EXPLORE GOD

“What On Earth Am I Here For?”
Pastor Dan Levy – September 24, 2023

Ecclesiastes teaches us that lasting meaning and purpose can never be produced in the following areas of life:

EDUCATION AND KNOWLEDGE.

I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them…

Ecclesiastes 2:15 — Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate. Both will die….This is all so meaningless!”

PLEASURE.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-3, 8 — I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life… I decided to cheer myself with wine…and had many beautiful concubines….I denied myself no pleasure….

Ecclesiastes 2:1 — But I found that this, too, was meaningless.

POSSESSIONS.

Ecclesiastes 2:4-8, 18-19 — I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. I built reservoirs to irrigate my many flourishing groves….I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces…. I had everything a man could desire!….[but] I must leave to others everything I have earned...How meaningless!

WORK AND ACHIEVEMENT.

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 — “I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless - like chasing the wind.”

FAME.

Ecclesiastes 2:9 — “So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me…”

Ecclesiastes 1:2 — “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”

1. What if JESUS IS THE ANSWER to what’s missing on the inside?

Ecclesiastes 3:11 — “He has planted eternity in the human heart…”

John 10:10 — “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

John 14:6 — “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Matthew 11:28-30 — “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

2. What if Jesus is the answer behind my PURPOSE — the REASON WHY I AM HERE?

Ephesians 2:9-10 — For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Revelation 3:20 — Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.