First, I appreciate the “scaffolding” Wilson identifies – the two great refrains that run throughout the book. Wilson notes:
Throughout the book, two great refrains can be heard. When we come to understand the meaning of these refrains, we will then know that the meaning of life cannot be found by fumbling in the dark. Instead of viewing the book as a series of disjointed and sometimes contradictory statements, we must first listen for those themes which integrate all the teaching of the entire book.
In other words, for us to understand the message of Ecclesiastes, we must recognize both of these refrains, understand what each means, and recognize how these two refrains relate to one another. What are these two themes?
“Under the Sun”
“The Great Gift of God”.
As one who benefits from outlines when I read and study, I also appreciate the simple outline Wilson sketches. Wilson writes:
Ecclesiastes has four basic sections, or divisions. In the first, Ecclesiastes 1.2 – 2.26, we see that Solomon’s experience shows that satisfaction cannot come from anything within the power or competence of man. In chapters 3.1-5.20, he shows that God is sovereign over everything. He then goes on to answer objections to this (perennially offensive) doctrine. Third, Ecclesiastes 6.1-8.15 carefully applies this doctrine that the sovereign God alone gives the power to enjoy this parade of vanity. Without an understanding of the Almighty, and without seeing his attributes, nature, and character, the world is nothing but an ongoing vexation of spirit. And finally, Ecclesiastes 8.16-12.14 removes various obstacles and discouragements, and addresses numerous practical concerns.
So, this outline of Ecclesiastes, as I paraphrase it:
Ecclesiastes 1.2 – 2.26: Reasons for Dissatisfactions and Frustrations in Life
Ecclesiastes 3.1 – 5.20: The Reality of the Sovereignty of God
Ecclesiastes 6.1 – 8.15: Why God’s Sovereignty is the Key to Our Satisfaction & Joy
Ecclesiastes 8.16 – 12.14: Practical Practices for Living a Life of Satisfaction & Joy
Just a few notes of things helping me to appreciate the wisdom of Solomon.
What do you usually do immediately after your Sunday morning church service ends? If you’re like most of church-going humanity, you probably have a routine. Upon the final “Amen”, you arise from your regular spot and your body follows a subconscious script. You may go to the nursery to pick up a child, maybe you have your weekly chat about the high school sports team with the person seated in the row behind you, or perhaps you hightail it toward the coffee to snag a to-go cup on your way out the door.
There’s nothing wrong with being a creature of habit, but many of us have the same routine at the end of a church service as we do at the conclusion of a sporting event or any other public gathering. We gather our belongings, utter some niceties, and shuffle toward the exits. That’s a problem. More specifically, it’s a bad habit.
Since the church body is a family of brothers and sisters in Christ, the end of the formal part of a service is not the end of church but rather the beginning of a new segment of the family gathering. When the structured gathering ends, an indispensable aspect of Christian vitality and growth—fellowship—continues.
Don’t get the wrong idea. You don’t have to be an extrovert who seeks people out like a goldendoodle puppy to faithfully participate in the fellowship of the church. You just have to be intentional.
If you’re one of the many believers with a bad habit of neglecting the broader fellowship of the church after the service, here’s one simple suggestion: set apart ten minutes after the gathering concludes and devote that time to getting to know others in the church family. This is a ten-minute commitment to invest in your eternal faith family and show hospitality to those not yet in the family.
To help set these ten minutes apart, it may help to consider what not to do, in order to be free and available for fellowship with the body of Christ.
1. Don’t Talk to Your Besties
There’s nothing wrong with having close friends in the church (in fact, there’s much right about that), but the weekly gathering is the one time each week when all the people you don’t naturally bump into are gathered in one place. Don’t miss that opportunity to experience the fullness of the body of Christ by getting to know those who are unlike you or from different life stages and interests. Not only will you benefit from a more diverse fellowship, but over time the supernatural unity of the Spirit will be gloriously on display as members of a church family have genuine care and concern for those outside their immediate circles. Let your closest friends know that right after the service (and, ideally, before the service as well), your aim is to engage the larger fellowship of the church family. Maybe this will encourage them to do the same!
