Problem #1: Success Instead of God’s Will

Happy New Year! Happy New Year! I'm proud of you for being here.

You can't go to them all if you don't go to the first one, so good job. Good job for being here.

This is the first Sunday of the year, so we are beginning a new series of sermons

called Modern American Problems.

The idea is to take eight weeks, the first eight weeks of the year,

and preach on some struggles that are relevant to us in this room because we are modern Americans.

I have some friends who are pastors, and one of them recently told me,

he said at my church, referring to the church that he's the pastor of,

He said, my church, we talk a lot more about the culture of the Roman Empire

than we do the culture that we are living in now.

And maybe you've seen that before, too, where a church spends a lot of time

talking about how things were, not talking a whole lot about how things are.

And that is fine, depending on the sermon and depending on the goal of the sermon.

But for this particular series, we are trying to address some issues that are

specific to our place and our time and seeing what the Bible has to say about them.

I got the idea from a blog post that I saw at some point. I think it was last year.

It had like a long title, but part of the title was Modern Life Stinks.

Like those words were in the title.

And the blogger was talking about problems that are like unique to our time

period, or at least that they are, you know, things that we're dealing with now.

It's a blog, like American wrote it. So he's talking about American modern life.

And there were some sentences in it that stuck out to me. There was a point

in the article where he wrote, technology is not community.

And there was another part where he said, sex is not porn. as he was just talking

about things that are all over our culture.

And so as I was reading it, it made me think about the many ways that our current

society has replaced good things from God with poor substitutes.

So these are the issues that we want to address. There's going to be a slide

that comes up, and so we're going to do eight weeks, one problem per week.

So these are the eight problems we want to address for the first two weeks of

the first two months of the year.

Problem number one is success instead of God's will.

Number two, self-esteem instead of God esteem. Number three, porn instead of sex.

Problem number four, technology instead of community. Problem five,

anxiety instead of contentment. Problem six, money instead of purpose.

Seven, science instead of morality, and eight, experience instead of the Bible.

These are fairly relevant topics, right? Yeah.

And you will notice some of the problems that are listed here,

particularly like there's two nouns in each one, and the first noun that comes each time.

Sometimes the first noun is a bad thing in the sense that it's just always bad.

Anxiety, depending on how you define it, is always bad. Porn,

I think, is bad. I can't think of any good use for porn.

So some of these things are just bad all the time. Some of the first nouns,

though, in each one of these columns, some of the first noun is not a bad thing.

All right? It's not a thing that's necessarily bad if it's in its proper place.

For instance, I think science and experience would fall into that category, right?

That experience is fine and good. It's just not supposed to be used to contradict the Bible.

Science is good. Science is a good and useful tool for knowing this world.

But science is not designed to predict what the judge on judgment day will say

about how life ought to have been lived, right? So it's not that science is

bad. It's just it doesn't do that job.

So that's where we are going. And I hope that you will come along with us for

the ride these next eight weeks.

Today's topic is success instead of God's will. Okay, so that's our first modern American problem.

To explain what I'm getting at with this sermon, particularly this idea,

what do we mean success instead of God's will?

I guess I need to define the word success before we get started.

Because you might go, what's wrong with success? Don't we want to be successful?

So I guess let me say it this way. If you are a Christian and you define success

in life as living for the Lord, like doing what God has called me to do,

then there is no problem.

If your definition of success is the will of God, then there is no substitute.

There is no competition. There's no problem with that. So I think what I'm saying

this morning is this. I believe a common modern American problem is the defining

of the word success apart from God's will.

I think that happens all the time, okay?

In fact, the way that I know that it is common that we would define success

separate from God's will is because there is a popular phrase that is used in

this country all the time. I'm pretty sure almost everybody in this room have heard of it.

It's a phrase that's used to define success in the United States particularly.

And it's never about God's will.

When anybody uses this phrase, it's to define success in the United States,

and it's never about God's will. Okay, you want to know what the phrase is?

The American dream. The American dream. I have heard that phrase so many times

in my life, the American dream.

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, people said it all the time, the American dream,

and just, they would say it, and there'd be like a bald eagle in the background

as they were talking about it.

