We recently began a new sermon series at Westgate Church through the book of Ecclesiastes. Believe it or not, one of the reasons I selected this relatively obscure and rarely preached book was in hopes that our congregation would be motivated to bring their non-believing friends and family to church to hear its life-changing message. That’s not to say that this is a specifically evangelistic series, as though the only reason for Christians to come is to bring non-Christians. We all need to hear and take to heart the message of this book. But Ecclesiastes does lend itself particularly well to engaging those interested in exploring the faith, and here are four reasons why.
- Ecclesiastes validates their doubts and questions. One of the pervasive (mis)conceptions about Christianity is that there’s no room for honesty about questions, doubts, criticisms, or even skepticism regarding life or the teachings of the Bible. Christians come off as ignorant and naive, making Christ and Christianity look unbelievable and irrelevant. But the book of Ecclesiastes is painfully honest about how messed up this world is. It gives voice to our doubts and suspicions about life, faith, and God, and invites us to wrestle honestly with them.
- Ecclesiastes levels the playing field. Another impression Christians often give is that we have it all together. We come off as judgmental, self-righteous, and unsympathetic (sadly, because we sometimes are). But no one can escape the criticism of Ecclesiastes. Christians seem remarkably human under the penetrating examination of this book—prone to the same trials, frustrations, misgivings, and misplaced hope as the rest of the world. All who sit under this book will find themselves sitting in the same seat—in need of a help outside themselves.
- Ecclesiastes exposes the emptiness of what the world offers. The same critique that knocks Christians down to size also exposes the vanity of all that our unbelieving friends and family look to for lasting gain and significance. One by one, this book dispels the false hope we put in work, wealth, pleasure, knowledge, relationships, religion, power, politics, and everything else under the sun—the kinds of things it’s particularly easy to trust in among the wealthy and well-educated suburbs of Boston. But like a puff of breath on a frosty morning, so Ecclesiastes shows us how everything in this world that we hope in is ultimately fleeting and fruitless—it doesn’t last, and it doesn’t accomplish anything in the end. We need a better hope.
- Ecclesiastes points us to a greater and eternal hope in Jesus Christ. While its critique of life is sharp and startling, the book doesn’t leave us hopeless and depressed, resigned to put up with the vanity of life under the sun. Instead it lifts our eyes above the sun, and points them to Jesus, who took the vanity, sin, and decay of this life upon himself on the cross, and rose again on the third day to bring new life and a new creation. Against the dreary backdrop of life’s empty promises, the hope and joy found only in Jesus shines all the brighter—a hope that changes everything.
So take courage this season. As you wrestle with how this book challenges your own life and faith, pray for your unbelieving friends and neighbors who live daily under the cloud of life’s vanity. Invite them to come with you and take a fresh look at life through the lens of Ecclesiastes.
*For readers who attend Westgate, be sure to pick up a few series postcards this Sunday that you can use as invitations for friends.
In 2007, New York-based designers teamed up with Florida-based high-rise builders, Las Vegas architects, and a team of investors to create what would have been one of Las Vegas’s “largest, most unapologetically glamorous hotels”—the $2.9 Billion Fountainebleau. But just two years into the construction the economic recession brought everything to a grinding halt. To this day the project sits 70% complete, beams exposed, with no sign of completion in sight. All the wisdom that went into designing and planning this magnificent creation, all the hard work that went into constructing it . . . and nothing to show for it.
There’s an uncomfortable parallel between this building and our lives in a fallen world. Read more…
Mother’s Day and Romans 12:15
This Sunday is a special day for so many people. I can’t express how thankful I am for my own mother and the countless (and I mean countless) ways that she has loved and served me, not only growing up, but even with my whole family now. And of course I am equally without words in gratitude for my wife, Carissa, and the kindness, wisdom, and affection she lavishes on our children. She is simply incredible, and you all should be jealous of me. Add to it my loving grandmothers, mother-in-law, and grandmother-in-law, and I am a very blessed man indeed.
But for many this day is rather painful. The sorrow of miscarriage, the stinging grief of having lost a child, the loneliness and sadness of having lost a mother or grandmother–all of these make an otherwise happy celebration overwhelmingly bitter.
So in our interactions with others, how do we navigate the conflicting emotions of the day? Read more…
My wife and I recently began premarital counseling with a young couple from our church. We’re excited for the opportunity to invest in them and build a friendship with them that, Lord willing, God will use as they begin their marriage and family for the glory of Christ. As I was preparing for our time with them, I plowed through a handful of the best gospel-centered marriage books out there.
Invitation to Ecclesiastes
This week we began a new series at Westgate Church: Work, Wealth, Pleasure, Knowledge, and Other Dreams that Disappoint: The Surprising Hope of Ecclesiastes. This is a long title, but it’s designed to capture the tension that we find in this book—a tension that makes Ecclesiastes so obviously relevant for those who live in New England today, and more specifically in Greater Boston. In fact part of our desire for this series is that people would step out to invite friends and neighbors to come and wrestle with life through the honest yet hopeful lens of Ecclesiastes.
Do a random survey on your street, in your school, at your office, in your child’s play group, and ask a simple question: What do you live for? What do you look to for lasting significance and gain? Among others, you’re going to hear these answers: Read more…
The Mess and Order of a Gospel-Centered Church
Thoughtful, exciting, and freeing reflections for a congregation seeking to be a gospel-centered community living each day on mission for Christ. Jared Wilson writes:
When a church is faithful to preach the gospel and demonstrate the gospel’s implications, it will usually find that it attracts and is attracted to the kind of people Jesus attracted and was attracted to. People who are, shall we say, rough around the edges.
The gospel well preached and applied will make ministry messy. Things will change. I often think of it like the beating of a rug — you’re gonna get a lot of dust in the air. There will be a thick cloud. The gospel stirs stuff up.
But our God is not an author of confusion. So as things get messy, while the gospel is creating a safe space for sins, hurts, and struggles to rise to the surface, it is outlining that space really well. The same gospel that exposes mess creates order.
How? In a gospel-centered church, one will find that:
There are leaders who are humble and confident and grace-ready.
There are church members grace-ready.
There are opportunities for counsel
There are opportunities for discipleship.
There is biblical church governance, church membership, and church discipline.A safe space is not an amorphous, undefined space. The gospel brings junk up and then sorts junk out.
Why I’m Preaching Ecclesiastes from the ESV
In just over a week I’ll begin a new preaching series at Westgate Church: Work, Wealth, Pleasure, Knowledge, and Other Dreams that Disappoint—The Surprising Hope of Ecclesiastes. And though the Bible version in our church pews and usually up on the screen is the New International Version (NIV), I’ll be preaching this series from the English Standard Version (ESV). I thought it would be good to explain why. Read more…
