How do you look at life?
What's your perspective?
Do you consider it positive or negative?
Think about the way you just view life, think of life.
Does it motivate you to get up every morning
and really seize the day?
Or is your general attitude such that
it makes you want to just stay in the bed
and just sort of wish the day away?
Well, as we turn to the book of Ecclesiastes this morning,
began last week, continuing today,
we're going to look closely at how our outlook on life,
the way we view life, our worldview, you might say,
it not only affects the way that we think,
the way that we feel,
it affects the way that we actually live life
and experience life.
We're going to look at verses 1 through 11,
actually 2 through 11 of chapter 1.
And I want to ask you, if you would,
to go ahead and read the rest of chapter 1
and all of chapter 2,
because that's really one unit,
and I'd like for us to go through that next Sunday morning.
We won't look at every verse.
Obviously, that's a lot.
But if you would, read between now and next Sunday morning.
Chapter 1, verse 12,
through the end of chapter 2,
because you'll see as you go through that.
In fact, I want to encourage you to,
if you haven't already,
read through the book of Ecclesiastes.
There's only 12 chapters.
It would not take you long.
Here at the beginning,
as we read this,
some of the things we're going to be focusing on,
it's very depressing.
Life's bad and then you die.
That kind of thing.
But that's not all Ecclesiastes says.
The preacher,
as Solomon calls himself,
he is intentionally trying to paint
a depressing view of life
under the sun
as if God does not exist.
But throughout the book,
he is going to
sort of
shine a light on
how life is intended to be lived
in this world
and that God really does intend for us
to enjoy life
in this world
when we look at things
from his perspective.
Looking at life from the wrong perspective
is what we're going to look at first this morning.
Looking at life from the wrong perspective,
which is under the sun.
Look at the description of life
under the sun
in verses 2 and 3.
Vanity of vanities,
says the preacher.
Vanity of vanities,
all is vanity.
What does man gain
by all the toil
at which he toils
under the sun?
That's a description of life
under the sun.
Solomon is beginning this book
by giving us two keys
to understand the whole point.
Two keys
to understand
what he is saying
when he talks about
all this vanity,
meaninglessness,
futility.
First is the phrase
under the sun
in verse 3 there.
That's the first key
to understanding
the message
he wants us to understand.
It's found about 30 times
throughout the book.
So in 12 chapters,
30 or so times,
you know this phrase
is important
and so we need to understand
what he's talking about.
It's a description of life
that is limited
to this world only.
Life under the sun.
Life in this world.
It's a secular way
of looking at life.
A man-centered,
as if God does not exist.
A godless way
of looking at life.
When Solomon is writing
and he's talking
and he's talking about
life under the sun,
he's trying to help us
understand what life
feels like
and looks like
when we leave God out.
When he's not a part
of our thought process.
When we're not thinking
in terms of
this is God's world.
He's the creator of it.
He's got a plan
and purpose
for us to follow.
Under the sun.
A life,
a way of looking at life,
living life,
as if God
does not exist.
The next key
is the word vanity
in verse 2.
The Hebrew word
means breath
or breeze
or vapor,
puff of smoke even.
He's describing
something that
we would call
fleeting,
something that
is temporary,
something that
is passing away.
When Solomon says
all is vanity,
he's writing about
life under the sun
being futile
being empty.
A lot of
life under the sun
is pointless.
He's pointing out
what he's saying.
Now,
the message
of Ecclesiastes
just in a nutshell
is a warning
against living
a life
as if God
does not exist.
But we need
to understand
and I tried
to emphasize that
at the beginning
last week.
This is not a book
where atheists
are the target
audience.
You know,
some people may
come to church
and think,
well,
why in the world
would you be
talking about
looking at life
as if God
does not exist
and we're
Christian people
or professing
Christians
or most of us
are.
We're in church.
all of us
can
live our lives,
live a day,
live in certain
places
around certain
people
as practical
atheists,
as if God
does not exist.
We need to
understand
Ecclesiastes
is written
to people
like us.
people who
know God
or at least
know about God.
