Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 - Is Life Really Worth Living

good morning everybody and welcome to another Sunday where you sit over there and I sit over here I actually read on a post way a friend of mine who is the pastor of Calvary Chapel in Guam today that he had put out a bunch of suggestions to his people as they were watching online and I laughed a little bit the very first one says get up and get dressed be serious about coming to church and then I see all of your posts laying in bed with coffee and I was thinking about doing this service for my bed with coffee but I just don't think that's a good idea you know not everybody likes Mike Pence of humor anyway it is Mother's Day and we're gonna be praying in just a minute with you moms I wanted to just share a couple of updates with you I think that would be important for you to know I know that we and and others have had a little trouble on Facebook with our video feeds Facebook is not really designed for video as much as they are with communication skills but our our YouTube channel which I would suggest if you're watching every week go to youtube.com look for Morningstar subscribe and they're there a video platform and and you I don't think you have any buffering issues it's certainly the best output as far as HD is concerned and and I'll look better to you that's exactly what I'm hoping for anyway check that out so you don't get stuck behind some firewalls secondly you may have heard some noise from some churches about starting on what this year would be Pentecost which is the 31st of May and we have been asked are we joining that group and the answer is no we really believe like that the Lord would have us to submit to the government even when sometimes the government might over reach there's a lot of things they do I don't agree with very much and yet we are obligated to follow along with I really feel like the the issue with churches as well as a lot of other things you know this pandemic is worldwide so we find ourselves kind of suffering together and I really don't feel like the government has singled out the church to go after us we are allowed to preach and share and meet together and buy video and I think that's that's safe I hope that it is about time that we are able to get back together again but until such a time unless this prohibition that is protective becomes punitive and we find ourselves targeted and then we might have to change the discussion but until then we're gonna wait it out and just see what the Lord will set before us an open door that no man can shut with that in mind we do have on our website this morning at Morningstar CC org a web page that you can go to that literally says what are we preparing to do in in in terms of opening up again and so there are many things that are there that we're going to implement I think things that would be important to you many things that you can do when you come to church and we have to spread out for a while maybe wear protective face masks if if that'll help us probably sit in two buildings just to spread out a little bit but whatever it takes smaller classrooms more teachers we're gonna do all that we can do to be sure that not only are we safe and wise but we're we want to serve one another so if you look at that page it'll be updated as we get more information as we get closer to a a start update and that way you you'll you'll feel comfortable with knowing what we've done and what we are doing we have disinfectant teams that are actually going to be able to run around the church during the services and also in any of that we're gonna do all that we can to to honor the Lord and and to do the right thing to serve you and to serve ourselves so that's kind of our position so you know save yourself a phone call don't bother to call that's where we're at and you you heard it from me directly and then just pray that the Lord will allow us soon and very soon to get back together so it sounds like we're starting up in the right direction and and we're looking forward to having you here with us it is no fun honestly for all of us to look out to an empty sanctuary but we have to keep in mind that you're on that side listening and that's what we are interested in we care for you guys and we want you to do well well let's pray this morning for the service but also for you mom's I know that normally we can give you flowers and and you have you surrounded by your children doesn't always work as it should certainly not this year but we're gonna ask God's blessing upon you and let's do that before we begin this morning shall we father thank you so much for your goodness to us for your hand upon us that you do all things well you certainly knew this was coming and and there's lots that we can do and be faithful to and we pray that we'll do that not that we would back away from our responsibility or to stand up for the sake of the gospel but at the same time to be good stewards of our time and of our response the thing that maybe rub us the wrong way or make it uneasy for us we trust you Lord we pray that you would be with us as we start this new book of Ecclesiastes this morning that your word would be hidden in our hearts and we look forward to learn with Solomon that life without you has very little purpose we Lord lift up our our moms in our fellowship today hundreds of moms we realized that that God you have used moms to turn the hearts of families for generations I think of King Lemuel then in proverbs chapter 30 who wrote down the things that he learned from his mom became a real influential man a man of God and and so many of us are have our our lives owed to the upper ring that we were given and so Lord we pray for the moms especially now with under even more strain there may be normal especially if the kids are