WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:20.480 ! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.679 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:32.159 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.359 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.159 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:48.799 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:55.120 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian, 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.320 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.280 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.759 that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:14.000 Father, 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:20.479 Father, we sometimes don't understand Your Word, 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:26.640 and sometimes, Father, we just want it, Your Word to be really, like really, really, really simple, 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:32.400 so we don't have to do any thinking about it or ponder it or meditate upon it. But Father, 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:38.800 you know that we need more than that. And so we thank You, Father, for You causing the Book of Ecclesiastes 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:48.000 to be written. And we ask that Your Holy Spirit would work in our mind and our will and our emotions and 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:54.560 our affections, that we might remember Your Word and ponder it and look for the nuances and appreciate 00:01:54.560 --> 00:02:00.479 what You've said, and that Your Holy Spirit would lead us and guide us into all truth. And we ask this in the 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:04.960 name of Jesus, Your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:15.520 Get my stuff gathered. So, 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:29.840 vanity of vanities, says the teacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What does man gain by all 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:37.120 the toil at which he toils under the sun? Or what does woman gain by all the toil at which she toils 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:42.480 under the sun? Now, if that doesn't make you want to get up and dance, I don't know what will. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:50.319 It's just one of those really exciting types of texts. In fact, I've told one of them was Jono. I 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:55.280 was joking with Jono. Jono actually writes songs occasionally. And to another person I know who 00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:00.959 writes music. And I said, you know what? Here's a challenge. You should write a praise album all 00:03:00.959 --> 00:03:07.439 based on the Book of Ecclesiastes. Like, I'm sure it would be a huge, huge seller. People would love it. 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:14.840 But it's very, very bracing stuff. The Book of Ecclesiastes is considered to be part of the wisdom 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:21.579 literature. And it's a book that people either really, really like, I mean, they puzzle over it, 00:03:21.579 --> 00:03:26.439 or it tends to be a book that they don't really like. It doesn't really make any sense to them. 00:03:26.620 --> 00:03:31.680 Hopefully, by the end of this sermon series that we do on it, over the next 10 weeks or so, 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:38.659 you will come to love it and see how wise it is. But I should also mention, and I ask you if you 00:03:38.659 --> 00:03:44.960 could really pray for me into this, most biblical scholars who've specialized in the Old Testament 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:51.400 would say this might be one of the hardest books in the entire Bible to interpret and understand. 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:58.040 And so two things about that, or three things. One is that the Lord would help me to understand it. 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:04.199 Maybe just do the second thing is that I don't fall into lecture mode and describe all the 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:09.680 interpretive options and things, because that's a lecture and nobody comes here for a lecture. We 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:15.659 come here to sit under and plunder the Word of the Lord together, the Word of God together. So just 00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:22.319 pray that I'm able to do that. So what's going on? Like, why on earth is there a book like this in 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:27.579 the Bible? Why would there be something that says vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, 00:04:27.579 --> 00:04:33.879 all is vanity? What does man or woman gain by all the toil? And by all there it means any toil, 00:04:34.219 --> 00:04:41.519 every bit of toil, every individual bit of toil, and the sum of all the toil at which he toils under 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:46.799 the sun. And why does it even say toil rather than, you know, work? Because not all work is toil. Why 00:04:46.799 --> 00:04:52.799 does it talk like that? And why on earth is it in the Bible? For most people, they want to come to 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:57.680 church. They think that religion and spirituality should be something which is uplifting, gives you 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:06.319 hope. Most of us don't need despair or burdens. And I guess I'm going to tell you right off the bat 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:13.420 what I hope to be able to develop week by week over the next weeks is that one way to understand this 00:05:13.420 --> 00:05:22.420 book is it's a book of subversive fulfillment. It's a book of subversive fulfillment. By that I mean, 00:05:23.080 --> 00:05:31.240 it is going to relentlessly strip away the illusions and unreality that we live by 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:40.920 and bring us face to face with reality, but in the context of who God is so that it subverts 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:49.579 the reasons that we do things, the illusions we tell ourselves. It's relentless in subverting it. 