Well, today we are going to conclude our series entitled Emotions. And we have, as a church, been looking at a bunch of different emotions over the last several weeks. Last week, we took a break from the series because it was Missions Conference and the kickoff. But we are back into it today. But over the last really four or five weeks, we've tried to look at these different emotions, many of which are emotions that we don't like to talk about, right?
They're emotions that are internal. Uh personal. things that we feel. And I want you to know, church, as we've looked at these different things, like, don't, you know, for me growing up, I used to feel like, you know, I'm in the wrong, I'm in sin. If I feel some of the weight of these different emotions and things, I want you to know that you're not alone in these things.
We talked about depression. We talked about anger. We talked about bitterness. We talked about guilt. We talked about these different things, and I want you to know that you're not alone with those emotions.
If you feel those in your heart today, I want you to know that every person in here, if they're honest, have gone through seasons of their life where they have felt some of these emotions in their heart. And we looked at scripture, and many people in scripture have felt these different emotions, and they've responded in different ways to the emotions that we feel in our heart. And so, but the key is that all of these are matters of. Of the heart. And that's why the scripture talks a lot about guarding your heart.
You know, Proverbs 4 says to guard our heart because everything that we do flows from it. That's why we have to be so intentional about protecting our heart because what is in our hearts will eventually spill out onto those around you. Isn't that true? If you have anger in your heart, it's going to eventually. Demonstrate it and be shown to the people around you.
If you are led in your heart by the weight of depression and guilt and some of these things, if it's not checked, it's going to eventually spill out on those around you. Those that you love the most usually feel the weight. of what is in your heart the most. And so it's important that we as Christ followers guard our heart against some of these emotions that all of us experience, even as believers, from time to time. And so today, as we end the series, I'm going to talk about an emotion.
It's a positive emotion today, okay? We've sang about it a lot, all right? Does anybody know what we're going to talk about? Joy. Very good.
Bob kind of gave it away. He gave you a little bit of a spoiler. And we try to theme a lot of our music around whatever topic we're going to talk about. But we're going to talk about the word joy today. Can we all say that word out loud?
Joy. We all want joy, right? Every single one of us, we all long for joy. In fact, you could say that every emotion that we've looked at in this series is that the answer to all of it is joy, right? In that, the positive side of what we are searching for and what we are looking for.
Is this idea of joy? We don't want to be led by guilt, we want to be led by joy. We don't want to be led by this heart emotion of depression and anxiety. We want to be led by joy. We don't want to be led by this emotion of bitterness.
We want to be led by joy. And so, this idea of joy is something that all of us are searching for. And the scripture talks a lot about where true, lasting, eternal joy. Is found. And so if you would join me in Ecclesiastes chapter number two.
Ecclesiastes chapter number two. And while you're finding it, I'm going to give you a little bit of background because I know for many of you, it's going to take you a little bit of time to find Ecclesiastes, right?
Some of you are already, don't feel guilty if you're looking at the table of contents to find what page it's on, okay? It's right after the book of Proverbs to give you a little bit of a hint, all right? And so, but Ecclesiastes, I want to give you a little bit of background because it will set the tone for what we're going to talk about here today and how we're going to land the plane on this series through the different emotions that we face.
So, the book of Ecclesiastes was written by a man named Solomon. King of Israel It's written later in his life. And Solomon, if you understand or follow his life in the Old Testament, he really was a man who had everything.
Okay. He had everything that he ever needed. He had wealth. He had. Power, he had popularity, he had the palace.
He had all the wives and concubines and everything else. He had all the possessions. He had everything that. that he ever would have needed. And as he came to towards the end of his life, He writes this book, this book of Ecclesiastes.
He writes it and basically comes to the conclusion. That all of these things that he spent his entire life trying to accumulate, his entire life trying to build. That he came to the conclusion that his accomplishments, his adventures, and his achievements. Are all but a word that he uses like 37 times in the book. are all just vanity.
You say, what does that mean? It means that all of these accomplishments and adventures and achievements. They are literally Empty. Without God. as a part of the equation.
You see, the thing that Solomon learned as he got older in his life is that he had everything that he wanted, and he had achieved everything that you could ever dream of. But he was still left feeling empty. He was still, if you follow his story, left. Feeling angry about things. He was left feeling bitter.