young that you would give to them an everlasting strength that only comes from your throne a patience and a joy and an understanding of who you are that you might bless that you might bless their time that today would be a day of great blessing I know some moms will be able to be with their kids but but to just know that they love their moms the moms love the kids and may you use them in the days and the weeks to come may these children grow up like old King Lemuel quoting mom in the years to come and the things that they learn about the Lord from them Lord have your hand upon the moms in our fellowship thank you for them so much may you bless them today in a special way in Jesus name Amen amen let's worship the Lord [Music] that silence says the there please be a weapon that who's honest little [Music] we see any changes we sing with me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] with [Music] we'll watch the joy became [Music] breakthroughs [Music] [Music] let be the Sun [Music] be the song that comes the store man [Music] you can [Music] [Music] [Music] loves life this is what freedom feels like this [Music] [Music] watch the giant [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] every song [Music] worthy of all the with every breath [Music] Jesus [Music] Jesus the only [Music] [Music] [Music] Jesus [Music] [Music] there is no [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Lord as we take a moment here this morning just our mindful of your unfailing love for us and the fact that we can indeed build our lives on you when do you want to take a moment as the world around us in so many ways is confused and even frustrated and and angry Lord might our hearts be filled with Thanksgiving gratitude to You Lord God for all that you are doing in our midst and have done and will do Lord God because one thing we can truly be thankful for is that you do not change you're the same yesterday today and forever and that unfailing love that surpasses even our understanding that peace that you give us will rule our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus and for that we're thankful for Lord we're also thankful that you allow us to be a part of your work and the things that happened here at church at Morningstar and throughout our community and even now as we are at home Lord with opportunities only to share maybe through social media and through different platforms like that yet Lord your word is going out and we are allowed to be a part of it so we asked Lord humbly that you would bless our tithes and offerings as we continue in faithfulness Lord to you and to your church to give from our hearts Lord cheerfully that which you have provided for us and that which belongs to you we gratefully and thankfully give of our offerings to your Lord in Jesus name amen [Music] and I am used for my drink got a Grayson [Music] still you meet [Music] the sky is your [Music] and you never change God you remain the only one of my feeling I'm feeling [Music] one eye hole [Music] and I see you [Music] still you make [Music] yeah [Music] change got you Oh [Music] Oh time for me [Music] let's go [Music] [Music] brings you got [Music] never change got you [Music] [Music] the weapon me before but if one prosper [Music] when the darkness falls cuz the guy died sir no zone [Music] my god my god [Music] see you [Music] your victory for the [Music] this power [Music] Jesus everybody wagers he went [Music] [Music] No [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the enemy meant for a u-turn you turn it you take with the [Music] you [Music] you too [Music] [Music] [Music] see [Music] [Music] you take for the [Music] [Music] you take what the enemy [Music] see [Music] [Music] I'm gonna see you I'm gonna see you [Music] yes Lord the battle belongs to you thank you Lord that we have the victory in you Lord thank you Lord that that your your our shelter Lord your our freedom your our everything well thank you that we can have your word Lord that it's a light into our path Lord we don't have to be in darkness Lord thank you for you for everything that you're doing in our lives Lord even through these difficult times Lord we know that you are near and we can get great comfort in that Lord thank you for your word go before us help us Lord to be open and receptive to whatever your Holy Spirit might have yes these things in Jesus name Amen that's a good sign amen oh I hope you're singing out loud no cheating at home by just sitting and watching worship is involved and we were listening to see if we could hear some of you that live close by alright let's open our Bibles this morning to the book of Ecclesiastes it is found in the Old Testament in what is called the poetic books or the books of poetry and wisdom and they are pretty unique in the Old Testament they begin at the book of Job and they continue all the way through the Song of Solomon they are unique in the sense that they presume a couple of things number one that whoever is reading it is interested in the relationship with God they want to grow in their walk with God and most of these books of wisdom and poetry are written in the present tense so it's immediately applicable to your way of life furthermore these books are interested in tough questions why do the righteous suffer where is God when I need him or in this case is life worth living Mark Twain years ago that he wrote that he thought life would be a whole lot better if we could begin at 80 years old and live backwards to 18 he wrote just think of the advantage that the years of experience and wisdom could be added to our life but that's not the way life is we begun begin young we hopefully grow up by experience to learn things about life and we usually do that by asking questions of ourselves of those that we trust and and ultimately of the Lord