St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

August 9 and 12, 2007

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And 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. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For 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. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief, even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction is his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To 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.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

What’s the point? I cut my grass the other day. It finally rained a little and my grass went from brown and yellow and crinkly to kind of mostly green so I started mowing. But then my lawnmower broke down. So it’s partly mowed and partly not. I pulled some weeds from around the trees and between the flowers. But some of them broke off right at the ground level—so the root’s still there—so it will grow right back! I got my hair cut the other day. I had my wild eye brows trimmed. Grandpas have little gray hairs grow in their ears. I even had some gel put in my hair. It will look ok for a little while—but before you know it—my eyebrows will be wild again! What’s the point? You can vacuum with a passion—sucking up dirt and grit—moving furniture out of the way—putting on attachment after attachment to get the dirt that is down in the crack in the carpet next to the wood molding along the edges of the room. And then somebody who was mowing walks through and all those little green pieces of grass that were on their ankles and between the sock and the top of your shoe all come loose—and you need to vacuum some more. You can make your bed—smooth the sheets and blanket and quilt. You can fluff the pillows and place them with the open part to the outside—and cover them with the big puffy pillow shams. And the next thing you know—it’s time to throw the shams out of the way and pull back the quilt and climb under the cover and it all gets wrinkled and mussed! You can wash the dishes and put them in the cupboard—only to get them back out and get them all dirty again. Pay the bills and the mailman brings more. Read the newspaper or not—it’s time to bundle them up and recycle them. What’s the point? What’s the use? Why do we do all the things we do—over and over and over again? If you stop and think about it—it can be frustrating! It seems pointless and useless and meaningless. Today God’s Word is again exceedingly practical when it asks:

What is the Meaning of Life?

1. It’s not about toil and things

2. It’s about God and contentment

It isn’t very often that you hear sermons from the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes means the teacher, the preacher. Ecclesiastes begins, “The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.” I have always been under the impression that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes—but it’s ok for you to know there are plenty of theologians who think someone else wrote Ecclesiastes. Even Martin Luther thought it could have been someone besides Solomon. If we had to know—Jesus would have told us point blank!

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” Meaningless! The King James said, “Vanity of vanities!” Pointless—useless—worthless! All the things and stuff that people race and chase after—apart from God’s grace are pointless—useless—worthless! I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And 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. Think of all the things and stuff that Solomon had gathered to himself. He had royal robes—clothing made from the most beautiful cloth and fabric—Egyptian cotton—made by the finest seamstresses with thread that was literally coated with gold if he wanted. And yet remember what Jesus said—in his sermon on the grassy hillside? Jesus said, “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So, do not worry, saying. ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:28-34 It happens all the time. I can still remember when I was little—a neighbor lady a couple of doors down died. She had lived through the Great Depression—that time in history when our nation went through a very difficult time—when there were shortages of some of the most basic foods and supplies. A time when there was rationing. In a painful overreaction—in painful fear that this could happen again—this little grandma had stored in her basement—huge amounts of flour—for baking bread. She had hundreds and hundreds of pounds of flour—all stale and spoiled. She had hundreds and hundreds of pairs of work gloves. She had a basement full of food that was stale and spoiled and full of worms and bugs. People came with a literal dumpster—and threw it all away! It happens all the time! Parents go to heaven—and their children come—and have a garage sale—a rummage sale—selling their parents’ things and stuff—for a dollar or 50¢.

