1. When Life is
Unfair
Ecclesiastes 3:16-22
Dr. Rick Griffith, Crossroads International Church
www.biblestudydownloads.com

2. Everybody loves a story.

3. Humpty Dumpty
sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty
had a great fall.
All the king's horses
and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty
together again.
Humpty Dumpty

4. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses
and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
Humpty Dumpty

5. Cinderella

6. "Sad endings we can
handle, but not unjust
ones. Suffering makes
us sad, but injustice
makes us mad."
(Charles R. Swindoll,
Living on the Ragged Edge, 98)

7. What
injustices irk
you most?
• No credit?
• Politicking?
• Birth defects?
• Cutting in line?
• Family background?

8. Cover

9. "Yet God has
made
everything
beautiful*
for its own
time"
(3:11a NLT)
* "appropriate" (NAU), "fitting" (5:18)

10. Does God condone injustice?

11. What should you do when
life is unfair?

12. Issues & Responses

13. I. Realize that you will
account to God (3:16-17).
Injustice You

14. Injustice exists in the courts
where it shouldn't (3:16).

15. McDonalds Coffee

16. Lawn Mower

17. Young Earth Lawsuit

18. Dr. Mark Armitage

19. The
Injustice
System

20. How should we respond to
injustice?

21. Realize that you will
account to God (3:17).
Injustice You

22. 438
"Then I saw a
great white
throne…"
(Rev. 20:11)

23. The Books
(Rev. 20:12)
Used with permission

24. The Final
Judgment
Is there one
general
judgment as
depicted by
Michelangelo?
Sistine Chapel, 1541

25. Yet Scripture prophesies
seven more future
judgments…

26. Resurrections & Judgments
R = 4 Resurrected Groups
J = 7 Judged Groups
Rapture 2nd Advent
R 2R R
J 4J 2J
Church Age Tribulation Millennium
Battle of
Armageddon
Great
White
Throne
Battle of
Gog and Magog

27. The Judgment Seat of Christ
• Believers Rewarded
by Christ (2 Cor. 5:10)
• At the Rapture
(1 Thess. 4:17)
• Reward or loss of
rewards (not
salvation)

28. We all will appear before God—not
just the perpetrators of injustice!

29. I. Realize that you will
account to God (3:16-17).
Injustice You

30. Injustice You
Death Enjoy
Issues & Responses

31. II. Enjoy life now (3:18-22)!
Death Enjoy

32. It may seem
unjust that we
are mortal like
animals (3:18-
21).

33. "Man's fate is like
that of the animals;
the same fate
awaits them both:
As one dies, so
dies the other. All
have the same
breath; man has no
advantage over the
animal. Everything
is meaningless"
(3:19 NIV)
"Everything"
should be
translated "both"
(as in 2:14; 7:18;
cf. BKC)
Both man and
animals are
transitory (not
meaningless)

34. Hebel literally means
"a breath, wind, or vapor"
(Prov. 21:6; Isa. 57:13).
Key Word of Ecclesiastes

35. Meaning of Hebel
lbh
"vanity" (KJV, ESV, NAU),
"meaningless" (NIV, NLT), "futile"
(NET, TLB, BKC)
"fleeting"
Ecclesiastes

36. Metaphor:
what doesn't last
("what is without real
substance, value,
permanence,
significance, or
meaning" BKC, 1:976)
A Very Literal Translation

37. Many people don't want to even
think about death.

38. 四
"Four" in
Chinese
诛
"Death" in
Chinese

39. Where's
level 4?

40. Getting a Phone Number…

41. All return to dust

42. Our advantage over animals can't be
shown or observed as they die (3:21).

43. Realizing that we all will die
should cause us to enjoy life now
(3:22).

44. "So I saw that
there is nothing
better for people
than to be happy in
their work. That is
why we are here!
No one will bring
us back from death
to enjoy life after
we die" (3:22 NLT).

45. "So I saw that
there is nothing
better for people
than to be happy in
their work. That is
why we are here!
No one will bring
us back from death
to enjoy life after
we die" (3:22 NLT).
"I have seen that
nothing is better
than that man
should be happy in
his activities, for
that is his lot. For
who will bring him
to see what will
occur after him?"
(3:22 NAU).

46. "This is man's lot (a word that means lit., 'portion,
share, or allotment'…)… people are ignorant of
God's plan and cannot know what the future,
including life after death, holds for them. He
summarized this point in the rhetorical question,
Who can bring him to see what will happen after
him?" (Donald Glenn, in BKC, 1:986).

47. We don't know many details of the
afterlife (3:22b).

48. What should you do when
life is unfair?

49. Main Idea
What should
you do when
life is unfair?
Account to God and
enjoy life!

51. Observer Initiator Victim
Responses to Injustice

52. How do you observe injustice?
Observer

53. Initiator
How do you initiate injustice?

54. How are you the victim of injustice?
Victim

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OT Sermons link at biblestudydownloads.com