Ecclesiastes” What is Life?: Eat, Drink, Be Marry
Ecclesiastes: What is Life? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Greeting:
Greeting:
Good morning everyone
Welcome visitors
Stay with us this morning for our meal
Encourage you all to come back this evening for our singing
Lesson Text:
Lesson Text:
Ecclesiastes 2
Opening:
Opening:
This morning I want to encourage everyone to get out their Bibles and turn with me to Ecclesiastes...
Last week we began a study looking at one of if not the biggest questions in life...
‘What is the meaning of life?”
We as humans throughout life have often sought out meaning in our lives, we have often longed for that answer...
Many people throughout time have spent tons of time, money, effort, done a lot of seeking for an answer...
Thankfully for us as we have looked at and will continue to look at, Scripture has that answer for us...
As we turn in our Bibles to Ecclesiastes we noted last week that most all credit this book to a man named Solomon...
Solomon the son of David, was a man who had all sorts of power, position, wealth...
He was King...
Scripture also tells us that Solomon was a wise man, the wisest man to have ever lived....
So as we study Ecclesiastes we study from and learn from a man who had it all, tried it all, did it all...
Last week we studied chapter one...
We focused primarily there in verse 2 where Solomon writes, ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
Solomon when reflecting on this life, he calls it vanity...
A word that in Hebrew means breath or vapor or smoke...
Giving us the idea that life is something fleeting, fading, not able to grasp...
There is no point to this life...
Something that is empty, useless, unfulfilling...
That is how Solomon describes this world, this life we live...
However, this view isn’t the view Solomon, nor God, nor we ourselves should want for our lives today...
We noted in verse 3 that there is what we are calling an “under the sun” mentality...or perspective
A mentality, a view, a perspective, that only looks at this life for meaning...
A life that only looks at things from a wordly view, from an Earthly view, and from that perspective, all is in fact vanity...
Our lives, if we only think about it in terms of this earth, temporary fame fortune, satisfaction, we are going to be left feeling empty, useless, unfulfilled...
It’s not until we realize there is more to this life, there is a better perspective we can live with in life, that we will find true meaning in life...
True fulfilment in life...
So that is what we hope to do in this study, we hope to look at Ecclesiastes and see that yes, if we live with a worldly view, a earthly view of life, then this is depressing, it is sad, it is unfulfilling...
But our lives, when lived with the right perspective, is beautiful, fulfilling, all that we want it to be...
Lesson:
Lesson:
This morning we want to continue on in this study, looking at lessons we can learn from Scripture...
Lessons that hopefully we can use to find meaning and purpose in our lives...
Chapter two is where we will focus this morning, so again I encourage you to follow along with us as we study Gods word together...
Last week we ended off there in chapter one looking at the idea that the Preacher, as he calls himself in verse one, Solomon sort of tell us one day we will be gone and forgotten...
What a thought right?
Scripture tells us there in chapter 1 verse 14...
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
Solomon has tried it all, he has done it all, he has seen it all...
He said its vanity, all of it, its like grasping at the wind, he can’t get ahold of it right?
He had searched through life with this horizontal perspective, this under the sun perspective, and everywhere he searched all was vanity...
Plus, one day he would just be dead and gone, and forgotten about...
So what does he do? What does he tell us happens in his life on this journey to find meaning?
We come to chapter two verse 1....
And we find what Solomon then turns to in life...
At the end of chapter one he turned to wisdom...
In verses 12-18 he sought out knowledge and wisdom thinking maybe that would fulfill him...
17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Solomon didn’t find what he was looking for even in wisdom and knowledge did he?
He said in much wisdom is grief, increasing in knowledge increases in sorrow...
This didn’t answer life’s biggest question for Solomon did it?
Maybe today we feel like wisdom and knowledge, again from a horizontal view, an under the sun view...
A worldly view of life...
We might think that is the answer...
If i can just learn more know more, if I can become wise in the world then maybe I will be happy, then maybe I will be fulfilled...
But Solomon, he tells us that isn’t the case...
It doesn’t work...
Then we come to chapter two...
What do we find Solomon turn to after wisdom?
1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity.
Solomon turns to pleasure in his life...
He developed a mindset we also find mentioned in Scripture of what we could call...
“Eat, Drink and Be Merry”
This is mentioned over in Luke 12....
In Luke 12:19 we find what we often call the Rich Fool...
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’
We will circle back to this at the end...
But that was sort of the idea or mindset or lifestyle Solomon had developed...
He was going to sit back, kick back, relax....
He was going to eat drink and be merry...
Again remember this was someone that had it all, done it all, saw it all...
He had the wealth, he got 666 talents of gold in a single year...
