Okay friends, well let me encourage you to turn back to that book of Ecclesiastes.
And if you need to use the contents page of your Bibles, then please do that.
And just as we begin, let me read some words from Psalm 121.
Couple of verses, Psalm 121.
I lift my eyes to the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
And this book of Ecclesiastes is helping us, and a lot of you mentioned that to me, not so many words last week.
That it's helping us understand that in life, these big questions, these big things that happen in life,
it's teaching us not to look to the world for our answers, and not to look inside for our answers.
But to look to the creator of the heavens and the earth, to look to God.
And so this is what we're going to see in this passage this morning.
We're going to be encouraged to lift our eyes to the creator of the ends of the earth.
So let me just do two things by way of introduction.
That didn't work.
Okay, one more.
Here we go, first one to light the candle.
It's a difficulty.
Okay?
And the second one is to ask you, if this is the answer, what is the question?
Okay?
What's the answer?
What's the question, rather?
So this is the meaning of life.
Okay?
If you're a bookworm, and you have read Douglas Adams' book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
in this book there is a supercomputer that they ask questions to.
And they ask the computer this question, what is the meaning of life?
And this is the answer after a very, very, very long time that the computer comes up with, number 42.
So if you Google this, after Wikipedia telling you that it's a number that comes after 41, helpfully.
Okay?
This is the answer that comes up in Google, 42.
Now there are all sorts of theories.
If you're into this book, and again, you'll find this on the internet.
I had great fun this week searching.
People have come up with all sorts of theories as to how Douglas Adams came up with this number, 42.
Right?
Was he on to something?
Is he kind of a modern day prophet?
Is he seeing something that we're not?
And recently Douglas Adams came out and he said,
I've had great fun watching everybody kind of come up with their theories,
but actually I just sat in my garden one day, looked out the window, and I came up with a random number.
Okay?
Douglas Adams doesn't have a clue.
And he's making a wee joke at it, actually.
He doesn't understand what the meaning of life is.
But let me ask you today, right?
If you had to answer that question, what is the meaning of life?
Right?
What would you say?
Where's purpose to be found?
In everything that we do.
Under the sun.
Remember, this is the key phrase of the book.
What are we doing with our time?
What's it all about?
Because we start understanding what our purpose is and start trying to grapple with what that means.
We understand that this is the place where satisfaction is to be found in life.
Where joy is to be found.
What the Greeks called the telos, the purpose.
This is where we'll find our satisfaction in life.
And the amazing thing about this passage today,
full of different ideas, different concepts, different places.
This passage today is going to tell us where to find it.
So here is Solomon.
Here he is.
Look at the text.
Verse 12.
The king of Israel.
Here he is.
The man who, verse 16, has great wisdom.
And the man who, verse 10 of chapter 2,
has kept his heart from no pleasure.
So this is what he's saying of himself.
He's kept his heart from no pleasure.
Now, let me just explain to you what that means.
I was watching Match of the Day last night, half past ten.
Just before Match of the Day came on,
the person came on the BBC One saying,
this is today's winning lottery numbers.
Right?
Four, four, 25, 25, whatever it was.
Okay?
These are today's winning lottery numbers.
And lo and behold, nobody got the winning lottery numbers.
So it rolled over once again.
Okay?
So apparently it's 12.3 million, I think, off the top of my head,
remembering it last night.
12.3 million is up for grabs.
That's a lot of money.
Let me ask you, what would you do with that kind of money?
Do a lot of things.
12.3 million.
This guy Solomon, he doesn't need to enter the lottery.
Do you know why?
Because he has absolutely everything that he could ever want in life.
He has absolutely everything.
Money is no obstacle to him.
Right?
Imagine that.
He's got contacts aplenty.
He has people working for him.
He has people waiting on his every need.
And he has all the power and all the influence to make sure that stuff happens.
And the thing is, today, he is going to go with that stuff, what he's got.
He is going to go on the all-out pursuit to try and find satisfaction under the sun.
This is him.
If you remember last week, if you were here, if not, you can go back and listen to it online.
Here he is trying to disprove the way he understands life in the first 11 verses of chapter 1.
