1: Missing the Point?

Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA INTRODUCTION - read newspaper excerpts o Solomon is a philosopher, a thinker o contrast with James, the man of action o this life is transitory, and we need to anchor it in a relationship with God o our first parents lost us this relationship o but the triune God is pursuing one with us, anyway - many of us: don’t have a relationship, or it isn’t what it should be o Solomon challenges us to re-consider o learn from his mistakes (contra his son!) o a stone in the shoe, to gnaw at our hearts TEXT The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever (Ecc 1:1-4). - vanity: what’s Solomon’s point? o dictionary: empty and valueless1 o ISV: pointless o NLT: meaningless o NET: futile - what does man gain: doesn’t see the everyday “stuff” of life as having any real significance in and of themselves o we work o we live 1 Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. (Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 2003), s.v. “vanity”, n, 1. 1 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA - - - - o we die o the next generation grow up and repeats o yet, the world stays the same forever focus: sees no value in temporary things that have so little staying power o we have such an inflated view of ourselves and our lives o very small people o very big world o our achievements are fleeting, forgotten, small, insignificant don’t misunderstand: it’s not that your life is meaningless o it’s that, in the great sweep of world history, o our lives, achievements and experiences are so small, so insignificant, so … ordinary o that they might as well be meaningless where is the anchor? Solomon wants to anchor meaning in something, but he doesn’t know what that something ought to be o he’s asking, “what is the point of your life?” o whatever your answer, he asks again ▪ (1) does it matter? ▪ (2) does it really matter? ▪ (3) will it be remembered? ▪ (4) will it be appreciated beyond your life? ▪ (5) how will anything you ever say, do or accomplish different from untold millions of people before or after you? ▪ (6) if you don’t know them or their achievements, does it even matter if they lived at all? ▪ (7) if that’s true, then what does that say about your answer you just thought of? earth remains forever: a stage in constant flux o we’re either coming onto the stage (childhood) o or acting out our small parts on the stage, in our five minutes under the spotlight (adulthood) o or being ushered off stage to retirement, then hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care (old age) o the cycle repeats The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 2 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again (Ecc 1:5-8). - nature: illustration of the cycle of our lives o you’re born o you live o you die - world: forgets about you o just like it forgets about a dead tree or a nice, sunny day o there’s always another tree o there’ll always be another sunny day o there’ll always be someone else who can enter the stage and take your place at work All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance 3 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA of later things yet to be among those who come after (Ecc 1:8-11). - weariness: tired, and it’ll never get better o not simply tiredness of body o tiredness of soul and spirit, too - not satisfied: never enough o more money o better job o more security o more opportunities o no arrival, no peace - “not me!” Solomon asks, “if you took a moment to sit alone and be introspective, what is the point of your life?” o family: you’ll exit the stage and be forgotten in three generations o work: you’ll retire and be replaced by someone younger, smarter, more ambitious, more adept at the tech, stronger and healthier o generic kindness: anonymous name on a bench or a building o stuff: it’ll never be enough - nothing new: nothing can fill this void in your heart and mind o that means nothing can stop the cycle o death and taxes are the only inevitable things in life o tech gets better, but the human condition remains (loneliness above and below) o medicine gets better, but it only buys us more time or makes us more comfortable before the end - no remembrance (former or after): cycle of obsolescence and anonymity o what happened to Lottie Davis and Mr. Williams? o nobody knows; why not? o because there’s nothing special about them or their sin o it’s life, and it’s messy, and it’s hard o maybe Lottie reformed o maybe Mr. Williams repented of his sin o maybe they both became Christians in Yakima, 100 years ago o you don’t know, and you have no way of finding out - not pointless: don’t miss this: 4 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA o it’s not that their lives were pointless, o it’s not that your life is pointless o it’s that, in their everyday sin and their generic anonymity 100 years later, they represent each of us ▪ (1) we’re little people in a very big world ▪ (2) and when we exit the stage, this world won’t miss us much, ▪ (3) because some new folks are trotting up the stairs ready to take the spotlight ▪ (4) and they’ll be just as smart, enthusiastic, and ready to conquer the world as you were ▪ (5) but one day they’ll exit the stage, too ▪ (6) and the cycle repeats ▪ (7) and we’ll all fade into the mists of time, and vanish like the morning frost on our windshields ▪ (8) and you’ll leave just as much of a lasting impression o Solomon = if you anchor transcendent meaning and purpose in this world, you’re making the wrong choice - choose God: but, if you belong to God, He will remember you o the Gospel about God liberating us, setting us free, giving us life, giving us purpose, giving us a new family and a relationship o if we’ll come to Him o if things in this world are what drive you, animate you, give you drive and purpose, then Solomon says you’re missing the point o Solomon wants you to sit alone and think o He wants you to do it now o Isa 55:3: Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted (Ecc 1:12-15). 