The Empty Promise of Novelty

Well this morning we return to Ecclesiastes. We're in the first chapter and we began last week properly with Verse 3, which is the programmatic question that will occupy us

At least specifically up to chapter 2 verse 26, but arguably the the entire book

Beginning with that question in verse 3 what prophet has a man? From all of his labor in which he toils under the

Sun we introduced The importance of that phrase under the Sun last week If we're looking at the beginning of chapter 1 here we have that programmatic question and then really verses 4 through 11 are sort of an introductory poem and Then beginning with verse 12 where we're going next week

You have more of the the body the beginning of the body of the letters So we're wading our way through an introductory poem that sets the tone and the direction for this wisdom literature for Ecclesiastes We want to appreciate something of the structure really there is this unity to verses 3 through 11 or particularly 4 through 11 but verse 8

Sort of as an interlude and I want to appreciate something of the structure of what we began last week that will conclude this morning

So again verse 3 the programmatic question what prophet has a man from all of his labor in which he toils under the

Sun? John Goldengay in his commentary points out the contrast that we saw last week between the steady consistency of the cosmos going about its way merrily in circles the

Sun rising and Returning circling and circling and circling speaking again from our perspective here on the earth or of the wind

Though it seems at any given time to blow northward or westward or eastward or southward Ultimately speaking it's just going in circles around the sphere and the streams

That always seem to be going in one direction, but in fact are simply cycling through Evaporation and saturation into this endless circle of water so whether Sun or wind or water we see this endless circularity to creation and Amidst that endless circularity is this monotony of humanity the repetition of generation to generation

And we see the generation is like grass The earth the cosmos being this stage upon which the generations succeed generations rise up One after the other they come and they go and somehow the earth remains unchanged the

Sun the wind Carrying out their own life as it were in their own way for their own reason if you think of Job Chapters 38 and 39.

This is essentially God's rebuke to Job So we have the widest contours of creation and then the generations in the midst of creation really that begins the structure of this poem in verse 4 verse 4 introduces both of these things the earth and human generations

So verse 4 one generation Passes away another generation comes the earth abides forever

All right. So verse 4 setting the tone for the poem one generation passes another generation comes

Here's the circularity of human generations and what's the larger framework for that the earth abides forever

Now following that verse verse 4 through verses 5 6 & 7

We have three paired lines describing the earth. We saw that last week The Sun the wind the water and then verse 8 is sort of an interlude

It asked it asked the question who can articulate this It's not possible for a man to express this weariness weariness is saturating all of these things

What are these things the things introduced in verse 4 the generations of humanity and the circularity of nature?

And that follows as an interlude with verses 9 through 11 now instead of focusing on the earth

We're focusing on the human generations so that's the structure that we're seeing in verses 4 through 11 verse 4 introduces human generations and The earth or the cycles of nature 5 through 7 have three paired lines describing the earth verse 8 is an interlude returning to that question of verse 3 and then verses 5 9 through 11 are expanding on the

Human generations. Okay again, we're gonna be doing a lot of this through Ecclesiastes Appreciating poetic structure repetition and so on So again, this poem is setting the tone setting the course for the whole book and it opens by an expansion of verse 3

But it doesn't answer it In some ways it only adds to the dilemma of verse 3 So we're already on our way searching for the answer and we're not gonna find it here in verses 9 through 11

We're not even gonna find it in chapter 1 and so you're not gonna find it in today's sermon either please be prepared for a lot of Hangovers as it were

I have to wait till next week and in some ways We're gonna have to have this sense of tension that runs through the whole book of Ecclesiastes That's part of this inexplicable tension that we feel in the midst of life itself again

Verse 8 this interlude all things are full of labor full of toil Man cannot express it.

The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear filled with hearing Verse 8 is this conclusion?

No, no man could ever fully express the toil that's in everything every aspect every fiber of life under the

Sun No, I can never fully see it No ear can ever fully receive it. Everything is so shot through with utility that we can't fully articulate it

So he's turned from the circle of the Sun and the wind in the waters to that interlude of there's there's no way to fully

Express the toil the futility of it all and then verses 9 through 11 here is he's returning to speak of humanity or human

Generations. So here's our focus this morning verses 9 through 11 that which has been is what will be

That which is done is what will be done and there is nothing new under the Sun Is there anything of which it may be said look this is new

It has already been in ancient times before us There is no remembrance of former things

Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after We're gonna look at verses 9 through 11 in two parts and the first part

I think captures the tone of verses 9 through 11 and that tone is this the empty promise of novelty the empty promise of novelty

Novelty being something new something flashy some change in Verses 9 through 11 in particular show us how bankrupt that promise is how hollow that sense of change or newness

Is there is nothing new under the Sun? Kids don't say that verse with much meaning

I'm not that old of a man, but I'm old enough to say that verse with some meaning now I imagine in another 30 years.

I'll say it with even more meaning truly. There is nothing new under the Sun We asked the question the rhetorical question.

