Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

the educational attainment in the United States, unquote, report, which gave the following information on the value of education. It was sent out in an encouragement to know this and to be able to encourage young people, students in particular, to get a good education. This information based on the years of education that workers 18 or older had received before starting work as adults. So again, the educational attainment in the United States report, this at least in this part of the report is the thing that they were interested in. That is how much money you make depending on what year of school you finish. So, if you have no high school diploma, your average yearly salary as of the spring 2005 in the United States, here you go, you get no high school diploma, your average yearly salary is $18,734.

Mom, okay. That's more than I've made lots of years of my life, so I guess that's not too bad. If you have a high school diploma, but that's it, your average yearly salary is $27,915 a year. If you have a bachelor's degree, your average yearly salary is $51,206 a year. And in the United States as of spring 2005, if you have a graduate degree, your average yearly salary is $74,602.

I can tell you that I have my graduate degree and I'm very happy with what I make. It's not quite $74,602 a year. I'm not sure I know a lot of people who fit into any of these categories, but you know, again, this is the average that the US government determined in their Census Bureau for the spring of this very year.

What's interesting in that is that the assumption or the belief in that is that the more money you make, the better. That is the unspoken assumption of those statistics. That the higher the number of your salary, the better your life is. In fact, whether it's spoken, Some people are just outright shouting out loud about how money makes your life better. Other people have this kind of unspoken assumption that life with money is good, life with more money is better, life with riches is the best.

And there is no doubt in my mind that there are those of you here this morning who probably know better than to say out loud and to go up on your rooftop and shout that life is about money. I doubt that any of you would actually, you know, confess that out loud, too loudly at least. But it is an unspoken assumption still for many of us that life with money is good, life with more money is better, life with the most money is the best. I remember just a few years ago when I was speaking at the eighth grade graduation, I never remember what they call that. The eighth grade acceptance banquet, which is technically then, isn't that technically the ninth grade acceptance banquet?

Because they're being accepted into the ninth grade from eighth grade. Whatever you call it, it was eighth graders who were finishing eighth grade, heading off into ninth grade. And it was like three years ago, I think. So that means the current sophomores. Who knows, I've never been good at math, you know? So anyway, I was speaking that night, And so I was there, and one of the things that Mr. Pierce did for the Grace Academy guys moving up into high school was I guess he had them fill out a survey, and they had to say some things, and you know, a lot of it was, what are your goals for your life?

And I am certain that at least eight or nine out of ten of the ones that he read had to do with getting more money and better stuff when they got older. And I almost couldn't believe it. I mean, I didn't puke out my dinner all over the plate in front of me. I mean, I have learned how to control those kinds of regurgitation reactions somewhat. But I really, I had a hard time believing that what I was listening to here at a Christian school, not saying that everybody's Christians. But what I was listening to was all of these people sharing their life goals, being about getting more money. And it's true. I'll mention this again later on. I didn't go into my line of work to make a lot of money. So I mean, maybe, maybe I'm just different.

Maybe I'm, you know, the anomaly. Maybe, you know, I want to do a little, uh, Matt or whatever his name is from Saturday Night Live right now. So I'm trying to avoid that. Whatever his name is. Maybe pastors are the only ones who that's supposed to count for that everybody else is supposed to try to get as much money in their life as possible.

But it just blew my mind that that was such a dominant thought here among the eighth graders.

Let alone, you know, those in high school already, those in college or those beyond that. That was very disappointing to me to hear kind of the revelation of where people are seeing their priorities, their values at that point. And Solomon is going to include this in his looking for life in all of the wrong places. I don't actually think that it just has to do with the fact that I'm a pastor, that you know that's not why I went into being a pastor and so pastors are the only ones who should not make life about money. In fact, no one is to make life about money. Not saying that it's bad to have money more or less. It's simply no one is to make their life about that. In chapter two, well really starting back in chapter one verse 18 we begin Solomon's pursuit, biographical description of this pursuit to try to find meaning and satisfaction in life. Chapter one verse 12 through verse 18 we saw was the vanity of education and wisdom. I got to tell you, even listing those stats, you know, that those who have a graduate degree make more money on

average a year than those who don't, still is not the value of education necessarily. But anyway, His first thing was the vanity of wisdom of education, then chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, the vanity of pleasure, chapter 2 verse 3, the vanity of alcohol. Then last week we looked at the vanity of work or toil in verses 4 through 6. And today we come to the vanity of money. Money, money, money, who do you love? The vanity of money, the vanity of stuff, the vanity of possessions, the vanity of wealth, the vanity of riches, you can throw in any number of terms there. For what we see in chapter 2, verse 7 through the beginning of verse 8, let me read those for us. I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also So I gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces.

Gonna look at three main points this morning. The first is his assets. As he gives us a list here of his assets, the things that were credits to him that, you know, were part of his portfolio if we were trying to make it, you know, modern sounding. His portfolio, his assets, what was in his account, how much stuff he had. If you're looking for the bottom line here, this is how much stuff he had. How much money he had and things like that. First off, he talks about slaves. Really there's three kinds of things. Slaves, livestock, and then precious metals. Those are the three categories of assets that he talks about.

First of all, slaves. We know that he had a bunch of stuff. In fact, last week, we looked at all of the projects that he was a part of, all those projects and all of those buildings and all of the stuff that he had required a lot of people to take care of it. He needed a lot of help. He did have a lot of wives. We'll look at that a couple weeks from now. But probably most of his wives were not doing lots of the work. So he had need for a workforce. In fact, out of all the stuff that he had, all of the possessions that needed taken care of, all of the square footage there was to clean. Hello. You know what I'm saying?

He needed an army of servants or slaves to help him take care of it. And you know, we sometimes say, because we don't have slaves today, at least in the United States, and that's a good thing. I'm okay with that. I'm not saying that we need to try to, you know, get slaves for ourselves. So maybe I was trying to think, you know, what a good analogy or parallel for us would be. And the closest thing I could come up with was, you know, sometimes I say that how many keys you have shows how important you are. So, you know, like a person who's got like a hundred keys on their key chain must be really important to need to get into that many doors.

Like they got that many things to take care of. And so the more keys that you have, the more responsibility and importance and significance you might have because you got to take care of all those things. That was the best I could come up with. But the more slaves that you had obviously was an indication of how important and how significant you were. And that's why I'm including the slaves here as part of his assets. And so he had two kinds of slaves. He had those slaves who were bought and he had those slaves who were born. He says, verse seven, I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house.

The two different kinds, bought and born. If you look in Genesis 15, verse 13, or Genesis 17, verse 12, you'll find that the distinction between these two kinds of slaves was something that was very common. And there's a reason for that, why they made such a big distinction between bought and born slaves. And we find out about why that distinction so important in Exodus chapter 21 verses 2 through 11. You don't need to turn there, I'm just giving you the background. Exodus chapter 21 verses 2 through 11 explained that if you bought a Hebrew slave, that Hebrew slave was only yours for seven years. And then at that point in time at the end of the seven years, they could decide if they wanted to then, you know, have their ear pierced with a on an anvil and a shawl. Is that what they call it? All, not a shawl.

Yeah, the all. And you know, they got that thing beat through their ear and you know, then that meant that they were with the master for the rest of their life. They had that option, but at the end of seven years, they could also choose to be free. But a slave who was born or someone who was born to a slave during those seven years was the masters. So you know, you bought slaves, and if those slaves then had children under or during the time that they were, you know, your slave, then all of the children who were born from a slave while they were serving you then were the masters forever. So I mean, you'd buy slaves, and then there would be slaves born among them, and then The ones who were born never were legally allowed to go.

And so this is a pretty helpful category then, especially if you were an owner. You would want as many slaves born in your house as possible because then they didn't get to leave. So he had both kinds here. Bought and born slaves, male and female. He had both kinds. And the slaves, these are the first things that he mentions. Obviously, they were pretty important to him in taking care of all the different stuff that he has. He included the slaves as part of his assets. They were a commodity. They were bought and sold kind of things, and they were a symbol of his wealth and his riches. The second category of things that he mentions are livestock.

I also had great possessions of herds and flocks. At that point in time, to the average man, your wealth was measured in your livestock. The next thing that he mentions with the precious metals, not so much. Your average man, your average free man was not necessarily possessing lots of silver and gold and those kinds of things, but the average man, the working man, the working class kind of dude, he measured his wealth by his herds, his livestock. And so Solomon talks about those here. The word herds seems to refer to larger farm animals like cattle and oxen. And then the word flocks probably refers to just the smaller livestock such as sheeps and goats.

Sometimes when we think about flocks, we think about birds. And though he had birds, that's probably not what he has in mind here.

flocks, a flock of sheep is probably what he had in mind. Sheep, goats, those kind of smaller animals, and then the herds were the bigger ones. We've looked at this before, but turn to 1 Kings chapter 8. You know, because when he says he had great possessions of herds and flocks, I don't know, that really helps us, you know, get the picture of exactly how much he's talking about. Look at 1 Kings chapter 8 verse 63. This was a special time when he was consecrating the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord. And just take a look here at this one day's worth of offering. This was one day, one time offering. Starting in verse 62, then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord. Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. That's a one-day special. 22,000 oxen. I don't know if they had like any bull riding beforehand, you know, as they were getting them to the place where they were going to slaughter them, I don't know. And 120,000 sheep. Now, that's a lot.

Again I'm not a math major, but I know enough to know that that's a lot. Look over at 1 Kings chapter 4 verse 23. You remember we talked about his provisions for one day. 1 Kings 4 verse 22. Solomon's provision for one day was 30 cores of fine flour and 60 a meal 10 fat oxen and 20 pasture fed cattle, a hundred sheep besides deer, gazelles, roebucks and fat and fowl. Now besides the fact that you notice no vegetables mentioned in there, you do notice that that's a lot of meat. That's good, but to do that every day, you know, I think we might consider it pretty extravagant to have like 10 hot dogs a day every day.

You don't have that much meat every day. That'd be a lot. Not to say that Solomon was eating all this himself, but his kitchen was preparing on a daily basis, again, 10 oxen, 20 pasture fed cattle, 100 sheep. And that's not to mention the deer, the gazelles, and the fattened fowl. That's not to mention the chicken. You know, you got your beef and you got your chicken. They didn't even, chickens don't even rate here. They didn't care about the chickens. You know, they're going right for the cholesterol, the sausage, you know? No, they probably weren't eating lots of sausage. Anyway, that's a lot. Now, I did get out my calculator, and some of these are easier than others, but in fact, two of them are pretty easy, but that works out to 3,650 oxen a year and 7,300 cattle and 365,000 sheep every year just for dinner.

I mean, that's a lot. Cause apparently then there's more left over. You know what I'm saying? I mean, there's constant breeding and more are coming. And so when he says, I had a great possession of herds and flocks. I think we could say that he meant that. Of course, to then take care of all those animals requires land. He doesn't even include land in his possessions here. But obviously it assumes that he had enough land to provide like food for all these animals that he was fattening up so that they could be made in his kitchen so that they could be sacrificed at the temple. That's a lot of stuff. The point here with the livestock thing is that Solomon was rich.

That's kind of the bottom line. Well, that leads us to the third category of assets, not only slaves and livestock, but also precious metals. Verse eight, the beginning part, I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. The verb gathered there is basically regular word used not only in Hebrew but some of the other languages that simply talks about gathering stuff up simply for the sake of having it. Like not really gathering it up then to do something with it but just for sake of possessing. That's what it talks about. We see that is motive is still the same as it was last week. I gathered for myself, you remember we really emphasized that and the three times it was used, one in each verse, four, five, and six last week.

Still the same motive, I gathered four myself, silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and provinces. When we talk about this last part, the treasure of kings and provinces, this is at least one of the ways that he got it. The precious metals are the gold and the silver. I'll come back to those in a second, but this last phrase is describing at least some of how he got the gold and silver, and when he says the treasure of kings, that would have been foreign tributes.

In fact, we'll read here in just a moment how when other kings would come to see him, they would bring him treasure. So the treasures of kings. He had people coming from all over, wanting his wisdom, wanting his insight, just wanting to meet the guy. I mean he was a worldwide celebrity. And so when kings came, when the Queen of Sheba came to visit him, they all brought him great stuff. The greatest stuff from their lands, some of which at least included gold and silver. And then when it says the treasure of kings in provinces, that's probably taxation. He divided up his area, divided up the part of Israel he was responsible for, and divided that up into districts or provinces, and they probably then owed him a tax. Well again see that in just a moment as you turn to 1 Kings chapter 10. 1 Kings chapter 10 starting in verse 14. Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold. I'll come back to that in a moment. Besides that, which came from the explorers and from the businesses of the merchants and from all the kings of the west and from the

governors of the land. There again you have the kings and leaders of other places bringing him tributes and you have the governors over the provinces collecting the taxes. King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold 600 shekels of gold went into each shield they made he's making shields out of gold do you get that I mean okay and he made 300 shields of beaten gold three menas of gold went into each shield and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon the king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold he had a lot of gold he was doing many things with gold the throne had six steps and at the back of the the throne was a calf's head and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests while twelve lions stood there. One on each end of the step on the six steps, the like of the like of it was never made in any kingdom. And the point of giving you all that description right there is to say that all that had gold on it. Okay, it was ivory with gold

overtop of it. Then he goes on verse 21, all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were silver. Silver was considered as was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. I mean whatever. The king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram once every three years. The fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bring in gold, silver ivory, apes, and peacocks. Okay. Then we're here we go verse 23. Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had put into his mind. Every one of them brought his presence. Articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules so much year by year." Well let's consider the silver first of all. We read in verse 21 that all of his drink of vessels were gold, none of them were silver. Silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. Let's go over at 2 Chronicles 9 real quick.

Then we'll come back to 1 Chronicles 10, or 1 Kings 10. 2 Chronicles 9 verse 27. Basically you get a list of all the his possessions here in this chapter as well. The description of silver in 927, the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone. That's how much silver there was, and he had so much silver that it really wasn't worth anything because it was like having stone. Go back to the gold in 1 Kings 10-14, those 666 talents of gold. Now as best as I could, I did some research on this, I tried to come up with some numbers, okay? In today's market, based on what a talent weighed, breaking that down into ounces, And then taking the ounces and multiplying that by what an ounce of gold is worth today, an ounce of gold as of this morning was worth somewhere around $485 per ounce.

Okay, so figure out how many ounces are in a talent. I figure that in this one year, the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold. I figured that's around $300 million of gold. That's just gold. That's not as herds and flocks and slaves and all the other stuff. That's just of gold that came to him in one year was $300 million. I mean, that seems like a lot to me. I don't get that in a paycheck.

Now, taking that same approach using that same formula, I do want you also to know that when his father David, King David died, he left him approximately $25 billion worth of gold in today's market, $25 billion worth of gold just for the temple, let alone then the extra for the more personal use. He wasn't using the 25 billion all for himself. That was for the thing. But let's go on. That's point number one, his assets. That's kind of a little bit of taste. But secondly, the second major point is his net worth. And in 1 Kings chapter 10 verse 23, we don't get a number, but we get a description. Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches.

That is, there was nobody who had more than he did. Back in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 7, at least describing the herds and the flocks, he had more than any who had been before him in Jerusalem. I mean, this was a guy with a good looking portfolio. This was, you know, this was the richest guy. at the time the richest guy. One site that I looked at and then re-figured the totals, this guy had re-figured it with just gold. And this is all that he was talking about.

He wasn't talking about silver. He wasn't talking about anything else. He was just talking about gold. Okay? And this does not count the gold specifically left for the temple I re-figured this guy's number with today's market value of gold. And if you take the amount of gold that we get described to us in 1 Kings 10.14, the 666 talents of gold a year, some of the other gold statistics that we're told about that he got, and then you add that up for 40 years, because right that was one year and he rained for 40. So just in gold approximately $9,233,230,203,166 and some change. Now that's just gold. That's not anything else. Okay, that's just the gold.

After 40 years, he perhaps collected in today's value over, I mean, $9,233,000,000. I don't know that we really need to go any further than that at the billions. That's a lot. Now it's not to say that all of that then was just left sitting in a room, you know, at the palace at the end of the 40 years. I mean, certainly he was investing that back out and he paid people and did all those other things and gave gifts and all that, but that's just to say what he had collected, okay, before giving anything out, approximately that much gold, not to mention the other stuff. And that leads us to the third major point, which is his conclusion.

You know what it is? Vanity of vanities all is vanity. There was no satisfaction for him in $9 trillion. That's a lot of iPods. I mean, that's a lot of stuff. What's that? At least a down payment you'd think. He could have and did have anything that he wanted. Look back at Ecclesiastes two. He could have and did have whatever he wanted. He said, verse nine, I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom remained with me and whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I was never a day he wanted to buy something and was like, you know what, got to wait till the 15th of the month when I get paid.

You know, do you take credit? He never said that. didn't withhold from his owning whatever it was that he wanted and yet it was vanity and I just want to mention four things some of these are his conclusions some of these are just summarizing from some other passages as well try to give you as much from him from Solomon as possible okay but we're going to expand it out and look at just a few other verses of Scripture as well.

Four things I think that go into Solomon's conclusion here. Number one, money is no guarantee. Money is no guarantee. Look at chapter 2 verse 21 in Ecclesiastes, sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. You know what, you can actually make all the money you want and then you die And apparently you don't get to take it with you. You have to leave it for somebody else. And it might be left to somebody who doesn't even know how to work. No wisdom, no skill, no nothing. There's no guarantee there. Look over at chapter 9 in Ecclesiastes verse 11. Again, I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent nor favor to those with knowledge but time and chance happen to them all." And he's not saying that God is not in control of that, he's just saying we can't figure out everything that God is doing and you can actually work hard all your life, you can get the best savings account, you can

imagine or hide it under your mattress, it doesn't really matter. God is actually able to take it away in a moment. He can take away your money, he can take away your life and therefore you don't have your money. Either way, God has plenty of ways to do it. Money is no guarantee of anything. Look back at chapter 5 verse 13 there's a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun riches were kept by their owner to his hurt and those riches were lost in a bad venture. Just because you have money doesn't mean that you might make one investment and gone. Now he actually gives some suggestions later on saying don't put all your eggs in one basket. He doesn't use that phrase. That's, you know, our English proverb about that. But look over also at Proverbs 23, talking about the no guarantee here. Money doesn't guarantee you anything. Proverbs 23, look at verse four, do not toil to acquire wealth. Be discerning enough to stop, to desist from trying to acquire wealth. When When your eyes light on it, it is gone.

For suddenly it sprouts wings like an eagle toward heaven, flying like an eagle toward heaven, grasping oil. You know? Can't hold onto it. Look at Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 and 20. not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. There is no guarantee when you have money. In fact, the more money you have, the more people probably are trying to get it away from you, let alone the ways that God has to separate you from your wealth, your money, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. Lastly, look at 1st Timothy chapter 6 starting in verse 17 as for the rich in this present age charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches there is just no guarantee money is not the answer it's not the guarantee to help you not only is money no guarantee but secondly money does not bring peace. These are connected, but perhaps a little bit different money does not bring peace.

You'd think that if you could just get enough, you attain this thing we call security, right?

You know, maybe hear your parents talk about it. We're looking to be secure. We're looking to have peace. Look back at Ecclesiastes 5 verse 10. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. This also is vanity. Look at this. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has the owner but to see them with his eyes. Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. Because the more you get, the more you have to be worried about, not the other way around. The more you get is not the more peace you get, the more you get, the more you have to take care of, and the more you got to worry about. Look at chapter 6, verses 1 and 2, there is an evil that I have seen under the sun and it lies heavy on mankind, a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires. Yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity. It is a grievous evil.

You can have all the stuff and still not enjoy it. And again, I say, the more you get generally, the more you have to worry about and take care of rather than having it bring you peace and happiness. Thirdly, and this one is is dangerous, money rearranges our focus. Money rearranges our focus. It can. I want to put an apprentices here. Money is okay and God talks about giving it to people as a blessing. It doesn't give the same amount to everybody, some more, some less. And if God gives you the power to enjoy it at the same time, that's a great gift. But it still doesn't change that there are some dangers associated with money. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 8.

It was great. This morning Pastor Z talking about the second law. Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 11 says this, take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God." Down to verse 17, "'Beware lest you say in your heart, My power and the might of My hand have gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth.'" Money and riches and wealth can lead you to forget about God. You don't need Him anymore. You got what you need. You got the money. You got the bank account. That'll do it. You don't need God anymore. That's a complete misunderstanding. Look at Matthew chapter 13. Matthew 13 verse 22 in the parable of the soils. You remember this one, what was thone among thorns, this is the one who

hears the word but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word. The cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches. Seeking to get satisfaction in those things, they kind of choke out, crowd out the word. One more passage for this one, 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6, this time starting in verse 6.

"'Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, "'for we brought nothing into the world.'" And you know what? We cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils.

It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. And you know what it means there is you don't even have to have the money, it's just the love of the money. You can actually be poor as a dog and still be seeking satisfaction in what you don't have yet in those riches and wealth. You can still have the same emptiness that Solomon has even without any money. If your love is the money, you know, That's why this passage applies just as well to me as a pastor. I mean, I'm very happy with all that I have. I have more than I can ever use or need probably. But here Paul actually tells Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 11, asks for you, O man of God, flee these things. What is he talking about? The love of money, even to Timothy. I assume Timothy was not, you know, rich and having a big bank account, he was to flee the love of money. Money can rearrange our focus and cause us to forget God or leave him. Fourth, money doesn't satisfy. And that the bottom line for all of this

in Ecclesiastes, money doesn't satisfy. Thank you. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 7, again I saw vanity under the son one person who has no other either son or brother yet there is no end to all his toil and his eyes are never satisfied with riches always working always on to the next investment always looking for how he can increase his riches his eyes are never satisfied it's never enough we read this passage as well already but chapter 5 verse 10 he who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves wealth with his income this also is vanity. Guys life is not in money. It's not in money and too many of us have what I like this Rick Holland calls it affluenza. Instead of influenza we have affluenza. We're so affluent, that is we have so much stuff. We're affected with this kind of, you know, disease in that way. It's really just sin. Think of all the sins associated with money. Coveting, jealousy, stealing, lying, greed, exploitation, extortion. Then you can add worry and anxiety. Those are just as much sins

relating to not having money as those is trying to get more money. You know You know what, I realize you don't have herds and flocks and gold like Solomon did, but do you realize that for all of that stuff Solomon never heard the sound of a flushing toilet? Solomon never turned on a light. Solomon never rode or drove in a car. Solomon never flew in an airplane. Never got the peanuts on the airplane. You know, we're whining and complaining. Look at that big peanuts, you know. You're flying on a plane. Wow. A bag of peanuts is like the icing, you know? Solomon never talked on a phone. Never had a cell phone. Never text messaged anybody.

He didn't even have dial up, let alone high speed internet access. Didn't have on demand. No cable. No regular VHF or UHF. Definitely never had an iPod. Someone didn't even have books. He had scrolls perhaps, but didn't have books like we do with, there was no printing press. We have all of this stuff, and yet some, and we're not satisfied with it, and yet we still think that, hmm, maybe if I could just get some more of this stuff or the newest version of this stuff, then I'll be happy. And it's not true. We have so much, yet we are not content and we are not thankful. And we know so much better, and yet we keep looking for life and stuff and money.

The guy who had it all said it was empty. I just want you to look at one more passage back in Matthew 6. Jesus tells us what our priorities ought to be. I'll leave it with Jesus's words, try to read the passage starting in chapter 6 of Matthew verse 25. Therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor eat nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them, are you not of more value than they?

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so closed the grass of the field, which is today alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the Gentiles? Seek after these things. And your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. And Father help us to get that mindset, that perspective. It's so easy with all of the stuff that we have, hardly any of us would consider ourselves rich or wealthy and yet we have so much stuff. We know that it's empty. None of it brings us lasting satisfaction and yet somehow we keep thinking if we just get more or newer or nicer, that'll do it. And so we spend our time and our energy devoting ourselves to this accumulation and we gather for ourselves treasures in this world and we potentially will miss out on the treasure of the next.

Where our heart is, there our treasure will be. Where our treasure is, there our heart will be. God give us understanding and a treasuring of what is beyond the sun. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Well, you can take out your copy of God's Word and turn again to the second chapter in Ecclesiastes. And I will admit here at the start that I am perhaps not the most qualified person to speak on this particular subject. Though I think that I have read and understand the point of this paragraph. And while I think I have definitely seen some obvious examples of what Solomon is talking about in this paragraph and others, both as they've got it right and as they've got it wrong, perhaps you might think the connection for me is a little bit strained. I'll talk about that in a little bit as well. But having a career for me at least was never really a big desire that I had.

In fact, when I was growing up, what I wanted to be was a baseball player. And you see the difference there. They don't ever call them baseball workers. They call them baseball players. And that's what I wanted to be for the majority of my life growing up. I wanted to be a baseball player. Not necessarily because I wanted the big money. It was more so because that's just what I enjoyed. I enjoy the game of baseball. And so that's what I spent most of my time doing. I spent time practicing, preparing for that. And then even the other thing that I wanted to do, which I thought started to come into my mind probably before my senior year of high school.

So before I chose a college, before I chose a college major, those kinds of things, I thought God was calling me to be a pastor. So even though I went to three different colleges, I never changed my major from again, The year before, the summer before my senior year of high school, until now, I have been pursuing the same thing and am doing it. And that is being a pastor. So I've never had big aspirations for a career in the business world. And I've had lots of different jobs. Like I've had plenty of opportunity to test different things out and see if I like them or not. And yeah, I don't.

other than yard mowing, which most people don't consider that at least a lucrative career. I've never really pursued, I've never had great business aspirations, I've never had those kind of opportunities, investment opportunities in my life. I've been paid to be a pastor at one level or another, some levels are we're pretty low and you know now I'm very very content with what I get. So I've never had the aspirations or the opportunities like Solomon. Most of you will probably never have quite the same opportunities but undoubtedly some of you will have the same goals or you will be driven by the same kind of ambitions and aspirations that Solomon talks about. This morning we come examine whether those kind of ambitions and goals can bring you happiness. Now let's think just for a moment where we've been so far, especially as we came into chapter 2. We're talking about Solomon's foray into his attempt into trying to find life, find meaning, and find satisfaction, specifically in all the wrong places. And in chapter 1, verses 12 through 18, we saw the vanity of wisdom. He

He thought maybe that in his education and his wisdom, he could find life and meaning and satisfaction and ultimate happiness. And he says it's not in education, it's not in wisdom. In chapter two then, verses one and two, he tells us about his search for life and pleasure in hedonism and doing whatever would just make him happy. Says that's empty, useless, of no value. Last time we were together in Ecclesiastes, Chapter two, verse three, we then looked at his trying to find life in alcohol, in a buzz, in making his body happy through some kind of drug, specifically alcohol. And today in verses four through six, we come to the vanity of work, the vanity of labor.

This is again in this larger section of looking for life, looking for meaning, trying to find happiness. A happiness in your heart from all these different things. And like I said today, the vanity of work. There are four parts to Solomon's pursuit of pleasure through work that we're gonna see. Solomon's report, Solomon's projects, Solomon's thirdly, his motive, and then his conclusion. And first then, his report. Look at chapter two, verse four. I made great works.

I made great works. We'll see the rest here in these final three points. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks. I planted them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. And some of you are perhaps thinking, how in the stink could you get an entire sermon out of those verses? Well, you're about ready to find out. The very first sentence there is Solomon's report. I made great works. It introduces us to this next test in Solomon's quest to find meaning in life unto the sun. It's an account. It's a description and the rest of what follows in verses four through six begins with this, I made great works.

All three of these verses are his written report. You know, this is like, you know, your teacher asks you to write a report. Here it is. It starts out with the beginning. He's introducing it to us. He says, I made great works. And the rest of the verses will go on and fill that out to paint that picture a little bit more. And this is an account of his investigation into the possibility that work, that projects could bring him meaning and satisfaction to life. Maybe we would say Solomon was looking to find fulfillment in achievements, in significant accomplishments, something that he had been successful at, doing something well.

This is the point of these verses, his work, his accomplishments, his achievements. That's what he's testing here to see if he could find fulfillment in self-motivated architectural and agricultural projects. Of course, the subject of work has already been mentioned by the preacher. In fact, if you go back to chapter one, verse three, in this introductory poem that he gives, he's already mentioned work in this rhetorical question, what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? You got the emphasis of the toil, the work, the labor, And that rhetorical question is meant to give us what answer.

What does a man gain for all of that work? What is the answer? Nothing, and then you die. So really he's already, you know, given us this conclusion earlier in chapter one. But don't misunderstand, it is good to work. And I wanna make that clear because I don't want any of you, especially you guys who tend towards laziness. I don't want any of you guys to walk out of here thinking, hey, work is vain, it's empty.

So I'll just sit here, man. That's not the point of what he's saying. He's not encouraging us not to work. And I'll be saying that a couple times throughout the passage. In fact, turn back to Ecclesiastes chapter 11. I actually went through, I thought about taking time to just go through and mention every verse and Ecclesiastes that talks about toil or work, because there's a lot of them. And most of them are giving instructions on how to work. They're not saying don't work. In fact, there's no verse that says don't work anywhere in the Bible. Okay? And even then in chapter 11, verses 3 through 4 are all about work.

He says, Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to 7 or to 8, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. I promise you this does actually relate to work. 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. Hmm. If a tree falls in the forest, does it make any sound? One of those kind of questions. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. And here in verses five and six then he helps us understand what he said.

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

And so therefore, do your work and invest properly and trust that God is going to take care of what he's supposed to take care of. And verse 6, in the morning so your seed in that evening withhold not your hand for you do not know which will prosper this or that or whether both alike will be good. He's saying some of you just look at the sky and say you know it might rain it might not rain. If a tree falls in the forest, if it falls to the north of the south should I then do my work. I'm concerned about where the tree might fall. I'm not sure." He's saying, no, stop all that consideration and get to work. Get to work. Perhaps the clearest verse in all of Ecclesiastes that makes the same point as in chapter 9 verse 10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. Now it gives the reason for that, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom and shield to which you are going. That is, when life is done, there's no more work. Now is the time to work. Whatever your hand finds to do, give it your best. Work as hard as

possible. Do what is right. Of course, not only in Ecclesiastes, but the Proverbs, many of which are written by Solomon are full of exhortations to work. In fact, one of Solomon's greatest foils, that is one of his greatest objects to criticize, is the lazy man. Maybe you remember a few months ago when I preached in big church on that Sunday night, consider the ant. You know, go to the ant, Oh, sluggard, get to work.

There is nothing inherently wrong with work or with even working to get, you know, the things that you need and even occasionally working to get nice things. Those who are gifted should use their opportunities. They should use and enjoy their opportunities to work.

And you know what? All of us are called to work in some way.

guys, you're generally going to be called to work to provide for your family and ladies, you are called to work in your family, for your family as well, just at home. Guys have to work and ladies have to work. Work is what God has made us for. In fact, God worked, right? When God created and on the seventh day, he rested from all the work that he had done. So that's to provide a pattern for us. We work for six days, at least for the Israelites, work for the six days, and we they rested on the Sabbath day. So we are to set apart a day for worship. It's not exactly the same as the Sabbath, but the principle is there's work and there's rest. That's the rhythm of life. We work, we work hard, we give it our best, and then we rest, and we acknowledge God and all those things. Well here's the that Solomon's making in Ecclesiastes chapter 2. If your work is your life, your life is going to be empty. If your accomplishments and your achievements and your projects are what you're looking for to make you happy in life,

you are always going to be disappointed. All of the success ladder, all of the success, all of the ladder climbing, all of the achievements, all of the bank accounts, all of the toys that you get for yourself, all of the fulfillment that you come in the completion of a project. If that is what you're looking for to give you meaning in life, you will always be disappointed. Solomon reports here in verses 4 through 6 that he was actually responsible for some amazing things, but that even those accomplishments did not bring him that joy, that meaning, that satisfaction in life that he was looking for. And as I said, even though most of us won't have those kinds of opportunities like the king would have, the amount of resources, opportunities that as king Solomon had, most of us won't have those kinds of opportunities on that kind of level.

And yet his experience has direct application for those career-minded, workaholic kind of people who think life is in their labor, who think that they're defined by their work, they're defined by their accomplishments and their achievements. Well let's look at his project. Secondly, his report, I made great works, just kind of introducing to us the rest of what's coming. projects, the second part of verse 4 through verse 6. I built houses, I planted vineyards for myself, I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. Now first if you know anything about Solomon's life, what stands out to you in reading those few verses is that not all of the things Solomon did are mentioned here. Only some of the projects that he worked on are mentioned in these verses. In fact, turn back to 1 Kings chapter 7. Just point out a couple things. One of the projects at least that he mentions in Ecclesiastes 2 is mentioned here in verse 1. Solomon was building his own house 13 years.