5 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA - applied my heart: Solomon tried finding meaning and purpose without a relationship with God - life an unhappy business: life is hard, and it’ll never get any better o almost as though God sets this cycle before us o lets us try it out o and waits for us to ask ourselves, “is this all there is?” o are we here to go to work, make babies, raise kids? o is there something more, something deeper? o do these good things exist for themselves, or should they overflow from something more? - made for relationship: we’re made for relationships o God made us for Himself o He didn’t need us, but chose to make us to be in relationship with Him o He made us to want that o He made us to look for that o He made us crave something bigger, better and more meaningful than ourselves - crooked … straight: but, we and our world are broken o we’re not complete as men and women until He calls us sons and daughters, o until He restores His broken relationship with us o Father sent the Son to reconcile us, through the Spirit - the endless chase: read Confessions 10.23 excerpts o as long as we slam the door in God’s face, o we’ll live lives of suppressed frustration I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” (Ecc 2:1-2). - pleasure and self-indulgence: nothing there o drinking (2:3): nothing o possessions (2:4-7): nothing o money (2:8): nothing o sex (2:8): nothing 6 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil (Ecc 2:9-10). - great and surpassed: Solomon had the means to do anything o he actually did do everything o he experienced every pleasure o it made him happy o he thought he’d found something Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun (Ecc 2:11). - what changed his mind? o it was all pointless o it was all a chase that would never end o it gained him nothing o it didn’t do anything for him - how sad: o drinking: you’ll eventually have to sober up, or keep chasing the numbness – the party has to stop, or you’ll die o possessions: you’ll never have enough, and your children will give it all to Goodwill when you die o money: you’ll never have enough of that, either, and if you do save it your children will spend it carelessly o sex: if this sums up your life, then things don’t get much shallower than that - Ebenezer Scrooge: Dickens’ Christmas story endures because it makes so much sense! o (1) a rich old miser discovers he’s miserable, alone and empty o (2) his success is meaningless, because he isn’t happy o (3) he’s obsessed with saving even more money, and for what? o (4) he’s ruined every relationship he’s ever had in pursuit of money 7 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA - - - - o (5) it’s given him nothing, because he can’t even enjoy what he has o (6) he’s chasing after the wind, and he’ll never catch it o (7) but, those three ghosts re-oriented his perspective o (8) he comes to his senses, and the story closes with him happy, sharing Christmas with his poor employee and his crippled son the point: Scrooge is you, he’s me, he’s all of us o we anchor our lives in something other than relationship with God o we won’t find it o we’ll keep trying, though o and we’ll keep on failing, too o and so will our children, because each person has to learn this lesson for himself o it’s experiential; it can’t be absorbed from a book waking up: we’re aestheticized, so we don’t realize our predicament o Scrooge didn’t, either – he needed a supernatural intervention and some help from a friend who loved enough to tell him the truth o the god of this world blinds people, so they don’t see the light of the Gospel (2 Cor 4:4). o Jesus is the friend who’s come tell you the truth o the Son is the One the Father sent to suffer, so He could have a relationship with His people o the Father suffered the death of His Son to liberate you from yourself whatever happened to Edith Michaels, the lady who poisoned herself? o she was so heartsick over her boyfriend that she tried to kill herself! o you don’t know anything about her because she was an anonymous woman in a very big world o I read a clipping about the most important thing in her life, and we all laugh o you don’t want to be mean, but you just don’t care, do you? why don’t you care? o because there’s nothing special about her heartache o because, from this distance, you intuitively know Ms. Michaels and her problems are meaningless o maybe not to Ms. Michaels, but in the grand scheme of things 8 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA - now do you! Solomon’s asking you to take that perspective and shine it on your life right now! o (1) your job, your money, your self-indulgence, your possessions, your sex life o (2) if those things shape, define and drive you o (3) then you’re missing the point of the life God created you to live So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness (Ecc 2:12-14). - wisdom: if self-indulgence isn’t the ticket, how about something else? o what about a life dedicated to books, to learning? o what about