Is there anything of which it may be said see this is new a Less thoughtful mind a less reflective mind will quickly say of course, there's all sorts of things that are new iPhone 18 is on its way out

Look at the frontier of AI We're surrounded with the potential of all things new a wise mind a reflective mind a

Solomonic mind says No, there's nothing new not under this Sun Now, I'm sure

We at first glance want to muster up a thought of some discovery some invention

Something that could represent for us a real breakthrough and there's no shortage of those teases and tales of real breakthrough some

Unprecedented advanced in knowledge or technology and of course even in Solomon's day he could understand advances in engineering advances in in the arts advances in military strategy or technology advances in music or agricultural industry or economy or commerce

Of course he himself understood the breakthroughs the sense of advancement. He's speaking at a much higher level than this

Somehow in one way or the other all of the latest developments all of the unprecedented

Frontiers all of them still belong to the human experience under the Sun That's the frame of reference for Kohelet.

That's the frame of reference for this poem under the Sun Truly, there's nothing new

He says it explicitly there is nothing new under the Sun There's nothing new in other words

Categorically new to human experience that can't in one way or another Be followed like a thread all the way back to our origins

There's nothing new For all that is different. There's also something familiar

Something true of the progress of that new thing that draws us all the way back to our roots

This too Kohelet says is vanity At the widest scale of reference, there's nothing new to human experience no new technologies or advancements

That come out of a fundamentally different desire or need or hope at that level at that widest level

There's nothing new under the Sun This is because human beings as human beings under the

Sun Post -genesis 3 have the same basic problems in life

The same basic needs the same basic desires the same moral deficiency the same underlying insecurity

That Adam and Eve had when they were exiled from the garden that has not changed If you read the the account of Genesis Post -genesis 3 you see that The the

Cainite civilization introduces so much change so much novelty in the world

But they're simply managing the effects of the fall Everything that flows post -genesis 3 is

Essentially life or human experience under the Sun. It doesn't matter how far back you rewind

The same fundamental problems the same fundamental needs the same fundamental drives that people have always had

We have different ways of navigating that culturally We have different levels of technology or capacity that cause us to address these things

But there's an eerie familiarity that runs through it all It's one of the things that always strikes me having had opportunity a few weeks ago to be around the the

Roman ruins in southern Italy and There's something that is so distant about a two millennia year old culture or archaeological site

It almost feels like you're an astronaut bouncing around from place to place trying to understand this foreign environment

But at the same time there's something all too common And perhaps that that dawns when you leave the archaeological site

And then you go on to the the main streets and you realize they're doing the exact same thing

Their shops are about the same size. They're essentially selling the same services Essentially the whole city 2 ,000 years apart looks

Identical I think if the volcano blew again You have a hard time distinguishing

Pompeii from its 2 ,000 year old version to its two -year -old version

That illustrates the point. There's actually nothing new under the Sun in This sense from this perspective history doesn't seem to be going anywhere

Whatever the sense of scientific advancement or technological prowess may offer History does seem to be more circular than it is linear

You've heard of George Santayana and his famous dictum those who study those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it

And I saw a good comic strip that said no

Those who study history are doomed to watch others repeat it You realize that history is going to be repeated in all sorts of ways those who study it don't intervene

They simply witness and observe it being repeated some of you in this room are old enough to see the political cycles on endless repeat new

Candidates new issues new dilemmas new crises, but truly even you can say there's nothing new under the

Sun Nothing new and yet we hope for progress

Was that not a campaign poster not that long ago progress with some arrow pointing and who knows what direction

Progress hope We put our hope in progress in change

Change means something other something new the way out the answer the solution the remedy to it all

We're far removed from them. But essentially we're no different than the Athenians in Acts 17

We read for all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time

Spent their time and nothing else but either to tell her to hear some new thing Just want to hear want to learn want to be on the latest edge on the cutting edge

I want to have the neatest newest gadget want to have the latest headline. Did you hear about did you hear about you know?

I just heard about The newness the novelty to hear to tell some new thing.

And what does Ecclesiastes say? The eye can't see the ear can't be filled it's too hard to express there really is nothing new under the

Sun marketers Entrepreneurs, they understand and take advantage of this insatiable desire for newness for novelty

Something must be new better bigger more attractive more safer more faster more efficient.

There's new models every year Like Pavlov dogs were trained for the release dates trained for the time.

