Ecclesiastes 4: We’re All Oppressed

Eccl. 4:1    Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:

I saw the tears of the oppressed—

and they have no comforter;

power was on the side of their oppressors—

and they have no comforter.

 

Eccl. 4:2    And I declared that the dead,

who had already died,

are happier than the living,

who are still alive.

Eccl. 4:3    But better than both

is he who has not yet been,

who has not seen the evil

that is done under the sun.

Oppression (Photo credit: Toban Black)

Are we oppressed? The oppressed feel powerless. The oppressed feel threatened. The oppressed feel disadvantaged and overwhelmed by impossible odds against their life. Think carefully!

Solomon portrays the bleak state of the oppressed.

1. They have no comforter.
2. They have a death wish.

They are like runners near the middle of the race who want to quit because they are so tired and have so far to go. They feel like no one cares. They feel isolated and beyond hope.  They spiral down an abandoned tunnel.

Growing up in extreme poverty in Limerick, Ireland in the 1940’s, Frank McCourt describes an entire block of houses using the same outhouse, constant sewage flooding his house, and battles with rats and lice. His father drank his paychecks away. Catholic charity brought food to his house or he stole bread and milk. He had no one to comfort him. The family was oppressed and gave into it. Three brothers died. However, McCourt, at 18, escaped!

Why does The Teacher bring up such depressing conditions? Because if you feel oppressed, you can stop it. You can change. The circumstances don’t have to stay that way. He’s going to teach us how to climb out, keep going, and quit our suffering victim mentality. McCourt became a successful teacher and author. Our conditions don’t have to define us even if we say:

1. “I wish I were dead.”
2. “I wish I never was born.”

The most powerful and wise person in the world knew that overwhelming feeling! He wished he had never been born! He felt powerless. He felt like giving up. Wealth, fame, and political power do NOT prevent feelings of oppression.

Well, these situations don’t exist. You aren’t dead. You were born. Our potential still exists. We can keep going, and find a reason to live.

Ultimately, oppression causes us to ask, “What is my purpose? Do I feel free to be me?” Ultimately, true freedom and purpose is found in connection to the Father. Thus, The Teacher’s admonition several times in Ecclesiastes to, “Fear God!”

Even Jesus felt oppressed and overwhelmed in his ministry. The the thought of his suffering overwhelmed him. The crowds overwhelmed him so he escaped to the desert. The ignorance of his disciples overwhelmed him. The vile, evil perpetrators of the powerful elite oppressed him. Yet, we never hear him wishing he were dead or never born. Jesus had life-giving resources.

Instead,

1. He submitted to the filling of the Holy Spirit in the Jordan River.
2. He cut off from human contact to maximize connection to His Father. (Went to lonely places often)
3. He obeyed all the commands.
4. He helped others.
5. He studied the scriptures.

To those who do not believe these practices fight the system or rescue the oppressed these look like weak tactics to confine or create religious enslavement. To those of us who have faith in God through Christ, these practices gain purpose and freedom, shedding oppression like water off a duck’s back. We live to tell others about purpose and freedom! We know The Teacher is right: Fear God!

Luke 4:17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

Luke 4:18    “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and

recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Oh, the Grip Eternity Has On My Heart!

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Philosophers have tried to capture the meaning of life for thousands of years, yet always seem to come up short. Solomon says that this is because, “God has placed eternity in our hearts.” Philosophical flashlights shine just three steps ahead. We can’t see the end. The tunnel is too long. We know there is more to life, to this journey, to these events we are living, but our understanding comes up short!

Solomon says, “That’s OK! God placed something of eternity within you so you will know it exists. You will want it, but since it is eternity, it will continually slip out of your grasp.”

All religions are man’s attempts to get a grip on the eternal, that slippery search for meaning and beauty. All religions practice rituals we’d never do anywhere else in life just to satisfy that continual gnawing and nagging thought:  “This can’t be all there is!”

To find meaning in life, Solomon takes a completely different route. His continuity with the rest of the Bible, that God is a giver, is astounding!

• Ecclesiastes 3:12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.  14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

The wise teacher writes TWO “I know” statements. He knows happiness and doing good are better activities on earth. What moron would say that evil is better? (Oh yeah, Lex Luther and Adolph Hitler, or baby killers or slave traders.)  Even work is good. Work brings satisfaction, i.e. meaning. Looking at a finished product, a garden planted, a house built, an afghan knitted, a cake baked, or a diploma on the wall is satisfying. Solomon connects satisfaction and pleasure to a point outside of ourselves in God alone. They are God’s gifts, not our right or guaranteed, but gifts!

He knows a second thing: God cloaks his beauty and the meaning of life for one purpose only: God wants people everywhere to revere Him.

• As people search for meaning, they are really searching for God.
• As people search for fun and happiness, they are really searching for God.
• As people work hard to finish a product they are really searching for a deeper connection with God’s work.