This is being
written to people
who may have
even experienced
God's
power,
God's goodness
in their lives,
but in a day
gone by.
Solomon is
writing
because he
knows from
first-hand
experience
how even
though we
start out
well,
even though
we have a
right belief
system,
Solomon knows
that we
can let
people
or things
in this
world
get our
attention,
distract us,
and take us
away
from living
a life
that is
focused on
knowing and
loving and
serving God
and seeking
to do His
will.
Some believe
that Ecclesiastes
may be Solomon's
personal warning
to people
anywhere,
any walk
of life
to learn
from His
mistakes.
Don't live
life as I
did toward
the end of
my life.
But you read
about in the
book of
1 Kings,
especially the
11th chapter.
Now,
the preacher
starts out
with a question
in verse 3.
Look at it
again.
What does
man gain
by all
the toll
in which
he tolls
under the
sun?
That word
gain refers
to something
left over,
a surplus,
a profit.
He's asking
the question
here.
He's sort of
a philosopher.
He's wanting
us to think.
So he's asking
us the question,
what will be
left at the
end of a
life,
your life,
if it is a
life lived
exclusively
under the
sun?
He's going
to answer
that question
throughout this
book.
He's going
to be telling
us, and is
telling us,
if we live
our lives
in this
world as
if God
doesn't
matter,
then we
can expect
to really
gain nothing.
Now,
Solomon drives
home his
point by
painting a
bleak
picture of
specific things
about how
life will
look,
live,
feel,
if we just
live it under
the sun,
in verses
4 through
11.
We can
think about
this as
examples of
a life lived
in this
world as
if this
world is
it,
as if the
things of
the world
pleasures
the world.
That's just
the essence
of life.
So let's
look at some
of the things
he says.
Look at
verse 4.
A generation
goes and
a generation
comes, but
the earth
remains forever.
Life is
fleeting and
life is
elusive.
Let's think
about it that
way from
verse 4.
Life is
fleeting.
Life is
moving on.
We can't
do a thing
to stop
it.
Generations
come and
generations
go.
People
die.
People
are born.
There's
nothing we
can do.
It is
fleeting.
Life is
elusive.
You can't
grab hold
of it.
You can't
make life
work the
way you
want to
when you
want it to
work that
way.
I don't
know what
age this
sinks in,
but a lot
of us have
already figured
out that
we don't
control
much, if
anything,
about our
lives.
We can't
control our
health.
You know,
we're here
today, we're
healthy, but
we don't know
what tomorrow
is going to
come.
Some of us
in this room,
we could have
a heart attack,
we could die.
Some of us
could come
down with a
flu and be
very sick,
even if you
don't shake
hands this
morning.
We can't
control the
economy.
Stock
market, up
and down
this week.
Interest
rates, are
they going to
go up?
House
prices.
We have no
control over
these things, but
we think about
them.
We need a
good economy.
economy.
We want a
good economy.
We want
things to
hum.
We cannot
even control
our own
personal future.
Will you
have a job
tomorrow?
Will you
have a job
this time
next year?
Or will
something happen
that it just
goes away?
When will
your family
members die?
We have no
control of
that.
We have no
idea.
We have no
idea.
Who will
your children
marry?
You got
children up
here on this
platform this
morning?
Little kids,
teenagers,
college age,
single.
Who were they
going to marry?
You don't get
to choose, but
they may not
even know yet.
And if you're
young, single,
people, you
might think to
yourself, who
will I marry?
When will I
marry?
Will I get
married?
You see,
Solomon's trying
to say, life
is fleeting and
life is elusive.
Life is short.
Life is
unpredictable.
But here's the
thing.
Life goes on.
A generation
goes and a
generation comes.
I like the way
Allen Jackson
describes that in
one line from his
song, remember
when.
Old ones died
and you were
born.
I could sing that
and just make tears
come to your eyes,
but it would be the
wrong kind of tears.
But I love that.
Talking about
life.
Old ones
died.
New are
born.
That's just
life.
Now, note
the twist
that Solomon
adds to the
statement about
life and death.
