OK, this morning I am not preaching today. Somebody else is, that's for sure. But Greg is going to be preaching today, one of our elders. And the reason for that is because I had jury duty this week, and I knew I was going to have it a couple months ago. I got out of it the first time, but they're not letting you get out of it that easy anymore. And I said, OK, I'll sign up for it. So I said, Greg, I'm going to have jury duty this week. I don't know if they're going to call me, but I want you to preach for me. So he was willing to do that. And I really am thankful for both Khalif and Greg as they take on responsibility as elders. And they have been very faithful to do the work of ministry. And from time to time, they get a chance to preach. And so today is that time. that he's going to come and break open the Word of God this morning. So let's be prepared as he comes to preach Ecclesiastes chapter 2, or chapter 1, and then be ready to receive the Word of God. Amen? Amen. OK. Let me have a word of prayer, and then I'll pass it over to him. Lord, thank you this morning for your workers. Thank you, Lord, for raising up those men and their wives that will be part of the leadership of the church and part of the serving and discipleship and ministries of the church. And I thank you, Lord, for Greg Ho and Khalif and our deacons. And I pray, Lord, that you would just give us a unity of spirit, love for one another, and a desire to want to see Christ lifted up and glorified in all that we do. I pray, Lord, as the word of God is broken open this morning, make us people who are attentive, who are hungry, who want more, and that we may grow by it and be better, more committed, holy servants of you while we have the time you've given us on this earth. And I pray this in Christ's name. Amen. You had to give me the daylight savings time message, though, right, Pastor? It had to be the one hour of less sleep. So hopefully we'll The Lord will allow us to keep awake for this one. All right, so when I was in English class in high school, I remember reading about the Greek myths, right? We had this unit about the Greek myths. And my favorite has to have been the myth of Sisyphus. You guys probably know the story. But in the story, Sisyphus was an evil king. And he made bitter enemies out of everybody, from humans to Greek gods alike. And when the Greek gods finally caught up to him, they were so angry with him that they devised a special punishment in the afterlife just for him. And so this was his punishment. Sisyphus would have to, with great effort, push a heavy boulder up a hill. But there's a twist because what will happen is when he gets up to the top of the hill, the boulder was enchanted by the God so that it would move away from him and then it would sort of jump away and then it would roll right back down the hill. And so Sisyphus would then have to go back down and start rolling up the boulder again because he would never be done and this would be repeated again and again for eternity. I think this myth is so unforgettable for me because it so memorably illustrates the frustration and the futility that we sometimes experience in our lives, doesn't it? I think there are times where we've all felt this way at some time in our lives. Work, sleep, eat, repeat, right? Work, sleep, eat, repeat, or for Joanna and I, it's work, sleep, code, work, sleep, code, you know? or sleep ecode, I guess. Around and around we go, and up the hill and down the hill. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself, what is the point of it all? Where is it all going? Are our lives just one big Sisyphean punishment? By the way, that's a real word. It's an SAT word, Ezekiel. You've got to remember that. So is there any meaning to it at all? Is there any purpose to it at all? And that's the question I'd like to examine with you this morning biblically from the book of Ecclesiastes. So please turn with me to Ecclesiastes book one, which I think you can find on page 670 in your pew Bible. Ecclesiastes chapter one. Now while you're there, let me tell you a little bit about the book and who wrote it. So the author of the book of Ecclesiastes is King Solomon, easily one of the most powerful kings in the ancient world. He ruled during the golden years of Israel at the height of Israel's power and might. And King Solomon himself was especially blessed by God with particular wisdom. In fact, it says in 1 Kings 3.12 that God gave Solomon, quote, a wise and discerning heart so that there has been no one like you before, or no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you." So Solomon was singular in his wisdom. And it's no exaggeration to say that Solomon was the wisest man who's ever lived. So if somebody could puzzle out the meaning of life and to make some sense of it all, then it would be Solomon. At some point in his life, that's exactly what he set out to do. The king, he had the resources, the wealth, and the power to investigate this question thoroughly while pulling out all the stops. And when he was done, he wrote for us the book of Ecclesiastes. So let's start reading that in chapter one, verse two. It starts in verse two. Vanity of vanities says the preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity Stop right there for a minute now. This is not talking about spending too much time on our hair Some of us probably spend too much time in here when I was Younger I used to spend a lot of time on my hair trying to make it look like I spent no time on my hair Though just rolled out of bed and I look good, you know, but One day I realized I could save a lot of time if I actually spent no time on my hair. So that's what I do now. And that's what you see before you today. But okay, so that's not the type of vanity that he's talking about. So another translation of this word vanity and other translations of the Bible is futility. Futility, right? Doing things in vain is to do things in futility. To do things uselessly with no purpose. It's all futile. That's what he's saying. It's all meaningless. Now, the interesting thing about this construction here of how Solomon does this is that he gives you the answer before the question. He hasn't actually asked the question, right? So, the book just kind of starts out, vanity of vanities. It's kind of like Jeopardy. He kind of gives you the answer first and then the question. So, what's the question? The question is in verse 3. Let's look at that. says this, what advantage does a man have in all his work, which he does under the sun? See, that's the question. What advantage do we have? What lasting gain is there in any of this? And the answer that Solomon gave already in verse two is nothing. It's all futility. This is not off to a great start here in the search for the meaning of life. Let's see if we can continue and get something better here. Okay, so what he does in the next few verses is Solomon explains with a few word pictures why this is the only logical conclusion that an honest mind will reach. And so as I read, I'll just read verses four to seven to you and see if you can picture in your mind what he's talking about, right? Here it is. A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets, and hastening to its place, it rises there again. Blowing towards the south, then turning towards the north, the wind continues swirling along, and on its circular courses, the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again. What is he saying with all this? So here's his point. You cannot affect the universe in any meaningful way. You cannot affect the world in any way that truly matters. People live. People die. Generations come and go. But does anything really change? No, the Earth continues like it does before. And regardless of what you do, whether you live or die, whether you're happy or you're not, whether you're rich, whether you're not, whether you're a good person or whether you are not, the sun doesn't care about that. it will rise relentlessly, day in and day out. Likewise, the wind blows in circles on the earth in its cycle, like it has done for millennia. And the waters, the rivers flow to the sea and back to rain, and then back to the river, and then back to the sea, and around and around it goes. And the universe is stuck like a broken record. repeating a cycle over and over. We're stuck in an endless loop, and we can't get out of it. And it's an endless, futile loop, without any point, without any purpose. It's like Groundhog Day. We're living the same day over and over. And Solomon's point is, this has been happening before you were born. It's happened generations before, and it will continue to happen after you are long gone. So then he asks, what is the point? And I think his other point is this, compared to the vast powers in the cosmos, you are barely a flea. You're insignificant of any notice. And against all of this, you're forced to consider the smallness of your lives. how insignificant and temporary we really are. The universe has been doing this for a long time, cycle and cycle and cycle, but you've only been here for a short while. And Psalm 144.4 puts it like this, man is like a mere breath. His days are like a passing shadow. You know how like on a sunny day you see a shadow and then you look over a few more minutes afterwards and the shadow's gone. how your life is. Your life is a whisper spoken into the wind. You're barely audible for a few seconds and then you're gone. Okay. This is already pretty depressing. He's actually just getting started in the next few verses. Solomon takes that futility that he observes in the universe and he brings it into our lives. Verse eight, All things are wearisome. Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing. Remember in verse seven, he was talking about the cycle of the sea and how the rivers flow into the ocean, but are never able to fill it, right? And the analogy he's making is that in the same way, the world is pouring into human beings through your eyes, and through your ears, but it will never fill you up. It will never satisfy you or bring you to a point of completion. You're going around in the same circle as the universes, chasing your own tail, seeking meaning and satisfaction, but never finding it. But it gets worse. Look in verse nine through 10. That which has been is that which will be. And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, see this, it is new. Already it has existed for ages, which were before us. See, not only are we never satisfied, but there's nothing new out there that has any hope of breaking the futile cycle that we find ourselves in. And the state of our lives is this. We're just going around in circles. We're going nowhere fast. It's like that roundabout out in Somerset or Somerville, where you're just kind of stuck in that circle because you can't get out of that traffic. You're afraid to go through that, get out of the exit. I mean, that's kind of like what it is. And you might say, OK, well, what about the technology that we have? What about the phones and the computers? That seems new. But that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about the human condition, your human condition. And think about it. Despite all of the technology that you have, has anything really changed? Money still flows from one place to another and back again. but nothing ever gets accomplished. The powerful rise and fall, nations jockey for power endlessly. And for what? Where does it all end? And verse 11 is where he drives that nail straight into the coffin. Because in the end, our desire, desire of all of our hearts is to matter, right? We want our lives to count for something. We want to make some type of difference. But look what he says in verse 11. There is no remembrance of earlier things and also of the latter things which will occur. There will be for them no remembrance among them who will come later still. See, not only are we doomed to never be satisfied when you're gone, Nobody will even remember you. Think about it. Do you know anything about your great-grandparents? Or what about your great-great-grandparents? I don't even know who they are. And it only takes about two or three generations for even the memory of you to pass away. And you will be forgotten. And the point is this. What is the meaning and significance of all of this futility? Now, the next part of the book, Solomon will try to prove this futility of life out of his own experience. In case you didn't believe him and you need more evidence. And so we're only going to briefly skim these. But let me just tell you a little bit. You can look down in verse 12, actually, in 12 and verse 13. It reads this, I, the preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom. concerning all that has been done under heaven. Okay, so then he gives us the results of his experiment. Right in verse 14. I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun and behold, all is vanity and striving after the wind. That's the result. He's not building any suspense here. He's telling you the results before he gives you the experimental methodology. He's saying all of it is striving after the wind. What does that mean? It's kind of like when you're, it's been kind of cold in the last, not today, today's pretty nice, but it's been kind of cold lately, and when you go out of the door in the morning, you can kind of see your breath, right? And when I was a kid, I would try to sort of see if I could catch that in my hand, right? And it looks like you're a dragon, you're breathing fire, and you try to grab this thing, And that's silly, right? Because the moment you try to grab it, it just slips through your fingers and it's gone. And that's what Solomon is saying here. All of life's pursuits, the best life has to offer is just like that. Everything that he's tried, the moment he thinks he's find some significance, some meaning, it slips through his fingers. So let's look at some of the things he tried. First, in verse 16, he tries education and knowledge. He tries the pursuit of academic understanding. It says, his mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge. And so Solomon becomes the most learned and the most credentialed of all men. Not so hard for the wisest person in the world. The best schools, the best degrees. And he arrives at the pinnacle of academic achievement. But what does he find there? All he finds is more futility, but also increased pain. You can look at the end of verse 17, it says this, I realized that this also is striving after wind, because in much wisdom, there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain. See, what Solomon learned is that the more he knew, the emptier it all was, and the sadder he became. So wisdom didn't do him any good. So now he explores pleasure. That's chapter two, verse one. You can turn over to chapter two, verse one. It says, I said to myself, come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself. And if we were to do this experiment today, That might be indulging yourself in vacations or leisure, partying, video games, sports. What's the conclusion of all of it? Verse two. I said of laughter, it is madness. And of pleasure, what does it accomplish? See, Solomon found, as we have all found, that after the vacation ends, after the credits roll in the movie that you're watching, after the hangover wears off from the party, not that I know about that, but nothing has changed. Nothing changed. All the pleasure did was provide him a temporary distraction. And then after it's over, all his problems were still there waiting for him. The lack of meaning is still there waiting for him. Pleasure can't fill the void in your hearts. He tried other things which you can read about on your own in the next verses. Drugs and alcohol he tried in verse three. He tried losing himself in his work in verse four. He tried accumulating for himself treasures and possessions in verses five and six. He went on a shopping spree in verse seven. And in verse 8, he tried accumulating money, wealth. And at the end of verse 8, he tried sex. Now that's some thorough experimental work there. I'm not sure what else is left. I think he's covered it all. But then you ask, what is the conclusion after all of that experimentation? And his inclusion is in verse 11 of chapter 2. Take your eyes down to verse 11. Thus, I considered all of my activities which my hands have done, and the labor which I had exerted, and behold, all was, what? Vanity, and striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun. You see, every bit of it he found to be meaningless. There's no profit in it, there's no eternal gain in it, no lasting gain. But why, why was there no lasting gain? What is the fundamental problem that Solomon had that made it all meaningless? We find that in verse 15. Let's get down to verse 15. Then I said to myself, as is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise? I said to myself, this too is vanity. Now listen to this. For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool. In as much as in the coming days, all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool, what? Die alike. You see, here's the fundamental problem. You can be a wise man, or you can be a fool. You can be rich, or you can be poor. You can have a big family, or you can have no family at all. You can meet that deadline at work, or you cannot. Or you could be a millionaire, or you could not. No matter what you are, you cannot escape the fundamental reality that you will die. So then what difference does it all make? Because you will die and you can't take any of it with you. Are you really any better off for those things? Now you see, we don't often think about these things because I think we as humans devote an extraordinary amount of time and energy not thinking about our own deaths. That's pretty much all we do, in fact. This morning, though, I want you to consider carefully the imminence of your own death. It may not be that far away. It can happen in a blink of an eye. When you leave here today, the only thing standing before you and death, between you and death, may be just one guy behind the wheel on his cell phone. And when you spend enough time facing the reality of your own imminent demise, you might realize, as Solomon did, that most of what you're doing is worthless. It's just rearranging the deck chairs in the Titanic. It pretty much sums up human life right there. And Solomon puts it like this in verse 17. Look at verse 17. I think this is worth looking at. life. For the work which has been done under the sun was grievous to me, because everything is futility and striving after wind." Well, I think that's the end of the sermon today. And let's just stop right there. Nice and cheerful. That's pretty depressing. OK. Let's see if we can turn this ship around. You see, there's one phrase here that gives you a little bit of hope. One phrase in that verse. And in fact, we've been skipping over it a little bit in the other verses as well. Did you catch it? Look at verse 17 again. It's these three words. Under the sun. The work which has been done under the sun. And whenever he's talking about that in the book of Ecclesiastes, he's talking, he's using that as code for this. on the earth apart from God. That's what he means. And that's right, we haven't brought God into the picture here yet, have we? But when we bring God into the picture, it will change everything. And I wanna show you that, but before we do, I just want there to be no misunderstandings here, because if you are not a Christian today, then the message really does stop for you right there. If you are not a Christian, then this is all you have without God. Endless futility and no way out. And if you have bought into this dominant worldview of our culture, which is naturalism, the idea that there is no God, that the universe started not with creation by a sovereign creator, but with a big bang, that life came about through random collisions of chemicals, that man came by a freak genetic mutation on an ape, then I challenge you, and the wisest man in the world challenges you, to tell you how he is wrong here. Nobody has been able to do it, by the way. The world's best philosophers, for thousands of years, have been unable to provide an answer to this argument. If you are just a bag of chemicals, then you really don't have any significance, eternal, moral, or otherwise. So you don't matter. Nothing matters. And for you, there is no lasting meaning. You can't argue with that. You can try to distract yourself with Netflix and Hulu and YouTube and Facebook and sports and video games so you don't have to think about it. But you know what? When it ends, you will be left with the same fundamental meaningless that you started out with. But if this morning you're here and you are a Christian, I want to tell you that you don't get a pass on what Solomon just said either. Remember, everything the author has said describes reality of life on this earth, whether you're Christian or whether you're not. And understand this, that even Christians can spend their lives chasing after the futile things in life. And many of us do. Perhaps even some of us here do this. But Kristen, you don't have to spend time chasing after the wind. You don't have to spend your life like that. There is a better way. So let's see what happens when Solomon brings God into the picture. And for the rest of our time this morning, I just want you to see three conclusions that Solomon gives us about the meaning of life. There's three conclusions that he makes in this book that I want to bring out to you. And we're going to jump around a bit, because it's kind of scattered throughout the book. So you can see, you can try to turn with me if you can. If not, it's OK. The first conclusion is this realize your own powerlessness, realize your own powerlessness. See the real reason that you cannot have any lasting impact on this world. The reason that you can't extract any lasting gains for yourself is because you are powerless to do so. We all are. You are powerless. And guess what? This is by God's design. Look in chapter three, flip over to chapter three and look at verse 14. This is what Solomon says in chapter three, verse 14. I know that everything God does will remain forever. That there is nothing to add to it. And there was nothing to take from it. For God has so worked so that men should, what? Fear Him. See, God is absolutely sovereign. He's absolutely sovereign and omnipotent in this universe. And any control that you may think you have is an illusion. Because the entire power of the universe belongs to God. So realize this, you don't control anything, really. You didn't control what time or place you were born. You did not control which family you would be born into. You didn't pick how smart you are or what kind of looks you have or what your personality is, who your family members are. All that was decreed for you by God, just like he decrees everything else about your life. You see, the world is not your oyster. The universe was not created in order so that you could find fulfillment, so that you could get something out of it. Here's what it was created for. The universe was created to display the power and glory of God. See, God alone is in control. And that realization is meant to provoke a fear in you, a fear and an awe of God. We need to realize this is God's universe and we're just living in it for a short time as his guests. And it's only when you understand that, that we are powerless creatures living under the pleasure of a sovereign God. Only when you understand that can you be truly content with what you have. See, we're not in control of any of that. God is. And so whatever good you have in your life, realize this, you have that in your life because God gave it to you. God gave that to you. And that realization of your powerlessness makes you ready to understand Solomon's second conclusion, which is that second conclusion is enjoy this life as a gift from God. enjoy this life as a gift from God. See, when we accept that God is the one in ultimate control, we're ready to realize the truth that every good thing we have in life is a gift from God. From now on, every breath you take, every moment you have on this earth, every dime in your pocket, every morsel of flavor in your mouth, you need to remember to enjoy that as God's gift to you. It is a gift from a loving God. One of my favorite things about Christmas morning is to see the delight in the eyes of my kids when they open their presents, right? And I mean, the average lifespan of any toy in our house is like two hours before it goes in the trash, but in that first 30 seconds, their eyes light up, right? And that light on their face is priceless. And that childlike delight is what we ought to have every moment of our lives. You continually ought to have that sense of delight. You're opening a gift from God every moment. Every moment is a gift from the sovereign God who is in control of everything. And he's choosing continually to give good gifts to you. And God, the gift giver wants you to enjoy the gift. Didn't you realize that? Let's see this again from the book. Go to chapter three, verse 12. Chapter three, verse 12, Ecclesiastes says this, I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime. Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor. It is the what? Gift of God. And look again and flip over to chapter 5 verse 19. Chapter 5 verse 19 says this. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also empowered him to eat from them. and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. This is a recurring theme in the book. And that's just, I just give you two of the places, but do you notice how once God entered the picture, everything changed. Futility becomes joy. Hopelessness becomes delight. So now we have to ask Christians, have you at some level forgotten that every moment of your life is a gift from a loving God? Have you lost your childlike delight in life? Christians ought to be the happiest people in the world. So enjoy your work. It is a gift from God. Enjoy your family. When you sit down for dinner tonight, take a moment to realize, wow, this moment is a gift from God. When you're changing your dirty diaper, realize that this is also a gift from God. Maybe a little smellier than the other gifts, but you get the point. Enjoy your recreation. Enjoy your pastimes. Enjoy your pleasure. Realize that these are temporary. And don't forget to enjoy them because they are temporary. And they're fleeting. And God tells you, make sure you enjoy it because it is his gift to you. He wouldn't give it to you if he didn't want you to enjoy it. Okay, but there's a little bit of an asterisk here, a little bit of a caveat, a little bit of a warning. And that's going to be our third and final point this morning, the final conclusion about life's meaning. And we have to see this as well. Look in the second half. of verse 9 of Ecclesiastes 11. So turn over now to Ecclesiastes 11 and look at the second half of verse 9. The third point that we have this morning is this, prepare for the life to come. Make sure you are preparing for the life to come, Christian. Here is the second half of verse 9 of Ecclesiastes 11. Solomon says this, and follow the impulses of your heart. and the desire of your eyes. Yet, there's a caveat. That's the asterisk. Yet, know that God will bring you to what? Judgment for all these things. By the way, while you're enjoying the gifts, don't ever forget that there's a judgment. I want you to see one more verse. Look, flip over to Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13. This is the very end of the book, his last conclusion of how he ends the book. Here, Ecclesiastes 12, 13. The conclusion, when all has been heard, is this. Fear God and keep his commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment. Everything which is hidden. Stop right there for a second. I see the message is clear. There will be a judgment. There'll be a judgment. Now, this may seem like a downer to you, but it actually shouldn't. As a Christian, your reaction to the promise of a judgment should be joy. Because this is what this means. It means that all the wrongs in the world, all of the injustice and unfairness and oppression and victimization and cruelty and hate and loss, all of the pain, it's not all for nothing. It's not all meaningless suffering after all. You know why? Because at the judgment, God will set it all right. It will be set right by God. Whenever you see something in the news and your heart says, that ought not to be, Know that at the judgment, God will set that right. And when that day comes, it was not going to be dread that we feel, but joy, and we will proclaim with God, it is very good. It will be perfect at last. No more will the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer, and no more will the weak be unjustly oppressed by the strong. See, that's where the world is headed. And by the way, I want you to know that this was the plan all along. In fact, I want you to listen to Romans 8, verses 19 to 21. Let me just read that to you. Romans 8, verses 19 to 21. It says this. This is Paul speaking. For the ancient longing of creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to what? What was the word? Futility. See, that's what we've been talking about here, isn't it? That was all of the first half of Ecclesiastes. Futility. The universe, the creation, was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it. By the way, who subjected it? God did. God subjected it to futility because of the sin of man, because of the fall. He had cursed the earth to futility. It wasn't always that way, but it is because of the sin of man. But is that the end? No, it's not the end. What does it say next? In hope that the creation itself will also be what? Set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. You see, what judgment means for you is the end of corruption that has plagued the universe since the fall. And Christians who have put their faith and trust in Christ need not fear this judgment at all, because Christ has paid the penalty for all of your sins. You will not be judged in that way. But non-Christians ought to be pretty worried, because with Christ, God will hold you into account for all your sins, even the ones that, it says in Ecclesiastes, you don't think anyone sees. Almighty God sees it all. Finally, there's one more thing in Ecclesiastes. We kind of stopped before at the end, so let's just look at that one last thing in Ecclesiastes 12, 14. I want you to see this. Look back in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 14. It says this, for God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, and watch this, whether it is good or evil. So I think we've talked about the judgment of evil already. We kind of know what that means. But what does he mean by the judgment of good? And here is where I think this is the twist ending of Ecclesiastes. You know how sometimes you watch a movie and at the end of the movie you suddenly realize that the main character is a ghost or something and nobody can see him? and your mind is now working to reinterpret the whole movie in light of that, right? And I think this is the twist ending of Ecclesiastes, because here's what this means. It all matters. Actually, it all matters. Once God comes into the picture, your whole life suddenly has a purpose. It is not futility after all. Because when we realize that good will be judged, it becomes a completely different ballgame. See, it's true that no matter how much money you have or how many possessions you have, you will not be able to take any of that with you when you die, right? But what this is telling us is that you actually can bring a type of wealth