We're working on that at my house. It might take 13 years to finish that project. And he finished his entire house. Verse 2, he built the house of the forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits and its breadth 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits. And it was built on four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams on the pillars. And it was covered with cedar above the chambers that were on the 45 pillars, 15 in each row. There were window frames in three rows and window opposite window in three tiers. All the doorways and windows had square frames and window was opposite window in three tiers, which I'm not exactly sure what all that means. It seems to me that it's describing that not only the the footprint of the house but it's also describing that there were like different floors in the house. It seems to me that's what it's describing. By the way, this is not his house.

This is another house for him. Okay. And I did just real quick calculations that this house just in its footprint. So if there were two floors or three floors, I don't know. It only increases this number. But just the footprint of this house was over 11,000 square feet. Now those of you who have been to my house, my house is 3,000 square feet. And his, this other house that was not the one that he was living in in Jerusalem was over 11,000 square feet and might have had more levels which could have only increased that. If there are three levels, which I think that's what it's trying to say, then And the house would have had approximately 33,000 square feet of like livable space in it.

That's a big house. The Weinbergs are building a house and I think their house is a little bit over 5,000 square feet. So 33,000 square feet is a big house. And he made the Hall of Pillars, verse 6. Its length was 50 cubits and its breadth 30 cubits. There was a porch in front with pillars and a canopy in front of them.

made the Hall of the Throne, where he was to pronounce judgment. Even the Hall of Judgment, it was finished with cedar from Florida rafters. His own house, where he was to dwell in the other court, back of the hall, was of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this, a hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken in marriage. All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure sawed with saws back and front, even from the foundation to the coping and from the outside to the great court. Now, a couple of these projects are what he talks about in Ecclesiastes 2. At least three or four of these, he's not even referring to these halls where he can judge the halls for other things. Those aren't even mentioned in Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Look over at chapter 9. Chapter 9 verse 17, so Solomon rebuilt Geezer and lower Beth Haran and Balaoth and Tamar in the wilderness in the land of Judah. By the way, those are cities.

He rebuilt cities. Verse 19, and all the store cities that Solomon had and the cities for his chariots, you kind of think that must be a misprint to say cities is plural there for his chariots. He built many cities for his chariots. Hmm. And the cities for his horsemen. I'm hoping that like the horsemen and the chariots were like close together. Maybe they had to commute to work. I don't know.

And whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. Now of course in all of that we still haven't mentioned the fact that Solomon was also responsible for building what? Building the temple. Now I gotta tell you that just kind of makes me tired. I mean we've been basically working and I use we very liberally okay. We have been working on Mo and I's master bedroom off and on for two years. And as of this point the walls are painted. We have electricity, the walls are painted and like there's a quarter of the wood flooring down and still has left to be floored and then it has to be sanded and then stained and then finished. And then we have to put up all the trim and And then we have to put in the cabinets and we got to put in the plumbing and we got to then like make the bed and put the bed in there and like hang things up before it's done.

Let alone then the rest of the, you know, 2500 square feet left to go in the house. So now I'm thinking about that. And of course, you know, we're trying to do most of the work. Ourself Solomon was not doing the work by his own hands. Right? That's actually a pretty decent amount to be responsible for. I would think the temple would have been enough, let alone your own house that took you 13 years. Let alone then to build yourself some other houses. Let alone to, you know, rebuild some cities while you're at it. And a place, you know, a city hall where you can judge and all those kind of things. That's a lot. Now back in Ecclesiastes chapter two, perhaps some of the reasons that he doesn't say here, you know, I made great works, that kind of summarizes all of that, but then he specifically says, I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

Perhaps the reason why he doesn't talk about the cities and the other buildings and the temple is because he's referring more to the things, the buildings he built for himself, for pleasure. Still saying that was many, but I think this is more than just about then having a nice house for him to go be in. I think it was the process he's talking about here. In verses 4, 5, and 6, I think he's talking about these projects as giving him meaning and satisfaction. The pleasure of producing, the pleasure of working. I say that because it's in verses seven and eight that he really gets into his possessions and his riches.

You know when he says verse seven, I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I think there he's talking about his wealth. That'll be the next part, the vanity of wealth. and how wealth and riches can't satisfy you. Here, I don't think he's talking about the actual object of what he gets. I think he's talking about the process, the vanity of the work. Even though we don't know exactly how much Solomon did with his own hands, he was probably more like his own general contractor, right?

You know, with subcontractors, didn't call him that, probably called him slaves. you know, and then the worker people. But undoubtedly, he was involved. He is taking credit for these, so to various degrees of involvement, he was a part of this. Expended his own energy in whatever ways to make it happen. And the plurals here definitely emphasize the magnificence and the amount of stuff that he did. Three kind of things here. Houses, gardens, and pools, as I divided up. I really looked for some cool other way to outline it, but three projects that he undertakes, houses, gardens, and pools, architecture, horticulture, and engineering.

I know that does, and engineering chair. Okay, so the last part of verse four, I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. This is his work, his stepping out into the sphere of architecture. The art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. This is not just then the buildings themselves, but finding the right properties, property management, construction, location selection. Then, you know, from the design, you know, coming up with the plans and the blueprints all the way to the building itself, maybe he even got a little bit into the interior design of it. You know, his color palettes and his fabric swatches and, you know, undoubtedly he was into that.

You know, and he has his servants bring him all the different things to choose from and, you know, maybe he liked to, maybe he went crazy in one room and he went conservative in another room just to see what he liked. You know, you get the impression that here was a guy who was, you know, trying to, trying to do something significant. He built houses, houses for his wives, houses for traveling. I mean, this is not a guy who would rent a hotel room when he went to various parts of his kingdom. You know, somebody probably would have planned, you know, planned his schedule out enough to build him a house for when he got there.

They didn't have hotels anyway, but, you know, He was not going to stay at somebody's house. I mean, this was the guy who either took it with him or had it built for him so that when he arrived, you know, it would be just like he wanted it. Houses for vacation, little R&R, you know, some downtime, getting away from it all to unwind. And of course, included with the houses, he mentions he planted vineyards for himself. Vineyards probably were for the purpose of helping him unwind as well. We already looked at the vanity of that in verse three.

So houses were one of his projects, but then secondly, I mean, he separates it out gardens. He says verse five, I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. This is horticulture, the art of practice garden cultivation and management.

We might call it landscaping. I made myself gardens and parks. That Solomon was fond of gardening, we get from all of his references to different kinds of trees and plants in the song of Solomon. If you read through that, he's always using some kind of plant or tree or flower to describe his love or the other person or himself or whatever it is.

The word gardens in Hebrew and in some of the other comparative languages typically seems to refer to a garden enclosed by a wall. So protected then from the outside, protected from wild animals, protected from people who would come in and try to destroy it or steal various things from it. You kind of get the picture of a pleasure ground, you know, where you just walk through the garden for, you know, relaxation and enjoyment. Gardens, in fact, were the pride of kings and nobility in the ancient Near East. I mean, it's not like you were going to go, you know, watch a movie with all your buddies when they came over.

You know, after dinner, what would you do? Well, you'd take a stroll through your own garden, and then you could show off to everybody, you know, here's such and such, you know. We've been growing this for five years. Look how lovely and pretty it is. See, I don't get into that a whole lot, so it sounds like I'm mocking that just a little bit. I like grass, okay? I like, I realize that that shows my lack of taste, perhaps, but I like grass. I don't need lots of trees and flowers and shrubbery. I want grass. I want nice grass, green grass, and a lot of it. Okay? But I understand that there are people who like roses and tulips and gardenias, and you gotta have the right amount of ground cover, and you need the ones that you can shape nicely and your shade trees.

And then he's talking specifically about all kinds of fruit trees. Can you imagine the kind of smell that would be in this protected, nice garden? Everything is green. You got maybe some citrus smell from those kinds of fruits, and you got your apples. If you've been in an orchard before, there's a great kind of sweet smell to that. Let alone the beauty, but the smell, I mean all the senses, and then you know you're out there and you know it's time to eat. So you take it off the tree and you know you mow into it. Certainly with all kinds of these fruit trees, he was diversifying, showing off his different tastes and abilities.

Then third, the pools. He's got houses, gardens, and pools. Verse six, I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. Here was his engineering feats. Not only were the pools intended probably to look at for beauty, specifically these pools were meant for the sake of irrigation.

So beyond these gardens and these parks, he planted entire forests. This is the original Johnny Appleseed, okay? He's planting forests and he's not just wandering throughout throwing seeds all over the place like you imagine these things are in rows or however it happened and he's now got then these great big pools of water then to organize it to irrigate things with you know no electricity no concrete no whatever. I mean imagine the engineering the ingenuity, the creativity, the wisdom that it would take to make that happen. I mean, people today have entire jobs. They're called civil engineers, where they work on roads and public projects, and they deal with rivers and ponds and all those kinds of things to manage them.

So Solomon builds these pools not only for the beauty, but for, again, work, for watering these forests. It's estimated, based on some of the pools that are still outside Jerusalem and some of the ones that they think were there, that the pools that he created, at least the ones in Jerusalem, probably held over 40 million gallons of water. And of course it was not just for the environment. Okay? He was not making these forests of trees for the environment. He was not a Greenpeace tree hugger lover. I mean, why would you make trees? So you could make more houses and make some ships and make instruments and all the different kinds of things that you do with wood.

They didn't have plastic. So you made stuff out of wood. I mean, this was for business sake, not just for the sake of the environment. These aqueducts, these waterworks were amazing feats of engineering. Houses, gardens, pools. He did all of that. Well, that brings us to his motive in the third point, Solomon's report, Report his projects, third his motive. This is found in verses 4, 5 and 6. There's a word there that's repeated. What's the word? Yeah, myself. Verse 4, I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

Verse 5, I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. Verse 6, I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. His motive was himself, and I'm going to break it up into two parts of self, pleasure and pride. Pleasure for himself and pride in himself. I mean, pleasure is the overarching theme in chapter 2 anyway, the pursuit of pleasure. He said as much in verses 1 and 2. Then verse 3, he's getting pleasure for himself from alcohol. Now he's trying to get pleasure for himself from the work and then from the object of the work. Undoubtedly, these houses and these gardens and things were intended to give him pleasure, to make him happy. Try to get pleasure from the work itself and then in the result of the work, for recreation, for relaxation and leisure, and then just for the joy of completing a project. I mean you know how that is. There is a lot of pleasure when something is done. Most of us get pleasure out of doing something that's not a good job as long as it's done. Let alone doing it excellently to

the best that we can. We're just happy to give the research paper to the teacher and get it out of our hands. But more than pleasure is pride. I mean a sense of self-fulfillment and satisfaction from doing this work. I mean all of these achievements reflected his power and his riches and his royalty and his creativity. And like I said, his ingenuity, his wisdom, all of these things showed off him. Whether they were to visiting royalty and kings from other countries, or whether they were to the people of Israel, or just for himself, they showed off him. He was leaving his legacy here, or establishing it at least.

Just so you know, this is not a crazy thing. I mean, I think you can imagine how this would be possible for Solomon to be motivated by his pride here to show himself off. In Daniel chapter 4 verse 30, you don't need to go there, King Nebuchadnezzar is talking, and this is how he describes his work. The king answered and said, is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty? This would be a typical thing for kings to show off their power and their riches by building all these great things. Nebuchadnezzar did the same and said as much in Daniel chapter four.

Solomon undoubtedly prided himself on his refined tastes and his elegant choices. But I tell you what, he was serving himself. He was not doing it for the greater good. He was not, certainly not doing it for God. He was doing it for himself. Interesting quote from a guy whose name is Helmut. Most people pronounce his last name Tielik.

An architect built many houses, cities, and squares, but no one could learn his art or match his skill until several people persuaded him to teach them. When they had learned it, they quarreled with him and set up as architects themselves at lower prices. Then the people stopped admiring the original architect and gave their commission to the apprentices. In the same way, God has created you in his own image and likeness, but now that you, like him, have created marvelous things, it will be said, there is no God in the world apart from you. And that's exactly what was happening here with Solomon is that in accomplishing all of these great works, who was he forgetting?

The one who gave him the position and the riches and the opportunities in the first place. He was setting himself up and his own majesty and his own greatness, priding himself in his own achievements and his own accomplishments. And I tell you what, Solomon found no satisfaction and meaning in his work because his motives were wrong. and all of his labor he had forgotten God. And that brings us to Solomon's conclusion, number four, his report, his projects, his motive, and now his conclusion. And though his conclusion does not come explicitly in verses four through six, we do find his conclusion on work in the context.

And it's a lie that you're gonna find fulfillment in your work in and of itself. Look down at chapter two, verse 11. Then I considered all that my hands had done, and the toil I had expended in doing it. And behold, all was vanity and striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun." Look down at verse 18. I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun. Remember now as he's near the end of his life, He's looking back over all that has taken place.

Maybe he's even looking at some of the great works he had done. And he says, seeing that I must leave it to a man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise, will be wise or a fool. Yeah, he will be master of all for which I toiled and use my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it.

This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. Solomon had become wrapped up in his work. He poured all his efforts and skill and wisdom into his achievements. But rather than finding satisfaction in them, he was disillusioned. Rather than bring him peace, all that he had done for himself brought restlessness. A man named Sinclair Ferguson notes, quote, it sounds all too like the random thoughts of a modern businessman during a session with his psychotherapist. Look at the vocabulary which dominates the description of his work. Meaningless, chasing, hated, toiled, despair, anxious, striving, pain, and grief. I mean where are the happy people today? Where are the happy multi-millionaires? Where are the happy celebrities with all of their achievements and accomplishments?

They're not happy because those things are empty. Instead of being satisfied with what Solomon accomplished. He always felt like he needed to do more. Always be expanding. And I tell you what, it's not like we don't know that it's empty, right? I mean, if you really stop and think about it for a moment, you know that those things don't bring ultimate satisfaction.

I mean, I take great pride in my ability to mow a yard, okay? I do it and I give my best to mow a yard. And you know what? Then it grows back. And I got to do it again. And that's okay. I mean, I like the process, but ultimately, you know, you can look at how great your yard looks basically for the rest of the day. Once it goes through the night, even the next morning, generally it doesn't look as good as it did right after you cut it. couple hours, you know, where you can really admire what worked there. You know, and maybe it's something else, maybe, you know, it's your house that you build, or it's another project that you make.

You know, it's your little paper mache volcano with baking soda and vinegar, you know, for your science project, Brian Regan. And you know, you really admire that, and then, you know, that's boring. None of those things last. They might bring a temporary amount of pleasure, but not a lasting pleasure. And yet some of you are so panicked because you don't know what to do with your life.

And to some extent, you know, we need to be considering and thinking about what God would have us do for our work. But you know what? If you are looking to your work to bring life satisfaction, You are not going to find a job that will do that. So stop putting so much pressure on the job.

God is the only one who can bring you satisfaction no matter what your job is. I'm not saying you shouldn't work to do something that you like to do. Obviously there are certain things that bring us more pleasure than others. Like I said before, I've had lots of jobs. I hated them all. This job being a pastor is the thing that I enjoy. I like my job being a pastor. I don't want to do anything else, but you know what? My job as a pastor can be filled with just as many vain things if I'm looking for satisfaction in the job and not in God. My job can be vain and empty.

My preaching messages, studying and preaching, my making a website, my doing bulletins, snow retreats, events, whatever, all of that can be absolutely vain that's what I'm looking for to find satisfaction even in my job. So, you know, my job which is supposed to be, you know, a Bible job, you know, just being a Christian for a living, you know, if that's not going to bring satisfaction and joy, then obviously other things are not going to bring satisfaction and joy that don't even claim in and of themselves to be doing anything with God. Work in and of itself will not satisfy you. We ought to work. Business itself is a good thing.

Having a career, most of you are going to do that or you're going to work at home. You know guys, you're going to have a job, you're going to make money for your family. Ladies, if you get married, you're going to work at home. You got work to do. You ought to work as hard as you can. God is glorified when we use our gifts and our talents to employ others or to be employed, to make things, to build buildings, to invest, to borrow and build and earn interest and all those kinds of things. God has entrusted us with tools and expects us to use them in a way that honors Him, but that's the key, isn't it? In a way that honors Him, not in a way to make ourselves satisfied and to please ourselves. When we give so much attention to this world, we cannot help but have our loves be in this world. And our loves are to be in another world. We are to work in this world for loves in another world.

Do you know that? Work and work hard, but forsake of a love in another world, beyond the Sun. Again, this is more than just an issue of the kind of work you do. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 12, of making many books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh. I I mean bookwork, from bookwork to building houses, in and of themselves are wearisome and empty if God is not in it. So how can you work right? This is going to be quick. How can you work right? How can you work and have accomplishments and achievements and not have your life be in those accomplishments and achievements.

First is your motive. We saw that with Solomon. Whether you are doing it to please yourself or to please God, your motive is crucial. Secondly, your dependence. Are you depending on yourself and your own wisdom and your own strength? All that's gonna do is bring anxiety. Or are you depending on God and his wisdom and his empowerment? Your motive, your dependence. Third, your perspective. Are you having the perspective that you are called to work and you can even enjoy that work? You can enjoy the process.

Or for you, is it all about there's no joy in it until you finish it? I tell you what, if you don't get any joy in the process, you're going to be a pretty miserable person. Because most of the time it doesn't get finished. At least big projects don't get finished. So, motive, dependence, perspective, timing. Knowing when to work and when work has become your addiction, workaholism. Your timing on when you work. If all of your time is spent trying to accomplish projects and you miss out on other things that God has called you to, like rest, like ministry, like family, those are not in that order, I'm just saying, including other things.

Your timing of work is crucial. There is a time to work and a time not to work, or at least not work on the same things. Timing your object, that is what you're trying to accomplish. There are some jobs that you can do that obviously are not tending to glorify God. If your job is to be a thief, not one of those that's in the right category because you did that with all your heart. There are jobs that by their definition they are wrong, sinful things. the best things, so your object of work, and then your effort. Being lazy or being diligent.

If you're just working and going through the motions, that's not pleasing to God either. You're to work and to work hard, but not for yourself. You know what the trouble here is, it can look the exact same on the outside and only you may know, only you may know what the motivation in your heart is for why you work. Of course, as many people as there are, that you can't tell what's going on. For other people, you can see and tell what's going on, that their life is all wrapped up in work. But for all the dangers that work brings with it, the answer is not to not work. The answer is not to avoid work. The answer is to work with a God word perspective as servants of God, dependent on God, giving thanks to God.

I gotta tell you what, I am almost done, number one. But number two, I am very impressed and thankful for the examples that we have here on the 128 staff of men and women who work and who work right. Some of them maybe have jobs that they like more than others, But these are people who work, and it does not become workaholism. These are people who work and work to the best that they can, but then they don't forget ministry. And they don't forget their family, their spouses, their kids. They don't forget those things. And you ought to see their example. So many people today, so many people in the church are wrapped up in work.

Eating and drinking, buying, selling, planting and building, those are all parts of the rhythm of life. each necessary in various degrees, but you know what? They will not satisfy you in and of themselves. That's Solomon's testimony. Work is from God. Work is not to be God. You work to serve God, not to serve work. Work hard. Depend on God. Enjoy the process, seek your treasure in heaven. As I said before, we work in this world for love in another world. That ought to be the case. Father, help us in all the various decisions we have every day. The choices, the priorities, all those things, perhaps even for some of the students who are imagining what their life will be five, ten, fifteen years from now. Some of them undoubtedly are imagining what their life will be like, how great it will be when they have the job that they want, making the money that they want. Yet those ideals are not what satisfy you alone satisfy. Keep our perspective beyond the Son, not stuck under the Son. And we pray all this in the name of your Son, Jesus, Amen.

Eating and drinking, buying, selling, planting and building, those are all parts of the rhythm of life. each necessary in various degrees, but you know what? They will not satisfy you in and of themselves. That's Solomon's testimony. Work is from God. Work is not to be God. You work to serve God, not to serve work. Work hard. Depend on God. Enjoy the process, seek your treasure in heaven. As I said before, we work in this world for love in another world. That ought to be the case. Father, help us in all the various decisions we have every day. The choices, the priorities, all those things, perhaps even for some of the students who are imagining what their life will be five, ten, fifteen years from now. Some of them undoubtedly are imagining what their life will be like, how great it will be when they have the job that they want, making the money that they want. Yet those ideals are not what satisfy you alone satisfy. Keep our perspective beyond the Son, not stuck under the Son.

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Well, you can take out your copy of God's Word this morning as we return to the book of Ecclesiastes and in particular as we continue our Series on looking for life in all the wrong places We come to chapter 2 verse 3 in Ecclesiastes today, and I'll admit to you I've said this a couple times along the way That this is the kind of verse I didn't really think would have a whole lot to say to most of us at least. This is one of those bottom of the barrel kind of verses as most of us would consider it.

And yet it was really probably about a month ago or so now that I came across some things on the internet that kind of changed my mind, changed my perspective as I came across some things from high school students and these are not just MTV high school students these are Grace Academy or former Grace Academy or former even 128 or in some cases I don't think we have anybody who is here this morning necessarily who would have anything like this on their Myspace or on their their web stuff but I came across what I probably shouldn't have been too surprised at I guess based on my own history, my own testimony, which I'll share in just a second. But I actually came across a decent number of high school students and those who are maybe a year or two out of high school, people that I know, people that if I said their names you would know, who on the internet proclaimed publicly for all to see, proclaimed their enjoyment of and love for alcohol, for a buzz, for drugs. And generally speaking, I mean I think in

my four plus years of being at Grace Bible Church, I don't think I've ever preached a message on beer or on drugs. We have had some students in the past who were a part of 128 who are no longer a part of 128 who for various reasons, who got caught or got in trouble with those kinds of things. But for the most part, I don't know a lot of personally, I don't know personally a lot of students who are loving that kind of life. And even if you are here this morning and that is the kind of life that you are leading in private, I don't know about it. Again, nobody here has put up that I know of things on the Internet anywhere to find for this kind of pursuit.

Now, when I was in high school, though, and this is why I say it shouldn't be too surprising that I found that kind of stuff, stuff because when I was in high school, even though that was not my crowd, that was definitely available. And you know, I didn't hang out with the druggies or the boozies or you know, whatever names, whatever names, you know, they had or gave to themselves. That was not my crowd. So I didn't hang around with them. I did go to a public school. I do know that that was available and that every weekend that's what a lot of my classmates went to pursue. In fact, that was so much so that our class song, our class song, my class song, we had to vote on this and enough people in my class voted on I've Got Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks.

I've Got Friends in Low Places where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away, I'll be okay. That was my class song. Now even at a public school, I'm not exactly sure like how that could happen, how the administration even could think that that was acceptable. Cause like that was printed in our yearbook, you know, as our class song. Cause even at that point in time, Like, it is actually illegal for people under 21 to have alcohol. And most of the drugs out there that are available are illegal anyway, right? So here we are in high school. You know, college, maybe some public, you know, state colleges could have that for a class song.

But like seniors in high school, Like anybody who is drinking that's against the law, just to start with. And yet, obviously enough of my class of 163 or 65, whatever it was, found that there was some kind of joy, some kind of satisfaction in pursuing that for life. Pursuing the pleasures of alcohol and whatever drugs it was that they might have been trying to secure for themselves. Despite laws in every state, like every state, despite laws in every state that make it illegal for anyone under 21 to purchase or possess, you're not supposed to be able to buy it, you're not supposed to have it. To purchase or possess alcohol, young people continue to report that alcohol is actually easy for them to get a hold of.

whether that's at their home or having somebody else that's older who can buy it for them, apparently it's not difficult to buy it as a young person. I didn't, I never tried to purchase it, you know, when I was in high school, so I don't know. But that's what they say.

And most of them say, those who are honest enough to answer the anonymous surveys, Most of them say that they purchase or they try to get a hold of the alcohol for one purpose, and that is to get drunk. Now again, for me, that's so outside of my box of experience even though it was around me. I don't have one of those testimonies where that's what I grew up pursuing. And yet, it seems like that is something that is available and that a lot of people, perhaps even people that you know, other high school students that you know, junior high students maybe even that you know pursue this kind of life.

Alcohol continues to be one of the most significant risk behaviors among teens, not only for the effects of the alcohol itself, but for the effects on the other things that they're doing like driving, the effects of the alcohol on their system as then they get into the car. In a survey taken in 2002, and again, this is probably from most public school students, probably not a lot of Christian school students in this survey, probably not a lot of homeschool students in this survey, you know, but supposedly 63.5% of 10th graders and 73.3% of 12th graders reported drinking within the last 12 months. I was taken in 2002, so it could be more or less, but probably pretty close to the same today.

63 and a half of 10th graders and almost 75% of 12th graders reported drinking in the last year with 39 and 49% respectively reporting alcohol use in the past 30 days from when they took that survey. So it wasn't just a one time in a year kind of thing. A third to a half of them, that was something that they would do, you know, within a month kind of range.

Having been drunk in the past 30 days, drunk in the past 30 days was reported by 22% of the 10th graders and 33% of the 12th graders. Not just having a drink, but actually going to the extent of getting drunk. In another survey from earlier this year, and you might not necessarily think that these numbers are that high, but they're high enough, in a survey from this year approximately 8% of 7th graders and 17% of 8th graders reported engaging in binge drinking in the last year.

Binge drinking, not just having a drink or taking a sip of it, but actually drinking enough to get drunk. In the last year, wherever they, I think this was in New York state, where they took this survey, 8% of seventh graders and 12% of eighth graders reported drinking so much that they would get drunk. Even though it's illegal in every state, even though it has pretty drastic consequences, even though most parents don't think it's even a good idea, even if they would drink, they probably still wouldn't have their young people drinking. Alcohol undoubtedly is a major part of our society and of our culture. I was watching the World Series last night and of course Major League Baseball has an official beer sponsor.

You know I forget who it is. It's one of them that's out there Budweiser or Miller whatever and of course you can't really watch much TV at all without there being those kind of alcohol commercials, whether it's for beer or for wine or wine cooler. There's less and less of the hard liquor kind of things out there, but occasionally you still see something for Jack Daniels or, you know, Bacardi or whatever. And of course, all of those commercials show you that by drinking alcohol, you can have a good life. I mean, you never see, well, let me take that back. Except for the commercials that are clearly aimed at the guys, you know, the couch potato guys sitting on their couch watching sports.

You don't see ugly people drinking alcohol. I mean, apparently, it's only the pretty people who drink, the pretty cool people who drink, the people who are out partying and just living it up kind of life. Those are the only people you see drinking. And they don't put the alcoholics in the hospital trying to recover from alcoholism. They don't show them on TV in a commercial to sell you their product. They show the cool people and the pretty people, the ones who are enjoying life. I mean Miller's tag is the high life. They've recently in the commercials that I've seen been pushing that again. If you want to enjoy the high life, and then there's that lady in the moon sitting up there watching you enjoying your life, you need to drink Miller.

All of the beer people have some kind of tagline about how great it is for you and your life to drink alcohol. This is not something that has gone away since Solomon's Day. In fact, we're better at pushing it and better at marketing it and making it more available for everybody today. And like I said, even junior high and high school students, they drink. Again, I'm not hanging out with them on parties when it's happening at parties. I'm not seeing a lot of it, but based on the things that they say, and again, based on my own experience when I was in junior high and high school, I did know people then who were trying to enjoy life by getting a buzz, by having some kind of stimulation to their body with some kind of drug and thinking that that's what life was all about.

I mean, you can't go anywhere in public without it being an issue. I mean, you get it on an airplane and they got the little bottles for sale. You stay in a hotel. I mean, they have maybe a can of Pepsi there, but then they got a bunch of the little bottles of whatever that will make you happy. Solomon pursued this way of life as well to try to find pleasure and happiness.

This is one of the places Solomon looked to find life, to find satisfaction. You remember in Ecclesiastes chapter one, verses one through 11, he introduced this idea of vanity. Vanity is all is vanity. And then beginning in chapter one, verse 12, he moved into this kind of autobiographical section. Chapter one verse 12 all the way through the end of chapter two, which is describing this pursuit, this looking for life in places under the sun where he hoped maybe he could get satisfaction. He could find some meaning.

He could find some lasting happiness. In chapter one, verses 12 through 18, we looked at the fact that wisdom is vanity. You cannot ultimately find satisfaction to life through your education. There are good things about education, but ultimately it's not going to provide lasting satisfaction and happiness. Then for the last couple weeks we looked at chapter two, verses one and two. Look at those with me. I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, It is mad and of pleasure. What use is it? This was kind of the general description of his pursuit of pleasure We talked about the various ways that a person could pursue pleasure today Some of those probably were things that Solomon had tried you kind of get the impression that there was a party going on in the palace every day, I Mean with all the food that he was getting for himself and entertaining people with this idea about laughter in the verses following. We talk about seven and eight, and we'll see some

of the servants that he got for himself and the entertainers that he got for himself. I get the idea that there was just one continual party, one continual search for pleasure and happiness going on in the palace. The king was in control of. And here in verse three we see the vanity even of alcohol. I really thought strongly about titling it the vanity of a buzz, but uh that didn't look quite as good on the page. So, went with alcohol. Look at verse three. I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine, my heart still guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. This is Solomon turning to drugs, Solomon turning to the buzz, to the bodily stimulation that he could find with wine, trying to find meaning and satisfaction in life, again from alcohol, it's vanity. Dumpster diving.

The teacher turned to sensual pleasures, such as the enjoyment of drink here, which for so many people becomes an overindulgence kind of thing, leading even to drunkenness, leading to alcoholism. We'll talk about that as we go through these verses. It seems like Solomon didn't necessarily say here that he was doing whatever he could to get drunk. It doesn't seem like that's really what he's saying, that he was binge drinking and just getting out of control. Doesn't seem like that's what he's talking about. Seems like he's talking about doing everything to get right up to that point. Now he may in fact have gone over that line sometimes. We don't really know, But there's a couple clues here in verse 3 that suggest to us that he was still under control.

For example, my mind or my heart still guiding me with wisdom. I mean, one of the impacts of being drunk is that you are overwhelmed with and controlled by, you know, the alcohol, the drug in your system. And so you're not in control anymore. You lose all your inhibitions. You lose the capacity to guide yourself at all. It's the drug that is in control and not you. Solomon says even during this process he was careful to watch what was happening so that he could still be in control, guiding himself with wisdom. So again, I'm not sure that this is talking about binge drinking and getting drunk, but yet he was still trying to stimulate his body and have a good time. He was trying to find happiness in a bottle, trying to get life, looking for life in a bottle.

He says, it's empty. There is vanity in alcohol, vanity in drugs, vanity in a buzz. Of course, almost everybody knows that. This is not really a big surprise. It doesn't take too much to look around and see the devastating consequences of alcohol and specifically alcoholism and drunkenness in our society. I mean, we have a word for people who go too far with this, don't we? In fact, we have lots of words. I tried to think of a grocery list of words that we use to describe people who have gone too far in their pursuit of this kind of life. We call them intoxicated, we call them blitzed, bombed, gassed, hammered, liquored up, plastered, plowed, plowed, sloshed, smashed, tanked, trashed, and wasted.

Those are all real encouraging kind of adjectives. I mean, you don't go up to somebody and, you know, conclude that they're wasted and be like, man, that's what I wanna be when I grow up, right? I mean, if you haven't seen a real life person who has gone too far, I mean, You've heard about it. Most people have somebody or many people even in your families, in your extended families. You have relatives that you go to some family reunion. You got the side of the family that that's what they do. They wake up in the morning and time to get started. you know, their only change is just what they drink throughout the day. You know, it's most of us know these kinds of people, and we see the emptiness in it, and yet people continue to try to find life by stimulating their body with drugs, by drinking, even going so far as to then get drunk. There are four things I think that Solomon tells us here in verse 3. I think he tells us his pursuit, his proviso, that always makes me think of Aladdin.

Some quid pro quo, some provisos. His proviso, his purpose, and his pessimism. Four quick things we'll look at before we send you off into your small groups this morning. First of all, his pursuit. His pursuit. Verse 3, I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine. And then at least in the ESV there's a dash and a phrase and then a dash again. I think that's the proviso. That's kind of this parenthesis that describes something. So we'll skip over that because then gives us a second thing included in this pursuit. He says, I search with my heart how to cheer my body with wine and how to lay hold on folly. In fact, grammatically speaking, those are two infinitives. There's the major verb, I searched, and then you got two secondary verbs which describe the search. First of all, how to cheer my body, and secondly, how to lay hold on folly. So those are really the two things that he was pursuing. We'll get to those in a second. He says, I searched. It's a word that means to explore or to spy out, to search and make discovery.

