Sermon
Ecclesiastes 1:1-2
Stonebrook Community Church
Speaker: Matt Heerema
August 31, 2025 · 23 min
Summary
Ecclesiastes introduces the concept of hevel (futility)—life's temporary, vapor-like nature—warning that worldly pursuits (wealth, power, achievement) ultimately fail. The pastor anchors hope in Christ's resurrection and the promise of eternal glory, showing that suffering produces spiritual growth and that believers can experience joy even amid life's meaninglessness.
Highlights
Something that is hevel is something that isn't ultimately worth anything. It won't last and it doesn't even actually work for the thing you're trying to get it to do.
What sets us free is this hope that glory is coming. For those of us who trust him, who trust Jesus, these light, momentary, hevel afflictions are not just something we put up with—these afflictions are producing for us an eternal weight of glory.
When we know that this world and all of its fleeting pleasures are not all that there is, when we know that there is something bigger going on and something better coming, free from futility finally, free from meaninglessness finally, knowing that this is coming helps us respond not only with patience and humility and gratitude, but also with great joy.