Chasing the Wind

So many people in our world are trying to find contentment or pleasure, things that don't satisfy our deepest longings. It's my wife and I during the week when we went alongside some of you, I guess, to see At Eternity's Gate, the Van Gogh movie. I am not very well versed in these things, and so it was a discovery for me to realize that Gauguin and Van Gogh were not only contemporaries but that they were also friends. And the little I know about post-impressionist painting—and it is a little—has to do with Gauguin. And one of his most celebrated paintings, and the largest one he ever did, five feet by twelve feet, which is to be found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, was a painting on which he wrote up in the top left-hand corner of this painting.

He painted it in Tahiti, as with many of his others. And on the top left-hand corner, he wrote three questions. Where do we come from? What are we?

And where are we going? He'd been catechized in the Roman Catholic Church, but he was testifying to the fact that at this point in his life, he did not have an answer to those fundamental questions. His attempt to discover, if you like, to answer the riddle of life left him. And the answer, of course, which comes across clearly not only in Ecclesiastes but throughout the whole Bible, our God has said, eternity in our hearts. And this sets up the great dilemma, you see, because in seeking to live for the immediacy and for the moment, we know, all of us inside of us, that there is something out there and beyond us. Now, in the passage that we've just read, the teacher, the preacher, the pundit, the professor—call them as you choose—seeks out to make sense of life under the sun. That's his framework.

Every so often he punches through into eternity, but he's really saying, if we take life as it is revealed to us in the now and in the here, and we try and make sense of it, what do we discover? I have three points. I'll tell you what they are so you can know that we're making progress. I usually take too long on the first.

I tell you that as well for your encouragement. So first, I have three words. The first word is frustration, the second word is explanation, and the third word is application. You will notice, as you listen carefully as I read, that there is this frustration that runs through the passage as we consider it, and classically summarized when he says, you know, what is crooked can't be made straight.

That's in chapter 1. What is lacking can't be counted. And eventually he says, you know, it's really just chasing after the wind. Those who look for these things, he says, discover that it is vanity and a striving after the wind. What he actually does is point out that the real dilemma for us if we're thoughtful is not the tragedy of life, but it is the triviality of life.

That's the point that he's making. And that the things that we thought would bring lasting value, would bring significance, would grant to us an understanding of things, are all confronted by life's brevity. That the future is slipping through our fingers a lot faster than we're prepared to acknowledge. And so the quest to make the best of it, to enjoy it as much as we can, is both an understandable quest and one that leaves us ultimately forlorn. David Myers, in a book, The American Paradox, says, Here's the American Paradox.

We have never had so much, and yet we've never had so little. He explains how this has infiltrated the minds of young men and women—not people who have done poorly or who are struggling, but those who have come from good homes, who have gone to college, who find themselves baffled by a sense of emptiness. Their self-esteem is high, but their self is empty. I quote, They grew up being told they could be anything they wanted to be, but they don't know what they want to be. They are unhappy, but there seems to be no cause for their unhappiness. They are more connected to people through the internet, and yet they have never felt more lonely.

They want to be accepted, and yet they often feel alienated. Never have we had so much. Never have we had so little.

The baby boomers don't escape either. If you read the literature on my generation, you will know that it chronicles the fact that those of us who were born a little earlier, who are now into our late sixties or early seventies, are fraught by frequent feelings of indecision and anxiety. Of the 3 a.m. wake-up in the middle of the night, that sense of being without foundation, and finding that despite all we have done, unless there is something more, we are as of now unable to fill the void. Now, this is where someone like C. S. Lewis can be tremendously helpful. And in mere Christianity, you'll remember that as he addresses this issue, he provides this wonderful insight. I quote, says Lewis, If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.

Therefore, says Lewis, I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same. Now, the shorter Scottish catechism begins, What is the chief end of man? Answer one, The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. There, in the world of the selfie, the catechism calls out to us, It is about glorifying God, not glorifying oneself. It is about enjoying him and then enjoying other things. How vastly different is that from Hemingway? Ernest.

Do you remember his great credo? Life is a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness. Frustration.

