
Is Life Worth Living? (Ecclesiastes 1:1-3)
- Id like you to imagine being given a blank check
for anything you want
- you are literally told that anything you ask for is
yours whether it be material or otherwise
- you want riches? ask for it
- you want a new spouse? its yours for the asking
- you want a long and healthy life? all you have to do
is ask
- what would you choose?
-
- this question is interesting because of the proliferation
of such things as hospital lotteries
- you read these brochures and see a brand new gorgeous
home with two cars parked outside, and you begin to imagine what
if?
- or you go to, of all places, McDonalds, and see
there that if you buy a McArch Deluxe Meal, you get a voucher redeemable
for a Lotto 649 ticket
- and of course you begin to imagine being able to give
seven million dollars to the church if you won the lottery
-
- what would you ask for?
- what would really make you happy?
-
- a man was once asked this question by God himself
- this mans name was Solomon, king of Israel after
his father King David had died
- King Solomon was probably all of 20 years old when
he was asked this question:
- (1 Kings 3:5) At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon
during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you
want me to give you."
- now talk about a question!
- what would you ask for?
- what would make you happy?
-
- now, Im sure if I asked you this morning what
you would ask for, we would all say wonderfully spiritual things
- we might say an end to world hunger, or peace in our
times, or the eradication of poverty
- but in our heart of hearts, wouldnt we be thinking
it would be nice to have a better job, or no job, or a brand spanking
new house with two cars?
- I have to admit occasionally imagining coming into
a large sum of money, and you know one thing I would do?
- secretly pay off the mortgages and debts of my close
family, and the next time they go to the bank to make a payment, theyre
told, "What are you doing here? You dont owe us anything
any more?"
- that would be great!
- of course I would tithe on the money
-
- you know what Solomon asked for?
- (1 Kings 3:6) Solomon answered, "You have shown
great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful
to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great
kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very
day.
- (1 Kings 3:7) "Now, O LORD my God, you have made
your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little
child and do not know how to carry out my duties.
- (1 Kings 3:8) Your servant is here among the people
you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.
- (1 Kings 3:9) So give your servant a discerning heart
to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For
who is able to govern this great people of yours?"
-
- what an answer!
- wisdom!
- the Scripture tells us in 1 Kings 3:10 that God was
very pleased with Solomon for asking this
- most kings would have asked for a long life, or wealth,
or the death of their enemies
- but Solomon asked for wisdom
- and because Solomon asked for wisdom, listen to what
God said:
- (1 Kings 3:12) I will do what you have asked. I will
give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have
been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
- (1 Kings 3:13) Moreover, I will give you what you have
not asked for--both riches and honor--so that in your lifetime you will
have no equal among kings.
- (1 Kings 3:14) And if you walk in my ways and obey
my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a
long life."
- hes got it made!
- wisdom, riches, and honor
- wouldnt you like to be this twenty-year old king?
-
- now flash forward
- were nearing the end of Solomons life
- what sort of life do you think he had?
- wouldnt you expect it to have been a full life
and an enjoyable life?
- wouldnt you like to read what Solomon had to
say about life?
- you know, if I was a publisher at the beginning of
Solomons life, I would sign him up right away to write his memoirs
so we could learn from his life
- surely if people buy books on David Lettermans
top ten lists or read some of the books theyre reading, they would
want to read Solomons insights into good living
-
- you know, there is such a book
- nowhere in this book does the author give his name,
but the descriptions he gave of himself indicate that the writer was
probably King Solomon at the end of his life
- he was the "son of David" and the "king
in Jerusalem"
- he claimed to have great wealth and wisdom
- in all likelihood, Solomon was the writer of this book
called Ecclesiastes
-
- it appears this book was written at the end of Solomons
life, reflecting on his lifes experiences and the lessons learned
- you see, Solomon has done it all
- he began his reign as a humble servant of God, but
as he grew older, his heart turned away from the Lord
- he dabbled in multiple marriages and false gods
- he tried possessions, pleasures, power, and prestige
- here was a man who had tried it all!
