Enjoyment

Worship Folder

Outline

Hook: What's on your bucket list?

I. THE SIN OF MISERY
"There is an evil that I have seen under the sun: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all he desires, yet God does not give him the power to enjoy them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil" (Ecclesiastes 6:1-2)

II. GIFT NOT GAIN
"Enjoy life... because that is your portion in life" (Ecclesiastes 9:9).

III. GOD-GIVEN ENJOYMENT
"There is nothing better for a person than that he should at and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?" (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)

Takeaway: Avoid both the prosperity gospel and the severity gospel.

Resources

• David Gibson, Living Life Backward
• Bobby Jamieson, Everything is Never Enough
• Alan Noble, To Live Well
• Ray Ortlund, Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

Discussion Questions

1. What's on your bucket list?
2. Why might the inability to enjoy God’s gifts be called “a grievous evil”? Where do you see this “sin of misery” in our culture—or in your own heart?
3. What is the difference between receiving life as a gift and using life as a way to gain control, status, comfort, or identity? How might that change the way you approach work, food, friendship, marriage, money, or recreation?
4. What does your enjoyment of your life or lack thereof reflect what you believe about God? How does the gospel correct your wrong ideas of what God is like?
5. Are you more prone to over-enjoy or under-enjoy God's gifts? What might repentance look like in that area of your life?