He says, but the
earth remains
forever.
I want you to
think about that.
We are human
beings created in
the image God.
We are the
highest form of
creation in
terms of God
made us and
only us in
his image.
If you read
there in
Genesis 1 and
2, he made
us in his
image, put us
in this world,
take care of
the world,
subdue the
earth, he
said.
But it's we
who come and
go.
The earth
remains forever.
The sun that
rises in the
morning, it
rose on your
great-grandparents
and grandparents
who are no
longer here.
The sun that
rises and sets
tomorrow, it's
going to rise and
set on my
great-grandchildren,
your great-grandchildren
and all who come
after them if the
Lord doesn't come
back.
life.
What Solomon's
trying to point
out here, he's
adding to the
futility, to the
meaninglessness of
life lived only
under the sun.
You live and you
die.
Generations come
and go.
Everything else
stays the same.
Life is not only
fleeting and elusive,
it's also repetitive.
Look at verses 5
through 8.
Let's read those
together.
The sun rises,
the sun goes down
and hastens to the
place where it
rises.
The wind blows to
the south and goes
around to the north,
around and around
goes the wind, and
on it circulates the
wind, and on it
circuits the wind
returns.
All streams run to
the sea, but the sea
is not full.
To the place where
the streams flow,
there they flow
again.
All things are
full of weariness.
A man cannot
utter it.
The eye is not
satisfied with
seeing, nor the
ear filled with
hearing.
A man by the
name of David
Gibson, he's got
a book on the
book of Ecclesiastes,
it's very good.
He does an
excellent job of
explaining how
these verses
together show the
repetitive nature
of life.
He says it very
well, and I want
to quote him, I
want you to look at
it with me.
He says, the
preacher focuses on
a three-fold
pattern in the
world that is
matched by a
three-fold pattern
in human experience.
The activities of
sun, wind, and
water, in verses
five through seven,
follow the same
course as the
activities of
speaking, hearing,
speaking, seeing,
and hearing, in
verse eight.
The point is
that the world
itself doesn't
seem to go or
get anywhere, so
why should humans
get anywhere?
The sun chases its
tail.
The wind goes to
the south and
comes back around
again to the
north.
Streams flow into
the sea, and the
water evaporates, and
then streams flow into
the sea again, and
it is never full.
So is the world, and
so it will always be.
So is humankind, and
so we will always be.
People are like the
insatiable sea.
Just as water pours
into the ocean again
and again without ever
feeling it, so the
things of the world
pour into human
beings via their eyes
and ears and back out
through their mouths,
yet they never reach a
point of complete
satisfaction.
Humans never finally
think, this is it, I'm
full.
I have seen it all,
said it all, and
heard it all.
I have given out and
taken in all that I
can.
We never get to the
point where we've
heard enough.
I just want to tune
everything else out.
We never get to the
point that we don't
want to look, fill our
eyes with images and
pictures, people and
places.
We never get to the
place that we just
want to close our
mouths and never say
another word.
We don't.
That's what makes us
always on the lookout
for something new,
something different
under the sun.
Look at verses 9 and 10.
He says, what has been
is what will be.
And what has been done
is what will be done.
And there is nothing
new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which
it is said, see, this is
new?
It has been already in the
ages before us.
Solomon's telling us, it's a
well-known statement, there's
nothing new under the sun.
Now before you object and
say, well, there's a lot of
things new, I want you to
think about what he's
actually saying, what he
means here.
Solomon is no idiot.
Solomon's the wisest man who
ever lived.
Solomon saw a lot of things
change in his lifetime.
He saw new inventions.
He learned new things.
He's not trying to deny that
kind of reality.
He's talking about the basic
events of life in this world
never change like the things
we've already read that he has
just mentioned.
The ways of the sun, the wind,
and the rivers, they remain
the same.
The cycle of life with
generations coming and going,
people living and dying, that
hasn't changed.
People are born, people live,
they do certain things, and
they die.
It always works that way.
That never changes.
But even those things that we
think are new, I want you to
think with me.
