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Honoring the Past, Focused on the Future!
Welcome to Overland Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in St. Louis, Missouri; may the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you!
We encourage you to visit with us each Sunday morning at 10am for prayer service and at 10:30 am for our worship service.
On the first Sunday of each month, we gather at 9:30 a.m. in our Fellowship Hall for a light breakfast, greeting, and renewing of friendships. According to our oldest members, this congregation in historic Overland dates back to about 1905. Many among us are lifelong members and have worshipped together for well over 50 years; yet, newcomers are met with sincerity and warmth.
BEING FULFILLED
Ecclesiastes 1
3-7-2010
Before we begin, today, I would like to mention someone who is quickly becoming one of my favorite Christian writers and that is Rev. Darrell Stetler who pastors Wesleyan Covenant Bible Methodist Church, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A very small chunk of this sermon's content comes from a message written by Rev. Stetler.
Ecc 1:1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
Ecc 1:2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
Ecc 1:3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
Ecc 1:4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
Ecc 1:5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
Ecc 1:6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
Ecc 1:7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
Ecc 1:8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
Ecc 1:9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecc 1:10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.
Ecc 1:11 There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.
Ecc 1:12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Ecc 1:13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!
Ecc 1:14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Ecc 1:15 What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.
Ecc 1:16 I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”
Ecc 1:17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
Ecc 1:18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.
Prayer - Dear God may your word fill us to overflowing acts of love. In Jesus name, Amen.
Do you remember the days when it really snowed? Not this measely 1” stuff that shuts down schools, but real snow; you know when at least a foot would come down. Well, I remember a day in northeastern Ohio when we must have gotten about 30” of snow. My mom sent me outside to shovel the driveway.
Well, I was happy to go out, do a little work shoveling, do a little goofing off in the powder. After about 10 minutes of shoveling that heavy stuff I got to the point where I just wanted to be done so I could get inside and get warm. It took about 90 minutes to get our little driveway done...and I was exhausted.
As my step-father made his way home I could rest assured that he would be happy the driveway was cleaned off and I imagined the praise that would be given to me, the most faithful of step sons....after all I deserved it, right? I had done the work and I had done it well.
So, imagine my dismay when Lenny, my step-father, got home and in an annoed tone asked why no one had shoveled the driveway. I was devastated. I ran to the window, looked outside and couldn't believe that in the 30 minutes since I had shovelled that there was at least 8” of newly fallen snow already covering the driveway. All my work counted for nothing; my sense of accomplishment and fulfillment had turned to so much winter slush.As you look around, you’ll find people that are like that: They’ve finally got their dream or at least think they do, only to find out that it doesn’t count for fulfillment — it doesn’t count for satisfaction. Someone said it like this: Many people spend their whole life climbing the ladder of success, only to find out it’s leaning against the wrong wall.” It’s sad and true that sometimes a dream come true ends up being something quite different…maybe even a nightmare rather than a dream.The book I’m reading from today is called Ecclesiastes. It is commonly accepted that Ecclesiastes was written by a man named Solomon about 3,000 years ago. In this book the author expains to us his search for fulfillment.I’ve found that every person is trying to answer three basic, important questions pertaining to their existence and those are:Who am I? Why am I here? And where am I going?Here’s the premise of my message this morning. Instead of calling this book Ecclesiastes, we could call it “OCC’s search” . . . or you could put your name in there. All of us are writing the story of our search for fulfillment because all of us, to some extent, have, are or will be asking one of those three questions.
When your life is over, what will your story say you tried to find fulfillment in? Will the story tell that you found it, or that you wandered your whole life and never found what you were seeking?Let’s read from Ecclesiastes 1:12-14.Ecc 1:12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Ecc 1:13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!
Ecc 1:14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. The key word in this book is the word “meaningless”. It means “empty” or “in vain”.I want to look for a few minutes at the things that Solomon tried to find fulfillment in. Now remember this is 3,000 years ago and so it seems that history repeats itself because people today are still attempting to find fulfillment in those things that Solomon had tried.First off a lot of people try to find fulfillment through education and wisdom. Ecc 1:16 I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” Solomon became the wisest man who ever lived. He studied and learned, and studied some more. Did it bring him satisfaction? Let’s look:
It made him more sad: Ecclesiastes 1:18 “For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”
It didn’t make him any different in the end:Ec 2:15 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 also is vanity."16 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. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!Education; the acquiring of knowledge doesn‘t do it for Solomon so he turns to the pursuit of wealth.Ec 2:8 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.9 So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.Solomon owned (among other things) 1,400 chariots, and 12,000 horses. In today’s world, that means he was filthy rich. He could afford anything he wanted2:10 He was denied nothing his eye desired. Did riches fulfill Solomon? Let’s check: Ecclesiastes 2:11 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 profit under the sun.When Solomon’s serious endeavors leave him still feeling empty he turns to the pursuit of folly.Ecclesiastes 2:1 “I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure."
Do you all remember that 1970s T.V. Show Chico and the Man? It had Freddy Prince Jr.s dad in it. Freddy Prince Sr. committed suicide shortly after saying “I can't hear them laughing any more.” If you look for meaning in laughter you are going to be pretty disappointed and depressed when the laughter stops.Did it fulfill Solomon? Let’s check: Ecclesiastes 2:2 “I said of laughter-"Madness!"; and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?"Solomon, ever the extremist switches gears and since folly doesn’t work he throws himself into labor.Ec 2:4 I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards.5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.6 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove.Anybody ever heard the phrase, “You’ve got to love your job?” It does help to make the days shorter if you love your job. But in the long term, your job (even if you get that promotion) will NEVER satisfy you. Maybe that is why we have the infamous “All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy” syaing stuck in our collective concious; we know that work alone isn't the answer.Did work satisfy Solomon? Let’s check: Ecclesiastes 2:18 “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.19 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.”Well, by the end of this 18th verse we have to start asking ourselves: why is it that none of these things seem to do the trick? Why can't fulfillment be found in these things?Ecclesiastes 3:10 tells us it's because of somehting God placed within us and it is the fact that: “... He has put eternity in their hearts.”When you are designed for eternity you cannot hope to quench with fleeting things that need to seek out whatever has eternal significance. Even someone as wise as Solomon can possess a wisdom that only sees what is immediately before them, but we, as Christians, are called to higher pursuits
It sort of reminds me of yesterday. Yesterday was a beautiful day. Spring was in the air and all I wanted to do was take a bike ride and have a nice morning for myself. So, I strapped on my clipless bike shoes, hopped on my bike and took a leisurely ride.
I was 4 miles from home when the pedal broke off my bike. You sort fo need a pedal to make the bike go. I was so angry, so frustrated...all I had hoped for was a nice bike ride on a nice day.
See that is what happens when we mispace our hope and put it onto people, places or events. Should you do that you will find yourself less than fulfilled...in fact you;ll find yourself disappointed because people, places and things have a tendedncy to not be perfect.
I mean it's silly to your faith in something temporary that will break down like a bike or a car, or even in something like money that can be here today or gone tomorrow...or even people. People will almost always let you down. Oh sure everything may seem swell in the beginning, but people are far from perfect. When those people do let you down do you know what you do with them? You fogive them. You forgive them because you are not perfect either; and you too, can let people down.
So, let me encourage yout place your faith, hope and trust in eternity and not in imperfect, temporary things. Commit your way to God. Had I committed my bike ride to God, I would have had peace for the journey and fulfillment as I enjoyed the ride. Same thing with relationships and with everything we do...so, I want to challenge you today to not place your hope in those things that cannot satisfy you, but in the God of eternity.
Amen.
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