Life Through the Lens

As we're going through the book of Ecclesiastes, one thing that struck me about it, it is a very visual book.

You can imagine someone making a documentary film about it.

So in chapter one, for instance, there's the rhythm of nature, which you could film.

In chapter three, there's the thoughts about time that we looked at a couple of weeks ago,

and there's a time for this and a time for that, and you could easily film that.

And throughout the book, there are little vignettes, little wee stories, incidents like the story of the kings at the end of the chapter that we read today,

which could be really brought to life on film.

Perhaps if the writer of Ecclesiastes had been living today rather than writing a book, he would have made a short documentary film about it.

This thought occurred to someone at the Gospel Coalition,

and they had some fun listing 13 films that bring us some of the characteristics and themes of the book of Ecclesiastes.

So for instance, they included Forrest Gump, which illustrates that power and intelligence are not the same as wisdom.

They're searching for Bobby Fischer, which is all about the ruthlessness that people feel you need to get on in our world.

No country for old men.

A brutal murderer is involved in a car accident and escapes unscathed, illustrating the injustice that people often see in our world.

The greatest showman, great success, doesn't necessarily need dissatisfaction and peace in life.

Or the man who planted trees, someone who goes with the rhythm of life and of nature,

and who turns a barren wasteland into a thriving community over a period of many years.

Films that illustrate something of the book of Ecclesiastes and also tell us just how relevant it is today in our society.

I must admit, I'm not a cinema goer.

None of these films are really very familiar to me, but I do watch television.

And so as a bit of a hook for the points I'm going to make today, I'm going to link them into television programs.

And it's the titles of the program rather than the content that will be important.

We'll come to that in just a second.

Maybe worth, though, taking just a couple of minutes to remind ourselves about the book of Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes and how we should approach it as we read it.

Ecclesiastes is the observation of someone who calls himself the teacher.

Perhaps it's Solomon.

And the teacher is a grumpy old man.

He's been through life.

He's done everything.

He's had power.

He's had wealth.

He's had wine, woman, and song.

And he's found that it's all, really from his point of view, just been a waste of time.

He said it's like a vapor.

It's like the steam that comes out of a kettle and a few seconds later it's gone and it's forgotten about.

It's meaningless, is what the teacher says.

He's really become the ultimate cynic.

And when we read the book of Ecclesiastes, it's very important that we don't read it like we might read Romans or Isaiah.

It is not all stuff that is instruction for us and the role to take literally.

It is poetry.

And it is particularly, it is a view from under the sun in most of it.

So it is someone who is looking at life and not looking at it through the lens of a Christian faith or a real deep understanding of God.

It is someone who is looking at life from a human perspective and finding it is sadly wanting.

Now that's not to say that it isn't inspired scripture.

It is.

And the writer of Ecclesiastes brings out many things, much wisdom that we can look at and we say, yes, that resonates with me.

I can see that in our world today.

And he also has an understanding of a God who is the creator and who is ultimately in control.

And that if we are to enjoy really fulfilled lives, then we can only do it with a knowledge of him and by looking to him for guidance.

And in chapter four, the writer of Ecclesiastes moved on from looking at him as an individual to looking at society.

What are the things that drive us in society?

What are the things that you look at in society and think, well, that's a waste of time or that really doesn't ring true?

And there are four key things that I think he brings out.

So here we come to the first of my television programs, which is casualty.

And the writer says, we are all casualties of life.

That's what he's saying in the first verse or two.

Verse one, again, I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun.

I saw the tears of the oppressed and they have no comforter.

He looks at society around about him and he says, it's just not fair.

And most of us are casualties of life.

There are people who have power and they abuse it.

And they have no concern for those who are further down the chain and who just live lives of suffering and often lives of misery.

Now, I think perhaps to some extent we can identify with that.

We can certainly look around our world, the world that Charles was praying for earlier,

and think about situations where people, through no fault of their own,

are in terrible circumstances and are enduring terrible oppression.

So there is wisdom in what the writer has to say here.

A lot of people in our world today feel overwhelming oppression.

They feel that they are casualties of a system that is unfair and of people who are cruel and brutal.

If we can identify with what the writer says in verse one, I wonder about the next two verses.

They seem rather extreme, don't they?

