It has been said that life is what happens while we are waiting around for something else to happen. Perhaps we had a different idea of how our life would turn out. Maybe we had a dream of how our life would work out and we have waited around for that to come to pass, but it never has.
If you have ever read the comics you will be familiar with the comic B.C. Every so often someone will climb up to the top of the mountain to ask the wise man some question about life. What they usually find out is that the wise man doesn’t have the answer either.
What does it all mean? So many people have started down the pathway of life but very few have ever found the answer. We have been overwhelmed by the circumstances of life and we ask, “What does it all mean?”.
You will always have situations and circumstances that you won’t understand. I wish I could tell you this evening that I have all the answers for the questions of life, but I don’t. However I can tell you this - Our lives will have meaning and worth only if we live for Jesus. For only Jesus can satisfy your soul.
Solomon, one of the wisest men ever to live, devoted much of his life to answer this question of the meaning and purpose of life.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 - Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 - For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
First of all, Solomon says to fear God. What does it mean to fear God? Godly fear is not being afraid of God but reverencing him. Godly fear realizes that the earth and everything in it belongs to God. We are God’s creation, we belong to him.
Our life, the food we eat and the air we breath belongs to Him. It’s God that sustains us.
John 1:3 - All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Colossians 1:16 - For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 - And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
God made everything around us and he made us. If we really feared or revered God we would live for him and serve Him with our lives.
Paul declares we have been bought with a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19 - What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 - For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Jesus paid a tremendous price so that you could find the meaning of life. He paid the price of giving his life to be crucified on the cross of Calvary. He shed his blood and suffered for our sin.
∑ We are God’s creation.
∑ The one who blasphemes God does so with the strength that God gave him.
∑ Those who reject Him and His salvation are sustained by the mercy of God.
Since we were created by God and sustained by Him, He must have a reason for us being here on earth. Some purpose more than just living until we die.
Psalms 139:13 - For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 - I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 - My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 - Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Before I was even formed you had a plan and a purpose for my life. To find that purpose will bring my life the greatest joy.
To fear God is to recognize sin and its destructive influence in our life. When Isaiah saw God, he saw himself as he really was.
Isaiah 6:5 - Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Today we have such a light view of sin - what it is and how it affects us.
∑ the thief and murderer have no remorse
∑ the criminal is not responsible for what he does
∑ our courts often let the murderer and criminal go free
∑ there is little compassion for the victims of crime
∑ we transgress the laws of God and it doesn’t bother us
∑ we live how we want to live and not according to his word and never give it much thought
∑ we profess to be Christian but don’t know Him and don’t have a relationship with him.
We fail to see that sin is a cancer which eats away at and destroys our lives. We fail to see the reality that sin is damning the souls of men and women to a hell that was created only for the devil and his angels.
The reality is that sin separates us from a holy God. Because he is holy He can have no fellowship with sin.
Psalm 51:5 - Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS…
This brings us to the next point - Solomon says to keep his commandments. Getting right with God is the beginning of assuming a right position before an awesome and holy God.
Matthew 4:17 - From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Luke 13:3 - I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luke 24:47 - And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
John 3:5 - Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Acts 2:38 - Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 - For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
That can be taken care of tonight. This matter of getting right with God can be settled before you leave here this evening.
Finally Solomon has this to say:
Ecclesiastes 12:14 - For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Matthew 12:36 - But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Acts 24:25 - And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Hebrews 9:27 - And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
The conclusion of the matter - the purpose and meaning of life is:
1. to fear God
2. to keep his commandments
Why?
Because God is going to bring every work into judgement.
