Meaning Among The Meaningless | Cohen Osburn

Good afternoon. Certainly a pleasure to be here,

to be your speaker this evening. Although it was not originally

planned, it's a great opportunity.

I'm glad to be here to worship with you.

I'm thankful for the safe travels that Kendra and I have

had to be here, and I'm excited to share with you something that

I've been studying recently. If you have your Bibles, please

open to Ecclesiastes, the first chapter.

We're going to be staying there for the vast majority of our

study, and we're going to kind of go through this as an

expository study through the 1st chapter of Ecclesiastes.

And before I begin, a quick disclaimer.

We can't go through the whole book.

We can't go through the whole book.

Ecclesiastes is a meaty book. It's a powerful book and I would

encourage you maybe take the liberty to assign some homework,

read the rest of it on your own, read the rest of it on your own.

We can't go through all of it, but hopefully this serves as

motivation for you and your own personal study to go through

this book, and maybe it will be as helpful to you as it has been

to me in my own life. So Ecclesiastes, many people

have really never read Ecclesiastes, but they've heard

things about it. Some would say it's the problem

child of the Bible. And their reaction usually goes

something like this. Isn't that the depressing book

that says life is meaningless? The short answer to that

question is yes, it is the depressing book that says life

is meaningless. But it's not just that.

I argue there's a flip side to that coin.

The idea of meaninglessness is a huge theme throughout the text.

However, that's not the ultimate goal of the rider.

The goal of the rider, I would argue, is not to make us feel

meaningless, not to make us feel insignificant, but to weed out

those things that are meaningless, that are

insignificant, so that we can find those things that are truly

meaningful, that are truly significant.

If you picture life as a garden, we have flowers and we have

weeds. Flowers are those things that

are beautiful, They're meaningful, we like them and

they satisfy us. And we know weeds get in the way

of flowers. Weeds grow a whole lot faster

than flowers do. They could still sunlight from

those flowers make it hard for flowers to grow.

And even if there are flowers, sometimes they get blocked by

the weeds because the weeds are bigger.

And So what I would argue the preacher, as we go through this

first chapter of Ecclesiastes, is advocating that we need to

pull those weeds out of our lives to nurture those flowers

that need to be growing. And so we can see those flowers

that are already there, and we need to be paying a little more

attention too, because they are truly more important.

In the same way, in order to find meaning, just like in order

to find those flowers, you have to weed out the meaningless.

Throughout the book, the idea of vanity is repeated over and over

again constantly. This phrase again, this is

vanity and grasping for the wind.

I saw that this was vanity and grasping for the wind.

You'll hear it repeated over and over again throughout the text,

but the author does this to bring focus to that which does

matter. It is a book not really of

doctrinal teaching, but a perspective building.

There's some doctrine and Ecclesiastes, but really this is

a book that helps Christians and it would have been the children

of Israel at the time, but to foster a perspective about God

that will help them to live fulfilling lives and really what

we should be valuing in our lives that will bring us

fulfilment. And I'll say that this book can

be depressing. It can be hard to read about the

things that you care about. They don't mean anything.

But I would advocate that sometimes God has to break down

before he can build up. Things that which we think are

important, this book reveals, are usually worthless.

And that can be a painful realization that can create a

void. Sometimes God needs to clear out

some of space in our hearts so that he has room to occupy.

He has to tear down that love for material things in order to

cultivate a love for him. And ultimately, as we'll find,

freeing ourself of that reliance, that dependence on

material things is the only way to achieve true contentment and

peace in life. So let's jump right in verse.

Verse one, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king

in Jerusalem. This raises 2 questions for me.

Just as the beginning of the book and from this verse in

general #1 who's the author? That's important when we're

studying any biblical text. The author of the book can give

us insight onto the teachings, the time it was written, what he

truly means, why he's writing it.

There are two main schools of thought on the authorship of

Ecclesiastes. You see here that the the

preacher is a introduced character.

One group believes that the author is someone other than the

preacher who was recording the words of the preacher after the

fact and reflecting on them. We'll find in chapter 12 that

there's some reflection that happens on all the teachings of

the preacher. Another one says, another school

of thought says that the author and the preacher, they're just

the same person. So it would be like if I was

about to to tell something to you, I would say these are the

words of Cohen. And then after the fact, I said

this is what Cohen said in the third person.

And that's not something that's out of the blue.

