What Is The Purpose of Life?

Introduction

Indeed, lovely life. Long live dates to see. I hope that all of us can sing that song with belief, with sincere anticipation. That there’s more to life than what we now experience here now. Live indeed. We do look for that eternal home. In the abode with God forever. I know most of you have brought your own Bible. I encourage you this morning to open to the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. And if you didn’t bring one, you notice that there is a Bible in the song right just in front of you. I encourage you, you’ll be able to follow along so much more easily today.

It’s interesting that this is a book written in the words of the Son of David. And that would be in the words of Solomon. And that means that it was written over three thousand years ago. And what is to me so unusual about the book of Ecclesiastes from other books of the Bible is that it deals with life here and now. Though written nearly 3,000 years ago or more than that, he deals with questions that are on the lips of every human being, usually at some point in life. You read in verse 3 the question, what profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? In other words, what is the purpose of life? Have you not asked the question, why am I here?

What is the reason for me to live? What brings happiness? What makes success in life? Really? What is it that is most important? What will bring you happiness? We’re all concerned about that, aren’t we? And in fact, it’s interesting that also that he’s talking about life here and now. You notice the question is, includes in the verse 3, under the sun. And that expression in Ecclesiastes is used some 29 times. Added to that another five times upon the earth, another two times under the heaven. So that you might say some 36 times in 12 short chapters, the writer speaks about life that we now experience on this earth. What profits man? Is there anything that in this life that really is worth living for? Making our goal.

1. Vanity of Vanities, All Is Vanity

In fact, you might find that it starts on a rather dismal answer to the question. The scripture in verse, I’ll read verses one and two together, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem, vanity of vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. The word vanity, found some 37 times in the book, literally means that it’s empty. It’s of no value. Indeed, it’s transitory, it’s fleeting. Of what purpose is that a life? We have no guarantee of how long we’re going to live. Already, what we’re striving for, the most important thing. Fact is, you drop down to verse 14, and the New King James Version translates it the word vexation as grasping for the wind. I’ve seen all the works that are done under the sun, and indeed all is vanity, and grasping for the wind.

We have the King James Version, it’ll say vexation of spirit. Have you ever tried to crack catch the wind? Grasp for the wind? You have nothing, don’t you? So is he saying, Well, life is really not worth living? It’s just like grasping the wind, you really don’t accomplish anything, it’s useless, it’s it’s of no value, it’s vanity. Pretty dismal. Why is it that this writer speaks such a discouraging point of view as he begins this book? Solomon, we remember the Old Testament at least, as we studied the life of Solomon, indeed the son of King David, and because of his prayer to God seeking wisdom, he was blessed above all before him with wisdom and with wealth and a powerful king. And yet, as he writes the book of Ecclesiastes, he says, it’s really not worth living.

2. Generations Pass; Nothing New Under the Sun

It’s vain. Why would he say that? Well, reading with me in chapter one, beginning in verse 4, he begins to tell us why. First of all, he says one generation passes away and another generation comes. Stop and think about that for a moment. As long as this earth has been, and we know human beings have lived on it, how many different generations of people have lived? You know, you and I experience life. It may be. I I know Arlene and I already experienced the rejoicing of great grandchildren born of our line. And yet we’ve also wept at the funerals of some of our own age that have passed away. We do not know how long we’ll live. We we know there’ll be another one after us if God allows time to go on.

Generations come and generations go, and how many have passed through the same walks or steps we have under the sun. As I was thinking about this, I I recalled a true story a few years ago when one of our brethren gospel preachers from Italy, Arrigo Corazza, was visiting in our country. And he told us later how that earlier he’d been up in the Atlanta area, and David Tan had been taking around, showing him some old homes. Over 200 years old. And you know we’ve just recently celebrated uh our independence, our nation now, a little over 200 years old. We’re old. Uhrigo made the observation, he said, I could have taken him to Rome and shown him some houses or buildings or structures that are over 2,000 years old.

200 years versus two. How many generations have come and gone? And we we live as though ours is the most important, at least to us it is. But looking further at that, he says, really, as you as you go through this, we find there’s there’s nothing new. In verse 5, he says the sun also arises, and the sun goes down, hastens to the place where it arose. Well, we expect, you know, sometime later this evening, maybe around seven or eight o’clock, the sun’s gonna settle. And if if if right now it uh this morning or by the time we quit, it’s already dark, we’d be really upset. We’d be scared or frightened because we know there’s a system to our universe, the earth and its rotation around the sun.