What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief, even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. Solomon is talking about all the stress that comes with working so hard. All his days his work is pain and grief. Even at night his mind does not rest… Do you know what Solomon is talking about? They say lots and lots of Americans have trouble sleeping. It’s not because we don’t have wonderful mattresses—and pillows made from the softest feathers from geese tummies—with sheets made from the softest cotton—in rooms that have window treatments that keep out the sunshine—with the temperature and humidity carefully controlled. And still we have trouble sleeping. Is it because of our job—the pressure and stress of where we work? The other day—we stopped at one of those antique and craft stores. I had a grande cup of coffee—so I waited on a log bench outside—watching one of those guys who carves things out of logs with a chainsaw. He had this chunk of a tree—about 4 feet high—that he was carving into a black bear—holding a sign that said, “Welcome!” What a funny job! You don’t have co-workers. You work all by yourself. You don’t have to listen to anybody—what with the noise of the chain-saw and the ear muffs to protect your hearing—you can’t hear anything! Around and around this log he went—cutting off big and small chunks—wiping the saw dust off. As he worked he switched to smaller and smaller chainsaws—pulling, pulling, pulling the starter and the smaller chain made more precise cuts. And I thought that might be a nice job. But not much contact with people! When people are crabby and unreasonable—when people are difficult or greedy or lazy or jealous or unkind or gossip—they make work difficult. When people don’t do their job and do it well—it makes it miserable for everyone else. When things go wrong at work—it’s hard not to bring that grief home with you. When things go wrong at work—or if we become obsessed with work—it can keep us up half the night—making it difficult—even impossible to sleep. And that’s wrong!

A 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, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? Eat and drink and find satisfaction in your work! What a precious gift from God that is! You can find satisfaction in fixing lawnmowers! My lawnmower broke down the other day. It started making terrible noises—loud banging noises! Not good! What could be wrong? I had pictures of an engine overheating—a piston inside—metal against metal until the whole thing froze up! But I check the oil all the time. Pull out the little dipstick and check the oil with great faithfulness! The oil is good. The gas is good—the very best gas. I put a new air filter in—not long ago. That was the problem last time! The spark plug—that could be it! The only other variable I could think of that I could do anything about. Down to Ace for a new one. Socket wrench the new one in and pull the cord and it sounded worse than ever! Haul the mower down to the back of Ace. How much for a new mower? I shudder to think. You know what’s wrong? The blade was coming loose! Get a big wrench—really crank it tight. And it sounds great—what with plenty of oil and a brand new sparkplug and a clean air filter and the best gas! How swell is that? Do you know that feeling—of taking something broken and fixing it? This, too, is a gift from Jesus. Whatever you do—do it with all the skill and ability Jesus gives you! Have a good breakfast—then work hard. Each day is a new beginning—a new start—doing whatever you do to the glory of God! Work hard. Take a break. Work even harder—have lunch—and before you know it another day is done! Work as hard as you can with the powerful determination and forgiving love that only Jesus can supply! God will be glorified—and your corner of the world will be a better place for Jesus’ sake!

To 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. The person who pleases God—that would be us—when we have all our sins washed away by Jesus’ blood! We please God when he sees us—through the filter of Jesus’ unconditional forgiveness and grace. To people who are children of God by grace through faith—God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness. Wisdom, knowledge and happiness. That’s understanding and contentment. It’s being content with what you are and what you have! It’s understanding what’s going on. It’s making the most of every opportunity in this sin infected world—to serve Jesus faithfully!

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” It wasn’t too many years ago—that they did a survey—asking lots and lots of people to make a list of all thing things they needed—really needed—simply had to have--in order to be happy. People sat down with paper and pencil and made a list. It worked out to about 70 things—essential for day to day life. People wrote down things like a safe warm dry bed to sleep in. A refrigerator and freezer to keep their food fresh. Bath tubs and even showers to keep clean. Today people say they have to have cell phones—have to have Internet access—have to have cable TV—even premium channels—have to have video games—have to have their own car so they can come and go whenever they please! It happens from time to time—that a bridge collapses—a bridge our family was on again and again—at a wedding—the weekend before the collapse. Or a mine caves in—such a terrible collapse that at first they thought it was an earthquake! When things like that happen—the people actually literally affected by that disaster are reminded—things and stuff don’t matter. How much money you have in the bank doesn’t matter. How big your flat screen TV is—doesn’t matter if the people you love are hurt or called home to heaven. What matters is people—bought back by Jesus’ innocent life and tortured death on the cross. What matters is going home to heaven. What is the meaning of life? It’s all about getting ready to come home to heaven. Home to heaven—that’s all that matters. Home to heaven—that’s all that counts for now and forever! Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz