Ecclesiastes 4:4-16

You open your Bibles with me, we'll get

started, going to Ecclesiastes chapter number

four

verses four through sixteen.

Ecclesiastes four, four through sixteen.

God's words as I have seen that every labor

and every skill which is done is the result of

rivalry

between a man and his neighbor. This too is

vanity and striving after wind. The fool folds

his hands and consumes his own flesh. One hand

full of rest is better than two fists full of

labor

and striving after wind. Then I looked again

at vanity under the sun. There was a certain

man

without a dependent having neither a son nor a

brother yet there was no end to all his labor.

Indeed his eyes were not satisfied with riches

and he never asked and for whom am I laboring

and depriving myself of pleasure. This too is

vanity and it is grievous task. Two are better

than one because they have a good return for

their labor for if either of them falls the

one who

will lift up his companion but woe to the one

who falls when there is not another to lift

him up.

Furthermore if two lie down together they keep

warm but how can one be warm alone

and if one can overpower him who is alone two

can resist him. A cord of three strands is not

quickly broken or excuse me torn apart. A poor

yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish

king

who no longer knows how to receive instruction

for he has come out of prison to become king

even though he was born poor in his kingdom. I

have seen all the living under the sun

thronged to the side of the second lad who

replaces him. There is no end to all the

people

to all who are before them and even the ones

who will come later will not be happy with him

for this too is vanity and striving after wind

. So we've been going through the Old Testament

going

back and forth through the different types of

books you know they get the penitude they got

the

historical books the poetic books which

includes the the wisdom literature like we

read today and

then the prophetic books we got finished with

Isaiah 40 what a great passage that points to

Christ and so now as we go back towards the

penitude and stop in the the writings we're

going

to go back to Ecclesiastes and it's been been

a while since we've been in Ecclesiastes and

so

I reckoned as we go through we'll head back to

Ecclesiastes for a little a little stop and so

as

a refresher if you remember back from when I

started in preaching in Ecclesiastes Ecclesi

astes

looks through the the lens of a man called Koh

elet does anybody remember that name Kohelet

that's the that is a Hebrew word that that is

translated if you read the book of Ecclesi

astes

as the preacher and so the preacher is set up

and he goes into the marketplace and he starts

preaching his this wisdom and so he goes

through the the the the book of Ecclesiastes

preaching

this wisdom to anybody who would listen and so

the preacher is said to be Solomon King

Solomon

David's son the second or the third great king

of Israel and if you remember about King

Solomon

he was supposed to be wise so wise that the

Queen of Sheba came and was just amazed at his

wisdom

and gave him all these gifts and and he was

looked at everyone in that world at a time

with as one

who had great wisdom and he was wise because

when he first became king God asked him to

pray for

what he would give him and he didn't ask for

riches and he'd ask for health or long life he

asked for wisdom because he said God your your

people is too great for me how can one person

judge your people without wisdom so give me

wisdom and God blessed him with great wisdom

and with great wisdom health and great wealth

as well so in the the the beginning of the

book of

Ecclesiastes Kohelet the the preacher Solomon

sets up the the premise of the book he

introduces it

in the first chapter by giving us these two

ideas the first idea was the idea of vanity

the second

verse what which we'll read later talks about

vanity and then also living under the sun and

so

it's very important as you go through the book

of Ecclesiastes that you remember what those

two

phrases and words mean of vanity and under the

the sun so vanity is the idea of of fleeting

ness

of emptiness of of a enigma a mystery

something hard to understand or something that

that that

you just about to get it and it disappears the

word literally means breath or or wind and so

imagine a child running in the fields and and

trying to catch the wind that's blowing around

him

and he he he grasps his fingers around it and

the wind just slips right through life is like

that

right the trying to understand life it can be

like that where where you just about think you

get it

and then something happens and it slips the

understanding that it slips through your

fingers

and so the the preacher applies this to life

this idea of vanity of of breath of fleeting

ness

to to life and to the world and to the actions

of those in the world and in verse two of

chapter one

where he says vanity of vanities says the

preacher coheal it vanity of vanities all is

vanity

and without the rest of the context this may

seem like a very depressing thought so what

what is

uh the point of life why do we live our lives

uh what do we live our lives for if everything

is

vanity if everything is fleeting if there's no

end if there's no purpose why do we have the

the rest of scripture shouldn't god have just

given us this and said it it doesn't matter

what

you do all is vanity how why do we have all

this instruction and and comfort and this

encouragement

