Man's Chief End

Ecclesiastes 12:8–14 ESV

8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. 9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. 11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. 13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

INTRODUCTION

We now come to the conclusion of the preacher's search. If we are to sum up what Ecclesiastes is all about, it is about one man’s search for the answers to life. All of the suffering, pain, and supposed inconsistency of what is perceived as far and just in this world eventually brings us back to one failed pursuit. To pursue the things of this world apart from God is vanity, or at least will leave one wondering and wanting more.

Today, we look at the point of all the thinkers' pondering and wandering. We are now brought to mankind's chief end.

The Westminister Catechism

The Westminister Catechism tells us that, ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever.’ This is the essence of the Preacher’s conclusion as he brings his journey into understanding to an end.

Does anyone remember our question from last week’s message? What is your Life?

BIG IDEA: Our Frustration is Meant to Drive us to Christ.

The writer continues returning to the reality that we are all born dying. Our lives are but dust. We appear briefly and then vanish as quickly as we have planted our feet on Earth. It would be impossible to understand Ecclesiastes apart from its ending.

People who are in a Job-like state of suffering think, If I had more money or better friends, or if I did not have this disease, then life would be better.

But Solomon comes along in Ecclesiastes to destroy that notion (“Sixth Sense”). Here is a guy who had it all, and life was not better. He had all the wisdom in the world, and it only brought him grief (1:18) because he learned through that wisdom that nothing matters. Ignorance had been bliss.

At one time in our lives we got down on our knees and begged earnestly for a wife, or for children, or for a house, and now that we have all of these tings we are still not content. There was probably a certain time early in your marriage that you concluded that is you could just make a certain amount of money then you would have all that you needed.

The American dream is an absolute lie and failure. We live in a culture with more money, entertainment, pleasurable experiences, recreation, and more stuff than any previous generation could have possibly dreamed, and pain pills, antidepressants fly off the shelves of most pharmacies. It is a miserable world we live in and one of the funniest and richest men the world has ever seen - Robin Williams - kills himself in despair.

As Bleak and miserable a picture as Ecclesiastes paints for us, the Spirit has a purpose in the writing of such a book. He wants to expose the meaninglessness of life in a cursed and dying world in order to create inside of you and me a hunger for something better, something more. Ecclesiastes wants to push your faith to contend even more boldly for God.

Tim Keller points out that the author drives his readers to see that there are only two possible conclusions in life.

Either:

1) there is a God above with a standard who will judge us at the end based on that standard, or

2) life is totally meaningless.

These are the only two options. Either there is a God and our actions have meaning, or there is no God, and as

Hemingway said, “Life is a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness.”

Keller states, “People think Christians are naive, but if your origin is insignificant, and if your destiny is insignificant, then have the guts to admit that your life is insignificant.” Why work for human rights, or for the common good, or for justice for all, if it is all going to be burned up in the end anyway?! If we are just accidents heading for annihilation, then nothing we do matters (Keller, “Problem of Meaning”)!

Note: We know that what we do matters in some way - but we also know the world is screwed up. Why is it like this?

God imposes a curse on the world in response to human rebellion with the purpose of frustration that will ultimately drive us to Him. If we are driven to the ultimately meaningless of our current existence then we are gaining wisdom that will one day lead us to salvation in Jesus Christ. Look what 2 Timothy 3:15

2 Timothy 3:15 ESV

15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

At the Journey, we have three core values: TRUTH - COMMUNITY - and MISSION.

It all hinges on our understanding of what is true. Even as Jesus stands before Pilot facing his death, Pilot asks the question, ‘What is the Truth?’

The iconic scene in the movie “A Few Good Men.” Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is a Military JAG lawyer defending two Marines charged with killing a fellow Marine at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Although Kaffee is known for seeking plea bargains, a fellow lawyer, Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) convinces him that the accused marines were most likely carrying out an order from a commanding officer. Kaffee takes a risk by calling Col. Nathan R. Jessep (Jack Nicholson) in an attempt to uncover the truth of the conspiracy.

In the iconic scene, while Col. Jessep is on the stand, Kaffee presses him about the truth, and Jessep retorts back, “You can’t handle the truth,” Macaffee contends, “I think we deserve the truth.”

1. What is the Purpose of Truth?

It all starts with what is the source of our truth.

Notice at the beginning of our text today we are told that besides being wise, King Solomon also taught the people knowledge, weighing, studying, and arranging what He taught with great care.

