Enjoy Yourself

Blaise Pascal once said, “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.

I suppose many of our songs reflect this.

Pharrell Williams encourages us to “clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth.” It’s all about being happy...

Bobby McFerrin told us “don’t worry, be happy.”

Jimmy Soul gave us some advice that if you want to be happy for the rest of your life…get an ugly girl to marry you. (I did not follow his advice).

Cyndi Lauper told us that girls just want to have fun…Snoop Dogg told us not to judge him, “so what we get drunk, so what we smoke weed, we’re just having fun.” That’s what it’s all about right...

And if you’re into country music we can talk about red solo cups, being there for a party until they throw you out, friends in low places, and not to be outdone by Snoop Dogg, Hank Williams Jr. bellowed:

All my rowdy friends are coming over tonight / Do you wanna drink, hey do you wanna party?

Maybe that was just getting ready for a Monday Night Football game. What does all of this point to…well, Sometime you wake up feeling like P Diddy and other times you don’t…but if Pascal is right all of us are pursuing happiness.

And that is the quest now for Qohelet…the Quester…the guy who is trying to find meaning out of life. He discovered last week…we don’t need no education. It’s like trying to wrassle a tornado. It too is frustratingly absurd....

But what about pleasure? Maybe I just try to have the most fun that I can. Just have a little fun. Listen in to see what he found:

Ecclesiastes 2:1–11 ESV

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?” 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. 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 had also 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 sons of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Let me tell you what I think you just heard. I think we took all those songs from earlier…the life of Snoop Dogg and maybe even Hank Jr....and said, yeah…worldly pleasure is empty.

You don’t find meaning at the bottom of a bottle. You can’t find fulfillment even if you get all the fame in the world. You aren’t going to find the love you’re looking for in a one-night stand. And you can have all the money and possessions in the world and you can’t take it with you.

The problem here is that the Quester is pursuing joy in the wrong stuff. He is trying to get pleasure out of the world and that pleasure is fleeting.

You aren’t entirely wrong. And he is kind of saying that. But that’s not entirely what he is saying. He’s not saying, “oh that stuff isn’t real pleasure. You need real pleasure...” No, that isn’t his point. He’s saying that all pleasure is frustratingly absurd a chasing after the wind. It doesn’t give ultimate meaning.

Let me show you this...

He says, “I will test you with pleasure.” The Quester uses this word to refer to the sensation of pleasure…mirth…It has to do with the happiness that you might feel in doing something.

He says, “I’m going to enjoy myself fully....we’ll see that quest in a second but first he tips his hand a little. He tells us upfront that his quest once again revealed meaninglessness…a vapor…frustratingly absurd…he got to the bottom of it and said, “there has to be more.”

Maybe he was a little like Tom Brady after winning his third Super Bowl:

"Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, 'Hey man, this is what is.' I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, 'God, it's got to be more than this.' I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be."

He won four more rings. But it doesn’t seem like that made his life complete either. He might say with Qohelet. Super Bowl rings…vanity.

Then in verse 2 he says of laughter “It is mad”. That’s likely talking about superficial pleasures. The stuff that we know is going to be empty. And of pleasure that is more lasting or more substantial he says, “What use is it?”

It doesn’t net me anything. It has a bottom to it. It’s not ultimately satisfying. It doesn’t give me meaning…I get to the end of it and I’m still there and it’s gone.

He then turns to drink in verse 3. He tells us that he got completely drunk, that’s what he means when he says, “lay hold on folly”. I wasn’t just buzzing, y’all. I’m hammered. I got the full experience. I wanted to see if this is what it was all about. Is this good for us to do in these few days we have in life. Just drink it away. Enjoy wine to the full?

And he says, “my heart was still guiding me with wisdom.” He wants us to know that even though he is testing all of this stuff he kept his wits about him. He doesn’t mean here “wisdom” in the biblical sense. He isn’t talking about Proverbs. He just wants us to know that even though he got drunk he didn’t get black out drunk…he was able to still test whether or not this was valuable.

And then he turns his attentions to great works. What you have from verses 4-8 is power, wealth, and possessions. He pursued it all. But it wasn’t just bare resources. It was also beauty.

Don’t picture here a guy that is putting up bland looking buildings or strip malls, and acquring all sorts of things just to say he has them. No, this is an art collector. This is a guy who thinks…you know what I think that yacht might make me happy. Let’s get a boat.

You know what I’d like to create this really beautiful thing. Put all my resources towards making that downtown area beautiful. He’d take a whole city and turn into Chip and Joanna Gaines and flip it…make it something the Magnolia Homes would be envious of. That is what he is telling us.

He owned it all. And when you see a little thing at the end of verse 8 “many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.” He’s capping the rock and roll lifestyle. He is telling us I went all in. Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll. Money, Power, Fame, Sex. It was all there and I became legendary he tells us in verse 9.

