WELCOME
Good morning First Baptist. We welcome you to worship this morning. Be sure to remember your brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the week as you pray for them, and as the Holy Spirit brings their faces to your mind. Be sure to also connect with them in the ways that are possible. And if you have any questions or would like to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to contact the church through the church telephone and leave a message. (519-733-4144)
Songs
Call to Worship
Today, we are invited to remember what truly matters. In a world that constantly urges us to chase more, more success, more comfort, more recognition, God calls us to something deeper, something better.
DonEcclesiastes reminds us that life finds its meaning not in what we accumulate, but in who we live for. Not in what fades, but in what lasts. Not in settling for what is easy, but in choosing what is eternal. So today, let us turn our hearts toward God. Let us bring our full attention, our honest questions, our hopes, and our worship. And together, let us seek the life that is truly life.
Songs
Prayer
CONFESSION:
Faithful God, we confess that we often settle for less than the life you offer. We chase comfort instead of calling. We pursue success instead of faithfulness. We fill our days with noise and distraction and neglect what truly matters. We forget to remember you in our everyday choices. We invest in things that fade and overlook the things that last.
Forgive us, Lord. Re-center our hearts. Renew our desire to live fully before you. Teach us to seek your ways, trust your truth, and follow you with joy. Amen.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE:
Hear the good news: God is rich in mercy and full of grace. When we turn back to Him, He meets us with forgiveness, healing, and new life. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, restored, and set free to live with purpose, hope, and joy. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Don’t Settle: Finding a Meaningful Life
Live for Something Better
Today's Message: Pastor Laura Gaffan
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 3:5-8
Big Idea: Life finds its meaning when lived before God.
There is nothing like an Essex County fog. Years ago, I was headed home from Windsor with a friend who had recently moved here from up North. She had been laughing just that morning because the school buses had been cancelled due to the fog. She had never heard of such a thing. I explained that the fog around here is just so thick at times that it becomes incredibly dangerous. The drive home was fine until we hit Essex. The fog engulfed us. I could not see more than a meter in front of the car. She was speechless. I turned off the radio and opened the window, not for air, but to hear the sounds of other cars coming toward us. I have never been so glad to see the three lights at the corner of Division that ushered us off the bypass.
From the very beginning of Ecclesiastes, Solomon has been warning us of the meaninglessness, the vanity of chasing and living for the experiences, people and stuff this world offers. Meaningless or vanity is a good translation, but “Hevel” the word used 40 times in Ecclesiastes and in Hebrew is actually translated smoke or vapour. Solomon has been considering the decisions of his life. What has captured his time and attention. What has distracted and diverted his gaze from the eternal to the temporary. The wealth, the stuff, the accomplishments. (Light the candles and snuff them out one at a time. I wanted to light bigger candles, but the resident firefighter is away!) One by one, he has been calling out the futility of life under the sun. It is fleeting, a moment here and then gone. You can’t grasp it. As hard as we try, it disappears. And given enough smoke, it will also cloud our vision. We can lose our bearings and get lost. Much like trying to drive through fog, sometimes we need to listen for oncoming traffic or in this case, the wisdom of those more seasoned in life experience.
This morning, we will look at the conclusion of Ecclesiastes. This has been a journey for all of us and is meant to be a doorway to something. This has been God’s invitation to examine our restlessness. Pastors Dave and Marlee challenged us from week one, to open our hands, let go of these things so we have open hands to accept what God has planned for us. That as long as we are holding on to the things of this world, that never satisfy, we will never find ultimate meaning in. This restlessness has been an invitation to see life, not from the limited vantage point here, but to see an eternal perspective. An invitation to turn our eyes from this world and consider God. And that perspective can only be seen with God in His proper position in our lives.
Since transformation rarely starts with comfort, we have spent seven weeks examining those places in our life where control has prevented us from trusting God. Where we as creatures of comfort have chosen to put faith in what we can put our hands on. Our money, our possessions. But Solomon has remained consistent in his warnings, none of this will satisfy us.
Solomon has even warned us about thinking that God will act a certain way. We even try to control God! Last week I read ch.8:17
“I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun. Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim.”
But oh, do we try! This is the myth of religious fulfillment. This is very common in the church. And we need to be aware of it creeping into our own lives. The driving motive is that I do this religious God thing for a reason. So, my life may be enhanced, and it will go better or smoother. We don’t know we are there until we are faced with a really difficult situation. We all live with expectations. Solomon helped to open our expectations up. Think of times of great disappointment. We may stop and challenge where God is. And you can hear the lie when you whisper Why did He leave me like this? Does He hate me? Didn’t I, read my bible enough? Go to church enough? Give enough…fill in the blanks, how many times has your head jumped to that conclusion? Why am I doing the Jesus thing? It is subtle, but it is important to weed out. If we view our faith as transactional, this too is meaningless. If this line of thinking is not challenged, we are more likely to give up. To ditch our faith and move on. I am sure that we can all name people for whom this is true.
