Is There More? || Charles Zimmerman || April 12, 2026

We're starting a series today. And if

you look at the screen, you'll notice

that the screen is printed the way many

of you text, which drives me nuts. No

punctuation,

which means you can actually read that

in a number of different ways. It could

just be a statement. Well, there's more.

Or it can be there's more. You're filled

overflowing it. There's still more. Or

it can be there's more. Right? where

there's got to be more because what I've

got isn't really satisfying. Well, we're

starting a series on Ecclesiastes and

we're going to see it's the last way

that I phrase that. There's got to be

more, right? And I know you felt that.

So, let me ask you a question. Are you

satisfied or completely filled

overflowing when you think of your job?

Say, there's got to be more, right? How

about your income? Oh, no, there's more.

No, there's got to be more. How about

relationships? Don't look at a person

next to you. Relationship. There's got

to be more. Well, the writer of

Ecclesiastes wrestles with that same

thing. And he does it a little

differently than you're going to find in

any other book in the Bible. So, we're

going to have to kind of navigate and go

through this thing together or you're

going to wind up going down a wrong road

and wind up at a dead end. So, we're

going to look at Ecclesiastes. We're

going to start this morning by doing a

little bit of an overview and trying to

understand some of the basic issues. get

a feel for how the book feels, but then

also learn a few facts about it. So, if

you have your Bibles or using your

phone, your iPad, whatever, turn to

Ecclesiastes 1. And I'm going to read

the first chapter. And you better sit

down. I hope you're not too depressed.

Keep all sharp objects away from you.

And here we go as I read chapter 1 of

Ecclesiastes.

The words of the teacher, son of David,

king in Jerusalem.

Meaningless. Meaningless, says the

teacher. Utterly meaningless. Everything

is meaningless. What do people gain from

all their labors at which they toil

under the sun? Generations come and

generations go, but the earth remains

forever. The sun rises and the sun sets

and hurries back to where it rises. The

wind blows to the south and turns to the

north. Round and round it goes, ever

returning on its course. All streams

flow into the sea, yet the sea is never

full. to the place the streams come from

and there they return again. All things

are wearisome more than anyone can say.

The eye never has enough of seeing nor

the ear is full of hearing. What has

been will be again. What has been done

will be done again. There is nothing new

under the sun. Is there anything of

which one can say look this is something

new. It was already here long ago. It

was here before our time. No one

remembers the former generations and

even those yet to come will not be

remembered by those who follow them. I

the teacher was king over Israel and

Jerusalem. I applied my mind to study

and to explore by wisdom all that is

done under the heavens. What a heavy

burden God has laid on mankind. I have

seen all the things that are done under

the sun. All of them are meaningless at

chasing after the wind. What is crooked

cannot be straightened. What is lacking

cannot be counted. I said to myself,

look, I've increased in wisdom more than

anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem

before me. I've experienced much of

wisdom and knowledge. Then I applied

myself to the understanding of wisdom

and also to madness and folly. But I

learned this too is chasing after the

wind. For with much wisdom comes much

sorrow. With more knowledge the more

grief. So there, that's a happy thought,

right? Glad you read that this morning,

right? Glad you showed up this week

after Easter. And you may be sitting,

Charles, this is really depressing. Why

are we reading this book? Why are we

going to look at her for a week? Who

picked this series? I didn't. And Carlos

did.

But you know what you're going to see in

Ecclesiastes?

He does us a great service

because he runs down a whole bunch of

roads that you and I think will often

lead to the right destination.

And he comes back to tell us what you're

looking for isn't down there. But since

we don't have the wherewithal to reach

those destinations, we still continue

the pursuit even though it doesn't work.

So we need to listen to what this guy

says. Well, first of all, we need to

kind of get our bearings. And the first

thing you notice even as I read that

chapter and if you were to read the 12

chapters, you would quickly see this.

There's an ache in the book, right?

There's an ache. Now look, I know that

some of you know what an ache is. Have

you ever had a toothache? Drive you

crazy, right? You can't sleep. You wake

up, you can't work, you can't

concentrate. That throbbing pain will

drive you crazy. And the only thing that

allows you to keep that is you hate

dentists more than you hate the ache.

You ever stub your toe in the middle of

the night because your wife won't let

you put the light on. You're trying to

get that ab and it aches, right? Or

maybe need a hip or a knee. A lot of you

have replacements already, but before he

got the surgery, there was an ache,

right? And you can't escape it. Well,

the writer of Ecclesiastes feels the

ache. And here's what he says. I know

you have that ache. Not an ache in a

body part, not an ache in your mouth,

not an ache in your foot. You've got

that ache on your in your soul. You've

got that ache in your heart. You look at

life and say,

"Is this it? Is this all that there is?"

