Introduction
I love that story about a man who walked out of his house one day. It was a beautiful day so he decided to go for a walk.
Now you might be thinking well what’s the point in that story? Well, the truth is, there isn’t one.
Today we’re going to survey the Book of Ecclesiastes and try and learn the wisdom from one of the wisest men who ever lived. His name is Solomon. And much like the man who decided to go for a walk, we’re going to be asking the question, what’s the point?
I love to watch documentaries on travel and I love to learn about how people live in different parts of the world. I also love to watch history programmes where you can learn about famous people and all the wonderful things they have achieved. But sometimes I watch them and think, what’s the point?
You see when Solomon was getting on in years; he was thinking back on his life and asking himself that very question, what is the point?
“I have seen everything done in this world, and I tell you, it is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.” Ecclesiastes 1:14
Solomon says, I’ve been thinking about my life and everything I’ve seen and done over the years and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s all a waste of time. If I were to ask you guys to go outside and catch me some wind, you would think yeah no problem until you realise that you can’t catch the wind. You would be running around like headless chickens getting nowhere fast. And that’s precisely what Solomon is saying, it’s useless trying to catch the wind because you never will, so what’s the point of even trying!
So Solomon reflects on all he has seen done in his life and thinks, it’s all a complete waste of time, it didn’t bring him real happiness.
Have you ever thought what is the point in trying to live a Christian life when everybody is going to die anyway?
“I thought to myself, “What happens to fools is going to happen to me, too. So what have I gained from being so wise?” “Nothing,” I answered, “not a thing.” Ecclesiastes 2:15
Solomon says what’s the point in trying to be wise? Or we could say, what’s the point of being a Christian? After all, everything that happens to people who are not wise is going to happen to us.
“If any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all”. James 1:5
God asks us as Christians to pray for wisdom to live godly lives but what’s the point?
We’re all going to die anyway so there’s no point in even trying to live differently from everyone else.
Let me ask you; are we any different from the animals?
You know evolution would have us believe that we’re all just animals with no hope and we’re no better than the animals. Animals are born into the world and die just like us which is something else which Solomon says.
“After all, the same fate awaits human beings and animals alike. One dies just like the other. They are the same kind of creature. A human being is no better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either.” Ecclesiastes 3:19
Solomon says, what’s the point of living and dying?
When an animal lives, its life has no purpose and there is no hope of heaven for an animal and Solomon says that when we live we have no purpose and we have no hope of heaven. In other words, what’s the point of living when you have nothing to live for? And what’s the point of dying if there is no eternal life?
We’re no better off than the animals of this world; being born just to die is a complete waste of time. He says the same thing later.
“We leave this world just as we entered it–with nothing. In spite of all our work, there is nothing we can take with us. It isn’t right! We go just as we came. We labour, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get? We get to live our lives in darkness and grief, worried, angry, and sick.” Ecclesiastes 5:15-17
You know it would be great if we could live and take our things with us when we die but Solomon says, you know what, I’ve been thinking, when we’re born into this world we bring nothing into this world and when we die we can’t take anything with us. Solomon says, we live and work for what? For nothing but grief, worry, anger and sickness, what’s the point of living?
Now one thing which frustrates us as Christians is all the injustice in the world. And we ask the question, why do good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people?
Now we need to understand that people have been asking this question for centuries. Solomon himself asks this question.
“Look at what happens in the world: sometimes the righteous get the punishment of the wicked, and the wicked get the reward of the righteous. I say it is useless.” Ecclesiastes 8:14
Solomon after looking back on his life says, what’s the point in trying to please God with my life when bad things happen to me and good things happen to everyone else who doesn’t even believe in God?
We worship God every week and try to live our lives in a way which pleases Him, but hey bad things still happen to us. People outside don’t even care about God and good things happen to them.
What’s the point of me being a Christian? What’s the point in even trying to please God?
Now so far you might be thinking wow Mike your not giving us much hope here. Well, guys when you get older, you might not want to go through life alone, you might decide to get married and have someone to share life’s pointless existence with you. That way you can be miserable and have a pointless life together.
Solomon goes on to say.
“Enjoy life with the one you love, as long as you live the useless life that God has given you in this world. Enjoy every useless day of it, because that is all you will get for all your trouble. Work hard at whatever you do, because there will be no action, no thought, no knowledge, no wisdom in the world of the dead—and that is where you are going. ” Ecclesiastes 9:9-10
Solomon says, hey if you’re going to be miserable every day, get someone to go through it with you. Then you can both enjoy all the trouble that life brings together. You can both work hard all day for nothing. And hey not only can enjoy being miserable on a daily basis, but you can also be miserable every year, how cool is that?
