Life Under the Sun

Well, happy Sabbath everyone. Good to see you. Jennifer and I, I know I can express for her, we're just filled with joy and we're growing in our love for everyone as we're able to begin to go to your homes and eat together and share extra time together. Hopefully we can begin to have all of you into our home as well. And so definitely looking forward to that. We were able to meet our Waco, Texas brethren, last Sabbath. As you know, I'll be pastoring not only all of you, but also the Waco, Texas brethren. They have about, I want to say probably average 15 to 20, 15 to 20 in attendance. Wonderful close-knit group. They have potluck every Sabbath. You can do that in a small congregation. So that's wonderful. So it was a pleasure to get to know them. With the schedule, I think it may be moving a little bit here or there as we go through the months, but about every third and fifth Sabbath, I'll be up in Waco there. And it works out to a little bit more than once a month for them and then every, all the other Sabbaths here. So it was real nice to get to know them. We're just having a wonderful time here. I am a little disappointed. I will say, and I hate to say this, as Mr. Smith mentioned, of how cold it is. You know, we escaped Kentucky and Tennessee to get to some heat. And so here we have this cold weather. So Texas, I am very disappointed in that. I hope it's not listening, because if it is Texas, oh, you want some heat? Okay. Give me a few months. I'll make sure I bring that to you. Well, it is an abridged Sabbath format. We are going to be taking on the topic of life here in the sermon and in the Bible study. I'm going to try to get to have the Bible study concise. I want to get your feedback on the topic of abortion with the question, is there life before birth? That's what we'll be asking in the Bible study. So I look forward to your comments on that. But first, with the sermon, the title of our sermon today is Life Under the Sun. Life Under the Sun. If I were to ask you, with regards to the church's responsibility in speaking to and into our society today, what might be one of the most important and relevant books in the Bible? Again, if I were to ask you, which book in the Bible comes to mind as one of the most important and relevant books for speaking into our society? Well, I propose that of all the books in the Bible, it is the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes. The book of Ecclesiastes in particular addresses our current and social climate like none other. So what we're going to do today is say, here is this book Ecclesiastes written many, many years ago.

But regardless, remarkably and in a profound way, it speaks to our society today. And so therefore, we must know and understand this book so that we can speak into society. So that being said, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to open them up to the book of Ecclesiastes. And we're going to begin in chapter one. Ecclesiastes chapter one is where we'll begin. And before reading, I just want to set the scene briefly here. The writer of Ecclesiastes is an aging king, but not just any king, an extremely wealthy and wise king. And he's writing this letter as a kind of reflection on his life with the purpose to lay out to the reader lessons that he has learned. And we're going to see then that this king opens his letter by telling us that he set out on a mission. And in this mission, he went forth to search out the meaning of life and to ask and to answer the question, if you will, is there life before death? This is what he would ask and seek to answer. That question, this was his mission. He's now at the end of his life. And after this search for fulfillment and meaning, he gives his personal testimony to the fact that he did not find it. He did not find meaning and fulfillment despite all the wealth, despite all the wisdom that he possessed in the end of his search, only emptiness.

Was found. In the end, it was a bust. And he concludes that life here on earth is miserable and unhappy. Okay. And this is where the king begins. This is what we're going to notice. He begins with that end conclusion. Look at this. Okay. Ecclesiastes chapter one, let's get into this. Let's read this together beginning in verse one. We'll read down to verse 14. And you'll notice that he refers to himself as the preacher. The preacher. Here it is chapter one, verse one. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What prophet has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun. One generation passes away, another generation comes, but the earth abides forever. The sun, the sun also rises and it goes down. Then it hastens back to where it arose. The wind. Well, it goes toward the south, turns around to the north. The wind whirls about continually and comes again on its circuit. All of the rivers, well, they run into the sea and yet the sea is not full to the place from which the rivers come. They return again. All things are full of labor. Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. That which has been, well, is what will be. That which is done is what will be done. There's nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it can be said, see, this is new. It's already been done in ancient times before us.

There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who come after. I, the preacher, was king over Israel and in Jerusalem, and I set my heart to seek and search out wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven. This burdensome task God has given to the sons of men by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and indeed all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Let's stop there. Well, I've got us off to a very happy start here.