And then as time goes on, it's talked about a little bit differently now, but still similar.

Like, people still use the phrase nowadays. It's often used in political contexts.

Someone will say, like on TV, they'll say, this politician is so great because

he's getting government out of the way so that we can all live the american

dream or sometimes it's said negatively they'll say oh we need to vote this

person out of office they are ruining the economy they are making it impossible

for us to live out the american dream.

All right. What is the American dream?

It is usually left undefined, okay?

At least whenever I watch it on the news, like the newscaster or the host or

whatever, they just say it and just expect that their audience knows what it is, okay?

So I asked AI to define it for me, okay? I did this a few weeks ago,

and then I did it again this week.

Because, you know, AI, that's one of the jobs. I mean, I don't know if it does

everything well, but one of the things it can do is go out there,

see what everybody says, and then kind of summarize it.

So let me give you my summary of AI's summary.

The classic American dream is owning a home with a yard, okay?

Often shown with a white picket fence and often with a spouse and children,

okay? That is the classic American dream.

That dream is still alive, but it has changed shape more recently to include

lifestyle freedom, personal well-being and fulfillment, in addition to financial

stability, which was always a part of the American dream, okay?

So it was like have a house with a yard and your family, and then more recently,

it's have the freedom to do what you want and your own personal way of fulfilling

your life and to be financially stable enough to do all that, okay?

That is, that's like the American dream now.

And my point today is not to say that those things are bad, okay?

I am currently experiencing all of those things except for the picket fence, okay?

I own a home with a yard. I have a spouse and children. I have lifestyle freedom.

I have personal well-being and I have fulfillment and I have financial stability, okay?

So I'm not against any of those things. I have all those things. I think they're great.

My point this morning is that success in America is generally not defined by

God's will, but rather it is defined by those lesser things.

Not saying that things are bad. I'm just saying that's how success is being

defined, by those lesser things. and it has been defined that way for a long time now.

So it's not that the things are bad. It's that they have become the definition

of success apart from God's will.

And I believe that is a modern American problem.

However, it is not a uniquely modern American problem.

It's been dealt with before. So I want to show it to you in the Bible.

Today we are going to see that the Bible, which is not American,

by the way. I don't know if you know that. But the Bible is not American.

Okay, the Bible was around way before America was around. Okay,

so we have this book, which is not American, but it does address this issue

that I've brought up directly and vividly.

And so in order to do that this morning, I'm going to give you a jet tour through

the book of Ecclesiastes.

And then, oh, I heard some groaning. Okay, so those are people who have read the book, okay?

So some of you are here and you're like, what? I've never read Ecclesiastes.

Is it bad? No, don't listen to the groaners. Don't listen to them.

This is good, okay? And those of you that are groaning, you just buckle in,

okay? This is going to be good for you.

But those of you that haven't heard it, I want you to keep an open mind, okay?

So Ecclesiastes is what we're going to jet tour through, and then we're going

to land in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, okay?

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

No big reaction to 1 Corinthians 15. That's fine.

Okay, so you ready for Ecclesiastes? Everybody ready? All right,

so what we're going to do is we're going to start there in chapter one, the first three verses.

I'm In fact, as I read you the first three verses, some of you are going to

see what the noise was about right here. Because it really comes... Here it is.

Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 1. The words of the teacher, son of David,

Ecclesiastes 1:1

king in Jerusalem. Now here are the words.

Absolute futility, says the teacher. Absolute futility. Everything is futile.

What does a man gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?

So it starts off with a little joyful note, you notice. Okay, right?

And this is part of the reason why some of the people that groaned,

groaned, okay? Because they know this is what's coming.

This is the declaration of the teacher, the voice of the book of Ecclesiastes,

okay? He says everything is futile.

And the person that is speaking here, like the concern that he has,

and I think it's Solomon, okay? Solomon says it's a son of David, king in Jerusalem.

And as the book goes on, it goes on to describe someone that could only have been Solomon.

So Solomon's concern, and you can see it in this opening, and then you also

see it later on as the book goes along.