Are they really?
Your latest smartphone that you
spent more money than you'd want
to tell anybody you spent.
It's just an advanced form of
communication or information
gathering.
When I was a little boy, my
grandparents lived about 150,
175 yards away from me.
When I was a little boy, I'd see
them outside, and I'd yell,
Pop and Nan!
And I'd ask them questions.
We lived out in the country.
It wasn't like living in town
here.
But even then, they didn't really
see that was the best form of
communication.
I'd yell at the top of my lungs.
And they'd wave, and they'd say
maybe something.
They wouldn't carry on a
conversation yelling back and
forth.
So I learned, especially as I got
a little bit older, I could go
over there and talk with them, or
I could pick up the phone, the
landline that was in the hall, one
in the house.
I could call them.
If they were alive today, I could
text them.
I could email them on that more
than you want to admit, costly
phone.
That phone, it's a form of
communication, and communication
has been around since Solomon's
day, since the beginning of times.
It's Adam and Eve.
You think, well, mine's really a
computer.
Computers are wonderful.
They give us the ability to learn
and acquire more information than
anyone just a few years ago could
have ever imagined.
More information is available to us
today than we could read about in
multiple lifetimes.
But before the internet, we did
research and we acquired new
knowledge.
A lot of people in this room have
spent a lot of hours in a library
looking up information.
And most everybody in this room, no
matter what your age, you've spent a
lot of time not online, not with a
computer of any form, but you've spent a
lot of time in your life with a book
or a magazine or a newspaper in your
hand acquiring information.
And so a lot of the things that we
think today is new, that car, that
rocket ship even, it's just a form of
transportation.
And so what Solomon's trying to point
out here really and truly, when you
boil it all down, there's nothing new
under the sun.
There's nothing new that we can
discover that will break the repetitive
cycle of life and satisfy us to the
point that we never want anything new
again.
This last statement in verse 11, it
reminds us of something we know and
the older you get, the more you know
it.
Look at verse 11.
There is no remembrance of former
things, nor will there be any
remembrance of later things yet to
come among those who come after.
We can think about this under the
heading, life is not remembered.
We don't remember our history.
And today, most people don't even
care to know about their history.
Some translations here will say that
there is no remembrance of former
generations or of even former people.
You think about this, the overwhelming
majority of people who've lived on this
earth lived and died in obscurity.
Do you remember the names of your great,
great grandparents?
Do you know where they lived?
Do you know what they did?
Do you know what contributions they made
to their community?
If you know where their community was.
Here's a real encouraging thought.
Especially if you think, I really am an
important person.
I break the mold.
Truth is, there's probably not a single
one of us in this room that in a hundred
years, anybody will ever know we existed.
Nobody will know our name.
Nobody will care that we occupied a space
in Pickens County at this point in time.
Now, if you're thinking to yourself, this is the
most depressing sermon I have ever heard.
You're listening well.
That's the point that Solomon wants us to get
as we read his introduction to Ecclesiastes.
This is how the preacher wants us to feel,
wants us to think about life in this world if our
whole focus in life is about us and other people
and things to the exclusion of God.
God is our creator.
God is the sovereign one.
God is our heavenly father as Christians.
He wants us to see.
He's trying to make clear, and he's going to do it
over and over and over again in various ways,
that life, live and no relationship with God
is basically pointless.
It is depressing.
There's just not much to it.
Now, later on in this book, he's going to point
out how God intends for us to live a meaningful life
in this world, but not thinking this world is
everything.
We're going to come to that when we come to that.
But I don't want us to leave this morning on such a negative note.
I want us to lean in on a more positive note
by looking at life from the right perspective
beyond the sun.
The preacher shows us that when God is left out of the picture,
the natural world can be meaningless.
Unless it can be boring to us, us in this room.
But that's not true when we put God at the center of everything.
Now, I want you to look at a passage,
Psalm chapter 19, verse 1 on the screen.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.
God intends for us living in this world,
when we think about nature,
when we look at what He's created,
when we think about even the rivers and the sun and the wind
and all this kind of stuff,
He wants us to be in awe
because He created this.
