WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.879 hey perhaps you can turn with me in your vinyls if you have one your device if you have one to 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:14.780 the book of ecclesiastes and this old testament wisdom book we're going to be in this book for 00:00:14.780 --> 00:00:23.039 the next couple of months there or thereabouts this book which was written either by king 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:30.259 solomon or at the very least by someone who's taken lessons from the life of king solomon and 00:00:30.259 --> 00:00:39.099 looking to give us wisdom uh j.i. akadam's book knowing god is really a helpful picture on how 00:00:39.099 --> 00:00:45.280 wisdom works in the book of ecclesiastes it says it's like the wisdom you get when you're learning 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:50.460 to drive and some of us that's very fresh in our memories when you're learning to drive you don't 00:00:50.460 --> 00:00:57.359 find the driving instructor giving you information on here's why there's a crossroads here here's why 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:04.719 they decided to put that awkward corner in the road rather a driving instructor is looking to give you 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:11.620 wisdom to navigate well the various twists and turns and corners and the various obstacles 00:01:11.620 --> 00:01:22.460 or hazards that might come along the way wisdom for how to live well when sometimes life is complicated 00:01:22.460 --> 00:01:32.360 confusing and it surprises take us aback that's the wisdom that we'll find in ecclesiastes 00:01:32.359 --> 00:01:41.400 helping us to know how do we live well under the sun in this life in the way of eternity 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:49.120 so let's read together the introduction which we find in the first 11 verses 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:58.280 and here we're going to find our teacher here and beginning to burst some of our bubbles 00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:07.439 a pattern that we'll see repeat so again let's hear the word of the lord the words of the teacher 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:20.840 son of david king of jerusalem vanity vanity says the teacher utter vanity everything is vanity 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:27.980 what do people gain from all their labors of which they toil under the sun generations come and 00:02:27.980 --> 00:02:34.980 generations go but the earth remains forever the sun rises and the sun sets and hurries back to where it 00:02:34.980 --> 00:02:42.939 rises the wind blows to the south and turns to the north round and round it goes ever returning on 00:02:42.939 --> 00:02:50.780 its course all streams flow into the sea and the sea is never full to the place the streams come from 00:02:50.780 --> 00:02:59.240 there they return again all things are weavesome more than more than one can say the eye never has 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:06.680 enough of seeing nor the ear is filled with hearing what has been will be again what has been done will 00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:13.039 be done again there is nothing new under this earth is there anything which one can say look this is 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:22.239 something new it was here already long ago it was here before our time no one remembers the former generations 00:03:22.239 --> 00:03:31.439 and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them amen 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:44.240 and let's begin here remembering times when we have played or we've seen children play make believe 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:54.900 perhaps you can think about children playing with lego or with dolls and perhaps dressing up and creating a 00:03:54.900 --> 00:04:04.099 make believe world a world in which they're in total control in which they can control 00:04:04.099 --> 00:04:16.100 carefully everything that is going on some of us we probably loved that as children it's a fun activity but it's not real life is it 00:04:16.100 --> 00:04:25.300 because we don't know that that real life is far more complicated than that it's far more messy than that 00:04:25.300 --> 00:04:31.000 and we live in a world where one phone call can change our lives forever 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:39.939 and there's a danger if we don't recognize that and we try and live in a fantasy land 00:04:39.939 --> 00:04:47.379 and what happens is we sort of carefully construct our world and it's like creating sandcastles off the beach 00:04:47.379 --> 00:04:55.939 because we know that one day the waves will come that those carefully made plans will be welcome crashing down 00:04:55.939 --> 00:05:04.100 at a moment when we do not expect it and that's where the book of ecclesiastes and the teacher here 00:05:04.100 --> 00:05:13.620 that come to us as a surprising gift because they he prepares us for that and that's the stage in which 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:21.620 