Pastor Tim Patoka
Under The Sun #5: Nothing New Under The Sun July 12, 2020 Life Under The Sun Ecclesiastes 1:1-14 1) Humans Only Find Vapor 2) God Alone Gives Meaning
People of all times and all places have wondered what the meaning of life is – what truly matters – and have gone to great lengths to find that answer. Ever since the Renaissance, there has been an emphasis on science to know as much as possible about everything in hopes that we can find this answer. Philosophers of all ages have dedicated themselves to answer life’s three big questions – Who am I? Where do I come from? Why am I here? If a person can answer those questions, they’ll know what matters in life.1 However, there are more common ways people try to find this answer. According to some researchers, the generations before me did this by accumulating money, possessions, and prestige. Supposedly my and the next generation are more interested in finding fulfillment now and making positive differences because who knows what the future is going to be. Believers are not exempt from this search for life’s meaning. However, we have something the unbelieving world does not. And that’s God’s Word, a source that I hope we all first go to in order to answer whatever questions we may have. When it comes to figuring out what truly matters in life, the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes is a great place to start. It is all about how one Old Testament believer named King Solomon – aka Ecclesiastes2 – went about to find the meaning of life under the sun. Solomon begins by investigating what this world without God can offer and comes to the sobering conclusion that humans will only find meaningless vapor. However, after including faith in what God has done and promised for us, he then lifts our spirits with the lasting meaning that God alone gives. Even though King Solomon wrote this book nearly 3,000 years ago, it is worthy of our time this morning so that we truly matters in our lives under the sun.
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If you are interested in knowing more about Ecclesiastes and its connections to modern philosophy, I highly recommend reading Northwestern Publishing House’s Your Life Has Meaning by Luke Thompson. 2 The Greek word for teacher or preacher. This title correctly identifies King Solomon’s role in this book. 1
Pastor Tim Patoka
Under The Sun #5: Nothing New Under The Sun July 12, 2020 1) Humans Only Find Vapor
King Solomon begins his investigation by looking at nature. The earth remains standing despite all that happens to and in it. At worse, earth’s features are altered or displaced when natural disaster strikes. The sun continues to rise in the east and set in the west. Hopefully it would be soon accompanied by our monsoon rains. The wind will always blow from a high to a low-pressure system. The water cycle will continue to function with its precipitation, runoff, and evaporation – even under the worst climate change models. Putting it all together, Solomon observes that nature doesn’t change much at all. After looking at nature, King Solomon then turns his attention to humanity’s experiences in our lives under the sun. Countless generations come and go, but, by and large, there’s little to show for it. When a person reaches adulthood, they discover that much of daily life is tedious and tiresome until they finally pass away. No matter how much we see, hear, or indulge the senses, we’re never completely satisfied. And when we look at what we do or experience, it’s likely already happened in some form before. As our worship service theme states, “there is nothing new under the sun.”3 Putting it all together, Solomon observes that humans don’t have much of a lasting effect in the grand scheme of things. Given nature’s permanence and humanity’s repetitive acts with fleeting results, King Solomon concludes that, when trying to find life’s meaning without God, humans will only find vapor. What we have is there for a little bit and counts for something, but in the long run it doesn’t mean or do much at all. And if we continue to exclude God in this search for what matters in life, it’s as effective as chasing after the wind. As I mentioned before, even King Solomon wrote this book nearly 3,000 years ago, it still describes our case today. Nature continues to do what God has created and preserved it to do – the earth stands, the sun shines, the wind blows, and the streams flow. Generations come and go with little to show for it except tedium and toil. Our current hardships are not new under the sun for they have historical similarities. Our current employment rate is still better than during the Great Depression.4 The Spanish Flu of 1918 not only threatened the whole world,
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Ecclesiastes 1:9b. All Bible quotations are from the Evangelical Heritage Version unless otherwise stated. 4 https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/dep1929.htm (accessed on July 10, 2020). 2
Pastor Tim Patoka
Under The Sun #5: Nothing New Under The Sun July 12, 2020 but also targeted those in the younger than 5 and 20 – 40 age brackets.5 Our current calls for systemic reform are similar to what led to the Race Riots in the 1960s.6 That’s just within our country’s recent past! You would find even more historical similarities if you broadened your search. Now to be clear, this isn’t to say that our current hardships aren’t real, troubling, or frustrating. Like you, I do not enjoy hearing the daily doom and gloom in the news. Like you, I pray for these problems to be fixed and quickly done away with. Yet we continue to live in this sin-ridden world. As its salt and light,7 will need to participate in it as directed by God’s Word to ward off sin’s devastating effects and to build bridges to the gospel. But there’s also the sobering truth that no matter what we do or don’t, we cannot prevent all future pandemics, economic downturns, or the painful ways our sinful nature shows itself in institutions and organizations. Sin is and will always be a part of this world until the Last Day. And if we try to find the meaning to life under the sun without God, we will come to the same conclusion King Solomon did, “Nothing but vapor…Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes….It is all chasing the wind.”8 Given nature’s permanence and humanity’s repetitive acts with fleeting results, we only find vapor. And if everything is ultimately as meaningless as vapor, wouldn’t we also be tempted to think the same of God himself? 