Let’s face it – 90 per cent of life is about the mundane. The day to day realities of putting food on the table, raising a family, all that stuff. And one day we wake up and ask ourselves, “So this is it? This is all there is?” Where’s the meaning, where’s the sense of direction and purpose in life?

 

Wealth Doesn’t Work

Man, I wish I was a singer. If you heard me sing you may not wish the same thing. But the reason I wish I was a singer is that singers who sing songs we like, when they get on the radio and they sing a song we’ve heard before we go, "Great, I’m really looking forward to hearing this song again." When a guy like me who talks rather than sings gets on, and talks about something you’ve heard him talk about before, we screw up our faces and say, "Hasn’t that guy talked about that before?" And so that’s my prelude to telling you I’m going to be talking about something you may have heard me talk about before. Not because I feel the need to repeat myself, but because it’s important and it fits in to what we’re talking about in this series called, "From Vanity to Victory".

What we’ve been chatting about so far in this series is this sense that so many people have that their life has no real purpose. The sun comes up every day and sets every night – same old, same old, same old. And you work hard and you do your best and you go through the good times and then some bad times. And you get toward the end of your life, and as King Solomon did, you say to yourself:

Vanity of vanities, says the teacher. Vanity of vanities – all this is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?

And right now we’re going to take a look at one of the places we go looking for meaning, only to discover after a lifetime of looking there that there’s no meaning there at all. So where is that place? Let me begin by sharing with you the circumstances in which Solomon wrote this piece of wisdom. When he was a young man, just been appointed as king of Israel, he had an encounter with God. 2 Chronicles Chapter 1, verse 7:

That night God appears to Solomon and says to him, ‘Ask what I should give you.’ And Solomon said to God, ‘You showed steadfast love to my father David and have made me succeed him as king. Oh Lord God, let your promise to my father, David now be fulfilled for you have made me King over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go our and come in before this people, for who can rule these great people of yours.’

God answers Solomon, ‘Because this was in your heart and you haven’t asked for possessions, wealth, honour or the life of those who hate you. You’ve not even asked for long life, but you’ve asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may rule my people over whom I have made you king. Wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions and honour, such as none of the kings had who were before you and none after you shall have the like.”

So God gives Solomon not only what he asks for but what he didn’t ask for, which was riches and possessions and honour. And that promise came to pass. Solomon truly was the richest man on earth. Sadly though, those riches became a snare to him and he began worshipping idols and getting caught up in the things of this world. So towards the end of his life, as he looks back on things, this is his reflection on the meaning of wealth and possessions and all the pleasures that those things can buy. Ecclesiastes Chapter 2 beginning at verse 1:

I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But again, this also was vanity I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines.

“So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."

So Solomon, more wealthy than probably you or I would ever be in a hundred lifetimes, there was nothing he couldn’t have. No pleasure in which he couldn’t indulge. He gave it such a good try. And yet he comes to the conclusion that it was totally meaningless. It took him a lifetime to figure it out. It took me at least half a lifetime to figure it out.

So many people are looking for meaning in their lives, so many. Perhaps you’re in that place right at the moment. And yet we can spend a lifetime looking for that meaning as Solomon did, in completely the wrong place. What a salutary lesson. Is there anything wrong with enjoying the things that God’s given us? Not at all. In fact, that’s something we’re going to be looking at after the break as we take a look at the whole God dimension in our lives. But trying to find our meaning and our satisfaction and wealth and possessions and pleasure is completely and utterly hollow.

It’s a dead end road. And what a pity it would be to discover that when we’re close to death, close to the end having spent our whole lives trying. Again, further on in the book of Ecclesiastes, this is what Solomon concludes out of his wisdom and years of experience leading Israel and her King. Ecclesiastes Chapter 5 beginning at verse 10:

The lover of money will not be satisfied with money, nor the lover of wealth with gain. This also is vanity. When goods increase those who eat them increase and what gain has their owner but to see them with these eyes?

In others words, it just doesn’t work. There is no real satisfaction, no real joy, no real meaning in chasing after possessions and wealth and all that stuff. There’s no life worth living to be discovered in the ownership of things. But things are a part of our life. Our circumstances are parts of our lives. How do we discover meaning in the midst of these mundane things of life? How do we discover a life worth living amidst the mundane, ordinary, day-to-day realities of our lives, my life, your life.

Well, that’s what we’re going to be talking about after this break as we discover how to live our lives in the God dimension. Because not only do I believe that God wants us to truly enjoy where we’re at and what we have right at this moment, whatever that may look like, good or bad, I believe He wants us to discover real meaning and real purpose as we live out our lives first and foremost for Him.

