Text: Ecclesiastes 12:8
By the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon had thoroughly discussed the vanity of life. He concluded with our purpose: to fear God and keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Spiritual things must come first; everything else is secondary. Yet some, attempting to serve God, end up following vanity anyway in their improper pursuit of spiritual things.
Vain Religion (James 1:26-27)
- James already described how we need to be doers of the word (James 1:22)
- But though we may do certain things, we can neglect others which renders our religion worthless
- How our religion becomes worthless – we fail to bridle our tongue; we do not visit the orphans and widows, we do not keep ourselves unstained from the world
Vain Worship (Matthew 15:1-9)
- Pharisees & scribes confronted Jesus about His disciples breaking the tradition of the elders – Jesus exposed their problem
- They elevated their tradition to the level of Scripture – when this happens, and tradition inevitably conflicts with Scripture, man ofter reinterprets Scripture to fit his ideas
- This renders our worship worthless – not worshiping as He instructed (John 4:24) and/or not acting according to His authority in all things (Colossians 3:17)
Vain Manner of Life (1 Peter 1:18-19)
- Christians have not been redeemed with perishable things, but with the blood of Christ
- What have we been redeemed from? – the futile way of life inherited from our forefathers
- He is talking about the pursuit of & focus on material things – the things in this life are temporary, so we must focus on laying up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21)
Vain Faith (1 Corinthians 15:14)
- Some in Corinth denied the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12) – one consequence of this position was that their faith was vain
- Faith is absolutely essential for one to please God (Hebrews 11:6) – but faith comes by the word (Romans 10:17); therefore it is based upon truth (John 17:17)
- If we believe what is false, no matter how strongly/sincerely we believe it, our faith is worthless
Vain Hope (1 Corinthians 15:19)
- Paul is again addressing the false claims of those who denied the resurrection – without the resurrection, the only hope we have is in this life
- Those who seek to follow Christ for some reward in this life have a vain hope – the “prosperity gospel” is false (1 Timothy 6:3-5); our hope is in something greater (1 Timothy 6:6-8; Matthew 16:26)
- We must not focus on the things of this life, but set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2)
(Adapted from an outline by A.W. Dicus.)
