The Great Emptiness

A sermon by Rev. Jim Pardue
Interim Preacher, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia
Sunday, January 27, 2008

I want you to take a journey today.  The milestone markers on the side of the road were put there by a man by the name of Solomon.  Solomon was for 40 years the third king of the united Israel nation.  He was a man who had access to more good things than you can imagine.  And yet, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes to remind us that life is not found in things.  The book is written to try to show us how we may find a full life for which all of us want to live.

My friend’s name was Benny.  Benny and I were pals in college.  We used to date together.  We used to go to games together.  And then, he began to go back home every weekend.  He married his high-school sweetheart.  In about a year, when we were in our senior year - Benny and his wife brought into the world their first child.  They did what a lot of people do that are in college - they began to go back home every weekend and show the baby to their moms and dads and grandparents.  Sunday afternoon, they were on their way back to our college town.  In that area, there are a lot of hills and he was going over one, and he did not have time to realize that a log truck had broken down in the road.  The log truck’s driver was getting out and running to the back to try to put some flares so people could see the truck.  But he didn’t get there in time, and my friend, Benny ran into the back of truck.  He was rushed to the hospital in our college town.  He was unconscious from Sunday afternoon till Wednesday.  We took turns being in the room with our friend.  And one afternoon, Benny sat straight up in the bed, and he looked up and he cried out, “Don’t cheat me, God.  I want to live.”  The next day my friend, Benny was dead. 

But I had remembered all of these years, his prayer, which really is the prayer of us all: “Don’t cheat us God, we want to live.”  All of us want to live a life full of adventure, a life full of meaning, a life full of purpose.  We don’t want to come to the end of the life and all we see on the tombstone is “Born 1930, Died 2008.” All of us want to have more than that.  And that’s what Solomon was about. 

The book of Ecclesiastes is the story of Solomon’s search to find the true meaning of life.  Now, when you know just a little bit about him, you begin to wonder, “Well how could that be a search?”  He was a king with absolute power for 40 years.  Yet, in the middle of being a king for 40 years, he wrote this book.  He was one of the richest men who ever lived.  When I grew up, people used to say, “He’s as rich as Solomon.”  He was a person who was smart.  In fact, the Bible calls him the wisest man who ever lived.  He wrote three books in the Bible.  He was a person that created a thousand proverbs and songs.  So when you begin to think of all of what he had.  And all that had been given to him, you begin to wonder, “what kind of man is this on a search?”  And yet what he found was what all of us find - that a person is not ready to live life to the fullest until they find some basic answers about life.

What is life?  Where are we heading?  Where are we going?  What is life really about?  And in the first chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes, beginning at verse twelve, he goes five different places to try to find the answer.  That’s the journey I want you to take with me.  Go to those five places, where we begin to ask the question, “Is this enough to bring life?”

This is chapter one, verse twelve.  “The teacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.  I devoted myself to study to explore by wisdom all that had been done under heaven.”  Solomon said the first post that I stopped, was the post of “knowing.”  He says if I know enough, if I get smart enough, if I get educated enough, then I’ll have the answer to life, I will find fulfillment in all of what I find.  And yet, how important it is to understand, that while education is vital, education within itself, does not give a basic answer to life. 

Most people who are very educated and wise are that way in one area of life.  You may be a wonderful engineer, but you may not be smart in geography.  And what the Bible indicates to you is that if you go on a search to try to find the answers, you’re going to find that that’s not the answer.  You’re going to find that somehow or another you’re going to know you know more than what you can learn. 

I think you are aware that there is enough new knowledge that comes out in the world everyday.  If you would take 26 copies of Encyclopedia Britannica you couldn’t put all that’s learned in one day around the world.  That is the reason that there are some companies, unless you have a doctor’s degree, they won’t employ you, and the reason for that is by the time you catch up with them they’re off and gone somewhere else.  The idea of trying to say, “I’m going to learn wisdom, and that’s going to help me to learn all the answers to life” is a folly’s road.

One of our sons is a professor in one of the large universities in the south.  We went visiting one weekend.  It was Sunday morning, and we were there for Sunday school. I went in, and my son said, “This is the room that you would like.”  The Sunday school teacher just blew my mind.  I’ve listened to people all of my life, but he was just grand and wonderful.  After it was over, I went up to him and I said, “I’m sorry that we were late,” I said, “and I didn’t get a chance to meet you personally,” I said, “Who are you?” 

Have you ever felt dumb, then dumber?  That’s when he said, “I’m the president of the university.”  Well, I didn’t know his name, and I’d never seen him before.  And I said, “Well, I’m sure that all of your background helps you to understand about life so much more.”  And the president of the university said, “Oh yes, it helps.  But remember, we’re all the same as far as our basic need - and that is to find the answer to life.”  And he said, “I found it in Jesus Christ.”

