The Meaning Of Life

INTRO.- ILL.- Did you hear about one man’s quest to visit 1,000 bars in a year? Dan Freeman (retired computer consultant and Brooklynite) set out Jan. 1 to visit 1,000 bars in a single year. Barely five months later, the Don Quixote of drink is halfway to completing his boozy impossible dream. Why 1,000 bars?

“There wasn’t any grand scheme,” explained Freeman. “I just wanted to see how many bars you could hit in a year, and 1,000 seemed reasonable.” (He aims to make 4 or 5 bars a day). One fan offered these words, “Congrats to you and your liver.”

Given his current pace, Freeman hopes to finish his work early. Freeman said, “’If you don’t have a dream, how can you make a dream come true?”’ SOME DREAM, HUH?

Prov. 20:1 “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is lead astray by them is not wise.”

Brothers and sisters, I think it’s pretty sad when a person’s dream in life revolves around drinking. I am sure there are plenty of other people whose only ambition is to live for drinking. Isn’t there more to life than drinking and partying? Isn’t there more to life than what most people find or what they are looking for?

I tend to think that many people are looking for the meaning of life in all of the wrong places: play, pleasure or fame, fortune, and fun.

ILL.- Last Sunday afternoon, Elaine and I (along with my sister and brother-in-law) went to visit Graceland in Memphis. In some ways, I found the name to be somewhat ironic in nature: Graceland and yet, to me, there was little grace in that land to be found.

Now don’t get me wrong, I liked Elvis Presley. I think he was/is probably one of the greatest singers of all time. In fact, it was said that he has probably sold more albums than any other singer in history: over a billion.

In the midst of the all the memorabilia I saw both greatness and great sadness coming from Graceland and the life of Elvis. It is said in his biography that his musical influences were the pop and country music of the time and the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended.

Here is where the sadness comes in: Elvis started out his musical life in an Assembly of God church that preached Christ as the Savior and yet he searched all of his short 42 years for something else and never found it. What was he searching for? Why were his gospel roots not enough? Was something missing from his home life and church life? His daughter, Lisa Marie, said that he was always reading books, underlining statements, making notes, etc.

As we went through Graceland they showed his desk in one room where there was a Bible that apparently Elvis read, but that wasn’t the only book that he read. There were other books about spirituality, which had nothing to do with Christ and Christianity. I thought, “How sad that he was looking for the meaning of life in places other than the Word of God.”

Apparently, Elvis never found spiritual joy or satisfaction in his church background. Why? I do not know, but something was lacking. And this just proves that even though some people are raised in something of a Christian background they may never find the true meaning of life if they don’t pursue it strongly enough.

It’s just my opinion, but I think Elvis didn’t pursue Christianity as strongly as he did other things in life. Consequently, he continued to search and his life ended abruptly because of an overdose of prescription drugs. So very sad. Such a well-loved and talented man.

What about you? Are you still confused as to the meaning of life? Why we are here? What we’re supposed to do and where we are headed? I believe that the Scriptures, which are God-breathed, God-inspired, answers these questions.

Most of us know the 23rd Psalm, but do we know the 24th Psalm?

PROP.- Let’s think about God’s message in Ps. 24 with the idea of understanding more about the meaning of life. This Psalm tells us about who God is and His desire for us in life.

I have three thoughts to consider:

1- God owns everything

2- God allows entrance

3- God blesses seekers

I. GOD OWNS EVERYTHING

Vss. 1-2 “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.”

ILL.- Question: What do you call cheese that doesn’t belong to you? A: Nacho cheese! And there are many things in life that are NACHO’S (not yours)!