to push through suffering and trials and pain

uh if it's all for nothing if it's all fle

eting and

just goes away well that's where that the

second important phrase comes in under the sun

so under

the sun the phrase under the sun is used 17

times in in the book of ecclesiastes and this

has to do

with life here on the world this is all that

we see all the the life that we have if

everything

we're living for and everything we're working

for is here under the sun and this is your

philosophy

then everything is vanity everything is fle

eting if all you you live for if your motto is

you only

live once then then there is no purpose and

there is no meaning and everything is futile

and vain

you would be just like that child trying to to

catch uh the wind the one commenter said

if his resources are entirely this worldly

that's the the one who has this philosophy

then no prophet is the motto over everything

he does no matter what he does in his life

there is no

real lasting prophet to it it all dies when he

does and this is the failure of secularism

not just our modern secularism but but all

secularism even going back to Solomon's day if

you live

your life for fame or for fortune or for power

and that's that's completely it for this

current

worldly system then what will it all be for in

the end Christ said in Matthew 16 for what

will it

profit a man if he gains the whole world and

forfeits his soul or what will a man give in

exchange for his soul so this this idea this

understanding that that when he's talking

about

vanity of vanity all his vanity is is under

the sun thinking and this is this world in

this life

thinking it turns the the whole book around on

its head and and turns it from being

depressing

to being exciting and hopeful and because we

as Christians don't just live a life under the

sun

we live a life that's that's designed to go

beyond the sun and an other worldly we live

for the for glory for eternity and that

changes everything we have the ability to see

past the

monality and the futileness of of the the

vanity of this life under the sun and live a

life for

a future through the through the sun s o in

now everything every single thing we do has a

purpose

you can wash dishes to the glory of God you

have dishes you have running water you had

food to put

on those dishes you can count your blessings

we can support our families through our work

and

through our labor through the health that we

have we can support our church we can support

missions and all these things for his glory

and with thanksgiving we're not coming here

today to worship today to be seen by everyone

else just to for a status or for people to

think

that we're good Christians or good citizens we

come for his glory and to give him thanks

giving

when we we go through great suffering and pain

we go through trials or sickness even when we

we face death itself we can look through the

sun through under the sun and see beyond it

to the higher portion that we've been given

because of Jesus Christ so we can even look at

death

for his glory and and in some way with thanks

giving and so the preacher cohella it takes us

through

the the folly of living this life as if it is

all there is and so we would do well to to

really read

and study through this book i know every

passage we go through every time i preach i

encourage you

to read it and and go back home and do

homework and i still do that with ecclesiast

ies but when

you do read ecclesiasties you got to read it

with those things in mind or you'll

misunderstand

the point and so in the very beginning of the

book then what we've we've gone through

chapters one

and two and the beginning of chapter three is

kind of a general overview of cohella trying

out the

pleasures of this life under the sun and

realizing that no matter what it was it was

all futile and

it was all vanity and so then now from from

from where we're at until almost the end of

the book

he's just going to give us different topics

that he's going to look at and apply this

wisdom to

those different topics and so as we we get

into our passage today cohella it is going to

take on

the topic of community well the wisdom of

living in a community and living for others

and not just

living for yourself and how how living a life

that that looks beyond the sun beyond this

this life

under the sun is made for more than just going

through life alone and and for yourself and

we'll see in the beginning of our passage is

how fleeting life is and how how useless and

and and

and poor and pitiful a life lived just for

yourself on this this earth under the sun can

be

and how a life lived with the humble example

of christ in community and for others is a

good thing

so i believe that the the wisdom that the holy

spirit is trying to teach us here in these

words of

Solomon is that all of us must find the call

to community in this life and as we'll see and

so

there's there's only two points today normally

there's three but i only have two the first

one

is we can find the call to community in this

life because of the vanity of living for self

the

the fleetingness the banality of living for

yourself in verses four through eight he wrote

i have seen

that every labor and every skill which is done

is the result of rivalry between a man and his

neighbor this to his vanity and striving after

wind the fold the fool folds his hands and

consumes

his own flesh one hand full of rest is better

than two fists full of labor and striving

after wind

then i looked again at vanity under the sun

there was a certain man without a dependent