I'll give you a little bit more context here of this writer. The preacher, we saw there in verse one, he introduces himself as the son of David and the king of Jerusalem. So while he does not say, specifically, I am Solomon, of course, he would certainly fit that description. So this is King Solomon writing this. King Solomon, the king, the king in history given the best chance to succeed. He was given his throne. He was given peace on earth. He was given phenomenal wealth as the king. He was given unmatched wisdom as the king. In fact, the Bible says God gave Solomon more wisdom than any other man had ever had. And yet, despite all of that, here is a withered old king looking back on his life. And he is now giving his testimony to the bleakness of his life. And frankly, the depression, the depressive state of his life. And he's assembling those around him to come and to hear his story. Ecclesiastes actually means the assembler. That's the meaning of that word, the assembler. And it's so remarkable. This book is so remarkable because often we see a preacher of God going forth to declare the word of God. But here, rather, what the preacher does is in a sense say, I want to come to you in the posture of your grandpa, let's say. Consider me your grandpa Solomon. And I want to come alongside you, son, daughter. I want to put my arm around you, around your shoulder. And I want to bestow to you some wisdom, some hard-earned wisdom that I was able to achieve in my life. And my hope is that you will take it in to help you in your journey.

And this is what we realize. He's basically saying in this letter, come and take a walk with me. We're going to go down a few roads, a few roads that I went down. And I hope this will be a help to you. I, like you, searched for meaning. I searched for fulfillment in life. And I asked the question, is there life? Is there truly life before death?

And what's fascinating is that he begins with the conclusion. There in verse two again, in the end, the end result of his search, vanity, vanity of vanities. There in verse two. You know, this is a little bit like, I don't know if you've seen the movies where they start with the flash forward scene. I don't know if anybody's seen those kind of movies where you see the end of the movie first. And then somewhere along the way, the narrator comes in on the movie and they say, 24 hours earlier, you know. And then the listener is able to then go back and see how it built to that conclusion. Well, in a way, this is what is occurring. He was ahead of his time. King Solomon takes us to this flash forward conclusion. And again, the conclusion, life is meaningless. Now, one of the most important and crucial aspects to recognize regarding this conclusion is that Solomon arranged this whole experiment with a certain parameter or context, if you will. I wonder if you noticed as we were reading that, how he places this experiment, in what context he places this experiment. He places his verdict in his life, in the conclusion, all in the context from a secular perspective. Did you notice that? This whole experiment was placed in the context of no spiritual consideration. And he sets out on this journey to find meaning and fulfillment only considering the things under the sun. Did you notice that? In other words, in his search for meaning, he is not going to consider anything or any matters or considerations above the sun, if you will. So he did not for this search, he did not reach for things above the sun. So no heavenly consideration in his journey to find meaning and fulfillment. This is the constraint and parameters that he sets up for himself in his search for meaning. And this phrase under the sun, it comes to us here, you may have noticed in verse three, what prophet has a man from all of his labor in which he toils under the sun. If you go down to verse 14, verse 14, I have seen the works that are done under the sun and indeed all is vanity and grasping for wind. And this phrase under the sun comes to us some 30 times in this book. So I know when I approach this book, I understand that my grandpa Solomon's perspective is framed or constrained by things under the sun. So no consideration of God whatsoever in this search, no consideration of anything above the sun. So with that, if life is viewed under the sun, it's meaningless, ultimately, vanity. And under the sun, you will never find true fulfillment. And in fact, ultimately, life under the sun is pointless and unfulfilling.

Again, what prophet does a man have from all of his labor that he toils under the sun? It's tedious, he says. We just toil down here. It's an absolute grind.

It's just the same thing over and over again. Look at, that's verse four. Generations come and go. You know, and he compares then it to nature. It's kind of like nature, he says, beginning in verse 5. You know, the sun, it rises, it sets, it scurries back to do it all over again the next day. The wind, it kind of whirls around, it goes south, it goes north, back to do it all over again. The rivers flow into the sea. It's never full, he says, turns to start all over again. Life is monotonous, isn't it, he says. So if you're trying to get more out of life and you're not finding it, well, Solomon would agree with you. More than that, there's just so many, you just remain unsatisfied. That's verse 8. The eye is not satisfied with seeing. The ears are not filled with hearing, you know.

You might have temporary satisfaction, but it's fleeting. There's really nothing new ever. That's verse 9 and 10. That which is done is done is what has been done. There's nothing new under the sun, he says. Verse 10. Is there anything in which maybe said this is new? It's been done in ancient times before. So in other words, the more things change, the more things change, the more things change, the more they seem to say the same. By the way, everything you're doing here under the sun, it's going to be forgotten. It's going to be forgotten. Verse 11. There's no remembrance of former things. There's no remembrance of things to come by those who come after. You know, very quickly, if you talk to our kids or the younger generation and you say something about your grandparents, many maybe met them at a young age, but many after a decade or two won't have any remembrance.