But honestly that might not be the best way for me to describe it. It’s not just the base pleasures of the world that he’s trying. What Solomon is really telling us here is that he fulfilled the American Dream. This isn’t just rock and roll lifestyle on an RV going across the globe…this is a white-picket fence, with a beautiful house, a garden that is too legit to quit…no groundhogs eating all your stuff....camels made by BMW…turbans made by Gucci.

Verse 10 caps it off. I kept my heart from no pleasure....and now listen to this…it’s key....

For my heart found pleasure in all my toil.

Solomon isn’t saying what we so often say. You’ll never find pleasure in this stuff....

Nope. He did find pleasure. And this is where we in the church need to listen for just a moment. Many people who have no relationship with Jesus and a running head long into all of these pleasures…they are actually finding pleasure. They are finding some good things. (I’ll come back to what The Quester means by good in a second).

I found this quote a few years ago and thought it very helpful:

Most contemporary Gospel preaching assumes that unbelievers are dissatisfied with their lives and that they will respond to Jesus if we show them he is the answer to their unmet needs. If they are lonely, Jesus will be their friend. If they are afraid, he will be their shelter. If they feel guilty, he will be their forgiveness. If they feel empty, he will give their life meaning. The problem with this message is not that it is untrue – the Bible tells us that Jesus really is the answer to all these needs. The problem is that this is only part of the truth. Most unbelievers are not unhappy at all.

The Quester now says, “and this was my reward for all my toil.” You need to know something about that word “reward”. It’s a word that is often translated as “portion”.

It’s kind of like a paycheck. Your weekly wages. He’s saying this is what I earned. And we have to see that in his mind he isn’t saying that it is empty or without any kind of substance or any kind of good.

Pleasure can be…well pleasurable. And later on in Ecclesiastes he is going to say, “this is good.” Now he doesn’t mean good in a moral sense…but more in a sense like…this is a really good crumb.

Like have you ever had a candy bar that you are going to “share” with a slobbering child? They bite off one end and it’s…well…inedible at this point…at least to any sane person. But there is the other half of that Snickers bar. It doesn’t have slobbers all over it.

That’s still good. This is what the Quester means by good. Not ultimate. Not a whole candy bar. Not the best possible thing. Not even the answer to his quest…but, “hey” there is something to be had here.

Yes, there are some pleasures where the Quester is going to say, “yeah these aren’t even good. This is the slobbery piece of the candy bar”. But some things....yes, even worldly pleasures...

And this is why it is so important for us to understand this and so dangerous if we don’t. Because you might be patting yourself on the back because you don’t have a rock and roll lifestyle…you aren’t divulging in the slobbery end of things…and in this you are truly honestly experiencing pleasure. Life is good.

So what might you conclude from this? Well, that you’ve found the answer. “Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth”.

It almost sounds like at the end of verse 10 that the Quester has found it. All men seek happiness says Pascal…and Qohelet says, “Guys, I found it...”

But now listen to verse 11. I considered it all…and it was vanity and a striving after the wind.

What?!?!?

Those are the words we’ve been seeing all along. I thought you found something? I thought you had a reward? But you are once again saying that it is emptiness…frustratingly absurd…nothing more than trying to wrestle a tornado?

And this is where we need the rest of the verse. “And there was nothing gained under the sun.”

That word “gained” is a huge one for the Quester. It’s the thing he is looking for in this search. It’s a word that is only found in Ecclesiastes…at least in this form. And it means something like “wholeness, profit, excess, fulfillment”.

Something to show for it. And this helps us to make sense out of verse 10 and 11.

Imagine for a moment that you have a business. You are selling lemonade. And each year that you sell this lemonade you break even. Yes, you pay yourself a reasonable salary. You keep the lights on. You make some great lemonade. People around you are happy. They are fulfilled. You are fulfilled because you get to have purpose and meaning in your life. You build some great relationships with people. You even get an employee or two and get to boss them around a little. But at the end of the day....your profit says...

Zero.

You don’t go backwards. And you’ve had really a great year…so you might say....

Good.....That’s what he ways in verse 10. That’s the word there…you have a portion…you have something to show for it…things that aren’t awful and bad and monstrous…you might even be able to be quite satisfied with these things…live your whole life on that lemonade stand…but still...

Zero.

There isn’t an excess. Maybe we can see this even better with our glass of lemonade.

You come to the lemonade stand and you are just crazy thirsty. And there is only one glass of lemonade left for the day. Oh man…what a great day…you gulp that glass down…and it’s good, best lemonade you’ve tasted, what a great and marvelous and wonderful experience… (v10. The reward for your .25 is a great glass of lemonade)

But there’s one problem. You are still thirsty. What that means is that as far as lemonade goes…you’re bigger than it is. It doesn’t fully quench your thirst. No excess.

