By John Thiel

There are all sorts of things in the world today that make you sad. One thing today is family dysfunction. There is global disaster where ever you look. We are protected here in Australia but in many places there is constant conflict and difficulty. There are many social disappointments even in the church. When we have looked for something to satisfy our selfish desires, we become disappointed with our desires of relationships that don’t work out as hoped. The wars in the world destroy natural and social events. There is a great amount of social insecurity. Where do these things come from? What is the source of these disasters and disappointments? The curse causeless does not come.

Cause to Effect

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Men being lovers of their own selves is the cause of the misery. Here is the cause that brings the curse. You can trace all our problems along this path. If you wonder why things aren’t working out as you would like, here is your answer. Why are these perilous times coming? Lovers of their own selves, it’s a cause for problems. They are covetous. These are the beginnings of strife and problems.

2 Timothy 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Have you ever been accused for something you didn’t do? It means you are falsely accused. People today also can’t control themselves. Instead of rejoicing in the goodness of people, they despise them.

2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

These people are at the same time following a form of godliness. Here is the grand swell of final day madness we have to meet. What you sow you shall also have to reap. Is there anything that can help you to be happy in all that when things don’t go your way? Is there anything that can give you joy? Is there much to be enjoying now? How can you find anything encouraging? Jesus gives us a beautiful introduction in regards to the joy possible when you head into negativity. We are looking for something that is going to bring me true comfort and joy. It looks so hopeless, I can’t find it. As we think about this and try to understand, where is it going to come from? Jesus comes in with a beautiful instruction. If you wonder why things aren’t working out as you would like, here is the answer. What a man soweth he shall also reap. You can’t just say be happy. I have to have something intelligent to make me happy.

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

This is an answer opposite to what we think can bring joy. The thing that makes people happy today is to go shopping. Jesus says the exact opposite. Take no thought for what you shall eat, drink and put on. If you are looking for something to lift you, something to fill you with internal joy, don’t look for it where most people look for in what you shall eat, drink or put on. Life is more than that.

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Here we have the guidelines. Jesus says if you want to find true joy and fulfilment to be able to survive through all these dark patches, here is where you will find it. Seeking first the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

Why do you think that clothing is going to make you happy?

Matthew 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Jesus directs your mind to somebody who looked for happiness who had far more wealth than us and he was never satisfied.

Does Shopping Make You Happy?

What is the case today with society? People say go shopping and today and there are so many clothing shops and they are full of clothes for people to go and spend money to make themselves feel good about the clothing they put on. Jesus says why do you take thought about clothing? Look at lilies of the field. If you think clothing is going to make you happy, look at Solomon. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Jesus points us to Solomon who had all the wealth in the world who could dress himself up and find fulfilment in his beautiful garments and Jesus says the lilies are dressed better than that. Would you like to have all the money Solomon had to dress yourself and lift up your spirit? What did Jesus say about Solomon? In all his glory he was not as attractive as the lilies.

Matthew 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith?

Clothing is ridiculous to look upon to make yourself look good. Look at Solomon and what he tried to tell us after he had all that. God wants to bless us with something far greater than the joy of display of look at me, I feel really good about myself. He points us to Solomon. What is there that he was pointing at? Why does he mention Solomon? Because Solomon became a preacher who came to show us the futility of all that glory. Jesus pointed to Solomon as the one we can learn from.

Ecclesiastes 1:1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all [is] vanity.

He speaks in a very disheartened manner. Everything is in vain and it is full of self-glory but it is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 1:12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

He was the wisest of all the kings and he used his wisdom to seek to understand. Solomon saw it all and he had all the wealth in the world. You can take good counsel from Solomon. Look at his description of it. He was someone who could have anything he wanted.

Ecclesiastes 1:13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all [things] that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

If you want to find lasting value when everything falls down around you that you can still have joy, listen to Solomon because he said, I have had it all, I have had everything, I have seen all works done under the sun. All the nations came to him as he had something better than them and he said whatever I have had was vexation of spirit. He was pointing to what man is looking to for fulfilment and he said don’t, it’s all vexation.

Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also [is] vanity.

That’s what people say, lets laugh and crack some jokes.

Ecclesiastes 2:2 I said of laughter, [It is] mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?

