Introduction:
Two Big Problems with Life: (Ecclesiastes 1:1-18)
- Problem: Life is just an Endless Cycle. (Eccl 1:2-11)
- Bigger Problem: We're not Smart enough to find a Solution. (Eccl 1:12-18)
When you Know Jesus, these 2 things aren't a problem at all:
- Solomon said under the sun, life is just an endless cycle. Jesus said under the Son of God, you were made for eternity, and you have an eternal purpose in this life.
Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
- Solomon said under the sun, we're not smart enough to find a solution. Jesus said under the Son of God, you discover that He is the solution.
1 Corinthians 1:24 - Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God.
John 10:27 - My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:40-00:43
Open up your Bibles with me please to the book of Ecclesiastes.
00:45-00:47
Psalms is right in the middle of your Bible.
00:48-00:54
So if you go to the middle of your Bible and then go two books to the right, you'll be in Ecclesiastes.
00:56-01:00
Alright, so let's pray, and then we're going to get into Ecclesiastes.
01:02-01:07
Father, we believe your word does not return to you void, that it always accomplishes the purposes for which you send it out.
01:08-01:24
So as we go to your Word right now, Father, we do it in complete confidence, not in me, not in our technology to broadcast it, but our confidence is in your promise.
01:28-01:33
That you provide the power that comes through the clear proclamation of your Word.
01:37-01:48
I pray, Father, that this is the start of a new chapter for so many people here, whether they're sitting in this room, or they're watching this online, or they're watching a stream later.
01:51-01:53
Pray for new beginnings, Father, because that's what you're all about.
01:56-01:57
I praise you in Jesus' name.
01:58-02:17
And all of God's people said, "Amen, Ecclesiastes." Chapter one, several years ago in the summer, many years ago, our kids were actually very small at the time, but Aaron and I went to the store and bought one of them, big inflatable water parks.
02:17-02:18
You know the ones I'm talking about?
02:18-02:19
We have the picture.
02:19-02:23
It's not like this exact one, but it was a lot like this one.
02:24-02:27
But there was a picture like that on the front of the box.
02:27-02:29
I remember standing, we lived in Prospect at the time.
02:29-02:34
I remember standing on the deck, looking at this picture in the box, and I thought, this is gonna be awesome.
02:34-02:35
Do you see this?
02:36-02:39
Do you see this water park in this box that we bought?
02:40-02:58
There's kids playing basketball, and there were like a slide, it was like a 15-foot slide, and this kid's like, "Ah!" Going up the slide, and ours actually had this like ring toss thing where there were these, you know, like prongs sticking out, you could throw these rings, and I'm just like, this is gonna be amazing, my kids are gonna love it.
02:59-03:06
Like, forget my kids, I'm gonna call my friends over, and we're gonna have this big water park party in Jeff's house.
03:09-03:12
I was so excited for this thing.
03:13-03:15
I think even more than my kids.
03:16-03:25
And I remember we took it out of the box and hooked it up to the air pump and inflated it, and it was this big.
03:28-03:32
The slide, you see how it's depicted?
03:32-03:38
The slide, literally, even for as little as my kids were, they were like, I don't know, four and five at the time, the slide was like this long.
03:39-03:41
Their feet were at the bottom while they were sitting at the top.
03:42-03:42
(audience laughing)
03:43-03:45
And the basketball, you see the kids shooting hoops there?
03:45-03:45
See that?
03:47-03:51
The basketballs were these little inflatable balloon balls about the size of softballs.
03:53-03:58
And the ring toss was not much better.
03:58-04:01
They were these little inflatable rings and it was...
04:03-04:05
So we blow the thing up and I'll never forget it.
04:05-04:12
Aaron and I were standing on the deck, looking at this thing, looking at the box, looking at this thing, looking at the box.
04:12-04:17
And we were standing there going, is this it?
04:19-04:21
Is this it?