I I used to remember Taking my earnings from working at D 'Angelo's or wherever I worked in high school

And I knew what movies or what albums were coming out on what day and it was that endless cycle

I was the perfect consumer in that sense marketers

Entrepreneurs, they know how to put the flashy new stickers new and improved. This is the thing that you really need

We we really figured it out this time. This will be the phone to end all phones This will be the platform to end all platforms

This will be the thing that finally fulfills that little area of your life where you feel so hopeless so distraught so despairing

The entertainment industry thrives on this insatiable desire for newness. They promise there'll be some level of satisfaction

To tell a new story with a new angle you see enough movies read enough novels you realize there really are no new stories

Same plot twists same dilemmas It's very very hard to do anything original when it comes to the arts when it comes to the media now

They don't even try to hide that fact. They're simply re -releasing movies from the 80s with new actors Why bother there's nothing new under the

Sun it worked back then maybe it can work now What we're looking forward to in that sense in the future is no different From what past generations were looking forward to and we like they will not find the illusion of progress ultimately satisfying

We're looking forward to changes to progress to things to come So did everyone that came before us and guess what it never fully satisfied us

They never satisfied them. They never arrived They never actually found the thing that they were progressing toward it never offered what it promised.

It was the empty promise of novelty Now I need to put a caveat here and it's the only time

I'll do it because I'm not gonna take the thrust away But that does not mean that there's not time for change

In fact Ecclesiastes is about to tell us in another poem all about times that God has appointed

Seasons that he has appointed there are times for changes Ecclesiastes will go on to say there's in fact time to cast your bread on many

Waters, you don't know what will return to you So so seeing through the illusion of progress or the empty promise of novelty

Does not mean that there's not a place for change in our lives But there's not a time a season and a way to close one chapter and begin another chapter to actually recognize that there was a time appointed for a reason for a purpose and that purpose seems to have come to an end and Now it's time to go to a new place to a new pasture toward a new chapter or a new goal

This is a part of a way of walking in wisdom But the wisdom takes the widest frame of reference and says don't think that change that chapter is ultimately going to satisfy

Don't think it's going to answer don't think it's going to deliver For as many problems as it solves

It's going to create a host of whole new problems that the answer will come like a carrot dangling in front of your eyes

You need more progress. You need more novelty. You need more change. You were so close

And so it is with every season in our lives That which has been is what will be that which is done is what will be done

This is the great review the great reflection over this empty illusion of novelty

The reality is simply this that which has been is what will be For all the adjustments for all the chapter turns that which has been is what will be in the same way that what has been

For a generation even millennia ago is what will be for a generation yet to come because the human experience under the

Sun Has not fundamentally changed in terms of our needs our vulnerabilities our desires and drives

We cannot change the fiber from which we have been made We cannot change the effects of the fall that causes our bodies in the earth around us to groan and wait for redemption

For that reason if for no other what has been is what will be So because we live by the same basic needs that connects us to our human ancestors

Because we have the same reactions and patterns though with more sophisticated management systems or technologies

We ultimately are no different than even Adam and Eve once they were exiled from the garden There is nothing new under the

Sun after that from this point of view Novelty newness change is always eliciting our hope addressing our hope

But only as an empty promise of real fulfillment of Real change we capture with this sentiment the more the things change the more things stay the same

The more I thought I finally would have a breakthrough I finally found the be -all end -all the more

I found that like sand slipping through my fingers Have you lived life long enough to realize that I hope so Have you actually accomplished the goals you thought were the answer the satisfying thing?

Only to find them to be empty bankrupt hauler I Hope so That's often far harder

But far better than spending the rest of your life chasing a goal that you don't fulfill Better to to fulfill that goal and find it to be empty as it must be than to waste your life chasing it only to then

Have nothing else to turn back to nothing else to appreciate This is again the wisdom that hits us like a rabbit punch between the eyes

Is there anything of which it may be said see this is new it's already been in ancient times before us

If there's anything that cuts against the grain of modern Westerners, it's it's that kind of charge that kind of rebuke

How dare you say that to us? Do you know anything of our sophistication of our technology?

Do you know what we're capable of we're on the verge of eliminating age sickness disease war

We have almost become the perfect captains of our fate in our destiny We are the modern paragons of mastery for human civilization.

I hope you can see it's it's the illusion It's the empty promise of novelty that causes man to rear up and this kind of arrogance and God has many different things in his

Toolbox to pull down that kind of mulish pride We find in our society this imperative

Captured I forget by who but the little limerick is well said if it's new

It isn't true. And if it's true, it isn't new That's well said We have this imperative in society that is almost the opposite of that.

It's only true if it's new We should castigate and and get away from previous truths that govern previous forms of Western civilization

And we've taken hand -in -hand with that this sort of command of technology What some writers call a technological imperative?

It's a very powerful thing because it's not just that we're open to technology technological novelty.

We actually surrender to it We fulfill its its whims the novelty is actually something that puts us in bondage

We're actually now subject to these forms of allegedly more convenient ways of navigating

Life, in fact, they're more disruptive to life So some writers call this the technological imperative other writers call this the novelty imperative

It was it was Neil Postman. I mentioned this book a very famous book though It was written many decades ago called amusing ourselves to death.