Explanation. In the Bible, we have all kinds of genres. In other words, Ecclesiastes does not read the same way as one of Paul's letters.

The letters of Paul or of Peter or of John don't read the same way as a gospel which was written. And so, from Ecclesiastes and frustration, I want to direct your attention to one of Paul's letters by way of explanation. He says, Solomon, that the sense of chasing the wind and of emptiness is particularly the prerogative of the intelligent, of those who are able to think. Einstein, in keeping with Ecclesiastes, said, I have discovered that the men who know the most are the most gloomy.

All right? Now, why is this? Well, Paul actually, in addressing the Corinthians, tackles this very straightforwardly. And I want to read just a brief section to you. Where, he says, is the wise man? Where is the scribe?

Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

Now, we would not want to know anything of a kind of mindless Christianity, would we? We recognize that our minds matter. We recognize that biblical Christianity calls for us at every point to think, that the story of the gospel stands up to the most rigorous and vigorous investigation.

But if intellect or wisdom were the key, then a number of us would immediately be ruled out, because we would not qualify any more than we have qualified in our studies. What the New Testament is pointing out is something quite dramatic. It is saying that it is in the wisdom of God that the world did not know God through wisdom. In other words, there is an invisible boundary between God and ourselves. And it is on account of that that we are alienated, so that when we talk to one another about a sense of alienation, whether it is alienated from a friend or a family member or a spouse or a sense of psychological alienation, where there's a dissonance in me in my own mental capacity.

Underlying all of that, says the Bible, is this great alienation, that we are distanced from God in this way. And the answer to that, contrary to contemporary notions of spirituality, the answer to that is not found in our deeper self. Contemporary spirituality suggests to us that if you look inside, you can probably find the answer. If you've been looking inside yourself recently, and you're honest, you'll be forced to conclude that you found more questions than you found answers. So, contemporary notions of spirituality go like this. Yes, there are a lot of problems, but they're all outside of you. If you will look inside yourself, you'll be able to find the answer in your deepest self.

The story of the Bible says the absolute reverse. The real problems that we face are inside of us, and the answer to those dilemmas is found outside of us. You see, by any standards, our contemporary world, not least of all in our Western culture, is desperately sick.

Men and women are perhaps in this world today more unhappy than they have ever been. And in search of an explanation, we turn to the Bible, and the Bible says there's bad news before there's good news—in other words, that our souls are in disrepair. The very essence of who we are, the is-ness of us, the thing that makes us us, that will last forever, it's in disrepair. And that's why in the Bible it always talks about how our souls are in need of salvation.

One of my friends has put it in this way. Incidentally, in the anthem this morning, we had it sung for us, Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see. What does that say? The writer is saying, in our present condition, we cannot ultimately see God and his glory.

Why? Because God is outside the realm of our intuitive radar. That's not my line, it's a friend's line, it's a great line. That God is outside the realm of our intuitive radar. Therefore, we cannot access him on our own terms, nor on our own time. No, says the Bible, it is he who comes to access us. It is he who has to cross that boundary in order that we might know him. And it is he who has done exactly that in the person and work of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have now seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, I don't know this congregation this morning, but if you are a thinking soul and at the same time not convinced of this, let me tell you what ought to be going through your mind.

Something like this. This is absolutely foolish. This is foolishness.

Now, why would that be? Because to the mind of the unbelieving man or woman, it is exactly that. That's what Paul says. For this word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, quoting from Isaiah, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will frustrate. Or you say, Hurry up with your third point. Here we go. Application. Frustration. Explanation.

Application. So, from the poetry and the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, to a brief sortie in the letter of Paul, finally to the Gospels. And what do we discover? Well, it is this message of the cross. What happened on the cross?

Well, a sinless man died. It was a dark day, a sign of God's judgment. At his coming, God turned the lights on, and there was music and joy. At his departure, God turned the lights off. In the middle of the day, it was dark, an eerie darkness, a sign of God's judgment. You remember the plagues of Egypt? And the ninth plague, before the death of the firstborn, was the plague of darkness covering the whole land. A dark day, a loud cry, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The answer to that is that he was forsaken in order that we might be forgiven. A dark day, a loud cry, a torn curtain—that huge, big curtain in the temple, the barred way of entry that said, You are alienated from God, and you cannot access God in your own terms and in your own time. And in that moment, the curtain was torn down.

