THE SEARCH FOR MEANING

ECCLESIASTES 1:1-11

INTRODUCTION

“Ecclesiastes” stems from the title given in the Septuagint- the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Greek term Ekklesiastes means “Preacher”. It is taken from the word “ Ekklesia” which means a congregation or Assembly of people for the worship of God.

Let us learn:

I.  THE AUTHOR.

• The writer of Ecclesiastes is Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba.
• Solomon ruled Israel for 40yrs in peace and prosperity.

1. Great beginning,

• Solomon began well as a young King, God appeared to him and told him to ask what he wished (I King 3:5)
• Solomon responded by saying “Give thy servant an understanding, to judge thy people, to discern between good and evil” (I Kings 3:9-12)

2. A Downward Spiral.

• Solomon’s downward spiral began with compromise and rationalization.
• God had warned about intermarriage with non-believers.
• He took an Egyptian wife for political purposes (I Kings 3:10
• He rationalized that this marriage was good for the country.
• Today Christians are rationalizing.
• Very soon Solomon started worshipping the idols of his many wives (I Kings 3:3)
• Solomon made friends with Hirian King of Tyre, for building materials and labour for the temple, Solomon gave him cities (I Kings 9:10-13)
• Solomon began to live exorbitantly (I Kings 10:24-26)
• Solomon amassed foreign wives 700 wives and 300 concubines.

II.  THE PERSPECTIVE.

1. Life is fleeting!

• Solomon began with such great promise,
• He had great gifts and wisdom, discernment, riches and honour.
• Towards the end of his life, he wrote “vanity” vanity all is vanity.
• Life is a vapour, it is elusive and transitory (James 4:14, Psalm 39:5, 78:3, Job 7:7)
• As a young man, Solomon wrote “The Song of Solomon” it is a romantic story of one man and one woman.
• In his middle life, Solomon wrote proverbs- practical wisdom.
• In his old age, Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, he was confused and empty.
• Having discovered that the things of this world do not satisfy.

2. Life without God has no purpose.

• Solomon uses the word “under the sun” to describe the absurdity and futility of work, pleasure and wisdom.
• Life is absurd apart from the grace of God. Are you living “under the sun” or “above the sun?”
• THE RELEVANCE FOR TODAY.
• Ecclesiastes reads like today’s newspaper.
• He writes about injustice to the poor (4:1-3)
• He writes about crooked politics (5:8)
• He writes about materialism (5:10)
• He writes about guilty people allowed to commit more crime (8:11)
• He writes about incompetent leaders (10:6-7)
• The Forbes magazine wrote on their 75^th anniversary ” Why we feel so bad when we have it so good”
• Americans, Europeans and Japanese live better than any other people on the planet- yet they are the most depressed people on earth.
• Ecclesiastes addresses the question that people have
• “What is the meaning of life?”
• Why am I so unhappy?
• Does God really care?
• Why is there so much suffering and injustice in the world?
• Is life really, worth living?

1. Life is unoriginal and repetitive (V.3)

• Life is full of labour and toil- Every generation (V.4)
• Every generation is the same- same issues and problems
• There is no utopia- life is like an exercise bike or a rocking chair”, you get on them and then go nowhere”
• Movement is not progress
• Yes, there is an advancement in technology, but the man has the same problem, lust, greed, selfishness-mankind is not getting better, but more evil (v.5-7)
• Solomon uses the example of the sun, the wind and rivers to show the repetitiveness of life.
• Life is not linear, but circles.
• The answers to life are found “ above the sun”
• Life is like housework- no matter how efficiently you wash your clothes, they will not stay clean- next week you must do them again.

2. No one remembers (vv.8-11)

• All things are full of labour; Man cannot express it.
• There is nothing new under the sun.
• We don’t learn from history, so we repeat the same old things.

3. There are two deductions;
4. If there is nothing new under the sun, our only hope must be above the sun.
5. If the man who had everything and invested everything visible says it is all vanity- then the one thing needed must be invisible.

CONCLUSION

• Augustine stated “He who has God has everything. He who does not have God has nothing. He who has God and everything has no more than he who has God alone.
• Solomon concluded that life under the sun has no purpose.
• God says life is full of purpose when in Christ (Col.3:1-4)