One of the things that marked Jesus’ ministry and drew people to His teaching is that he spoke as one who had authority, one who had the truth.

*To give us the words that Shepherd us into the Presence of God.

We spend our whole lives asking questions but never get to the answer that our souls desperately need to hear.

“A goad is a sharp tool used to help direct the animals where the master wants them to go.”

The Woman at the Well

She had spent her whole life trying to find satisfaction, “I can’t get no satisfaction, and I’ve tried, and I’ve tried, and I’ve tired, and I’ve tried...

The true words of the shepherd led her into the truth of the gospel message. What Jesus offered the woman that day were the truest words that she had ever heard. She asked a burning question about worship. Jesus answer to her was that there was coming a day when we would all worship in Spirit and Truth.

The words of Ecclesiastes are not intended to drive us into utter despair but to shepherd us into the presence of God. The purpose of the book of Ecclesiastes is to lead us out of the baron wasteland of this world with all of its despair and shepherd us into the very presence of God. Our eyes are now opened to the lush green pastures available at Jesus's feet.

Remember Saul of Tarsus (Paul)on the road to Damascus

Saul was sure that he was doing what was right in his crusade to rid the world of Christians. When Paul had his eyes blinded on the road he asked the question, “Who are you Lord,” the response was the truth his heart had been longing for, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

*To give us the Words that are Firmly Fixed by God

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

The aim of the preacher is to nail or screw the truth into our minds - to secure it firmly into our memory and understanding. We read in Psalm 119:11

Psalm 119:11 ESV

11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

We also have the picture of the shepherd driving in his tent pegs, securing his sheepfold.

‌Truth is not simply the conclusion of wise men - it is given by the one true Shepherd. Every thought, purpose, and intention written in the Bible is there by the express and purposeful intention of God. Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by God. ‌Moses heard the word of God on the mountain, and the Levitical law was written; Joshua heard the word of God and spoke to the armies encamped outside of Jericho; Elijah heard the word of God and called down fire from heaven....

2 Peter 1:21 ESV

21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

How do we become defenders of the Truth of God? I think we forget that words matters to God. Notice that Solomon admits his wisdom however, confesses that he does not rely on his own wisdom but the true wisdom and knowledge that comes from God.

Unfortunately where people get off course today is interpreting scripture through their own lenses instead of God’s.

These words are given by one shepherd. There are only three other places in the Bible that speak of a single shepherd and refer to the Messiah in these terms.

Ezekiel 34:23–24 ESV

23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.

We also read in John 10:11-16 about the one good shepherd who knows his sheep and calls them by name. Ecclesiastes is therefore considered a Messianic book that points to and longs for the Messiah to come and order His kingdom by wisdom.

*To give us the words that are made sufficient by God.

Solomon now directs his words as a father to his son. He wants to train his son in wisdom. He tells his son that the words of this book are sufficient and should not be ignored or transgressed. Basically, the son does not need to add to them or subtract from them, which is a common statement in the Bible about the sufficiency of scripture.

Deuteronomy 4:2 - “you shall not add to the word that I have commanded you, nor take away from it...”

Proverbs 30:6 - “do not add to His words lest He rebuke you, and you be found out to be a liar.”

Revelation 22:18-19 - “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; if anyone adds to them God will add to him the plagues of this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this book.”

C. S. Lewis, in one of the confrontations in “The Great Divorce,” captures the very tone and temper of this attitude, at the stage when it has taken final hold of a man.

In that scene, on the borders of heaven, a lifelong ‘searcher’ is being invited in. He is told:

‘I can promise you … no scope for your talents: only forgiveness for having perverted them. No atmosphere of inquiry, for I will bring you to the land not of questions but of answers, and you shall see the face of God.’

‘Ah, but we must all interpret those beautiful words in our own way! For me there is no such thing as a final answer. The free wind of inquiry must always continue to blow through the mind, must it not?’ …

… ‘Listen!’ said the White Spirit. ‘Once you were a child. Once you knew what inquiry was for. There was a time when you asked questions because you wanted answers, and were glad when you had found them. Become that child again: even now.’

‘Ah, but when I became a man I put away childish things.’

No argument, no appeal will avail against this infinite elasticity. The encounter, already fruitless, ends with the gentle sophist’s remembering an appointment, making his apologies, and hurrying off to his discussion group in hell.

How diligently do you study the word of God?