When he was laughing when something was stirring his spirit of mirth, he said it was mad. When people crack jokes and have something to laugh about, it is stupid, its mad. Solomon tried to make people laugh.

Ecclesiastes 2:3 I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what [was] that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

Most people when they drink they lose their wisdom but Solomon said I will drink wisely and think carefully about it. They say go be merry, drink and sing. Even though he would drink and get tipsy, he would still think about it rather than be blind about it. What was he trying to find out? The good. We want to find the good, the things of nature to enjoy and he was looking at it in all others places. What did he find?

Ecclesiastes 2:4 I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: 5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits: 6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:

What else did he do? He built big houses. He made big dams and all sorts of things to enjoy himself. He looked for true satisfaction in all these things. Is there anything of lasting value in all of this?

Ecclesiastes 2:7 I got [me] servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

He was greater than all the kings before him. He had more than they had.

Ecclesiastes 2:8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, [as] musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

Solomon must have got his wealth from vast areas way out of his reach. He was gathering gold and silver from the Americas it has been suggested. That together with the laughter and drinking, he was exploring it all.

Ecclesiastes 2:9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

As he was going through all these pleasures, his wisdom was operating in himself looking for the real meaning. 10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.  He rejoiced in all he was doing.

Ecclesiastes 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun.

When God made the world he looked at everything He made and He said it was very good. Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived and he looked for happiness in every channel and said, all is vanity. There was not another person on earth that had as much as he had. He was rejoicing himself in all his labour but as he looked back what has he declared?

Ecclesiastes 217 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me: for all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

We are not as wealthy as Solomon and while we’re enjoying the things we do, it was just pittance to him. I am trying to find joy and happiness in my pittance and I have to labour to get it. He didn’t have to work that hard. He had servants to do it for him. After he had the lot and trying to find it, he looks back at it all and he says I hate it, there is nothing in it me for me. According to intelligent rational, Jesus identified what Solomon was trying to say.

He said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then when you have that, the other things are not vanity, they will be added unto you but the kingdom of God and His righteousness is what Jesus was pointing to and true fulfilment. The king is telling us that if you think you are going to get joy pursuing these things, you will end up like him. There is lots of laughter and happiness for a while but if you ask some young people today they say they hate life. According to the intelligent being Solomon was, was there any worthwhile pursuit? Jesus says, what did Solomon say? I looked at all things and I hated life.

Jesus says if you never have the things you want, you will have internal companionship and joy. Why is this so? What is it? What is in the kingdom of heaven that is much better than all the wealth that people exercise to find that joy? What is there in the kingdom of heaven? The following scripture connects us with the verse about the lilies that were dressed better than Solomon and his earthly array. If you we are looking for external beauty, it is all going to wither away, it is of no value.

1 Peter 1:24 For all flesh [is] as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

All these other things wither. The glory of Solomon while he was in the prime of his glory was all sweet but then it withered. It doesn’t give you lasting joy. What does? That which does not pass away, the word of the Lord that endures forever. If you want something that will last forever and will keep you joyful all the time, it is the word of God which deals with the kingdom of heaven. There is something that intelligently lets you know that there is a joy worthy of pursuing. That is something that does not pass away. The glory of God doesn’t pass away.

1 John 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

The word of God abides forever and he who does the word of God abides forever. Why? There is something in the word that regenerates continually. It never dies. I can testify I have now studied the word of God since the age of 12 and I have continued to enlarge it through till now and I’ve gone over the same subjects again and again and they get more bright and joyful. There is no withering. They say children get toys and they grow tired of them. That is what Solomon did. He had plenty of toys and grew tired of them. Many men today have toys. Here is something that never loses glamour, the joy of something that never goes dry.

Even if you live in a tent for the rest of your life, it is joy. Why would you want to come and live in the bush; because you are close to the heart of God in nature. Nature has a tongue. There is joy in the most unhappy circumstances that surrounds us in the world today, there is still a joy. It is found in doing the will of God. That is where the bubbly joy comes from. It is something that never withers. It’s real and true. If you are connected with the word that abides forever, you have that true satisfaction. There is something in the word that causes you to have light. You may be with Jesus like Judas was, but you need to do more than just being with the light. You need to walk with it. The everlasting benefit found in an experience of the knowledge of the word is a relationship. The word of God abides forever and he that does the will of God abides forever.