It does happen in the Bible. Bible writers sometimes refer to

themselves in the third person. So it's not something that's

totally unheard of. But I would argue that the

authorship is not the primary concern.

Whether or not the author is the preacher or the author was

simply recording the words of the preacher, the teaching is

largely the same. I don't think there's any

differences in interpretation based on the either of those

views. What is of importance is who the

preacher is because the preacher is who's given us the meat of

the text. The preacher is the one who's

preaching. And based on the clues given to

us in the first verse, and we'll find even in verse 16 of this

chapter, I believe it is the primary subject or suspect for

who the preacher is. I guess you could say is

Solomon, King Solomon. And we see here it says that the

the preacher is the son of David.

Solomon was the literal son of David and he was literally the

king in Jerusalem. Later on, it will talk about the

wisdom that this preacher has gained, and we know that Solomon

was blessed by God with unparalleled wisdom, so it makes

sense that Solomon is the most obvious candidate for who the

preacher is. Solomon had more than any of us

could ever dream of, which makes his perspective so powerful and

insightful as we read this book. So these are the words of the

preacher. Vanity of vanity, says the

preacher. Vanity of vanities.

All is vanity, verse 2. Think of this as the thesis

statement for the rest of the book.

This idea of vanity is one that will be hammered into you by the

end of reading Ecclesiastes, and it's a major concept.

So we need to know what this word vanity means.

I think it's easy to have a baseline understanding of

vanity, but the Hebrew word is Havel, and that is literally

translated vapor or breath. Think about walking outside on a

cold morning and you breathe out and you see your breath there

for a second, but then it's gone.

Basically what this means, anything that's vanity is that

which is pointless without profit, futile, fleeting, or

worthless. It's not lasting.

It's not going to matter at the end of the day.

So Solomon is saying that the things in this life are just

like that. They're vanity, they're

worthless, they're fleeting, they're futile.

They're vanity because they will ultimately be worthless and they

will ultimately profit us nothing of lasting value.

And Solomon, I believe, is saying this is kind of a

hyperbole. He's kind of exasperated.

All is vanity. It'd be like if I got cut off in

traffic and I said everything's going wrong today.

Everything's not going wrong in the strictest sense of that

phrase, but I'm so overwhelmed in that moment that I'm saying

everything is going wrong. Solomon was likely overwhelmed

by the things in his life that he found to be vanity, that he

says everything is vanity, all is vanity, and much of life is.

It's not that much of an exaggeration, but the things in

his life especially were vanity, and he was probably worn down by

that. He'd probably grown weary.

Not everything is vanity, but those things in Solomon's life

had caused him to cry out in this way at the beginning of

this discourse. Verse 3 says this.

What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils

under the sun? Under the sun.

What does Solomon mean when he says that?

That's another major theme. Under the sun is a phrase that's

repeated over and over again. This is the first time that it's

used essentially under the sun and above the sun.

You won't find the phrase above the sun used in the book, but

there are two different perspectives.

Under the sun is this physical life as we experience it, devoid

of God. It is the non spiritual things

that we experience in life. And so Solomon says, what

prophet has a man from all his labor in which he toils under

the sun? It's a rhetorical question.

Solomon asks what prophet? There's no prophet in what we

toil under the sun. And I want to make it clear that

by saying these things, Solomon is not condemning or devaluing

hard work. In fact, later in the book he's

going to emphasize we do need to work hard in things in our life.

Ecclesiastes 910 says whatever you your hands find to do, do it

with your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or

wisdom in the grave where you are going.

This is really similar to what Paul wrote in Colossians 322

through 24. He says they're bond servants.

Obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with

eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart fearing

God. And whatever you do, do it

heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the

Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you

serve the Lord Christ. When we work, we're supposed to

work as though we're doing the job for God, not man.

And studying that was kind of a painful realization for me

because that hasn't always been the case in my life.

And maybe it's a crude example, but when my my mom or my dad

asks me to mow the lawn, I have to mow the lawn.

You know, like kind of grudgingly.

Would I act that same way if God had asked me to mow his lawn?

I hope not. Would I have cut corners, left

some weeds there when you couldn't, couldn't really see

them, you know, if you just checked out the window?

Would I have done that if I was mowing God's lawn?

It's a small example, but even those small things, those small

things that we put effort into in our lives are practice for

those bigger things, right? And even though maybe my lawn

isn't God's lawn, I am working for God because God has given

that individual authority over me.