It's used in chapter one, verse 13. We looked at that before where Solomon says he gave his heart to seek and to search out. This was a conscious, purposeful effort on his part to try to find life in the buzz. And really that's the first thing that I think he pursued was euphoria. Two things he pursued here euphoria and escape. Euphoria and escape. Euphoria to cheer my body with wine. To cheer my body with wine euphoria by the way is just a feeling of happiness, a feeling of joy, a feeling of delight. And so he says, I searched how to cheer my body with wine.

The NAS I think says how to stimulate, how to provoke, how to excite my body with wine. The New King James actually goes a little bit further and says how to gratify, how to bring some satisfaction. And what he's talking about is that feeling of euphoria, that feeling of, you know, just relaxed kind of yeah it's cool you know where everything is good all the planets of your life are in alignment you know that feeling of euphoria the Hebrew word typically means when it says to cheer or to stimulate or to gratify typically that's a word that's translated to draw or to drag or to lead along. Only very rarely is it translated cheer or stimulate. The NAS and the ESV typically translated in the other passages that's used as this idea of to draw or to drag or to lead along. In fact in Deuteronomy chapter 21 verse 3 it's the word used of a cow dragging a yoke or pulling a yoke. And in Isaiah chapter 5 verse 18 it's used to describe a cart pulled with ropes, drug along with ropes. In fact, from that idea one commentator even said Solomon's pursuit of pleasure through alcohol was something

like this. Wine is compared to a pulling animal or like a draft horse. Wine is compared to a pulling animal such as a horse and he places wisdom as the driver that the horse may not throw him into a ditch. So the carriage is his body, the wine is the horse, and the driver is wisdom. And so what he's doing here is he's trying to see if he can get wine to take his body to a happy place, you know, to find his happy place. And wisdom he's got is the driver. We'll talk about that again in a second, but that's how this one commentator described even this word picture of Solomon searching out how to cheer his body or stimulate or gratify his flesh with wine. Now, I'm not sure that that's the precise image that Solomon had in mind when he wrote this. And again, there is some question in determining exactly to what extent his drinking went. I mean, when he He says that wisdom was still kind of in the driver's seat, and yet it was the wine that was pulling his body along to some kind of happiness.

There's no doubt that he was talking bare minimum about abuzz, about some kind of physical feeling of happiness or euphoria that comes from stimulating his body with the drug. Now whether he went all the way to the extent of being drunk, being completely intoxicated, we're not exactly sure. But no doubt he was at least referring to some kind of buzz. And you know what? Alcohol is a drug. I know that might be kind of one of those duh statements, but alcohol is a drug. And I did a little bit of research on this last night. Small amounts of ethanol, which is the drug in alcohol, small amounts of ethanol cause a mild euphoria. That's actually the word in the dictionary given for what ethanol does.

Ethanol again causes a mild euphoria and starts to remove inhibitions. Ethanol is the, again the compound quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, reaches the brain pretty fast. Because it's a small molecule it's able to cross certain barriers in the system pretty easy. And And so the euphoric effects of the ethanol are probably due to the endorphins that are released, the physical response of the body to this ethanol molecule or molecules, depending on how much you're having. And it creates this sense of relaxation. It creates this sense of happiness in small amounts. Now, once you get to larger amounts, Then things start happening like brain cells start being killed off.

And basically you lose the ability to be in control of what you're doing and hence those people who are drunk are people who are controlled by the drug. That's the contrast in Ephesians 5, 18, right? Don't be drunk with wine, but rather do what? Be filled with the Spirit or be controlled by the Spirit. A person who is filled with alcohol is a person who is controlled by that. A person who is filled with the Spirit is controlled by the Spirit, but nevertheless in small amounts, alcohol through ethanol provides this kind of happy feeling. And Solomon gave at least part of his life to trying to find meaning and satisfaction in that euphoric feeling.

He wanted to see if he could stimulate his body, cheer his body, make his heart marry. That's one of the ways that alcohol is described with its effect in the Old Testament, to make his heart marry with wine, make his body happy. But secondly, it wasn't just this euphoria that he was trying to find. I really think it was also escape.

Escape, and that comes from that second infinitive phrase and how to lay hold on folly. I don't think he's returning back to just a general description here. I think verse three is all about what he was doing with alcohol with wine to try to make himself happy. In verses one and two, he talked about folly, he talked about laughter, and I think he talked about that in a general way. I don't think he then said, you know, here I'm pursuing wine with my wisdom still in control and how to, Again, there are parallel statements here, so I think he's being a little bit more specific. And I think what he's describing is then how to lay hold on folly, how to just have life be one big party.

I think he's talking then about the kind of party that you go to, the kind of fun you can have when you drown out your sorrows through drink. I mean, if you got that euphoric feeling, You feeling good and everything's great. And you get a bunch of people together, then you just start having fun.

Now, generally speaking, that leads people to drink more, which then can get to a point of people being out of control and then it can start to get dangerous. And then I don't really think it's fun anymore. But again, Solomon, as he's trying to be in control of this process, this is what he's describing. Getting some buddies together and pounding down some beer. He probably didn't have Miller, or Budweiser, or Budweiser Select, or whatever else it was. But he had alcohol of some kind trying to escape from the realities, the problems, the difficulties in life, to lay hold on folly, to have it be just one big party.

I suppose drinking alcohol helps some people forget about their problems temporarily. I suppose if you have this euphoric feeling or even go so far as to be controlled by it, you know, you forget about all the pain and problems that you're having at least until you got to get up and go to work in the morning, you know, and you got this hangover thing that they describe which is no longer avoiding the pain. That's bringing the right to your door. Anyway, I think his pursuit was that euphoric feeling and even an escape of reality laying hold on folly. Now his proviso, I've kind of already said number two, his proviso.

A proviso is just a condition or a clause. It's a restriction or a limitation on, you know, whatever it is. If you have a proviso in a legal contract that you make with somebody, you know, This is a clause that's going to restrict something or define something a little bit more narrowly. And here he's describing his pursuit with a proviso. That's that little parenthetical clause. He says, my heart's still guiding me with wisdom. And so somehow, in this process, this is one of the things that leads me to think he probably didn't get drunk, but probably got as close to that as he possibly could.

Probably got as much of the alcohol into his system as he possibly could before getting out of control. And you can, again, from this picture, it's like he was a scientist and he was trying to test it. You know, ooh, two drinks could go a little further. Five drinks, mm, started to get too much. Whatever it was for him, whatever it was that he was drinking, get that impression that he was purposeful using even his gift of wisdom to try to figure out what could stimulate and make him the happiest, give him this euphoric feeling, help him to escape. Now thirdly is his purpose. In one sense, the euphoric feeling in the escape was his purpose or were his purposes, but I really think it's the next phrase that really describes for us his goal or his aim in this till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven.

And as he's kind of sitting back and considering life, I think he's saying to us that, man, life is tough. He's already said that in chapter 1. Life is tough. And so let's see if alcohol can make it a little bit better. As he was trying to figure out what people were supposed to do. I mean, you work hard and then you die. Isn't there supposed to be some kind of enjoyment in life, some kind of satisfaction in the midst of all this? Maybe wine or beer or drugs can get you a feeling that will be satisfying. He was trying to figure out what was good for the children of man to do under heaven. Again, I don't think that's such a broad general phrase.

I think that's included in this context of trying to figure that out and seeing how even alcohol could help make life better. Better living through beer kind of thing. Better living through drugs, but not the kind of drugs like Advil and Tylenol, the kind of drugs like wine and beer and so on and so forth. His ultimate purpose here was to try to find out what was good for the children of man to do under heaven. How can we live our life and be happy? at his pessimism though, number four, during the few days of their life. He still can't get too far before that good old pessimism comes back in. He says we're only here for a few years, so we should eat, drink, and be merry. Because tomorrow you might die. And And when he says eat, drink, and be merry, he's not talking about, you know, have some water.

You know, eat, drink, and be merry. There's a connection there between the good food and some good drink and being happy. Again, perhaps even the alcohol bringing that euphoric kind of feeling for a while. You're only around for a while, you know. You only live once. I mean, these are the kinds of things that our culture tells us as well. So you know, live it up. You know, when you get older then you can get serious, you know, be real, whatever. But now's the time to live that high life. Now's the time to enjoy yourself. And if it feels good, do it. You're only around for a little bit. You're only here for a few days.

So you know what? Make yourself happy. This is just a specific way of seeking pleasure.

in 1 and 2 he described his pursuit of pleasure in general. It's just a specific way. Now before we finish this morning, I just want to remind you of a couple things. Number one, drinking alcohol in scripture, drinking wine in scripture, is never called a sin. I mean we definitely see sin and the effects of alcohol bringing sin, and we see people using alcohol in sinful ways all around us, okay, but specifically drinking alcohol in Scripture is never called a sin. Just like pleasure, depending on what it is in Scripture, is not necessarily called a sin. Just like laughter in Scripture is not necessarily called a sin. It is, however, when those things are in control of you or when that is where you are looking for meaning in life. When those things become what you seek rather than God, they become an idol. And an idol can be food, an idol can be joking around, an idol can certainly be drugs, alcohol, so on and so forth. Now obviously there are some more physical effects to alcohol. But sometimes in Scripture, alcohol is actually used as a sign of

God's blessing on a people. There are a few times when God actually commands his people to drink wine and celebrating his goodness. Obviously, Paul commands Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach, Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding. And of course, I'm not gonna go into the whole thing about, you know, well, that wine was different and the alcoholic content was different. You do realize that they had other words for more like juice things than wine. And when Jesus created the wine, he created wine, not grape juice. Okay, one of the reasons that we know that is because the master of the ceremony said, you know, most of the time they bring out the bad stuff first, or the good stuff first.

What did he mean by good stuff? Mmm, that's really sweet grape juice. That was not what he was talking about. Okay, so again, in scripture, just understand that scripture doesn't call drinking alcohol sin. It certainly calls being drunk sin. And no matter what else, Solomon is saying here, even if he wasn't getting drunk, it was sin here for Solomon because he was looking for life in that buzz. He was hoping to make himself happy and to give himself pleasure in a way other than getting it from God and God alone. He was trying to find meaning and satisfaction in life from alcohol, and that is vanity. He doesn't necessarily say vanity here in verse 3, but it's all through this paragraph, Chapter 2, verses 1-8, and even his conclusion there in verses 9-11.

all vanity, it's all empty, it's all meaningless. There was nothing that could make him satisfyingly satisfied. Nothing that could content him, nothing that could last. It was empty. The bottom line here is that alcohol is not really the high life. Alcohol is not the high life. Drugs are not the high life and even if you get happy from drugs and I'm not saying that you should go pursue drugs I'm just saying even if you do that you reject God and you say you know what Solomon he doesn't know what he's talking about Pastor Sean you're up the creek you don't know I'm telling you you go out and you try to pursue that kind of lifestyle and it will lead you nowhere.

You will not be happier. You will not be satisfied. You cannot find anything in life under the Sun that will bring that to you. It is only found true, long-lasting. In fact, eternal pleasure is only found where? From God. His presence in his presence are pleasures forevermore. Right? Psalm 16 verse 11. You can't find it in alcohol. Solomon didn't find it here in even trying to cheer himself, trying to escape from the difficulties or the problems, getting that euphoric feeling. There was nothing there that would provide him ultimate meaning in life. And so again, I know most of you who are in here this morning, This is not the kind of lifestyle that you're leading.

Again, you might not be pursuing that right now, but this is hopefully then good preventative medicine for you. Okay? Pointing you back to God as the only one who can truly satisfy and give meaning to your life. And Father help us to understand that. Perhaps it does seem weird for us to talk about stimulating and seeking that kind of lifestyle, cheering our bodies, trying to escape from reality with alcohol or drugs seems weird for us in our context to do that because so few in here are even around that at all and yet it's enough that you included it in your word for us to know and to understand. Solomon certainly describes for us the emptiness of it and so burn it into our hearts and minds and more than anything use it as another push, another refocusing of our eyes back on you. We pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.

Again, you might not be pursuing that right now, but this is hopefully then good preventative medicine for you. Okay? Pointing you back to God as the only one who can truly satisfy and give meaning to your life. And Father help us to understand that. Perhaps it does seem weird for us to talk about stimulating and seeking that kind of lifestyle, cheering our bodies, trying to escape from reality with alcohol or drugs seems weird for us in our context to do that because so few in here are even around that at all and yet it's enough that you included it in your word for us to know and to understand. Solomon certainly describes for us the emptiness of it and so burn it into our hearts and minds and more than anything use it as another push, another refocusing of our eyes back on you.

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Well, you can take out your copy of God's Word this morning and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 2 where we continue our study this morning of the vanity of pleasure Looking for life in all the wrong places We've seen the vanity of wisdom Last week and this morning. We'll finish our study of the vanity of pleasure Next week, I won't be here We'll be on the Master's College trip, but then two weeks from today, we'll continue on with the vanity of booze or alcohol or a buzz or drugs or whatever you want to put in there. I'll pick one of those by the time we get to two weeks from now, but that'll be next. Look with me, if you will, at Chapter 2, Verse 1.

I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. Have a good time. Have some laughs. Just enjoy yourself. If it feels good, what? Do it. But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad. and of pleasure, what use is it? The entire book of Ecclesiastes is intended to get us to recognize that life under the sun is completely empty.

And I've really been praying, even though we're just covering these two verses, and as we finish our discussion of them this morning, I have really been praying this week that the Holy Spirit would drive into your minds and into your hearts just the very simple conclusions that Solomon gives here in verses one and two.

Pleasure is empty. Laughter is mad. They do not satisfy. Pleasures cannot last. They will not bring meaning to your life. You know, I was thinking about it as well. Who is this book written to? We talked about this in the introduction messages. Who is the book of Ecclesiastes written to? to the youths, to the young people. Look back at chapter 12, just to remind you of who this is for.

In fact, we can look first at chapter 11, verse nine. Rejoice, oh young man, in the days of your youth. Chapter 12, verse one, remember also your creator in the days of your youth. This is the older man Solomon's autobiographical account account of him having pursued all of this stuff. And he's writing it to young people so that they wouldn't waste their lives pursuing all of it like he did. So that you wouldn't have to look back five years from now, ten years from now, thirty years from now, whatever it is, so that you wouldn't have to look back and say, I have wasted it. I have spent it on useless, empty pursuits.

It is for you. This is not just because I like Ecclesiastes and so I'm making you suffer through listening to me preach through the book. This is right where you are at. This is inspired stuff from God. This is the wisest guy who has ever lived, not just a wise guy, but the wisest guy who has ever lived writing from his experience as well. Now will we pay attention to what he has to say or will we run off and still pursue all this other stuff thinking that maybe Solomon, maybe even the Holy Spirit is just lying to us. Maybe there's something really there that they don't want us to know about. Yeah, we believe that just like Eve believed the lie when Satan said to her at the beginning, oh, you'll not surely die.

I just know that in the day you eat, you'll be like him. what God has told you is not really the full story. In fact, if you do the opposite of what God told you, you'll actually get satisfaction. You know, that's our choice every time we come to God's word whether to listen to it and believe it and obey it, or whether to reject it. Again, even in this pursuit of pleasure, I'm hoping that you get it. You know, television is filled with these kinds of stories, by the way. I was thinking about some of them this past week. The E! True Hollywood story is basically the same script every time, right? Some nobody from some podunk town in Iowa, you know, gets discovered.

And so then they move to New York or they move to Hollywood and they get famous and then they get all the money and then they start pursuing all the stuff that moneying them. They start buying all the toys. They start going to all the parties. They start just living life as one big party. And then the next scene is the crash. They go from nobody to thinking they're something to pursuing all that life has and its pleasures. And then they don't make eat true Hollywood stories without the crash. It's not a good story without the crash. And those people ultimately come to find that it's empty. That it doesn't actually provide the satisfaction they were hoping it was going to provide.

I think the original E.T.R. Hollywood story was a show that's not on anymore, but behind the music. That used to be a real popular one. People used to watch that for pleasure. Now they had to move on from that because they don't even make that show anymore, I don't think. I don't know, but probably have something like it. But behind the music, that was all the rage. Again, exact same story. People get to be famous, get the stuff, get the money, and try to live life as one huge party, and eventually then comes the crash. I mean, that's what life all around us is filled with. People pursuing life in pleasure and then the crash.

And the thing is, some of you are right there. You're pursuing that life of pleasure. And you may not have crashed yet, but I'm betting that even most of you, like I said last week, have at least at the end of the weekend experience to let down some kind of crash that your weekend of fun and frivolity was not as much as you hoped it would be. That still Monday morning comes and you got to get up and do schoolwork and the parties all the fun didn't bring you a lasting happiness it didn't fill up what was kind of empty inside your chest. And last week we talked about six different kinds of pleasure seekers and I just want to remind you of them briefly as we then have small group time today.

Some of you might not have been here last week. Some of you were here. Maybe weren't paying attention. Some of you were here were paying attention but still couldn't tell your best friend what I talked about last Sunday morning. So just a quick reminder, six kinds of pleasure seekers, the high class pleasure seeker, seeking the finer things in life, whether that's in food or some kind of drink or in some kind of clothing or possessions, the finer things, the high class pleasure seeker. We talked about Solomon pursuing this and first Kings chapter four and all the food that he had every day, his daily portion. High class pleasure seeker number two, the weekend warrior pleasure seeker.

These people who actually have to work, they have a job during the week, but basically everything that they do is aimed towards the weekend. And so when they get the three day, the four day weekend, I mean, yeah, baby. And so all of life is looking towards the weekend. I mean, on Fridays, that is all the people on the radio talk about is, hey, it's the weekend. On Wednesday, that's all they're talking about. It's hump day, you know, they're over the hump. We'll over the hump to get to what? The weekend again. These are people who hate the week and they live for the weekend because on the weekend they don't have to go to work and what can they do?

They can play. They can be lazy. They can do nothing. These are people who then live for the weekend, the weekend warrior pleasure seekers. Number three, we talked about the big boy toys pleasure seekers, some overlap perhaps with one and two. These people might be seeking the finer things, the Corinthian leather on their big boat or RV or whatever it is.

These are the people who don't just have the tape deck, they got the CD player, right? They got the built-in iPod attachment, you know, in their BMW for easy listening. These are the big boy toy pleasure seekers. Again, for you in junior high and high school, maybe you don't have quite the funds yet to get the big toys, but you still get as big a toys as you can with your budget. Again, whether that's in music kind of stuff, or that's in computer kind of stuff, or a bike, or whatever it is, I don't know, whatever it is you're trying to buy for pleasure, big boy toys. That's number three. Number four, the delayed gratification pleasure seeker.

And I mentioned these are people who kind of look noble right now because they're like working hard. They're working hard in school or they're working hard at their job, but yet their idea is that by working hard in school now, as I mentioned the progression last week, they're going to get into a good college. They're going to work hard in college, get good grades so that they can get a good job. By good job, they mean a job that does what? Pays them a lot of money, and what are they planning on doing with that lot of money? Giving it to charity? I don't know any high school student, honestly. I don't know any high school student who is working hard to get into a good college, so they get a good job, so they can make a lot of money, so they can give it all the way to charity.

I don't know anybody like that. I mean, they might be out there. They might exist. But most of the time, those people who are working hard simply for the reason of getting into a good college, so they can get a good job, and they can make a lot of money, almost all the time that goal, that desire is just a delayed gratification goal for pleasure. Thinking that in money, they're going to have happiness. They're going to get a job that is going to, you know, require them not to work very many hours and yet they're still going to make all kinds of money so that they can play. So that they can play. And what might seem noble now is actually still aiming towards the same end.

It's still serving the same goal of pleasure. It's still for themselves and it's still for pleasure just later on. Number five, the every spare moment pleasure seeker. What did you say you had another name for this one? This is the one that you didn't have another name for. Yeah, she had come up with other names. I was going to steal her outline, actually, after the message last week. But I didn't ask her about it in time again, so so I couldn't steal her outline. So I still got to go with mine. The every spare moment pleasure seeker. This is a lot of us, right? It's not necessarily that our lives are aimed towards bowing down in front of whatever pleases us, and yet this is what we default to when we got some spare time, when we have some extra minutes in our day, when class is canceled.

Here's a good one for you. Okay. So you go to class and you have a substitute that day. And the substitute is just going to give you a study hall, right? How do most of you spend that time? Oh, great. Now I got some time to finish my homework. No. You get an extra window of time in your day, and it's time to, you know, tell some jokes. It's time to have some fun. Make the class go by faster by just having a good time, let alone the end of the day, whatever it might be. Watching movies, eating ice cream, playing video games, surfing the internet, most of us fit into this category. When we have extra minutes, we do things that please us.

And what typically pleases us are those turn your brain off, You know, good to the tummy or good for the back, you know, by not shoveling gravel from one pile to another. You know, we do the things that make us happy in every spare moment that we have. Then number six, the total goof-off pleasure seeker. These are the guys who just make fun of everything. Everything is just a joke. And we definitely have some of those in our midst. Last week when I mentioned this one, Apparently, there were some guys who were looking at each other, like you knew who you were and who the others were who were like that. I'm not making any comments about who that is, but you know who you are, you total goof-off pleasure seekers.

Again, there can be some overlap with the pre-seeming categories. You still can want to have the toys to be a better goof-er-offer. But most of the time the total goof off pleasure seekers are also moochers you remember that I mentioned that last week as well because they haven't bothered working to get any money to then buy the toys that they want. So they have to mooch off other people's toys off other people's stuff. They don't have the money to buy the dinner at Daniel's Broiler. Of course sometimes they don't want that. They're just happy with the pleasure of Taco Bell. That might be its own category. The Taco Bell pleasure seeker.

You can have a lot of pleasure there I suppose. But the point is, these people fill their lives with play, with joking around, very little seriousness about anything. I told you this is how I lived in high school. I was a goof off. I was not quite the class clown, but I was pretty close. I mean, I did my darndest to try to get to that level. And we ought not to do that. Before going on to the problems with pleasure seeking, especially related to the total goof off pleasure seekers who are always making everything a joke, who never get serious about anything. It is interesting, I think. I'm not gonna make too much out of this, but it is interesting that nowhere in the New Testament do we ever have a reference to Jesus laughing.

Nowhere in the New Testament do we have a reference to that. Now, there's no doubt that he did. I don't doubt that he did laugh. I don't doubt that there were times when he was very much enjoying being with the disciples. He was with those guys for a lot of time, for three years. I mean, basically 24 hours a day for almost three years. There's no doubt that they had some good times and they shared some laughs. No doubt about that. And yet, that was not so important to any one of the gospel writers to include that ever. Whatever do we read about Jesus sitting down with the boys and sitting around the fire at night and just telling stories or telling jokes or making jokes out of other things, we don't have that as an example.

Again, while I say, I'm sure that he enjoyed himself and there were times when he laughed. was not such a predominant part of his life that the gospel writers included it.

That's at least interesting to consider, and yet none of us would probably say that Jesus wasn't satisfied. I mean, Jesus might be the only one who is ever truly satisfied with life while he was living under the sun, and yet that didn't include, at least for us, an explanation of how much he pursued that in laughter. A good laugh is not the key to life, contrary to what some of you might believe. A good laugh is not the key to life. Well then we moved into four problems with pleasure seeking. I think I got through the first two and then mentioned the last two. Pleasure seeking chokes out the gospel. Luke chapter 8 verse 14. I won't make you turn there. Luke chapter 8 verse verse 14 though, talks about the seed going out and how for some the seed fell on ground, started to grow up a little bit, but then the weeds choked it out. And when it talks about the weeds, the weeds are pictures of the pleasures and the things of life, choking out the gospel. Now, I didn't mention this last week, but just quickly, that doesn't

mean that you can lose your salvation by pursuing pleasure. That's not what the story is meant to say, though it looks like there's some growth. It looks like something is happening when the gospel gets into them. Ultimately, it chokes it out. And so there wasn't really true life to begin with. We know that from 1 John chapter 2 verse 19, those who went out from us were never really a part of us. So that's why I even phrased it that way. It chokes out the gospel. Don't put yourself in that position. Secondly, pleasure seeking is self-centered. We read from Isaiah chapter 47 verse eight, as well as just this whole autobiographical section in Ecclesiastes chapter two.

Solomon took his wisdom and started using it for himself. Applied all of his wisdom to get things for himself, namely pleasure for him. It was very self-focused, self-centered. Pleasure seekers are like that. Just like lazy people are self-centered. They don't wanna be bothered by what anybody else is telling them to do, or by any other responsibility for somebody else, they want to do what they want to do when they want to do it. That's being lazy, that's also being selfish.

You know what, I would add that if you're making jokes when it's not an appropriate time to make jokes, that's selfish. That's not just immature, which it is, that is selfish. That is thinking that what you want to do is more important than what the group is doing. That is you trying to run the discussion by making it all a joke. At least have the courtesy, when other people around you are trying to get into something serious, to be quiet.

At least do as much to be mature, to then wait to tell your jokes until the right time. If you still believe that the pleasure-seeking through goofing off all the time is the way to go, then I'm at least asking you to at least look for better times than not. Third though, not only is pleasure seeking something that chokes out the gospel, pleasure seeking is self-centered. Third, pleasure seeking is idolatrous. Pleasure seeking is idolatrous.

Look over at Exodus chapter 32. Exodus 32, it was during this period of time that the Israelites want a golden calf, an idol made for them to worship. Probably pretty familiar with this story. Verse 1 of chapter 32, Exodus, when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, what was Moses getting up on the mountain? The law, the Ten Commandments, right. The people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, up, get up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. So Aaron said to them, take off the rings of gold that are in your ears, in the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up

out of the land of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast day to the Lord. Look at verse 6, And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Paul now is going to quote from one of those verses that we just read in Exodus chapter 32. He's gonna quote one of those verses to the Corinthians in encouraging them, admonishing them to avoid idolatry. And in chapter 10 verse six, he says, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did, do not be idolaters as some of them were.

As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now, when I first read that, I was like, if he doesn't want us to be idolaters, why not quote the verse like about fashioning a golden calf? That seems to be the one that talks about idolatry.

Right? I mean, when you actually give your gold to somebody who can then melt it down and then make an actual statue out of it, that seems like the idol that you wanna talk about. If we want to avoid their example, recognize their example and then avoid what they did, and specifically then to not be idolaters, that's how he starts out verse seven, do not be idolaters as some of them were.

I think I would have quoted another part of Exodus 32. Not this last one about the people. Again, ate and drank and rose up to play. Their life was consumed with them and what brought them happiness. It was one constant party for these people. They went so far as to make their own God who would let them do that.

What they wanted to do was make themselves happy by just eating and drinking all day and playing. In fact, you kind of get the idea that the only reason that they ate and drink was to have strength so that they could go play and do whatever. And Paul says, don't be idolaters as some of them were. And then he quotes that passage. Doing what you want, what you think is going to make you happy all the time is actually idolatry. That is worshiping you rather than worshiping God, is it not? Look over at 2 Timothy chapter 3. This one just kind of nails it, I think. I've mentioned this passage before regarding other things, but in 2 Timothy chapter 3 Paul says this to his disciple, understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit.

And here you go, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Next verse, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. This is really exactly a description of the Israelites as well. Paul's not referring to the Israelites here. This is exactly what happened. They loved themselves and pleasure more than they loved God, and yet they still had that appearance of godliness by calling their little gold idol, their gold cow, the Lord. They didn't change his name. They still use the same name. Yahweh, they called this, it was their own jewelry. See how insane that is?

It was their own jewelry that they had given that they told Aaron then to fashion into the form of whatever. He makes a cow. He had a cow. He made a cow. And then they worshiped this God calling it the name Yahweh, the name of the God, the covenant God who had revealed himself to them at that moment who was giving the law to Moses up on the mountain. They had the appearance of godliness in the sense of the appearance of worship. got up and they offered sacrifices that morning and yet they did that so that they could appease this god that they had fashioned in their own mind so that they could eat and drink and rise up to play. And you know what? I mean I think we have the same situation today whether among us or in our culture that people are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god.

Though they're in the church. These are not people who are lovers of pleasure rather than than lovers of God who have no appearance of godliness. That's a crucial addition there. These are people who are in the church. These are people who are fellowshipping with other believers, other followers of Christ.

They had this appearance of godliness. They were at least going through enough motions so that other people would think that they were Christians. So that other people would think that they were god lovers and god followers. And yet, they loved pleasure. They loved themselves. They loved money. They loved all that. They loved pleasure more than loving God.

And in doing so, even though they might have had to some, at least the external appearance of godliness, they had no power for actual godly living.

And so it's not a huge surprise, for example, when I find out that a student who is a regular attender regular a regular a tender in 128 a student who is part of Grace Academy a student who looks on the outside like they're doing it right it's not a huge surprise when their heart is revealed and they they've just been pursuing themselves they don't have the power they don't have a godly power at work in them. To tie this in with our theme for the year, they don't have an abounding love. Their love is not abounding for God, and therefore they don't have knowledge and discernment, and therefore they can't discern what is best, and they're not doing what is excellent, and they're not seeking to be pure and righteous, filled with the fruits of righteousness. Because the abounding love is for themselves. The bounding love is for whatever is going to make them happy. Not an abounding love for God. Again, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

It's still worship. It's just a different object of worship. All of you are worshiping in here. You are worshiping something. You're either worshiping God or you're worshiping pleasure. You are either loving God or you are loving pleasure. The two things don't go together. It's not a percentage thing. It's not like you're good as long as the majority of your love is for God and not for pleasure. Okay, I got 51%. I got up this morning, I took out my little, you know, my little test and I stuck it in my ear and I pulled it out and it said I had 51% love for God and 49% love for pleasure. Good. I'm set today. The majority of my heart is for God. Or you you pull this by that's a joke there's not really a test you can buy. Maybe there is some Christian bookstore but I haven't seen it. Of you know sticking in your ear or in your nose or wherever else spitting on it and see what color turns into it. There isn't anything maybe we could create that. I'm sure a lot of people probably buy that.

Anyway, that's just a joke. There really isn't anything like that. But if there were, even if you come out and you said, you know what, 90%, oh, awesome. To the breakfast table, you know, praise God, Mom and Dad. Today, my love for pleasure is down to 10%. My love for God filling up my heart is all the way up to 90. You know what that miss is? It misses, you shall love the Lord your God with, yeah, all of your heart and soul and mind and strength. Not to have a divided heart, not to have multiple pursuits and multiple loves. To be abounding in love for God. Otherwise, if your heart is somewhere else, if your affections are somewhere else, then you may be a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God.

That leads to the fourth problem with pleasure seeking. Pleasure seeking is just plain empty anyway. If you're not there, you can turn back to Ecclesiastes chapter two. Pleasure seeking is empty. It is vacant. It is hollow. It is worthless. It is useless. It is lifeless. Ecclesiastes chapter two, verses one and two. First we see Solomon's commitment to pleasure. I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. This is his commitment to it. This is his pursuit of pleasure. He threw himself wholeheartedly into trying to find satisfaction and meaning from being happy and pleasurable things.

He was committed to it. I mean, he's talking to himself here. He's making this commitment inside of himself to say, come now, I will test you with pleasure. We're gonna do whatever it takes, me, myself and I, to go try to find out what can make us happy. And he spared no expense to do this. Look down at verse 10. "'Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. "'I kept my heart from no pleasure.'" This may be the only guy ever who could say that.

Who literally kept his heart from no pleasure. There were no limitations for him. I suppose that there might be people who have gotten close to that in the past or today. Maybe they have enough resources and enough position. But I tell you what, being this rich and being the king is different than even just being that rich. I mean, being the king gets you a lot of stuff. We'll see some of the stuff that he pursued more specifically in the following verses, but he was committed to it and he got it. He got the pleasurable stuff. But the second part of verse one and verse two gives us Solomon's conclusion about pleasure.

His commitment to pleasure, his conclusion about pleasure, his general conclusion at the end of verse one is, but behold, this also was vanity. Pursuit wisdom, vanity, striving after wind. Here's pursuit of pleasure, vanity, empty. His specific conclusion then in verse two about two things regarding laughter. I said of laughter, it is mad. That's kind of a weird statement. I said of laughter, it is mad. I think he's just trying to say, laughing all the time is insane. Laughing all the time doesn't actually help you deal with life. Telling jokes, laughter doesn't provide meaning, doesn't provide explanation. Watching a comedy, watching a clean comedy movie still does not make you walk away at the end going, oh wow, I understand life a lot better now.

My path is very straight, not crooked any longer. You're not gonna be able to laugh all of your life anyway. When you are hurt or a friend or a family member is in pain, they're gonna die, you're gonna die. You're not even gonna be able to laugh in every circumstance. Laughter provides no solutions. And regarding pleasure, instead of laughter it is mad and of pleasure, what use is it? I mean, what benefit is there in pleasure?

I mean, there are some temporal benefits. In fact, it might be fun for a while. We won't turn there, but in Hebrews chapter 11, verses 25 and 26, it talks about the fleeting pleasures of sin. There are, there are some pleasures that are out there available to you by running after sinful things. There are. The problem is that they don't last.

