FollowBy Bill Naron
It’s that time of year again: time for graduation! From Sunday school to public school, from high school to college, it is the time for pivotal moments of transition. In his sermon on Sunday, Pastor Brian Sharpe spoke out of the book of Ecclesiastes. If you have not had the chance, you can check it out here.
Ecclesiastes is a great book. It was written by King Solomon, who was not only the wealthiest king of his time, but also the wisest. Ecclesiastes was Solomon’s reflection on the whole of his life, somewhat of an evaluation and a warning. Solomon, in a broad and general sense, sets the stage for us in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, where he states, “I have seen the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”
Solomon sought after wisdom and pleasure but found all these pursuits to be meaningless. At this point, I began to think to myself, What made Solomon’s pursuits meaningless? Solomon sought these things instead of God; he hoped to find meaning and identity in these things.
Many of us today do the same thing. We search after knowledge, or we try to climb higher in position at work, thinking = these things we are pursuing will give us meaning, purpose, and identity. This is what is wrong with Solomon’s pursuits and what is wrong with our pursuits. Our purpose, meaning, and identity should be rooted in the person and work of Jesus, not in vain temporal pursuits.
The book of Ecclesiastes is like advice from an old man with a lot of life experience. He tells us of the mistakes that he made and then, at the end of the book, tells us what we should do. In Ecclesiastes 12 Solomon writes, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Solomon brings it back to what matters the most; the things that we pursue are meaningless when we pursue them outside of relationship with God.
I love this John Piper quote: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” When we are satisfied in God, when our identity is rooted in what our Father says of us, when we find our purpose in walking with the Lord, and when we find meaning in chasing after Jesus, it shapes the way we live life. The things that we pursue in life begin to have meaning, because we are not pursuing them in order that we would be made greater but in order that Jesus would be made known.
In times of pivotal transition, it is important for us to take time to self-reflect, the way that Solomon does in the book of Ecclesiastes. It is important for us to analyze our purpose and what we are doing with it. We need to ask ourselves if we have fully surrendered and committed to living the life that Jesus calls us to. For the body of Elim Evangelical Free Church, I think that we should be asking ourselves how we are fulfilling our mission of being Jesus to our community. How are we helping create an oasis where people can renew relationship with Jesus and others?
I wish all of those who are graduating this year the best of luck in all their pursuits. I would encourage everyone, from the graduates to those of you in the congregation at Elim, to ask yourselves what you’re pursuing and why you are pursuing it. As I found myself asking upon reflection on the sermon from Sunday, am I looking for purpose, identity, and meaning in vain pursuits that are temporal, or is my relationship with Jesus what influences the things that I pursue?
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