SUNDAY (LIVE) - May 31, 2026 | The Grind: Ecclesiastes 8:1-17 - Wisdom's Shine

Only Christianity allows us to be absolutely 100% honest about the way the world really is, and also enjoy the good things that God has given to us. The very foundation of Christianity is built on these two things. It's Friday afternoon, the cross, lament. Sunday morning, the resurrection, victory. It's both of those. It's when you can hold those intention, realizing that's the way life really is. Man, you flourish. Enjoying what is good and realizing, yeah, it's broken. It's not the way it's supposed to be yet. But good news, there's coming a day when Christ Jesus will return and lament will be gone. Happy day that will be. [01:17:31] (46 seconds)  #TruthAndHope

The problem with paint by the number paintings is this. Have you ever seen one of them in a museum? Is the Louvre in Paris gonna call me up and be like, Matt, that puppy, paint by the numbers you did, marvelous. Mona Lisa's looking a little tired. We're wanting to upgrade. What do you think? Never. Because paint by the numbers are not masterpieces. God wants to raise you and me into masterpieces. [00:41:21] (30 seconds)  #MasterpieceInTheMaking

Have you ever said the right thing at the wrong time? Every married man says, yep. I know that one. You know it's true, but you should have waited because there's a time and no way for everything. So Moses knew, God, you have me as the redeemer of these people. You're gonna use me to lead the Israelites out of a really bad government named Pharaoh who was killing babies. Wrong. You're gonna use me to do that, but he got in front of God. [00:52:32] (33 seconds)  #RightWordWrongTime

Christians, the way that we should interact with power like government is be thankful that we're not Haiti, and then be prayerful. First Timothy chapter two verse one. Pray for kings. And the king that was over the land when Roman was written, A guy named Nero. I don't care how bad someone is, they're not Caesar Nero. He was a megalomaniac killed Christians, boiled them in oil, and set them on fire, screeching, you're the light of the world. So we're not there. And still, pray. [00:51:09] (38 seconds)  #ThankfulAndPrayerful

That's what I think biblical wisdom is. It gives you guidelines, parameters for the good life that God wants for us. It's not gonna tell you the speed you're supposed to go, or the exit you should take, or the cheapest gas is, or what color of socks you're supposed to wear. It's bigger. It's better than that. It's to grow us into the kind of people that can rule and reign with Jesus for eternity. That's what God actually wants. [00:42:22] (24 seconds)  #WisdomForEternity

So you may love the president or you may hate the president, but his power been granted by God. You may love Oregon's governor. You may hate Oregon's governor. Well, her power has been granted to her by God. That should cover every single person right there. That's what we have to realize because there's something worse than bad government. You know what it is? No government. Anarchy. [00:48:34] (37 seconds)  #AuthorityFromGod

Solomon is saying, there's gonna be things that are more powerful than you, and you gotta figure out how to navigate them. First, a king. We would say government today. Government has power. And Solomon says, obey because of God's oath to the king. You may not know this, but in Romans 13, the Bible says this, all power, all authority, all government structures have been granted their power, their authority by God. [00:47:47] (48 seconds)  #NavigateGodlyAuthority

You wanna see what happens when a country does not have a government? Just look up Haiti right now. Haiti's been without a government for quite a while. It is anarchy. There's a man named barbecue. The reason why his name is barbecue is because he has been accused of cannibalism. The weak, the injured, the poor, the destitute are just being run over because there is no government. It's anarchy. [00:49:45] (26 seconds)  #AnarchyLeadsToChaos

So God gives every one of us desires and good works and things that we wanna do. He's given that to all of us, and we gotta be careful that we don't jump in front of God. I've learned in life that haste always leads to waste. That when I get in front of God, it's not good. There's a right time to buy, a right time to sell, a right time to jump on that opportunity. There's a right time, a right time to speak, a right time to be silent. And we pray, God, give me give me the wisdom to know when to do those things. [00:53:17] (33 seconds)  #HasteLeadsToWaste

Here's the problem. I think we look at wisdom not the way the bible looks at wisdom. We can look at wisdom and it's almost like this. We want remember paint by the numbers as a kid? You get that little portrait, it would have a puppy on it. It'd have like his ear would be number five. So you would paint number five brown. Paint by the numbers. Sometimes I think we want life to be like that. Okay. This is what I'm supposed to do. Alright. Paint by the numbers. [00:40:46] (35 seconds)  #LifeNotPaintByNumbers

I think the Bible actually gives us, I call it a relational budget, like how to make good wise decisions in that. Like, everyone has a budget, I hope. And the budget is this, you pay for your mortgage before you pay for the trip to Disneyland or you end up in just bankrupt. The bible has something very similar when it comes to relationships. Like, you pay this one first, and if you don't look out, you'll be bankrupt. So the bible says, number one, Matthew six thirty three, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you. That you and I were designed to run on God's presence, Garden of Eden. [00:58:25] (42 seconds)  #SeekFirstTheKingdom