2. Don’t Talk to Blood
Similarly, in those first ten minutes after the service, skip the chit-chat with your family. This is not to denigrate your family. If you get to regularly attend church with your extended family, that is a gift from God to be cherished. But very often, one’s family becomes the relationally safe enclave that undermines more intentional branching out into the broader church family. If your habit is currently to huddle up with your family to chat after church, it’s time to replace that habit with a better one. You’ll talk to your family later, so in those first moments after the official time is done, reorient your family outward toward the broader fellowship of the church family.
3. Don’t Talk Shop
While circumstances will arise that need the attention of a staff member or ministry leader, the goal in the minutes prior to and following the service is to be freed up for fellowship. It’s common for those involved in the formal functions on a Sunday (music ministry, kids ministry, elders, deacons, staff, etc.) to ‘talk shop’ with others who are also involved in leading and serving. But again, this is the one time each week that the building is filled with the faith family! The shop talk can wait or be accomplished with an email. You might even need to politely tell a fellow ministry leader, “Let’s discuss this later. I want to go meet those people before they leave.” In doing so, you’re not only prioritizing what matters, you’re setting the tone for a culture in which all the ministry leaders are flock-oriented.
Habits are what we do without noticing. Most people are not actively trying to have shallow relationships with the church family. But without realizing it, many people are missing the gift of rich church fellowship due to unexamined Sunday habits. I encourage you to devote ten minutes after the service for conversing with others in the faith family—and soon you’ll likely find that ten minutes is not nearly enough.
***
This post was written by Andy Huette, Senior Pastor of Christ Community Church in Gridley, Illinois, and orignally published by Mattthias Media. Here is the link to the original post: The Ten Minutes After Church Ends.
Since February is designated as Black History Month in the USA, I wanted to take the opportunity to post something that might be helpful in the ongoing discussions about Racial Divides and Racial Reconciliation.
Racial tension and racial division are major issues in our culture – and, sadly, still issues in the American Church. This is not a new problem. Racism was also a problem in the Early Church. But since it is still an issue, Paul’s words to the church in Ephesus are still relevant for us today:
“Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.” (Ephesians 2:12-14)
Whether one sees racial division as a “gospel issue” or not, racism and racial division are inarguably Kingdom issues. And these are issues that the Gospel – and only the Gospel – can resolve. Only the Gospel has the power to make us one in Christ, regardless of race or culture.
Therefore, as tensions linger, and even at times intensify, the Church has the ability – and therefore the responsibility – to show that only Jesus has the power to break down the dividing walls of hostility and bring Shalom – true and lasting peace. In a culture that often, and increasingly, views faith in Jesus to be irrelevant and unhelpful, we have an opportunity to be “Salt & Light” by actively pursuing peace and friendship between all races and cultures in our communities. (Matthew5.9; Matthew 5.13-16)
“Racial reconciliation is not the goal of a gospel-centered church and life, but it is clear from Scripture that it is a beautiful fruit of it.“
A Biblical worldview responds to every circumstance with love, empathy, and understanding even of those different from us, instead of letting popular culture and news soundbites define our attitudes and beliefs. When we listen to more voices, sometimes especially some that sound different from our own, God often reveals to us some of the blind spots in our own hearts.
What does this mean for God’s People, living in our present time and culture? As those who are part of God’s “Royal Priesthood” (1 Peter 2.9) we must be committed to mercy and justice. (see Micah 6.8) As those who have been the recipients of God’s mercy and grace, we are to those who now demonstrate and extend the grace and mercy we have received. (1 Peter 2.10; 1 Timothy 1.16) And grace changes everything! The gospel frees us, compels us, and empowers us to seek justice and reconciliation in the midst of brokenness. This is gospel work – work that, as Christians, we must be committed to doing together, even as we learn, lament, repent, and – by faith – move forward. But “to do justice” and “to do mercy” requires both humility and understanding.
With the hope of moving forward toward better understanding, I have compiled a list of Racial Reconciliation resources. This is in no way an exhaustive list, but these resources are among those I have found helpful. Some are from my own denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, others from the broader Evangelical church. Some of these resources may resonate more than others; and some even express viewpoints that I cannot entirely endorse. Nevertheless, there is benefit from listening to a broad range of voices and seeing from a variety of perspectives.