It was a study of media ecology It came out in the in the mid 80s and at the in the forward to that book

He he mentions two previous writers that were both seeing the shifts in society

And we're very alarmed about what those shifts might lead to so they wrote fiction to try to ring the alarm bell to where society

Might be headed. That's George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. So Postman is pointing these two figures or well, of course animal farm 1984

Aldous Huxley's famous novel brave new world and the difference between the two as Postman notes is that in 1984

Orwell thought our technology our innovation our novelty will actually be the very thing that puts us into bondage

We'll become slaves subjects to the machinations that we have created in our own image.

That's the that's the fear of 1984 Huxley on the other hand and brave new world recognized.

No The elites the libertarians the rationalists who are always opposed to tyranny fail to account for this

Our infinite appetite for distraction and so Postman summarized a difference between the two is this

In Orwell and speaking of 1984 people are controlled by inflicting pain

In brave new world, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. Now, which of the two do you think are more accurate?

I Would have to go with Huxley It's pleasure and guess what?

This too is also nothing new The Roman senator Tacitus when he saw these otherwise free

Peoples especially toward the north in the British Isles in the area Sort of beyond Hadrian's Wall and he saw these

These ways that these free warrior like people who were not subject to that iron boot of Rome Didn't actually get to feed it on the battlefield he lamented over this even though he was a

Roman senator He said we did not defeat them with legions nor with boots or swords but rather with bread and circuses

He recognized it was through pleasure that they were defeated. They gave up their freedom. They gave up Their their peace their joy their tranquility as a people their identity

They became subjects unwilling subjects through pleasure This too is nothing new under the

Sun There's forms of technology. There's forms of tyrannical power through pain people can be controlled

But I would say in our day through this unyielding Embrace of the potentiality of technology people are actually in bondage through pleasure

There's nothing new under the Sun how many ways

We creatively destroy the tools and the ways of living simply for this reason

We're bored boring I Need something new

It's fun. It's really fun, isn't it to go to? some reenactment site

Plymouth plantation Maybe or I the name escapes me, but these little places where they recreate maybe an 18th century village

It's fun to visit that place. Oh, honey. Look look how they used to churn butter

It's fun to visit that place for a day Would any of you want to live like that for the rest of your life?

Do you think your kids would stand in line to have that kind of lifestyle? What would their first cry be?

This is boring Where's my touchscreen? Where's the novelty?

Where's the new buzzy flashy thing? We have in many ways found Creative technology as a disruptor for the simple pleasures for the simple goods of life

Ecclesiastes is gonna have a lot to say about that About what our highest good in life under the

Sun actually is and it cuts against the empty promise of novelty This is true of anything under the

Sun Anything innovative another great novel even turgan of fathers and sons where his son comes back with a friend from University and it's speaking of sort of society in the 1840s and just a 20 -year gap with the onset of so many changes in Russia and now you have this nihilistic

Rationalistic man that comes back and he's disrupting all the ways of life on this little farm

And it's this generational conflict between a father and a son being pulled away from his way of life

From his desire for his son's future and legacy as he's being pulled toward this modern change from this this friend this this nihilist and he's using in the household this

Idea of how society is shifting this tension between a father and a son There's that novel novelty and in the in the novel

It's so wonderful because of course there's certain things that the the rationalist the cold

Calculated nihilist can't actually explain or contend with like falling in love other powerful forces of nature

And so there's a return to recognize the place of his father's way of life

We think of the attraction of novelty of innovation theologically If you study church history if you study historical theology, you see how powerful a

Current of innovation or novelty is what are the theologians thinking about what are they writing about? What's the new thing?

What's the new study? What's the new discovery? What's the new breakthrough? Oh, that's how we used to read

Paul That's how we used to read the Gospels now. We know better There's an endless series of downgrade controversies if you have an eye to see them

This too is the empty promise of novelty. We'll finally figure it out. We'll finally master it

We don't need to go down the old path. We don't need to abide by the faith. Once we're all delivered We're on the verge of something new something revelatory something reformational

That's the empty promise of novelty CS Lewis in screwtape letters letter 25

You're familiar with the context. Of course you have this demonic advice of how to trip up the patient That is the believer who's seeking to walk a

God -pleasing life and this demonic activity to cause him to stumble or go astray And CS Lewis picks up on this empty promise of novelty

He says as a demon what we want if men become Christians at all is to keep them in the state of a mind that I call

Christianity and You know Christianity and the crisis

Christianity and the new psychology Christianity and the new order

Christianity and faith healing Christianity and psychological research

Christianity and vegetarianism Christianity and spelling reform if they must be

Christians, let them at least be Christians with a difference substitute for the faith itself

Some fashion with a Christian color Christian veneer work on them the horror of the same old thing

That's the demonic advice. Give them the horror of the same old thing. Oh What what hopelessness what despair the same old the same old?

