WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.700 Let me pray for us as we come to God's word. Let me pray. Father, we've thought of many great things already this evening. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:19.900 And we do, even as we look at your word, we want to remain in Jesus. We want his word to rule in our hearts. We want to learn from you. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:26.120 We want to think seriously and carefully. We know we need your help. We know we need your strength. 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:33.660 And we know we need the power of the Spirit to apply what we learn to our lives and our hearts. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:38.480 Let me read Ecclesiastes 1, and I'm going to read the first 11 verses. 00:00:40.359 --> 00:00:46.659 The words of the teacher, son of David, king of Jerusalem. 00:00:48.120 --> 00:00:54.780 Meaningless, meaningless, says the teacher. Utterly meaningless. Everything is meaningless. 00:00:54.780 --> 00:01:00.539 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? 00:01:01.500 --> 00:01:05.799 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 00:01:06.540 --> 00:01:11.120 The sun rises and the sun sets and hurries back to where it rises. 00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:14.700 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north. 00:01:15.240 --> 00:01:18.540 Round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:23.240 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:26.780 To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 00:01:27.460 --> 00:01:31.180 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:35.160 The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:37.680 What has been will be again. 00:01:37.860 --> 00:01:39.520 What has been done will be done again. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:41.860 There is nothing new under the sun. 00:01:41.859 --> 00:01:46.459 Is there anything of which one can say, look, this is something new. 00:01:46.980 --> 00:01:49.239 It was already here, long ago. 00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:51.379 It was here before our time. 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:54.739 No one remembers the former generations. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:02:00.539 And even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them. 00:02:00.540 --> 00:02:09.080 I think there's an alluring half-truth that goes around the world, and it even goes around in Christian circles. 00:02:09.200 --> 00:02:10.319 It goes something like this. 00:02:10.780 --> 00:02:14.920 If you do good things, then good things will follow. 00:02:15.860 --> 00:02:19.219 If you do good, good things will happen to you. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:22.400 Now, it's not without reason, is it, that people think like that. 00:02:22.480 --> 00:02:26.960 We live in a world we know has been made by a just and a holy God. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:32.620 And so it seems right that what he loves would happen for those who obey him, 00:02:32.659 --> 00:02:36.620 and what he hates would not happen for those who love him. 00:02:37.300 --> 00:02:40.100 You know, if you do what is right, then surely good things will follow. 00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:44.340 And actually, you can even find Bible passages which seem to say that very thing. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.400 So the book of Proverbs says it over and over. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:52.960 The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:58.500 Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. 00:02:59.080 --> 00:02:59.640 There you go. 00:02:59.820 --> 00:03:00.860 There in black and white. 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:02.819 The Lord looks after the righteous. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:04.040 He brings them good things. 00:03:04.219 --> 00:03:06.740 For the wicked, they receive bad things. 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:07.980 Carries on. 00:03:08.040 --> 00:03:10.520 From the fruit of their lips, people enjoy good things, 00:03:10.860 --> 00:03:13.700 but the unfaithful have an appetite for violence. 00:03:14.260 --> 00:03:16.680 Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:18.819 but those who speak rashly will come to ruin. 00:03:18.819 --> 00:03:24.659 A sluggard's appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. 00:03:25.379 --> 00:03:31.719 The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked make themselves a stench and bring shame on themselves. 00:03:32.219 --> 00:03:32.840 There you go. 00:03:33.639 --> 00:03:35.079 Good things come to good people. 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:37.060 Bad things come to bad people. 00:03:38.139 --> 00:03:40.859 Even Paul in the New Testament seems to hint at something like that. 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:42.759 He says in Galatians 6 verse 7, 00:03:42.759 --> 00:03:58.179 Now, what happens is you stuff that kind of half-truth somewhere in your pocket, 00:03:58.359 --> 00:04:00.000 and you get on with life, don't you? 00:04:00.079 --> 00:04:02.639 You think this is kind of how the world works. 00:04:02.780 --> 00:04:05.340 I will do good stuff, and good things will happen to me. 00:04:05.459 --> 00:04:09.039 I will be righteous, and God is righteous, so righteous things will happen to me. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:13.900 And then we get on with life, and then strange things happen, don't they? 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:17.860 We do the right thing, and good things don't always follow. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.279 It might happen early in your life, so you might get to school, 00:04:21.379 --> 00:04:25.060 and you realize that actually sometimes people cheat, and they get away with it, 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:29.060 and they get better grades than you when you did all the work. 00:04:30.199 --> 00:04:31.759 Hard work is not always rewarded. 00:04:32.980 --> 00:04:37.459 Maybe in your job, you're diligent, you turn up on time, you do an honest, hard day's work, 00:04:37.459 --> 00:04:42.759 only to find that the incompetent, dishonest colleague is the one who gets promoted and not you. 00:04:44.939 --> 00:04:48.159 It even happens in church as well, in church life, doesn't it? 00:04:48.839 --> 00:04:54.719 A young, gifted man at the start of his ministry is forced out of his church by unsupportive leaders, 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:58.659 while an incompetent pastor is unchallenged, holds on to power, 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:01.099 and slowly drains the church of life and people. 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:03.099 You know those cases, don't you? 00:05:03.100 --> 00:05:05.379 It happens in homes. 00:05:06.320 --> 00:05:09.580 A young woman gives up her career to get married and raise children, 00:05:09.700 --> 00:05:13.200 and finds her husband has squandered all their money gambling online, 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:17.340 while the wife who shows very little concern for her children or her husband 00:05:17.340 --> 00:05:20.160 turns out to be married to a man who is devoted and sacrificial. 00:05:21.900 --> 00:05:25.800 The ultimate crash-out, though, for the half-truth is death, isn't it? 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:28.540 Death comes to everybody. 00:05:29.660 --> 00:05:31.720 And it doesn't wait to be invited. 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:35.319 Death, it turns out, doesn't come just to the wicked and the deserving, 00:05:35.639 --> 00:05:36.980 or even to just the old. 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:38.800 It comes to the young. 00:05:39.139 --> 00:05:40.000 It comes to the kind. 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:41.040 It comes to the good. 00:05:41.420 --> 00:05:42.680 It comes to the undeserving. 00:05:44.180 --> 00:05:46.420 David Gibson has written a book on Ecclesiastes, 00:05:46.620 --> 00:05:48.460 which used to be called Destiny. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:50.680 It's now called Living Life Backwards, I think. 00:05:51.220 --> 00:05:52.639 It is a brilliant book. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:56.860 If you read one Christian book this term, make it this one. 00:05:56.979 --> 00:05:58.680 It is really, really helpful. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:04.139 People get put off it because its opening line goes like this. 00:06:04.500 --> 00:06:05.120 It says this. 00:06:05.899 --> 00:06:06.860 I'm going to die. 00:06:07.719 --> 00:06:11.360 By the time you read these lines, I might even be dead. 00:06:12.219 --> 00:06:14.560 It's not that I have a disease or a terminal illness. 00:06:14.779 --> 00:06:17.419 A doctor has not pronounced on how long I'm going to live. 00:06:17.779 --> 00:06:19.419 I don't know when I'm going to die. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:20.819 I just know I will. 00:06:20.819 --> 00:06:23.560 I'm going to die, and so are you. 00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:29.060 Matthew McCulloch has written a book called Remember Death, 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:32.719 which again is a really brilliant book, and don't be put off by the title. 00:06:32.899 --> 00:06:33.500 He says this. 00:06:33.579 --> 00:06:35.639 Death makes a statement about who we are. 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:38.719 We are not too important to die. 00:06:39.139 --> 00:06:42.420 We will all die by all those who have gone before us, 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:45.719 and the world will keep on moving just as it always has. 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:47.900 No one is indispensable. 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:51.320 It's a harsh, even terrifying statement. 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:57.680 And because that's true, right, because death really undermines everything, 00:06:57.800 --> 00:07:01.820 it robs us of what we've spent our lives building, relationships, careers, money, and homes. 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:07.379 Because that's true, it means, doesn't it, that that opening statement of good things happen to good people 00:07:07.379 --> 00:07:10.379 isn't the whole story, is it? 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:13.819 The world is not perfectly just. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:16.399 And life is cut short. 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:22.060 And that means, doesn't it, that there is a kind of futility to life that we need to engage with. 00:07:22.060 --> 00:07:25.019 And that's why the book of Ecclesiastes is in your Bible. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:30.439 The writer of the Ecclesiastes wants you to know that life is not always that simple, 00:07:30.699 --> 00:07:34.199 and it's not always that good, and it's not always that fair. 00:07:35.459 --> 00:07:36.920 And this is the key. 00:07:37.879 --> 00:07:41.860 The writer of the Ecclesiastes thinks that it's possible to learn that, 00:07:42.340 --> 00:07:45.600 to learn about the futility and the injustice of life, 00:07:46.019 --> 00:07:49.800 and to face that injustice and futility square in the eyes. 