GTD vs ETP

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Well, you can take your copy of God’s Word and turn back to Ecclesiastes chapter 3 this morning where we’ll try to not only finish the paragraph that we started last Sunday morning Ecclesiastes 3 9 through 15, but kind of do it with some additional things at the end Kind of summarizing the difference between GTD and ETP all while And I don’t remember if I gave too much of that GTD. I’ll explain this when we get to it, but GTD is the abbreviation for a book on time management that I’ve read over the last year so called getting things done and It’s just a way to think through you know how you organize your life and your calendar and your to-do list and blah blah blah getting things done is what it’s called and And I read some websites that talk about it, various things like that.

And Ecclesiastes, Solomon in particular, has been talking a lot about getting things done and I think he’s been trying to explain to us that joy in life does not necessarily come from the done part, the getting things done. Instead, I think Solomon presents to us a whole new level of looking at your calendar and your to-do list. And I’ve summarized that with my own acronym or abbreviation, ETP, which stands for Enjoying the Process. Exactly. Enjoying the Process. So once we get through the paragraph, I’m going to compare and contrast GTD and ETP then kind of wrap it all together with the CRS, which is Celebrating Resurrection Sunday.

I will admit to you that it’s a little bit frustrating to me to be in Ecclesiastes because Solomon does not talk about Jesus. And part of that’s based on the fact that it’s Old Testament and yet even some of the other Old Testament passages are at least looking forward to Jesus coming, so in a prophetic kind of way.

I don’t want to give up teaching through Ecclesiastes. I think it has some necessary beneficial stuff for us, but it is a frustration to me because, you know, Solomon was not talking about Jesus, and so if I just bring in Jesus every time, then I’m missing the point of what Solomon is trying to communicate. So I’m trying to be faithful to what the preacher’s message was in Ecclesiastes, And yet we know more than Solomon did in some respects For all of the wisdom that he had being the wisest guy ever Outside of Christ. We have more information than Solomon did We have more revelation Namely we live after Jesus has come and has taught and trained his apostles and they’ve written down what they learned from him And so so we have a lot of good stuff that Solomon did not have And I think our task is primarily in Ecclesiastes to study from what he had, what he would have expected his listeners to get and to understand and to apply.

And yet today I’m gonna kind of step out of that for a few minutes at the end on Resurrection Sunday and just kind of to maybe combine some of those things, at least for today.

So we’ll see how much I can stay away Jesus in the future, messages of Ecclesiastes, but anyway. GTD versus ETP and CRS. It’s just kind of silly, I suppose, but that’s what we’re going to talk about. I do want to remind you of what we talked about last week, and part of the point of that is because people need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed. That’s oftentimes the case. That’s not a Bible verse. I’m not claiming that it’s a Bible verse. Samuel Johnson would not have claimed it’s a Bible verse, but it is kind of a hook to hang some thoughts on. And that is oftentimes the case. More times than not, we already know the right answer. I think it was Mark Twain who said something to the effect of our problem is not that, is not all the things we don’t know. It’s that we don’t apply the things we already do know. And again, I think that That’s oftentimes the case, and certainly for most of us we have all kinds of instruction and input, and if we could just live up to all the instruction that we got, our lives

would look pretty good. So we do need to be reminded, and here’s a reminder about where we’ve come in the paragraph so far. I’m going to endeavor to breeze through these major points that we’ve talked about in the paragraph.

question about man’s toil from verse 9, what gain has the worker from all his toil. You remember that he established that God is sovereign over everything in the poem verses 1 through 8, chapter 3. Now he moves into this paragraph where he starts talking about our work again, and I ask the question, what in the world is the connection between God being sovereign and then this question, what gain has the worker from all his toil? And I think the entire point is, if God is in control of everything, every time and every season. If God is in control of the times of birth and death and everything in between, then what kind of profit am I going to get? What is the guarantee of the labor that I do? And that rhetorical question is meant to, in fact, should be a question mark at the end of that, what gain has the worker from all his toil? The answer is, Because on one hand, what?

Bubkus. Zero. Nada. Ain’t got any. Because you can’t guarantee that what you’re doing, no matter how hard you’re working at it, no matter how smart, no matter how well you have it planned out, you cannot guarantee that your investments are gonna succeed. You cannot guarantee that your to-do list is gonna get checked off. You just can’t guarantee those things.

if nothing else because you might die. Not only might your work be frustrated, but you might actually die. It might be that time, that season, so far as God is concerned. So here’s the rhetorical question about man’s toil. What gain is it? And that moves then to some observations that Solomon makes on God’s work. It goes back and forth between a question about man’s toil, some observations on God’s work then it’ll go back to both man and God and the rest of the paragraph. Some observations on God’s work. First, God gives men an unhappy task to do. I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. In chapter one he talked about this being an unhappy business. That is, God has given us work to do and we get tired from doing it. And then tomorrow we got to do it again and we’ll be tired tomorrow night and week after week Monday morning after Monday morning I got to tell you I don’t want to go back to school tomorrow morning like I really had that sense at this moment right now

I don’t want to go back to school tomorrow morning I would like to be released from work for a while all kinds of work that would be nice but that’s not going to happen. You probably feel that way as well. God has given us work to do and there is no end in sight to that work. From one perspective then, God has given us this business and again, depending on your perspective, it’s an unhappy business. Depending on your perspective though, if it’s in line with God’s perspective, God makes everything beautiful in its time. Somehow Monday mornings are beautiful in God’s time. Somehow homework, somehow chores, somehow even life and death, gaining and losing. All of those things in God’s time, from God’s perspective, are organized in such a way as to create a beautiful picture that shows him off. From our perspective, if we’re not in line with God, if we’re not submitting to him, that’s going to be annoying, frustrating, irritating, it’s going to make us angry.

And yet, if we can get in line with God, we can see the beauty in all that he’s doing, Providence, history, and certainly then specifically in our own lives. And we know that something is beyond us. Even those people who are frustrated about life know that there is something else because another thing, the third thing that God has done is He puts eternity into each heart. Second part of verse 11, also He has put eternity into man’s heart yet so that He cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Everybody has this built-in hunch, Even the most spiritually dead pagan has a built-in hunch that life is bigger than him or her.

There is something more to this life than living and dying. More than just trying to make it through this day. Thank You, S.C. squared. There is more and everybody knows that whether they talk about it or not. Either Solomon and God is right that God has put this into their hearts, or then the people are right. And I’m going to go with Solomon and God on this one. That somewhere inside of everybody is this knowledge, this understanding, awareness that something is going on that’s bigger than them and lasts longer than them, put eternity into man’s heart. Yet, again, depending on your perspective, this is frustrating.

Because people who are not in line with God’s perspective, people who are not happy about God being the one in control, they’d like to be in control. Well, they know that something is beyond them, but they can’t figure it out. Now, if you’re in line with God, you can know that something is bigger than you, but you’ll let God take care of it. If you’re not in line with God, it’s going to to be frustrating. Well, he comes back to, I think we got through some of this at least, Solomon’s conclusion on man’s toil. So he’s back to looking at man as the subject again. The superlative prospect of joy and toil. We talked about this at the end of chapter 2. Exact same outline. The superlative prospect of joy and toil.

I perceived. Here’s this conclusion. I perceived. I know. I am aware. I have observed. And here’s my, here’s my analysis. I perceived that there is nothing better. That’s the superlative idea. Nothing higher, nothing better. Nothing better for them than to be joyful and do good as long as they live. Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in his toil. There is nothing better than enjoying your life day by day, week by week, and working in it.

Nothing better than that. Also remember that the joy is not something you can work to get. The joy is something that you get in work from God. The sovereign giver of joy and toil, this is God’s gift, sorry, this is God’s gift to man. We talked about that again at the end of chapter 2. Well that brings us to Solomon’s conclusion now on God’s work, starting in verse 14. I perceived, I know, here’s my analysis. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever. Nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. God has done it so that people fear before him that which is already has been and that which is to be already has been, and God seeks what has been driven away. First we see on Solomon’s conclusion on God’s work are the attributes of his work. I perceive that whatever God does, three things, endurest forever, nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. This is the second conclusion. He gave us a conclusion on man’s toil, now a conclusion on man’s work, and just three quick things about God’s work. His work

is permanent. Whatever God does, endurest forever. It is settled. It’s permanent. you can’t change it. Secondly, his work is complete. Nothing can be added to it. God is not waiting for you to help him out. He doesn’t need your help, my help, anybody’s help. You can’t add anything to his work. You can’t add anything to his work that endures forever, that’s settled, that’s final. And third, his work is secure. You can’t take anything away from it. That’s the kind of control that God has of his universe. That’s the kind of control he has over nature. That’s the kind of control he has over history. That is the kind of control he has in your life. What he does will last and you can’t add anything to it and you can’t take anything away from it. It’s bulletproof. I mean it is tightly zipped.