Are you a student of the word of God, or do you just look for the cliff notes and fail to discern the intention of the word of God written by divinely inspired authors.

King Solomon throughout the book of Ecclesiastes has done extensive research and experiments to find meaning in this cursed world, and he has come back empty. He is telling his son that this kind of study is wearisome and there is no end to making books, he is pleading with his son not to go off on his own quest for meaning and satisfaction as if he could try something Solomon had not already thought of or already tried.

Like many parents, Solomon pleads with his son not to do as he had done!

Solomon failed to establish the Davidic Kingdom because of his idolatrous lusts, and he pleaded with his son for a different outcome.

Unfortunately, Solomon’s descendants fail to heed his warning and eventually falter and die. The wisdom literature seeks a better king who can redeem creation from the curse.

Isaiah 11 promises that a better wiser king is coming who will establish an eternal kingdom of which there will be no end. Jesus affirms in Matthew 12 as he is going through the grainfields with his disciples, that something greater is here, even greater than the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus is the wise king who establishes and orders His kingdom with wisdom and truth.

2. What is the Purpose of Life?

The Point of Arrival

The plane has landed, folks. Put your seat back and trays in their upright and locked positions. So far, our paths have come to nothing. They have lost themselves before we could reach anything eternal or absolute in our searching.

However, the path that this chapter now has set us on is one of pointing everything back to God and His Son. Solomon’s conclusion points forward to Jesus. Solomon indicates that the end of the matter is to fear God and keep His commandments.

‌The Point of arrival leads us to Man’s great need.

‌ Man’s overarching need is to find fulfillment and satisfaction in all of his toil under the sun. Where and how does he find such fulfillment and satisfaction? These final two verses draw attention to man’s need rather than God’s demand, bringing us back into balance. ‌For this is the whole of man, yes it is the whole duty of man however, the Hebrew leaves this wholeness undefined. ‘This’, as we might translate it, ‘is all that there is to man’; but it is an ‘all’ which stands in complete contrast to the ‘vanity’ with which the book has been confronting from the very beginning. ‌ Finally, we see the point where reality meets us and where we find ourselves. We live in a society and culture today that is trying to find themselves. What do we mean by find ourselves, well, we are talking about finding our identity and place in this world. ‌ Michael W. Smith‌“Looking for a reason, roaming through the night to find My place in this world, My place in this world, not a lot to lean on I need your light to help me find my place in this world, my place in this world.” ‌Fearing God is a call that puts us in our place and all other fears, hopes, and identities in their rightful place in this universe.

The preachers words are summarized in two points of concern for mankind.

(1). The Greatness and Majesty of God.

The Fear of God is the realization of His unchanging power and justice.

There are two things that having a healthy understanding of the fear of God brings to our lives.

* It delivers us from wickedness and self-righteousness.

We see ourselves and the world around us as it truly is. As Michael W. Smith sang about finding our place in this world, the fear of the Lord puts us right in the middle of our place in God’s plan.

* It leads us to a hatred of sin.

A healthy fear of God gives us a constant reminder that we are broken by sin, however, after you receive redemption through Christ, he gives us life everlasting and full, so that we can recover what the enemy has broken, so that we can now pursue God’s good and perfect plan for us. Now, instead of chasing after satisfaction in created things, we are fully satisfied now in our Creator, our Redeemer. Satisfied in Him alone, you can now rightly enjoy the gifts that He has given you as a means to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

You do not need to pursue thousands of pleasurable experiences because in Jesus Christ at God’s right hand are eternal pleasures beyond our wildest imagination. Now, the mundane things of life no longer seem meaningless - Jesus says that those who are faithful over the small things are given responsibility over even greater things in His kingdom (Matt. 25:14-30)

Charles Bridges puts it,

‘Here we walk with our Father, humbly, acceptably, securely—looking at an offended God with terror—but at a reconciled God with reverential love. All the gracious influences on the soul—cherished under the power of the Spirit—all flow out in godly fear towards him.

‌There is only one who is wise above all others, and Yahweh is His name. Yod, Heh, Wav, and Heh are known as the tetragrammaton. Tetragrammaton is based on the Hebrew word for “being.” ‌After A.D. 70, the name of Lord was substituted with the word Adonai. However, it is usually translated as Adonai as “Lord” and Yahweh as “LORD.”