the life of a scholar, a thinker? o wisdom is better = light vs. darkness, night vs. day o wisdom = direction, knowledge, insight for life And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! (Ecc 2:14-16). - no enduring remembrance: it doesn’t get you anything o middle school, high school, associates o BA, MA, PhD o you’ll die and be buried, and all the degrees, insight and wisdom in the world can’t get you out of that fate o even worse, eventually nobody will remember you - all … long forgotten: it’ll be as though you never lived o if you’re lucky, some of your contributions may live on o but nobody will know they came from you o it’ll be like those procedures you follow at work o somebody thought them up, years back 9 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA o nobody remembers who it was! o and nobody cares … not even you For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow (Ecc 1:18). - vexation … sorrow: why would he say this? o because all wisdom does is allow him to see the end of the road more clearly o instead of partying and being oblivious o he’s sober, awake, intelligent, alert, and he sees the predicament for what it really is o to be wise, yet without God, is a prison sentence because it does nothing but show you the hopelessness of your situation o it’s a form of torture So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind (Ecc 2:17). - I hated life: can you feel Solomon’s frustration? o this bursts from the pages (or the screen) in a cry of anguish o you might wonder, “well, why don’t we all just kill ourselves, then!?” o if so, then Solomon feels what you do o he hates life, because the chase never ends o there’s never peace, never final rest, never closure o because all the things people invest their energy in are so useless because they’re so transitory by themselves o you get up each day … for what? I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a 10 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity (Ecc 2:1823). - leave it … wise or fool: work is not the answer o you’re eminently replaceable o your cubicle and chair will go to someone else o your skills will erode o your knowledge becomes obsolete o your dedication won’t be appreciated o they’ll get used to the next guy very quickly - who did not toil for it: what a legacy! o build something from nothing o pass it along to Junior o he didn’t build it, he takes it for granted, o he’s careless and irresponsible o he destroys it o it’s gone within one generation - heart doesn’t rest: why would that be? o because his life is wrapped up in his work o it consumes his thoughts and dreams o it’s what he lives for o it’s all he has o how sad o how useless o what a waste! EXHORTATION - made for God: Augustine agreed o read Confessions 1.1 excerpt o a North African Christian from modern-day Algeria saw the same thing Solomon did o you’ll never be happy apart from God o you’ll never find peace outside of His family 11 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA o you’ll never find rest unless and until you come in from the cold and accept that the Father sent the Son to suffer and die to save you from yourself There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind (Ecc 2:24-26). - enjoyment … from the hand of God: enjoy life, while giving glory to God o He’s given you everything you have o Believer: wisdom, knowledge … and joy! o Unbeliever: no peace, no happiness, no closure - truth: God (triune) has opened Himself up to suffering by pursuing relationship with us o (1) covenant history and our failings (preservation; people; holy living; promised king; perfect peace) o (2) Hosea illustrations (Hos 1-3): ▪ God relentlessly pursues us when we’re unlovable and undeserving ▪ the depth of His determination to win us is sad ▪ not because He embarrasses Himself ▪ but because we’re so pathetic that we’re not worth this attention ▪ Ps 8:4: what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? - the suffering God: this isn’t the picture we often have2 o the Father suffers when we ignore His love o the Son suffered when He was abandoned by the Father ▪ Mk 15:34: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ▪ God: the only time Jesus uses an impersonal address For these insights I’m indebted to Jurgen Moltmann, Trinity and the Kingdom: The Doctrine of God (reprint; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993; Kindle ed.). I am aware Moltmann rejected the classical attribute of impassibility. I find his arguments on that score very persuasive. 2 12 Pastor Tyler Robbins Missing the Point? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) Sunday Morning • 19 April 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist • Olympia, WA o the Father suffered as He cast off His only Son o we grieve the Spirit when believers live unfaithful lives (Eph 4:30) o the Spirit suffers as unbelievers live lives of futility and emptiness while forsaking the purpose and truth He offers us o Father, Son and Spirit want to liberate us who are oppressed o and we so often ignore it all … for what? - kingdom of compassion:3 Jesus offers us rest in His Father’s kingdom o Mt 11:28-30: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. - stone in the shoe: whether a believer or an unbeliever o put God at the center, for either the first time or after a long, drifting break o does the shoe fit, in any aspect of your life? o think, consider, be introspective, and take Solomon’s advice 3 This is another Moltmann-ism (Trinity and Kingdom, KL 1099f). 13 Pastor Tyler Robbins