SF760 - WHAT IS THE POINT OF LIFE - 1 of 11 ANSWERING LIFES TOUGHEST QUESTIONS (Ecclesiastes 7 24)

Ecclesiastes 7:24

Introduction

Where did I come from?

A first grader recently asked his mother "Where did I come from?" The mother took a deep breath and went into a detailed, explicit explanation of the reproductive organs, conception and birth. After about 30 minutes the bored first grader said, "Oh, Jimmy comes from San Diego."  The mother said, "I had the sinking feeling that I was answering the wrong question."

Answering Life's Toughest Questions

What is the Point of Life?

(Ecclesiastes 7:24 GN)  "How can anyone discover the meaning of life?"

The Point of Life is found in Jesus Christ.

1A.      What Happens When We Miss the Point?  (Ecclesiastes 1)

1B.      Life seems meaningless.  (1:2-3)

Everything is temporary and unsatisfactory.  (1:2)

“Vanity, everything is meaningless” something transitory and unsatisfactory

You spend your life working and what do you have to show for it?  (1:3)

2B.      Life becomes tiresome.  (1:4-8a)

We seem to be spinning our wheels.  (1:4)

Everything seems to be going in circles.  (1:5-7)

No matter what you do you cannot get ahead.  (1:8a)

3B.      Life is un-fulfilling.  (1:8b-10)

We never are fully satisfied with who we are and what we have.  (1:8b)

Ø      People are restless.

If you don't realize how restless people are give them a remote control!

We become bored with life.  (1:9-10)

Ø      Solomon says, history repeats itself, there's nothing new.

4B.      Life will be insignificant.  (1:11)

This is the surety of obscurity.

Ø      No one remembers what's happened in the past and no one is going to remember in days to come what's happened between now and then.

5B.      Life seems uncontrollable.  (1:15)

You cannot get things together.

You cannot find all the missing pieces.

There are some things in life, no matter how hard you try, you just can't fix it.

2A.      What We Do When We Miss the Point?

1B.      We try to fake it.

We were made to have something at the center of our life.

Ø      If people don't have God at the center of their life, they try to put something else there.

This is the fallacy of humanism.

Ø      The humanist comes along and says, You came from nowhere and you're going nowhere, but while you're here on earth your life has meaning and value and dignity.

Ø      If God didn't create us and there's no eternity, then have the intellectual guts to admit that your life doesn't matter!

2B.      We try to forget it.

If life has no meaning, then just escape from it.

Ø      Use TV, become a couch potato.

Ø      Use food, sex, drugs, movies.

The ultimate escape is suicide.

Ø      Sixty-five people per day take their own lives.

Ø      Suicide is the third largest killer of people in America and the second largest killer of teenagers.

3B.      We should try to find it.

Discover what the real meaning of life is.

Fortunately, God told us.

3A.      What is the Point of Life?  (Ephesians 1:4-5)

1B.      God gives life meaning.

God has chosen us.  (1:4)

1 John 4:19 “We love Him because He first loved us.”

God has chosen us to be His children.  (1:5)

Isaiah 43:7 “Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”

2B.      God has purposed for us to be with Him forever.  (Ephesians 1:10)

Life is not circular, it is linear.

Ø      History is moving toward an appointed destiny.

3B.      God has purposed to use this life to prepare us for eternity.

You were made to live for eternity.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”

Life is a dress rehearsal for eternity.

4A.      How Can You Fulfill God’s Purpose?

1B.      Establish your relationship with God, now.

Repent of our sin (Luke 13:3)

Ø      Agree with God that you have wronged Him and deserve His judgment.  Despise your sins and your sinful nature.  Determine to turn from your rebellion and turn to God (Psalm 51:1-17).

Place our Faith in Jesus Christ alone (believe) (Mark 1:15)

Ø      Recognize Christ’s suffering and death as the necessary and sufficient payment for sin.  Transfer your trust from yourself to Him.  Take for yourself His gift of forgiveness and righteousness (Isaiah 53:1-11; Galatians 2:20).

Seek God’s grace and mercy

Ø      Pray and ask for God’s mercy and help.  When God has answered you, tell someone and seek out a church that teaches and believes the Bible.

Publicly Confess our Faith in Christ

Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Acts 2:41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized…

2B.      Follow Christ daily.

We are to develop the character of Christ.

Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

God uses all of life to make us more like Christ.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

God is far more interested in your character than He is in your convenience and comfort.

How can we follow Christ daily?

Ø      Spend time with God.

Ø      Talk with God.

Ø      Listen to God through His Word.

3B.      Serve God and others.

God saved us to serve Him.

Ø      If you do not enjoy serving God now, you will not enjoy heaven.

Ø      He wants you to learn to be a giver and not just a taker.

God has saved us to serve others.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

4B.      Share the good news on a regular basis.

2 Corinthians 5:19 “…God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

Why does God leave you here on earth after you become a believer?

Ø      He wants you to share the good news.

Application

What a waste it is to live your entire life without ever knowing the point of it.

The bigger waste is to know the point of life and still just give your life for temporary things.

The fact is, you will live for eternity, in one of two places.

We call living for eternity with God, heaven.

We call living for eternity separated from God, hell.

You do not have to spend eternity in hell.

Take that first step and begin that relationship with God today.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF LIFE?
Answering Life's Toughest Questions - Part 1 of 11

April 19, 1998 - Ecclesiastes 7:24

1A.      What Happens When We Miss the Point…  (Ecclesiastes 1)

1B.      Life seems _____________.  (2-3)

2B.      Life becomes ___________.  (4-7)

3B.      Life is un-fulfilling.  (8-10)

4B.      ___________ will be insignificant.  (11)

5B.      Life seems uncontrollable.  (15)

2A.      What We Do When We Miss the Point.

1B.      We try to ________________ it.

We were made to have something at the center of our life.

2B.      We try to ______________ it.

If life has no meaning, then just escape from it.

3B.      We should try to ______________ it.

3A.      What is the Point of Life?

(Ephesians 1:4-5 NIV)  "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love {5} he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--"

1B.      God’s wants us to experience His __________.  (4)

(1 John 4:16 NIV)  "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love."

2B.      God wants us to be His _______________.  (5)

(Isaiah 43:7 NCV)  "Bring to me all the people who are mine, whom I made for my glory, whom I formed and made."

3B.      God wants us to be with Him ______________.

(Ephesians 1:10 NCV)  "His goal was to carry out his plan, when the right time came, that all things in heaven and on earth would be joined together in Christ as the head."

4B.      God wants us to use this life to prepare for eternity.

(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)  "… He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; ..."

4A.      How You can Fulfill God’s Purpose.

1B.      ____________ in Christ alone.

(John 1:12-13 NIV)  "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- {13} children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."

2B.      ________________ Christ daily.

(Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, {23} gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

God is far more interested in your character than He is in your convenience and comfort.

3B.      _________________ God and others.

 (Ephesians 2:10 NIV)  "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

4B.      ______________ the good news on a regular basis.

(2 Corinthians 5:19 NIV)  “… He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”