Pastor Josh continues his series through Ecclesiastes:

“Ecclesiastes explores the existential questions without blinking.  It contemplates the meaning of life in the face of certain death and concludes that since everything of this world is temporary, like vapor or mist, the Hebrew word hevel, here for a moment and gone, a life lived for what is so fleeting is ultimately pointless, meaningless, vanity…Many who ask the question about the meaning of life come to conclude that they are here to make the world a better place…But this is not what the Bible guides us to put our hope in!  Ecclesiastes teaches that we need to become jaded with the political process; that politics and the pursuit of justice are ultimately fleeting and meaningless in this hebel world.  It communicates a definitively negative outlook on the direction of this world until the return of Christ in final judgment and the consummation of God’s kingdom.  It calls us to abandon all hope where there is none to be found, and instead put our trust in the effective and eternal working of our gracious heavenly Father.”

Pastor Josh continues his series through Ecclesiastes:

“The purpose of Ecclesiastes is to expose the foolish meaninglessness of a life lived for anything other than our created purpose: to glorify God and enjoy him forever.  This book dashes our illusions in order to push us to enjoy God and his gifts, not just in eternity, but here and now in this life.  The only true satisfaction is in God and His gifts; this is the only meaningful life available.”

Pastor Josh continues his series through Ecclesiastes:

“Even toil is hevel!  Hard work and everything it produces is like a vapor; here for a moment and then gone…One commentator calls this section ‘the confessions of a workaholic’.  In our search for meaning and satisfaction we exert all of this effort to get the next possession which we will never really enjoy because we are working for the next improvement or item on our never-ending list of wants.

Here the myth that hard work and well-earned wealth validates life is dispelled.  Instead the restless ambition to achieve destroys families and leaves people in despair.  They hate their toil even while they are consumed by it.”

“Ecclesiastes drives us to hopeless despair in all things human, that we might be driven to hope only in the Lord.. The fundamental human problem is that there is a lack of harmony between our aspirations and the very nature of reality itself, as set by a sovereign God.  And so the genuine wisdom offered in Ecclesiastes is to live according to what is set by God; any other way will result in despair and weariness, like striving after the wind.”