The Vapor of Wisdom and Pleasure

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Sep 18, 2022 by: John Lee | Series: Ecclesiastes: Living Wisely Under the Sun Scripture: Ecclesiastes 1:12– 2:11 Tags: proverbs, meaning, The Preacher, wisdom, pleasure, under the sun, nomadic Christian, resident Christian, lifestyle, vanity, treasures, Matthew 6:19-21
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MESSAGE - Pastor John Lee

Ecclesiastes: Living Wisely Under the Sun

The Vapor of Wisdom and Pleasure 

  • The Continued Pursuit for Meaning
  • The Vapor of Wisdom
  • The Vapor of Pleasure

 Questions for Further Study or Group Discussion:

  1. Read Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:11. What is the Preacher’s assessment about all wisdom and pleasure under the sun? How do the proverbs given in v. 15 and 18 help us to understand the Preacher’s bleak assessment?
  2. Reflecting on v. 15 and 18, in what ways have you personally experienced the truthfulness of these proverbs? In what ways are you prone to seek after wisdom under the sun to escape/find relief from the Preacher’s assessment?
  3. The Preacher lists a variety of pleasures he tests (2:1-8). Which of these pleasures do you naturally gravitate towards? In what ways does the Preacher’s repeated assessment (v. 11) challenge you and the things you toil after for gain under the sun?
  4. The assessment of the Preacher should be the sobering reminder that, as believers, we have no permanent roots here in this world. Yet rather than living as a “nomadic” Christian, we tend to live more like “resident” Christians. How might your lifestyle actually display your sense of permeance that the Preacher would assess as vanity? How does the Preacher’s assessment bring us to embrace all the more Jesus’ words to “not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matt. 6:19-20)? 

Memory Verse of the Week:

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (ESV)

 

 

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