Transcript

During the 2007-2008 NFL regular season, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady set the record for most touchdown passes in a regular season, paving the way to winning the MVP award.

At the age of 30, he had already won three Super Bowls—an accomplishment that sets him apart as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.

Tom Brady was then interviewed by 60 Minutes journalist Steve Kroft. Despite the fame and career accomplishments he had achieved already, Brady told Kroft that it felt like something was still lacking in his life:

He said this, “Why do I have 3 Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say,

‘Hey man, this is what it’s all about.’ I reached my goal, my dream. Me? I think, ‘It’s got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. This can’t be all there is.”

Kroft pressed Brady as to what the right answer was, and Brady added: “What’s the answer? I wish I knew…”

In the next number of episodes, we’ll be considering the question, “What is My Purpose?” Along with that, we will also consider the many deceiving things in this world that seem like they would or should give purpose to life.

King Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes has a lot to teach about this. Ecclesiastes deals with the subject of the meaning and purpose of life. It does so by a process of reasonings, reflections, observations and conclusions from Solomon’s personal experiences.

From your personal Bible study you might recognize the Greek word “Ekklesia,” in the title of Ecclesiastes. Ekklesia means a called-out assembly or gathering.

And Ecclesiastes means “one who addresses an assembly” or a “preacher.” The preacher for the book is King Solomon. The assembly he is addressing is the nation Israel.

But we, Gentiles under grace and members of the Body of Christ, find great profit and principles for our lives here, because people haven’t changed since Solomon’s day, and they still look for purpose in all the same places as Solomon did 3000 years ago.

It’s been said about preachers, “Preachers preach not just to say something, but because they have something to say.” Or at least they should. Because when you preach the Word, you have something to say. And Solomon as the Preacher had something to say.

Solomon speaks to all of us about all of life. He was a man who had the time, money and energy to take a journey deep into life and explore areas we only wonder about.

Being a King, we don’t have his money, and since he was the wisest man in the world at that time, we don’t have his brains, so we couldn’t go into the depths of life he went even if we tried. So it’s all the more reason for each of us to listen to this preacher.

And he tells each of us, “Listen to me. Are you looking for meaning? Are you searching for purpose? Something to fill the void, something to give real fulfillment? I’m here to keep you from wasting your time and wasting your life.

“I’ve looked and searched for meaning and satisfaction in life under the sun, apart from God, in my own wisdom. I’ve searched for it through education and gaining more knowledge, thru entertainment, wine, art, travel, adventure, work, constructing great houses, having great wealth, possessions, and land, through music and women, and worldly recognition and fame, and all of it is vanity, emptiness, and meaningless.

“Life above the sun is where true joy, hope, life, and fulfillment are found. And you need to get your vertical life and relationship with God in place first, for your horizontal life in this world to start making sense and for you to find purpose.”

Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s journal of his journey and pursuit, with unrestrained determination, to find purpose. But when anyone searches for happiness and meaning, but leaves God out of the picture like Solomon did, they will end up with the same conclusion as he did: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

Ecclesiastes 1:1-2: “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

The Preacher introduces himself in verse 1. Solomon was the son of David, and reigned over Israel as king in Jerusalem.

King David had left Solomon a large estate in his care. David fought the battles, and now Solomon, his son, enjoyed 40 years of peace.

Thus, instead of money being poured into military escapades, Solomon used the peacetime money to finance his pursuits into discovering life.

After the pursuit was done he wrote out all he had discovered. And Solomon begins with his conclusion: Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

The term “vanity,” speaks of futility, hollowness, emptiness, meaninglessness. In all Solomon’s pursuits, everything added up to exactly nothing, zilch, as far as bringing any lasting joy for his life, and finding true satisfaction and happiness.

In Scripture when the same word is repeated, it is for the purpose of emphasis. It’s like an exclamation point.

The words vanity of vanities is as though Solomon is shouting: it’s all really, really empty and hollow! There’s nothing there.

Solomon’s journey left him deflated and disillusioned. All attempts at happiness blew up in his face. There was nothing that he saw, heard, discovered, experienced, or produced, as a result of his search that resulted in any lasting, personal satisfaction.

But as Charles Swindoll rightly said, “Satisfaction in life under the sun will never occur until there is a meaningful connection with the living Lord above the sun.”

All of us have entertained thoughts of “if only I could do this” or “when this happens,” such as when I retire, when I graduate, when I get that house, when I get that promotion. We long for what might be, we desire more, or want something else, and believe then I’ll be happy, then I’ll be content.

Solomon the preacher says, “Stop! If you’re looking for happiness in those things, it’s a pipe dream, don’t bother. It’s empty as a puff of smoke. It’s like trying to grasp the wind. Knowing and living for the true and living God is where joy and purpose is at.”