That’s different than if you are thirsty and there are five pitchers of lemonade and you gulp a couple down and feel like you are going to explode. Enough for me, man. That’s more than I can handle.

In that instance the lemonade has bested you. It would have “gain” in the verse 11 sense of the word. It’s bigger than you are. You took your quest to this thing and it bested you. You couldn’t get to the bottom of it.

This, then, is what the Quester is saying about pleasure. I tried it all. And you know what I found…man, it sure was fun at many places along the way…I got some pleasure out of this....but you know what I found? The bottom.

Hedonism, the philosophy that what really matters is pleasure…the Quester finds…is empty.

Ethical Hedonism…the idea that something is morally right if it creates the greatest happiness for people or society....empty. It collapses on itself. It’s a snake eating its own tail.

The same is true if you make your pleasure about yourself or even about other people. I just want to help people that makes me feel good. Awesome. That’s great. Probably going to be able to get some good from that. You’ll come to the end of your days and have some non-slobbery candy bar to show for it.

But it’s not big enough to hold you. It’s not enough to bear the weight of your identity. Pleasure…even if good God-sanctioned pleasure…does not end in gain.

We can’t quite end there though. Qohelet won’t get the last word here. Remember how I said that word for “gained”, at least in this form…is only found in Ecclesiastes?

Well at one point they decided to translate the OT into Greek. It’s called the LXX. And when they came to this phrase they translated it with a word that is found 8 times in the NT. It’s usually translated “more”. So…again picture that lemonade…it’s bested you....there is more there than you can drink.

But there is one usage of this word that I found particularly interesting. John 10:10

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Abundantly. To use the language of Ecclesiastes. Jesus has come that your life might end in gain. That it’ll have excess. Leftovers. More lemonade than you can drink.

And here I’m reminded of a story in John 4. It’s a hot day. One of those craving lemonade days. And Jesus sits down next to this Samaritan woman and says, “can you give me something to drink.”

She’s a bit taken aback by his breaking some of the social codes of the day. And she says, “you’re asking me?!?” Then Jesus says, “if you knew who was asking you’d be asking me for the living water...”

And I can almost picture laughter here. “You ain’t got a bucket.”

We can’t blame her for not understanding Jesus. After all, she doesn’t know him from any other Jew that’s rejected her. And everything he is saying and doing during this encounter was probably screaming “Crazy person I should slowly inch away from!” and not “Prophet of God.”

But here Jesus is saying, “I have everything you need....” Excess. Abundance. Fountain with no end. No bottom. The end of the Questers quest....

It’s a perfect set-up for her response: “Man, you don’t even have a bucket!”

In her mind, possessing a bucket is the essential ingredient to giving someone refreshing water. And here is this bucket-less dude telling her he can give her water that will forever satiate her thirst. Maybe if he came with a bucket, it’d be at least plausible. He might be good at other things—but he’s failing the entry level exam of Water-Giving 101.

But here he is, sans bucket, thinking he can give me what no human under the sun has ever found. Who does this guy think he is?

Well, I’ll tell you.

As that woman kept conversing with Jesus she found that he was far more than a water-gatherer. He is the source of life. John 4:13-14

John 4:13–14 ESV

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

I’m pretty sure the Samaritan woman got what Jesus was saying. After really coming to grips with who Jesus actually is, “the woman left her water jar and went away into town” and told everybody about Jesus. She learned that the pre-requisite to giving this water isn’t bucket-possession, instead it’s knowing the Water Giver. Now she’s bucketless and yet giving people water, just like Jesus.

Isn’t this all of us? Grabbing buckets to find life and meaning and well, as Pascal said…to find some happiness. Something that will have gain, excess, meaning, lasting value...

Your bucket might be meth or a mansion, it could be a one-night stand or just one-night alone on the couch nothing to do, nothing pressing in on you, just you and your favorite TV show and some bon-bons. It might be to be the most famous or it might be to have a super awesome family. You might want to build something beautiful and lasting and make others happy, and you might be a selfish goon...

Buckets…all of them.

Some of them you’ll get some good satisfying water. But as Jesus said, you’re going to get thirsty again.

Listen, you don’t have to believe him. If you don’t, go for it. Find all the pleasure in the world you can find…and you might even hit it on occasion. But it’s going to have a bottom. And I hope you discover it before it’s too late.

Because there will come a day when we’re all either left holding a bucket or holding onto the Water Giver.

What we find is that in Christ even our pleasures are redeemed. Not the slobbery candy bar end of pleasure…but the stuff that is truly good, those little shards of life that are beautiful and wonderful even here outside of Eden. And somehow we are able to enjoy even these things....But that’s not the main point.

The main point…the gain…I have come to give them life and life abundantly.