The Plowman

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 6:1-12. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, September 5, 2010.

Introduction
It is as old as the Garden.  It is what tripped up our original parents - the sense that I’m missing out on something.  That there is more out there.  There is something that if I could just get my hands on it I would be genuinely happy.  Even when I have all my needs met, I’m satisfied, my life is in a good place, I can easily be conned into believing real life is just over there.  When I learn that someone has something I don’t have…I want it.  I don’t even know what it is but I got to have it.  While most of us would never admit it, we think that wealth brings fulfillment.  That’s why we read People magazine and want to peer into the lives of the “rich and famous.”  “Wow, it must be nice to have that kind of cash.”  “He’s guaranteed how many million whether he plays or not?”  “I don’t know what he’s complaining about I’d gladly trade places with him.”  We end up envying the most miserable people on the face of the earth!  It would be foolish of me to stand up here and say that the rich and powerful have no joy.  It would be foolish because you know I’d be lying.  Of course they have joy.  Of course they enjoy themselves and their wealth provide them opportunities and pleasure most of us will never know but that does not ensure satisfaction in life.  That does not guarantee lasting joy or fulfillment.  To be sure wealth in and of itself is not the problem.  Godly people through the ages have been wealthy and greatly blessed of God.  Wealth, power and influence are not inherently evil at the same time we must acknowledge that they do not inherently prove satisfactory.

Our problem is our scales are off.  As we weigh the evidence the results are skewed because the scales have not been zeroed out.  They are weighted it favor of wealth.  That’s because we view everything from our limited, finite perspective.  We live and think in the immediate rather than the eternal.  The preacher is trying to bring some perspective.  He hammers his message home again and again and again and again until we want to shout, “Enough already!”  The reason he is so persistent in his message is because he knows we really don’t believe it.  He knows that because he didn’t believe it.  Solomon is near the end of his life.  After careful analysis he is saying, “This is what I’ve learned.”  Solomon is like most of us he is thinking, “I wish someone had told me this when I was younger.”  The truth is someone was telling him this he just wasn’t listening.  We don’t listen because we don’t want to hear it - but hear it we must.  Our text this morning is found in Ecclesiastes chapter 6.

Text: Ecclesiastes 6:1-12

Keep in mind the book is about joy - real, lasting, robust, resilient joy - and where to find it.
It is not found in intellectual pursuits.
It is not found in abandonment to pleasure.
It cannot be had through personal achievement, the acquisition of power or the accumulation of stuff.

It is the gift of God to His people.

Chapter six is a discouraging chapter.  It is down right depressing.  If you pull chapter six from its context and read it outside of the preacher’s whole message you would have to conclude life is a dead end street.  Life is hard and then you die - have a good day!

You must read it in the context of the preacher’s whole message.  When you do so you understand that…

Thesis
The persistent warning of the preacher underscores the necessity of faith in Christ.

The whole of the book comes down to this - life apart from God is a vain thing.  Therefore fear God and keep His commandments.

In our text the preacher sounds three warnings.

• The preacher warns of the devastation of a full yet empty life.  (6:1-6)
• The preacher warns of the disastrous effects of discontentment.  (6:8-9)
• The preacher warns of the utter despair of a godless life.  (6:10-12)

Conclusion
Life is a dead end street.  There is no meaning.  There is no ultimate purpose.  Life is whatever you can make it here and now.  Life apart from God is a vain, worthless existence.  The Gospel is  the good news that there is life eternal and abundant.  It is a life that transforms from glory unto glory and it is yours by the grace of God.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 5:1-20. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 29, 2010.

Introduction
Don’t you find the news depressing?  Whether you are talking about television, radio or the paper it just seems there is so much “bad” news.  Shootings, stabbings, abuse, war, financial crisis, terrorism and that’s just the school news!  Don’t eat eggs, don’t drink the water, 100 degree temperatures returning…enough already.  You reach a point where you just don’t want to hear it anymore.  “I’m tired of the bad news - give me some good news for a change.”  So you come to church and your pastor is preaching through Ecclesiastes.  You just can’t catch a break.  But you see Ecclesiastes is good news.  It is the good news that there is real joy and lasting satisfaction and it can be had here and now in this sin-sick, twisted world.  It is God’s gift to His people.  Don’t take my word for it, listen to Solomon:
Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Did you catch it?  God gifts His people with the ability to enjoy life.  Now, we are talking about joy not happiness.  There is a difference.  Happiness is a feeling of elation when everything is as it should be.  Happiness is that which happens to happen with things happen to happen happily.  But if things happen to happen unhappily - you ain’t happy!  Joy is a deep, abiding sense of satisfaction regardless of the circumstance.  We are not assured of happiness in this world.  In fact we are told to expect heartache and tribulation but we can know joy because it is rooted in the person of the Lord Jesus who is an ever-present help in time of need.  Oh, the book of Ecclesiastes is a book of real, robust and resilient joy.  Our text this morning is found in the fifth chapter.

