How do you put life together so that it works? It’s not uncommon to look at the details of your life and think about how nothing turned out like you planned. We want it all to make sense. Part of that solution lies in remembering who put you here and for what purpose.
in this series on the eternal
perspective I want to encourage and
equip you to live the rest of your life
victoriously I want all of us to enter
Heaven with the celebration and that
with a whole series of regrets I want us
to enter glory with hands raised high
because at this point in our lives we
got it together we started walking with
God at a whole nother level
we started experiencing his power doing
his will and filling his purpose and
engaging his priorities and as a result
we saw his presence his power his
handiwork move in our different portions
of our existence in a marvelous way I
want to give you the secret of how to
have a life down here that will matter
up there
because the perspective of their
transformed your life in my life down
here that’s why we all need
respect the question on the floor in our
series which is called the eternal
perspective is how do you put life
together so that it works so when it
comes to living life God chose a person
who would be the best qualified to teach
us about it not only did he choose the
best person he chose the person who I am
going to talk about today to write a
whole book in the Bible about your life
and mine coming from his life and his
life is the illustration so there’s one
whole book in the Bible written about
your life and how to live it and how not
to live it twelve full chapters written
about that one subject the man’s name is
Solomon the book God gave him the right
was Ecclesiastes if anyone is qualified
to tell you about life it’s Solomon I
mean here is a man who was born with a
silver spoon in his mouth he was the son
of the king and yet when he opens up his
book and he clearly a Steamship the one
the first three verses says 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 advantage does man have in
all his work which he does under the son
Solomon opens up his book and he tells
you when he opens the book I don’t have
anything to talk about the word vanity
means emptiness worthlessness that would
is without purpose he opens up his book
talking about his emptiness if any man
shouldn’t have been empty should have
been Solomon he had everything you and I
dreamed for long for and go after and
yet his first words it’s vanity of
vanities saith the preacher all of life
is vanity emptiness purposelessness and
that’s why we spend so much time trying
to find something to turn us on to light
our fire to give us a sense of worth
significance and well-being but wouldn’t
you know it soon as you look like you
found it
you lose it it’s like it’s like when you
score a touchdown in life something
something crosses the goal-line and you
feel like yeah looks like soon as that
happens somebody blows a whistle and
calls the playback so purposelessness is
what Solomon wants to talk to you and me
about you know people spend so much time
trying to fake it to make it in order to
at least give the impression I know who
I am and what I’m doing life becomes
meaningless and without purpose when it
gets disconnected from God and eternity
the whole 12 chapters of the book of
Ecclesiastes is about life under the Sun
under the Sun means on earth in time and
space where men live work play raise
families that’s life under the Sun where
Humanity operates
he says when your life Under the Sun
gets disconnected from life above the
Sun
when your life my life our lives gets
disconnected from God and an eternal
perspective you can expect to be able to
say as he says vanity of vanity saith
the preacher all is vanity he takes us
on a tour of his life he gives us a
sampling of how he tried to fill the
hole that he was feeling deep down in
his soul a hole so big you could drive a
Mack truck through it and yet he wanted
to get it filled and so in chapter 2 he
says I said to myself come now I will
test you with pleasure
he said I’m a party he said I said to
myself let me test you life let me find
out what life is all about what a party
I mean everybody likes a party everybody
likes to jam everybody everybody likes
to be able to to have a good time he
said let me let me just have a good time
so if I could have a good time then I
can feel alive what did you do to have a
good time because he says in verse 1 so
go ahead and enjoy yourself he says in
verse 3 I explored with my mind how to
stimulate my body I wanted my body to
feel something I wanted to feel
something so he says I drank wine till I
couldn’t handle it anymore
I tested pleasure that would turn my
body on so that I would feel this sense
of life and purpose he says I saw a
pleasure notice his words he says in
verse 4 I enlarge works and I built
houses for myself I planted vineyards
for myself
verse 5 I made gardens and parks for
myself verse 6 I made ponds of water for
myself verse 8 I collected for myself
silver and gold and treasures of kings
and provinces I provided for myself male
and female singers and the pleasures of
men and many concubines I was a player
he said and I did all this for myself
because I wanted to feel it so I spared
no expense how did the pleasure work out
for you Solomon how did the party work
how did the good times roll he said
verse 11 I considered my activities
which my hands had done and the labor
which I had exerted and behold all was
vanity and striving after the wind and
there was no profit underneath the Sun
he said after the party emptiness one of
the great truths about the Bible is the
Magnificent grace of God grace is the
free gift God gives to sinful people if
you are not a Christian he offers
eternal life if you are a Christian he
offers to sustain your life and it’s all
by his grace that’s accessed by faith so
when you trust Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sin that gives you
personal salvation from the penalty of
sin but when you walk with Christ His
grace supplies you with the enablement
to override the power of sin
by trusting what he did to be activated
for you in your life
so if you’re not a Christian come to
