Ecclesiastes 11:1–10
The sermon text. After ten chapters of uncertainty, the Teacher says sow anyway, give anyway, rejoice anyway. This is what he does with everything he has learned.
After ten chapters of uncertainty, what does he tell you to do about it? Find the imperatives.
One person gives freely and gains more. The arithmetic of generosity has never made sense on paper.
Verses 4–6 are all about not knowing. What does he conclude in verse 6 — stop, or sow?
Whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Paul is writing about an actual offering, not a principle in the abstract.
What does casting bread on the water picture — waste, or trust?
Do not get tired of doing good, because there is a harvest coming at the proper time. That last phrase is the whole encouragement.
Name one act of generosity you have hesitated on because you could not see the outcome. Do it anyway.
He scatters abroad and gives to the poor, and his heart is confident, not fearing bad news. That is Ecclesiastes 11 lived out.
Thank God for a harvest you are enjoying that somebody else sowed and never saw.
What are the Marks and the 3 Circles?
The Marks of a Disciple
Each week names one of these — the practices we are cultivating in each other.
- Daily Devotion
- Time with God every day, in the Bible and in prayer.
- Prayer
- Not only a set appointment, but a life of prayer at any hour, for anything.
- Generosity
- Giving your effort and your resources to this church and to God’s kingdom.
- Service
- Giving your time and talent to the church and its mission in the community.
- Witness
- Seeking people far from God and telling them about Jesus and about your own finding of him.
- Worship
- Weekly praise together, and a life presented daily to God’s service.
- Spiritual Disciplines
- Fasting, solitude, study, sabbath — the old practices of the faith.
The 3 Circles
How we tell someone about Jesus — simple enough to draw on a napkin. Each week names the part of it that week’s reading sits in.
- God’s Design
- The world and your life as God made them to be.
- Sin
- The arrow out. We each go our own way instead.
- Brokenness
- Where that leaves us. Ecclesiastes spends most of twelve chapters here.
- Repent & Believe
- Turning from our own way and trusting what Jesus did.
- Gospel
- Jesus lived the life we could not and died the death we deserved.
- Recover & Pursue
- The way back toward the life God designed.