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:1-20
Solomon is thinking out loud.
He is looking back over a lifetime and seeing what lessons he has learned.
Where does one find real joy?
Is it through knowledge or intellectual pursuit?
Is pleasure the path to satisfaction?
How about wealth, power, influence or achievement?

No, all that amounts to “striving after wind.”
They are vain pursuits - hollow, empty, meaningless.

• Chapter 3 = trust God.
• Chapter 4 = the vanity of life apart from God.
• Chapter 5…

Thesis: Only a clear vision of God and a corresponding response of faith can produce lasting joy.

I want to point out three things as we make our way through this text.

1. Foolish worship distorts your vision of God and disrupts genuine joy.  (5:1-7)
2. Frustration over corruption and a preoccupation with wealth distorts your values and destroys any chance for lasting joy.  (5:8-17)
3. Trust in a good and sovereign God enables a rich, robust and resilient joy.  (5:18-20)

You were made to be in relationship with God.
You will be restless until you find your rest in Him.
Only a clear vision of God and a corresponding response of faith can produce lasting joy.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 4:1-16. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 22, 2010.

Intro:

Well he was no Joel Olsteen that’s for sure!  In fact I’m certain he wouldn’t have a large church today.  His message is a little hard to listen to.  He just seems so negative.  He seems to be soured on life.  How are you going to build a crowd when your whole message seems to be summed up with, “Life stinks?”  Who would drag themselves out of bed on a Sunday morning to come hear a preacher say, “Life is hollow, meaningless and empty?”  There are sections of his book, when reading it, you have to keep reminding yourself, “All Scripture is breathed of God and is profitable.”  The truth is, Solomon is not as negative as it may seem.  Keep in mind the book of Ecclesiastes was written late in his life.  He is looking back over a lifetime and evaluating the life he has lived.  He is seeking to “make sense” of it all.  He desires to pass on some insight for living.  Where is it a man finds real, lasting joy and satisfaction?  It is not to be found in intellectual pursuit.  It is cannot be had by indulging one’s appetite for pleasure.  Nor is it to be found in career advancement, the acquisition of power or the accumulation of wealth.  Real joy and lasting satisfaction is the gift of God’s grace to His people.

Apart from Him life is meaningless.  Apart from Him there is no real joy, no lasting satisfaction.  There is only temporary pleasure and momentary relief.  Life under the sun is a vain existence.  If you take God out of the equation and then set out on a quest for joy you are on a fool’s errand.  Our text this morning is found in Ecclesiastes the fourth chapter.

Text: Ecclesiastes 4:1-16
In chapter 3 we discovered that joy and satisfaction are the fruit of trusting wholly in God’s person and work.  It is to acknowledge His sovereign rule over all things.  It is to rest in His providential working.  It is to trust in His righteous handling of all things.  That’s good.  If you can do that you are well on your way to a life of joy and real, lasting satisfaction.  In chapter 4 Solomon seems to take a step backwards.

Chapter 4 is a miserable chapter!
Chapter 4 reads like the confession of a soured, jaded, hardened skeptic.
He points out problem after problem but offers no solution.
“It’s striving after the wind.”
“This also is vanity and an unhappy business.”
Until he concludes the chapter with, “…this also is vanity and a striving after wind.”
What happened?
Did he forget what he just said?
You have to read the whole book.

What is the book about?
It is about joy - real, lasting, robust, resilient joy and where to find it.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20: Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.
19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.
20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

What is chapter 4 about?

Thesis: The disturbing words of the preacher serve to underscore the futility of life apart from God.

There are 4 things I would like to point out from our text.

