Sermon Questions 11-23-14
Ecclesiastes and meaning in life
In Ecclesiastes 1:1, it says the author is the son of David, or Solomon.
Read 1 Kings 10:1-13. What does God promise Solomon? Why?
Read Deuteronomy 17:16-17. What does God prohibit here?
Read 1 Kings 11:1-4. Why did it all start going wrong for Solomon?
Read Ecclesiastes 1:2-11. What does Solomon say about everything? Why does he start the book this way? Have you ever had days like this? Share them if you would like.
Read Ecclesiastes 1:12-14. Here Solomon uses his wisdom to look at the whole of life. What is his conclusion?
In Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon describes the things that he pursues. List them. How many of these have you pursued?
God grants Solomon wisdom. You might think that this is a good thing, but Solomon understood things at a level deeper than any other person. His conclusion? All is vanity (Or meaningless). Do you think that Solomon was happy with his gift of wisdom? It’s like being given a gift that you think is great until you actually open it and start using it and you find out the truth about the gift.
Peter Parker is like this. He is given the gift of sticking to walls. He thinks it is great – until his Uncle Ben is killed. Then he realizes that with great power comes great responsibility. The grass always looks greener on the other side – and then it rarely is. Perhaps you can say the grass is simply different on the other side. Can you think of a time when this truth has been shown to you?
I believe God uses all of life’s experiences to mold and shape the person that we are. Can you think of an experience in your life that was negative at the time, but you realized was actually God’s amazing grace in your life?
In the end, Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, Solomon says that we should simply fear God. To fear God is not that we should be afraid of Him, but rather follow Him. Do you think this is true? Why is following God the meaning of life?