When push comes to shove, this is it. He

says it in the first verse, right? The

second verse, but the first one we read.

Meaningless. Meaningless, says the

teacher. Everything is meaningless.

You know what he's saying?

I think this is going to satisfy. I run

after this achievement. this possession,

this and but as soon as you get it, you

can't hold it, right? As soon as you get

it, it's gone. You think it'll satisfy

and maybe it does for a fleeting second,

but in a matter of moments, certainly in

a couple of hours, it's gone. You can't

hold that sucker, right? That's the ache

in our soul. What we're longing for,

what we think will satisfy never does.

And we can't seem to get what we really

want. That's what he's saying. Well,

here's the experiment that he runs that

you and I really can't. Here's the

experiment.

He chooses different things to test if

they satisfy. And so, you know, just

like a scientist in in a laboratory, he

would test different elements to see if

this works, that what's going to break

under stress, what's going to stand up.

And what the author does, he puts a

number of different things under the

microscope. He applies the probes to see

if it's going to and everyone comes up

short. Well, to get a feel for that,

let's check out a couple verses to see

what what what he brings to test. Here's

one.

No one remembers the former generations,

and even those yet to come will not be

remembered by those that follow them.

You ever have this feeling, you know

what? I'm going to make a difference in

this world. I'm going to make a

difference in my church. I'm going to

make a difference in my job. I'm going

to make a difference in my neighborhood.

I'm going to make a difference in my

family. I'm going to apply myself and

I'm going to make a difference. You know

what the writer of Ecclesiastes? You

won't make a difference.

In fact, you will be gone and forgotten

more quickly than you can imagine.

If you don't think that that's true,

just wait till you retire.

A few weeks, maybe a few days after

you're gone, they forget you were there,

right? And you're not really missed.

Nobody really notices that you didn't

really make a difference there, right?

And it doesn't matter how significant

you were. It doesn't matter what role

you had. It won't be long you'll be

forgotten in the job. How about at

school? Maybe you were a star athlete

when you were in school. Maybe trophies

are still in the case with your name on

them. Maybe you were a super super

academic and you got a scholarship to go

to college. Yeah, you go back there to

school. Do any of the kids know you?

You're just that old person standing in

the hallway with tears in your eyes

looking at the trophy that nobody cares

about anymore. You'll assume. How about

in your family though? All right, here's

an honest question for you, right? Uh I

want you to raise your hands. How many

of you can tell me some facts and

important information about your great

greatgrandparents?

Yeah, we got a couple weird people that

do genealogy for fun, right? The rest of

us, we don't know. We We know our

parents hopefully a few things about our

grand great grandpar

great grandparents. We What does the

writer He's honest, right? He may be

depressing, but he's honest.

um you're going to be forgotten just

like we have forgotten the generations

before us. So the next generations that

come after us will forget us. We're not

really going to make a difference. So if

you're setting your sights to find

meaning and satisfaction in making it,

you're going down the wrong road. Here's

another one. I'm sorry this is so

depressing.

Then I applied myself to understanding

wisdom,

to gather knowledge. Um, now I'm going

to read this next verse. And some of you

parents are really going to hate me for

reading this because you don't tell your

kids this. Here's what he writes. With

much wisdom comes much sorrow. The more

knowledge, the more grief. Some of you

kids are saying, "I told you, Mom. I

told you all this school stuff. It's

nothing but sorrow and grief." Um, but

go back to what we're to the experiment.

The author is saying, I tried the

education route. Not only gathering

information, I wanted to sift through

the information and get to the wisdom

under the information. And you know

what? That's a dead end, too. Sorrow and

grief are at the end of the wisdom and

information road.

Depressing. Oh, here's another one.

Flip it.

Now, I'm just going to pick one sentence

out of this, and you tell me if this

isn't true. The eye never has enough of

seeing, nor the ear of hearing. Now,

we're going to discover as you go

through the rest of the book, what's

what's the road he's traveling here?

What's he testing? Yeah, how about this

one? Possessions.

You just know that new car, that house,

that luxury item that you just know it's

going to satisfy, right? And before you

know it, the French fries in the back

seat are stinking and the house needs

new carpeting. It doesn't satisfy,

right? Possessions, another dead end.

But what do we do? Those of us that

don't have it, we set our sights on it.

Think that's where I'll find meaning.