1. The cares and troubles of this life are often so overwhelming that death or better yet nonexistence seems preferable.  (4:1-3)
2. Driving ambition and endless pursuit of success and prosperity can lead to a crushing loneliness.  (4:4-8)
3. Selfish ambition and rugged individualism leaves you alone and vulnerable.  (4:9-12)
4. The adoration of the crowd and the popularity of success are sorry substitutes for a genuine friend.  (4:13-16)

Joy, peace and lasting satisfaction are to be found in Christ and in Him alone.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 3:1-22. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 15, 2010.

Introduction
I saw in the paper this week that Tulsa has had 21 homicides since May 1.  During this same period there have been 311 shootings.  There was a time, not so long ago, that we expected such things to be happening in large metropolitan areas such as New York, Chicago or Los Angelus but not here.  Not in the buckle of the “Bible Belt.”  Life here was good.  People were friendly.  Church played a prominent role but times have changed.  Pessimism has replaced optimism, skepticism has replaced hope and life has become meaningless.  This didn’t happen overnight.  It’s been coming for a long time.  I think this quote sums up the majority opinion today, “There is no reason to suppose that a man’s life has any more meaning that the life of the humblest insect that crawls from one annihilation to another.”  Catchy don’t you think?   A nice uplifting thought.  Have we really become that jaded?  What may surprise you is that quote is from an English professor at Columbia University during the 1940s!  What was thought in the halls of academia in 1940 is being lived out on the streets of our city in 2010.

It is the notion that individuals are not unique and therefore not important.  Life is without meaning and if life is without meaning it isn’t worth living.  Let’s all just eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.  To quote the ‘preacher,’ “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”  Empty, hollow, nothingness - what is?  Everything…under the sun.  If you consider life apart from God it is empty, meaningless.  Life apart from God and the things of God is unsatisfying.  Oh there may be a moment of joy but it doesn’t last.  There may be happiness but it is fading.  The party ends.  The money gets spent.  The music stops.  The crowd gets bored and moves on.  You will go down to the grave and be forgotten.  Nothing lasts.  Nothing ultimately satisfies.  Nothing that is under the sun.  Our text this morning is found in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes.

Text: Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
Solomon states his conclusion from the very beginning - 1:2 - “Vanity of vanities all is vanity.”
Life is empty - under the sun.
He sought for meaning through intellect and discovered it wasn’t there.
He sought it through pleasure and came up empty.
Then he tried to find satisfaction through work and the accumulation of stuff and learned it was a fool’s errand.

Where does one find true satisfaction and lasting joy?
It is the gift of God’s grace.
As we explore the 3rd chapter we discover that…

Thesis: Deep, genuine satisfaction is the result of trusting wholly in God’s person and work.
There are three things I want to call to your attention from our text.

1. Lasting joy and genuine satisfaction demands that you gratefully acknowledge Gods’ sovereign rule over all things.  (3:1-8)
2. Lasting joy and genuine satisfaction demands that you rest in God’s providential working.  (3:9-15)
3. Lasting joy and genuine satisfaction demands that you trust in God’s righteous handling of the end of all things.  (3:16-22)

Conclusion
What is it that brings lasting joy and genuine satisfaction?  It is the knowledge of God’s sovereign rule over all things, it is resting in His providential working, and trusting his righteous handling of the end of all things.

Deep, genuine satisfaction is the result of trusting wholly in God’s person and work.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 2:12-26. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, August 1, 2010.

Introduction
It seems to me it starts earlier and earlier.  We start asking kids, at a young age, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  It’s one of the fruits of living in a free and prosperous society.  We condition kids early on to understand, “You can be anything you want to be.”  In many parts of the world you won’t find kids dreaming of what they will be when they grow up - they just hope to live long enough to grow up!  As a young person moves toward high school we expect them to have a plan.  “What are your goals?”  “What college are you plan to attend?”  “What do you want to do with your life?”  What is interesting is to see how things change.  I love to go to high school homecoming and senior recognition and hear what the students’ plans are.  “After graduating Susie plans to attend MIT with a double major in nuclear physics and medieval renaissance theology.”  A couple of years later you learn Susie is taking some night courses through TCC and working at Wal-Mart.  My point is youth is filled with optimism and hope and it should be!  I bring it up because it is important to note Solomon did not write Ecclesiastes as a young man but rather as an old man looking back on a life of experience.  When you ask a kid what he or she wants to be when they grow up - they do not answer, “I hope to be a bitter, disillusioned failure.”  The goal, regardless of what path they may choose to follow, is to be happy, successful and live with meaning and purpose.  That is why it is critically important for us to hear and heed the message of “the preacher.”  Solomon’s years of empty experience taught him that experience is empty.  Life under the sun is filled with bitter disappointment and is unsatisfying.