Oh, vanity of vanities. Thank you, Grandpa Solomon.

And, you know, for us today, however, if we've had unfulfilling lives, what Solomon, what Grandpa Solomon would tell us is, well, don't disconnect yet. Stay assembled with me, because if you will, in the end, I want to let you know that this does not have to be your conclusion. Let's talk about this, he says, because you may be interested and you may be helped in discovering what I found out in my search.

And so in the context under the sun, he begins to then convey some of the streets, more specifically, some of the dead end streets, that he traveled down in his search for fulfillment.

Street number one, street number one that he now wants to take us down is the street of the pursuit of knowledge or education. So if you're taking notes, street number one, in looking to find fulfillment or meaning in life, Solomon went down the pursuit, number one, of knowledge or education. Can I find fulfillment, he asked himself, down a street that's focused solely on gaining knowledge or becoming educated? Good question. The details of this street comes to us in verse 16 through 18 here. Look at this, beginning in verse 16, street number one, he conveys to those assembled. He says, well first I communed with my heart, saying, look, I have attained greatness and gained more wisdom than all before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge, and I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceive that this also is grasping for the wind. Verse 18, for in much wisdom is much grief. And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Let's stop there. So this is the first street he went down in pursuit of meaning and fulfillment. It's the pursuit of mere attaining of knowledge, wisdom, education. And so what is he saying here? Is he saying the dumber you are, the easier it is?

Well, we might put forth a little bit of argument on that, but no, that's not what he's saying here.

What he's asking is, can I truly be fulfilled solely in the pursuit of knowledge and education? Can life's deep answers be found in the search solely of knowledge under the sun?

It's a good question. And so in Solomon's search, Solomon is thinking, if I can just be wise enough here on earth, if I can just make sure I'm educated enough, then somehow or another, this is the place where I'll be able to then make sense of it all.

But what he found out was that education in and of itself is not the answer. And if you think about it, he's right. He's right. This whole notion in society is very prevailing. It's where society says, you know, if we can just get men and women educated enough, we will eventually find meaning to life and the answer to all of life's questions. If we can just make sure we educate people enough, then they will be fulfilled and happy. Then if they're educated enough, surely there will be a way to be able to be surely they'll do good things and stop doing bad things, right?

Well, no. Despite man having more knowledge and access to knowledge than ever before, we live in the most chaotic and depressed society ever, don't we? Why? Education itself cannot be the sole answer. And this is what Solomon is saying. We need something else to find fulfillment. And what would be needed is a higher, above the sun, moral education, right? A higher moral education is absolutely required to obtain the meaning and fulfillment.

But remember, in this journey with Solomon, we cannot consider that at this time. We're on this journey with Solomon with no consideration of those things above the sun here. We can't consider that. So if education solely could bring about fulfillment, then why haven't our universities and colleges become the place of tranquility and peace? They're anything but that, aren't they? Some of the most educated minds have produced some of the most depraved aspects in our society.

Now, again, to you young people, this is not an argument that's opposed to education very important. There are many biblical principles that speak to the importance of having education. But of course, with Solomon, what he's pointing out is if you're in pursuit of education and relying on that to be your fulfillment, you'll never find it. Never find it.

So this is the first street he went down. It's a pretty logical street. He was wise for sure.

Okay, it's not there. Ultimately, that was a dead end street. What's another street? If you were to come up with a broad aspect or what are some aspects of life under the sun where fulfillment or meaning may be found, education, knowledge, that might be one of them. What would be another one you think? Well, Solomon thought and pondered and said, okay, how about finding fulfillment and meaning down the street of pleasure? So that's number two. That's the second street that Grandpa Solomon wants to take us down as he would search for being fulfilled and finding happiness and meaning to life. The pursuit of pleasure is the second street. Would he find fulfillment and meaning down this street? Well, let's find out. Look at chapter two, verses one through three here.

