Greater Than: "Jesus Is Greater Than Everything"

Ecclesiastes 1:2– “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

James 4:14– “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

Jeremiah 16:19– “O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.”

Zechariah 10:2– “For the household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; they tell false dreams and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.”

I. Our Activity is Pointless (Ecclesiastes 1:1-11)

Mark 8:36– “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

II. Nothing Satisfies (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18)

Ecclesiastes 7:29– “See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”

Tim Keller - “People think Christians are naive, but if your origin is insignificant, and if your destiny is insignificant, then have the guts to admit that your life is insignificant. Why work for human rights, or for the common good, or for justice for all, if it is all going to be burned up in the end anyway?! If we are just accidents heading for annihilation, then nothing we do matters!”

1 John 2:15-17– “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

III. Frustrations Exist to Point us to Christ (Ecclesiastes 12:8-14)

Ezekiel 34:23-24– “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

Ezekiel 37:24-25– “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever.”

John 10:11-16– “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Psalm 16:11– “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Augustine - “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”