04:23-04:37
Well, Ecclesiastes 1, look at verse one, it says, "The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem." Son of David, king of Jerusalem, Solomon wrote this.
04:38-04:42
And you're going to see as we go through Ecclesiastes, it's pretty obvious that it was Solomon.
04:43-04:50
You remember King Solomon, David's son, you can read about him in 1 Kings 1-11, we're talking about 970 BC.
04:51-05:04
Major thing about Solomon that you need to know, 1 Kings 3, the Lord shows up to Solomon and says, "Ask for whatever you want and I will give it to you." I'll just pause there for a second.
05:04-05:12
What would you ask the Lord for if he showed up and said, "Blank check, I'll give you whatever you want." What would you ask?
05:15-05:19
You're like, "Probably one of them water parks." No.
05:21-05:23
Solomon could have had anything he wanted.
05:23-05:25
And do you know what he asked for?
05:26-05:31
An understanding mind, also known as wisdom.
05:32-05:40
And Ecclesiastes tells this story of the journey of wisdom that Solomon took.
05:40-05:44
And what does Solomon discover about life?
05:45-05:53
This man who was given wisdom from God directly, what does he discover about life?
05:55-05:56
He says, you know, it's empty.
05:59-06:01
Life is empty.
06:07-06:08
It's disappointing.
06:12-06:12
You know what life is?
06:14-06:23
Life is a whole lot of work, and in the end, it just doesn't matter.
06:24-06:25
That's life.
06:26-06:27
Does that resonate with anyone?
06:30-06:32
Has anyone felt like that?
06:34-06:35
Anyone at all?
06:40-06:41
You know, I tried so hard.
06:43-06:44
I tried so hard.
06:48-06:58
And in my lowest days, I just kind of step back and look and I'm like, "Is this it?" This is life, huh?
07:01-07:14
But I'll be honest with you, even in the days of my greatest victories, a dream fulfilled, a high moment, I'll be honest with you, even in those days I step back and I'm like, "Is Is that it?
07:15-07:16
Is this it?
07:17-07:20
Somehow I thought it would be more.
07:27-07:30
And I gotta tell you, that's Solomon's story in Ecclesiastes.
07:33-07:44
He says, "I'm going to find out what brings meaning to life." But Solomon says, "In the end, do you know what life is like?" He says in the end, life is that inflatable pool.
07:47-07:51
We have such high expectations, high hopes.
07:51-07:54
This is the thing that's going to make me so happy.
07:55-08:04
And we get it out of the box and we inflate the thing and we're like, is this it?
08:07-08:08
Not as advertised.
08:11-08:23
So to kick it off, if you're taking notes, which we always encourage, Solomon here presents a problem, and then he gives us a bigger problem.
08:27-08:29
Two big problems with life.
08:29-08:30
Number one, here's a problem.
08:31-08:34
Life is just an endless cycle.
08:34-08:35
Write that down.
08:35-08:38
Life is just an endless cycle.
08:40-08:41
Look at verse two.
08:45-08:47
"Vanity of vanities," says the preacher.
08:48-08:56
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Like coming out of the gate hot.
08:57-08:58
Like how about a little bit of an on-ramp?
08:59-09:00
Please, Solomon, no.
09:02-09:05
He's just like, boom, everything's vanity.
09:08-09:09
Like, what does that mean?
09:09-09:13
The word vanities, it doesn't mean pride of face like we think of it.
09:13-09:15
Vanity literally means meaningless.
09:16-09:16
That's what it means.
09:16-09:18
It means empty.
09:20-09:24
And what Solomon says coming right out of the gate, he goes, you know what everything in life seems like?
09:24-09:28
Everything in life, everything in life just seems empty.
09:31-09:31
Look at verse three.
09:32-09:42
He says, "What does a man gain by all the toil "at which he toils under the sun?" This is the question that he's proposing.
09:43-09:47
You're like, "Solomon, what's the problem, man?" He says the problem is life itself.
09:47-09:48
That's the problem.