The horror of the same old thing is one of the most valuable passions. We have produced in the human heart an

Endless source of heresy and religion folly and counsel infidelity and marriage inconstancy and friendship

In other words that the demonic advice is create this passion this drive for the new thing

Do that by giving them a horror a disgust for the same old thing once they the humans he's saying once they knew that some changes were for the better and Others were for the worse and others were indifferent, but we have largely removed this knowledge

Now in its place is this thirst this desire that all change must be good all change must be progress

There can't be any negative change The only thing that's negative is not changing at all

Again, Kohelet is not arguing against innovation He himself experienced that in his lifetime and reflecting on the past He's not against using technology

Especially as it meets human needs or Unfolds human potential

Rather as we'll see throughout this whole book He is arguing against trying to find ultimate meaning in change or in progress or in technology

Trying to create a legacy something lasting something that will actually Stamp your foot your name your reputation your honors on terra firma forever

That's what we see in verse 11 there is no remembrance of former things Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after We live in a certain part of the country where we have cemeteries that go back several centuries

It's an impressive thing Especially when you find something that dates back to the colonial period and even around these parts

We have some that go back to the early 18th century We don't know any of the people we're not moved at all by the names it might have something of a historical fascination or Take a little charm in an interesting note or maybe a connection or I think we have that in one of our genealogies

That name but as far as that person Doesn't mean anything to us. There's no remembrance there's no connection and In fact, even that just slowly gets severed and severed and severed we drive past these headstones that mean almost nothing to us

We hardly even acknowledge their presence. I went to as I mentioned

I was in Pompeii several weeks ago and we went outside One of the main gates or several main gates and and there you have excavated what was called the necropolis this burial place outside Of the walls for the dead and the

Romans loved making Reminders of who they were and all of their accomplishments They carved it into marble and they had great busts of their figures

And so you're walking down this this paved street this necropolis and you're surrounded by all of these elites

These busts and statuaries of these prominent men and a list in Latin of all of their great accomplishments.

This was their role This is how they served. These are the things that they built. This is what they accomplished with their life

We're walking by from tourists who paid money to see things like that And then a little stray cat runs across between the road and they all whip out their phones to take a picture of the cat

Somehow this great legacy in marble and in Latin meant Nothing compared to a live cat in the middle of the road

That was the thing to take the picture of that was the thing to point that and make a circle around There's no remembrance of former things

Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who come after Now again a

Splinter of a caveat does that mean that we should not be forward -thinking? Does that not mean that we should you know be be generationally minded?

Of course it does A righteous man leaves a legacy a righteous man is forward -thinking He recognizes

God's blessing upon is upon his children in his children's children. He seeks for that blessing He prays for that kind of blessing.

He prays to make a kingdom impact, but you recognize what Ecclesiastes is saying He hasn't found his ultimate fulfillment his ultimate meaning his ultimate identity and things that will be lost

He does that if he does it at all as a righteous man he does that unto God He does that for the sake of the kingdom of God something that will go far beyond him

He's a cog in this vast mechanism He's a note in this vast unending symphony and he tries to play that note as well as he can

As loudly as beautifully as he can but he recognizes at the end of day. He's just a note a

Note that almost as quickly as it was heard is then forgotten. It's on to the drift of the rest of the melody

There's no remembrance of former things Solomon in his days like all of us in our days have seen one generation come and go we're always somewhere largely speaking within three generations a

Generation that was before us a generation that is in a generation that comes and we find ourselves cycling through that phase of three

Century by century by century the earth again verse for this backdrop for it all

Happening over and over and over and over again carve your accomplishments in Marvel Ancient ancient kings did that ancient elites did that?

new buildings new territories new claims new boasts new treasuries

Think of the pyramids What that was meant to lay down what that was meant to say about the significance about the importance of the man?

Who's shriveled up like a leather wallet? inside of it They wanted something new wanted something profound wanted something extraordinary

To establish their reign their rank their reputation their significance And Ecclesiastes sees through it all

He's going to do it in greater ways in the next chapter this is life under the

Sun There's no remembrance Not under the Sun there's no remembrance of what has come before Nor will there be of things to come after as we said last week because we're in the midst of this cycle of three generations everyone here is a bridge of Someone who has gone on before them and perhaps the last plank of that bridge.

I Will be perhaps the last to remember my grandparents to actually have memories of them to know what they were like If you don't have a memory and experience and interaction

Doesn't really mean anything. It's just a name It doesn't mean anything Remove that by just another generation just fast -forward 30 years.

It's forgotten. It's like chaff Time as we saw from Isaac Watts last week time

Like an ever -rolling stream bears all of its sons away time just bearing away that memory that Significance that impact however grand or minute it may have been

So the point of course is this fixed meditation on meaning on significance on the endless monotony and circularity of life under the

Sun a life that can't be remembered a life that can't be contained a life that can't actually occupy and fulfill amidst an earth that can't occupy or fulfill a

Human life a human generation just like the earth. It's never satisfied The Sun never completes it the oceans never full the wind never stops

There's never a destination a goal It seems that we're all at a small scale or a cosmic scale.