Ecclesiastes 1:3-4: “What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.”

Leonard Woolf writes, “I see clearly that I have achieved practically nothing. The world today and the history of the human anthill during the past 5 to 7 years would be exactly the same if I had played Ping-Pong instead of sitting on committees and writing books and memoranda. I have therefore to make a rather contemptible confession: that I have in a long life ground through between 150,000 and 200,000 hours of perfectly useless work.”

Solomon observed the same thing about the endless routine of work. He asks a rhetorical question about work: “What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun.” The implied answer is that there is no profit for man in all his work. He saw that nothing was gained and that there’s no purpose in it.

If a person gives their whole life to finding satisfaction and purpose for their life through only their life’s work, they’ll be disappointed in the end.

Solomon the preacher often uses the phrase “under the sun” in this book. It’s speaking of daily life in this world.

Regarding our toil and work, if we put our focus “above the sun” on the Lord, we can worship and bring glory to Him through our work, and in this we do find joy and purpose.

But an “under the sun” earthly perspective on work to Solomon only revealed a frustrating, burdensome, exhausting, boring, monotonous routine which is futile and without profit.

No matter what one does in life, no matter what lofty position one may obtain, if you leave God out, life will rise up and mock us: Meaningless!

Solomon shows there is no profit in worshiping your work. And if you believe that by living to work you will find fulfillment in life, you won’t find it.

Hugh Prather in his book “Notes to Myself” says, “If I had only forgotten future greatness [and not worked so much], and looked at the green things and reached out to those around me and smelled the air, and ignored the forms and the self-styled obligations and heard the rain on my roof and put my arms around my wife…Perhaps it’s not too late.”

To Solomon, from his earthly perspective, like the continuous cycle of work, there’s futility and emptiness in the continuous cycle of generations also.

The earth is permanent. People are impermanent. People are born and people die, we’re here and then we’re gone, and the cycle goes on and on and repeats itself over and over.

Similar to Solomon’s thoughts, Mark Twain, shortly before his death wrote, “A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle…they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other, age creeps upon them; infirmities follow…those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. The release comes at last—the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them—and they vanish from the world.”

Is this all there is? From a humanistic, earthly perspective, yes. But from a godly, heavenly perspective, no. God’s Word shows us that there is a purpose to life, a high purpose. We know that God has a plan and purpose for each of our lives.

We find purpose, an eternal purpose, when we live for the Lord and by His Word.

Scottish theologian Thomas Boston once said, “Our present existence is a short preface to a long eternity.” And during the short time we are given, God would have us live with eternity in view and for eternal realities, allowing Him to use our lives for His glory.

There is real meaning and purpose in living by faith. And for the believer, we are to remember what Romans 14:8 says, “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”

Ecclesiastes 1:5-7: “The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”

Romans 8:20 says as a result of the fall and sin entering the world, the creation “was made subject to VANITY.” Because of sin and its consequences, we find emptiness and futility under the sun.

After noting the continuous cycle of birth and death on the earth, Solomon speaks of the monotonous cycle of day and night. The sun is in constant motion, and never has lasting rest. It hastens to get back to the place where it rises that so it may rise again. What does it accomplish in its daily journey?

The sun goes east to west, the wind north to south, and whirls around in constant motion, constantly moving and changing direction, a repetitive part of nature, which never arrives at any fixed goal.

Rivers run into the sea continually in a relentless monotony. The cooperation of the sun and wind makes evaporation possible and the movement of moisture. This just keeps circulating, as the rivers and rains pour water in the seas, the seas remain the same.

Living with “under the sun” perspective, all of life seems pointless, and just like the sun, wind, and rivers, it’s a tiring, repetitious, monotonous, unchanging, boring cycle, of ceaseless activity and motion, producing nothing of real achievement or ultimate value.

Do you ever feel like life is like that? Like your life is like a monotonous rolling river? Or like your life is a constant cycle like the sun that never changes? Like you’re just going thru the motions? Like things are just repetitious and tiring with nothing really achieved?

It’s about washing dishes a couple hours every day, doing laundry, scouring toilets, taking out the garbage, cutting the grass, chasing toddlers, mediating fights between siblings, bandaging scraped knees, grocery shopping, cleaning out the garage, coping with head colds and headaches, engine tune-ups, crabgrass, broken water heaters, and income tax forms.

You pull your tired self from out of bed, five or six days a week, 50 weeks a year, earning a 2-week vacation in August and choosing a trip that will please the kids.

What’s the point? Just from an earthly, human perspective only it all looks tiring, monotonous, and endless and makes you wonder why? What’s the purpose to it all?

But it’s all about perspective and it’s about faith. And from God’s perspective there’s joy in the journey through life. We know He’s there with us all the way, loving and caring for us.