Every day we expect it to go. Verse 6, the wind goes toward the south, turns around to the north, the wind whirls about continually and comes again on its circuit. It’s pretty hot weather right now, isn’t it? But we expect it’ll get better. By February, we we sure don’t think it’s going to be in the mid-90s or high 90s, do we? And if you live in other parts of the states, you know we we have, you know, the fall will come or autumn, and then it’ll be followed by winter and by the spring, and then we know there are changes of the seasons, and we expect them, depending on where we might live at the time. Even here in Florida, while we may not experience the ice and the snow that others do.

We know there’d be changes. In fact, when others are experiencing that, sometimes we call them snowbirds because they like to come down where we are. But they don’t like it this time of year. Heard a fellow say the other day, he said, you know, living in Florida, he said, they’re about four months out of the year. I just tolerate. But I enjoy the other eight. And that’s kind of how we look about it. But we still know there’s changes of seasons. Nothing new. In fact, verse 7, all the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place from which the rivers come, there they return again. There may be floods, and the storms that bring about water that fills the rivers and the rivers run into the sea because the rivers get to overflowing, but the sea doesn’t overflow.

There’s this cycle of life under the sun, upon the earth that continues on. Verse 8, all things are full of labor. Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. Are you tired of being able to see? No. The eye is not satisfied, nor do you stop listening. The ears not filled with hearing. So the conclusion, verse 9, that which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there’s nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, see, this is new? It has already been in ancient times before us. Now you might say, wait a minute, right there, that’s wrong, isn’t it? I mean, we enjoy a lot of things Solomon didn’t know about.

We we can turn a little switch and get lights to come on. And in fact, we have air conditioning, and Solomon knew nothing about the kind of civilization in which we now enjoy and live in. And from that perspective, that’s true. And yet, from the perspective of life under the sun, as created by God, the statement is still true. I mean, even the splitting of the atom simply opened up a different generation in which you and I are privileged to live in. And we know what we call the nuclear age. And yet the Adam was always here long before. DNA, the link to the human race and back, but it’s a relative new discovery by scientists, but DNA was from the time of Adam, forward. So, in the sense that man cannot create anything from nothing.

What was here has always been here. There’s nothing new under the sun. But notice the next statement, where he says, verse 11, there is no remembrance of former things. Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after. I say that’s a little discouraging. I know you have family and friends, and we have remembrances of one another, and we may share in birthdays, etc. But the fact is, if God allows time to go on, our generation will all pass. Another generation will come, and another generation to follow that, and so on. And we’ll be forgotten. Your own family. How many of you can remember the maiden name of your great-grandmother? Well, maybe you’re like some fellow told me, he said, Yeah, I can.

3. Wisdom, Pleasure and Wealth Are Grasping for the Wind

He was just recently working on his genealogical table, so he kept. Well, if you can remember the maiden name of your great-grandmother, how about if your great-great-grandmother? How many generations you go back into? You don’t even remember your own family. And the fact that our own families, if God allows time to go, will be forgotten. Just a record on the record book. So why are we here? What’s the purpose of life? In fact, as we look at the book, he begins to say, in answer to the question, what is it that brings happiness? He says in verse 12, I the preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that’s done under the heaven.

This burdensome task God has given to the sons of man by which they may be exercised. Search out. I’ve often said if you were to go to Main Street USA, and you ask the individuals come by, and you ask them the question, what’s the purpose of life? What do you think will bring you success in life or a real lasting happiness in life? What’s the real reason that you’re living for? Main Street USA, I believe the answers would come something like this. Maybe there are some who come by and say, Well, I believe the more we know, the more we’ll know how to live in this generation. I mean, look at modern uh medicine. The more we know, look what we’re able to accomplish in healing.

But we cannot prevent death even with that. But wisdom. I mean, you know, knowledge, and so there are some schools that have people who continually are studying and are learning. There are people who have doctorate degrees in more than one field, and they constantly are learning. Maybe that’s it. The more we know, then that’ll be the well, the the we the real way of success or profit in life under the sun. But there’s another group of people who are not that concerned about knowledge, and they simply say, Oh, eat, drink, and be merry. Live life. I mean, you know, today we live and tomorrow we die, and so what. Just live life to the fullest. If I can just live life without restraint, maybe that’s the way.

