6th January 2024

6th January 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Ecclesiastes 1v2-11)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


Happy new year everyone - but now let me pop your balloon. What if I told you that 2024 will be exactly the same as 2023? What if I could say with relative certainty that for the vast majority of us, 2024 will see us doing the same things with the same people in the same jobs? Forgive me if I paint an overly bleak picture but famously Solomon began Ecclesiastes by declaring "Vanity of vanities...vanity of vanities! All if vanity." (v1)


The Hebrew word behind vanity is "hebel" which means all is like a mist or vapour or breath. Do you catch that image? Breathe out on a cold winter morning and you will see your breath appear for a moment and then it is gone. On another morning you might be walking your dog in the midst of fog. You can't see very much, the fog can't be touched or captured and soon the sun's heat comes and the fog is quickly gone.


According to Solomon the preacher, all is vanity and our lives are like a mist. It might seem like a depressing state of affairs but I suspect we all know it to be true. Have you ever wondered how you suddenly find yourself in your forties? Do you remember thinking that retirement was years away only to be weeks away from picking up your pension? Life is vanity, we are here for a little while and we soon fly away (Psalm 90v10).


To make it even more personal, Solomon asked "What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?" (v3) How often do we hear "what do you do for a living?" but rarely are we asked to consider what we gain from our work. Obviously we work to gain our monthly pay packet and many will gain a satisfying sense of accomplishment within their chosen career. But one day you won't be teaching anymore, preaching anymore or building anymore. Your working life will end and what happens then?   


We see this never ending change in the world around us. The earth continues on even though an estimated one hundred billion people have lived and died since the beginning of time (v4). The sun rises and sets every single day (v5). The wind can seem so powerful and free but even the wind has its circuit and it keeps on blowing throughout history (v6). The rivers flow into the sea but the sea is never filled and the rivers continue to run (v7).


Solomon described this ceaseless activity as "weariness" (v7) and while human senses are filled with stimuli each day, our lips can't say enough, our eyes can't see enough and our ears can't hear enough (v8). Indeed, the reality is that the world keeps on going and everything that is done has already been done (v9a), there is nothing new under the sun (v9b-10). If you weren't already depressed by all this, Solomon puts the icing on the cake by stating that eventually you and your deeds will not be remembered (v11).    


Even so, the Christian is not an nihilist which is someone who thinks life has no meaning. Brothers and sisters, as we are in Christ by faith so too our lives are given meaning by the Lord. The world may pay little or no regard to our faithfulness in work but the Lord sees and He remembers. You may think that there is no gain from the job you hate but we are to work for Christ nevertheless.


Solomon's "all is vanity" is met by Paul's "whatever you do" as the Apostle reminds us  "whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10v31) "whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3v17) "whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men" (Colossians 3v23). Life is a mist and soon we are gone, but in all your days no matter what you do, live with meaning by giving all glory to God alone. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q35 What is sanctification? Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
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