He was left feeling depressed and empty, even though he had. Everything. And that's because he had accumulated all things, but he had left God out of the equation. And so he writes this book. About really, it's kind of if you read it, it's easy to read the book of Ecclesiastes.
and read it almost as a As a depressing journal, if you would, about a man that is older in his life and he's just writing about the different regrets that he has in his life. But I'll tell you this: this book. It should be read with a desire. to learn from the experiences of Solomon And to learn and gain the insight on where true. Lasting Joy.
is found. Where true lasting joy is found. You see, Solomon concludes That the joyful emotion that all of us are desiring and searching for in life. must come from a source. That is outside of us.
and outside of anything that this world has to offer. Of course, that source is a relationship with Jesus. True, lasting joy. It cannot come from money, from fame, from popularity, from sex, from hobbies, from toys, from people or even accomplishments in life. The source for lasting joy is only found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
And that's the ultimate conclusion of what King Solomon did. Came for. But when you read this book. You can learn, in fact, in chapter 2, which is where we're going to be, Ecclesiastes chapter number 2 today. You can see that Solomon His whole life was on a hunt, if you would, to find joy.
He was on this hunt looking for joy and searching for joy. It was a quest. It was something that he was searching for and wanting to find in his life. And in chapter number two, we can identify ourselves with this story and with chapter two so much because he really gives us a list of things and places. Where he hunted and searched for lasting joy and found that it wasn't in these places.
It's only found in a relationship with Jesus. The first place that he hunted for joy is found in verses 2 through 10.
Solomon hunted for joy through pleasure. Through pleasure. I want to read verses 2 through 10 with you. It says this, and you can follow along. It says.
I said of laughter. It is mad, and of mirth, what doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom. And to lay hold on folly till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven, all the days of their life. I made me great works.
I builded me houses. I planted vineyards. I made me gardens and orchards. I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits. I made pools of water to water there with the wood that bringeth forth trees.
I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house. Also, I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me. I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments. And that of all sorts.
So I was great. And increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me. Verse 10. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them.
I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion. Of all my labor. And so, what you see here, just to understand, and I know how he writes is a little bit different than the way that we talk in different ways.
So, I'm going to give you some commentary and thoughts on what he's saying. But what you find here is he's on this hunt, this quest for lasting joy. And in those verses, verses 2 through 10, you find that he's hunting for joy, he's looking for it. Through through really through pleasure. And isn't that the problem that a lot of people have when they experience some of these negative emotions that we look for?
Right? We experience depression. Because of Maybe a past relationship that didn't go the the way that we wanted, maybe Through grief or through different things that we have. And that's a real emotion. And I want you to know it's not sin for you to feel these different ways because these emotions are mentioned throughout the scripture.
But the answer to all of these difficult emotions that we've been talking about, a lot of times we look for the answers. Through things that this world has to offer us. If that relationship didn't work out and it left me feeling depressed or angry or bitter or whatever, then we think that a new relationship is going to fix all of our problems. It's going to fix this pain. It's going to mask the pain that we have in our heart.
And so, therefore, we go look for that. Or we think that the job that we had and the career path that we had left us feeling a certain way, a negative emotion. And so, in other words, to fix that emotion in our heart, we just need a new job. We just need a new career. Or we need something, new friend groups and different things like that.
We need a new church to fix the pain that the previous church left on our heart and all these kind of things. And I'm not downplaying a change sometimes does need to happen in your life. But here's what I will tell you. If you're looking for any of those things, and in fact, anything that the world has to offer to fulfill those needs that you have in your heart, you are always going to be left unfulfilled in those things. And what Solomon is finding is that pleasure.
Left him feeling unfulfilled. They didn't fix the pain. and that feeling of emptiness that he had in his heart.
So you say what type of pleasure did he look for?
Well, he tried a few things. It's mentioned here. Verse number two: he tried laughter. He tried laughter to fix the pain of his heart. He felt, Solomon felt, if I can just laugh, if I can just not take life too seriously, if I can, you know, have fun, then this unhappy emotion that I feel will just be turned to lasting joy, which is what I'm looking for.
Now, I'll tell you this. I love to laugh. I love to have fun. I love to cut up. There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of those things.