And he's trying to disprove his own theory.
He's trying to find satisfaction under the sun.
And maybe this is where this becomes a bit more real to us.
Because aren't we tempted to think, as we live our lives in this world, that if we only had a little bit more stuff,
or if we only had a little bit more luck with our job,
or if we only were able to marry that person or have that family,
take your pick from what it is.
We're tempted to think that if we had these things,
then we'd be a little bit more happy and we'd find satisfaction in life.
And the thing is, Solomon is telling us today,
here's what he tried,
and we'll find out they're very modern ideas that he tried, modern things.
Here is what I tried, and here is what I learnt.
So come with me and let's do a whistle-stop tour of chapter 1, verse 12,
to chapter 2, verse 11, right?
You can just scan your eyes over it.
And Solomon's going to tell us very quickly what he tried in his pursuit of satisfaction.
So this is a whistle-stop tour, so have the text in front of you,
and we'll kind of go through it and see what he's tried.
Right, verse 13, here's our first pit stop.
He's tried using his God-given wisdom.
Now, if you know anything about Solomon, you know this is a guy who is blessed,
God has richly blessed with wisdom.
And he's taken this wisdom, and what he's decided is he is going to live a good life,
which is a great thing.
Verse 13, he knows that is a good thing.
Living a good life, a moral life, as opposed to darkness and folly.
What he means when he says he tries to live life according to his wisdom
is he's trying to understand life according to his knowledge.
He's trying to understand life in his brain, and he comes to two conclusions,
and he explains the two conclusions by talking about two riddles.
Verse 15, he says,
What is crooked cannot be straight.
So there's where his wisdom is taking him.
Which is his admission that he looks out into a broken world.
This is his admission that he cannot fix it.
Verse 18,
The more he knows,
the more he learns,
the more it crushes him in the inside.
You say, what on earth is he on about?
Well, let me just put it like this, okay?
Remember my sister-in-law?
She used to work for Sport Relief.
Right?
Love watching Sport Relief from the BBC when it comes on.
But what happens?
Sport Relief.
There's humor, humor, humor, humor.
Entertainment, entertainment, entertainment.
Bang, there's a video.
He's a project we're supporting.
What's the temptation every time we see that video?
It's to go,
I'll click a few channels to channel for it,
and I'll watch the Simpsons rerun.
Because I really,
I can do without knowing about that.
Because when I see it,
I just feel helpless.
And I think,
why is this happening in the world?
And actually, to be honest,
if I just avoided it,
then I could just kind of get on with my life.
And this is what he's talking about.
It's why in one sense today,
the happiest people in this building today
are the little children as they run around.
Right?
They're just playing it.
I'm pointing over here
because it's mainly my little two.
They're playing in this corner,
they're running around.
They don't got care in the world.
They don't understand.
They've not seen it.
They don't know what's going on.
This is what he's talking about.
Solomon's wisdom
has led him to go on Google
and Google thinking,
I want to find the t-shirt that says,
Ignorance is blessed.
That's what I want for my life.
I don't want to understand that.
It's just getting me nowhere.
He's saying that wisdom isn't the answer.
And then if you look at chapter 2,
he rhymes off the other places
very quickly where he went
looking for satisfaction.
He went looking for laughter.
Did you see it mentioned that one?
So Solomon tries to be
the life and the soul of the party.
He tries to fill the palace
with the finest comedians around.
I mean, he is hosting live at the Apollo,
at his palace every night,
hoping that they can kind of laugh the way
out of the despair of the world.
Trying to cover up the pains
and the questions.
He's the kind of guy
that's going around the dinner table
on his phone, YouTube,
looking at dogs chasing your tails
and thinking,
isn't that so funny?
He's trying to escape it with laughter.
And laughter doesn't work.
Verse 3, he tries wine.
He tries to cheer his body with wine.
Which I don't think is Solomon's admission there
that he's getting drunk all the time.
That's not his...
I don't think that's what he's saying.
What he's telling us is
that he became a wine connoisseur.
Right?
Loved a lovely bottle of Merlot,
bottle of red,
the most expensive one around.
Right?
He's got the app.
