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