He's like, what does a man gain for all of his efforts under the sun?

What do you actually have to show for anything?

And as the book goes on, you can see the idea is everything is sort of meaningless

because everything is temporary.

This word that is translated into English, futility, is the Hebrew word havel.

And it's a word that means vapor, if you were to translate it literally.

But it's used non-literally a lot, like this. So it's vapor.

It's like something that's there, and then it's gone.

And so it's temporary, and it's so temporary, it was like it really was there,

and then it's gone. And it's like, does it even matter that it was ever there?

Because it was just a vapor. It's just futile. It's just meaningless.

It's just this temporary thing that was there, and who even cares that it was ever there?

And so he uses this word over and over again to say that's what everything's like.

So how can you have success in life? How can you have success in life if everything's temporary?

If everything that you're going after and everything you're gathering up unto

yourself is temporary, then what does it matter? If you can't hang on to it,

what does it even matter?

And even if you find yourself in some sort of situation where you can hang on

to everything that you come across in this life, you are temporary.

And so you lose it.

So he's saying, in light of all that, what is the use of anything?

So that's how he starts off. Then we get to chapter 2. And in chapter 2,

he begins what I've called the experiment.

And the experiment is interesting. It's what are we supposed to do with this

futile life we have? So Ecclesiastes chapter 2, starting in verse 3, says this.

Ecclesiastes 2 · chapter mention

I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp

folly, my mind still guiding me with wisdom.

Let me just stop there for now because there's already a lot there.

What's he saying? Well, he's saying this is an exploration, right?

Like I'm trying to figure out something.

In fact, I explored with my mind. I'm thinking this through.

And I'm trying to figure out how is life supposed to be lived.

And so this is one of the things he tries.

He says, I explored with my mind, trying to figure this out,

how to let my body enjoy life with wine.

So you can picture what that is, right? Okay. So we got that. Some of you are like.

Well, we got a whole nother sermon for you. Okay, so how to let my body enjoy

life with wine and how to grasp folly. And this is interesting how these two phrases come together.

How to grasp folly. That means like I purposely was foolish, right?

But it's how to grasp folly, my mind still guiding me with wisdom.

So he's saying like I was purposely being foolish, but not in the sense that I lost my wisdom.

Like this whole time as I was like not denying myself pleasure.

This whole time, as I was living this life, trying to figure out what really

makes life worth living.

As I was going after these things, trying to do what I thought was like made

life the best and the happiest, I simultaneously had my wisdom so I could analyze

what I was doing to see if it was working or not.

But also, one of the things I was trying was doing foolish things.

Right? You got that? And then he says, and this is the part,

I'm really reading the verse for the second half of the verse.

I want you to see this is what he's trying to do.

You're like, what is he trying to accomplish as he tries to do these things

with his life? He says, I'm doing this until I could see what is good for people

to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

I'm doing this exploration. I'm doing this experiment with my life because I'm

trying to figure out what is success and.

What is a successful life? Like, what is good for someone to do?

If we only live for just a few days, right? If we just have this one life to

live, then what's the best way to do it? What's the most successful?

Like, what's good to do with your life? What's the best way to spend it, right?

What should I do? And so he's trying to figure that out. So what does he do?

So let me keep reading, because this is what he does.

Ecclesiastes chapter two. He's trying to figure out what is good for people

to do with the few days they have. So Ecclesiastes two, verse four.

I increased my achievements. Now, I want you to keep in mind,

this guy's the king of Israel, so he has access, like relative to his culture

and his people, he has access to a lot more stuff than you and I have.

So I'm going to read stuff he accomplished, and you go, whoa,

I can't accomplish all the stuff he accomplished. That's fine. You don't even feel bad.

He was in a different situation than you. He was a king.

But this is what he did. He said, I increased my achievements.

I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them.

I constructed reservoirs of water for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees.

I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house.

I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

I also amassed silver and gold for myself and the treasure of kings and provinces.

I gathered male and female singers for myself. Remember, there was no Spotify

back then, right? So you just had to buy the people, okay?

I had male and female singers for myself and many concubines, the delights of men.

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem.

And my wisdom also remained with me.