and some of the big questions that always arise why am I here what is the purpose for my life when all is said and done where will I be and what will I have wasted or or will I have purposefully lived my life as such a way that it matters those are pretty deep questions to consider they're heady philosophers in every generation have have tackled them I think young people at a college level if nothing else sit around campus and maybe wonder out loud together the problem is if those questions aren't answered satisfactorily over time you tend to begin to live your life towards despair rather than oh and maybe even disillusionment well Solomon the King asks these questions of himself later on in life he keeps a journal he writes down if he will records potential answers that he has discovered ones that he has come across often he he holds them up to the rigors of scrutiny he he analyzes them and he finds that most of the answers that he finds out there in the world are unfulfilled they are dissatisfying and they seem to leave him more disillusioned than ever and I think it's a pretty good and accurate description of of life in the world for people who don't know the Lord you know you can hear it in the pessimism in the world in in the lyrics of popular music at every level of age it seems that the despair that that that follows not having satisfactory answers to the important questions of life you know lead men to wonder at some point is life really worth living at all I think it was Thoreau that wrote men lead their lives and quiet desperation well this book this book of Ecclesiastes in God's Word goes out of its way to address those very issues and I think it will provide a platform for you if you know the book well to use as a witnessing tool to those in the world because it really does address those who don't know God that are out there at whatever level they're at success wise age wise the status that they've maintained or that they've achieved and yet they find this lack because that's ultimately where the world ends up a place of lack the very first verse and we're gonna try to get to verse 11 this morning but the very first verse of this book tells us the man of the book notice it says these are the words of the preacher he's the son of David he's the king of Jerusalem the Hebrew word for preacher is the word coalesce and colon laughs is not the kind of preacher that you might think I am standing in a pulpit declaring God's Word the Greek translation of this Old Testament book who called the Septuagint translates the words Ecclesiastes from the word ecclesia which is a word for the church in the New Testament but as in a general sense the word for someone that collects together or to assemble and really that's the way this word is used of Solomon here he was the man who would assemble together theories and understandings of the ways of life he'll go test things out for us and then come back and give a report of how things went he is the the wise teacher when you get to the book of Proverbs he is the Royal lover in the Song of Solomon but here he is the assembler or gatherer of the philosophies of life through experience through participation through observation and then recording what he has found Solomon will look at life here's his description of life under the Sun how does the world see life setting God aside as a seeker as a sir as a gatherer these this short book are his sermons his reviews his observations his conclusions but but understand for a minute who Solomon is because Solomon and his generation was the richest man on the planet God's blessing gave to him and such he could afford to chase down anything he wanted and he was given amazing tremendous spiritual assets as well you might remember when his father David died that the Lord appeared to Solomon and said what can I give you and Solomon didn't ask for money didn't ask for Fame didn't ask for power didn't ask for a long life he would to be given all of those he asked him to have wisdom God give me the wisdom so I can rule your people like my father David did and to do it well and it pleased the Lord tremendously and he gave to him according to 2nd chronicles and according to 1st Kings I think chapter 4 he gave to him a wisdom that no one else will ever Excel he was the wisest man aside from Jesus who ever lived and he was given honor and he was given wealth but he was the smartest the wealthiest the wisest the most accomplished Solomon knew God his early prayer asking for wisdom was phenomenal like it says the Lord was so pleased to hear that coming from his lips he was a man of Prayer if you go into first Kings chapter 8 and read the prayer that he prayed over the dedication of the temple I mean it's an amazing prayer he is an amazing young man you can read Psalm 72 which was also written by Solomon and and so look here's a man with tremendous advantage wealth more than all wisdom greater than any a relationship with God an understanding that God answered prayer and he listened and yet over time that relationship that he had with God and the gift that God had given him seem to Solomon to lose its luster and he began to doubt he began to question the dilemmas that he faced the enigma the enigmas that he saw in life began to engender questions and he began to walk away from the Lord he thought that he knew better he eventually drifted with his life into the world back in I think it was Deuteronomy 17 when the Lord gave to Moses for the people his law there is a section in that chapter where the Lord speaks about a time when Israel would have a king they didn't have one then they didn't have any land then yet they were still wandering in the wilderness but God talked to them about when they occupied a land and when God would raise up a king that these were the specific things that a