09:48-10:01
What do you really gain by all the work that you do every day, every week, every month, every year, and at the end of it all, what do you really gain from it?
10:03-10:20
In other words, your life right now, your life right this second, what is it that you can point to in your life where you can say, this thing perfectly satisfies me.
10:21-10:24
This thing right here, this completes my life.
10:25-10:27
This right here never lets me down.
10:27-10:29
This here, this is meaning.
10:30-10:32
What can you point to in your life right now?
10:33-10:34
And I know what you're thinking.
10:36-10:39
The Sunday school answer, Jesus.
10:42-10:44
And I would say, hang on a second.
10:46-10:49
Because he gives a disclaimer, look at verse three again.
10:49-10:50
He gives a disclaimer.
10:51-10:52
Look at the last three words.
10:54-10:55
Under the sun.
10:57-10:59
Also sometimes he says under heaven.
10:59-11:00
He says it just what we're looking at today.
11:01-11:03
verse three, verse nine, verse 13, verse 14.
11:03-11:15
Listen, please, please listen to this church because if you miss this point, you're going to miss the entire point of the entire book of Ecclesiastes.
11:16-11:24
The phrase under the sun indicates that he is examining life as if there are no spiritual realities.
11:26-11:33
In other words, what he's saying is let's ignore God, Let's ignore the promise of heaven and all of those things.
11:33-11:38
He says, let's look at life on earth as all that exists.
11:38-11:40
The phrase under the sun, right?
11:40-11:41
We're not looking beyond the sun.
11:42-11:46
We're looking at just what happens right here on the earth.
11:47-11:50
We're acting as if this is all there is.
11:52-11:55
In other words, he's asking here, don't miss this.
11:56-12:04
He says, "What is life if we focus only on the earth and ignore the things of God?" That's what he's driving at.
12:04-12:25
He's saying, "If this is all there is here on the earth, under the sun, what we see, what we experience, what we can discern in the visible world, if this is it, then life's pretty miserable." This whole point.
12:27-12:41
Listen, most of the people that you know, and I'm speaking hopefully of the people that you know outside of this church, but most of the people that you know live like this.
12:42-12:44
They live as if this is it.
12:46-12:48
Life on earth is it. This is it.
12:49-13:02
I have maybe, hopefully, I'm lucky a few decades of kicking around on this giant ball of dirt and make the most of it 'cause this is it.
13:04-13:05
Most people live like that.
13:06-13:10
And that's exactly what Solomon is saying in this whole book.
13:10-13:12
He goes, "Really, is that how you're living?
13:12-13:14
What meaning are you gonna get from that?
13:14-13:38
Because I'm about to show you a whole lot of reasons why that is miserable." And you're going to see throughout Ecclesiastes, he contrasts life under the sun with the reality that, "Hey, hey, there's so much more than this." There are spiritual realities, and that is what brings meaning to life.
13:39-13:43
So, living under the sun.
13:46-13:50
People look for satisfaction in all kinds of places, don't we?
13:52-13:54
For some people, it's that job.
13:54-14:00
Once I get that job, if I can just get that job, then my life is going to be full and complete, and I'm going to be set.
14:00-14:05
And you get that job, and you say, oh, is this it?
14:07-14:09
For some, it's joining some social cause.
14:12-14:14
This is going to give me meaning and fulfillment.
14:15-14:19
For a lot of people, it's getting a new something.
14:20-14:26
Maybe it's a new house or a new pole, the non-inflatable kind.
14:26-14:28
Maybe it's getting something new with wheels on it.
14:28-14:36
Like, "Oh, once I get this, I'm gonna be set." And then you get it and you're like, "Eh." Do you know what it is for so many people?
14:39-14:40
It's that romantic relationship.
14:41-14:48
Take it from a guy that's been doing this for about 25 years or so, however long it's been.
14:49-14:58
I have seen this so many times in my ministry, people thinking, if I just met that right person, then my life's gonna be complete.