And he said you work for them like you're working for me.

So that should inspire an attitude of being hard working,

having a good work ethic. And the difference is found in

our hearts. Many worldly people are

incredibly hard workers, but they set their their their goals

after something that's vain. And that's a goal that Solomon

knew all too well was ultimately worthless and fleeting.

Like Colossians said, we need to have sincerity of heart when we

work, not striving to build up wealth for ourselves, but to

glorify God in the work that we do.

Service to God can bring contentment that money never

can. The action is is the same, but

our heart, what we're after, determines our reward.

This is beautifully exemplified in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Jesus taught there in verses 5 through 7.

And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they

love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of

the streets, that they may be seen by men.

Here's the purpose. Jesus says, I know their hearts,

I know why they're doing it. And then he says, assuredly, I

say to you, they have their reward.

They have their reward. They're doing it to be seen by

men. Guess what, they will, they will

be seen by men, but that's all they're going to be seen by.

Then he says, But you and you pray, go into your room, and

when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who was in

the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret, will

reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use

vain repetitions. Even in Jesus's teaching, this

idea of vanity, those repetitions, they're worthless,

they don't mean anything. They're after man's attention,

not God's. Do not use vain repetitions as

the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for

their many words. Just like the example Jesus gave

about prayer. Our reward is what we make it.

Our reward is what we make. Both men were praying, but their

heart determined two things. It determined the way that they

prayed, and it determined who heard them.

The man who had his heart, after being seen by men, he went out

and prayed in front of man and he was seen by men, but he did

not glorify God in that. The man who wanted to seek after

God, he was seen by God. And it said when he went to his

father, who sees in secret, he will be rewarded openly.

The action can be similar, but the heart determines the reward.

And what this might look like in our lives, maybe in the context

of the labor which we do, is that someone who's greedy?

They want money, right? Maybe they have some unethical

work habits. They're cheating people out of

money. They're not working with

integrity. This person is after a material

goal and is sacrificing ethics in order to obtain it, and

they're going to get what they're after.

They might make a lot of money, but that's all they're going to

make. Whereas the Christian in their

work for maintaining our ethics, we're still working hard.

Maybe our paycheck is not going to be as big, but guess what?

We're getting something a whole lot better than a big paycheck.

We are glorifying God and pleasing Him in our lives.

If we work hard for temporary things like riches and pleasure,

we're going to get them. We're going to get them.

But if we work hard for God's glory, we're going to get that

too. So the question is, what are we

after? One is vanity, the other is

vital. So what are we working hard for

and what reward are we after? Ultimately, our desire to serve

God in our hearts should manifest itself in hard work and

will cause the reward from that work to be greater and more

lasting than these vain rewards that will die with us.

Moving on to verse four, one generation passes away and

another generation comes, but the earth abides forever.

Time is fleeting. Solomon makes that abundantly

clear. You and I, we're not going to be

here together just this generations before us have gone

on. We're going to go on too.

And in a lot of ways, that makes our work vanity because our

labor often dies with us. We can't continue it after we

die. And the fact is, much of the

work that we do will likely have no effect on anyone who lives

after us. But that's our labor under the

sun. I think that raises the

question, what can I do in my life?

Solomon talks about this generational passing of time.

What can I do in my life that will affect generations after

me? I think there's a simple answer

to that. Sometimes we make it more

complicated than we need to. I simply need to live a

Christian life. Living a Christian life is

something that can be felt by the children of that person, the

grandchildren of that person, and so on.

Being an example of a faithful Christian is so powerful because

future generations can look toward that set example and

learn to follow it. My mom and dad were the first

examples of Christians that I had in my lives, and I thank God

that I had good examples like them because I don't know where

I would be without them. I have them to thank for the

example that they set for me, and I know that I am who I am

today largely because of that. The future generations probably

won't know about how much money my parents made.

They won't know what they were good at, what they were bad at.

But through their example, and I pray through my example and

through my kids example, one day that Christian life will not be

in vain. It can be felt through

generations. And that's just one small way.

Maybe it's a small way, but it's also probably the biggest way

that we in our lives can labor so that generations long after

us will feel the fruit of our labor.

Solomon continues by giving examples from nature about this

vanity of Labor. Verses 5 through 7 says this.

The sun also rises, and the sun goes down and hastens to the

place where it arose. The wind goes towards the South

and turns around to the north. The wind whirls about

continually and comes again on its circuit.