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

What is the eternal joy and value? It is has to do with knowing God. Not just having something to thrill you with lovely clothing and an attractive experience but the internal experience of knowing God. All the others can be added but you are not looking at them. There is nothing wrong with having nice clothing but the wrong is that you want to gain happiness by clothing. That is the problem. Jesus didn’t denounce Solomon for being well dressed. He said in all his dress there was something he was missing out on. There is something to know that will give you eternal joy and that is to know God. This kind of joy is similar to the joy of marriage that people are looking for. When a couple have real joy together in a marital fellowship, the Bible clarifies that as knowing someone for it says, Adam knew Eve. This is the knowledge to know God in an intimate entwinement which is lasting value. That is not vanity. That is an eternal joy to know God and Jesus Christ. Look at what it means to know him.

1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

What is it that we know when we know God? It is love. Is this not what everyone is looking for? All society around us is craving for love. They look for it in somebody giving them lovely clothes and in affections from someone and yet they are shattered as they are looking for it as they can’t find true love but when you know God, what do you know? God is love. It is not just God who tells you about love, He is love itself and if you want to have true love, you must come to know God and you will cHme to know God and dwell in love. That is what love is. God and a knowledge of Him. Why is the knowledge of God and doing the will of God everlasting life? Love never fails, it is eternal, it never fails.

1 Corinthians 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether [there be] prophecies, they shall fail; whether [there be] tongues, they shall cease; whether [there be] knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Just to know intellectual things and to know Jesus as Judas knew Him, he knew Him quite closely, he was looking at Jesus according to his perspective and he was lost. You can have all knowledge of prophecy and be very smug about the knowledge you have and teach everybody everything but all that is of a character of Solomon’s great knowledge and wisdom. He was wise, but did he find true satisfaction in all his wisdom? What did he need? Love. He was looking for it with how many wives and concubines? Fascinating isn’t it. There is something for us individually to pursue and find. That’s why Jesus says if you find me, you will find happiness. We have been looking for Him and we could feel Him in nature around us. You can sense something in nature around you that is true inward joy and satisfaction. It is in nature that has a voice and communicates these things. To know Hhim is to experience the intimacy of true love which only he is the source of.

Through the goodness of God we have been surrounded with innumerable blessings. There are tokens of His love on every hand. Nature seems to be rejoicing before us. The beautiful things in heaven and earth express the love and favor of the Lord of hosts toward the inhabitants of the world. The sunshine and the rain fall on the evil and the good. The hills and seas and plains are all speaking eloquently to the soul of man of the Creator’s love. It is God who brings the bud to bloom, the flower to fruit, and it is He who supplies our daily needs. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father’s notice. Our minds should go up in gratitude and adoration to the Giver of every good and perfect gift. {TMK 145.2}

When you are cold and you sit in the sun, you can feel the warmth of Gods love. That is a love token from God. That is God’s love and also letting rain fall on the evil and good. Are you looking for love? Just go and explore it. What is the colour blue a representation of? Christ’s righteousness and the law. Look up, what is enveloping us? It is Christ’s righteousness. It is right around the planet. Christ’s righteousness is enveloping us, the creators love. As you look at a bud that is opening up into a beautiful flower that is a demonstration of God’s love. Go to a peach tree and pick the fruit and eat it, it is a token of God’s love. You want to get to know God? Communicate with Him through nature and the word and you will experience God surrounding you. You want to be embraced? You want to have an emotional time? Go to God, it is there. He will embrace you.

We should teach our children to consider the works of God. They should be instructed on His love and the provision He has made for their salvation. Lead them to give their young hearts as a grateful offering, fragrant with love, to Him who has died for them. Point out the attractive loveliness of the earth, and tell them of the world that is to come that shall never know the blight of sin and death, where the face of nature will no more wear the shadow of the curse. Lead their young minds to contemplate the glories of the reward that awaits the children of God. Cultivate their imaginative powers by picturing the splendor of the new earth and the city of God; and when they are charmed with the prospect, tell them it will be more glorious than their brightest imagination can portray. . . . {TMK 145.3}

God is trying to instruct children as they get older so they don’t make the same foolish decisions Solomon did. As we get along in life we think, what am I pursuing here? We are looking for love and there is only one source. At the moment this earth has the blight of sin and death. The blue is the righteousness of Christ and the green in nature is life. As you look, you see plenty of death but from the death comes life and so the life of God is continually exercising itself to renew from death. It is all around us the knowledge of God by experience. We are looking to the time where there will be a new heavens and earth where there is no more blight of death. Take time to think and contemplate. There is much written about the city of God and the new earth. Is there a true satisfaction in pursuing the world?

