Lesson 10
Ecclesiastes
The Things That Don't
Work!
Solomon continues to give the documentation for his
statement of 3:1.
3:8 A time to love and a time to hate; -- 'ahabh
bh;a;
People
seem to be in love with love, a love that is unthinking, non-discerning, gullible, to the point
of loving anything. (very superficial no real
commitment.)
There
is a time to demonstrate love and there is a time to hate, to express a strong
righteous indignation at prejudice, acts of injustice, anything that violates
the expressed will of God.
Ps 119:104,130
The
next contrast is an intensification of love and hate - logical conclusion.
3:8b A time for war
and a time for peace.
- Today we must be
extremely cautious in our dealings with any communist country, esp.
- The major problem today is with the Islamist
countries whose objective is to establish a caliphate that covers the whole
earth.
- Freedom - liberty is won and maintained by war.
It is not free - it must be earned. There is a tremendous responsibility to
succeeding generations if it is to be maintained.
If
mankind is getting better, more civilized, why is it that the 20th century has been witness to the most evil,
destructive generations in human history.
and a
time for peace.
Solomon's
time was a time of peace in contrast to the rule of his father David. (and Solomon flunked the prosperity test)
As
bel's, we are to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace. Eph 4:1-3
A Study of the Biblical view of love and hate
Ø Premise: Love - hate is a
virtue!
As we look at these we need
to remember that both of these are attitudes.
(just as fear, reverence is an attitude, both flow from your
thinking)
1. No
attitude, no matter what it may be, is inherently good or bad!
- To love is not inherently
good or inherently bad!
- To hate is not inherently good or bad.
- If you were to say that I hate, that might be
good and it might be sin! Must examine
the motivation and object!
2.
Attitudes derive their moral quality from the context.
- This is not a valid question! Do you love?
and you say yes!
- The valid question is What
or Whom do I love! Must be put into a context to determine whether it is a
good or bad!
Moral Neutral Context Moral
Attitudes Who/What Result
Directed To
love God good
hate God sinful
hate sin good
love world system sinful
Always check the Scripture to see what it
says.
Follow this pattern with all kinds of
attitudes!
3. Hate in the Bible flows between several points.
There
is such a thing as hatred of God directed towards man.
There is also the reverse to that; Man's hatred towards God.
Many want to say there are
things that God hates in man;
- But we will see that the Bible clearly says that
there are men that God hates, most times in the context the character or
activity of the hated is expressed.
* God's
hatred toward man flows from His nature, His character.
- If God is righteous don't you think that there
will be a few things that He is going to have to hate?
Now here's what you get in the OT.
- The Godly man says this, shouldn't I identify with God's values??
- If I identify with what God hates, then I also
hate, then its a virtue since I'm acting as God acts.
If
I'm going to have a relationship with God I must like what He likes, I must
hate what He hates!
- Why does the evil man hate the good man?? This results from his lack of a relationship
with God and therefore he lacks God's values impacting his thinking.
He
hates what he ought to love and loves what he ought to hate. Isa. 5:20; reason 55:8
Ø
Now
let's look at some documentation for the Biblical lines of hatred.
First: God towards man! What does God hate??
1. God
hates false religion.
Thought: In the measure that true
love increases; What
does hate do?? It also increases!!
So
a Christian, who is advancing spiritually, is one who is learning day by day to
love and to hate. Both his love and
hatred are growing deeper!
So
God hates false religion! Def: Any
religion that does not derive its doctrines and practices from the revealed
Word of God, the Bible alone.
That's
the very nature of the WOG, it expresses absolutes
since it is God-breathed, from the source of the Absolute One Himself!
- So we can establish that God hates all those
religions that do not derive their doctrine, their practices from Me, that's
what God is saying, I am the Only One, if you don't get your doctrine, if you
don't your practice from Me, I hate it!
Documentation: Look at Dt 12:29-32
Often
curiosity leads to believers being ensnared by evil; that's why Paul in Rom
-
The reason is very simple;
look at Dt 12:31.
- Before we leave this passage look at vs:32 and note just how narrow God's view is related to the
truth that He had given them.
- Also Dt 16:21-22
2. God hates
those who practice evil.
- Some try to
shrug off these passages and say that that is just the God of the OT, that's
different than the God of the NT.