having neither a son nor a brother yet there

was no end to all his labor indeed his eyes

were not

satisfied with riches and he never asked and

for whom am i laboring and depriving myself of

pleasure this to his vanity and it is a gr

ievous task and what we were presented in these

topical

looks at life by the preacher are contrasts

between the different world views the secular

worldview puts puts forth this idea this view

of individualism that that is shortsighted and

futile

is vain there's literally no end there's no

purpose to for this life for anything that

happens

in this life for the individual if all there

is is this life if this is it there's no

reason

for you to be here then there's no reason for

you to gain there's no reason for you to give

there's no reason for you to live for anyone

else besides yourself and so whatever charity

or

goodwill that you show to your fellow man will

ultimately in the end end up to nothing to no

avail to no good for you or to them because

your life is short and so is whoever's life

that you

help their life is going to be over before or

shortly after yours and so at the end of the

day

genuine love if you genuinely love someone

else it must come from a Christian worldview

because only the Christian worldview cares

about the soul itself and for the eternity

of that soul there's no amount of charity that

considers the real value of who the person is

and that that person will exist not just in

this life but in the next so I listened to a

lot of

podcasts and books on my way to and from work

I got about a in the morning it's about a 17

minute

ride and about a 40 minute ride on the way

back in the afternoon so I have plenty of time

to listen

to things but sometimes I listen to my whole

podcast list or I'll finish my book that I'm

listening to and I'll have to sit there like

an animal in silence on my way back home and

so

a lot of times when that happens I'll just sit

there and think about the hundreds of other

cars

and people on the road with me and that each

one of those people not at that very moment

have different

goals and destinations there are reasons why

they're in the car they may be going home from

work

or they're going to a different home that I'm

going to and each one of those people have

different

life stories have different things that they

enjoy they have for things that they hate

different

pains they have different long-term goals than

I do they have different spiritual ideas than

I do

all all those things and it's it's really

blows my mind that we're just living a very

small point

on this earth and that there's millions and

billions of other people on this planet and

the same thing

is true for each one of them we're all headed

in different directions in life we all have

different

reasons we think we're here we all have

different purposes that that the reasons why

we do things

are but there's only one united reason that

would give any of us any reason to actually be

doing

the things that we're doing and that it's if

there is a god who created everything and if

that god has

sent his son to be a savior and sent the holy

spirit to save people outside of that there is

no other

reason why anyone should show love to anyone

else just to do labor to gain to to seek power

to rule

or any other thing while people give their

lives for to live the only true purpose we

have is in

living for Jesus Christ because he's the only

one who lives outside of this life under the

sun

does that make sense and it's the only purpose

that we have that means the only lasting true

joy

that we can find is not in a life live for

ourselves as the secular worldview would have

it the only

real joy that we can find is living a life for

Jesus Christ which inherently in his example

gives his life for others like we do and so

that reality of the secular worldview that

that only

has one thing to offer the here and the now

that reality works itself out in various ways

in different

people different people deal with that reality

in different ways cohellit shows us a couple

of ways

that that reality lives out in the the non-bel

iever in the in the fool as cohellit tells us

the first

way is in rivalry or jealousy or envy in verse

four i have seen that every labor and every

skill

which is done is a result of rivalry between a

man and his neighbor this too is vanity and

striving after wind our culture has just been

completely infected by and i hate to even use

this word to bring up the uh but but communism

and the idea of marxism and socialism the idea

that that that is a better more caring system

than than a free market is and we we have

heard the

the clamoring masses of our own nation calling

for the government to come in and and be the

solution to our our society's problems to take

someone else's money and give it to someone

else

and i'm not trying to get into political

discussion we can do that after the fact

let's go through the political discussion and

see the core of the the real core of the issue

is not just that communism is a uh is a worse

system than capitalism but that communism at

its core

has a a principle of jealousy of envy of

denial of of but that they want everybody to

work

but they want they want everybody to work for

them they want someone else to pay for their

way if if if not just that they want a lot of

money they want to look out there and see if

someone else has money then they're they're

jealous about how much money they have they

don't

they want uh someone else to have more than

