"The American Dream" Isn't Worth It!

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When your time is up, will it matter how much stuff you have?

All of us, at some point in our life, subscribe to the philosophy that what will ultimately satisfy us is more of what we already have.

Think about this…there was a time when we begged God in prayer for things we now have and take for granted.

A job…a little better salary…a house, a spouse, a family…and the list goes on…but we are still not satisfied.

Our entire lives are lived in pursuit of the next thing!

the newest iPhone, car, house, relationship, etc.

Some have slept outside of a retail store to get their hands on the newest iPhone after doing that just two years ago. The phone they could not wait to have is now a trade-in and hopefully they haven’t cracked it!

As Adults, we sometimes live like our kids do at Christmas…they receive something from their list, and then very quickly grow tired of that which they asked for and now want something else.

The things we want more of change over time, but the truth is we always want more.

Nothing ultimately satisfies…we think we need more to be happy and when we accumulate more, we are not happy!

What’s worse is that we never stop to think about the lack of importance those accumulations have on our eternal destiny.

None of those possessions or pursuits will provide hope for our life to come, our even provide lasting joy while living on earth.

Let’s take it a step further…

In the pain and difficulties of life this side of heaven, do we find the accumulation of things is the lasting answer for what troubles us?

As we move in to Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon attempts to answer that question and ultimately exposes that philosophy for what it is…garbage!

He is going to tell us that he had it all, and still came away empty.

Yet I am sure there will be many of us who read this text and struggle to believe him when he says it was meaningless!

We look at the stories of celebrities who had it all and their life was a mess…and our mind immediately jumps to a rationalization of how we would do things differently.

If I had all that money, I would sure know how to enjoy it!

If I had their fame and popularity I would not make the same foolish decisions they made.

Let me remind you of 2 Cor 10:5

2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB95

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

Solomon attempts to demolish that stronghold of the pursuit of the American Dream…that more means happy...if we would stop for just a few moments and let go of our desire for more, we will see he is exactly right.

Will your pursuit of the American Dream be worth the cost when you step across the line into eternity and have to leave everything behind you?…what does it profit you?

If you haven’t already, please turn to Eccles 2:1-11…Read

Main Point — Pursuing Pleasures Only Leaves You Empty!

Solomon experiments with making his own personal happiness his chief end in life.

In verses 1 & 2 he states both the goal and the conclusion of his experiment.

The goal was to discover if pleasures were worth pursuing.

The conclusion is no, they too are meaningless.

In verses 3-8 he lists the activities he pursued to find enjoyment...

In verses 9-11 he provides a summary of his findings.

Myself = heart = inner most person…where all the decisions of life are made…Solomon is reasoning within his own mind/heart to go enjoy the good life as part of his search for meaning in this life.

Enjoy yourself = literally reads to see good…to experience that which is pleasant and pleasurable.

Test = indicates this is an experiment…this is a deliberate attempt to learn something new from personal experience.

He previously told us at the end of Eccles 1 that he tried to find meaning in earthly wisdom and intellect only to be left empty.

Now he says, I want to try another approach to get something meaningful out of life.

This is hedonism to its fullest degree.

Notice what word gets repeated in every single verse… “I”

Yes he is speaking autobiographically.

But there is so much “me, myself, and I” in this text that we get a strong sense of self-indulgence in pursuit of self-centered pleasures.

There is no indication in this text that what he accomplished was for the enjoyment of his people in his kingdom…it was for himself.

He is living life for himself rather than God!

Many people turn to pleasure, if not to find life’s ultimate meaning, they turn to pleasures to distract them the lack of meaning!

Most of us make our decisions based on what will maximize our pleasure and happiness.

The first thing Solomon tried was seeking pleasure in having a good time!

Pursuing a Good Time Does Not Satisfy.

Right away he tells us this quest failed as miserably as the first one…pleasure did not satisfy his soul any more than his wisdom did...

Behold = demands our attention…this too was vanity…vapor and smoke…

This was a comprehensive experiment.

He pursued the pleasure of comedy — v.2.

He echoes his thoughts from Eccl 1:3 when he says laughter and pleasure have no real profit.

In fact, he concludes laughter is madness…makes you look foolish…to think that a good time through laughter brings meaning to your life is delusional...

There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to laugh, but when we consider its usefulness to handling the weighty matters of life, laughter is of no help.

Solomon identifies that weighty matter at the end of verse 3 — life is short and what is worthwhile for man to pursue during that short life?

In other words, if all you want do in your life, and with your life is laugh or make others laugh, to go from one frivolity to another, you will always come up empty!

Laughter can momentarily distract us from real pain, but it cannot overcome it.

Solomon does not conclude that laughter is evil, he concludes that laughter is evil when you turn it into the solution for life’s problems. (remember the purpose of Ecclesiastes)

He pursued the pleasure of alcohol — v. 3.

Turning to substances for pleasure and to cope with life’s problems is nothing new…we see here that is exactly what Solomon did.

In Prov 31:5-7 we see that alcohol is used by some to numb the pain of life... “For they will drink and forget what is decreed, And pervert the rights of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to him whose life is bitter. Let him drink and forget his poverty And remember his trouble no more.”

