DOES MY LIFE MATTER- ECCLESIASTES 1:1-2; 12:9-14

Introduction

I am excited as we begin this new series of messages entitled “Exploring God.” Another title could be “Investigating God” or even “Would the Real God Please Stand Up?” However, we will stick with “Exploring God” because that is what we are going to do. We are going exploring. We want to explore several issues of living life connected with God.

With that as our introduction, I want to go ahead and address the title of the message today. “Does my life matter?” Let go ahead and give you the short answer: ABSOLUTELY!! You are not an accident. You were created in the image of God. This means that you have immense value. Therefore, you are of immense value to us. How do I know? The Bible says so.

As soon as I snap my fingers, we are going to travel all the way back to the tenth century B.C. to a thin piece of real estate known as the Middle East. You will observe the lush green grass of the palace grounds and the stately trees that have been transplanted from faraway places. There are schools of fish in the ponds darting back and forth in delight. Brilliant-colored flowers are displayed everywhere. Birds flutter back and forth among the foliage. The deer graze unconcerned among the outer grounds. Peacocks brought from India proudly strut among the walkways. In the distance can be heard the neighing of 4,000 horses from the royal stables. Nearby are parked 1,400 chariots.

The financial portfolio of this one is quite impressive as well: 600,000,000 dollars in gold, 1,200,000,000 in silver, and his fleet of ships traverse back and forth across the ocean bringing priceless and countless treasures home to adorn the palace walls.

He is also a musician having written over one thousand songs and authored over 3,000 proverbs. Seven hundred of the most beautiful women call him husband. Three hundred more were his concubines. All total there were one thousand women waiting for his call to fulfill his slightest sexual whim and his wildest sexual desire.

He was the wisest man who has ever lived. People from all around the world come to study at his feet. He is the only professor at his university where he teaches all the subjects. His mother was the beautiful and ravishing Bathsheba, and his father was the great and mighty king of Israel, King David.

Who was this remarkable individual? His name was Solomon. Today we will get a glimpse into his last book. The name of the book in Hebrew in “koheleth.” You will certainly recognize it by its English name- Ecclesiastes.

As he makes his way to the platform and looks across the crowd gathered there that day, he closes his eyes and gazes heavenward. He lifts his hands and begins to cry out. [read Eccl. 1:1-2]

I. Vanity (1:1-2)

The word vanity occurs twenty-nine times in the book of Ecclesiastes. This Hebrew term has the basic meaning of “smoke.” It carries the idea of “mist, vapor, and nothingness.” It is what remains after a bubble pops. Solomon cries out, “Vanity of vanities!” This describes the intensity of the term (havel havalim). In Hebrew when you want to intensify the meaning, you double the noun. This is known as the Hebrew superlative. We could translate it as, “Ultra Vanity.” Observe not only the intensity of it but the universality of it as well. All things together and everything individually is vanity (havel). This term describes five nuances related to life and living. We will just mention them briefly.

A. It Describes the Absurdity of Life

Vanity describes the evident contradictions that exist in the world. There are wolves and there are lambs. There are beautiful flowers but among the flowers are weeds. There are calm and warming breezes but there are also destructive hurricanes. There is life but there is also death. There is the absurdity of it all.

B. It Describes the Irony of Life

The lazy person gets the government paycheck rather than the hardworking faithful employee and worker. The cheater gets the high grade. The liar tries to force the honest to do his deceptive bidding. The corporate thief gets the new car while the diligent employee seeks to keep his running. The innocent gets punished for the sins of the guilty. Sometimes the guilty walk away with the good that should be for the innocent.

C. It Describes the Incomprehensibility of Life

You just cannot figure it out. The world just does not make sense. Solomon uses the phrase “under the sun” at least thirty times in Ecclesiastes. Reason is limited. God has put enough reason into the world to make faith reasonable, but He has left enough out to cause us to realize that faith is essential. Reason cannot in the end take you us where we need to go. Reason alone does not make life matter. You put all your reason together and the world still does not make any sense. If you are living your life only in the horizontal, life is not going to make any sense.

D. It Describes the Inexplicable Randomness of Life

When you work with teenagers you learn an entirely new language. It is called teen-eze. For those living outside of Teenville, theirs is a language that is nonsensical . Yet, I had to learn a new language. I was working with a group of young people years ago speaking with all the passion of my heart to them. One teenage girl looks up at me as she was twirling her hair and smacking her gum and said, “Mr Eddie, you’re so random.” I thought I knew what that word meant. It has an entire different meaning and I had to be schooled by a thirteen year-old girl. So, I replied, “Young lady, Mr. Eddie finds you so “sophic” and “sagacious.” There is the randomness of life.

