Edgefield Church Nashville – Sermons

Ecclesiastes is probably the darkest book in the Bible. It?s author imagines the meaning of life if all there is to it is what we experience ?under the sun??as if God doesn?t exist. His conclusions sound remarkably modern: everything is meaningless because everything dies. Unless?

God's final response to Job's anguished questions about innocent suffering is a portrait of two bizarre monsters, called Behemoth and Leviathan. Who *are* these creatures, and how is this speech meant to encourage Job and us in our sorrow?

Job?s lost everything even though he?d done nothing wrong. His main desire was to know why. Near the end of the book, in a passage of remarkable power and beauty, God finally speaks to him. But what God says is not what Job expected. He doesn?t mention Job?s experience at all. He responds instead with a poem celebrating the vastness, complexity, and wildness of the natural world. How is this respo...

What is the wise way to respond to innocent suffering? This question is central to the book of Job. No one paying attention to the world can deny the reality of innocent suffering?that our experience of the world is far from what we wish it to be, and often our suffering doesn?t make sense. If Job?s friends show us how not to respond to this reality, Job?s own responses to his friends and to his G...

Job is about the wise way to respond to suffering, but it?s not just about your own suffering. It?s about how to respond wisely to the suffering of others. The largest portion of Job is a back-and-forth conversation between Job and three of his close friends, friends who came to comfort him but made a horrible job of it. We can learn how to comfort one another with wisdom by recognizing what Job?s...

Job tells the story of a man who was wise and good, enjoying all the benefits of wisdom that Proverbs predicts. Job had everything, then he lost everything, and it wasn?t his fault. Job?s suffering raises questions none of us can avoid if we?re paying attention. At one level, there?s the mystery around all innocent suffering: what is God doing? At a deeper level, suffering raises a question of wor...

Proverbs walks through the lifecycle of the human experience ? as a child, an adult, a spouse, and a parent ? and applies the fear of the Lord at each phase.

Proverbs reminds us that the same wise God who designed the Earth and everything within it is also the sovereign God over our individual lives. Therefore, we are wise to trust him to guide our steps.

Everyone struggles with contentment, and no one likes the way discontent feels. The wisdom of Proverbs helps us recognize where our discontent comes from and points the way toward true contentment through fear of the Lord.

One of Proverbs? favorite subjects is the sluggard?a comedic, somewhat endearing, ultimately tragic figure that looks a little too familiar. The portrait of the sluggard warns us against the destructive power of sloth, and points us towards the invigorating rest promised in Jesus.

Proverbs is about the stuff of life, so it makes sense that Proverbs talks about sex. A lot, in fact. What does it look like to fear the Lord in our sex lives? According to Proverbs, wise sex is bounded sex, and wise sex is better sex.

Proverbs describes the beauty of good friendships, the sort of friendships without which we can?t really grow wiser. And Jesus shows us what makes true friendship possible. He is the friend we need so we can be friends to others.

Proverbs 18:21 claims that ?death and life are in the power of the tongue.? That?s a strong claim, for sure, but it?s proven over and over again in our experience. Our words have incredible power to hurt others or to help them. And few things offer so clear a window into our hearts. So how do we use our words wisely?

The message of Ecclesiastes is as straightforward as it is depressing: everything in meaningless because everyone dies. But this message is the essential backdrop for the hope of Easter: everything is meaningful because Jesus is alive!

Wisdom is about choices. And behind every choice?even the ones that seem mundane?is an act of worship. The wise are those who seek to express love and loyalty to God in every area of life, trusting that this is the path to true and lasting joy.

Everybody wants to live a life that?s long, peaceful, and loved well by others. Proverbs tells us wisdom?a skill or instinct for living life well?is the key. And Proverbs 3 shows us where all true wisdom begins. It begins with a trust in the Lord that leans on him with everything you have and looks for him in everything you face.

This text leads us to questions we?ve got to consider carefully before launching into wisdom of Proverbs: What does it look like to seek wisdom well? How do we even get started? And how can we know it?s worth the effort?

This opening passage in Proverbs is a poetic introduction to the whole book. It points us to what the proverbs are for and to the truth that is the key to understanding them.

What is wisdom, exactly? What does a wise life look like? And where does Jesus fit in? This overview of biblical wisdom kicks off our study of Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and James.

This conclusion to John?s Gospel does more than tie up a few loose ends. It illustrates the faithful, patient love of Jesus toward those who have failed him. And it shows us the only power that can transform our lives and sustain our faith to the end. Do you love Jesus?

Belief in the resurrection of Jesus is a self-involving belief. It?s more than intellectual. It?s personal. To meet the risen Christ is to be transformed?to move from fear to gladness, from doubt to worship, from aimlessness to mission.

All the good news in Christianity hinges on what John tells us about Jesus in this text: Jesus?s physical body really did die, it really was buried, and it really did rise to new physical life. Why should you believe what John reports?

This text tells the story of Jesus?s death by crucifixion, one of history?s cruelest forms of torture. Yet John spares us all the brutal details. He focuses instead on all the signs that Jesus died on his terms for his purposes. So why did Jesus have to die? What did his death accomplish?

John gives us more detail about Roman governor Pontius Pilate than all the other Gospel writers combined. And John tells us that everything he?s included is meant to persuade us to believe that Jesus is the Christ. So how does looking at Pilate help us see the beauty of Jesus?

The opening scenes in the story of Jesus?s death tell a story of great courage, as Jesus faces his captors with unflinching resolve and in absolute control. They tell a story of great cowardice, as Peter faces his own examination and denies Jesus repeatedly. And they tell a story of great compassion: Jesus dies on purpose because he knew Peter would deny him, and he knew we?d deny him too.