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:56.460 But once you listen to the book and go through it, the things that you really are more deeply longing 00:05:56.459 --> 00:06:02.699 for are fulfilled, but are fulfilled in a wise and realistic manner. That's sort of the big, 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:07.479 you know, picture what the book is going to do. But let's get into it. And it begins with this, 00:06:07.560 --> 00:06:15.139 verse one, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Now the word preacher 00:06:15.139 --> 00:06:21.759 there, that can be translated as teacher or sage or speaker or even professor. I'm probably going to 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:25.319 use the word teacher all the time just because I'm preaching it and it would sort of look pretty 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:30.439 absurd for me to say it. People might think I'm trying to, you know, take over God's word. I'm 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:35.379 going to say the word teacher. And then there, some of you might know, so by the way, so the first three 00:06:35.379 --> 00:06:38.920 verses are quite important to understand the rest of the book. And we're going to spend most of the 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:46.360 sermon on the first three verses. And the first verse is important, not for the reason that people 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:52.420 think it is, but what I'll explain to you right now. There's a big debate about whether Solomon 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:57.600 wrote the book. And there's hints in the book, even this opening thing that make you think only Solomon 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:03.540 fits that bill. But there's other hints, if you're really interested, you can go online and look up 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:09.600 commentaries and all on it, that hint that it couldn't be Solomon. But here's what I think you need to 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:19.080 take away from it. The book is going to keep making a sense thought experiments and experiments of making 00:07:19.080 --> 00:07:25.460 us think about how we think and how we understand the world. And one of the things that we often do 00:07:25.460 --> 00:07:30.820 with ourselves is think this, you know, if I only had a bigger church, if we only had a building, 00:07:31.340 --> 00:07:38.600 if I only had more money, if I only had better connections, if I only had this, if I only had that, 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:45.000 if I only had, like if I only had is a regular feature of how we think about things and why things 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:50.660 would be better. If I only had better parents, better family, better this, better that, whatever, 00:07:51.200 --> 00:07:57.060 more power, more people to do my biddings, if I only had. And so what you need to understand is whether 00:07:57.060 --> 00:08:04.439 this has been done by Solomon or somebody taking the guise of Solomon, he's wanting to signal right at 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:12.500 the beginning. And you'll see it as you go through the book. This is a Solomon-like power person. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:20.399 He has all the resources. He has all the lackeys. He has all the women. He has all the wealth. He has 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:26.060 all the connections. He has all of this, that he, all of that, he has it. And he's going to discover 00:08:26.060 --> 00:08:31.019 as he goes through the book that it doesn't matter if you have all the lackeys. It doesn't matter if 00:08:31.019 --> 00:08:35.159 you're the richest person on the planet. It doesn't matter if you have all of these types of things. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:40.039 It doesn't matter if you have fame. Most of the things that we think that would be better if only 00:08:40.039 --> 00:08:48.220 we had it, in fact, is a substantial illusion and is dwelling in unreality. And so that's the big thing 00:08:48.220 --> 00:08:52.960 about the title, not whether or not it's Solomon or not. It's to understand that the teacher is saying, 00:08:52.960 --> 00:09:01.480 I'm going to look at this as if I have, or claiming I have, a Solomon perspective of vast, vast resources. 00:09:03.220 --> 00:09:10.920 And so some of the people might say, well, already, George, I mean, that's a little bit depressing. 