than i have senate has taken something good

as solemn says here work and skill work and

and skill or or graces and gifts given to us

by god

it's taken those things and turned it into a a

tool to wedge and split us apart because of

envy

between men and their their neighbor daniel

quarry says when you envy your neighbor's job

or the

raise that he got or the house or their kids

or their lack of kids their physical abilities

if

you're sickly and there or not you can envy

their health their appreciation um uh that

their love of

society and you start to envy those things

about your neighbor do you really think that

you are

going to engage them and love them as your

neighbor as the scriptures call you to or will

you start

to treat them very differently will you flip

the mandate of scripture and when they weep

you rejoice and when they rejoice you weep and

suddenly their successes drive you crazy and

their failures fill you with a weird sense of

of glee and that jealousy that that solemn is

talking

about here is a recipe for a life full of

discouragement and of anger and and that is

the main course

of our culture right now so the solution to

this envy and jealousy is to look beyond this

this this

short life under the sun and to see that every

single gift we have every blessing that we

have

comes as a gift from god himself including the

ability to work for what you have and what you

've

gotten and it's it's difficult to be jealous

and envious of your neighbor when you're

praying for

god to bless them and to give them people who

live for themselves live for themselves alone

can can live this life of of jealousy and they

can work hard to reach a status in their jobs

and in

their lives out of jealousy and of envy but at

the other end of the spectrum it can also lead

to a

life of laziness is what he says in verses

five through seven the fool folds his hands

and consumes

his own flesh one handful of rest is better

than two fists full of labor and striving

after wind

then i looked again at vanity under the sun we

have here this the other extreme of living

just for yourself the the the envious worker

the status seeker uh thought that this was a

rat race

that there was a hectic cell cell cell

mentality in life so that he could get that

ladder of success

and climb up it to be better and have more

than uh his neighbor but but this guy the the

lazy man

is the opposite he doesn't care what you think

about him or who he is he sits there and

watches

life go by he he wastes his life he wastes the

talents and the gifts that god has given him

so he seeks the the easy way out the handout

or the the free lunch and Solomon gives us a

beautiful

word picture here he says that his his hands

are folded because if his hands were unfolded

he would have to use them and to do something

productive but he he sits there and rests with

his hands folded proverb Solomon again said in

proverb six ten a little sleep a little sl

umber

a little folding of the hands to rest see he

'll do it later he's too tired now but the next

proverb

and or the next verse in Proverbs verse 11

says your poverty will come in like a vagabond

and your

need like an armored man this this laziness is

self-destructive it's a a self cannibalism

first five the full the fool folds his hands

and consumes his own flesh he may may get some

temporary satisfaction from not having to do

any work but everything that is difficult that

he

lets pass by was given to him to grow was

given him to to better himself and to better

those around him

but missing those things and folding his hands

will lead to zero satisfaction in his life

hard work

and building things like families and and

churches and homes may be difficult but when

when done in

the light of God's calling again we look

beyond the sun to God's truth all those things

can be

done with great joy and satisfaction even in

this temporary world so there's the man who

lived fast

who they tried to gain status at because he

was envious of his neighbor there's the the

the lazy

man that that sits around and destroys his

soul but there's a middle way Solomon gives us

in verse six

one hand full of rest is better than two fists

full of labor and striving after wind

have you ever known anybody who who works hard

to not work like they anybody who does any

kind of

blue collar work knows what i'm talking about

you know there's always that guy we have a

salesman

like that and that's what this word picture

shows that the guy is working so hard not to

work he he

grabs two fists fulls of labor and it's better

to have one fist going and working and the

other

open hand notice the different words there one

is an open hand full of rest and the other one

is two

fists full of labor that they end up with

nothing as again it's that striving after the

wind image

the next thing that we see is Solomon gives us

the illustration of the lone wolf don't be

the lone wolf in verse number eight there was

a certain man without a dependent

having neither son nor a brother yet there was

no end to all his labor indeed his eyes were

not satisfied with riches and he never asked

and for whom am i laboring and depriving

myself of

pleasure this too is vanity and it is a gr

ievous task the lone wolf the one who lives for

himself

who works for himself and dies by himself and

when we put it that way we feel sad we feel

terrible about the the one who lives just for

himself but this is what our culture teaches

this is what we're teaching our our young boys

and our young daughters on how they should

live

that you should get yours before it gets