Life without regard for God or the things of God is an empty, vain thing.
While there are momentary joys, times of peace and contentment, they do not last.
Thus the preacher cries, “Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity.”
He sought satisfaction through wisdom and found it empty.
He sought satisfaction through pleasure and found it was an illusion.
In the text we are going to explore this morning he reaches an end to the first section of his book.
Our text is found in the second half of the second chapter.

Text: Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
Keep in mind the preacher is “thinking out loud.”
He is bringing us along in a process.
He is walking us through his life experience and sharing what he’s learned.
I want to point out three things in this summary and then draw a final conclusion.

1. Wisdom while advantageous cannot, in itself, secure lasting joy.  (2:12-17)
2. Wealth and professional success, while providing momentary peace, ultimately falls short of lasting joy.  (2:18-23)
3. Lasting joy only comes through the gracious work of God in the hearts of His people.  (2:24-26)

Conclusion: Satisfaction is the gracious gift of God to His people.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 2:1-11. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, July 25, 2010.

Introduction
It’s one of life’s most disappointing experiences.  It is the kind of thing that leaves you jaded, skeptical and disillusioned.  Getting what you’d hoped for!  Have you been there?  Maybe it was your dream job but it turned out to be a nightmare.  Perhaps your dream house was, in fact, a money pit.   Your dream car?  A lemon.  That girl you had to marry…well we’ll not go there but you get the idea.  Life under the sun is filled with broken dreams, disappointing successes and unfulfilled expectations.  In short, satisfaction is just beyond your grasp.  Satisfaction is the “fulfillment of one’s wishes” or the pleasure derived from experiencing dreams come true.  In fairy-tales people live happily ever-after.  But, in case you haven’t noticed, life is no fairy-tale.  In the real world it seems we are forever on the trail of satisfaction.  It’s just around the corner.  Perhaps it will come with the next promotion.  Maybe if we get in the right neighborhood.  Surely when we get out from under this debt - but by the time we get there satisfaction has moved on.  It’s why the preacher cried, “Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity!”  Empty, transient, passing, hollow.  What is?  Everything!  Everything that is, “under the sun.”  When you evaluate life without regard for God or the things of God the logical conclusion is - it’s empty, meaningless, unsatisfying.

Solomon is looking back over his life and evaluating.  He sees his life as a grand experiment.  He has done a little bit of everything.  He has tried everything.  And he has come to this conclusion - “after all my I’ve experienced, after all I’ve accomplished, if you add up what I’ve accomplished and what I’ve accumulated, what do I have?  A great big jar of nothing!”  He is not saying he has not accomplished anything.  He isn’t suggesting that he has not enjoyed himself along the way.  He is saying, “ultimately it does not satisfy.”  The apostle Paul told the church at Corinth that the Old Testament Scriptures were written for their benefit.  They were to learn from them so as not to make the same mistakes.  We have the benefit of Solomon’s experience.  He’s been there, done that and he has the t-shirt but it seems we are determined to learn the same lessons the hard way - through our own painful experience.  Our text this morning is found in the 2nd chapter of Ecclesiastes and we will begin at verse 1.

Text: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Solomon leaves no doubt about where he is heading - 1:2-3.
He states his conclusion at the very beginning.
Keep in mind he is “thinking out loud” we are traveling this road with him.
Solomon shifts gears with chapter 2.  If wisdom proves to be ineffective then maybe the “good life” is the key to a good life.  If not wisdom how about pleasure?

It is here that we learn…

Thesis: Genuine, lasting satisfaction cannot be attained through human means.
This is something our culture needs to hear.  We have been raised to believe we can accomplish anything.  If you want it bad enough and you work hard enough you can have it.  We idolize the “self-made” man.  We love those rags to riches stories and want to believe it can happen to us some day.

In addition we’ve convinced ourselves that the “successful” are happy and fulfilled.  They must be because they have it all.  That’s not what Solomon says.

Let me point out three things as we work our way through this text.