00:09:11.220 --> 00:09:15.560 Like, I mean, surely there are some times when you have a little bit more resources, you are able to 00:09:15.560 --> 00:09:20.820 accomplish something. And you're trying to, I don't know, George, if you're completely correct. And 00:09:20.820 --> 00:09:25.500 obviously, some people maybe go overboard on it. But I'm pretty reasonable about those types of 00:09:25.500 --> 00:09:29.340 things. And there are times when you need just some more resources. And the Bible is not saying 00:09:29.340 --> 00:09:36.140 you don't sometimes need some more resources. And it just seems still a bit, you said the first three 00:09:36.140 --> 00:09:40.920 verses are important to understand the whole book, but everything is vanity. There's no gain whatsoever. 00:09:40.920 --> 00:09:50.640 Like, George, that just seems contradictory and extreme. Well, let's look at it. So that's the first verse. 00:09:50.820 --> 00:09:55.000 It's going to be important for all of the thought experiments that go on throughout the next, the rest of the 00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:02.340 book. And then it begins with this, one of the three, one of the two main truths of the book of Ecclesiastes 00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:11.860 is verse two. Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, or the teacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. 00:10:11.860 --> 00:10:21.379 All is vanity. Now, the word which is translated here is vanity. This is a bit of a geeky moment, but it's 00:10:21.379 --> 00:10:28.519 important, is translating a particular Hebrew word. And how you translate that Hebrew word is going to 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:36.740 really affect how you understand everything in the book. And the word literally means vapor. And just as a 00:10:36.740 --> 00:10:42.940 bit of an aside, I rarely critique Bible versions. And in, just so you know, in my own personal Bible 00:10:42.940 --> 00:10:48.019 reading devotional time, I use the New International Version. I preach from the ESV, but my personal 00:10:48.019 --> 00:10:53.840 devotions, I use the NIV. But the NIV has a terrible translation of this word. It's not meaningless. It's 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:59.980 a terrible translation. And it will only lead you astray and make the book seem incomprehensible. 00:10:59.980 --> 00:11:07.379 The word that's translated here as vanity has two primary meanings in the book. It has three primary 00:11:07.379 --> 00:11:12.519 meanings in the Old Testament. It appears almost, I think it's 70 some odd times in the whole Old 00:11:12.519 --> 00:11:18.420 Testament. And in the book of, in this book, it's going to appear 38 times. So it's a very important 00:11:18.420 --> 00:11:26.680 word. And its primary meaning is vapor. And so to understand what it means by it, imagine that in 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:33.199 January, you're all having a chat outside. We've finished the service and you stand to chat to some 00:11:33.199 --> 00:11:40.079 people outside and it's minus 20 outside. And as you talk, you can see your breath. You can see your 00:11:40.079 --> 00:11:45.979 breath. And that, if you just think of that, that's what this word means. That's its fundamental meaning. 00:11:47.139 --> 00:11:50.919 And you can see the breath. It only appears for a moment and then it's gone. 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:58.139 And that's this, it means vapor. It's, it's betraying transit, it's very transience, 00:11:58.899 --> 00:12:06.099 insubstantial, insubstantial, uh, here for a moment and then gone. That's its primary meaning. 00:12:06.459 --> 00:12:12.779 The secondary meaning is connected to the primary meaning. And it is, in fact, I think the best 00:12:12.779 --> 00:12:19.819 translation is the word vanity or vain. Because the fact of the matter is, is that I am vapor 00:12:19.820 --> 00:12:30.040 vapor with pretensions. And so are you. I am vapor with pretensions. I think I'm not vapor. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:38.220 I think, uh, death is a choice I'm going to make, not something inevitable. I think I can do things 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:45.240 that, uh, are non-vapor-like and will endure and have solidity. And so on one hand, if you are vapor 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:49.680 with pretensions, you think you're greater than vapor. You think you're really quite something. You 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:55.099 think you're the cat's meow. You're a legend in your own mind. You are a terror to your coworkers 00:12:55.099 --> 00:13:00.120 and your family and your neighbor. And you seem like you have all sorts of power. And yet I am 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:05.419 being described as vapor. Having all of those thoughts is, are vain thoughts. It's vanity. 00:13:06.299 --> 00:13:11.659 And to think that I can do types of things that have, even though I'm vapor, that will have something 00:13:11.659 --> 00:13:20.120 solid and real and enduring and close to eternal and transcendent and mighty. Those are, to try to 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:26.059 accomplish those things is a vain pursuit. What's an example of vain pursuit? If after the service, 00:13:26.179 --> 00:13:32.079 uh, you see me and I've decided that I'm going to jump from the sidewalk to the ceiling, to the roof of 00:13:32.079 --> 00:13:37.740 this building, and I'm stretching and I'm practicing and I'm jumping. And you would, I mean, you'd think that 00:13:37.740 --> 00:13:43.019 maybe I've been having a psychotic episode, but you'd say, George, that's impossible. It'll never 00:13:43.019 --> 00:13:47.639 happen. You can train all day. You can become the best jumper in the world. You can't jump from that 00:13:47.639 --> 00:13:53.980 sidewalk onto the roof of this building. It's a vain pursuit. And so that's, those two meanings, 00:13:54.100 --> 00:13:59.159 sometimes in the book, it's going to mainly emphasize the vapor aspect and the transience. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:05.259 And other times it's going to more emphasize this vanity or vain type of thing. But even vanity or 00:14:05.259 --> 00:14:14.779 vain, it's based on the fact, this, this profound truth that I am vapor or like vapor and, and I'm a, 00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:22.460 I'm vapor with pretensions. And, um, and so once again, it says vanity of vanities, says the preacher, 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:32.240 vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And, um, some people might say, well, George, this is self-contradictory. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:40.759 If all is vanity, then that means the statement that all is vanity is vanity. Self-contradictory. 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:45.600 Maybe you don't see it with that. Uh, just, I literally about within the last two weeks or so, 00:14:45.659 --> 00:14:51.840 I had a conversation and, uh, it's, it, I've had conversations like this countless times over the 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:56.259 years. And the, the conversation was, I think was something, oh, it was actually, it was in 00:14:56.259 --> 00:15:01.000 connection to my sermon on the, somebody asked me what my sermon was going to be on about this coming 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:06.320 Sunday. And I said, it was going to be on Psalm 119 and the word of God and, uh, and how God's, 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:10.159 you know, word and speaks to us. And the person said, well, George, that just doesn't make any 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:14.799 sense because words are very, very poor at communicating meaning. You can't actually get 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:19.220 at truth from words and there's not very good. And, and this person, he talked for about a minute 00:15:19.220 --> 00:15:22.799 about that, but you know what? He was using words to tell me that. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:29.019 And he thought his words could be perfectly understood and that his words would connect 00:15:29.019 --> 00:15:35.039 to truth. And he was, so he, every time he spoke with words, he was refuting his idea. 00:15:35.439 --> 00:15:39.620 And when I tried to point it out to them, they, he couldn't see it. Like he just literally couldn't 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:44.500 see it. And I said, let's just think about it for a second. You're using words to tell me that words 00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:51.559 aren't effective. So some people might say it's self-contradictory to say that all is that, 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:55.740 uh, you know, what, uh, vanity of vanity says, the preacher vanity of vanities, all is vanity. 00:15:55.740 --> 00:16:00.600 Well, if, if everything is vanity saying all is vanity is vanity and that's just vapor and that's 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:06.580 sort of self-refuting and is known to the Bible is not self-refuting. So here's one of the features 00:16:06.580 --> 00:16:13.440 that makes the book reading the book a bit hard. And you heard it in my prayer. Um, especially I think 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:20.820 for us North Americans, we're addicted to, uh, simple, clear things like, okay, like, you know, 00:16:20.880 --> 00:16:25.860 some of you work in the government or in other, in business and your, uh, your boss wants a one 00:16:25.860 --> 00:16:31.500 page clear summary of the issue and doesn't want a whole pile of nuance. They'd like a one page 00:16:31.500 --> 00:16:36.600 summary of the issue, an executive summary that they can just get their mind around. We, we like 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:42.740 things that are like clear instructions about how to use, uh, start our cell phone or connect with 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:47.899 something. That's, that's what we really like. And we don't like to have to think that there's 00:16:47.899 --> 00:16:53.620 something that we actually really need to ponder, that it has a surface meaning, but if you spend 00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:57.840 longer with it, there's a deeper meaning. And if you spend longer with it, there's a deeper meaning 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:03.580 and a deeper meaning. And we don't like to have the patience to do that. And sometimes there's not 00:17:03.580 --> 00:17:09.039 just those deeper meanings, but if you look at it, there's riddles and nuances in it. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:15.399 And that's, what's going on here with this, uh, phrase, vanity of vanity says the preacher, 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:23.339 vanity of vanities, all is vanity. There's several riddles in it that if we don't pause to, to begin 00:17:23.339 --> 00:17:29.039 to consider a lot in the book, isn't going to make sense and our life won't make sense because these 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:39.079 riddles help us to understand ourselves in the world better. So, um, well, how can we see that? 00:17:39.220 --> 00:17:42.740 Well, we look at what I said. There's three verses are very important to the whole book. 00:17:44.059 --> 00:17:48.859 The second verse is vanity of vanity says the preacher vanity of vanities, all is vanity. The 00:17:48.859 --> 00:17:54.859 third verse is what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? Or what does 00:17:54.859 --> 00:18:04.019 woman gain by all the toil at which she toils under the sun? So it's these words that help you to 00:18:04.019 --> 00:18:09.879 understand that there's a riddle in verse two. And just, here's another thing about understanding 00:18:09.879 --> 00:18:15.799 the book. In some ways, the question that's asked in verse three is what drives the whole book. 