king should do in his place to serve the Lord all of the things that you read there were were specific and they were ignored entirely by Solomon for example it says that they weren't to be a foreigner well he got that right they weren't to multiply wives to himself or to themselves they weren't to gather gold or silver or horses or to return to Egypt for such things and then the king was to make a copy of the law of God written in his own hand so that he might meditate in the God's law day and night know the heart of God not be lifted up with pride and be willing to serve the people well that wasn't Solomon but as though he was wiser than all had been given more than all it's one thing to have wisdom it's another thing to follow it and to not follow what God has shown you is the height of foolishness Solomon ignored God's wisdom he married 700 women can you imagine had 300 concubines in his Arum he owned so many horses that he could fill the massive stables that you can still see in Israel in magetta he had so much gold that we read in the scriptures that silver was rendered useless during his reign but look his disobedience to the wisdom of God led to the disillusionment that you find in his life and later on it was his wives who who turned this heart against the Lord and we read that he didn't walk with the Lord according to first Kings 11 as his father David with a with a pure heart he didn't and wasn't loyal to the Lord now we read the the rest of the book at the end and we'll get there in six months I promise Lord give us six months we'll get to the end of the book and in the end of the book we know Solomon returned to that place of life and that's a good thing to know but but this was a tough journey he addresses his concerns even though God had given him great wisdom and he becomes the preacher the co left the the searcher the assembler of information a philosopher of life seeking to make sense by human wisdom apart from the wisdom of God with this life Socrates once wrote by all means get married and if you find a good wife you'll be very happy if you find a bad wife you'll become a philosopher well that's exactly what Solomon became he married these many women that turned his heart away from the Lord and he began began to be a gatherer of information he was out in the world away from the things of God Solomon uses his analysis of life only based on observable data I say that because his conclusions and theologians call it natural revelation are based solely upon what he sees not God's revelation of what we know but so only by what he sees which is by the way the best that man can do on his own which is why so often this book more than any other Bible book is quoted by as agnostics and by atheists to hopefully support their worldly positions and you know many of the conclusions that Solomon draws at least early on are incorrect they are recorded biblically correct the inspiration of Scripture would would convince us that that it is recorded exactly as Solomon thought and concluded but the preponderance of the other scriptures around this book would tell us that it is observable data and wrong conclusions that Solomon came to when you begin to view life without a spiritual component without God without God's Word you end up opening a Pandora's box of psychological kind of frustration here's what G Campbell Morgan one of my favorite Bible scholars wrote about this book he wrote this this man has been living through all of these experiences under the Sun concerned with nothing that is above the Sun until there came a moment when he came to see his whole life and that there were things not just under the Sun but things above the Sun and when he began to look there he finally saw clear light or true light you see until he came to that decision towards the end of the book Solomon was only looking at life like everyone does without God on a very horizontal plane mind and body no soul no spiritual relationship with you ill with the Lord kind of blind and hopeless so then you know the question becomes why do we study this book at all how is this going to help your walk in my walk with God and there's two things to consider number one I think if you reads me honestly and you you remember where you've come from I think this book will resynthesize you to the plight of the lost I think after a while you get saved and you begin to hang out in church and and with Christians and believers and your whole mindset has changed you forget what it was like before you had a hope you know when when you didn't know where to look and well there's nothing that was settled in your heart the things that you know unbelievers are experiencing every day and we forget about but but they ache to know the truth and and knowing that I think will help us to be wanting to reach out to them secondly this book should warn us that if someone like Solomon can nosedive anyone can I mean he had more wisdom than anyone who ever lived he had great advantages and yet turning from the Lord his life's spirals down to this very low abyss abyss and the any kind that ends up in this quagmire of frustration and an uncertainty until he he finally just says you know what I had who I knew where I was is really the place that I need to be were foolish if we will not live up to the light that we've received if today you know God's Word but you're not doing it living it following it there's no greater foolishness than that you know better I remember my father that was one of his favorite life you know better and I hate it but it certainly applies in this book certainly seems to to drive that truth oh so Solomon is the captain of the wisdom Department and yet he's the fella that just ignores everything that he knows it really isn't what you know that it's so important it's what you do with what you know and