he's he's bursting those bubbles he's providing a reality check for us to help us here in so many ways 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:31.780 you and i we are not in control we are not self-sufficient light does not come with guaranteed certainty 00:05:31.779 --> 00:05:41.619 this book very much reminds me of uh the the muriel spark book mental glory which some of you may 00:05:41.619 --> 00:05:49.139 have read there is a theme a recurring theme within that clock where a selection of different elderly 00:05:49.139 --> 00:05:54.419 folks get an unsettling telephone call they pick up the phone and all they hear is a voice saying 00:05:54.420 --> 00:06:06.340 remember you will die and then the bone goes silent our teacher here is pushing us and probing us and 00:06:06.340 --> 00:06:14.259 helping us to examine some of the big questions of life so that we would remember that we would die to live 00:06:14.259 --> 00:06:19.459 in light of our death and the reality of eternity 00:06:22.819 --> 00:06:31.379 if we allow him this teacher will will question and will speak and will help each one of us to reflect 00:06:34.180 --> 00:06:38.740 perhaps to get a new balance or perspective 00:06:38.740 --> 00:06:46.900 perhaps we have that tendency to imagine that life was only lived on the horizontal and we lose sight of the 00:06:46.900 --> 00:06:56.819 reality of god where we're only focused on on the stuff of life whether that's success or whether that's 00:06:57.460 --> 00:07:05.220 material possessions and we lose sight of the reality of the spiritual and the eternal if we find ourselves 00:07:05.220 --> 00:07:10.260 pursuing all of our gain placing all our hopes and what does not last and this teacher comes 00:07:11.060 --> 00:07:12.980 and speaks a word that we need to hear 00:07:17.300 --> 00:07:25.220 ancient wisdom but hugely relevant for us confronted as we are by a world of marketing and consumerism 00:07:25.220 --> 00:07:29.060 that's always pushing us to go bigger and to go better whether that's our car or our house or our 00:07:29.060 --> 00:07:34.900 career or to create a new identity for ourselves but also in this particular time where 00:07:35.220 --> 00:07:42.180 when we lived well almost lived through global pandemic maybe it's been the one time in our 00:07:42.180 --> 00:07:49.620 life where we've all remembered that we're not in control that those carefully honed plans are not 00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:55.620 ascertain and a given when our visual patterns are turned upside down and where we've been able 00:07:56.500 --> 00:08:03.220 in a sense to hit the pause button here's a chance for us to to reply perhaps to do things differently this 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:12.420 is a teacher and his message is a gift to us it's maybe not a gift that we necessarily want but he's going to ask 00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:20.420 our questions and he's going to invite us to reflect with him and to face reality with him 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:45.060 it's a voice we need in our day in our culture in our life you know we all know that the one thing that's certain for us is our day but we also know that's the great taboo in our culture here in the west we don't talk about it we fight against this if we have the power 00:08:45.059 --> 00:08:54.259 our day to meet death when we are reminded of our mortality how do we face that 00:08:54.259 --> 00:08:56.399 we will add in our Trump's actions when they are we shooting pressure 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:57.840 ... 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:02.580 is sometimes our response to is to turn up in the volume 00:09:04.659 --> 00:09:05.100 ... 00:09:05.100 --> 00:09:15.460 it's really easy for us to try and amuse ourselves to distract ourselves to to hide that a way to squeeze it into a corner 00:09:15.460 --> 00:09:18.660 Some different wisdom. The wisdom of an Iraq war better. 00:09:20.660 --> 00:09:23.540 Having been an active service then coming back home. 00:09:23.700 --> 00:09:28.680 He said, after you've seen what the world is really like, it's hard to be patient with a shopping center. 00:09:30.560 --> 00:09:34.940 That's what so many of us, we find ourselves doing, we're trying to amuse ourselves, even as we know death is coming. 00:09:35.040 --> 00:09:43.100 Or we keep on the treadmill, we keep on going, we ignore the warnings, we act like life is just going to grind on forever. 00:09:43.100 --> 00:09:52.300 And again, what the teacher of Ecclesiastes wants to do is he wants us to recognize the folly of those ways so we would learn to trust God. 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:57.899 To enjoy him, to enjoy his gifts for now and for eternity. 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:03.659 So the introduction really helps, I think, to set the tone for where the book ends. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:10.139 It's going to say to us, life is short, life is elusive, life is repetitive. 00:10:10.139 --> 00:10:13.879 So seek gain from God. 00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:18.159 Not in life, under the sun. 00:10:19.819 --> 00:10:23.879 Remember, first of all, life is short. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:28.120 Somebody said Ecclesiastes was a Monday morning book. 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:36.019 You can understand why, when the motto is vanity, vanity, utter vanity. 00:10:36.019 --> 00:10:40.120 It sounds bleak. 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:44.259 It sounds like the words of a sinner. 00:10:44.439 --> 00:10:45.360 How is this? 00:10:46.259 --> 00:10:48.939 The wisdom of God for us. 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:56.199 Well, let's think about this word vanity and the picture that goes with it. 00:10:56.200 --> 00:11:03.320 This word is used of an early morning mist. 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:08.860 Like the county is something to see on the meadows. 00:11:08.860 --> 00:11:21.980 Or, perhaps, as it turns chilly again, we walk outside in the morning and we breathe out that cold air and we can see our breath for a few seconds. 00:11:21.980 --> 00:11:30.879 So, we happen to have a grandpa who is very adept at blowing smoke rings from a cigar. 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:33.220 That's the image. 00:11:33.220 --> 00:11:37.220 And what's the point of the image? 00:11:37.220 --> 00:11:54.100 It's to say that relative to the life of the world and how long the world endures and relative to eternity, you and I are here today and gone tomorrow. 00:11:54.100 --> 00:12:03.740 Our lives are fleeting, breathe, even with all the medical advances that we enjoy. 00:12:04.259 --> 00:12:06.600 Life is fleeting and breathe. 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:14.940 One of the questions that the teacher is going to consider is what's included in that everything. 00:12:15.560 --> 00:12:16.860 Everything is vanity. 00:12:16.860 --> 00:12:22.139 And we'll see as we go along, there are some things that are excluded from that list. 00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:23.220 Knowing God. 00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:25.060 That's not vanity. 00:12:27.220 --> 00:12:30.560 Enjoying God and his gifts in the life that he has given us. 00:12:30.800 --> 00:12:31.899 That's not vanity. 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:35.940 But this is his promise. 00:12:36.980 --> 00:12:38.060 Vanity, vanity. 00:12:38.300 --> 00:12:39.759 All is vanity. 00:12:40.539 --> 00:12:41.560 Like the short. 00:12:41.560 --> 00:12:42.460 Verse 4. 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:46.560 Generations come and generations go and the earth remains. 00:12:46.860 --> 00:12:47.500 Forever. 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:49.139 Verse 11. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:52.800 No one remembers the former generation. 00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:53.560 What's he saying? 00:12:53.639 --> 00:13:01.139 Those things that are so important to us, our tragedies and our trials, our talents, they will be forgotten. 00:13:02.539 --> 00:13:08.659 And the proof of that, if we need it, is to think on our own family tree. 00:13:10.379 --> 00:13:12.920 Perhaps we're fortunate to know our grandparents. 00:13:13.980 --> 00:13:16.659 Maybe some of us can go back to our great-grandparents. 00:13:17.539 --> 00:13:19.340 But how much do we know of them? 00:13:19.419 --> 00:13:28.440 How much is remembered of those previous generations who've lived perhaps really full of lives, full of their own tragedies and trials? 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:29.120 How much do we know of them? 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:32.120 Verse 4. 00:13:32.180 --> 00:13:35.260 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 00:13:36.460 --> 00:13:39.060 Our lives are like that mist. 00:13:39.380 --> 00:13:40.840 We touch the earth. 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:44.960 But we make no lasting impression. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:46.139 We're going to speak today. 00:13:47.060 --> 00:13:49.820 The earth will outlast us. 00:13:49.820 --> 00:13:57.000 What you and I do in light of that reality. 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:03.139 And the wisdom of the teacher, we're going to see this again and again. 00:14:04.019 --> 00:14:06.700 He's going to call us to learn to live backwards. 00:14:06.919 --> 00:14:09.620 To live with the end in sight. 00:14:09.620 --> 00:14:11.620 To remember our final destiny. 00:14:12.279 --> 00:14:13.039 That we will die. 00:14:13.179 --> 00:14:15.419 And there is an eternity that we are heading to. 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:18.220 So that we would let that shape how we live today. 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:21.440 That that would actually simplify how we live today. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:26.640 So much of the stuff that we get so worked up about has no lasting consequence. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:30.420 And Ecclesiastes helps us to recognize that. 00:14:33.940 --> 00:14:36.420 Think about this church that we are in. 00:14:36.520 --> 00:14:38.660 It's a remarkable building. 