He's into the smell test.
He even knows what that means.
He's the kind of guy,
when he went to a restaurant,
you imagine this,
he looks at the menu
and he thinks,
I'll have the most expensive one
on that menu.
And I'll have four of them, please.
He's looking for his answer
by looking at wine.
Wine doesn't cut it.
Verse 4, he tries great works.
You see him?
He's just running around
from thing to thing.
He's set about great building projects.
He's building houses.
Do you see what he's saying?
He's building vineyards.
This is presumably where his wine is coming from.
He's building gardens.
He's building pools.
He's trying to live the life of luxury
with his many slaves,
which is just employees, I think,
people working for him.
He's got possessions.
He's got more than anyone else
who's ever lived possessions.
He's got silver and gold.
Right?
Every night he's there doing snow angels
in his money.
He's got tons of it.
He's got singers.
So as well as live at the Apollo in his house,
he's hosting last night at the proms.
He's got the finest musicians
to come and to play their music.
And then he tries concubines.
He tries lots and lots of sex
with lots and lots of different women.
And if you know anything about Solomon,
the way that he's portrayed in the Bible,
is someone who got it tragically,
tragically wrong in terms of his obedience
to the Lord,
particularly when it came to his love of women.
And so Solomon's on the wild goose chase
trying to chase all of this,
trying to find satisfaction in his life.
And he comes to two conclusions.
And the first one might shock you a little bit.
Maybe it won't.
I don't know.
Here's the first thing he says.
It's all the things he tried.
Right?
What does he say?
Verse 10,
it was pleasurable.
Things he tried,
if you think about it,
friends,
they are good things from God.
Think about it.
C.S. Lewis used to call these things
joy pointers.
Things that weren't ends in themselves.
They were pointing beyond themselves
to the God who created all things
and who is the God of all joy.
Just think about a few of these things.
I mean,
how good is it
to share a meal
and to laugh
with friends?
It's a wonderful thing.
Alex and I have got friends that we,
we've got two friends
and we call them the radiators.
Because we spend time with them.
We spend time in their presence
and we have a laugh with them.
We enjoy their company.
And do you know what?
It is a tonic for the soul.
Laughter is a great thing.
It's a wonderful thing.
Some of you will love music.
I mean,
how good is good music?
Some of you will love
rock music.
Some of you will love
classical music.
I know some of you tell me
about your love for classical music.
You say,
Handel's Messiah
and you go
and you hear it played
in somewhere like the Usher Hall
or the Albert Hall.
These wonderful
designs of architecture
that people would come up with
and you think,
wow,
isn't this incredible?
The intuition,
the creative flair
that God has given mankind
that we can design this stuff.
And friends,
I think that is why
there was such an outpouring
of emotion,
wasn't there,
when we saw Notre Dame
go up in flames.
Just an outpouring of emotion,
just that wonderful building.
We want to keep it.
It's why I'd imagine
there was an outpouring of money
at the same time
to try and restore it.
And God's good gift of sex.
Remember,
we thought about this last week,
this book that God has given us,
the Song of Songs,
the Song of Solomon,
where we see this man
and this woman
celebrating God's good design
for sex
within their marriage.
this wonderful gift
that God has given us.
All these things,
good gifts from God.
But what happens
is that we take the good things
and we make them God things.
We see them as ends
in themselves
and we think that
these things alone
will satisfy us.
And we want the gifts,
we don't want the giver.
And that's where we make
our greatest mistake.
What is it that happens
when we take these things
and we use them
for our own pleasure?
You think about laughter, friends.
Where is it that often
we do all the time,
I'm sure,
people in our world do.
Where is it people
get their laughs from?
They get it from
the expense of other people.
Alcohol leading people
into addiction
and all sorts of
social issues.
Music that identifies,
objectifies women
and sexual objects,
money that's also
often connected
to the abuse of power.
What is it?
We take these good things.
Friends, we abuse them
and use them
for our own desires.
If you look at the text again,
here's the key phrase
that Solomon is telling us
what he did
and how he used
these things before.
And it's that phrase
for myself.
Got it there
at the end of verse 4.
Chapter 2.