he ends up on this path of the being the fool and I'll tell you what sometimes your greatest strengths can become the place of greatest weakness and stumbling you know while the world was partying like rock stars Noah walked up rightly in God's grace and yet his stumbling became that day when he got drunk and passed out in his tent naked it's bringing shame to himself and to his family it was a lapse of faith in the life of Abraham the father of the faithful that allowed him to go to Hagar produce its son Ishmael and the woes that that left with the world are with us to this day it was father Abraham the father of the faithful who headed to Egypt during a time of famine and lied to Pharaoh and was rebuked by an unbelieving powerful man for his lack of faith in God and yet he is known as the father of the faithful Moses was known in the Bible as the meekest man that lived upon the face of the earth that's what the Lord said of him and yet how did Moses stumble he got angry at God's people for their demands which were constant he lashed out at them he struck the rock that the Lord had said to speak to his anger violated God's type his picture of speaking to the Lord he would die though the rock would be smitten once and then we would call upon his name and it cost Moses plenty it was loyal to a fault Peter who swore to Jesus that he would never leave him that he would die with him even if everyone would forsake him and yet in a few short hours from then it was Peter who three times denied denied the Lord out of fear of a servant girl and some Roman soldiers who were on a break Paul was stubborn determined fearless I don't know of anyone else in the Bible that would be dragged out of town and stoned and left for dead and then get up because you didn't die go well we should go into town and get a hotel for the night that was Paul you couldn't Drive Paul away and yet that same dogged kind of determination hampered Paul on his second missionary journey as you read through the book of Acts that he just began to go do I go left do I go right do I go straight and he tried in every way to go and where the Lord didn't want him and you read the Holy Spirit stopped him at every spot and it was until he finally ran out of land the Lord says come to Europe but it was that same Paul his strength had become his enemy so you know Peter a man of of courage became a coward Moses the meek man was pushed over the edge with his drinking he's a man of purity I should say Moses the man who was meek you know lost his temper Abraham the man of faith gave up his faith Paul with extreme courage had trouble just letting God move him forward so here's Solomon the man of God the wise man of God he plays the fool for years to his own detriment when we are weak we usually will seek the Lord when we think we're strong we were often very vulnerable to the enemy so learn from this book that Solomon with all of his wisdom if he doesn't heed the word his strength his gift is understanding becomes his downfall and it can become yours near the end of the book in Chapter 12 we will read solomon admitting his journey to the depths was the wrong place to go but God will use I think these lessons to teach us and they're very good to outline I think they're very straightforward I think they touch us where we lived it's an inspired look by the Holy Spirit but look it's a troubling journey to go on with Solomon because I think you'll see yourself in a lot of these verses here am i this is what I did one thing for sure reading this book should shut you set you straight and deliver you from from from chasing the proverbial shadows of worldly promises that won't satisfy every road he went down every rabbit trail that he chose ended up empty so if you'll study well his journey map in God's Word you'll end up on the only road that relates to life the one that you should stay on and not even turn left or right just just keep your eyes on Jesus and go forward well verse 2 gives us the motto of the book notice what it says vanity of vanities saith the preacher the vanity of vanities all is vanity the word vanity kind of sums up his thinking during this period of his life he uses this word thirty seven times five times in this one verse alone now if you hear the word vanity you probably think to yourself you know someone looking in the mirror and saying congratulations you're beautiful you know that kind of vanity but that's not really it is the word ha Bale is a word that means to be empty or to be futile or to be meaningless or transitory or or unsatisfactory Hebrew poetry in order to emphasize something can't underline or bold or put something in quotes it simply repeats the word and so you'll find this repeat repeating is kind of a you know you could say Solomon learned that that life in the world was empty to the max he was an extreme pessimist by the time he got done you know I you probably have heard about the optimist and the pessimist maybe I don't know what you are but you know the optimist who who who says in a beautiful outside and sunny and it'll be the pessimist says yeah but it's gonna scorch the crops you know or and I remember reading of a an optimist who took his friend duck hunting and and he shot a duck and he said did the dog go get it in the dog walked off the water and got the duck and the pessimist says well you have a dog that can't swim don't you well that's kind of the way pessimism works Solomon remember is looking back this book was written after the fact from notes that he took in the process so here's his statement before he presents to you his his material and he says you know looking back and very pessimistic us to mystically everything was vain everything was empty and useless and unsatisfying well here's the here's his first kind of presentation and by the way down to verse 18 