So this guy accomplished the American dream times 10, right?

Personal well-being, he had it. Lifestyle freedom, yes. He was free to do whatever he wanted.

Financial stability, yes. You know, a house with a yard, ha!

Like he had several houses with several yards.

So what did it do for him? He tells us. Look at the next verse.

All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them.

I did not refuse myself any pleasure, right? I had it all and I did it all, right?

I did not refuse myself any pleasure for I took pleasure in all my struggles.

And I think the word struggles there is referring to the work that he had to do to get all the stuff.

This was my reward for all my struggles. When I considered all that I had accomplished

and what I had labored to achieve,

I found everything to be futile in a pursuit of the wind.

There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

And this is sad to me because I think almost every person in this room has had

this exact same experience except to a lesser degree. Okay.

We don't have all of the things that King Solomon had, but to a lesser degree,

we've gone through this exact same situation, haven't you?

Wasn't there some point in your life where you were like, if I only could have

a car, if I could only get my own house, if I could only get a girlfriend,

if I could only get a husband,

if I could only get, you know, this job that makes good money,

like then I would be happy, right? Everything would be fine.

And for a lot of you, like you did that and you got that and it didn't eliminate

your longings and you still need more.

Like the thing you said, this is what I need. If I have it, I'll be happy.

You got it. And then now you're there and you're still running the race.

I mean, the one that I think we could relate to the most would be this. Okay.

Probably almost everyone in this room, especially if you're an adult now.

Okay. When you were 15 or 16 or 17, do you remember back when you were like,

if I could just get my own car, my life would be like so great.

Do you remember that? If I could just have my own car, I would,

I could get away from my parents. I could drive.

I would, you know, I could drive everywhere. I could go anywhere.

Like all the possibilities are in front of me. I could go do whatever it is

I want to do. If I just had my own car, things would be so great.

All right. And then what happened? Okay. I can tell you, because I've looked

in the parking lot, so I know what I'm about to say. You did it.

You did it. Like you got it, right? There's a bunch of cars out there.

Almost every one of you in this room that had that in your life.

You accomplished your dream. You got the car.

There's a car right out there right now. That's how you got here today.

And yet, did you get to the point where you went, oh, it's all done now.

I reached satisfaction. This is what life is about.

No, you're still running the race. Most of you got rid of that car for another

one. Some of you have multiple cars better than the first one that was supposed to make you happy.

There are some of you here who are currently making the amount of income that

10 or 15 years ago you would have called enough.

Isn't that crazy? You know this is true, right?

There are some of you that the amount of money you're making right now,

if you could get in a time machine and go back and talk to 15 years ago you,

that person, you ask them how much would be enough.

They would say the amount you're making now.

And you're sitting there going, whoa, just so you know, I'm from the future,

and it's not. It's not enough. That's what you'd have to say, right?

But you were sure it was until you got there.

And one big difference between Solomon and us is he was able to go way farther

down the road of self-fulfillment than we are.

And because he's able to go way down farther the road than we can ever get,

he can report back to us what he found way down that road.

And that's what he has done. That's what the book of Ecclesiastes is.

He can tell you what happened when he went down the road of self-fulfillment as far as a human can go.

And what he purports to us is, if you just keep going and you just keep going

and you just keep going, you will never reach a place called enough.

Let's keep going. Chapter 2, verse 18.

He says, I hated all my work that I labored at under the sun because I must

leave it to the man who comes after me.

Right? Now, in this case, when he says work, I think he means like the results of his labors, right?

I don't think he's saying like there is a job that I left behind and someone

else is going to finish the task.

I think he's saying I worked and got all this stuff and then I have to leave

it to the man who comes after me. why, because he does what? He dies, right?

So he's saying, this world is so messed up because here I am,

I'm the one who worked and worked and worked and got all the stuff,

and then I'm going to die,

and I'm going to be the person who worked for the stuff and doesn't have any

of the stuff, and there's going to be some guy who did not work for my stuff,

and he's going to have it all.

I mean, that's messed up. That's not how it should be, where the person who

works for all gets none of it, and the person who worked for none of it gets

all of it. This isn't right.

