Sermon Tone Analysis

Does wealth, fame, and success fill the emptiness in the human heart?

Two contemporary celebrities who seemed to have everything have shared a similar truth.

First, Thom Yorke, frontman of the band Radiohead, said , "I thought when I got to where I wanted to be, everything would be different.

I'd be somewhere else.

I thought it'd be all white fluffy clouds.

And then I got there.

And I'm still here."

When the interviewer asked, "Why, in the end, have you done what you've done?" Yorke replied, "It's filling the hole, that's all anyone does."

"What happens to the hole?" the interviewer said.

After a long pause, Yorke said, "It's still there."

More recently, when NBA superstar Kevin Durant was asked about his spike in technical fouls and ejections, Durant said, "It's just my emotions and passion for the game … After winning that championship, I learned that much hadn't changed.

I thought it would fill a certain [void].

It didn't."

Well I guess fame isn’t all that its cracked up to be.

What is it about fame?

Fame is deeply attractive because it apparently offers very attractive benefits.

So much so that people will go on American Idol and do what we just saw.

When you are famous, wherever you go, your reputation will precede you.

People will think well of you.

You will get warm smiles from admiring strangers.

When you are famous, you are safe from rejection.

You won’t have to win over every new person that comes your way.

Fame will mean that people will be flattered and excited even if you show slight interested in them.

They will be amazed to see you in the flesh and ask to take a photo with you.

When you are famous, no one will be able to afford to upset you.

When you’re not happy about something, it will become a problem for others.

If you say your hotel room isn’t up to par, the management will panic.

Your complaints are taken seriously.

Your happiness will become the focus of everyone’s efforts.

You’ll be boss.

You are famous.

When you’re not pleased with something, it will become a big problem for others.

If you say your hotel room isn’t up to scratch, the management will panic.

Your complaints will be taken very seriously.

Your happiness will become the focus of everyone’s efforts.

You will make or break other people’s reputations.

You’ll be boss.

Unfortunately, psychologically, we find that the desire for fame comes from the experience of neglect and rejection.

It is understood that no one would really want to be famous who hadn’t, somewhere in the past, been made to feel extremely small and insignificant.

We sense the need for a great deal of attention when we have been painfully exposed to earlier rejection.

What is common to all the dreams of being famous is that being known to strangers emerges as a solution to a hurt.

It presents itself as the answer to a deep need to be appreciated, and to be treated decently by other people.

One wants to be famous out of a desire for kindness.

If I am famous then people will be nice to me.

The problem is, the worlds kindness to the famous person does not last very long.

One the one hand the person just becomes old news and does not appeal to the cultures fascination with novelty.

On the other hand the success of any one person involves humiliation for lots of others.

The celebrity of a few people will always contrast painfully with the obscurity of the many.

Being famous upsets people.

For a time, the resentment can be kept under control, but it is not for very long.

So soon enough, the world will start to go through the rubbish bags of the famous, it will comment negatively on their appearance, it will pour over their setbacks, it will judge their relationships, it will mock their new movies or CD’s.

The admiration and kindness of others becomes short lived.

So soon enough, the world will start to go through the rubbish bags of the famous, it will comment negatively on their appearance, it will pour over their setbacks, it will judge their relationships, it will mock their new movies.

The irony is that now that there is fame they are now open to more judgement and negative upsetting encounters by even more people then before.

The whole world.

Needless to say, as a hurt celebrity, one won’t be eligible for sympathy.

Because for many the very concept of a hurt celebrity is a joke.

Fame really just means you get noticed a great deal – not that you get understood, appreciated or loved.

It does not last long.

Solomon saw this years ago.

We will take a look at this closer today.

Ecclesiastes 4:

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

Foolishness

Futility of Fame

The Famous One

The first thing we will look at in our passage today is the foolishness of the unteachable spirit, especially with the older and famous.

Second, we will uncover the futility and fleeting nature of fame.

Finally we will see the satisfying greatness and everlasting fame of our Famous One Christ the Lord.

Thesis: Though sin and the deceptive pattern of this world causes us to look for lasting satisfaction in fame and find it meaningless, it is the everlasting satisfaction found in Jesus, the famous one, that will bring us the hope and comfort we are looking for.

I. Foolishness

- Smart enough to know I don’t know everything.

A. We have another important juxtaposition.

In summary... it is better to lead with a teachable spirit than to be too proud to let anyone teach us anything at all.

The point of this closing comparison is that it is better to lead with a teachable spirit than to be too proud to let anyone teach us anything at all.

B. He tells us a short story.

The from rags to riches story.

From obscurity to royalty.

Now admittedly, its is relatively hard to follow.

But this is apparently what happened.

C. A young man unexpectedly rose to power; actually taking the place of the king before him.

Though he had been born in poverty, because he was wise and took advice, and even if he was in prison, he rose to the highest office in the land.

This new king ruled over a vast empire; there seemed to be no end to the people who followed him.

But then his rule would still not last forever.

The people will flock to yet another one but even then another generation grows up and rejects him.

Solomon says this is all meaningless like trying to herd the wind.

D. And in this story, the first thing we will uncover is the importance of being able to take advice; being teachable.

Especially when we are older or famous.

Is listening an essential ingredient in the wisdom experience?

This new king ruled over a vast empire; there seemed to be no end to the people who followed him.

Though he had been born in poverty, he rose to the highest office in the land.

Ryken, P. G. (2010).

Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p.

112).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Ryken, P. G. (2010).

Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p.

112).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

E. Solomon is showing that people who do not listen to advice from others is a fool.

And we have countless proverbs that assert this.

Proverbs