14:58-15:12
And look, I've seen this with men and women, and I've seen people dive headfirst into horrible relationships that ended so tragically because they thought, oh, if I just had that right person, my life was gonna be complete, and it never is.
15:14-15:16
What's going to make me happy?
15:16-15:17
What's going to make me fulfilled?
15:18-15:33
What is it that I'm going to encounter in life that is so meaningful and so fulfilling that I'm going to stop searching for the rest of my life because I got it, I unlocked the mystery of life?
15:33-15:36
What is it that's going to give me that?
15:38-15:39
Nothing.
15:42-15:43
Nothing stops the search.
15:44-15:44
You know why?
15:46-15:51
Because life is nothing but an endless cycle.
15:53-15:55
I mean history confirms that.
15:55-15:55
Look at verse 4.
15:56-16:04
He says, "A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever." We come and go.
16:04-16:12
Your great grandparents, your grandparents, your parents, you, your kids, your grandkids, We just cycle in and out, but the earth remains.
16:13-16:14
It doesn't seem like it should be the opposite.
16:15-16:18
Doesn't seem like we as the people should be the permanent fixtures.
16:19-16:20
It's not how it is though.
16:21-16:23
So history confirms an endless cycle.
16:24-16:26
Nature confirms an endless cycle.
16:26-16:28
Look at the next couple of verses here.
16:28-16:42
He says, "The sun rises and the sun goes down and hastens to the place where it rises." "The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north.
16:42-16:45
Around and around goes the wind." Endless cycle.
16:45-16:47
"And on its circuits the wind returns.
16:48-16:51
All the streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full.
16:52-16:57
To the place where the streams flow, there they flow again." Endless cycle.
16:57-16:59
Sun, wind, water.
16:59-17:00
Do you see his point?
17:00-17:04
These things do lots of work all the time.
17:04-17:08
They're working, they're working, they're working, and they never have an end.
17:11-17:13
They never complete anything.
17:15-17:16
There's no goal, right?
17:17-17:18
The sun is not like, you know what?
17:19-17:21
Everything's warm enough, I'm gonna take a couple days off.
17:22-17:24
They got enough water, we're gonna stop the cycle.
17:24-17:25
It's never like that.
17:26-17:28
It's an endless cycle, right?
17:28-17:30
History confirms it, nature confirms it.
17:30-17:34
And if we're honest, experience confirms this.
17:34-17:35
Look at verse eight.
17:37-17:40
It says, "All things are full of weariness.
17:42-17:43
A man cannot utter it.
17:45-17:51
The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
17:53-18:00
Like nature, everything in life, your life experience is an endless cycle.
18:01-18:02
You know what your life is?
18:05-18:08
Probably shouldn't have had this message on graduate recognition.
18:11-18:12
Spoiler alert, Brady.
18:12-18:13
You know what your life is?
18:14-18:14
It's an endless cycle.
18:16-18:17
You know what your life is going to be?
18:17-18:19
Wherever God calls you, you know what your life's going to be?
18:19-18:24
It's going to be a lot of activity without ever being done.
18:26-18:27
Never being filled up.
18:28-18:29
That's all of life.
18:29-18:30
That's just for the grads.
18:30-18:31
That's all of life, isn't it?
18:31-18:32
Think about it.
18:32-18:34
Every aspect of your life is like that.
18:34-18:34
True or false?
18:35-18:44
For example, you get hungry and you eat and then you get hungry again and then you eat again and then you get hungry again.
18:44-18:50
And then you're thirsty so you drink something and then you get thirsty again so you got to drink something else, right?
18:50-18:54
And then you wake up, but then you get tired so you got to go back to sleep.
18:54-19:03
And then you wake up and then you get tired and then you go back to sleep because you gotta go to work because you gotta earn money and then you spend money and then you gotta go back to work.
19:03-19:03
Why?
19:04-19:05
Because you need more money.
