Something's Missing Week 1

These words are written by King Solomon—The Teacher—who lived in perhaps the most affluent time in the nation of Israel’s history.

"The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.' What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 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. No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them."

-Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 (NIV)

Existentialism: How do we create meaning in a meaningless world?

“Meaninglessness is the general neurosis of the modern era!”

-Carl Jung (Founder of the school of analytical psychology) 

Solomon—in the age of wealth and affluence, writes:
"'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.'"

-Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NIV)

And he goes on the say.. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Evil people prosper as good ones suffer. Tyrants reign, disasters happen, disease spreads, everyone dies and turns to dust. The whole world is unbalanced and twisted.

"There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless."

-Ecclesiastes 8:14 (NIV)

This message sprouts from the soil of excess!

“Why do more people commit suicide in San Francisco, the most beautiful city in America, than in any other city? Why is it that Jean Paul Sartre, sitting in a French café writing Nausea, which is about the absurdity of human existence and the nausea of life in the twentieth century—why was he the happiest man in France at the time? Why is it that a man riding a good commuter train from Larchmont to New York, whose needs and drives are satisfied, who has a good home, loving wife and family, good job, who enjoys unprecedented “cultural and recreational facilities,” often feels bad without knowing why?”

-Walker Percy

“It is significant that most of the objections to the existence of God from the problem of suffering come from outside observers who are quite comfortable, whereas those who actually suffer are, as often as not, made into stronger believers by their suffering.”

-Philip Yancey, Where is God When it Hurts?

“It is the spectators, the people on the outside, looking at the tragedy, from whose ranks the skeptics come; it is not those who are actually in the arena and who know suffering from the inside. Indeed, the fact is that it is the world’s greatest sufferers who have produced the most shining examples of unconquerable faith.”

–James Stewart

Despair rises out of plenty rather than deprivation.

"They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?’"

-Job 21:13-15 (NIV)

Why does despair and meaninglessness come out of affluence?

"I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!"

-Ecclesiastes 1:13 (NIV)

"I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

-Ecclesiastes 3:10-11 (NIV)

There is a burden that comes from influence:

Job suffered the burden of pain and struggle. Yet, Job never considered the possibility that perhaps God did not exist. And in all that he said he did not sin against God.

Solomon suffered from the burden of excess. He accumulated more wealth than anyone before him. He sought out and experienced every kind of pleasure under the sun—apart from God! 

How does excess place a burden on us?

When you are God, you have everything, and you can do everything. You have unlimited freedom and power. Real freedom and real power requires restraint! It is the awesome responsibility that comes with excess.

To whom much is given much is required. The more you are entrusted with the more responsibility you have.

We are not very good at playing God. We are not very good at excess. While God makes everything beautiful in its time, we do the opposite. Given enough time, we take beautiful things and make them ugly.

We cannot bear the burden of God—the responsibility of what to do with too much.

“The result is almost invariably the exact opposite of what’s intended. Thus, expanding public education has served to increase public illiteracy; half a century of pacifist agitation has resulted in the two most ferocious and destructive wars of history, political egalitarianism has made for a heightened class -consciousness…and sexual freedom has led to erotomania on a scale hitherto undreamed of.”

-Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus Rediscovered

Rather than worshipping God for His wonderful provisions, we decide that we don’t really need God because we have everything else.

This causes us to:

• Neglect God as we become distracted by His blessings.

• Suffer discontent, frustration, anxiety and depression because our soul knows you cannot fill an eternal void by temporary means.

Job tried to find meaning in his suffering in the context of God. He had a relationship with God.

Solomon did not. He decided to find meaning in his life apart from God and rather than seeking God, He rigorously pursued the pleasures of this world—only to be left wanting!

This is the overall message of Ecclesiastes!

Should we apologize for our affluence?

Perhaps the people of God, Israel, who first received these words, can give us the answer:

Once a year—during the Festival of Tents, still today, Jewish families erect tents in their backyards where they eat meals, sleep, and remember their ancestors in the Sinai wilderness. They recite the entire book of Ecclesiastes as part of their remembrance-a warning against depending on their success and prosperity rather than God.