I planted vineyards
for who, Solomon?
I planted them
for myself.
Right, verse 5.
I made myself
gardens and parks.
Verse 6.
I made myself pools.
Verse 8.
I gathered for myself
gold and silver.
So what he's doing
is he's using these things,
looking,
treating them as ends
and looking for his
satisfaction and purpose
in life from these things.
He wants the gifts.
He doesn't want the giver.
And he tells us
that it was pleasurable.
But what he also tells us
in verse 11,
that as he contemplated
all the energy
that he expended
in all of us,
he concludes that
it was vanity.
We thought about that word
last week.
It was meaningless.
And this word
that's probably best seen
by the blowing out
of a candle.
Remember we saw this.
What are you seeing?
The pleasure.
It was there.
But when I tried
to grasp it,
I couldn't get it.
When I tried to catch it
and put it in my pocket,
I couldn't.
When I tried to bottle it
and live in the moment,
it was here, there,
and then it was gone.
Here's what he's concluding
in his all-out search
for satisfaction
in life without God,
that it was all vanity.
It was like the smoke
from a candle.
And friends,
the thing is
that it's not just Solomon
that's saying these things.
Actually,
you see this all the time.
Let me just give you
really quickly,
because of time,
two people
who've said this recently.
Johnny Wilkinson.
Okay?
Now,
I remember exactly
where I was
when he slotted
this drop goal.
Exactly where I was, right?
Even as a Scot,
I allowed myself
a little smile.
I remember exactly
where he was
when he slotted
this drop goal.
He lived every
boy's dream.
Picked for his country,
stand off,
gets to the Rugby
World Cup squad,
gets to the Rugby
World Cup final.
Last seconds of the game,
he's presented with a chance
to win the World Cup,
the men's Rugby World Cup
for his country.
And he slots it.
And the thing about him
is that he said this
in the final moments
of that game, right?
He said,
I sat in the changing room
in Sydney
after that epic battle
until pretty much
everyone had left.
I didn't want to
wave goodbye
because I didn't want
to let go of the moment
and give in
to its inevitable passing.
I had already begun
to feel the elation
slipping away
during the lap of honour
around the field.
Isn't that interesting?
Couldn't grasp it,
couldn't bottle it,
couldn't take it,
didn't want to lose it,
but it went.
Right?
Another guy,
Jim Carrey,
was one of my favourite
actors growing up,
said this,
I think everybody
should get rich and famous
and do everything
they ever dreamed of
so that they can see
that it's not the answer.
Friends,
both testimonies
to the truth
that is it not
that what our world
offers us
is the good life.
Friends,
it's at times
shockingly shallow.
And the challenge
of this passage today
is to allow God,
our creator,
to define for us
and tell us
what the good life is.
Solomon's saying,
I get you Jim,
I get you Johnny,
I tried it too,
I lived my dream,
I did everything
I ever wanted
and it didn't last.
And here's,
he's learned two facts
from his pleasure search.
Here's the first one,
here's what he found.
He thinks about the grave.
After all of this
he said,
after he's tried it all
he thinks about the grave
and he says,
verse 16 of chapter 2,
how the wise
dies like the fool.
Right?
He calls it,
what does he call it?
The same event
happens to them both,
the same fate.
Friends,
it doesn't matter
whether the defining
letters of your life
are PhD
or LSD.
Friends,
at the end of the day
we face the same event.
Let me just tell you,
we've moved house
to Libertin
and I'm reminded
of this
every single day.
Opposite our house
is our co-op funeral directors.
Right?
Just up the road
is Morton Hall Cemetery,
crematorium rather,
which means that our street
is the street
that hearses go up and down
all the time.
And right opposite
our house again,
just up from the co-op
funeral directors
is Libertin Cemetery.
And I take the girls,
I walk them to nursery
every morning
and we walk through
the cemetery
and they have great fun
just pointing at the
gravestones
and thinking about
all the different things.
Let me just tell you,
there are two types
of gravestones
that you get
in that cemetery
and imagine you get
them in every cemetery.
You get the ones
full of marble,
right centre piece,
pride of place
in the middle
of the cemetery,
full on marble,
maybe a cross there as well.