 

The God Dimension

It seems that we can all find ourselves on something of that merry-go-round in life. Same thing day after day, after day punctuated by the odd happy event and the odd crisis. And lots of people will sit on the bus on the way home, or the train or the car or whatever, after a hard day at the "office", whatever that may look like in the life that they’re living, asking themselves, "What’s it all for? Why am I doing this? What’s the point of it all?"

Have you found yourself wondering that? When I get to the end of this life, what will it mean? What difference will my life have made? Well you’re not the only one. Sadly, the vast majority of people don’t have a sense of the meaning or the purpose or the direction for their lives. Instead, like King Solomon, they look at their lives and they say:

Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities … everything is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?

That’s what King Solomon, the richest and wisest man that ever lived, concluded. You know what I think? I think it’s tragic because God never meant for it to be like that. God meant for you and me, when we put our trust in Jesus, His Son, to be set free from that kind of hang-dog mentality. That sense of purposelessness and worthlessness. God means for you and me to experience a sense of meaning and direction and anticipation and contentment for our lives beyond just the daily grind of putting food on our table.

So is that true? Is that really what God wants for us, or is it just Berni saying that? Absolutely, it's true! It’s not just me, but God says it through His Word. Romans 14 verse 17:

The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Matthew Chapter 13, verse 44:

The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone found and hid and then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has to buy that field.

Isaiah 55:12:

You shall go out with joy and be led back in peace. The mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

See, I could go on and on with those Scriptures. I’m not saying that living our lives with God is a 24/7 happy-clappy experience with not a care in the world. But as we walk through the day-to-day mundane realities of our lives, working, bringing up children, managing a household, perhaps enjoying some retirement, whatever it is that you do, it’s meant to have meaning … a depth a satisfaction.

And so today we’re going to take a look at how to discover that because this is so important. Let’s continue on and see what Solomon with all his wisdom and years of experience has to say on this subject. We’re going Ecclesiastes Chapter 2 in the Old Testament beginning at verse 12:

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly, for what can the one do who comes after the king, only what has already been done. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise have eyes in their head but fools walk in darkness. Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls them all. Then I said to myself, what happens to the fool happens to me also. Why then have I been so very wise. And I said to myself, that this also was vanity, for there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or the fools seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like the fools?

So I hated life because what is done under the sun was so grievous to me for all is vanity and chasing after the wind. I hated all my toil in which I toiled under the sun, seeing I must leave it to those who come after me and who knows whether they’ll be wise or foolish, yet they will be master for all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun.This is also vanity.

So I turned and gave up my heart to despair concerning all the toil of my labours under the sun because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who didn’t toil for it. This is vanity and it’s a great evil.

What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun, for all their days are full of pain and their work is a vexation, even at night their minds don’t rest. This is also vanity. There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in their toil. This also I saw is from the hand of God, for apart from Him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment. For to the one who pleases Him, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and heaping only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after the wind.

See, he begins by bemoaning the meaninglessness, the futility, the apparent vanity of working hard all his life. Until he finally comes to his senses, until he finally realises, "You know what? I’ve been missing something here. As I’ve been looking at this whole life of mine, I’ve been missing the God dimension. What a dill I am."

That’s what Solomon is saying here. It all comes from God. What better than to enjoy what is given us. In fact who can enjoy anything apart from him. Maybe my life should be more about pleasing God than myself. Maybe that’s where it’s all at. Verse 26:

For to the one who pleases Him, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping only to give to the one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after the wind.

And can I tell you, that absolutely hits the nail right on the head. Before I became a Christian I had so much more physically money-wise, income earning potential wise than I have today in God’s service. Much more. But I could never enjoy it. Somehow I could never enter into the joy of what I had and the joy of my circumstances in life. But now, even though physically I have less, I have a joy and a contentment because principally, to the best of my imperfect abilities, my priority’s about honouring God and pleasing Him.

And without realising what was happening, the joy and the sense of purpose just kind of filled my life to the point where, even though in the physical I have less I’m actually so rich in God. I have so much more because now I look at my life and I love living. I love who I am and what He’s given me and the purpose and the plans and the tasks that He’s set before me. Absolutely. Yes, there are challenges, yes, there are some tough days along the way. But this one bit of wisdom from Solomon is just worth bottling it’s so true.

But to the one who pleases Him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy. But to the sinner He gives the work gathering and heaping only to give to the one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after the wind.