This is so futile. so heavily. The whole thing's meaningless.

One of the points, I think one of the big points that Solomon makes in Ecclesiastes

is death is the thing that makes everything so temporary and therefore so meaningless.

Let's keep going. Ecclesiastes chapter five. And as I read these,

some of you, I think you're going to, you got to admit, even if you're someone

here who you're like, I don't know if the Bible's true.

You got to admit the one, the verses I'm reading now, these are obviously true.

Are they not? This is obviously true stuff.

Look what he says in chapter five, verse 10.

He says, the one who loves money is never satisfied with money.

And whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income, this too is futile.

I think he's saying that you can chase the American dream for as hard as you

want and as long as you want.

And if that is what you are living for, your dreams are never going to come

true, even if they come true.

Well, then what are we supposed to do? Ecclesiastes chapter 12,

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

this is the conclusion of the matter.

So Ecclesiastes is a 12 chapter book. We're skipping to the end right now and

reading the conclusion.

This is, in fact, the final two sentences of the book of Ecclesiastes. Here's how it ends.

When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is, fear God and keep

his commands, because this is for all humanity.

For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing,

whether good or evil. true success is revering God and doing what he says.

Now, Ecclesiastes was mostly depressing, and it didn't mention Jesus at all.

So we've got to go to 1 Corinthians 15 before we land this plane.

If you have your Bible, turn to 1 Corinthians 15 now.

Now we move to the New Testament, and this is going to be a very helpful thing

to balance out Ecclesiastes.

So the observations that we got, like the voice of Ecclesiastes is Solomon.

Now I'm going to read to you the Apostle Paul.

And the Apostle Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 15.

So the thing that he wants to clarify is the what?

The gospel. You seemed unsure, even though I'm pointing to the answer right

now. This is a little shameful, but I will keep being your pastor.

So he says, the thing that he wants to clarify is what? Oh, much better, much better. All right.

So the thing that he's about to explain is this thing that he's told them before, the gospel.

He says, I proclaimed it to you and you have received it. So he's writing to

Christians, people who've already, people who've already received the gospel.

You've received it and you've taken your stand on it. You are also saved by

it. That's important. So the gospel saves you. This is a saving message.

You are also saved by it if you hold to the message that I proclaim to you,

unless you believe for no purpose.

For I passed on to you as most important what I also received.

And he's about to say what he had passed on to them.

So he is telling them, this is the thing I passed on to you.

I told you in the past. I'm clarifying it now. I'm reminding of you now. Okay.

This thing that I'm telling you, it's the most important thing.

And the thing is the what?

The gospel. Okay. So the gospel he's saying is this thing that I passed on to you as most important.

So if there's ever a time where you're here at Good News Church and you go,

yeah, I don't understand.

Like these people at Good News Church, they get up there and they act like the

gospel is the most important message in the whole Bible. Why do they do that?

Okay, here's why. Because the Bible says that the gospel is the most important

message in the whole Bible, right?

Well, what is it? Well, he tells you, Okay, the thing, the thing that I'm clarifying,

the thing that I'm making clear is most important, here it is,

that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried,

and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

Okay, so that's the gospel. He's saying this is the most important thing you need to understand.

Jesus Christ died for our sins. And if you were gonna share the gospel with

someone, you would need to explain what that means, okay?

That he died on the cross in the place of sinners, that because of our sin, we deserve to be judged.

We deserve to be doomed. One of the things that we deserve because of our sin

is the death that happens in this life that Solomon was complaining about.

And that Jesus Christ died on the cross in our place to rescue us from the consequences

of our sins so that we could be forgiven of our sins, right?

So Jesus died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and in that forgiveness

and dying for our sins is important to get, he was buried and he was raised

on the third day, according to the scriptures.

So he not only died for our sins, but then came back to life,

conquering death and offering this life after death, this eternal life to whoever

believes in him, to whoever is forgiven of their sins because Jesus died for them.

So there's this resurrection that happened, and the rest of the chapter makes this very clear.

It's saying not just that Jesus rose again, But Jesus rose again so that his

people will rise again as well.

