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The Bible Breakdown
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The Bible Breakdown
Ecclesiastes 07: Don't Long for the Good Old Days
Ever find yourself yearning for the good old days? In our latest episode of the Bible Breakdown Podcast, we tackle Ecclesiastes, chapter 7, and Solomon's wisdom on living a life full of God. Drawing from my personal struggles with nostalgia, I share how longing for the past can sometimes rob us of the rich opportunities of today. Solomon's teachings guide us through the importance of a good reputation, the inevitability of death, and the significance of enjoying life while staying prepared for its end. We also explore the value of wisdom over folly, the pitfalls of anger, and why dwelling on the past is futile. Solomon's wisdom invites us to embrace life's uncertainties, appreciate both prosperity and hardship, and seek a balanced approach to living.
Shifting gears, we dive into the challenging topic of virtue as discussed by Solomon, where he makes the provocative statement that out of a thousand men, only one is virtuous, but none among women. We reflect on the difficulty of achieving virtue and the importance of fearing God and obeying His commands. Through prayer and gratitude for God's word, we emphasize that a life well-lived is one that is full of God, despite its challenges. This episode leaves us with a powerful takeaway from Ecclesiastes: to fear God and embrace His commands. Don’t miss our next session as we continue our exploration with Ecclesiastes, chapter eight. Join the discussion in the comments to share your thoughts and insights!
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The More You Dig. The More You Find.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, ecclesiastes, chapter 7, and today's title is Don't Long for the Good Old Days. Don't Long for the Good Old Days. I'm going to tell you something. Solomon is challenging me because I am one of the most nostalgic people you will ever meet, and we're going to get into that in just a moment. But, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like share, subscribe to YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure that you are going to the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook and you are leaving some comments on those posts. We have an amazing team who works so hard over there. And also make sure you're going to wwwthebiblebreakdowncom. You can subscribe there to get all the resources that we're compiling together. You can get them there. And make sure you are going to all the Bible Breakdown social media stuff because, as I told you yesterday, I'm trying to get more and more off social media and I want to make sure that you're all still getting that if you're connected to my social media. So, as it starts to, it's almost like John John the Baptist he must increase and I must decrease. So as I decrease social media make sure we're increasing the Bible breakdown. If you didn't know if I was a Bible nerd, you do. Now right, all right, if you have your Bible, want to open up with me to Ecclesiastes, chapter seven, remember?
Speaker 1:The overall title or focus of this is the key to a life well-lived is a life full of God, and I'm curious how many of you are nostalgic and what that means is is you? You think of the past a lot. You have keepsakes, you have things that you will keep because it reminds you of old days. I do this all the time. My wife does it a little bit less, but she still does it when it comes to like our kids. So we have like memory totes and in these these totes, rubbermaid boxes and stuff, we'll keep things that our girls do and all this stuff. But I go even further, like I even do this thing where I, we will try to do certain um, certain like traditions as a family, so they build on each other every year. I have a thing I do right now where I have an email address set up for my girls. I have set it as a Google email address and every month I send them an email about what happened that month, but they don't have access to it when they turn 30 years old. I'm going to send it to them At that point I'm assuming maybe they'll be married, maybe they'll have kids of their own. I'm going to send them these emails and let them kind of be nostalgic with me. So it's an idea. I got it from someone in our church so I love it.
Speaker 1:But Solomon is telling us in this chapter to be so very careful that we don't live in yesterday and rob today of its opportunities. I don't know about you. If that's not convicting, we'll just hang on, because he's got more to say too. So if you're ready, we're going to dive into this.
Speaker 1:Ecclesiastes, chapter 7, verse 1, says this A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume. The day you die is better than the day you are born. Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies. So the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.
Speaker 1:A wise person thinks a lot about death, while fools think only about having a good time. Now pause. Now. I didn't tell y'all about this handkerchief I got. I'm waving it around, but listen to that verse 4. It says a wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool only thinks about having a good time. Now, come on, solomon. You're already hurting our feelings in the very beginning. Just think about it. He's not saying be obsessed with death. He's just saying notice that death comes. Therefore, first of all, I need to be ready for it. And number two that means I should enjoy every day, because death is coming. It's a powerful thing when you think about it.
Speaker 1:Verse five better to be criticized by a wise person than to be praised by a fool. Come on now, solomon. Verse six a fool's laughter is quickly gone, like thorns crackling in a fire. This is also meaningless. Extortion turns wise people into fools, and bribes corrupt the heart. Extortion turns wise people into fools, and bribes corrupt the heart. Finishing is better than starting and patience is better than pride. Control your temper, for anger labels you as a fool. Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. Let me say that again. Control your temper, for anger labels you as a fool.