All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full.

To the place where from which the rivers come, there they

return again. Even an observable nature.

There is no end to toil. It is constant.

The work is constant. The sun goes down just to rise

again. The wind goes around in circles,

seemingly endlessly, and the rivers run into the sea.

But they can never accomplish their goal of filling it up.

In fact, as soon as they pour that water into the sea, the

water gets taken right back to where it starts.

The end of one labour is merely the beginning of another.

It's this endless cycle of trying to accomplish a physical

goal, but it never being enough. It never satisfies.

The work is undone and fleeting. And if even the work of nature

is unsatisfying and burdensome, how is our tireless labour any

different? If our end goal is physical, We

can learn from nature that it will not last, will not be

permanent. It can never satisfy.

I think as a side note, it's also worth mentioning that this

is a very clear picture of the water cycle, and this is in my

mind. I'm interested in apologetics.

This is the water cycle that's outlined.

The water cycle was not something that was

scientifically accepted until the early 1800s.

And here's Solomon writing about the water going into the sea and

coming back to the place that had started.

This was not the the popular belief at the time about how all

of this worked. And so I say that to say that

the wisdom found in this book, though sometimes it can seem sad

and focused on that which is pointless.

It's not just from some sad guy who was unhappy with his life.

This is wisdom that God has given us so that we can learn

from it. So we don't.

We don't have to make the same mistakes that Solomon did in his

life. The Bible and the wisdom therein

is from God. Verse 8 says this.

All things are full of Labor. Man cannot express it.

The eyes not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with

hearing. Even though the eye was designed

to see, seeing is not enough. Even though the ear was designed

to hear, hearing is not enough. The point is, the physical will

never be enough. There will always be a higher

salary, a more significant achievement, you name it.

Fill in the blank, however it applies to you.

A life that depends on physical things to give it purpose is a

life wasted. A life that depends on physical

things to give a purpose is a life wasted.

But why is that? Verses 9 through 11 say that

which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will

be done. And there is nothing new under

the sun. Is there anything of which it

may be said? See, this is new.

It is already been in ancient times before us.

There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be

any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will

come after. The reason we can't be

permanently satisfied by physical things is because

there's nothing new about them. People back back then weren't

satisfied by them. What makes us think we can be

satisfied by them now? There's nothing new about them.

And this phrase, There's nothing new under the sun, is again

another major theme in Ecclesiastes.

Basically, the idea is nothing we experience is unique to us.

In other words, I'm not special. I'm not special, I'm not the

centre of the universe, I'm not living my own unique narrative.

Sure, I have my own unique experiences, but these are

things that have been experienced by other people.

I am not special. And that can be hard to swallow.

And as people, we like to think that we're completely unique.

We're the centers of our own universes.

But that viewpoint at its root is inherently prideful.

And Solomon is taking a shot at that pride, a pride that he

probably experienced in his life.

I mean, you get you're the wisest man in the world.

God miraculously blesses you with wisdom, says there's

nothing new under the sun. We don't remember the things

done before us and no one will remember the things done by us.

Our problems, our pursuits and our preferences will be vanish

and will vanish away and ultimately be remembered by

knowing. And that can make you feel

insignificant. That's not a good feeling, that

advocate. There's a flip side to that

coin. We talked a lot about how a lot

of the book talks about what's meaningless, to reveal what is

meaningful. The point that I want to bring

out is that we are not defined by our physical accomplishments,

Solomon says. They're not even going to be

remembered. Nobody cares.

In other words, we are not defined by our physical

accomplishments. So much of life is out of

control, and losing control can be viewed in two ways.

Can be either incredibly stressful or it can be

relieving. Can be stressful or relieving.

And when we detach ourselves from earthly expectations, we

can be far more at peace. Things are out of my control,

but I know whose control they are in is far more powerful than

me, and he knows far better than me.

They're out of my control. They're in God's control.

When I read this, this rung in my mind a similarity between 1st

Corinthians 1013 where Paul says no temptation is overtaking you

except such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not

allow you to be tempted beyond what you were able, but with the

temptation will also make a way of escape that you may be able

to bear it. We are not special in our

laborers, just like we're not special in our temptations.

No temptation is overtaking you except just as common to man.

This is a common problem. Lots of people deal with this,

but ultimately a godly perspective on each of these

issues can lead provide us with peace and comfort where we would

otherwise be hopeless and isolated.