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:54.759 And here's the key, and still live joyfully in this world. 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:57.520 More than that, I think it says, ultimately, 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:02.259 until you have come to terms with the futility of life, 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:06.259 until you've really looked at the injustice and the temporary nature of your life, 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:09.500 until you have understood that you will die, 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:12.280 you cannot enjoy life properly. 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:17.379 That's why I think Dave Gibson retitled his book in the second edition, 00:08:17.379 --> 00:08:20.379 living life backwards, because the premise of Ecclesiastes is 00:08:20.379 --> 00:08:23.240 that you need to start with the fact that you will die, 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:25.719 that the fact that life is futile and unjust, 00:08:25.860 --> 00:08:30.019 and you need to work backwards from that in order to understand the best way to live. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:33.100 If you live forwards from where you are now, 00:08:33.179 --> 00:08:35.980 in the hope and expectation that that will not come, 00:08:36.620 --> 00:08:41.519 you will live an unrealistic, unfulfilled, unsatisfying, ultimately miserable life. 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:47.620 So, if you've not considered the futility of working hard, 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:52.100 only to retire and hand over your job to a loser who bankrupts the business, 00:08:52.659 --> 00:08:55.220 or if you've never thought that you could be wrongly accused 00:08:55.220 --> 00:08:57.340 and forced out of relationships and friendships, 00:08:57.899 --> 00:09:01.720 or if you've thought that if you're the most gifted and competent person in the office, 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:03.120 you will always receive promotions, 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:07.379 if you've not understood that those things don't always happen in the way they should, 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:09.360 you are not yet ready to live. 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:12.320 And so, what we're going to do over the next few weeks 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:14.639 is going to try and work our way through the book of Ecclesiastes 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:16.159 and learn these lessons together. 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:18.379 And what I want to do tonight, 00:09:18.939 --> 00:09:21.360 just in the interest of time and depth, 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:25.100 is just try and look at one word from the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:09:25.439 --> 00:09:28.539 It's a word which I think will help unlock the book for us. 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:31.679 And it comes a number of times on the way through, 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:34.580 but it's there in chapter 1, verse 2. 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:36.659 So, have a look down at chapter 1, verse 2. 00:09:36.659 --> 00:09:40.039 The words of the teacher, the son of David, the king of Jerusalem, 00:09:40.719 --> 00:09:45.959 meaningless, meaningless, says the teacher, utterly meaningless. 00:09:46.319 --> 00:09:48.980 Everything is meaningless. 00:09:50.039 --> 00:09:54.959 Now, that word, meaningless, is key to understanding the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:09:55.379 --> 00:09:57.659 The writer uses the word 37 times. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:02.139 Now, maybe some of you are going to go through Ecclesiastes and count it up, 00:10:02.139 --> 00:10:06.159 and you'll arrive at 35, I think, probably, in your NIV translation. 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:09.879 But, that's because our NIVs twice translate it slightly differently. 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:12.779 But it does appear 37 times. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:14.639 It's a key to understanding the book. 00:10:15.199 --> 00:10:17.799 And I want us just tonight to try and work out its meaning. 00:10:18.459 --> 00:10:20.600 And let me start by saying what it doesn't mean. 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:27.879 Meaningless here doesn't mean sort of without any significance or pointless. 00:10:28.659 --> 00:10:32.340 David Gibson, in his book, points out that the writer is not a first-year philosophy student 00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:35.659 who's been on to a few lectures and come to the conclusion that life is a waste of time. 00:10:36.060 --> 00:10:38.540 He's not a nihilist, if that word means anything to you. 00:10:39.180 --> 00:10:42.519 Instead, the word, really, is from the Hebrew word hebel, 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:47.039 which means something nearer to breath or breeze or mist, 00:10:47.299 --> 00:10:50.240 which is why I've entitled the series Life in the Mist. 00:10:51.179 --> 00:10:55.079 So, perhaps you could say it means something like without solid substance. 00:10:55.299 --> 00:10:56.360 It has no weight. 00:10:56.439 --> 00:10:57.600 It doesn't last for long. 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:01.059 It's impossible to sort of grab it and take hold of it. 00:11:02.079 --> 00:11:04.159 It's used a number of times in the Old Testament. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:06.379 It comes in the book of Job. 00:11:06.919 --> 00:11:11.279 Job accuses his counselors, the people who are giving him advice in the midst of his suffering, 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:17.819 he accused them of speaking in this breathy, misty, meaningless way. 00:11:19.019 --> 00:11:21.579 He says that you can't sort of grab a hold of it. 00:11:21.639 --> 00:11:23.039 There's nothing to what you're saying. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:25.519 Just wind. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:29.059 It's used elsewhere in the Old Testament to describe idols. 00:11:29.980 --> 00:11:30.699 They're just a breath. 00:11:30.779 --> 00:11:31.419 They're just mist. 00:11:31.500 --> 00:11:31.939 They're nothing. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:34.019 Or even, at times, human activity. 00:11:35.699 --> 00:11:40.059 Now, helpfully, the writer of Ecclesiastes gives us some clues about what he means by the word 00:11:40.059 --> 00:11:46.039 because he accompanies the word meaningless with either another word or another couple of words to help explain the meaning. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:52.779 And what I want you to do is to look up some of those references together and see whether we can come up with a definition of the word from that. 00:11:53.559 --> 00:11:56.779 Now, I'll warn you that lots of these are a repetition, right? 00:11:56.779 --> 00:12:02.399 So, I think there are two or three different ideas in here, but there are a lot of repetition. 00:12:02.579 --> 00:12:08.819 So, with the person next to you or persons next to you, have a look at those references for the word meaningless 00:12:08.819 --> 00:12:13.539 and look at how it's expanded on and see the words that are attached. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:15.860 And how does that help you understand the word? 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:17.100 Just go for that for a few minutes. 00:12:17.179 --> 00:12:18.500 So, the references are written down there. 00:12:19.179 --> 00:12:22.220 Go for it with the person or persons next to you. 00:12:22.220 --> 00:12:36.100 Okay, let me get you back together. 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:42.960 So, hopefully, you found a lot of chasing after the wind. 00:12:46.220 --> 00:12:47.480 What else did you find? 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:49.480 A miserable business. 00:12:49.480 --> 00:12:50.580 A miserable business. 00:12:51.019 --> 00:12:51.180 Yeah. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:53.440 And grievous evil. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:53.680 Sorry? 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:56.860 Yeah, we don't profit. 00:12:57.659 --> 00:12:58.680 A grievous evil. 00:12:59.420 --> 00:12:59.480 Yeah. 00:13:00.100 --> 00:13:00.340 Sorry? 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:01.960 Transient. 00:13:02.139 --> 00:13:02.480 Yes. 00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:07.639 What do we think that – I mean, what do we think that – how does that help us understand the word? 00:13:09.460 --> 00:13:10.420 Jamal says it doesn't. 00:13:11.019 --> 00:13:13.860 In the sense that it doesn't expand, it just talks about. 00:13:15.659 --> 00:13:16.100 Yes. 00:13:16.100 --> 00:13:16.180 Yes. 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:21.019 So, I think it – yeah, go on. 00:13:21.139 --> 00:13:21.299 Okay. 00:13:21.559 --> 00:13:22.699 It doesn't expand on the word. 00:13:23.699 --> 00:13:24.299 Anyone else? 00:13:24.299 --> 00:13:28.579 If it's a person, when there's a person, you're well-possessed on, then you're like something, 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:30.719 the blood's not ground, but you can build them. 00:13:31.379 --> 00:13:34.879 So, it's having – in the words, it's about the toil, you achieve something, 00:13:34.979 --> 00:13:38.419 that means it's not about what you have, what you do, it's the fortune. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:40.159 Right. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:40.459 Okay. 00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:41.079 Yeah. 00:13:41.079 --> 00:13:44.799 So, it's not – 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:48.000 So, with the possessions, you can have a lot of possessions and not enjoy them, 00:13:48.079 --> 00:13:50.759 so that there's a sort of meaninglessness about the possessions, 00:13:50.959 --> 00:13:53.539 because it doesn't actually give you what you were looking for. 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:53.859 Yeah. 00:13:55.859 --> 00:13:56.120 Go on, Zain. 00:13:56.120 --> 00:14:02.340 Go away. 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:02.340 00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:30.019 Yes, yes, yes. 00:14:32.340 --> 00:14:34.759 Yes. 00:14:35.560 --> 00:14:38.480 Perfect sense, yes. 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:41.040 So two things that Zane said that are really helpful. 00:14:41.280 --> 00:14:44.340 One is that there's a temporariness to it. 00:14:44.780 --> 00:14:46.019 The wind doesn't last very long. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:47.100 You can't get hold of it. 00:14:47.100 --> 00:14:48.600 It doesn't last. 00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:52.060 And there's just nothing solid there. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:53.800 There's nothing to build on. 00:14:53.879 --> 00:14:54.780 There's no foundation. 00:14:55.139 --> 00:14:57.720 It just kind of diffuses. 