Ecclesiastes 4

Jack Abeelen
Why Emptiness Increases
Ecclesiastes 4

Driven by....

1. Oppression

Oppression drives people to separation and isolation.

"Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor." Ecclesiastes 4:4

2. Competition

Competition separates.  It's a worldly concept for the individual.  He's not talking about corporate competition (capitalism), but the competition that exists on the individual level.

Solomon is not a friend of laziness.

3. Compulsion--compulsive desire to acquire

Hebrew poets would emphasize something by increasing or decreasing a value...one, two, three....
one==singular value

obsessive compulsion to be the successor

Two are better than one (Biblical concept, right out of Genesis...man alone not good)

reciprocal benefit, like body heat, both benefit

You don't have to go to church to be a Christian, but you do if you want to stay one.

There is safety in numbers.

The church is a practical outworking of Jesus--sometimes we need the physical outworking, the body.

The crowds will both cheer and hang you.