We know that there is purpose as we do these things and as we live for our family’s good. God sees it all. He is pleased by it. Our families are the better for it. And we can go thru the monotonous things of life, and look at life from His perspective knowing He is glorified through me faithfully doing these mundane, everyday things for my family and others.

Because we know that “whatsoever ye do in word or deed,” we can “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (Col. 3:17).

We can even stop and give thanks to God for the long grass, full garbage cans, pile of dishes, income tax forms, and scraped knees, because of having a higher perspective that God has blessed me with a home, food to eat, a job, and children to raise.

Ecclesiastes 1:8-11: “All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

“There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

After speaking of the tiresome, repetitive things in nature, Solomon points out that this is true of human endeavor and in human history, it just keeps repeating also.

Solomon says life is “full of labor,” or just plain tiring, and man cannot adequately express how wearying it is at times.

And so we all look for something to distract us or deliver us. And we hunger for new things to see and more things to hear.

And the entertainment industry thrives and takes advantage of this to great profit. Hearing and seeing new things through television, movies and music, mankind today gravitates towards it all to find an escape.

Solomon says that man is never satisfied by how much he sees. He still wants more. And his ears never reach the point where they don’t want to hear something new.

To find true satisfaction, we must look above the sun. Psalm 107:8-9 reads, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He SATISFIETH the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”

Just like nature doesn’t ever seem to change, Solomon says that man doesn’t ever seem to change through the centuries: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”

He’s saying that people write about the same type of things. They talk about the same type of things. They do the same type of things.

They make the same type of mistakes. They don’t learn from the past. History repeats itself. Life is just the same old same old.

Solomon asks, “Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.” In other words, what’s observed, heard, and read of man in his history, character, philosophies, writings, and teachings bears the stamp of monotonous sameness.

And whatever is thought to be new teaching today is simply a recombination or a restoring of the old. Whatever seems new is only so because of man’s limited knowledge.

And whatever seems new is only because mankind has a bad memory, as verse 11 tells us: “there is no remembrance of former things.”

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18: “I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

“I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

“And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”

In these verses, we find that Solomon sought meaning and purpose to life through education, through gaining greater human knowledge and wisdom.

In this world, we often find how education and intellectualism is purported to equip us with everything necessary for life and is prescribed as a universal remedy for nearly everything. It also inflates pride in those who pursue it as the meaning of life.

Solomon set his sights and “heart” on seeking and thoroughly exploring human wisdom as a possible place to find purpose in life.

He poured himself into the sciences, philosophy, history, the fine arts, the social sciences, literature, religion, ethics, languages, and other fields of human learning.

By thorough research and full investigation, Solomon explored “all things that are done under heaven,” a search which was “sore travail” or a burdensome and difficult task, he wrote. But it didn’t give him what he was seeking.

And his conclusion was that all that’s done under the sun, included the pursuit of purpose through education, never truly satisfies.

It is all “vanity,” or meaningless, and “vexation of spirit.” Vexation of spirit means that it is elusive. You can’t catch it. It’s like trying to grasp the wind.

Education is important and needed in life, but when it is worshiped, when people think it will change the world, when people seek to find meaning and purpose by it, they will find it powerless, meaningless, and empty.

Solomon concluded that through his total quest for wisdom, knowledge, and intellectualism it soon produced the realization that you are straightening out none of the many things that are crooked about mankind and this world.

Knowledge and education cannot make the crooked world straight, it doesn’t solve all the puzzles of life, and in knowing more you just find that you can’t add up the countless things that are lacking and wanting in this world.

The Lord Jesus Christ can though. He can make the crooked world straight. One day, in His earthly millennial kingdom He will.

Verse 16 is humorous to me. Solomon takes personal inventory of what he had accomplished. Solomon thought to himself, that he had become a pretty smart guy, and come to greatness as far as wisdom was concerned.

He stated that he gained more wisdom than all who were before him in Jerusalem, and that he’d gained and understood great wisdom and knowledge.

He had given it his best shot, stopping at nothing, setting his mind to know wisdom, madness and folly. He disciplined himself to acquire wisdom on one hand and to learn about madness and folly on the other hand, exploring both extremes just in case the meaning of life was found in either or both or somewhere in the middle.

But in the end, he found it was all vexation of spirit, or like chasing after or trying to grasp the wind.

As all who have gone through schooling can relate, Solomon states that in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Instead of helping Solomon find the purpose of life though, human wisdom and trying to understand the problems of life only added to his grief.

The answer to finding purpose in life isn’t in intellectualism, human wisdom and philosophy. When we remove Christ from the center of any intellectual pursuits for meaning in life we’re headed for disaster and despair.

Colossians 2:3 teaches that “In [Christ] are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” We find purpose in life by knowing Christ, trusting Him, and allowing Him to direct our paths. Christ transforms our life by His grace.