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Q&A Part 1 – What Is the Point of Life?

Pastor Scott Applegate

Sermon notes:

  • What were your main concerns and cares over the past week? What have you thought about the most? What has your attention and affection?
  • Do you find yourself spending more time on things that, at the end, become meaningless?
  • Do you find yourself working for things that, at the end, become meaningless?

 

  • Do you find yourself tired and worn out – too tired for God’s work because you have spent all your time and energy trying to “get ahead” in this life?

“We long for a meaningful life, but many of us have exchanged meaning, purpose, and abundance for overcommitment, pressure, and hectic schedules. It is time to reflect and regroup. What are we chasing after? What are we looking for? As Christians we say we are looking for God, but when we stop to reflect on our lives, we wonder if we are more caught up in the pursuits of our culture. We wonder if we are looking for God in the wrong places.” Dan Allender

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” Ecclesiastes 1:2 NIV

“I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”     Ecclesiastes 1:14 NIV

  • “Under the sun” – Poetically describes life and perspective here on earth apart from God

 

  • “Chasing after the wind” – Pursuits of joy and purpose outside of God are endless and futile

Five Results of Not Knowing the Meaning of Your Life

  1. Life seems pointless (Ecclesiastes 1:2-4)
  1. Life feels tiresome (Ecclesiastes 1:4-8)
  1. Life is un-fulfilling (Ecclesiastes 1:8-10)
  1. Life seems insignificant (Ecclesiastes 1:11)
  1. Life seems out of control (Ecclesiastes 1:15)

Four Options When You Don’t Know the Meaning of Your Life

“How can anyone discover what life means? It is too deep for us, too hard to understand.” Ecclesiastes 7:24 GNT

  1. You can guess
  1. You can make it up
  1. You can escape it
  1. You can discover the real meaning of it

“After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for.” Ecclesiastes 12:13 GNT

  • The meaning of life is preparation for eternity

“He has also set eternity in the human heart…” Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV

How to Prepare for Eternity

  • Get to know God

 

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”                    John 17:3 NIV

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” John 1:12 NIV

  • Give your life away

 

“Then Jesus said to the disciples, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who keeps his life for himself shall lose it; and anyone who loses his life for me shall find it again. What profit is there if you gain the whole world—and lose eternal life? What can be compared with the value of eternal life?” Matthew 16:24-26 LB

“It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.” Ephesians 2:10 LB

  • Grow in Christ-likeness

“For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him—and all along he knew who would—should become like his Son, so that his Son would be the First, with many brothers.” Romans 8:29 LB

  • Glorify God by sharing the good news with others

 

“Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.” Psalm 96:3 NIV