Meaninglessness

I previously came up with this as an attempt at a sermonette for my trip to Thailand...decided to post it coz it is a topic tt's so often on our minds. do feel free to comment on it.

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Let us read Ecclesiastes 2:18-26 which was written by a wise teacher:

18I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. 24A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Message

Have you ever wondered why we work, eat, or sleep? Why do we play and have fun? What is the meaning of life when all we do is live a life between birth and death?

For some of us, our lives are endless cycles like the rising and setting of the sun. When life cycles are mentioned, some of us may think of our next lives and the next, next life. Or picture a farmer waking up at dawn (when the sun rises), has his breakfast, goes out to the field to work the land, has his lunch, resumes his work, goes home at dusk (sunset) for his dinner and sleeps. The next day, he starts all over again. Life can be tiring when there is no end and no purpose/meaning.

But what if there is some meaning, so we say, even if it is only a little meaning to life? The farmer’s purpose is to feed himself and his family. Even my grandmother’s life seemed to have meaning in it which was to provide for her children. From childbearing to breastfeeding to spoon-feeding; and from clothing them to giving them away in marriage, my grandmother’s daily work revolved around/focused on her children. Do these then bring meaning to our life? What meaning will all these bring to us when we die in the end, for indeed all of us will die? Why do we labor and sweat so much for a life that will end in death? At the end of it all, it is just things that are temporary. In fact, our possessions will go to others, and our children will leave home. As verse 18 rightly puts it, 18I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. No. There is no meaning even in these things.

The teacher seemed to understand our thoughts and feelings of despair, describing his own feelings of despair in verses 18 and 20. (18I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun; 20So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.) Why indeed, do we do what we are doing when we cannot enjoy the product or fruit of our work/labor forever? When what we have sweated and labored for will be passed on to somebody who did not sweat and labor for it? This is enforced in 19And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. and 21For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. In fact, it makes us who have placed so much hope and energy into these things, very unhappy and at a loss. 21This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.

Therefore, meaningfulness is not a matter of how wise we are in doing our work, how smart we are such as in our studies, or how skillful we are such as our very skillful hand work in making furniture. The furniture will go to the people who buy them, and the money we earn will be worthless to us when we die.

Meaningfulness is also not a matter of how much we work and rest. Whether we work or sleep, labor or play, there is no difference. Just as verse 23 says 23All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest.

Then what is it? What is there in all our work for us? Surely, there must be something, a reason for what we do! Yes! You are right! There is a reason for and meaning to what we do. Let us think for a while what this reason might be… No? No answer? Well, let us read again: 18all the things I had toiled for under the sun, 19effort and skill under the sun, 20all my toilsome labor under the sun, and lastly, 22all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun. What is common in all these verses? That what we work for ‘under the sun’ will be difficult and meaningless. What does it mean by ‘under the sun’? It means anything that we can see and observe in this world. If we do anything in this world and in our lives without knowing why then it is a meaningless activity. But the teacher says that God gives us an answer to our search for meaning in what we do. God is over and above everything and he puts meaning in it, that we may enjoy what God has given us! Verse 24 writes: 24A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

For to work, eat, sleep and play, and all the other things of living are actually good. What makes them bitter, toilsome, and without meaning is us wanting to get more out of it than we should and can. We place all our hopes and meaning of life in these things that we forget that they are only things God gave us to enjoy His presence and what He had made. Just like the tools and parts that a car maker uses to make a car so that we can enjoy the car, so too our work, food and rest are tools and parts God gave us to enjoy the bigger picture – Him and His creation.

With God in our lives, we will also not be worried or despair over things that will not last. If we change the way we look at things in life by putting our hope in God and being with Him forever, then we will enjoy what God has given us. In addition, He will give us wisdom, knowledge and happiness as we see in verse 26, to enjoy these things that He has given us. However, if we do not change, and still think that what we do or work for will make us contented/satisfied or give ourselves credit for these things, then we will end up toiling and working so hard for nothing. As the wise teacher wrote in verse 26, 26but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

In response, let us ask God to be our purpose in life, so that we would not find all things meaningless. Let us put our hope in God, enjoying His presence and what He has given us. Let us thank Him for giving us something that will last forever instead of something that will not last, ‘a chasing after the wind’ – and that something that will last is a life with Him forever/an eternal life with God.

Meaninglessness or meaningfulness? One must choose...