with you. There is wealth that you can bring. To see what that is, why don't we flip over to Matthew 6, verse 20. Flip over to Matthew 6, verse 20, and let's read Jesus' words together. This is what it says, Matthew 6, 20. But store up for yourselves, what? Treasures in, where? Heaven, you guys know the verse. Where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break and steal. Let me go through that again because I think we skip over one of the most important parts of the verse. It says this, store up for who? Yourselves. See, you're not storing up treasures for God. That's not what the verse says. You're not storing up treasure for your church. You're not storing up treasures for your parents or your family, your spouse even. you are storing up treasures in heaven for yourself. It's for yourself. You have the opportunity on this earth to accumulate treasure for yourself. All right? This is how I think about it. This is bank in heaven. Maybe we'll call it the New Jerusalem Bank, right? A New Jerusalem Bank. And when you, the day you became a Christian, Jesus, open an account in your name. You have an account there. And here on this earth, we worry a lot about whether we'll have enough for retirement and college savings. And we spend a lot of time on that. We hire financial planners, right, Joe? And we worry about our 401ks and about our stock balances. And here's the thing. You can't take any of that with you, right? But here's what you can take. You can take your heavenly bank account with you all the way into eternity. You see, in a sense, we found a loophole. We found a loophole to the futility of the world. All your time on this earth suddenly matters. You can accumulate lasting treasure. There is something you can do that will last. There is a point to it all. So how much have you invested in your afterlife retirement plan? You might be asking, how do I do that? How does it even work? Do they take paycheck distributions? How does that work? Well, the Bible tells you exactly how to accumulate treasure in heaven. How do I do that? There's many ways. I'm just going to give you some. Luke 635, you accumulate treasure when you do good and you love your enemies, lending and expecting nothing in return. 1 Corinthians 9, 17, you accumulate rewards when you faithfully preach the gospel that the Lord has commanded. Romans 8, 18 and 1 Peter 2, 19, you accumulate rewards by patiently enduring persecution for Jesus' name. Hebrews 6, 10, You accumulate rewards by ministering to, loving, and serving the people of God in his church. Luke 6, 35, you accumulate rewards by giving generously to God's kingdom causes. First Corinthians 3, 8, you accumulate rewards by diligently building God's church. You get the idea. Most of these have to do with living life consistently with God's commands, preaching the gospel, loving God's people, and building his church. And know that God isn't really looking for superhuman feats here. The good news is God is an exceedingly generous God. And even the smallest acts of service will not be overlooked. In Matthew 10, 42, tells us this, you know the verse, whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones, even a cold cup of water to drink. Truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. You see, God sees everything and he will not forget to add even the smallest and most imperfect acts of love to your account. So Christian, take a moment to assess how healthy is your heavenly bank account? Are you investing wisely for the future? The real thing. I think we'll be surprised when we get there because we'll find that some people who here are relatively poor in material wealth, but they have big servant hearts and a heart for God's people. In heaven, these will be the billionaires. Because how much heavenly treasure do you think 30 or 40 or 50 years of faithful service is worth? I hope we can all have that. See, that's what we need to be investing in. Well, Calvary, what is the meaning of life? Here it is. Without God, there is no meaning. There is none. and there is no lasting gain because all will fade away. But with God, everything changes. God's sovereignty makes meaning out of the meaninglessness because we recognize that every moment of our lives is a gift from God for us to delight in. And recognizing the impending judgment of God, we can finally understand the true meaning of life. It's a chance to build our estates for the life to come. To store up treasures in heaven where it will last for you forever. You see, that's true value. That's worth striving for. So Calvary, let us all invest aggressively now, okay? While we still can. Because life is so short. And we will all be there so soon. We will all be standing at the judgment seat. So the time to invest is now. Amen? Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word that answers even our deepest questions about life. And help us to frequently remember that we are nothing more than a vapor that appears over the earth for a little while and then vanishes into the wind. But also help us to remember that you have given us a way to transcend our temporariness and to build for the future in a way that will last forever. Help us to do that as a church here at Calvary. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's stand for our last song.