Vanity Redeemed (Presbytery)

Intro

In Greek Mythology, there was a king of Corinth named Sisyphos who was a cruel man and angered the gods by his cruelty. He was also known as something of a cheat and a trickster, and so the gods punished him by giving him an intentionally impossible task: they forced him to roll a large boulder up a hill. The trick was that every time the boulder got just about to the top, it would start rolling back down to the bottom, causing Sisyphos to restart, over and over again forever.

This story is interesting and maybe even comical at face value, but I think its one that everyone can relate to at a deep level at some point in their lives. This is the type of thing that we all truly fear deep down: maybe not literally rolling a boulder up a hill forever, but we fear that our lives are equally futile. Sure enough we try to avoid these kinds of thoughts, but they always catch up to us sooner or later, and they are suffocating thoughts when they are finally allowed to invade your mind.

But do you know that the suffocating feeling of futility is given to you by God for a very important purpose? And that rather than run from it, we ought to face it head on and watch as God uses it to bring us into the freedom of profoundly purposeful lives.

Body

We are born as slaves to a futile existence

Romans 8:20 (ESV)

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it

In the middle of one of the most beautiful passages about hope in the entire Bible, Paul takes a sentence or two to address this very uncomfortable reality that we try not to think about too often: this reality of futility.

Humanity has gone to great lengths to circumvent this “futility” that Paul brings to our attention in verse 20. We look for purpose all around us, and we try to find it in countless things. The Egyptians tried to defeat this futility by embalming their dead, hoping that somehow they could be preserved even after death. Even in church culture we sometimes become so consumed with the business of everything and the pursuit of the appearance of success that we lose sight of actually walking with God, and we eventually struggle with feeling that everything we’re doing is futile. This experience is so universal that we even expect people to have a “midlife crisis” where they begin to grapple with the futility of life and begin to seek for meaning in all kinds of different things. Of course, none of the things or spare r success we acquire every really fill that gaping hole inside.

This futility seems like a wretched thing, and when you really allow yourself the time to ponder just how futile life is, it can seem suffocating. This is the type of thought that breeds anxiety, apathy, and depression. Its logical end has led many to nihilism, the sinking belief that nothing matters and everything is without true or lasting meaning.

But what if I told you that this futility didn’t find it’s ultimate source in evil, but in good? And what if I told you that it wasn’t meant to breed depression, but true freedom? What if I told you that the suffocating feeling of dwelling on futility was meant to cause you to breathe in the fresh air of new and profoundly meaningful life?

In verse 20 of our passage, Paul clearly states that all of creation has been subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it. That him, of course, is God.

What Paul is hitting on here in just a few sentences really captures the meaning of the entire book of Ecclesiastes. Its the reality that people have deserted God and have sought fulfilment in any number of other things: sexual pleasure, monetary gain, power over other people, or a lasting legacy in history; and that God has designed these attempts to be utterly futile. The futility we experience in life is no accident, but it is God’s design. This can be a shocking thing for us to hear, because this futility has caused humanity so much anxiety for so incredibly long. And so this revelation begs a couple of questions:

Why were we subjected to futility? And how can this subjection to futility lead to true freedom?

Paul answers:

God has freed us from the futility through Christ

Romans 8:21 (ESV)

In hope 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.

Paul explains that God has subjected creation to futility because creation has fallen into bondage to corruption.

Essentially, as a result of the fall of humanity, we have become corrupt in our very nature. Following in the footsteps of our first parents Adam and Eve, we seek purpose apart from God himself. We seek to find fulfilment and meaning in other things, but fulfilment and meaning simply do not exist apart from God. Like Sisyphos, every time it seems that we may have found fulfillment, it begins to slip away from us and we start all over. We have chosen a path that leads to death, and even worse: to hell. God sees us all on this pursuit of futile lies, and so he has done something about it: he has subjected our search to futility.

The futility that we experience in this life seeking purpose apart from God is an intentional futility.

God designed that all life apart from himself should be subjected to futility so that we might recognize our emptiness without him and turn to him and be set free.

The futility God has planted in your life is not meant to cause you to look around and despair at the meaninglessness of it all, but rather to look up and see the beautiful purpose of a life lived with God.

God has graciously caused you to see that though you were born into this suffocating slavery to corruption and futility, he has opened up a way for you to breath the fresh air of new life with him, full of meaning and purpose.

And how can you breathe that air? How can you remove those shackles to corruption? How can you break that cycle of futility, and experience what Paul calls, “the freedom of the glory of the children of God”? We have already seen humanity attempt to break those shackles for countless generations, only to fail at every attempt.

But where man has failed, God has provided a way. The only way for you to break free of that bondage to corruption, the only way to escape the futility and find true purpose once more, is to find it in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In that gospel, Paul says that God has led us to freedom.

Galatians 4:4–7 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

We see that the only way to enjoy the freedom of the glory of the children of God is to be made one of God’s children, and this is exactly what God has done through Jesus Christ.

By taking on human flesh and becoming like us, and by calling us his brothers and his sisters, Jesus has accomplished our adoption into God’s family. He has done what we could not do, so that he could redeem us from the slavery we have found ourselves in. And not only that, but he also sent his Holy Spirit into our hearts, which causes us to cry out to God, “Abba! Father!”

Church, when was the last time you simply cried out to God as your Abba, Father? Have you become so burdened by the day to day tasks that you have forgotten the freedom God has won for you? Have you felt suffocated by lives worries? Allow that futility to lead you back to the open arms of Jesus today, and experience the true freedom and glory he has provided for you.

This adoption is God’s work of grace, not your own doing. We have come to realize the futility of life apart from him, and he has drawn us back to himself. By sending his Son into the World, God has accomplished your redemption and adopted you into his family. This free gift is yours through faith in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

So, my brothers and sisters: would you break free of the bondage to corruption? Would you leave that suffocating futility behind and breathe the fresh air of freedom? Would you seek to live with purpose and meaning?

Look no further than the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has redeemed us from this life of futility and has adopted us to be his own sons and daughters. This life we now live is not to be lived for ourselves, but we seek an eternal kingdom that cannot be shaken. The life lived by faith in Jesus Christ is a life lived with beautiful and eternal purpose.