Meaning in Action

March 29, 2026
Meaning in Action
Sermon Audio

CENTRAL TEXT: Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

Eccl. 11:1   Cast your bread upon the waters, 
for you will find it after many days.
2 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, 
for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.
3 If the clouds are full of rain, 
they empty themselves on the earth, 
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, 
in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
4 He who observes the wind will not sow, 
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

Eccl. 11:5   As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

Eccl. 11:6   In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Adapted from Zechariah 9:9 and John 12:13

LEADER:  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

ALL:  Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  
Like the crowds of old, we welcome Jesus as our Savior and King.

OT & NT READINGS:  James 2:14:17, 20; Galatians 5:22, 23

LEADER: James 2:14   What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead…20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 

The Word of the Lord

ALL: Thanks be to God.

BENEDICTION: Colossians 3:23, 24 

LEADER: Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 

ALL: AMEN!

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Lev. 23:40; 
  • Neh. 8:15; 
  • Is. 9:14; 19:15; 
  • John 12:13; 
  • Rev. 7:9

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Who is the most energetic person you know–who almost can’t stop moving, acting, working? Now a slightly, more sobering question: do you know anyone (maybe it’s you!) who can’t stop from acting, lest they lose themselves?
  2. We took an “exploded view” of all the ways the Preacher in this passage is calling us to act–to make use of time and opportunity. His words are often so unique to the context it can be hard to decipher, but what are the many ways of acting he references? What’s the point or the good of those ways?
  3. What is the difference between doing what any work requires and doing in order to “be (or become somebody” (as you heard cited Teddy Roosevelt? Is there a discernible difference in the experience of it? How do you know what’s most motivating you?
  4. How would trusting that you belong to Christ on the basis of His action, make a difference in the way you exert your energies?

Illustrations:

Mar 29, 2026

Quotes:

Get action. Do things; be sane, don't fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action. 
- Theodore Roosevelt 
Existence seems to me now the most remarkable thing that could ever be imagined. 
- Marilynne Robinson, Gilead 
You will always have what you gave to love. 
- David Wilcox 
If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure who ever lived. For the saint, direction and guidance come from God Himself, not some measure of that saint’s usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him.
- Oswald Chambers

Books/Docs:

Everything is Never Enough, Bobby Jamieson 
The Pundit’s Folly, Sinclair Ferguson