1. The promise of satisfaction through pleasure proves to an illusion.  (2:1-3)
2. The notion that power, position and prestige brings peace and contentment is an empty dream.  (2:4-8)
3. Though the pursuit of pleasure and the accumulation of power bring momentary relief and provide a temporary distraction they do not, in fact, cannot satisfy.  (2:9-11)

Conclusion
He had a thousand women - 700 wives and 300 concubines (all them beautiful).
He had more money than a man could spend.
He had vast estates.
He had time and means to pursue every possible pleasure.
And it all amounted to what?  Nothing.  Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

Why is that?
Hebrews 9:27 - appointed unto man to die once and then comes the judgment.
Death comes to all and then what?

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 1:12-18. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered by Pastor Rod Harris on Sunday morning, July 18, 2010.

Introduction
It may not always be expressed in the same way.  In fact, it may not be worked out to the point the person even understands what they are longing for but people want to know, “why they are here.”  I don’t mean why they are in church today.  I mean why are they on the planet?  Why do they exist?  What is the purpose or meaning of life?  Tied directly to this question is the confusion surrounding why the accumulation of wealth, power and influence does not satisfy.  You may say, “Well I’ve really not been given the opportunity to test that hypothesis.  I can’t say wealth, power and influence does not satisfy I haven’t experience any of them for myself.”  Perhaps not but you’ve desired something.  Something that you believed, if you just got it - you would know happiness.  So you worked and you planned and you saved and finally you got what you wanted and it was wonderful…for a while.  But soon the joy passed.  The newness wore off.  It did not satisfy and something else caught your attention and you were certain that it would bring lasting joy.

Just for fun the other day I “googled” - “the path to happiness.”  I found listed several websites that promised to guide me down the path to true and genuine happiness.  One was actually named pathtohappiness.com!  The website assures Happiness is not a result of what happens to us, it is a result of the stories we tell ourselves about what happens to us.  The site promises to guide you through a process of identifying the stories you tell yourself, how to evaluate them, offer you other stories that might better serve you and thus lead you to genuine, lasting happiness.  According to an article in USA Today one of the fastest growing industries in the country is “Life Coaching.”  A life coach is an individual who comes along side to get you “unstuck” professionally or personally.  I would have to add to this, because it was not covered in the USA Today article, “spiritual coaching.”  According to the article, written in 208, there were 10,000 life coaches operating in the United States.  That number has risen dramatically over the last couple of years.  Why?  In spite of all of our technological advances, regardless of our high standard of living, despite Facebook, people are lonely, frustrated, unfulfilled and empty.  The cry of “the preacher” 10 centuries before Christ rings true today, “Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity!”  All of life is empty, transient and passing.  Our text this morning is found in the first chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes.

Text: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
The preacher, the one who calls the assembly is walking us through a process.
He is surveying his life and looking at his life as a great experiment.
He is thinking out loud about life and its lessons.
At times he seems depressed and melancholy but you must remember the phrase, “Under the sun.”

Life with God out of the equation.
Life without regard for God or the things of God.
Life from a merely human perspective leads to these conclusions.
It is a fallacy to believe the writer thinks nothing in life is worthwhile.

He is not saying there is nothing of any value in anything - he is saying, if there is no God and this is all there is - it is ultimately empty and unsatisfying.  Sin always has its pleasures.  The most godless person you can think of has his moments of peace and joy.  The point is such peace and joy ultimately prove to be fleeting.  They do not last and they do not satisfy.

He begins by stating his conclusion - life under the sun is full of vanity.
Vanity = empty, transient, fading, unsatisfying, unfulfilling
Life apart from God is an endless drudgery leading nowhere.
It is a meaningless, monotonous existence.
It is an empty memory.
In other words it is a vain and empty pursuit.

We pick up with verse 12 of chapter 1 (read the text).

Here we discover…
Thesis: Any attempt to gain meaningful satisfaction through intellectual pursuits proves to be a fool’s errand.

You know what a fool’s errand is - it is a fruitless mission or undertaking; a completely absurd and pointless pursuit.  It is a task or activity that has no hope of succeeding.  That’s what Solomon describes in our text.

I think we need to understand this because we live in a culture that believes if you just “educate” people everything will be okay.  The problem is people just don’t know.  When they know this or that is wrong or hurtful they won’t do that anymore.  That’s not true.  It’s not that simple.  Don’t misunderstand me - I’m all for education.  “I are educated” but knowledge, by and in itself, is not the answer.  Solomon makes that clear in our text.