- here was a man who had gone for the gusto and done
everything
- in many ways, he was the quintessential man who had
arrived
- he had done everything
- there were no more ladders left to climb
- he had arrived
-
- now please open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes
- if you open your Bibles to the middle and go two books
east, or toward the end, you will find this jewel of a book
- were going to look at just the first two verses
this morning
- from now until believe it or not the
end of July, were going to deal with the bottom-line issues of
life
-
- you see, Ecclesiastes is more than an interesting
exhibit in a religious museum
- is has a message for us in the 20th century
as well
- the world in which Solomon lived two thousand years
ago has not changed too much
- they had injustice to the poor; we have injustice to
the poor
- we have crooked politics; they had crooked politics
- they had incompetent leaders; we have well,
make up you own mind
- back then guilty people were allowed to commit more
crime; nothing has changed
- they had materialism; we had materialism
- back then, some people longed for "the good old
days," today, I still hear some people wishing for "the
good old days"
-
- whats more, we havent changed very much
- Solomon was on a quest to live a fulfilled life, to
find satisfaction in life
- he experimented with life and tried many things we
try today
- he tried pleasure we try pleasure
- he tried wealth we dream about wealth
- he tried education we think education will help
us "arrive"
- we desire social prestige; so did Solomon
-
- many of us think, "If only
"
- "If only I could live a life of pleasure!"
- "If only I could get that next degree!"
- "If only I could get a better spouse!" or
"any spouse"
- "If only my career was going better"
-
- Solomon tried all these things
- and he was the ideal person to write this book, because
he possessed all the wealth, wisdom, and opportunities to carry out
these "experiments"
- by the way, the word "Ecclesiastes" means
a person who calls an assembly
- usually it means a person who has called an assembly
and presents a topic, and discusses it from many viewpoints, and then
comes to a practical conclusion
- are you ready for this?
-
- lets get our toes wet this morning by looking
at his thesis
- were going to wade in deeper next week, but this
morning well get his main idea for the entire book
- its found at the beginning of Ecclesiastes
- (Ecclesiastes 1:1) The words of the Teacher, son of
David, king in Jerusalem:
- (Ecclesiastes 1:2) "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."
- (Ecclesiastes 1:3) What does man gain from all his
labor at which he toils under the sun?
- just in case we miss this thesis, he puts it again
near the end of his book
- (Ecclesiastes 12:8) "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher. "Everything is meaningless!"
-
- lets do what Warren Wiersbe does in his introduction
to Ecclesiastes and get our feet wet by looking at each of the phrases
in this thesis
- PHRASE NUMBER ONE: "MEANINGLESS! MEANINGLESS!
UTTERLY MEANINGLESS! EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS!"
- some translations say:
- KJV (Ecclesiastes 1:2) Vanity of vanities, saith the
Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
- NCV (Ecclesiastes 1:2) The Teacher says, "Useless!
Useless! Completely useless! Everything is useless."
-
- meaningless; vanity; useless quite a description
of life!
- you need to know that in Hebrews, if a word is repeated
even once, it is for added emphasis
- here the word is repeated five times in the same verse
- it means "everything is really, really, really,
really, completely, and totally meaningless, useless!"
- the word in Hebrew literally means "empty; unsatisfactory;
futile"
- it is similar to vapor, which disappears quickly, leaves
nothing behind, and does not satisfy
- one professor defined this word as "whatever is
left after you break a soap bubble"
-
- what a conclusion for Solomon to make!
- the word "meaningless" is repeated over 30
times in Ecclesiastes
- what Solomon is saying is that when he considers his
wealth, his works, his wisdom everything he comes to this
conclusion:
- (Ecclesiastes 2:11) Yet when I surveyed all that my
hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless,
a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
-
- now, lets pause for a second
- Stephen Covey says that many people are climbing the
ladders of success, but when they get to the top, they will find that
the ladders are leaning against the wrong walls
- in other words, many of us are frantic pursuing the
things that Solomon did careers, success, money, pleasure
- but at the end of his life, Solomon could say, "All
of this is meaningless!"
