Pew2You
Meaning Matters
Pastor Phil Vance
9-3-17
Highlights:
You may have the wisdom to know what to do in a situation, but you still need to take action and do it.
Knowing what to do is not enough, wisdom takes action.
LIfe apart from God is meaningless and “utter emptiness.” The meaning in life is found only in the author of life.
Solomon had more Women, Wealth, Wisdom, Wine Whatever….and it all ended up Wasted in Wickedness.
You Matter to God. Matter not as a noun but as a verb.
You have value to God. He values you and your life. It is not meaningless but meaningful.
Discussion Questions:
Share together a circumstance or situation where you have known what would be the wise thing to do, but you have had difficulty taking practical action based on that wisdom. What has made the action step so difficult to take?
Meaning in life is found only in the author of life. In practical ways, how have you found meaning in living that transcends the natural as a result of your personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
What in life seems meaningless to you now? How can dependency on Christ, change that meaninglessness into something meaningful?
Key Scriptures and Quotes:
Solomon’s Wisdom 1 Kings 4:29-34
29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
1 Kings 11:4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been
Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 The words of the Teacher,[a] son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 “Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher.“Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
Ecclesiastes 2: 17-18 17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.
Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
4. Definitions
Meaningless: from 1891: emptiness or vanity; fig. Something transitory and unsatisfactory
Vanity: the quality of being worthless or futile. Purposeless or quickly passing. Likened to vapor.
Mitsvah: a command, whether human or divine.