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My God and My Neighbor is a “Bible talk show” that looks at religious issues, Christian living and world events in light of the Word of God to give hope. This podcast is a ministry of Tennessee Bible College. TBC offers a bachelor's in Bible studies, a master of theology, and a doctorate of theology in apologetics and Christian evidences. TBC also provides Christian books, audio recordings on the Bible, and free Bible courses in English and Spanish. Tune in to My God and My Neighbor to experience the educational content that TBC has been delivering for nearly five decades!
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Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to share what you've learned with others.
Do you feel like the world is changing too fast, that your world is changing too fast? It has. It is. Sometimes we say that if the men who founded this country could be brought back today, they wouldn’t recognize it. I’m sure that’s true. But you could say that about the last generation. If you could bring back people who left this world thirty or forty years ago and let them see what this nation has become, would they think they were in the same nation, or even on the same planet? Yes, things have changed. Some things have changed slowly and others have changed suddenly. Some things have changed a little at a time and other things have changed drastically. But either way, we live in a changing world and there’s little we can do to stop it.
A preacher penned these words about the condition of America: “The times are yet truly degenerate. It is, indeed, and age of improvement in everything but moral and religious living… the great multitude of professors are as carnal, selfish, sensual, and worldly as ever…How few congregations, neighborhoods, families, and even individuals, are living as though they were seeking the eternal city… The passion for wealth and power was never more active and impetuous in any community than it now appears to be in these United States. The very frame of our government, our constitution, laws, bills of rights, are all occasionally defied, and trodden under foot, and threatened with utter prostration and ruined at the impulse of these passions. Mobs, arson, murder, in order to put down offensive opinions, or to prevent the discussion of them, are now the order of the day; and all opinions are fast becoming offensive, which impede, even by the restraints of civil institutions, the passion for wealth and power. Such, alas! being the facts, the undeniable facts, too well proved already in surrounding society, how, we ask, ought Christians to watch and pray that they may not be abandoned to temptation – that they may be kept pure and unspotted from the vices of this age.” Those words were written December 6, 1837 by Alexander Campbell.
Here are some sobering words about the decline of preaching the Bible: “Every man of religious observation, knows that the gospel is not generally preached in this country as it was 30 years ago. It does not have that single sightedness, that clear and unmistakeable directness, that distinct and definite purpose, which once characterized its exhibitions. We miss much of the preaching spirit and manner that our fathers employed with signal success. A generation of preachers is rapidly crowding our pulpits who fight no more with the single weapon of the gospel – they must furnish themselves with sundry, small arms, and flourish short swords of earthly steel.” That’s from the Millennial Harbinger, June, 1856.
Here’s another piece written by G. C. Brewer in the Gospel Advocate in 1939. He was talking about the problems young people face. He wrote, “Another thing that presents a difficulty for the young people of our time is the chaotic confusion that exists today. There is no universally accepted standard in anything. Of course the Christian standard is the same that it has always been – the life and character of Christ and the teaching that is given in the New Testament. But the world is small today, and the nations are brought close together and peoples that live on opposite sides of the globe are in direct and constant communication. The Christians of earth are in the decided minority… Christians also are not today in a position to mold the sentiment that prevails. We live side-by-side with Jews and pagans, and they through the press and the picture shows have more to do with molding sentiment and creating conditions than we have. They set the customs, and we either have to follow or separate ourselves from many of our associates, and be found in the small and unpopular group. This condition, of course, prevailed in the beginning of Christianity, and it has prevailed at other times in the history of Christianity; but this is a new condition in our country. Our parents and our grandparents did not know this condition, and, therefore, did not have this problem in their day. The people of their communities were in agreement as to what is moral and what is immoral. They may have differed in their creeds, and they may have debated denominational doctrines, but they still stood together on moral issues. The authority of the home was recognized, and things that were immoral were forbidden…Parents could permit their children to go away from home with the understanding that the parents of another child would exercise oversight and control over the visiting as much as over their own children. Thus parents helped each other, and young people were safeguarded, chaperoned, and instructed on all sides. Today, your child may visit the home of your brother in the church, and there are be encouraged to partake of things that you have taught him are wrong; for even members of the body of Christ are not in agreement today… if this does not confuse young people and lead them to disregard what anybody tells them and find out for themselves what is right and wrong, then what sort of condition would put young people in that position? Because of these things, our sympathy goes out to the young people of our times, and our heart’s desire and prayer to God is that we may be of some service to them in solving their problems.” That's amazing is it? And he said those things in 1939.