He created this from nothing.
He created this for His glory and our good.
He wants us to just be in awe of what we see
and to praise Him as the one who created it.
The repetition that we see in nature
is not intended by God to be boring and meaningless.
Look at how Philip Ryken points out.
He says the repetition that we see in nature
is intended to be a testimony
to the goodness and the orderliness of God.
The regularity of the created world
shows the constancy of its creator.
This may not be a good day for you
for a lot of different reasons.
You know, you may have gotten up this morning.
It was cold.
It may have been heat in your house,
but you looked outside.
It was raining.
You know what the forecast was.
You're looking for, you know,
is there ice out there?
It just makes you cold to the bone.
And I'm sure a lot of people in this room,
you thought about,
I just may not go today.
It's cold.
It's dreary.
I mean, I'll be honest with you.
I thought that.
It was a bad day.
There may be some things that have happened
in your life this morning
that has nothing to do with the weather.
This is just not a good day for you.
But because of the way God's made things,
you know the sun's going to come up in the morning.
If you live, tomorrow's going to be a different day,
a new day.
The weatherman says tomorrow's going to be clear.
Tomorrow the high's going to be up in the 50s.
Tomorrow is going to be a better day in a lot of ways,
and we can count on that
because that's the way God has made things.
New days come about every day.
We can start all over again the next day.
Don't you get to the end of some days?
No matter what, you're just tired,
and you're worn out.
And you get home, you get settled in,
you just want to go to bed.
You just want this day to end.
You just want to rest.
You just want to do whatever.
And you think to yourself,
I'm going to go to bed,
and tomorrow's going to be a new day.
You can count on it.
That's the way God made it.
That's the pattern He has set in motion in life,
and it's good.
Under the sun,
the seasons come and go without change.
To some people,
it may just be old and boring.
Winter, spring, summer, fall.
But it doesn't have to be.
I've already heard somebody say it this morning.
I certainly am thinking it.
I'm looking forward to springtime.
To 70 degrees.
To warmth.
To green grass.
I'm looking forward to summer.
I'm looking forward to warm ocean water
at Myrtle Beach.
And you know, by the time
August rolls around,
we've had a lot of days where it's 90 degrees.
We've cut more grass than we wanted to.
We've sweated more than we want to.
We're going to be excited about fall coming.
And the cooler temperatures.
And the change that we'll see in the colors.
And the change we'll feel in the air.
What I'm describing here
is the way God has created
a orderly, predictable,
seasonal change.
The way God has created
an orderly and predictable
and enjoyable
and a sense of newness
in the world
He has created for us
to find little joys like this.
To look forward to spring.
To enjoy His,
the variety that He's really
put in this world
for people who will look at it
and be thankful
and appreciative
and praise Him
and worship Him for it.
Life with God at the center
is actually filled
with new things.
Through faith in Jesus Christ,
a person's actual life
can be made totally new.
Look at what Paul says
in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
He says,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation.
The old has passed away.
Behold, the new has come.
A person's life
can literally be changed
from the inside out.
The way they look at life,
the way they experience life,
the way they relate to people.
Through faith in Jesus Christ,
through this supernatural regeneration,
new birth that God brings about
when He puts His Spirit in us,
we can literally be changed
from the inside out.
We can be made new,
the Scripture says.
Even as Christians,
being made new,
a lot of times,
we don't live like the new person
that we are.
A lot of times as Christians,
we do things that we know
do not please God.
We do selfish things.
We do sinful things.
But the good news
that the New Testament tells us is,
even when we sin and fail God
as Christians,
we can be forgiven,
we can be given new starts,
fresh starts in our relationship
with God.
Look at what He says
in 1 John 1.9.
If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us
from all our unrighteousness.
You know, it may be
that you're a Christian here
this morning
and you're anything but
in good, close fellowship
with your Lord.
It could be that
as we were going through
this worship service
this morning,
the last thing in the world
you could feel like doing
was worshiping God
because you know
there's some things
in your life
He's not pleased with.