The second problem is that God is gonna judge you for them. They don't last on their own, and you're gonna get judged for them. That's the whole point in Ecclesiastes chapter 11, rejoice in the days of your youth. Know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. The Hebrews 11, 25, and 26 passage again, talks about the fleeting pleasures of sin. You know what? Pleasure seekers cannot be pleasure keepers because they just don't last. And yet, why do we still throw ourselves after fun and games and silliness and entertainment? Why do we devote so much of our money to making ourselves happy with stuff and going to parties.

Some of you, life is really on your calendar. You mark off the days by marking off what parties you can go to. Some of you won't commit to certain things because you're hoping up to the very last minute that somebody might have a party that you could go to. Well, that's just a party with you and another person or that's a party with you and a bunch of other people. Some of you, you know, Friday nights. Oh well, I can't really commit to anything cause you know, I'm not sure, I'm not sure what my schedule is gonna be like is code for waiting for a better offer where I'm gonna have more fun. And that's sad, that's sad cause it's empty.

It's not gonna last. Well, as I conclude, just to remind you of a couple things, the Bible actually talks a lot happiness and about pleasure, a good kind of happiness and pleasure. In fact, there are these, there's this whole list of things the pastor Zimmer went over in Matthew chapter 5 a month or so ago called the Beatitudes. Happy, blessed, satisfied are these kinds of people. None of them about a party.

In fact, really to the opposite extreme of persecution. One more verse though, look at Psalm 16. Psalm 16, great verse, this is one worthy of your memorizing. A Psalm of David, so many good things in the in the whole of this Psalm. But verse 11, he says, you make known to me the path of life in your presence there is fullness of joy at your right hand our pleasures forevermore now that's that's good stuff right there it's it's the exact opposite of the pleasures that this world provide which number one can't fill you up and won't last forever here we get the exact opposite which are God providing fullness of joy in his presence. That's beyond just under the sun, though we experience that while living under the sun in another way. It's fullness of joy, not just half, just filling up your tank halfway. A fullness of joy is available in his presence, and it's a forever kind of pleasure. It's found in God, God alone, through Jesus Christ, worked out in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We're guided on the path of life by his word. It's God, all the members of the Trinity, his revelation that he gives us in his word. It's found even in other saints. Look back at verse three, as for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. Other believers, that's how it would apply to us. The church, the body of Christ. There's pleasures in good fellowship, not just in playing and having fun and being silly, but in real fellowship. We've talked about that as a mark of a healthy student ministry, spiritual fellowship. Knowing God, loving God, abounding in love for him, following his word, the path of life.

He makes known to us the path of life in his presence there is fullness of joy. At his right hand are pleasures forevermore. And where are you seeking pleasure? You are somewhere today. You are devoting time and energy and attention to making yourself happy in some place by something. Is this things under the sun or is it with God? Father, do help us to get this truth as young people now that we would not need to be ashamed of having wasted the opportunities. In fact, it really is insane anyway because when we stop and think about it even for a moment, But we realize this stuff is empty down here. There is a hole in our hearts that only you can fill.

We try to stuff it, cram it, jam it full of other stuff. Seems to run out like there's a big hole at the bottom. Only you can give us that joy, that satisfaction, that pleasure. I pray for each one of us that we'd be seeking that in you. Of course, that brings you glory. you off as the best. That's what we want. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

can take out your copy of God's Word this morning and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 2. We have made it already to chapter 2. We're booking through it. Booking through this book. That's right. One of the major themes, in fact the major subject topic of the entire book of Ecclesiastes is the subject, The theme, the thread of vanity. Hebel, Hebelim, Hakol, Hebel. Vanity of vanities all is vanity. It is meaningless. It is empty. It is futile. It is passing. It is temporary. It is ultimately not satisfying. Life under the sun. Life here on this planet. without reference to God, without thinking about things above, setting our minds on things above.

Life stuck here on this planet, everything you pursue is vanity. In Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verses 1 through 11, we saw in this opening section, this introduction of Solomon, that everything unto the Son is vanity, meaningless, empty. Then two weeks ago, we began talking about the potential that maybe there were some escape routes, maybe there were some doors that we could find, that we could walk through, that would lead us to some satisfaction, some real meaning.

The very first thing that Solomon moves into his autobiographical section in the Book of Ecclesiastes talking about his own pursuits and his own adventure to try to find meaning and satisfaction in life, he first applied himself to try to find meaning and satisfaction in what? In what? Wisdom. Chapter 1 starting in verse 12, I the preacher have been king over Israel and Jerusalem and I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done unto the Son and behold, all is habel, vanity, and striving after wind.

What is crooked cannot be made straight. What is lacking cannot be counted. And that, by the way, no matter how much wisdom you have, no matter how much brains and smart discernment you have, you can't make your life better, guaranteed, to bring satisfaction just because you're a smarty britches. You can't do that. No amount of training, no amount of education, no amount of letters after your name is guaranteed to make the crooked things straight in your life or to help you count what is just not there. Not going to happen. Verse 16, I said in my heart, I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

That is, there was no one with more wisdom, no one with more education and training than King Solomon, no one with more access to books and literature and again, knowledge than Solomon himself. He had the most great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

He says, verse 17, I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly I perceive that this also is but striving after wind for in much wisdom is much vexation. And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. And we talked about the fact that that is so true in really every area of life. The more you know, the more you know you don't know, and that can be discouraging. The more you know, the more likely you are to be responsible for what you know and the more people are going to want you to do because of that. And that can bring some sorrow and vexation with it itself. The more you know, the more you realize that other people don't know. And that can make you sad. The more you know, the more you know that other people probably they're not giving you the full story.

And that there are probably some under-bellied kind of things going on that aren't so pretty. And all that comes from wisdom. Solomon says in chapter one, verses 12 through 18, wisdom is vanity. And so perhaps not only do we know then now that wisdom is empty, ultimately, no matter how wise you are, no matter how much understanding and knowledge you have, that that's not gonna really make your life any better Well, maybe there's another door that we could go through. Maybe there's another pathway to satisfaction that is not wisdom. In fact, if wisdom brings with it pain, then maybe the life that's opposite of wisdom would bring some happiness, some satisfaction.

And that's where we come in chapter two, verses one through 11. Here are some of the other doors that Solomon tried to go through. Here are some of the opposites really of wisdom, life of education and training and all those kinds of things. This is the opposite of that kind of life. It is a life seeking pleasure. It is a life seeking fun. It is a life seeking things to make yourself happy. That's what we're going to spend our time over the next few weeks looking at these verses, chapter two, verses one through 11. And originally when I began preparing, reading through Ecclesiastes and even thinking about this autobiographical section here in chapter 2. Originally, I was thinking that a lot of this was going to be preventative medicine. That's, again, what I originally had in my mind, preventative medicine. I really kind of thought that a lot of these things, especially starting in verse 3, down through verse 8, I mean, those are some of the most bottom of the barrel of the trash can of life kind of things.

And I was really kind of thinking, you know, we'd talk about them on Sunday morning, you may talk about them somewhat in your small group, but that most of you in here would not be pursuing that kind of life. Even when it comes to seeking pleasure, you know, hedonism, how many have heard that word before? Hedonism, that's just a life devoted to pleasure, making yourself happy by whatever it takes. Really, I kind of thought, like I said originally, that this is going to be hopefully more preventative medicine. Like, this will be the kind of stuff to encourage you to just not head down that road at all. But over the past few weeks, some of the things I have read written by some of you and published publicly out on the internet about the things that make you happy and the things that you're pursuing in your life, I've come to realize that at least for some of you, this is not preventative.

Hopefully this is gonna just shake you out of that kind of pursuit. Unbelievable kind of interests, things that are making you happy. Right here Solomon is even going to describe some of them in these verses here in chapter two. Even the things that aren't at the bottom of the trash can of life, some of the lowest forms of pleasure seeking that we can do, even some of the more just mundane kind of silly things that are still, as we're gonna talk about this morning, seeking pleasure more and more. And it really, it is ripping out or ripping apart certain things in my heart to see you guys going after them and devoted to them.

Like giving your life in the pursuit of your own happiness and your own pleasure and you're doing it in the trash can of life. You may not be down to the very bottom of the barrel yet, but some of you at least, your head is no longer visible. You know? And hopefully this is the Holy Spirit and Solomon kind of grabbing you by the back of your shirt and yanking you out.

I really pray that God's spirit is gonna do that for some of you. Some of you obviously, you are loving Christ, you are loving God, you are loving his word, you are loving other, you're loving fellowship and worship and all those kinds of things. And hopefully this then will just continue to give you a distaste for life under the sun. But there are still so many it seems. As I listen to you talk with one another, as I read what you write on the internet, as I evaluate and just kind of examine where you're spending your time. Seems like, again, so many are in the trash can of life.

Look at chapter two, verse one. This is Solomon again. He's now kind of leaving wisdom, or better yet, he's taking his wisdom and he's applying his understanding, his knowledge, to see if he can find satisfaction and pleasure. Verse one, I said to my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure, enjoy yourself.

He's having a little conversation with himself saying, okay, if in wisdom there is pain, then let's go see if we can't get rid of that pain and let's see if we can't go find some pleasure, some happiness, come now, I will test you with pleasure, enjoy yourself.

And he can't get more than one sentence in before he gives us his conclusion, which is, but behold, this also was Hebel." Vanity. Look at verse two. "'I said of laughter, it is mad, and of pleasure, what use is it? I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine, my heart still guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.

I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines the delight of the children of man. And verses one through eight are at least a partial description of the various pleasures, the various things under the sun that he pursued to make him happy. He turned the great gift of wisdom that God had given him to rule the nation, and he had turned it for use for himself to try to make himself happy.

This morning, all we're gonna do is get through verses one and two. Verses one and two is kind of the general description of his pleasure pursuits. Then verses three through eight kind of get more specific and we'll cover some of those in the following weeks. Verses one and two, I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. I said of laughter and of pleasure. Those were the things that he was pursuing in verses one and two in a general way. Being happy.

Having some fun, you know? Just hanging out. Being cool. Laying low. You know, having some fun. Making himself happy. And you know, obviously just looking at verses one and two We see his pursuit and we see his conclusion. He tells us about his pursuit and then he tells us what the result of that pursuit is. That's a pretty basic outline for just verses one and two. His pursuit. I said to my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. He's like commanding himself. Go be happy. Maybe he would have said, don't worry, be happy. All I want to do is have some fun before I die. You know, kind of thing.

Thank you, Cheryl Crow. That was his pursuit. His conclusion very simply is that it was vanity, empty, meaningless, not truly satisfying. In fact, he says of laughter, it was mad, lunacy, a pleasure. What profit is there? I mean, what actually does it accomplish? What is actually satisfying? What is bringing out any kind of true lasting consequences from being happy, having pleasure?

And the answer is none. It's a rhetorical question, answer none. There are no ultimate profits. There are no ultimate lasting consequences or satisfaction that come from pleasure. They come from making yourself happy and just playing and having fun. And I still got 30 minutes left to talk about verses one and two. And I'm going to do that because, again, I think so many of you are at least at this level in the trash can. And you are holding out hope that going to the right party or the right number of parties, They're having the right toys. They're having the right schedule where you don't have to work all the time and you can just play.

You think that there is meaning and satisfaction in those things and I just want to spend some time hopefully looking at some other passages as well to remind you that that's not the case. So we're going to take kind of a brainstorming look, a systematic look through scripture at what the Bible has to say about pleasure and seeking pleasure, some of the dangers of pleasure, some of the consequences of a life pursuing pleasure all the time. First what I want to talk about are six kinds of pleasure seekers. I'm not necessarily going to give you a verse for each one of these, but this is kind of my little brainstorm as I was kind of thinking through, you know, the different characters out there, I kind of personify these pleasure seekers by giving them a title, giving them a name, and it will become obvious as we go through what I'm trying to do here.

Number one, six kinds of pleasure seekers out there. There might be more. There's obviously some overlap between these guys or these gals. Six kinds of pleasure seekers. Number one, the high class pleasure seeker. And I've abbreviated pleasure seeker in all of my online PS. Not like postscript, but pleasure seeker. The high class pleasure seeker. This is the pleasure seeker who is looking for satisfaction and meaning in life in the finer things in life. You know, the finer things. Whether it is in food, or it's in drink, or it's in their clothes, or perhaps some of their other possessions, the finer things. Maybe we could even include art.

This is not the pop art kind of people. These are the people who love the museums, and they put on their smoking jackets and and they're fancy loafers and they go with their pipe and they're walking around the museum going, hmm, lovely kind of idea. These are the coffee drinking snobs. These are the ones who, I'm not saying that all coffee drinkers are snobs, I'm saying that these are the ones who say, oh, Starbucks, they burned their beans, you can't handle drinking Starbucks. know, we must have this very special kind of being produced by, you know, migration migrant workers in some remote part of Ethiopia and that and you must, you know, roast it for a certain period of time. That's just an example of the, you know, you see these people on TV probably don't have a lot of the finer wine drinkers in here. But again, seeking life in the finer things. You know what Solomon did this. Look back at First Kings chapter 4. Obviously one of the requirements for this kind of high class pleasure seeker is what? Money.

Generally speaking you need some money to make the finer things come about. The finer things are called finer things partly because not everybody gets to have them. I would suggest though that even in our culture, most of us have enough money to get some finer things that a lot of people throughout history and a lot of people in the world, not in the United States, don't get to have either. I mean, I don't know that we'd qualify spaghettios maybe as finer things, but just the ability to have some of the food and drink and clothes that we have. I mean, some of you, even though you might not have a lot money still are more interested in this kind of life or pleasure.

Look at 1 Kings 4 verse 22. Solomon's provision for one day was 30 cores of fine flour, 220 liters was a core. 220 liters is a pretty significant measurement of fine flour and 60 cores of meal, 10 fat oxen and 20 pasture fed cattle, a hundred sheep besides deer, gazelles, roebucks and fat and fowl. Now let me point out to here that vegetables is not on the list of the finer things in Solomon's daily provisions. Now I'm not saying he didn't have vegetables, but I can definitely tell you what, vegetables were not the main course for the king here. We're talking about meat, you know? Yeah. A stakeout kind of every day is Daniel's broiler kind of day kind of thing, but more. But more.

For he had dominion and then it describes how much he owned. Now some people will say that that's about enough food to feed a thousand people. And how many people do you think it took to get this ready every day? And I think about that. Ten fat oxen, 20 pasture fed cattle, a hundred sheep, deer, gazelles, roebucks, fat and fowl. I mean how many, just the number of cooks and the number of servants and the number of farmers and the number of, you know, shepherds out there to watch over these, you know, be producing that level of thing. It's just one example. One of the reasons this was possible, look down at the end of verse 24, one of the things that made this possible, this pursuit of pleasure through the finer things, through the food and the drink and all this kind of stuff, wouldn't have been possible if if it weren't for the truth at the end of verse 24.

And he had peace on all his sides around him. The country didn't have wars to be fighting. And so, hey, if you don't got any serious responsibilities, why not have a party? Why not have a party every single day? I mean, let's get in the meat and let's just, let's put it on fire. No broiling. You know, they didn't have broilers probably, and definitely no boiling. No boil meat and then try to eat it. You know, you fling kiss it kind of thing. You know, that's the finer things that we're talking about here. Solomon had this kind of life where there was nothing that he didn't spare for himself, the finest kind of things.

Back in Ecclesiastes chapter two, near the end of this section in like verses seven and eight, where he talks about getting for himself the gold and the treasures of kings and provinces. He got for himself the very finest kind of things, not just in the food and in the drink, but in all the kinds of possessions. There's a danger in this high class kind of pleasure seeking though. Look over at Proverbs 21, Most everybody who might even think about pursuing the finer things for pleasure in life, most people who do that are not the king. And in fact, some people who think that this is what the high life is really about, don't actually have the funds to make it happen.

Proverbs chapter 21 verse 17, whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil will not be rich. That's not necessarily everybody who's pursuing the finer pleasures, but some of the people who are pursuing it obviously are going into debt to get it. They're going into debt with money they don't have to try to enjoy these kind of finer things. Now that might not be most of you in this room. Some of you might think that you'd like to have that kind of life sometime in the future. Most of you probably right now are not doing that, probably because you don't have the money to make it happen. Though if you did have the money to make it happen, how would you use it?

Well, first kind of pleasure seeker is the high class pleasure seeker. Number two, I call this person the weekend warrior pleasure seeker. the weekend warrior pleasure seeker. This is a person who doesn't have necessarily the funds to make their life a continual party. And they realize that they've got to do some work in order to get a paycheck in order to have the party. And so they at least will work during the week, but this is the kind of person who is working during the week, always aimed at what? Friday night. Some of you, in fact, are like this person. You do your work during the week, but all you can talk about is getting to the weekend.

And all you can talk about is how great it's going to be when, you know, there's no school on Friday and the weekend the party starts Thursday night. Or maybe there's no school on Monday. I mean, the world is filled with these kinds of people. Everything is aimed at, even in the work that you do, everything is aimed at getting to play.

Everything you do is aimed at vacation. Whether it's the weekend that's vacation or sometime during the summer that's vacation. The weekend warrior kind of pleasure seeker realizes they can't devote all of their day to just playing around. But they work so that they can get to play around as quickly as possible. The high class pleasure seeker, the weekend warrior pleasure seeker.

Number three, the big boy toys pleasure seeker. The big boy toys pleasure seeker. Now obviously there's some overlap here, some potential overlap with number one or two. The high class pleasure seeker, you know, might get the high class big boy toys. The more blue collar, you know, weekend warrior pleasure seeker, you know, still can look for the big boy toys, but, you know, in his boat he doesn't get the, you know, the leather seats. He doesn't get the fake wood grain trim out on all the instruments. The big boy toy pleasure seeker, whether that's, you know, the nice car or the bling, bling kind of, you know, rims on the car, you know, on your 1980, you know, Volkswagen Jetta, you try to get the cool rims, you know.

Some of you have to do as much as you can, you know, you can't shoot maybe for the stars when it comes to these toys, but, you know, you shoot for as high as you can. A boat. I mean, the last couple of times I've taken a walk around my neighborhood, it has astounded me how rundown some of the houses are with sitting in the front yard is, you know, this huge boat and maybe in some of the cases, a huge RV sitting right next to the boat.

You know, devoted to, and this is why I say the weekend warrior, I mean, these are people who probably have to then work throughout the week to get to the weekend so that they go use their toys, their boats or their RVs or whatever else it might be. These are the people with the, you know, thinking life is in their vacation house. You know, their cabin by the water. I like cabins by the water. Think being on a boat is cool, but I'm not devoting my life to getting that or to being able to use it once I have it.

Whatever the big boy toys are, These are more in the things. You can be a weekend warrior and not necessarily be trying to amass for yourself material kind of stuff, big or little. And by the way, it can be in small things. In junior high and high school, most of you are not right now trying to buy a boat or trying to buy an RV. So you're looking less at the big boy toys and more at the Toys R Us kind of toys. Whatever you think you can get your hands on that's going to provide you some happiness, some pleasure. Good MP3 player. There's some pleasure there. The right bike, or the right computer, or the right whatever.

Doesn't just have to be big boy toys in the sense of a boat or a car. Can be smaller things. But you realize that is a pursuit of pleasure in stuff, regardless of what level or how big the price tag is. Number four, the delayed gratification pleasure seeker. The problem with this person is that they think they're doing it right. They're doing it right. This is the person who is working hard now so that they can play in the future. The goal is actually still the same. They're just realizing they need to do some work now so that they can play and have fun in the future. Some of you are like this.

Some of you are working very hard in school, and that's a good thing for you to work hard and try to get good grades. But can I ask you your motivation for that? If your motivation for getting good grades is to get into a good college And in college then you want to get good grades so that you can get a what? Good job. What are you meaning by good job?

Almost all the time good job is defined as one that pays you a lot of money. Why do you want a lot of money? So that you can play. So that you can have fun. so that you can have a good job that you don't have to work at very many hours and still get a good paycheck so that you can go play. And if that is why you are trying to get good grades right now, I applaud you know the fact that you're at least delaying you know your ultimate goal. But if the goal is just a future hope of playing then your education is just for pragmatic reasons. It's not noble. It's not worthy of anything great because you're seeking to apply yourself and be disciplined and get good grades if the ultimate motivation that you have for that is just to get the stuff later. The delayed gratification pleasure seeker thinks that they're doing what is noble when in fact they're just as much pragmatist as anybody else doing what works. Number five, the every Every spare moment pleasure seeker.

The every spare moment pleasure seeker. Again this is a person who could have overlap with any of the previous ones. It could be the finer things, it could be including the weekends, it could definitely be with toys, big or small. It could be delayed gratification, perhaps less overlap with this one. I think a lot of you probably fall into this category. You are not necessarily obsessed with toys. Your every waking moment is not spent talking about what the next purchase you're going to make is, you know, clothes or, you know, eating. Some of you guys are probably more obsessed with that one, but not necessarily the finer things, you know, your finer things are more like Taco Bell.

So we're not going to count that one in the high class pleasure seeking, okay? But you're not necessarily obsessed with the next thing to get, the next toy. Maybe you're not obsessed with getting to the weekend. Maybe you're not always talking about seeking your own pleasure, and yet it still shows itself in how you spend your time that you have. Maybe it's not an obvious visible idol to play, but if in all of your spare time that's what you end up doing, you are still seeking pleasure for yourself. You are still seeking gratification in fun. This one shows itself when the pressure isn't on. When the pressure isn't on, when the responsibilities aren't heavy, how do you spend your time?

Most of you, junior high and high schoolers, most of you, when the pressure isn't on, and there isn't a test the next day or a paper that you have to do, you are spending your time trying to make yourself happy. By watching a movie or by watching multiple movies all Saturday.

By, you know, planning to go out with your friends, not to not, not to like go serve somebody or to go have a prayer meeting, but to go to Dairy Queen and get some ice cream. Not saying that that's bad all the time, I'm just saying if that's what you default to in your spare time, doing things that are fun and that make you happy, thinking that that's life, that's an empty life. Some of you guys, it continues to astonish me. I mean, I like talk about this virtually, once a month at least, the amount of time some of you guys spend playing video games. I would have thought that at least like there would be some amount of just temporal shame from the silliness and superficiality of that kind of time pursuit.

And that doesn't even phase some of you. Obviously, what I'm more interested in is that you would sacrifice some of that for the loves, the true loves that you have in your heart for like God and wanting to be in his word. But generally speaking, at least there should be some kind of temporal shame when you have to answer to your parents why your grades are so low because all you're doing is playing video games, computer games, surfing the internet, chatting with one another in the instant messenger clients kind of stuff.

If that is what your time defaults to pursuing, then you are just the every spare moment pleasure seeker. It's not really any better than the other ones. Well, this leads to number six, the last one. This is perhaps my favorite character, probably my favorite character because this was me in high school. Ready? The total goof off pleasure seeker. The total goof off pleasure seeker.

This is the one, this is the person who just makes a joke out of everything, out of everything. You go to class, but class is a joke. I mean, you are just waiting for the moment when you can share your hilarity with a neighbor sitting beside you. You know, you just mock the teacher, other people in your class, the thing that you're reading in your book. I mean these are the guys who can goof off finding a way to make a joke out of the multiplication table. Now obviously there can be some overlap with previous ones. A total goof off obviously is probably goofing off on the weekends. Total goof off can still goof off over finer or higher class kind of things.

Total goof off can goof off over their toys. Generally speaking the total goof off though doesn't have as many toys because that person is not even doing very much work at any time to have the resources to get the toys. So the total goof-off is generally also associated with the moocher. And the moocher is mooching off of other people who are doing some work, at least during the week, and so that the total goof-off can just hang out with the one who is the least responsible during some of the time and enjoy their toys or they're paying for your goof-off time. Is a person who fills up their life with play and jokes and superficial things.

You know sometimes these guys have noble pursuits like sports. Again I was this kind of person in high school. All of my life you know wasn't just about doing nothing. It was about how cool sports were. They were cool. I mean if I wasn't playing something I was watching it. You know, whether live or on TV. Yeah. Or, you know, you can goof off pretty well listening to music. You know, but no, you don't understand. I'm passionate about music. I'm a music lover. Well, I mean, that can be just as much goofing off, silly, superficial kind of stuff as anything else. That's exactly what I lived like in high school especially.

Everything was a joke to me. I mean, occasionally I got serious, but I didn't have a whole lot of responsibility. There weren't a lot of bad things happening in my life. And so just like Solomon, the nation wasn't at war. Hey, let's have a party. Let's just have a party. Life isn't like that as much now for me. There are various responsibilities that I have. I think I'm at least less of a goof off than I was then, though some people have still nicknamed me Fun as well as Mr. Weinberg, Fun 1 and Fun 2. The time we have left, let me give you four problems with pleasure seeking. Again, there might be more characters than the six that I mentioned.

Those are just kind of ones that I thought of. Four problems though with pleasure seeking. Number one, pleasure seeking chokes out the gospel. Look at Luke chapter eight. In the parable of the sower and the seeds, by this point, the purpose of the parables after he told the parable Luke chapter eight, he starts explaining it to his disciples what it meant. He comes to verse 14, as for what fell among the thorns. You know, the sower goes out, throws the seed, falls on four different kinds of soil. In three of the soils, there is not ultimate lasting growth, only in the good soil was there growth and then fruit. But in two of them, there was at least a partial growth, a what looked like some kind of growth taking place.

And one of the places, the third place was among the thorns. Jesus in his explanation of the parable says, as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear it, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life and their fruit does not mature.

Seeking pleasure, seeking fun, seeking riches, all those things under the sun may in fact choke out the gospel in your life. And you guys are here listening to me, to Solomon, to ultimately God for the last few weeks and for every message in Ecclesiastes at least telling you that life is not profitable under the sun. You are hearing that Jesus, that God is the only way to have true pleasure and meaning and satisfaction in life beyond life under the sun. You're hearing that. You know the truth and yet I'm telling you even if it looks like there is some life and you right now, if you keep giving yourself to the pleasures of this life, it may eventually just choke the gospel right out. Dangerous. Pleasure seeking chokes out the gospel. Number two, pleasure seeking is self-centered. Look over at Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 47. Isaiah 47 verse 8. Now therefore, this is actually Isaiah the prophet giving an address to Babylon.

He says in verse 8, now therefore hear this you lover of pleasures who sit securely, who say in your heart I am and there is no one besides me. Look at the attitude of those pleasure seekers. They think life is all about them. They're not worried about anybody else. They're worried about how they can get happiness themselves. pleasures, what parties, what stuff they can accumulate for themselves, they're not worried about anybody else. They think life is great because life is a party. In the following verses, the oracle to them is actually that God is actually able to make your life so miserable to take away every kind of ease and security you think you have and show you that your pleasure-seeking is ultimately nothing. By the way, if pleasure seeking is self-centered, it is the opposite of the Christian life, which is to be God seeking, then others seeking, and then feeding yourself.

It's the opposite of the Christian life, the opposite priorities when you are all about yourself. That was the story in Ecclesiastes chapter 2. All of this autobiographical description is about Solomon seeking things for himself. Not how to better the nation. Not how to take care of them better. Not how to increase the nation's worship.

All making himself happy. Pleasure seeking is self-centered. Third, pleasure seeking is actually idolatrous. Look over at it for next Sunday. We'll finish this one out. Pleasure seeking is idolatrous. Number four, Pleasure seeking is empty. Habel, vanity, laughter is madness. A set of pleasure, what profit is there? We'll come back and finish these out. Pleasure seeking is ultimately idolatrous and it is empty. I'll finish that out next Sunday morning before small groups, okay? As we close them for this morning, how do you respond to to something like this, in light of the fact that, here is the one who had the ability and the resources to pursue pleasure like you will never have.

As Solomon is the greatest, the one with the greatest amount of wisdom ever, so you'll never attain his amount of wisdom. He says wisdom is vanity. Ultimately can't bring meaning and satisfaction to your life. You know, have we learned from that? But now as the one who had the most ability to pursue for himself happiness through stuff, and through the finer things, and through parties, no one else, definitely not us, will ever get to that level. Do you believe what he says that it is empty? The fact of the matter is I'm relatively certain that all of you have already tried and tested this in your own life. Whether you're 12 or 20 or 40 or 50, we have all been there where we've gotten to Sunday night and been so disappointed that the weekend we thought that was just going to provide so much happiness didn't even do it. We went to parties, we played around, we watched movies, and at the end of Sunday night we feel more sick and empty than we did at the beginning.

Most of us have had that experience, like I say, ourselves, let alone listening to Solomon, let alone then listening to God explain to us that those things, pleasure, fun, parties, finer things, stuff, materials, they are not going to fill the hole in your heart. No matter how much you have, no matter how much you give to pursuing it, it is vanity. There is a place where you can get true lasting satisfaction and pleasure, but it's only one place. And I'll bring that to you next week as well. Father, again, through Solomon's example, his testimony, through considering that, considering even some other passages that talk about the dangers of what pleasure seeking can do, choking out the gospel, showing us that it is ultimately self-centered.

Some of the other things we'll finish looking at next week. God working our hearts a distaste, a sour taste, a bitter taste for time-wasting, pleasure-seeking, material accumulating kind of life. And if we find ourselves in any of those categories of pleasure seekers, searching for the toys, using every spare moment, looking for the higher class things, even delaying our gratification of it, let alone just total goof-offs. God get us more serious. Only you can work that in our hearts. I pray this in Christ's name, amen.

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Well, you can take your copy of God's word and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 1 where this morning we'll try to finish looking at the paragraph in verses 12 through 18 as you're turning there how many of you were there Wednesday night for the first ever corn kick Awesome. How many of you how many of you who went you had a good time?

Good. I'm wondering how many times do you guys listen to Darth Vader go through the New Testament already in these past few days? Has it just been about three whole times? Yeah, yeah. Just like I had read through the whole Bible in one week when I was in second grade. You remember that, of course. Well, one of the things we talked about during our time together Wednesday night was the theme for this year in 128. And it is the theme of what? Two words, abounding love. And we got that from Philippians chapter one, verses nine through 11, Paul's prayer for the Philippian believers. We'll be coming back to look at that in more depth, more detail, two Wednesday nights from now, the first Wednesday night of October.

But of course, one of the things I said, Paul prays that our love would abound, and then I kind of took the word abound and made an acronym out of it to describe some of the things in our ministry this year that I'm really wanting to promote and see so far as love goes, a love that abounds. And we talked about, A, a love that abounds is one that is effective, that moves you. We talked about love being blameless, being pure, being righteous. We talked about O being otherworldly. We talked about you being uncompromising, N being neighborly and D being dynamic. And I just kind of like that word. It's kind of a buzzword today, but I like the word dynamic.

Always progressing, always growing, and hopefully becoming larger. Our love ought to be something that grows, not something that gets colder or harder. It ought to get hotter and stronger and bigger. One of the things I mentioned related to the O, this otherworldly kind of love, that is going to be the theme or one of the ways that I talk about our Sunday morning series in Ecclesiastes, that we would get our hearts, that we would get our loves off of the things under the sun. And we have seen, if you've been with us for the past couple weeks and even back at the end of last school year, talking about the introduction to Ecclesiastes, including the rather pessimistic beginning there in chapter one verses one through eleven. Uh, hakol habel hebelim hakol. I'm trying to remember my Hebrew. I keep saying that so that I can remember it. I don't necessarily need you guys to learn Hebrew, but I'm trying to beat that into my own mind.

All is what? Vanity. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. It is empty. It is meaningless. It is useless. It is fleeting. It's like breath on a cold morning that appears for a little time and vanishes away. Maybe you think it's gonna last, but it's quick to just kind of disappear. And everything, a thing in this life that this life has to offer is described as vanity by Solomon. And we've moved then into chapter 1 verses 12 through 18, which is really the beginning of an an autobiographical section. You even noticed in verses one through 11, he was speaking in the third person. Now in chapter one, verse 12, he uses the word I.

I did this, I did this. It's a autobiographical description of his pursuits because some of us are still kind of holding out hope that something of meaning and of satisfaction is actually available and out there for us to find in this life. And I know that that's the case that some of us are still trying to do that because I'm watching you pursue it. I'm watching you go after those things. I'm watching you give your loves to things on this earth. I'm watching you spend your time to pursue and to seek after. I'm watching your affections go to various kinds of things under the sun. I know that some of us still believe that Solomon maybe isn't telling us the whole story.

Maybe he's given us some ideas. He's just bitter. Maybe that's his problem. Maybe Solomon is just old and bitter and he doesn't really get it. And this autobiographical section is meant to give us some reasons why we can believe him because he has tested it all. He has done the experiments. He's gone out and tried to pursue finding meaning and satisfaction in all those things. And he's gonna tell us, I've been there, I've done it and it's empty.