That's where I'll find satisfaction. My

life will be filled to overflowing if I

just fill it with enough stuff. The

writer of Ecclesiastes, look, he here's

what he says. I got I got a lot more

money than any of you will ever have.

Dead end. If you're going down a

possession road, you're going to be

sorely disappointed.

Um,

so here's how he wraps it up.

I have seen all things that are done

under the sun.

All of them are meaningless,

chasing after the wind.

So, let me close in prayer.

No, no, no, no. That's how he's

starting, right? Um he said there's an

ache in our soul. The experiment leads

to verse 14. I brought all the items

that you guys have brought to the

laboratory. I've tested every one of

them and they've all failed.

All right. So now let's step back from

the experiment and the ache and let's

talk a little bit about the book and get

some kind of bearing here before we move

on. Uh first of all the book this book

in the it does belong in the Bible by

the way. And this is classified w as

wisdom literature. Wisdom literature.

You may say, "Wisdom? This guy's like

crazy. It's not wis. This is in sat."

No, no, no. It's wisdom. Now, if you

want to be able to figure out how

Ecclesiastes fits, put it like this.

Ecclesiastes is the other side of the

Proverbs coin. So, when you come to the

book of Proverbs, you read all of these

statements about wisdom. Here's how you

live in sync with how God designed the

universe. Here's how you live in step

with God's plan and who God is. So,

Proverbs tells us how to live wisely.

Ecclesiastes gives us the other side of

the coin and says, "Here are the

questions behind Proverbs." This this is

teaching wisdom from the other side.

This is teaching wisdom from running

down all the roads that don't lead to

the destination. Proverbs tells you the

right road. Ecclesiastes brings up all

the wrong roads. Both teaching wisdom,

two sides of the same coin. Maybe you

say, "Well, I like the wisdom literature

of Psalms." Well, that's fine. You read

Psalms then when you want. Psalms was

written by um that great schizophrenic

king named David, right? And in some

verse he could say, "How long, oh Lord,

I long to be in your presence. Lord,

what have you forgot me again? I don't

wisdom literature, another wisdom book."

books. So, we have Proverbs, Psalms,

Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. Don't

start reading that now or I'll never get

back to finish the sermon. Uh, they're

wisdom literature, right? They're always

in poetic form teaching us how to live

in sync with how God made things. But in

order to live in sync, we're prone to

run down the wrong roads. Ecclesiastes

says, "Let me tell you some of the roads

that won't lead to what you're looking

for." See how it fits? All right. Here's

the next one. How about the author?

You may think, well, that's a simple

matter, right? In fact, look at verse

one. Don't close your Bible or your

phone yet, even though we read chapter

1. Uh, I'm going to read verse one and

then you all tell me who you think wrote

the book. The words of the teacher, son

of David, king in Jerusalem. Who's the

author? Sounds like Solomon, right?

Yeah. Solomon. And what do we know about

Solomon? David's son, right? That's what

it says. He was king in Jerusalem,

right? Saul was the first king. That was

kind of bankrupt. Then David, a man

after God's own heart. After David comes

Solomon, and he was king in Jerusalem.

So, it seems like it's lining up. And

running the experiment, we also know

Solomon prayed for wisdom and God gave

it to him. Boy, Solomon seems like the

like likely candidate. Yeah, but look

down in verse 16. So if the guy is

really wise and humble,

would he be able to write this? I said

to myself,

I have increased in wisdom more than

anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem

before me.

If it's Solomon, how many people ruled

over Jerusalem before him? Well, David.

And so what's he saying? I just want you

to know I'm a lot smarter than my dad.

Wait a sec. Well, wait a minute. If

you're that wise, you wouldn't be that

arrogant. And so there's kind of a

debate. Did Solomon write it? That you

know what? If you think Solomon wrote

it, that's fine. The book is actually

anonymous. It doesn't say who wrote it.

A lot of people think Solomon wrote it.

Others say no. But the person doing the

experiment

is putting himself into shoes like

Solomon. What was Solomon? Very wise,

very rich, and very powerful. In order

to perform the experiments he's going to

perform, he's got to be really smart.

He's got to have a whole lot of money

and he's got to have a lot of power to

pull it off. Solomon had those things.

Maybe it's Solomon. Some other author

may have, but whoever it was had that

triad that was going to allow him to run

all of the experiments. So, even with

the author question, Ecclesiastes kind

of throws us a curveball. It won't let

us put our feet firmly down anywhere,

will it? Well, now we have some of

vocabulary words. Um, if you understand

these three vocabulary words, you'll be

able to make your way through the book.

