January 4th 2026

Happy New year!

This life is hopeless

This life has no meaning

This life is all we get and may as well live it up

This life is awful, full only suffering, and we live just from one disappointment to the next disappointment.

If you only read the first few chapters of the book of Ecclesiastes form the Old Testament. And had no other scripture to read...

This the the types of conclusions you might come to.

That there is no purpose to this life, to the pain and sometimes happiness we experience, we live and we die, end of story.

Today in the world there is roughly 8.2 billion people, Do I matter? Do you matter?

Why?

I live, I’ll die. You’ll live, You’ll die. Does any of it make any difference? Is it all meaningless? Why am I here?

These questions are intrinsic to the human spirit. They echo inside all of us, and they are there from the very beginning.

If you have children, or work with children, or have been near a child before, you can see that the search for meaning in human beings is there from the beginning.

Barely able to walk, and children are already asking the most profound question known to humankind: WHY? It’s the question that drives every parent insane. Everything is WHY.

“ok let’s get our shoes on… why… .ok let’s wash our hands after the potty… why.… ok let’s brush our teeeth… why…

ok let’s lie down for a nap.… why.… (then we lie and say it is because you are tired...”)

Why is the question that probes for meaning.

The nagging question of WHY. The more we seem to advance as a species, the more we’re able to eliminate our need to ask all the other questions. Calculators do our math, computers do our research, restaurants do our hunting, and malls do our gathering, some new cars even do our driving for us.

Yet still, no matter how much is done for us, no matter how much is provided for us, we just can’t escape the nagging question of ‘why?’ What’s the point of this life?

The book of Ecclesiastes is an enigma in some ways. It points out some honest problems in this life.

Throughout the book the author points out that if we cause anything in this life ultimate source for purpose,

things like achievement, wealth, pleasure, power, even after wisdom and knowledge and religion, if we run after those things for our source of hope, purpose, identity they will ultimately let us down, and we will die and fade into history.

And to capture the thought of that is the Hebrew word that expresses it, Hevel, the word means futile, used 38 times throughout the short book. other English translations have described it this way:

Vanity, meaningless, smoke, temporary, worthless. Life is short, delicate, and often disappointing.

The author by the way is likely King Solomon, the son of King David.

History tells us this guy was one of the wealthiest, most powerful, respected and revered kings of the ancient world. He had money and gold, the finest horses and wine and too many wives. He was the most successful man of his day, a household name. Yet despite being the likely most accomplished person in the world at the time… he still asks why? What’s the point?

And I'll give you a spoiler alert of where the book does goes by the end.

The book acts as an arrow that is launched.. and if we follow the trajectory of the arrow it lands at the place of trusting God and obeying his commands. that is the best option we have in this life, says solomon

This sermons series is called

What’s the point? Ecclesiastes

So if you’ve ever felt like your without purpose, uncertain of what is the overall point of your life, this is a book that is worth reading. It begins with this:

Ecclesiastes 1:1–14 “These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”

This is not usually anyone’s life verse. Or the one you see printed on a coffee mug at a Christian book store right?

Everything is meaningless? Thats in the Bible?

But like a mentioned before we shall see where the arrow of Ecclesiastes points us to.

In this verse though we do see that if you have ever felt that you have no purpose, that life is meaningless, that hope is all gone… then you have a place in the family of God. Just like King Solomon did.

And… what does Solomon do with his feelings and frustrations? He EXPRESSES them before God, he doesn’t stuff them down and slink out hte back door… he wrestles with them!

Check this out. He writes

What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?

Have you ever asked or felt that way about work? You bust your butt only to get told to do better or do more. Or you pour yourself into a job only to get laid off? WHat do people get for all their hard work?

A fancy CEO pulls into the parking lot with a brand new Porsche. As he gets out the one of his employees is admiring the vehicle… the ceo says, “hey if you work really hard this next year, make our profit margin even bigger each quarter… then I can afford another Porsche next year...”

what do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Solomon continues:

Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.

Generations come and generations go...ain't that the truth. I consider myself relatively young… but I’ve noticed something recently.

Some of the kids I knew at this church when I first started pastoring here were about 3-4 years old… and are now launched into university. What!? How did that happen? Am I getting old?!

I plan to have a very fashionable cane one day.

Solomon continues:

The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea.

no solmon is not describing the circle of life from the lion king,

He’s noting that the repetition of this life just makes him feel like nothing is worth doing.

Everything is just so monotonous.

Do you remember vinyl records? Every once in awhile they would skip and play the same thing over and over again. If you didn't go move the needle it would just keep repeating itself over and over.

It's like dusting or vacuuming or making the bed or doing laundry. You get it done then you have to do it again, and then again. It's this monotonous, never ending cycle.

The second you pack away the snow shovels after winter you are reaching for the lawn mower, then back to the rakes, then back to the snow shovels again.

Solomon continues…

now shifts from looking at nature and looks at just the general toil of humanity:

Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new.

Phew, this can feel exhausting to read can it not?

I tell people that when I preach I have 3 goals in mind: 1) to be Biblical, Gospel focused, this is my source, 2) to be as clear as a communicator as I can be, and 3) to be encouraging, to be positive (because God is focused on our futures, forgiving our pasts)

Well this book of Ecclesiastes definitely puts my 3rd goal of being encouraging to the test.

