Ecclesiastes 7: Better Beliefs

“Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.”

Ecclesiastes 7:10

Sermon notes:

Can you say that your life has gone EXACTLY the way you planned it? Has the outlook of your youth– hope, joy, innocence, ignorance– been lived out in the reality of your life?

Solomon sees that unrealized belief of life, and proceeds in the last half of his sermon to show you something better. The first half– chapters 1-6– of Ecclesiastes is undeniably negative. If you admit the truth of the negative side; you are prepared to accept the positive truth offered in replacement.

Always a forward thinker, Todd Beamer developed a list of goals that he wanted to
accomplish by the time he was 30. The qualities Todd wrote down on his list were
prophetic:

• Be self-sufficient and a good provider.
• Be a leader in society.
• Have comfortable home, nice cars, and a "mahogany room."
• Be a strong Christian, know direction, and be disciplined.
• Be a father with integrity.
• Be able to build friendships, take care of and assist friends.
• Love my wife and support her efforts.
Maybe develop a hobby such as photography, maybe write a book.
• Strive to be like my father—to be respected even when I'm not around.
• I want to fly below the radar screen.

• Have a meaningful job and career.
• Know important people—I will be important.
• Continue education.
• Travel to Europe several times.
• Have good values.
• Good health.
• 100 percent committed to relationships.
•Wealth and security.
• Control my destiny and environment so I can have free time to spend with my family.
• Be compassionate to others—support through time and money.
• Own my own business.
Todd always had a desire to do something beyond just working at a job. He envisioned himself as a coach, encouraging others to do their best. He sometimes talked about
going into a coaching career after he had accomplished his goals in the business world. Some of his desires penned September 9, 1992, are especially poignant as I read them
today:

• Live to an old age.
• Contentment in life and to be satisfied.
• Arrive at the road's end with satisfaction, and don't look back

--excerpt from Todd Beamer's biography, Let's Roll! after his death on Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001

• Solomon begins with “That which is crooked cannot be made straight:” (Ecc. 1:15)
• Here, he submits this proposal, “Who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?” (Ecc. 7:13)
• The jist of this chapter is the answer to the question: What’s next? If my life is vanity, what else is there?

There are at least three improvements to be made in your beliefs.

I. Believe that the end of your life is more important than the beginning.

“It is better to go into the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.” (Ecc. 7:2)

1. Better to feel, “I’ve got to get out of here.” Than, “I don’t ever want to leave.”
2. Funerals are an opportunity to face truth.

II. Believe the wisdom that warns you away from wickedness

“It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.” (Ecc. 7:5)

“The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” (Ecc. 7:4)

“It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come froth of them all. (Ecc. 7:18)

1. This is not just knowledge for the head, but also for the heart and hands.

III. Believe that God above has loved, and has been looking for you.

“Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account: Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found…” (Ecc. 7:27-28a)

1. He found by process of elimination, that the man He looked for wasn’t from the world.
2. He examined sensual satisfaction and scientific improvement, and they came up empty
3. When he found nothing in this world, he turned to the One who had been looking for him the whole time.

Why hold on to what you had in this life, when there is some thing, some One Who is so much better?

He is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.

Jim Elliot

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