You feel separate from Him,
alienated from Him.
I want you to understand
this Scripture says
if you'll confess your sins,
I mean, get serious with God,
agree with Him
about whatever it is,
turn from it,
change whatever it is
He's calling you to do.
He'll forgive you.
He'll cleanse you.
He'll give you a fresh start
this morning.
Now, if you will do that.
One day,
God's going to make
everything new.
He's going to make
this world new.
Look at what it says
in the book of Revelation.
Then I saw a new heaven
and a new earth
for the first heaven
and the first earth
had passed away.
A little bit further on
in that chapter.
And He who was seated
on the throne and said,
Behold,
I am making all things new.
Life in this world
is broken.
We live in a fallen world.
We know that.
It's winding down.
It will eventually
come to an end.
And God's going to create
a new heaven
and a new earth.
It'll be paradise restored.
It will be that
paradise, heaven,
perfection
for God's people,
God's children,
all who have come to Him
through faith in Jesus.
We have that to look forward to.
I want to ask you this morning,
what's your perspective on life?
Are you looking at life
from the wrong perspective
under the sun
as if there is no God?
Or are you looking at life
from the right perspective
beyond the sun
with God as the focus,
truly the center
of your life?
If we only live life
under the sun,
no relationship with God,
no seeking His way
and will,
we will,
sooner or later,
find that our life
is not what
we want it to be.
It will not be fulfilling.
It will not be satisfying.
Sooner or later,
we'll find,
like I said last week,
we're building our lives
if God's not a part of,
if God's not at the center
of our lives.
If He's not directing
our lives,
we'll find that we're
like children
building sandcastles
on the beach.
We can build
some wonderful sandcastles,
but sooner or later,
they get washed
into the sea
when the tide comes in.
That's life
under the sun.
There's a better way
to live.
And Ecclesiastes
as well as the whole
of Scripture
is calling us
to find this better way
through faith in Jesus Christ,
find this better way
to be able to know God,
to know His will,
to do His will,
to bring glory to Him
as we do it,
and to make a good difference,
a positive difference
in the lives of people
around about us.
You know,
when we,
this world is
over and done with,
we're going to leave
it all behind.
We're not going to gain,
as He talks about
at the very beginning,
we're not going to have
anything gained
as far as this world goes.
But when life
is over and done with,
as Christians,
people who believe
in Jesus Christ,
our commitment
is to Him,
God is our Father,
we're living life His way,
for us,
death will be gain,
death will be heaven,
death will be perfection,
death will be more,
far more than we could
ever have attained
or even dreamed about
in this life.
So what is your perspective?
What is your perspective
on life?
Is it one you are
satisfied with now?
And even more importantly,
is it one,
your perspective one,
that you will be satisfied
with for all eternity?
Let's pray together.
Dear God,
help us this morning
to see how we're living life,
the way that we're
looking at it.
And dear God,
help us just,
just boil it all down to,
is Jesus Christ,
Lord.
It's our ultimate goal in life
to know and do Your will,
to serve Your purpose,
to experience life
as You intend.
Father,
show us where we are.
Help us to be honest.
And dear God,
help us to respond
the way that we
as individuals
need to now.
Father,
if there are people
in this room
whose life is just
basically meaningless
because they do not
know You,
they have no relationship
with Christ,
make that clear.
Help them to know
that if they will
admit that,
turn from that mindset,
that way of life,
and truly trust Jesus
and call upon Him
to save them.
Help them to see
that You will
change them
from the inside out
now.
Lord,
if there are Christians
in this room
and they know
what it's like
to truly live life
with You as the focus,
You in the center,
that they've drifted away
or even rebelled,
Lord,
help them to confess
their sin
and come back to You.
Help them this morning,
dear God,
to know that they
can be forgiven,
cleansed,
given a fresh start.
Show us how we should respond.
Help us to do that now.
And let's just have
an attitude of prayer
and listen to the Lord
and obey Him.
I'd be happy to pray
with you during this time.
If you want to come forward,
I'll be here at the front.
Amen.