Is There Meaning to Life?

Is There Meaning to Life? to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 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 of later things yet to be among those who come after. 8 Ecclesiastes 1 September 19, 2021 The Big Idea: Solomon isn’t offering us solid spiritual guidance but a journal of a man who had the inclination, time, and means to explore life. His conclusion is that life and all we do in it is fleeting and leads us toward a common end – death. Ecclesiastes, when read from a Gospel perspective, begs us to find out what provision the Lord has made for us after death. Only then are we ready to live. What We Need to Know in Order to Make Sense of Ecclesiastes: ü ü ü ü ü The author of the book is never named. Verse 1 calls him “Qohelet”. Preacher is not a great translation. Teacher is better, but the real idea is that he is a seeker of truth and meaning. Skeptics have loved the book of Ecclesiastes because they see in it confirmation of their doubts about life and God. Hedonists love it because they think it confirms their quests for pleasure. Reading Ecclesiastes can feel something like taking a good college-level philosophy class. It asks more questions and raises more dilemmas than it offers answers. We must go to the rest of The Book to find many of the answers we long for. Read properly, Ecclesiastes will send you on a quest for understanding of the meaning of your life. 9 10 11 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 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. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 12 15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. 16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 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. Ecclesiastes 1 (ESV) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 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; 18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Questions the Seeker Raises for Us to Consider: 1. 2. 3. Do we yet grasp how brief our earthly existence is? What is the meaning of all the hard work we do? Is there life before death, or is this it? A Challenge: 1. Go to the end (your death) and deal with the most important question: Are you prepared for it? 2. A second question: Are you living every day in light of the end (which is actually, the real beginning)?