Things That Are Better 
 

Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 9:1-18.

Memory Verse: "For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion" (Eccl. 9:4).

INTRODUCTION: If our blessed Lord chose this life of dependence out of all possible lives that He might have lived, does it not seem wisest, most blessed, most Christlike, for you and me to give up living the independent life in the flesh and to begin from this moment to depend upon Christ as Christ depended upon God?
  If Jesus Christ held His life moment by moment in the balance at God's dictation, should not we receive the help and expend our life as Jesus wills? If Jesus Christ allowed His plan always to give way to God's plan, do you not see that instead of scheming, planning, and striving to get our own way so much, we ought always to be looking out for God's plan and to yield submissively before it? If Jesus Christ gave up His words for the words which the Father put into His lips, do we not greatly mistake in trying to elaborate our sentences and beautify them, instead of day by day waiting to receive the words our Savior gives us? If you would depend day by day on the Master for the power of His life, opening all your being, and preferring the power imparted to any power of your own, I need not say how your life would at once become divine.
  Let us receive from our glorified Lord that life-power with which He is invested, that He may glorify and ennoble our daily existence. Let us so dress, so adorn our houses, so spend our time, so earn money, that men may think better of our Lord. We should not expend one hour for any other purpose than that our life might be glorifying Jesus Christ for being, or doing, or suffering, or giving,-the four departments of Christ's life. (written by F.B. Meyer)
(Taken from Thomas Nelson, Inc., Heritage of Great Evangelical Teaching; Featuring the best of Martin Luther, John Wesley, Dwight L. Moody, C.H. Spurgeon and others [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1996.)

LESSON QUESTIONS:

1. Though life "under the sun" may seem to be the same for the righteous and the wicked, why is life really better for the righteous? Eccl. 9:1; Deut. 33:3; John 10:29; Ps. 31:13-19.
Note: [The preacher] lays this down for a rule, that the love and hatred of God are not to be measured and judged of by men's outward condition. If prosperity were a certain sign of God's love, and affliction of his hatred, then it might justly be an offence to us to see the wicked and godly fare alike. But the matter is not so: No man knows either love or hatred by all that is before him in this world, by those things that are the objects of sense. These we may know by that which is within us; if we love God with all our heart, thereby we may know that he loves us, as we may know likewise that we are under his wrath if we be governed by that carnal mind which is enmity to him. (Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Bible, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers) 1997).

2. How different are life's events for the righteous and the wicked? Eccl. 9:2,3a; Job 9:22.

3. Although the preacher had written that the dead are better than the living (Eccl. 4:2), what perspective now causes him to reverse that opinion? Eccl. 9:3b-6; Job 10:20-22.

4. Which is the better way to live, in gloominess and sorrow, or in joy and happiness? Eccl. 9:7,8; Acts 2:46,47; Ps. 4:7,8; 16:8-11; 30:11,12; Ps. 100; 127:2; Prov. 15:15; 17:22; Isa. 55:2.

5. Which actually gives more joy, adulterous living or a secure marriage? Eccl. 9:9; Prov. 5:15-20; Eph. 5:22-33; 2 Pet. 2:18,19; Heb. 13:4; 1 Cor. 6:9-11.

6. Why should we be diligent in all our work? Eccl. 9:10; Prov. 10:4; 13:4,11; 14:23; Eph. 4:28; 1 Thess. 4:11; 2 Thess. 3:12; Isa. 65:23.

7. Does the preacher see any security or "guarantees" in life? Eccl. 9:11,12; Ps. 146:3; Prov. 23:5; 27:1; 31:30; John 16:32; Jas. 4:14; Ps. 90:10; 1 Pet. 1:24; Ps. 102:25,26; 1 Cor. 13:8.

8. How does the preacher demonstrate the superiority of wisdom over physical strength? Eccl. 9:13-16; 2 Sam. 20:15-22; Prov. 21:22; 28:2.

9. Why are the words and influence of the wise better than the counsel of the ungodly? Eccl. 9:17,18; Prov. 11:14; 13:10; 15:22; 20:18; Ps. 1:1; Prov. 12:5; Isa. 30:1-3.