I launch my ship into the unknown waters of this year, with you, O Father, as my harbor, you, O Son, at my helm, and you, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my lamp burning, my ear open to your calls, my heart full of love, my soul free.
Give me your grace to sanctify me, your comforts to cheer, your wisdom to teach, your right hand to guide, your counsel to instruct, your law to judge, your presence to stabilize.
You made our world by your wisdom, and you sent your Wisdom into the world.
You rule all things by your word, and you caused your Word to dwell among us.
You filled heaven and earth with your glory, and you made the the very Radiance of your Glory to shine on earth.
You gave us life and created us in your image, and you have given us eternal life through your eternal Image.
You formed us to be your children, and now your eternal Son has come to claim us for brothers and sisters.
Heavenly Father, your Son became poor, and now we share in his riches.
He came to be despised and rejected, and now you have accepted us through him.
You laid our sins on him, and now we come to you with his righteousness.
You sent him to live the life that we failed to live, and now we have his life in us.
By your will, he came as a slave, and now we reign with him.
He was conceived, lived, died and rose by your Spirit, and now he has given that Spirit to us.
Renew us therefore, by that same Spirit, we pray.
By him, unite us to Jesus so we bear much fruit and bring you glory.
By him, fill our hearts so we cry out to you with the voice of your Son.
By him, bind us together in the gospel of Jesus and speak the truth in love.
By him, transform us to the image of our Lord, with ever-increasing glory.
By his power, deliver us from discouragement and idolatry, and fill our hearts and lives and mouths with grace,
By him, make us proof of your manifold wisdom before the powers and authorities, so that the powers of darkness should not prevail, and we might press on through the night to the dawn; warmed by the light of your Son. ~ Amen.
We often think of the secularization of Christmas as a very recent thing. But its origins go back to the nineteenth century with the writing of “The Night Before Christmas,” and the Thomas Nast version of Santa Claus: the jolly, plump, white-bearded rendition we know today.
It’s not so much that a war has been raging against Christmas since the 19th Century. It is more that there are at least two different takes on what Christmas is supposed to be about. There is the Christian celebration of the birth of the long-promised Messiah, through whom God would redeem and reconcile a People to himself, and through whom “everything sad will come untrue.” And there is the more secular take, which seems to take delight in the Judeo-Christian virtues promised in the Messiah: “Peace on Earth” and “good-will to all men (and women)…”, but replaces Jesus as the focal-point of this holiday with a host of other figures: Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, just to name two.
In the same story cited above, Cothran ends with these words:
In many ways secularism has sidelined the real meaning of Christmas, and commercialism has covered it up. But truth has a way of intruding on our world of secular pretense and profit. At a time when it sometimes seems as if all is going dark, there are still places where there is a spotlight trained on the most important story of all.
I think Cothran has a point.
Now, I have no aversion to the festivities of the culture during this season of the year. In fact, I quite enjoy them. For the most part. But – and this is a big “but” – in recent years I have become less inclined to try to reconcile the two expressions of Christmas with one another. I am much more comfortable accepting the two divergent ways as co-existing. It seems to me that Christian attempts to synergize the celebration of the Christ-child with the merriment and cultural icons of this season are often times a source of the confusion of the meaning of Christmas.
Why not just recognize that, for Christians, there are two coinciding celebrations going on throughout December? Let’s recognize that these two celebrations have many aspects that overlap. Let’s promote the common ground values of joy, peace, hope, and love. Let’s strive for and contribute to “peace on earth, and goodwill toward mankind”, rather than warring against those who are (or, at least who may seem to be,) at war with Christmas.
But, for the Christian, we cannot stop there. For we know all of our striving will not lead to peace, but rather to more strife. That is because we have a sin problem, not just an absence of peace problem. And that is problem that we cannot save ourselves from. It will take God to intervene. So we need to pray. We need to pray that God will bring peace to this earth; and that God will work good-will among mankind. And… we do well to remember – and to celebrate – that God has intervened.
In Galatians 4.4-5, the Apostle Paul tells us:
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
That is what Christmas is all about – for all who Believe. (John 3.16)
As much as I appreciate and enjoy the traditional Christmas hymns and carols – O Come All Ye Faithful high up on my list – here is a worthy addition to the Christmas song catalog: O Come All You Unfaithful. Though not an especially new song, (it has been around for several years,) this song beautifully captures the heart behind the reason for the Incarnation.
