23rd April 2024

23rd April 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Ecclesiastes 12v8)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


The common refrain that runs throughout Ecclesiastes is "vanity of vanities...all is vanity." (v8). Solomon uses this turn of phrase or something like it twenty-seven times throughout his book with the last occurrence coming in Ecclesiastes 12v8. We can't do business with Ecclesiastes without wrestling with the concept of "vanity".


Are we to understand "vanity" by seeing life as utterly pointless? By no means. Nihilism is the belief that all of life is meaningless and we must stress that Christianity is not nihilistic. Instead we remember that the Hebrew word translated as vanity is "hebel" which means all is like a mist or vapour or breath.


Solomon isn't a nihilist but he is a realist. Life is incredibly short and trying to hold on to it is like trying to catch the wind. We can't stop the clock and we would do well to remember life's fleetingness. Money, fame, power, looks, sex, career, knowledge and a host of other things cannot save or fulfil or be taken to the grave. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.


As Christians we understand the concept of vanity and we respond appropriately. The vanity of life doesn't cause us to despair because if we know that life is fleeting then we equally acknowledge that Christ is our firm foundation. To build your life on the rock that is Christ is an incredibly wise decision indeed. You can't hold the wind but by faith in Christ, He holds you.


Brothers and sisters, may you never be seduced by the vanities of this dying world. In Christ your inheritance is a lasting one which is kept in heaven for you and can never perish, spoil or fade (1 Peter 1v3-4). The old hymn was right..."On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q20 Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.
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