It’s airtight. You’re not breaking in. It’s the attributes of his work. Secondly, the reason for his work. The end of verse 14, so that people fear before him. So so that they worship Him. So that they give Him proper place and respect and honor and thanks. And if you are not submitting to God, He’s frustrating your plans for His own sake. To show you that you are not God and you will never be in His position, He is in control He deserves your worship. And if you are submitting to God, He’ll frustrate your plans too. Because you might forget that He is in control. And it’s not about you and your organizational skills.

And you’re getting up early and going to bed late. Because unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor labor in vain. God means for us to recognize that He is God and we are not. He has organized, as I’ve said, nature, history, your life, your next week. He has organized in such a way that you would fear Him, worship Him, give Him the proper respect. That’s the reason why He does what He does. that leads to the third conclusion on God’s work, the steadfastness of his work in verse 15.

That which is already has been and that which is to be already has been and God seeks what has been driven away. And here verse 15 is simply emphasizing the thought of verse 14, that God does what he wants and nothing can stop him. Nothing, nothing can stop him, no person can stop him. The unchangeableness of God’s actions shows that similar events in history are because he planned it that way. He is in control of repeating cycles. That doesn’t mean that history is cyclical. That means that God likes to repeat things. In other words, there is nothing new under the sun. Solomon already told us that in Chapter 1. It’s a behind the scenes look maybe at Chapter 1, verse 9.

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there’s nothing new under the sun. Whereas in Chapter 1, I think we realize implicitly that that’s God’s work. Here it’s very clear. I mean, it’s all God. God is the one who we call behind the scenes. And yet, in fact, he is organizing it all. God makes the same things happen over and over again. He’s the one in control of that. God is the one who keeps the cycles of nature and history going, whether it’s seasons or generations, whether it’s sunrise or sunset, whether it’s the circuits of the wind. The fact that there is nothing new and the fact that things repeat is not because God is bored or because it just happened that way. It’s because he is intentional and in control.

Now before we go on, let me try to point out that this is either really good news or really bad news depending on where you sit. I like where you sit in your blue chair right now. Depending on how you view this steadfastness of God’s work and the unchangeableness of what God does and the repetitions that God brings into life. That is either really good news, or that is really irritating. If God is not at the center of your life, that is going to be really irritating because you can’t get out of it. You can’t escape from it. But if God is at the center of your life, then you know what? That is the foundation for your joy in toil.

In fact, this verse right here, verse 15, is in many ways, this is the concrete floor that you can’t break through that supports joy. If you’re getting joy in toil, if that is a gift from God to you that you are able to experience, then nothing can change it. Nothing can stop it. It’ll keep going and going and going. God’s unchangeable and repetitious providence is not a hindrance to joy for those who are submitting to him. One of the books that I have suggested in the past is called When I Don’t Desire God, the Fight for Joy or How to Fight for Joy or something like that is subtitle, One I Don’t Desire Got in the book. He gives a quote from a guy named G. K. Chesterton, a book called Orthodoxy. This is part of the quote and then I’ll finish the rest that’s not up here for you. Children always say, do it again. And the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exalt in monotony, But perhaps God is strong enough to exalt immonotany. It is possible that God says every morning,

do it again to the sun. And every evening, do it again to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike. It may be God makes every daisy separately, but he has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that he has an eternal appetite of infancy, but we have sinned and grown old, and our father is younger than we. The repetitions, the meaningless monotony is only from one perspective, and that is a perspective that it is not God’s. God must love Monday mornings and Tuesday mornings and Wednesday mornings as he calls out to the Sun, get going it’s time and when there is life and death that is not frustrating to God that’s not surprising to God that’s exciting to God and it can be exciting to us and we can’t have joy in the midst of all of that chaos. At least it looks like chaos to us. We can have joy in all of the different times and seasons of life if God is at the center. If we are fearing Him, if we are worshiping Him, if we are submitting to Him, then we can have this joy that nobody can touch. We can have joy in

midst of sorrow, we can have joy in the midst of monotony. It is not God’s fault, then it is our fault when we get out of that. I think that’s a great idea. God rejoices and exalts in his repetitious work. Seasons, generations, all of it. Well, I’ll admit that I have just as difficult a time applying this as probably any of you. I hope that you understand that in my excited preaching and my, you know, hopefully bold proclamation of the superlative prospect of joy and toil. I hope you don’t get in your minds, well he’s really excited about that because you know his life is so good. I mean I like all the good things that God has given but there are adversity things in my life as well as in yours and I have sin in my heart just like you have sin in yours and it is a great temptation to me as I think for most of you to make my life dependent on me and to get irritated or frustrated or discouraged in a way that is unnecessary in light of the fact that God is in control. I have those very same issues. I mean, I have a

three-year-old who likes to say, do it again. And that, you know, can drive me nuts. Really? So I I understand being surprised or being discouraged about loss. I understand the sorrow of death and sickness and pain. I understand the positive circumstances and how they bring a temporal kind of joy and how we think if we could just organize our temporal circumstances to have more of the good stuff then that would be more joyful. I understand and struggle with the idea of getting things done. I mean I have a to-do list. I have appointments and events on a calendar.

I have hats that I wear and responsibilities to take care of and I always wonder how there’s going to be enough time to do those and do them well. Even if I thought there was enough time I don’t think I’ll have enough energy. I mean I am right there. I understand that frustration, that disappointment, and the sense of uneasiness that we can have from life. And so one of the things I did was read a book called Getting Things Done. Not like I thought that that would supersede the Bible, but I don’t particularly love details and administrative hoo-ha. So I So I thought maybe if I read a book on it, maybe that would give me some ideas and some helpful insights.

And in a lot of ways, it has. And I’m very thankful for it. I’d recommend it to somebody who is looking to be able to organize their life on a practical level a little bit better. I’m good for that. So that’s the GTD, getting things done. Like I said, there’s a lot of positive things in, not just the book getting things done, but the idea of getting things done. You have stuff you gotta do today. Some of you probably got homework that you haven’t done yet for tomorrow. You gotta get stuff done today.

You moms, wives who are making lunch for multiple people this afternoon or whatever. I mean, there’s work to be done. I understand that. there’s benefit in getting things done. However, I really would like to make my motto less GTD and more ETP. I’d like for my motto to include the process and I’ll talk about that in a moment, but to enjoy the process rather than just be constantly worried about getting things done.

Let me first mention some similarities between the two ideas because you can get things done and Not be a Christian you can get things done and be a Christian you can get things done and not have got at the center of Your life you can try to get things done and have got at the center of your life. So The the getting things done column is is something that anybody can do The enjoying the process I think is something that you know You know, an unbeliever could do maybe for a little bit, but not the kind of ETP that I’m talking about from Solomon here in Ecclesiastes.

But there are some similarities. Here’s just a list of some of the similarities. They’re not, they are in two columns, but these are not underneath GTD or ETP separately. These are for both. Enjoying the process does not get you out of work. I really have tried to emphasize that, that the prospect of joy is joy in toil, not joy away from toil or joy in more vacation or joy in more coffee breaks. The joy that God promises is joy in toil. So both in GTD and ETP, you gotta work and you gotta work hard and you gotta work smart. You have stewardship, you have responsibilities, you need organization. Just because you’re enjoying the process, by enjoying the process, I don’t have in my mind somebody who never washes clothes and just wears everything dirty and is always late and turns their homework in when they want and maybe has a job for a week and then decides they don’t like it.

Somebody who has isolated themselves away from life and interaction. And join the process does not come by getting out of life, it comes by living life in the process differently. So you still have priorities, you still have projects that you need to take care of, still gotta do planning, skills are beneficial, you’ll still have calendar events and it doesn’t change that you have a to-do list.

Doesn’t change that you’ll probably get a paycheck if it’s a job or there are other rewards that you get for getting things done. You still have commitments to fulfill. One of my personal favorites, even in enjoying the process, that includes interruptions, obstacles, difficulties, and the last one there, you’re gonna be tired. Those are the similarities.

In attempting to organize your life, get things done, do all the stuff that God has given you to do. But there are some major, major differences. First of all, perspective. The difference between just getting things done and enjoying the process is a difference of perspective. If your life is all about your accomplishments and what you can do, then you are stuck under the Sun and this is it. And of course, if this is it, you better get nervous. Because if this is all that there is, and your is is not very organized, then you got work to do, you better get to it. But you can enjoy the process while getting some things done at least, realizing that there is more to life than just your calendar and your to-dos and your responsibilities and your commitments.

It’s a difference of perspective. There’s also a difference in your standards or your definition of success. If just getting things done is the issue, then your definition of success is the product, the end result, the finishing, the checking it off of the box, Checking it off of the list. If life is all about getting things done, if however you’re enjoying the process, then success is defined as your diligence to work, your faithfulness, your, again, diligence.

Third, it’s a difference of energy. It’s a difference of the power behind both of the things. One is the flesh, one is the spirit. Again, this kind of gets beyond what Solomon was talking about specifically. He was not talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit enabling that, but I’ll tell you what, as a New Testament Christian, I know that in this God’s gift of joy in toil, that’s coming through the Spirit, because part of the fruit of the Spirit is not only love, but joy. If life is for you stuck underneath the sun and all of your stuff that you got to do, you don’t have any other power than what you have in your flesh, what you have in your body.

And for some that’s more than others, but I guarantee you for nobody is it as much as the spirit. A difference of perspective, a difference in definition of success, a difference of energy. This is a big one. The difference of who’s in control. people who are trying to organize everything in their life are trying to put themselves in the position of sovereignty. In enjoying the process, that’s only possible when you realize that you are actually not the one who is in control, that God is the one who is sovereign, directing each and everything every moment of your life. There are differences in responses then to both of these things. On the negative side, you’re either overwhelmed, because I tell you what, all of you have more things to do than you think you can do. Everybody in here thinks that they have more things to take care of and get accomplished than they can possibly do. And those people who actually do have a lot of things to do think that most of the rest of you are ridiculously naive.

Nevertheless, almost everybody is consumed by what they have to do. And you are overwhelmed if it all depends on you, but you can enjoy the process and have peace. Whether it gets done or whether it doesn’t get done, depending on, you know, what it is, peace is still possible. Almost like that’s connected back to the Spirit as well. On the other hand, let’s say you do get something done. You check it off of your list. Well, what does that bring about? It brings about pride. Look at what I accomplished. Look at me. Look how great I am. How organized, how skillful, whatever. Brings pride. On the other side though, you have something much different than pride. You have contentment. God enabled me to get this done. Or God enabled me to work and I didn’t get it done and that’s okay. Last and probably the most important, first line is perspective, second line is definition of success, third line is energy, fourth line is your response or your reaction or fourth line is control, fifth line is reaction, the last one is

motivation. The glory of you or the glory of God. What we’re looking at here are differences in worldview and it will make a difference whether then your life has joy or not. If you are stuck on the under the Sun GTD side, you’re always going to be anxious. You’re always going to be looking for more than is there. You will never succeed enough to have contentment or satisfaction. And I tell you, more than anybody in this room, Solomon understood that. He had way more resources and he spent way more energy and time, years of his life pursuing getting things done in projects and accomplishments and pleasures. And joy, he concludes is not found on that side of the line. Joy is found in God, in the toil, in the monotony, in resting in Him. That’s where the joy is found. You like how this works. We had GTD, you can barely see it I know, but we had GTD and ETP, we had some comparisons, and then we had some differences. I don’t know if you can see what that actually makes then with those lines there. Lastly, CRS,

celebrating Resurrection Sunday. And just for a couple minutes, I just have one one passage I’d like you to look at in First Peter. One passage, I mean we could cross-reference ourselves to death. I mean we could spend all afternoon looking at passages that connect joy in life with the death and resurrection of Christ.

We could talk all day long, all week long, about the connection of peace and contentment in life with the death and resurrection of Christ. We could talk from so many different passages about the hope beyond the Sun that we have. The hope beyond the S-U-N that we have in the S-O-N and His death and resurrection, the eternal life. We could talk about the perspective that the death and resurrection brings to the here and now. But just a couple verses. 1st Peter chapter 1, start at the middle of verse 17. Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were redeemed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God.”