Because the heart of the king is in God's hand, and he'll turn it where he wants. I think if Christians are a lot more praying and a lot less complaining, we might have a much better government than we do. So thankful, prayerful. But power structure number two is opportunities. So Solomon talks about opportunities. He says, verse six, there's a time and a way for everything, man's troubles are literally the evil in man messes it up. [00:51:46] (40 seconds)  #PrayMoreComplainLess

There are decisions that we make that put us underneath another person, another thing that can hurt us. So if I take a job, I'm underneath someone else's power then. My employer. He tells me when I need to be at work. He tells me what I need to do. So I'm underneath his power, and that sometimes can hurt. If I decide to start a business, well, I have a certain allegiance to that business. I've got an investment in that business. I gotta respond to the needs of that business. I'm underneath its power, and there's tons of those. When you get married, you're underneath the power now of a marriage and your spouse. [00:54:05] (37 seconds)  #MindTheOpportunityCost

I don't want one of my kids up here at this building kicking this building saying, you love this building. I hate this building. You love this building. I hate this building. Because of opportunity costs. Every decision we make costs other decisions. And we can be put underneath another man's hurt. We can be put it can hurt us. We have to be very careful. We have to be wise. [00:58:00] (25 seconds)  #ChoicesHaveCosts

And the book of Judges just what it does is it just goes worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. And you have what I believe is the most horrific story in the entire bible at the end of the book of judges, and it says this repeatedly. There was no king in Israel, and every man did was right in their own eyes. You have anarchy. It's a horrific book. Judges. [00:49:17] (27 seconds)  #NoKingNoOrder

That that's, I think, what's supposed to happen to us, shaped into the kind of people that live in the reality of what life is. That's what someone wants for us. Talked to the dad recently who was asking me, should I buy a car for my daughter? Man, I don't know. Some, yes. Like, that'd be a great thing for them. Others, they need to work for their own car, buy it on their own dime, learn to take care of something. That it it that would be much better for them. [00:44:12] (24 seconds)  #TeachResponsibility

He wants not robots, not people that are paint by the number. He wants to start shaping people, and the entire bible does, start shaping people into those that naturally respond to the way the world really is in wise good ways. And it matters because your life is gonna echo into eternity. What you are right now is shaping your eternity. So we wanna be wise. [00:45:13] (26 seconds)  #ShapeEternityWithWisdom

Men, let me repeat that. When you get married, it changes what you can and cannot do. Can't just go fishing and hunting all the time like you do when you're single. That was awesome, but you're not single anymore. So you've now put yourself underneath somebody else. That there's a cost, a price to every decision. I get yoked, I get underneath that. It's called opportunity cost. Every opportunity that I choose, then it costs me any other opportunity that I might wanna choose because I've chosen that one. So if I have $5,000 and I decide, I'm gonna invest that into stocks or something and it's gonna be gone for six months. [00:54:45] (36 seconds)  #MarriageChangesEverything

And that's the only way that our cups are full. The only way it runs over. If not, you're always running lean. You're always gritted teeth. You're always, So you gotta seek first God. That's the first one. That's the first one. Number one. Then your cup runs over. Then number two, Ephesians chapter five verse 26 says this, husbands, love your as Christ loves the church. Nowhere else in the Bible does it ever say that a human is to have the same kind of love that Jesus Christ has for the church. That's the only place it says that. A husband, [00:59:06] (41 seconds)  #SeekGodFirstLoveDeeply

And then the next day I get on Facebook marketplace and there is a k t m 300 x c w. That's an unbelievable deal. I know I could buy it and flip it and make $2. Guess what I can't do? Can't do that because I have opportunity cost. I chose this opportunity, and it cost me other opportunities. [00:55:20] (19 seconds)  #OpportunityCostInAction

Only Christianity allows us to be absolutely 100% honest about the way the world really is, and also enjoy the good things that God has given to us. The very foundation of Christianity is built on these two things. It's Friday afternoon, the cross, lament. Sunday morning, the resurrection, victory. It's both of those. It's when you can hold those in tension, realizing that's the way life really is. Man, you flourish. Enjoying what is good and realizing, yeah, it's broken. It's not the way it's supposed to be yet. But good news, there's coming a day when Christ Jesus will return and lament will be gone. Happy day that will be. [01:17:31] (47 seconds)

Only Christianity allows us to be absolutely 100% honest about the way the world really is, and also enjoy the good things that God has given to us. The very foundation of Christianity is built on these two things. It's Friday afternoon, the cross, lament. Sunday morning, the resurrection, victory. It's both of those. It's when you can hold those in tension, realizing that's the way life really is. Man, you flourish. Enjoying what is good and realizing, yeah, it's broken. It's not the way it's supposed to be yet. But good news, there's coming a day when Christ Jesus will return and lament will be gone. Happy day that will be. [01:17:31] (47 seconds)