00:14:57.720 --> 00:15:02.899 And I think the other words, the miserable business, 00:15:03.060 --> 00:15:05.620 it's not just that life is very short. 00:15:06.180 --> 00:15:11.460 It's that actually there's sort of a futility to it. 00:15:11.540 --> 00:15:12.840 There's a misery to it. 00:15:13.220 --> 00:15:14.340 Things aren't always happy. 00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:15.519 Good things don't always happen. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:21.920 So in chapter 4, verse 8, where he says the miserable business, 00:15:22.040 --> 00:15:23.480 there was a man all alone. 00:15:23.620 --> 00:15:25.000 He had neither a son nor a brother. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:26.680 There was no end to his toil, 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:28.519 and his eyes were not content with his wealth. 00:15:29.019 --> 00:15:30.479 For whom I am toiling, he asked. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:32.799 And why am I depriving myself of enjoyment? 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:34.199 This too is meaningless. 00:15:34.679 --> 00:15:36.239 A miserable business. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:39.459 Life is just at times really sad, right? 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:40.819 It's really miserable. 00:15:41.539 --> 00:15:43.079 And then in chapter 6, verse 2, 00:15:43.139 --> 00:15:44.859 when you get this idea of a grievous evil, 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:47.819 God gives some people wealth, possessions, and honor 00:15:47.819 --> 00:15:50.279 so that they lack nothing and that their hearts desire. 00:15:50.579 --> 00:15:52.779 But God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them 00:15:52.779 --> 00:15:54.259 and strangers enjoy them instead. 00:15:54.259 --> 00:15:57.019 This is meaningless, a grievous evil. 00:15:58.019 --> 00:16:00.819 Here, you know, someone rich, famous, they've got loads of money, 00:16:00.919 --> 00:16:02.600 they've got a really big house, they've got loads of nice cars, 00:16:02.679 --> 00:16:03.500 they've got all that they could want, 00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:04.980 and the only people who are really enjoying it 00:16:04.980 --> 00:16:07.480 are the people around them who just didn't earn any of it. 00:16:07.819 --> 00:16:08.740 And they're miserable. 00:16:09.159 --> 00:16:09.799 That's meaningless. 00:16:10.059 --> 00:16:11.319 It's also kind of unjust. 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:12.840 It's an evil, isn't it? 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:17.980 And so I think the point is that this meaningless word is grasping after, 00:16:18.100 --> 00:16:21.899 if you like, the idea that life is very short and temporary, 00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:25.800 you can't really kind of gather it together, it runs out, 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:30.980 and also that it is kind of sad and unjust at times. 00:16:30.980 --> 00:16:33.779 And that is the world in which we live. 00:16:34.740 --> 00:16:38.560 Interesting, the book of Ecclesiastes begins and ends 00:16:38.560 --> 00:16:40.659 with the idea that everything is meaningless. 00:16:40.899 --> 00:16:44.259 So, chapter 1, verse 2, meaningless, meaningless, says the teacher, 00:16:44.379 --> 00:16:46.560 utterly meaningless, everything is meaningless. 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:49.799 And then again, in chapter 12, verse 8, 00:16:49.939 --> 00:16:53.099 you get the idea that meaningless, meaningless, says the teacher, 00:16:53.539 --> 00:16:54.919 everything is meaningless. 00:16:55.619 --> 00:16:59.639 And in between, the teacher references all sorts of different things 00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:00.939 which come under that category. 00:17:01.099 --> 00:17:02.799 So having said that everything is meaningless, 00:17:03.339 --> 00:17:07.019 he wants to land it in a more concrete way in our lives. 00:17:07.859 --> 00:17:12.059 So you get this whole idea that lots of different things. 00:17:12.059 --> 00:17:18.500 So pleasure is meaningless, wealth, work, wisdom, being the king, 00:17:19.419 --> 00:17:23.819 words, being righteous, the future, youth. 00:17:24.399 --> 00:17:27.899 None of those things, says the teacher, provide a solid basis for life. 00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:29.359 None of them are enough. 00:17:29.539 --> 00:17:32.539 They all very quickly slip through our fingers and are gone. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:36.059 Now, we're going to unpack some of those things in the weeks to come 00:17:36.059 --> 00:17:37.819 as we work our way through the book. 00:17:38.179 --> 00:17:39.599 But let's come back to chapter 1, 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:43.839 and I want us to see something else about what this mist of life is like. 00:17:44.399 --> 00:17:47.379 And perhaps this is hard for us to see or certainly to agree with 00:17:47.379 --> 00:17:50.139 because I think in our particular moment in time, 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:53.099 we are indoctrinated with the idea that we are making progress. 00:17:54.839 --> 00:17:59.379 We believe, don't we, and we are taught that we are making progress all the time. 00:17:59.500 --> 00:18:04.379 Things are moving forward, things are improving, and things are getting better. 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:08.339 And the book of Ecclesiastes wants you to question that idea. 00:18:08.339 --> 00:18:13.379 It's not going to deny that things change or that new things get invented 00:18:13.379 --> 00:18:15.599 or that technological progress is made, 00:18:15.899 --> 00:18:19.659 but it wants to ask you the question of whether that is really progress, 00:18:20.279 --> 00:18:24.399 whether really actually we are getting better and better and making progress. 00:18:25.299 --> 00:18:29.699 I don't know whether you followed the news this week with Jacob Coxon, 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:31.159 who was interviewed by the BBC. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:36.619 He worked for Anthropic, you know, the AI company behind Claude. 00:18:36.619 --> 00:18:39.399 Do you hear his interview? He said this, I think it's on your handout. 00:18:40.219 --> 00:18:42.139 I believe, this is terrifying, isn't it? 00:18:42.179 --> 00:18:45.039 I believe that if we don't slow down at the current rate of progress, 00:18:45.259 --> 00:18:51.159 there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future. 00:18:52.239 --> 00:18:57.439 I mean, so I don't know whether you think that's true or not, 00:18:57.500 --> 00:18:58.299 but I mean, he is true. 00:18:58.359 --> 00:19:00.719 We are all going to die in the future at some point, 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:04.160 but he seems to think that that's linked to this progress with AI. 00:19:04.380 --> 00:19:06.039 We're not actually making progress, he's saying. 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:08.960 This is technological advancement, 00:19:09.180 --> 00:19:12.180 but it doesn't mean humanity or human nature is advancing. 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:15.839 In fact, actually, it's been taken hold of and used in wicked ways. 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:20.319 Mary Harrington is a feminist and not a Christian as far as I know, 00:19:20.399 --> 00:19:22.000 but she wrote a book back in 2023, 00:19:22.379 --> 00:19:25.179 which is called Feminism Against Progress. 00:19:25.299 --> 00:19:27.019 It caused a bit of a storm at the time. 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:31.839 And she has come to this realization that what she thought was progress, 00:19:32.179 --> 00:19:35.339 as in advancing towards a just end, 00:19:35.699 --> 00:19:37.879 was actually not self-evidently true. 00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:39.379 So she says, 00:19:39.380 --> 00:19:43.460 it is not self-evident that humans have progressed in some absolute sense. 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:46.940 That doesn't mean that everything was perfect once 00:19:46.940 --> 00:19:49.120 and we're all going to hell in a handbasket, 00:19:49.560 --> 00:19:52.140 but pick a subject and you'll find some things are better 00:19:52.140 --> 00:19:54.080 while other things have become worse. 00:19:54.800 --> 00:19:56.620 If you're going to believe in progress, 00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:59.280 you have to define what you mean by progress. 00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:01.280 More stuff, more freedom, less disease. 00:20:01.760 --> 00:20:05.800 Pick any subject and you'll find that what looks from one vantage point like progress 00:20:05.800 --> 00:20:09.120 mostly seems that way because you're ignoring the costs. 00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:13.760 We've grown immeasurably richer and more comfortable in the last 300 years, for example, 00:20:14.060 --> 00:20:18.520 but we did so on the backs of plundered, colonized and enslaved peoples 00:20:18.520 --> 00:20:22.200 and at the cost of incalculable environmental degradation. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:23.540 Gosh, that's difficult to say. 00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:27.200 Meanwhile, torture in warfare hasn't gone away, 00:20:27.340 --> 00:20:28.620 warfare hasn't gone away, 00:20:28.780 --> 00:20:31.580 nor has hunger, misery, want or human degradation. 00:20:32.840 --> 00:20:37.480 I feel like Mary Harrington had stumbled onto Ecclesiastes 1 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:39.200 and never realized it. 00:20:39.660 --> 00:20:42.260 So have a look at Ecclesiastes 1, verse 4. 00:20:43.340 --> 00:20:45.120 What is life in this world like? 00:20:46.120 --> 00:20:49.600 Well, people come and go, but the earth remains forever. 00:20:49.900 --> 00:20:52.500 Generations come, generations go. 00:20:53.040 --> 00:20:54.920 We're here for a time and then we're gone. 00:20:55.600 --> 00:20:56.560 We don't make progress. 00:20:56.680 --> 00:20:57.340 We don't get anywhere. 00:20:57.339 --> 00:20:59.119 Verse 5. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:20:59.139 Verse 5. 00:20:59.539 --> 00:21:02.339 The sun rises and sets again. 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:05.059 And then rises and sets. 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:09.519 It's not progressing anywhere or achieving anything. 00:21:09.679 --> 00:21:11.179 It's just rising and setting. 00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:13.220 It's the same with the wind in verse 6. 00:21:13.220 --> 00:21:16.079 The wind blows to the south, turns to the north. 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:19.740 Round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 00:21:19.960 --> 00:21:21.360 It's not making any progress. 00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:23.460 It's just going round and round. 00:21:23.559 --> 00:21:25.539 The streams never fill the sea. 00:21:26.399 --> 00:21:31.279 They flow into it day and night, day and night, and the sea is never full. 00:21:31.899 --> 00:21:33.819 And they return to where they've come from. 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:37.059 So much so, the writer concludes in verse 9, 00:21:37.059 --> 00:21:39.980 What has been will be again. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:42.460 What has been done will be done again. 00:21:43.059 --> 00:21:46.179 There is nothing new under the sun. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:48.519 And that, he says, is life. 00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:52.299 We need to come to terms with that is what life is like. 00:21:52.619 --> 00:21:55.379 There is a sort of cyclical nature. 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:56.720 It doesn't make any progress. 00:21:56.859 --> 00:21:58.339 It's not going anywhere. 00:21:58.480 --> 00:21:59.899 We're not achieving anything. 00:22:00.059 --> 00:22:01.339 We're not building anything. 00:22:01.859 --> 00:22:05.079 We're like the wind which just blows round and round and round and round. 00:22:05.079 --> 00:22:06.559 It's a mist. 00:22:06.639 --> 00:22:07.859 You can't grab a hold of it. 00:22:09.399 --> 00:22:11.779 Okay, with the person next to you, I then want you to ask this question. 00:22:11.899 --> 00:22:13.960 How does this lack of progress make you feel? 00:22:14.879 --> 00:22:17.839 Is life meant to be like this, do you think? 00:22:18.460 --> 00:22:20.220 Have a talk to the person next to you. 00:22:20.679 --> 00:22:22.960 And then we'll finish off after that. 00:22:30.399 --> 00:22:34.059 Okay, we don't have a huge amount of time. 00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:42.439 So, does anyone want to feedback any of the most useful and insightful things said in your groups? 00:22:46.139 --> 00:22:46.659 Yes. 00:22:46.660 --> 00:22:47.660 Please. 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:47.660 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:47.660 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:47.660 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:47.660 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:47.660 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:48.660 Please. 00:22:48.660 --> 00:22:49.660 Please. 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:49.660 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:50.820 may may may 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:50.820 may 00:22:50.820 --> 00:22:50.820 00:22:50.820 --> 00:22:50.820 00:22:50.820 --> 00:22:50.820 00:22:50.820 --> 00:22:50.820 00:22:50.820 --> 00:22:50.820 00:22:50.820 --> 00:22:50.820 00:22:50.819 --> 00:22:52.819 This book is a 00:22:52.819 --> 00:22:54.819 It's a 00:22:54.819 --> 00:22:56.819 It's a 00:22:56.819 --> 00:23:00.819 Life is a 00:23:00.819 --> 00:23:02.819 Life is a 00:23:02.819 --> 00:23:06.819 But the critical thing is that 00:23:06.819 --> 00:23:08.819 What do we do today 00:23:08.819 --> 00:23:10.819 The government is to 00:23:10.819 --> 00:23:12.819 Where people do our 00:23:12.819 --> 00:23:14.819 It's still 00:23:14.819 --> 00:23:18.819 Where are we going to 00:23:18.819 --> 00:23:20.819 Which is not 00:23:20.819 --> 00:23:22.819 That's when you have to 00:23:22.819 --> 00:23:24.819 Actually 00:23:24.819 --> 00:23:26.819 Move the system of the 00:23:26.819 --> 00:23:28.819 As 00:23:28.819 --> 00:23:30.819 So that 00:23:30.819 --> 00:23:32.819 When it happens to us 00:23:32.819 --> 00:23:34.819 We are 00:23:34.819 --> 00:23:36.819 Yeah 00:23:36.819 --> 00:23:38.819 Yeah 00:23:38.819 --> 00:23:40.819 See I think the point is that it's important 00:23:40.819 --> 00:23:42.819 That we keep in view eternity 00:23:42.819 --> 00:23:44.819 And that there is a place that 00:23:44.819 --> 00:23:46.819 We're going to where treasure really 00:23:46.819 --> 00:23:48.819 Will last 00:23:48.819 --> 00:23:50.819 Yeah 00:23:50.819 --> 00:23:52.819 That's helpful 00:23:52.819 --> 00:23:54.819 We were saying 00:23:54.819 --> 00:23:56.819 It's both liberating and frustrating 00:23:56.819 --> 00:23:58.819 It's like 00:23:58.819 --> 00:24:00.819 Whilst we are like 00:24:00.819 --> 00:24:02.819 We know that in this world we'll always be sinning 00:24:02.819 --> 00:24:04.819 We still want to be 00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:06.819 Striving for like 00:24:06.819 --> 00:24:08.819 Bringing God glory 00:24:08.819 --> 00:24:10.819 But we're in the cycle 00:24:10.819 --> 00:24:12.819 Being knocked around 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:12.819 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:14.819 Feeling the pains of 00:24:14.819 --> 00:24:16.819 Hard days and sad things 00:24:16.819 --> 00:24:16.819 00:24:16.819 --> 00:24:18.819 But yeah also being like 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:20.819 Oh but it's a thing 00:24:20.819 --> 00:24:22.819 We're in this broken world 00:24:22.819 --> 00:24:24.819 And we can never reach 00:24:24.819 --> 00:24:26.819 This point that we have in our minds 00:24:26.819 --> 00:24:26.819 00:24:28.819 --> 00:24:30.819 See it is both liberating and frustrating 00:24:30.819 --> 00:24:32.819 Just in the interest of time 00:24:32.819 --> 00:24:34.819 Let me try and wrap some of this up 00:24:34.819 --> 00:24:36.819 I think we need to try and distinguish that 00:24:36.819 --> 00:24:38.819 There is a part of this which is the brokenness of the world 00:24:38.819 --> 00:24:38.819 00:24:38.819 --> 00:24:40.819 Which is the injustice and the pain 00:24:40.819 --> 00:24:44.819 But also there is the fact that we were made as creatures 00:24:44.819 --> 00:24:46.819 Finite creatures 00:24:46.819 --> 00:24:50.819 And so that there actually is a sense in which 00:24:50.819 --> 00:24:54.819 If you spend your energy, your time, your dreams 00:24:54.819 --> 00:24:56.819 Trying to undo your creatureliness 00:24:56.819 --> 00:25:00.819 It will ultimately be frustrating to you 00:25:00.819 --> 00:25:04.819 If you try and do everything and be everywhere 00:25:04.819 --> 00:25:06.819 In order to build something