The biggest problem with life under the sun is not that it’s just empty. That’s a big problem. vanity of vanities, all is vanity. That’s a huge discouragement and disappointment. But do you realize that it’s worse than just being empty? It’s worse than just being futile, it’s sinful. Life lived for under the sun is not just futile, it’s sinful because it’s ultimately saying you can get satisfaction outside of God.

And if you can get satisfaction outside of God, then you have just created yourself an idol and you’re worshiping that instead of the God. That is a feudal way of life, to look for satisfaction and joy here under the sun. It’s more than feudal, it’s sinful. And you know what you needed to get out of that? See, the fact is that everybody is trapped under the sun. You are trapped under the sun if you are not redeemed out of that. Redeemed, ransomed out of, if you were not forgiven and then transferred to a whole new sphere of life that’s only possible in Jesus Christ. And his death actually paid the penalty for all your seeking of pleasure in temporal stuff. His death paid the penalty for that sin. His death paid the penalty for your idolatry, your adultery, loving this instead of loving him. His death paid the penalty for that, and even better, his resurrection, which we celebrate today guaranteed the final defeat of that, guaranteed the defeat of your death.

Your death will not then be it. There’s more. Your futile way of living does not have to be the power right now. It can be beyond that. And I guess I’m almost It’s almost done, but Christ did not redeem us from work. He redeemed us to work for Him. That’s huge. He didn’t get us out of work. He got us out of the trudgery. That’s like toil and drudgery combined. He got us out of the meaningless part of the monotony. He didn’t get us out of the monotony. He got us out of the meaningless part of it. He didn’t get us out of work. got us out of the vanity part of work.

He didn’t get us out of being tired, but he promised that all who come to him will find rest. And too many of us are still stuck in the GTD column trying to get it done when in fact, we need to be in him and recognizing all that he has accomplished for us. Joy in this life in toil, And, joy in the next life is only possible because of him.

As we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. You may remember that in my first few messages on Ecclesiastes, I included this little breakdown. You remember this from chapter one? Nothing has meaning, nothing is ever finished, nothing is under our control and nobody cares. Nothing ever satisfies. Nothing is original. No one will remember you, and then you die. You remember that frustration, that dismality from chapter one? I’d like to give another side to that. Nothing has meaning except things done for Christ. That was goosebumps. Boom! And that means anything can have meaning if it’s done for Christ. I mean outside of sinful things, obviously. That is liberating from the dismality and the discouragement that Solomon was presenting.

In Christ, it can all be good. Nothing is ever finished. Except for the work of Christ. And we can actually rejoice in that. There’s no more working out my salvation. I’m not stuck in some rut waiting to, you know, have the peace or the contentment based on something that I do. His work is finished, which means my joy, my eternal joy is guaranteed. I got to work, yes, but if I don’t get anything done the rest of my life. In fact, if I die before I finish this sermon, I can still have joy. Because his work is done. Nothing is under our control. I tell you what, that’s a good thing. Nobody cares except for those in Christ who have a different perspective. Nothing ever satisfies except for Christ. Nothing is original. Well who cares if you have Christ? I’m serious about that. Big whoop that you can’t invent anything. There’s nothing new under the sun. You don’t need anything new when you have Jesus.

No one will remember you, but it isn’t about you, is it? And then you die to live with Christ. And you can’t beat any of those things. There is nothing better than joy in toil in Christ. And our discouragement, our disappointments, our sadnesses, those may be part of life in the times and seasons that God has ordained for us, but there is so much more. And how dare any of us on this Resurrection Sunday think that life is to make much of us. It ought to be to make much of him. There’s great joy in that. And Father, thank you for Solomon. Thank you for him writing down what he did and preaching his message to us via The written word and Ecclesiastes, thank you for that.

Even more though, thank you for your spirit, which helps us to understand it. Even more than that, thank you for your son. And we do not have words that can accurately, proportionately describe the humility humility that thinking on his death and resurrection brings to us. The helplessness in realizing that there was nothing we could do. The discouragement of realizing how sinful we are.

There just, there aren’t adverbs and adjectives enough to communicate the depth of our heart and our sensitivity to that. And at the very same time, there is nothing, no words, no song that can communicate the heights of elation and celebration and joy that we have also in your Son. And how we just need to live in Him in Christ alone. Solus Christus, for the glory of Christ alone, making much of Him alone, and get ourselves out of His throne or acting like we’re in His throne and submitting to Him as our Lord and our Savior. We pray all this in His name. Amen.