You may search and search in all of the books of the world.  But the way in which you are going to find the answer to life and meaning, is you’re going to have to find it in Jesus Christ. 

Go to chapter two, verse one:  “I thought in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But this also proved to be meaningless.” 

Pleasure.  If I can just have a good time - that’s going to make fulfillment for my life.  And there are people today who break every rule, run over every person in their way, sit up at night thinking how they can break people’s hearts.  Always in the midst of thinking that somehow all that I am is 175 pounds of protoplasm, and all that I am is a group of nerves that’s sitting here waiting to find joy and happiness.  And some of us think if we can just go down the road and find a way to be involved in all kinds of things - then we’re going to find fulfillment to life.

I wish I could say to every young person that is present - breaking God’s law and breaking the rules of scripture are not the way to find meaning in life.  What you are going to find is what all of us found who went down that road.  And that is, that you are going to be more miserable than you were before.  Pleasure is not the answer.

A call came and I began to recognize a voice on the other side.  And you must understand that I have been a minister for fifty years, I’ve talked to a jillion people.  I have seen the other side of the good things in life.  “Happy hour” doesn’t mean happy.  It means that somehow misery.  And I hope that you will come to understand in your life, that if you spend your time just going after pleasure, it’s not going to have deep meaning into your life. 

Notice down in verse three: “I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly.”  In the scripture, there is a verse that says it this way, “Do not be drunk with wine in excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  I have become convinced that one of the reasons that so many people put things down their esophagus or in their arms - is that they believe that somehow or another this will bring the life for which they are looking. 

One of those calls at three o’clock in the morning was from Bruce.  He said, “Pastor, I know what time it is, but we really need you, can you come now?”  Three o’clock in the morning, I drive into a driveway that’s circular, there’s a huge house that is there.  The young adult opened the door and said, “She’s back in the back.”  I went back in the back and saw this beautiful young girl in a mansion of a house who had tried to commit suicide.  I said, “You know, I’m going to talk with you for a moment, then I’m going to call the doctor, but talk to me, just a moment.  Why?”  And she said, “Have you ever chewed a piece of gum and all the sweet was out and you just wanted to spit it out?”  She said, “I’ve broken every rule that mom and dad told me, and now I just want to spit it out.”

I need to tell you afresh today, that if you believe that life can be found in a bottle, or it can be found in a weed, or it can be found in anything that somehow will only effect your body - if it does not deal with the spirit of your life, you’re going to end up more miserable than you’ve ever imagined. 

Solomon, the king, found that true.  You will find it true forever.  Verse four is the fourth one: “I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards.” 

Do.  If I can just work enough, accumulate enough, if I can just get to the place where this is enough, then I’m going to be happy.  And I’m sure I’m speaking to people today that if it had to be a description of who you are right at this moment - it would be a work-a-holic.  You’ve figured out that this is the way that you can make money and if you can make money, you can provide for yourself and for your family and so, you’re going to work as many hours as you can work, recognizing that what you provide for your family - really needs is what you can’t buy them.

Tolstoy told it right - a man came to a man and he said, “I’ll tell you what to do - I’ll give all the land that you can run around in one day.”  And so the man got up early in the morning and he ran and ran and ran and he saw the sun starting to go down and he picked up speed.  And finally, he ran as fast as he could back to the man who was there and took a deep breath and died.  Spent all of his life running around in circles, and died.  What if you have everything - but have nothing?  If you have temporal things, but don’t have eternal things? 

Solomon, who was called the richest man in the world, ended up by saying, “I can hold it all in my hand, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to find the meaning to life.” 

Most of us are like onions that we just peel off one layer after another, until finally there’s nothing left.  If you want life, true life, the only way you’re going to be able to find it is in Jesus Christ. 

If everyone were to leave in a few moments, and I was the last one to leave, and I walked out and I saw you standing by your car, and went over and I said, “Excuse me, are you having trouble?”  Said, “Yeah, my car won’t start.”  Now, with my keen mechanical mind, I said, “Do you have any gas?”  “No, I don’t have any gas.”  “Well, your car will run better if it has gas.  Why don’t you go right over there - see the service station, go right over there and I’ll take care of something here at the church and come back and see if everything is alright.”  I’ll come back, and you say, “I don’t like gas.”  “What did you do with your car?”  “I filled it up with water.”  My keen mathematical mind says, “Not going to work too well - cars don’t run on water.  Go back over there.”  You come back, I come back the third time, “Is your car running?”  “No.”  “Why?”  “Why isn’t it running this time?”  “Cause I filled it up with air.”  Now, you say, “Pastor, can anybody be that stupid?”  Yes. Whenever you try to make something operate on that which it is not designed to operate - you’ve got a problem.  You were made to live in God.  Your life can be fulfilled, only when you give yourself to Him.  And if you try to find it by putting all these other things in your life, what you’re going to find is it’s not going to work. 