And then you die. Hadn't said that in a couple of weeks, I thought I'd throw that back out and then you die, right? It's almost like this is the picture I got in my mind. Last night I was running on my treadmill listening to another message on Ecclesiastes. This picture kind of came to my mind. It's kind of like you're on the second floor of an observation building or like in an observation room. So you're on the second floor and there's this glass pane right behind you. And then you're looking out on these different compartments that are all different parts of life. And it's kind of like this, you're standing looking the other way, you're not looking out at the different compartments of life.

You're looking back and you're kind of like talking to Solomon. And Solomon is there and he's saying, you know, all is vanity, it's all meaningless. And you're looking right at him right in the eye and you're saying, no, I think I can find satisfaction in a good education. I think I can find satisfaction in just having a good time. I think I can find satisfaction in work and, you know, my results and money or whatever else it might be. And I kind of got the picture in my mind of Solomon basically walking over to you kind of patiently and then taking you by the throat and smashing your face up against the glass and forcing you to look down at all these different compartments and see that they are all empty.

Here you are trying to argue, here you are trying to make your case that there is satisfaction to be found in something out there. And all he's got to do is just take you, point your face right at the window, right at the compartments, right at wisdom, right at drugs, right at relationships, right at work, all the different compartments that there are that he tried and found empty. And that's what this section is about starting in chapter 1, verse 12, at least through verse 8 in chapter 2, which obviously we'll get to not too long from now. The first reflection here in verses 12 through 18 is Solomon's looking for life in wisdom.

It is his trying to find meaning and satisfaction in education, in knowledge. And of course, NBC tells us that knowledge is power. And, you know, we believe that. And so that's why we spend, you know, 80 years of our lives going to school in order to get educated, in order to get the knowledge, the understanding to, you know, make good decisions and then make the right grade so that we can get the right job, so that we can get lots of money, so that we can get the good toys, so that we can then die. Oh, they don't add that part at the end, so that we can then die. And yet, that's really the progress, that's how it goes.

But this whole passage right here is his seeking out of wisdom, maybe in philosophy, maybe in knowledge, he could find meaning, satisfaction, a fulfillment in his life. And it gives us kind of two reflections. Both of these reflections talk about his position, his pursuit, his perspective or pronouncement, and then his proverb, the first reflection we got most of the way through in verses 12 through 15 last time. Let me read verses 12 through 15. I, the preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

I have seen everything that is done under the sun behold, all is vanity in a striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted." First of all, his position in verse 12, he was the king. He had access to everything you can possibly imagine, way more access than you guys do to education itself, let alone then to money and resources, financial kind of stuff to pursue and to secure for himself toys and whatever else he thought might make him happy. He had the power to tell people what to do and to bring him what he wanted. None of us have any kind of position like that to make this kind of experience, this experiment or this test. So we ought to listen to what he has to say. Verse 13, he describes his pursuit. He applied his heart.

He gave himself diligently to seek and to search out the breadth and the depth, examining what he didn't know, exploring that, and examining in detail things that he did have close by. I mean, from the small to the large, he sought it out to see if he could find this wisdom which would make him happy. Everything that is done under the sun. I talked about that being a pretty comprehensive or exhaustive search. I mean, you get the impression here with all the words all and everything and those kinds of things that he wasn't missing anything. He didn't leave anything out. This was a big pursuit on his part and yet he found frustration rather than resolution.

Rather than finding a resolution to all of his problems in seeking out everything under the sun, he found that actually this is a pretty unhappy business that God has given men to do. Life is hard and then you die. You work hard and then you die. You make money and then something happens and the money is gone and then you die. You find wisdom and then you find that in the wisdom all you get is pain. You'll talk about that in verse 18, and then you die. It's an unhappy business here. And so in verse 14 he gives his pronouncement, I have seen everything that is done under the sun and behold all is Vandy, emptiness, meaninglessness, futile, and striving after wind. You remember my little illustration about what it would be like to try to run and catch and then grasp the wind.

Again, I was thinking about this last night. Last Monday, the Wentlings and the Zimmers and Mo, Maggie and I went out to Kayak Point and we were having a little barbecue out there. Was not particularly warm and in fact it was particularly windy. And it seems like five or six times, you guys can correct me if I'm wrong on this, It seems like five or six times the wind came along and like blew all of the napkins all over the place. And I was thinking about this. I wasn't trying to catch the wind. I was just trying to catch the napkins that the wind was blowing and I could barely even do that. I mean, I could see the napkins.

I could see them going farther than me. They were all over the place. And I'm running around because Mrs. Z's knee was bad, you know. So she's not able to run out and get them. Everybody else is over by the fire. So I'm trying to run out at least one of these times and catch all these napkins going all over the place. And I could barely even do that, let alone if I was actually trying to catch the wind. If I was actually trying to catch the wind itself. And striving after the wind, trying to catch and grasp the wind is a pretty futile, empty pursuit. Because you're not gonna be able to catch up. And even if you did catch up, you remember from the illustration, you know, turn around and catch it.

I mean, then what do you got? Nothing. Striving after wind. Well, that brings us to his proverb. This is where we left off last time, verse 15. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. Now, both verse 15 and verse 18, they're both proverbs. The reason why I say that these are proverbs is because it kind of moves away from the I did this, I did this kind of thing, the structure, the phrasing of the verses kind of set them apart. Most of your Bibles probably have them set apart more like in a poem form or a proverb form anyway. But their structure, their rhythm, a point to them being, you know, like a pulled in proverb. Whether Solomon created these proverbs, we know that he wrote many proverbs. They're collected for us in the book of what?

Proverbs. He wrote many. He collected others. So perhaps this was one of his own. Perhaps this was one that's collected. But as it's recorded for us here in Scripture, it is an inspired proverb, an inspired observation, some inspired wisdom. It's kind of a pithy thought that that provokes us to stop and think. And it's almost like people in life or people who especially don't have a lot of understanding about Scripture and about God's sovereignty, it's almost like they look at life and they think God is so frustrated by all of the mess that's happening down here on planet earth. Again, people who don't have a large understanding of God's sovereignty, not really familiar maybe with what God is doing as he reveals himself in his word.

A lot of people out there think God must just be really upset at the mess that's happening down here. At all of the roads that are crooked and I don't mean actual roads that you're driving on. I mean that as a as a figure for your life. Life as a road, life as a path. And you know what? I have never literally, let alone figuratively been able to straighten out a road that I was driving on, a path that I was walking down. In fact, it seems like every time I think I've hit a straight stretch, then what happens? You know, major boom. You know, the kind of turn that if you were actually driving would make your car just start to go into a tumble like that because you're not making the turn.

It's so crooked. And here we find that what is crooked cannot be made straight. What is lacking cannot be counted. I can't add. I can't fill in no matter how hard I try, what effort I give, how much wisdom I have. I can't make things appear that aren't there. I can't count things that are lacking. You know, some people have this idea that if we just work hard and get smart enough, we can make the crooked thing straight. And we can fill up what is lacking, what we don't have. And yet this proverb comes in and says, you can't do that. Even if you think that you can do that for a little while, ultimately you come back and find pretty soon that my God is just gonna make it crooked.

Take it away again. Look over at Ecclesiastes chapter seven. You know, again, people wanting to defend God, like he is not responsible for bad things that happen, or he's not in control of difficulties and trials and problems in life. They're trying to defend him, say he's not responsible.

And yeah, look in chapter seven, verse 13. Consider the work of God. Who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity, be joyful, and in the day of adversity, consider God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him." What in chapter 1, verse 15, is kind of vague, not talking about God being the one who is crooketing up your life, or making things lacking in your life. What is not clear who's doing the work in verse 15 of chapter 1 is very clear in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 that God is the one who makes things in your life crooked and God is the one who brings adversity and God is the one who makes it so that you can't change what you do. You can't change your life in the sense of making it better, finding satisfaction.

And you know, to people who don't believe in the sovereignty of God, to people who don't trust God, that's a pretty unbearable kind of thing. That's a pretty unbearable, you know, if that's what God is like, I don't want anything to do with him. It's only people who have a different perspective who can look at this and then praise God whether it's in a day of blessing or in a day of adversity. You cannot reduce life to a neat system. No amount of education that you have, no amount of wisdom that you gain for yourself will be able to keep your path straight and keep you counting what is not there. No amount of wisdom, no amount of education, nothing can do that. Well we move into the second reflection here in verses 16 to 18. Again Solomon said, I said in my heart I have acquired great wisdom surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge and I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceive that this also is but a

striving after wind for in much wisdom is much vexation and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." Again we have his position told to us, his pursuit, his pronouncement, and a proverb that kind of summarizes it at the end. First of all, his position, verse 16, I said in my heart I have acquired great wisdom surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And the point here is not to brag on his part necessarily. He's not bragging and saying he was better than everybody else as much as he was saying, look, this is my position. He had received the promise of God back in 1 Kings chapter 3. You remember that we looked at in the introduction to Ecclesiastes.

God is the one who told him, I'm going to make you wiser than anybody who has ever lived. It's almost just saying that. And the point is, if he can't find meaning in wisdom, then nobody can. If the guy who had the most wisdom ever says wisdom is not the answer, then that's probably the answer or he's giving the truth. He's being trustworthy in that statement. If he was the wisest, God says he's the wisest one to ever live. And he says in his wisdom, it's meaningless. There's good reason to trust. his position. Verse 16, he reminds us of his pursuit in verse 17, the first part of it.

And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. Here he kind of expands out what he had said in the first reflection. In the first reflection he's talking about seeking out just things in general in life. Now he says he applies his heart to get knowledge of wisdom and knowledge of folly. And he's actually going to tell us in chapter two about more of this pursuit of folly, but here's both sides. Wisdom and silliness, seriousness and playing around. Knowledge and duh. He's gonna say I've searched out both of those. I have plumbed wisdom to its depths, and I have plumbed fun to its depths. I have examined both ways of going about trying to find satisfaction and meaning of life. That was his pursuit. The second part of verse 17 is then his pronouncement again, and I perceive that this also is but a striving after wind. You are not going to find what you are hoping to find in the pursuits of wisdom or the pursuits of folly. A striving after wind. That brings us already to verse 18. For in much wisdom is much vexation and he who

increases knowledge, increases sorrow. This is the second proverb, again identified by its kind of short and sweet parallelism, a different kind of structure. And what he says is there is a corresponding amount of pain. Your pain is going to increase proportionate to the amount of knowledge that increases. Now that's kind of an interesting statement. That's a unique idea that the more wisdom you get, the more pain and sorrow you're going to have. The more you understand, the more you're going to have grief. Well, we need to talk a little bit about what that means. I have heard people say before that the greatest luxury is hypocrisy.

I've heard that said, that's kind of a proverb I've heard people say. The greatest luxury is hypocrisy. You know, because then you can say whatever you wanna do and then do something else. And I would disagree with that. In light of this verse right here, seems like the greatest luxury is ignorance. Because right, if you don't know, if you don't have the wisdom, if wisdom isn't increasing, then I mean, you don't know what you're missing. I mean, if you know what you're missing, well, I mean, and you don't have it, that's pain. But hey, if you're just ignorant, if you're just, you know, walking around, dawing everything in life, I don't know if that's actually a verb, dawing.

We're going to make it one for this morning, at least. Walking around ignorant, then that's a luxury, perhaps. He says if you increase in knowledge you increase in sorrow at the same time now on one hand That's not really difficult to prove I know for myself. I learned this principle my mother tells me when I was around three Because apparently one afternoon one summer afternoon It was nap time And my mother explained that it was naptime to me and I apparently in my great wisdom said something to this effect if I'd have known life was going to be this hard then I wouldn't have wanted to be born and see what had happened was my growing wisdom about the heavy burdens of napping and the responsibility there to obey and do what I was told and go nap when it was a great day to play outside, that wisdom brought me sorrow, pain.

It happens, the older you get, the more you know. The difference, one of the differences at least, between being a kid and being an adult, is amount of wisdom that you have. And generally speaking, the kind of wisdom that a lot of us get when you get older is not really fun. For example, the difference between knowing that somebody is paying bills and knowing that you are the one who is going to pay the bills, in that knowledge and wisdom is a pretty fair amount of sorrow, any kind of responsibility. You know, you learn how to do something. Guess what? people are probably going to expect that you do it. That is one of the reasons why I have never learned how to set up the sound system.

Just given a couple illustrations here. I have purposefully chosen to not get the knowledge of how to set up the sound system because I know that as soon as I have that knowledge that there will be opportunities for me at rather inopportune times to answer questions or to then actually do the work of setting up the sound system. I've chosen instead, it's not like I'm trying to get out of work, I just chose to do work other ways, but in that case, I don't have the knowledge, sorry, I can't have the sorrow. I have chosen to not learn how to drive a bus.

Okay, in fact, I was talking with Mr. Lugge this last Sunday morning we were talking about something other and I mentioned that I would probably not be working to try to get my bus driver's license and he kind of you know poked fun and said something to the effect of what but I thought every youth pastor could drive a bus and you know what that might be true but you know what this is a youth pastor who is not going to as far as I'm concerned you know I'm even praying right now that God is not going to crooked up my path and include some bus driving. I understand that that's dangerous, to say it out loud. But as soon as I have that wisdom and the knowledge of bus driving, I know that the little red light is going to be blinking in my office some day, and I'm going to come in and check my voicemail, and it's going to be asking me to drive the bus for some, you know, other group.

That's happened to me before now with the bus, but even just driving the vans. With the school vans, you gotta go through the special licensing. And one day the bus broke down on a field trip. And it just so happened that since the youth pastor doesn't have anything else to do, I was on campus, was on the list of somebody who knew how to drive a van. And so I got to spend my afternoon driving down to pick up the people who were stranded because the bus was broken down. So see, I mean, that's happened to me. The knowledge that you get leads to responsibility, which generally leads not to happiness, but to sorrow and grief.

There are more serious ways to talk about it than just those kind of tasks and what you know how to do. Mr. Jim Martin calls it the underbelly. This is a great phrase. I like to listen to him expound on the underbelly. And he talks about how a lot of people at church, You know, just come and basically sit in the chairs or sit in the pews and they participate on their various level. But then the more involved they get, the more of the underbelly of the ministry they get to see as well.

You know what, because if you don't participate and you're not involved, you're not gonna probably run into people who are treating you poorly. If you just stay at home, you just stay in your room, don't have any relationships with other people, then your heart's not gonna be opened up to them and they're not gonna be able to trash it, right?

But you go out there and you try to grab the world by its tail. No, you go out there and you open yourself up and you try to get involved and you learn about various things that happen. Guys, guess what? Most of the time it's not a real pretty picture. Most of the time, the more involved you get in something, the more problems you find out it has. And that's not, oh, I love learning about those problems. In the increase of wisdom and knowledge, there is generally an increase in sorrow and grief.

That's what it's like. Even just talking about knowledge itself. The more you learn, generally speaking, The more you learn, you don't know. That's not necessarily an encouragement either. The more you know, the more you realize you don't know. I mean, that's how it is in studying the Bible. That's how it is in most fields. The more you learn about a subject, typically speaking, the more you learn you don't know. And that is, that's sorrowful. That causes grief. The more you know about the human condition. I tell you what, the more you study sin, the more you know about sin, the more pain there is knowing how you have offended God.

Again, just another example of how that works. The more you know about what God expects, the more sorrow and pain there is in watching other people who don't want that and who don't want him. It is actually a very sorrowful thing to know what God requires of us and to know the joy and the satisfaction that can be had in following him and then to watch a bunch of other people just shrug it off and be indifferent to it. That's sorrowful. That's a grief-causing kind of thing. The more you know, the more you realize you don't know. The more you know, the more responsible you are for it, the more assignments you can get. The more you get involved, the more you see the underbelly.

When you increase in wisdom, you increase in vexation or frustration. He who increases knowledge increases sorrow. I mean, this is one of the problems with education. It was almost as if Solomon began this pursuit here. Solomon began this part of his autobiography, you know, with the idea in mind that our greatest enemy is ignorance. If we can just overcome ignorance, then we'll be able to get meaning and satisfaction in life. It's like he started out with that as his hypothesis. That was going to be what he tested. Ignorance is our greatest enemy. So let's try to overcome ignorance and get wisdom and what he finds is that it was the exact opposite of what he thought. Not only in getting the wisdom did he not get over the problems of ignorance, he actually got more sorrow and pain as he increased in wisdom. To think that more and better education is the answer to meaning in life is one of the most serious mistakes we can make. Why? Because information in the heart and mind cannot solve the

problems in your life. At times it may increase the comfort of your life for at least a short period of time. I mean, yes, learning some things can make some things better. I mean, you know, learning to use a hammer to drive a nail in instead of your thumb, you know, there are some quick temporal benefits to having some knowledge. Certainly as far as your grade card is concerned, you know, there are benefits to learning and having wisdom, but when it comes to the the hole in your heart, when it comes to meaning in life, no straight-A grade card is ever going to fill that hole. No book on philosophy that you read is ever going to make you happy, and certainly not for eternity. The western world, I mean where we live, has had more widespread educational opportunities than most civilizations and cultures in human history.

I mean, we have more education, more resources, more information, we have access to more resources, and yet, as a culture, think about this, right? We have more people in college today and getting professional degrees and doctoral degrees and, you know, MDivs, that's the study in the Bible. We got more people getting more letters after their name. You know, when it comes to education, We got more people reading, more literate people with access to books and information. We got more of that than maybe any other time in human history and yet are people more satisfied?

I mean, do we look around and see people more happy? Not at all. Are we more technologically advanced? Yes. But are we better? Are we happier because of that? Some of the most educated people in the world are the most miserable people in the world, as many philosophers, you know, have taken their own lives as, you know, ignoramuses. The thing is, wisdom is a pain in the neck.

Solomon knew that. And you know what? Solomon had more pain then than any other person. Right? He says if in the increase of wisdom, there is much sorrow as the wisest one who ever lived. That meant he had the most pain. Even look back at verse chapter one, verse 16. He said, I have required great wisdom surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. That sounds good in that verse, but by the time you get to verse 18 and he says what the conclusion of that is, in much wisdom, there's actually a lot of sorrow. It's not, again, a pretty picture. Education, wisdom, knowledge, those things cannot provide for you happiness in life.

They may do it on a temporary basis, but not on a permanent and definitely not on an eternal basis. Now, let me give two warnings before I conclude this morning. First of all, this is not a statement about knowledge of God. This is not a statement about knowledge of God. This is a statement about knowledge of things under the sun. Now in my illustrations, I gave a couple examples of knowing more sin, knowing more about sin, knowing more about my own sin, that brings an increase of sorrow and pain, but that's actually, that's appropriate. I mean, that's good. Because that drives me back to God. I mean, that's beatitude kind of stuff, okay?

Knowledge of God is not included in this as you know more about God, and that in and of itself is sorrowful and grief. Though again, depending on how you look at it, it can't make us sad, sad and sorrowful that we're not following him more closely. But again, that's different. There is no encouragement here for us to then not study God or know God. That's not what Solomon's point is. His point is that in life under the sun, no amount of knowledge, wisdom, experience, education is going to fill that hole in your heart. Only God is gonna be able to do that. So obviously then knowing God and understanding God is a key thing.

By the way, that's why he wrote Proverbs, right? So that we could have wisdom. Wisdom as relates to living before God. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter two. Down in verse 13 he says, then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly as there is more gain in light than in darkness. He is not saying that even though there is an increase of sorrow and wisdom that then you should try to be dumb for the rest of your life. That's not his point. His point is that even if you are wise, you're going to die like the fool.

The same end comes to you, and even if you're wise, you can't make your life better, still has to be depending on God. But he still says wisdom is better than folly. That is, again, part of the reason he wrote the Proverbs to give us wisdom, and certainly he's not meaning to suggest that knowledge of God is unimportant or that we shouldn't pursue that. That's one warning. The second warning is, and I just know that we can't finish this morning without dealing with the dangers for some of you sluggers out there who are gonna use this passage as a reason for not doing your homework. You know, you're gonna go home and you're gonna be like, but mom, it's all vanity and striving after wind.

The Bible says so. Okay? And again, Solomon is not giving you a reason to be lazy. He is not writing in order to make you dumber. He wants us to be wise and not fools. He doesn't suggest that what he learned, that the things he learned were of no value at all for the sake of his work for the sake of his enjoyment. What he says is wisdom cannot provide meaning to your life. It's a line there. Wisdom cannot fill in the hole that only God can fill that is in your heart. Wisdom is not in and of itself a bad thing. Wisdom is better than folly, you ought to then pursue wisdom, just recognize that if wisdom is your God, you're going to be pretty miserable.

Well, maybe there's hope in folly. I mean Solomon says, no hope in wisdom to provide meaning in life. Maybe there's going to be some hope in fun. Well, come back next week and we'll begin looking at verses one through eight, where Solomon moves on from pursuing life in wisdom to pursuing life in pleasure, pursuing life in humor, pursuing life in alcohol or getting a buzz, pursuing life in stuff or money, pursuing life in work, pursuing life in power or position, pursuing life in music, pursuing life in sex and relationships.

He's going to shove our faces. He's going to move us out of the, looking into the compartment of wisdom. And he's going to move us along. He's going to slide our face right along the looking glass. You know, like somebody is shoving your head down on the spit shield at the salad bar, sliding you along, looking at all the different options. He is pointing our faces. pointing our faces right into what He has pursued, what He has examined, and His conclusion is nothing under the sun is going to bring us satisfaction. I'll mention this again next week. You know, I was originally thinking as we were going to move into chapter 2 that it was going to be more preventative medicine, and for some of you it definitely will be hopefully preventative of medicine and discourage you from going down those roads before you get on them in the first place.

But like I said last Sunday, even looking at some of the things on the internet that some of you have up there, I mean, you are right there. And you're arguing with Solomon that you're going to find life there. You're going to find life in some of this other silly, fun, pleasurable kind of stuff in the world. It's not there. Some of you perhaps have had wisdom or education as an idol. And I'm not saying don't pursue wisdom, but don't think that that's gonna be the meaning in your life. Whatever college you go to and grades you get and career you have, that's not gonna do it for you. Only God can do it. Few questions just to suggest for your small group time.

What are some of the reasons that make Solomon's thought trustworthy. And I've mentioned that multiple times, but just to drive that into your mind one more time that this guy is worth listening to. What are some of the reasons that make Solomon's thoughts trustworthy? A second question might be, what are some of the limits of wisdom and why? I mean even as junior hires or high schoolers or certainly as staff, I mean you have learned certain things that still haven't gotten you what you wanted, even from your own experience, let alone from this passage, what are some of the limits of wisdom and why? Third question is, in light of question two, why pursue wisdom at all? I want you to be able to answer that. Just because wisdom under the sun is vanity, does that mean we shouldn't pursue it at all? You got to be able to think right about that and then fourth, is your head out of the trash can of life? That was a phrase from last week. Or are you dumpster diving, swimming around down in the garbage to try to find something satisfying? And maybe even if you don't

answer that out loud, I mean that's that's the question you got to think through in your heart. What are some of the reasons that make Solomon's thoughts trustworthy? What are the limits of wisdom? Why? In the light of question too, why pursue wisdom at all? And is your head out of the trash can of life? Perhaps your small group leaders will have other questions. Maybe you have some other questions to talk through as well. And I hope that'll be a profitable time this morning. And then perhaps if you return to that Wednesday night. Father, we live in a culture that has both pursuits, pursuits of wisdom and pursuits of folly for the sake of finding meaning and we just won't find it if it's not in you.

bring us to the end of ourselves, the end of our wisdom, the end of our strength, and throw us then completely, totally on you. We cannot make straight what you have made crooked. We cannot count what is lacking. You've not given us that ability even with the most wisdom we could get. So again, turn our eyes upward and give us a love that is otherworldly beyond just under the sun. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Take out your copy of God's word and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter one. I Love being with you guys whether that's Sunday morning or Wednesday nights or visiting your small groups or when you stop by my office or other different places One of the things I enjoy doing with you the most is singing And that's why I'm always trying to say how much I appreciate our worship team or Mr. Sar when he leads us. There is something very special about our singing together corporately. I think that's one of the things that those of you who went on the snow retreat last year got to experience and to appreciate even a little bit more.

I thought you guys did an excellent job singing this morning and you know what? It is very hard to sing vigorously if your heart is in the wrong place. Not necessarily impossible. I mean, you can be putting on a good show, I guess, and have your heart in the wrong place. But for the most part, it's hard to sing songs like this and have your heart be somewhere else. You know, even as you guys sang, I was in the back of the room and you sang strong, it seemed like, and most of you were paying attention to that part of our worship together. That's very encouraging to me. There are not as many things other than maybe individual conversations where I hear, you know, what you're learning and what is, you know, taking up your mind.

Those things encourage me, but to listen to you sing together, songs with content like that is something that very much so makes my heart happy. What at the very same time though is going through my heart this morning is a significant degree of sadness because in fact without that singing together, that'd probably be the majority of it would be sadness. Now I'm going to address this more a little bit next week two before our small group times. But it really seems to me that so many of you have given your heart to pursuing loves that are found in this world. I came across some things on the internet this week written by some of you.

And I'm not this week or next week gonna name names. They are things written by some of you that are so disturbing to me that I will actually be, I've thought about it, I've talked to Mo about it. And it's such a degree of loving the world and the things in the world that as a shepherd, as one who's gonna give answer to you, I really have, I think no other response than to go to your parents who must, I'm praying your parents must not know. Because I would imagine that if they knew they would have to stop you. Absolutely unbelievable. Like public proof and evidence. Some of you in your own words of looking for life in all the wrong places.

to varying degrees of out and out immorality, sin kind of stuff. And obviously, that's not everybody in here. Not all of you even have internet connection. So that can't be everybody in here. And yet part of what I am afraid about is that if some of you are willing even to go to the extent of making your pursuit of life in all the wrong places public, that it's pretty likely that some of the rest of you, not all, but some of the rest of you are probably pursuing some of the same things you're just smarter than to put it on the internet. And that's really scary, because you're combining your pursuit and your loves of the world with secrecy and lying and lying, and we might not even know about it.

And that honestly, when I found, and it's not just one person, one place, one statement, and really, that ruined my day. That ruined my day. I mean, I believe in the sovereignty of God, and I trust that he is in control, And I believe that, you know, we have people who are not Christians in here. And if you're not a Christian, obviously you're not going to be pursuing the righteousness and pursuing, you know, holiness and God and loving Him above all things. I understand that.

And yet putting on the face when you're around me, apparently when you're around your parents, Apparently, when you're at small group, that you're claiming to love other things. You're claiming to be a lover of God and His things. When, again, that's just not evident in your life. And for any of us this morning, whether you're putting, you know, you're parading your pursuit immorality for everybody else to read on the internet or whether you're not, you know, making it public, but that's exactly where the loves of your life are. That's bad. And ultimately, part of the point of even studying Ecclesiastes is just to remind you that it doesn't matter what it is under the sun.

You're not going to find eventual, long-lasting, truly satisfying happiness. As I was preparing for the message this morning, I found this kind of extended quote. I don't actually know who wrote it or what the context is, but seems interesting. I thought it might be helpful to again start with, give me, most of us have stood toe to toe, eyes popping, neck veins bulging, saliva flying. That's kind of a funny picture. your head is whipping from side to side and your saliva is, you know, shooting out of your mouth. Saliva flying, screaming at life. Most of us have grabbed life by the throat, slammed it up against the wall, sunk our thumbs into its jugular and shrieked.

Give me meaning. Give me purpose. Give me peace. Give me happiness. Give me something worth living for. I demand it. I cannot go on without something worth living for. And for many of us, life stares back like a zombie, with unblinking eyes, untouched by our outburst. Nose to nose with us, it breathes its foul, uncaring breath into our nostrils, and its unfocused eyes look past us, unconcerned and even unaware of our presence. It was though it never hurt us. rage, fueled by alarm we wail, but you promised, you promised me meaning, purpose, and love. You led me to believe I could succeed, that I could matter, that someone would care.

You lied, you lied, you lied. Mixed with panic and despair, we slumped to the floor, eyes unfocused, head drooped to our chest, wondering where we go from here. We cannot give up, yet we cannot go on. Meanwhile, life turns its back and shuffles away from us, leaving us alone. We think our heart will break. We think our mind will split. We think our soul will shrivel like weak old roses. And that's probably a little bit more dramatic and emotion packed than maybe something that I would have written. But I shared it because I do think it's so extreme and so perhaps even for some of you apropos that is hitting right where you're at.

Depressed and frustrated and bored, unsatisfied by what this life has to offer. Again, I thought that might hit some of you where you are and your hearts are this morning. By the way, something I haven't mentioned yet, if you're looking for a good resource to kind of study on top of our study through the book of Ecclesiastes would be John Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life. I'd mentioned that a couple of years ago, I think at this point, Don't Waste Your Life. And from an entirely different perspective, different way of going at it than really the book of Ecclesiastes, Piper addresses some of these same kind of issues.

Again, if you're looking for something to read, you're looking to find some meaning in life, and maybe we're not moving fast enough through the book of Ecclesiastes, then that would be a resource for you. Don't waste your life. We have studied so far in chapter one, verses one through 11. And we have seen the motto and the theme really for all of Solomon's book. Habel, Habalim, Hakol, Habel.

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Everything is meaningless. Everything is vanity. You will find it to not satisfy even if you can get a hold of it. Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity. And maybe some of us are kind of holding out hope that after verses 2 through 11, we've seen the motto, we've seen the theme, we've seen this meaningless monotony, the vain repetitions of life.

We've seen that nothing is new, you can't be original. You're not going to find something out there that maybe nobody else has thought of. Uh, we've hoped perhaps that there is an escape route. Maybe Solomon is just overstating the case in verses one through 11. Maybe this is just, you know, some hyperbole. Maybe he's just exaggerating. Maybe in fact, he's lying to us that in life under the sun, there actually are some, some, some routes we could go if we could just find them. And I'm afraid that, again, some of you here this morning are actually still believing that. You hear, all is vanity, and you're kind of, you know, hoping that maybe that's not true.

That maybe, you know, the secret is just something that you haven't found yet. The secret to life is out there under the sun, and you just haven't come across it yet. Wherever you think you know what it is, and really from chapter one, verse 12 through the end of chapter two, Solomon is going to shut off every possible escape route you can come up with. In chapter one, verse 12, we move into the autobiographical section of the book of Ecclesiastes, where after his introduction, where he said, he's given us even this poem in form of everything is vanity and then you die. Now he's going to tell us in chapter one, verse 12, through the end of chapter two, he's going to show us all the places he went to try to find meaning for life under the sun.

In chapter one, verses 12 through 18, he's going to tell us he thought maybe he could find life in wisdom. We'll come back to that in just a moment throughout chapter two. I'd encourage you even to read ahead for the next couple of weeks as we dive into chapter two. And you're going to see that you are not going to find life, by the way, in fun. You're not going to find life in girls or boys. You're not going to find life in pleasure. You're not going to find life in alcohol and by that extended on drugs. You're not going to find that in your work. You're not going to find that anywhere. And Solomon is going to describe to us how he pursued all these different ways, all of these different avenues to find meaning and hope in life under the sun, and he's going to shut them all off. Say, nope, been there, done that, can't find life there.

Walk down that road, bend to the end of it, dead end. In our passage that we start with this morning, he's going to report to us his project of searching for wisdom. And You know what his verdict is going to be. Will wisdom bring him meaning and satisfaction in life? His verdict is Habel, vanity, even wisdom, the pursuit of wisdom for wisdom's sake under the sun, vanity, empty, useless, meaningless. Before we actually get into the paragraph, let's read it. I just want to point out a couple things that kind of stood out to me and then we'll go through it verse by verse. Ecclesiastes chapter one verse 12, I the preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done unto the Son and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. But his crooked cannot be made straight. What is lacking cannot be counted. I said in my heart, I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me. And my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge, and I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after the wind, for in much wisdom is much vexation.

And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Now the point of this paragraph clearly has to do with the idea of wisdom. Everything in verses 12 through 18 has to do with wisdom. I can tell you that this is one of the keys to Bible study, okay? Trying to, you know, reveal some of the secrets of Bible study right here, right now, telling it to you. One of the ways you can help determine what is the main point of the paragraph is if there is a word that just keeps coming up verse after verse or sometimes multiple times in a verse. That's one of the ways. One of the ways to know the main point of the paragraph is to look where?

In the first sentence, sometimes it's in the last sentence, sometimes it's looking for things emphasized, and one of the ways things are emphasized is by just repeating them over and over and over again. I do that when I'm teaching things I really want you to get. I repeat. And so there is this word that is repeated multiple times throughout the paragraph. It is the word wisdom. Like a verse 13, I applied my heart to seeking to search out by wisdom. Verse 16, wisdom is used twice. I said in my heart, I have acquired great wisdom. I had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. Look at verse 17, I applied my heart to know wisdom.