gotten by someone else this is the the lie of

feminism

is that you can have it all you can you can do

everything that you want and still be happy

when

you won't be just just remember that baby is

going to get in your way that you should

should wait until you get married until you

get your career straight to hell it says that

there

is this man he had no dependent but he had no

other literally the word means he has no

second

there was he was number one and there was no

one under him he lived just for himself so

maybe he

would get married but as soon as that that

that wife that he got didn't make him happy

anymore

he kicked her to the curb he was looking out

for number one all of his drive all of his

life all

of his labor all of his work was for himself

and no one else so look at the again at verse

eight

at the last point it says part it says indeed

his eyes were not satisfied with riches and he

never

asked and for whom am i laboring and depriving

myself of pleasure if you notice that if you

leave it up babe the the and he never asked is

in italics so when you see something in in

your

when you're reading your bible that is in ital

ics that means those words were added by the

translators

sometimes the hebrew or greek word has some

implied words that you need in english to

understand

what they're saying and sometimes it's just

easier uh the the translators feel it'll be

easier for

you to understand what's being said and they

they add english words to make it easier to

understand

but if we read it without the translator's

help in this case uh the the next one it says

indeed

his eyes were not satisfied with riches and

for whom am i laboring and depriving myself of

pleasure

salman puts us in his shoes and gives us the

question that he's asking in his mind and

showing

that there is no answer if you live under the

sun and only for yourself only for your

pleasure

only for your gain and your enrichment one day

you're gonna die and what was it all for

what was the point we can think about that uh

with with always you know michael jackson

is my favorite celebrity to illustrate this

point because he had everything he had a theme

park and

a zoo on his property and he couldn't sleep he

couldn't sleep he was not a happy person

and then you have some impoverished christian

in africa who praises god every day for what

he's

been given that's the difference life is so

short under the sun when it's over if all you

've lived

for yourself what was it all for why was the

lone wolf even here and salman says this is

vanity

this is a grievous task it's hard to think

about these things when all those people in

the car

with you on the highway are living for

themselves with no purpose and no end no real

meaning

when christ is calling them forward but we

know better christ has called us to a better

life

and it's not because we're better it's all

because of the grace of god even before sin

and before the

curse of god entered this world our first

parents came and god saw adam and he said he

needed it

would be better for adam if he lived in

community genesis 218 says then the lord god

said it is not

good for the man to be alone i will make him a

helper suitable for him and this is true we

are

designed to live in community we're designed

to live for someone else uh not just ourselves

whether that community is our family is our

church it's better for us to live our lives

together

with others for the real purpose of having

this life at all god's glory that's what we're

here for

today and one day that'll be fully realized in

in glories eternity but until then we need to

be

reminded why it is good that we hear this call

of scripture to have godly community in our

lives

and then this this passage can be applied to

different types of community but i'm taking

most of the application and pointing it at our

church so the first reason that we hear the

call

of scripture to golly community is by we do it

negatively because we see how vain and useless

it is to live life just for yourself and the

second reason is we see the wisdom of a godly

community in verses 9 through 16 says two are

better than one because they have a good

return

for their labor for if either of them falls

and one will lift up his companion but woe to

the one

who falls when there is not another to lift

him up furthermore if two lie down together

they keep

warm but how can one be warm alone and if one

can overpower him who is alone two can resist

him

a quarter three strands is not quickly torn

apart a poor yet wise lad is better than an

old and full

foolish king who no longer knows how to

receive instruction for he has come out of

prison to

become king even though the what uh he was

born poor in his kingdom i have seen all the

living

on a sun thrown to the side of the second lad

who replaces him there is no end to all the

people

to all who are before them and even the ones

who will come later will not be happy with him

for this too is vanity and striving after wind

like we have just seen it's not good for man

to be

alone and so god decided to give us a

community to live in and and sadly like we

talked about this

morning we still live in a fallen world so

even the most godliest christian communities

can be

full of problems but god has always worked

through communities he started out working

through families and then that family grew

into a nation and then christ came and he gave

us the

church and we'll have the church until christ

returns we saw and when philip was going

through