For we Christians, Ecclesiastes offers a corrective.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

-Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

"As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things."

-Ecclesiastes 11:5 (NIV)

Solomon tells us four truths that can change everything:

1. Embrace the joys of life but never make them ultimate.

The problem isn’t your marriage or career or money but the weight of expectation you place on them! If you try to extract ultimate things from temporary things you will end up losing both.

When you know that the joys of your life are fleeting, and are not ultimate things, you can truly begin to enjoy and appreciate them as God’s wonderful gifts!

When you stop treating this life as if it must satisfy you entirely, you’ll find it more satisfying. When relationships become ultimate—there is constant frustration because no person can live up to your expectations.

Work and Achievement can be enjoyed and celebrated if not made ultimate: If made ultimate, work and achievement are depended on for self-esteem and self-worth. Problem: People are fickle. People are dishonest.

But if they are not ultimate things…you can relax, enjoy, and gain a sense of accomplishment when things go well, and a sense of God’s working in you when they don’t.

Wealth: gives the false sense that you can purchase centralized joy if you have enough happiness fixes.

Why do more people commit suicide in San Francisco, the most beautiful city in America, than in any other city? Why is it that Jean Paul Sartre, sitting in a French café writing Nausea, which is about the absurdity of human existence and the nausea of life in the twentieth century—why was he the happiest man in France at the time? Why is it that a man riding a good commuter train Larchmont to New York, whose needs and drives are satisfied, who has a good home, loving wife and family, good job, who enjoys unprecedented “cultural and recreational facilities,” often feels bad without knowing why?

-Walker Percy: The Message in the Bottle

Besides: Your inner self-soul-the real you—knows Fleeting! Every path-when treated as ultimate, collapses.

2. Embrace your freedom, but never sit in God’s chair.

"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments,"

-Ecclesiastes 12:13a (NIV)

The burden of affluence.

The burden of influence does two things:

• Makes us think we can control our lives.

• Makes us go into shock when things don’t go well!

You do not know the path of God.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

-Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

"As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things."

-Ecclesiastes 11:5 (NIV)

Solomon’s conclusion?

"Fear God and keep his commandments"

-Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NIV)

Fear = Reverence: In other words, let God be God. Respect His right to have control over your life.

The life that finds joy and contentment is the life that fears, respects and revels in God’s sovereignty and allows God to govern its pleasures.

3. Embrace living but never forget death is coming.

"It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart."

-Ecclesiastes 7:2 (NIV)

Why would it be better to go to a funeral than a feast?

A funeral forces you to confront reality. “I am going to die.” Death strips away the illusion of control or permanence! It exposes the emptiness of living for temporary gains. And it demands that you live life backwards!

Ecclesiastes is not telling you to forget living! Go! Enjoy God’s creation and blessings!  But understand all is fleeting!!! It will all end. Therefore, go to the funeral rather than the feast so that you will be forced to ask the question: What is it that truly lasts?

What is it that lasts? The Kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is where God’s rule is the authority over everything and all who live in it and under it experience the fullness of His power where there is no pain, suffering, death, disease of dis-ease.

We have the capacity to live in His kingdom now! It is here but not yet in full.

We gain glimpses of it when we see transformation in the lives of people who enter into his kingdom. They do things they never thought they could do, see things they have never seen and feel things they have never felt—a sense of the transcendence. We get glimpses of it when we see people experience a healing where there is no other plausible explanation other than God. That is the kingdom of God that will one day be in full operation when Jesus returns and the forces of this world are cast down

This is the day to recenter your life on God. Trust him. Obey Him. Find your identity in Him rather than in fleeting pursuits!

Only an eternal God can give you unending eternal wonder.

God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him.” That satisfaction: Begins at the cross when the gap is bridged, intensifies at your baptism when the Spirit of God resurrects you to a new life, and surges as you put everything in your life in perspective and begin chasing hard after the one thing that matters most…….God!!!

Make a Decision