Utterly Meaningless!

OK, good morning. You can turn to the book of

Ecclesiastes. I had a friend who was dyslexic.

He called it Ecclesiastes. We call it Ecclesiastes, and in

Afrikaans we call it Prieta Kant.

You know it's called Prieta Kant.

So we're going to be doing a series.

And so just to let you know that your life is actually pointless

and meaningless. And we start the year with this

unbelievable sense of purpose and we are going to leave a

legacy. And the Bible says your legacy

doesn't actually count. So we get all caught up with all

sorts of worldly ideas and we've got to go back to the Word of

God and see what the word of God says.

So it's good to be here. I did a funeral on Thursday of

this beautiful lady's husband and her dad.

His name was Dave. He lived for 70 years to the

day. Amazing man.

Incredible how his family spoke about him.

I then got on an aeroplane yesterday morning at 5:00 and

flew down to Natal because I was speaking at an event in

Johannesburg last week on Monday or week before.

On Monday a little girl came up to me, a teacher, young teacher.

She walked up to me, said Rory. Don't know who I am, but my

grandfather's Andy, fan of that. And Andy fan of that, for those

who don't know, is the fastest spring buck that's ever lived.

And he was a track athlete and he was a spring buck and he was

my rugby coach and my Afrikaans teacher.

She said to my grandpa's very sick Rory, well you go down and

pray for him. I said I'm very busy at the

moment, but I'll try and go next week.

And on Friday last week at 11:00 at night, his wife sent me a

message and said, Rory, he's not going to make it.

And so I booked a ticket on Friday at 11:00.

And I got on a plane. I drove to, flew to Durban,

drove to how I prayed with my Afrikaans teacher in English.

And I came back, I was in church.

And on Sunday morning last week, he died less than 24 hours after

I prayed with him. I had the privilege of doing his

funeral yesterday. And when you do a funeral of an

Afrikaans teacher in Durban hard to teach Midlands boys

Afrikaans, but I can now August on I can say Yella's buyer

welcome Ecka second Stolener student.

I could buy a hood career. Ecka's floatin Afrikaans welcome

Nahiri practi by a donkey. I saw the hiller backcraftness

in Afrikaans doing Ella's smart like welcome.

No, it's my Afrikaans. Alice for Bay Huya Mora taught

scenes and I saw an amazing thing.

He coached me for three years in rugby and he never, ever, once,

not once did he ever tell a story about him playing for the

Spring Bucks. Not once.

But there were 3 spring Bucks there, including the Spring Buck

captain Gary Tasman sitting in the front row of the church.

And I realized he never actually spoke about playing for the

Spring Bucks, but he produced spring Bucks.

It's the most amazing thing, most incredible thing.

And this morning when I woke up, I got a message from a boy, a

mother of a boy who got baptized in that swimming pool three

years ago. He went to Vietnam and he was

killed in a Vietnam prison. And she sent me an SMS and she

said, Rory, please think of us at 10:00 today.

It's in about 20 minutes time because we're taking Jordan's

ashes and we're spreading them in the sea.

And so Thursday I did their funeral, Friday, Saturday I did

Andy's funeral. And today, a boy who got

baptized there, his asses are about to be spread.

You think, oh, this is a great way to start the year?

No, actually, the book of Ecclesiastes is an incredible

reminder to us that our lives are finite.

It's an incredible reminder that the only thing that we have in

common, you've heard me say the only thing we have in common.

Rich people. In this room, and poor people

and young people and old people and educated people and

uneducated people and English people and Afrikaans people.

The big. People and small people and

introverted people and extroverted people.

The only thing we have in common is that we're all going to die.

It's the only thing we have in common, and therefore we have to

determine how we're going to live.

And so this book, the theologians say, written by

Solomon, or was it written about Solomon?

Solomon was the wisest man whoever lived.

In one Kings chapter 3, God said, you can ask me for

absolutely anything. And he said, I'll ask you for

wisdom. He was the wisest man whoever

lived. I will ask you for wisdom.

And it seems when he was walking with God, he wrote the Song of

Solomon, this incredible absolute love intimacy that he

had with one woman. He said, I love you, Florida

State. He never compares it to anybody

else. He says your waist is like a

bundle of wheat, your neck is like the Tower of Lebanon, your

teeth are like a flock of goats, your breasts are like the fruit

of a palm tree. He's absolutely enamoured by

this woman who he never compares to another one.