But he says here in verse 2, I said of laughter, it is mad. And of mirth, what doeth it? Here's what I want you to know: laughter is a good thing. Humor is a good thing. But it can't take The pain of some of the way we feel away, it might make us feel better for a short period of time, but it cannot produce the lasting joy that our heart is looking for.
Proverbs 17 says that a cheerful heart is good medicine. I think it's a great thing to have fun, but we can't look to. Experiences and fun moments and an evening out with friends. To fix the problem. If you have a negative emotion in your.
In your life, that leaves you laying your head on your pillow at night and you can't shake it, and it produces those negative emotions in your heart. I'll tell you this: that you can go out and have a good day the next day with friends, but I'll tell you that the pain's still probably gonna be there when you lay your head again on the pillow the next night. Because laughter and experiences and those things, what Solomon found, that didn't produce the lasting eternal joy that his heart was looking for. The pain was still there, even with the laughter. But he also tried in verse number three He says, I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine.
Here's what he did.
So he tried laughter, the pleasure of that. That still left him feeling empty. And now he tried alcohol. He tried alcohol to fix that problem, that pain that he had in his heart. And he found that even through the wine and the parties and stuff like that that he would throw there in the palace, it still left him feeling empty.
Now, I know what you're thinking. This is not a sermon on alcohol, so we're not going to spend a whole lot of time on it. I know that that's a hot-button issue that a lot of you would know exactly where I stand on the issue. I'll kind of tell you briefly where I am with the issue of alcohol. Here's what I'll say is this, is that alcohol The scripture talks a whole lot about alcohol and wine and things like that.
And here's what I will tell you. I understand the argument that you can come make to me and say the Bible does not. Tell me thou shalt never Take a sip of alcohol. And I would agree with you. I would say I understand that.
So I can't dogmatically tell you today that any sip of alcohol that you ever take. is a sin before God. Here's where I personally stand on the issue of something like alcohol: is this. I've never drank in my life. And here's what I will tell you though.
is that the Bible gives me plenty of warnings. about the negative repercussions of it. That there is a lot of negatives that can come with it, as well as negatives surrounding your witness. As a result. And so for me personally, Even though I can understand your argument that this could be a liberty that you feel that you have in your life, here's where I would personally land on an issue such as this, is I would say my witness means more to me than my right.
And that's what I would say about an issue like this.
Some of you guys, this is a heavy conversation. I can tell you're like, oh boy. And so, sitting a series on it, I can teach on it another time. But what I want you to understand, I just wanted to kind of say that because I know some of you have asked me personally, because I know there's so much debate about stuff like that. That's really where I stand on it.
I think it's something that we should be very careful as believers because our witness is at stake. As well as when we look at this kind of thing, I think that there's a lot of warnings of the negative effects of it.
So we should be. Be careful with it. But here's what I'm not here to talk about that a whole lot, but here's what I'll tell you: is that Solomon. He tried alcohol to mask the pain. in his life.
He was feeling empty. He had accumulated everything. He'd accomplished everything. And he now is felt in his heart. He's still empty.
And so he's saying, Man, I'm empty. I need to fix this empty problem that exists in my soul, this depressed feeling that exists in my soul. And so now I'm going to try laughter. I'm going to just try to hang out and have fun and all these different things. And I'm going to laugh a lot and I'm going to experience all these fun things with my friends and stuff like that.
And that's going to fix the pain.
Well, he said, I still feel empty the moment that the party ends. And so he's like, okay, I'm going to go to something else to fix the pain in my heart. I'm going to go to alcohol. And if I start drinking and I start, you know, bringing all of these things into me, it's going to be like a pill that I'm going to take and put into my system. And it's going to just fix everything around me and it's going to fix the emotions.
Of my My heart. But the point that he is making is this: that as he turned to something like wine as an escape, It did not ease the pain. That existed in his art. It did not take the pain that was in his heart. Away.
So, even with the laughter, even with the alcohol, even with these things, the pain was still there. And I want you to know, church, as we search and we are on this quest to find lasting, eternal joy, it's not found in anything that this world has to offer. And that's what he is trying to say. He's like, it's not found in any of these things. He tried giving into his lustful eye.
In verse number 10. Look at what he says. And whatsoever mine eyes desired. I kept not From Them. Isn't that interesting?
Here's what he's saying: is that whatever he saw. and wanted He had. Can you imagine that? Have you ever been frustrated, maybe had a bad day? And you just want to go out.