In Luke 5, Jesus declared:
31 “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Advent/Christmas should be a season during which we remind ourselves, and remind one another, of God’s love for the broken, the outcast, and even the sinner – like me.
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (1 Timothy 1.15)
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5.8)
One of the mysteries of the gospel tradition is this strange attraction of Jesus for the unattractive, this strange desire for the undesirable, this strange love for the unlovely.
Are some Christmas hymns better than others? Consider what Martin Luther says to his Anglican friends in this imaginary discussion, from Lutheran Satire.
What will heaven be like? That is a question pondered by nearly everyone, from the greatest philosophers to the simplest of children, with a wide range of thoughts, hopes, and expectations. Some thoughts are Biblically rooted. Many notions, however, seem more fanciful than factual.
Randy Alcorn, of Eternal Perspective Ministries, wrote a masterful book on the subject, called, simply, Heaven. (It is a book that I highly recommend, and often give away to those facing death themselves or to those who have experienced a recent death of someone near and dear.)
I have to confess that when I first read Alcorn’s Heaven, I learned quite a bit that perhaps I should have already known. One friend, who read the book at about the same time that I did, said it was “life changing” for him. At first I thought that was a bit of an overstatement. But the more I thought about it I realized my friend just might be right. After all, the better we understand what God has revealed about heaven, the more our thoughts and lives are oriented toward eternity. And the more our thoughts and hopes are oriented toward eternity, the less rooted they are in this present, broken and baffling world.
Alcorn, in a brief related article, addressed what he perceives to be the four biggest misconceptions about heaven:
Misconception 1: That the present Heaven, where Christians go when we die, is the same place we will live forever. In fact, when we die we go to be with Christ, which is wonderful, but we are incomplete, in a pre-resurrected state, anticipating Christ’s return to earth, and our resurrections. The place we’ll live forever will be where God comes down to dwell with us, on the New Earth (Revelation 21:1-3).
Misconception 2: The physical realm is evil, and God’s plan is to permanently destroy it and deliver our spirits to live without bodies. In fact, God created the physical realm and called it “very good.” He has never given up on his original plan for physical human beings to rule the earth for his glory. God sent his Son to permanently become a man and redeem and restore the physical universe-including our bodies and the earth-to become all He desires it to be. That’s why Jesus spoke of the “renewal of all things” (Matthew 19:27-28), and Peter preached that Christ will “remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21). Isaiah and other prophets speak in detail about the Earth being returned to the perfection God designed for it. Speaking of an earthly kingdom, an angel reveals, “But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever-yes, for ever and ever” (Daniel 7:18). This is not for a thousand years, but forever.
Misconception 3: There will be nothing to do, and it’ll be boring and predictable, without adventure, discovery, process and progress. This is as wrong as it could be, as I develop in the book.
Misconception 4: We’ll be absorbed with God and lose our identities. That is Hinduism, not Christianity, but surprisingly many Christians seem to believe it. In fact, resurrection means we will retain our identities and be forever reestablished as individuals, liberated to see God and worship him as our primary joy and the source of all derivative joys. Job said, “And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes-I, and not another” (Job 19:26-27).
Solomon tells us, in Ecclesiastes 3.11: “God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart…”
Let’s consider the eternity God has set in our hearts through more biblical and less fantasy-laced lenses.
“There has got to be more to the holiday season than this.”
Have you ever thought this way? I have – and I do – every year, around this time.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with our many traditions and celebrations, it is beneficial to repeatedly remind ourselves what this season is primarily about: that Christ Jesus came into the world to redeem sinners; to set free those captive to their sin and their situations.
And just as Jesus came into the world, he has also commissioned his followers to be his agents to continue what he began. (John 20.21)
In 2006 Advent Conspiracy was birthed, with the aim to remind the world what really matters during the Advent-Christmas season; and to urge Christians to embrace four simple but key tenets:
In the Book of Proverbs, Solomon advises: “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance…” (Proverbs 1.5)
Among those to whom I turn to seek wisdom is John Newton, the noted slaver-turned-pastor, famed for being the author of the hymn Amazing Grace. Below is a list of letters Newton wrote to various inquirers, covering a wide range of subjects and issue, but all with the aim of helping the reader grow more in conformity to Jesus.