So, those of you that are sleeping or

reading Song of Solomon, stop

and listen again. If you don't

understand these three words, you will

not understand the book and you will be

confused. All right, here's the first

word. Gain. Gain. Now, what does gain

mean? Gain is actually kind of like a

financial term. And for those of you

that are business owners or leaders, you

know this. For those of you that are

team members, you may have no idea what

I'm going to say. There's a world of

difference between the top line and the

bottom line. The top line on a

spreadsheet gives revenue number. That's

all the money you took in.

That's not how much money the owner

keeps. That's not how much money the

business made because between the top

line and the bottom line are a whole lot

of expense lines.

And so you've got expensive team

members, expensive product, expensive

advertising, a whole lot of expense

lines. Topline revenue, bottom line

profit.

When you use the word gain, that's

bottom line. So here's what the writer

of Ecclesiastes is saying. I'm not

interested in the revenue. I'm not even

going to talk too much about all the

expense lines. I want to know at the end

of the day, at the end of the quarter,

at the end of the year, at the end of

your life,

what do you have left?

What do you have at the end? What's the

profit? What's the gain? That you got to

understand. That word is used like 14

times in the book. And so you've got to

understand that. I better check make

sure it was about 14.

>> Well, you can count them up if you want.

10 times. Well, the next word you need

to understand, you've you've heard this

a number of times already, is the word

meaningless. Meaningless. Meaningless.

Meaning all over the place, right? Now,

here's what meaningless means. We've

kind of hinted at it already. The word

meaningless actually means

breath,

vapor,

something that is here for a second and

gone.

Thank you, God, that it's no longer

winter. When you see your breath, so

when you walk out and it's freezing cold

and you speak, you actually can see your

breath.

How long does it last?

Hopefully a fleeting second, right? Um,

that's what the writer of Ecclesiastes

is saying. Everything in this life, all

of these experiments I'm running, all of

these tests are going to prove, they may

bring meaning, they may bring

satisfaction, they may give you what you

want, but it's going to be quick and

shortlived. It'll be superficial and

temporal. That what that's what it means

to be meaningless. So, let me uh give

you an example of that, a real life

example from yesterday.

My oldest daughter and her husband went

out to dinner. And so Kim, Megan, my

other daughter and I, we watched the

grandsons.

It was a great evening. And so they went

to dinner. And so I said to the boys as

soon as I got there, "Where would you

guys like to eat?" Now I'm thinking

we're going to go somewhere half decent,

right? At least at least where you sit

down for your meal, right? You know what

I mean? Pop, we want to go to

McDonald's.

I don't want to go. Pop, you don't

understand. We have to go to McDonald's

because they have demon hunter

giveaways.

Okay. How about if we go to Park

Beastro? Pop. We need to go to

McDonald's. How about No, Pop. We have

to We have to get this demon hunter

thing. Pop, you get 10 chicken nuggets.

You get these special sauces. You get

the special sauce and you put it in your

French fries and We have to get

the Demon Hunter thing from McDonald's.

Pop. I'll never ask for anything again.

Never. Ever. If if I could please have

the Demon Hunter surprise from

McDonald's. So where we went to

McDonald's. We got two Demon Hunter

meals. We sat down and ate them. And you

know what? They were thrilled

for about six seconds until they tasted

the two nasty sauces that came with the

chicken nuggets. Hop. This is terrible.

I don't want this. Let me have some of

your cheeseburger. You know what? That's

meaningless. That's what the writer of

Ecclesiastes says, right? The thing you

set your sights on, the thing you think

will satisfy, you'll never want anything

again until you get it 5 seconds later.

Oh my goodness, that sauce is nasty.

Right? That's meaningless. And a writer

of Ecclesiastes says, "Let me show you

some of the roads I've run down that I

thought would bring satisfaction to

meaning." And you know what? The sauces

were nasty at the end of every one of

those roads. That's meaningless. One

other word, actually a couple words you

have to understand.

Under the sun. Now, you're going to see

under the sun

29 times in Ecclesiastes.

Well, what the heck does under the sun

mean? Well, makes sense, right?

What's under the sun? Oh, the earth,

trees, you, me, church, your job, your

car, your pets, all that stuff's under

Okay,

what's above the sun?

God,

angels,

eternity.

So, what is the key to understanding

Ecclesiastes? Here's what he says.

When I tried to find satisfaction,

meaning and fulfillment

under the sun,

apart from God, apart from what he says,

apart from his perspective,

I will never find satisfaction.