-
- I turn thirty this year
- according to my pension statement, I will retire on
August 1, 2032
- that means that if God spares me, I have thirty-five
more years of ministry left in me
- and hopefully a few years after that to spend as Bill
does basically retired, a "man of leisure"
- how good it is for someone like me, who is still relatively
young, to learn that many of the things I will be tempted to chase after
are basically meaningless; unsatisfactory; empty
- some of you are younger than me; some of you are quite
a bit older
- you need to hear the words of Solomon who did many
of these things and found that ultimately, they dont deliver the
lasting satisfaction that they promise
- one man described life as a "blister on top of
a tumor, and a boil on top of that"
- Solomon would ultimately agree with that assessment
- with one caveat to this, and were about to find
out what it is
-
- PHRASE NUMBER TWO: "UNDER THE SUN"
- (Ecclesiastes 1:3) What does man gain from all his
labor at which he toils under the sun?
- Solomon defines his terms of reference: he is looking
at life "under the sun"
- this phrase occurs twenty-nine times in Ecclesiastes,
along with the phrase "under heaven"
- basically Solomon is looking at life from a human perspective,
not from heavens point of view
- he is examining life merely at a human level
- we have to remember as we read Ecclesiastes that most
of the time, he is reflecting life apart from God
-
- G. Campbell Morgan writes:
- This man had been living through all these experiences
under the sun, concerned with nothing above the sun
until there
came a moment in which he had seen the whole of life. And there was
something over the sun. It is only as man takes account of that which
is over the sun as well as that which is under the sun that things under
the sun are seen in their true light.
-
- now Ill give you a hint as to one of the applications
of this book
- life only makes sense with God
-
- a few years ago there was this slogan that Coca Cola
used, "Things go better with Coke"
- let me rephrase this statement to reflect one of the
truths of Ecclesiastes: "Life goes better with God"
- in fact, life only makes sense with God
- apart from God, from an "under the sun" perspective,
life is utterly futile, empty, and meaningless
- we need God and a personal relationship with his Son
in order for life to make any sense
-
- lets get real: a lot of people, including you
and me, are on the search for a life filled with satisfaction and purpose
- we tend to look in all the wrong places
- I guarantee there are people in your office and neighborhoods
that are looking for God and dont know it
- they are sensing that their lives are empty and futile
and meaningless, and they are searching for something to fill that void
- they are looking for pleasure or achievement to fill
this void, but the message of Ecclesiastes is that only God can fill
this void
- Bill Hybels has recently come out with a book called
"The God Youre Looking For"
- I like that title
- a lot of people are looking for God and dont
even know it
-
- in the end, friends, only God can truly bring satisfaction
and purpose in life
- (Psalms 37:4) Delight yourself in the LORD and he will
give you the desires of your heart.
- we delight in God and only then do we find the satisfaction
and true, lasting pleasure that we are looking for
- a pleasure that satisfies more deeply than anyone or
anything else ever could
- a pleasure and satisfaction that cannot be taken away
-
- these are the two phrases that set the tone of this
book
- this is the thesis of the book of Ecclesiastes: life
apart from God is futile, empty, and unsatisfactory
- only God can satisfy the deep desires of the heart
- all else is meaningless
-
- were going to dive head-first into Ecclesiastes
next week, but for this morning I want to give you three assignments:
- FIRST, OPEN YOUR LIFE
- this is a great time to begin examining your life to
see the bottom line balance
- the book of Ecclesiastes is going to be wasted on you
if you dont submit your heart and life for inspection to this
book
- Im asking you to examine your lives these next
weeks, and see if you are really living the life of satisfaction that
you think you are
-
- SECOND, INVITE A FRIEND
- Augustine said that we all have a God-shaped vacuum
in our lives
- in other words, everyone is looking for God, but not
everyone knows it
- your friends who dont know God are looking for
something in their lives and they havent found it yet
- Ecclesiastes is the perfect book for them
- I ask you to think of creative ways to either invite
them here or to share what well discover in the book of Ecclesiastes
-
- THIRD, DELIGHT IN GOD
- ultimately, our lives are meaningless apart from God
- well discover why later
- but take my word for it this morning: life apart from
God is utterly meaningless
- only as we find our delight and satisfaction in God
are we truly satisfied
-
- well dive in next week
- but lets express our satisfaction in God right
now by singing a song that expresses this so well "As the
deer pants for the water"