GAP GRADUATION
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Introduction:
What nuggets of wisdom might you graduates pass down to those younger students? What trials and lessons have helped you learn lessons of life?
Study habits
Relieving undue pressure to meet social standards
Best places to work as a student
Through these years, you have gained knowledge and the human spirit is to take what we have learned and pass it on to others. This is the end of your journey of lower education and as you transition to the next phase of your maturity, you might consider what is worthy to pass on to the younger generations.
I want to share with you briefly a lesson that you have yet to learn. This truth is not one that younger people like yourselves have experienced but you will and hearing and practicing it now, will only fast track a maturity in you for your future.
This is a lesson that I am continually striving to learn in my own life and so this lesson has been passed down to me by someone much wiser. This man who passed down such wisdom had it all. He had the greatest of political power in his time. His power was so great that many of equal or greater authority came to him to receive his wisdom and knowledge. He had great wealth, a wealth that is beyond most of our comprehensions. He also experienced massive failures on his climb to success. He was far from perfect and therefore even in his failures he learned great lessons of truth.
Who is this person that I speak of? His name is King Solomon, Son of King David, builder of the Great temple in Jerusalem. Author of a few books of the OT. One of those books is the book of Ecclesiastes. Many have called this book an autobiographical reflection of Solomon’s life at the end. After been given much by the Lord, Solomon seems to reflect back on the way that he wasted all that God has given him, wasting the wisdom, the wealth and the authority. In retro-spect, Solomon concludes his book with an honest reflection, as a man who had experienced it all, with Jeff Bezos level money, with a wisdom that “surpassed all the kings of the earth.” His honest reflection about the true purpose of all human existence is found in chapter 12, 13-14
13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
When you hear these words, you must understand that they come from a man who had every opportunity with earthly power and pleasure and in the end, nothing on this earth satisfied him. Read through this whole account of Ecclesiastes and you find the phrase mentioned in 12:8 “all is vanity” is the predominant theme.
8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”
What he means here is that no matter of wealth and power will satisfy the human heart. The human heart cannot be satisfied with the accumulation of earthly possessions because it was fashioned for much more than that. Inside every human that God created, he placed inside him or her a desire for worship. As humans who have been corrupted by sin, our worship always lands on something other than God himself. Throughout history, we have watched the existence of humanity worship all kinds of substitutes: money, relationships, sex, power, appearance, strength, intellect, etc. That quest for those things has no end. That worshipper only gives to those worship substitutes, but never receives anything of lasting value in return.
Solomon speaks from experience then we he gives us the source of true worship:
FEAR GOD! What he means he is reverent worship of a holy Creator. You and I were made to worship the God who has revealed himself in the pages of the Bible. Again, you will be tempted to replace that worship with false gods. Solomon did and he failed the God who gave him everything. IN the end, he learned and he passed on wisdom to us....worship belong to God alone.
I heard a story of a American pastor to went to a foreign land and as he was given a tour by a local pastor there, the American was appalled by all the temples to false gods he saw. There in those temples that scattered the land were found altars covered in blood from the animal sacrifices to those false gods. This American pastor remarked how appalled he was at the saturation of idol worship in that area of the world.
The local pastor agreed that it was appalling but quickly rebuked the pastor for failing to see the idol worship of American culture. He remarked that in America, you god is your body and your belly and your budget. You might not offer chicken blood but American make great sacrifices of the temples of sports teams, indulging in foods of all kinds, and perfecting the look of the human body.
The point is that substitutes for the worship of God are all around us and so let us learn that we were created and purposed to worship God and worship Him alone.
Why is he deserving of our worship?
He has revealed himself as the One True God and therefore in his authority he demands that those whom He has created should worship him. We should never worship the God of the Bible for what he gives us…we should worship Him for who He is. He reveals himself to be Creator and Lord. Solomon writes,
“Fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
Fearing God (worship) and keeping his commandments is our response to the authority that God has demonstrated he has over this world. He doesn’t just say that He is king but he has already proven that he is King and Lord over all. We see him both reveal himself as King and act against his enemies as any king would towards those who reject his authority. He displays power and authority that leads us to see and understand that He is worthy of our worship and praise.
Why don’t we worship God as we should? The answer is because sin has corrupted this world and our sinful natures leads us astray. This the why God sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world. With the sinless life of Jesus, his necessary death on the cross, and his victorious resurrection, we understand that humanity through Jesus can be restored a right relationship with God, through His Son.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
This is so vitally important to us all because as God created us to know God, that means we are meant to have a relationship with Him, through His Son Jesus. To worship and fear him is to do so submitted to his authority and to enter into a personal relationship with Him by belief in His Son Jesus.
Students, I was a young person striving after the worldly things of this life, empty inside and by God’s grace, I discovered Solomon’s truth about God at just the right time in my life. I came to see that things of this world will not satisfy my longing for God and how my ultimate need is a relationship with God that comes only through His Son Jesus Christ. The One True God of the Bible has extended to you all a way to enter into a relationship with Him but you must surrender yourselves under his lordship.
Solomon warns all of humanity,
14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
In the end of Solomon’s life, he came to understand that all of humanity will sit under the judgment of God and that judgment is not based on have you done good things in this life to help others. The judgment that we all face is who have you truly worshipped. If we are honest with ourselves, all of humanity will be guilty of worshipping substitutes for God. This is why we need Jesus to save us, provide forgiveness and restore our relationship with God so that we might live to worship him forever.
Invite to believe in Christ!