That’s what life’s about, right? But you know, probably the greater part of come along and say, Whoa, if I just had more money, I’d be happy. I mean, there are those who set the goal why by the age of uh 30, or maybe they say 40. If I I won’t be a millionaire by then, or maybe today they’re saying a billionaire. But you know, money, that’s the secret. If I had so much money, I wouldn’t have to be concerned about the debts, the bills that I get coming in in my mail on a regular basis, etc., etc. That’s it. Well, that’s the way to bring happiness. And here’s where the book of Ecclesiastes to me again becomes somewhat fascinating. Written maybe a approximately 3,000 years ago, and man hasn’t changed.

For Solomon sought out these same ways. Oh, answering the question, what’s the purpose of life? Wisdom. Knowledge. Beginning in verse 13, I read a moment ago by reread it again down through verse 18, where he says, I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven. This burdensome task God has given to the sons of man by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun. Indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight. What is lacking cannot be numbered. I commune with my heart, saying, Look, I have attained greatness and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge. And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. And I perceive that this also is grasping for the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. I say to you, young people, that verse 18 is not a good excuse to quit school. He’s not saying, oh, it’s better to be ignorant. That’s not at all what he’s meaning. But what he says is the more you know sometimes can bring really frustration in your life. You know, first of all, in verse 15, it says, What is crooked cannot be made straight, what is lacking cannot be numbered. Evil men wax worse and worse, and you cannot straighten out every evil path or every evil person.

By your knowledge, you’re not going to solve every problem. Man cannot know everything. And consequently, he’s somewhat limited, isn’t he? Frankly, he says, in much wisdom is much grief. Who is it that you would say fears the nuclear bomb the most? I tell you, I believe it’s the persons who know most about its destructive nature and power. More than you and I know. So the more you know, sometimes the more concern and worry and frustration you have. And in that sense, he says, much grief. Knowledge? Wisdom? Is that going to solve every problem? Well, he answers that when he says, I perceive this also as grasping for the wind. Well, if it’s not in wisdom, maybe then it’s in doing what you want to do. Living life without restraint.

Eat, drink, and be merry. Today we live, tomorrow we die. I can remember as a young teenager thinking, boy, I can’t wait till I get to where I can just do what I want to do, and my mother and dad don’t have to tell me, no, you can’t. How many young people think that’s going to be real life? But we came to find out later that wasn’t always what it looked like when you were real young. In fact, uh, pleasure, he says in verses 1 through 3 of chapter 2, I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with mirth. Therefore enjoy pleasure. But surely, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, madness. And of mirth, what does it accomplish? I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom and how to hold on folly till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

Pleasure. Fact is, flesh is never satisfied. The things we do, we want to redo and continue on. It doesn’t last. Frankly, some of those who are given to pleasures that the Lord would forbid or asks that we not do works of the flesh can bring much sorrow. And our vanity are vain. There are many, you know, have become slaves to the addiction of alcohol and of drugs. Their lives are miserable. In fact, there are many who have diseased bodies through through sexual immorality. And there are many marriages that are unhappy and are broken. Simply because there are those who wanted to do what they wanted to do selfishly and live life without restraint. Pleasure. Flesh is never really fully satisfied. And so he would say it’s vanity or grasping for the wind.

Well, then how about wealth? Wealth’s got to be the answer. So we began in reading chapter 2 and verse 4. He said, I made me my works great. I built myself houses and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards. I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men and musical instruments of all kinds.

So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

He wasn’t limited just with seeking out knowledge and wealth or wisdom. He wasn’t limited in just doing what he wanted to do and could do it without any restraint. Nobody would tell him, No, you can’t. He was able to do all. And had the money to do whatever he wanted to do when he wanted to do it, and his wisdom remained with him. All three of these things that some today think bring happiness. And yet, verse 10, whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled, and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.

There was no prophet under the sun. Solomon. Did you really experience these things and you would say they were all vanity? Grasping for the wind? When we today think so much about any one of these, and certainly all three of them together, and they’re not what we think they are. Verse 12, he said, I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can a man do who succeeds the king? Only what he has already done. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light exhales darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceive that the same event happens to them all. He’s not saying in this Ecclesiastes that it’s wrong to gain knowledge or wisdom.

He didn’t say that it’s wrong to have pleasure, to enjoy life. There are some restraints, of course, to really enjoy life to the fullest.

