Summary: Solomon dealt with the right questions, but he came up with the wrong answers at first.

MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER

CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX

A. With the end of the Christmas season I’m sure most of you have seen the headlines reporting that most retail stores did not do as well as they had hoped. We Americans didn’t charge nearly as much as we have in seasons past, & people seemed to be more value-conscious & sales-oriented than ever before.

But there was one area that didn’t experience a decline. In fact, this area exploded with new business right after the first of the year. What area am I talking about? Why, the area of personal fitness & body conditioning.

Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, health clubs, exercise equipment sales - all of these went into high gear because many of us gained unwelcome weight over the holidays. And we’re very conscious of it, maybe even going so far as to make new year’s resolutions to eat less & exercise more.

So we join a health club, or go to the store to see what kind of exercise equipment is available. Or we watch the exercise programs on TV & find ourselves bombarded with sales pitches for the latest miracle working machines.

There are treadmills & stair masters & life cycles & stationary bikes, & on & on goes the list. All of these are designed to help us expend maximum amount of energy for the longest period of time while we’re going nowhere.

APPL. By the way, maybe exercise machines are symbolic of our time. We are a people seeming to go nowhere fast, & expending a lot of energy getting there.

B. We sound just like the people back in King Solomon’s time in the Bible. King Solomon looked at his own life & the life of his people & became very depressed. It seemed to him that they were just going around in circles, doing the same old things over & over again, & never changing. They were running on a treadmill & never getting anywhere.

So listen to the way he begins the Book of Ecclesiastes, vs’s 1-3, "The words of the teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: `Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. `Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’ What does a man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?"

C. Now we’re a curious people. We ask lots of questions. In fact, we’re told that if you want to make a lot of money, just write a book with a "How To" title. "How To Lose Weight - How To Become Physically Fit - How To Win Friends & Influence People - How To Become Financially Independent."

But the really important & difficult questions of life are not the "How To" questions, but the "Why?" questions. And here is where the Book of Ecclesiastes comes in. In it Solomon asks some very difficult questions. For example, "What does a man gain from all his labor? Does life have any purpose? If so, what is it? Why is life worth living?"

Now those are the right questions. But at first, Solomon came up with the wrong answers. And the reason was because all he really knew was what he saw "under the sun." He could not see beyond this life.

But what he saw in the world around him & in the lives people were living caused him to cry out, "Meaningless! Meaningless!...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."

PROP. Now why did he feel that way? What brought him to that conclusion?

I. LIFE IS A MEANINGLESS CYCLE

A. First of all, Solomon looked at life itself & declared in vs. 4: "Generations come & generations go, but the earth remains forever."

ILL. Right after Christmas there were a number of TV programs reviewing the past year. Some of them reminded us of famous people who died during the year. Some of them were old & some were young. Some were rich & some were poor. Entertainers, politicians, businessmen, scientists, sports heroes - one year ago they stood on the threshold, looking forward to the new year, not knowing that during that year they would die.

And some who stood with us on the threshold of this year will die during ____. People live & people die, & one generation follows another. Like the Eveready Bunny, life just keeps on going & going & going.

ILL. Do you remember as a child going to the fair & walking down the midway? There were always barkers at their booths, trying to get you to play their games of chance. They often said something like, "Round & round she goes, & where she stops nobody knows." Life is a little bit like that, isn’t it?

B. In vs. 5, Solomon looks at the heavens & says, "The sun rises & the sun sets, & hurries back to where it rises" - over & over again.

ILL. "Sunrise...sunset." Sounds like it would make a good song, doesn’t it? In fact, it’s a beautiful song sung by Tevia in "Fiddler on the Roof." I like it because of the message that it imparts.

Tevia is feeling melancholy. His daughter has grown up & he suddenly realizes that this little girl that he held in his arms has become a woman, & now she is ready to be married. Tevia looks at the man standing beside her & wonders when he became so tall, & when his daughter became so beautiful.

That is the story of life. "Sunrise...sunset," day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. It just keeps on going & going.

C. In vs. 6, Solomon says, "The wind blows to the south & turns to the north; round & round it goes, ever returning on its course" - over & over again.

ILL. Think back to the last two weeks. First a front blew in from the north & it was cold. Then came a warm south wind, & the cycle began all over again.

D. In vs. 7, Solomon looks at the streams. He says, "All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again." Here again is a cycle that just keeps on repeating itself - rain falls & runs into the streams, which flow into the ocean. Then the water evaporates & goes up into the clouds, & it rains again.

E. Then Solomon says in vs. 8, "All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing..."

ILL. Today, cable TV companies tell us that they can pipe more than 500 channels into our living rooms for our viewing enjoyment. Get out the remote, guys. You can have the time of your life surfing over 500 channels.

ILL. Bruce Springsteen used to sing, "Fifty-seven Channels & Nothing On." Now we have 500 channels with nothing on.

Again, Solomon says, "The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing."