there are three points that he makes are very bleak we'll look at two of them quickly this morning and we'll save the next one for next week Lord be willing but in verse four five six and seven he says here's the monotony of life nothing changes and then in verses 8 9 10 11 he says and there is nothing new to discover and finally down from verse 12 to the end of the chapter he will say and you really can't understand what's going on anyway we're in the dark which we'll look at next week but look let's look at verse 3 what prophet has a man from all of his labor in which he toils Under the Sun the word prophet means just that what gain what what is left over what is the the surplus the advantage in light of everything that we have to go through in life and the toils what advantage really is there from this life what what do we have to show when it is all said and done if you're looking for satisfaction what does life leaves you what is left over hey and he will conclude that there is no profit of life under the Sun and again I mentioned it once but you remember that word vanity but remember this little frame under the Sun which is very familiar it's used I think 29 times in this book it speaks of life under the Sun very vertical I'm sorry it was for this is not vertical horizontal perspective an earthly view devoid of God's wisdom devoid of God's revelation once in a while Solomon I'll pull his head up around the clouds and you'll see the Lord for a minute and then he'll drop back to the earth all the way back to this again but for the most part under the Sun we'll refer specifically to to Solomon looking for life and its purpose here Solomon will mention God about 40 times but he will always use the name for God Elohim and the name Elohim means that glorious God of creation who exercises sovereign control it isn't a personal name it's a name of a Imperial kind of impersonal God far removed and unable unable to be known when the Lord was speaks to us about our relationship with him he most often uses the word Jehovah or Yahweh which is a God of Covenant and an intimacy of God that you can know well but under the son Solomon and looking around can only even acknowledge the God Elohim the reason nothing satisfies of course is that he's just looking horizontally at the end of your life when when the lights go out when you wipe your hands from burying your loved ones when when everything that is done to life can be done what do you have left that's a good question what do you see what have you accomplished what prophet has a man from all of this labor in which he has toiled under the Sun that's his question like Solomon even folks who have had financial kind of wherewithal to chase down their dreams always seem to find empty pots you know it was Alexander the Great who at thirty-one in Babylon began to weep that he had nothing else to conquer this is all there is a lie that's all I can do keine sign wrote to a friend of his in a letter it is strange to be universally known and yet so lonely so Solomon on his throne universally known wise powerful rich and yet he saw life is empty I think it was Carl Sandburg the American poet who who wrote that life is like an onion you peel it one lie a layer at a time and sometimes you weep well any serious look at life any dealing with this question with which Solomon begins shows that life is pretty futile it's short it's unpredictable it's it's difficult it's out of balanced and if you don't have God's perspective on it you're gonna end up very pessimistic and very depressed the good news is for you and I we have the Lord living in us we have His Word in our hands we have his love jesus said to me and to you the thief doesn't come but to steal and kill and destroy but I've come that you could have life and you could have it much more abundantly Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians in chapter 15 of the first book said look just be steadfast and and is immovable always abounding the work of the Lord know that the labor that you put out in the Lord is not in vain in other words that's there's no emptiness when you begin to walk with God but here's Solomon trying it on his own life without the Lord is empty life with the Lord is filled with substance and that's exactly what Solomon will conclude now here in verse 3 he uses the word labor there are I think eleven different Hebrew words for labor this one in particular amal is the word for for working to the point of exhaustion in other words you you've you're all in you've given it your all this is all that you can do and yet you can give no more you're ready to drop and yet you can't find the profit the the the idea is to carry forth you know the a frustrating kind of wearing out effort it is what Moses used in Deuteronomy 26 when it says that the be cried to the Lord Lord look upon our labor and our our oppression or David wrote in Psalm 90 about our days being seventy years or by reason of strength you get to eighty he said then we can boast all of our labor and sorrow it's just a grind life can be right and if the Lord isn't involved what does that really leave you with notice he says in verse four one generation passes away and then another generation comes but the earth continues to abide for everything the Sun rises the Sun Goes Down it hastens to the place from where it has arisen the wind goes towards the south and then it turns towards the north and then it swirls around continually and it comes again in its circuits and all of the rivers run into the sea yet the sea isn't full from the phrase from which the rivers come there they return again Solomon what prophet is my life and then he says look there's some monotony in life there doesn't seem to be you know it's a vicious circle nothing changes and he looks at the cycle of nature with with very