Solomon, he says, I have said chapter two, verse one. Now I've said in my heart, come now, I will test you with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. And surely this also was vanity. I said of laughter, madness, and of mirth, what does it accomplish? I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine while guiding my heart with wisdom and how to lay hold of folly until I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under the sun all the days of their lives. Let's stop there. So in other words, I set out and said to my heart, come now, let's get the party started. This was the second venture to find fulfillment, not hold anything back. I am going to gratify the flesh, he says, with wine and go down this street of pleasure. Surely I will lay my head down every night down this street with a heart full of fulfillment and happiness. I'm going to write my own rules. No one's going to interfere with my search down this good time road. I'm going to have all the wine I can. Verse 8, verse 8, we see that he acquired men and women singers. So it was all here, wine, women, his buddies, music, the perfect Saturday night, if you will, under the sun, if you will. Remember, God, there is a canopy that he's put up. Anything above the sun is blocked out. And I searched to gratify my flesh, he says. I laid hold of folly there in verse 3. And what was the conclusion? Well, he tells us right off the bat in verse 1, it also, verse 1, was vanity and its madness, frankly. What did it all accomplish? Its absolute madness. If you've ever been down this road, no doubt, on your way away from this dead end street, you had these same kind of thoughts. What was all that about? What did that accomplish? Nothing. I feel more empty now than before I went down this road. Speaks very contemporary. This is a very contemporary. It speaks to our society today so we can understand this letter so we can speak into society. This is why we're going through this exercise of this letter here. Such emptiness. Take the testimony of any who have been down this road. When they do lay their head down on the bed at night, sorrow, regret, all those things come into their experience. I've been there, you've been there. You look into their eyes. It's sadness. Many get caught down this road. It's very difficult to turn around from this road, from this street. So, mere education. Not there. Pleasure of the flesh. Not there. What would be a third street, you think? That would make sense. We're at our third and final street here. It's very logical. I bet if I did a poll and you didn't know about this letter, we might come up with these same three pursuits if we were taking on this experiment. Well, the third street that Solomon goes down to find fulfillment and meaning is the number three, the pursuit of materialism.

The street of stuff. How many of you have been in a, don't raise your hand, rhetorical question. How many of you have been down the street just to think, stuff will give me a long-lasting fulfillment. It doesn't. I'm speaking, you know. You know it doesn't. But we've tried it. The pursuit of materialism. That comes to us in verse four through eight, chapter two, verse four through eight, where he says, I made my works great. I built myself houses. I planted my planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens, orchards. I planted all kinds of fruit trees in which I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants and servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions in herds and flocks than all those who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered myself silver, gold, special treasures of all kings and of all the provinces, acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men and musical instruments of all kinds. Let's stop there. Boy, if Solomon could put this to the test, materialism, to find fulfillment and happiness and meaning, meaning he's the one, right? Yeah, he has such incredible wealth. And boy, did he put forth a good experiment with this third aspect here. So let me ask, is there any amount of money in a bank account? Is there any car that you may drive? Is there any clothing or particular footwear? Is there any house you could live in in the perfect place that will answer the deep longings you have inside?

It may for a while.

It won't forever. It may forever.

King Solomon says, Stuff won't do it.

Listen to your grandpa.

And boy, if stuff could, he would have put it to a good test. Look at verse 9 through 11. I became great, verse 9, and excelled more than all those who were before me in Jerusalem, also made wisdom, made wisdom. Also, my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all the labor, and this was my reward from all the labor. Then I looked on all the works of which my hand had done, on labor in which I had told, and indeed all was vanity, grasping for the wind. There was no prophet under the sun. So there you have it. And again, these are the common streets. If there are any three major streets that men and women are going down to find meaning and happiness, these are them. These are them.

Solomon was incredibly wise here. This is an incredible letter. And what's so interesting is, we'll leave with that third street, but what's so fascinating is in this assembly and in his speaking to us, and to those at the time, every so often what he does is he will break through the canopy that he set up. And he'll break through and just allow a little of the rays of sunlight of those things above the sun to come into the picture, where he allows God in the thought of God, heavenly consideration to come through. And beginning in verse 24, this is one such moment, where he does bring God into his thoughts with this experiment. Chapter 2, verse 24, nothing is better for a man that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw was from, and here it is, the hand of God.

So he's breaking through here for a moment. For who can have enjoyment more than I? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight. The sinner he gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give it to him who is good before God.

Now he puts the canopy back. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind, he says there. Let me read you the NIV version of these two verses. Just listen along to this. This is the NIV version. A person can do nothing better than to eat the drink and find satisfaction in their toil. This too I see is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat and find enjoyment? So the question is, without God, in their labor, in their eating, in their search for these things, who can find enjoyment here?

And in fact, he says these things come and only come from God. And what Solomon is saying that is the denying of God in your journey robs all those other things ultimately of their meaning. Without God, all those things will never bring you fulfillment. For who can eat and who can find enjoyment without him? Without God, no matter how hard you try, you will never be fulfilled in your life. There is no labor, there's no education, there's no food, there's no drink, there's no music that will ever fill that void. Because, look again, for God, he says, verse 26, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy. You see, that's the point. So we can work, we can gather things, we can collect things.

