Finding purpose in your life
Ecclesiastes 1:1-1:9
Introduction-
If you would turn to the book of Ecclesiastes.
It is in the Old Testament right after Proverbs.
Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
There are so many books written on finding purpose.
How to make the most of your life.
How to be successful.
How to find inner peace.
I have to tell you, the older I get, the more I think a lot of it is smoke and mirrors.
I know for a long time that I felt like a dog chasing my tail, I could see it but never get a hold of it. Then by dumb luck, I caught it and discovered that it hurts when you bite your tail.
Anybody else feel like that?
They debate who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes but most think it was King David’s son Solomon.
He was the richest man to have lived at that time.
He possessed wisdom that was definitely from above and not of his own doings.
He took a hard look at life and recorded his findings for us to learn from.
Ecclesiastes 1:1-1:9
Maybe you’re here this morning and you are asking some tough questions.
Why am I here?
What is the meaning of life?
What is my purpose?
Why do I feel so empty?
If you will be honest with yourself and with God this morning,
He has answers for you today also.
Christians sing a song “It is well with my soul”
Sometimes Christians sing songs with tears in our eyes because it is the right song to sing but we sing it for the wrong reasons.
This song was penned by a man named Horacio Spafford in 1876.
He wrote it after great tragedy was in his life.
He was a very successful lawyer in Chicago.
In 1871 was the great Chicago fire. It burned up most of his money because he was invested in properties all over Chicago.
He had promised his family that they would go on a European vacation and in 1873 they were to go by ship to Europe. He sent his family ahead so that he could catch up on final business arrangements and they were to meet later.
The ship collided with a sea vessel and 4 of his daughters drowned and his wife was injured.
That is more than most could bear to even think about.
If you were to follow his family, he and his wife again had a child and that child died at 4 years old of scarlet fever.
You think you have it rough? You think you are looking for answers? You think you need to find peace?
When we go through rough times, we think that we are the only ones going through anything. That life seems to be picking on us.
Do you think that Spafford had divine help to pen the words to this song?
“When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like a sea billow roll
Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to know
It is well, it is well with my soul.”
Thou Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this bless assurance control
That Christ has regarded by helpless estate
And hath shed his own blood for my soul.
You got questions! God has answers!
God never promises us easy.
He promises that He will be there with us and help us through them.
Back to the text, if Solomon did write these words- He had it all! Money, possessions, most expensive gifts, whatever he wanted! He said that it was meaningless!
If we took the time to read the whole book of Ecclesiastes, we would see that Solomon saw three things.
1. Wisdom is meaningless
2. Pleasure is meaningless.
3. There is a time for everything.
I want to take a moment this morning with these three points. I pray that your questions get answered by God this morning. I believe He can and will do that for you.
I. Wisdom is meaningless
Some hold degrees and would disagree with that statement.
They worked hard to get that degree and spent a lot of money to get that degree, a lot of time to get that degree.
To them, to say that would be foolish
Read 1:2-1:15 from the Bible
What is he saying here?
Book smart without God is meaningless.
Generations come and generations go.
The sun rises and sets everyday.
The wind blows everyday.
One day each of us will die.
That is a fact! None of us are eternal in ourselves.
Book smart never saved anyone!
People keep coming up with bigger, better, faster, more expensive, and without God still cannot answer the most pressing questions of our lives.
1 Cor. 1:20-
“Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
Here is something you need to discover- it does not come from man, it comes from God!
You were purposefully and wonderfully made by God. You are not an accident.
Your purpose is found in Almighty God.
If you do not find purpose in God, you will forever be searching for the meaning of your life. I don’t care how book smart you are.
Wisdom without God does not produce purpose that reaches down into your soul.
Life without God is empty.
II. Pleasure is meaningless
Solomon records all the projects he was involved in, all the women he has had, all the wine he has consumed. He said it was meaningless.
(10) “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired,I refused my heart no pleasure.”
It was meaningless!
We will spend a lot more time in eternity than we will on this earth.
These pleasures are only temporary. He calls it chasing things in the wind!
Knowledge without God brings no peace and pleasures without God will bring no satisfaction.
What is he telling us? He is giving us a warning!
Don’t wait until you are old and look back on an empty life.
Worse, do your own thing, one day die without God in your life, without purpose, without hope, and all these pleasures will be meaningless!
Illustration
Tony Campollo , a Baptist minister says “If you ever feel proud, just remember that soon after your body has been lowered into the ground your family and friends will be eating potato salad and you will be history.
Revelation
“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”
I want you to understand something- without God, you will never be satisfied and you will never be truly happy.
My generation has come from small black and white tv’s to large flat screen tvs. Better cars, bigger houses, and like Rockerfeller- we need just one more!
If I could just have blank__________ then I would be happy! You put that person or that thing in the blank. It wont happen, because people and pleasures cannot fill the void in your life that only God can fill.
Square peg in a round hole- won’t happen!
Last one
III. Everything has a time
“A time for everything”
3:2- 3:6 read from the Bible
I believe Solomon is writing this as a warning to future generations as an old man looking back on his empty life.
We do not know the future. We do not know when our appointed time to die is. To play or gamble our lives has eternal consequences.
We have from our first breath to the very last breath. We just don’t know when that is because it is different for each of us.
What does God want from us?
Relationships that are meaningful! He takes this time on earth to prepare us for eternity. You have no time for God now, He will not force you with Him later. He will give you the desires of your heart, whatever that is.
We control our own destiny by the choices that we make.
Let me answer some questions for you this morning by the authority of God’s Word.
Why am I here
What is the meaning of life
What is my purpose
Why do I feel so empty
Let me roll the answer all together, you were put here by a creator God who loves you, and your meaning in life is to be in a loving relationship with a God who loves you and your purpose is to do His will in your life and make an impact in the lives that He has brought to you .
The emptiness will not go away until that spot for God is filled by God. Anything else will not fit.
Nothing wrong with things- as long as things don’t have you.
Nothing wrong with pursuing your dreams, as long as God doesn’t have to take a back seat in your life.
Closing,
The closing verse is chapter 12:13
“Now all has been heard, here is the conclusion of the matter; fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment including every hidden thing, weather it is good or evil.”
Amen
