Never Lose Heart

June 2, 2019                    NOTES NOT EDITED

Never Lose Heart

Ecclesiates 1:1-18; John 15

SIS: Overcome discouragement by fighting false feelings and focusing on the Father.

If you take even a casual glance at the STATE OF AFFAIRS in our world, and the state of affairs of our churches you cannot help but be discouraged.  Our nation is literally coming apart at the seams. In a time when our nation needs the church the most, most churches barely have a pulse.

This REMINDS ME OF A MAN I read about this week.  He had been ill for quite some time. The doctor had ordered an almost endless battery of tests and prescribed an almost uncountable number of pills.  Now, the man was at the doctor’s office yet once again.  He was almost completely discouraged.  He asked his doctor, “Doc am I getting any better at all?”  The Doctor smiled and replied in professional tone, “I don’t know.  Let me check your purse.”

The WORLD IS SICK AND SINKING deep in sin.  People inside and outside of the church are feeling discouraged.  Even the Great King Solomon fought soul crushing despair, and even wrote an entire book in the Bible about it.    Let’s Begin by reading Eccl. 1:1-11. 

Living a victorious Christian life with consistent and complete victory over discouragement has two components.  One is, “fighting our feelings,” and two is, “focusing on the Father.

1.  Fighting Our Feelings

(v1) The author of our text calls himself, “Qoheleth.”  This means, “Teacher or Preacher.”  It refers to the leader of the congregation.  Literally means, “COLLECTOR of sentences” (BDB).  The Teacher in our text highlights three feelings that we must fight in order to have victory over discouragement.

A.  We must fight the feeling, “I’m FRUSTRATED.”  (2-4)

(v2)  The words, “absolute futility,” could not be a stronger indication of the depth of the Preacher’s discouragement.  It is repeated throughout the Book of Ecclesiastes. “VANITY OF VANITIES”—the DOUBLING of the same term is what gives the sense of “absoluteness.”   It literally means, “vapor or breath.”  It denotes something with no weight or significance.  It refers to “emptiness, uselessness, and meaninglessness.”  It can refer to something fleeting or fragile.  James describes life in a similar way:

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. (Jam 4:14, NASB)

(V3)  What does a man gain for all his efforts? Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of life, especially for men but increasingly so for women, is the feeling that one has spent an entire life “climbing the ladder of success, only to realize that it was leaning against the wrong wall.”  People pursue every avenue possible to gain a sense of “success” in life, with many coming to end and realizing it had all been “a chasing after the wind.”  Suppose a man works all his life and gathers to himself billions of dollars, and dozens of homes, with the most expensive cars in the garage.  When that man dies, his grave will be dug at the same depth as the man who worked all his life and gathered little to himself.  Success is such a difficult commodity to weigh.  The pursuit of it can lead to “frustration.”  It is like “chasing the wind” (14, NIV) which you can never catch.

B.  We must fight the feeling, “I’m EXHAUSTED.” 

vv4-8)  This is the Preacher’s description of the proverbial “rat race.”  He describes the continual “motion without progress” in FOUR WAYS.  He talks about the constant (v4) “coming and going of generations.”  Like the old SCHICK Ejector Blades, a new generation pushes the old generation out and the former is soon forgotten (v11).  The Preacher then looks to nature for more examples of “meaningless motion and activity.” 

(v5) He speaks of the SUN rising and setting, rising and setting and always ending up in the same place—even “panting” in exhaustion from all this meaningless motion.  (v6).  He laments the meaningless motion of the WIND, “blowing south, blowing north, ‘round and ‘round” yet going nowhere.  (v7) The Preacher speaks in the same way about the meaningless motion of “STREAMS.”  All this meaningless activity leaves the Preacher feeling exhausted and discouraged—discouragement being a parasite living off exhaustion. 
Exhaustion feeds discouragement.  You must fight the feeling of Exhaustion.  Paul had a warning about “becoming weary.”

⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good (Gal. 6:9,NIV)

C.  We must fight the feeling, “I’m UNSATISFIED”

(V8) In verse 8 the Preacher says, “All things are wearisome, I cannot speak.”  The word, “things,” can better be translated, “WORDS” in keeping with the conclusion of the second clause.  The Preacher, with all his wisdom is, in the face of such great discouragement, WITHOUT ANY WORDS to even describe what he is feeling.  He just feels totally numb by the constant and meaningless cycles of life.  So often you hear people advise others they find in despair, “Just talk to somebody.”  At this point in the slippery slide down the slope of despair, people need our presence more than our “prescriptions.”  This is the point of despair when a person feels totally, UNFULFILLED.  This is a close cousin to FRUSTRATION which we already mentioned, but at a deeper, even more spiritual level. In almost total despair the Preacher cries out, “the eye is not satisfied by seeing or the ear filled with hearing.”  (v9).  I am so often reminded of Mick JAGGER and Rolling Stones singing, “I can’t get no, satisfaction. I’ve tried and I’ve tried, and I’ve tried, and I’ve tried; but I can’t get no, satisfaction. 