Ephesians we went to chapter three and we saw

that that god's wisdom is what created the

church

in the first place and he created it to

display his glory through this messed up

church even here

Ephesians 3 10 so the manifold excuse me so

that the manifold wisdom of god might now be

made known

through the church to the rulers and the

authorities in the heavenly places so so

living our lives

together as a church and community and living

our lives for one another is a major part of

what it

means to be a christian though today we have

what we call the invisible church which is all

the

christians in the whole world and they're

spread throughout the visible church it's all

the different

local churches around the world and we all

meet in different places and at different

times one

day the invisible church will become the

visible church and for all eternity we'll have

one great

visible community that are all like-minded

praising god and so we get to practice here in

the smaller

group for one day we'll have a huge multitude

of people to praise him with and in other

words

us meeting here together is no accident the

next verse in Ephesians 3 verse 11 it says

this was

in accordance with the eternal purpose which

he carried out in christ jesus our lord

so much of the new testament is given to us to

know how we should live in this community of

local

believers most of the epistles were written to

local churches the the bible commands that we

are to worship him in certain ways and church

together Ephesians 4 11 says and he gave some

as

apostles and some as prophets and some as

evangelists and some as pastors and teachers

for the equipping of the saints for the work

of service to the building up of the body of

christ

paul wrote the letters of timothy and of titus

to pastors of church bodies of local

gatherings of

believers to communities so that they could to

deal with the issues that inevitably pop up

as a pastor of saved but still difficult

christians and so much more of evidence from

scripture that

it is a good thing for us and it's a right

thing and a god-honoring thing for us to live

this life

together through our coming together as a

church body in community we live and we work

and we grow

as christians together as as men and women for

the benefit of one another the reason one of

the

reasons why i'm blessed with a job that earns

that takes my labor and turns it into cash is

so i can

bring it here for the building up of this

church and the other ministries that we

support directly

solemn is calling us here to live for more

than just ourselves and more than just our own

immediate

benefit and so if we're going to live a life

that looks past this temporary life we are to

see that

this church life and this community that we've

been given in christ is one of the greatest

blessings

of our christian lives even when it gets

difficult with church so even when the hard

times and the

heart heartaches come that that always come

inevitably come because we live in this fallen

world we have this body but we can live

through those things together in fact those

hard times

are giving us on purpose so we can learn to

live together and be a blessing to each other

we bear

each other's burdens we we pray to the one who

answers prayers for our brothers and our

sisters

we hold each other accountable we show real

true compassion for one another we love one

another

in a very godly way and if we're we're doing

it right if we're following his instructions

in the

path there is no other place on earth like it

and just think about that as our as our our

nation our

our particular culture has gotten away from

the church there's so many things that have

been created

that become poor substitutes of what we have

even here at this place so many clubs and and

subscriptions and and all these things that

cannot take the place of the church they're

all second

rate they always come up short and so the

preacher here gives us several reasons why we

should actively

seek to to live in this type of community and

why that's the wisest way and most

satisfactory way

to live the first one is in verse nine it's

because it brings more return for our work

verse nine two

are better than one because they have a good

return for their labor this life is more

rewarding

when you go through it with a partner and and

most marriages are a good example of this i'm

sorry

rachel husband and wife can can be such a team

you'll see why i'm sorry in a second when it

goes

right and there is a godly love for one

another it's so easy to see how they

complement each other

i could go through life i couldn't make it

barely but i would make it through this life

without

rachel but i wouldn't want to and this is not

meant to be at all this is see see see what i

'm

saying here everything that i have every piece

of work and labor that i put my hands to

everything

i own is made better because i'm married to r

achel have you ever seen a single guy's

apartment

not only does it usually need to be cleaned i

'm not saying that she makes my life better

just

because she does chores around the house but

that single guy's apartment is usually barren

there's nothing on the walls there's no real

furniture he has like maybe a bean bag or a

little love seat plopped right in front of the

television so he can play video games while he

eats his cup of noodles right but a married

man's house is decorated it has nicer

furniture it's

kept up generally it's put together it's been

made into a home now the the single guy didn't

all

of a sudden get a change of heart and and like

