1Q: The Meaning of Life.
A Sermon by Pastor R. D. Johnson
Preached at the Ann Arbor, MI Free Methodist Church
Scripture Text:
Ecclesiastes 2, 12
August 17, 2008 Sermon #0121
If you read Ecclesiastes 2, you will find several things that many have claimed to be the
meaning or purpose for life, but Ecclesiastes calls them all vanity.
Ecclesiastes is an attempt by King Solomon to answer the question we are asking God
today. But he is not the only one who has tried to answer that question.
 YouTube has 31 THOUSAND videos about the meaning of life!
 A yahoo search returned 12 MILLION entries for the Meaning of Life!
 There are as many answers to the question as there are religions and philosophies.
So who’s has it right? Can they all be right? Could they all be wrong?
I received three questions for God last week that basically asked the same question.
What is the meaning of Life? Why did you create all this? Why did you create me?
I have studied and prayed this week over this question and have determined that I can’t
answer it. No human can determine the meaning of our own existence. Anything we could
determine for our lives is a plan, what God created us for is a purpose. The purpose of a
hammer or painting or even a car can ONLY be determined by the one who created it.
It may be used for other purposes.
 A hammer could be used to hold papers down even though it is much more value.
 A car could malfunction or the breaks could fail and cause great destruction, but
that’s not its intended purpose.
And people can ONLY have the meaning or purpose that God has given to them.
Even though the common belief is that all religions could be right, it’s actually much more
likely that all religions are wrong. What can a finite human figure out about God or His
purpose for creating us? What could we possibly use to understand the meaning of Life?
What reference do we use to associate our limited understanding with the infinite Mind of
God? You can’t learn the purpose of a story until you first learn to read the words it is
made from. And you can’t understand the words if you don’t recognize the letters.
What is Meaning? – Understanding His-story
The meaning of life can only be known if we learn to read God’s Story
And I’m not speaking specifically of the Bible, but His-Story, History!
Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I
bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless
instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone
know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for
battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible,
how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are
doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I
do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the
speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of
the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. – I Corinthians 14:6-12
Words have no meaning to those who can not read them. We can create definitions and
classifications, calling some objects ‘words’ and some ‘letters’ but this does not enable us
to read them or understand their meaning. So let us learn to read history.
The Rosetta Stone unlocked the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs
Written about 196BC, discovered in 1799AD the hieroglyphs were deciphered in 1822
The meaning of the Egyptian language was finally understood 1994 +23 (2017) years after
the key was written.
I find it very interesting that God’s language was finally understood about 2000 years after
it began to be given through the Jews when a man, we call our rock (stone), was found
written in both God’s language and man’s language.
Jesus used man’s language to show us the meaning of God’s. Now 2000 more years after
that stone was revealed, we can decipher the meaning of Life through Christ.
Why do we tell children stories? Because they can relate to the characters, understand the
total picture and realize the purpose or ‘moral of the story’. Stories teach us.
It has been said that those who do not learn from the past are certain to repeat its failures.
Unless we learn to read HIStory, we are certain to live without understanding of our
purpose, life will be meaningless to us.
Steps to reading HIStory:
1) Know the facts of the story. 2) See the big picture – Theme. 3) Discover the Meaning
What is God’s Story? - Understanding His-purpose
Have you ever watched a movie and knew what would happen in the end?
King David learned the facts, saw the big picture and discovered the meaning of Life
before he could even see the climax of the story. He writes in Psalms 57:2-3, “I cry out to
God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and
save me…”
God’s Story: Creation – Free will – Love Story – Sacrificial Love – Wedding – Life
“Words may show a man's wit but actions his meaning.” - Benjamin Franklin
The moral of the story:
 God Loves Us and will do Anything to win our love.
 We must choose to accept His proposal or reject Him because we love ‘freedom’.
 If we choose to exist without God we will live forever in darkness and evil.
‘Evil’ is when we ‘live’ backwards.
So what is the meaning of Life?
Some say it’s love (and most of them don’t even know what love means)
But love is not the meaning but the central theme of life.
 Themes – love, joy, happiness, sacrifice, peace – are not the meaning of life’s story.
 Plots – good -vs- evil, life -vs- death, overcoming odds, the Death and Resurrection
of Jesus – are not the meaning of life’s story.
 The meaning, the point, the moral of the story is what the story should teach you to
do – Therefore the Meaning of Life according to HIStory is: 53019 – 5th book, 30th
chapter and 19th verse. You have a choice to make. The most important choice you
will ever make (hence the grandeur of God’s story).
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The three little pigs teaches you that you need to build your life strong
The three Bears teaches you to respect others in life and not take what you want
The trinity God in HIStory teaches you that you must make a serious choice in Life
God has asked you to marry Him and has paid a tremendous cost for that wedding.
The Meaning of Life:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and
death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life
and length of days…” Deuteronomy 30:19-20
What will you say? Which do you choose? The meaning of life is to Choose Life and Live.
What is God’s Reason –Understanding Why He wants ME
Through Christ and the Bible we can understand God’s purpose, the point of history, but
we still want to know how we fit into it specifically. How is the ‘meaning of life’ made
specific to the ‘meaning of my life’, or “What is God’s plan for me?”
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those
who are called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28
What does God want from me if I say yes, if I choose Life?
Let me make one more point to make it clear that God doesn’t want anything FROM you,
He simply wants YOU, not some of you or what’s left after you give most of yourself to
some other god in your life, but ALL of you.
He demands faithfulness and undivided love if you say yes, but He does not expect you to
earn His love and gift of life.
 Why do people have children?
o To create with their spouse another person in their image?
o To bring a part of themselves into the world as a new person they could love?
 Was it God’s plan for us to understand His purpose?
o By becoming parents ourselves.
o By knowing a desire for our children to love and honor us when they can
choose not to.
o By unconditionally loving someone other than ourselves.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. Besides being wise, the Preacher also
taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with
great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words
of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the
collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond
these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the
flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with
every secret thing, whether good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:8-14
Benediction
Here the benediction from Psalms 20
May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob
protect you! May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set
up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions! May he grant you your heart's
desire and fulfill all your plans! (v. 1,5,4)