The Preacher was feeling totally UNFULFILLED.  We must fight the feeling of DISSATISFACTION in life.

This won’t be easy.  The average person sees 3000 to 5000 ADVERTISEMENTS every day according to one researcher.  Another researcher found the average person sees about 1000 online ads alone each day.  The key issue in these advertisements is to make you feel dissatisfied with something in your life, whether its toothpaste or toilet paper, or type of car you drive.

Discouragement is a giant, just like Goliath.  IT IS NOT GOING TO GO AWAY UNLESS YOU PUT IT AWAY.  And you put away by fighting it.  You cannot throw a sheet over it and imagine it is not there.  You cannot smother it with more meaningless activity hoping it will notice you are busy and simply go away.  Discouragement knows only the language of conquest:  a stone to the forehead and a sword to its neck.
Don’t surrender to the feelings of frustration, exhaustion, and dissatisfaction in life, fight those feelings.  Fighting negative feelings is “WHAT” we need to do, but “HOW” do we “fight the feelings that breed discouragement?”

2.  FOCUS ON THE FATHER (Jn. 15)

Do you know there is one person I have never seen discouraged?  That is a dead man.  A dead person is absolutely immune from the trials and tribulations of life.  The reason so many Christians get so discouraged is because they are not “dead.”  Paul says,

I have been crucified with Christ  ²⁰ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. (Gal. 5:19-20)

Jesus reminded us of this same principle:   If anyone wants to come with  Me, he must deny himself,  take up his cross daily,  and follow Me. (Lk. 9:23).

The cross was an INSTRUMENT of death.  When we take up the cross of Christ, we focus on God, and His will, not ourselves. By focusing on God, we are free from discouragement.

There are five simple, yet powerful ways to FOCUS DAILY on the Father.  In discipleship, this godly focus has been called, The Disciple’s Cross.  The five basic disciplines for focusing on God the Father and Jesus Christ are outlined in John 15.  [CROSS PIC]

A.  WORSHIP.  Wake up in an attitude of worship and live worshipfully throughout your day.  Basically, worship is getting into the Presence of God, and abiding there all day, every day.  John says,

Jn 15:5  “I am the vine;  you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.

The word, “remain,” can mean “abide.”  It paints a WORD PICTURE of building a house and then taking up residence.  Worship means living in the “abiding Presence of God passionately and permanently.” Worship can be simply defined as the passionate expression of our deep devotion to God.  It means much more than “sitting passively in a church service once per week.”  When we do come together to worship God as a “congregation” is should be a “passionate expression of our deep devotion.”  So often, worship is more like the sluggish competition of a turtle race.  SPEAKING OF racing turtles, the people of Nisswa, Minnesota and surrounding areas get together every Wednesday in the summer for “turtle racing.”  They gather a a local parking lot.  Vendors rent turtles.  Others sell turtle products—shirts, hats, and the like.  Sometimes as many as 435 turtles race in a day.  The track is six feet long with several lanes.  There is an official announcer who calls the racers to the start.  When the announcer says “Go!” the racers release their turtles.  The crowd literally goes wild.  The racers jump up and down, shout at the turtles, wave their hands furiously above their heads, and even throw water to cheer on their turtle.  The winner of each race, gets to enter the final.  The winner of the final gets $5.00—and a complimentary turtle necklace.  People of northern Minnesota are typically reserved folks, but when it comes to turtle racing, they are crazy passionate.  Kind of makes you wonder what most “worshippers” sitting stone-faced in church really think about God.

Worship is “our passionate display of devotion to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”  Worship helps keep us focused on God.  Weekly worship keeps us from becoming weak.  Worship helps us fight and defeat the Giant of Discouragement.

B.  PRAYER.  Jn. 15:7b

 If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

PRAYER JERKS us out of the thought patterns of this world and puts us into the mindset of heavenly wisdom.  As I have said time and time again (as the Bible teaches), the fight for victory and godliness is “spiritual,” not “physical.” It may have physical components, the essence of the fight of faith is spiritual.  Worldly wisdom, however well-intentioned, will never be sufficient in the fight against discouragement.  Notice what the Preacher says about worldly wisdom—which he had more than any person who has ever lived, or every will live (16-17):

¹⁶ I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷ Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind (NIV)

Prayer helps us get our head out of the SAND of life’s circumstances and catapults us into the skies of God’s perspective.  Prayer gives us a “heavenly mindset,” by connecting us to eternal Wisdom.  The Bible says,  Col. 3: 2.   Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.