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:24.539 All the way through, what is it profit? What is gained? What's left over? It drives the whole book. 00:18:25.379 --> 00:18:34.019 Verse two is half of the answer he gets by pursuing this question into more and more areas of life. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:43.879 It's the first half of a, of a, of a, of the answer to it. And, um, and you can see that there's a 00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:48.020 riddle here because in verse three, and when it says, what does man gain by all the toil at which 00:18:48.020 --> 00:18:56.740 he toils under the sun? The question is, what does under the sun mean? Under the sun is going to appear 00:18:56.740 --> 00:19:04.300 in the book of Ecclesiastes almost 30, 30 times. So basically every eight verses, it's going to have 00:19:04.300 --> 00:19:12.620 this same phrase over and over and over and over again. And what under the sun means, it's basically 00:19:12.619 --> 00:19:18.839 the same meaning. If you read the book of Revelation and you pay attention to it, you'll see that 00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:24.279 regularly it uses of the earth or earthly in the book of Revelation. It's a, it's a regular, 00:19:24.539 --> 00:19:30.879 and it's 20 some odd times it's in the book. And it's the same type of idea. And that is, 00:19:31.019 --> 00:19:39.000 it's a world where the transcendent God is excluded, the triune God, not religion, not spirituality. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:45.299 I'll talk about that in a moment if I have a, if I have a time, but the triune God, it's the world 00:19:45.299 --> 00:19:52.660 without the triune God. That's what's under the sun. That's what's purely and utterly of the earth. 00:19:53.380 --> 00:19:59.579 So back to then, what I said is the first riddle of vanity of vanities says the teacher, vanity of 00:19:59.579 --> 00:20:05.920 vanities, all is vanity. What does all is vanity mean? Well, it's a little bit like saying this, 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:13.500 people who've maybe always had lots of money or people who are quite broke or come from poor 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:18.860 backgrounds, but many people in North America, they can come, whether they're consciously say it or not, 00:20:18.940 --> 00:20:26.279 we come to the belief that money can buy everything. My problems will be solved if I just had more money. 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:33.160 Money can buy everything. And it's a very, very powerful type of idea, often not expressed so 00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:40.779 bluntly, but that money can buy everything. And those of us, many of us, probably all of us know 00:20:40.779 --> 00:20:48.440 that there's several different wise responses to that. And the first wise response is money can buy 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:56.700 everything that money can buy. Money can buy everything that money can buy. And the wiser 00:20:56.700 --> 00:21:05.220 question is, what is it that money can't buy? And how much is what money can't buy? How valuable 00:21:05.220 --> 00:21:12.400 are the things that money can't buy? And so when it says here, all is vanity, because it's saying all 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:19.000 is vanity, and then it talks about the toil under the sun, the question is, everything under the sun 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:26.740 is vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, all is vain. But what's under the sun and 00:21:26.740 --> 00:21:32.839 what's not? And what is it that's not under the sun? And how is it that that which is not under the sun 00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:41.240 is in fact important? Under the sun, we toil and toil and toil with no gain. Under the sun, 00:21:41.240 --> 00:21:52.279 I am vapor with pretensions and pretensions in my plans. But that is under the sun. And just to make 00:21:52.279 --> 00:22:00.400 sure that you get it, that when it says vanity of vanities, all is vanity, vanity of vanities, 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:06.759 says the teacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, it's a superlative. So it means that it's like 00:22:06.759 --> 00:22:12.700 ultra vanity, like it's vanity to the extreme, that everything is vanity to the extreme. It's not 00:22:12.700 --> 00:22:19.000 just like an appearance thing. It's not just an occasional thing. It characterizes all these things 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:28.000 under the sun. It permeates everything under the sun, is permeated by extreme vapor and extreme vanity. 00:22:28.220 --> 00:22:34.160 That's what the text is saying. And once again, this sounds like it's a very, very depressing thing. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:43.600 But the writer is going to use this, push us and push us and push us to consider what's not under the sun. 00:22:44.800 --> 00:22:51.500 We find that depressing, but at the other hand, it's true. And what that means is that there's 00:22:51.500 --> 00:22:58.600 something out of whack with us. And there's also a true longing and yearning that we have. 00:22:58.599 --> 00:23:05.199 So just to give away the end of the book, one of the things which is different about the book of 00:23:05.199 --> 00:23:10.879 Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes, they're both wisdom books. But Proverbs begins with the 00:23:10.879 --> 00:23:19.939 statement, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's how it begins. Ecclesiastes is going 00:23:19.939 --> 00:23:25.519 to take us from another point of view. It's going to drive us with this question about under the sun 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:32.400 and all of our toil to conclude with the fear of the Lord is what matters. It's going to use this 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:37.339 existential thing to get us to think about our lives, to drive us to there. 00:23:38.900 --> 00:23:42.519 So in the next 10 minutes or so, 00:23:42.819 --> 00:23:48.639 one of the things you'll notice in the book of Ecclesiastes is that there are certain like very 00:23:48.639 --> 00:23:53.180 key verses and you really need to understand those phrases. But then there's other bigger sections where 00:23:53.180 --> 00:23:57.799 it doesn't matter if you go through them word by word, it's giving you in a sense more of a mood, 00:23:58.560 --> 00:24:04.920 more of a type of posture, more of a type of aha moment. And that's what you see immediately after 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:10.720 this thing. So if you read verse 3 again, it goes, what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:17.560 under the sun? And it continues, verse 4, a generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains 00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:23.859 forever. The sun rises and the sun goes down and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows 00:24:23.859 --> 00:24:29.039 to the south and goes around to the north. Around and around goes the wind and on circuits the wind 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:34.759 returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full to the place where the streams flow. 00:24:34.940 --> 00:24:44.559 There they flow again. All things are full of weariness. A man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:51.319 with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. I could just show you that even in nature, I know that 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:55.440 doesn't look like vapor and we're going to, he's going to develop this more, right? It's not as if, 00:24:56.299 --> 00:25:02.559 and by the way, in this little thing here, there's a profound critique of all of the images of the 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:09.099 circle. As if somehow or another, the circle, the cycle of life, doesn't matter if it's the Lion King, 00:25:09.099 --> 00:25:14.759 it doesn't matter if it's the Foundation TV series where they blether on about the circle in eternity, 00:25:14.980 --> 00:25:19.839 they're all not understanding the matter. They're all leading people down a dark path. 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:24.299 It's a trap to be in a circle. Good grief. How can you talk about a circle being infinite when it's 00:25:24.299 --> 00:25:27.579 just something small like that and you can easily see it? Like that doesn't even make any sense if 00:25:27.579 --> 00:25:35.099 you think about it. If you listen to the book of Ecclesiastes, we long for story. We long for 00:25:35.099 --> 00:25:43.159 continuity. We long for development. And if you just see this cycle of rain and the river and rain 00:25:43.159 --> 00:25:47.539 and the river and rain and lake and on and on and on and on, it does not seem as if there's any type 00:25:47.539 --> 00:25:55.599 of development. If you just look at it from the point of view of under the sun. Under the sun. 00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:03.159 And then it goes with this line, verse 9, what has been is what will be, and what has been done is 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:08.840 what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun. I'll return to that in a second because 00:26:08.840 --> 00:26:13.860 often people think that's not true. Is there a thing of which it is said this is new? See, this 00:26:13.860 --> 00:26:19.120 is new. It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will 00:26:19.120 --> 00:26:25.120 there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after. Once again, you can see 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:28.099 how those would be spectacular lyrics for a praise chorus. 00:26:30.959 --> 00:26:37.059 Well, what is this? On one hand, when it says there's nothing new, it's an earlier version, 00:26:37.459 --> 00:26:44.359 and I was going to try to say it in French, but I would just embarrass myself. The French statement, 00:26:44.459 --> 00:26:48.679 the more things change, the more they stay the same. Some of you could say it effortlessly in French. 