The Vanity of Life Without God

We have entertainment. We have opportunities for experiences and travel and and and all sorts of things that will that will occupy our free time, and even free time is something that previous generations never dreamed of. And yet we find ourselves longing for something more. We have the world, and we have discovered that the world is not enough. [00:34:19] (33 seconds)  #WorldIsntEnough

And Solomon wrote three books in the Old Testament. He wrote Song of Songs. He wrote Proverbs or compiled Proverbs. Not everything in Proverbs, Solomon necessarily was an original saying, but he compiled wisdom from other sources. That's what wise people do by the way, they learn from others. And then he wrote Ecclesiastes. [00:36:45] (27 seconds)  #WisePeopleLearn

I don't believe Solomon had lost his faith. I believe that Solomon was exposing misplaced faith. Solomon was exposing trusting in the gifts of God and not the giver. See, a lot of times we as followers of Jesus follow Jesus because he has been good to us. We do live in the goodness of God and that goodness is manifested in in good gifts. And sometimes we get really fixated on the gifts of God and those are good things but they are not God things. And when we do that, we lose sight of the giver of the gift. And that's where Solomon is going to write this. [00:39:38] (56 seconds)  #TrustTheGiver

It's something that you can see. It's something that is tangible. You could feel, but it doesn't bear weight. It's it's not something that somehow is lasting. It's not something in which you can find meaning. The word means to be transient. [00:42:55] (19 seconds)  #TransientThings

This morning you walked out of your house on your way to your car, and out of the warmth of your home, you stepped out into 23 degree temperatures, and you inhaled and exhaled and you saw your breath this morning. It was there one moment and it was gone the next. That is evil. That's the Old Testament concept. He's saying, it's not that it's not real. Oh, it was very real. It's just so temporary and so fleeting and so unable to bear any weight and significance. [00:44:44] (38 seconds)  #FleetingBreath

And Solomon is saying that is the truth of all of life. It is it is futile. Everything he says is futile. It it ultimately comes to nothing. Solomon, as we walk through this book, is going to apply this to work, to wealth, to pleasure, to relationships, even to our use of time. He's going to say it all ultimately comes to nothing. It leaves us feeling hollow. There's something more. There's something missing. [00:45:22] (32 seconds)  #AllIsVanity

This is a this is a man who's not failing. This is a man who is succeeding. He is on top of the mountain but he has discovered it is a mountain of evil. Not evil, evil. A mountain of futility. Here is what is true. You are a person that is has three dimensions. You are body, soul, and spirit. [00:47:13] (30 seconds)  #SuccessCanBeEmpty

Here is what is true. You are a person that is has three dimensions. You are body, soul, and spirit. And you need to understand that finite things cannot satisfy your soul. Finite things cannot do infinite work. That's just not possible. Why is it that when we succeed, we always ask ourselves the question, what's next? What do what do I need to do next? What what's on the what's next on the agenda? Because we are constantly seeking to satisfy our soul with achievement and accomplishment and it does not work. [00:47:33] (48 seconds)  #SoulNotStuff

Why does it not work? Let me tell you why. God built a world in the beginning in which there could be perfect satisfaction. And then he put people in it. And the people chose to rebel against him and do it their own way. And when they did, the Bible says that the entire world system, all of creation was affected. It's in Romans chapter eight verse 20. [00:48:21] (40 seconds)  #CreationAffectedBySin

but it works with a sense of futility. It doesn't satisfy, it doesn't fulfill its ultimate purpose and neither do the people that God put in this creation apart from him. See, life in and of itself is pointless and that leads us to that sense of frustration. Now I know what you want me to do. You want me to resolve this right now. Oh, it's gonna get worse before it gets better. Because Solomon then goes on to say, [00:49:25] (36 seconds)  #FutilityLeadsToFrustration

It's interesting to me that he starts that not with the way we would typically say it. We would say a generation comes and a generation goes but look at what he says. He says a generation goes and a generation comes. He focuses on the departure, not the arrival. Death, not birth. He says that generation goes and the earth just keeps turning. That's what he means by the earth goes on for the sun comes up the next morning. [00:53:05] (28 seconds)  #GenerationsGo

I I don't wanna alarm any of you, but someday, you're gonna die, and I am too. Someday, it's gonna happen. And we're gonna cry a few tears and sing some sad songs, and people are gonna say some nice things about you whether they were true or not. Then we're gonna take you, we're gonna dig a hole, and we're gonna put you in it. We're gonna put some dirt on top of it. This is not pleasant, is it? But you know what's gonna happen thirty minutes after that? Your family is gonna be sitting in the fellowship hall, eating potato salad, talking about who's gonna win the national championship the next night. A generation goes and the earth just keeps spinning. [00:53:33] (48 seconds)  #MortalityAndMemory

He pictures the sun like a runner. A runner on a track. Picture a quarter mile track. And that that runner takes off and that runner runs. The sun comes up in the east and it runs all the way across to the west. Then at night, it runs all the way back under the earth and on the other side of the earth and it comes back up. Panting, he says, out of breath. The sun is constantly running but there is no finish line. Just keeps running. Day after day, day upon end. [00:54:42] (34 seconds)  #RelentlessRoutine

That's the way some of us feel. We just don't have enough left in the tank. We we don't have we don't have any energy left for this. Why? Because the repetition of life apart from God has is draining. It leaves us empty and it leaves us drained and discontent. But know this, discontent is not rebellion. Sometimes it's God's mercy to keep us from settling on earth bound blessings. [00:58:11] (35 seconds)  #DiscontentCanBeMercy

We've been told that. Oh, next great development is gonna revolutionize life. They believed that when they invented the wheel. We believed that when electricity went into everybody's homes. Now did it change some things about it? Yes, it did. Did it revolutionize our life? No. I'm gonna tell you, it didn't. [01:00:01] (25 seconds)  #TechnologyDoesntFixTheHeart

When the Internet when Al Gore invented the Internet, It was gonna revolutionize our lives. Everything was gonna be better. Everything was gonna be easier. Not so much. Now right now, it's AI. That's gonna be the end all, be all. It's gonna revolutionize our lives. I'm gonna tell you the hope is not in the future. The hope is in the God who holds eternity. [01:00:27] (31 seconds)  #HopeBeyondTech

But every episode of the Jetsons, he had the same problems that people have now. He had frustration with his job. He had conflict with his boss. He had parenting challenges with his teenage daughter or with his little boy. He had marital issues with his wife. In every single one of those episodes, he had the same problems that exist in our lives now. Let me tell you why. Because technology changes the environment, not the heart. Never does. [01:01:31] (41 seconds)  #HeartNotHardware

And our problems haven't changed in 2026. They haven't because life without God is monotonous and repetitious and pointless and disappointing and in steps Jesus into a world of evil, of futility, of meaninglessness, of of of a life that that bears no weight, of people who simply were existing. [01:02:50] (36 seconds)  #TimelessNeedForJesus

``God didn't intend for life to be the monotonous, pointless, disappointing, constant struggle that we make it out to be. And when we live our life apart from him, it will be that. And we will search for fulfillment in entertainment and accomplishment in achievement, and it will all leave us just where Tom Brady was saying, there's gotta be something else. There's not something else, but there's someone else and his name is Jesus. [01:03:41] (46 seconds)  #JesusIsEnough