LIFE was not intended to be Meaningless

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." (Ecc. 1:1)

SCRIPTURES:
Ecclesiastes Chapters One and Two and Ephesians 2
I have always marveled at these chapters and today's reading allows them to tie in together. In verse 16 and 17 of Ecclesiastes Chapter One, we find the words: "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." 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." Life has no meaning when we only look at ourselves and think within ourselves. It has no meaning when we look under the sun - but above the son and unto the Lord - meaning is found.

OBSERVATIONS:
What is the meaning of life? The meaning of life is to live a life like that of Jesus Christ where we love God with all our heart, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves in order to arrive at this conclusion we will look at both the book of Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon, and the New Testament.(Ecclesiastes 1:1-3 NIV) The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: {2} "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." {3} What does man gain from all his labour at which he toils under the sun?Is there a meaning to life and if so what is it? Solomon , the wisest king who ever lived. He was wealthy, wise and lived in peace. He accomplished great things and by his own admission had all that anyone could desire. But in his old age his impending death made him question whether it had any point to it. He surveyed the whole range of his life and found everything is meaningless and that the only "wise course" was that of personal satisfaction in the ordinary things of life. (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 NIV) Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him--for this is his lot. {19} When God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, --this is a gift of God. {20} He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.
Specifically Solomon list seven pointless pursuits:

1. Seeing It All - The satisfaction of the senses - which can never be satisfied. (Ecclesiastes 1:8 NIV) All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear of hearing - there is noise everywhere.
2. Making Your Mark - Trying to gain a place in history because nothing is truly "new" it has all been done before or happened before. People may invent bigger and better but there is nothing really new under the sun. Soon you and your achievements are forgotten. (Eccl 9-11)
3. Reforming Others -. Trying to "straighten out the world" - which is futile and impossible . (Eccl 1:15) The world is too perverse to be "fixed" by our imperfect hands.
4. Being A Know It All - The accumulations of wisdom which only weighs the heart down with grief (1:16-18) and though the pursuit of wisdom is as light compared to darkness ultimately there is the same fate for the fool and the wise man - both die. (2:12-15). If you don't know God and His power and grace and love what do you really know?
5. The Pursuit of Pleasure- Solomon pursued of pleasure, wine and enjoyment with his mind still guiding him. The first Epicurean concluded that it was meaningless and accomplished nothing. (Eccl 2:1-3)
6. Grand Achievements - Are in the end a grand disappointment - without God in your life. (Eccl. 2:4-11) Ecclesiastes does not say it but this phase of Solomon's life involved forced labor and high taxes that eventually lead to a divided Kingdom due to his son Rehoboam's overbearing attitude to these issues. As well as the Temple Solomon build palaces and many grand works that made Israel the envy of her neighbors. (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 NIV) I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. {11} Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. Deal or no Deal - so you win the deal - the money and the applause but then what?
7. Building A Dynasty.It bothered Solomon that because he had to die he would have to leave the fruit of his labors to someone who had not worked for them.(2:21) In fact he calls it a "great evil". Solomon may have suspected Rehoboam's delinquency when he said (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19 NIV) I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. {19} And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. This comprehensive list of what is meaningless sharpened Solomon's appreciation of the things that were good. While there has been very little reference to God up to this point Solomon puts his finger on the pulse of our lives when he points out that the difference between the good life and the wasted and meaningless life is the blessing of God upon our lives. (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 NIV) A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, {25} for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? {26} To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Pleasures may exist in the world but the ability to enjoy them is "from the hand of God".Solomon then concludes that the meaning of an event depends on its time and purpose. (Ecclesiastes 3). This well known passage (and great classis song) about a "time to live and a time to die" etc. is not a schedule of events as much as a statement that everything has its place and that even war, death and loss can be "beautiful in their time".. It is not the event or the action that contains the meaning. It is the event or action fitted into God's plans and purposes that is beautiful and meaningful. Events out of their time can be ugly and callous. Even the most intimate and pleasurable events do not "contain meaning" in and of themselves. Sexual satisfaction which is beautiful in marriage hurts outside of it. The meaning of our lives depends on their connection with God's plans and purposes. When we are connected to God and His ways, even the most routine events are beautiful in their time.Toward the end of the book Solomon starts reflecting on the need to start obeying God while one is still young and before old age and death take their toll. Unless one aligns oneself with God's blessing it will soon be too late to truly enjoy life. Finally the last few verses of the book reveal that there will be a judgment after death and that it is this judgment that will give meaning and value to all that we have done. "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." To sum up - the only way to have a truly meaningful life is to have it focused on loving God and your neighbor in a disciplined, prayerful and thoughtful way. If that were not enough admonition for us - we had in today's reading:The Meaning of LifeEphesians 2Made Alive in Christ
   As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live (a meaningless life) when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

APPLICATION:
Let us live our lives alive in Christ - this allows for a meaningful life for sure. We live this life of meaning by:
Receiving God's Great Love
Opening to God's Mercy
Being made Alive in Christ.
Being Saved by His Grace.
Letting God do His Work in and Though You (this work is eternal and not meaningless)

PRAYER: Lord, help me to set my heart on you - to look above now and beyond the Sun to you. May I trust you with all that I have and serve you with all my heart. I am your workmanship. Amen