Sunday Recap 10-17-10

Morning: The sermon, "Nagging Questions," explored Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:3.  In this passage, two sights cause Solomon to start asking questions.  The first one is the presence of wickedness in the house of justice.  Even in the place where people were to be able to get right judgment, corruption was waiting in the wings.  Solomon comforted himself with the thought of God's judgment. 

In the end, the wicked would get their just desserts.  But the thought of judgment caused Solomon to think about death.  The presence of injustice in the world was a test to teach man that he is mortal.  Like the animals, man will die one day and return to the dust.  The thought of death made Solomon question the reality of the afterlife.  Who knows whether a man's spirit goes up, and if an animal's spirit goes down?  It may be the guilt of his own sin was pushing him to wish their was not impending judgment after all.

The second sight that caused Solomon was oppression.  Everywhere he looked people were being pushed down by powerful forces.  Often, Solomon controlled those forces: work, taxation, idolatrous temples.  It may have been that Solomon feared being cut off.  Death was the only escape he could see for the oppressed.

It is easy to see how Solomon could get to this point.  He lived in a world without a Savior, in a world without a cross.  Solomon knew that God is gracious, but was he confident that God would be gracious to him?  If only he had never been born, then he would be in this dilemma.  For the unbeliever, death is not an escape.  But for those in Christ, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Evening: Foundations, part 5.  "The Flood" from Genesis 6-9.
Principles drawn from the passage:
  1. Judgment is inevitable, because of God's holiness and man's sinfulness.
  2. Deliverance (redemption) is an act of grace.
  3. God cares for humanity.
  4. God cares for his creation.
  5. God saves the remnant.
  6. God secures his people.
  7. Noah's obeyed because he believed (see Heb. 11:7).
  8. The flood changes our relationships with the land, with God, and with animals.
  9. The ark is a type of Christ (see 1 Peter 3:20-22).