As we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, I have been reflecting on God’s providence in our going through the book of Ecclesiastes. Certainly the truths we’ve heard from Solomon help us respond appropriately to the difficult events of our present time, but they also specifically prepare us for our upcoming holidays. Solomon is plain…
Carpe diem is a famous Latin phrase often translated to “seize the day.” The phrase originates from the 1st century BC Roman poet, Horace, and represents a call to enjoy the present moment without taking too much thought for the future. A carpe diem mindset is often associated with secular hedonism; the future is uncertain,…
In Pastor Babij’s Sunday sermon, he asserted that some sins are worse than others and that homosexuality is a particularly heinous sin. You might have wondered, however, “Aren’t all sins the same before God?” The answer biblically is that both are true: in one sense all sins are equally evil to God, and in another…
As we continue to await the results of the 2020 election, I keep finding myself thinking about Ecclesiastes. Solomon proclaims in Eccl 1:2 that everything under the sun is “vanity” or, more literally, “vapor” (Hebrew hevel). Thus, governments, even entire nations, are also vapor. Consider how insubstantial, like vapor, governments are. People look to their…
One aspect of Eccl 2:12-26 that I did not get to explain in Sunday’s message is how Solomon’s fears and frustrations regarding death poignantly played out in his own passing. Solomon’s legacies of both wisdom and work were quickly ruined by his successor. When Solomon laments in Eccl 2:16 that wise men are forgotten just…
One of the statements that stuck out to me in Pastor Babij’s Sunday sermon is regarding how many people will end up holding fast to God’s truth. We might expect that, for most issues of truth in the world, the majority of people will be right and only a few people on the fringes will…
A few years ago I heard a sermon that I will never forget—but not for a good reason. A guest preacher was preaching a powerful sermon at a solid church about the danger of being led astray from Christ into sin and error. But then, as an aside, the preacher said, “But you all go…
One idea I encountered in preparing last Sunday’s sermon was the connection between Solomon’s experiments and the pre-fall garden experience in Genesis 1-3. Solomon’s efforts to find lasting profit in this world through wisdom and joy were, in a way, an attempt to recreate the Garden of Eden. Consider some of the parallels between the…
In Pastor Babij’s Sunday sermon, he exhorted us to greater commitment to prayer, especially corporate prayer. But why corporate prayer and not just private prayer? At our Zoom prayer meeting a few weeks ago, we brainstormed some unique benefits of corporate prayer. I wanted to share that brief list with you all for your own…
After preaching this past Sunday, one idea that I keep finding myself thinking about is the idea of acceptance. One of Solomon’s main goals in Ecclesiastes is to get us to accept life for what it is rather than what we want it to be. Only when we gratefully accept our lot, our assigned portion,…