E. It Describes the Absolute Futility of Life.

I do not care how much money you have, how new your car is, or how big your house is. In the end, we are all going to the same place. Death is the great equalizer. That is what Job said to Zophar. The death rate is still one hundred percent. I have been to too many funerals. I have dealt with death too many times. Yet, detesting such things does not make them any less a reality. Death is coming. Death denotes the futility of trying to hold on to this life forever. Unless, the Lord returns first, we will have another funeral. “Vanity of vanity”, Solomon says, “All is vanity.!”

What a depressing picture! Yet, life is depressing if this life is all there is. If the only hope we have is this life, we are in trouble. There is the vanity and the emptiness of it all. However, we are not finished.

Victory (12:9-14)

I have already stated that your life does matter. What makes a life matter? What is this life truly all about? Sometimes to define what something is you define what it is not.

A. Life is not about Wisdom

Solomon sought meaning of life in wisdom. “And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” [2:17-18]

The more you know the more you hurt. Increasing knowledge brings increasing sorrow. The horizons of your knowledge are the frontiers of your ignorance. Human wisdom is meaningless.

B. Life is not about Pleasure

Solomon sought meaning to life in hedonistic pleasure. “I said of laughter, ‘It is mad,’ and of pleasure, ‘What use is it?’” [2:2]

Solomon tried wisdom; that did not do it. So, Solomon tried women. He went out and sought out the most beautiful women on the earth. He sought satisfaction through sex. You know, our world is obsessed with sex. Just like Solomon, it leaves this world wanting more of what will not satisfy. Wisdom did not work and women did not work.

C. Life is not about Artificial Satisfaction

Solomon tried wine. He thought that if he could drink this or smoke that, shoot this or snort that and party hardy with all that stuff-surely that will bring me peace and satisfaction. “I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine-my heart still guiding me with wisdom-and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.” [2:3]

What Solomon learned is what you need to understand today. At the bottom of every needle and at the bottom of every bottle is an abyss of insanity. Wine (alcohol) is a mocker and will make one a fool eventually. Wisdom did not work, women did not work, and wine did not work. What else might work?

D. Life is not about Work

Solomon tried work. Solomon threw himself into his work. For many men, we are identified by what we do rather than who we are. Take away our work and we are set adrift on the sea of meaninglessness. That was Solomon. “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” [2:11]

“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.” [2:18]

Everything you own will one day belong to someone else. Here is something else to ponder. The only man who got all his work done by Friday-was Robinson Crusoe.

E. Life is not about the Accumulation of Riches

Solomon tried wisdom, women, wine, and even work. What else was there? Solomon even tried riches. He was the richest man to ever live. Just like many today, he tried everything money could buy. There was no material possession that he could not obtain. He is just like many I know. If I can just possess the latest and greatest of the things of the world, then I know that somehow I am going to make it. This will make me successful. “I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.” [2:8]

Here is the lesson we learn from Solomon. The more Solomon was gratified, the less he was satisfied. Here is what Solomon wants us to understand. He wants us to see the error of his ways. He wants us to understand that the world always promises more than it can deliver. Solomon is rubbing our noses into reality. Vanity, vanity all is vanity. You see without Christ your life is the grand illusion.

Conclusion

Does my life matter? Yes, it does but it will be without ultimate meaning unless Jesus is your life. Have you ever had a jigsaw puzzle and you get down to the last piece? You cannot find that last piece. It is not there and without it, you cannot finish puzzle. If that not the most frustrating thing ever been? That is the way it is if your life is without Christ. You are missing the most important piece.

Sir Walter Scott lay dying. He instructed his son, “Bring me the Book.” His son replied, “But father, you have hundreds of books.” His father instructed, “Son, there is only one Book. Bring me the Bible.”

[table with books stacked on it]

I do not care how many books you read. They are all nothing. They are all mere information. They are all someone else’s commentary. They are all nothing compared to the Bible because only the Bible brings transformation. [read 12:13-14]

In the end there are only two things to remember concerning a life that truly matters. Fear God and do what He says in the Book. That is it. THE END. That is how you have a life that matters. That is how you live a life of purpose. If you fear God, you will fear no one else. If you do not fear God, you will fear everyone else. So, fear God and do what He says and live a life that matters.