Verse 18, and much wisdom is much vexation, so on and so forth.

is clear at the point of this paragraph has to do with wisdom. It has to do with the pursuit of wisdom and look again at the commitment to this project that Solomon is making. This is not a half-hearted pursuit of trying to find meaning in life from wisdom, from knowledge. This was a commitment that he made twice he repeats the phrase I applied my heart verse 13 I applied my heart what is the NAS we have at the beginning of verse 13 I set my mind anybody have the NIV I thought to myself okay it's the idea of giving one self holy to devoting oneself to the pursuit and then obviously the the pursuit is that pursuit of wisdom and knowledge. I applied my heart, I gave myself thoroughly, completely to, I set my mind. It was my one goal, my one mission in life. Three piece pink polyester suit. Anybody out there? Okay. It was his goal, his mission here to find wisdom, to get wisdom, and to see if in wisdom that would provide for him the answers he was longing for. It was a commitment that he made. Look how not only was he committed, but his search was

comprehensive. Verse 13, this is an amazing idea. I think only Solomon probably could say this as the one God said was, you know, given the most wisdom ever. But the comprehensiveness of this commitment, verse 13, I applied my heart to seeking to search out wisdom by all that is done under heaven. And again, my Maybe we would think that's just hyperbole exaggeration, but he keeps repeating this idea verse 14 I have seen everything that is done under the Sun everything Down in verse 17 then I'm sorry verse 16. He says my heart has had great Experience of wisdom and knowledge this was not again some half-hearted effort that he made towards getting the meaning of life From what he could learn and what he knew from education Wisdom. He was committed to it. His search was comprehensive. His conclusions then are based on observation and experience from everything done under the sun. He's seen all of it. And yet, what is also a pretty clear emphasis throughout this passage is his cynicism. He was committed

to it. His search was comprehensive. But I mean, very quickly we see that he doesn't have really anything positive to say about this pursuit of wisdom. He says in verse 13, it's an unhappy business. One commentator talked about it being a lousy job. It is a lousy job, this idea of living under the sun. He calls it vanity again. There's our key word really for the whole book of Ecclesiastes. Hebel, all is vanity. Then he adds in this new phrase, we'll come back to striving after wind. Striving after wind a couple times. Beyond that, verse 15, the crooked can't be straightened, the lacking can't be counted. Verse 18, he says wisdom and knowledge is just pain.

Wisdom is a pain in the neck or pain in the head, as may be the case. really two reflections, I guess, as he's trying to make his point here. He gives us really one, the first reflection in verses 12 through 15, and then he gives a second reflection, basically, which is pretty parallel to the first one in verses 16 through 18. And in both reflections, we're going to see him describe his position, and then we're going to see his pursuit, and then he's going to give a pronouncement of his conclusion, and then he's going to summarize it with a proverb. You liken the alliteration. I know it. Again, he's going to describe for us his position. He's going to tell us and describe for us his pursuit. He's going to make his pronouncement, his conclusion, and then end each section with a proverb. Both of the reflections have those four elements. And we're going to look at the first reflection.

By the way, Doug Wilson begins his commentary on this section by saying the descent into hell begins. As Solomon then goes to try to find meaning in life in all of these places from chapter 1 verse 12 to the end of chapter 2. Again Doug Wilson's comment was the descent into hell begins. Rick Holland who was my boss down at Grace Community has preached the Ecclesiastes. He described it this way. He said, we're going to follow Solomon as he dies headfirst into the trash can of life, into the trash can of life. He's diving headfirst in to try to find something substantial, something significant, something meaningful in life.

I haven't had first in the trash can. That's a real positive ways to describe this autobiographical pursuit, right? Yeah, not really. In verses 12 through 18, Solomon is looking for life from wisdom. I think we could say in our terminology today, we talk about it as education. Solomon is looking for life in the best education he can get. He's looking for life in knowledge. And NBC does tell us that knowledge is what? Knowledge is power. power. The star shoots across the screen. Ding, ding, ding.

Knowledge is power. Looking for life in wisdom, looking for life in education. And verse 12 gives us Solomon's position. I, the preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. Now, some translations have I was king, and this is just kind of interesting, but the verb there, I was king or I have been king, depending on how your translation has it. Some people have gone so far as to say, this is proof that Solomon wasn't the author because it's saying I was king, like it's past tense and done with. That's why I think the translation have been, that is something that started in the past and has continued up till now.

I have been, doesn't say that he wasn't then still at the point. I have been and now still am as opposed to I was like, I'm not anymore. But some people have used this as a verse to say that Solomon isn't the, the author. And I'll come back then in just a second. One commentator went so far in his explanation of how the, how he was saying it was Solomon, but this is what he said. He said, one of the oldest explanations is that given in the rabbinic tradition as exemplified in the Targum. The Targum was a Jewish commentary on the old Testament. The Aramaic translation fills in the narrative gas by stating that the demon, Ashmadi, seduced King Solomon from the throne.

Thus, for a period, it was appropriate for the living Solomon to say that he was king. So someone went so far as to say that some demon seduced King Solomon away from his being king for a while, so that even when then Solomon is writing the book of Ecclesiastes, He was now being possessed or whatever seduced by this demon so that he was no longer king. Now there's one really big problem with that. It's not in the Bible. So I thought that was kind of interesting. That's why I shared it with you. This is Solomon though. Now he's moving into first person, right? All of verses 1 through 11 have been third person. So from basically chapter one verse 12, all the way up to chapter 12, I think verse seven or eight, it's all speaking in first person.

I this, I that the beginning and the end are the third person kind of bookends. Which again, I still think is Solomon who was writing those, not somebody else. But as I said before, Solomon is the only one other than David to rule over Israel from Jerusalem. It has to be King Solomon. other people were called King over Israel, none of them were called King over Israel from Jerusalem. Here's a little bit of history for you. After Solomon, the kingdom was divided, right? There was the northern and the southern kingdom immediately following Solomon. And was Jerusalem in the north or the south? It was in the south. Well, that's something interesting because it was only the kings of the north that were called King over Israel. The kings of the south would have been kings over Judah. And so the only one, only two who could ever say they were king over Israel in Jerusalem was David and his son Solomon.

So again, this is Solomon reminding us of his position, reminding us that he was king, reminding us that he had the resources and access to whatever he wanted to to try to make his pursuits realized. I mean if anybody then had the money to buy books, I mean I think that would be one good reason to be king. As far as I'm concerned I'd like to be king maybe just for a little while doesn't even need to be for very long but if I could be king just for a while to buy some books, I'm liking books. Solomon had the money to buy as many books as he wanted to read what other people had to say. I mean books would have been expensive, they would have been rare. Solomon as the most rich king ever probably had access to all the books. He probably had access to fly in for seminars, you know, the world experts on whatever it might be. I mean, undoubtedly he had assembled for himself some wise guys, philosophers, some people who he could interact with. I mean it seems like he enjoyed wisdom and that kind of maybe banter back and forth. Again as king he

would have had access to do that whenever he wanted. Remember that Solomon's reign was a peaceful reign in the sense of he didn't have lots of battles to go fight with other nations. His father David had lots of battles but Solomon's reign was really one of peace for the most part. At least peace towards other nations. So I mean what did the guy have to do? I mean he built lots of buildings and his architecture was amazing. He interacted with other kings and national leaders. But obviously this was a guy who could pursue whatever he wanted. He had time to do that. And so by telling us, reminding us that he was king, it gives us his position. We're studying his story and he had all the resources there were to make this in-depth investigation. Well, verse 13 tells us his pursuit.

And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. As I mentioned before, the phrase I applied my heart or I devoted myself or I set my mind is a phrase that occurs not only again in verse 17, but also even later in the book in chapter eight, chapter eight, verses nine and verse 16. This is actually a regular phrase, not only for Solomon, but a regular phrase in the old Testament. It's almost even a formula to describe a reflection. You know, you can kind of picture Solomon maybe at this point in time sitting back in his office chair, you know, putting his legs up on his desk and stroking his goatee.

At least that's what happens for me. You know when I'm really offensive, contemplative. You know when I'm just sitting back and reflecting on, you know, something that has happened. I have to do that. I'm not a really fast, kind of know what I think about something kind of person. So I have to kind of sit there and just be still and be quiet and let it kind of go over in my mind. You kind of get this picture from this phrase as Solomon is then introducing to us what has happened. This is not the beginning of the process. This is the end. This is his reflection on it. I applied my heart to seek and search out. Now these verbs are for the most part synonymous.

It's just kind of a adding the second one to the first one in order to to say that This was something he applied himself to pretty vigorously. Some commentators have suggested some slight differences. This is kind of interesting. For example, they suggest that the verb seek means to penetrate to the root of a matter. Like the word seek is one that would be used with something that you have in hand and that you kind of put under the microscope. So it's kind of the detailed search. penetrating to the root is what they say seek means. Whereas the other verb search to seek and to search out had the idea of to kind of go out and explore maybe the unknown. Maybe it wasn't then something that you put into the microscope and examined so closely that you had but you would go out and try to find new things and explore and learn about them. Perhaps that's the difference in these two ideas to seek and to search out. The ultimate point of both of them though is just to describe the the deepness or the depth and the wideness of his search here.

He went deep and wide, deep and wide. There was a pursuit of his wisdom flowing deep and wide.

Know how he did this as well. He said, I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom. This was no willy-nilly pursuit. I mean, this was by wisdom. He applied his wisdom even to how he pursued it. I mean, you kind of get the picture of a scientist, you know, who is by trial and error going through all the different options. I mean, I learned a lot of things in my life by trial and error. I give this a shot, that doesn't work, you know. It's kind of like those cars that you got when you were a kid that you know you turned on and they continually went forward until they ran into something and you know they ran into something and then they know to back up but there's no real steering it's just they back up turn a little bit until they run into something else you know you kind of get that idea but this was running into things backing up and going another way by wisdom scientific observation coming up with a hypothesis, running a test, and then determining your conclusion.

Is that how the scientific process goes? You come up with a hypothesis, a theory, and then you test it, and then you make conclusions based on that. People give their entire lives to doing that with rats or whatever else it might be. Solomon was doing that with the pursuit of wisdom. He was seeking and searching out by wisdom to get wisdom. And again, the comprehensiveness here, all that is done in heaven. Now this implies at least that his conclusions are without exception. It implies he has investigated it all and he didn't miss anything. He didn't come short of the end of his test. The electricity didn't go out before he finished the last page of the book.

Or his candle didn't flicker out. He didn't hide it under a bushel, no. He finished his investigation. And he can't get more than one sentence into describing his investigation before he says it is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of men, of man to be busy with.

seen everything under the that is done under the sun and behold all is vanity and striving after wind this is his pronouncement his conclusion it's vanity it is empty useless his pronouncement then in particular this last phrase and we'll be finished with it this morning at this point but striving after wind. This is the first time he's used that phrase. He'll use it a couple more times again in the book of Ecclesiastes. Even in this paragraph he'll mention again striving after wind. Now just think about that. That's a rather self-explanatory phrase. You know I'm trying to think about it. I've never tried to run down the wind. I've never tried to do that. I'm thinking about trying it just to see you know and to experience for myself how fruitless that would be you know you can just kind of picture the the situation maybe you put your spikes on and you're running shorts on and that's a windy day and you go outside and you get in your maybe get the blocks get some starting blocks for all you track people right and you can't see the wind but you know it's

there. And so you get down in the blocks and boom you're off to try to catch it. Trying to catch the wind. Now how do you know when you've caught the wind? Hmm that might be the first problem. First thing that goes through your mind as you're running along at full speed. Are you gonna turn around? Gotcha! Is it at the end? Is it at the beginning? Where is the wind? How are you catching Matt, what are you catching that with? I mean, you're gonna turn around really quick and like open up a parachute backwards, you know? Gotcha! Now let's assume that even you've done that and then you wrap the parachute up and you're like, I got the wind.

Poof! And you take it over to the bench and you're out of breath and then you open up your parachute. Thought I had it. Doesn't maybe look like I do. Right? I mean, that's stupid. That's silly, but it's a pretty vivid graphic picture of what looking for life under the sun is like. In particular, looking for life in wisdom. Education, thinking that knowledge is going to provide for you all you're looking for. It is striving after wind. You're not going to catch it, and even if you did catch it, I mean, what benefit would that be? I mean, your hands would still be empty. And that's kind of the point. We'll have to finish the rest of this paragraph next Sunday morning before small groups.

That'll be great. And I'll lead into a discussion about it. But before I pray to finish us this morning, I just wanna come back and remind you That even if you're hiding your loves from me, small group leaders, friends, parents, if you are hiding your loves in this life from all of us, the one that you'll have to answer to is still God, and there is no hiding from him.

But the end is still the same either way. wants us to love him with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength. I'm praying that you would do that this week. Father help us to get this perspective and to learn from Solomon now as young people rather than to waste our lives and squander the opportunities that we have wasting our lives then diving down into the trash can of life to see what we can come up with. Solomon's testimony, his message to us through your spirit, something convicting and challenging and correcting. Turn each of us to you this week. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.

But the end is still the same either way. wants us to love him with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength. I'm praying that you would do that this week. Father help us to get this perspective and to learn from Solomon now as young people rather than to waste our lives and squander the opportunities that we have wasting our lives then diving down into the trash can of life to see what we can come up with. Solomon's testimony, his message to us through your spirit, something convicting and challenging and correcting. Turn each of us to you this week. We pray all this in Christ's name.

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

How many of you have seen the movie called The Rookie? The Rookie is actually not a cartoon, and yet it is still rated G. There are almost no movies out there that are like new at all that are ever rated G. Most of them are cartoons, and some of the cartoons even are not even rated G any longer. But The Rookie is actually rated G. And so I can't think of anything that's obviously immoral in the movie that I can think about. Don't quote me on that even though I'm being taped. Nevertheless, a great movie, one that I have enjoyed multiple times, and of course it's a little bit closer to my heart maybe than to some of your hearts because the rookie relates to someone who plays what?

baseball. That's right. And of course the rookie is this story about this old guy who's not particularly old but I think he's actually 36 or 37. So true story or based on a true story most of it in the movie is true. There's only a couple things that they took some dramatic license with. Basically this old guy was a good baseball player now coaching a high school baseball team. Again most of you raised your hand saying that you had seen him before. So so you understand the story. But there's one part in particular. He basically tries out makes makes the call back. They come and look at him again and then he decides he's going to play for some minor league teams or this minor league team for the the Tampa Ray devil raise. There you go. Thanks, Jake. I appreciate that.

And so anyway, he's playing minor league ball and the season's going on. And you know, he's getting like 25 cents a day for a paycheck, something like that. And basically he's doing okay, but he's not doing so great. It seems like he's wasting his time. And so basically one night he's basically just kind of depressed and down and then he sees himself on TV. They had interviewed him weeks before and so he sees himself on TV talking about baseball as just being a game, being fun. So he got goosebumps again. But basically, he stops watching himself on TV, he goes out and he starts watching this little kid's game. And he like winks or whatever at the left field or who's out, you know, whose uniform doesn't fit him and his hat is on his head crooked and all these kind of things.

And so basically, it gets all pumped up. He was going to quit the team, but the next scene you see him is walking into the locker room the next day and he goes up to one of his friends and he says something to the effect of hey, Brooksy, guess what we get to do today? He's got this huge smile on his face. Hey, Brooksy, guess what we get to do today? And Brooksy's not really saying anything back and then the character says we get to play baseball. You remember that? We get to play baseball. And he was just extremely excited about it. I mean, there was something in him that was a motivating kind of joy and satisfaction in finally getting some perspective and remembering what it was that he loved to do, which was play the game of baseball.

And you know, that used to be the case for me. I used to have that kind of joy when it came to baseball games and really a lot of different kind of sporting events. But you know, as I was thinking about even preparing for the review this morning. Here's the question I have for you. Guess what we get to do today?

We get to study God's word. And I'm thankful that in my own life, I don't think there's anything wrong with playing baseball or playing sports or extracurricular activities. That's not my point. But God has even within me driven me or given me this passion and this excitement and this zeal to be with you guys and to study God's word and to whatever we do work towards every one of us becoming complete in Christ and you know sometimes I need to wake up in the morning and maybe look in the mirror and say guess what I get to do today I get to work on helping other people become complete in Christ and that is the thing that gets me excited and I'm I'm hoping that that's something that God grows even in you and excitement for.

As we come now to the school year, and this is the first Sunday school has started, all of you probably are back to school in one way or another. And so it's not gonna take long before you lose some of that beginning of the year excitement. It's not gonna take too long. Maybe you never had it to begin with. Maybe it's already gone. Maybe you had it. And by 815, on Wednesday morning, it was already gone. I realize that's possible as well.

But I am committed to not only for the rest of this year and hopefully for the rest of my life, but in particular, even on Sunday mornings, coming and giving it our all when it comes to the book of Ecclesiastes. Sunday mornings seem to be tough for so many people. Sunday mornings generally are tough for most people because they went to bed on Sunday morning sometime, like 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. hanging out with other people. And so most of you come in, even if you went to bed at a normal time, most of you come in and you're tired. And you're tired from the week, you're tired from all your responsibilities, whatever it is that you have to do.

You're thinking about maybe already the stuff that you have to do the upcoming week. And so it's easy to come to church. It's easy to even come into 128 on Sunday morning and just sit there. And to expect me to do Will Smith impersonations and to keep you entertained or to do whatever else. And so you just sit there, you just kind of hang back. I know that's how most of you endure your small groups on Sunday morning. You get to small groups and your leaders start asking you some questions and basically you just sit there using it more like a nap with your eyes open than taking advantage of the opportunity. And I just want to say as we even talk about the review this morning of Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verses 1 through 11 that this is something that we ought to get excited about, something that we ought to give effort to do.

And for my part at least, that's what I want to commit to put into it. I'm hoping that you'll want to do the same. This morning I really am going to just try to review and give you some highlights of things that we've already talked about. One of the reasons that I want to do this is first of all because some of you seventh graders maybe have heard one part of one message out of the six or seven that I've done in Ecclesiastes so far. So if you're a seventh grader, a new seventh grader who came in in June, as I look back on my calendar, you might have heard one message, and that's not really a whole lot based on all that we've tried to cover so far.

That's one reason that I want to kind of, again, give some of the highlights of what we've talked about. A second reason, though, is because May 29th, I think, was the last Sunday in my series on Ecclesiastes, and I think there might have been one in July that I just threw in there, but otherwise we haven't been talking about Ecclesiastes for maybe three months. And so most of us have probably forgotten, you know, because most forget the day after, let alone three months later. But again, so just some highlights. The very first thing we talked about related to Ecclesiastes were some reasons why we're going to study Ecclesiastes. And let me just remind you of those again quickly. Okay, first of all Ecclesiastes is an Old Testament book and for the most part we don't get lots of Old Testament studying. Some people read through the Old Testament, some of you even now are are in that process again, but most people stay away from the Old Testament today.

Obviously in big church most of the time the messages that we hear most of the time are from the New Testament. There's a reason for that and that's because the New Testament is really the book for Christians. I mean, it's the part for New Testament-era believers in which we ourselves are. So the church is something found in the New Testament. That's where we are. So that's where we spend the majority of our time. But there's lots of good stuff in the Old Testament. Most of the time we use the Old Testament as a place where we find the truths taught in the New Testament illustrated. That's definitely one of the things that we do. But because for the most part we don't spend a lot of time in the Old Testament I think Ecclesiastes just by you know what half of the Bible it's in might be beneficial for us to consider. A second reason I gave was that Ecclesiastes was written by a preacher and you can't beat that as far as I'm concerned at least.

Look at Ecclesiastes chapter one. At least in the ESV he's called the preacher. Preach up, preach a somebody's blog has that on it Kramer Kevin the words of the preacher the son of David King in Jerusalem you can look down at chapter 1 verse 12 I the preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem we talked about this word it's the Hebrew word cohelette or coheleth either way and it's the idea of a teacher or a gatherer of wisdom to then dispense it out to other people one of the words that I used to describe it was a pundit. Somebody who is an authority or who at least thinks they're authority on a particular subject. And so I said, this is the preacher, this is the pundit, this is the one with the perspective and the mindset and the experience to be able to give us wisdom. Written by a preacher, you can't beat that. Number three, Ecclesiastes was written by someone who had been there. And that's when I added in, this is no punk pundit. This is no authority or someone who is setting himself up as an authority

to teach or to give wisdom who doesn't have any. In fact, we talked about the fact that the author who is Solomon was by God's own commentary the wisest one to ever live. Yeah, we'll mention that again in just a moment. Ecclesiastes was written by someone who had been there, I know, for myself. It's tougher to listen to somebody who, you know, you think doesn't know anything. Sometimes that person has a position of authority that we are called to do that anyway, but other times, you know, we're looking for someone who has been there, someone who can shed some light from their experience and their perspective. And the writer of Ecclesiastes is definitely somebody who had that. It's an Old Testament book written by a preacher, written by someone who had been there. Number four, Ecclesiastes was written for who? It was written for youth, the youths. It was written for youth. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 11.

Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 9 says, rejoice, oh young man in your youth. Let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Look at chapter 12 verse 1. Remember also your creator in the days of your youth. It's written to young people, it's written to you guys, it's written to I think junior hires fall into this. 7th grade, 8th grade, I think high schoolers fall into this. 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, I think Probably even some college students fall into this. Early 20s, up into maybe 30s. They're all younger than Solomon was, and he's writing to the youth, to the young people. This is an important thing for us to get.

Here's the guy with experience, who has been there and gone through it all, and now he's writing to help those who haven't made all those choices, and who haven't walked as far down the road as he had, encourage them to make the right choices, to encourage them to have the right pursuits. And again, we'll come back to that in just a moment. It's written for you, which is a great reason to study it since we are here in youth ministry. Right. So Ecclesiastes written for you. Number five, Ecclesiastes was written to describe the emptiness of life under the sun. Look back at chapter one. Vanity of vanity says the preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. It's the Greek word or the Hebrew word habel. Hebel, habelim, hakol, habel. Vanity of vanities. Everything. All is vanity. It's empty. It is meaningless. It is a mirage. Maybe it looks like it's going to satisfy, but in the end you're gonna find that it doesn't. And I just see so many even of you, not just of youth in general, but so many even of you guys individually. I mean I could call you by name.

I see so many of you guys pursuing things, giving your life to things that are completely empty.

They may provide you for a moment some satisfaction. You might not realize that they're empty tomorrow, you might not realize that they're empty five years from now, you might not realize that they're empty 25 years from now, but when it does come to that time of realization for you, either in this life or in the next, you will see that so many of the things that you gave your time, your attention, and your money, your pursuit to, your loves are empty. They are vain. They are useless. They are meaningless. And so Ecclesiastes is a book by a guy who had been there and had more than you guys can dream about ever having. Who did more things and had more perspective on life than any of us can even imagine. Here's a guy who had been there, had it all, done it, who says, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And how crucial it is for us to get that message, to recognize that so many of us are still caught. We are earth bound, living under the sun, trying to get all of our happiness, all of our joy, all of life's profit under the sun. Ecclesiastes is going to tell us

that won't happen. In fact, number six then, as a reason to study Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes was written to highlight that only God can give meaning to this life. God is the only A heart that is in love with God, a mind that is pursuing God and the things above, that is the only way to get any kind of meaning or satisfaction, use from the things in this life.

And again, that's just kind of the counterpart to point number five about this life under the sun, just providing emptiness. God is the one who provides fullness. Life under the sun is what is vain. Life fearing God, a life before God is one that is everything. I mean emptiness or everything. Vain or real. You know, passing or permanent. I mean those are your choices. Every day you have those kind of choices. Ecclesiastes will tell us obviously which way to go. Those are the reasons, all six reasons. It might have taken me two Sundays to do what I just did in like 10 minutes. So I know some of you are wondering why didn't you just do it in 10 minutes in the first place. Hey well when you get to be the youth pastor then you can make that call okay. The second set of things that we talked about was an introduction to the book of Ecclesiastes, gave you some reasons why to to study it then just kind of gave you some background on the book of Ecclesiastes.

First of all, the author, we said the author is who? Solomon. There's lots of reasons you can go back and get these messages off the internet if you want some more description of this, but a lot of people question if Solomon was the author of this book or not. I think that's crazy. Those people who question that are not generally the ones that you would trust far enough to throw across the street anyway. So there's no reason to think that Solomon is not the author of Ecclesiastes. I mean, again, if you look at chapter 1 verse 1, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. In chapter 1 verse 12, he talks about being the preacher again, king in Jerusalem. I mean, there are only so many of those people that it could apply to.

Sons of David, that's a limited group. Sons of David who were king in Jerusalem, that's even more restricted group and namely Solomon is the only one that that applies to. So not only his claims then of the author but the description of the author throughout the book of having all kinds of resources and access to all different kinds of things is similar to what we know about King Solomon from the historical books earlier in the Old Testament and even his moral journey. I mean here is the old guy Solomon explaining what he pursued, what he gave his life to, and again we know that to be consistent with the rest of the Old Testament, what it says about him.

In talking about Solomon, we not only tried to prove as much as we could that he's the leader, we also talked about the fact that it is interesting to consider the fact that Solomon had a pretty great fall. It was bigger than Humpty Dumpty. I mean, he was up on top and he crashed. And we talked about his folly. And even though this wise guy, and I don't mean that like a wise guy, I mean, he was a wise man, okay? This wise man still pursued the wrong things and still missed the point, still went against some of God's pretty clear instructions. And so this was not a perfect man. His wisdom did not guarantee for him 100% right living.

And yet I suggested then that that's part of the power in his message. It's not that it makes him the fact that he sinned, the fact that he actually pursued some folly. That doesn't actually mean that he has nothing to teach us. In fact, that might add to the power of his message because I think from the book of Ecclesiastes, we see that he realized that he had been wrong.

He realized it. And now he's then writing to help other people avoid the wrongs that he pursued. That's a very powerful message. So he's the author of the audience, as I've already mentioned this morning, the audience from chapter 12 verse one we know are the, you, that's right. The time seems like it was written circa. You guys know what circa means? Around circle is round. Circa, kind of connected. Around approximately could be within here or there.

Circa, 935 BC. For those of you without calculators, That is a long time ago. The author of Solomon, the audience is youth, the time, a long time ago, you know, almost 3,000 years ago. And then the reason. And I really think that the reason Solomon writes the book of Ecclesiastes is for correction and for wisdom. He's writing it to correct those who perhaps already pursuing the wrong things like he had done. He was writing to correct those before maybe they got as far or as low as he himself had gone. And so and then correcting them he's also providing them with wisdom for living this life. There is an evangelistic element to the book of Ecclesiastes I think. It's a it's the element that says this life actually is meaningless and awful and And so you're going to find that as you go out there and try to grab the world by its tail and pull it down and wrap it around and stick it in your pocket.

You're going to find as you go out there that it's empty. And so don't pursue that. Don't go that route. Go the route of wisdom. And so it has an evangelistic element, at least by giving a distaste for what is in the world. It has a one to grow on element. Some of you may remember Saturday morning cartoons used to be like on NBC, I think it was, you know, Kim Fields. She was on, what was that show? Yeah.

I don't know. She was the cooking maker. There was a show where like these five, like Joe. Joe was one of the girls' names. And Kim Fields was one of the other girls who lived in this house. The facts of life! How much more appropriate could you get to the Book of Ecclesiastes than the facts of life? And the struggles of girls trying to find life under the sun is really what it was. They didn't say it that way. That's what it was anyway. So Kim Fields, you know, she had her like huge braces. She was the first one I ever heard you know said that she could pick up radio signals from from her braces but anyway she would come on and she would do these and that's one to grow on and then like the little star would fly through the air and like burst out you know one to grow on and they'd be teaching you life lessons in like 30 seconds from from whatever so Ecclesiastes has a one to grow on kind of element maybe a little bit more serious that's just what it makes my mind think of that these are life lessons.

This ought to impact your world view for the rest of your life. This ought to impact not only the decisions that you make today, it ought to impact the decisions that you make today and how you look at life forever. And so this is very much the one to grow and there are things in here that are foundational so far as values and priorities go that apply, you know, whether you're 14 or you're 84. And so a one-to-grow-on kind of element. It does also have a regret element, and I think you see some sadness here from the preacher, and you see some regret, I think, some sorrowful regret, and I think repentance leaving some of those things that he had pursued. And I think you'll find some depression throughout that hopefully will resonate with your depression that you have in pursuing life in things underneath the sun. And again, a regret kind of element. So some reasons and the introduction. And then we got into chapter one itself. And we looked at verse one, the title of Ecclesiastes, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

And these are the credentials. This is like the title page of a modern book. Tells us some very basic elements at least. In this verse at least tells us who writes it, who the author is. Ecclesiastes falls into the wisdom books of the Old Testament, the wisdom genre. Some other books like that are Proverbs. Ecclesiastes then, Song of Solomon really falls into the wisdom kind of writings. So verse one tells us a significant about. Verse two then gives us the motto or the mantra that's found multiple times throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities says the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

And I talked about that phrase, vanity of vanities being a superlative. That is it's the highest, the highest kind of vanity you can imagine that's really possible. For example, when we talk about Lord of Lords, That means he's the highest Lord, the King of Kings, the Holy of Holies. That was a common Hebrew construction to describe something that was at its height, something that was the extreme. And so Solomon is saying vanity of vanities, the most amount of vanity you can imagine is found in life under the sun.

Life under the sun is the extreme level of emptiness, that's all you got. He says all is vanity and that all means what? Everything almost. And I gave you some context about all is vanity but he wasn't saying fearing God was vanity, nor was he saying what I'm writing to you right now about all being vanity is vanity. That would have kind of missed the point. I'm writing you something that is not really important that you should listen to but not because it's meaningless but mean right so there are definitely some things that are not vanity but those are things that are beyond just under the Sun and again we'll be looking at that more so as we go through then verses three through eleven is three points in a poem. No, it is a poem that has four points. How about that? First of all is the question in verse three, what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?

And you know, I reminded you when we went through this verse the first time, there is the idea here that we want gain, that we are all looking for profit. Another way to say it is I think everybody is looking for something that's going to satisfy, satisfy their heart and their desires. Every one of you in here this morning is doing that. Every one of you is pursuing something that you think is going to make you happy. Something that you think is going to bring you joy. Something you think that's going to satisfy you in your life. Most every one of you are doing it in different ways. You're pursuing different things.

Some of you are thinking to yourself, you know what, I try to avoid doing any work I possibly can, so you're wrong. Like my goal is to sleep as much as I can and play video games and just have fun. I am not pursuing anything. And to that I would say in that very description you are pursuing happiness in doing nothing and you actually kind of goes along even with the sluggard message from last Sunday night. You are actually doing more work to keep yourself from doing other work so that you can be happy in your laziness. Some people are trying to get joy in life by doing nothing they think, but ironically they're working just as hard to do nothing as other people who are working hard to do other things. So you, whether you're a guy, girl, young or old, you are looking for something to give you profit. You are looking whether it's for money specifically or for the idea of money or for the fame and reputation that comes with money or for being the smartest person in your class so that other people can look up to you or whatever it might be,

you know, trying to look good. All of you are looking for something that's going to satisfy your heart. You're looking for some kind of profit. And the point is nothing, no hairstyle, No resume, no bank account, no nationally seen move on American Bandstand, no invention, nothing under the sun is going to bring that profit to you. on this earth, in this life, again, without respect to God, nothing just on this planet is going to bring that happiness to your heart. There is no profit. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? When you get to the end of your life and you look back and you add up all the hours you spent doing this thing or that thing, all the hours you spent at work trying to Earn money, all the hours you spent in front of the mirror trying to make yourself look pretty.

All the hours on the treadmill you spent trying to shave off the pounds, all the hours you spent doing whatever it is. You will at some point realize that there was no profit in those things if you sought meaning in the thing itself rather than doing that thing for God. No profit. It's a rhetorical question. What does man gain by all the toilet which he toils in the sun? Nothing. Nothing. That led to some illustrations in verses 4 through 7. Passing generations, the rising sun, blowing wind and flowing water. As then the author is looking even at the life around him, the world around him, he saw nothing that could prove him wrong. People are born and people die and more people are born and more people die.

The sun comes up and the sun goes down and it keeps going. The wind always seems to be blowing. It's stuck in a rut. I mean, yeah, it goes maybe through a little different path but for the most part it's always, always going and then the flowing water. I mean, rivers are always emptying into the sea and yet the sea doesn't fill up. In particular, Solomon probably had in mind the Dead Sea which actually only has an in and no out. I mean, whether it's because of the hydraulic cycle and it evaporates and goes up and just comes back and does the whole cycle again and again, the point is nothing really seems to change. Just keeps going and going and going. There's a meaningless monotony in all of life that then illustrates what life is like for us.

