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Ecclesiastes 8:1 –
Jan 11, 2009 – Can changing your appearance change your life?
Intro: This message
is very pertinent today because in
1. Solomon the wisest
man except for Jesus who ever lived states that all this pursuit of
Happiness outside
the Lord is vanity. Eat, drink and be
merry leads to emptiness and
Vain or broken
expectations.
a. Solomon when he
wrote this book was near the end of his life.
He had look back and
Saw his pursuit
of the so called good life had left him unfulfilled. The books of 2
Kings and 1
Chronicles tells us that the end of his life Solomon had fallen away from
God because his love for foreign women. He had built altars and temples to their
Gods. He had also been guilty of worshipping them
and offering sacrifices to them.
b. So when he wrote
this book he was in a fallen state. So
everything seems negative
And it gives us a
good picture of how a backslider sees things.
This book is the
Counsel of a wise,
but hurt man.
2. In today’s verse,
Solomon asks the question. Who
is like a wise man? In Solomon’s
Case his pursuit
of wisdom seem to leave him with more questions than answers.
Solomon
discovered that outside of God wisdom is earthly, unspiritual and of the
Devil. Man’s wisdom is coloured by envy, hate and
selfish ambition. It brings with
It disorder and every evil
thing.
a. Solomon is struggling with carnality and duty to
God. As this book goes along we see
Solomon speaking
to man pointing out man’s nature and folly.
He point out the
Epicurean
philosophy, that there is nothing better than the carnal pleasures of
life. As
Solomon looks back
over his life and this book brings out that man needs true
Happiness. Who is like the wise man, Solomon asks?
b. Wisdom is the ability to know what to do
with knowledge and experience. Wise men
Seek to find
balance between the two.
3. Who
knows the explanation of things? Is
the truth, reality, outside the five senses?
Solomon had spent
his life in the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. He wrote 3000
Proverbs and 1001
psalms. He was the wisest man in the
east. James wrote that true
Wisdom is pure,
peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit,
Impartial and
sincere.
a. Solomon asks a
sincere question here. Can science,
philosophy, education, religion,
Sociology,
eastern mysticism, evolution or new age?
b. Solomon of course
knew the answer because at the end of
the book he emerges from
His struggles,
speculations and doubts to reach the a noble conclusion in 12:13, “Fear
God and keep His commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.”
4. Wisdom brightens a man’s face. Solomon knew that wisdom enlightens,
informs,
Gives
understanding, brings sense, creates discernment and foresight. This shows
On a persons
face and lifestyle. You become long
sighted, clever, prudent, rational,
Reasonable,
sound, well advised and well informed.
This shows in your
Inward look at
yourself and how you view others. You
know for example that loving
The Lord with
all your heart, soul, mind and strength, gives you the ability to love
Your neighbour
as yourself. You know that seeking first
the
Righteousness
will add everything to you.
5. And
changes its hard features. This
book starts and focuses on negative things but in
The end Solomon
concludes.
a. True
happiness and joy comes only from serving the Lord.
b. That man should deter from
pleasure to serve God.
c. There is a time for
everything but only if we can truly serve God.
d. When you know these things is changes the hardness
of life from drab and hard to
Manageable and
exciting. You never know what God is
going to do next. You know
Everything is
going to work out for good. You know he
will not take you where his
Grace and power
cannot keep you.
e. When the knowledge
of God comes into a life, it changes even the features of an
Individual.
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