I will only find meaning. I will only

find purpose. I will only find what I'm

looking for when I lift my eyes above

the sun. And you know what this crazy

guy does

for 11 and a half chapters?

He keeps looking under the sun. And you

know what he says? Dead end. Dead end.

Dead end. Bankrupt. Lousy sauce every

time.

11 and a half chapters. So, in a sense,

he's doing us a great service, isn't he?

Because he has the

wisdom,

the power, and the finances to do what

we can't do. So, we still live the

fiction thinking that somehow we can run

down the paths and find what we're

looking for. He says, "I've run down

those roads and I came back to tell you

what you're looking for isn't down here.

In fact, what you're looking for isn't

under the sun at all. You've got to lift

your eyes above the sun." Now,

the old King James version, which some

of you still like, I I can't understand

that, but I I mean, I can't understand

when I read it. I know some of you still

read it. The old King James calls the

author a preacher. So, it says this,

"The words of the preacher." Well, let

me tell you, you know, look, I hate to

criticize translators, but if the guy

that wrote Ecclesiastes is a preacher,

he's like the worst preacher ever.

What do preachers do? Hopefully, they

lift your eyes above the sun. Hopefully,

they're saying, "Don't look at life in

the mundane. Look at life from God's

perspective. Add go adds God add God's

word to what you're saying." That's

Well, this guy doesn't do that for 11

and a half chapters.

Well, we can't end there because even

though he's not a preacher, I am. So, if

you have your Bibles, turn to

Ecclesiastes chapter 12 because we need

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

to end where he ends. And we're probably

going to end here a whole lot of the

weeks that we're here

because in chapter 12,

the teacher or the professor,

the one who practices the Socratic

method, try this, try this, try this,

and it's all bankrupt. He becomes a

preacher at the end of the book. When

the narrator stops back in, he issues an

invitation. And here's what he writes.

Now that all has been heard,

here's the conclusion of the matter.

Some may think it took us 11 chapters.

Couldn't I read like the cliff notes and

get here at the beginning? Well, we

we're at the beginning. I'm reading the

end. Right now that all has been heard.

Here's the conclusion of the matter.

Fear God.

Keep his commandments.

This is the duty of all mankind.

We've been looking at life under the sun

for 11 and a half chapters.

And the professor says, "You want to

find what you're looking for? You want

to find where satisfaction, you want to

find where there really is more that

will fill you to overflowing. You'll

never find it under the sun. But if you

lift your eyes above the sun, you'll see

God." Now, we've talked about fearing

God before. That does not mean you're

afraid of God. Here's what it does mean.

You're afraid of being without God.

It means you put God in the center of

your thinking. In fact, fearing God and

the way we define worship, right? Seeing

God accurately responding, they're very

similar. What's it mean to fear God? You

put God in his rightful place. And as

soon as you put God in his rightful

place, lo and behold, you're in your

rightful place. You're submitted to him.

You look to him. He's the creator. He's

the savior. He's the one whose arms

you're racing toward. And so, what do

you do? You're not afraid of him as much

as you're afraid of losing him and

losing that perspective. That's what it

means to fear God. Now, notice fearing

God comes before keeping his

commandments. The writer of Ecclesiastes

is not giving us self-help. He's not

saying, "So, here's the conclusion of

the matter. Just get in step and do

everything God said." That's not what he

says. He said, "Here's the conclusion of

the matter. Put God in his rightful

place. Make God king of your life. Make

God the central priority. Then as your

life orbits him, you will keep his

commandments. That's where life is

found. That's where satisfaction's

found. And so maybe as we begin, we uh

we take our title,

there's got to be more.

Ecclesiastes says,

not under the sun.

But there sure is more above the sun.

Fix your eyes on him. Revolve your life

around him and you'll find you are

filled to overflowing now and forever.

Let's pray.

Father, we give you thanks for this book

that at times can be frustrating, at

times can be depressing and

discouraging,

but maybe just stepping back for a few

minutes, understanding what the author's

trying to do, understanding the

experiments and understanding a few key

words, maybe we can actually sync up

with what he's saying.

And maybe we need to confess today,

we're not really that smart.

We're not that wealthy and we don't have

much power at all.

Therefore, we're tempted to think that

satisfaction and meaning

are found down all of these dead ends.

We need to hear the writer of

Ecclesiastes says, "Under the sun,

you'll never find what you're looking

for. Lift your eyes above the sun. See

God who sent Jesus who experienced

suffering, difficulty, frustration and

depression but rose above all those all

those things so we can fix our eyes on

him find meaning satisfaction forever.

We pray in his name. Amen.