“It was Socrates who said, upon the edges of execution or banishment, that the unexamined life is not worth living. How do we find meaning in life? Where are the wrong places? The right places? Solomon grappled with this very question. He found the answer to a life of purpose and significance.”

<p>“It was Socrates who said, upon the edges of execution or banishment, that the unexamined life is not worth living. How do we find meaning in life? Where are the wrong places? The right places? Solomon grappled with this very question. He found the answer to a life of purpose and significance.”</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Yardley SDA Church

Sebastien Braxton

The Unexamined Life

We have not come to hear the words of a man, nor the philosophies of men, nor their sermonizing, but we've come to hear the Word of God and we pray, Lord, that you would fail not to grant us this blessing.

Help your people to not remain the same, that we would not just be hearers of the Word, but doers as well.

This is only possible if the Spirit of God would come amongst us and travel from heart to heart and from mind to mind and pressing upon the soul the truth and that this truth would have a sanctifying effect for the rest of our lives.

And for a weary heart, it is my prayer that you would give me the tongue of the learned that may know how to speak a word in season to him and her that is weary.

This is our prayer, and we trust that you'll help this to be our experience.

Socrates, famous philosopher, you probably know him.

Maybe you've read some of his works, died a very interesting death in his life.

And Socrates was on trial because Socrates wanted to ask questions.

You know, They say that children go through a stage or a phase of life where they begin to question everything when they learn to ask questions Like why?

Now if you grew up in a Caribbean home like me you don't ask questions Children are seen and not heard amen Somebody knows what I'm talking about.

But Socrates was 1 of those children for the Greek society.

And he was questioning the actions, the pursuits, the concerns, the indulgences of his society.

But this was troubling a few of the leadership because this began to cause distrust amongst the constituency.

And it began to question, Maybe these men are not so honest.

Maybe we shouldn't trust this aristocracy that is set up.

Maybe we shouldn't trust these men to lead and guide the nation.

So Socrates was brought forth before the committee, and when he was brought forth, they said, hey look, Socrates, Here's the deal.

Stop asking questions or we'll banish you away from here.

Socrates said, no, I'm not gonna leave and I won't stop asking questions.

They said, okay, This guy's a little stubborn.

So he says, Socrates will make you drink poison, hemlock, if you don't stop asking questions.

And in response to this, his favorite, or I should say remembered, statement was, if I cannot ask questions, then for me, I'd rather not live, because the unexamined life is not worth living.

As we begin to go into this subject of the meaning of life, on 1 hand, I'm happy I only have to speak on this 1 time.

On the other hand, I'm a little frustrated because you expect me to cover the meaning of life in 30 minutes.

If I were Jesus, it probably wouldn't take as long.

But it begins with this fundamental premise is that life is meant to make sense.

It was Bertrand Russell, who was an atheist, that said, unless you assume a god, The question of life's purpose is meaningless Another individual whom you may know CS Lewis 1 of my favorite authors He writes in the book mere Christianity if the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning.

As if there were no light in the universe, and therefore no creatures with eyes, We should never know it was dark.

So the very seeking of meaning in life, as a sister brought out in Sabbath school this morning, that God has placed eternity in our hearts.

There's something that troubles us about death, that my life is racing to its end as the sun chases the horizon, that we are not breathing to life, we are breathing to death.

Every breath you take is closer to your last.

And there's a sense in the human heart that I don't have a lot of time, and so you gotta live life to the fullest.

I don't have a lot of time, So you better enjoy it while you can.

But we understand there are 3 approaches currently that I would say cover pretty much the gamut of the whole world.

And then we'll deal into Bible-believing Christians and how we deal with this question.

The first approach to dealing with the issue of seeking for purpose in life comes in the form of Eastern religions.

And in Eastern religions, it would be to deny the desire for purpose.

According to Lord Krishna in his scriptures in Hinduism, humanity must be cut out of the dark forest of delusion.

And so in Buddhism, Hinduism, it's about removing yourself from making anything personal It's about denying all the desires your desires for marriage your desires for success your desires for peace your desire for happiness That is why you are troubled because there is no peace.

And thus, you get to that place of nirvana, this place of enlightenment.

And now you are completely detached from the world, Detached from people, even yourself.

And so in the Eastern mindset, freedom is not to be an individual, but from being an individual.

It's about losing yourself, emptying your mind.

So the first approach is to deny that there's meaning in life.

The second, according to the atheist, most agnostics, and the naturalist that says there's nothing beyond what you see.

They would say you have to decide your purpose.

And thus there is no inherent purpose in life, it's what you make it.

You are not the story, you are the author who writes the story.

And so you have this sense that in the atheistic mindset in the words of Bertrand Russell again, we are all Atlas carrying on our shoulders the world that we have created.

You bear the life that you have made for yourself.

As my mother would say, if you make your bed, you have to sleep in it.

And the last way in the Christian and the Judeo world view of approaching the purpose of life is to discover it.

Whatever the object that is being sought it must pre-exist the seeker and its search.

Genesis chapter 1 beginning in verse 1 when you're there, say amen.

It is the first chapter of the first book of the Bible.

You must assume a God In order for seeking for life's purpose to have any meaning at all the Bible assumes God from the very first verse in the beginning God Elohim created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.

What we find here is the Bible says that the earth was without form and void.

This phrase in the Hebrew, The earth was without form and void is tohu voh bohu.

And you have this sense in the Hebrew that the world was in chaos is what the phrase means.

You look in Deuteronomy 32, God says, I found you in a waste howling Wilderness, it's the same phrase Chaos What in the world does it mean to have no form and to be empty, but there is something there.

So whatever it is, it's the earth, and it has no form, and it's empty, it's void.

Back to Menu

The Unexamined Life

Transcript

Description

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Plenary

When Temptations Return

1h 18m

Acts

Acts: Filled with the Holy Spirit

42m

The Two Revelations

1h 24m

Unlock Revelation

Passing the Final Test

38m

Preparing for the Latter Rain: The Judgment Hour Message

Prepare To Meet Your God

1h 15m

Reaching Up

46m

WYC 2012 Plenary Sessions

Repentance and the Latter Rain

1h 19m

Jesus On Prophecy

The End of Secrets, Watching and Waiting

49m

Even At the Door

1h 10m

Restoration 2023

The Atheist Who Found God

50m

Everything Depends On

1h

Sound Doctrine