Self Undone - Ecclesiastes 4

Introduction

Why I love Ecclesiastes

roadmap to reconstruction

Once upon a time in ancient China, there was a farmer who lived with his son. They were quite poor but owned a single horse, which they used for plowing their fields. One day, the horse ran away, leaving the farmer without a means to work his land.

The farmer's neighbors, upon hearing about the horse running away, came to express their sympathy. They said, "What terrible luck you have! Now you have no horse to plow your fields. How will you manage?"

The farmer, however, remained calm and replied, "Good luck, bad luck, who can say?"

A few days later, the farmer's horse returned, and it was not alone; it had brought several wild horses with it. The farmer and his son managed to corral these wild horses. Now they had not just one but a whole herd of horses.

The neighbors, hearing this news, came to congratulate the farmer, saying, "What fantastic luck you have! Now you have so many horses. You're going to be so wealthy!"

The farmer again responded, "Good luck, bad luck, who can say?"

The following week, while trying to train one of the wild horses, the farmer's son was thrown from its back and broke his leg. The neighbors once more came to offer their condolences, saying, "What terrible luck! Your son's leg is broken, and he won't be able to help with the farm work."

The farmer's response remained the same: "Good luck, bad luck, who can say?"

A few weeks later, a war broke out, and the emperor's soldiers came to the village, conscripting all able-bodied young men to join the army. Due to his broken leg, the farmer's son was spared from being drafted.

The neighbors, realizing that the farmer's son's injury had saved him from a potentially deadly fate, came to express their amazement, saying, "What incredible luck you have! Your son's injury has saved his life!"

Once again, the farmer replied, "Good luck, bad luck, who can say?"

This folktale illustrates well the reality check that the preacher gives in Ecclesiastes. We are not God. We are overwhelmingly not in control. To try to grasp these things is like grabbing smoke. It is meaningless.

As we work our way through chapter four today we get further into the heart of the preacher and his observations. On his quest for meaning in a meaningless world he now faces the evil in the world through a unique lens. See, it is only in a biblical worldview that you find pity, not just for the oppressed but also the oppressor. The preacher’s message here in the fourth chapter is that the selfish ambition of man leads to meaningless death.

As we dig in, we have some daunting verses ahead of us but if you will do your best to stay awake and attentive I really believe we will leave today with a newness to our hope based on what this passage has to offer. And perhaps you will see a glimpse into why this is my favorite book in scripture.

The Big idea: Meaning is found in a life motivated by the Christ-empowered serving of others.

We’ve already begun to see a shift in the preacher’s thoughts. Chapters one and two read somewhat like a memoir of someone who is extremely depressed upon realizing few and far between are people who make any lasting Impact. Chapter three shows a shift towards looking to God. If the first two chapters showed our lack or absence of control, chapter three began to highlight God’s utter and total control. So here we arrive in chapter four and the preacher will unpack further observations on humanity and He starts with oppression. We begin with

Point 1 | Looking at Evil head on — vs. 1-3

[1] Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. [2] And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. [3] But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

It might be tempting here to make a joke or scoff at how seemingly dark the preacher is. That’s what we do isn’t it. We cannot stand to face evil head on so we find any way to keep our mind off it. In the same way the preacher pointed out that we ignore the reality of death, he now turns to the evil done in the world. Who can bare that weight? How could we make it through the day?

In “Living Life Backwards” David Gibson writes

We cope with it through distraction. We have Comic Relief so that we can stop the images of hunger and poverty and deprivation being relentless and unbearable.

Why is this? Why do we avert our eyes? Well there are a multitude of reasons behind this. It’s not enjoyable being at the forefront. There is no pleasure in seeing evil prosper in the world. Whether you are a believer or not this is agreed upon. It’s more work. It takes more emotional effort and mental capacity to engage with the human condition rather than to face it head on and deal with the reality of it.

We are slaves to comfort and pleasure. Not only this but to face the human condition — to look at the oppression and evil in the world unfiltered — is to acknowledge what the preacher has been driving home in the chapters before this: we do not control our lives. But the preacher does more here in this passage. The further we dig in we will begin to see that not only is this condition, this brokenness, unbearable but it’s actually it’s own cyclical disaster. What do I mean? He is saying that the broken, evil world is the way it is because we are broken and evil.

Another way to say it is, we don’t want to face the evil out there because it requires us to face the evil in here [ point to heart]. This is why people who have been traumatized by their parents will, as adults defend or protect their parents to a counselor or therapist because to do otherwise would be to painful — it requires you to face the fact that you really were hurt by your parents in one way or another; that your parents perhaps did their best for the most part but they also sinned against you and often intentionally. So to acknowledge the truth means a disillusion of the perfect loving parents you wish you had.

Likewise, to acknowledge the pain and suffering in the world or rather, as the preacher does here, to engage with it emotionally — to allow it to effect your emotions and to sit in it means a shattering of the idea that mankind is not really that bad.