00:14:39.780 --> 00:14:49.260 But its builders, its first minister, that first generation of worshippers, they are gone. 00:14:49.259 --> 00:14:53.259 And we know very little, if anything, about them. 00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:54.340 The stones are here. 00:14:54.439 --> 00:14:55.279 The wood is here. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:56.740 The plaque is there. 00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:00.340 Life is short. 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:11.340 And the teacher wants us to understand there is no gain in a life that's left only under the sun. 00:15:11.419 --> 00:15:13.939 Only thinking about time and not eternity. 00:15:13.940 --> 00:15:19.600 Rather, he pushes us to pursue significance and meaning in life above the sun. 00:15:20.660 --> 00:15:23.640 The one who rules over the sun. 00:15:24.500 --> 00:15:25.800 So remember life is short. 00:15:27.640 --> 00:15:32.220 He also tells us in this introduction, remember life is elusive. 00:15:33.180 --> 00:15:34.260 Now what do we mean by that? 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:36.660 Look at verse 2 into verse 3. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:38.500 Having said everything is vanity. 00:15:38.500 --> 00:15:46.200 He says, what do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? 00:15:48.279 --> 00:15:52.840 So again, back to the idea of a life being like a mist. 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:54.639 Being like a breath. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:00.120 Have we ever tried to hold it or to control it, to catch it? 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:02.899 I mean, we've seen our kids do that across the day. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:04.120 Trying to catch their breath. 00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:09.399 Actually, there is a baggage company, a baggage handling company called MyBaggage. 00:16:10.019 --> 00:16:15.580 To get a little bit of media attention, came up with this perfect gift for homesick Brits abroad. 00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:20.840 So for £25 a pop, you can buy some bottled air. 00:16:21.419 --> 00:16:26.340 From Scotland, from Snowdonia, from the London underground, from a fish and chip shop. 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:35.120 So when you feel really far from home, you can take the lid off and you can smell the wonders of home. 00:16:36.420 --> 00:16:37.700 It's so nice. 00:16:38.540 --> 00:16:39.480 It must have been on to something. 00:16:39.800 --> 00:16:42.480 But when we think about that, you know, it's bonkers, isn't it? 00:16:42.899 --> 00:16:47.399 You spend £25, you turn your leg, you get sick, and then it's gone. 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:57.459 And the teachers say that's what happens if we try and control and manage life and think we can somehow gain a profit and hold on to it. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:16:58.919 Life is elusive. 00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:07.779 So much of our human quest is we're trying to find this gain, we're trying to find this profit under the sun. 00:17:08.500 --> 00:17:10.259 But what does the teacher remind us? 00:17:10.859 --> 00:17:14.400 Our life is marked by labour and toil. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.700 And that toil there, that's a generous extreme word. 00:17:17.820 --> 00:17:23.019 That's a when sin came into the world and everything began to go wrong word. 00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:29.940 Reminding us of the futility and the frustration that's attached to work. 00:17:31.800 --> 00:17:33.580 And we know it in so many ways. 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:36.040 We know it in the bumps in the road we never saw coming. 00:17:36.140 --> 00:17:37.800 We know it in the redundancy letter. 00:17:37.800 --> 00:17:43.180 We know it in the rejection letter, the phone call with the bad news. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:45.519 What do people gain? 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:49.040 Simon Bolivar. 00:17:49.380 --> 00:17:51.660 Some of us will know him far more than I do. 00:17:51.740 --> 00:17:58.080 In 18th century South American leader, gained independence for what's now the nation of Venezuela. 00:17:59.380 --> 00:18:02.519 Mancats Herald did in South America for his great achievements. 00:18:03.560 --> 00:18:04.920 His last words. 00:18:06.060 --> 00:18:07.500 Last recorded words. 00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:11.420 How will I ever get out of this labyrinth? 00:18:12.420 --> 00:18:14.079 Go, I am escaping me. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:18.759 Here's a man who's got city squares named Antrim, statues in his honour. 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:21.259 A mountain in the Andes bears his name. 00:18:21.640 --> 00:18:22.619 But he is gone. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:25.440 And he left this earth frustrated. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:32.080 The teacher wants us to think about living backwards. 00:18:33.600 --> 00:18:38.120 So that we would recognise death comes, eternity is real. 00:18:38.820 --> 00:18:44.500 So that we would stop toiling on the treadmill and imagine that we can gain something from life. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:47.080 That we can hold on to it in the end. 00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:50.899 Rather, he tells us life is exhausting. 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:54.159 Without God, life is going nowhere without gain. 00:18:55.939 --> 00:18:59.619 And it's really important for us to be able to ask that question. 00:18:59.779 --> 00:19:06.220 One of the benefits that some people, anyway, have found from pandemic is the chance to stop and to think, 00:19:06.220 --> 00:19:08.620 where's my life going? 00:19:11.860 --> 00:19:13.460 I have to define your plan. 00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:13.779 Okay? 00:19:13.980 --> 00:19:14.200 What? 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:17.140 After I move into that new house then? 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:17.720 What? 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:21.120 Once I get that new career that I always wanted then? 00:19:21.700 --> 00:19:21.980 What? 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:25.339 So important for us to think and to have others to think. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:27.819 Yeah, but what comes next? 00:19:29.019 --> 00:19:33.400 So that we would remember that that job that we are placing all our energy, 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:34.440 it will come to the end. 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:40.440 That money that we are gaining for ourselves, it will pass on to somebody else. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:46.600 That holiday that we are banking on to give us, it will come to an end. 00:19:48.779 --> 00:19:51.559 The people that are nearest and dearest to us. 00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:55.320 And two will go and so will we. 00:19:56.380 --> 00:19:58.759 Life is elusive. 00:19:58.759 --> 00:20:04.799 And the teacher's voice comes to us saying, remember death. 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:10.779 You cannot hold your grip on life and the stuff of life. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:14.160 Therefore, recognize where a true gain is found. 00:20:14.259 --> 00:20:19.960 It's found in trusting God and enjoying his gift as gifts. 00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:21.960 Not as God's. 00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:24.579 Not as anything we live for. 00:20:28.220 --> 00:20:35.259 And then, as if that wasn't enough, he says to us, remember life is repetitive. 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:38.960 The teacher just keeps pressing and he keeps probing. 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:42.059 It is their gain in life without God. 00:20:42.140 --> 00:20:43.600 It is their hope under the sun. 00:20:43.700 --> 00:20:52.000 And from verse 4 to verse 11, he moves us to this repeating circle of life. 00:20:53.360 --> 00:20:54.759 Vicious circle of life. 00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:56.819 So he gives us some examples from nature. 00:20:57.700 --> 00:20:58.200 Verse 5. 00:20:58.339 --> 00:21:01.740 The sun rises and the sun sets and hurries back to the way it rises. 00:21:01.900 --> 00:21:05.379 The sun runs its same course day after day. 00:21:06.119 --> 00:21:10.339 Century, millennia after century, millennia. 00:21:10.879 --> 00:21:11.460 Verse 6. 00:21:11.539 --> 00:21:14.640 The wind blows to the south, turns to the north. 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.319 Round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:24.220 The wind, which we think is so wild and free, follows patterns. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:25.240 The sea. 00:21:25.439 --> 00:21:27.439 All streams flow into the sea. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:29.879 Yet the sea is never full. 00:21:30.019 --> 00:21:35.059 No matter how big the river, the sea always demands more. 00:21:36.059 --> 00:21:40.939 The picture is of a life that's always moving but never arriving. 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:44.319 And our teacher says in verse 8, 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:48.059 all things are really so. 00:21:49.939 --> 00:21:54.919 A life of always working but never arriving is really so. 00:21:56.579 --> 00:22:00.919 And then he moves into the realm of human experience. 00:22:02.019 --> 00:22:03.059 Verse 8. 00:22:03.779 --> 00:22:08.159 A verse for us living in the information age. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:15.259 The eye never has enough of seeing nor the ear it's full of hearing. 