He says, I think people who have died are happier than people who are alive.

And I don't think he's thinking particularly of people having gone to heaven and being happy.

It's just they're out of this world and they put all the evils and the oppression of this world behind them.

And he says, even better is if you're never born.

So actually, the whole of life is futile.

Now, I'm sure a lot of people in this world might feel that at times,

but that is not a Christian, it's not a biblical view if we look at the Bible as a whole.

Life is a gift from God.

We should treasure it and we should rejoice in it,

despite all the difficulties that we face in life.

So the teacher is using hyperbole, I guess, here.

He is exaggerating for effect.

But the point is, I think, is well made.

For many people, life is really difficult and at times they find it a real struggle to go on.

And the point, too, is that in our world, there is a huge amount of injustice.

That there is a huge amount of people in positions of power who don't care about anyone else

and who make decisions that have radical effects on the lives of others

and it just washes over them despite the misery that they're causing.

And most of the wars in many countries of our world, that is certainly true.

And like the writer to Ecclesiastes, we should have a real concern for social justice.

I would say that if I'm a Christian and I don't have a concern for social justice,

then my theology is severely deficient.

Because the Bible is full of those who talk out against the injustices in society,

particularly in the prophets, but also the Lord Jesus.

He had a real concern for those who were at the bottom of the pile in society,

those who were poor, those who were ill, those who were friendless.

And he was not afraid to speak out against those who would oppress them,

particularly the religious leaders and the way that they treated the ordinary people.

We as Christians should have a real concern for those who are poor

and those who are oppressed and a desire to help them.

That doesn't mean we have to join Amnesty International, become politicians,

but in the place where we are, we should be making a stand for social justice

and we should be doing all we can to help those who are going through these difficult times.

I think it's really important as a church that we have things like Basics Bank and the Care Van

and we support the Fairly Well Youth Project and other things which take those who have been dealt

what might appear a fairly raw hand in life and we introduce them to the love of the Lord Jesus

and we really care for them and try to help them.

Christians should have a desire for social justice, should be working towards it

and should recognise that for many people life is overwhelming and they feel really oppressed.

The teacher is right, even if his final conclusion isn't right, and we should be concerned about that.

Then the writer moves on, and I'm illustrating the next point, with pointless.

Because he talks about something that he thinks is pointless.

I've also called it senseless success.

And this is people who spend all their life trying to get more and more money

and to be more and more successful, and they can look back at the end and say,

well, what's the point been?

A particular illustration of a man who's got no family, no son, no father, no one to pass things on to, no brother,

and yet he works and works away and accumulates more and more,

and he looks back at the end and says, I could have been enjoying life.

I could really have been living a fulfilled life, but I haven't.

And the writer says, at least part of the reason for why this kind of thing happens

is that we're always trying to be better than other people.

So in verse 4, he talks about the envy that leads to achievement.

About people who look at others and say, I want to be like them.

I want to be more successful than they are.

And it drives them on, and they lose all the value in life.

They lose all balance in their life because they are so driven by this ambition.

And the writer says, that's meaningless.

It's like chasing the wind.

You're not getting anything really worthwhile in life if you're just driven by being more and more successful

or by being wealthy far beyond what you could ever need.

And he says there's a balance to be struck.

On the one hand, you've got the fool who folds his arms and does nothing and isn't interested in working.

And the writer certainly isn't recommending that that's what we should do.

But he says the other side, you've got the person for whom having things in one hand would actually be enough.

But they use both hands.

They want both hands to be full.

And they just drive themselves forward.

And they forget all about the enjoyment and the satisfaction that God wants us to have in life

because they just want to accumulate more and more for themselves.

Neither extreme is good.

We should work if we're able to, and that is part of God's purpose for us in life.

That we shouldn't work to the extent that we forget about what God's real purpose for us in life is.

That we should enjoy him.

That we should know his presence.

And that we should be able to live in harmony with others and to help them rather than trying to get ahead of them.

There's a real stupidity in some people who just feel,

I must get more and more.

I must work harder and harder to achieve more and more.

And ultimately, they're just driving themselves to the grave.

They're not doing themselves any good.

So what is the right way?

Well, Paul in 1 Timothy gives some very helpful instructions to the young man he's writing to.

He says,

Godliness with contentment is great gain.