That practice still exists today and Solomon says that way of life is empty!

There is some difficulty in interpreting this verse…

“my mind was guiding me wisely” seems to indicate that he did not get drunk…making him a self-controlled connoisseur of fine wine…as a king he held many banquets and feasts…so he would go after the finest of wines…this is the rational side of his experiment.

“take hold of folly” seems to indicate that he did more than pursue the finest of wines…he would also explore activities with wine that would be called foolish…drunkeness.

So the two options here are he either knew what wine went best with honey-glazed salmon or he was a party hearty boy wasting away in Margaritaville...

I think it could be both here…he tried alcohol from both ends of the spectrum…and the conclusion was the same.

Whether you drink alcohol because you want to pursue the finer things in life, or to “party hearty”, or to numb the pain of life, it doesn’t provide a lasting solution!

The world doesn’t tell you about the pain that comes from alcohol does it...

You never see a commercial that shows the girl at 3 am hugging the porcelain god as her friends hold her hair back until she finishes tossing all her cookies...

You never see the advertisements that depict the drunk driver who crashes into another vehicle injuring, or worse, killing the people in the other car!

You never see the reality of a brutal drunk husband who beats his spouse and kids out of uncontrollable fits of rage...

They never show the downward spiral of the person who uses alcohol to numb the pains of life and their need to consume more and more when the numbness wears off...

Solomon goes after what the world would call having a good time and concludes it’s of no value.

The phrase at the end of verse 3 is key to this experiment...He did all this for the purpose of discovering what was good for man to do under heaven…is there really anything worthwhile for man to pursue, to find his purpose?

Solomon is not an atheist…he takes a position of uncertainty…if this is all there is, it isn’t worth it...he is perplexed with the question of value during the brevity of life…is there anything I can pursue to fulfill me before I die?

This will become increasingly prominent throughout the rest of the book…the brevity of life.

Solomon pursued everything his heart desired!

Even If You Get Everything You Want, You Will Still Be Empty.

He pursued the pleasure of achievements (4-6).

So many of the things listed here are things many of us think would make our lives happy and fulfilling.

In verses 4-6 we see, He built many houses,indulged in the best of architecture, agriculture and engineering.

Built God’s House, the Temple.

I Kings 7:1-12 tells us that Solomon spent 13 years building his own house and it was bigger than the temple.

He built houses and shrines for his 700 wives…the American Dream is to own a single house…some own a lake house, or a beach house…Solomon had 700 of them…plus he built entire cities!

He planted vineyards, gardens, and parks.

He constructed an entire irrigation system to water those gardens and parks…some pools of Solomon still exist in Israel.

Literally, he tried to create a new garden of Eden… “all kinds of fruit trees” is used three times in the creation account of Genesis 1…he tried to get back to paradise.

Parks is similar to the word paradise…forest enclosure

Notice the scale of all these…they are plural…and as I said earlier…who were they for....HIM! They were part of his own private residence…living large in the garden at his own pleasure…but not only that, he was extremely wealthy.

He pursued the pleasure of possessions (7-8b).

v7…He had more than anyone person before him in Jerusalem.

Given the scale of all his building projects, he no doubt needed an extremely large work force to run his daily operations.

He owned slaves and they bore many children who also belonged to him.

So to feed them, he had to have many flocks of cattle and herds of sheep and goats all over his royal ranch.

1 Kings 10:4-8 describe the lifestyle of Solomon was remarkable…

He had so many animals that every day the chefs in his royal kitchen would prepare 10 fat oxen, and 20 pasture fed cows, 100 sheep besides the deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowls (1 Kings 4:23)

He accumulated an insane amount of gold and silver that silver was as common as stone (2 Chronicles 9:27). As king, much of his wealth was obtained from conquered provinces and gifts from other royals.

He had enough money to buy his own choir…he did not have iPods or CD players or Spotify… why should he when he could buy the bands!

He pursued the pleasure of sexual passions (8c).

In addition to 700 wives (1 Kings 11) he had 300 concubines.

a concubine was a woman given to a man simply for the purpose of sexual pleasure.

“many concubines” is preferred here.…Some of you may have the KJV or NKJV that does not have that phrase...

admittedly the Hebrew words seem to have multiple meanings...in the Hebrew this is 2 feminine nouns (the first is singular, the 2nd is plural which could be taken to mean multitude) connected with the conjunction “and”… many ladies, context delights of men suggests the reference is to women … most scholars see this as a harem…

this makes the most sense when put in context regarding Solomon pursuing all the pleasures available to him…it would seem odd to omit this pleasure knowing what we know from Solomon’s life.

So many people are on an endless search for sexual pleasure...they may not have 1000 women like Solomon, but through the internet, media, and selfish expressions, they look for illicit ways to experience satisfaction, but like Solomon, they find only emptiness and disappointment.

He pursued the pleasure of prestige and everything his heart desired — v. 9, 10

His fame was greater than any who proceeded him.