Verses 12 through 15 say this. I, the preacher, was king over

Israel and Jerusalem, and I set my heart to seek and search out

by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven, this

burdensome task God has given to the sons of man by which they

may be exercised. I have seen all the works that

are done under the sun, and indeed all is vanity and

grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made

straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.

As the King of Israel, Solomon had a very unique perspective.

He could sit back and look at things from the bigger picture a

whole lot easier than maybe the common person could have.

He had a higher kingly perspective.

And I believe also too, he was speaking from years of his own

experience. Those things that are done under

the sun, part of those things were things that Solomon had

done. He was probably tired from years

of idolatry, meaningless pursuits, and regret.

He sought to see the works done under the sun and was met with

vanity. It was worthless at the end of

the day. And from this kingly vantage

point, he saw how small the works of man, not only the works

of man in general in the terms of the Kingdom of Israel, but in

the terms of his own life, how small they truly were.

And if that was from an earthly king perspective, how much

smaller do our pursuits, our vain pursuits seem to God, who

has an eternally greater kingly perspective?

How much more vanity does he find in our lives with his

kingly perspective? God knows all and sees all.

So what does he see in my life? What does he see in your life?

Is there vanity there? I don't think any of us can

confidently answer no, there's vanity in all of our lives.

But is that vanity? Are those weeds getting in the

way of the flowers? Solomon described this vanity as

grasping for the wind. This is another thing that's

talked about over and over and over again, and you think about

trying to grab the wind. You can't.

You can grasp for the wind all you want.

You're not going to catch it If you do.

It's pretty impressive. But of course not.

You can't grasp the wind. What is there to hold onto?

We talk about vanity. This idea of vapor.

It's like trying to catch that breath only for it to disappear,

only for it to slip through your fingers and be gone forever.

Grasping for the wind is this idea of working for something

you can never obtain. No matter how hard you grab, you

can't obtain it. And no matter how hard you work,

you can't be permanently satisfied with the physical

fruit of your laborers. But listen to Proverbs chapter

Proverbs 30 · chapter mention

30 and verse 4. Who has ascended into heaven or

descended? Who has gathered the wind in his

fists? What does that sound like

grasping for the wind? Who has gathered the wind in his

first? Who has bound the waters in a

garment? Who's established all that the

ends of the earth? What is his name and what is his

Son's name? If you know we can't grasp the

wind, someone can. What is his name and what is his

son's name? It's God.

God can grasp the wind. And not that God pursues these

meaningless things, but where we try so hard to find meaning in

our lives and work so hard to reach out and grab it.

God says I've already grabbed meaning and I'm the only one who

can give it to you. We can't grasp for the wind.

God can. God can accomplish the things we

cannot, which is why we trust Him to reward ourselves, to

reward us rather with something lasting.

And this leads right into Solomon's next statement, verse

15. What is crooked cannot be made

straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.

This was confusing to me the first time I read it, but

Solomon says something very similar in Chapter 7 verse 13

that I think adds some clarity. He says there, consider the work

of God for who can make straight what he has made crooked.

The point is, God is more powerful than us.

He's more powerful than me. He's more powerful than you.

He's more powerful than all of us combined.

He can provide us with the things we can't provide

ourselves. No one can undo what God has

done, and no one can accomplish what God has made impossible.

God is greater. Verse 16 I commune with my

heart, saying, look, I have attained greatness and it gained

more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.

I don't have anything on this section, but the one thing I

want to draw from this is another clue, another piece of

evidence that supports that Solomon is very, very likely the

preacher. He has attained more wisdom than

all who are before me in Jerusalem.

Again, just pointing back to when God miraculously gave him

wisdom that surpassed anyone before him.

Then he says in verse 17 and 18, and I set my heart to know

wisdom and to know madness and folly.

I perceive that this also is grasping for the wind, for in

much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge

increases sorrow. I have two questions after

reading this. The first one is this.

Why was Solomon's pursuit of wisdom vanity?

We know from other places in the Bible that wisdom is not a bad

thing, but what did Solomon's wisdom result in?

We find our answer in First Kings Chapter 11.

1 Kings 11 · chapter mention

It's talked about in verses one through 8.

We won't read the whole thing, but I'll briefly summarize.

Says there, but King Solomon loved many foreign women.