We brought nothing into the world.

We can take nothing out of it.

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap.

And into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

I challenge you and I challenge myself this morning.

What is our attitude towards money?

And what is our attitude towards what the world might see as success?

Do we live lives where we're trying more and more to accumulate for ourselves,

to be more successful, to be wealthier, to be more powerful, whatever it is,

in the terms of this world?

Or do we have what Paul describes as godliness with contentment?

Being really thankful for all that God has given us,

making sure that we contribute fully in our lives,

through our work or through our interactions with others,

and that through it we glorify God.

Or are we getting too caught up in the things of this world

and too much thinking of ourselves?

On Friday, a very good friend of mine passed away.

Jim McClellan was a builder, a very successful builder, down in Peebles.

Among other things, he built the hall,

which many of our young men are preaching in over the coming weeks.

He was very involved too in missionary work in Scotland,

in supporting missionaries.

Jim, although he was very successful throughout his life,

he had a focus on serving the Lord Jesus.

And he retired from commercial business at a relatively early age,

and he spent the next few years building Challenge House,

which is just off Junction 16 of the M8 in Glasgow.

Challenge House, for over 25 years,

has provided low-cost accommodation for a number of Christian organisations,

Echos International, Tier Fund Care, and a number of others.

And the proceeds, the rent that came in from that,

Jim has put into a trust,

and it is used to provide funds for missionaries

and for mission organisations like Scripture Union.

Jim was a man who wasn't a great public speaker.

He wouldn't hear him on a platform like this.

But he was a man who was totally focused on serving the Lord Jesus,

on working for him, and who had his priorities right,

even though he was a good businessman,

even though he was very successful in what he did.

That wasn't what drove him.

What drove him was his love for the Lord Jesus

and his desire that the gospel should be spread.

Am I like that?

Are you like that?

What is our real purpose in life?

What is it that drives us

and that gives us the greatest motivation in our life?

It should be following the Lord Jesus

and being content with what we've been given by God

and using that for his glory.

So that was the pointlessness,

the senseless success that many people strive for in our world.

Third television programme is It Takes Two,

and that is the spin-off from Strictly Come Dancing.

And I thought that was quite a good description

of verses 9 to 12 of this chapter.

I also called it Tougher Together.

Two people are a lot stronger than one person,

is the key theme here.

So the writer takes us through a number of situations.

You're working.

Perhaps you're thinking about manual labour.

It's a lot easier and you achieve a lot more

if there are two of you

than if you're working just by yourself.

If one becomes tired,

then the other can help them,

and working together,

they can achieve a great deal.

Or then you might have people going for a walk.

If you're going walking,

if you're travelling,

it's a lot better in many ways

if there are two of you.

There's companionship.

There's help.

And again,

if one of you is tired,

the other can support them.

If you fall down,

if you have an accident,

then there's someone there to help you.

Two are better than one.

He pictures two people lying down together,

perhaps a married couple in a bed.

He's saying,

if there are one person,

you might be shivering away all night

if you've not got much heating in the room.

It's a cold night.

If there are two of you,

you can keep each other warm.

And then the final example he gives

is someone who is being attacked,

and he says,

well, one person by themselves

can't really defend themselves very successfully.

It's a lot easier and a lot better

if there are two of you.

Two are better than one.

And then at the end,

this picture of the cord of three strands,

the rope that is twisted together,

the three strands in it,

and the three strands together

are a lot stronger than one or than two,

or indeed than the total of the three

if they were separate.

Now, sometimes this is used in an illustration.

You and me and Jesus

is a lot stronger than me

or the two of us together.

Now, I don't think there's anything wrong

with that illustration,

but I don't think it's the key point

he's making here.

He is just making the point

that the more people there are working together,

the more can be achieved.

Now, as we said,

we are living in an increasingly

individualistic society.

We are much less in contact with others

and communicating with others

in a meaningful way

than people have been in the past.

We're on our phones

or we're on our apps or whatever.

We communicate electronically

rather than face-to-face.

And we lose some of the social interaction

that is valuable,

that is helpful,

that is essential in life.

As a church, as Christians,

we must make sure

that is not the case with us.

We talked about small groups here

and I was really pleased

with what we said

because it ties in really well

with this theme.

