Obscurity (or, the Search for Significance)
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· 20 viewsDemonstrate that man does have meaning, but cannot have meaning apart from the biblical God.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
Pray — Be Seated
Body
Body
What is the meaning of life? Why do I exist? Why am I here?
“The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.” — Joseph Campbell
“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” — The Dalai Lama
“The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Life is meant to be fun, and joyous and fulfilling. May each of yours be that.” — Jim Henson
“Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request, and everything your heart desires must come to you.” — Mahatma Gandhi
In moments of clarity, those who have traced their belief systems down to their logical conclusions have written about them.
“Man is a useless passion. It is meaningless that we live and it is meaningless that we die.” — Jean-Paul Sartre
“The sound of the wind was just more proof that the workings of the world were random, that beauty, like suffering, was meaningless, that human life was as pointless as waves on sand.” — Anita Diamant
“I’m so old that I often tell myself, on nights when multitudes of stars are sparkling in the sky, there must necessarily be something to be discovered from living so long. Living, what an effort! At the end, there must necessarily be, there has to be, some sort of essential revelation. It shocks me, this disproportion between my insignificance and the vastness of the cosmos. I often think there must be something all the same, something in the middle between my triviality and the universe!” — Kamel Daoud
“As to the causation, of the feeling of meaningless, one may say, albeit in an oversimplifying way, that people have enough to live by but nothing to live for; they have the means but no meaning.” — Viktor E. Frankl
[Expound on the history of mankind’s search for meaning without God]
“All that we call human history–money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery–[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” ~ C.S. Lewis
Life Without God and Life With God
Life Without God and Life With God
Without God, there are only two conclusions one can come to, as I see it, concerning the meaning of life:
There is no meaning. We’re a cosmic accident. a great joke.
We ascribe meaning externally and artificially to certain particulars in our lives
i.e., a career, a sport, academic pursuits, etc.
This fails though, to explain a general meaning to life.
With God, there are only two conclusions one can come to, as I see it, concerning the meaning of life:
God has forgotten about me. He doesn’t know where I’m at. I’ve somehow disqualified myself. I’m no longer a part of God’s plan.
God knows exactly where I’m at and in His time, God will do amazing things through me.
[Expound on Scripture Text]
Ecclesiastes is a fascinating book.
At first blush, it seems to be agreeing with most of the secular philosophers of the ages in that life, when taken to its logical conclusion, appears absurd and senseless.
Human achievement won’t last and is forgotten by later generations (1:11)
Injustice and wickedness are prevalent and often appear to go unpunished (3:16)
Total despair — the dead end of self-sufficiency
12 For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
This indeed is a life lived apart from the only One that is able to give that life purpose, context, fulfillment.
All belief systems, or worldviews, claim to have some kind of answer to this question. Biblical Christianity is no exception.
We claim that meaning is assigned by our Creator — Jesus Christ.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
We are created by God with His divine attributes
We are created immortal
We have creative ability
We have free moral agency
We have the ability to commune with God and to relate to Him
He has given us His laws and precepts, which reflect His character, with the idea that we should, through obedience to the scriptures, also reflect His character.
His attention and His focus is on us
One chapter given to all of creation, and, with a few exceptional verses scattered throughout the bible, the entire book is focused solely on us.
The entirety of God’s plan for our salvation, from Genesis 3:15 to Christ’s death on Calvary, is because of His great and desperate love for us.
From our first failing in the garden of Eden, God looked forward to a day when His fellowship with us could be re-established.
The entire focus of the bible has been God’s dealings with us.
Wooing us to Himself.
Going out and looking for us in the wilderness as for lost sheep.
Not planet earth. Not the universe. Not any of the animals. Not the environment. Us!
He elevated us, as the apple of His eye, over all His creation.
He would rule over His creation through us.
One day we will rule and reign with Him.
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Even the Preacher in Ecclesiastes comes to the same conclusion
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
So, having made the point of our worth, what about times where we feel unnoticed. Unimportant. Unknown.
Joseph before and after his dreams came true
Moses
David
Jesus spent approx 30 years in total obscurity before God revealed Him to the world
You?
Conclusion
Conclusion
“I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been born in God’s thought, and then made by God is the dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking.” This is a prayer of contentment.” ~ C.S. Lewis
“You doubt your value. Don’t run from who you are.” ~ C.S. Lewis
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.