When the Lord had said you shall not intermarry with them, nor

they with you. Surely they will turn away your

hearts after their God. Solomon clung to these in love.

He disobeyed God, and what was the result?

He has 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines.

And his wives turned away his heart.

His wives turned away his heart, for it was so when Solomon was

old that his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his

heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his

father David. So what was the result of

Solomon's wisdom? It was vanity because it did not

result in wisdom, in wise living and righteous living.

Wisdom itself is not vain, but it will be if it's not correctly

applied. Wisdom applied though is vital

in the life of a Christian. Solomon himself talked about the

the preciousness of wisdom. Proverbs 1616.

How much better to get wisdom than gold?

And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

Proverbs 26 For the Lord gives wisdom, the Lord gives wisdom

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

So two things need to be true from my study.

For wisdom to not be vanity #1 needs to come from the right

source. Proverbs 26 says the Lord gives

wisdom. First Corinthians chapter 1

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

talks a lot about the difference between God's wisdom and man's

wisdom. He says they're the foolishness

of God is wiser than man. It's not to say God is foolish.

It's just saying that even the wisest decision man has ever

made doesn't even compare to if God made a foolish one.

God is that much wiser. So #1 wisdom needs to come from

God, needs to be from the right source.

And two, as we see in Solomon's life, wisdom needs to be

correctly applied. Solomon had wisdom from God.

That wasn't his issue. His issue was that although he

had received this wisdom, he had not applied it to his life.

It had not resulted in wise living.

In fact, it had resulted in quite the opposite.

He had turned his heart away from God, therefore his wisdom

was vanity. And number two, maybe in a more

general sense, not solemn and specific.

Why do wisdom and knowledge lead to sorrow?

Why do wisdom and knowledge lead to sorrow?

The fact is, wisdom and knowledge expose evil.

They expose evil, and exposure to evil, especially in the eyes

of one who seeks after God, should naturally produce sorrow.

Whether that's godly sorrow leading to repentance in the

life of the individual, or whether it's seeing people that

you love with a Christian love living lives of sin that

produces sorrow. It's not a happy feeling that

you feel when you see that. And I would, I would argue that

Solomon, both in his own life and in the lives of those who he

had witnessed, felt that sorrow. He could see the vain pursuits

of others, and he knew they weren't worth anything.

That's a helpless feeling. There's nothing really that I

could do about that. I can't control how people live

their lives. I can try my best to influence,

but I can't control it. But then I think even more so

when Solomon looked in his own heart.

Wow, that wisdom. I don't think Solomon was blind

to the mistakes that he was making.

He was the he was the wisest man to ever live besides Jesus.

How much sorrow do you think it produced within him?

I mean, he's writing this probably towards the end of his

life now, expressing that sorrow.

All of this was worthless. I don't know why I've spent all

my time doing this. That wisdom and that knowledge

exposed evil in his own life, leading him to be sorrowful and

see that he was burdened by sin. Surely this filled him with

sorrow. If you're following along, you

know that that's the end of the chapter.

That's kind of a downer note to leave on, right?

So again, I would encourage you continue to read through this

book. It's a powerful book and it will

serve you well. But I don't want to end there.

I want to end in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes in verse

13. We talked a little bit about the

reflection that happens at the end of the book.

This is a part of that reflection, and in a book where

it's often easy to read and to feel kind of down after reading

it, this is the conclusion. The author says, let us hear the

conclusion of the whole matter. So everything that the preacher

just talked about, all this talk of vanity and worthlessness and

meaninglessness, this is the conclusion.

This is the bottom line. Fear God and keep his

commandments, for this is man's all.

After 12 chapters of teaching about vanity, the one thing that

truly matters is brought into focus.

And it's so simple. It's so simple.

Ecclesiastes can be a philosophical book.

It can be easy to get bogged down in the the different

examples given in all this philosophical language.

But it all boils down to this, and this is not hard to

understand. Fear God and keep his

commandments. This is man's all.

In a book so full of unsatisfaction and emptiness, we

find man's all the thing that can truly complete man and

fulfill him, fearing God and keeping his commandments.

Everybody has a God sized hole in their heart and different

people try to fill it with different things.

And the fact is nothing's big enough to fill a God sized hole.

That's why so often these physical pursuits leave us

feeling worthless and tier than we were before because we're

trying to shovel things in and all we're realizing is, wow,

that holds a whole lot deeper than I thought it was.

