Where do you look for meaning and happiness when so much of what we stake our lives on turns out to be as fleeting as the wind? The Teacher of Ecclesiastes runs a series of life experiments on our behalf, testing knowledge, pleasure, great achievements, wisdom and work, and each time reaches the same verdict (Ecclesiastes 1-2). This sermon shows why the absence of an answer is itself an answer, and what changes when God becomes the centre and an ordinary meal, a job or a sunny day turns into a gift. Listen and consider which questions are worth asking of your own life.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- The Teacher tests understanding the world, pleasure, great achievements, wisdom and work, and each time concludes it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. What do you think it means to look at life only "under the sun"?
- How does the tone of Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 change when the author starts talking about God, and why do the very things that were meaningless before become a gift?
- The sermon points out that people still try to fill their inner emptiness with alcohol, sex, shopping, success or fame. Where do you most often look for meaning and happiness apart from God?
- The stories of Michael Jackson and the character in Grisham's novel show that wealth and achievement did not make them happy. Why is it so hard for us to believe this until we experience it ourselves?
- The speaker stresses that a well asked question leads to good answers, and that having no answer shows we are looking in the wrong places. What question about the meaning of your life is worth asking differently than before?
- When God is at the center, even an ordinary meal, family or a sunny day becomes a gift. What everyday thing do you want to consciously thank God for this week, and how will you show Him trust in it?