God hid eternity deep within our pores. We feel the unseen end of things. We know there is more to this life. Solomon says that when God gives satisfaction we feel complete. Our yearning feels completed. We get connected to the Eternal One. We sense His eternal grip on our hearts.  We look down that long tunnel to see God standing there with arms open wide! We lose ourselves in His gift and revere Him, knowing he’s been standing there for us all along!

Cover via Amazon

(Philip Yancey has one of the best books on unseen connections, “Rumors of Another World.” He asks, “Are we missing something?” and then shows all the ways we inherently know more exists and ways people implicitly want a connection to God. It’s brilliant!)

John Maxwell and Peter Drucker versus Jesus

Leadership is so personal and so individual that learning from a “great leader” is like trying to copy Tiger Woods clothing choices

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to improve one’s golf game. We can’t clothe ourselves with someone else’s techniques. An author I once read thought that if he just practiced tennis a little harder each day he could get to the pro level. In a word, he said he was filled with arrogance. Leaders who think they can lead like John Maxwell to get recognition as a “pro” level leader can be summed up in one word: arrogant.
When trying to lead cats, aka leading church people, Maxwell seems to do well. On one face he’s all about the leader growing, getting organized, and discerning right times, actions, and influential people. On the other face, he proposes techniques to control who is in control, who is delegated the important tasks, and which charted course one should follow. I believe that he needs to be read, but others can flesh out his two faces with a complete body.
Michael Hyatt wrote last week in his blog that the single most important trait of a leader is the ability to make decisions. Unfortunately, Maxwell would modify that: people follow leaders who make the right decision 80% of the time.
Peter Drucker has taught management courses for sixty years. He says the best leaders don’t use techniques or control to get people to follow. The best leaders can see the future, can step outside of their organizations to see it objectively, and can cut off people, activities, and even entire divisions or companies because they have the most powerful trait of a leader: they always operate with the end in mind (which BTW, is one of Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People). Leaders have purpose and drive to get to their objective. Drucker says in business the objective is always easier to see. The objective is the bottom line. For non-profits, the objective is serving without the bottom line in mind first.
How successful was Jesus at leading? He chose the wrong followers. He set death as his objective not profits. He ostracized the people who had the greatest influence in society. He let the big fish get away (centurions, Nicodemus, Pilate, etc.). He spent way too much time with odd ducks, the powerless, and the diseased. He didn’t leave any great plans to change society, didn’t have planning meetings, and didn’t leave a prayer book behind.
However, he taught people to love God and others. He acted in love all the time. People saw raw, pure love. He let people be people. He let them enjoy their time with him at countless meals and banquets. Christian leaders ought to wake up and put love back at the top of their to-do lists instead of learning great techniques and making great plans. I think we’d make a more lasting impact since no other business model has that as their primary purpose!
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” ( John 13:34-35)
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “And a second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” ( Matthew 22:37-40)

Related articles

• Why Peter Drucker Distrusted Facts – Stephen Wunker – Harvard Business Review (amvaishnav.wordpress.com)
• Jesus’ Key Message from Jesus Central
• 100 Years of Drucker (prweb.com)
• The 360° Leader – John Maxwell Book Review (diakrinomusings.wordpress.com)

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Canada is NOT “The United States of Canada”

When I crossed into Canada with my new bride 26 years ago I told her to notice that clothing, buildings, and even hairstyles are different in Canada. The accent is different. The street signs are in French and Canadian. Both of my parents were Canadians. Most of my relatives live in Canada. We visit every year, but Canada seems odd in so many ways to us Americans.

Canadians seem to relegate themselves to rules and more rules, taxes and more taxes, and cold and more cold. The Toronto Blue Jays just passed a rule to limit warbling during the National Anthems. They said Christina Aguilera sang 8 notes for every 1 written note so that Christina Aguilera became the event! Calgary, Alberta, just passed a law that removed mandatory French classes, but mandated learning German, Mandarin, or French for every student.

I just paid $1.289 for a LITER of gas which is about $4.88/gallon. Sales tax is 13% with food excluded (unlike Tennessee with our 9.5% sales tax on everything). Most people pay income taxes unlike 48% of Americans. Charitable contributions are NOT tax-deductible in Canada.

Yet, violent crime is much less (8x less likely to be murdered). It seems odd to walk through any neighborhood in metro Toronto without looking for gun thugs or rapists! Health is much better, and income is much higher. A starting elementary school teacher’s salary is $44,900.

Canadians can sing both the Canadian National Anthem and the Star Spangled Banner, or at least most of my Canadian friends and relatives can hum the tune of both. Canadians know the USA has 50 states, but Americans don’t know how many provinces are in Canada (9 + 2 territories). Canadians know the name of the President and Vice-President of the US, but Americans don’t know who the Prime Minister is of Canada.