We're all caught in this predicament It's all vanity It's all a grasping of the wind

John Golden Gate captures us. So well, he says this poem doesn't speak of human failure or of groaning

But it does raise questions about whether our action can take the world to its goal Human beings have a conviction that we can and we must bring about change and God certainly expects us to and our

Technological progress has been spectacular But often we've used it against the very point that Ecclesiastes seeks to make human discipline human wisdom human innovation

Creative thinking human commitment will not be able to take the world to its goal

The more things change the more they stay the same

This is an under the Sun perspective from a human perspective from the futility of your life and the limitations and confines of what it is and the development and achievement of what it may possess

There's no point There's no fulfillment Humanity's perpetual pursuit of new advancement will never end

Under the Sun it's never found Novelty is an empty promise Until we remember what we established last week.

We're only speaking of life under the Sun It raises the question of a different perspective in a different source of life

Beyond the Sun or above the Sun not speaking of the earthly perspective and experience of fallenness

But rather a heavenly or divine perspective and the the redemptive work of God So God is sovereign over history and this animates and points everything beyond the circle even

Life under the Sun beyond the Sun God is sovereign over it all. He's working toward the consummation of a promise.

That is not empty He's working toward a change that is coming that will fulfill that's the idea

He began that work when he made a promise to the woman whose life fell under the

Sun as a result of sin and from that time forward God who establishes circularity and monotony of life the futility of fallenness has been working and Orienting his redemptive plan unto its accomplishment as we said last week there's a there's a cyclical way of life that has a line running through it to the very end if You're godless if you have no concept of God no faith in God no life hidden in Christ with God And you're just caught in this hamster wheel.

That's pointless. It's meaningless. It's futile Everything you want to do is grasping at the wind Even if it means something to you in a moment it won't mean something to you in the next it certainly won't mean something to you at the end

But for the Christian There's a line running through that circle There's a purpose in the midst of that circularity of that monotony

Just as God had a purpose for humanity's past From the largest events to the smallest events

God has a purpose for all that has happened and all that will happen So this line we can call it providence runs through the spiraling monotony of creation and generation

This is a perspective that scripture gives us it harmonizes with Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes is being brutally honest about life under the

Sun life in a fallen condition The rest of scripture animates a hope like a line of providence that runs through that same honest circularity

And so the answer to an empty promise of novelty is the full hope of providence

Let me say that again the answer to the empty promise of novelty is the full hope of providence just because my life has limitations and Ultimately amounts to being grass here for a moment and gone the next

Just because my life is a vapor and all of my drives and goals and hopes

Will be like that vapor Noticeable for a moment attainable with the fingertips and then gone

Does not mean that my life does not have a pointed purpose that will be fulfilled

The empty promise of novelty of change of progress of fulfillment is answered by the full hope of providence

God is orchestrating everything about my life and about this world toward his good and wise end

We have a tendency to look at past history as though it was very simple and undefined

Biblically you read generation after generation after generation and like Ecclesiastes one is saying the names are almost meaningless to us

Now we just laugh at them because they're so hard to pronounce Peleg, Salmon, you know, we make jokes about the names.

They don't mean anything to us. It's just a name on a page It's something we have to get through if we're doing our daily

Bible readings And of course That's a whole lifespan sometimes centuries long depending on how far back you begin

Days blur in today's years become in our mind Farming and more farming and more farming.

We're so far removed from it all of the complexity of daily life of seasons of context of politics of power of intrigue swirling around a name on a page and And their whole life is complemented in some passing mention

That's the hardest thing about a eulogy at a funeral is you have a few sentences

To try to capture a person's whole life. How can you possibly do that a few sentences

Couldn't even describe a person's day imagine if you were a thousand years out from now

Some space -age student was reading a history of Western civilization and our little moment under the

Sun here in the 2020s was lumped in with about 500 years and it was all boiled down to one sentence

There were a people called the English From whom came a people called the Americans and they settled across the ocean and they were a mighty people and that's it

Well to us it's like that's it that's all you would say, do you know how much you're missing There's so many details.

There's so many things you could just take one year Just take one war. How dare you try to summarize all of that into this little sentence?

That's what Ecclesiastes is doing Take any single year You could fill a library with significant movements events figures headlines statements turmoil

Take a single day out of your life Countless details that correspond to guide and compel all the affairs at every level

There's an astounding complexity to life and that unfolds day after day and week after week

Month after month season after season year after year and yet to your great -great -great

Grandchildren, you'll just be a name on the family tree. How does a

Christian grapple with this reality? Well, the first thing is to recognize the empty promise of novelty

If Peleg couldn't outdo it you won't either If Salmon couldn't outrun it you won't either

You think your name on that plaque your your page on that genealogy is gonna be the be -all end -all

No, of course not. Are you gonna have the gold -plated page?

