“Without God, All Life is Emptiness”
(Message delivered by Pastor at the True Life Church 10.30 am Service, Nov 14, 04)
Text: Eccl. 1:1-18
“The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. 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. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”
The author of this Book is none other than Solomon, son of David, king in Jerusalem. It is a Book written in his old age, after years of delving into the mysteries of life, in quest of happiness and of life’s true meaning. He comes to the conclusion that all his labours “under the sun” come to nothing. “Vanity of vanities,” the Preacher says, “vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” All that is achieved apart from God is emptiness of emptiness. This reminds us of Jesus’ saying, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mk 8:36).
“Without God, All Life is Emptiness” may be restated by this Chinese proverb, “Sheng, Lao, Ping, Sze”, Birth, Age, Sickness, Death. The world in which we live is a passing shadow. Life is but a vapour (James 4:14). You cannot know what is coming tomorrow. It goes in a cycle as the sun rises in the morning and goes down in the evening. It is like the wind that blows southwards and returns to the north. This is repeated again and again. As rivers keep on flowing into the sea, but the sea is not full, life goes on monotonously. Life is a laborious burden that brings no satisfaction. Under the curse of sin, man shall “eat bread in the sweat of his face” till he returns to the ground. That shows how quickly we grow old. There is another Chinese proverb, “I was just a child and now I am old.”
Then comes sickness, and how often we are afflicted by cancer, that gives no escape. The church prays for her members and God has prolonged Dr. Tow Siang Phang from months to years. But death comes to all of us.
There is nothing new “under the sun,” and when a man dies he is forgotten and the things that come after him, when they are gone will also be forgotten. Vanity of vanities! Take for example, President John Kennedy who was a very popular President of the United States. He was assassinated. In no time he was forgotten. His brother, Robert Kennedy, the Attorney-General, was killed after him. I saw their graves in Washington. But both are little mentioned now.
By way of application, all who are outside Christ, be they great politicians, Presidents, Governors or simple folks, whatever they do comes to zero in the sight of God. Great men might have contributed much good to their country. But if they rejected the Saviour Jesus Christ in their lifetime it would profit them nothing. After this life they must face the judgment of God.
On the other hand, when a man receives Christ as his Saviour, he is delivered from living under the sun to above the sun. He leaves man’s kingdom of darkness to live in God’s Kingdom of light. He lives now not for himself but for the glory of God. He may be a simple wage earner, but he serves the Lord with his tithes. He tries to extend God’s Kingdom with whatever service he can render, by joining the choir, teaching in Sunday School, visiting mission stations to strengthen the hands of the missionaries. At home he devotes time to bring up his family and children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. He is not under the vanity of vanities, but he lives a vibrant life in Christ.
Without God, all life is emptiness. With God, we have everlasting life. Do you have the Son of God as your Saviour?
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THE GOSPEL OF LIFE: Chapter VIII
John 8:21-30
The way to heaven rejected
Once again Jesus declared His origination from Heaven and intimated His soon return to Heaven. Once again He revealed His coming to earth from the Father above and His impending return to Him.
Such knowledge being too high for the natural man, He was taken to be contemplating suicide (v. 22). If such was His mentality, the madman, they concluded, was hellbound (the Jews believed those who committed suicide perished in their own sin).
Standing up to their ribaldry our Lord told them in no uncertain terms they would die in their sins if they persisted in their rejection of One who told them the Truth from the beginning (v. 25). For rejecting the Son, no wonder they could not receive our Lord’s witness on the Father.
In v. 28 Jesus foretold how He would die. “When ye have lifted up the Son of man” means “when you have crucified the Son of man.” It is in His death that they would discover His Sonship, His appointment and approval from God. Why? Because His death would be an unusual death, not a death like one undergone by you and me. It will be a death through which He would restore life to believing mankind by His resurrection from the dead. His resurrection would lead to His ascension and exaltation and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to a continuing ministry in the world.
It is heartening to note that despite the Jews’ rejection of the Light of the world, there were others, “many,” who believed on Him (v. 29). What an encouragement to us who preach Jesus that our sermons, despite rejection by some, find reception in others who believe.
John 8:31-40
Sons of Freedom
The previous section ended with a happy note: “As He spoke these words, many believed on Him” (v. 30). These believers are new born babes and need “the sincere milk of the Word” that they might grow thereby (I Pet. 2:2). Therefore our Lord continues to instruct these believing Jews that they might experience the fulness of salvation blessing. “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” He said.
The Jews, though enslaved by such foreign powers as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and now Rome in their long history, nevertheless, were a proud people. They prided themselves as Abraham’s descendants, the chosen people of God. So they answered, “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man.” This statement is obliviously subjective!
Our Lord’s message on freedom is a deeper one. It does not concern the political and the outward. It deals rather with the spiritual and the inward. Sons of Abraham the Jews are but they remain
slaves to sin. Therefore they are not sons of freedom who could merely claim Abrahamic parentage. They are sons of freedom if they are freed from sin by Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life. They are sons of freedom who are delivered from the bondage of sin.
It is of no benefit to the Jews to claim to be sons of Abraham in the flesh. They should rather be sons of Abraham in the spirit, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, even as Abraham is “father of all them that believe” (Rom 4:11). So when the Jews pride themselves to be sons of Abraham and therefore sons of freedom, our Lord disprove them. For they do not behave like true sons of Abraham. They seek to kill Jesus, One who tells them the truth of God that can set them free from sin. They act contrary to the Abraham who had received Jehovah, the Christ of the Old Testament, gladly in his day (v. 56).
Sons of freedom are they who have believed in Jesus the Saviour of God whereby their sins are forgiven, and they are empowered to live a life free from bondage of sin.
Primary 1 & 2 Sunday School