If you're with God, then you will receive wisdom, knowledge, and joy from those things. Or you can work and gather and collect without him and stay empty. Why? Because only God gives true satisfaction. You'll never find fulfillment if you block him out. And I got to tell you again, I've shared a little bit of art, my wife and I's testimony. I might be your uncle, Uncle Jay. May not quite be to grandpa. But when I think back on the blur of my 20s and Jennifer and I without God, we were making the most money, we were obtaining the most education, we had the most stuff. But wow, it was the period of time that we were most miserable, most miserable, most unfulfilled. But God was merciful to us and he removed the canopy from our lives. And since that time, no matter how much money we had, no matter how many clothing items we had, no matter if we couldn't eat but the basic necessities of meals of life, we had a joy that was untouchable, an inner joy. And I think I'm speaking to some men and women here that know exactly what Solomon is putting forth here. And once that canopy was removed, we vowed and committed to never block him out again. So yes, we are to speak these things into society, but I will tell you if you're feeling in the ebb and flow of life, if you're feeling unsatisfied today, unfulfilled, something's missing, perhaps consider that you've unintentionally put up a block to God out in certain aspects of your life. And there may be aspects that you need to pull down that canopy and to find the true fulfillment. And the fulfillment and the joy will supersede any of your physical considerations or your physical circumstances. You'll be able to have an inner joy no matter what's happening around you.

This is a real good consideration for us today.

So, Jennifer and I realized that we were blocking him out and we removed that canopy. Did you know that Solomon realized that same thing? And what Solomon now does is something that may be a little unexpected. And he actually, as he moves toward the end of the letter, challenges, but forced the challenge to his own original conclusion.

And did you know that he actually changes his conclusion in the very end of the book? So, this will be a fitting place for us to begin to conclude today. Turn over to Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13 and 14. Let's go to the very end, Ecclesiastes 12, and conclude now with the preacher's now altered conclusion.

And I'm so glad he gets to this change of mind and he gets to this changed conclusion. In the new conclusion on the whole matter, chapter 12, verse 13 and 14, now this well-traveled King Solomon now removes the canopy from his life. And it's wonderful to see. And the new conclusion to his whole experiment here, verse 13, he says, let us hear the conclusion on the whole matter.

Well, I thought you already gave it to us. Well, it's changed. The conclusion of the whole matter, fear God and keep his commandments. For this is man's awe. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. Let's stop there. So, this is the great movie twist. There's always a great twist in every good movie here. We just thought he, we knew what the conclusion was. Well, here's the twist, the new conclusion. Fear God and keep his commandments. And if anybody's been well-traveled on these roads, you know that's so true.

If there's any way I could summarize and somehow bestow as Uncle Jay to some of our younger generations, this is what I would want to bestow upon them. Oh, just fear God. Keep his commandments. Fear God. Reverence him. Honor him. Believe his word. Believe it. Come into the relationship with him. Commit to his relationship, the relationship guidelines. These are his relationship commandments, if you will, that will produce a loving relationship between you and he. This is what we desire to give to each other, and we're supporting one another.

Because this one to whom you put your reverence into, your fear, he desires to give you knowledge, meaning, and joy. And joy. What a wonderful thought that is. That in the end, with this new perspective, with a removed canopy where you're considering things above the sun, in the end, you'll be filled with joy. If every day you determine not to block God out. So, decide today, from this day forward, that you will never put up a canopy in your life. Every day, wake up, determined, define those areas of your life that maybe you've unintentionally blocked him out. The preacher here writes this in such a way where he says that meaningless verdict, the conclusion, vanity of vanities, he writes this in such a way to say that does not have to be your conclusion.

You don't have to conclude that. God made you to experience all the fullness of the things here under the sun, but to do so without blocking him out. Become educated. Find the joy of that pursuit. Find pleasure, the right kind of pleasure with God. Find comfort in things, in stuff, in nice warm houses, in big backyards. It's okay to find comfort in those things, but the real joy will come if you do that along with him.

And as Grandpa Solomon has said, make sure you just bring God along with you along the way. So, as we conclude, if you wrote down the title of this sermon, Life Under the Sun, I'd like you to make an adjustment to it. I'd like you to go up top and put one line through sun, S-U-N. I'd like you to write above it S-O-N. Because that's truly where the answer to finding meaning and fulfillment in your life.

It's going to come from life under the sun. The Son of God is where we'll find it. So, is there life before death? Yes. Let's all find it as we live life under the sun.