Let me point out 3 things.

1. A sincere, diligent search for meaning through mere human wisdom proves fruitless.  (1:12-14)
2. In spite of profound effort applied with genuine desire answers prove to be allusive.  (1:15-17)
3. Such pursuits only add to the misery of life apart from God.  (1:18)

Conclusion
Solomon did not say, and I’m certainly not going to say, that if you are not a Christian you cannot know any joy in this life.  Of course there are moments of joy, peace and genuine happiness but they ultimately fade.  They are transient, they are passing.  Those moments will not fill the emptiness deep within your soul.  In fact those moments only cause you to hunger more for genuine, lasting fulfillment.  A fulfillment that can only be known through Christ.

 

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An exposition of Ecclesiastes 1:1-11. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, July 11, 2010.

Introduction
Power is an illusion.  Fame is fleeting.  Life is but a vapor.  We spend our days fighting and clawing our away to the top.  We struggle and strain in the hopes that we will achieve some success, that we will be remembered for some great thing.  All the while knowing that the vast majority of us will live and die in obscurity.  Few will take note that we traveled this way.  Oh, and those who do achieve notoriety - they too will one day be forgotten.  Doris Kearns Goodwin, the presidential biographer, gives these haunting words about the end of Lyndon Baynes Johnson:

A month before he died, he spoke to me with immense sadness in his voice.  He said he was watching the American people absorbed in a new president, forgetting him, forgetting even the great civil rights laws that he had passed.  He was beginning to think his quest for immortality had been in vain, that perhaps he would have been better off focusing his time and attention on his wife and his children, so then he could have had a different sort of immortality through his children and their children in turn.  He could have depended on them in a way he couldn’t depend on the American people.  But it was too late.  Four weeks later he was dead.  Despite all his money and power he was completely alone when he died, his ultimate terror realized.  (from a commencement address quoted in Holman Old Testament Commentary: Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs page 20.)

At one point the most powerful man in the world.  A few years later he died…alone.  Just one of many of the once great who are now footnotes in history.  Is it any wonder the “preacher” cried, ?“Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity?”  We live in a skeptical age, among jaded people.  Life has been robbed of any meaning.  The endless pursuit of materialism has proven fruitless.  The power of pleasure to satisfy has proved to be an illusion.  We are left to wonder, “Is life worth living?”  By the way we are not the first to wonder about that.  10 centuries before Christ a perceptive preacher asked, “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?”  In other words, “What profit is there in living?”  Our text this morning is found in chapter one of the book of Ecclesiastes.

Text: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Admit it - this is an odd and confusing book!
It is part of the “wisdom literature” of the Old Testament.
Though the author is not named it has been assumed that Solomon authored this book.
That would make Solomon the author of three O.T books:
Song of Solomon or Song of Songs - written as a young man - about marital bliss.
Proverbs - written during midlife - extolling the virtue of wisdom rooted in the “fear of God.”
Ecclesiastes - written at the end of his life demonstrating the folly of life apart from God.

The book has been a source of conflict through the years.  There have been various approaches taken in trying to make sense of it.  Is this the rantings of an “eternal pessimist?”  Do we have here the reasoned arguments of a religious and philosophical skeptic?  It seems, at times, the author blatantly contradicts other Scripture or at least makes some very unorthodox statements.  When reading the book you get the idea the writer has “issues.”

But actually the dark, foreboding and brooding conclusions we find throughout the book are not the author’s final conclusions.  For his ultimate assessment we have to wait until the end of the book.  The preacher is “talking” through the issues.  He is speaking “out loud” as he works his way through these deep, theological and philosophical questions.

We begin in chapter 1.
The first 11 verses serve to remind us that…

Thesis: Life apart from Christ is a vain and empty pursuit.

There are three things I want to point out in our text.

1. Life apart from Christ is filled with never-ending drudgery that leads nowhere.  (1:1-8)
2. Life apart from Christ is a meaningless, monotonous existence.  (1:9-10)
3. Life apart from Christ is an empty memory.  (1:11)

Conclusion
“Pastor, thanks for the uplifting sermon today!”  That’s my point.  You cannot appreciate the wonder of God’s grace until you taste the despair of life without Him.  Friend, life apart from Christ is a vain and empty pursuit.  In contrast Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and that life in abundance.”