That Jesus is the first resurrection of a whole bunch.

That there are people who are forgiven of their sins. Therefore,

they do not need to die eternally. They also can be raised to eternal life.

So he explains that. And he's saying there's a connection between Jesus rising

from the dead and people rising from the dead and living forever.

And so I'm going to stay same chapter. I'm just moving on to verse 17 now.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.

You're still in your sins. Therefore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.

If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

You see what he's saying there? He's saying if there is no resurrection...

Then there's no forgiveness of your sins. Like if you're someone here who says

to yourself, well, you know, I think God forgives me of my sins because I think

he's a gracious, forgiving God.

And so I think he forgives me of my sins, but I don't know about Jesus and I

don't know if Jesus rose again from the grave, but I think there's a gracious

God that's forgiving my sins.

No, this passage is saying if Jesus didn't come back to life from the dead,

then you are still in your sins and your faith is worthless.

If Jesus didn't come back to life, then there is no, oh, I'm saved from judgment.

No, you're not. The story's not even true.

There is no anything after this life, right? If Christ has not been raised,

your faith is worthless. You're still in your sins. There's no forgiveness. You're not fine.

And then look, he says, therefore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.

Fallen asleep is a euphemism for died. He's saying your Christian friends who

have died, if Jesus didn't raise again from the grave, then your Christian friends

that died, they just died and stayed dead.

Because that's what happens to everybody. If Jesus just died and stayed dead,

like everybody who ever died, then so everybody who's a Christian, they also perished.

If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

He's saying Christianity is no good if it is for this life only.

This idea that like, well, I don't know about if there's any afterlife.

I don't know if Jesus rose again.

I don't know about all that. But Christianity is good because I'll love my neighbor as myself.

No, he's saying, no, no, no. Christianity, if this life only is all you get

out of it, you're going to be pitied more than anyone.

It's going to make your life harder than it would have been.

Like obeying God is more difficult than just doing whatever you want.

It would only matter if there is a way for you to not be in your sins and when

you fall asleep to wake up and not have perished, right?

So if one day Jesus is going to return and bring his people from death to life, right?

Then that changes everything.

And that's what he gets to. Again, same chapter. I'm just skipping to verse 50 now, okay?

Brothers, I tell you this. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

I think by flesh and blood, he means us, the way our lives are right this moment,

okay? We can't just be part of the kingdom of God forever and ever the way we are now.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and corruption cannot inherit incorruption.

Listen, I'm telling you a mystery.

We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed in a moment,

in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible.

And we will be changed, for this corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility.

Which I think this corruptible is talking about our current body,

our current life right now.

Like our bodies age and they get diseases and then eventually die,

right? And we're sinful and we have all these things.

He's saying this corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility.

That needs to be the long-term way it is.

And this mortal must be clothed with immortality.

So this time period, when it says in a moment, in the blink of an eye,

I think is referring to the second coming of Jesus Christ, particularly because

it says at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound. I think there's other

Bible passages that talk the same way, that this is the return of Christ.

And when he returns, we go from corruptible to incorruptible, right?

Mortal to immortal. So the idea seems to be that when Jesus Christ returns,

in a sense, that becomes the beginning of eternity.

The people come back to life to live forever. So he says this,

when this corruptible is clothed with incorruptibility, and when this mortal,

because he's saying this hasn't happened yet, this is a thing that's to come in the future.

When this corruptible is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal is clothed

with immortality, can you imagine it?

Like, whoa, that's gonna happen one day?

Then, on that day, the saying that is written will take place,

death has been swallowed up in victory.

Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?

Now, the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law,

but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen?

And when he says that, he says, thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through

our Lord Jesus Christ. The victory over what?

Okay? In context, if you remember all the verses that came before it,

it's the victory over death, right?

So you have this victory over death. This is important because remember in Ecclesiastes,

that was one of the big problems with life, right?

I hate my achievements because I must leave them behind to the person after

me when I die. Do you remember that?

That was one of the big problems with this world. Well, there's death.

That's what's ruining everything.

