An Interview with God
Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 Victory Fellowship
February 18, 2024 - Rev. Roderick Grabski
1st Sunday in Lent
I. Introduction: An Interview with God (2018)
a. Paul Asher (Brenton Thwaites), an up-and-coming journalist, returns home from covering the war in Afghanistan to find his life falling apart. His marriage is near collapse, and he's in the grips of a personal crisis he struggles to understand. And more pressing, a soldier he befriended on the front lines is waging his own battle after discharge and Paul is desperately trying to rescue him. But the young reporter's life takes a strange turn when he is offered an opportunity too intriguing to resist—an interview with a man (David Strathairn) claiming to be God.
b. David Bradshaw writes: The movie’s turning point comes near the end of the second interview, as Paul’s frustration over God’s lack of clarity crescendos when he is informed by God that he’s “almost out of time,” which Paul correctly interprets as a warning of his impending death. Until this point in the movie it seems clear that Paul does not believe this person is really the Almighty. Stunned by this unsolicited and morbid announcement by God, Paul asks the purpose this was revealed to him. God’s reply to his haunting question comes in his third and final interview, with perhaps the movie’s best one-liner: “As a journalist you understand the importance of a deadline.” At this time Paul finally comes to grips with the gravity and potential consequences of his crisis of faith, which has been sorely tested on the battlefield and in his marriage.
c. Paul then appears to begin to understand his own mortality and the reality he must face: Everything can be used for our good if we have faith enough to see God’s hand in every circumstance — good and bad.
d. If you could interview God, what questions might you have?
II. In Solomon’s observation he sees God’s hand in Everything.
a. #1 - It is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.
b. #2 - God has also given riches and wealth to every man, and He has allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God.
c. #3 - This is a gift of God, for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.
III. No need to Interview God
a. We have His Word and thus we know His will.
Micah 6:8: Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.
b. We have the Holy Spirit as our Guide.
John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
c. Led by the Holy Spirit, we have prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal God, His purposes, and His ways.
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
IV. Without God, nothing in this world makes much sense.
a. There is no other name under heaven by which we are saved.
b. When we seek to live Christ-centered lives, nothing is futile.
PRAYER
SONG: No Other Name
Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 (HCSB)
18 Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. 19 God has also given riches and wealth to every man, and He has allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God, 20 for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.