that will last 00:25:06.819 --> 00:25:10.819 You are denying the very creaturely existence that you have been given by God 00:25:10.819 --> 00:25:14.819 Regardless of sin and injustice in the world 00:25:14.819 --> 00:25:16.819 And that will be frustrating to you 00:25:16.819 --> 00:25:20.819 Because actually God is the only one with a plan that's making progress 00:25:20.819 --> 00:25:22.819 And getting somewhere and doing something 00:25:22.819 --> 00:25:26.819 And actually it's only really in Him that we get to be part of that 00:25:26.819 --> 00:25:26.819 00:25:26.819 --> 00:25:29.819 And so we live these lives as creatures 00:25:29.819 --> 00:25:33.819 And there's a, I can't, I don't have time to read it 00:25:33.819 --> 00:25:35.819 But there's a really helpful bit in Dave Gibson's book 00:25:35.819 --> 00:25:39.819 About where he talks about we live in this sort of let's pretend world 00:25:39.819 --> 00:25:41.819 So we imagine, don't we 00:25:41.819 --> 00:25:43.819 Oh, if only I have that 00:25:43.819 --> 00:25:46.819 Or if only I work really hard this week and achieve that 00:25:46.819 --> 00:25:49.819 Then the week after will be much better 00:25:49.819 --> 00:25:51.819 And I will have less to do then 00:25:51.819 --> 00:25:54.819 If only I move to this place 00:25:54.819 --> 00:25:58.819 Then life will be way more comfortable and way easier 00:25:58.819 --> 00:26:00.819 And I think our city is full of that, right? 00:26:00.819 --> 00:26:04.819 Because everybody is kind of trying to get a little bit further ahead 00:26:04.819 --> 00:26:06.819 Aren't they? That's why they're here 00:26:06.819 --> 00:26:10.819 And so if you pretend, you can play that let's pretend game 00:26:10.819 --> 00:26:12.819 You're not living in the real world that God has made 00:26:12.819 --> 00:26:14.819 And you're not living in the real life that He has given you 00:26:14.819 --> 00:26:19.819 And the writer of Ecclesiastes says until you've come to terms with that 00:26:19.819 --> 00:26:25.819 That actually there is a sort of temporary futility to our existence here 00:26:25.819 --> 00:26:29.819 Until we've come to terms with that we won't really enjoy life 00:26:29.819 --> 00:26:33.819 Let me give you an example which I think might come from the book 00:26:33.819 --> 00:26:35.819 But it's been mulling around in my mind 00:26:35.819 --> 00:26:38.819 So it might not have done it, I can't remember, right? 00:26:38.819 --> 00:26:41.819 Who's the most miserable person on a holiday? 00:26:43.819 --> 00:26:45.819 The most miserable person on... Sorry? 00:26:45.819 --> 00:26:46.819 Did you... 00:26:48.819 --> 00:26:50.819 Did he say... Did he name somebody? 00:26:50.819 --> 00:26:51.819 Yes! 00:26:51.819 --> 00:26:52.819 Okay 00:26:52.819 --> 00:26:55.819 Geoff, that wasn't the purpose of this 00:26:57.819 --> 00:27:00.819 Let me tell you, the most miserable person on holiday 00:27:00.819 --> 00:27:04.819 Is the person who's always talking about the day they go home 00:27:04.819 --> 00:27:05.819 Yeah? 00:27:05.819 --> 00:27:06.819 Just go, oh yeah, yeah 00:27:06.819 --> 00:27:08.819 And they get frustrated, don't they? 00:27:08.819 --> 00:27:10.819 Because they're like, oh, you know, I just wish... 00:27:10.819 --> 00:27:13.819 Oh, but we're leaving soon, we're going home soon 00:27:14.819 --> 00:27:17.819 Actually, the way to enjoy a holiday is just to enjoy each day as it comes 00:27:17.819 --> 00:27:19.819 As a gift, isn't it? 00:27:20.819 --> 00:27:23.819 And in a sense, that's how we're to live our life, isn't it? 00:27:24.819 --> 00:27:26.819 Each day is a gift to us from God 00:27:27.819 --> 00:27:29.819 If we're trying to build something or achieve something 00:27:29.819 --> 00:27:31.819 And we're frustrated by the end of it 00:27:31.819 --> 00:27:33.819 We won't really enjoy it as it is 00:27:33.819 --> 00:27:34.819 We're creatures 00:27:34.819 --> 00:27:36.819 We've been given these lives by God 00:27:36.819 --> 00:27:37.819 We've been placed in His will 00:27:37.819 --> 00:27:38.819 We find our joy in Him 00:27:39.819 --> 00:27:43.819 Ultimately, the answer to meaninglessness is in chapter 5, verse 7 00:27:43.819 --> 00:27:45.819 And the answer is fear the Lord 00:27:45.819 --> 00:27:46.819 Fear the Lord 00:27:46.819 --> 00:27:47.819 That's the answer 00:27:48.819 --> 00:27:49.819 More of that to come 00:27:49.819 --> 00:27:51.819 Let me close in prayer for us 00:27:52.819 --> 00:27:57.819 Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are the uncreated creator 00:27:57.819 --> 00:28:00.819 The Lord of Lords, the King of Kings 00:28:00.819 --> 00:28:07.819 Who is progressing towards your ultimate goal and promise of bringing all things under Christ's feet 00:28:07.819 --> 00:28:15.819 And bringing great glory to your name as every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord 00:28:15.819 --> 00:28:21.819 And in the great sweep of all that you're achieving, Lord, we live very short lives 00:28:22.819 --> 00:28:23.819 We go round and round in circles 00:28:24.819 --> 00:28:26.819 We don't really achieve very much at all 00:28:26.819 --> 00:28:32.819 And so, Lord, if we imagine that the purpose of our lives is to try and make them long 00:28:32.819 --> 00:28:34.819 And try and achieve our own goals 00:28:34.819 --> 00:28:36.819 We will never find what our lives are about 00:28:36.819 --> 00:28:39.819 So help us to find our meaning in you 00:28:40.819 --> 00:28:41.819 In fearing you 00:28:41.819 --> 00:28:42.819 In trusting you 00:28:42.819 --> 00:28:44.819 And enjoying every day that you've given to us 00:28:44.819 --> 00:28:45.819 As a gift from you 00:28:46.819 --> 00:28:47.819 To be used for your glory 00:28:48.819 --> 00:28:49.819 As we pray in Jesus' name 00:28:50.819 --> 00:28:50.819 00:28:51.819 --> 00:28:51.819 00:28:53.819 --> 00:28:54.819 Amen