1. Holy Scripture 1.1 The necessity of Scripture 1.2 The contents of Scripture (positively stated): canon 1.3 The contents of Scripture (negatively stated): “apocrypha” 1.4 The authority of Scripture 1.5 The authenticity of Scripture 1.6 The sufficiency of Scripture 1.7 The clarity of Scripture 1.8 The immediate inspiration, preservation and translation of Scripture 1.9 The interpretation of Scripture 1.10 The supreme authority of Scripture in all theological controversy
2. God and the Trinity 2.1 God himself The one, living, true, infinite, perfect God The spirituality, invisibility, incorporeality, and impassibility of God [and simplicity*] The immutability, immensity, eternality, incomprehensibility, and omnipotence of God The unchangeable and righteous purpose of God The love, grace, mercy, patience, goodness, faithfulness, and forgiveness of God The generous reward of God The just and terrible judgment of God 2.2 God in and of himself The inherent blessedness of God The all-sufficiency and glory of God The self-existence (aseity) of God The sovereignty of God The omniscience of God The holiness of God The worthiness of God 2.3 God the Trinity The Trinity defined: God is one essence in three persons, consubstantial, co-omnipotent, co-eternal The personal property of the Father: neither begotten nor proceeding The personal property of the Son: eternally begotten The personal property of the Spirit: eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son (filioque)
3. God’s Eternal Decree (comprehensive, eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, sovereign purpose and plan) 3.1 The scope of the decree defined in relation to sin, choice, and contingency 3.2 The relation of the decree to God’s absolute, exhaustive foreknowledge 3.3 The inclusiveness of the decree (both predestination to life & foreordination to death) 3.4 The absolute unchangeability of the decree as to predestination and foreordination 3.5 The noncontigency of predestination to life, not conditioned or caused by the creature 3.6 The comprehensiveness of the decree, entailing the ends, means and subjects of redemption 3.7 The proximate cause and end of the decree of preterition 3.8 The special pastoral care and prudence required in the handling of this doctrine
The Christian life should be a state of thankful discontentment or joyful dissatisfaction! We live every day thankful for the amazing grace that fundamentally changes our lives, but we should not be satisfied.
Why not? Because, when we look at ourselves honestly, we have to admit that there is still need for personal growth and change. We are not yet all that we could be in Christ. We are thankful for the many things in our lives that would not be there without His grace, but we should not settle for partial inheritance. We should want nothing less than all that is ours in Christ!
In this sense, God does not want us to be content with less than what He wants for us. He calls us to continue to wrestle, meditate, look, consider, resist, submit, follow, and pray until we have been completely transformed into His likeness.
According to Thom Rainer‘s research, the 10 Sundays each year when church attendance is most noticably down are:
Father’s Day.
The Sunday after Thanksgiving day.
Memorial Day weekend Sunday.
Labor Day weekend Sunday.
The Sundays before and after Christmas.
The Sunday nearest the Fourth of July.
The Sunday nearest to New Year’s Day.
Time changes: spring forward.
Spring and fall break Sundays.
Summer Sundays, particularly in July.
Of course, as Rainer also points out, each church and every community has their own peculiarities. Younger congregations, especially in more affluent areas, are likely to be more effected by youth soccer and baseball/softball seasons. Some more rural congregations may see increased absensces during deer hunting season. When I was in college, I remember reading of a study that showed church attendance across Knxoville decreased signifcantly the day following a loss by the Tennessee Volunteers football team. When I surved as a pastor in Pittsburgh, we saw a dip in attendance on a Sunday the Steelers were playing in the Super Bowl – even thoiugh kickoff was not until 6:30 in the evening! And, of course, there are always the weather factors…
Certainly there are a number of plausible reasons that might hinder or prevent even the most ardent church-goers from participating in corporate worship on any given Lord’s Day. Still, the urging from the author if the Book of Hebrews rings out:
“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not neglecting meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10.24-25)
GRACE & PEACE 