Christ for salvation if you are a
Christian but you backslidden you’ve
fallen into sin well all you’ve got to
do is come back to Christ and ask for
His grace to cleanse you and get you
back on the right track of walking with
you to your next level of spiritual
victory he saves by grace and he also
sustains by grace when you appropriated
by he says you will discover when you
strive after the wind as soon as you
grab it you just lost it he says it was
vexing to me and it was vanity not
because it wasn’t fun it just had no
meaning attached to it no purpose
attached to it
he’s talking about emptiness of life
underneath the Sun that is disconnected
from God so he tried something else he
said I know what I’ll do I’ll get me an
education verse 12 so I turned to
consider wisdom and madness and folly
for what will the man do who will come
after the king except what has already
been done and I saw that wisdom exceeds
folly as light excels darkness the wise
man’s eyes are in his head but the fool
walks in darkness and yet I know that
one fate will befall them both then I
said to myself as is the fate of the
fool
it will also be for me why was I then
more wise this also is vanity all right
so let’s look what’s out in the sand
something saying is Easter why this man
ever lived the Bible says nobody was
more brilliant and knowledge
understanding and wisdom than Solomon so
we’re just like a gnat the education
because he he knew stuff it’s it’s
better to go to school and not go to
school it’s better to know then then not
know it’s better to be wise than to be a
fool he says it’s that’s better but then
he says one day I was looking out the
window
and I’m looking at the window and I
watched the fool walk by this is the
kindergarten dropout the kindergarten
dropout walk by the fool the guy who
didn’t know the guy who had no
understanding the guy who didn’t make
anything of himself
I watched the fool walk by and he said
when I watched the fool walk by the
uneducated guy he says I could see I was
better off because I had some
information I had some knowledge and I
had some where I was better than the
fool but then I got depressed or what
depressed you Solomon he says one thing
shall befall us
oh my education won’t keep me from the
grave my degrees won’t keep me from the
grave in fact the fact that the matter
is the kindergarten dropout may live
longer than me with the degree he says
death is the great equalizer between the
fool and the wise man so he could not
find meaning in education because it
wasn’t gonna keep him alive any longer
he said let me try something else let me
try something else the party didn’t do
it the education didn’t do it oh but
money money money money
Muzzin he says but verse 18 then I hated
all the fruit of my labor for which I
had labored under the Sun for I must
leave it to the man who will come after
me and who knows whether he will be a
wise man or a fool yet he will have
control over the fruit of my labor hmm
the fruit of my labor that’s yep that’s
your money and stuff money can buy okay
that’s the stuff you can accumulate with
money fruit of your labor the
productivity of your life he said I
looked at all I accomplished he’s a mega
billionaire
he says and I’m going to leave it to the
one who should come after me and who
knows whether the one who comes after me
is going value it like I valued it that
leads us to probably the most famous
chapter in the book of Ecclesiastes
chapter 3 there’s a time for this and
there’s a time for that there’s a time
for that time to live a time to die a
time to plant a time to pluck a time to
laugh a time to cry he goes through this
in the first half of chapter 3 there’s a
time a time a time a time a time a time
what is he saying he’s saying I got bad
news for you you live I live we live in
a closed universe cuz soon as you find
out there’s something to laugh about
something else is going to happen to
make you cry soon as you find some peace
something else is gonna break up to turn
it into war you are locked in to a
closed universe and there is no escape
that’s why people are looking for ways
to escape because they’re trying to
break out of this closed universe
because they feel stuck and stymied in
things they cannot control that makes
life hold them hostage in a way that
they do not want to be jailed God why
are you doing this why are you doing
this verse 9 of chapter 3 what profit is
there to the worker from that which he
toils I have seen the task which God has
given the sons of men with which to
occupy themselves God why do you have me
trapped and this thing called life with
all I’ve got to look forward to he helps
us in verse 11 he has made everything
appropriate in its time he has also set
eternity in their heart yet so that men
will not find out the work which God has
done from the beginning even to the end
I know that there is nothing better
but then to rejoice and do good in one’s
lifetime moreover that every man who
eats and drinks sees good in all of his
labor it is the gift of God I know that
everything God does will remain forever
that there is nothing to add to it and
there is nothing to take from it for God
has so worked that men should fear Him
ah God has box you and me in to time and
space and made it so we can’t break out
of it to force us to him he has set
eternity in your heart now you may not
know it but that longing for fulfillment
God said is a longing for him that
longing for purpose is a longing for him
so he has set within time and space an
empty spot that we try to fill with
cheap substitutes in order to find
meaning that can only be discovered in
him and he did it on purpose
he said eternity in your heart so that
deep down where you live with you unless
you cover it over with fake stuff there
is this hole that only he can fill so he
wants life underneath the Sun to get
connected with life above the Sun he
wants your human life to be connected
with God and eternity and to the degree
that you connect eternity to time is to
the degree you change vanity in the
victory but as long as you disconnected
you’re trapped in something you cannot
change you are not living in the land of
the living
on your way to the land of the dagi you
are living in the land of the dying on
