Ecclesiastes 1-2 - Striving After the Wind

Do you ever one of those days when you feel like you are getting nothing accomplished?  Are there times when you feel like you are spinning your wheels, but getting nowhere?  We all have those kind of days.  I certainly do, and there are few things that frustrate me more.  But frighteningly, we seem to have a culture that revolves around activates that make us seem to be busy or successful, that make us look like we are accomplishing something, when in reality our lives are being totally wasted on things that, ultimately, don't matter at all.  Much of what defines modern culture and our priorities is, ultimately, a complete waste of time.

The book of Ecclesiastes has much to say to our current culture.  At least in the Western world, the measure of a man or woman's success is money, power, or fame, and people are willing to die and kill for them.  I spent part of this last weekend observing what could only be described as a celebration of humanism, the idea that man is the measure of all things, and that the world revolves around us.  Millions of dollars were spent on a lavish celebration with amazing sights, sounds, and tastes, the likes of which most people will never experience.  As I watched (as an observer, not a participant), I couldn't help but think of Solomon, and the lavish pleasures He indulged in.  Pleasure, fine food, entertainment, music, and the like are certainly not evil in themselves.  God created them for His own glory, and I believe He is glorified when they are rightly enjoyed by His people.  Solomon said as much, but he was also wise enough to realize that all the worldly treasures he enjoyed were ultimately ephemeral, worthless from an eternal perspective.

Many of the people we talk to when we share the gospel with will be striving after these things.  We live in a society of many seeds among thorns, where worry and wealth choke out the truths of God that people so desperately need to hear.  So I pray that this reading will catch people's ears, and that they will see the wisdom of the king who knew that it is the wisdom to know and follow God, and not worldly wealth, that has true value. Perhaps, by God's grace, some with turn from their striving after the wind, and strive after eternal treasure that can never be taken from those who trust in Him.                               

All for His glory,

Dan

                                                              

INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND PROJECT EZRA

READ ECCLESIASTES 1 & 2                            

What are you living for?

Fame, wealth, power, pleasure, knowledge?

Solomon, who we just heard about in this reading, had them all.  He had more of what men desire than any man in history

He had power. He was king over a powerful nation, and had many other nations subject to his rule, and which paid him tribute

He had fame.  We are told of a powerful queen who traveled from her kingdom to see the glory of his kingdom and hear his wisdom, and who was overwhelmed at how great they were.

He withheld no pleasure from himself.  He had food, music, women, and all the other things that delight men.

He had wealth beyond imagining.  He was the richest man of his time, possibly one of the richest men of all times.

And he had wisdom.  He didn’t just have knowledge, but God had gifted him in the right understanding and use of that knowledge.

But despite living a life that most successful men and women or our time would have trouble imagining, he realized that these things do not satisfy

He called them vanity, and a striving after the wind

Verses 8 through 10 tell us:

8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 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.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already
in the ages before us.

As James 4 tells us, our lives are like a mist, which appears for a short time and then vanishes away

Yet we waste our lives striving after earthly things when we were meant for heavenly things

We were created with a purpose, and that purpose is not simply to be born, spend our lives chasing wealth and power, and then die.

Our purpose is demonstrated in the account of the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve walked with God in intimate relationship

We were meant for such a relationship, where, as the Westminster Catechism says, we glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

But, because Adam and Eve rebelled against God, that relationship, and the world, was broken by sin

We were made to give God glory, but His word tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We have lost our purpose.

Sin in missing the mark, and breaking God's law

Each sin we commit is a moral crime against God's perfect holiness

We covet, desiring what others have, and not being pleased with the good gifts God has given us.

Sometimes that coveting reaches the point of theft.  If was cannot earn what we want we simply take it.

We lust.  We have sexual desire toward those who are not ours, who God has not given to us for intimacy, often desiring them in place of the marriage relationship God has meant for us.

When the opportunity presents itself, we even commit adultery, breaking the vows made between husband, wife, and their creator.

And all of those things are, at heart, idolatry, when we treat our desires as more important than God and His word

We cannot take these truths lightly.  Crimes have consequences.

Guilty criminals deserve to be punished.  Not arbitrary punishment, but justice, what we deserve.

God’s word tells us that punishment for sin will be carried out in a real place called Hell, a place of fire, and darkness, and pain.

But God, for His own glory, has made a way for us to be made right again.

He made a way for justice to be satisfied, and our fine paid, so we can go free

That way came through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ

Ephesians 1 tells us that Jesus Christ, God the Son, came to earth to give the Father glory, through the demonstration of His blessings to us, shown through the redemption and forgiveness we receive through His blood, that those who hope in Him would be to the praise of His glory and would show the riches of His grace.

Jesus Christ glorified God through His perfect life, the only perfect life ever lived

He glorified God through His atoning sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice which paid the penalty for our sin

He glorified God through His resurrection from the dead, a resurrection he prophesied many times before His death  

Now the glory of that salvation, a salvation that radically changes hearts and lives, can be ours, through repentance and faith

This is the greatest gift imaginable.  We deserve justice and hell, but can receive forgiveness, and spend eternity in heaven.

That gift is received by turning from sin, and turning to Christ, and to Him alone

This is not a demand for perfection, but a change in allegiance.

Through salvation your guilt is washed away by the righteous of Christ

You will be seen as perfect on Judgment Day because of Christ's perfection

And by the power of the Holy Spirit, your heart and desires will be changed as God draws you to Himself.

Then you will spend eternity in the presence of God, in the joy of worship, as you were designed to do

Is that your destination?  Have you turned from sin and turned to Christ?

Though I hope you live a long, happy life, none of us are promised a tomorrow

What good is a happy life compared to an eternity of suffering for your sin?

What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?                                          

If you have not repented of your sin and trusted in Jesus Christ, turn to Him today

NOTE:  YOU MAY NOTICE THAT IN SOME OUTLINES I LIST MORE BIBLE VERSES THAN OTHERS.  THOUGH I DON’T ALWAYS HAVE TIME TO LIST ALL THE APPROPRIATE BIBLE VERSES, I CAN’T EMPHASIZE ENOUGH THE IMPORTANCE OF USING SCRIPTURE WHEN PREACHING OR SHARING YOUR FAITH.  BE SURE TO SPEND TIME FINDING AND MEMORIZING VERSES AND PASSAGES, ESPECIALLY THOSE DEALING WITH THE NATURE OF GOD AND THE NATURE OF SALVATION.  IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OF VERSES DEALING WITH A PARTICULAR SUBJECT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.