Providence

Do things ever just feel futile? Does it ever feel like you are working and working and working to no end? Does it ever feel like all purpose and drive have been lost? Are you tired? Are you hopeless?

Be encouraged, friend, you are not alone. This life underneath the sun we circle around is completely broken, and our only hope can be found beyond the sun in Jesus Christ. King Solomon, son to King David, was given wisdom from God early in His reign, and God, in His kindness, gave him even more; wealth, success, a long peaceful life, and unparalleled resources. However, in spite of these things, Solomon turned from God and searched for anything that would provide meaning apart from God. His final conclusion is to fear God and obey His Word, but before he gives us this gold, he shows us what he learned by exposing the dead-end of every other path.


Life ‘under the sun’ doesn’t just mean life on this earth, but rather it means life on earth where there is no God, no rescuer coming, no justice in the end, no deliverance, no hope. In chapter one, Solomon points to four resolutes that describe life ‘under the sun.’

It is empty. “If all that our eyes can currently see is all there is, then what is the profit of all of our toil?

It is exhausting. “Words fail to express how weariness tends to outpace progress. Like eyes and ears that continue to receive, our strivings continue until our treadmill stops.”

It is recurring. “We have already forgotten what our grandparents have tried to fix the world, and our children will forget what we are trying to do.”

And it is puzzling. “People who are educated simply cannot straighten what is crooked in this life. Educated people learn more about what to grieve. Education isn’t worthless, just limited.”

BUT, there is a God, and there is a rescuer, and there is divine revelation, and there is the judgment seat of Christ waiting for us. There is meaning in everything that we are doing when we are in Christ. In Christ, we find fulfillment, we find sustenance and energy, and we find understanding and direction. God almighty is affirming the futility of life under the sun in His Word so that we know He understands. He is the only one who can fix these things.


 

SERMON NOTES

  1. Life ‘under the sun’ is empty. (Ecclesiastes 1:1-3) 

    1. 1 Kings 3:9 — God was so pleased Solomon asked for wisdom before wealth or peace, that he gave it to him along with a long, peaceful, wealthy life. He was the model of wealth, wisdom, and success throughout all of history.

  2. Life ‘under the sun’ is exhausting. (Ecclesiastes 1:4-8) 

  3. Life ‘under the sun’ is recurring. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11) 

  4. Life ‘under the sun’ is puzzling. (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18) 

    1. 1 Kings 4:32-34 — Solomon says his very first pursuit was education; to find answers to fix what he sees. And in the end, he concludes he feels he’s chasing the wind trying to know enough.

 

INTROSPECTIVE QUESTIONS 

  • Do you know, believe, and take comfort in the fact that you are not alone in this life? 

  • Have you trusted Christ who came to rescue you? 

  • Are you living your life on earth with your heart in Heaven?

  • Are you studying and learning to love the Creator of it all? 

 

CLOSING THOUGHTS 

Especially in a global pandemic where money, jobs, education, relationships, etc. can all feel like their legs have been cut from under them, life can seem meaningless, hopeless, and futile. It can be hard to find purpose in anything when it feels like everything has gone to pot. This is our reality, but we can believe that in a purposeless state of living there is a divine purpose behind it all. Our hope lies beyond the sun with The Son who sits at the right hand of The Father, ruling over everything in perfect sovereignty.

 

Watch the entire sermon below or on the Providence mobile app.

WATCH SERMON