That is 25 tons of gold, that is in todays time $113 million, but when you make it equivalent for that time period its billions maybe trillions of dollars...
He could buy and do anything he wanted...
As we will see in this chapter he had food, drink, women, possessions, animals, everything and anything a man could want...
Solomon was living a life that we would often call today...
“Living the dream”
“Boy, that must be nice. He is living the life.”
We might today think man, if only I had this...
If only I had that bigger house, newer car, prettiest spouse, biggest bank account...
If only i owned the most land, the biggest farm, if only...
Then I would be happy, then I would have it all...
Yet what does Solomon tell us all this was again?
He says I have been there, I have done it, I have had it, I have lived it...
And you know what it all is?
Vanity...
All is vanity...
Lets take a look at chapter 2 together though...
1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” 3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.
Solomon says, I said in my heart, I said to myself, come now I will test you with mirth, or pleasure...
I am searching for the meaning of life, I am trying to find fulfillment, I can’t seem to find it yet, so I know what I will do, I will turn to a life of pleasure...
That has to be the answer right?
He says this also was vanity...
Verse 2, I turn to laughter, maybe I can laugh my way through life...
He calls it madness...
He isn’t saying all laughter is bad, he isn’t saying we can’t laugh and be happy in life...
He will tell us in chapter 3 there are times for us to laugh...
But its not the answer to life, its not the meaning, its not what is going to give you true fulfilment in life...
Verse 3, Solomon will begin to tell us all the pleasures he turned to...
He says I will even give you the specifics, I will write and tell you what all I tried in the world...
What pleasure does he turn to in verse 3?
3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.
I will jus turn to wine, I will turn to drinking...
I will just fill myself full, I will drink and that will be m answer...
I will turn to chemical or substance abuse, i will turn to drugs and drinking etc and that is what will give my life meaning and fulfilment...
That is what I will find in a bottle...
If you turn over to proverbs 20, you can see Solomon's view of alcohol...
1 Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler,
And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
Did that wok? Did that bring him fulfilment?
Nope...
he moves on to the next thing doesn’t he?
He turns to work beginning in verse 4...
4 I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. 5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove.
Solomon look at all he did...
Notice too that all that he did had an s on the end...
He didn’t build a house, he built houses...vineyards, gardens, pools...
And his house in particular you could go over to 1 Kings 7 and read about his palace...
It took him 13 years to build it, the description of it is extraordinary...
There was no other house like it anywhere...
If I could just have that one house, then if I could just have that lake house, then that beach house, If i could just have those I would be happy!
My life would be complete, I would have meaning in life!
I know what I will do in life to find purpose I will just give myself over to work, I will work and work and work so that I can have more and more money so that i can have houses, pools, gardens...
I want my property to be the one everyone drives by and stops to look at and ooo and awww over...
We will see later, that didnt work for Solomon and it won’t work for you...
What does he turn to next?
He turns to finding purpose in what others can do for him...
Look in verse 7 with me...
7 I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me.
Solomon acquired slaves, so many that he had his own servants from them born in his house...
I need a life to where i need my own nany, my own chef, my own landscaper, my own workers...
I need to be able to grow all my livestock and flocks to more and more, I need my estate to be bigger and better than everyone else's....
I need that life...
Solomon had it, he had every animal every servant...
Think about just what he would’ve ate...
Maybe that is the foody in me...but think what his dinner menu would have been like?
22 Now Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour, sixty kors of meal, 23 ten fatted oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.
One day...this was one day’s worth of provisions...
I don’t know what your menu is like in your house, but mine sure ain’t like this...
Mine is more, hey Madison, don’t throw those leftovers out, that's lunch for a few more days...
Solomon if all that wasn’t enough listen and read with me in verse 8...
Solomon had all the money in the world
8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.
9 So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
Solomon had wealth like no other...
Solomon had so much money that he didn’t have to buy the cd or concert ticket to his favorite band, he just bought the band...
He had all the entertainment and money that a man could want...
Surely that was where purpose was found, surely that is where fulfilment was found right?
Your Bibles will also mention there the pleasures of men that Solomon had...
Solomon according to 1 Kings 11:3 had 700 wives and 300 concubines...
1000 women Solomon had at his disposal...
And oh by the way if all of that isn’t enough, read verse 10...
10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.
I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,
For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;
And this was my reward from all my labor.
If everything we already mentioned isn’t enough, Solomon tells us here essentially anything I ever saw, anything i ever wanted, anything that i desired…
He got it...
He says he did not withhold from his heart any pleasures...
Yet what was the final verdict of this all?
Surely this was the answers he was searching for...
Read with me verse 11...
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun.