your way to the land of the living
so if you think this is it you’re gonna
live like this is it if you know this is
not it
then you won’t live as though it’s not
it and you will find life in that
approach God doesn’t mind you having fun
as long as it doesn’t exclude him he
doesn’t mind you he says to enjoy life
it is a gift of God don’t miss read that
he says life is a gift of God let me
tell you what it doesn’t say life is God
life is a gift from God it’s never to
become God so the moment you make life a
god instead of a gift from God you make
your life an idol that competes with God
so many people live their lives as
though your life is God and God will
never respect idolatry even if the idol
is yourself myself life without God is
like a needle without a thread and a pen
without ink
he says enjoy life just don’t disconnect
it from me all that’s legitimate to
enjoy 1st Timothy 6 says God has given
you all things to enjoy if God has given
it and God’s not excluded for it God
says enjoy it
maximize it don’t disconnect it and so
he closes with the last chapter of the
book chapter 12 and for those of you
under 40 I want you to pay close
attention to this you teenagers here
under 40 because 40 was the generational
switch in the Bible once you hit 40 you
are now in the next generation which
means a bunch of y’all are going down
okay if you over 40 you hit himself okay
he says in Chapter 12 the book of
Ecclesiastes verse 1 remember your
Creator in the days of your youth before
the evil days come and the years draw
near when you will say I have no delight
in them a lot of people want to give
themselves to God when there’s nothing
left to give they want to read the Bible
with AKC they want to hear a sermon when
they came here they want to serve God
when they can’t get out of bed because
he spends the chapter talking about body
parts wearing out he talks about eyes
going dim and here’s a kid here and legs
that can’t walk and arms that can’t grab
now you hold and you want to give
yourself to God he says remember your
Creator when you still have eyes and
ears and legs and tongue and mind and
strength remember your Creator in the
days of your youth parents remind your
children and your grandchildren to
remember their Creator when they have
the capacity to do something that
matters for eternity why because of the
last two verses the conclusion verse 13
when all has been heard is to fear God
keep its Commandments because this
applies to every person the Hebrew means
this applies to all of you for God will
bring every act to judgment everything
which is hidden whether it is good or
evil because you’re gonna have to meet
God one day you gonna whether you want
to or not it ain’t over when it’s over
you’re going to have to me God I’m going
to have to meet God so since we got to
meet him and we don’t have a choice and
he offers us purpose if we meet him now
and not just wait to meet him then and
enjoy the good things that he’s given us
along the way he says you can have
victory and not they tell you at
Yellowstone Park don’t feed the Bears
hey you know you go to Yellowstone Park
there’s a sign says don’t feed the Bears
because you will give the bass junk
they’re gonna lose their ability to eat
from the natural habitat that they are
living in every day because they keep
looking for the junk the sweets they
keep looking for the cotton candy they
keep looking for the peanuts they keep
looking for the touristy stuff so when
the tourists are gone they don’t they
don’t know how to live in their natural
habitat
so don’t feed the Bears look don’t let
the world out there feed you and trick
you so that you no longer can live as
God wants you to live you can’t get rid
of the tourists they’re all gonna show
up but you can decide what you’re gonna
eat and what you’re not gonna eat Reggie
Jackson had a nickname famous baseball
player his nickname was mr. October
everybody knew miss mister I told cuz in
October the boy was show off I remember
sitting there at a World Series and
watched him here four home runs in one
game
I was watching four home runs in one
game mr. October showed out a news
reporter came to him after the game and
said why Reggie Jackson are you so good
in October Reggie Jackson said simple
because I begin in the preseason in
February to play with October in mind so
even though I’m in February my mind is
on October and because I never lose
sight of October I can play well in
February March April May June July
August September and I’m really ready to
show up in October because I begin with
October in mine
so as you leave today leave with
eternity in mind and you’ll do well in
January February March April May June
July August September October don’t
disconnect this life from the life to
come
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one of the things so many people are
living for today may I say looking for
today is purpose the emptiness that so
many people are living with has created
all kinds of problems whether it’s
addictions to try to cope reality
television where they transport
themselves into the lives of other
people often to get away from the life
that they have or where they begin into
illegitimate situations that are not
healthy for them whether it’s
relationships or whether it’s programs
that are not good for them but it
becomes a way of escape because they’re
looking for purpose well it’s pretty
clear that God has set up life to not be
able to have authentic purpose without
him he’s created this vacuum and I sold
this space that only he can fill and no
matter what you look for or where you
look for it
if it is an inauthentic illegitimate
attempt to find your reason for being
outside of a relationship with God
you’ll be looking forever and never
finding it because our rest our purpose
and our reason for being is to be found
in our authentic relationship with the
living and true God so I challenge you
to pursue him for your purpose because
then when he gives you purpose you’ve
gotten the real deal not a cheap and
authentic substitute
don’t settle for imitation life in real
life let God fill you with his purpose
and then you will not have to exist in
the realm of vanity
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