If only these men could have seen what you and I see every day. How on earth can we keep our heads on straight in a world like this? One of the first things to remember is that although things change, life does not change. That’s right. Life really doesn’t change. Let’s listen to God now. Let’s listen to what God says about this. In Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verses 2 through 11, Solomon wrote, “‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher; ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, ‘See, this is new’? It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after” [Ecclesiastes 1 verses 2 through 11]. When you think life has turned upside down, remember these words. Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. It’s all happened before. It may be new to you, but it’s as old as mankind.
There’s much more in this little book that will clear your head. Listen to what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter three: “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace” [Ecclesiastes 3 verses 1 through 8]. Every time we turn around we hear about war and fighting. What did Solomon say? He said it’s going to happen. But he said these wars come and go. They come to an end. Then there are times of peace. Then it comes and goes and the cycle starts all over again. And the thing to remember is that God sees all this. He foresees what will happen. He has purposes and plans for, and even in the midst of, all this chaos.
Now one of the things Solomon talks about is something we all know well. We know that change is coming, but we don’t know when. We don’t know how. We know that life won’t always be the same, but we don’t know all the changes that are ahead. Solomon said, “So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?” [Ecclesiastes 3 verse 22]. And listen to what he said in Ecclesiastes 6 verse 12: “For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?” When you read these words, remember that Solomon is not through yet. He’s laying out the problem. He’ll give the conclusion later. He says that life changes and it changes without warning. Life is unpredictable. Oh, sure, there are some things you can expect. As long as the world stands, the sun will rise and the sun will set. The seasons of the year will come and go. But there will always be good days and bad days. In Ecclesiastes 7 verse 14 he wrote, “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, so that man can find out nothing that will come after him.” Did you notice what he said? “God has appointed the one as well as the other.” God gives us a mix of good days and bad days. It wouldn’t be best for us to have all good days. It wouldn’t be good for us to have all bad days. We need both to make us better, to help us appreciate what we have, to make us see how fragile life is. And he says God designs our life like this so that man “can find out nothing that will come after him.” You can plan on having a good time tomorrow, but you have no guarantee that will happen. You can worry about tomorrow and fear that you’ll have it bad, but you don’t know that either.
In chapter eight we have these words, “Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, Though the misery of man increases greatly. For he does not know what will happen; so who can tell him when it will occur?” [Ecclesiastes 8 verses 6 and 7]. How many times do we see that in the Bible? How many times do we learn that in life? He said you “do not know what will happen.” That is what he said in Proverbs 27 verse 1: “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” And what about James chapter four? In James 4 verses 13 through 15 the Bible says, “Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” There it is again. “You do not know what will happen tomorrow.” That’s so simple. We already know it’s true. And yet how many of us really live our life with that outlook?
Let’s look again at the book God wrote by the hand of Solomon. Ecclesiastes chapter nine is a tremendous passage about life and death. Verse one says, “For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God.” Solomon said your life is in the hand of God! Your life on earth is not yours to keep. God gives it to you only a short while. So as you make your plans, as you worry about what’s going to happen, keep this verse in mind. Your life is in the hand of God. Now look at verse two. You could summarize this verse like this: Death is no respecter of persons; death is impartial. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 2 says, “All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; To the good, the clean, and the unclean; To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.” If you start back in chapter two of this book, you’ll notice that he keeps talking about “one event” that happens to man. What is it? Death. Now notice what verse 3 says. “This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.” I’ve thought about those words more times than I can remember. I think about them every time I hear about people doing something so mean and so disgusting that it seems like people have gone crazy these days. But in a sense that’s what Solomon says. They are not clinically, psychologically insane. They are morally insane. In Solomon’s words: “the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live.” No wonder life can change so quickly. When you have people that don’t have any moral boundaries, you never know what they’re going to do.
