Series: Making Sense of Christianity

Part 2: Meaning

We’re told that happiness is life’s ultimate goal, but what if that pursuit is actually leaving us empty? In this sermon from Ecclesiastes, we confront the hollow promises of pleasure and achievement, and discover why meaning—not happiness—is what our souls truly crave. With stories that are both personal and piercing, we explore how ancient wisdom and the gospel offer a path that suffering can’t steal. Come hear why chasing happiness is a trap—and how losing your life in Christ is the only way to find it.

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Going Deeper: To My Fellow Christians -

We live in a culture where people have been discipled—by social media, advertising, and entertainment—to believe that the point of life is to be happy. But when that pursuit leaves them anxious, burned out, or hollow, they’re rarely offered a better alternative. That’s where this sermon comes in. Ecclesiastes exposes the fragility of happiness, while the gospel offers a meaning so durable, even suffering can’t undo it. For Christians trying to share their faith, this gives us a powerful opening: instead of debating abstract doctrines, we can begin with the ache people already feel. When we show that Jesus doesn't just forgive our sins but also restores our sense of purpose, we meet secular people where they are—with honesty, empathy, and hope. This is pre-evangelism in action: dismantling false gods by offering something better.

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Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2.1-20

(Additional Reading: Ecclesiastes 1.1-11, 9.11-12, 11.7-12.14)

Warm-Up:

Have you ever reached a long-awaited goal, only to feel strangely empty afterward? Why do you think that is—and what might it be telling you about where meaning really comes from?

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desires: well, there is such a thing as sex. 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.”

C.S. Lewis