much cynicism and and fatalism and predictability you know today at least statistically about half a million babies will be born into households somewhere great joy and about 200,000 people in the world will die there'll be funerals planned and and sadness and tears in homes around the world you'll find great joy tremendous sadness and they both occur at the same time but but look at Solomon's description of life on that horizontal plane he says and he's stuck with the idea that people are born and they die people come and go the earth doesn't seem to change it remains the same nothing ever changes there's summer and fall winter and spring and summer again in one generation to the next the the earth abides but God's crowning achievement doesn't you know the redwoods were growing when Jesus was born and so are the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane the mountains were here long before you arrived and if the Lord tarries will be here long after you're gone we drop in we drop off the world seems to continue something is wrong here and that's Solomon's point his view horizontally was what's my life really means and how does it really fit into this monotonous kind of endless searching for a meaning you know the hallmark dreams up a new holiday over here I'm pretty sure to sell cars I'm not sure but I have a suggestion for them how about we have cemetery they get a card walk around the tombstones and agree with Solomon this is your life pretty soon this is where you're headed your life is brief your death is certain and everyone comes and goes the rich the poor the powerful the weak nothing changes all while the earth and it's seasons just kind of continue unabated he even looks notice in verse five and six and seven I thought at the universe and his conclusion was look this is just exactly what happens this manat need to the universe he saw the world as ordered and organized and yet predictable this daily race of the Sun from east to west and back again the word hastening by the way is panting to get back to the starting point monotony the wind blows here it blows there blows everywhere and really it doesn't go anywhere it just kind of ends up where he begins and notice even in verse seven the wise Solomon understood hydrology better in the his years than anyone before scientists scientists tell us today that that at any one time ninety ninety seven percent of the water of the earth is in the ocean and only one one thousandth of 1% of the water is in the atmosphere ready to drop down as freshwater and yet with the cooperation of the winds and the tie the Sun evaporation the movement of moisture you know we get drunk drinking water and and yet eventually it ends up in the rivers ends up in the ocean then back it goes to where it began so from Solomon's viewpoint apart from God he saw motion but not promotion you know this monotony of life was his first argument to say life wasn't worth living at least not from his view under the Sun but you and I are different God has saved us we have a father in heaven and with serving the Lord life is exciting you never know what he's gonna plan next and what might be monotony to you I can't wait to see what God is gonna do nice because he has a plan he is involved but life without a vertical component horrible forget about the hydrology cycle think about the laundry cycle I've actually started to help out doing the laundry a couple times I'm not good at it so don't ask me to do your laundry a lot of my clothes don't fit has nothing to do is getting late by the way as our interview was my bad skills but but to think about laundry you clean you get dirty you separate you wash you fold your hang-up you press your iron you and you start again never stops or the business guy who goes to work five or six days a week gets up at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning puts in long days comes home you know takes a shower eats watch some TV does it for 50 weeks or 30 to 49 weeks a year gets a couple two or three years weeks off you know 40 years of that and then he can retire get a gold watch go home and and sit around wait to die pretty boring pretty uneventful if that's your only view of life under the Sun Solomon as this as we will close our first look at this book verse eight he says man cannot express that the eye isn't satisfied with seeing the ear not satisfied with the hearing that which has been is what will be that which is done is what will be done there is nothing new Under the Sun there is nothing any one of which it may be said see this is new it has already been in ancient times before us there is no remembrance of former things nor will there be any remembers of the things that are to come so those who will come after by those who will come after in other words his is his final or second point of these three is look there's not only a monotony of life but but there's nothing new to discover you know we all want new things I think we like something new you know everything in life seems to weary in the long run unless you get something new Paul described the Athenians in in acts 17 as a group of foreigners who sat around thinking of nothing more than telling some new thing you know they have a new idea I am sure that our clothing industry our entertainment industry the car industry they owe their existence to the fact that man is because of sin dissatisfied in his heart I remember 8-track tapes and then the cassette and then the CD and then the mini CD and now you know I have a million ways to listen to music now we got Bluetooth but look it's never gonna stop the next greatest thing the minute I buy a new TV I missed out on the latest one just keep up who can afford that well Solomon could Solomon could there is a verse in in chapter 3 when we get there verse 11 where the Lord will