This exposes our expectation that the God thing would make our life better. This is a disconnect that we need to analyze and see it for what it is. We get to face our divine disconnect with life under the sun.
I alluded to this last week. Solomon says, the righteous get what the wicked deserve and the wicked get what the righteous deserve. Even our desire for justice is hevel.
What do the scriptures say in Proverbs 3:5-8?
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
8 It will be health to your flesh,
And strength to your bones.
Again, these are proverbs, they are not promises. But we have taken the trust in the LORD, yup, good there, with all your heart, ok, a struggle, but yeah, trying hard to not depend on my own understanding, seek Him in all I do and He will make my path straight. Does my path always look straight? Absolutely not. Sometimes I struggle to see where my next step should be, let alone a path to follow. How about healing for my body and strength for my bones?
I do the right thing, and God does His thing for me. Right?
There is so much more for us. This is what this book has been offering us, an invitation, over and over to not find meaning in this world, but to reorient our eyes and lives. It is an invitation to begin again.
Jeremiah tells us in Lamentations;
“22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.”
It is never too late!
Let’s look at the end of our book and re catch a vision of how Solomon has slowly been clearing the smoke from our eyes and to look for that which carries value in the eternal. To find our value in God alone.
Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:
7 Light is sweet,
and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
8 However many years anyone may live,
let them enjoy them all.
But let them remember the days of darkness,
for there will be many.
Everything to come is meaningless.9 You who are young, be happy while you are young,
and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
God will bring you into judgment.
10 So then, banish anxiety from your heart
and cast off the troubles of your body,
for youth and vigor are meaningless.
Solomon urges again: Don’t do what I did. Enjoy life while you are young and able. But don’t pursue pleasure to the exclusion of God. Enjoy God and you will have true satisfaction in life. And this is how you do this. Here is the first invitation to the closing of Ecclesiastes:
12 Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”—
Solomon is imploring us to remember our Creator God. The One in whom everything originates: The light and the water. The stars He sprinkled in the universe. The sun that warms the earth and our faces, that calls to the seeds that produce food for His creatures and those who bear His image. All of this has its beginning and end, through Him and in Him. And when would he like us to remember? In our youth. Solomon continues with a description of aging:
2 before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
3 when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
This is a picture of age bending us and causing us to shake.
when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim;
When we lose our teeth and our eyesight,
4 when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;
When we can no longer hear the way we used to,
5 when people are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
Or Laura’s translation: or when you get scared that you will fall off a ladder and break a hip!
when the almond tree blossoms:
That is, when our hair goes grey.
and the grasshopper drags itself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home
and mourners go about the streets.6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
which means, when we lose our memories
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
“Everything is meaningless!”
In other words, before you are too old to remember or do anything about it. Can older people find the Lord? Absolutely! But youth affords us more opportunity to enjoy each day and to serve in ways you can’t as you get older. The point here is, don’t waste any more time, it is too precious.
The Conclusion of the Matter
9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.
11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. 12Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. (Amen Solomon!)
13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
This is our second and third invitation:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
14For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
Fear God and keep His commandments. This is the other part of our invitation. Fear God. I talked about this last week. Solomon instructed us to “fear the LORD” seven times in Ecclesiastes. This kind of fear is an affectionate reverence. It drives us toward Him; it is not a feeling that you want to flee His presence because we are scared. It is the knowledge that He is just, but He is loving and forgiving. He is so loving, He did not even withhold His Son, who paid the penalty for our sin. You can’t measure the love of God by what happens in your life, you measure the love of God by what Jesus did on the cross.
The invitation to fear the LORD is paired with “and follow His commandments.” So why follow His commandments? God didn’t give us a to-do list. Remember, this isn’t a transactional faith. He is inviting us into a relationship with Him. There are so many reasons to follow His commandments. Here are five that I like to keep in mind simply from our study of Ecclesiastes:
- God is God, I am not.
- God knows what is best. I do not.
- God is in charge. I am not. (I do have to remind myself of this one more often!
- Whenever I have obeyed God, I have benefitted.
