Traps To Avoid

Clay Smith JFBC
Ecclesiastes 4:1-8
What's the Point?

The old canary in a coal mine test. Toxic gases can kill you. Many things in life can be traps. So often we don't discover until it's too late.

Solomon is in despair. He is in a fog. Live can be like that. God is there but you can't see him. There is value in hard work and achievement, but there is a shadow side. There are traps. There is a price to pay.

What is the point? The pursuit of more often costs us what matters most. Solomon gives us areas to examine. Three traps...

1. More power. More authority. What do you do with the power you have.

Verse 1: no one to comfort the oppressed. True of government, of social networks, workplaces. Humans are capable of unspeakable evil.

What do you do when such bad things are happening? When power becomes the thing we are after, we treat others badly.

Question: am I using power for myself, instead of for other people? What's it like to be with me? Help others.

2. More image. How people think of you. God is concerned in how people think about you. So should you.

Verses 4-6 people want to be seen as successful so others will think highly of them.

Solomon responds in verse 5: don't be a fool. Doesn't mean you should just drop out and do nothing. What is the remedy? v 6 better to be balanced, work hard but be content. Enjoy Christ and rest in Him. Working too hard is vanity.

Who am I trying to outdo? Why? When image is what drives us, when we are obsessed with our image, it costs us what matters most.

3. More Money v 7-8. The lonely rich guy. No one in his life, no heirs, but he keeps seeking more - why? Ebinezer Scrooge. Elderly Ted Turner was eating alone. Nicoli Tesla was a scientific genius but at the end of his life he died alone, isolated. Pursuing money can be a trap.

Who is paying the price for your priorities? Someone is. Is it your family? At funerals, no one talks about possessions. They talk about God, and people. Money can be a trap.

There is brokenness, but there is hope in Jesus. He was tempted with all these same traps. But Jesus defeated temptation. He will bless us with his righteousness. We are not free without Jesus. Others are in bondage.

Luke 4:18-19 Jesus wants to set us free.

41 in Sunday School.

Four Baptisms in this service, with more in the other services. More baptisms on Palm Sunday.