4. One Event Happens to All

Any one of these three, or having them all three together. But he says, look at life under the sun. If you so you gain all three. Now what will you do? There’s one event that still happens to all. What is that? It is death. And we have no guarantee when that may come. So we have it all. I believe this really came home to me most when a few years ago, November of 1963, November 22nd. The day John F. Kiddie uh Kennedy was assassinated. Some of you are old enough to remember that as well as I am. I remember where I was and what I was doing when the news came across. What was significant to me, especially was here was not only the president of our United States being killed, but when you stop and think about who was John F.

Kennedy, first of all, he was a young man, only 46 years old. He was a very intelligent young man, well educated. He was from a family of wealth. Not only that had been elected to the highest political office in the world. But his life was taken from him. And the best of doctors, all the amount of money could be paid, could not keep life or bring life back. One event happens to all. And we have no guarantee whether that’s going to be at 18 or 118. How long are you going to live? You don’t know the answer. The fact is, when you look at life and put it in its right perspective, is life under the sun, life under the heaven, life on earth, what’s its purpose?

Now the young people think they they have guarantee of life. Young people don’t even want to talk about death. I’ve seen some young people who refuse to go to a funeral. They don’t want to think about death. It’s like they have a guarantee of just on and on and on. But the reality is, none of us have that guarantee, even of tomorrow. But continuing, he says in verse 15, so I said in my heart, as it happens to the fool, it also happens to me. And why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, this is also vanity. For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.

How does a wise man die?

We all die. Rich or poor, educated or uneducated. In fact, verse 17, he said, Therefore I hated life, because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me for all is vanity and grasping for the wind. For I hated, then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool. Yet he will have rule. He will rule over all my labor which I toiled and in which I’ve shown myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity. The fact is we’re going to die. We do not know when we’ll die, but the fact is we’ll leave it all behind.

Whatever it is we’ve gained. So you’re the wealthiest person who ever lived. So what? Now, you make out a will and you may leave it to some good worthy foundation, or it may be your children who inherited. But you won’t have any control over it, really, beyond that. It may be spent in a way that you really wouldn’t approve. But you can’t stop your children or grandchildren or whatever it will be, how they use it. You may be the greatest scientist that’s alive today, but what you’ve developed may be misused. There have been wicked rulers. Saddam Hussein and guesses that he killed many of his own people. Or Hitler, who knows? You have nothing to say about it. You’ll be forgotten. You’ve left it all behind.

And from that point of view, Solomon says in verse 20, therefore I turned my heart and despair of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. So there is a man whose labors with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This is also vanity and a great evil. What is life therefore? Back to the question, what’s the real purpose of life? Does Solomon leave us at this point and say, well, look, there’s no purpose of life. Let’s just go home and put on sackcloth and ashes and grieve the rest of our days. Well, you know that’s not the way Ecclesiastes ends. There are some answers to this. In fact, the first answer is found right here in chapter 2.

5. Enjoy Good in Your Labor

Look at verse 24. When he says, Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw was from the hand of God. What does he mean by that? From from seven, there are seven times altogether that this idea is found in Ecclesiastes. Enjoy good in your labor. Enjoy life. Learn to enjoy what God has given us. He has given us things here. He not only gave us life, there’s a purpose in life. As we look at Genesis chapter 1, man’s created in the image of God. And when he found that it was not good for man to be alone, he created woman. God had purpose for man to live life on earth in a way that would bring happiness that was a worthwhile endeavor.

God wants us to enjoy the things that is given. In fact, in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 6 through 8, the apostle said, Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and certain we can carry nothing out. But having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. Learn to live life. In fact, later in that same chapter, he talks about the rich man. 1 Timothy chapter 6. And he doesn’t say, oh, it’s evil to be rich. Instead, he says, command, verse 17, those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. You hear the word? The rich man can enjoy life.

But it’s with the right attitude that he understands who God is. He says, Let them do good that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. Focus for life. Right off we begin to see God gave us things richly to enjoy, but the focus is to lay hold on eternal life. It doesn’t matter how long we’ve lived if we’ve lived it rightfully. Several years ago, earlier in my years as preaching the gospel, I was called upon to preach a funeral of an 18-year-old. And you think, boy, that’s a saddest funeral. And it was. She’d just graduated from high school. She was a very popular and a beautiful girl.

Killed in a car wreck. See, life is not guaranteed because you’re young and because you’re beautiful. I preached basically the lesson from Ecclesiastes that we’re having this morning. Because I could say with her she had lived a successful life because she had obeyed the gospel. She was a faithful Christian. And whether you die at 18 or 118 is not the measure of success in life. It’s whether or not you lay hold on eternal life. What is your really goal or a real goal in life? And then, therefore, there can be some comforting words. We saw now as others who have no hope if we laid hold on eternal life. And so, first of all, in this world, enjoy life. Use it properly. The things that God has given to us.

