1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word on this Christian Education Sunday is taken from Ecclesiastes 1:1-14, it’s entitled, “All is Vanity, Apart from Christ,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. He had it all! He ruled over Israel when she was at the top of her wealth and worldly prestige. Neighboring countries paid him tribute. There was peace within his borders. His citizens lacked nothing. “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon” (1 Ki 4:25 NKJV). He had it all! His name was King Solomon.
3. Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots and 12,000 horsemen. According to the Scriptures: Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men. . . . He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. (1 Ki 4:30–34 NKJV)
4. Solomon had it all. He was an educated man—a botanist, zoologist, astronomer, philosopher, and politician. His wisdom and knowledge were coveted by everyone. I wish that I had the wisdom of Solomon at times. But, his education, wealth, honor, prestige, and wisdom were all gifts from God. Yet, with all that Solomon had been given, he penned some of the darkest words in all of Scripture: “‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher; ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?” (Eccl 1:2–3 NKJV).
5. For all his toils under the sun, man has nothing. It is all meaningless, empty, vain, and full of frustration. What a strange way to begin a school year or talk about Christian education! “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” All of your work is useless. Your pursuit of knowledge, of excellence—it is all a chasing after the wind. That’s what Solomon was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind . . . I communed with my heart, saying ‘Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.’ And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow” (Eccl 1:14, 16–18 NKJV). “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
6. Why should we go to school at all? Listening to Solomon, we may be tempted to conclude, “What’s the point of anything that we do?” What’s the point of all the long hours you teachers will be preparing lessons in history, science, geography, and mathematics if it is all vanity—meaningless. What’s the point of teaching self-discipline and demanding excellence if it’s all meaningless? For that matter, what’s the point of education at all?
7. There is no point to anything that we do apart from Jesus. Every gift of God can be transformed into an idol. Our Lutheran day school, our approach to education, our curriculum, our desire to build a school of academic excellence—all of these things become idols apart from Christ. Every good thing becomes an idol where faith in Christ is not above everything else. In another place, Solomon wrote, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps 111:10 NKJV). The Lord of whom he spoke is the Lord Jesus. To fear the Lord is to know him, to trust him, to look to him for everything, to believe in him as the “one thing needful.” This is the beginning of wisdom.
8. None of us would admit to having idols, but we are all threatened by them. You can judge what the idols are that threaten your life by considering all those things that you would never give up. What do you insist on having? “A god is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need,” wrote Luther in the Large Catechism. If it is not an idol that threatens you, why are you so miserable when it is taken away? The problem is not with the “good thing” that we value, but how much value we place upon it.
9. There was nothing more precious to the Jews of Jesus’ day than their interpretation of God’s Mosaic Law. They valued their service to the Law (as they understood it) above all things. That’s what Jesus addressed in the Gospel reading for today. They were zealous. They added their own rules to God’s Word and insisted upon strict observance. But Jesus called their belief in their interpretation of God’s Law blasphemy and an abomination to the Lord.
10. Why? Because all their sincerely held passionate beliefs concerning their law and their own obedience to it did not have Christ at its center. Their law became an idol because Christ was missing. They did not see their sin or self-righteousness. So, they did not see their need for him who alone could make for their peace by the blood of his cross. The same could be said of us whenever any “good thing” in our lives takes possession of us. We are blinded and do not know the things that make for our peace.
11. Think about the idolatrous faith of the Jews of Jesus’ time. What could be greater than God’s own Law? What could be greater than marshaling all our powers to try to obey the Law? But, no sinful person can truly obey the law and win God’s favor. Christ is greater than the Law! He is the Law’s fulfillment! To be a Christian is to believe in him alone. The Law was fulfilled in his death when he took the punishment for our sin. His death alone made peace between the sinner and God. Most of the Jews in Jesus’ day didn’t believe this. They believed they were serving God by their attempts to keep their law, but they were really serving the devil. This is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem when he drew near her, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes” (Lk 19:42 NKJV).
12. Jesus stood before them—the One who alone could make for their peace—but they rejected him. As a result, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the city was nearly leveled to the ground 40 years after Jesus spoke his warning. What about us? As the hymn writer put it, “Earth has no pleasure I would share, Yea, heaven itself were void and bare If Thou, Lord, were not near me” (TLH 429:1). All is vanity apart from Christ.
13. Jesus stands before us each day in this place, not only on Sunday morning, but each day in the life of our school and congregation through Bible class, catechism, and worship. He is the one thing needful. We know of no Jesus except that Jesus who comes to us through his Word to give life and salvation in the forgiveness of sins. Apart from him all that we do is vanity, no matter how noble the pursuit. The Lutheran understanding of the Gospel is what, more than anything else, sets apart a Lutheran school from all others. We sinners are justified by faith in Christ alone. The catechism explains the Gospel from Scripture and teaches us to know ourselves and to know our Savior correctly. Through worship and hymnody we learn to approach Christ in every time of need. The mercy of God in Christ teaches us to love one another and to dwell together with one another in forgiveness, bearing one another’s weaknesses. These teachings come from Christ and make for our peace.
14. The idolatry that resided in the hearts of the Jews of which Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel is deep within our hearts as well. It threatens us as much as it threatened them. But this is the Good News: Jesus wept over Jerusalem in love for all her lost sinners. He desired only one thing—to draw her to himself, to call her to repentance, to forgive her sins, to cover her with the robe of his righteousness. He wants to do the same for us. He doesn’t force himself upon us. He loves, gently and tenderly, like a faithful husband who gives his very life for his bride. Faith alone receives him! By faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ, all is vanity! But with Christ—his Word, his Baptism, his Absolution, his Supper—we have all we need. As we consider all that we do in this place, all that we desire for our school, our children, and our lives, fix your ears upon this promise: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32 NKJV). The peace of God that passes all understanding, guard you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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