say to us that God has put eternity in her into the heart of every man because only in eternal things can we find satisfaction that's what the lesson of the book is moody wrote years ago if it is new it's not true and if it's true it's not new Edison said his inventions were simply rediscovering the or discovering the secrets of nature and then applying them for the good of mankind it wasn't new it just had to be discovered then you open your Bible and you read of you God has made you a new creature he's given you a new heart giving you a new life put a new song in your mouth have you looking one day for a new heaven and a new earth you see in the world it's life's gonna drone on you got there's no reward there's no hole but in your relationship with God there's all of those things can you imagine verse 8 Solomon just kind of sighing and saying you know the life is just filled with labor what a hassle what a drag no wonder we never are satisfied there's this restlessness that comes with dissatisfaction he even says there there's something wrong here this isn't right that man can't just be satisfied everything that's been done will be done if it's well it's gonna be done it's been done before they say the ancients have done it no one remembers it it's just the only reason it seems news day you don't remember his old what a great argument what a good argument I think Paul wrote to the Romans that God had subjected the creature to futility because it was subjected in hope that he would deliver us from the corruptness that is in us in other words our flesh just leads to being futile we'll never be satisfied there there's a hole that God has created in our hearts which he alone can fix so he writes in verse 11 here that we simply think they're new because we refuse to remember or if you will maybe this is the best way to put it you we refuse to remember reading the minutes to the last meeting it well can be says that ancients sold all of our best ideas things aren't new take a test for yourself who who won the Heisman Trophy nine years ago I'll bet you don't remember or who was president 81 years ago unless you were really good in history you probably don't remember that other or what did you have for dinner three weeks ago Tuesday see that's more of heart or difficulty for me things are not new we just forget about them a hundred years from now you and everyone else will be virtually forgotten ah the good life but the fruit that you can leave behind as a believer that's another story so maybe you are struggling with the purpose of life this morning then I hope that you'll follow along with those either this way or until you consider here in the sanctuary with us in person and maybe the Lord and can bring you back to the path that leads to life we start out life clueless hopefully we'd grow in the process I heard a story awhile ago that I really liked of an ensign on a ship who was given by the captain the command to take the ship out to sea and he was so excited never been given the authority before and so he got on it and in record time barking out orders with great diligence he got the ship out of the port and and out of the berth and out to sea when the phone rang and the and he he answered and he got this congratulatory call from the ship's captain he said you did a young man you did it in record time and by the book I can commend you you did so well however you broke one of the ship's first rules and the instance says captain what is that he said you should never leave the dock until you make sure the captain is on board now come back here and get me so I think that's Solomon's you know I think you could write that in this book he's gonna run out to sea very quickly I have all you know the opportunities that he can full speed ahead but God's not on board that's not very wise so under the Sun Life was gonna have a hard time being found but in the Sun there's tremendous life and I hope that we will discover that together in the weeks to come shall we pray father we thank you this morning for your word to us what a good book this is going to be what a challenge to our thinking I pray that that we will put on our thinking caps and and prayerfully consider your word and how important it is that we grab hold of every word every verse may you teach us Lord maybe we have the outlook from Solomon's ways of life so that we can avoid going down these roads and takin these paths you can help us and you can walk us down that center road that leads to you or life has purpose and meaning we're emptiness and vanity isn't a part of our arja life in our discussion let's sing this last song together with Alex and and let's just the Lord prepare us for this week and what he has planned for us [Music] [Music] race you thank you father may we take hold of the the truth front this book is gonna set me for us that there's really no place to look for life but up to your word to your son to your the work of your spirit and as we pray for the moms today as we think about the work that you've done in their lives do that work in ours may we have great influence especially now when the world seems to be on edge afraid sometimes terrified not knowing who to believe what to believe story's changing by the minute and yet our God knows all and he's good and he does all things well so lord guide us this week may your word ring in our hearts bring us back together here on Wednesday if you so desire and may you have your way with us we pray in Jesus name Amen god bless you guys we love you we're thinking of you we miss you terribly and we're sure it's gonna be soon so pray with us with it that the Lord will just put it before us a door no one will shut god bless you guys you

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Length: 72min 23sec (4343 seconds)

Published: Sun May 10 2020