I can't fill it up with these things in my own life.

I like to rock climb and my goal for the end of this year was to

climb AV 8. Those of you not familiar,

that's just a grade of how difficult the climb is.

And I accomplished it a while back and I was super, super

happy for about 3 seconds and then I sat there and it was kind

of like, is this it? That was it.

I worked like a year and a half for that.

It's because I was trying to fill a God sized toll with

something that was so much smaller than God.

Maybe I didn't realize it at the time, but I put so much time and

effort and training into doing this, and when I had finally

accomplished it, the only thing I could think of was that

doesn't matter. What did I gain from that?

That I can say that I climbed to be 8?

It's insignificant, it's fleeting, and it meant nothing,

but a life of service to God will never leave you

unsatisfied. When you go to funerals and you

hear what people talk about, maybe the regrets that they had,

the regret that you never hear is, man, I spent way too much

time trying to serve God. You never hear that.

In fact, it's almost always the inverse.

I regret not giving God the time He deserved, because when you

sit back and look at your life from that perspective, that's

what truly matters. And it's so clear in that

moment. It's so clear in that moment.

But the goal of the preacher is to cultivate that perspective in

every moment. Not just the deathbed

realization, but the in the moment realization that maybe I

shouldn't be spending all this time at the climbing gym because

it doesn't matter that much. Maybe I shouldn't be taking all

these extra hours because it's not letting me spend time with

other Christians or do this or that, whatever it may be.

The point is, we try so hard to fill ourselves, our hearts with

things that do not matter and neglect the only thing that

does. But a life of service to God

will never leave you wanting. It will never leave you empty.

So I have one question to finish it off.

Are you living under the sun or under the sun You can't see the

board probably doesn't make very much sense under the sun SUN the

physical life devoid of God or am I living under the sun SON

Jesus Christ John 4 verse 13 through 14 says this.

John 4:13–14

Jesus answered and said to her, talking to the woman at the

well. Whoever drinks of this water

will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water I shall give

him will never thirst. Wow, That's a parallel that's

very closely connected to what Solomon's saying.

My drinking the water that the light that life is giving me

because it's just going to leave me to want more.

It's not going to quench my thirst for very long.

It might for a moment that that 3 seconds that I felt good about

my accomplishment, but after I'm just going to need more.

I'm not going to be satisfied. But Jesus says I shall give him

water that will make him never thirst.

It will never leave you unsatisfied.

But the water I shall give him will breed, becoming him a

fountain of water. All it's going to do is produce

more water springing up into everlasting life.

The water from the wells, just like the satisfaction we get

from life, will be enough for a while.

We will always find ourselves wanting more.

Jesus is the only one who can offer us something better than

that. The only one is the only place

you're going to find it, and that's something.

That water is the gospel, the good news that Jesus died for

our sins, was raised from the dead, and ascended to reign in

heaven at the right hand of God. So while we close our study, we

never want to close our worship service without extending the

invitation that Jesus died so that you could accept.

This is not my invitation. It's not the congregation's

invitation, it's Jesus's. It's that water that will never

leave you thirsty again. And the plan of salvation is so

clearly laid out in Scripture, hearing the Word of God, that

faith comes by hearing. So we need faith.

Faith in what? Faith in Jesus, that he's the

Son of God, that he is, who he says he was is, and that he did

what he said he did. And faithfulness, faithfulness,

that allegiance to Him. We need to repent of our sins.

That repentance is walking One Direction, realizing that

there's error in my way, and turning the other direction and

walking toward God. I was once walking away.

I am now walking toward Him. Repentance is not this idea of

drawing the line of sin on the ground and inching your way as

close as you possibly can to it without technically sinning.

That's not repentance. Repentance is turning your back

on the line and leaving it so far behind you that you don't

even know where it is anymore. It's in the dust, it's in the

past. That is repentance.

Then comes confession, confession that Jesus Christ is

the Son of God, and then baptism for the remission of sins.

And maybe you have taken those steps, but maybe you have looked

into your life. You've realized that so much of

it is vanity, just like Solomon, so much of life is vanity.

And we consume ourselves with that vanity.

But maybe you're here. And if there's any way that I

can help you or the congregation here can help you, we would love

to. We're a family.

I'm not from here, but we're all brothers and sisters in Christ,

so if I can help you, or if anyone here can help you in any

way, please come while we stand and sing a song.