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:19.400 There's always one more video to watch, one more swipe to make, 00:22:19.480 --> 00:22:23.519 one more Insta story to follow, one more playlist to get through, 00:22:23.620 --> 00:22:25.900 one more Netflix series to binge on, 00:22:25.980 --> 00:22:28.120 one more podcast to catch up on. 00:22:28.180 --> 00:22:29.560 And we're never satisfied. 00:22:29.779 --> 00:22:31.160 And it's never enough. 00:22:33.820 --> 00:22:34.500 Verse 9. 00:22:34.500 --> 00:22:37.180 What has been will be again. 00:22:37.740 --> 00:22:41.200 What has been done will be done again. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:46.339 You may know the story of Sisyphus. 00:22:47.180 --> 00:22:48.599 Is that a tricky word to say? 00:22:48.660 --> 00:22:49.160 Sisyphus. 00:22:49.559 --> 00:22:50.920 Greek mythology. 00:22:51.500 --> 00:22:54.299 It's got Sisyphus who tried to cheat death. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:58.680 And the result was that he was doomed to spend eternity 00:22:58.680 --> 00:23:03.380 pushing the same old rock up the same old hill. 00:23:03.380 --> 00:23:08.860 It's a Monday morning feeling, perhaps. 00:23:10.060 --> 00:23:12.640 Perhaps that's how you feel about housework. 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:15.320 There's always more laundry to do. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:18.500 There's always more dishes waiting to be done. 00:23:18.620 --> 00:23:19.740 Perhaps that's how you feel. 00:23:19.840 --> 00:23:21.000 It's school and university. 00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:24.640 There's always one piece more of coursework, 00:23:24.760 --> 00:23:26.820 one more report to write. 00:23:26.820 --> 00:23:29.380 When we come to work, there's always one more meeting, 00:23:29.560 --> 00:23:32.360 one more spreadsheet to compile. 00:23:33.380 --> 00:23:38.480 We have that love-hate relationship with repetition. 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:42.720 We love it in that sense that we get to a time like January, February, 00:23:42.800 --> 00:23:44.320 we begin longing for spring. 00:23:45.400 --> 00:23:46.860 Maybe we all have that chat. 00:23:47.120 --> 00:23:48.500 A spring happy two-part one. 00:23:48.560 --> 00:23:51.500 Because we love knowing winter doesn't last forever or something. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:53.660 How we can create structure for it. 00:23:53.660 --> 00:23:59.279 But we hate the repetition in the sense when every day feels like groundhog day. 00:23:59.420 --> 00:24:05.000 We're in circumstances and we're in the daily grind and we look for something new and it never comes. 00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:11.100 Verse 10 perhaps surprises us. 00:24:11.099 --> 00:24:14.259 Is there anything in which one can say, look, this is something new. 00:24:14.959 --> 00:24:16.679 It was here already long ago. 00:24:16.779 --> 00:24:18.159 It was here before our time. 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:20.439 We live in the age of technology. 00:24:20.439 --> 00:24:24.899 It was bound to be something new in our age and generation. 00:24:24.900 --> 00:24:31.400 But the teacher would have us recognize that everything that we say is new is actually variations on the theme. 00:24:33.900 --> 00:24:41.800 We think about new technology to do with transport, that they drive towards e-cars, 00:24:42.800 --> 00:24:45.000 finding different ways to fuel our cars. 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.019 And we think back in the day people got excited about steam engines. 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:53.700 Communications, we had the digital revolution. 00:24:53.900 --> 00:24:54.779 Well, surely that's what you want. 00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:58.619 Back in the day it was a revolution to have those Roman roads so you could travel e-c. 00:24:59.819 --> 00:25:03.559 And the postal service that allowed you to communicate across the nation. 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:10.980 When it comes to entertainment, well, surely we've got previous generations because we've got TV, we've got iPhones, we've got everything. 00:25:10.980 --> 00:25:19.920 But when we think about the past, the oldest known cave art is over 64,000 years old. 00:25:20.819 --> 00:25:24.700 People have been entertaining themselves forever, too. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:31.220 In every generation, babies have been born and battles have been fought. 00:25:31.360 --> 00:25:33.400 Laughter and tears have been shared. 00:25:33.900 --> 00:25:35.680 Monuments have been built. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:42.759 And the author wants us to know it, to know that there's nothing new under the sun that is repetition. 00:25:42.940 --> 00:25:48.860 And the ultimate repetition, we're so like, no one remembers the former generations. 00:25:49.860 --> 00:25:53.820 And even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow it. 00:25:55.140 --> 00:26:01.640 Dead and passing out of memory is the repetition that is ultimate. 00:26:01.640 --> 00:26:15.040 To read the introduction to the book of Ecclesiastes is to be invited into a conversation that we don't often have, I expect. 