There is no more powerful weapon against despair than prayer.  In 1986 the oil business had gone bust, and banks that had extended loans based on the booming times were now failing.  Money for capital dried up.  The economy dried up.  DAVID GREEN was sitting in the offices of Hobby Lobby, a crafting store chain, reading a notice from a bank that was about to foreclose on his business.  Discouragement set over David Green like a smothering avalanche.  Green was a deeply spiritual man, but that did not protect him from feeling deep despair.  Green later wrote, “I know I prayed prior to that time, but while reading that letter, I got deadly serious about prayer.”  Green had a big oak desk.  He decided to make the space beneath his desk a “prayer closet.”  Several times a day he would crawl under his desk to pray and ask for God’s help.  Hobby Lobby pulled out from under the looming flood of bankruptcy.  Today, Hobby Lobby today has annual sales of over 4.6 billion dollars.

C.  BIBLE STUDY.  Jn 15:7a

⁷ If you remain in Me and My words remain in you,

The most powerful book ever written or that ever will be written is the Bible.  It has stood the test of time and has survived the tirades of tyrants.  Potentates tried to wash it away with the blood of thousands of martyrs. Political powers try hammer it into oblivion in society.  But today it is still the most revered and most powerful book in the world.  The Bible is the ANVIL upon which the plan of God for our lives is shaped.  It has been said, and I believe it is true, that a BLACKSMITH may go through dozens of  hammers in the course of his lifetime, but only have one anvil.  You need to be in Bible Study much more than just one sermon a week—as great as my preaching is ((I say with my tongue stabbing my cheek), it ain’t nearly enough.  You need to be in the Word every day and in the Word in a small group at least once a week.  Some of you are in such spiritual disrepair, you may need an additional small group Bible Study midweek!

D.  FELLOWSHIP—Loving those “In” the Church (Jn. 15:12-13)

¹² This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life  for his friends.

That’s a pretty spectacular example of “friendship.”  In studying for this sermon, I read the stories of several Medal of Honor recipients, most of whom received the award after dying heroically.  It inspired, and convicted me.  I was inspired by the degree of love and dedication that exists among combat vets.  Without any hesitation, these heroes were willing to “jump on a grenade,” so to speak, to save the lives of fellow vets.  It reminded me of the sacrifice of JESUS CHRIST, who gave Himself, not only for a few, but for the entire world. Jesus died, so I could live.  That INSPIRES me.  The stories of selfless heroes, and the Lord Himself, ALSO CONVICTS me.  It convicts me of the shallowness with which I sometimes treat the fellowship of believers we call the church.  We should be so close that we would literally give our lives for one another.  Sadly, there are many people sitting week after week in a church service that do not even know the names of the people sitting on the other end of the row.

When we lose our sense of deep and meaningful fellowship with other believers, we lose our focus on God.  The Bible asks, “How can you love Him whom you have not seen if you cannot even love those you see?” (1Jn 4:20)  The obvious answer is, “one cannot love God if he does not have a deep love for others.  When we are out of focus with the fellowship of God’s people, we are out of focus with God and discouragement lurks just around the corner.

E.  EVANGELISM—Loving those “Outside” the Church (Jn. 15:8)

⁸ My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples.

Fruit on a tree is not “ORNAMENTAL,” but it is “instrumental.”  Fruit has a purpose—it carries the seeds of another generation of trees.  Real wisdom is not the ability to count the number of apples on a tree, but to count the number of trees in an apple.  The fruit of a tree is the lifeblood of the tree—it is the trees future.  Sharing the gospel with those “outside” the church is the lifeblood of the church.  A church with no evangelism is like a tree with no fruit—it has no future.

Nothing keeps a person, or a church, more focused on the Father than doing the work of evangelism and sharing the gospel with those outside the church.  You will never get discouraged if you are regularly sharing the gospel with others.

Discouragement is a “fearsome enemy,” as fearsome to our lives today as the Nine feet, Nine Inch Goliath was to David in days of old.  We can bring down the Giant of Discouragement if we fight negative feelings and focus on the Father.  The fight won’t be easy or without great risk, but it will always be successful.  Never Lose Heart.  Keep on fighting and keep your focus on God.

CLOSE   This week I read an article about A HIKER who was lost on the Island of Maui.  I noticed the article because Shari (my wife) had just landed on that island a couple days before the hiker was found.  The article explains the basics of the hiker’s harrowing ordeal when she was found “with a broken leg, sunburns and scrapes, and a torn meniscus in her knee. malnourished and dirty.”  What struck me from the article, however, was the last line of the article when the hiker says,  “I wanted to give up,” Ms. Eller, 35, said, “But the only option I had was life or death.”

Such is the motivation of total desperation.  When you are on the edge of the cliff of despair and discouragement, inaction is not an option—you must choose a direction.  If you are sitting with your feet dangling on the edge of despair, you have to make a choice today—surrender to the love of God, or sail over the edge into total blackness and hopelessness.

So, let each of us decide with boldness and resolution, “We Will Never Lose Heart!”  We will fight negative feelings and focus on God, knowing that discouragement will fall before us as surely as Goliath fell before David.