We are in week 18 of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. The writer of Ecclesiastes continues to return to the idea of satisfaction within our lives and how that can actually happen.
Satisfaction does not occur because we have enough stuff; it occurs when we find ourselves and our identity in God Himself. The word secular comes from the Latin word, saeculum, which means “the now” or a piece of time. It is how Solomon in Ecclesiastes speaks of understanding -- if this life “under the sun” is the only life that is real, then all of it is meaningless. The best commentators agree that the purpose of Ecclesiastes is to express when we identify with the man-made things in this world (with no God involved), in the end, life becomes entirely devoid of meaning and purpose.
From Series: "Ecclesiastes - The Existential Hangover"
Ecclesiastes is a book that deals with the idea of our existence. The teacher of the book looks at life "under the sun," which is a way to say "our life a part from who God is." Under the sun refers to all of our works that are temporary and contrasts them with things that are eternal, the things that belong to God who isn't confined to live "under the sun." The book looks at a life of someone who achieved everything anyone could have wanted yet still wakes up the next day and says, "now what?" We are calling the series the Existential Hangover because we will deal with our lives and how they are meaningless without Jesus. Ecclesiastes asks questions that can only be answered by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
