Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

Ecclesiastes, selected verses Genesis 1, selected verses

“The Meaning of Life, Part 2”

Rev. Meagan Boozer

Last week, we looked at the book of Ecclesiastes to help us answer the question, “What is the Meaning of Life?” Let’s do a little review:

In the beginning of the book, the ekklesiastic (the teacher) writes, “Vanity of vanities – all is vanity.” (In other words, all is futile, worthless, or empty of significance.) In the middle of the book he tells his readers to eat, drink, and be merry. At the end of the book he writes, “Now that all has been heard, the end of the matter is this: Fear God, and keep His commandments (Get a copy of last week’s message to fill you in on the details.)

We discovered together through looking at various other verses in the book that Solomon, the ekklestiastic, isn’t teaching us that life is empty of significance or devoid of worth. It seems he is teaching us that life is tough to figure out. It seems he is saying to us, “Listen folks, you live, you die, there’s a lot of stuff in the middle. I hope you have the best time you can, but in the end your very best bet is to do what God says, whether or not you feel like it, or whether or not it makes sense to you at the time.”

That was last week. Now the pressure’s on for “What is the Meaning of Life, Part 2.” (We’re only going to get two parts, because we have to move on next week in our Bible reading beyond Ecclesiastes to whatever God has for us next.)

Last week, I read the definition of the word ‘meaning?’ Let me repeat it, because it really helps us define the nature of our question: Meaning = “the thing one intends to convey // something meant or intended."

What did God, the Creator of life, intend when he gave life? If we can figure this out, we can know the answer to the question, “What is the Meaning of Life?” (Not what is the purpose of life? That’s a whole different question.) What is the meaning – what did God intend when he gave life?

“God, what is the meaning of life?”

Let’s lay a solid foundation here by understanding this truth: God is complete in and of Himself. God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit does not need anyone or anything else in order to be fulfilled and satisfied. God is completely both of these things all of the time, because God is completely whole. Therefore, God did not create the heavens and the earth out of his need for something. He did not need to create the seas, the animals, the trees, the flowers, and the mountains and valleys. He did not need to create human life. God does not need anything.

However, God obviously wanted to create these things. He wanted to create human life. The question is why?

“What was your intention, God,

in creating life?”

When you look at Genesis 1, throughout the chapter you will see that after God creates, he stands back and says, “It is good.” After creating human life, God stands back and says, “It is very good.” (1:31) Because God didn’t need to create us, but chose to create us anyway, I believe Scripture shows us that what God intended is two fold:

1. God wanted others

to keep company with him.

God and Adam enjoyed sweet company together. There was work to be done in the garden, yes – but that wasn’t the point of having human beings around. God enjoyed Adam knowing him, walking with him, talking with him, loving, and appreciating him – not for God’s sake, because God’s enjoyment is complete in and of itself – but God, who is the fullness of love, loved having Adam and Eve know love with him firsthand.

When Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, he had lived a long life in companionship with God. God had blessed him in untold ways. But towards the later years of his life, Solomon walked away from keeping company first and foremost with God. Let’s take a look at several verses in 1 Kings 10 and 11:

First, the good news in 10:23,24: “King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. The whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.

Now, the bad news in Chapter 11: “King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the Israelites, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you; for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods”; Solomon clung to these in love. Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David… Then the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this matter, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD commanded. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of your father David I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.”

In this book of Ecclesiastes, we see the result of a life lived in companionship with God turned into a life lived apart from companionship with God. Solomon gave in to temptations instead of doing what he knew God wanted him to do. He ate, drank, and was merry – that’s for sure – but he discovered that all of these things in excess, when done apart from God’s clear instructions, bring forth a life that is empty in significance, devoid of worth, and downright meaningless. Solomon was able at the end of the book to make one big wise final statement: “Fear God. Keep His commandments.” “For all the days of your life,” he teaches, “keep company with God.”

He learned that when we stop keeping company with God, we find ourselves in places of excess and emptiness wondering, “Does my life have any meaning at all?”

So, number one, God intended that we would keep company with him. That’s one reason he created us. Here’s the second:

2. God created us to add to the beauty.

Now, some of the guys in here might be thinking, “Oh here we go, this is what we get when we have a woman preacher: talk about love and companionship and beauty.”

