The Whole Of Man Series

THE WHOLE OF MAN…EVERYTHING ELSE IS MEANINGLESS Sept 8,2002

AIM: To help the congregation understand the nature of God through our fear for Him.

OPEN:

1. Good Morning and Welcome

2. Wedding In Winnipeg.

3. I remember asking my brother, when we were just little kids…What’s the meaning of life? We were in the basement of my grandparents house, playing ping pong. And For some reason I was thinking past the ordinary kids thoughts. I said…why are we here? He said. We’re visiting grandma and Grandpa…No, Why are people here on earth? What’s the point? He said, to work, and get married, and…um…I don’t know let’s play ping pong!

4. So we went on playing ping pong, and the thought escaped from me. Years passed before I began to even wonder again.

5. I often wonder if we don’t sometimes forget to wonder today what is the point of all of this? Why are we here?

6. Today we are going to address this very topic, and for a very good reason. Over the next several weeks I am going to be leading us in a series of lessons on the Nature of God, and It is important that we understand Him through us.

OUTLINE:

1. MEANINGLESS…UTTERLY MEANINGLESS

2. THE WHOLE OF MAN

3. THE NATURE OF GOD

1. MEANINGLESS…UTTERLY MEANINGLESS

a) So what is the point? Why are we here? What is the meaning of Life?

b) To make money? To marry, and be given in marriage? To have children? To sleep? To learn? To…well, you get the point.

c) Why would money be the meaning of life? No one takes any of it with them?

d) Who knows? This is an age old question.

e) Some believe that we exist here by chance, that it was fluke that brought the earth into being. That we evolved from single celled organisms.

f) I knew someone who claimed that the earth was populated by aliens, that we are not an original species, but that we were made as test tube babies, and the aliens wanted to populate the earth.

g) That still doesn’t answer the questions? It still doesn’t make it clear. Why did the aliens make us, and who made them? and why?

h) Now we believe that we were created by God in His image. That we were made in His likeness. We believe that He made Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

i) But have you ever wondered why? Have you ever questioned the wisdom of God in putting us here on earth?

j) I know of one in the Bible who asked these same questions. WHY GOD?

SCRIPTURES:

a) Ecclesiastes 1:2-11

1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"

says the Teacher.

"Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaningless."

3 What does man gain from all his labor

at which he toils under the sun?

4 Generations come and generations go,

but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun rises and the sun sets,

and hurries back to where it rises.

6 The wind blows to the south

and turns to the north;

round and round it goes,

ever returning on its course.

7 All streams flow into the sea,

yet the sea is never full.

To the place the streams come from,

there they return again.

8 All things are wearisome,

more than one can say.

The eye never has enough of seeing,

nor the ear its fill of hearing.

9 What has been will be again,

what has been done will be done again;

there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one can say,

"Look! This is something new"?

It was here already, long ago;

it was here before our time.

11 There is no remembrance of men of old,

and even those who are yet to come

will not be remembered

b) Everything that happens on earth is pointless… There is no meaning to any of it.

c) Work…Pointless, yet it is so much of everyone’s life.

d) Money…vanity, but look at it’s impact.

e) Solomon goes on to write some more about the things in life that are completely meaningless. Wisdom, the pursuit of gaining wisdom and knowledge in life is meaningless.

f) Pleasures… Whoa…yep, you heard me, pleasures. The one thing that the world is constantly after. Physical pleasure.

g) Hugh Hefner, the founder of playboy, lives by a motto, If it feels good, do it!

h) Unfortunately this is the motto of the world, Indulge yourself in physical pleasure. But why? What’s the point? It’s all meaningless.

i) Toil is meaningless…Work Solomon calls a chasing after the wind. You can only chase so long before you realize that you aren’t ever going to catch it.

j) Yet work is the majority of peoples lives. When you meet someone for the first time, one of the things that often is asked is, Where do you work?