And Paul is here saying, aha, there is going to be victory over death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then he says, and this is the last verse of the chapter. This is the very

next verse after that. He says this.

He says, therefore, and I want you to notice, therefore means in light of all

the stuff I just said, okay, in light of like Jesus came back to life,

he will one day cause you to come back to life. Therefore, there will be victory over death.

Therefore, in light of all that, my dear brothers, be steadfast,

immovable, always excelling in the Lord's work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in what?

Vain. Oh, now that's an important word. It's not in vain. Vain is the same word

from Ecclesiastes that's translated futility.

I mean, it's not literally the same word because this is a Greek manuscript

and that one was Hebrew, but it's the same. Like when they translate it,

it's the same word. Like it's their synonyms, but two different languages.

So what he's saying here is, your work is not futile, right?

It's not meaningless. It's not in vain. Why?

Because there's a foreverness to it, right?

You should be excelling in the Lord's work, knowing your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

So what he's saying here is kind of the opposite of the despairing passages

that were in Ecclesiastes.

Solomon was saying, because of death, all my success is in vain.

And Paul is saying, if the gospel is true and you are working for the Lord,

then all of your work is not in vain. It is not meaningless because it will matter eternally.

Do you see that? Like Jesus makes all the difference for all the problems that

were listed in Ecclesiastes.

Real problems that we know exist. Saying we have victory over all of that.

So now we work for the Lord knowing it's not temporary.

It's not meaningless. it's not in vain.

So our definition of like success in life needs to change to be God's will.

Success, our definition for success needs to be living for the Lord,

glorifying God and enjoying him forever.

And the disappointing part is that we Americans have been chasing after American dreams for decades.

And all the while we have had access to this book.

We have been chasing after American dreams, never being able to catch them,

always kind of dealing with that like low level despair because we're always chasing the wind.

And the whole time, the solution to the problem has like been there on our bookshelves.

Like the announcement of the gospel of an eternal kingdom has been there in

Americans' lives all of the decades that we've been chasing after the wind.

In fact, all this time that we have been chasing American dreams, we've had this book.

And this book, not only does it have the gospel of the eternal kingdom in it,

it even contains the account of a man a king who went down the road that we

are on right now and went farther down that road than any of us will ever go.

And he said, there's nothing meaningful down that road.

There's nothing meaningful down there. So we're all going down this path.

And the whole time we've been going down the path, there's been someone who

went ahead of us, who told us, I went farther than you will ever go.

And I'm telling you, there's nothing meaningful there.

And our reaction seems to have been something like this. Well,

I'm just going to check for myself.

I saw a cool quote the other day.

It said, the Bible doesn't need to be rewritten. It needs to be re-read.

My challenge for you today is in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

change your definition of success to glorifying the Lord with your life.

Change your definition of success to obeying his commands, trusting in him,

and enjoying him forever.

That is the definition of true success.

Let's pray.

God, thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Thank you for sending someone ahead of us in Solomon to report back to us that

we're never going to find what we're looking for that way.

And thank you for sending Jesus ahead of us to die on the cross in our place

and to rise again so that we can be rescued from the futility,

of the American dream and any other dreams that are not informed by your will,

I thank you that you have made things matter forever there's some of us in this

room that maybe we don't know you yet and yet there's something in us that goes,

I kind of do think that things matter forever I think things do matter beyond

this life but why would I think that?

And God, I guess it's because you made us in such a way that we sense that.

And so I pray if there's anyone here that does not know you,

that they would turn to you today.

And that you would grant them the forgiveness of their sins and an eternal life.

And I pray for those of us who are here who you have already done that for.

We thank you and we praise you.

We thank you for the reminder from Solomon. And we thank you for the gospel

of grace that comes from Jesus Christ.

And I pray that you would, And, well, no, I guess it's just that.

I pray that we would work for you and that we would, as we work in the Lord,

we would go, oh, this is not in vain. This is not in vain. And we thank you that it's not.

We thank you that you have made it so that it is not meaningless.

So I pray you'd shape us to be people who do your will above all.

We love you. We thank you for the gospel.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.

Let me end with these good words from God's word.

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is good news.