You've got angels
kind of with their things
pointing in.
You've got lined candles.
You've got flowers
from the side.
You've got people
round it all the time
coming to lay stuff
again and again and again
and you've got the person
in the corner
who's got a stone
and on the stone
is a scribbled name.
But friends,
the same event
happens to them both,
happens to us all.
That's what Solomon's
concluded.
Yes, it's great
to live a wise life
and to not live
as a fool,
but you know what,
at the end of the day
it's the same event.
And secondly,
he thinks about his stuff,
so he thinks about
all this stuff
that he's worked so hard
to accumulate
over the years,
all the energy
he's expended
and he thinks to himself,
I'm going to have
to leave this
and I'm going to have
to leave it to somebody
and I'm going to have
to leave it to my son
and who knows
whether he's going to be
a wise man or a fool.
Right?
I mean,
he might just take
all my stuff
that I've worked so hard
for over the years
and just go on
the party of parties
and just blow it all.
And it must have been,
all my toil,
has that been worth it?
For instance,
if you know your Bibles,
Solomon's son,
Rehoboam,
boy was he a fool.
Solomon says it,
it's like the candle,
it's all vanity.
What was I doing?
What is it all about?
And it's almost
as if this point
in the story
that Solomon
comes to his senses.
And do you notice
that the me,
me, me, me, me, me,
me, me, me, me, me
language
that dominates
that first section,
when we hit verse 24,
and this is the key bit
for us this morning,
when we hit verse 24,
it turns into
God,
God language.
Look at what he writes.
He writes this,
There is nothing better
for a person
than that he should
eat and drink
and find enjoyment
in his toil.
This also I saw
is from the hand of God,
for apart from him,
there's a key phrase,
for apart from him,
who can eat
or who can have
enjoyment?
For to the one
who pleases him,
God has given wisdom
and knowledge and joy,
but to the sinner
he has given the business
of gathering and collecting,
only to give
to the one
who pleases God.
Here is Solomon's conclusion
after all is said and done.
Friends,
I looked out there
for all my answers.
I looked out there
for satisfaction in life
and do you know what?
I did not find it.
And he's encouraging us
to lift our eyes
and not to look
for our answers
and our meaning in life
in this world
or inside
according to how we feel.
He's encouraging us
to lift our eyes
and look to the creator
of the ends
of the earth.
The only place
we're going to find
satisfaction in this life
and purpose,
and by the way,
that does not mean
life is easy.
The only place
we'll find it
is by looking to Jesus.
And Jesus tells
a similar story,
doesn't he?
Not about a king
who came to his senses,
but about a son
who came to his senses.
A son who wanted
his father dead.
A son who bought
into the lie
that the good life
was to be found
away from his father
rather than with him.
And so he says effectively,
Dad, I want you dead.
Dad, I don't want you.
Dad, I want your stuff.
And the way the Greek
is there,
the father is literally
said to have
his insides ripped apart
by his son's request.
But he gives his son
what he wants
and the son lives
the life of Riley.
He goes girls,
he goes parties,
he goes clothes,
he goes popularity.
But the son's problem
is that he believes
the good life
is to be found
away from his father.
And where does
his search for pleasure
and joy take him?
It takes him to
the pigsty.
Lower and lower
and lower
he gets
until he is there.
And there's that moment
in the story
where he comes
to his senses.
And he remembers
his father.
He remembers
his dad.
And he thinks,
I need to get
to my father.
So he starts
making the journey
back.
And the thing
that's amazing
about this story
is that a walking
son is met
by what?
A running father.
A father who runs,
who embraces
his son,
who was lost,
who is now found,
who embraces
the shame
that his son
deserved,
who takes the shame
on himself.
And says,
son,
I love you.
Fattened calf,
ring on your finger.
Says,
son,
welcome home.
Jesus tells that story
for a number
of different reasons.
Let me just tell you one
and it's to help us see,
prodigal see,
that true joy
is to be found
not away from the father
but with the father.
And Jesus goes
to the cross,
friends,
so that I can know
that passage
in Luke 15
not as just
a nice story.
