The Search for Meaning

  1. The Search through Personal Experience - Ecclesiastes 1-2
    2.
    1. Questions about human existence - 1:1-11
      1. The meaning of all things - 1:2
      2. The ultimate value of daily life - 1:3
      3. The monotony of human history - 1:4-7, 9-11
      4. The inner emptiness - 1:8
    2. Experiments with human existence - 1:12-2:26
      1. Seeking satisfaction in wisdom and knowledge - 1:12-18
      2. Seeking satisfaction in every kind of pleasure - 2:1-11
      3. The unique experimenter - 2:12
      4. The conclusions from the experiments - 2:13-26
        1. Wisdom is relatively better - 2:13-14
        2. The wise and the fool equally die - 2:14b-16
        3. Disgusted with life in general - 2:17
        4. Disgusted with life's work - 2:18-23
        5. Enjoy life under God's hand - 2:24-25
        6. The benefits of living before God - 2:26

  2. The Search through General Observations - Ecclesiastes 3-10
    3.
    1. On God's providence - 3:1-15
      1. The fact of God's providence - 3:1-8
      2. Resistance to God's providence - 3:9-10
      3. The eternal dimension of God's providence - 3:11
      4. The practical purposes of God's providence - 3:12-15
        1. Rejoice and do good - 3:12
        2. Enjoy - 3:13
        3. Fear God - 3:14
        4. Live with a sense of accountability to God - 3:15-17
      5. God's providence and injustice - 3:16-17
      6. God's providence and the inevitable destiny of man - 3:18-21
      7. Responding in the present to God's providence - 3:22
    2. On various forms of vanity - 4:1-16
      1. Oppression without comfort - 4:1-3
      2. Disappointment in work - 4:4
      3. The self-destructiveness of laziness - 4:5
      4. The vanity of striving to succeed - 4:6
      5. The vanity of living miserly - 4:7-8
      6. The helplessness of being alone - 4:9-12
      7. The vanity of an insensitive leader - 4:13-14
      8. The vanity of popularity - 4:15-16
    3. On proper attitudes - 5:1-20
      1. Our attitude toward God and His house - 5:1-7
      2. Our attitude toward the injustice of authority - 5:8-9
      3. Our attitude toward money - 5:10-15
      4. Our attitude toward God's gifts - 5:16-20
    4. On what people live for - 6:1-12
      1. Things people live for and are controlled by - 6:1
        1. Wealth and honor - 6:2
        2. Long life and a big family - 6:3-6
        3. Insatiable desires of the soul - 6:7-9
      2. How man should live
        1. Submit to God's sovereignty - 6:10
        2. Do not be ensnared by "many things" - 6:11
        3. Live for God and His purpose - 6:12
    5. On what is best for human existence - 7:1-10:20
      1. What is best in life - 7:1
      2. What is best for the heart - 7:2-7
      3. What is best for the spirit - 7:8-12
      4. God's best is His providential work - 7:13-14
      5. Be a God-fearing person and escape days of vanity - 7:15-20
      6. Be a God-pleasing person and escape the depths of sin - 7:21-29
      7. Be a wise person and be changed - 8:1
      8. Be a submissive person under both good and bad authority - 8:2-13
      9. Be a person that enjoys what God has given you - 8:14-15
      10. Be a person that depends upon revelation rather than human philosophy - 8:16-17 (cf. 1 Cor. 2:6-14)
      11. Be a person living under the hand of God, redeeming the time - 9:1-12 (cf. Eph. 5:15-17)
      12. Be a person of wisdom rather than strength - 9:13-18
      13. Be a person that preserves your integrity in public - 10:1-4
      14. Be a wise man and a successful leader in doing things - 10:5-19
      15. Be cautious in what you think and say privately - 10:20

  3. The Conclusion of the Search - Ecclesiastes 11-12
    4.
    1. What experience teaches us about human existence - 11:1-12:12
      1. Secure your future by investing in the present - 11:1-8
      2. Let your sense of accountability to God motivate you in relating to the temptation of youthful lusts - 11:9-10
      3. Live for God now - 12:1-8
      4. Let the Lord shepherd your life through His Word in the fellowship of the church - 12:9-12
    2. The conclusion regarding human existence - 12:13-14
      1. Fear God - 12:13
      2. Obey God - 12:13
      3. Live before God with an eye on the judgment seat - 12:14 (cf. Rom. 14:11-12; 2 Cor. 5:9-11)