So verse 8 is the application. All things are full of weariness. A man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. You just keep pursuing all those things. You keep day after day, week after week, year after year. You just keep pursuing all those things over and over. Nothing seems to change. You don't really seem to get ahead.

It's the rat race. It's the gerbil on the wheel, you know, kind of feel. And it's meaningless if you're stuck with a perspective unto the Son. And so his reflection verses 9 through 11, what has been is what will be. What has been done is what will be done and there is nothing new unto the Son. Is there a thing of which it can be said? See, this is new. It has already been in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after. We are stuck in this prison of monotony. I gave you this list. Nothing has meaning, nothing is ever finished, nothing is under control, our control, and nobody cares. Nothing ever satisfies, nothing is new or original, and no one will ever remember you and then you die if all you have is this life. All those things are true if all of you have is found in things on this earth, this planet, this life. It always comes back to for us here in student ministries and I think

as Christians, it really always comes back to where is your heart. That is really the bottom line question of everything is where is your heart. You know last Sunday morning I preached in Big Church from Colossians 3 verses 1 through 4 about seeking things above, setting your mind on things above. And I talked about the contrast not being between living below and living above. It's not a contrast between living on earth and living in heaven. It's a contrast between the two ways of living on earth. It's a contrast between living on earth and having your mind stuck on things on earth, and between living on earth and pursuing the values and priorities of the things above, where God is, where Christ is. And the same as the message in Ecclesiastes, I mean, obviously Solomon, you know, was still looking forward to at 935 BC.

He, Christ had not yet come. He was still looking forward to a lot of the things that were coming in God's plan. He didn't have the New Testament to know the instructions from the Apostle Paul about setting our minds and seeking things above. And yet I think from a different perspective or from a different avenue taking a different approach that really is Solomon's point. He's not telling us that the answer is to die and get out of here. He's telling us the answer is the perspective and the pursuits that we have while we're here. Again, it's not a contrast between living on earth and living in heaven. It's a contrast between how we live on earth, living on earth, stuck on the things of earth, and a mindset that's living on earth, seeing everything in light of fear of God. That's really the phrase that Solomon will use, fearing God. Living life with a mindset, a consciousness, an awareness that there is something beyond the sun, and it is a life with and in front of God. So where is your heart? I mean, what are you pursuing? We'll have lots of

time to look at the things that Solomon pursued and how empty there are. But just even at the beginning in this review of his introduction and his poem here in verses 1 through 11, I mean, what are the things that you love? Are they things under the sun? Are they things that if you were to write them on a piece of paper and look at that piece of paper, if you could imagine yourself 20, 30, 40 years from now, would you at that point in time, can you imagine yourself at that point being pleased with these loves and these pursuits that you have right now? And I mean, what kinds of things would you like to be able to say at the end of your life on this earth that you spent pursuing?

And again, it's not necessarily an issue of, in all of the cases, doing something different as much as it is how you do what you do. I mean, obviously, you know, you shouldn't be pursuing fame and and fortune like the world does. I mean, that's gonna change some of actually what you do. But I mean, most of you are gonna have a job. I mean, you're in school, you need to go to school. Most of you are gonna have a job. Most of you are gonna live in a home and you're gonna have relationships with a spouse and children and so on and so forth. Right now you have relationship with your parents and being obedient to them.

Fearing God doesn't mean that you don't do those things, it just changes how you do them. And again, where you find value and priority, the things that you pursue. As you go into your small groups, you know, I came up with just a couple questions. I'm not the inquisitator or the inquisitor or the questioner, AKA Mr. Saar who generally comes up with some good ones. But just some basic ones, maybe your small group leaders have others that they want to talk to you about as well. But I'd ask you just to consider where has your heart been this past week? We'll just start with that. I mean, in fact, you could just answer the question, where was your heart during those two or three days of school that you went to?

Where was your heart during those days? I mean, now you're back in a swing, you get into the routine, and you say, well, you know what? My heart wasn't really in the right place this week, but it's because everything was new. Okay. Well, if I asked you that question at the end of three weeks and you say, well, my heart really wasn't in the right place because I'm just so busy. And when I asked you that question at the end of summer break and you say, well, my heart wasn't in the right place because I didn't have a routine. See, there's a pattern of excuses there for not having our hearts in the right place. And whether it's because something's new or because we're busy, or because we're tired, because we don't have routine, whatever else it is, if we miss pursuing and fearing God living life before him, no matter what the reason, then we're stuck under the sun.

Where's your heart even this past week? I will remind you, it's not gonna get easier as we go through the school year, it never does. It gets harder. And I'll just throw in for free, it doesn't get easier when you graduate from high school. And in fact, it doesn't get easier when you graduate from college.

And in fact, it doesn't get easier when you get married, or when you have one kid or more kids and have a job. I guess it gets easier when you die. But pretty much until then, it doesn't get easier. It's easiest for you now as much as it will ever be. So not a good reason or a good excuse. Second question, again, just pretty basic, similar to ones that we're always asking, but what can you do to be guarding your heart? What can you do to be directing your heart in the way it should go? I mean, maybe for some of you, that means not doing something. Maybe that means eliminating something from your schedule. Maybe for some of you, that means adding something to your schedule, like some spiritual disciplines, You know, God's word, prayer, fellowship, those kinds of things.

Maybe it just means you need to change your attitude going into a task or a responsibility. Maybe you need somebody to help hold you accountable or encourage you when you're headed into a particular task. I don't know what the thing is, but you ought to think through and come up with a plan to again guard your heart from being stuck on things under the sun and to direct it in the way that it should go. And that is seeing again, life before God. In the words of Paul, setting your mind on things above, seeking things above, not just things then under the sun. Okay, next week we will then move on into chapter one, verse 12.

And I anticipate moving full steam ahead over these next months as we go through the book of Ecclesiastes and I'm excited about it. And again, I'm hoping that you will be excited about as well and come on Sundays ready and working at your heart on your heart as God does that as well. Father, again, this is an issue of our heart. In fact, you command us to love you with all all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. You command us to do that.

That is not the option to love you wholeheartedly and passionately, affectionately. And we do confess and we do desire to then repent as well from all the things, perhaps even over the last few days that have stuck our minds on our hearts and even our loves on things that are not you, on things that are not your priorities, your values, change us, God, change each student and each staff person, change me, that we would be a people in love with you, that we would then let that impact all of our living And we would be salt and light in our schools, our jobs, our neighborhoods, even with one another.

Pray for each small group as they have some time to discuss these things now, whatever they discuss on Wednesday nights, build relationships, build godly friendships, that again, we would do this as a group, as a corporate part of the body. Make us a powerful then witness. And more than anything else, glorify yourself. Show that as we love you. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen.

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

copy of God's word this morning in turn two, Ecclesiastes chapter one, where we return after a couple of week hiatus. I would like to thank Micah for filling in the last few Sundays. I did get to see the Buddha idol on the front of the bulletin from a couple of weeks ago. Very much appreciated seeing that with the little okey dokey, I guess, that the Buddha was making. I can't get enough of that, the Okidoki.

So if you look at your bulletin, I haven't yet explained this, but on the very front of your bulletin and as you can see on the overhead or on the projector screen, some of you know what this little insignia, what this little blue magnifying glass comes from, from. And it comes from, that's right, Tiger. That is the 10.4 operating system of the Macintosh Apple computer. And this little magnifying glass is set to represent what particular part of the Tiger operating system. It's called Spotlight. And Spotlight is groundbreaking technology that that allows those of us with Apple computers to find virtually anything on our computer at a moment's notice.

It is enabling you to, when you pull up the little spotlight search function, to start typing and as you type, that is friends, as you are typing, it begins pulling up the various options and possibilities for whatever you might be looking for on your computer. Virtually rendering the folder metaphor completely unnecessary as a way to store things on your computer really completely unnecessary now because again in a moment's notice faster than you could open up Windows Explorer and find your folder and open the subfolder and open the subfolder and then double click the file that you're looking for. All you need to do is Apple Spacebar start typing.

There it is. Hit Enter, and your file is open. Searching Word documents, searching address book, searching PDFs, searching photos, you name it. Anything you want to find with the new Spotlight technology only available on the Apple computer, you can find whatever you want. Now, I do not mention that to sell you on Apple, though, why not? As we continue to grow in the computer purchases among us all here in 128, I am always feeling more at home the more apples that light up in the room when we meet together. nevertheless, it actually functions as a wonderful metaphor for the series or the point in Ecclesiastes that we are already having started and that is searching for life. See, spotlight is the best search feature available to you. See spotlight magnifying glass looking searching wondering where is it?

searching for life under the sun. You are probably going to be seeing this little Ecclesiastes searching for life under the sun for at least a year or so. I'm not exactly sure how long it will take to get through the book of Ecclesiastes at this rate. A very long time. But we get back into our study of that today with vain repetition.

Part two, Ecclesiastes chapter one versus one through 11, which we began what must have been like three Sundays ago. Are we willing to say that three Sundays ago? Sure. Why not? I'll say three Sundays ago, we began our study. Now this morning, very dramatic. I know this morning, I wanted to start with a little creative brainstorming that I did. I am not a particularly creative person. Some of you I've mentioned that to you before and you've said things like push-ah, supposedly thinking that I do have some creativity. And I would like to say to you guys this morning, I have none. I have virtually no creativity at all, but I did try to do some creativity, some brainstorming, so far as some descriptions go, some words go.

If I have any creativity, it may come as relates to putting words together, but beyond that, zero. That's right. Nevertheless, I was thinking about this actually a couple months ago. It's kind of evolved now over these last few weeks. But follow me on this one. Searching for life under the sun is like being thirsty. And then here's the following. Okay, you ready? Searching for life under the sun is like being thirsty and picking up an empty glass and trying to drink from it. Now all of these little bullet points I'm about ready to give you. are ones that you may want to write down because it's going to take you perhaps a few months to actually grasp the fullness of the significance of all these statements I'm about ready to give you.

Okay, so searching for life under the sun is like being thirsty and picking up an empty glass and trying to drink from it.

Searching for life under the sun is like being thirsty and picking up a glass full of water then realizing it was just a mirage. Searching for life under the Sun is like being thirsty and paying a fortune for a full glass of water to take a drink only to realize that it was saltwater. Searching for life under the Sun is like being thirsty and picking up a glass full of water and the glass shattering in your hand. Searching for life under the Sun is like being thirsty and picking up a glass full of water and then someone runs by right at that moment and takes it out of your hand. Searching for life under the sun is like being thirsty and picking up a glass full of water and drinking it. I know that was what you've all been waiting for now and drinking it and it's cool, crisp, clear, refreshing water and then having heart attack and dying. All those different things are meant to illustrate that there are different avenues perhaps, and there are our different paths that we take to try to find life under the sun. There are times when we

think we've found the thing that is going to give us that meaning and that satisfaction, that life that we're hungering for. There are new ways we think we've come up with that we're going to satisfied, but ultimately none of them satisfy, and even if you do get something that you think is going to satisfy you, then you die. Searching for life under the sun. And that brings us to Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verses 1 through 11, which is an entire section on the vanity of life. The vanity of life, in particular the vain repetitions in life. The three main sections in this paragraph, the title in verse 1, the motto in verse 2, and then an entire poem on vanity in verses 3 through 11, all to show us the meaningless monotony of life. The endless circle of trying to find meaning and significance, but nevertheless resulting in the meaningless monotony of life. Now, as we begin this morning, I want to give just a couple kind of footnotes. Number one is, I realized that the last time I preached, actually it was longer than three weeks ago, because three

weeks ago would have been promotion Sunday. Or three weeks ago I was preaching in big church, and four weeks ago I was promotion Sunday and so five Sundays ago was actually the last time here and I'm mentioning that because I realized some of you are new seventh graders who have not heard any of the messages yet on Ecclesiastes and so my recommendation to you if you're an incoming seventh grader or if you haven't been here for some of our messages so far is to go to the website and perhaps to download some of those messages on the introduction and then this previous message part one and listen to those and that will help bring you up to speed. But also this morning I wanted to go through some of these basic things we've already looked at because again we have some new seventh graders who haven't been with us before.

A second footnote is, and I was actually meaning to say this all last year. Yeah, I think I kept thinking about it throughout the year and meant to say it all year long, but didn't say it because, and this is a special exhortation to those of you in junior high. Where are those of you in junior high?

7th or 8th grade, raise your hands for me please. Awesome. Special encouragement from me to you this morning and that is I have been noticing that among junior hires and high schoolers for that matter, some of you seem to think that on Sunday mornings you get to check out and that's not the case. These messages that I'm teaching are just as much for you as a seventh and eighth grader as they are for the staff as they are for freshmen through seniors and everybody in between. So bring your Bibles and bring your pens and take notes on the little bulletin that we give you because these things are for you, you junior hires just as much as they are for everybody else. So when I was a junior My pastor, I was only teaching to junior hires, and so they seemed to get to the point that I was teaching to them as well.

But like all of us, even I was thinking this morning sitting through Big Church, all of the different things that Pastor Zimmer said that related to what we're talking about in Ecclesiastes, and yet I'm pretty sure that some of you were just checked out. And I don't know if you think that like his messages aren't for us as well, but they are. So again, whether you're junior high, high school, obviously staff too, but his messages are for all of us. We are part of the local Body Grace Bible Church, and just because you're a student or a young person or an adolescent doesn't mean that you just have to sit through and bear it and there's nothing in it for you.

Just the opposite. So anyway, that ends my little footnote that everything that I say here is for everybody in this room. So don't think it's for somebody else and not for you. It's meant to be for everybody. I meant to say that all last year, really. But nevertheless, we started with verse one of chapter one, the title of Ecclesiastes. Verse one is really like the title page of a modern book.

remember that I said because the title Ecclesiastes was added later. Koholeth is the Hebrew word for the gatherer or the preacher. And so Ecclesiastes, the gatherer, the speaker, the preacher, so on so forth, all those different things go together. That title is added later. And so verse 1 would have functioned as the title. It told who was writing it. Sometimes it also told who was writing to. But again, the title of Ecclesiastes, chapter 1, verse 1, the words of the preacher, the Son of David, King in Jerusalem. And I said that the author, the Son of David, the King in Jerusalem, was who? Solomon. Solomon is the only one who fits all these various descriptions, and Solomon's testimony found earlier in the Old Testament is consistent with what we find in the rest of the book of Ecclesiastes. And that brings us to the second major element in verses 1 through which is the motto of Ecclesiastes. Habel habelim hakul habel, which is Hebrew for vanity of vanities. All is vanity. Habel is the key word there obviously. It's the

word translated there vanity or vanities. That word occurs 38 stinking times throughout Ecclesiastes. That would be one of the ways to know that it's a major thing in Ecclesiastes because it's repeated so much. In its literal usage, the word habel referred to a breath or a vapor and so figuratively was used to describe things that didn't last very long that perhaps you'd try to grab. Have you ever tried to grab your breath? Some of you would like to push your breath away perhaps, but have you ever tried to breathe out, you know, like on a cold morning. Somebody's gonna get to use this after me. Breathe out and then try to grab a hold of it and you can't. It's there for moments and then it's gone. And so vanity of entities is a way to describe all is vanity that the things in life you try to grab hold of and yet they're empty. They're temporary at best. They're meaningless. They do not bring satisfaction. A motto we said is a short sentence or phrase that encapsulates someone's beliefs or ideas. And the phrase vanity of vanities is in fact just that a motto. It is

the summary statement, the ultimate banner that flies over all the book of Ecclesiastes. Hebel, Hebelim, HaKol, Hebel, all is vanity under the sun. You remember that we talked about that is pretty key when it says all is vanity, is that actually everything all? Well, yes, all of everything that is under the sun. If he would have said everything is vanity, then he would have had to have been meaning even this verse. So this verse is useless and empty and meaningless, but that obviously wouldn't go together. If you say that there is no truth, well then is what you just said true? Hmm. Talk about that later amongst yourselves.

Now the motto, all is vanity, has a context. The qualification is found in the very next verse, which we'll look at in a moment, and that is everything that is under the sun. This is a lesson that some of you, I really think this morning, may know, but are not actually practicing. There are major issues at stake if you are seeking life under the sun instead of from God this morning.

Pastor Zimmer actually read this verse, how apropos was that I thought in my own mind knowing that I was already preparing to read it for us. But look in your Bible at 1 John chapter 2, because I'm going to read a couple of verses after verse 15 as well. 1 John chapter 2, starting in verse 15, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. That's a pretty serious watershed. That is, you go either one way or the other on that. You either love the world or you love the father. You do not love the world and the father at the same time. You love one or the other. Watershed is just like the top place on a mountain where when the when the rain comes it either goes one way or the other way. And by the time it gets down to the bottom it can actually be miles, thousands of miles apart by its eventual end just from being half an inch apart at the top at the watershed.

You either love God or you love the things of the world. Verse 16, for all that is in the world, and I think we might say unto the Son, all that is unto the Son, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride and possessions is not from the Father but is from the world and the world is passing away, along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. It's a serious line of differentiation between loving God and loving the world, and everybody who is caught loving the world is going to find that those things are empty and useless, and they are passing away. And I think why I'm even camping on this again this morning is because the amount of time spent pursuing relationships or thinking about boys and girls done by so many of you in this room is maddening to me. The amount of time some of you spend on your clothes and your possessions and the what you have is burdensome to me. The amount of time spent not talking about God and Jesus and reading His word and praying and fellowshipping with one another over

spiritual and eternal things is something that weighs on me because some of you are precisely looking for life under the Sun and you're you don't think that that phrase is describing you you don't think that you know trying to get your popularity and get a bunch of friends you don't think that trying to be the cutest you don't think that having all the gizmos or whatever you don't think that that's what it is, or that you're looking for life under the sun, but I'm telling you that's precisely the same thing. Trying to find your happiness, your satisfaction, meaning in life from friends, or a boy, or a girl, or the clothes that you wear, or how your hair is, or all those different kinds of things, those mean nothing. And if you love the things in the world, the love of the Father may not be in you at all. And that has obviously eternal consequences. So I said last time we said this passage that we must let Solomon's words and wisdom kind of grind on us and weigh on us and let them leave that bitter taste in our

mouth for all that this world has to offer. That we would then long for God and what he has, hopefully Solomon will help us to see the vanity of vanities. Well that brings us then to verses 3 through 11 which is a poem on vanity. This is kind of the outline that will follow for the rest of our time this morning. Two reasons I think suggest that verse 3 begins a new section. First of all, verse 2 and its motto, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. I think that that's different than verse 3 because there's also the same verse repeated in chapter 12 verse 8. So those are kind of the bookends. Chapter 1 verse 2 and chapter 12 verse 8 kind of the bookends, and so I think it's clearly something special and set apart as the motto verse 2, and so verse 3 needs to start something new. Secondly, verse 3 really sets the context for everything that follows in these next verses, verses 4 through a In fact, everything in verses 3 through 11 seems to be kind of a proof.

This poem is proof that all is vanity. So I think verse 3 needs to go with the rest rather than be connected with verse 2. I'm suggesting that verses 3 through 11 as well are a poem, not because all of the lines rhyme, but obviously you can write many different kinds of poems where not all the lines end in a rhyme. the meter, that is the phrasing and the meter that you read this through is different than really through the rest of the book, the prose that's found even starting in chapter 1 verse 12. So there's something special here in verses 3 through 11 that Solomon is trying to kind of structure, something special there to highlight this meaningless monotony found under the Sun.

Well, we looked at before the question starting in verse 3, what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? This is a rhetorical question. That is, the answer is assumed. That is, it's assumed that everybody knows it. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? And the answer is what? Nothing. For all the work that you do, What do you get out of it? I mean, you get little things. I mean, you get a paycheck perhaps. Or you get some sense of satisfaction, at least on a temporal basis, I accomplish something. I like mowing the yard. You know, what does man gain by all the lawn mowing at which he toils under the sun?

Well, he gets his yard mowed. By the way, my dad got a new John Deere riding lawn mower. Let me use that bad boy. So I've gotten to ride two new lawnmowers. Mr. Weinberg's lawnmower, the zero turning radius. Very nice. And my dad's John Deere with like a, must be like a 14 feet deck, you know? So you take only three swaths on your yard and you're done. Something, not really like that, but it was close. Anyway, I like mowing the yard. I toil that mowing the yard and then you finish mowing the yard. But you know what? I came back from Ohio in my own yard, is like full of weeds. And I got to mow it again. And next week, hopefully I'll be able to walk around after my surgery, and I'll mow my yard again, and then drink more of my liquid diet.

Nevertheless, so far as true satisfaction, real meaning in life, none of those things, none of the work that we do provides that. Two assumptions are here. one that we want gain. Pastor Zimmer talked about that this morning. All men are searching for that satisfaction, that profit, that meaning. Everybody wants gain and we're willing to work for it. These are the two assumptions. Life is filled with want and work. Everybody wants something, whatever it is, most of us some kind of meaning in life and we're willing to work to get it. The problem is there is no profit in all of the wanting and working that we do under the Sun. Won't be found. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the Sun? Nothing. Nothing at all. Well that moves us to the next thing, which is the illustrations starting in verse four. And there are four of them.

I think I got through two of them. So see, we're rapidly coming back up at where we were five weeks ago. The illustrations, first of all, passing generations. A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. This is the first of four different illustrations that are going to show us the meaningless monotony of life. Outside of us, when we look around all creation shows us that there's lots of work and lots of stuff happening and yet nothing really is accomplished. The preacher hints at why humans don't see any profit and part of it is because they don't stick around long enough to really see the outcome of their work. We're like ants on a rock scurrying about all over the place and yet leaving no trace, no lasting trace. Is my kid in trouble? It's good for her. Men don't live forever. One group replaces another and another after that. The The stubborn earth is the only thing that remains.

Men come and men go, and yet the earth from life unto the sun's perspective is the only thing that stays. Like this verse, I don't know if I was able to read it last time, Psalm 90 verse 10. The years of our life are 70 or by reason of strength 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. Flying away is a picture there of dying that is being gone. There's a cruel irony stated by Jerome in this verse. What is more vain than this vanity that the earth, which was made for humans, stays, but that humans themselves, the lords of the earth, suddenly dissolve into dust? the earth is supposed to be for us, it's actually the only thing that stays around.

Meaningless monotony. Generations go, generations come and go and come and go. Nothing is really accomplished by any of them. This leads to the second illustration, the rising sun. Verses 5 through 7 amplify the emptiness of verses 3 and 4, showing that although creation is a hubbub of activity, no true progress or profit is found. Just like there's no gain for man in all of his toil, so there is no gain for creation on all of her toil. Creation characterized by constant change just disguises constant sameness like the sun.

sun rises and the sun goes down and hastens to the place where it rises. Now this is kind of the pessimistic way to look at it. We talked about Psalm 19.5 which talks about the sun rising and setting and coming back to do its same thing the next day like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, which is the positive way. But as we talked about as well, Psalm 19 is from a perspective that looks beyond just under the Sun from a God-glorifying perspective. The point is though here in Ecclesiastes 1 5 to accentuate the repetitiveness of the Sun. The Sun rises, the Sun sets, and then it's like picturing it hustling back to its place where it's going to rise up again. It's just doing that every day like clockwork. I like that one. Day after day, month after month, year after year.

It kind of makes you tired just thinking about it. It actually kind of makes me tired that the sun is coming up at like 2.15 in the morning right now. Even this morning my wife got up it was like five something and I would have sworn it was 10 a.m. by how bright it was outside and I kind of muttered something under my breath about how irritating that was. But it kind of makes you tired just thinking about the monotony of the sun day after day. Well that leads us to the third illustration which is blowing wind from chapter 1 verse 6. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north around and around goes the wind and on its circuits the wind returns. The wind blows on all different kinds of scales from local breezes generated by, here's some science for you, generated by the heating of land surfaces and those breezes maybe only last tens of minutes all the way to global winds resulting from solar heating of the earth.

The two major influences I found out, see I'm trying to, you know, bone up on my science here, the two major influences on the atmospheric circulation are differential heating between the equator and the poles and the rotating of the planet. So because the planet rotates, obviously some wind is produced and there are, there are winds produced by different temperatures at the equator and at the poles. However the wind or those breezes come about, however they're classified such as global winds, such as the wind belts between the atmospheric circulation cells. It's very highfalutin sounding if I could have figured that out in Latin I just sounded even smarter I'm sure. There's upper level winds such as jet streams, and by the way, jet streams can really give you a pleasant or an unpleasant flight.

There are mesoscale winds that come about from certain geographic features like the sea breeze. There are seasonal winds such as the Indian Monsoon. Some winds are so constant they even have their own names, the trade winds, the westerlies, the Nor-easter, not North-easter, but the Nor-easter winds in the eastern United States, the Santa Ana winds down in southern California, so on and so forth. We've got anim-a-meters.

Is that how you say that? I don't think it's just anim-a-meters. Anim-a-meters, how about that, to measure the wind speed, weather vanes, weather socks that give us wind speed, direction. We've got weather balloons to track how the winds are going and yet for all the sophistication to know how fast it's blowing and where it's going the wind just keeps blowing and you can't do anything about it. And there's more wind that blows the next day and you can't see it. You can see the effects of the wind, but you can't see the wind itself. Wind, the blowing wind is another example of sameness with apparent change. Seems like it's going somewhere and yet where does the wind go? Hmm, does the wind stop? I mean like when the wind stops, where does it stop?

I don't know. You know, like the fan blowing out, just think about it in a small way. When that wind is blowing over here, where does it stop? It's definitely stopping by some point over here because you guys aren't feeling it at all. They're feeling it really strong. You guys aren't feeling it at all. Where does it stop? I can't see that. And it doesn't really make any difference because it's not accomplishing anything. Maybe for Ben it's accomplishing something. then it ends. So the wind in particular gets in these ruts.

That's what that word circuits kind of refers to the wind gets stuck in its ruts and just keeps going and going and going and going. Looks like it's making a big change, a big hubbub and yet nothing is actually accomplished. No satisfaction is brought by the wind. Which leads to the last illustration flowing water. From chapter 1 verse 7, all streams run to the sea but the sea is not full, to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. This is one more illustration of ceaseless but elusive and futile change. The point is that the streams do the same thing over and over and over again and and yet the sea is never filled.

Rivers are always flowing, and yet they're never done flowing. Rivers empty into seas, and yet those seas don't get full. Now, there's no mention of the water cycle. James Barnes gave us a little insight on the hydraulic cycle a few months ago. There's no real mention of that here. Nevertheless, we know one of the reasons is that the sea is not filled as because of the hydraulic cycle. So the water out in the sea evaporates, and then it goes up into the clouds, becomes clouds. The winds in their ruts blow it back over land masses where it condenses, forming some form of precipitation. That precipitation falls down to the ground and then runs in its little streams, little tributaries into bigger streams, into cricks, into rivers back into the sea. You drink it somewhere in there and you have your own hydraulic cycle and then it goes back out, cleaned all that again and again. There is a continuous flow of water always happening and yet doesn't mean anything and it's never done. Another illustration of life and how we keep working, we keep doing, and yet it's never done.

One commentator suggested that this verse in particular referred to the Dead Sea. What's so interesting about the Dead Sea is that while the river, the Jordan River I think it is, the Jordan River comes into it from the north, there are no rivers that come out of it. And so the Jordan River is always flowing into the Dead Sea and yet the Dead Sea level doesn't rise and it doesn't overflow, spill over, there's no river going out of it and so the river always constant action and work and yet not accomplishing or producing anything of observable significance. Well this whole world in these four different illustrations, the generations and the wind and the water, all those different kinds of things are meant to be a gigantic chalkboard for us to learn from.

And in verse 8 we get this application, all things then are full of weariness, a man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear filled with hearing. This is just what the four illustrations are meant to show, that the restless activity that reaches no visible conclusion or end always beginning again and again is everywhere. generations go and come. The sun rises and sets, the wind goes round and around, the rivers ever rush to the sea, and yet all of it is just wearisome, weariness.

And when we look at it we can't even explain it. All the unending activity, we have no words. Words are inadequate to describe it. Man cannot utter it. For all of our wisdom and sophistication. We cannot explain all those things. We cannot control all those things. We try to exert influence on those things, and yet we're not bringing any rest to our lives. The wearies and lessons all around us are mind-boggling. There's nothing to say. And then in the second part of verse 8 here, the unrest in creation is a reflection of the unrest in us. The The ceaseless activity and ongoing work around us in creation is an example of the unrest and unceasing labor that we do without ever being satisfied.

The eye is not satisfied with seeing. What is the eye made for? Well, to see. So we see and we want more. The ear, what is the ear made for? Well hearing. Well hear something and we want more. You know, it's interesting, getting more hardly ever means more happiness. Getting more typically means wanting more and actually having more worry and anxiety. Solomon will actually talk about that later in this very book. Having more doesn't bring more fulfillment, but it typically makes a bigger hole. The grass will still be greener on the other side of the fence, and yet we keep chasing after the wind and grasping at oil trying to find meaning and significance in it.

This is called the law of diminishing returns. The law of diminishing returns states that for the same amount of effort and energy, you keep doing the same thing with the same amount of energy and effort, you're going to get less out of it. That's why when you're lifting weights. If you start lifting weights and you just are always doing the same thing, at some point you stop actually getting benefit out of it. You lift 10 pounds 10 times every day, you're not actually going to get stronger. You have to either increase the weight or the number of times that you do the reps. You put into ... I'm assuming that the same thing follows with drugs.

take some drugs and next time you need some more to get back to the same feeling that you had before. I'm not saying try that, I'm just saying I think that's how it works. So you get something, you know, you get the gizmo, you get the cheesecake. That's what Pastor Z was talking about. You get the cheesecake, what do you want? You want another piece or the whole thing or two whole things or a cheesecake factory. It's the law of diminishing returns.

your eye sees, it's happy with what it sees, and then it wants more. Your ear hears. Instead of being filled with that, you want more. We are insatiable. It's a good word. Insatiable just means having an appetite that's impossible to satisfy. You know, I look over at Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse 11, just to see a phrase there. The reason why the eye is never satisfied with seeing in the ear is not filled with hearing is because God has put something in all of us that makes us realize there's more even though we are all living under the Sun he has put in our hearts eternity the Khaleesi Ashi chapter 3 he has put eternity in our hearts and so we realize that even as we go around searching and working trying to get gain and profit that there is more to this life. Stephen Curtis Chapman, there is more to this life.

Augustine said the following, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. And so all this searching about, all this labor and toil, this monotony of work that we do, trying to find life under the sun, you will never find it until you are finding and searching for life in God. That brings us to the last point which is the reflection found in verses 9 through 11. What has been is what will be and what has been done is what will be done and there is nothing new under the Sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, see this is new, it has been already in the ages before us. You know maybe we think okay well we can break out of this monotony just by coming up with something new, inventing something that's original that's never been thought of before. Maybe the latest whatever will get us out of our current funk. But you know what? High-speed internet is not the answer to dial up.

It's better, but it's not the ultimate answer. Snowboarding is not the answer. You get to the bottom, what are you going to do? Well, you gotta go back up to the top again. We try to invent new things. We try to come up with the next best thing, the better thing, and yet the answer is not found there. In fact, nothing is really new anyway. Now, some people take issue with that. How can it be that there's actually nothing new under the sun? I mean, we live in the 21st century, for goodness sake. I mean, we've got all kinds of cool stuff, But the point is not that there aren't actually, you know, new colors of carpet or, you know, new technological advances or modern conveniences, as much as to say that there is nothing new in the sense that nothing new actually satisfies.

On one hand, so many of the things we think are new actually are old anyway. else has already thought about it in the past, either an idea or an actual thing, indoor plumbing is not new. They had that a long time ago, okay, in earlier civilizations. There's a lot of things that already have been in the past anyway that have just been forgotten, but secondly, nothing is new in that nothing, we can invent nothing that pierces the monotony of life that really brings meaning. The same elements of life working to get satisfaction are always the same. Birth, marriage, work, and death, those all remain unchanged. Whether it's cars or computers or airplanes, I mean, yes, some things have been invented that make life a little better, but you know what?

The idea of trying to find something that makes life easier or better has been around for a long time. for life and inventing new things is a very old idea. None of the things we come up with can stop the sun or the wind or the water or death. People keep on looking for popularity, power, happiness, and yet there is really nothing new that will satisfy. In fact, trying to come up with something new to satisfy is itself an old error. Verse 11, there's no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after. That is, even what you do now is not going to be remembered. And so somebody's going to repeat your error sometime in the future because they didn't learn from our mistakes. Meaning then can't be found in the past and it can't be found in the future. And as we've seen, it can't be found in the present either. Well here's some bullet points of my conclusions.

Nothing has meaning. Nothing is ever finished. Nothing is under our control.