But as a stunning
reality
that somebody
like me
could come
to know God.
So why is Jesus
going to the cross?
Why does he go there?
To propitiate,
to take the wrath
of God
that I deserve
for my sin
against the holy God
on himself.
Why does he go there?
Why does he choose
the cross?
Why does he take
the nails?
Why does he spill
his blood?
Why does he suffer
the most humiliating
and horrific
of deaths?
answer, friends.
If you think about
what we read
in John 15 earlier,
you can check out
in John 17 later.
He goes there
for my joy.
And for your joy.
He goes there
so that I would know
the joy of sin's pardon.
He goes there
so that I would know
the joy
of coming
into this joyous
relationship
that has existed
for all eternity
between God the Father
and God the Son.
welcomed as an adopted
child of God,
not because of who I am
and not because
I've got it sussed in life
and I live a moral life.
No, he does it
simply by his pure grace.
And he says,
welcome home, son.
This is life.
This is purpose.
This is meaning.
This is joy.
Friends,
the gift of the gospel
is not stuff.
It is not an easy life
as our world defines it.
The gift of the gospel
where true joy
will be found
is when life
with the Father.
And see when you can
compare that
with what our world
offers us.
Friends,
nothing compares.
Well did C.S. Lewis say
that we are
half-hearted creatures
fooling about
with drink and sex
and ambition
when infinite joy
is offered to us.
We are like a child
who wants to go on
making mud pies
in the slum
because we cannot
fathom
what is meant
by the offer
of a holiday
at the sea.
Our problem is
that we are well
too easily pleased.
And so the call
of heaven
this morning,
friends,
and it has been
a heavy time
being reminded
of the world
in which we live,
is to lift our eyes
to Christ
and to know
that this is not
about us having
all the answers
in life
and it is to know
that this is not
about the strength
of our faith.
This is about
the Christ
that we cling to
and his ability
to hold us.
And he loves us.
And the
urge of this passage
is to run
to him.
So we started
by asking ourselves,
if this is the answer,
what is the question?
Right?
Well, let me just end
by flipping it around
and asking you
if this is the question,
what is the answer?
Okay?
And the question
is the one
that we find
in the
Westminster Shorter
Catechism.
And a catechism
really is a
document
that certain people
in the church
in the UK
at a certain point
in time
got together
and they thought
let's solidify
everything we believe
about the Christian faith.
And he put it together
in a question
and answer format
so that
we could get it
in our bloodstreams.
And people
in our world
could question,
answer,
get it in our memories,
get it in our bloodstreams.
We could read it
on our own.
We could read it
at work.
We could read it
at church.
We could read it
at Sunday school.
We could read it
at home with our families
as a way of passing
on what the faith
is all about.
Question one asks,
what is the chief
end of man?
Right,
exactly the same question
we've been thinking
about today.
What is it all about?
Why are we here?
Where is purpose
to be found?
Where is joy
to be found?
Friends,
the answer they came up with
and it's gloriously true
and it has encouraged
the saints
down the generations.
What is the chief
end of man?
man's chief end
is to glorify God
and enjoy Him
forever.
Friends,
where does our help
come from?
We lift our eyes,
Psalm 121,
and remember that
our help comes
from the Lord.
It comes from the Lord
who is the creator
of the heavens
and the earth.
So friends,
let me just,
let's just have a time
of,
just for 30 seconds
or so,
just a time of silence.
And let me just invite you
to bring your own prayers
to the Lord.
In light of everything
that's gone on this morning,
let's bring our own prayers
to Him,
knowing that this is
the kind of God
that He is.
And so,
Father,
we would want to commit
ourselves to
your loving care today.
Lord,
we realize that we are
human beings
who are so easily
distracted
and content
with other stuff.
And Lord,
I pray for each of us
today
that you would help
every single one of us
to find our identity
in your Son,
Jesus.
And so,
Father,
we cling to His words
today,
thinking of those words
that the disciples said
in John's Gospel.
Where else will we go?
For you have the words
of eternal life.
So,
Lord,
we pray,
increase our faith.
And in Jesus' name,
we commit ourselves
to you,
Father.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.