It's what count Zinzendorf said to the Moravian missionaries. You must be content to suffer to die and to be forgotten

That's that's the reality There's an empty promise of novelty and the only answer to it isn't found under the

Sun. It's found above the Sun It's the full hope of Providence God is overworking all things for the good of his people for the good of those who love him

We don't know we don't know the note we're playing and why we're playing it why we have this instrument at this time in this massive serenade

But God does he's the composer He's ordained it. He's ordained the note for what it is and where it is and how it will be

We can't under the Sun get any perspective on that It's only above the

Sun from this divine tapestry this divine Understanding of Providence that we can even begin to imagine how it all plays into place

The Lord has established his throne at heaven his kingdom rules over all The Lord is righteous in all of his ways gracious in all of his works.

Someone of force says Oh Lord How manifold are your works in wisdom? You've made them all I can't contain it.

I can't figure it out I can't plumb the depths. I can't even situate myself Like a toddler whose appetite is leading him all over the place.

What does the psalm often do think of David? Where can I flee from your presence? if I ascend to the very heights of your presence if I'm buried in the depths behold you're there and the whole conclusion of that is lead me in the way everlasting

I Can't figure out where I'll be but your presence is everywhere and always there's no beginning

There's no end to you. I have years I have limitations. I have constraints

But you're unlimited There's nothing that constrains you you have inscrutable wisdom searchless are your ways?

So it's a absolute dependence lead me in the way everlasting That's the line that runs through the circularity if we understand

God in this way we recognize every infinitesimal detail belongs to God Otherwise, he's not

God As one said God is not still God if God is not still

God over those who reject God. He is not God God is God over all

What does that mean for the uncontrollability and circularity and inevitable monotony and forgottenness of my life?

It means that in the midst of life as a vapor in the midst of life under the Sun. There's a beautiful purpose

For those who know God There's a beautiful purpose for those who are being led on the way everlasting

There's a point to it all it's all actually going somewhere. I can actually store up treasure in heaven

Rather than lose anything that I could amass in this life on the earth It's this absolute trust and confidence that God can lead me in the way everlasting

Because he controls all of my ways and all of my times It was he who knitted me together in the womb who numbered the very hair on my head

It's he who's ordained the number of my days and has ordered every step according to inscrutable wisdom

That's the God that I serve and love That does not take away the burden of life the sorrows of life

Ecclesiastes won't let us do that. In other words Ecclesiastes is a study

I believe on dependence upon God without becoming trite Well, you know you just got to depend on God Sing one of the old 1910 hymns and really get your hopes up.

Let's all smile with that cotton candy veneer. That's not Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes says

Hey, let's let's weep on each other's shoulders Life is really chaotic at times.

It's really hard Who can prepare for that day of trouble but then

Ecclesiastes does this wonderful thing and we'll see it week by week by week Ecclesiastes says with those sorrows

Trace them back to the source of everlasting joy. I'm convinced that for this reason

We do not actually walk in the joy that we ought to walk in We don't know how to trace our sorrows.

We don't know how to be honest about them scripture does Scripture knows how to be honest about the sorrows of human experience.

We don't We have the trite answer the devotional answer the expected answer but not the honest answer and If I can't trace my sorrows to a source of everlasting joy

Then I'll be a double -minded man unstable in all of my ways I'll be a man who can't

Resonate with the way my life in a fallen world under the Sun really is and what that means for my pursuit of God and godliness

Tracing your sorrows is a way of actually abiding with God in this kingdom

And what is the kingdom according to Romans 14 the kingdom of God is righteousness and joy and peace

Something about that righteousness and joy and peace that belongs to the kingdom is now yes, but it's not yet We saw in the very first week with Psalm 90 those who know how to trace their sorrows are those like Moses who say?

Return Oh Lord You've numbered our days and they're not going to go anywhere There's not going to be the fulfilling that the promise that we're actually longing for so return.

That's the answer Consummate that's the answer trace your sorrows to the only source of joy, which is at the very end of redemptive history

Long beyond your cog long beyond your note long beyond your vapor under the Sun lies that joy

Inexplainable This is why Christians grieve

But not like those without hope hope is tracing the sorrow to the full promise of God's providence so tracing our sorrows to true joy means

Recognizing something of this poem and our life in the midst of it. Do you see the monotony?

Do you see the drain? Do you see the burden? Do you recognize that the folly of Ozymandias and Shelley's great poem boasting in all of his works just to lay as some artifact half buried in a desert

Do you recognize why God's providence is so carefully orchestrated to remind us of our absolute dependence upon him?

Are you living your life according to God's providence? Are you living your life? Like you have to rest control from his hands

Fend for yourself Figure it all out Control it subdue it contain it

The very things that Jesus warned us against in a sermon on the mount He too like James like Kohelet is asking us that question.

What is your life? What is it? What does it amount to? How do you explain your life, how do you explain your position your pursuits?

What's the goal of your life? Where are you headed? Why are you headed in that way? How are you accomplishing that direction?