Then, a few years ago someone asked me why Canada has so many fewer gun homicides than the USA. Gun homicides in the US are over eight times higher than in Canada. Several reasons exist which will seem odd to Americans. Canada tightened its gun laws over the past ten years dropping the homicide rate in half. Every gun has to be registered. I own a pellet gun which is not allowed to cross into Canada.

I factor in events from 250 years ago called the Revolutionary War, too. Canada did not rebel against the British. The USA genetically engineered gun ownership into its DNA from that point on in the Second Amendment. We think guns and freedoms go hand in hand. Canadians believe legislation and freedom co-exist nicely (a gross generalization, I know!).

Canada asks God to keep it glorious and free in the Canadian National Anthem, but the first verse of the Star Spangled Banner (our national anthem) does NOT mention God.

Canada is a nation of immigrants. According to the UN about 21% of the population are immigrants.

Canada has sovereign nations within its borders. 630 “First Nations” exist in Canada. Near our Cabin is the Wahta Mohawk territory.

Canadians say, “Ay“, after sentences like Americans say “Ya know?”

Tim Hortons is the coffee and donut place of choice. They only take cash. Two years ago we counted over 30 on Yonge Street from Downtown to the 401. About the same number of Starbucks, too, and double that number of private coffee shops.

Yonge Street at North York Centre (It’s Starting Point)

Housing prices in Toronto have skyrocketed. Condo’s are the housing of choice at this time since finding a house for less than half a million is difficult.When I visit I am identified quickly as an American. Though accepted, I am the oddity. The love-hate relationship with the USA is generally a mild irritation so I have never met a prejudiced Canadian who treated me poorly for being American.

A visit to Canada is worth the price, but be ready for some culture shock. Canada is NOT “The United States of Canada.”

Big Chicken Witnessing

Why did the rooster cross the road? Because he wasn’t chicken.

What do we say when we witness? Three times this week in our cell groups this topic was discussed. I’m going to try to flesh out what happens in witnessing.

In a word, witnessing is discernment. Some people don’t want to talk to us about religious things so we must be discerning and gracious. We don’t know what another person believes so we have to ask and ask and ask. Many Christians can’t articulate what the gospel is, and all of us must continually probe the depths of all that the gospel brings. Thus, the gospel must be discerned.
Discernment also takes place during the conversation. Unfortunately, most of us are more concerned with being heard! Most Christian witnessing tools emphasize what we must say. Thus, Christians are afraid to witness because “I don’t know very much!” What we are afraid of is the fact that other people might find holes in our beliefs or knowledge, but don’t we want to get stronger in faith? Don’t we want our holes to be filled? Don’t we want more of the power of the gospel at work in our lives?
Most people are not good discerners or listeners in conversation! We match story for story, belief for belief, and sickness for sickness. More excitingly and more satisfying is the listening and asking questions approach. Unfortunately, we have to suspend our own stories and beliefs, deny our egocentrism and our need to be loved and heard. People have so many interesting life events and faith histories when I actually listen for them. I’m fascinated by the assumptions people make about Christianity so I ask people how they came to these assumptions.

Some atheists are believers and don’t know it! They speak more about God than some believers. They know what God isn’t like because they believe that their God wouldn’t act in certain ways or make them do certain things. Some atheists know more about the Bible and the gospel than church people. I’m almost always amazed at how much thought and study some of my unbelieving friends have put into their beliefs.

But don’t be intimidated. Ask more questions. We might be afraid of looking foolish because we don’t know what the other person knows, but that’s a little like not going to the doctor because he might give us bad news. Witnessing is going to help us to know what we are supposed to know. Witnessing helps us discern what we know and what we don’t. Thank people for their honesty, their study and thought and their discussion. You’ve been helped by it.

Discernment about the gospel means we must discern and believe in our deepest self that the evidence is true. The gospel must be discerned in a nutshell. What are we believing and asking people to believe? Paul does a nutshell presentation for the Corinthians (and for us!) in 1 Cor. 15:1-7. The core of the good news (the gospel) is that “Christ died according to the scripture, he was buried and he was raised from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures.” Every word of that phrase has to be unpacked. All the projections into life must be discerned. Before we can so boldly say religious sounding phrases to people, we must have discerned the power of this core message of the gospel. Paul is so sure of this he says, “This is the gospel!” We must know and say this to people! Several pastors in my life in the last few months have confirmed that without an excitement about this gospel there is no witnessing. It’s simple isn’t it? the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus? That’s it. That’s the gospel. This is what we believe or reject!

Discernment means we move from the known to the unknown to know, i.e. to discern. Witnessing is starting where we are, jumping into unknown territory so that because we are on a mission of discernment, we have more confirmation of what we have believed. Paul says to Philemon, “I want you to be active in sharing your faith so that you may know every good thing you have in Christ Jesus.”