00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:52.439 It's a very, very common statement. The more things change, the more they stay the same. 00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:57.500 I mean, what is new? I mean, on one hand, nuclear bombs are new, but on the other hand, 00:26:57.860 --> 00:27:03.100 there's always been wars. Just because we have newer weapons or better weapons, there's just 00:27:03.100 --> 00:27:09.660 always been wars. There's always been entertainment. So, you know, 100 years, 500 years ago, entertainment 00:27:09.660 --> 00:27:16.140 might have just been a stick and a rock or something like that. And now, you know, entertainment involves, 00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:21.140 you know, like electronic devices, but it's still just entertainment. And in fact, actually, 00:27:21.140 --> 00:27:27.480 I mean, is nuclear warfare an improvement in warfare over when you just had clubs? Like, 00:27:27.560 --> 00:27:34.060 how is that really like an improvement that you can incinerate a city of 10 million people with one 00:27:34.060 --> 00:27:38.460 bomb? Like, how is that an improvement? And the fact that you still want to do things like that, 00:27:38.520 --> 00:27:44.240 that hasn't changed. Not one iota. Has it? Not one iota. And the fact that, I mean, even you look at 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:47.320 something like, well, our entertainment is way better. Well, I mean, increasingly, it's, 00:27:47.319 --> 00:27:53.679 there's evidence that our bloody cell phones there are actually discombobulating our mind and making us, 00:27:53.819 --> 00:27:58.659 making it harder for us to actually think, and that maybe kids should be protected from them. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:04.299 And, you know, the fact is, it wouldn't surprise me that if you could go back in time for a time 00:28:04.299 --> 00:28:09.119 machine, and back when they were amusing themselves with sticks and stones, they didn't know the word 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:19.859 boredom. Which we are, we are, we are overwhelmed with boredom. And so, you know, I mean, there's emails, 00:28:19.859 --> 00:28:23.179 but we've always been able to communicate, and there's cell phones, but we've always been able 00:28:23.179 --> 00:28:28.000 to talk. Like, the basic fundamental things haven't changed. Like, we talk, we entertain, we marry, 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:35.359 you know, we build things. Like, we have nations or clubs or tribes or worship. These fundamental 00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:42.799 things haven't really changed. And that's the idea, which is, it's just trying to be, 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:48.359 be connected to us. Now, is this leading us to despair? No, there's, just in closing, 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:54.199 I said there were several riddles with Vanity of Vanities, and there's several riddles with it. 00:28:55.099 --> 00:29:02.819 And hopefully I'm clear about this, and I haven't lost you. The first riddle is this. 00:29:02.819 --> 00:29:07.939 Remember I said that there's two primary, there's three primary meanings for the Hebrew word 00:29:07.939 --> 00:29:13.439 translated as Vanity in the Old Testament. In the book of Ecclesiastes, there's only one direct 00:29:13.439 --> 00:29:20.980 reference, and it's to the vapor and to the transitory, to Vanity. But for a Hebrew reader 00:29:20.980 --> 00:29:25.599 hearing it, they would also know that that is the same word for idol. 00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:34.419 An idol is just other religions, other gods and goddesses. They're no different than your breath 00:29:34.419 --> 00:29:41.819 on a January day. And the other aspect of it is, for the average, that thing of having the two words 00:29:41.819 --> 00:29:47.079 together like that, if you were to ask a Hebrew speaker immersed in the Old Testament what they 00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:51.019 would normally think of, if they think of two words together, they would think of 00:29:51.019 --> 00:29:57.740 holy of holies. That's what they would think of. That's the primary thing that would immediately 00:29:57.740 --> 00:30:06.400 pop to their mind. You see, so here's part of the riddle. What is under the sun? Well, that's described 00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:12.220 by vapor and vanity. But, but, 00:30:12.220 --> 00:30:23.220 God is not vain. The triune God is not vain. And what he does is never a vain exercise. 00:30:24.320 --> 00:30:30.259 If God decides to speak to you, he will speak to you. And he has done so in his word. 00:30:30.259 --> 00:30:37.920 If he decides to provide salvation, he will provide that salvation. And that salvation will actually 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:45.700 really save. If we live under the sun in a world of vapor, how could we ever think that we could save 00:30:45.700 --> 00:30:51.879 ourselves or be delivered from that or create some type of permanence? How could we ever do that? It's 00:30:51.879 --> 00:30:57.460 going to be completely and utterly impossible. It has to be something that comes from beyond under the sun 00:30:57.460 --> 00:31:03.000 into our reality. And we, under the sun, might just think that everything is vapor and vapor, but that's 00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:08.460 just under the sun. In fact, the only reason that we stay together is because there is a God who does 00:31:08.460 --> 00:31:16.759 exist, who has created all things, and holds all things together. I am, in a sense, vapor held together 00:31:16.759 --> 00:31:20.299 moment by moment by the triune God. That is who I am. 00:31:20.299 --> 00:31:31.859 And to think that I hold myself together is vanity. To think that I can become permanent and real is 00:31:31.859 --> 00:31:38.019 vanity. There is the really, really, really real, and that is the holy of holies, the God of gods, 00:31:38.119 --> 00:31:44.059 the most God of most gods. I want to show you something about how the book ends. Remember I said that all 00:31:44.059 --> 00:31:49.500 the way through the book, there's two primary truths that are being communicated to you. The first one is 00:31:49.500 --> 00:31:54.700 vanity of vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. How does the book end? 00:31:54.740 --> 00:32:01.039 The book ends with the complementary truth. And if you turn in your Bibles, you'll see on the screen, 00:32:01.140 --> 00:32:07.480 it's Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verses 13 to 14. The end of the matter, all has been heard, 00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:14.619 fear God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole duty of man, of woman. For God will bring 00:32:14.619 --> 00:32:19.239 every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. 