Where Are You Going?

INTRO:

What is life about?

What are some answers you have heard or seen in people around you?

(Don’t say Jesus)

The problem with all the answers - they are temporary

Solomon comes to a conclusion that is true in part

Common Fate for All

Ecclesiastes 9:1–2 ESV

1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. 2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.

Ecclesiastes 9:

What event is Solomon talking about?

Death

An Appeal for Life

Ecclesiastes 9:

Ecclesiastes 9:4 ESV

4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

Ecclesiastes 9:7–10 ESV

7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Ecclesiastes 9:

Solomon declares that life is the better option and if your going to have life, might as well live it to the fullest

it doesn’t matter if you’re:

good or bad

wise or unwise

rich or poor

nice or wicked

All end the same so do what makes you happy

An Unwasted Life

Luke 12:22–31 ESV

And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Luke 12:

The desires of this world are fleeting

unsatisfying

unfulfilling

constantly needs to be refilled

God is the fulfillment of the longing of our souls

Romans 12:1 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Fullest life

Meaningful life

Satisfied life

Found in Christ!

“The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves.” - John Piper Don’t Waste Your Life

“Desire that your life count for something great! Long for your life to have eternal significance. Want this! Don’t coast through life without a passion.” - John Piper Don’t Waste Your Life