19:05-19:05
And why do you need more money?
19:05-19:07
Because you need to spend more money, right?
19:07-19:08
Do you see?
19:08-19:12
Every single thing in your life is this endless cycle.
19:16-19:19
History is just one big closed circuit.
19:20-19:20
Look at verse nine.
19:21-19:24
He says, "What has been is what will be.
19:25-19:28
And what has been done is what will be done.
19:30-19:38
And there is nothing new under the sun." Can you see that? He says, "Nothing's new." Nothing's new.
19:40-19:41
Look at verse 10.
19:42-19:52
He says, "Is there a thing of which it is said, 'See, this is new'?" He answers the question right away.
19:52-20:01
He says, "It has been already in the ages before us." And you're like, "Hang on a second, Pastor Jeff.
20:03-20:04
"There's new stuff, right?
20:05-20:09
"There's new stuff, isn't there?" Nope.
20:11-20:15
You're like, "Well, why is it that things don't seem new?
20:15-20:15
"Do you know why?
20:16-20:17
"Do you know why things don't seem new?
20:17-20:18
"Do you know why?
20:18-20:20
is because you have a bad memory.
20:21-20:22
Look at verse 11.
20:23-20:37
He says, "There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things, yet to be among those who come after." See that?
20:38-20:40
Things seem new because you have a short memory.
20:43-20:46
You know what I was reading about this past week?
20:47-20:50
Pyramids. Do you know how the pyramids were built?
20:53-20:53
Nobody does.
20:59-21:06
I guarantee you though, I mean I wasn't there, but I guarantee you the generation that built them, they know how they were built.
21:06-21:06
Right?
21:10-21:18
And I would even say, and I wasn't there, but I think the generation after them, They probably knew how those pyramids were built because that's probably a pretty big deal, huh?
21:20-21:23
But you see, at some point in history, we forgot.
21:24-21:29
Do you know what one of the prevailing theories, I kid you not, do you know what one of the prevailing theories is now?
21:30-21:31
How the pyramids were built?
21:32-21:34
Yeah, somebody said it, say it louder.
21:35-21:35
Aliens!
21:38-21:38
Yeah.
21:41-21:43
Yeah, Alf built the pyramids.
21:46-21:52
Sorry, if you're under a certain age, you might need to turn to somebody and have them explain who Alf is.
21:54-21:54
My bad.
21:57-21:57
You see the point?
22:00-22:03
It seemed new at the time, but it really wasn't, right?
22:04-22:05
Because we have bad memories.
22:06-22:08
Like let's think of Harvest Bible Chapel.
22:08-22:11
Let's suppose, let's pretend that Christ isn't coming real soon.
22:11-22:12
I believe that he is.
22:13-22:15
Suppose Christ doesn't return real soon.
22:18-22:22
You realize in a generation, nobody's even going to remember me.
22:23-22:36
And you know, ten years ago I planted this church and worked so hard, so hard every day, night and day, in so many different capacities.
22:39-22:42
And in a generation, nobody's even gonna remember me.
22:44-22:55
And all of God's people said, "Aww." And I would say, "Don't feel bad, "because nobody's gonna remember you either.
22:56-23:04
"And nobody's gonna remember what you did, true or false." That is sadly true, my friends, and that's what Solomon's saying.
23:07-23:08
Aren't you glad you came to church today?
23:11-23:12
Is this it?
23:13-23:14
Is this it?
23:16-23:20
An endless pursuit, never satisfied.
23:22-23:23
You know what we are?
23:24-23:25
We're the hamster on the wheel.
23:27-23:31
Lots of activity round and round, endless cycle, but we don't end up anywhere, do we?
23:33-23:34
You know what we are?
23:35-23:37
or the guy on the treadmill at Planet Fitness.
23:38-23:43
Not me, 'cause I don't run, but other guys on the treadmill.
23:43-23:47
Lots of activity, but where did he get really?
23:48-23:49
Where did he get?
