READING FOR SEPTEMBER 17, 2025: ECCLESIASTES 6, ACTS 8, PSALM 99 ECCLESIASTES 6 This chapter might be considered an inclusio. The first and last verses highlight the term “under the sun.” This often means everything in between falls under that same category of thought. Also, the words futility or futile appear five times, not satisfied twice, and the phrase “striving after the wind” once. All in all, this is a bleak appraisal of life.
Solomon laments that a person can work hard all her/his life and then lose the entire fortune to a foreigner. This might be analogous to email or credit card scams targeted toward seniors that are so maddingly frequent today. That’s enough to depress anyone. He goes on to say that if a person is unsatisfied with her/his life, it would have been better had she/he been miscarried. Have we ever experienced others who express no joy in life? Paul emphatically says that believers can “rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4). Verse 6 finds a correlation between one’s idea of life after death and one’s joy during life. One pastor often asks people he meets how they think people can go to heaven after death. He usually finds people are eager to discuss this and are then open to hearing the Gospel, which of course is the one way to enter heaven. Unfortunately, most people initially give the wrong answer.
In verses 7-9, we find that his prior conclusion about finding joy in work is not holding up well as a means to satisfy the soul. During the final verses, Solomon also despairs of findingfulfillment in knowledge and philosophy from an “under the sun perspective.” The theologian and philosopher John Frame wrote a massive book entitled A History of Western Philosophy and Theology. After examining all the major philosophers from before Socrates to the present day, he gives these final words of advice to his readers:
“Recognize that you have sinned against God and deserve his wrath. Turn from that sin, and trust Jesus, believing that his self-sacrifice on the cross bore the punishment you deserve, and believing that he is Lord of all. Trust him, then, not only as your sin bearer, but as the One who will turn your life around, as you obey his Word. And as he turns your life around, he will turn your mind around as well.”
ACTS 8 The stoning of Stephen apparently emotionally freed the enemies of the church to be less cautious about going after believers. These enemies included Saul, soon to be the Apostle Paul. In what must have been a frantic scene, the 5,000 believers left Jerusalem overnight leaving only the apostles in the city. Philip, taking advantage of a bad situation, went to preach the gospel in Samaria, part of Jesus’s specific last command before He ascended. Although Philip, one of the seven deacons as was Stephen, was run out of Jerusalem due to Satan’s
READING GUIDE FOR SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 CONTINUED: ACTS 8, PSALM 99 devices, he got right back at him by casting out demons and healing the sick in Jesus’s name. He also ran into a man named Simon, who had built a local reputation as a miracle worker. Simon was swept up by Philip’s evangelism and became a baptized believer. Being in the business of performing magical signs himself, he was really impressed with the greater acts performed by Philip. Simon later put his foot in his mouth by seeking to purchase the Holy Spirit, but after a stern rebuke by Peter, seemed duly restored.
As with the recent revival at Asbury College, word of this work of God spread quickly. Peter and John came to observe and help. A rather puzzling situation took place because the text states that the Samaritans had not yet received the Holy Spirit. It also implies a connection to only being baptized in the name of Jesus. We know Romans 8:9 says, “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Since the Samaritans clearly believed in Jesus, why, then, had they not received the Holy Spirit? There are quite a few positions, but this writer humbly holds that as the Gospel was moving to a new people group, especially one as unwelcomed as the Samaritans, having two of the leading Apostles lay hands on these Samaritans served to authenticate their positions as fellow believers. Peter later was used by God to also authenticate that Gentiles could become Christians at the conversion of Cornelius.
Remember Jesus told the disciples to be witnesses “in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.” After witnessing in Samaria, the Holy Spirit arranged for Philip to reach the ends of the earth when he saw an Ethiopian traveling in a chariot. Wouldn’t it be great if folks we run into randomly just happen to be reading Isaish 53? Philip is able to use the non-threatening icebreaker possible to lead this Ethiopian eunuch to Jesus. Not only is the first Sub-Saharan convert recorded, but also the first eunuch convertrecorded. This is so significant. Castrated males were not allowed in the assembly in the old covenant (Deut. 23:1). Now people from all races and even with altered sexuality are welcome in the Kingdom God. Let’s pray for similar opportunities to explain the Gospel.
PSALM 99 What is the Psalmist emphasizing here? Let’s do a word count. Verse 3 says, “Holy is He.” Verse 5 says again, “Holy is He.” The last verse says, “worship at His holy hill, for the Lord
our God is holy.” This is a major theme of the Bible—too often neglected. God is Holy and sinful humans can only approach Him realizing this and through the provisions He arranges. The Psalmist says His Holiness causes all people to tremble. Yet, when His priests approached Him, He answered. God is no less holy today, but we can approach Him now in the name of and through the sacrificial blood of Jesus. We have more reason to praise than the Psalmist.