2) God Alone Gives Meaning Life under the sun without God doesn’t offer much. But once we lift our gaze to the one who is over the sun, everything changes for the better. For it is through faith in what God has done and promised for us that we receive the meaning to life which he alone gives. King Solomon alludes to this in the second half of his book of Ecclesiastes. However, the Apostle Paul says it more clearly from our Second Lesson in Philippians chapter 3, “But even more than that, I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish, so 5
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html (accessed on July 10, 2020). 6 https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-andmaps/race-riots-1960s (accessed on July 10, 2020). 7 Matthew 5:13-16. 8 Ecclesiastes 1:2,14b. 3
Pastor Tim Patoka
Under The Sun #5: Nothing New Under The Sun July 12, 2020 that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own…but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God by faith.”9 What the Apostle Paul calls rubbish is what King Solomon calls a vapor. Rather than find life’s meaning in those things, Christians find their life’s meaning in God and in his righteousness that he gives. This God-given meaning of righteousness will never disappoint because it has already been accomplished. Thousands of years before King Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, God promised to send a Savior and make right what humans messed up. God affirmed and repeated that promise before, during, and after Solomon’s day until the time came for the baby to born in Bethlehem’s lowly manger. As God had promised, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, lived, died, and rose so that righteousness and forgiveness could be given to all with faith who live under the sun. That is a historical fact with eternal results that can never be undone or called into question. This God-given meaning of righteousness will never disappoint because it has already been given to you through faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. No matter how many times we have not taken people’s words and actions in the kindest possible way,10 given a helping hand to those in difficulties, or followed the government’s guidelines on social distancing and the like, we are right in God’s sight. We have a Savior and his gift of forgiveness for these very same sins and every other one. We have his promises of providence, protection, and peace in our lives under the sun. We have a home waiting for us over the sun where sin hasn’t and will never leave its ugly mark. It is because of this righteousness that God alone gives that we can say with the Apostle Paul, “I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him.”11 Yet here we still are, living life under the sun. We know not to fixate on the vapor of this world. However, where do we go from here? Thankfully, King Solomon gives us some direction at the end of Ecclesiastes about how to live our lives under the sun now that we are mindful of the righteous meaning to life that God alone gives. After explaining his investigative methods, King Solomon gives 9
Philippians 3:8,9. See the section on the 8th Commandment in Luther’s Catechism for more on this particular point. 11 Philippians 3:8,9a. 10
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Pastor Tim Patoka
Under The Sun #5: Nothing New Under The Sun July 12, 2020 us this concluding word, “This is the conclusion of the matter. Everything has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments. For mankind, this is everything.”12 We fear God and keep his commandments. To fear God doesn’t mean to be afraid of him. Rather, it is to have a thankful respect for who God is and what he has graciously done for us. We talked about this with the righteousness God gives to us through faith. If we continually fear God, we will naturally ground ourselves in the meaning of life God gives us and live in the joy that comes from it. We will also guard ourselves from falling back to sinful habits of fixating on this world’s vapors. To keep God’s commandments is to let our biblically defined fearful hearts show themselves in our everyday lives. This doesn’t come easily. We would rather live for ourselves than for God. We deal with communities and families that have rejected, ignored, and perverted God’s Word. We live in a sinful world that is always looking for ways to undermine the faith and those who walk in it. However, for we who live under the sun and have faith in Jesus as our Savior, this is everything we could ask for. We don’t have to wonder about the earth searching for the meaning to life and be stuck with only finding vapor. Instead, God gives this meaning to us through faith in his Son. We are surely righteous because of what God has accomplished and given to us. While we will still participate in the troubles and joys of this world, we know there is more to this life under the sun than meaningless vapor. There is our God whom we fear, plenty of commandments to show our thanks to him while living under the sun, and his promise of what will be ours when we go over the sun for all eternity. May our Lord help us focus on him and always value the righteousness he gives so that we know what truly matters in this life under the sun. Amen.
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Ecclesiastes 12:13. 5