Life's Pursuits

INTRODUCTION

HE iS RISEN! It’s still true

The hope of the resurrection and the power of God within us transforms our lives and our values, our pursuits.

NEW SERIES

Christian trite sayings

Ecclesiastes

Making sense of a complex world...

In the never ending pursuit of fulfillment , we often convince ourselves that life would be better if...

We just had a different job or career

More education

A new spouse

Winning the powerball jackpot

Running off to a new location - just starting it all over again

The book of the Bible we are about to study together for the next 14 weeks addresses the weariness in our souls.

Why is life overwhelming at times?

Why does it all feel so pointless sometimes?

Is there meaning in anything?

Does anything make a difference?

THE POINT OF ECCLESIASTES

“We are stuck in a monotonous prison where nothing we do really changes anything and the only way to live a meaningful life in this meaningless existence is to find satisfaction and contentment in what God has given us.” Daniel Akin

GROUND HOG DAY

QOHELET

Have you ever seen the movie - Ground Hog Day

Bill Murray is a weatherman who relives the same day over and over again. Trying to find meaning in his existence that is the same day after day after day. He seeks knowledge, love, death, pleasure, chaos but the day always restarts the same as the day before.

Teacher/preacher (Qohelet, ko-hell-let)

Personae

In all honesty - how different is our life

2 Voices

What time will you set your alarm for tomorrow

VAPOR

Hit snooze - roll out of bed - shower - brush your teeth

Get in the same car - take the same road - do the same work - go home eat dinner - watch TV or read - and then do it all over again - and again - again.

SEARCH FOR MEANING

Hevel, Vanity, Meaningless, 38 times in the book (הֶבֶל)

הֶבֶל

Extension of

We try to break the spell of drudgery

Application (Johnny Cash, Hurt)

Live for the weekend - the next vacation - romantic relationships - possessions - religion

KEY THEMES

Tragic reality of the fall

TRUE SUBSTANCE

We grasp through the mist trying to find something of substance

Enter - Ecclesiastes

ECCLESIASTES

Enjoy Life

Fear God

Obey Good

Wisdom Literature (Acts was narrative (story), Paul’s letter’s are called Epistles (letters of instruction, discourse), wisdom literature (poetry, wisdom

CONCLUSION

Dense, creative images to help us envision the world differently.

Meant to impact your emotion and imagination

Helps us see things differently. Not simply say the same thing in the same way over and over again with the desire that somehow we will understand the word’s meaning after the 100th time.

For some this may be a different experience

The words may seem jarring for some

For others - these words may breathe hope - in the knowledge that the Bible also speaks the language of our hearts, including our despair.

Think Deeply

Easy to misunderstand this book

Encourage you to think deeply as we work our way through

Journal

READ ECCLESIASTES 1:1-11

Author: Solomon (maybe) - “son of David, King in Jerusalem...”

We have a fuller picture

Journal

Qohelet - Preacher

Ekklesia - Church

Ecclesiastes - one who gathers the church and speaks

Solomon searched for meaning

Solomon was the wisest man in the ancient world yet wisdom itself did not satisfy - he became greedy, lustful (700 wives, 300 concubines), power hungry, idolatrous fool.

He did not deny himself anything his heart wanted

His Conclusion - Meaningless

Some suppose this is Solomon in old age - reflecting on his life and the lessons he learned along the way, pleading with his son to take a different path.

What does he have to say...

Easy to misunderstand this book

Encourage you to think deeply as we work our way through

Journal

HEVEL

MEANING

Vanity = Hevel

Literally means vapor, breath

It should give you the idea of fleeting, without substance - imagine standing outside on a cold day and you can see your breath - now try to grab it.

“Hevel of Hevels....”"

Think about other phrases similar to this… holy of holies, song of songs

The worship of false gods, idols will often use this same words in the Old Testament (, )

People trying to find joy and satisfaction in anything other than Gos himself - grasping at fog

Throughout Ecclesiastes we will examine the various things that we seek - hoping to find happiness - longing for satisfaction - praying for meaning in our mundane lives

One by one they will be exposed as lacking substance

Avengers | Infinity War - things we love turning to dust

Some of this will be painful and God works in our hearts to expose lesser desires in our hearts - rather than dust - I want you to imagine them turning into a mist, a vapor - vanity, all is vanity.

The word, Hevel, is found 38 times in Ecclesiastes

Why would God allow this? This all seems a little depressing doesn’t it?

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

The word futility is the word found here in Ecclesiastes

Creation was perfect, but...

FUTILITY FOLLOWS THE FALL

The Fall (), sin, subjected God’s creation to futility. Now creation itself cries out for rescue. Good things that were created by God now being used by people as lesser gods and creation mourns, groans in agony.

Designed to Enjoy: Food | Drink | Work | Sex

Destroyed by Sin: Gluttony | Drunkenness | Identity | Adultery

When a ‘good thing’ becomes ultimate or a god thing - it brings death and is exposed as lacking any true substance.

