Sermons

DUST IN THE WIND
(Ecclesiastes 1: 1-11)
Rev. Luis S. Notario

THE AUTHOR of the book of Ecclesiastes says in the text that life is futile. He says that life is a never ending cycle – work, home, work, home. Today, young people only think of eating, drinking and being merry; young couples exert effort to gain more, acquire more – buy a new house, a car, and all material things they want to buy and yet they are never satisfied. Among older people, they consider life to have stopped. They are stocked up inside their homes, during winter time, they shovel the snow, they till their gardens on summer time; they baby sit for their grandchildren; cook for their children; watch TV for the rest of the day. Are these all there is to do?

Man continuously seeks the answers to the infinite questions. Man is committing the same mistakes today as the early people did because he is not seeking God’s will and studying God’s Word. Life seems futile when one doesn’t know the purpose of his life.

The book of Ecclesiastes is divided into three (3) parts:
1. Problem of finding the meaning of life (Chapters 1 & 2);
2. The problem studied;
3. The solution to the problem of the real meaning of life.

The word Ecclesiastes literally means an assembly for the purpose of teaching or addressing them; also it is derived from the word ecclesia which is translated to the word church – an assembly of born-again believers.
The original Hebrew name of Ecclesiastes is “koheleth” which refers to a teacher, preacher or debater or arguer.

Who is the author of the book of Ecclesiastes? Most scholars believe that the author of the said book is no other than King Solomon, for the following reasons:

1. The Preacher refers to the son of David, and king of Jerusalem which points out to King Solomon (v.1) The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2. All characteristics points out to King Solomon’s.
a) Wisdom - I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge (Ecc. 1:16).
And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly…
b) Riches - I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts (Ecc. 2:8).
c) Peace in the land during the reign of King Solomon - There was no internal rebellion during his time. He had all the time to study, research and investigate the real meaning of life. He ruled for 40 years, from 971 – 931 BC.

1. It may be noted that the word “vanity” which means futile, transitory, temporary, meaningless is mentioned 39 times in this book. It indicates that life is meaningless; and that man after his death is no longer remembered. Personally, I disagree with this because among believers, this is not true. But a life lived without Christ really may be meaningless. That is why there are enormous cases of suicides because they don’t want to “prolong their agony”. But without their knowing it, immortal agony awaits those who die without Christ in their lives.

2. The words “under the sun” is mentioned 25 times.
a) Literally it means living under heaven (on earth)
b) His conclusion that life on earth is vanity or meaningless was made from his human stand point, apart from God.
It only proves that without Divine or Spiritual guidance from the Lord, we are but dust in the wind.
What about you? What is the purpose of your existence?