And yet somehow he loses the plot as he gets caught up in the

ways of the world. He marries Pharaoh's daughter,

and he ends up looking more and more like Pharaoh and less and

less like David. And in that cynical part of his

life, he writes the book of Ecclesiastes to not an old date,

outdated book, but an eternal book written to a group of

people who live in Pretoria at this time, saying, hey, guys,

this thing is very powerful. This thing will suck you in.

And before you know it, you'll be living with the values of the

world and representing Pharaoh more than you'll be representing

David. And so not only was he

unbelievably wise, but God said I will give you lots of money as

well, $2.1 trillion I will give to you.

That's. More than Elon Musk and the 10

top richest men in the world right now, he was more wealthy

than all of them. And he says at the end of his

life, wealth is meaningless. And many of us are spending our

whole lives to get educated and work ourselves to the bone and

come home at 8:00 at night and completely deny our families of

your presence. And the Bible says it's

meaningless. Absolutely meaningless.

You're wasting your time, he said.

But Rory, what are we meant to do?

And we start in this small house and we build our way all the way

up to this very big house with lots of furniture.

And at the end of it, we go down and down and down to another

small house with little furniture.

We give everything away. We think, wow, that was worth

it. What was worth it, you think?

Why? As we say, to go to NASA to pick

up shells. Another shell, another cowrie.

Wow. Another calorie to add to the

other calories. And I've got a collection of

calories. And the book has written to us

to save us from the system that is so unbelievably powerful,

that draws us into things that are not eternal.

It says in the book of Ecclesiastes, God has put

eternity into our hearts. I met a lady at the at the

coffee shop today. She's got eternity tattooed on

her hand, on her arm here. I said, man, you know, that is

in the heart of God. He puts eternity in our hearts.

That's why nothing under the sun can actually make us satisfied.

Nothing can make us satisfied, $2.1 trillion.

I can tell you the difference between a million and a billion.

A million seconds is 11 1/2 days.

A billion seconds is 31 years. A trillion seconds is 31,000

years. He was a trillion dollar, a

trillionaire dollar trillionaire, 60,000 thousand

thousand, 1000 Rand. And at the end of it he says

it's not worth it. And you say or try me?

I mean 10% I reckon Lord God, I can pull her.

I know Solomon couldn't, but I reckon I could.

I reckon Lord God and. And then he had 1000 women.

Can you imagine? Can you imagine some of you

thinking, try me Lord, and some of your thinking, save me Lord?

The one I've got is more than I can handle and otherwise just

give me two or three, Lord God. I mean, let's just try me Lord

God. 1700 wives, 300 concubines. One of the commentators says the

difference is you don't have to send Valentine's cards to the

one 700 wives and 300 concubines.

Can you imagine trying to remember their birthdays?

Can you imagine and you've got twins and you've got triplets

and you've got you miss the whole thing.

I just an absolute nightmare. And he says, you know what, I

tried sex but it didn't fulfil me.

I could have dinner, breakfast, lunch and supper with a

different woman every single day of the week.

But there's something that's lacking inside of that.

And so we're going to go on a search, 3 CI.

We're going to go on a search with a man at the end of his

life who's coming back to God and saying, hey, guys, please

listen to me. To make a mistake is stupid.

To make a mistake that somebody else has made is even more

stupid. And he's saying, listen, God

gave me incredible wisdom. I had an amazing lineage from my

dad. I moved off the path and now I

want to write back a letter, particularly to the young people

of Pretoria. And I want to say to young

people of Pretoria, you've got to learn how to live biblically.

There are three kinds of writings in the Old Testament.

There's historical books if you don't know the Bible.

You have to teach you the Bible. From Genesis to the book of

Nehemiah, it's called the history books, historical books.

So from Genesis to Nehemiah, it's the.

Story of Israel. 'S life, historical books.

And then you've got the prophets, major prophets and

minor prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel is a

guy called Habakkuk. Don't call your child that.

There's another guy called Obadiah.

He's not related to me. Nahim Jonah, minor prophets.

And the prophet's job was to try and stop the madness of Israel.

And Israel kept going left and right and left and right.

And the prophets obviously stand up and perform miracles, like

Elijah performed 7 miracles. And then Elijah said, give me a

double anointing. And Elijah performed 14

miracles. And they raised the dead.

And when their bodies got thrown onto bones, people came alive.

And it kind of stopped the rot in Israel.

But Israel always went back to the rot because eventually it

had to come where one saviour would come and save the whole

thing. So they were pointing to Christ,

pointing to Christ, pointing to Christ.

And the Israelites keep pushing away.

And then we've got books called the wisdom literature.

Job teaches us about how to suffer in this world.

Proverbs teaches us about life and relationships and about

finances. I was thinking about our

financial advisors or wealth creators.

And most of you will have one or some of you will have one.

Your wealth advisor should give you a monthly report and a

yearly return. I mean, if they do their job

properly, you get a monthly report and a yearly return.

And when you read the wisdom literature, you realize that you

are God's financial advisor. You and I are God's financial

advisor. And I thought, well, if I expect

a monthly report and a yearly return from my financial

advisor, Can you imagine what the Lord expects of me with my

time and my gifting and my finances?

A monthly report and a yearly return.

That's what the wisdom literature talks about.

And the Song of Solomon teaches about love and about marriage

and about intimacy. They tell a story of a king with

three sons. Amazing king, amazing three

boys. One was very good looking, A

little bit of a Boogamina. The other one was incredibly

strong, and the third son was just the son of the soil, used

to just go out adventuring every day.

We'd go out into the fields and the king and his wife were

speaking about their son or their sons and who would take

over the Kingdom. And the king didn't know what to

do because it wasn't just a succession.

They had to decide who was the right man to take over the

throne. And one day he said to his sons,

I'll tell you what boys. He called them all in with his

wife. He said, I'll tell you what,

boys. I will give you unlimited

resources so that you can have an unlimited travel budget to go

to the ends of the earth and to find an animal that will best

represent the Kingdom that this country needs.

And when you come? Back we will assess.

The animal we decide are you the one to become king and the good

looking son went out and he spent a year out there while

his. Parents were waiting.

For him and all the subjects were waiting for him and when he

came home, he came back with a Peacock inside of a golden cage

covered with a golden cloth. And he pulled it off and the

Peacock pruned its feathers and everyone's like, wow, we've

never seen one of these things. This is what the Kingdom is

going to be like. It's going to be this like

flesh, beautiful, colourful, incredible, extravagant display

of beauty and gold and blue. And everybody is like what I

said, he must become the king. And they waited six months and

the second brother came back with a huge golden cage with a

huge golden cover. And he pulled off the golden

cover and inside there was a lion that roared.

The strong brother brought back the lion and he said, this is

what we need. We need this, this is.

And the lion ate the Peacock and the older brother disappeared.

And the younger brother took center sage or the second

brother and and the king said, surely this is the one.

He said, no, no, no, we just wait for the third son.

And the third son came walking over the hill six months later.

And he said, Dad, I didn't travel far.

I just went over the hill to meet a girl that piqued my

interest. He said, I've spent the last 18

months getting to know this girl.

I want this girl to be my wife. Her name is Sophia Wisdom, he

said. I want to marry her.

That is why the Wisdom literature was written, so that

you and I can marry Sofia. We can intimately get to know

Sofia, and when we understand Sofia, we don't need Peacocks

and lions to prawns and to roar. When we understand the intimate

details of Sofia, when we find Sofia, we will learn how to rule

and reign in this world. And so we are entitling our

series, finding Sophia, finding wisdom.

And God has put eternity inside of our hearts that nothing,

nothing will satisfy us. Even however clever you might

be, nothing will satisfy it, says education.

Education. All of you who've come to

university think this is absolutely important.

Yes, it's absolutely important, but it's not ultimate.

It's not ultimate because, as the theologians say, there are

many people with PhDs, lots of PhDs, two or three PhDs who lie

in bed on their 70th, 80th birthday, who shake like leaves

and can't remember their children's names.

It's important, but it's not ultimate.

Amen. It's nice to see you.

Good morning. Let's read together.

The words of the Teacher, son of David, king of Jerusalem.

Meaningless. Meaningless, says the teacher.

Utterly meaningless. Everything is meaningless.

That is, the word hebble or hebble, spelled hebble, is

pronounced hebble. What does man gain from all his

labor? Say gain.

You see, we live in a world of profit.

That's, that's it's like, what do you profit?

Solomon realized with one $2.1 trillion in his bank, he was not

going to take with him. And many of you have got

educated, you've built up trust accounts and blessings for your

children. And you've got to ask the

question why? And some leave this nation and

go and live in other nations for the safety of their children.

And their children are safe, but they no longer serve God.

But you think, but I've provided safety for my children.

So is that what you're trying to provide?

What are you trying to provide An education?

Are you providing safety? Are you providing opportunity?

I just want to poke the bear a little bit.

The answer isn't in Ecclesiastes, but we have.

To ask. Ourselves this question Every

worldview. Every worldview needs to answer

3 questions. Origins Where do I come from?

You have to answer that question.

Meaning why am I here? What is the purpose of my life

and destiny? Where am I going?

What happens to me after I die? You imagine the relief in a

pastor's heart when you do a man's funeral or memorial.

His whole family is sitting in front of you, his whole family

sitting in front of you. And I'm absolutely convinced in

my heart that he's in heaven. It's painful, it's tender, it's

emotional, but you shed many tears together.

I've got down on my knees looking at Mary and preaching

numbers Chapter 6 over her life. Absolutely heartbroken, but with

Numbers 6 · chapter mention

the peace and the knowledge that her husband is in heaven.

I did the funeral yesterday, my Afrikaans teacher with the

absolute peace and knowledge and the sadness everybody can They

were rugby people there, they were head masters of schools,

they were spring buck rugby players.

Every. But the most important thing I

knew in my heart is that Andy von der Vaat is in heaven and

that boy that got baptized in that pool who got beaten to

death in the Vietnamese prison got beaten to death.

But I knew that boy, and many people fought with that boy.

He was a difficult guy. He was a rebel.

But I loved that boy, and my son LED that boy to Christ.

And I know in the bottom of my heart that that boy is with

Jesus. And I want to say to you today,

if you did not know Christ, if you did not know Jesus,

meaningless, meaningless. Everything is meaningless if you

cannot answer the question. And I saw some of my teachers

there yesterday, teachers that have been atheists their whole

lives and have taken on the system of a Christian School.

I saw them there and I stood up and I said, gentlemen, you must

make right with God because I'm probably going to end up doing

your funerals. I also said to the family, if I

knew that that Afrikaans teacher I was going to do his funeral, I

would have got my orals remarked.

I think he would have given me some better marks.

Mr. Thunderbird as a belief, Yanda Hanako Bukhrafn is doing

let the power claim matkis as a belief.

He would have said there's no way God will use you China.

You must remember this Solomon was a product of adultery and

God used them to write 3 books of the Bible.

I don't know what you're a product of, but God can use you.

Most of Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, I know

what it says in one Kings chapter 4, it says you wrote

3000 Proverbs and 1005 songs. One of them was Song of Solomon,

most prolific songwriter that's ever hit the world and he came

from adultery. Maybe you're a product of

adultery and you're sitting here and thinking I don't have a root

system. Yes, you do send Jesus.

I think well maybe your life's messed up.

God can use you just like you use this messed up guy.

Actually, most of the Bible is written by messed up people.

Yes, Amen. It's actually one of the only

books that ends with judgment. Thank goodness we've got the New

Testament. But it starts with grace, and

then it points us to the New Testament where we find grace

again. Amen.

OK, let me get through. Sorry.

What does? What does man gain?

From all his labour we have to ask.

The question, gentlemen, Stall by flies by heralds by.

You work your backside off all year for 11 months to have one

month at Stall by and it's nice to Estoni vent Almar from

Peturius Door and then Almar Lahrmer drink Brindavine and

then Vortella by aloud. He thinks for 11 months.

I freaking work my backside off to get to still by so that I go

back to work for another 11 months.

What does man gain from all his labor of which he toils under

the sun? Sand to the sun.

You'll read that 20 times. Generations come and generations

go, but the earth remains forever.

The sun rises and the sunsets and hurries.

Back to where it rises. And you hurry back to your

school to pick up your child again, to bring them home, to

take them to ticket cricket, to bring them home, to make them

supper, to wash their clothes, to go to bed, to make them

supper, to make wash their clothes, to wake up.

And don't. Don't you feel like that

sometimes? To hurry back to the office.

To finish the thing. To go the thing.

To hurry back before. You get in your car to take them

to extra lessons to do it again. Hurry.