23:51-23:57
Lots of activity, and in the end, you didn't really gain anything, and no one remembers.
23:58-24:01
So we have the answer to our question of verse three.
24:01-24:06
What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
24:07-24:07
We have our answer.
24:09-24:09
What does man gain?
24:09-24:10
Tell me.
24:13-24:13
Nothing.
24:14-24:15
You've gained nothing.
24:16-24:17
You're like, well, hang on.
24:17-24:18
Hang on, Pastor Jeff.
24:18-24:31
I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but surely at some point in history, there had to have been somebody that's been smart enough to figure this out.
24:33-24:41
Well, I'm here to tell you that the wisest man in history, besides God himself, he couldn't figure it out.
24:43-24:45
That leads us to our second problem, two big problems with life.
24:47-24:48
Life is just an endless cycle.
24:48-24:50
Number two, here's a bigger problem.
24:50-24:51
We're not smart enough to find a solution.
24:52-24:53
That's a bigger problem.
24:56-25:05
So we're embarking on this journey with Solomon about the meaning of life and somebody might say, well, what does this guy know about the meaning of life?
25:07-25:14
Well, in these verses, we're going to close with, Solomon gives his qualifications.
25:16-25:20
He talks about his position and he talks about his diligence, right?
25:20-25:21
Look at verse 12.
25:21-25:26
He says, "I, the preacher," that word is keheleth, it means one who gathers, right?
25:27-25:37
It says, "I, the preacher, have been king over Israel and Jerusalem." Like, who does this guy think he is to speak on this?
25:37-25:38
Listen, this is important.
25:39-25:41
First of all, his position gave him opportunity.
25:42-25:48
You know, when Solomon was king, there was a period of about 40 years of peace.
25:48-25:50
Do you know how weird that is for Israel?
25:51-25:53
To have four decades of peace?
25:54-26:06
So here you have this king, during four decades of not being attacked by everybody, and all these resources.
26:08-26:12
Verse 13, he says, look what he did with his time here.
26:12-26:38
He says, "And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom, all that is done under heaven." Interestingly, he says, "It is an unhappy business," look at this, "that God has given to the children of man "to be busy with." What's interesting is children of man, literally that's children of Adam.
26:41-26:53
He says, "So I applied my heart, "I wanted to find the meaning of things by wisdom." And he goes, "It's an unhappy business "that God has given to the children of Adam." Why is that interesting?
26:54-27:03
I think what Solomon is saying here is because of the fall, making meaning out of life is hard for us because we're broken.
27:04-27:06
We're fundamentally broken people.
27:08-27:16
What he's saying here is, "Look, I know we are broken, but I want you to know I tried, I really tried to unravel this stuff.
27:17-27:18
What gives meaning to life?
27:18-27:19
What gives purpose?
27:19-27:20
What brings fulfillment?
27:22-27:24
Okay, Solomon, what's your conclusion?
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You realize verse 14 really is a summary statement of all of Ecclesiastes.
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Look at it with me.
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Verse 14, he says, "I have seen everything that is done under the sun.
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And behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind." all the key phrases in one sentence.
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He says, "It's vanity, it's empty." And he says, "It's striving after the wind." He says, "You know what it's like trying to track down purpose in life?" He goes, "It's like going out on a windy day and saying, 'Hey, go run down a gust of wind and grab an armful of it and bring it back.'" A whole lot of activity with zero result.
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He says, "That's life." Look at verse 15.
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He says, "What is crooked cannot be made straight, "and what is lacking cannot be counted." You see, we have inherent limitations.
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What he's saying, "What is crooked cannot be made straight." He's saying so much in life, we see something wrong, and we know what's wrong, and somehow we just can't fix it.
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Do you know what I'm talking about?
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Because I know most of us do.
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So many of us see that in our families.
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That there's been a falling out in your family.
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And you have some people in your family that won't talk to other people in your family.
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And they won't come to major life events, and they won't come to holidays.
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And you're stepping back and you're like, this is crooked, this isn't right.
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this isn't the way it should be.
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And you easily identify the problem, and you're like, well, do you know how to fix it?
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You're like, yeah, I know what needs to happen, but I don't know how to, I don't know how to make it happen.
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This is crooked, how do I make it straight?
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We know what we need, but not what to do.
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And this is so relevant in our day.
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Because I gotta tell you, especially the last couple of years, I have been absolutely perplexed.
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I'm just gonna be honest with you.
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I'm like, how is it that so many people are being deceived by the media?
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How in the world is that happening?
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How is it like, they have literally done everything short of coming out, going, "Boogie, boogie, boogie, we're lying to you." And they've done literally everything short of that.
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people are just like eating it all up.
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Like, how can you believe this?
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It's so crooked.
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And I don't know how to fix that.
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How is it the most corrupt people on the planet get put in charge?
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How does that happen?
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Like, man, I see the problem. I see the problem.
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The problem is you have wicked, selfish people in leadership.
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That's the problem.
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"Okay, Jeff, if that's what's crooked, how do you straighten it?" I don't know.
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That's exactly what he's talking about here.
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We just can't see it.
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Somebody wasn't trying to kill my mic there, was it?
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Was that what just happened?
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Like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, I think people are getting uncomfortable." Mute.
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The point is so much is crooked, so much is lacking, and we just can't figure it out.
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So he was qualified, not just by his position, right?
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He had the position, he had the 40 years of peace, he had all of this, but he was also qualified by his diligence.
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Look at verses 16 and 17.
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He says, "I said in my heart, "I have acquired great wisdom," yeah, from God, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me.
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And my heart has had experience, wisdom, and knowledge.
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And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly." Meaning not just wisdom, but I went after the alternative too.
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And he's, "What's your conclusion there, King Solomon?" He says, "I perceive that this also is but a striving after win." He had the drive and He had the means.
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He inherited great wealth, and through wisdom He increased great wealth.
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He was one of the richest people who's ever walked this planet.
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And imagine the things that you could do if you had unlimited resources.
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Verse 18, He says, "For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." That's the problem.
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Do you see the problem?
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It says, "He who increases knowledge increases sorrow." Or as the kids today say, "Mo knowledge, mo sorrow." The kids are saying that, right?
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Alex says no, sorry.
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Strike that from the audio.
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I thought that was a popular saying today.
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I'm a little out of touch.
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Now they really are trying to kill my microphone.
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But he says, that's the problem.
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The more knowledge you get, the more sorrow that comes with it.
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They're like, well, what's the alternative to getting knowledge?
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The alternative is staying ignorant.
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And that's not a great option.
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And Solomon's point is this attempt to solve the problem of life by wisdom only made the problem bigger.
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It only made the problem bigger.
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How so?
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Well, the more you know, the more you know you need to know, and the more you know you don't know, and the more that you're exposed to things that bring sorrow, just by knowing them, knowledge brings sorrow.
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It brings sorrow.
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You can, for example, you can grieve over some of the things happening with Big Pharma right now.
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And you can decide, "You know what, I'm really grieved by the little bit that I know, and for the next month, I'm going to take a deep dive, and I'm going to study Big Pharma, and I'm going to learn everything I can about Big Pharma for the next month, and try to really understand what's going on." I promise you, at the end of that study, you're going to have more knowledge, and you're going to have more sorrow. Okay, that's the passage. And we could be done. But I don't want you leaving here depressed. And listen, I'm not going to stand up here and pretend that we didn't just spend three years going through the gospel of John in a series called "Knowing Jesus." So I need to close with this.
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And this really is a theme that's going to be throughout Ecclesiastes.
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Here it is, church.
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You can choose to live under the Son, or you can choose to live under the Son of God.
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Because here's the good news, there's more to life than this.
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And if the pandemic taught us anything, it's that people are scared to death of death.