A few weeks ago I traveled to Indiana to film a video of my mom that will be played at her funeral one day. One of the things she said in the video is that she is not ultimately sad about the reality of death but more so leaving behind her family in this messed up world.

This is not far from what the preacher says here — that better than the dead or living is the one who has not yet been born. This sentiment is just an echo of what he wrote in chapter one verse 18.

Ecclesiastes 1:18 [18] For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. (ESV)

We enter the world so hungry for knowledge, yet with age we begin to carry things that we know deep down ought not to be carried by us. We come face to face with the reality that sin is far worse than we dare to think about. The curse is so much worse than we believe.

There is one more reason though in all of this that the preacher alludes to as we continue to unpack this though. A prevailing reason we will avert our eyes from the depravation of the world, we will seek some sort of pacifier or mindless vice to numb the pain — To engage it is to sense responsibility for it — at least on some level. Whether it’s a commercial on tv about a starving nation, and we flip the channel or a homeless person at the corner of the traffic light we are stopped at and we do our best to not make eye contact, there is some sense of acknowledgement being linked to doing something about it.

Even now perhaps many of us are intentionally allowing our minds to wander about lunch, afternoon plans, football, or some other activity that is more fun than how uncomfortable this message is.

It’s important though. See, it’s only here in this discomfort — here looking at the reality of sin; only when we are willing to engage with the fact that ultimately we are bent towards worrying about how “I” am doing more than how “others” are doing. If we are willing to look at that version of you in the mirror with honesty you are able to see what the preacher has been talking about all along so far. Life is not something we deserve. It is a gift. It is the common grace of God that permeates our existence. It is the level playing field. It’s the only path to true humility. It’s the only path to avoiding a meaningless life. This leads into the next few verses and our second point this morning. If meaning is found in a life motivated by serving others, the preacher will demonstrate that by showing what happens with the opposite motives are at play.

Point 2 | Selfish Motives Revealed— vs. 4-8

[4] Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. [5] The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

The preacher’s observation is that ultimately the industry all around, the hard work that built cities and more — is at its core motivated by our desire to have what our neighbor has. We are driven by selfish ambition. In other words, we do what we want. And If we do what we don’t want we can trace it back to this. “I have to do this, so that I can do what I want.”

“Our wants and longings and desires are at the core of our identity, the wellspring from which our actions and behavior flow.” James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit

The preacher draws the conclusion that, driven by desires — specifically our desire to have a life different than our own, and often what we see in that of our neighbor — innovation and industry springs forth.

Now there are two different examples the preacher gives here. The sluggard and the workaholic. The preacher is pointing out that both, in fact are driven in all they do by the same internal mechanism — envy.

First we look at the fool in verse 5. This is a person who has no space in his life for anyone but himself. He the thing he has worked at the hardest in his life is presenting himself as someone who is always busy. The preacher’s example is extreme here — and as Gibson points out, we might not know someone so lazy they eat their own flesh, but I am sure we know this person who has so isolated themselves and given up any sense of self control or self care that their life is in ruins and from their perspective it’s everyones fault but their own.

What is so interesting here is that the workaholic is in the same category.

[7] Again, I saw vanity under the sun: [8] 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, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

Work is everything to this person. More so amassing so much wealth her grandkids “don’t have to work”. She grinds herself down to nothing and the grandkids don’t remember her because they don’t know her.

We know real people like this don’t we. They are so set in the imagined future that they never spend a second in the present. They only way their kids or grandkids remember their existence is when a check shows up at a birthday. Maybe the young kid is happy with this for a bit but with time the money becomes meaningless when they realize they could have had a grandparent.

It’s right in between these examples, the preacher gives a hint at to what he will unpack all throughout the rest of Ecclesiastes — the path to contentment, ultimately the path to a joy filled life.

[6] Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

Now the purpose of this verse is to segue between verses five and eight. It’s important to understand though that this is not a spectrum. For example we often put pride and humility on a spectrum as if they are on the same plane and if we could just be less prideful we would end up on the side of humility. But scripture says they are not on the same plane at all.

The same is true here. The preacher is speaking to an unshakeable contentment and He says it’s immensely better than a life of overwork or the meaninglessness of the sluggard. The workaholic and the sluggard are on the same plane with one end being fixated on the future that never arrives and the other fixated to a couch perhaps reminiscing about the past.

The preacher says just a little bit of enjoyment in what life has for the day is better than both. But how do we tap into that? Think about it for a little or a long time and you will find yourself swinging back and forth between do more and do less. You may land in the middle occasionally but remember, they are not on the same plane. You don’t slide from over work through contentment into laziness. It doesn’t work the other way around either.

The preacher understood this. He unpacks it in the last verses of this chapter. See our chase for contentment so frequently misses the mark because it starts in the world of “me”.

We were created for community.