The poet and the naturalist have many things to say about nature, but it is the Christian who enjoys the beauty of the earth with the highest appreciation, because he recognizes his Father’s handiwork and perceives His love in flower and shrub and tree. No one can fully appreciate the significance of hill and vale, river and sea, who does not look upon them as an expression of the love of God to man. {TMK 145.4}

This is what it means to know God and this love that you see in nature. If a fire goes through, you see trees and they are black and then new life shoots out of them. No matter what destructive forces there are, the power of God over rules. If you are really listening and opening your mind, you yearn for that and you pursue that. As you work through the day, it is something worthwhile earning money for so you can spend your time in Gods kingdom. It will supply you because there is only one thing that you want, the kingdom of God and his righteousness because you do need food and garments but only for one purpose, you are pursing this higher thing. Here is this hope.

The knowledge of God that you gained as a living engagement is a knowledge of an intimacy like marriage. Marital intimacy is only symbol of this higher thing. People who have had a marriage torn apart are looking for love but there is something that is more powerful than a marriage partner.

John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

The unity that exists in marriage is a symbol of the unity that exists of the Godhead and the people that enter into communion with that love. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is love. We may be part of that.

John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

What’s that? The glory that God gave Jesus the Godhead glory.

John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

The love that exists between Father and Son is the love, the glory which Jesus wants us to be in.

This request of Christ has no limit to its fulness. He desires that his followers shall reveal to the world his spirit of unity and love. But before this unity can exist among them, there must be a genuine renovation of every heart; there must be a vital connection with God; the character must be formed after the divine similitude. {RH, November 3, 1896 par. 3}

It is real, it is lasting, it is infinite. There is no time where there is an end to it. There must be a vital connection with God. This is what we have been trying to get hold of, a vital connection with God. Each one must get it for themselves. As much as I have been trying my utmost to help my listeners to get hold of it, I can’t give it to you. There is a propriety of Christianity that has a love that is deeper than what we crave for with human beings, it is only in Christ. We must find it for ourselves. What did the five wise virgins say? We can’t give it to you, you have to get it for yourself.

John 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare [it]: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

God is love and he that dwells in love, dwells in God and God in him. In this we see that once you discover what we are trying to pursue in sensing God’s closeness in nature and understanding it through the word, you will find such pleasure, such inward fulfilment, that you will never look for pleasure and fulfilment anywhere else. You won’t go shopping to find clothing for pleasure. You will only go there to cover yourself according to Gods counsel (dress reform). You won’t go in the shops to satisfy your appetite apart from buying food to live. In some people’s sense of loneliness when they have found true harmony with God, you will find what is recorded here;

Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence [is] fulness of joy; at thy right hand [there are] pleasures for evermore.

That is fulfilment when you are in the presence of God. You are not looking for a mansion to find satisfaction, you can live in a hovel, you can be happy as you are dwelling in love in God and that is all you are looking for and that is what will satisfy you. In His presence there is joy and fulfilment forever more. This is an intelligent pleasure that is higher than the pleasure that Solomon was trying to build on. In the light of all this, if any of us are still hanging onto the remnants of our earthly fleshy natures, we will be in danger of missing out on this. This world passes away but this will never pass away he who keeps Gods will.

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

If you want that love, you can’t share it with the other love, it doesn’t work. Why?

1 John 2:16 For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh [Babylonish garments], and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Doing the love of God is the will of God and if you have any segments, even little relics that the world provides for your flesh in terms of satisfaction, the love of the Father is not there. You are wasting your money and attention on that. We have these beautiful communication links in nature and we are to look at that. You can take pleasure in that, it is God’s gift and the products of that. The flowers, green grass, the fruit on the trees are all a connective link to the love of God. You have the light, you are in the light, walk in it. Make it practically yours.

Amen.