“Be grateful for every year you live. No matter how long you live, remember that you will be dead much longer. There is nothing at all to look forward to.” Ecclesiastes 11:8
You can live to one hundred years old but you’re still going to die. And when you die, well there’s nothing, nothing to look forward to, so what’s the point of living in the first place? Solomon who was one of the most powerful, richest and wisest men who ever lived looked back at his life and thought to himself, what’s the point of it all?
Now I don’t know about you but I’m finding this sermon very depressing, aren’t you? But do you know what guys; that’s exactly what evolution teaches? You’re born, you live and you die. Life is a waste of time because life has no meaning and no hope for the future.
What’s the point in millions of pounds being sent to Haiti for food and medicine if they are all going to die eventually anyway? What’s the point of us even getting out of our beds every Sunday morning to come and worship? What’s the point of us helping other people in the world? What’s the point in us being here right now?
If you guys are going to listen to evolution teaching and believe it, you be as well as going home because there’s no point of you being here. No point in you going to school to learn, no point in you getting jobs when you’re older.
No point in getting married, or buying a car and a house. What’s the point in that, you can’t take it with you anyway? And please don’t even think about having children, why would you want to bring a child into the world whose existence will be a complete waste of time?
Now they don’t tell you that in the classroom about evolution. You see evolution can be broken down into two teachings. Micro-evolution and Macro-evolution. Now we don’t have a problem with micro-evolution because micro means small change.
In other words, a dog like a Labrador can mate with another dog like a poodle and you come out with a Labradoodle. But it’s still a dog, it’s not turned into an elephant, it’s still a dog. So that’s micro-evolution which as Christians we don’t have a problem with.
Whereas Macro-evolution we do have a problem with. Macro means big change. Macro-evolution teaches for example that one monkey mated with another monkey and after thousands of years of mating they eventually evolved into humans. No guys when one monkey mates with another monkey, they end up with a baby monkey. They might be a different breed of monkey but it’s still a monkey.
But when you scrape away all the silly arguments and theories, when you remove God from the picture that’s exactly what your left with, what’s the point? And people wonder why thousands of people commit suicide every year?
You see what Solomon is trying to do is to get his readers to think about everything related to life and death and ask that every question what is the point in our existence?
Imagine you guys going to school day after day without knowing why you are going there? And yet that’s exactly what happens when church members don’t know what their congregation is trying to do. And just like the Pharisees in Matthew 15:8 Jesus says, “These people, says God, honour me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me”.
And so after eleven and a half chapters of thinking life is all a waste of time, Solomon sums his thoughts up and answers the question by saying the following.
“After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for.” Ecclesiastes 12:13
You see when you put God in the picture; you give people a purpose for living and dying. When God is in the picture you give people hope for life but not only for life but for eternal life. And as a church that’s what we’re in the business of doing.
Why don’t we agree with many of the teachings of evolution?
Because evolution teaches us that we’re nothing important, we’re just a bunch of evolved humans evolved from the image of apes. But the Bible teaches that we were created in His image, which makes us very important indeed.
Why do we worship God every week? Because we fear Him and we want to obey His commands. Why do we want as many people to become Christians as possible? Because we want to share with them that life does have a purpose and there is hope.
And that should be the goal of every single Christian in this room today.
“Now, since our message is that Christ has been raised from death, how can some of you say that the dead will not be raised to life? If that is true, it means that Christ was not raised; and if Christ has not been raised from death, then we have nothing to preach and you have nothing to believe”. 1 Corinthians 15:12-14
You see guys we do have a message to share because Christ did rise from the dead. And that’s the message we should be sharing with people. Because if people don’t have a purpose in life or any hope in life then what’s the point in living? And if we as Christians don’t have any purpose or hope to share with people then what’s the point in living for us?
You see Christians without goals are a little like Alice in the fairy tale Alice in Wonderland. In a conversation between her and the Cheshire cat, Alice asked, “Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the cat. “I don’t much care where,” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the cat.
That’s the theory of evolution in a nutshell. It doesn’t matter what you believe or which direction you want to go in because it’s all pointless. Everything you do in life or want to achieve always comes back to the question, what’s the point? It doesn’t what you do in life because you’re born, you live and then you die.
Which direction do you want your life to go?
If it doesn’t involve God then I would say that your life is just going to go round and round and round because it has no real purpose and no real hope. But if it does involve God then your life’s purpose will be to love God and do what He says. If it involves God then your life’s hope will be heaven.
Or as Solomon says.
