Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Prayer
As we make our way through this book of Ecclesiastes, as I said last week...
…we’re going to continue to see this phrase: The Vanity of...
Again, the purpose of the author of this book (Solomon)...
…is to search out the MEANING of LIFE...
to see whether different aspects of life - JUSTIFY our existence....
…or supply any GAIN to our existence!
This week we’ll see Solomon’s pursuit to determine if PLEASURE provides an adequate justification for human existence...
Our approach today will be that we walk through the text...
…and then circle back to VIEW the premise of the text (as a whole), from a different angle.
From the beginning of this passage we can see that Solomon introduces his experiment -
by talking to his - HEART (a dialogue with his heart)
So right away, we can see the premise of the experiment ...
…and he actually predicts the conclusion will be - VANITY!
Here - Solomon begins to explain his conclusion that PLEASURE in itself provides NO LASTING GAIN to our existence...
LAUGHTER he says - was insanity!
And FUN accomplished NOTHING!
What’s he really saying? - He’s NOT saying that ALL laughter is EVIL or that ALL fun is EVIL...
He’s simply saying that LAUGHTER and FUN, as a SOLUTION to the basic problems of life…is...
…an EPIC failure!
NOW the world - maybe you too - will live life - WEEKEND to WEEKEND…right?
Where it says -
Ok, let’s just GET THRU the week...
GET me to the weekend...
Where I can relax....have fun…decompress...
...and then I can RECHARGE for the coming week…(REPEAT)
Their solution to the ILLS of life is - Laughter and Fun...
And Solomon says - No - it doesn’t CURE anything...
So here we see Solomon MAKE IT CLEAR to his readers...
…that his experiment was a RATIONALLY CONTROLLED experiment...
MEANING - we see here that he TESTED if WINE could CURE the pain of life...
And we also see here that he EMBRACED “Foolishness”...
AND YET - he was still guided by - WISDOM
And so he’s NOT out to get DRUNK…!
Everyone knows that DRUNKENNESS isn’t the answer to life...
What Solomon wants everyone to know is this - This experiment is an experiment in PLEASURE…NOT DEBAUCHERY… (*explain - wisdom is still guiding him)
He wanted to know if RATIONALLY CONTROLLED indulgence in pleasure - gave meaning to life.
He wants to know WHAT was GOOD for children of man to do DURING the FEW days they have on this earth!
Should they pursue PLEASURE while they’re here…?
And he concludes that - drinking and drinking parties are not a solution to the emptiness of life...
…in the face of what’s coming - DEATH
Here we see...
an increase in ACTIVITY...
an increase in POSSESSIONS...
And notice how many times we see the phrase - FOR MYSELF in this passage...
Read again...
The purpose of these things were to bring about JOY and PLEASURE in the heart of Solomon...
Today - it might be:
houses (vacation houses)
boats
cars
enterprise
land
business
All THESE things meant to bring about PLEASURE in US!
For SOLOMON he says he ACQUIRED more than anyone else…in Jerusalem...
AND YET...
All of it still falling under the shadow of verse 1...
ALL of it - VANITY!
Here we see his pursuit of MONEY…attaining GREAT MONEY...
GREAT Wealth...
Money is one of those things in life that we can ACTUALLY feel - the comfort that it brings!
the JOY that it brings...
And yet - Solomon says - it’s all VANITY...
Our desire is NEVER satisfied!
That CRAVING is NEVER satisfied!
Solomon also pursues SEXUAL pleasures...
Whatever his eye desired, he acquired...
And yet - result?
Same as verse 1 - vanity!
All of this...
A PURSUIT of PLEASURE....all KINDS of pleasure...
FUN
LAUGHTER
ALCOHOL
FOLLY
ACTIVITY
POSSESSIONS
STATUS
MONEY
SEX
All of these things - pursued....and attained...
And the DESIRE for THESE things was - NEVER SATISFIED!
the desire for...
MORE fun - came
MORE ALCOHOL - came
MORE ACTIVITY - came
MORE POSSESSIONS - came
MORE STATUS - came
MORE MONEY - came
MORE SEX - came
Never fulfilled - a chasing after the WIND...
And so - FROM HERE NOW - I want to look back at these verses from a higher angle...
The premise of our text today has been what?
The Pursuit of Pleasure
But what I want us to see is that the Bible doesn’t teach that we have to choose between PURSUING GOD or PURSUING PLEASURE...
SLIDE: FORK
We don’t have this fork in the road before us where we have to CHOOSE between THESE TWO THINGS!
And i know a lot of people feel that way...
They’ll make comments like -
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