to put floofy things and stuff on the mantle

and

knickknacks no he got married and the woman

put his life together they they compliment

each other

that there is absolutely a good return on the

labor of a well-functioning married person's

life and that's the illustration that there

are two people more than than one person there

's more

return more comes out of the work that you do

more comes out of what you put into your life

the same is true here at church the the design

of scripture is that there's multiple elders

Philip and I share some of these pastoral

duties and we have different personalities

we see things differently we we have different

gifts that we bring to the table here at

church

you know God gives us deacons God gives us

each one of you each each church member has

their own

gifts that they bring to the table and and and

increase the value of what we do here at Prov

idence

it's really a beautiful thing step back and

think about all the different communities that

you have

that are God given and and see what God is

doing through our lives so so we we double we

we increase

the the output of our labor second we support

each other verse number 10 for if either of

them

falls the one will lift up his companion but

woe to the one who falls when there is not

another

to lift him up one of my favorite books of all

times is the pilgrims progress and and I

really

recommend that to you there's a modern english

version that's easier to read and there's a

reason

why it's the number one best-selling novel of

all time and it's because it's really good it

's an

an allegory it's a story of of a man's journey

from the city of destruction on a treacherous

path

to the celestial city and so many times and

struggles that that christian had on his

journey to heaven

if he were not have someone else with them he

would have been left there he would have

fallen

off the path or died before he made it to the

city and in some cases he helped the other

person that

he was traveling with and that's the idea god

has given us each other to to bury each other

's

burdens to go through these struggles and

these hardships in this christian life

together if

we're traveling and we trip we have someone to

lift us up if we're traveling in our

companions trip

they have some they have us to lift them up

ecclesiastes 4 um 11 uh expands this and

teaches us

that we should build each other up it says

furthermore if two lie down together they keep

warm but

how can one be warm alone so it's the same

metaphor there's two traveling on this road

together

and and they're in the desert and the desert

at night gets extremely cold and so if you're

you're

sleeping in the desert by yourself exposed to

that cold it can be very dangerous for you but

if you

what they would do is when they would travel

together they would sleep close to each other

and share their body heat very easy for us to

understand so the illustration here is that

the

two travelers traveling together built each

other up they nurtured each other they cared

for each other's needs and so if we we go

alone there's no one there to tell us to press

on

through the hard times to to call out our our

foolishness or to teach you the right path

that

they know glacial six one brethren even if

anyone is caught in any trespass you who are

spiritual

restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness

each one looking to yourself so you too will

not be

tempted bear one another's burdens and thereby

fulfill the law of christ Romans 15 one now

we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses

of those without strength and not just please

ourselves so there's a a little bit of

transparency here this past friday we had

there our men's

meet-up meeting and they've been been very

good well past monthish i've been or been

pretty rough

for me at work i'm exhausted um this is our

busy season and um we're working on a project

at home

so a lot of my afternoons have been full and i

'm tired i didn't really want to come this fr

iday

but i had to come because i have to set up the

audio and video i have to lead the singing

and so i i came and when it was over when i

was blessed and i'm being honest that it was

really

good but the the message was good and the

singing is always good and then the fellowship

with my

brothers is is good so i'm i'm really glad

that i came and that's the idea that that when

we got

together in that group the community of

communities that that i was encouraged because

of that i was

i was made to see that our god should be

praised even more because of what he has

created and i

was able to bless others by my gifts of doing

the video stuff and leading the the singing

and sometimes

honestly on wednesdays i feel the same way i'm

exhausted in the middle of the week and i just

want to take a break but i come to prayer

meeting and without a doubt never failing wed

nesday nights

are great for me i enjoy them i love hearing

my brothers and sisters pray sometimes for me

i love praying for my brothers and sisters and

eating and fellowshiping with them

it has been really good and maybe you feel the

same way maybe you felt the same way about

coming

church this morning but hopefully you see the

value of meeting together and singing and

encouraging

one another of laying down with one another

metaphorically to just spread the heat to

nurture

and encourage one another we are called to to

worship our savior together and it is because

of

this it's for these benefits let the the to