Okay, I’m generalizing. Some of the girls in here might be thinking this, too! But let me say this right up front: Beauty is not restricted to “girly” things. This past week, John and I were blessed to be on the St. Lawrence River in a boat at night. The moon shining on the calm water - that was beautiful. We’ve all looked at the mountains around us in the springtime and in the Fall and said, “Isn’t it beautiful out here today?” A homerun hit can be a beauty. An 8-point buck walking right at you on the first day of hunting season is a beautiful moment. A rainbow after the rain is beautiful. A new truck, a bride walking down the aisle, a baby being baptized, a 24” trout, a plateful of blueberry pancakes – all of these things can be beautiful, because God has made everything beautiful for its time.

God is beautiful.

Psalm 27:4, “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

Psalm 50:1,2, “The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.”

I believe Scripture shows us that God intended for us, as his human creations, to add to the beauty. That’s why he created us in his image – giving us life wasn’t just some creative outlet for God – God created us in his beautiful image so that we could add to the beauty already around us.

But here’s a critical thing for us to recognize today: It if were not for the cross of Calvary, we wouldn’t even understand the meaning of the word beautiful, let alone the meaning of life. What Jesus did for us by dying on the cross defines the word ‘beautiful.’ Without his sacrifice, we would be living in a wasteland – if we were living at all.

Please listen to these words of the prophet Isaiah (Chapter 53), who is speaking of Jesus:

“There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.”

Because of Jesus’ sacrifice of his very life, because he took our sin and took it where it no longer can serve as a barrier between us and God, we can now keep close company with God – and we have the awesome privilege of adding to the beauty that Jesus revealed – thereby fulfilling God’s intention for our lives:

· Robin Coons has written a book, The Truth about Motherhood. This book adds to the beauty. I hope Robin shares it far and wide.

· Spectators at sporting events who call out encouragements to the players and the coaches add to the beauty.

· Sending flowers to a friend adds to the beauty.

· Holding someone else’s baby to give their arms a break adds to the beauty, and –

· Letting someone else who doesn’t get to hold a baby very much hold your baby, adds to the beauty.

· Betty Myer’s book, Cries of the Soul, adds to the beauty.

· Music in worship adds to the beauty.

· New lights, ceiling, & carpeting,

· An upgraded kitchen and newly carpeted dining area adds to the beauty.

· Choosing to allow 15 little 3 & 4 year olds to come to learn & play in your building adds to the beauty.

· Visiting someone in the hospital,

· Listening when someone needs an ear,

· Praying for those around us in need,

· Teaching children and adults the Word of God and building relationships with them, adds to the beauty,

· Treating your family with respect,

· Treating your co-workers with respect,

· Treating your employees, or employer with respect, and helping one another live in healthy balance between work and rest, adds to the beauty,

· Laughing adds to the beauty.

· Working together in honesty, openness, and intentionality,

· Speaking kindly adds to the beauty.

· Giving people struggling with the hard things of life a prayer shawl adds to the beauty.

· Financially and prayerfully supporting 19 little children all over the world so they can have food, clothing, an education, and a connection to a church family adds to the beauty.

I’m sure you understand. But please, please walk away today with this important truth: God’s intention for our lives to add to the beauty of Christ’s sacrifice in the world today, can only truly happen if we are keeping company with the Lord. There are lots of people out there who do lots of good and kind things for others, however, if they do it apart from the only One who is truly good, the beauty shared is merely temporary. God has designed things so that the beauty he enables us to add while in his company, will seep deeply into the souls of those who behold it. It is a Christ-born beauty that makes a difference in the eternal destiny of others who are searching for the meaning of life.

I thank God today, for his simple, yet profound intention when he created us. I thank God that though he didn’t need us, he chose to give us life. I thank God that the life he gave us didn’t go down the tubes when we chose against keeping company with him way back in the Garden of Eden. I thank God that he came to us in Jesus to get us back into keeping company with him, and I thank God that by the Holy Spirit, he continues to call to each of us to return to the beauty of the fellowship within his Church – and I thank God that within this context we can renew the promises made for us, and by us, as we gather around the font of baptism.

May the Lord help us stay close to him, who is the very essence of beauty. And by his grace, may the Lord enable us to add to the beauty, day by day, and year by year, into all eternity – for this is God’s intention for you and for me. Amen.

Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

09-10-06