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SERIES BUILDERDescent into DarknessEscaping spiritual wastelandsBill White
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Series Subject: How to combat the spiritual drag of idolatry, temptation, and trial
Series Purpose: To enable believers to find and follow God in the spiritual downturns of life
Series Big Idea: God is present in every spiritual downturn, but we rarely experience him there because we don't know how. To find him there, we need to see the vacuity of the alternatives, look for his fingerprints in our circumstances, and allow him to shape us by our experiences.
Sermon One
Title: Life "under the Sun": May Your Darkness Become Unbearable
Subtitle: Ecclesiastes takes us through different alternatives to God—pleasure, wealth, achievement—and shows them for the meaningless darkness that they truly are.
God is present in every spiritual downturn, but we rarely experience him there because we don't know how.
Subject: The hopelessness of alternatives to God
Text: Ecclesiastes 1–12
Big Idea: Ecclesiastes takes us through different alternatives to God—pleasure, wealth, achievement—and shows them for the meaningless darkness that they truly are.
Purpose: To gain understanding of how meaningless a life without God is
Relevance: Ecclesiastes hammers away at the utter meaninglessness of alternatives to life with God at the center, leaving us more convinced than ever that we must have the Light.
Sermon Strategy
Introduction
• Ecclesiastes was written to show what life looks like in a world in which God is there, but very distant—the phrase "under the sun" clues us in to this.
• The Hebrew perspective of where God dwelt was in the heavens—literally in the skies or over the sun—so the Teacher is looking at life down here while God is somewhere else far away.
Living under the Sun
• Life under the sun, the Teacher decides, is meaningless.
• He says so at the beginning.
- Ecclesiastes 1:1
• He says so at the end.
- Ecclesiastes 12:8
Transition: Through the middle of the book, the Teacher examines some alternatives, looking hard for meaning—only to find more darkness.
The Meaninglessness of Alternatives
• The Teacher examines a life of wisdom.
- Ecclesiastes 1:17–18
• The Teacher examines a life of pleasure.
- Ecclesiastes 2:1
• The Teacher examines a life of achievement.
- Ecclesiastes 1:4–5; 1:11
• The Teacher examines a life of wealth.
- Ecclesiastes 5:10
• Illustration: Jim Carrey: Money and Fame Are Not the Answer [see Illustrations and Quotations below]
• Life under the sun—with God "up there somewhere", but not being connected intimately with God—can be lived pleasurably, wisely, successfully, and wealthily, but it cannot be lived meaningfully.
Even More Meaningless in Life
• The Teacher goes on to show how life under the sun is plagued by even more meaninglessness.
• He looks at the pervasiveness of evil.
- Ecclesiastes 4:1–3
• He looks at how bad things happen to good people.
- Ecclesiastes 8:14
• He looks at the universality of death and the capriciousness of life.
- Ecclesiastes 9:2–3
• He finally throws up his hands in sarcastic cynicism.
- Ecclesiastes 9:9
• Illustration: "Macbeth": Life Signifies Nothing [see Illustrations and Quotations below]
The Teacher's Conclusion
• The Teacher sums up how he really feels: "so I hated life."
- Ecclesiastes 2:17
• We use this phrase today when everything feels heavy, unbearable, and dark.
Transition: The rest of the Bible commends the light directly; Ecclesiastes simply makes the darkness intolerable.
An Invitation To The Light
• Illustration: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism [see Illustrations and Quotations below]
• The Teacher asked many hard questions, but he never asked for help, mercy, or grace.
• The Teacher tried many things, but he never tried obedience, worship, or love.
• The apostle Paul, like the Teacher, considered the different things he could gain in this world to bring him light and hope; after trying many of those things, he decided they were rubbish.
• Philippians 3:7-9
Conclusion
• Paul wanted to stop living down here, under the sun, so he gave up everything else and followed after Jesus—the Light of the World.
• Do you want to keep living under the sun?
• I hope your darkness has become unbearable today.
Illustrations and Quotations
"Macbeth": Life Signifies Nothing
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Macbeth, William Shakespeare, Act 5, Scene 5
Jim Carrey: Money and Fame Are Not the Answer
I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer. Actor Jim Carrey
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
Sociologists at UNC Chapel Hill wrote a book based on a massive study of the religious beliefs of thousands of Americans. These authors, who come from a secular perspective, said that most Americans—even those who are actively involved in church—do not adhere to Christianity. These researchers defined the dominant religion in America as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It's moralistic because the primary teaching is to "be nice." It's therapeutic because, by focusing on pop psychology and self-help, the goal is to bring us comfort. It's deism because the core belief is, there is a God who made the world, but he doesn't require much of us; he's generally nice but not too involved The belief that sums up this religion is that God helps those who help themselves. In fact, 75% of Americans are convinced that quote comes from the Bible. It was actually Ben Franklin who said that, and he publicly acknowledged that he was a Deist. It's kind of nice being a Deist, because it doesn't require much of you—God is there, but distant—and certainly doesn't require any special attention, devotion, or love. Deism is just a milder form of Christianity. Over 90% of Americans say they believe in God. It's just that we're Deists. Bill White, "Descent into Darkness," PreachingToday.com
Sermon Two
Title: The Downward Spiral: Cain and Abel at the Guggenheim Subtitle: For Cain (and for us) there is an exit on every level of temptation, and we need to see the exit and take it. God is present in every spiritual downturn, but we rarely experience Him there because we don't know how. Subject: Escaping temptation Text: Genesis 4:1–10 Big Idea: For Cain (and for us) there is an exit on every level of temptation, and we need to see the exit and take it. Purpose: To shed light on the nature of temptation and God's grace when we give in to it Relevance: Like Cain, as we give into one temptation, the next step brings us to a greater temptation. It's the grace of God that provides both an exit and an invitation to leave the downward spiral. Introduction
• In New York City there is a huge, spiral-shaped museum called the Guggenheim; you take the elevator to the top and then you slowly walk around and around and around on a gently sloping floor through all the galleries until you get to the bottom.
• You don't have to go down a single staircase the whole time because the floor gradually leads you lower and lower.
• There's one thing you should remember from the Guggenheim—there's an exit on every floor
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