It's the counterbalance Providence means dependence Providence means

I entrust myself wholly to him who judges justly providence is this picture of absolute dependence

I'm not in control. I Simply abide with him who is He orders my steps

All of his ways are good All of his paths are mercy My effort is not ultimate

Only God's works are ultimate. My plan is not ultimate. Only God's plan is ultimate My desires cannot satisfy only

God's desire satisfies Who knows this better than Kohelet?

Is there anything of which one might say see this is new Solomon's reign began with great promise

Who conquered like Solomon we're about to read all the boasts of his wisdom and his might and his prowess of the things that he established of the territories he controlled of the mighty works that he built of the mighty wisdom that he received and amassed and He recognizes perhaps looking back in retrospect on this life

He sees the decline of a nation that seemed to be in its glory. He sees it in his very own life in his very own royal household

There's nothing new under the Sun we thought we finally had it We thought the promise finally arrived we thought the kingdom finally came

God's dwelling place on earth a temple a Kingdom now expanding like branches over the

Gentiles soon soon. They'll stream into Zion's glory so close yet so far and as William Barrick says

When Solomon began to pursue the wind of idols the wind of vanity

His household and the nation repped the the whirlwind She recognized there's nothing new under the

Sun The key there is under the Sun Solomon knew that better than anyone else if he thought he was on the debut of something genuinely new his life ended with the eclipsed shadow of absolute failure and dejection

This is a circular theme running through the history of Israel The first taste of something we can say is genuinely new is announced through the prophets particularly

Isaiah in chapters 61 through 65 God promises that he's going to bring about a new thing even as we look back to earlier in Isaiah as well as Jeremiah to see this promise of a new covenant that will not be like the old

We see this new thing seems to be touching even on creation itself It seems to have an impact on children and adders and lions and lambs or something creational about this promise of newness

And so even in the shadow of Solomon's reign the Bible holds out this providential thread that it won't always be this endless cycle of doom and grief

Something new actually will come it cannot be found or mustered up under the Sun But it can actually eclipse the

Sun and come from beyond the Sun Can actually come back down from the father of lights and remake the world as it was meant to be

That's the preachers point. That's the prophets point. That's the psalmist point when he says sing a new song

And Revelation takes that up and says living creatures and the saints and the angels began to sing a new song

And Isaiah is finally wound together at the very end I the prophetic vision of a new thing that God would do is finally answered in Revelation 21

Behold, I make all things new If you understand this rightly that newness has begun as a result of Christ's redemption, but we await its consummation

We sing a new song because Christ has come and those who repent and believe in him are made new in him new creations in him

We're still living under the Sun as it is and the fallen cycles of life Our life as James reminds us is still a vapor

We're actually longing for the consummation of what has begun this new thing has begun

Has it not given us a new heart brothers and sisters? Has it not given us new desires?

New Revelation new communion with a God that we were once enemies and strangers to newness has come

But we groan like the earth is groaning awaiting its fullness We long for the day when

God announcing behold, I make all things new is actually consummated that in that day alone is

When finally the answer to the rhetorical question goes a different direction Is there anything of which it may be said see this is new the answer is yes

But not yet until that day

That which has been is what will be and that which is done is what will be done. There's nothing new under the

Sun Until that day there is nothing of which it may be said see this is new not speaking ultimately

There is no remembrance of former things Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who come after until that day

When the shouts of victory arises and the earth gives up her dead

And all things that had been forgotten amidst us, but never forgotten to God are brought before his judgment seat

Until that day that which has been is what will be done. There is nothing new under the

Sun, but aren't you glad? That that day is coming brothers and sisters Let's pray father.

Thank you for your word Lord I can just see in my own life how easily

I'm distracted by promises of new things new changes Lord I thank you that you were not that way

That you were the God who changes not I thank you Lord in your earthly ministry that You did not walk in our midst chasing after novelty running away from monotony

I Thank you Lord that it was your food to do the will of him who sent you

And I pray Lord that you would give us that same mind That you also had in being a servant

Recognizing your absolute dependence upon your father and Lord by your spirit that you would so occupy and and Commune with your people here that we would have that same mind that same walk

Not needing to know where it's all going but trusting you Following you in this path that leads to everlasting life

Lord I pray for myself as I pray for each one here that you would show us just how hollow and empty novelty really is help us to reflect deeply on the wisdom of Kohelet in recognizing there's nothing new under the

Sun and Let us trace the sorrows that come with that reflection to this reality of a providential line that brings

Genesis 315 all the way to Revelation 21 5 That what you promise to the woman is nothing short of a whole new creation when you make all things new in perfect consummation

Thank you Lord that in Lesser noticeable ways you're you've begun that good work in us

Help us to groan with the cosmos itself awaiting for its fullness Help us to lean into and bear the fruit of that new creation that is wrought by Christ Father we thank you.

We thank you That you've given us your spirit and we're not defend for ourselves that we can absolutely depend on your providential guidance