The Truth About Life

Meaningless? – Week 1 | April 24, 2022

Sociologist Jonathan Kozol met Mrs. Washington in the South Bronx, where she and her young son David were living at a homeless hotel--she was dying. Each time Kozol came for a visit, Mrs. Washington would tell him stories about life in the underbelly of urban America. On one visit, Kozol noticed that Mrs. Washington’s Bible was open next to her on the bed. The Sociologist asked what part she enjoyed reading—“Ecclesiastes,” she said, “If you want to know what’s happening these days, it’s all right there.”

---------------------

Author – Solomon, possibly recorded by a narrator (1:1; 7:27; 12:8-9)

Aim – Thesis is found in verse 2.

Vanity (Hebrew הֶ֫בֶל) literally means a mist or a vapor. It is found 34 times in Ecclesiastes, and it is often translated as meaningless or futile. The phrase in verse two carries the idea that everything is utterly and completely meaningless, frustrating, absurd, or sometimes an enigma.

The author attaches הֶ֫בֶל to describe wealth, work, wisdom, pleasure, fame, youth, long life, political power, large families, hobbies, laughter, drink, possessions, honor, children, and righteous living.

There is a tension found in this book that is not quickly or easily resolved. The author asks tough questions and has a realistic view of life. Ecclesiastes brings us to some very dark places—and the author even admits that it would be better to have not been born than to see the evil things that are done under the sun.

One author noted, “More than anything else in the Bible, it (Ecclesiastes) captures the futility and frustration of a fallen world: the drudgery of work, the emptiness of foolish pleasure and the mind-numbing tedium of everyday life.”

There are sixty-six books in the Bible—couldn’t we have focused on a happier, more promising book?

You must understand that Ecclesiastes is theologically rich and undeniably practical. Its message is a message of hope, but it is challenging to understand.

Another commentator wrote, “Ecclesiastes defends the life of faith in a generous God by pointing out the grimness of the alternative.” Herman Melville called Ecclesiastes “the truest of all books.”

We’re going to work through this Holy Spirit-inspired book because,

It will help you honestly confront the biggest and most difficult questions you face today.

It will force you to look to God for true life and meaning.

Life is Wearisome.

Solomon asked a question that is not unfamiliar to many, if not most of us, what do you gain (profit) from the work you do in this life—the answer is found in verse eight (“all things are full of weariness).

The phrase “under the sun” is found 28 times in Ecclesiastes and its important because it reveals the lens through which Solomon was viewing the world—his vision was limited only to life in a sinful, fallen, and cursed world.

There is something inside everyone that tells us there is more to life than what we are taught to accept. Most try to silence the voice by trying to escape, or living as if nothing matters, or living only for personal pleasure. But the issue remains, is there more.

Solomon asked the question, and, in our text, we find two lessons that explain why life on earth is wearisome…

2. The more things change, the more things stay the same – vs. 4-7

Solomon pointed to earth and its systems to show that things continue without interruption or change and in that time, people come and go.

The Mississippi River is the 15th largest river in the world and flows for 2,340 miles from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. The river dumps 1.6 million gallons of water per second into the Gulf—and yet the Gulf of Mexico does not overflow and is never full. Do you see why work is wearisome? We put so much time and effort into work and career but in the end, what does it profit?

We want to make a difference, but we find all-the-more that we are more like the hamster in the wheel than we want to admit. We keep running, but we get nowhere. Some have referred to this as the treadmill of our existence.

Jerome wrote, “What is more a vanity of vanities than the fact that the earth endures, although it was made for the benefit of man, while man himself, the master of the earth, suddenly crumbles into dust.”

The first lesson is, the more things change, the more things change the same. The second lesson is…

3. Life itself does not satisfy – vs. 8b-11

Solomon directs our attention to the things we look to, by default, for satisfaction. We attempt to give meaning to life by gratifying the flesh, making an impact, or leaving a legacy. However, all will fall short of meeting our demand. (Begg, “We put a man on the moon, but there was nothing for him to do there except stare at the earth.”)

With the introduction of streaming services came a term that describes people who watch one episode after the other—it is known as binge watching (2-6 episodes in one sitting). 90% of millennials and members of Generation Z binge-watch. 1.9% of males reported binge-watching online series for over 10 hours in one sitting (roughly 3.2 million people). Why? Because the eye is not satisfied with seeing.

Standing over all these things is the one thing that rules over all human existence—death. Death is the great enemy of life in a fallen world, it makes our work meaningless. One commentator noted…

The function of Ecclesiastes is to bring us to the point where we begin to fear that such a comment is the only honest one. So it is, if everything is dying. We face the appalling inference that nothing has meaning, nothing matters under the sun.

The more things change, the more they stay the same and life itself does not satisfy—we’re off to a great start in Ecclesiastes, aren’t we?

Closing

I don’t want to leave you without hope today. Remember that Solomon was looking at life under the sun—life on a fallen planet. But we need to remember that there is a God who rules over the sun.

This means that meaning and satisfaction can be found—but it is only found by looking to God.

Solomon wrote this book, according to Augustine, to suggest “with such fullness as he judged adequate, the emptiness of this life, with the ultimate objective, to be sure, of making us yearn for another kind of life which is no unsubstantial shadow under the sun but substantial reality under the sun’s Creator.”

How does that which is wearisome become fuel for worship? How do we live as though we were made for more?

See the goodness of God in creation.

Understand that God, through Christ, has done something new (new covenant, new life, new heart).

Long for the day when God will make all things new.

The fact that life is wearisome—and we all feel it, points you to Jesus as the only One who can satisfy your soul.