Vision Sunday
TEXT: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
MESSAGE: “Living In Reality”
Our vision is to be a church for our city that seeks new life in JESUS.
“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” — Viktor Frankl
“The book of Ecclesiastes is one of God’s gifts to help us live in the real world. It’s a book in the Bible that gets under the radar of our thinking and..to explode our make-believe games and jolt us into realizing that everything is not as clean and tidy as the ‘let’s-pretend’ world suggests.” — David Gibson (Living Life Backward)
TEXT: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
“…in Ecclesiastes God intends you to know him by requiring you to look plainly and without polish at yourself, your neighbors, and the world in which you and I live. God puts himself in the background, as it were, in order to place self-concern front and center…In the Spirit’s hands, Ecclesiastes confronts us with our own ills in order that by knowing ourselves as we are we might come to know God as he is.”— Zack Eswine
In today’s text the preacher addresses our needs in three ways. Our need for…(1. Wisdom 2. Purpose. 3. New Life)
1. Wisdom (v. 1-2)
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.” — E.O. Wilson
“Theological reflection is reflecting on the painful and joyful realities of every day with the mind of Jesus and thereby raising human consciousness to the knowledge of God’s gentle guidance…The loud, boisterous noises of the world make us deaf to the soft, gentle, and loving voice of God. A Christian leader is called to help people to hear that voice and so be comforted and consoled.”— Henri Nouwen
“God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.” — 1 Kings 4:29-30
2. Purpose (v. 3-8)
“What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. 7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”
3. New Life (v. 9-11)
“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.”
“He doesn’t mean no “new” things are ever invented in the world, for clearly that is not true. He means there is nothing new we can ever discover to break the cycle and so satisfy us.” — David Gibson
‘A person who is enlightened by the “sun of righteousness” is not “under” it but “in” it. Thus it is said in the Gospel: “The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father”, not “under” the sun.” — Didymus the Blind
“Looking above the sun…gives us a different perspective on human experience. Is anything new? Maybe not under the sun, but the God who rules over the sun is always doing something new, especially in Jesus Christ, who is the exception that proves the rule.” — Philip Ryken
TAKEAWAYS: Let’s ask ourselves three questions.
Am I living in the reality of…
- How short my life is?
- The source of my dissatisfaction?
- God’s ability to make all things new?
“The very fact that you are weary of this life is pointing you to Jesus as the only One who can satisfy your soul.” — Philip Ryken