The Path of Wisdom (Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:14)
Sermon Notes
Sermon Series: Ecclesiastes - Striving After Wind
Sermon Title: The Path of Wisdom
Passage: Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:14
Preacher: Ashley Herr
The Source of Wisdom (6:10-12)
God expresses His sovereignty over His creation, exercising authority over it by:
Naming all He has created
Knowing all He has created
The Path to Wisdom (7:1-10)
He begins at the end, with death (7:1-4)
Then looks back (7:5-10), showing four good steps to take on the path to wisdom
Wisdom is gained by receiving correction (7:5-6)
Wisdom is preserved by resisting corruption (7:7)
Wisdom is matured by remaining patient (7:8-9)
Wisdom is lived out by moving forward (7:10)
What makes wanting to back to the ‘good ol days’ foolish is what we fail to recognize, as nostalgia lies to you
We fail to recognize people have been saying this for at least over 2,500 years
We fail to recognize that our selective memory over romanticizes aspects of the past while ignoring the horrific aspects of that same past
We fail to recognize God’s presence and all that is good in the present
When were those former days for you? What made them better for you? Wold we all truly be better off if we went back to the way things were then?
Why do you want to go back? What are you potentially trying to avoid, or escape from by returning to the past?
Sometimes our longing for the past is simply a way to escape from today’s problems, trading them in for yesterday’s problems, because those are somebody else’s problems
The Value of Wisdom (7:11-12)
It protects you
It preserves you
Reflecting on Wisdom (7:13-14)
Read through Psalm 139 as a guide for the spiritual practice of Examen