Nobody cares. Nothing ever satisfies. Nothing is original. No one will ever remember you and then you die. All of that is under the umbrella searching for life under the sun. And whether that's in your gadgets or your girlfriend or your garbage, trying to think of another G, I couldn't think of one, your games, your gadgets, your girls or your games, none of those or guys, yeah, girly men, none of those things can truly satisfy you. The believer on the other hand, God gives the gift of being able to enjoy this life in all of its meaningless monotony. But there are two separate gifts there, the various things and the ability to enjoy those things. There are two gifts, not just one. Only the believer has both. The work and the ability to enjoy the work. It's the same kind of thing as a can of peaches is a gift and a can opener is a second gift. Only the believer has the can opener. That is the ability to enjoy what God has given in the monotony, the repetitions of life. In Psalm 90, verse 12, the psalmist says,

Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. And I just wonder if you will be weaned off of what the world has to offer you, or if you'll keep searching and struggling and toiling and laboring to find your gain under the sun. Some of you are doing that. Some of you are already doing that. And God is the only true source of happiness, the only eternal source of happiness. Pastor Z's messages have been saying the same thing already from the Sermon on the Mount. And listen to Solomon. He was somebody who had all of that stuff and said it didn't bring any satisfaction whatsoever. Joy only comes in God.

Father, help us to remember that. Even this week, in all the things that we do, getting up tomorrow and working again, and the next day and the next day, for all of our toil and labor, there is no ultimate meaning or profit, unless that labor and toil is done by your strength and for your glory.

Give us that mindset that can get beyond just under the sun this week, and all the things that we do, and we ask this for your name's sake. Amen. All right, lots of different signups and opportunities for you to serve. I would just take this moment to remind you that Worlds for Sale is something that benefits you. So Worlds for Sale is a lot of benefit and toil and work. Sometimes it can seem like vain repetitious work, And yet it is something that benefits 128, whether through short-term ministry projects or through getting worship team sound equipment, through supplementing and helping to pay for other events that we do, such as the kickoff, even ICTUS perhaps we'll need to provide some for.

I mean, I think on the 05SR, by not charging you more money, the 128 budget still had to pay something like over $1,000 to cover costs that we could have charged you. So World's for Sale is something that has and will continue to benefit you as students and as staff. So your labor is not completely in vain even for you.

Okay, so help us out whether that's through the drop-offs or through next Saturday the collections or through the clothes sort or through actually being there at the sale itself. So keep that in mind, all right? Well, we can leave the room. It's current status. We don't have to go through the vain repetition of setting it back up for school tomorrow. And hopefully we'll see you back tonight. Brian Ronk is actually getting baptized. He's the guy. So be here for that and then for the ice cream afterwards, all right? You guys are dismissed.

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Well, take out your copy of God's word and turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 1. Yeah. First I want to say thank you again. Seems like I do this on a somewhat regular basis, but perhaps that's because I'm thinking it on a regular basis. I want to say thank you again to all those who are part of the worship team from the guys who set up and run the sound to everybody up here who helps lead us in that worship. I greatly appreciate that. And my own heart was encouraged by being able to participate with that. And many times when I'm sitting right in front of the speaker, I can't necessarily hear everybody else because my ears are pretty well dominated by something that's almost as big as I am giving sound out.

But even standing in the back this morning, which is behind everybody's mouths, it seemed like many of you were singing and and worshiping God through that this morning. So, and I just want to say thank you. I am benefited by doing that with you all. Thank you to the worship team who led us in that. This has been for me at least a great and a directly, immediately applicable passage this week.

The one that I'm going to share with you this morning, the one that I have studied throughout the week, has been beneficial for me to be studying and thinking about throughout the week because it seems like much of my week has been one exercise in futility after another. And I don't always feel that way. I know not all of you are feeling that way about your weeks, however they went. Some of you probably got a lot of things done and a lot of things that you wanted to get done done and you're really excited about it and you're like walking on top of the world. Others of you maybe are more like I am right now this morning as you're sitting here looking back over your past week thinking where did I go? What did I do? Do I remember what I did?

Did I do what I was supposed to? I don't know. Nothing worked and it's not very fun. Some of you may be sitting here like that. Last Sunday night my wife and I were laying in bed. We were watching some TV and Sunday night is great. A great night for watching that religious broadcasting that Pastor Z is always talking about. And Kevin Gerald, Kevin Gerald dot com. You can go and buy his books or whatever. But I forget what the name of his church is. It's somewhere in Tacoma. He's actually on one of the stations.

we were watching him and he's in a series on the funk on the funk. That is when you're living in the funk and both my wife and I kind of chuckled behind the verses when he would talk about a verse down at the bottom. There was like this eerie kind of blue cloudy you know something behind it that we both figured out was was intended to be picturing funk. And then when it would show like what CD cover or book cover, I forget what it was, but some logo or emblem they had for this series was half of a cartoon person's face with their mouth open like this. And coming out of their mouth was more of this blue funk, like you're just living in the funk. You're down, discouraged, depressed, whatever, whatever the funk exactly means. And it was sometime during the middle of the week when my wife observed and concluded that I was in the funk, which she kind of laughed at and smiled because we had watched that program together. I probably denied that, at least for a while.

I don't know if I would use that term to describe it, but I can say that for whatever reason, And I had the sense of my week like it was one exercise in futility after another. The list of things I need to do is getting bigger. The list of things I tried to do but didn't finish isn't better. I was actually kind of pleased with that sentence. I thought that sounded kind of cool. Yeah, I mean, maybe that's the only thing I got done all week, so I'm going to give that to you again. The list of things I need to do is getting bigger. The list of things I tried to do but didn't finish isn't better than little Lambsy Di-V's.

I worked on a lot of things that probably don't really matter and yet I didn't do as much as I wanted on some of the things that I know matter and that I know matter the most. I think all week long I worked hard but it was one of those kind of working hard like the squirrel in the cage, you know, running around in the circle, like running on a treadmill, which somehow I actually enjoy that. I got up early almost every day and I went to bed late almost every day and all I got out of that was being tired. I mean, that really, that was the case this week. And this is kind of what it seemed like day after day, day after day, and you know what it seemed like?

It seemed like vain repetition. I'll tell you why, even if you think your week went great, can I tell you something? You're just blind to the vain repetition. You're just blind to it. Whether you had that experience, you sensed that this week or not, it is actually the case that we are all in a from one perspective we are all in that big circle cage running around vain repetition. And that brings us to Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verses 1 through 11.

The entire section, this introduction section, is an introduction to the vanity of life, In particular, the vain repetitions that we find throughout life. This is the prologue. It frames the body of this book, which really starts in chapter 1 verse 12 and goes through chapter 12, probably verse 8. We'll talk about that again in the moment. Then there's the epilogue at the end, chapter 12 verses 9 through 14. So those are at least three big sections, this prologue, the beginning, chapter 1 verses 1 through 11, then the body, the majority of the book, chapter 1 verse 12 through chapter 12 verse 8, and then the very end, the conclusion or the epilogue, chapter 12 verses 9 through 14. There are three key features that I want to point out to you this morning in this intro section. A couple of them will move relatively quickly through. The title is in verse one. The title of Ecclesiastes is in verse one. The motto of Ecclesiastes is in verse two, and then there is a poem on vanity. And all the things you're gonna write a poem on, write a poem about how life

stinks and then you die. But that's what we got verses three through eleven. The title verse one, the motto verse two, a poem on vanity, verses three through eleven. The whole thing is about the meaningless monotony of life. And so we begin the title of Ecclesiastes, chapter 1, verse 1. Here it is, verse by verse, line by line. Verse 1, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Now I say this is the title of the book of Ecclesiastes. In fact, verse 1 is a lot like the title page in a modern book. On the title page in a modern book you would find out various things about the book that you were about ready to read. You might find out the obviously the title, you would find out who wrote it. Perhaps you might find out a subtitle, you know some more information about what is coming in it. Maybe on some title pages you find some other information.

And remember that when this book was originally written, that is when Solomon wrote it, didn't have the title at the top of it, Ecclesiastes. There's a couple reasons for that. Number one is Ecclesiastes is the English title and he spoke Hebrew. He would have put over the top of it if he was going to give that kind of superscription at the very top, Koholeth, which is the name that is above it now in Hebrew, but that was given to it by somebody else. So when Solomon wrote this, Verse 1 was what you had to introduce you to the book. So that's why I'm calling it the title. It introduces us to some key elements about the book, namely the author himself. This verse is remarkably close to Proverbs chapter 1 verse 1. In fact, it's so close flip over to Proverbs 1 verse 1. The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. Obviously there are a couple couple differences between Proverbs 1-1 and Ecclesiastes 1-1, but they're so close it's almost like it's the same person.

Wow! And that is actually remarkable to people who don't think Solomon was the writer of Ecclesiastes. And if you were here for that message, I talked about the fact that a lot of people don't think Solomon is the writer of Ecclesiastes.

think somebody after Solomon, maybe even 800 years after Solomon, wrote this book and acted like they were Solomon. And again I mentioned that there are a number of reasons why that is just not... we don't need to believe that. It's wrong to believe that. It damages our understanding of some of the other parts of Scripture if we accept that kind of argument. And so the similarity between Ecclesiastes 1 and 1, and Proverbs 1 and 1 is remarkable to, I mean it's such a coincidence to the people who deny that Solomon wrote it, but it actually makes a lot of sense when you realize that Solomon was the author of both. Now these credentials, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem, these credentials place Ecclesiastes in the writings section of the Old Testament. Maybe you've heard these divisions before. In the Old Testament we have the law, then we have the what? Prophets, and third, the third section is the writings. I already told you that one. So the law, which are the first five books of the Old Testament,

that is the books of Moses. Moses 1, Moses 2, Moses 3, Moses 4, and Moses 5 in your German Bible, if you brought that with you today. We call them Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy, the Torah, the books of the law, written by Moses. That's one section. The other section is the prophets. We've got the major and the minor prophets. And then the other section are what's called the writings.

And the writings include things like the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes is included in that, Song of Solomon is included in that. And then there are some other some other things, it depends on who you ask, whether they include some of the the histories or the biographies, if you will, whether they include those in the writings or whether they make them their own separate category or whether they include those in the prophets. We're not studying those, so we're not going to get into that. But the wisdom literature in the Old Testament is intended to give us wisdom, right? The writings primarily give us wisdom, so whether you call it the writings genre or the wisdom literature, both of those are interchangeable.

For example, the Psalms give us instruction on worship. Proverbs give us instruction on wise living and decision-making. Job is included in the writings. Job gives us instruction on things like evil and the sovereignty of God. A song of Solomon gives us instruction on passion and purity, and here Ecclesiastes gives us wisdom for life under the sun. So in this title, we get the the feeling that this is one of those writings, some of the wisdom literature, and obviously written by Solomon. I won't take time going through all the arguments that this is referring to Solomon the preacher, Cohaleth is the Hebrew word for preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Solomon is the only one who fits those kind of categories, fits that description, and whose life, based on what we know from first kings, is consistent with the biography and the message of Ecclesiastes. So again, the title tells us who wrote it, it places it in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, and that moves us to verse number two, and the motto of Ecclesiastes.

Hebel, hebelim, hakol, hebel. Vanity of vanities all is vanity. It's actually repeated even more than that here in verse two. Vanity of vanity, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities all is vanity. Now, I have gone to school to learn how to do this. I paid thousands of dollars to try to figure it out, but I believe even you here this morning can tell me what the key word in verse two is. It would be the word vanity. Perhaps your translation has something else, but whatever your translation has, it has that word repeated multiple times. Meaningless, meaningless. Really, if they want to translate that accurately, they need to have meaningless of meaninglessness.

All is meaningless. You know, I'll mention why that would be the case. Anybody have anything else other than vanity or emptiness, meaninglessness, fluff? Well, you're looking at the ESV, so I know that's probably not what that is. Any other translation that you have, have another word for that. So we covered them all, meaningless. That's included in the translation. That's the notes. That's not the same as the translation.

All right. Well, we're gonna stick with the word vanity, though there are other possible translations. What did you say? Were there other possibilities? Absurdity, frustration, futility, and nonsense, all those are good possible translations of this word, habel. You remember we talked about this word, habel, During the introduction, Habel occurs 38 times in ecclesiastes. And it is the recurrence of Habel is not vain repetition. It is, however, often repeated to get our point. In its literal usage, the word Habel refers to a breath or to a vapor. I mean, a breath is something that is, I mean, once it comes out, right, the vapor, the breath out of your mouth, it's pretty pointless.

You can do almost nothing with your breath. I mean, you can offend people with your breath. If you happen to have an invisible map that you're trying to figure out, you know, and you put lemon juice on it and you need heat, maybe, I mean, maybe, if you don't have the secret decoder some other way. But for the most part, your breath is here and there. It's gone. It's pointless, useless. You can't really control it. It's not helpful. And so this idea of breath or vapor figuratively then describes things that are transient or temporary, things that just disappear, things that are unsubstantial, Things that are useless and things then that are vanity, meaningless, empty.

The Latin translation is vanitas. Doesn't really do you any good other than, because when you say Latin you sound smart. So vanitas, vanity, emptiness, meaningless, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And I say that verse two is the motto of Ecclesiastes rather than just the theme. This is the motto and I say it's the motto because a motto, I look this up, a motto is a short sentence or phrase that encapsulates someone's beliefs or ideals.

That's what a motto is. And it's not just the idea that is repeated here in Ecclesiastes. We have the specific word and even the specific phrase repeated for us numerous times. The phrase Vanity of vanities is more than just the theme. It is the motto, the dominant subject and the motto of the entire book. The function of verse two and then the poem that's going to describe this motto to follow in verses 3 through 11 is like a haunting chorus. The chorus is something to refrain that keeps being repeated. So you sing a verse, you have the chorus, a verse and then a chorus, a new verse. Of course, chorus is always the same.

This motto, this chorus is kind of haunting. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Now the construction, vanity of vanities, is actually a pattern that we're familiar with. I didn't realize this until I was actually looking at some commentaries this week. Vanity of vanities. You know, there's actually that pattern is followed with other things throughout scripture and it means something and I'll point that out to you. It's supposed to be an exclamation. It's a superlative that is to talk about something in the highest degree. You're like, well, what does that mean? Well, how about these kinds of phrases like the God of gods in Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 17.

Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Revelation chapter 19 verse 16. How about the Song of Songs? Now our English Bibles most of them have it as the Song of Solomon but the beginning chapter 1 verse 1 of the Song of Solomon actually starts out with this same construction the Song of Songs. Ironic that again Solomon was the author of that, and maybe then using another construction that same way in Ecclesiastes, but maybe that's just too obvious. I don't know. And then lastly, the holy of holies.

Exodus chapter 29 verse 37, and what do all those phrases communicate? The holy of holies is what? The most holy place. The God of gods, the Lord of lords, the King of kings is the ultimate, the supreme Lord and God and King. And so you know what the subject, the motto of this book is? The highest degree of vanity and meaningless you can think of. All of it, all of life under the Sun is meaningless. Life is the ultimate, the supreme, the highest degree of meaninglessness you can imagine. Now that's kind of depressing, or at least it could be depressing. We'll see. If he just left us with vanity of vanities, says the preacher, vanity of vanities, maybe we could do better, but then he ends verse 2 with, all is vanity. You You mean everything?

Like everything, like all. All. Everything, each and every thing is vanity. Meaningless, empty. Well, can I suggest to you that if he actually meant all like as in there were no exceptions, then wouldn't his very statement be meaningless too? That's one of those, you know, logical kind of question, connection things. It's like a person who says there is no truth. Well, is that true? Yeah. Are you telling me the truth that there is no truth? What? No. No. So to say that all is meaningless, all is vanity, and then be saying all is vanity, without any qualifications at all, probably does not fit. That would be defeating his own argument to say that there is absolutely nothing without qualification that is vanity.

There is a context. The motto, vanity of vanity is all is vanity, has a context, and the qualification for the all, or the everything is found in the next verse and really throughout the rest of the book. Namely, that everything is vanity in one location and from one perspective. And where is that? It's in the next verse. Everything is vanity and meaningless and empty from one perspective in one location. And that is under the sun.

That's a huge phrase. Under the Sun. The all is vanity is not describing a cosmic or a universal or an eternal truth. The all is vanity is limited to the time and space that humans inhabit the right now. It's limited to the worldly realities where humans live. It is the secular mindset. Some of you have come across the word secular before. Secular is non-religious or non-spiritual or non-sacred. All is vanity for the secular person. The person who has no ability to think about life from a different perspective, from a spiritual perspective or an eternal perspective, all is vanity. And that means that for someone without faith, all they are capable of knowing is vanity.

Do you realize that? It is only Christians, it is only believers who have any ability to actually escape the vanity and the meaninglessness and the emptiness of life. If all you have is a this world kind of mindset, then all you can find is vanity. On the other hand, for a person with faith, for a person who has the ability to get above that, the statement, all this vanity is true, it's just not the complete story. We know that from one perspective, from the perspective of under the sun, all this vanity, but we know that there is more.

I just wanna expand on that for a second longer. Throughout Ecclesiastes, the word habel is applied to different things, such as joy. It says joy is vanity, human actions. Human actions are habel, meaningless. Wisdom is even called habel. Wisdom, we don't think like that, but wisdom in and of itself is vanity, labor, riches, all of those kinds of things and more are described as meaningless and empty throughout Ecclesiastes.

But you know, there are a couple of things are never included as vanity like God. Nowhere in the book of Ecclesiastes do we find that God is vanity or meaningless or empty. Nowhere do we find, though they're brief, nowhere do we find eternity as something that is vain or empty. And so obviously for those of us who are New Testament Christians who know Jesus, who have the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of an eternal inheritance, I mean we're looking for something beyond this life, the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of that. For those of us who are thinking on above kind of things, for those of us who know that there are eternal kinds of things, we can still agree with the comparison that in light of those things, everything under the sun is empty and meaningless and vain.

But we must be careful not to dull the edge of Solomon's argument here. Our tendency, I think the tendency for most of you who are here this morning, our tendency is to think that we know this already. We typically, at least when we're here at church on Sunday, we can agree. When we're in the process of comparing God things with Earth things, we can definitely tell you that one has meaning and one really doesn't. We're in the process of contrasting heavenly things and eternal things with earthly things and temporal things. We can definitely tell you here at church on Sunday where the value is and that the other really doesn't have value at all.

And yet, Monday through Saturday, we go about trying to squeeze out of this world everything we think that may be there. On Sunday we know. We know that one has value and one doesn't. But somehow we still kind of have this maybe silent hope in the back of our minds that somehow during the rest of the week we're going to be able to find somewhere under some rock in some place, some task that we do, some relationship that we have, some possession that we get, some level of popularity that we arrive to, we still think that somehow we can squeeze some meaning out of life under the sun. And so the danger for us New Testament Christians is to miss the weightiness of Solomon's argument here. Do not just leave here thinking, oh yeah, I know that, because we don't live like we know that.

One commentator wrote, we should let the word do its work before we hasten to make Ecclesiastes a grab bag of inspirational quotes. If we are not careful, we will fall into the trap of writing pious drivel. Oh, we know that God is important and things of earth are not. So let's pursue God and then leave and go and pursue everything that the world, that the world we think has to offer us. We can't do that. We don't need to nor should we take sandpaper to Ecclesiastes to try to rough out the smooth spots. We need to let the roughness of Ecclesiastes smooth out our rough spots, not vice versa. Again, I think that we know that the world is passing away with all its desires.

We know that. But we still keep loving things in the world. That's first John two. Don't love the things of the world. Neither things in the world for the things of the world are passing away and the desires therein. But you know what? We got to stop loving the things in the world and holding out this hope that somehow maybe somebody's just not telling us the complete story. That really if you get good enough grades and get into a good enough college and get a good enough job that can make enough money to buy you all the toys that you want and people think you're cool and you've got the great clothes or whatever you think life is going to be found in.

We just kind of think, you know, we haven't experienced that satisfaction just yet of what we have got, but we still kind of think that people, you know, they actually really have it.

just not wanted to tell us about it. And you know what Solomon is telling us through inspiration of the Holy Spirit that all of that is empty. We need to make sure that we're thinking about it. In order to communicate that to us further we have in verses 3 through 11 a poem on vanity. I think there are two reasons, two things that suggest that verse 3 begins a new section. The first reason is because verse 2 is exactly like chapter 12 verse 8. In fact, turn there. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 8. Vanity of vandies says the preacher, all All is vanity. Almost exactly the same as chapter 1 verse 2. These are kind of bookends at the beginning and at the end. And so I think, you know, chapter 1 verse 2 then is its own thing before we get to what's next, after the bookend. So I think there we should see a difference between the motto and the poem actually starting then in verse 3, not in verse 2.

A second reason for my suggestion that verse 3 starts us on this new subsection rather than having that section start in verse 2 is because verse 3 is closely connected with the rest of the verses that follow. Chapter 1 verse 2 can kind of stand on its own, but verse 3 really needs to go with the following verses or else it doesn't make sense. In fact, verses 4 through 11 are all proof that all is vanity which I'll talk more about in verse 3. Now I'm also suggesting that verses 3 through 11 are a poem and though we don't necessarily find you know cutesy rhymes and exactly the same meter you know meter so far as all your English stuff and poetry goes though they're not exactly like a poem like we write, like Rose are red, Bites are blue, you know grass is green, snow is white. It's not exactly like those kinds of poems and yet it is distinctly different in its meter and in some of its vocabulary than what you get in chapter 1 verse 12. Most of your Bibles probably even have verses 3 through 11 set off in a different way than just ongoing prose. So again, even though

though it's not maybe like a poem we would think I think for Solomon it was more like a poem than just the straight prose that it gets to in verse 12. So there are four major sections of this poem and I'm hoping to talk about the first two of them this morning. First of all is the question. In this poem verses 3 through 11 we have the question in verse 3 and then in verses 4 through 8 I'm sorry, 4 through 7, we have the illustrations. In chapter 1 verse 8, we'll get the application, and then in verses 9 through 11, we'll have the reflection. So we have the question, the illustrations, the application, and the reflection. And I'm hoping to talk about the question and the illustrations. We'll see how far I get. The question in verse 3, what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun. This is a rhetorical question. It's a genuine question, but it's still rhetorical. That is, we don't need to give an audible answer because we know the answer. This rhetorical question style is actually common throughout Ecclesiastes. It's a common tool

of wisdom literature in general. Verse 3 then poses the question that the rest of the book is going to unpack. What does man gain by all the toil of which he toils under the sun? Or in other words, what profit is there? What's the profit of all this stuff that I've got to do? Now again, it expects a negative answer, which I think is kind of interesting. Solomon assumes that we actually already know the answer to this question. That is, I think Solomon knows that people who are still out trying to deny this question or ignore it, still know the ultimate answer. What does a man gain by all his toil that he toils under the sun?

What is the answer to that? Nothing. Zero. You get nothing at all. There is no profit, there is no gain from all the work that you do. Period. No value, no profit, no gain. And all of us know that. All of us know that, whether again we're ignoring it or denying it. We keep posing the question, what's in it for me? Isn't that really what life is about? Trying to get mine. That's all the cool jabber jive kind of talk, you know. You know, you hear professional athletes or whoever say, I'm gonna get mine. Isn't that maybe Jerry Maguire, you know, show me the money. What's in it for me? What profit is there for me? What's in it for me?

What are you gonna give me? The word gain is an important word. It actually appears nine times in Ecclesiastes and nowhere else in the Old Testament. The word gain or the word profit only found in Ecclesiastes and again, like I say, nine times. Outside of scripture, it was a commercial term that referred to profit or surplus. That is in financial terms or financial speak, it describes the difference between the amount earned and the amount you had to put out to make it happen. Right in business, you gotta pay a certain amount of money for overhead. You gotta pay money for your utilities. If you have employees, you gotta pay them for all your resources and materials, all those kinds of things, that's your overhead.

You gotta spend that money. And then you hope to make money. And your profit or your gain, I know most of you know this, but I'm still trying to learn in the ways myself, okay? So that's why I'm saying it for me. What you get at the end, what's left over, that's the profit.

I think I've even learned. Which is which now between gross and net income? Gross income is what you make period, everything that comes in before you have to pay out. Your net income is what is left over, what remains. That is your profit after you've paid everybody who needs to be paid and paid for everything that you need to pay. So here's the question in life. After you put everything in, you pay your dues, If you do all your work, you're going to put all this stuff in. What's going to be for you at the end? Nothing. Life pays no dividends. There are no bonus checks in life. Your share in the stock category of life, your share is zip.

You get nothing back under the sun. And yet you work to get it. Toil, you toil. What does man by gain all the toil at which he toils under the sun? There's some repetition there for emphasis. Sometimes this word toil is used in the Old Testament to refer to hard physical labor. Sometimes it's used to describe mental anguish. Sometimes it's used to describe both. I think that's what it is here. For all of your hard physical manual labor that you do, for all the mental gymnastics that you go through trying to make things happen, and even when those go together, for all that work that you do, all that you put into life, what gain is there?

None. Under the Sun. That's the key phrase at which he toils, under the Sun. Under the Sun is the realm where vanity reigns. It is this world, the world of men considered in its own right. To live under the sun is to be earthbound. To have no ability to get above that. And so the motto for under the sun is vanity of vanities all is vanity. The banner. If your life is summarized under the sun, you can put on every paper you ever turn in for any class. You can write on any check that you ever get from any job. You can write it over the doorpost of your house when you buy one someday. You're a brilliant nice new house. You're a Lamborghini or whatever car you buy.

Spray paint right on the hood. No profit if your life is bound unto the sun. Now verses four through seven bring us to the illustrations. There are four illustrations or pictures or examples of a ridiculous amount of work and toil with no profit. For examples of a bunch of hubbub with no gain. Four illustrations, passing generations, verse 4, the rising sun, verse 5, blowing wind, verse 6, and flowing water. Verse 7. Let's see if we can cover a couple of these at least. The illustrations, first of all, passing generations. Or sorry, a generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. You want to know why all of your work gets you nothing? Because you're not going to be around to enjoy it too much longer. You're going to do all this work, You're going to get all this stuff for yourself, and literally you are going to die.

One guy said like ants on a rock, we leave no trace of having been here. Cheery. We ought to put that on a poster. We do not live forever. One group of men replaces us, and that group that replaces us will be replaced by another. has been going on for a long time. The stubborn earth is the only thing that stays put. A generation goes and a generation comes again and again over and over. They're all passing. The earth is the only constant. Now again remember the context of this poem is under the Sun. So from an under the Sun perspective the earth is the only constant. We know, those of us who have a spiritual or eternal perspective, that actually this earth is going to be destroyed as well.

It not only has not been here the whole time, it is going to be changed and we're gonna get a new heaven and a new earth. But if your perspective is caught under the Sun, the only thing that remains steady is the earth. We all are born and then we all die. One commentator described the preacher's interest in the dance of the dead, meaning that all we're really doing here is dancing around until we die. In fact, death is so certain that he's just calling us dead already. Before we die, it's the dance of the dead. One generation comes and goes, and another comes and goes. As soon as we are born, we are preparing to die.

mortician, I guess, used to end his letters with eventually yours because everybody dies. Now this is kind of sad and fairly pessimistic. If you get stuck here, you actually feel pretty lonely, pretty isolated, and pretty meaningless ourselves. Life is hard and then we die. Psalm 90 verse 10, you don't need to turn there. Listen to this. The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. You got 70 or 80 years maybe. You're not even guaranteed that. While you're here during all those 70 or 80 years, it's tough and then we fly way. There's kind of a cruel irony in this verse. It was stated by Jerome. He said, what is more vain than this vanity, that the earth, which was made for humans, stays, but that humans themselves, the Lords of the earth, suddenly dissolve into dust. What is more vain than that? We're supposed to be the ones who are taking dominion over the earth, and yet the earth is the only thing that stays.

we don't. The idea of constant repetition here. There's a constant coming and a constant going. The passing of generations just continues in a cycle over and over and over again and there is nothing. I promise you there is nothing you or I are going to do to stop that. It has been happening that way before we got here. It's going to happen that way long after we're gone or at least until we get the new heaven and the new earth and we're stuck in passing generations over and over again. Let's do one more, the rising sun. Verses 5 through 7 go even further than verse 4. On passing generations we talk about the rising sun. It's another example that although there looks like there's a whole bunch of things happening, no real progress is being made. Just like there's no gain for man in his toil, so there is no gain in creation in all her toil.

Creation is characterized by constant change that actually is disguising constant sameness. It looks like things are changing all the time when in fact that's just a disguise for the fact that nothing is really changing at all. The sun runs around in circles.

wind blows in circuits for no apparent reason, and the waters pour into the sea without making the sea full and without ever finishing. We'll talk about the wind and the water next time, but look at verse 5. The sun rises and the sun goes down and hastens to the place where it rises. What is the point of these verses of this poem? It is to emphasize the vain repetitions in life and that there is there are things that we are not in control of, which is everything, and that for all the work and labor that we do, and for all it looks like we're doing, we're making no progress and there's no profit under the sun. Now this verse is actually in complete contrast to the description of the sun we get from David in Psalm 19 verse 5. Do you remember that verse? The freshmen are, the freshmen of my Bible class are writing a commentary on us, so I've been looking at Psalm 19 a lot as well. In Psalm 19 5, the son is pictured in his excitement or in its excitement like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like on the day of his wedding,

just excited to get up and get out and go get married. And then later on in the verse, it talks about like a strong man running his course with joy, you know, like a Kenyan marathoner who just can't wait to get started because he knows it's only going to take him two hours to run this this whole race and he's just going to bust through it unlike us buffaloes who it takes four or five hours to cover the same amount of terrain. So we've got excitement and joy as David sees the Sun. Solomon however sees the exact same thing a lot differently like the Sun the word hasten. Hastens to the place where it rises is actually probably better translated pants And it's the same word used to describe the exhaustion of a woman who's giving labor or who is in labor panting and exhausted The Sun comes up at the east it gets all the way to the west and no I got to do it again No to the east To do what?

Do it again And we're gonna do it again, and then we're gonna do it again day after day, week after week. One of the things I'll point out is significant is you can look at the same thing, and if your perspective is different, your conclusion will be different. David's perspective was to see creation as it was showing off God's glory.

And as showing off God's glory, he saw great things in creation. You know what? When you don't see God and you're stuck with all this, this is what it all is, this is where the meaning and satisfaction going to happen. Creation takes on a whole different feel. Meaningless, vain, repetition. The point of verse 5 is to accentuate the repetitiveness of the sun. The sun rises, the sun sets, hustles back to rise again. Like the hypocrite in his prayers, it's vain repetitions. When the sun goes down tonight, we have every expectation of seeing it again in the morning. It does not necessarily have the same expectation of seeing us.

We're in the passing generations. But we plan on seeing the sun. It's the same pattern every day. Every single stinking day. When I was in California, honestly, I got to the point of hating the morning because it was never cloudy, ever. We went like three or four months where the sun came up and was just shining bright down in on us every day. It's like clockwork. Even if you observe the changes in the sun's pattern over a year, it still always stays within the same limits. Day after day, year after year, it haces to the place where it rises again. The sun toils and labors and works to get from the east to the west.

And when it gets there, it isn't done. It's got to do it all again. The sun is running around in circles. I don't know about you, that makes me tired, thinking about that. That's exhausting. That's what life is like, full of those same kind of meaningless repetitions. You wash the dishes yesterday, amazing. You have to do them again today. You put oil in your car three months ago, got to do it again. This shirt was ironed yesterday. It's going to have to be washed and ironed so I can wear it again. Over and over. Every Monday, don't you feel that? I mean, tomorrow will be nice because it's a little bit of a break.

But you know what? It doesn't change that the Tuesday is going to be the same and then we're going to get back to a regular Monday, next Monday, and then it's going to go on forever until we die. Well, there's obviously two more things.

the wind, the blowing wind and the flowing water. We'll have to talk about those next time. Life under the Sun is a prison of monotony and you can't get out unless your perspective gets beyond under the Sun. Pastor Z was mentioning that in his message this morning as well. The goal, I think, I have more to say on this, but the goal for us in even learning and looking at life under the Sun and from the perspective of life under the Sun is that our joy would be transposed. Transpose is a musical term right where you're changing maybe the key. You're moving it from one key to maybe a higher key. Guys we need our joys, our loves and passions, and our priorities to be transposed. We need to get a higher perspective on life than just being stuck under the Sun. We need to get Godward in our focus rather than earth-bound and stuck, searching for significance and meaning in what's right here. Because you know what, Hebel, Hebelim, Ha-kol, Hebel, vanity of vanities, all this vanity.

What profit, what gain is there for a man in all the toil and what you toil is under the sun? None. And I just know that some of you are still, you know that, but your Mondays through Saturdays show you striving after the wind and you're not going to catch it. help us through your word and through your spirit to give us that wisdom. Teach us to number our days so that we may get a heart of wisdom that we would be able to tell others who are stuck in that vanity that there is meaning they just can't see it unless they come through your son believing in him. Transpose our joys from being earthbound. to joys in you and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.