Thursday, September 24, 2009

Is it Meaningless?

Wow! It has been a long time since I have had a good thought! I can't believe I have not posted an entry since February. Life has been busy and God has been good. I hope this thought is worth posting.

I just finished having lunch with a Church Planter in our area. It was great to sit down and visit with him for a while. He and I had some Seminary classes together and we knew each other by name, but what a blessing to get to know more about him and his vision for the church he is trying to build.

As we talked and shared about ministry, vision, church planting, theology, evangelism and so on (we talked about a lot) one theme became apparent. One source of absolute agreement and solidarity popped up (and we did agree on much more than this, but this is the pin that holds it all together). Our world is LOST! People need Jesus!

I have been studying from the OT book of Ecclesiastes this week, preparing my message (God's message) for Sunday morning. The book of Ecclesiastes is kind of a "memoir" of King Solomon's life and adventures. His search for significance and meaning in this life. And the funny thing is this King who is said to have been the wisest man of all time, who had all the wealth and fame and pleasures of life still felt empty. Listen to how he opens this book:

Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 ( NKJV ) 2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” 3 What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun?

Other translations use the word "meaningless". This word can mean many things, but ultimately it means unsatisfying and fruitless. This book chronicles for us the search of one man for "meaning" in life. And each new adventure, each new investment produced the same result, meaninglessness (I am not sure if that is a real word not not, but let's go with it). He searched for satisfaction in wealth...meaningless. He searched for satisfaction in women (about a 1000 of them between wives and concubines)...meaningless. He searched for significance through work, the labor of his hands...meaningless. Everything was meaningless.

Have you ever felt that way? No matter how hard you work, how much you have, how good your family is...everything leaves you feeling a bit empty. A bit unsatisfied. I think our world and more specifically our community is that way. We search and we search for meaning to this life for significance in this world. Our efforts produce everything but what we are looking to find.

Well, then is it all meaningless? Yes and No. The search for significance and meaning in things or in people is meaningless and the best it can hope to produce is heartache! But, listen to Solomon's conclusion after a life of searching he finally returns to this:

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 ( NKJV ) 13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.

Fear God and Keep His Commandments for this is man's all. It all comes back this, LIFE IS MEANINGLESS APART FROM A DEEP, ABIDING RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!

Jesus said it best... John 10:10 ( NKJV ) ... I have come that they may have LIFE, and that they may have it more abundantly. (emphasis mine).

John 14:6 ( NKJV ) 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (emphasis mine)

I could list more...but there in 2 verses Jesus tells us, that LIFE, real LIFE only comes through HIM!

So life outside of Christ is indeed meaningless. It is a search that will never end and never satisfy.

BUT life IN Jesus is ultimate. It is fulfilling in every way. It is satisfying to the core. IT is MEANINGFUL!

Pursue meaning, pursue satisfaction, PURSUE CHRIST!

Just a thought!


By His Grace and For His Glory,

Bro. Chad

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Great and Mighty is He

I don't know why it takes me so long to come back here and record what I have been thinking. I truthfully don't even know if anyone is reading. But as you can see if you do read this blog, occasionally I have a good and maybe even an inspirational thought. When I do I try to record that, simply because I enjoy writing and most of all I enjoy looking back at what the Lord has been teaching me.

I remember as a teenager going to camps and we would sing a chorus, I don't know if I remember all the words (those days get further and further behind me) but it went something like this "Great and Mighty is He: Great and Mighty is He: Great and mighty is the Lord our God; Great and Mighty is He" It was a fun song.

This week in our Mid-week service I was teaching on the Book of Isaiah. And I came across an idea that reminded me of that song. Most of us are pretty familiar with Isaiah, particularly at Christmas time as we read from Chapters 7 and 9. We are familiar with other chapters such as Isaiah's vision in chapter 6. Who hasn't memorized Isaiah 40 as a young person to remind us to be patient and wait on the Lord. Then at Easter is Isaiah 53.

I came to the realization this week that I am good at compartmentalizing my favorite passages of Scripture. That is to say, I am good at taking my favorites and separating them from the rest. For example: I love Isaiah's vision of God in chapter 6, remember " In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."(NKJ)

Isn't your mind just filled with awe at the thought of such a Holy and Powerful God. Here comes the song: Great and Mighty is He...

I also love Isaiah 53 remember: "He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; he was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.(NKJ)

Wow, what a savior. That Jesus would take our sin upon him. Here comes the song again: Great and Mighty is He...

Here we go and compartmentalize. Chapter 6 an amazing view of the Creator of the Universe. Chapter 53 an Amazing view of the savior. But wait let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Both of these chapters are from the same prophet. Both of these chapters speak of the same God.

Think about it the God of transcendent glory that Isaiah saw (that we all see) in chapter 6 -- the God who frightened him so much that he cried out. "... I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." (6:5) -- the God whose Words shook the foundation of the Temple is the very same God who would one day be,

...despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces... (Isaiah 53:3a RSV)

...wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed... (Isaiah 53:5 RSV)

Wow, The Holy God of Chapter 6 is the Savior of Chapter 53!! Ready here it comes: Great and Might is He... Can you feel it? Are you singing it too!

As the old preachers used to say :"If that don't light your fire, your wood's wet"

As Steve Brown used to say at the close of his radio show in his deep Bass voice:

"You Think About That, Amen"


By His Grace and For His Glory,

Bro. Chad