You know the story. There were two on either side of him, one on either side. They were cussing him out, saying things like, If you're the Son of God, why don't you get down from the cross?

This is ridiculous. Save yourself! They said he could save other people, but he couldn't save himself. And then in a moment of insight, the one fellow said to his friend, Hey, I'm not so sure this is the right line. We are up here getting what our sins deserve.

But this man has done nothing wrong. And then he realized, Oh, he has come to bear a punishment that I deserve in order that he might grant to me a forgiveness that I don't deserve. There are some lovely photographs of some of you men, and I guess ladies too, but mainly the men. You're looking your best in the golf courses and in the various places around. There you are, someone has taken your photograph. And I'm sure on that day you said to the photographer, Now, how do I look?

And they said, You look the way you looked yesterday. And you perhaps said, And do your best for me. Make sure this does me justice.

Right? And somewhere in the back of the photographer's mind was the phrase coming out, You know, it's not justice you need, sir, it's mercy. You remember the merchant of Venice? Though justice be thy plea, consider this, that in the course of justice none of us should see salvation, we do but pray for mercy. Some of us are here this morning chasing the wind religiously. That's why we're here, because, you know, we come. But we've concluded that somehow or another, this is all about something that is done by me.

That's routine wisdom. What the Bible says is, now, this whole story is not about something done by you. It is about something done for you.

It is a gift to be received, not a diploma to be achieved. And that, I suggest to you, in this kind of context, is the rub. Final quote from an old professor from Mansfield College, Oxford, Nathaniel Micklin. He said to his people in his day, The ultimate scandal of our evangelical faith lies not in dogma or in symbolism but in its intolerable offense to human pride. The man of taste and the woman of culture cannot bring themselves to say, Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. They feel no need of so utter a salvation.

To them it is therefore nonsense or mere mythology that the majesty of God should take a sinner's form and die in a sinner's place. The frustration is hard to avoid, the explanation is clear but tough to accept, and the invitation that is extended, to have it applied to our lives, is clear. We watched the fishing boats come in a couple of afternoons, and it was nice. It was freezing. It was very much like Scotland. And it reminded me of a quote from another old Scottish worthy, Samuel Rutherford.

And Samuel Rutherford was addressing the folks in his day about these very things, and this is what he said to them. He said, Stoop, stoop, down with the top sail. It is a low entry to go in at heaven's gate. Have you stooped?

Have you lowered your top sail? Have you entered through that gate? And if not, today would be a fine day. Salvation is a gift that can be received, but can never be earned. That's a life-changing lesson from today's message titled, Chasing the Wind on Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. As we think about the gift of salvation, we're reminded of the miraculous way this gift arrived. As a precious baby on a silent night, to celebrate our Savior's birth, we want to invite you to join Alistair Begg tomorrow at 8 p.m. Eastern as he hosts an online musical concert titled, A Parkside Christmas.

For complete details about how to enjoy the sounds of the season online, go to truthforlife.org slash concert. The holidays also inspire many of us to set goals for the new year, and maybe one of your goals is to get together as a family for regular family worship. But leading a family Bible study can feel daunting.

For most of us, it's challenging to put together a plan that we can stick with. So our team has selected an easy-to-use 52-week Bible reading guide that we want to recommend to you. The title is, Exploring the Bible Together. It's designed to help you and your family spend just a few minutes in God's Word each day during 2021. We love this book because it lays out a convenient way for you to read about five Bible verses every day. By the end of next year, your family will have read verses from Genesis all the way to Revelation. Each daily entry also includes a couple of questions for your children to think about. If you're a parent struggling with how to do family worship, exploring the Bible together is a perfect resource. Request your copy when you make a generous one-time gift today.

Simply tap the image on the mobile app or find it online at truthforlife.org or you can call 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lapeen. Tomorrow we begin a special series titled Christmas in the Beginning. I hope you can join us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.