The problem of problems.
Remember when you were in school – or maybe you’re there now – and we get the dreaded “word problems” in math?
Even if math itself wasn’t hard, those word problems were always tough.
Until one day – some really nice teacher explained the key to solving word problems. He (or was it she?) said the reason word problems were so difficult was that they had so many extra words. Those words were meant to confuse. They were meant to make it hard to solve. And they succeeded.
Anyway – the real “problem” was to remove all those extra words.
First – figure out exactly what was being asked – like was it how long something would take, how fast something was going, Etc.
Then, if we could only remember the formula for figuring out that one thing, we could keep the information related to that formula and ignore everything else.
That succeeded as well.
It’s the same way with life. Too many extra things going on.
Figure out what’s important – focus on that – and don’t worry so much about the rest of the stuff. We can’t really totally ignore it – because we don’t want to get blind-sided by something / someone. But still – we could not be so worried about those extra things that we lose focus on the things that are really important.
I read this book a while back – Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters, by Philip Graham Ryken. I have to say, the title surprised me, because I didn’t think Qoheleth came to the conclusion that everything matters. After all, the book starts off with –
Everything Is Meaningless
Ecc 1:1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
Ecc 1:2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
And it seems like it’s mostly downhill from there.
In fact, the last chapter of the book says this –
Ecc 12:8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
“Everything is meaningless!”
However – that’s not the end
As Ryken points out in the book –
Yet “vanity does not get the last word, either in the Bible or in the Christian life. Ecclesiastes might well have ended with chapter we, verse 8 as a suitable summary of everything Qoheleth said. Instead it closes with further remarks that help us to put the entire book into perspective.
The ending of Ecclesiastes is –
The Conclusion of the Matter
Ecc 12:9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.
Ecc 12:11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one Shepherd. 12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
Ecc 12:13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
So Ryken concludes that because of verse 12:14, everything matters.
However – Ryken end his own book with these words –
What matters most of all, therefore, is the personal decision that each person makes about Jesus Christ. Ecclesiastes does not end with a promise of grace but with the warning of judgment. Nevertheless, this book has the gracious purpose of pointing us to the gospel. If it is true that God will bring everything to judgment, then it is desperately important for us to make sure that we will be found righteous on that awesome and momentous day. The only way to be sure is to entrust our lives to Jesus Christ, who alone has the power to save us from the wrath of God.
Into this vain world the Savior came. Like us, he suffered all of its futility and frustration. But Jesus did more. When the time was right, he took the judgment that we deserve by dying for our sins on the cross. His body returned to the dust, like the Preacher said. But on the third day he rose again, bringing life out of the grave.
Soon Jesus will come again, “on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (Romans 2:16). The Bible says that God “has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). When that day comes, everyone who believes in Jesus will stand before the righteous Judge and look into the eyes of a loving Savior. Trust Jesus, whose victory saves us from life’s vanity—praise God!
And there-in lies the problem
There’s a conflict in the conclusions reached. And yes – I do mean conclusions, plural.
Everything matters.
What matters most of all, therefore, is the personal decision that each person makes about Jesus Christ.
Where’s the problem?
Jesus said –
Treasures in Heaven
6:22, 23 pp — Lk 11:34-36
Mt 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Mt 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Mt 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Everything matters?
Jesus matters?
Jesus matters the most?
But what about this, which Jesus also said –
The Cost of Being a Disciple
Lk 14:25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Jesus certainly isn’t telling us to literally hate our relatives. Relative is a key word in my sentence though – pun intended. Our love for Jesus, if we even begin to understand what He did for us, will be so great that by comparison – relatively speaking – our feelings for our relatives would be much closer to hate than to the love we feel for Jesus. If we were to draw it on a graph (going back to the math theme) we’d be hard pressed to see the difference between love of relatives and hate on one end of the chart – as compared to love for Jesus at the opposite end of the chart.
Conclusion – what really matters?
Everything matters?
If it does – apparently everything other than Jesus really doesn’t matter very much.
And that is where the answer to the problem of problems come in.
Jesus tells us to leave everything and follow Him.
Leave everything.
Leave the “good” things.
Leave the “bad” things.
Leave the problems.
Don’t worry – the Father will take care of us.
If we truly follow Jesus, the other things that appear to be things that matter, including the problems that we think we need to take care of – they won’t be any cause for concern. Especially as far as “judgement” is concerned. As much as we are able to actually follow Jesus – be Christ-like – “everything” will be decided on the basis of what Jesus wants for us.
That – doing what we are called to do for the Glory of God – is what matters.
Everything we do should be for His glory.
So being concerned with the one thing – the glory of God –
will take care of all things – every thing.
I know – it sounds hard,
It is hard.
But Jesus also said –
Mt 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Only with God can the one thing take care of every thing.