Enjoy life together!

Title: “Extreme Home Makeover part2

Text: Ecclesiastes 2

D.T Life is gift not gain

Introduction: We are going to start this morning by examining popular animated characters. Scrat (tries desperately to protect what he’s gained, and he struggles greatly.) Wile E Coyote (tries to get his hands on the roadrunner, only to fall into a cycle of failure.) Sylvester (Same as above.) Why do people find the plight of these characters so funny? Perhaps it’s because we can identify with them. We understand what it’s like to seem to chase after something only to feel as if we never achieve what we are after.

Today we are in a series called extreme home makeover. This series is named after the ABC series where Ty Pennington would take over the homes of people in need. Once the home makeover would be complete, they would utter the famous phrase “Move that bus.” The reality is this, our homes could use a little work. Whether it’s our faith, our relationships with our families, our marriages, each at times needs a bit of a makeover.

The first several sermons in this series are in the book of Ecclesiastes because of what it teaches on what we should value in our lives. If we understand what to properly value in life, we can learn what to prioritize in our (parenting, marriages, faith, spiritual lives)

Remember, I summarize the book of Ecclesiastes through the perspective of tensile strength. our lives produce burden and weight. The book of Ecclesiastes hits us with the reality that so many people are putting weight and burden on aspects of our lives that were never meant to carry the weight and burden we are placing upon them. The book of Ecclesiastes teaches us how to place the correct weight on the objects with the tensile strength designed to sustain them.

Today we are going to be in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, and Solomon is going to talk at great length about what we value in life. In the process Solomon is going to burst alot of bubbles. However he’s gonna come back later and glue them back together as he shifts our perspective.

READ Ecclesiastes 2:1-16

Ecclesiastes 2:1–16 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. So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool!

In this passage Solomon talks about how he lived life in the fullest

Laughter, Pleasure, Building houses and planting gardens

Made a bunch of money and bought servants and entertainers

He didn’t deny himself anything

Solomon was on the forbes 500 of rich people

READ Ecclesiastes 2:17-23 After experiencing life in its fullest Solomon reaches the conclusion that it was all without meaning

Ecclesiastes 2:17–23 ESV

So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used 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 with 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.

Laughter=Madness

Pleasure? What does it accomplish?

Wisdom? It’s pointless because people won’t be able to distinguish the wise from the foolish amongst the tombstones.

Suddenly things unravel,

Peoples lives are grief and pain and their minds never rest

Their toil gains nothing

Solomon hates his own life.

However the passage shifts in verse 24

READ Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

Ecclesiastes 2:24–26 ESV

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Now Solomon reaches a really important conclusion. It’s a conclusion we must also reach as well. Remember how I mentioned that Solomon likes to burst bubbles and then repair them? This is when he starts to repair the bubbles he burst. Throughout Ecclesiastes Solomon was evaluating life through a certain perspective. We can see a common theme in place.

Solomon asks “what does it accomplish?

What do people gain through their toil?

Nothing is gained under the sun

Solomon will ask this question multiple times “What does a person gain in their toil?

Ecclesiastes 2 answers the question “What does a person gain in their toil? Nothing.

Solomon concludes the best thing to do is eat, drink, and find satisfaction in their toil. Why? Because it’s a gift from God.

Solomon is telling us that if we view life through the perspective of what can be gained. We are going to become like Solomon in verse 17 we are going to despise life and find despair in our work and toil.

However if we view life as a gift then we will be free to find enjoyment in

Laughter

Eating, drinking and merriment

Our work and toil.

The whole sermon and chapter can be summed up with this phrase. Life is gift, not gain.

Garden Trail Illustration

If life is indeed gift, then like other gifts, it’s meant to be shared

Friends

Family and loved ones

We share our hobbies, joys, memories, times, and appreciation for the one who gave us life in the first place. God and his Son and our savior Jesus. As we think about living life as a gift not gain, and the need to share that gift with others. There is a New Testament passage which comes to mind. These are the words of Jesus, and they are a great example of living life as a gift not gain.

READ Matthew 6:19-21