He outdid anything we could ever do…these verses show the comprehensive nature of his search…he did not hold his heart back from anything.

This goes against Num 15:39 ““It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot,”

Psalm 119 37 “Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways.”

His statement “my wisdom also stood by me” means he did not abandon good sense, he remained in control of this experiment…his earthly wisdom kept his mind engaged so he could properly evaluate the possible benefits of his pursuit of pleasure.

Notice he used the term labor…his search for pleasure could not be separated from his work as the king…his activities were the kinds of activities in which all kings were involved.

his heart was pleased and that was his reward…he did find some enjoyment in those activities and he labels that his portion…it was limited

By saying that is his portion he immediately declares it is temporary and does not attain the level of profit…there is no profit (lasting gain) in labor...

What we often fail to see is how quickly we move on to the next pleasure.

We Must Come Face to Face with Reality — v. 11

The verb consider literally means “to face”…to look someone or something right in the eye.

Solomon comes face to face, eyeball to eyeball, with the reality of life and he wants us to know it isn’t pretty.

Again he uses the word “behold” to get our attention.

Even though he played out every one of his fantasies, nothing fulfilled him.

We all operate with the assumption that having more things will bring satisfaction in life.

Even if you squeeze all the pleasure you can out of it, there is still nothing to gain.

The futility of the labor process is that Solomon had nothing of any substantive or eternal value to show for it!

He lived life to the fullest and came up empty!

The cry of this generation is “Do Not Repress Your Desires” because that leads to depression, maybe even suicide…whatever your desires are you need to live them out, you need to pursue them…how can it be wrong when it feels so right!

Solomon is telling you, Don’t go down that path…it is not worth it.

Life Step — Pursue God More Than Pleasure

Solomon had the most success, the best houses, the most possessions, the richest lifestyle, the finest wines, the most incredible parties and feasts, the greenest lawns, the best servants, more money than we could possible imagine, the most fame, the highest popularity, endless entertainment, as much sexual pleasure as anyone could ever indulge in and he says it was all empty.

What do you do when you have everything you thought you ever wanted and find it still isn’t enough?

Our dissatisfaction with life should point us back to God, not away from Him, but toward Him.

Our unsatisfied longings ought to tell us we were made for the pleasure of God…satisfaction only comes in God himself.

Ecclesiastes is written to convince us that loving this world, and pursuing its pleasures, will always leave us longing for more.

Instead of being discouraged or depressed about the conditions of our life, we need to cling to our Savior. We need to find our satisfaction in God alone.

Jesus resisted the pleasures of this life to fulfill the purposes of God for our salvation. As the risen Savior, Jesus offers himself to us as the source of all satisfaction.

When we delight in our Savior, we begin to see all that we have is a gift from God.

Psalm 16:11 NASB95

You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Our ultimate pleasure will only be realized in Heaven, but God does want us to enjoy life this side of heaven. That joy only comes when our hearts are set towards Him.

I don’t want to jump too far ahead but look at Eccl 2:25-26 “For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.”

We go back to the balance of Eccl 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

There is only one who can keep the commandments perfectly…that is Jesus…through our union with Him in salvation, God no longer sees our sin…He sees our identity in Jesus of whom He is well pleased.

With Jesus we CAN enjoy everything…the problem is not in the things we pursue, it is in the value we place upon them.

All the pursuits Solomon went after are not necessarily evil…all of those things can be enjoyed as good and holy if used as God intended.

Turn from your delights of this world to delighting in God…

Practical Application — What Can I do to find pleasure in my relationship with God?

Find delight in His Word — Ps. 1:2 “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.”

How much time apart from Sunday morning do you spend in His Word?

Do you spend time before church preparing your heart to hear from Him as you learn His word?

Pray the Scriptures back to the Lord

Find delight in doing His will — Ps 40:8 “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.””

Regardless of how you feel, make pleasing God today, your highest motivation.

Focus today on thinking and acting in ways that bring God honor and glory.

Ask yourself “What can I do today that will please God?”

Find delight in obeying His commands — Ps 119:35 “Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it.”

Ask yourself “What does God expect me to do?” and then do it!

Identify what keeps you from being obedient, confess it, and then follow through with obedience.

Find delight in glorifying Him with your work — Col 3:23 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,”

What attitudes do you have about your work that keep you from enjoying it the way God intended?

Develop a thank list in relationship to your job…what can you thank God for regarding your work?

Identify someone in your work that needs to see the difference God can make in your life and make a point to talk to them.

Find delight in being with God’s people — 1 Thess 2:19-20 “For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.”

Paul found joy in being with other believers. Paul placed a high value on God’s people and encouraging them and being with them.

What value have you placed on God’s people here at Open Door…other believers?

Pursue strengthening your relationships among God’s people and find joy in helping motivate others toward Christlikeness.

When John D. Rockefeller died, one man was curious about how much he left behind. Determined to find out, he set up an appointment with one of Rockefeller’s highest aides and asked, “How much did Rockefeller leave behind?”

The aide answered, “All of it.”

I return to the question I asked at the start, “When your time is up, will it matter how much stuff you have?”