Solomon says more about the unpredictability of this life in chapter 9 verses 9 through 11. In verse 9 he tells us to enjoy what God gives us while we can. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as we don’t forget God. Verse 9 says, “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.” Then in verse ten he says to do the best you can with what God gives you. Work hard because you won’t be able to when you’re in the graveyard. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” Now that doesn’t mean you should put money above God. It doesn’t mean to lay up treasures on earth and forget about heaven. It sure doesn’t mean to assume that you can save your money for a good life on earth and then retire and God will owe you that dream life. There’s nothing wrong with saving money for hard times and spending some of our money to enjoy the life God gives us. But the Bible warns us about taking God and our lives for granted. Here’s what Jesus said about this in Luke 12 verses 16 through 21: “"The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” There are a lot of people who are making that mistake in America right now. They’re using their head to plan for the future. They’re investing their money wisely. They watch their spending. They work hard and save. But, what are they saving for? Are they even thinking about heaven?
Here’s something else Solomon warns about. Life is uncertain. And, sometimes things that are unlikely to happen do happen! Here’s how he put it: “I returned and saw under the sun that—The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all” [Ecclesiastes 9 verse 11]. That is, the fastest runner or the fastest horse does not always win. The strongest warrior may win most of the time, but not always. There’s always what Solomon calls time and chance. Life is not just unpredictable. Sometimes the most improbable thing happens.
And, when those changes come, it may be so strange that it seems out of place and maybe even unfair or just not fitting. In Ecclesiastes 10 verses 5 through 7, Solomon said, “There is an evil I have seen under the sun, as an error proceeding from the ruler: Folly is set in great dignity, while the rich sit in a lowly place. I have seen servants on horses, while princes walk on the ground like servants.” Now there's a case of what we're talking about in the ancient world. In those days, rich and powerful people sat on horses or chariots. Poor people like servants had to walk. But that could change suddenly, and Solomon said I've seen it happen. He said, "I have seen servants on horses, while princes walked on the ground like servants.” In other words, Solomon is saying, I’ve seen things change so quickly that society was turned upside down, and the roles of people were reversed. That could happen when there was a war. It could happen when there was a government overthrow. And though this is an old example, the point is the same: life can change suddenly, dramatically and permanently.
So Solomon says again in chapter 11 to do what you can now. Don’t make excuses. Don’t put off doing what you need to do. He said in Ecclesiastes 11 verse 4, “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.” A man who always thinks bad weather is coming every time the wind blows will never do any planting in his fields. A man who stares at the clouds too much will never harvest his crops. There’s a lesson in that for Christians. If you always look at the negative side of things, you’ll never do anything good for the Lord. If you’re afraid of what people will say, you’ll never invite them to church. If you’re afraid somebody is always going to take advantage of you, you’ll never learn to give. It’s good to be wise, yes, but it’s not wise to let fear keep you from doing what the Lord wants you to do.
Take advantage of opportunities. When a door opens, use it. That’s what Solomon teaches us in Ecclesiastes 11 verse 6: “In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.” Did you notice what God repeats to us again? This is no accident. He’s not just filling up space in the Bible. He’s saying this again and again because we don’t listen. Look at this verse again. He says, “you do not know” what will happen. You don’t know how things will turn out. So do what you’re supposed to do. Do your work. And we need to read this in the light of what the Savior said. The principle is more than just working for a living here on earth. That comes to an end and it comes to an end quickly. Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness [Matthew 6 verse 33]. Put that first. Keep that on your mind. Stay in prayer constantly. Don’t let the world distract you. Stay focused. Keep you eye on heaven. And do that now. Make sure you do that today. Sure, do your physical work, but do it with the mindset that all this will end. What ever you do, always keep God at the center of your life. And, like Solomon says, do your best today while you have time.