6. Fear God and Keep His Commandments

Putting God first. I say putting God first because certainly you know this when you come to the last chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes. He deals with the last two verses of this book by by saying here now the conclusion of the whole matter. What does he say in Ecclesiastes chapter 12? What is it that really profits men in life? Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man’s all. The ESB version says the whole duty of man. I kind of like that way of phrasing it. What is life about? What is the duty of man’s all? It is to live life with view of heaven. To fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man’s law, for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Fear God, keep his commandments, because judgment’s coming. And this we have assurance of. Now, you know, when he says to fear God, I recognize that word fear can have maybe a two different meanings. There are those on the one hand says, Oh, I’m afraid. And we fear maybe darkness or maybe someone who is evil or threatening to us, but that’s really not the meaning, I believe, in Ecclesiastes 12. Although it is true that from a perspective of unrighteousness, we ought to fear God. Jesus said in Matthew 10, 28, do not fear man who can only kill the body, but rather fear God who is able to destroy both soul and body and hell. And when you come to the letter of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 10, the scripture in verse 26 said, For if we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there’s no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

If you reject Jesus Christ, there’s no other way. In fact, he says, What is left is a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who is rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses of how much sore or worse punishment. Do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot? Counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, a common thing and in southern the spirit of grace. For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord, and again the Lord will judge his people. Then he concludes, Hebrews 10 31, it is a fearful thing. To fall into the hands of the living God.

It’s a fearful thing to not be ready for the judgment that’s to come. But there’s another idea of the word fear, and that is that of respect, the kind of attitude that reverences him, who is Almighty, who is the creator, the giver of every good and perfect gift, who sustains life on earth. And it’s the kind of reverence that we uphold him as the highest, the omnipotent, the all-wise, the all-powerful one. Indeed, reverence to God. And that attitude is sprung, of course, out of faith. In Hebrews 11 and verse 6, without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is. And notice the rewarder of him who diligently seeks him. Diligently seeks him. That’s where you and I have to ask ourselves, am I diligently seeking God?

Do I fear him in the sense that I want to reverence and obey him? To keep his commandments. It’s not just, oh, what does he say? Give me the list. Is it just the Ten Commandments? One, two, three, let me see if I. It’s not clicking off a schedule like that. It’s rather to say whatever God wills for us is good to us. And therefore, what he desires for us, if we truly love him and we truly fear or reverence him, we’ll want to do what he says. In fact, in 1 John 5 and verse 3, it’s summarized by saying, this is the love of God. That we keep his commandments. Jesus in John 14 clearly said, if you love me, keep my commandments. In fact, in 1 John 2, he said, He that says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar.

Conclusion

You know, you say you know God, you fear God, but you you know that God wants you to obey certain things and you have refused. He said, Don’t kid yourself by saying you know God or you love God, for you don’t. You’d be a liar. What about? Why are you here? What’s the purpose in life for you? This last week on Wednesday morning, there was the funeral for Wayne Blow’s mother. And the final speaker, he closed with a question, why are you here? I thought that’s a pretty good way to close. We mourn and we grieve the death of a loved one. And we say goodbye and keep that one in memory. But the fact is we’re still living. Why are you here? What is your destiny?

What is your goal? What’s the purpose of life as you see it? What are you living for? Well, Ecclesiastes, I believe, comes alive because it deals with things, life under the sun where we live. Are you prepared for judgment to come? If not, why not get your life right? Ready. If you believe Jesus to be the Son of God, but you’ve never obeyed His command. When he said, He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. If you’ve never been immersed into the death of Christ that His blood may wash away your sins, why haven’t you? Why are you here anyway? What’s your goal? If you reject Jesus as the Son of God. If you’ve never been immersed, why not today? Consider doing it. Our baptistry is filled.

All it takes is a ready, believing heart, willing to confess Him as the Son of God. Or if you’ve not lived like a Christian ought to live, if you’ve been the hypocrite that’s brought more reproach upon the Lord than causing others to truly believe, why not repent? Sincerely. And if you’ve done it in a public way and you need others to pray with you and pray for you, we bid you to come as well. Whoever wills. The Lord’s willing to forgive. If your subject wants you, come while together we now stand while we sing.