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But we, we are not scared of death.
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We believe in the one who conquered death.
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We believe in the One who promises His people that we too cannot be stung by the sting of death because death has been swallowed up in victory.
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And in the meantime, because we believe in this One, we also believe and know that this life has meaning.
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So I want to close with this, if our worship team would come up.
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And you know Jesus, these two things that we just spent all this time talking about, these are not a problem at all.
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Why?
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Well, letter A, Solomon said under the sun life is just an endless cycle.
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And Jesus said under the sun of God, you are made for eternity, and you have an eternal purpose in life.
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Ephesians 2.10 says, "For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." And yes, listen, church, even for Christians, sometimes life seems like an endless cycle.
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But if God's Word is true, and if His Son is right, and I believe both of those, there's an overarching purpose.
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And that purpose is this, you were created for good works.
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That Jesus has a purpose for your life that He planned out even before you were born.
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Now let me ask you this, How would you go after your ministry if you consciously reminded yourself of this truth on a regular basis?
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How would that transform this church if everybody involved in every aspect of ministry saw it for what it is?
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An assignment from God, handpicked for you.
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That He's entrusted to you.
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You know, I can't speak for what your life looks like, but I can speak for what mine looks like.
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Sunday night, every Sunday night, got to write another sermon.
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Like almost every week for the last 10 plus years at Harvest Bible Chapel, got to write another one.
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And you know, sometimes it just seems like an endless cycle.
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I could have that attitude, I suppose.
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Or I could say, "You know what?
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God assigned me to love and care for and feed the word of God to these incredible people.
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What a privilege I have to do that.
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So I get the blessing of digging into God's word once again.
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So whatever you're doing, whether you're leading the ladies, or you're teaching kids, or you're involved in a small group, you're standing on stage playing an instrument, this truth should change the way you go after that. The letter B, Solomon said, "Under the sun we're not smart enough to find a solution." Jesus said, "Under the sun of God you discover that He is the solution." You're not going to get more wisdom than Solomon had, but you can get something better. Because 1 Corinthians John 24 says that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
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When you know Jesus, you don't have to worry about figuring everything out.
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You just have to trust that He already has.
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John 10.27, Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." I'm getting off the hamster wheel.
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And I'm following the shepherd who's with me.
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I'd like you to stand.
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I'd like to call our elders up.
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We're going to have some elders standing in front of the stage here as the worship team closes our time in worship.
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And if there's anybody here right now, it's like, you know what?
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My life has been an endless cycle because I don't know Jesus Christ.
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These men would love nothing more than to pray with you and talk with you about what it means to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
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Today's the day.
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You don't have any excuse.
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What's the alternative?
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You realize that your life is an endless, unfulfilling cycle and you want to run back to that?
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You want to embrace some more of that?
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Or do you want to embrace this God who loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for your sins?
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And not only that, prepared good works for you ahead of time, gave your life a very special assignment and purpose.
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I'd like you to bow your heads with me.
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And there are some people here that need to pray something like this.
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God, I'm done living for myself because it hasn't fulfilled me.
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And all the stuff I thought was gonna make me happy sure hasn't.
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And today, I wanna receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and discover the purpose that God has for my life.
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You're in a place right now where people love you.
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And if you're watching this stream, you can pray this from your couch.
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But if you're here in this room right now, As our team once again leads us into the presence of God's holy throne room of grace, to let Him know what we think about Him.
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Please, take this opportunity and come pray with our elders.
Small Group Discussion
Read Ecclesiastes 1:1-18
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What are some things people do (or get) that they think will bring fulfillment? Why don’t they work?
Honesty time: have you ever felt like your life was a meaningless, endless cycle (Eccl 1:4-7)? Describe what made you feel this way.
Explain what Solomon means by “under the sun / under heaven” (Eccl 1:3, 9, 13, 14)? Why is this such an important phrase to understanding Ecclesiastes?
Breakout
Pray for one another.