And spend money.
Okay, ladies. Listen, isn't that a real thing? Yeah. We had a terrible day. You know what's going to fix it all?
Shopping spree. For me, it's not a shopping spree. What it is for me, it's like, I just want to go. You know, out to eat and just waste my money away and enjoy, and that's just gonna make me feel better. And a lot of times, that's what we think is going to fix the pain that is in our heart.
We're left feeling empty. We're left feeling all of these things. And what Solomon said was this: everything my eye saw, I had. And I went after. And even though I had everything you could ever imagine, I was still left.
feeling empty. It did not satisfy The empty part My heart. And the reason is, is when you don't have God. At the center of your heart. On your hunt and quest for joy.
It's going to leave you feeling empty every single time. And that's what you see here. But number two, Solomon, not only did he hunt for joy through pleasure, He hunted for joy through earthly... Treasure. Everybody say earthly treasure with me.
Earthly treasure.
So what he did was he hunted for joy through earthly treasure, through the things that this earth, this world has to offer. I mean, look at what he says. I already read it again, but I want you to see it. He said in verse 4. I made me great works.
Listen to all the things that he accomplished. I made great works. I builded, I builded me houses, right? I planted me vineyards. I made me gardens and orchards.
I planted trees. And they had all sorts of fruit.
Okay, I made pools of water. to water therewith the the wood that bringeth forth. Fourth trees. I got me servants and maidens, and I had servants born in my house. Also, I had great possessions of great and small cattle, above all that were in Jerusalem before me.
I gathered silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments. And that of all sorts.
Verse 9. I was great. I increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remaineth with me. Here's the point: what he's trying to say, and I mean, he's laying it on thick.
This is the story of his life. This is him sharing about his life as he hunted and searched for joy. Here's what he's saying. I had everything you could ever imagine. I had all the toys in the world.
I had all the money in the world. I had all of the accomplishments. I literally built my life on sex and success and possessions and wealth and all of these different things. And he literally listed it out for us here today. And he comes to this conclusion at the end of his life.
Every single thing that he had worked his entire life to get and to gain in his life on his hunt for joy, he found. that it all still left him feelin'. Empty. Empty. He looked for for s fulfillment.
To that Need in his heart. He looked for fulfillment and success. And in achievement. And in accomplishment. And he found that it can't be found there.
You say, what do we learn from his hunt for joy that he's missing?
Well, listen, here's what it is. And you might be here today. You might be some of these emotions. I've received, and I've been preaching here for four years. And I've received more comments on a series, probably from this one, about emotions than any one that I've preached.
And so I understand that a lot of you are dealing with some of these emotions, and so do I. I get it. They're real and they exist, and they exist not just in unbelievers, they exist in the hearts of believers. And I know in church life, we kind of feel so guilty when we feel these things. We're like, okay.
People have told me for years I'm in sin if I feel a certain way and stuff. And so we kind of keep them and we bury them in our hearts or we deny them or we excuse them and all these kinds of things. And what I want is for this to be a freeing series where you can. You can talk about your emotions. Without judgment or condemnation, and that you can experience freedom from it.
But if you're in it right now, the natural tendency is to look to things that this world has to offer to fix the problems that are in your heart. And that's exactly what Solomon did. Here's really what he did: he tried to find joy. in what he did. and not in who God was.
He on his hunt for joy, he was looking for joy. In success. Wasn't found there. He was looking to joy or to find joy. in sex and in relationships.
Wasn't found there. He was looking for joy. In accomplishments. And achievements. Wasn't found there.
He was looking for joy in wealth. Right? If you can just have the amount of money that that person has, then you're going to be as happy as they appear to be, right? You ever felt that way? If I just could reach the point of success that they have reached in their career, then I'll be happy.
If I was dealt the cards that they were dealt by growing up in a family like that, I would be happy, right? And we look to all of these things that this world has to offer, and what we conclude ourselves to find is this: exactly what Solomon did. We find that joy is not found in any accomplishment or success that this world has to offer, it is found only. in who God is and in God alone. That's why you find people from time to time.
You've probably met them. that they don't have a lot. But they have A lot more joy than a lot of people that have a lot have. Right? How is that?
