Ecc. 2:1-11 - The Failure of Sensuous Pleasures

Intro:

Ecc. 7:29

Ecclesiastes 7:29 NKJV

Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes.”

God made man with the intent that man should be good (like God). (We were made in His good image).

The problem is that sin came into the picture, and man is desperately wicked. (Jer. 17:9 - The [human] heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?)

God gave us free will to choose whether or not we would serve Him, and unfortunately we all through our free moral agency choose to sin against Him.

We come into this life with a blank slate … But it isn’t long at all before we do choose that sin, and why do we do it?

Well, part of it is that we are deceived by the Devil into thinking that it will give us happiness/fulfillment.

But will it?

Were those who were totally given over to violence and corruption in Genesis chapter 6 happy in the end?

Certainly not.

The flood came and took them all away!

What about those who in Genesis 11 pridefully built the city of Babel with its tower that tried to reach the heavens?

Did they find happiness in that?

No, they found CONFUSION — they were CONFOUNDED, literally, as God punished them with confusing their languages and spreading them apart.

Were the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah happy when God destroyed them with fire and brimstone? (Gen. 19)

Or was Lot’s wife happy when she LOOKED BACK instead of “getting out of Dodge.”

Of course not.

Or how about the Israelites in the wilderness, with 1 Cor. 10 describing them as having practiced idolatry, fornication, and murmuring against Moses and God?

No.

And many of them were destroyed in the wilderness because of it!

Sin does not bring happiness. It only brings sorrow and consequences.

Yet, many are content to just let their brethren remain in sin without saying anything, just “looking the other way” or “sweeping it under the rug.”

We have to understand that our obligation as Christians is to deal with sin the proper way, and that is to confront it.

How much more readily will we be able to confront sin in our lives if we properly understand that happiness and contentment cannot be found in it?

Again, the point of the book of Ecclesiastes!

(But what is highlighted in this book is that not only patently sinful activities bring no true happiness, but also things that are morally okay in and of themselves, if taken too seriously or elevating to the status of an IDOL, also do not bring true happiness either!)

It’s all just vanity of vanities, saith the preacher!

Text:

V. 1 - Mirth — think “lightheartedness, gladness.”

There is certainly a sense in which life is too short, and there’s nothing wrong with having fun (good, clean fun that is!)

Occasional lightheartedness, pleasure and laughter (as he will into in the next verse) are not only good things from time to time, but also have a way of keeping us grounded by enjoying “the little things” in life that God wanted us to enjoy. (as opposed to Stoicism, where people just live their lives in a “grand indifference,” serious ALL THE TIME without taking time to enjoy things or express any emotion at all).

The problem comes when “mirth” becomes our end all/be all pursuit in life.

And if we’re honest, this is a common problem.

How many folks these days “live for the weekend” in the sense that they view life as as two components:

The weekend, in which they “party it up” on Friday and Saturday night, and sleep it off on Saturday and Sunday morning, OR … they travel out of town every other weekend to hit the lake, or to play travel ball ALL the time, or golf, or what have you, and …

The workweek, which is the drudgery they force themselves through every week in order to support their lifestyle leading up to the highlight of their week which is the weekend.

I’m sure most have heard the 80’s song “Everybody’s Working for the Weekend.”

That song encapsulates this angst pretty well.

And it all boils down to a culture that is obsessed with “mirth” ; that is, entertainment, pleasure, recreation, etc.

Solomon says, “Surely, this also was vanity.”

V. 2 - There’s nothing inherently wrong with either laughter OR mirth.

In fact, these things are GOOD in the right doses.

“A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.” (Prov. 17:22)

Also Prov. 15:13

Proverbs 15:13 NKJV

A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

And Prov. 18:14

Proverbs 18:14 NKJV

The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?

Solomon later on in chapter 9 is going to say:

“Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works. Let your garments always be white, And let your head lack no oil. (So use a good shampoo) ;) . Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.”

So Solomon isn’t condemning the idea of enjoyment (of acceptable kinds), but he is saying that ENJOYMENT/recreation/pleasure is not the purpose of life!

V. 3 - I find it ironic that Solomon tries to pursue wisdom while simultaneously indulging himself with alcohol — He says he tried to “gratify his flesh with it.”

This is the same Solomon who wrote in Proverbs 20:1 - “Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

And yet, here he is!

(Again, Solomon didn’t always follow his own advice!)

He was wise, but he wasn’t always prudent.

I find his wording here very interesting:

“I searched in my heart … how to gratify my flesh ...”

You know what that sounds like?

It sounds like he’s trying to rationalize it, doesn’t it?

Trying to rationalize it, all the while, trying to also guide his heart with wisdom, knowing FULL WELL that he who “is led astray by it is NOT wise.”

He also states that his goal was to “lay hold on folly, till (he) might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.”

Hard to do that if caught up in the deceptions of alcohol, and I think Solomon learned this the hard way.

VS. 4-6 — Can you say workaholic?

There’s nothing wrong with working — in fact, just the opposite, the Bible says a man MUST work — if he won’t, neither should he eat!

There’s nothing wrong with building houses, planting vineyards, making gardens and orchards, and planting all kinds of fruit trees, water pools to water the trees.

But if these kinds of things CONSUME us (like it consumed Solomon) then it’s a big problem!

Speaking to workaholicism for a moment — Why did God command a day of rest in the O.T.?

He knew we needed rest — It’s good for us!

Anybody ever heard of “blue laws?”

So why do we like to work ourselves to death, and not rest?

Another thing with Solomon’s building projects — Some of them were outright sinful (See 1 Kings 11:6-8).

V. 7 - Solomon required a large workforce to get all of this done.

With this also came great possessions of herds and flocks, more than anyone before him.

Was this wrong? No. We know that God is the One Who promised to bless Solomon with riches.

But when Solomon began to TRUST in His riches/became CONSUMED with them, rather than trust in and be occupied with God, therein lies the problem.

V. 8 - Again, more on riches here.

Also, he enjoyed music.

Nothing wrong with enjoying good clean music, but there are those who take that too far as well.

V. 9 - Just as was promised to him.

Notice, his wisdom remained with him …

But again, he wasn’t always PRUDENT!

V. 10 - I know Solomon is a full-grown man here, but there’s an illustration here in this:

“You ever seen a child who gets EVERYTHING he wants?”

How does that usually turn out?

Spoiled! Right?

We need to understand that SOME things are outright OFF LIMITS.

That means we have to understand the meaning of the word “NO.”

And yes, other pleasures of life are fine — as long as they are kept in their proper place.

As long as they don’t interfere with “fearing God and keeping His commandments!”

V. 11 - “All was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.”

It might be something like a trophy, it might be something like the biggest house in the neighborhood, it might be a fat bank account, etc.

What will it all mean at the end of life?

THAT’S what Solomon wants us to think about in this book.

Conclusion:

1. Some concluding verses on the folly of overemphasizing worldly pleasures:

2. 1 Cor. 10:6-14

3. Jude 5

4. Heb. 3:12-19

5. Heb. 12:14