Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

John 10:7-10

At least that�s what country singer Faith Hill says in one of her song "The Secret of Life." The scene is the Starlight Bar and a group of men are talking about, of all things, the secret of life. Everyone seems to have an opinion of what it is that makes life meaningful. Even the bartender chimes in and says, "the secret of life is there ain�t no secret, and you don�t get your money back."

Sometimes art imitates life. There are a lot of people wanting to know what the secret of life is. They want to know what makes life meaningful. And it seems everyone has an opinion; they must have thought about it to have something to say. And like at the Starlight Bar the opinions all seem to go in different directions. Some identify attitudes and others things and some nothing at all that makes a person�s life meaningful.

Another popular song from a few years back says, "For everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn, and a time for every purpose under heaven." Well, actually the Bible said it first in the book of Ecclesiastes. A good translation of the title "Ecclesiates" is "The Preacher." And this preacher opens the book by asking, "What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:3) And things get depressing from there. For the next few chapters he basically says this is meaningless and that is meaningless and the other is meaningless too.

Then in chapter three he has a flash of insight. Everything has its place in the grand scheme of things. There is a time and purpose for everything under heaven. There�s a time to laugh and a time to cry, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to live and a time to die. So, since everything has its time, the secret of life is to just live. It�s all a gift from God, both the good and the bad, so we should eat and drink and sleep and enjoy our toil while we live.

There is a lot of wisdom in that, but it does seem rather fatalistic. "You are going to live and die, so live then die and enjoy it." Is that all there is to life? Do we just life and then die? Certainly if we live with the attitude that all is a gift from God, then that helps, but this answer seems incomplete.

So what is the secret of life? We have listened to Faith Hill and the Preacher. Let�s see what Jesus has to say. Jesus said, "I am the door ... I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." So, Jesus is the secret of a meaningful life. Well, I could end the sermon right here because that answer is entirely correct. But it reminds me of the man who saw a bumper sticker that said, "Jesus is the answer," and he said, "So what�s the question?"

What does it mean to say Jesus is the secret to meaningful life? Jesus said, "I came that you may have life and have it abundantly" in the context of having just said, "I am the good shepherd." He is saying that he is the one who can take care of our lives and make them meaningful. The meaning of life is not about figuring things out or having things. Finding meaning comes in being sheep of the good shepherd.

Just being sheep is not the answer. If Jesus is the good shepherd, then there must be some bad shepherds out there too. In fact Jesus warns us of the thieves that come to steal and take life, but in contrast Jesus came to give life and not just any life but abundant life. So to get this abundant life we have to make him our shepherd.

This is where faith comes in. No, not Faith Hill, but faith: the spiritual act of trusting in a higher power. We have to place our faith, or trust, in Jesus. If we will do that, then he will take care of us just like a good shepherd takes care of the sheep. Then we can truly do as Ecclesiates said and enjoy the toil and other things that God gives in their time and season. Even death and pain have their role because the good shepherd is watching us.

So the secret of life is not a good cup of coffee, but putting our faith and trust in Jesus. But wait a minuet. We�ve all heard that before and most people just smirk when they hear it. It seems almost as trite as saying the secret of life is to keep your eye on the ball. So let�s think about it for a minuet.

There are some assumptions at play here. One is that there is a God, a master of the universe and its creator. Another assumption is that this Master Creator-God is good and loving. The third assumption is that God was somehow present and speaking though or in Jesus.

I could spend a lot of time arguing that all these assumptions are true but for the moment we will assume they are true. That being the case, then trust in Jesus makes sense. God created you. God knows your needs and what it is that will give you a meaningful life. In fact only God truly knows the details of the secret of life. And if God is loving, then God will want you to have a meaningful life so God would provide you the answers. If Jesus is God in the flesh, and since a good God would not mislead you, then it makes sense that we should put our trust in him.

The secret of life is not trying to find the secret ourselves, but trusting God to give it to us. So why don�t more people find meaningful lives and why do the men in the Starlight Bar have such varied opinions on the secret of life? Because most people don�t really trust God. A third of the world�s population claims they believe in Jesus. But most of them are really trying to make their own lives meaningful.

The secret of life is in letting go and letting God. It means not trying to find or make the meaning ourselves, but in trusting God to give it to us. God gives us forgiveness and grace and hope and endurance in times of pain, comfort in times of grief. If we will let go and let God take care of us, then we can live all the seasons of life, the good and the bad, with meaning and purpose and peace.

Jesus is the door to eternal life, he is the way to a meaningful life, he is the secret of life. Throw your whole trust in him. Let Jesus be the shepherd that leads you to the green pastures of the secret of life.

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