Rev. David Holwick Ecclesiastes Series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
January 26, 1997
Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:6
LIFE'S UNFAIR, THEN YOU DIE
I. Something's not right.
A. A time for everything - but is life really cut-and-dried?
1) (Skip around to hit key points)
B. Solomon surveys life and finds that many things don't add up.
1) The courts are messed up. 3:16
a) Travesties of justice are nothing new.
b) Solomon himself had a "trial of the century" - two
women fighting over one baby.
His solution was to slice it in half.
You can see why he was considered so wise.
2) God straightens out - but does he really? 3:17
a) Not always obvious; requires faith.
II. Power plays.
A. The tears of the oppressed. 4:1
1) Do you care about injustice?
a) My Dad-
"If you're not a Communist by age 20, you have no heart.
"If you're still a Communist at 30, you have no brains."
b) Missionary to Zaire.
President Mobutu owns country (worth billions).
Out of fear he has hired mercenaries.
What will happen when he dies?
There is almost no medical care, few roads, economy
is in a shambles.
No one in world seems to pay any attention until
war breaks out.
2) God cares.
a) Constant theme of OT prophets.
b) Great concern of Jesus.
3) We don't tend to notice.
a) Justice is usually on our side.
b) We figure the poor have done something wrong. (often true)
4) Sensitivity shows spirituality.
In the November 1987 Reader's Digest, Betty Wein retells an
old tale she heard from Elie Wiesel:
"A just man comes to Sodom hoping to save the city.
He pickets. What else can he do?
He goes from street to street, from marketplace to
marketplace, shouting, 'Men and Women, repent.
What you are doing is wrong.
It will kill you; it will destroy you.'
They laugh, but he goes on shouting, until one day a child
stops him.
'Poor stranger, don't you see it's useless?'
'Yes, the just man replies.
'Then why do you go on?' the child asks.
'In the beginning,' he says, 'I was convinced that I
would change them.
Now I go on shouting because I don't want them to
change me.'"
#1894
B. Oppressors have all the power.
1) Dead are better off. 4:2
2) Unborn are even luckier. 4:3
a) Key argument for abortion - they would be poor and
unhappy anyway.
b) Without God, this is absolutely true.
3) Continuation- oppression is "vertically integrated." 5:8
a) Injustice is often part of a system.
b) Everyone has their palm out.
C. Money is oppressive. 5:10
1) We feel we never have enough.
2) Greater wealth brings greater anxiety. 5:11
a) (Man in news who just gave away $2 billion because
he saw what wealth did to others.)
b) Dark depiction: eat in dark, frustrated, afflicted,
angry. 5:17
3) We arrive naked, we leave naked. 5:15
a) You can't take it with you. 5:16
III. Death - ultimate injustice?
A. We are animals. 3:19
1) Very modern idea - evolutionists.
2) Solomon's emphasis is that humans are mortal.
a) We need to know it.
b) Without God, we have no advantage.
c) Dust to dust; recalls Genesis 3:19. 3:20
3) Death shows we are different from God.
a) It is almost seen here as a form of judgment.
B. Who knows where our spirit goes?
1) Not a denial of afterlife.
a) Confuses many Christians.
b) Sounds like humans don't have a soul.
2) Simply experience of earth-centered person.
a) We cannot be sure until we experience it ourselves.
b) But then it is too late.
C. Best commentary is Psalm 49.
1) We cannot redeem people. Eternal life is too costly. Ps 49:7
2) Everyone dies and leaves their stuff. Ps 49:10
3) Humans are like animals in their mortality. Ps 49:12
a) Note -this is fate of those who trust selves.
b) BUT God will redeem believer's life from grave. Ps 49:15
IV. Approaching our Redeemer God.
A. Be cautious in coming to God. 5:1
1) He is far holier than us.
B. Be serious about your faith. 5:2
1) Rash promises to God only get you into deeper trouble.
C. God hates superficial religion.
1) Your faith should mean something.
2) Have an eternal perspective.
a) If our faith is only for this life, we are pitiable. 1 Cor
b) We are redeemed, but at a great price.