How can I be positive about what King Solomon is saying?

Well I could say… I’m positive that life is hard and we all die! (Pause)

But is he correct? That all we get is guaranteed pain, and nothing new under the sun?

Solomon's statement, "nothing new under the sun," isn't about literal new inventions but reflects a cyclical view of human experience, suggesting that the everyday human struggles, desires, and events repeat endlessly from an earthly perspective.

While physically new things (like technology) are created and are a new thing under the sun,

Yet the core human challenges (love, loss, searching for meaning) remain the same.

This opening section of Ecclesiastes ends with this observation:

We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.”

Ecclesiastes 1.12-13 NLT

You’ve heard it before, I’ve heard it before, when someone in their 60-70-80’s bemoans seeing the younger generation making the same mistake their generation made. Because they’ve lived it once already that are frustrated by where the people in power are doing.

Solomon sees it, and offers us another one of the phrases that capture the essence of his frutrations: Chasing the wind.

That word Solomon used earlier, for meangingless, literally means breeze or vapour. Like when you can see your breath in the winter but only for a brief second.

Can you imagine chasing that breath? Trying to capture the vapour as soon as it releases from your lungs?

And this is where Solomon points us into two important truths:

Our lives are not the centre of the universe

To answer the ‘why’ we need to live in relationship with the Creator

Our lives are not the centre.

Psalm 39 says it this way:

Psalm 39:5 “You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.”

Living with the awareness that this earthly life is finite is healthy.

Author and pastor Carey Nieuwhof described this truth in how we summarize someone after they have died. He writes:

Perhaps the hardest part is that eventually your life and mine will get reduced to a single sentence. Not in the first weeks or months after our passing. But give it a year or so, and all of us will be described by a single sentence: “My mom? She was such a kind person. We miss her. Hey, what’s for dinner?” Or “My dad worked a lot, and he sure loved his Corvette. What time’s the game on?”

Sobering, isn’t it? This book alone is over fifty thousand words long, and it’s not my only book. I will have lived at least five decades by the time I die (hopefully many more), had thousands of conversations, met thousands of people, and spoken to thousands of leaders. But in the end, everyone who knew me well, including my family, will condense my contributions to something like “Oh, Carey, he was _____­___­. Can you pass the salsa?”

Carey Nieuwhof, Didn’t See It Coming

This is a reality we all must contend with and find ways to be at peace with. We are not the centre of the universe.

But if we are looking for purpose in this short life… Solomon points us to the God who is at the centre and who can offer us purpose. To answer the ‘why’ we need to live in relationship with the Creator

The apostle paul helps us to answer the why. Paul into the New Testament picks up this same word used by Solomon, hevel, the word for meaningless, vapour, breath,

And reuses it:

Romans 8:18–21 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

That word, frustration, same word used by Solomon, hevel. Humanity experiences the meaningless in this life because sin is in the world. Humanities choice to break away from God’s ways.

But because of God’s plan in Jesus Christ, who arrived with the event we call Christmas, revealed us what God is fully like, and then died for our sins in the cross and rose again, defeating even death. This is the longing of creation to be liberated...

Which in turn, Paul says, there is something better than lack of purpose.

The answer to futility is freedom and glory.

that when we’ve embraced Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and continue to surrender ourselves to Him… we are empowered to walk in freedom (and walking in freedom is a process remember!), and this brings God glory.

As Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 2:17-18 ESV

one degree of glory to another. What’s that mean? It means increasing in our likeness of Jesus Christ. Where freedom is found.

That means if your are breathing, God is not done with your story. Even if you feel like there is no point to life… He has you here on earth for a reason.

Even if you feel hopelessness. Even if a new year feels like just another waste of emotions of whether your life will improve and finally be what you want…

Partnering with the strength of God’s Spirit we move, one degree of glory into another. Because His presence is the Source of our Purpose.

Lets pray, and I'll invite the deacons up to the front for communion.

Communion:

(end sermon with: close with me in prayer as the deacons/worship team to come and we take communion together)

Pray (people come up)

Communion is simply bread and a cup of juice, symbolizing Jesus' broken body, and his spilt blood on the cross.

Each month we eat/drink these two things, because he commanded us to remember this death for us. That his death pays the price of our sin, and it breaks the power of sin in our lives.

There’s a verse from a psalm that captures some encouragement for us when have lost our bearings. It says:

Psalm 30:5 “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

It’s that in our confusion and feeling life has no point... to allow some time to pass. That God can bring hope and healing and meaning into our lives as we continue to walk with Him. Joy comes with the morning.

If you are here today and are not are a follower of Jesus, please feel free to observe, and enjoy this time of quiet reflection.

Tell congregation: we will read a passage of scripture then I’ll have a deacon pray and give thanks for the bread/cup

Invite deacon to pray for cracker/bread which represented the broken body of Jesus Pass out

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

1 Corinthians 11:23-24 NIV

Eat

Invite deacon to pray for cup.

Pass out

In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 1 Corinthians 11:25 NIV

DrinkRead:

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1 Corinthains 11:26 NIV Amen!

Benediction:

Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.””