Small groups are a place

where we can get to know each other,

where we can support each other,

and we can show that together

as we bring our request to God,

as we challenge one another,

perhaps as we encourage one another,

then we are much stronger

than we are as a group of individuals.

Paul has this picture

in 1 Corinthians chapter 12

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

of the church as a body.

There's arms, there's legs,

there's eyes, and so on.

And together the parts make much more,

together the whole makes much more

than the sum of the individual parts.

A body functioning well

is much more than just a collection

of different organs.

It is a unified being

that is able to serve

and to do what is right

and to bring real enjoyment in life.

As a church, it is really important

that we support one another,

that we are there for one another,

that we build one another up

in our faith

and in our knowledge

of the Lord Jesus.

And sometimes that will be in twos.

One-to-ones are quite a common feature

in our church

and a really valuable one.

People meeting together

perhaps to read the Bible

and to pray together

and to support one another.

We have the small groups,

we have various other fellowship groups,

and all of them help us

as a group of God's people

to be stronger together

and to face up to the trials of life

in a way that helps us

as we rely on the Lord Jesus.

We are tougher together.

And then there's the closing verses

of the chapter,

and I think there was only one program

we could say for that.

It's Game of Thrones.

This is all about power plays.

It is about people

who want to be in control of things

and it illustrates very well

the transient nature of power.

Now these verses are quite difficult

to translate,

and different translations

do it in different ways.

I think the simplest way to look at it

is the way the NIV does it.

There are two kings.

Some translations suggest there are three.

There are two kings.

One king is old.

He's been in power for a long time,

and he's reached the stage

which a lot of these kind of rulers do

where he's not willing

to listen to anyone else.

He's clinging on to power,

and he's not concerned

about anyone else,

and he just wants to keep

that authority in his life.

He doesn't know,

says the writer,

how to heed a warning.

Now we could look,

probably look at your own country,

but certainly look in other countries

at rulers like that.

Robert Mugabe, for instance,

might have been quite a good example

of that kind of king.

And he's lost the confidence

of his people,

but he's clinging on to power.

You then have the second king

who starts out as a young man,

and he comes through

really difficult circumstances.

So the writer says,

well, he may have been in prison.

He may have risen from poverty.

So here we have someone

who's actually done something,

achieved something,

and through his own efforts

and through the desire

to better himself,

he's got to the position

where he succeeds

to the kingship.

And the people must be thinking,

wonderful.

We've got rid of this old king

who was holding us back

and who wouldn't listen

to anyone else.

We've got this wonderful new king

and he appears very wise

and very willing

to listen to others.

This is a great situation

to be in.

But then a few years

down the line,

the new king

has lost the respect

of the people.

He may have been

quite a good king,

but further through familiarity

or because he's got

a bit complacent,

at the end of it,

the people were not

pleased with him.

He got into the same situation

as the old king

and soon he would be gone

and perhaps forgotten about.

And the writer says,

isn't this meaningless?

Why should this young man

have spent so long

getting the position of power

and then at the end of it,

it's all just wasted?

And that is realistic

in life as well,

isn't it?

You look back through history

and you see rulers come

and rulers go.

Some of them,

we remember their names,

perhaps a bit about

what they did,

but actually they've gone

and they're largely

forgotten about.

And it's not just in nations

that these kinds of things

happen.

In churches,

you get people who try

to hang on too long,

elders who are too slow

in being willing

to step down

and pass the reins on.

And then other people

come in and people

really think they're good

for a while

and then they go off them.

And it's not much different

from what the writer

describes here.

Human power,

human influence

is very transient.

It's there for a while

and then it's gone.

And so we need to look

at the Bible

and we need to look

at the one

who has

eternal power.

Remember the verses

in Isaiah

where Isaiah

is looking forward

to the birth

of the Lord Jesus,

the wonderful counselor,

mighty God

who'd be coming

into the world.

And he says,

of the greatness

of his governance,

government and peace,

there will be

no end.

He will reign

on David's throne

over his kingdom,

establishing

and upholding it

with justice

and righteousness

from that time on

and forever.

The zeal

of the Lord

almighty

will accomplish

this.

We have a king

who is wise

and who is unchanging.

And we can depend

on him

throughout our lives

and for an eternal

future.