Speaker 1:Number 10, don't long for the good old days. This is not wise. We'll come back to that at the end. Verse 11, wisdom is better when you have money. Both are a benefit as you go through life. Wisdom and money can get you almost anything, but only wisdom can save your life Verse 13,. Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked? Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life. Come on now, solomon, all right, verse 15. I have seen everything in this meaningless life, including the death of good young people and the long life of wicked people. So don't be too good or too wise. Why destroy yourself Now? Pause, think about that for a moment.
Speaker 1:He's saying don't worry about trying to be too perfect Now. He's not saying go out and be crazy, because he says on the other side, don't do that either. He's saying I know people who steal, who rob joy from their lives because they're paranoid about being perfect enough. And that's what I think he's going for here. Maybe you've never met those people, but they have no joy because they might slip up, they might not be perfect enough, because they think that their perfection is what they have to have in order to be accepted by God, when God already knows you're not perfect. Now he wants you to be whole and he wants you to be sinless, but not because he can't love you otherwise. It's because it's for your good more than his. But not because he can't love you otherwise. It's because it's for your good more than his.
Speaker 1:And so Solomon is saying don't be so obsessed with perfection that it robs you of your joy. Because on the other side he's saying now listen, don't be a fool either. Don't be like oh well, it's fine, I can do whatever God loves me. No, no, no, that's foolish. Don't do that. Make sure you find a balance in your life. Verse 18 says pay attention to these instructions, for anyone who fears God will avoid both extremes. All right, verse 19,. One wise person is stronger than 10 leading citizens of a town. Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins. In other words, get over yourself. Come on, solomon. Verse 21,. Don't eavesdrop on others. You may hear your servant curse you, for you know how often you lead. Often you yourself have cursed others. Pause again, can I tell you.
Speaker 1:I remember one time I was talking to a leader and the leader where they worked at they offered an opportunity for the higher level executives. They would pay for their cell phones and they would. You know they, you know they would say, hey, well, hey, we will give you a company phone, all this kind of stuff. Well, what the leaders didn't know is the way they had it accessed. They had access to the text messages, voicemails and all that kind of stuff of those phones because technically it belonged to them. And what would happen is the leader would read these text messages and he would read how is? The leader would read these sex messages and he would read how, sometimes, after some, after some staff meetings and company meetings, how sometimes they didn't have such good things to say.
Speaker 1:And we were talking one day, and I'll just be honest with you, I just told him. I said, dude, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You know why? Because sometimes people are going to get mad. How many times have you gotten mad at your people you work with? Thank goodness, they don't know right, you get mad. You talk to somebody, you get over it. Well, they shouldn't get mad. Well then you're expecting them to not be human, don't eavesdrop on others, because you may hear them get mad at you. They're going to get mad at you, but they'll get over it.
Speaker 1:And I think that that's so important that we honestly, ignorance really is bliss on stuff. And so sometimes can I tell you as a leader, there's times I'll talk to people and they're getting ready to tell me something and I'll say listen, I don't want to know. Pastor, you need to know this. Does it affect one? You know one, two, three, a couple of things that I need to know. No, then I don't want to know. But no, no, I don't need to know everything, because I like to love people if I know everything, so it's already good medicine for us, right? Verse 23,.
Speaker 1:I have always tried my best to let wisdom guide my thoughts and actions. I said to myself I determined to be wise, but it didn't work. Wisdom is always distant and difficult to find. Doesn't that make you feel better that the wisest man to ever live says wisdom is hard. Thank you, solomon. Verse 25, I searched everywhere, determining to find wisdom and to understand the real reason for things, and I was determined to prove to myself that wickedness is stupid and that foolishness is madness. I discovered that a seductive woman is a trap more bitter than death. Her passion is a snare and her soft hands are chains. Those who are pleasing to God will escape her, but sinners will be caught in her snare. This is my conclusion, says the teacher.
Speaker 1:I discovered after looking at the matter from every possible angle. Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men are virtuous, but not one woman. But I did find this God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turn to follow their own downward path. Oh Lord, oh, oh Lord, I love you, I love all you people. Can I just read that again, because I didn't say it, he said it and we all going to have to grapple with it because it's in the Bible. Let me say it again this is my conclusion. I discovered this after looking at the matter from every possible angle. Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men are virtuous, but not one woman. Oh, can we pray? Let's just pray, solomon, thank you. Thank you for just throwing us all under the bus right there. I hope that no husbands and wives are reading this together, because that's going to be a fun conversation.
Speaker 1:One out of a thousand men are virtuous, but not one woman. Let us pray, father. Thank you so much for your word. Thank you, god, that your word is true. It is so true and it is good. I cannot wait to hear what happens in the comments section over that one. We celebrate you today In Jesus' name. We pray Amen. Remember God's word says that the key to a life well lived is a life full of God, and what he is saying is that it is really hard to be virtuous. That's what he's saying, okay, verse 12, verse 13 says. Now here is my final conclusion Fear God and obey his commands. I look forward to talking to you in the comments and I will see you tomorrow. For Ecclesiastes, chapter eight.
