When Everything Feels Empty Series

When Everything Feels Empty

Ecclesiastes 1:1-2

Rev. Brian Bill

June 22-23, 2024

A Peanuts comic shows Linus working diligently on the beach, constructing a large and elaborate sandcastle. A few frames later, it begins to rain, eventually pouring down so heavily that his castle is completely washed out. Linus remarks, “There’s a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I don’t know what it is…”

The life lesson here is that apart from a saving relationship with Christ, life is fragile, fleeting, and futile. Ted Olson puts it bluntly: “You are going to die. And no one is going to remember you. The stuff you’re working hard on is going to be completely undone, as if it were never there.”

We’re kicking off a new series this weekend from the Book of Ecclesiastes called, “Searching for Significance.” Ecclesiastes has been called the most contemporary book of the Bible, but it is often overlooked, perhaps because parts of it are confusing. It stirs up some raw and gritty questions but also gives some real and relevant answers.

Here are some reasons I’m drawn to Solomon’s diary of despair.

1. People are searching for meaning and purpose today. According to a study from Lifeway Research, 42% of Americans wonder how to find more meaning and purpose in life at least weekly. Over 20% consider this every day. This study will help equip us to live on mission among people who are searching for meaning.

2. The book addresses and answers the biggest and hardest questions of life. Ecclesiastes surprises people because it’s so honest about life’s troubles and difficulties. One commentator captures the essence of Ecclesiastes this way: “As an essay in apologetics, it defends the life of faith in a generous God by pointing to the grimness of the alternative.”

• Origin: Where did I come from?

• Identity: Who am I?

• Meaning: Why am I here?

• Morality: How should I live?

• Destiny: Where am I headed after I die?

3. Ecclesiastes speaks to all generations. It was Mark Twain who said, “Life would be a whole lot better if we could be born at age 80 and then gradually approach age 18.” As an Old Testament Second Winder, Solomon shares wisdom with the next generation by exhorting young people in 11:9: “Rejoice, O young man in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth…but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.”

Solomon, the wisest man around, was led astray into idol worship by his many wives who served other gods. God confronted and chastised him for his unfaithfulness and Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes as a way to warn others about making the same mistakes.

Young person, you are in the process of becoming what you will be one day. The decisions you make and the habits you develop today will shape who you become tomorrow. Who do you want to be when you grow up? You will be that person much sooner than you think. What are you doing to become that person right now?

Some time ago I read a post entitled, “How to Ruin Your Life in your Twenties.” I’ve referenced it before, but it bears repeating.

• Do whatever you want.

• Live beyond your means.

• Feed an addiction.

• Run with fools.

• Believe your life is about you.

• Live for immediate gratification.

• Avoid accountability.

Solomon still speaks today. You can almost hear his reverberating regret in Ecclesiastes 12:1: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’”

Solomon also speaks to senior saints in 12:3-8 as he describes how our teeth fall out, our backs begin to bend, our eyesight fades, and we get up before the birds. This week we received a prayer letter from our Go Team partner George King. George is our longest serving missionary, being sent out from Edgewood over 60 years ago. Listen to what he writes: “In Ecclesiastes 12:3, we read about aging, ‘In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble (my legs are shaky), and the strong men shall bow themselves (yes, at 91 the body is weakening), and the grinders cease because they are few (I still have 29 of my teeth), and those that look out of the windows be darkened (though I have a hard time reading, I passed eye tests to drive without glasses!).’ I never expected to get this old but thank my Lord for each day that I have been allowed to preach the Gospel.”

4. We won’t find satisfaction until we experience salvation. Solomon experimented with all the things people still pursue today as they look for purpose in power, possessions, popularity, prestige, and pleasure. It’s true what G.K. Chesterton said, “When men stop believing in God, it isn’t that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything.” Ecclesiastes will help us see that life is empty if lived apart from God. The descriptions of dissatisfaction are described in vivid ways.