The Search for Meaning Under the Sun
Pray – (1/2 minute)
Read – (2 1/2 minutes) – “The word of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: ‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ Says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’ ” (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2)
Passage: Psalm 68:28-35
Ecclesiastes is the Greek word for the Hebrew word meaning “teacher” or “preacher”. The root is “ecclesia”, the word used in the New Testament for church. It means “the called out one” or “the assembly”. The title implies that Solomon, the author is calling an assembly for people to come and learn from what he has learned about life. It was written by Solomon in his senior years after he had spent his 40 year reign experiencing everything this world has to offer and seeing if their is any true meaning in life when God is take out of the equation.
Solomon could share all this because God had offered him anything he wanted early in his reign. Solomon’s response was to ask for wisdom, or a “discerning heart”. (Read 1 Kings 3) God gave Solomon the capacity to learn and understand everything he studied and to discern the nature and character of people and how the world was. He spoke of it as life “under the sun”, a term he uses 29 times in the book. His overall perspective of the world under the sun was that everything was meaningless or empty. That pessimistic view is only changed when one moves life for under the son to life “in the SON”, in having a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Getting a proper perspective on life will help you understand God’s purpose for you. That will lead to developing right priorities, which will then be seen in the passion you will have for life. Solomon saw life under the sun as meaningless. Life in the SON is meaningful. Choose that life and you will find true meaning and fulfillment.
Apply - (2 1/2 minutes)
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Pray - (1 1/2 minutes)