Yahweh is the name most closely linked to God’s redeeming acts in the history of his chosen people. We know God because of what He has done. He is the same God who draws near to save you from the tyranny of sin, as the God who saved his people from the tyranny of oppressive slavery in Egypt. ‌

The name Yahweh comes from the Hebrew word for “I am.” When God met with Moses before the burning bush, he commanded him to go back to Egypt and lead the people out. Moses asked who he should say had sent him. “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ ‌The unchangeable aspect of who God is and His word that never changes.

(2). The Unchanging Authority of His Word.

The Word of God is the realization of where True Wisdom comes from.

The reader is now urged to keep His commands. A knowledge of God leads us to obedience, not vice versa. This is the only place in Ecclesiastes where God's direct commands are given.

Keeping God’s commandments is restricted to those things in the Law of Moses that give us direction as to what is God’s final will for our lives. We do not have to guess at what God wants us to do, or requires from us.

The writer of Ecclesiastes has offered that the problem of life has only occasionally offered us a solution. Now He nails down the only place we can go and find true wisdom. There is no match for the Wisdom of God. The solution to the meaning and purpose of life has already been revealed to us in God’s word.

Here are some other texts that testify to the unchanging nature of God’s word.

Malachi 3:6 ESV

6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Matthew 24:35 ESV

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

‌The Authority of God’s Word under Attack‌

There is a big problem in many of our American mainline churches today. Two-thirds of young people are walking away from the church by the time they reach college age, and many are not coming back. Many of these young people are leaving because they have unanswered questions about the Christian faith that leads them to doubt God’s word. ‌

1). Watering Down the Word’s Authority‌. Many churches have offered a number of solutions for the exodus of people from the church. One of the more popular so-called solutions is to water down the authority of God’s Word. ‌Proponents of this view argue that most people in today’s world co not believe the Bible to be authoritative in their lives. So, we should not treat it as if it were the absolute truth because this will drive people away. Instead we should simply focus on the gospel or perhaps social justice causes such as combatting homelessness or the sex trade.‌ 2) Stop saying the Bible Says. ‌Prominent pastor Andy Stanley said at a church-planting conference in 2014 that “It is time to stop saying, “the Bible says.” Scripture claims to be the Authority in our lives.‌ 2 Tim. 3:16 “All scripture is breathed out by God.”‌ Romans 10:17 “And faith comes through hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.”‌ Hebrews 4:12“The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword...” ‌ Scripture claims to be the very Word of God and hold the authority of God himself.

Did God Really Say?

If we water down the authority of God's Word, we will not see a return of committed believers who think, act, and believe what Scripture teaches. This is why The Bible says at the end of Ecclesiastes is to fear God and keep His Commandments. His words never fail us or are watered down for our own pleasure.

Scripture teaches that if we water down the authority of God’s word and place ourselves in the position of God over his Word. This will lead us to compromise on Biblical teaching with worldly values and dilute the gospel's message.

We must treat the Bible as the absolute authority over our lives.

This is no different than what we read in Genesis 3:1 “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” The ploy that Satan deploys most often in our lives is to get us to question the authority of God’s word.

We must thoughtfully engage the skeptical questions of our age with answers from God’s Word so we can, “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

CONCLUSION

Romans 8:18–21 ESV

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

We see a description of the futility of creation that longs to be set free from the curse, a creation that longs for the resurrection of the dead, and a fallen humanity that screams from the top of its lungs with all creation.

What a vanity it is that the earth, which was made for humans, stays while humans dissolve into dust. The reign of dead is strong, and it claimed Adam and Abel and David and Solomon and Rehoboam, and one day it will claim you and me.

When I was stationed in Okinawa, you could see grave after grave from my back porch; from the top of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, you saw thousands upon thousands of graves.

In a world that sees its landscape lined with grave plots, there is one grave that is empty, and there is one Man whom the dust cannot claim because God would not allow the Holy One to see decay. Jesus is free from the curse, and He now offers the same freedom to you and me. Cry out to Him today and confess that you have tried, and tried, and tried to find satisfaction in this world on your own. You have sought meaning and satisfaction in everything but Him, and now you are ready to find that meaning and satisfaction in Him alone.

St. Augustine declared:

“Thou has made us for Thyself, and our hearts are Restless Until they Find their Rest in Thee.”

Is your heart restless today? Are you trying to find your satisfaction in everything other than Christ alone?

We find the final cry and answer to the vanity of this world in 1 Cor. 15:54,58.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortal, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

‘Death is Swallowed up in Victory.’

Therefore, my dear children today, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your Labor is not in vain in the Lord.