let the warmth of our our brothers and sisters

zeal

their understanding their knowledge um their

rebuke sometimes their encouragement so to

rekindle the fire in our own heart it's it's

better to travel together and the last part of

this point

is that we fight together not against each

other but we fight together verse 12 and if

one can

overpower him who is alone two can resist him

a cord of three strands is not quickly torn

apart

so we're still traveling on the desert road

and we come up to a group of thieving bandits

that want

to overcome us and take all of our our goods

from us it's easy we're only the open road

together

but it's harder to do that when there's a

group of people and sometimes it might even

scare the

bandits off without them even trying because

they see you won't be an easy target a healthy

church

community locks arms and fights the battles of

life together fights the the the battle of

evangelism

together we're all traveling to the same place

on the same path in the same journey and we

have the

same goals we have the same leader and we

fight the same battles together and this is

this principal

paul gave us in philippians in verses 27 and

28 only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy

of the

gospel of christ so that whether you i come

and see you or remain absent i will hear of

you that

you are standing firm in one spirit with one

mind striving together for the faith of the

gospel

in no way alarmed by your opponents which is a

sign of destruction for them but of salvation

for you and that too from god out there is a

battle every day but we are to stand firm

together to bear one's other's burdens

together we're to stand firm together in one

spirit and

in one mind like paul said we're to strive

together for the gospel's sake and we can only

do that

if we are together in community in in what's

called a church and united by god through

christ

in the spirit that is what we are here for and

it is wise and it gives purpose

to our lives i labor for you you labor for me

and and god adds that it's so so good so this

this idea of the wisdom of godly community

here he contrasts it with the vanity the fut

ile the

emptiness of living for yourself and then the

wisdom of living for others in community with

this little story of a pauper and a king in

verses 13 through 16 and he wrote this in a

very

interesting way a poor yet wise lad is better

than an old and foolish king who no longer

knows how

to receive instruction for he has come out of

prison to become king even though he was born

poor

in his kingdom i have seen all the living

under the sun throng to the side of the second

lad who

replaces him there is no end to all the people

to all who are before them and even the ones

who

will come later will not be happy with him for

this too is vanity and striving after wind the

the young poor boy who who who is wise who

listens to teaching who listens to solomon's

words uh he

he joins the cause of the like-minded and he

is made king he is given the place of honor

the the

old foolish king who no longer listened to

wisdom lost everything that he had worked for

because

he was hardheaded and wanted to do it by

himself this is this is an interesting way of

putting it

but that's that's what it's mean the

unexpected the little boy who was a pauper who

had nothing to

his name lived wisely and in the end was given

all of these things but the the old foolish

king

who had everything at once in the end lost it

all and brothers and sisters we are called to

community so we should be like that poor young

boy and listen to the wisdom of solomon and

listen

and see how god displays his wisdom through uh

through in the earth and realize that is

through

his church there's been several people that i

've been connected with that have have gone

their own

way who who decide that they should have

church in their backyards or at a coffee shop

with a little

bible study that's not what god has called us

to and it's obvious in scripture that god has

instituted a church through his word and that

we're to worship a certain way and now i hope

that you can see the wisdom of that and how we

're to live together to be a blessing to each

other

to encourage one another to fight together all

of the things that happen to us god has given

us

each other for his glory and for our good and

it's wise that he did that so all of us that

all of you

that hear me if you're a believer love the

church love each other and love the god who

gave us the

church no matter how much we have issues or

struggles in life we're here for one another

and if if

you know anyone who's not in church uh commend

to them the wisdom of the truth of the word

that that

this life is more than just this life alone

there's something more after this and if you

're not living

for that then your life is pitiable and futile

and and will end in nothing so let's travel to

the

celestial kingdom together lift each other out

of the ditches that we come to and love one

another

with the same spirit that christ loved us let

's pray happy father thank you so much for

christ love

thank you for his goodness thank you for this

church we've been here for several years there

's

been ups there's been downs there's been heart

aches and there's been great joy and i pray

that that

you would bless us with many years to come

with more to come and enjoy this life that you

've given

us it is eternal life especially that you've

given us together with us and may we be a

blessing to our

city and to each other for your glory in

christ's name amen