 

Living in the God Dimension

So let me ask you, what does it mean to live in the God dimension. How exactly do we come to the same conclusion that Solomon came to, that to the one who pleases Him, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy. It’s an awesome thing to be able to enjoy what God’s given us. Our job, our family, our home … or not. Or whatever our lot is in life. But how? How do we actually do that? How can we have that sense of contentment and peace and joy and fulfilment that so many people are hungering for.

I mean, the Apostle Paul had it. He had it in buckets full. And not because he was driving around in a BMW7 series or because he had a six bedroom house with swimming pool and triple-car garage and jacuzzi in some fashionable suburb. Not because he was living on his healthy superannuation fund in a wonderfully relaxed and safe and secure retirement. When he wrote this passage we’re about to look at, he was in a stinking dungeon chained to some Roman guard wondering when he was going to be executed. Philippians Chapter 4 beginning at verse 11. He says:

Look, I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well fed and going hungry; of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

I mean, since life has the ability to throw just about anything at us – good, bad, happy, sad – it would be kind of an awesome thing to have what Paul has: this contentment in our hearts, irrespective of whether our circumstances are for us or against us. Well I want to take a look at where that begins, where the rubber hits the road in actually living out our lives, not just here in the physical dimension, but in the God dimension. Have a listen to this. Colossians Chapter 3 beginning at verse 16. He writes:

Let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you. Teach and admonish one another in all wisdom and with gratitude in your hearts with psalms. Hymns and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

But wives, be subject to your husbands that is fitting in the Lord; husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. Children obey your parents in everything for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord. Fathers, don’t provoke your children or they may lose heart. Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched in order to please them, but wholeheartedly fearing the Lord.

Whatever your task, put yourselves into it as done for the Lord and not for your masters since you know that from the Lord will receive an inheritance as your reward. You serve the Lord Christ.”

Right there in that passage the Apostle Paul writes to his friends at the church at Colossi. It’s this key to living out our life of contentment, a life that doesn’t feel meaningless but one with a sense of purpose. Three things Paul’s telling us to lead a contented life.

The first is letting the Word of Christ dwell richly in us. Being taught and admonished in wisdom. I can’t tell you how many so-called Christians I know who don’t take that seriously. They just kind of wander into church some Sundays, half-listen to the odd sermon, wander home and wonder why life feels meaningless. One of my favourites scriptures that. It’s so powerful, it’s so full, it’s so unmistakable. “Let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you.”

Be deliberate, learn, grow in Christ because it’s not the truth that will set you free, it’s knowing the truth that will set us free.

The second is to worship God with gratitude in your hearts singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God, because worshipping God lifts our gaze off the mundane into the reality, the awesome reality of who God is and what He’s done for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. A bit earlier in the chapter, Paul puts it this way. Colossians Chapter 3 verse 2:

Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.

In other words, focus on God. There’s this awesome God who is just as real as the physical stuff you can see. So let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you, lift your gaze and focus on God.

And finally, whatever you do, throw yourself into it, doing it for God and not for your earthly masters. See this last bit is absolutely the place where our faith hits the road. This last bit is absolutely where our life finds direction and meaning and purpose. When we do the boring mundane things of life, the filing at the office, the difficult committee meeting at the kids football club where all the parents are arguing, the shopping the cleaning, do it well, do it with excellence, do it in a way that blesses other people with all your gifts and abilities and hard work.

Do it as if you’re doing it for God, not for the people on this earth, because you’re actually are. Do it for Jesus just as He walked the dusty roads of Israel all that way to Cross for you. Do you get it? When we serve other people for God, when we’re doing it for Him, when we’re praying and asking Him to use our humble efforts to bless others, that’s when it all starts to make sense.

That’s when we find satisfaction, whether it’s being a wife to a husband, a husband to a wife, children to your parents, parents to your children, workers to the boss, the boss to his or her workers. Whatever situation you find yourself in is what Paul’s saying, whatever your circumstances, no matter how ordinary or mundane or menial, do it for God, do it for God, whatever your task. Put yourselves into it as done for the Lord and not for your earthly masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive and inheritance as your reward. You serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ain’t that just something. And can I tell as I’ve applied this powerful God wisdom, letting the Word of Christ dwell richly in me, worshipping God in all that I do, and I’ve got to tell you, I have a lot of mundane things to do, just like you do, serving Him in everything I do, all be it imperfectly, you know what I’ve discovered? This actually works. This is where the meaning is in life. God’s given us a task to do and we do it well and we do it for Him and we do it in love and we do it in sacrifice just as Jesus did. This actually gives us that sense of meaning and purpose and contentment that we’ve been looking for. Like that should be a surprise to us, right?