ILL. Has this ever happened to you? I’m sitting in my car at a red light, & a pickup truck pulls up next to me with loudspeakers blaring, & the bass sounds are coming out so strong that my car begins to vibrate. I look over at the driver & he is just tripping out. Solomon is right. Some people never seem to get their fill of hearing.

F. In vs. 9, Solomon says, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Everything will be the same as it has always been. It’ll never change.

ILL. A few years ago Alexander Curie was a 30-something entrepreneur who worked on Wall Street in Manhattan. His salary was in the 6-figures, & he lived in the upper east side. He was chauffeured down to Wall Street every day to conduct business. He had access to everything this world offers, & this is what he wrote,

"I’ve always felt that there must be something I could do of real tangible benefit. Trading future markets does not have any real tangible benefit in my opinion. I mean, it serves a purpose for the economy, but I don’t think of myself as really doing a lot for society. I’m really doing it more for myself. I feel that there is a lack of purpose in my being. I don’t understand why I’m here, & I don’t really try to understand why I’m here because it would probably be futile." He sounds like a modern-day Solomon, doesn’t he?

II. BUT OUR LIVES CAN BE CHANGED

A. Now how do you feel about all this? How do you fit in? Are you going around in circles that lead nowhere? Do you get up & go to work & wonder why? Do you come home with your paycheck & wonder how you’re going to make ends meet? Do you get up the next day & go to work & do it all over again?

As long as you’re focusing on life under the sun, as long as you’re searching for answers in this world only, you’re going to reach the same conclusion - life is meaningless. It doesn’t count for much at all.

But if you can look above & beyond this world & see almighty God & trust Him, then life makes sense & the pieces of the puzzle of your life will begin to fall into place. Life will no longer be meaningless, & you’ll realize that there is purpose in our existence. We’re living to glorify God with our lives, & God’s spirit is indwelling us & leading us to accomplish His purposes.

B. As long as you’re looking only at the things of this world you’re never going to see enough, even if you have 500 channels. As long as you’re listening only to the sounds of this world you’re never going to hear enough. But if you’re listening & looking for the things of God, then you’ll really begin to see & hear.

ILL. I like the story of the American Indian who was walking the crowded streets of Manhattan during the rush hour. Walking with him was a native New Yorker. Sirens were blaring, horns were honking, tires were screeching, engines were roaring, people were talking. And the sound was deafening.

But in the midst of all of these sounds the American Indian said, "I hear a cricket chirping." The New Yorker was dumfounded. He said, "How can you hear a cricket in the midst of all this noise?"

So the Indian explained that he had grown up in the wilderness, & he learned to listen to birds calling & crickets chirping & to all the other sounds of nature around him. Then he went over & picked up a cricket. The New Yorker couldn’t believe his eyes.

So the Indian said, "I’ll show you something else." He reached into his pocket & pulled out all the coins he had, & dropped them on the sidewalk of Manhattan. Everyone suddenly stopped dead in their tracks, & turned to look toward the sound of the falling coins. The American Indian said, "See, you hear what your ears are trained to hear."

APPL. Who or what are you listening to this morning? Is it Jesus?

C. There is a real contrast in Scripture. Solomon looked at life under the sun & said, "It’s meaningless. It’s utterly meaningless."

But over in Philippians 3 the Apostle Paul is looking through the eyes of a Christian & he sees life in a much different way. It’s a whole different picture. Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 3:7﷓8:

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."

Now you need to understand about Paul. Paul had a good education. Paul was well schooled & had traveled & seen & heard practically everything. He rubbed shoulders with the aristocracy of his day. He was an entrepreneur, & had it all. But when he decided to follow Jesus he put all that aside & considered it rubbish in comparison to gaining Christ as his Savior & his Lord.

CONCL. Now what about you this morning? Are you tired of the treadmill? Are you tired of the Stairmaster? Are you tired of using all this energy & not getting anywhere? Are you ready to start moving in the right direction?

He came to my desk with quivering lip; The lesson was almost done.

"Have you a new leaf for me, dear Teacher? I have spoiled this one!"

I took his leaf, all soiled & blotted, & gave him a new one, all unspotted.

Then into his tired heart I smiled: "Do better now, my child."

I went to the throne with trembling heart; The year was almost done.

"Have you a new year for me, dear Master? I have spoiled this one!"

He took my year, all soiled & blotted, & gave me a new one, all unspotted,

Then into my tired heart He smiled: "Do better now, my child!"

Are you ready for your life to start to count for Christ? The good news is that the new year has just barely begun, & the greatest thing you could do to begin this brand new year is to begin it by giving your life to Jesus. He’ll make all things new. He is the way & the truth & the life. He will give you meaning & purpose & direction in life. Will you come as we stand & sing together?