00:26:15.700 --> 00:26:24.180 To think about those big questions of life and death and mortality and what's the purpose of life. 00:26:24.180 --> 00:26:30.299 And perhaps you get to the end and you think, oh my goodness, how do I get off this merry-go-round? 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:34.000 Doesn't it create for us a sense of longing? 00:26:34.140 --> 00:26:35.460 How can I find game? 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:38.820 It seems so unrelentingly bleak. 00:26:38.819 --> 00:26:47.980 And what the book of Ecclesiastes does, it makes us wait until chapter 12 to get this sort of full-blown hope. 00:26:48.099 --> 00:26:52.980 But there are glimpses all the way along of where hope and gain is fighting. 00:26:53.579 --> 00:27:01.519 And so here as we close, we're invited to see that life finds meaning above the sun. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:10.220 So that idea of under the sun is speaking to us as if we live as if we're only on the horizontal. 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:13.180 And he wants us to lift our eyes. 00:27:14.500 --> 00:27:20.920 This word vanity is in the book over 30 times. 00:27:21.379 --> 00:27:26.660 It's a dominant theme, but so too is God. 00:27:26.660 --> 00:27:31.540 God is in this book more than vanity is in this book. 00:27:31.860 --> 00:27:38.120 This author, like all the wisdom authors, want us to know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 00:27:39.300 --> 00:27:44.300 The only way to know gain in this life is to know our God. 00:27:47.420 --> 00:27:48.800 Some ways to think about it. 00:27:48.800 --> 00:27:51.820 Psalm 19, which we sang earlier. 00:27:51.819 --> 00:27:57.759 And in that psalm, the journey of the sun, remember that repetitive journey of the sun. 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:00.099 The sun says, that's still speaking to us. 00:28:00.139 --> 00:28:01.539 What's that speaking to us about? 00:28:01.659 --> 00:28:07.960 It's speaking to us about a God who is real, a God who is powerful, a God who controls, a God of glory. 00:28:08.980 --> 00:28:10.879 So there's a God who rules above the sun. 00:28:12.579 --> 00:28:20.679 So there's how to avoid being cynical and disperious to know our God, to enjoy life as a gift from the one who gave it and who controls all things. 00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:32.860 And to go deeper still, we can know gain and we can know meaning when we consider life as the light of the coming of Jesus. 00:28:35.560 --> 00:28:42.680 Craig Anderson, who we're going to be supporting as he, Church Plants and Galesheels, was speaking at a missions week for the Drissan Union, 00:28:43.400 --> 00:28:44.779 at Heddy at Wall this week. 00:28:44.779 --> 00:28:48.019 And he had a student who came to him after one of his talks and said, 00:28:48.099 --> 00:28:51.980 Why should I add a Western religion to all the religions of my country? 00:28:52.740 --> 00:28:55.500 And don't all paths lead up the same mountain to God? 00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:58.460 Now maybe you've had that question. 00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:00.720 I wonder if you had it, how would you respond to what Craig said? 00:29:00.839 --> 00:29:01.240 Do you remember? 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:03.700 In the Bible, God came down and went. 00:29:05.339 --> 00:29:06.379 Jesus has come. 00:29:06.380 --> 00:29:10.640 Jesus said in John chapter 8, 00:29:10.760 --> 00:29:12.340 I am from above. 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:14.340 You are from below. 00:29:15.180 --> 00:29:16.700 So here's where hope and meaning comes from. 00:29:16.860 --> 00:29:19.860 We have God the Son who has come from above, 00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:22.180 who has entered into this world, 00:29:22.280 --> 00:29:28.340 has come to live this life under the Son to save us and to give us eternal life. 00:29:29.040 --> 00:29:32.240 Here is God's answer to that sin, to that toil, to that vanity, 00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:34.620 is the loving sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. 00:29:35.539 --> 00:29:37.420 He is the someone new. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:40.220 Everything else stays the same, but Jesus gave him. 00:29:40.259 --> 00:29:41.940 He is someone new. 00:29:42.140 --> 00:29:43.019 Do you know what he's promised? 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:46.799 He has promised to make all things new. 00:29:48.460 --> 00:29:51.500 And Jesus, when he gave, 00:29:51.880 --> 00:29:53.640 he has to say quite as soon as the teacher. 00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:55.960 We read in Luke chapter 9, 00:29:56.339 --> 00:29:57.759 what profit is there? 00:29:58.720 --> 00:29:59.880 You gave the whole world. 