God made you to live in Him.  And apart from that, it’s going to be misery.   

Jesus tried to teach us one day in a miracle He worked in a lady’s life.  She is called the woman from Samaria.  Jesus was traveling through a country, stopped for a moment to get a drink of water at a well.  And a woman was there, and He turned to her and He said, “Would you give me a drink of water?”  And then He said, “Let me ask you something, do you have a husband?”  She said, “No, I don’t.”  And He said, “Well, you’ve answered that right.”  He said, “You’ve lived with five men, and now living with number six.  And you somehow think that if you can just get the right man, in the right place, everything is going to work out alright.  But what you have found is that you have got to come down to the well all the time, and you keep pumping it out and keep trying to find satisfaction.”  He said, “But if you will give your life to me, you will find a spring of water springing up in your chest that will meet all of your needs.”  The scripture said in biblical times women were not even allowed to speak in public - not even to their husband, and she throws her water bottle down and goes running into town.  And she says, “I found Him, I found Him, I found the Messiah.” 

I want to tell you today, you can find Him.  You can find Him, who will come into your life with fulfillment and joy and be able to bring into your life that for which you are looking.  How can you find meaning and purpose in life?  Let me tell you.  You can find it only in Him.

Our children grew up when we lived in Memphis.  If you were to ask anybody in Memphis, “Who’s your most famous resident?”  There’s not but one answer.  His name is Elvis.  And when we lived there, there was a church not far down from the house where he lived.  They asked me to come lead a revival meeting.  One afternoon they asked me to speak to the young people.  And I turned to all the young people and I said, “Tell me, who is your favorite person - who’s your hero?”  We’ll that wasn’t hard to figure out.  ELVIS!  I said, “Why do you like Elvis so much?”  And he looked at me as though, ‘‘where have you been?  Elvis has four Cadillacs.”

Not long ago, the city of Memphis commemorated his death.  He is still one of the most famous showmen in the United States.  And, as you come down to commemorate his death; you listen to his wife, who’s standing by his tombstone.  He was a man of great talent.  But did not know why he was here.  You know what burdens my heart?  It burdens me that there are people who are in this church building this morning and people who are watching on television, that somebody needs to tell them, life is not found in four Cadillacs.  And until you find out why you’re here, you’re not going to be able to find fulfillment of life.

I was called to be a minister when I was in college, for some reason.  I was ordained, and three months later I was asked to go be the pastor of a small church in north Louisiana.  I did not have a car, so every Saturday afternoon I caught a bus.  Went up to a city called Rustin, Louisiana, waited for the bus going over to Shreveport.  I was working three different jobs, trying to put myself through college, and then I accepted to become pastor of a church on the weekend.  And I was sitting in the bus stop waiting for the transfer, and I pulled in and realized I had four quarters.  That was it.  That’s all the money I had in the world.  And as I was sitting there, bemoaning my poverty, the door opened and in walked a man.  Had been somewhere, because he was having a little trouble walking and nothing was wrong with his legs.  And he walked over, and he looked at me and he said, “Is that seat taken?”  I looked around, we had 150 seats and I was the only one in there.  And I said, “No, it’s not taken.”  So he sat down next to me.  Sat there for a few minutes, and he said, “You got a quarter?”  Now you understand, I could lose that quarter today, and it wouldn’t be too much, but when that was the only quarter I had - that was a lot. 

I said, “Yeah, I got one.”  He said, “Give it to me, I want to listen to some music.”  There was a place right over there you could take a quarter and slip it in, and he went over.  Got his finger going down the list of songs, and he said, “Ah, that’s it.”  Put my quarter in, and passed out on the floor.  And I was sitting there thinking, I invested a quarter in a man who’s not going to even hear the music.  I listened to it.  And this is the song that he picked out.  The person who made it famous was a man by the name of Red Foley.  And this is what it said…  “Just a closer walk with thee, grant it Jesus, is my plea, daily walking close to thee, let it be dear Lord, let it be.  When my feeble life is over, time for me will be no more, guide me safely over to the kingdom on foreign shores.” 

I had been sitting in that place trying to think of something to say to the church the next morning.  And I preached a sermon on quarters that reveal people’s basic life. 

You know, I don’t have to come to a church and guess that you are looking for a full life.  And I don’t have to come to guess that you’ve tried all kinds of things like Solomon.  But what I’ve come to tell you is quarters are not the answer.  Having things are not the answer.  The only thing that’s the answer is found in Jesus Christ.  And I want to ask you today with a burdened heart, if you wouldn’t give your heart and your life to Him? 

When you come to the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon says, “This is the answer, that I would follow the commands of the Lord and live my life as to him.”  With that you can find what you’re looking for – you can find it in Jesus Christ.