Solomon says after all this, he looked on all the works his hands had done, everything that he had tried, all the work he put into his life...
How does he desribe it all?
Does he tell us there that it was meaningful, fulfilling, empowering?
Solomon says, “Indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind..”
He says, “There was no profit under the sun.”
Solomon tired it all, lived it all, bought it all, built it all...
And all of it was vanity he says...
Nothing gave his life meaning, nothing gave him satisfaction...
Nothing gave him purpose in life.
So what about us?
Maybe we think, well I can’t even comprehend that...
That doesn’t apply to me, I can’t relate to that lifestyle Solomon lived...
I disagree...
I think we all can relate to him a lot more than we think we can...
John D Rockefeller, many of whom I sure know who that is...
Founder of standard oil
Worlds first billionaire back in like early early 1900’s…
I saw a quote the other day from him and the post was making the point that even though we may not have as much money as he did, we as a society might live a better life today...
And the quote that Rockefeller said was, “When I was born the dentist didn’t use nonvacne.”
This might sound crazy but in a way couldn’t we say we have it better today than he did, even better than Solomon did?
Think of all we have in this world today…
Modern medicine, technology.
Ac, heat, nice homes and houses
Cars to drive us instead of walking
We want water we go the fridge get it out…
Ice cold water, we got an ice maker…
We can sit on our couches order our food, groceries…
We can find someone to drive us wherever we wanna go
We can hop on a plane and travel to wherever we wanna go…
It might be true that most Americans today can experience more pleasure easily and more readily avaliable to us than anyone throughout the world and history….
Yet we are never satisfied are we?
No wonder we have more struggled with anxiety mental illness, all the issues we have…
Why is that?
Because Solomon was right wasn’t he?
Pleasure is vanity…
Now don’t get me wrong this morning, I am not saying we can’t go enjoy life as a Christian.
I am not saying that it’s all wrong, the right kind of pleasure and enjoyment out of this world is ok…
We can enjoy this life and world, but we should be cautious and careful that pleasure doesn’t become the purpose in which we live out life…
Pleasure should never be the purpose of a Christian’s life because pleasure is fading and fleeting…
Pleasure of this world doesn’t last, it’s not sustainable…
It’s that same phrase we saw last week and again today in verse 11 here…
The same phrase we will see throughout the book…
Solomon searched far and wind everywhere under the sun for pleasure…
Only to find there is no pleasure under the sun…
There is no true fulfillment meaning and purpose in the pleasures of this world…
And you know why it is that way?
Because God made it that way…
Because he wants us to have a relationship with him in order to find meaning…
Think about it, if we found true fulfillment true meaning from the pleasures of this world then what need would we have for God?
Our dissatisfaction, our lack of fulfillment, with everything this world has to offer should drive us closer to God..
It should make us to want him even more…
As we said last week the book of Ecclesiastes isn’t trying to depress us, it’s trying to drive us and point us to god…
It wants us to know everything under the son this worldly earthly perspective of life isn’t all life is, that’s not how it has to be…
Instead we can find meaning we can find purpose in God…
When the object of our longing becomes a relationship with him over a relationship with the world, it’s then we will finally find meaning…
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Don’t choose the pleasures of the world this morning, choose god instead
Remember back towards the beginning of the lesson we referenced Luke 12 with the Rich Ruler...
He had fallen in love with the pleasures of this world…
He had decided he was going to kick back eat drink be happy, no care in the world…
Look at the response God gives for such attitude there in Luke 12:19-21…
And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Thy fool, God says…
He says his soul would be required of him tonight and what then?
Whose things will all those be then?
It won’t matter will it?
Scripture tells us so he is who lays up treasures for himself…
Scripture tells us we are foolish if we lay up for ourselves treasure here on earth…
We are foolish if we think being rich here in this world matters…
We better, as scripture tells us, be rich towards God…
This morning is your riches, is your treasure placed in Christ?
If your purpose and meaning, your focus and perspective, is it one that’s above the sun, that sees past this world?
Are we living a life that’s not earthly driven but driven by the most beautiful promise ever made…
Heaven…
I hope we are…
But this morning if you’re not let’s change that..
If you aren’t living a life for Christ, if you’ve never become a child of God that’s where it all begins…
Following the pattern laid out for us in scripture…
The same pattern that’s been followed since Acts 2…
Hear believe repent confess and be baptized…
This morning maybe you’re someone that’s made that decision already…
But you’ve turned away, you’ve left God to chase the pleasures of this world..
You have sought purpose meaning and fulfillment from things of this earth, but hopefully you’ve realized it doesn’t last…
It’s not the answer…
Only God is…
Come back home…