00:29:59.880 --> 00:30:02.840 That lose your eternal soul. 00:30:04.020 --> 00:30:05.860 Jesus wants us to know 00:30:05.860 --> 00:30:09.180 that he is the one who is the game. 00:30:10.100 --> 00:30:12.220 Trust in him is the only way 00:30:12.220 --> 00:30:14.880 to know game in this life. 00:30:16.780 --> 00:30:18.100 And when we have Jesus, 00:30:18.840 --> 00:30:19.540 when we know him, 00:30:19.580 --> 00:30:20.860 we have this wonderful promise 00:30:20.860 --> 00:30:23.320 in the first of the verse 15 from Paul. 00:30:23.500 --> 00:30:23.940 You can say, 00:30:24.300 --> 00:30:25.480 your labor in the Lord 00:30:25.480 --> 00:30:27.580 is not in vain. 00:30:27.579 --> 00:30:30.339 When we feel that we're toil, 00:30:30.639 --> 00:30:31.679 here's a wonderful promise. 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:32.579 Your labor in the Lord 00:30:32.579 --> 00:30:33.659 is not in vain. 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:36.859 And so just as this teacher 00:30:36.859 --> 00:30:38.579 comes to burst those bubbles 00:30:38.579 --> 00:30:39.960 of our self-reliance 00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:41.579 and our ability to control 00:30:41.579 --> 00:30:42.679 our world, 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:45.559 so Jesus came as the teacher 00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:48.460 to pull us away 00:30:48.460 --> 00:30:49.639 from self-reliance, 00:30:49.720 --> 00:30:50.579 to pull us away 00:30:50.579 --> 00:30:51.259 from imagining 00:30:51.259 --> 00:30:52.579 that we can be 00:30:52.579 --> 00:30:54.359 our own king 00:30:54.359 --> 00:30:54.939 and lord 00:30:54.939 --> 00:30:55.919 and find the game. 00:30:57.000 --> 00:30:57.980 And he encourages us 00:30:57.980 --> 00:30:58.839 to look to him, 00:30:59.539 --> 00:31:00.419 to make him 00:31:00.419 --> 00:31:02.119 our solid hope. 00:31:03.259 --> 00:31:04.939 Let's pray together. 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:07.679 Lord, 00:31:07.679 --> 00:31:08.879 our God, 00:31:08.980 --> 00:31:09.819 as we have considered, 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:11.939 a topic that 00:31:11.939 --> 00:31:13.639 naturally we 00:31:13.639 --> 00:31:15.720 would rather avoid 00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:16.659 in many ways, 00:31:16.660 --> 00:31:19.480 it is hard for us 00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:20.940 to think about 00:31:20.940 --> 00:31:22.620 death 00:31:22.620 --> 00:31:23.740 and eternity 00:31:23.740 --> 00:31:25.440 for ourselves 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:26.140 and for those 00:31:26.140 --> 00:31:26.800 that we love. 00:31:28.800 --> 00:31:29.340 But Lord, 00:31:29.420 --> 00:31:29.880 what we know 00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:30.640 is reality 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:32.180 and we ask 00:31:32.180 --> 00:31:32.759 that you give us 00:31:32.759 --> 00:31:33.360 the wisdom 00:31:33.360 --> 00:31:36.240 to consider it well 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:38.500 so that we would be ready, 00:31:39.320 --> 00:31:40.640 so that our hopes 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:42.220 would be in the right 00:31:42.220 --> 00:31:43.380 place 00:31:43.380 --> 00:31:44.720 and in the right person, 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:46.059 in the person 00:31:46.059 --> 00:31:47.559 of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:31:48.500 --> 00:31:49.059 We thank you 00:31:49.059 --> 00:31:49.640 that he came 00:31:49.640 --> 00:31:50.779 from above the sun 00:31:50.779 --> 00:31:52.480 to live under the sun 00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:54.140 in order to 00:31:54.140 --> 00:31:55.279 bring us 00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:55.920 into 00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:57.480 life with you, 00:31:57.620 --> 00:31:58.059 our God, 00:31:58.160 --> 00:31:59.120 to give the promise 00:31:59.120 --> 00:32:00.799 of eternal life 00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:01.600 through faith 00:32:01.600 --> 00:32:03.000 in Jesus. 00:32:04.700 --> 00:32:06.140 May he be 00:32:06.140 --> 00:32:08.140 our source of hope. 00:32:08.620 --> 00:32:09.460 May he be the one 00:32:09.460 --> 00:32:10.600 who gives direction 00:32:10.600 --> 00:32:12.579 to our lives 00:32:12.579 --> 00:32:14.220 and giving us 00:32:14.220 --> 00:32:14.720 that sense 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:15.500 of security 00:32:15.500 --> 00:32:16.740 and expectation 00:32:16.740 --> 00:32:18.779 as we look ahead 00:32:18.779 --> 00:32:19.660 into eternity. 00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:22.240 And so please, 00:32:22.759 --> 00:32:23.480 may you take 00:32:23.480 --> 00:32:24.360 these words 00:32:24.360 --> 00:32:25.779 and use them 00:32:25.779 --> 00:32:27.860 to our 00:32:27.860 --> 00:32:29.339 and we pray 00:32:29.339 --> 00:32:30.279 in Jesus' name. 00:32:30.900 --> 00:32:31.240 Amen. 00:32:34.380 --> 00:32:34.940 Now, 00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:36.120 we will close 00:32:36.120 --> 00:32:37.079 our time 00:32:37.079 --> 00:32:38.019 this morning 00:32:38.019 --> 00:32:38.880 singing the hymn 00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:40.500 in Christ 00:32:40.500 --> 00:32:41.559 alone 00:32:41.559 --> 00:32:59.519 we will 00:33:00.839 --> 00:33:01.419 sing. 00:33:01.720 --> 00:33:03.779 Thank you.