And he's not like

the kings of this world

who perhaps grow

a bit funny

in their old age

or want to cling

on to power.

He has eternal power

and he will rule

with total righteousness.

As we look at

the injustices

and the problems

in the world

round about it,

it should be

a great encouragement

that we have

an eternal king,

an all-wise king

and one who

ultimately will be

seen to be

in authority,

will be the king

of kings

and lord

of lords.

So that's Ecclesiastes 4.

Overwhelming oppression,

senseless success,

tougher together

and power plays.

What could we say

to sum it up?

So I think like

most of Ecclesiastes,

what we learn

is that the

conventional wisdom

of this world

doesn't really lead

to satisfaction

in life.

Success in this world

often arises

from trying to

win over others,

from trying to

get one up

over other people

and working ourselves

into the grave

and being

very unsatisfied

at the end.

Wealth,

power,

even hard work

by themselves

don't bring

any satisfaction.

And the writers

of Ecclesiastes

would say to us,

the way to

true wisdom

is through God.

It's not by thinking,

I know everything,

I can do everything.

It's by recognizing

that only

in our relationship

with God

and by living

in the kind of

rhythm of life

that he has

established for us,

can we have

true satisfaction.

And if we go beyond

what the writer

of Ecclesiastes

could have understood,

we can look at

the New Testament

and we can see

what that teaches

us about wisdom.

At the earlier service

this morning,

we read from

1 Corinthians chapter 1.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

I want to come back

to that as we close.

1 Corinthians chapter 1

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

is about human wisdom

and about God's wisdom.

And it says

that the central event

in history,

the central thing

which Christians

look to the cross

of the Lord Jesus,

to those in the world

around about us,

it looks really stupid.

How could you have

a Messiah

who ends up

being crucified

in the cruelest way

by the Romans

and whose life

appears to end

in failure?

Paul says

it's a stumbling block

to the Jews

because they saw

anyone who hanged

on a tree

as being cursed.

It's foolishness

to the Gentiles

because they just

couldn't understand

how this apparent weakness

had any kind of strength

or wisdom to it.

But, says Paul,

for us,

for those who know God,

it's the power of God

and it's the wisdom of God.

The cross of the Lord Jesus

is the thing

which demonstrates

above all else

the meaning of life

and what it means

to have wisdom in life.

God took all our failure,

all our sins,

all our shame,

he heaped them on his son.

Jesus took the penalty for us

so that we could have

a relationship with God

so that we could know

the God of heaven

in a way the writer

of Ecclesiastes

never could

and so that we could have

real peace

and real satisfaction

in our lives.

And as we look through

whatever lens we have on life,

then we should be looking at it

through the lens

of the Lord Jesus

and of what he has done

and of who he is.

No one had anything

like the wisdom

of the Lord Jesus,

not Solomon,

not anyone else.

And that wisdom,

as I said,

is particularly displayed.

It is death for us

on the cross.

Let's go out this week

and focus on that.

Focus on the Lord Jesus,

on living for him,

on following him,

on godliness

with contentment.

And if what I've been saying

is a bit alien to you

and you don't really understand,

a lot of it,

please speak to myself

or to Alistair at the end

if you would like to know more

about the Lord Jesus

and about what the cross

at Calvary

should mean for us.

Let's live lives

of real wisdom,

not lives that are characterized

by selfishness

or by a desire

to be one up

on others.

And let's do it together

as a church,

as a group of God's people

that we can support

one another

and encourage each other

as we seek to serve

the Lord

whom we love.

Let's pray together.

Father,

we thank you

for your word to us.

We thank you

for the wisdom

that there is

in this book

of Ecclesiastes

for the way

that it rings

true to life.

But we thank you

for how much more

we know

through the Lord Jesus.

And we thank you

that through his cross

we can see

finally

the wisdom of God

and how that is

so much greater

than human wisdom.

Help us all

to understand it

and to have our faith

in Jesus.

And help us

as a group

of your people

to be stronger together,

to encourage

and build each other up,

whether in our small groups

or in individual relationships,

that we may be those

who support one another,

who function well together

as a body

and who have a real joy together

in the Lord Jesus.

We thank you

for your presence.

We commit ourselves to you

in Jesus' name.

Amen.