UNDER THE SUN

“Ecclesiastes drives home the point that life in this fallen world east of Eden is futile and meaningless. “

‘Under the Sun’ is found almost 30 times in the book, reminding us that Solomon is looking at the meaninglessness of life from an earthly perspective.

If there is no God

No Afterlife

No final judgement

THEN - everything s meaningless.

Jesus asks a similar question in “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

The answer is nothing

“We stand on the shore of an ocean, crying to the night and the emptiness; sometimes a voice answers out of the darkness. But it is a voice of one drowning; and in a moment the silence returns. The world seems to me quite dreadful; the unhappiness of most people is very great, and I often wonder how they all endure it. To know people well is to know their tragedy: it is usually the central thing about which their lives are built. And I suppose if they did not live most of the time in the things of the moment, they would not be able to go on.”

Akin, Dr. Daniel L.. Exalting Jesus in Ecclesiastes (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 8). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

ALL IS VANITY

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

Tim Keller points out

Ecclesiastes is pushing us to a logical conclusion - exposing any philosophy that would seek to live life without God.

If this life is all there is - then what value is our life? What if we gain the whole world - we will still die. What’s the point?

COMPLETE VANITY

This passage then goes into a poem meant to help us feel the totality of this vanity, meaninglessness...

“The sun rises, and the sun goes down” (east/west)

Wind blows to the south and comes around to the north (north/south)

Think of someone running around a track along to end where the race first began

Streams flow to the sea but the sea is never full

Wearisome - I’m tired

There’s nothing new under the sun

WE FEEL THIS

We feel this frustration don’t we?

You walk into the kitchen and it’s full of dishes - again

You roll up your sleeves, clean, dry, and put away - come down in the morning and the sink is full again

You go to your room and see a laundry basket overflowing so you take it to the laudry room only to find clothes you forgot to take out of the washing machine so you have to clean them again.

You just mowed the lawn but while your sitting here it’s growing and will need to be cut again

Your inbox was empty when you left work on Friday but tomorrow you will be behind communication to start the week.

Sound familiar

IS THERE HOPE?

Yes

ONE SHEPHERD

UNDERSTANDING

Ecclesiastes cannot be understood accurately without constantly lining up each passage and poem against the backdrop of the conclusion

HEVEL - PREACHER

The Preacher repeats - “Vanity of vanities - all is vanity”

The Preacher doesn’t change his mind in the end

Descriptions:

Taught knowledge

Great Care

Words of Delight & Truth | a true portrait of how the world works

Upright Truth

GOAD

The Preachers words are like goads (poke and prod livestock in the right direction)

Cattle Prod - Meant to convict, correct, and lead

his words are going to sting at times and you will want to dismiss his ‘wisdom.’

TRUE TEACHER - ONE SHEPHERD

Messiah | Gospel Connection

Only three other places in the Bible speak of a single shepherd - each of these refers to the Messiah - Jesus!

; ;

What does this mean?

Ecclesiastes is therefore a messianic book that points to and longs for the Messiah to come and order His kingdom by wisdom.

Not just the natural consequences of the Fall

We need rescued

We need a supernatural solution to break through

“Fear God and keep his commandments”

Why? Who cares? If we all just die in the end anyway - why should I fear God and obey him?

FOR

God will judge

“It is appointed for a man to die once, and after that comes judgement.”

We know something Solomon didn’t know

JESUS

Jesus is the true son who completely and perfectly obeys all of God’s commands

Jesus pays the debt, the judgement, for our disobedience

Jesus rose from the dead

This life “under the sun,” this natural world is not all there is -

We will be resurrected

Creation itself will be redeemed.

Jesus - is the substance

CONCLUSION

Ecclesiastes - Meaningless Post-Fall ()

Death comes to us all

In a world full of cemetaries and grave sites, there is one tom that remains empty.

One body that dust cannot reclaim -Jesus

He is our shelter from the storm

The treasure of our searching

The rock we cling to in the fog

The light to the lost

The bread for the hungry

The truth for the confused

No meaning, no hope in any other name except the name of Jesus

My hope through this series:

That we will grow in Thankful Contentment - able to give thanks with a content and satisfied heart for all the God has provided

That we will experience Joyous Freedom - uprooting idols from our hearts as we grow in our affections for Jesus in all of life

APPLICATION

Mediatate on Scripture

JOURNALING

Write what stands out

Write out the scripture again

Rewrite the passage using your own words

Write out a prayer to God using the words from the passage

CREATIVE COMMUNITY

Working through ‘Poetry \ Wisdom Literature” of the Bible is an opportunity for us to encourage and engage in creative expressions of biblical truth.

The the truth from God word

Allow it to impact your own heart personally

In response, use your talents to help others see, feel, and experience these truths through creative expressions.