Rev. David Holwick A Ecclesiastes Series First Baptist Church Ledgewood, New Jersey January 5, 1997 Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 MEANINGLESS, MEANINGLESS ======================== I. The biggest questions. A. Main questions in life. 1) Why are you here? 2) Where are you going? B. Ecclesiastes is a journal concerning one man's journey. 1) Author not identified exactly. a) Attributed to Solomon, whose life fits the details. b) Could have been written by another (some passages are from perspective of a subject, not a king.) 2) In any event, it is by someone who had "tried it all." C. It is a confusing book. 1) No book of the Bible seems more "modern." 2) But in places it contradicts normal theology, and even itself. 3) We must see it as an unfolding quest. a) Two perspectives - life "under the sun", and with God in view. II. Life lived "under the sun." A. "Under the sun" (/under heaven) means an earthly perspective. 1) Contradictions between passages are part of a meaningful pattern. 2) The writer's negative comments are understood to be the conclusions that emerge when he limits his gaze to the earthly scene. B. Nothing satisfies if God is left out of the picture. 1) Such a life is despair personified. -2- H. G. Wells, the science fiction writer, was once known as the world's greatest optimist. Ended his life in despair. From the depths of his gloom he wrote: "The writer is convinced that there is no way out or round or through the impasse. It is the end. My mind may be near the end of its tether. "There is no way out or round or through. Our universe is not merely bankrupt; there remains no dividend at all; it is not simply liquidated; it is going clean out of existence. The attempt to trace a pattern of any sort is absolutely futile. #1802 III. That empty feeling. A. King James - "Vanity of vanities." 1) Adaptation by Paul in Romans 8 - "frustration." 2) Modern people can easily identify with this. a) Male mid-life crisis. b) Encounter this week: Woman leaving husband. B. Ultimate truth and stability - in nature. 1) Scientific perspective. a) Four basic facts of created order: solid earth, moving heavenly bodies, air currents, water cycle. b) Solomon was very interested in nature. 1 Kings 4:33 2) What can science tell us of ultimate purpose? a) Nothing that can give meaning to life. 3) Bible, however, points to a Creator. a) Nature can give testimony, but not proof. b) If everything is cyclical, how can humans break out of the cycle into a state that leads somewhere? -3- C. Ultimate truth and stability - in human history. 1) Birth and death is an endless cycle. 1:4 2) History shows people struggling to find meaning in their experiences, but all in vain. 1:8 3) Every new thing we come up with is a variant on the past. 4) Every generation regards itself as the greatest, but we still reach no conclusion on the meaning of life. IV. We need a vertical perspective. A. Meaning in life comes from revelation, not research. 1) God has to show us the way. B. Not just belief, but a vital union with a living Lord. C. For those who feel like giving up, God gives hope. Land mines are everywhere in Cambodia, and so are their unsuspecting victims. Stepping on a land mine usually means losing more than a limb. It often means losing job, home and family as well. It sometimes means losing hope. "Because they are disabled, they think they are useless with a meaningless life," said Iv Vanna Rith. "They are concerned about their living every day." Rith, executive secretary of the Baptists in Cambodia, knows what it is to survive as a land mine victim. A small land mine blew off his left leg just beneath the knee. Unable to support his wife, he lost her. But unlike many land mine victims, Rith did not lose hope. "I have testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ who died on Calvary on the cross for us, for everybody," Rith said. Rith has been taking that testimony to other disabled land mine victims in Phnom Penh, so they, too, might have hope. Rith learned the Scriptures while living in a refugee camp on the border of Thailand from 1981-89. There he discovered the importance of prayer. "I had nothing for food, nothing. When I was in starvation, I started to pray again to God. Two days after my prayer that we would have food, they brought food to the Thai border camp," Rith said. -4- When Rith returned home to Phnom Penh, he brought nothing but his Thai Bible with him. He eventually began attending Russey Keo Baptist Church. There he received his calling to the ministry and began to pray for God's direction. In 1995 he began reaching out to the handicapped in the city, and within one year over 100 people accepted Christ as Savior. A recent baptism service was particularly moving. All along the river bank were crutches and artificial limbs. They would take (their prosthetic devices) off and then swim out to be baptized. One man had both legs missing. They just picked him up and kind of set him in the water, and he made his way over to where he was baptized. "As Jesus has given us hope, we want to give others hope." #4022