00:32:22.539 --> 00:32:28.319 Why is it used this language of fear of God? Well, it uses it for two good reasons. From an inside 00:32:28.319 --> 00:32:34.819 perspective, inside the embrace of God and outside the embrace of the triune God. From the outside of 00:32:34.819 --> 00:32:42.979 the embrace of the triune God, there should be some fear of the triune God. Because when vapor meets the 00:32:42.980 --> 00:32:54.500 real, vapor dispenses and the real remains. But why is it important for me, inside the embrace of the triune God, 00:32:54.940 --> 00:33:03.620 to have this sense of the fear of God? Because if I am, in fact, just vapor who is held together by the triune God, 00:33:03.619 --> 00:33:15.539 how dare I slip into thinking that I am my own God and I hold myself together? Or that some thing or some 00:33:15.539 --> 00:33:21.859 possession, a car or a house or a job is what will hold me together. It's all just vapor. 00:33:24.500 --> 00:33:31.739 And wisdom is knowing that the reality and the realness and the depth of God, the triune God and his love, 00:33:31.740 --> 00:33:38.539 and not transgressing that, and learning to live each day, each moment as vapor that I am held 00:33:38.539 --> 00:33:47.620 together by that triune God. And why is that the word, the fear of God, a very, very good word and a good 00:33:47.620 --> 00:33:54.759 realization to come to? Is if, in fact, all of my attempts at permanence, at giving myself an identity, 00:33:55.059 --> 00:34:00.180 of holding myself together, of having lasting effect that goes on and on and on and on, 00:34:00.180 --> 00:34:07.779 in a sense of having salvation, if that is completely and utterly vapor, and I meet God's 00:34:07.779 --> 00:34:16.079 real salvation, I will only become more vaporous. I need to be gripped by his salvation. I need to 00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:23.000 understand that the triune God has sent God, the Son of God, and taken into himself not just our human 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:33.780 nature, but as man he is vapor. As God, he is God, but he is not two things but one person. God himself, 00:34:34.019 --> 00:34:46.519 Son of God, has taken into himself vapor and died to save me. And my only salvation is to be, 00:34:46.519 --> 00:34:54.380 to receive, to dwell in, to acknowledge the embrace of the saving power of the triune God and to be held 00:34:54.380 --> 00:34:59.119 by him. And there is no other salvation. There is no other salvation. 00:35:02.119 --> 00:35:10.639 I am vapor, redeemed by Emmanuel, held together moment by moment by the triune God. On this side of 00:35:10.639 --> 00:35:16.799 the grave, my mind is always moving to pretensions, because I share that human condition of living 00:35:16.799 --> 00:35:25.420 under the sun. But what is under the sun does not win. What is beyond under the sun is what is really 00:35:25.420 --> 00:35:30.719 real, and where real treasure and hope lies. I invite you to stand. 00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:39.699 Bow your heads in prayer. 00:35:44.500 --> 00:35:44.899 Father, 00:35:45.339 --> 00:35:54.519 your word says at the end of Ecclesiastes, Father, your word says that you caused these, all of these 00:35:54.519 --> 00:35:59.279 words to be written in the book of Ecclesiastes, and so therefore the words of this aren't vain. I, 00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:08.019 Father, will keep coming against it, and I can never fully understand it, because I am vapor, but, 00:36:08.440 --> 00:36:15.700 and under the sun. But we give you thanks and praise that your word are like sticks that prod us 00:36:15.700 --> 00:36:22.160 towards yourself, that you take no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that we would turn from 00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:30.859 from our illusions and unreality and live, that we would be prodded, Father, to receive your embrace 00:36:30.859 --> 00:36:36.259 in the person of your Son and in the power of your Holy Spirit, and live redeemed by Emmanuel, 00:36:36.679 --> 00:36:44.899 the crucified Savior, held by your embrace. And we give you thanks and praise, Father, that you hold us 00:36:44.900 --> 00:36:53.740 together as vapor, and that those of us who are in Christ, our final breath and our final dissolution 00:36:53.739 --> 00:37:02.239 is but the awakening and the knowledge that we are held in your hand. And so, Father, we ask that you 00:37:02.239 --> 00:37:08.019 appreciate, help us to move from unreality and illusion into the reality of your word. 00:37:09.139 --> 00:37:16.339 And we give you thanks and praise that you call us on that quest, not to depress us, but to delight us, 00:37:16.340 --> 00:37:23.740 and to give us hope. And we ask and thank all these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.