- Whenever I have done it my way instead of God’s, with all my rationalizations and excuses that I’ve considered sound reasoning, it hasn’t been for His glory, for my good, or the good of others. To obey God is always in our ultimate self-interest. In a universe where God sets up the rules, what is right is also smart.
Here is the bonus sixth reason and quite frankly, the most important:
- Jesus said to! In John 14:15 he says, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.”
11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails.
A goad is a stick with some nails in it. A cattle prod. They were meant to poke at animals to push them along down the path. It sounds painful and I can understand why the warning would be a comparison to words of the wise. This examining your restlessness may have poked at things you hadn’t considered. This has been the bad news before the good news. Solomon is clearing away the smoke to show us what really matters, the wise way of living this fragile life.
- Consider your Creator
- Fear God
- Follow His commandments
Solomon in all his wonderings keeps asking, “Is this all there is?” If there is no God and no final judgement, then it is hard to see how anything we do really matters. We need to remember that this is not all there is. It is the smoke Solomon is clearing away. That ultimately, there is a God, a Creator so deeply in love with his creation that he keeps calling out to us, not wanting any of us to be separated from that love that He sent Jesus, forgiving us before we even asked and extending that forgiveness every time we go before Him repentantly. Paul tells us plainly in Romans 5:8
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Our heavenly Father is seeking a relationship with us. And everything we have done, Solomon knows, God will bring justice. So, the final message of Ecclesiastes is not that nothing matters but that everything does. What we do with this one precious life matters.
What we did when we were frustrated in traffic. What we did with a cranky toddler or cranky spouse. What we did with our money, our time, our gifts. All lovingly given from Him.
So, what now. Six different times Solomon will remind us to stop and enjoy the present moment. You are still breathing; you can still laugh. I want to read you a quote from Blaise Pascal, 17th century scientist and great Christian thinker. This is a great summary of Ecclesiastes.
“We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does; so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is. The fact is that the present usually hurts. We thrust it out of sight because it distresses us, and if we find it enjoyable, we are sorry to see it slip away. We try to give it the support of the future and think how we are going to arrange things over which we have no control for a time we can never be sure of reaching.
Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus, we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.”
We don’t have control, we never did, but wisdom is knowing the One who does. We concern ourselves too much with our past or our future. To sit and enjoy the conversation across the table and not in your mind, be planning your response. To take in the food and savour the bite now, not planning about what we need to get for dinner tomorrow. Watch the sunset and be thankful in and for that moment. Six times, Solomon will remind us to live in this one moment, here, now, this is the gift of this under the sun existence.
Life is disorienting, like driving in the fog, but I pray that the smoke, the vapour is beginning to clear and that you are able to see it for the distraction that it is. That you realize the restlessness you feel has been the call from God to seek what lasts eternally. Remember back to chapter 3:11, “He has placed eternity in your (their) hearts” and that is a big hole that can only be filled with one thing – God Himself. The invitation has been, is and will be, that there is meaning to be found here, and that meaning is found in Jesus alone. He is here, and He is waiting. May He find us faithful. Faithful in seeking, listening, obeying and following.
Prayer
God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, we confess to you that we are frequently slow to believe what you have promised through your prophets and in your Son Jesus. We succumb to fears of death as if it were the end of everything and all too often we live as if there is nothing to live for beyond death. Forgive us Lord: forgive us our doubts, our disbelief, and our deafness to the witness of other believers, and our silence when we could give witness to the faith which we have.
Lord of mercy, God of the living, grant that we might see beyond the ruins that lie about us; that we might take to heart the lessons of Scripture which testify to your willingness and ability to bring new life to dry bones. Give to those who despair a vision of the resurrection which awaits all those who believe, all those you have chosen. Help them to order their lives by the principles of your everlasting kingdom; that kingdom in which faith, hope and love transforms all that they touch.
Father, help us be a people who are prepared for the journey which lies ahead. Take from us all evil desire; remove from us any refusal we have to forgive others; lift from us any reluctance we have to love our enemies and to bless, in your name, those who curse us. Send unto us the desire to love one another as Jesus loves us, the yearning to bring your saving word to those who hunger, the longing to reach out and touch another person with your love and to speak to others and to ourselves your truth. Help us to be ones who are prepared; help us to be ones who live Christ-like lives.
We ask all these things not in our name, but in the name of Jesus Christ, He who taught us to pray to you for ourselves and for the coming of your kingdom saying: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us from trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Song
Benediction
Go now, remembering your Creator, living with purpose, courage, and hope. Do not settle for what fades, but seek what lasts. And may the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the presence of the Holy Spirit guide you, strengthen you, and fill your days. Amen.