How can somebody that doesn't have things and wasn't dealt the right deck of cards with their life, how can they be more joyful than this person who seems to have everything? It's because in everything, the world's definition of everything, joy, lasting joy, can't be found there. It's found only in who God. Is This is why if you find your identity or you look for your identity, in a position Or in a relationship. When that's not there, you struggle to find your place.
You ever met somebody like that? Their identity was in a position Was in a job? And then when that job changes. Where their responsibilities change or they're around new people, they don't even know how to function. Wh why is that?
It's because their identity for so long was in a position. It was in a person. It was in. You know, the respect that they had built around them. And if that's not there.
That's why a lot of couples, when they put their identity in their children, when their children graduate, it's like they don't even know how to live without their kids. Because their identity's been in a certain thing. I'm not downplaying that those situations are so hard. But here's what I'm going to tell you. If your identity is in a position, in a career, Or in a relationship, or in all of these things, when those things aren't there, or when there's a change in one of those things.
you're going to be left feeling these negative emotions that we've talked about. That's why our identity can't be found in any of those things. Our identity needs to be found in who we belong to. Because he's the only one about our life that is constant. He's the only one in our life that doesn't change.
And so you have to place your hope in a joy that's never going to change.
So that means, hey, your job could change, you still have lasting joy. Because your joy is in the only thing constant in your life. Your job's not constant in your life. If a relationship changes, or God forbid, a person is taken from you. If your identity is found in that relationship, then you're not going to know how to function when that relationship is taken from you.
Right? That's why our identity has to be found in something that is eternal, in something that is constant, and in something, and someone. who does not change. And that's what Solomon, that's the whole book of Ecclesiastes. He's finding that all of these things that he looked to for joy and lasting joy in his heart.
As he did before he had all of those things. Drop down to verse 11. of Ecclesiastes 2. He says this, then I looked. on all the works that my hands have made.
Yeah. And on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, All of it was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no prophet under the sun. In other words, he'd worked his entire life. to build a career. He worked his entire life to achieve something, and he found that at the end of it, all of his accomplishments.
Was empty. All of his accomplishments are gonna be taken away. All of his accomplishments are going to be gone. And they are nothing but vanity at the end of his life. And isn't that true?
We've all been to you know, memorial services and stuff like that. And it we don't get up and talk about the stuff. that somebody had, right? That's not something we talk about. We talk about who they were.
We talk about, did they know Christ? We talk about what they meant to their family and things like that. The point that I'm trying to make is that at the end of your life, At the end of every one of your life, everything that you have accumulated on this side of heaven will one day be gone. Is this going to rot? It's just gonna rust.
And it's going to decay. If you spend your whole life focused on your career, guess what? There's coming a day when that's not going to be there. If you You know, spend all your time and all your focus, your entire life on making a dollar. You're going to find that at the end of your life, that's going to be the thing that means absolutely nothing, it's just vanity.
And that's what Solomon is saying. And so he's on this hunt for lasting joy and contentment. And what he fa finds. is that it's only found In the hand of God. It's found in the gift.
Giver. Look at what he says here in Ecclesiastes 2. These last two verses. He says, There is nothing better for a man. Verse 24 and 25.
He says there is nothing better for a man than that he should eat. And drink. And that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw. That it was from the hand of God.
For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto more than I? Here in these verses, here's what he's saying. is that lasting joy and contentment. It's not found in stuff. It's found in the gift giver.
It's only found in a relationship. With Jesus. And so, for you and me, as we come to the conclusion of this series. We think about all these emotions we've talked about, and I pray that you've experienced freedom. from some of these emotions.
Because they're real. And if you don't guard them. Then, what's going to happen is they're going to eventually spill onto everybody around you. And you don't want that. You don't want the anger in your heart to slowly just be taken out to those around you.
And so it's important that you try to. Try to deal with that. And for some of you that are experiencing these emotions, you might need some additional help. I believe in counseling. I think it's a great thing.
Some of you maybe have gone through trauma and you've gone through things in your life that you need some help. You need a program around you. And I highly recommend you find something that's going to help you. There. But at the end of the day, here's what I'm going to tell you.
This world has a lot to offer you. It does. And it's easy to look at this world. And to think. That lasting joy is found in all of those things.
But I'll tell you this. Ultimate joy. is only found. and the gift. Giver.