Back, Hurry back. Hurry back.

Hurry back. Hurry back.

Don't you feel like that? Hurry back, Hurry back, Hurry

back. The wind blows to the South and

turns to the north. Round and round it goes, Round

and round it goes, Round and round it goes from home to

Atterbury Rd. all the way to the school and then back to.

The school. And back to.

Atterbury Rd. and back into the. Estates and round and round it

goes, and round and round it goes and round and round it

goes. And you say no, but we living

with purpose. The Bible says you work living

in circles China, you say No chance progress, no progress, no

progress in a cul-de-sac, no progress that I called this

thing you said. But I've changed everything.

What have you changed? You bought a bigger.

House and more furniture and you're going to give it away

when you get old and you're going to think what was that all

about while you're collecting shells in Nazna or BS Akabai.

All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full to the

place that the streams come from, where they return again.

All things are wearing. So more than one can say that I

never has enough of seeing Netflix, Amazon Prime, Venice,

Mauritius, Bali, Europe nor the ear.

It's full of hearing. What has been will be again.

What has been done will be done again.

There's nothing new under the sun, you say?

Oh, rubbish, Rory. Medical advancement, really.

And they still all die, you say? But there's this breakthrough in

cancer treatment for how many years?

And then they die, you say, Rory, you're stopping progress.

No, it's this is all the same. All falls into categories.

Communication. Have you seen Chet GPT?

Ask Alexander Bell. He started that long before you

were born. No, Madras leave.

What has been will be again. What has been done will be done

again. There's nothing new under the

sun, is there anything of which one can say?

Look, there is something new. It was here already long ago.

It was here before our time. There's no remembrance of men of

old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered

by those who follow. And we are preaching in our

churches in the beginning of the year.

You must build a legacy. It's not biblical.

Confon Zindrov says this Live, preach the gospel, die and be

forgotten. Live, preach the gospel, die and

be forgotten. Oh, yes, of course we remember

2019. CEO Khaleesi the OK, let's go

back to two. Let's go back to 2015 and 11

seven. John Smith, Bucky's Victor was

PSP say 2004, 2003. England, England.

England. Johnny, Johnny.

Johnny Wilkinson. Johnny Wilkinson.

You remember Johnny Wilkinson? Yeah, of course you remember

Johnny Wilkinson. And the lock was Martin Johnson.

Martin Johnson was the captain. He lifted who was his partner

again And and the the who's the guy passed the ball to Johnny

Wilkinson. And let's go back to 95.

Remember Francois Pina and and Mark Andrews played lock and

covers. Visa played and his lock partner

was you won't remember in 91 was John Eels and and and 87 was the

guy from New Zealand who played and and let's talk about let's

talk about Nobel Peace Prize, Nelson Mandela, FW Leclerc.

They won it. What year?

Can't remember the guys afterwards can't remember the

top Peace Prize in the world. Can't remember.

And the prize for psychology and the prize for science can't

remember, he says. You think your whole life, I

want to tell you this, your great grandkids won't remember a

thing about you. And this building will be in the

ground, rusted, fallen down and forgotten in 100 years time.

And no one will remember this move of God that we had, that

we've enjoyed. No one will remember.

And so we can't spend our time worshiping this.

We've got to find something that will satisfy us deep inside of

our souls. If you've got your Bibles open

to Proverbs 31, this unbelievable woman, Proverbs 31

and verse 30, it says this charm is deceptive and beauty is

fleeting. Say fleeting, same word.

Heaven, same word, exactly the same word, Meaningless,

Meaningless. Everything is meaningless.

Yeah, it's described as fleeting.

Same word in Jonah. It says those who cling to

worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

Same word, worthless. Worthless, fleeting.

And you'll see the mirrors as you walk down to the bathrooms,

go to the bathroom and have a look.

And it just says vanity, Vanity. Everything is vanity.

Stop looking in the mirror. Is Jim good?

Absolutely. The way some of you guys do,

Jim, It's become an idol. You said Rory, you should go to

gym more. OK, Buy some bigger clothes.

What's ultimate? What's what's ultimate?

This is the word. This is what it says in the

message. Smoke, smoke.

Everything is smoke. I can smell it, I can see it, I

can't grab it. And then Jesus comes and grabs

you. He says I designed you with a

purpose. Don't waste your life.

God bless you.