Genesis 2:18 [18] Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (ESV)

We have been made with a longing to be with other people. And it goes beyond marriage. The most introverted person knows this to be true, that deep down at your core you know you need the presence of others.

As long as you isolate you will never be content. The preacher suggests that contentment is found in community. Meaning is found in a life motivated by the Christ-empowered serving of others.

Point 3 | Contentment in Community — vs.9-16

[9] Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. [10] For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! [11] Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? [12] And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

I know this passage has been used a lot at weddings, and that’s ok but the preacher is not talking about marriage here. He is talking about the benefit of community and the beauty of friendship.

So rather than climbing over people on the corporate ladder, the preacher says work together. Or perhaps more relevant to us in the south — ask for help. So many of us will work ourselves to death on something out of pride or control; pride because we don’t want to look weak or needy and control because we want control and asking people for help is messy. The preacher says that is the path to contentment: togetherness. More so, in serving one another. A happy meaningful life will be found amongst a people who delight to serve one another.

Many with a humanist worldview will agree with this. If they devote themselves to justice and service of others it gives them meaning. I would ask this person: why is the world that way? Why is it that comfort and pleasure do not bring satisfaction? And if they don’t, why does every human have an inexplicable longing for such things that don’t satisfy? Well C.S. Lewis had an answer

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” _C.S. Lewis

The preacher realized this long before Lewis though and He already says this in the first couple of chapters — Basically, “you served others and felt happy and now you go to the grave, vanity of vanities it is all vanity”.

Did you know If you eat healthy foods and exercise you will die healthier? — may include this may not

The other problem is that the motivation still becomes selfish. It still has some self serving element to it.

I can’t have even my own happiness attached to the other side of it because this will inevitably fail me. My sneaky desires will inch their stubborn way in and when the disappointment comes I will be left to despair yet again. In other words let’s say I set out to serve a neighbor. Maybe I see a need and there is some pure motive but ultimately I know that by serving them my life will be fulfilling. Right there — its right there where a desire will creep in, maybe its the desire to be noticed for the good, I want my other neighbors to see this or the neighbor I am serving to recognize and thank me for it. Notice how quickly my end goal has shifted from serving them to satisfying myself?

So is this even possible? Well let’s finish our passage.

[13] Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. [14] For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. [15] I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. [16] There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind. (ESV)

💡 According to the ancient Roman historian Plutarch, during one of the triumphs (a parade held to celebrate military victories) in Rome, a slave was placed behind Julius Caesar as he rode in his chariot. This slave's role was to remind Caesar of his mortality and to keep him humble. As part of this reminder, the slave reportedly whispered in Caesar's ear, "Memento mori" or "Remember you are mortal," which was a common phrase in ancient Rome to remind individuals of the impermanence of life and the need to stay humble.

The preacher ends the chapter driving home this idea of togetherness with the illustration of an arrogant king. He is saying the rule still applies to even the most powerful. The king even had humble beginnings but he forgot them all. He was unteachable. He could learn no new thing because he thought himself above it all. He had success by the world’s measure but he like all else would die and be forgotten. None of us are exempt from needing others in our lives and all of us should do the painful work of asking those around us this question: “Am I teachable?”

Conclusion

If we do the painful work this chapter asks of us we will draw the same conclusions if we are honest with ourselves. We cannot do this. It is impossible. No matter how many times I endeavor to serve others for the sake of others I am disappointed when they treat me as a servant and my heart is laid bare.

See, we need the humble king. We need a friend who will actually lay his life down for us. We need a savior who served and serves without reciprocity. We need someone so other’s focused to give us Himself. We need Jesus.

Jesus looked head on at the human condition and didn’t shy away. He fixated his eyes on the human condition all the way to Calvary. He looked at it and embraced it. He had no self serving purpose or envy but constantly did what the Father had him do. Jesus had the perfect eternal community of The Father and the Holy Spirit and yet He entered into our broken community and washed the feet of those who would abandon and or betray Him. He is the better — the ultimate preacher who sees the vanity of striving and says “Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.”

“Jesus does not love like us. We love until we are betrayed. Jesus continued to the cross despite betrayal. We love until we are forsaken. Jesus loved through forsakenness. We love up to a limit. Jesus loves to the end.” -Ortlund

This is how Paul puts it in the letter to Philippi.

Philippians 2:6–11 [6] […] though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (ESV)

Meaning is found in a life motivated by the Christ-empowered serving of others.

We will wander, we will forget His power and try to do it on our own and hopefully sooner than later we are brought to the end of ourselves so we can return again and again to the open arms of Jesus. He will never turn us away.

Application Questions

1. How is God calling me to bear the burdens of others?

2. What are the ways I envy others, that I need to confess this week in community?

3. What have I been striving for in isolation? How can I actively involve the community God has given me by asking for help?

4. What practical steps can I take to prevent laziness or overworking? How can others encourage me in this?