Life Worth Living Series

Life Worth Living-1 4-18.docx

Ecclesiastes 1:4-18

If we look at the books of the Bible today, the book of Ecclesiastes the most relevant

It has today’s world woven through the fabric of every page

Whether or not we are willing to admit it, deep within most of us there is this restless, irresponsible, adventuresome itch.

All around us are people who are buying into this empty, horizontal, “who needs God’s perspective”

Their world is strictly visible, their whole frame of reference is humanistic

A quick survey will reveal how hard the man tried to find meaning and satisfaction in life

With unrestrained determination he set out on a pursuit to find a purpose in existence

Here is a picture of one that is determined to find something under the sun that would satisfy

What did he try?

Hedonism—pleasure at all cost, alcohol, work, or anything that I think brings pleasure.

Pleasure good pain bad

Everything he tried, everywhere he turned…zero.

Note: vs. 11, 17-18

We don’t have his money or we don’t have his smarts, so we couldn’t go to the depths he went to, even if we tried

Therefore, listen to the man who’s been there

It is as though Solomon is saying, “I’m anxious to tell you what I experienced.”

In vs. 4-7 Solomon is going to speak as a scientist

In vs. 8-11 as a historian

In vs. 12-17 as a philosopher

And according to vs. 3 it is all vanity

Read Verses so that We can Know Him and Make Him Known

1) He looks around himself—vs. 4-7

a) Vs. 4

b) There is a group of people born this day and another group of people who will die this same day

c) This passage reminds us of the brevity of life and the certainty of death

d) Individuals come and go, families come and go, nations and empires rise and fall, but nothing changes for the world remains the same

e) Someone called history, “a mighty drama, enacted upon the theater of time, with suns for lamps and eternity for a background”

f) Solomon will use four pieces of evidence to prove that nothing really changes, that life is really monotonous

g) We saw the earth in vs. 4

h) Vs. 5

i) We see the sun rising in the east, moving across the sky in pursuit of the western horizon

j) Remember, Solomon is reminding us of his earthly pursuit, “under the sun”

k) There is no meaning to this existence called, “life on planet earth”

l) If you live only beneath the perspective of the sun, it is an endless, wearisome, nagging cycle

m) There is a considerable difference between the words of Solomon and the words of Jeremiah the prophet

n) Jeremiah says that even the rising of the sun reminds him of his God

o) Lam. 3:22-23—“Great is thy faithfulness, thy mercies are new every morning”

p) Vs. 6

q) Man comes and goes, but the changeless wind goes on forever

r) We hear it and feel it and we see what it does but over the centuries the wind has not changed its cycles or circuits

s) Its course is a monotonous, repetitive thing

t) Vs. 7

u) Solomon described here the “water cycle” that helps to sustain life on the planet

v) Scientists tell us that at any given time 97% of all the water on earth is in the oceans and that only 1/1000% is in the atmosphere, available for rain

w) That is enough for about 10 days of rain

x) The cooperation of the sun and the wind makes possible the evaporation and movement of moisture, and this keeps the water circulating

y) But the sea never changes

z) The rivers and rains pour water into the seas, but the sea is not full

aa) Nature does not change

bb) This is motion but not promotion

cc) Have you ever felt like your life is on a boring cycle like the sun

dd) Solomon describes life without God, just leave Him out of the picture

ee) Then the world becomes a closed system that is uniform, predictable, and unchangeable

ff) It becomes a world where there are no answers to prayer, and no miracles for nothing can interrupt the cycle of nature

gg) However, God does break into nature

hh) He does hear and answer prayer

i) He held the sun in place so Joshua could finish an important battle

ii) He opened the Red Sea and the Jordan River for Israel

iii) He turned off the rain for Elijah and turned it back on again

iv) He calmed the winds and waves for the disciples

ii) When you know Christ as your Savior and God becomes your Heavenly Father, you no longer live in a monotonous cycle