, because we have riches, wealth

and honor that are not just of the faith but of the world, how do we get

to enjoy it all!? Live unto the Lord!

 Fulfill the first commandment from God all the way before there were

commandments! Earn it! Free will to it! If not, you won’t have it! In

fact, you’ll have it all but not have it ALL! It’s like having a fully

furnished mansion left to you filled with servants and riches paid for

life and you get the mansion, the estate and the keys but never move!!!

Solomon knew it! Wanted us to figure it out too and teach it to our

own selves! Brilliant! Super WISE!!

Ecclesiastes Chapter 6 Verses 3 – 6

 Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Thomas Jefferson got this

phrase right. He wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold

these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they

are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that

among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to

secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving

their powers from the consent of the governed…”

 That last part is where it all and we all went wrong. What Solomon

is trying to tell us in his short book. That we can seemingly get all the

things that anyone would call a great life, a hundred healthy children,

long prosperous life, even if he lives a thousand years twice, if he

doesn’t get to goodness, Solomon is saying it’s worse than loss or

regret, its tragedy.

 We are made to know our Creator. In His image. Our primary purpose

and utility is to know Him and the only way to do that is to live a life

of worship. Worth-ship. Because how can you say you truly know God

if you don’t worship Him? You must not know Him.

 And so, the pursuit of happiness destinates and is fulfilled in a life

of worship unto God. Simple as that. Jefferson wrote that the power

comes from the people, serve the people, and the happiness will be

protected. Absolutely wrong. People are not innately good. Jesus said

there is only One that is good, which is God.

 Therefore, the power to secure these inalienable rights of life, liberty

and the pursuit of happiness should have been derived from the

consent of the Creator. Anything other than that, Solomon wants us to

know, warns us to know, sad and extreme as it sounds, it would have

been better to sit life out, compared to what you missed.

 Guzik said it like this, brace yourself, “The stillborn child, tragic as it

is, is better off than the man who knows the crushing disappointment

of the realization of meaninglessness!” Sheesh…

 Here’s the flip side of that and the hope that we have, that in a life of

worship, we do find not just fillment, but fulfillment. That we don’t

pursue happiness, we begin to know it as the relationship we have with

the Lord, the worship, meets the most basic needs of the inner man.

Then the outward circumstance fluctuates, seasons come and seasons

go, and in all ways and things we are indeed happy and in joy because

we know goodness…

 Paul’s perfect and popular proclamation in Philippians 4:10-13, “I

rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has

flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked

opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned (free

will statement) in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be

abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I

have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to

suffer need. I can do all things through Christ (worship) who

strengthens me!”

Ecclesiastes Chapter 6 Verses 7 – 9

 Satisfaction for the divinely designed soul of a man is not found in the

things of the world. How could they be? The soul of the man is

eternal; the things of the world are passing away…

 It’s not in the labor or accomplishment, success, accumulation of

wealth, leadership… It’s not in wisdom, it’s not in street smarts or

cleverness, the secret is being happy with what you see, no longer

panging for what you desire. And the one way to that, worship,

knowing Good.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 6 Verses 10 – 12

 People live their lives trying to “find themselves,” when “themselves”

have already been found, they just reject the idea that God is mightier

than the things of the day, and that the kingdom coming is far more

important than the present age… It really is just that simple. Get that

priority list straightened out, and everything else happens…

 Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord, with all your heart, and lean not on

your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He

shall direct your paths.” Notice the repetition of the word, “all.” That

denotes prioritization and prioritization is an act of the will.

 Colossians 3:1-4, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those

things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of

God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For

you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who

is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

 Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun? Easy!

Duh! The One who created the times that come after him! Psalm

118:24, “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be

glad in it!” Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet

unformed. And in Your book, they all were written; they days

fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them!”

 Jesus said in John 14:29, “Now I have told you before it comes, that

when it does come to pass, you may believe.” Believe? Know…,

worship. ALL the same. And that is the major point of this chapter and

the major point of this Bible… To worship God is to live, to find

liberty and to take ahold of happiness. Everything else, all other

pursuits, could be rightly classified in the end as tragic.