One of the things we have to learn to do as Christians is to identify things we can and should change and things we cannot. That’s what Solomon has been implying in this book. There are many things you cannot predict no matter how hard you try. No matter how much you plan for the future, no matter how much you worry about it or fear it, there is one thing you can’t change. You just have to accept it. It’s not good to worry about it or live in fear of it because it’s going to happen. And how you look at this one thing shapes the way you look at everything else—your money, your things, your family, your life, and your soul. It’s in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes. In chapter 12 beginning in verse 1 Solomon said, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, "I have no pleasure in them”: While the sun and the light, The moon and the stars, Are not darkened, And the clouds do not return after the rain.” What are these bad days? He’s taking about the aging process. In the verses that follow, he uses a house and the people in it as a picture of what happens to the body as we age. In verse 3 he said, “In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, And the strong men bow down; When the grinders cease because they are few, And those that look through the windows grow dim.” The strong men are the arms that begin to weaken and shake with age. The “grinders” are the teeth. Those that look out the windows are the eyes. Our eyesight gets worse as we age. This is natural. Our bodies are going back to where they came from. In verse 4 Solomon wrote, “When the doors are shut in the streets, and the sound of grinding is low; When one rises up at the sound of a bird, And all the daughters of music are brought low.” The doors being shut means we can’t hear as well. The grinding in verse 4 is the crackling sound of women grinding wheat grains into meal and flour for cooking. We reach a point where we can’t hear those sounds as well. But there are some things we hear that affect us differently. We wake up to a bird chirping early in the morning when we would like to sleep. Who are “the daughters of music?” That represents the vocal chords. The voice is not as strong. You can’t talk as loud or sing as well. He continues in verse 6: “Also they are afraid of height, and of terrors in the way.” Being afraid of heights and falling is natural as we age. And, being afraid in general is more common as we get older. When you’re young you think you can do anything. When you’re older you’re more cautious. Solomon says this is a time “When the almond tree blossoms.” The almond tree has white blooms. He says, “The grasshopper is a burden.” When you’re a kid, anything is an adventure, even a grasshopper. But when the body and the nerves weaken little things we one enjoyed are a nuisance. Solomon also says, “And desire fails”—physical desires diminish. And then the end comes: “For man goes to his eternal home, And the mourners go about the streets.” He says in verse 6 to “Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well.” These are illustrations of the heart and the lungs and the other internal organs shutting down. When that happens, the spirit separates from the body. Verse 7 says, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” The Bible says in Genesis 2 verse 7 that God “formed man of the dust of the ground.” After he sinned, God told him, “Dust you are, and to dust you will return” [Genesis 3 verse 19]. Solomon doesn’t mean that everybody will go to heaven when he says the spirit will return to God. We know that can’t be true. When the rich man in Luke 16 died, his soul went to torment. Solomon means that the spirit will return to God and God will place us either in a land of rest or a place of torment.
This is the change we know will happen. This is the change we ought to get ready for, not all the changes we think might happen here. Solomon sets this whole matter in perspective in the closing words of this book. In Ecclesiastes 12 verses 13 and 14, the wise man wrote, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” That’s where your mind needs to be. That’s the only thing that matters. Everything else will come and go, but your soul will live on. And no matter what kind of changes lie ahead, you can hold to God’s unchanging hand and get through them.
Now you may say that all this is well and good, but what about the particulars? When the culture and circumstances around us change completely, how can we know what to do as Christians? That’s happening before our very eyes. From top to bottom the world around us is changing—the government, the people, the customs, moral views, religious beliefs, family structure, finances, education and everything else. Things are changing so much and so rapidly it feels sometimes like we’re living in a different world; it’s almost like being in another country.
If you’re a Christian, you’ll have to be strong in the Lord. You’ll need to remember that this world is not your home. In this life you can build your world around you and get it just the way you want it, and then the whole thing comes crashing down. That can happen to your health, your home, your finances or anything else this that’s part of this life. Sometimes you have to remember those verses in the Bible that tell us we’re foreigners and pilgrims in this world. The Bible says the Old Testament saints made it through all the hardships of life by their faith. In Hebrew 11 verse 13 God said they “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” We’re going to need that kind of faith as we go forward.
There’s something else we need help with. We will have to adjust to some of these changes. You’re already doing that with how you travel and how you communicate. But we’re also having to learn how to relate to people that are very different from us. Now the Bible tells us to get along with others the best we can. It tells us to be hospitable to strangers. That may not be easy in some cases. And there may be questions in the minds of Christians about how far we can go to get along.
That’s what we’ll look at, Lord willing, for the next few episodes. We are about to begin a study of a man in the Bible, a young man, whose life turned upside down almost overnight. He faced all kinds of decisions he had never had to deal with before. But he had a good foundation about right and wrong. He knew the difference between matters of culture he could adjust to on the one hand and, on the other hand, matters of faith he could not compromise. There were some changes he could make to get along and other changes he couldn’t make. That’s what Christians, especially young Christians, will need to understand as we go forward in this country. They will need to understand the difference between matters of culture and custom and matters of Bible teaching and faith. The book we’ll study beginning in the next episode will give us some guidelines for how to do this.
Thank you for listening to My God and My Neighbor. Stay connected with our podcast on our website and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Tennessee Bible College, providing Christian education since 1975 in Cookeville, Tennessee, offers undergraduate and graduate programs. Study at your level. Aim higher and get in touch with us today.