Letters to Me - 2

Letters To Me - 2

Introduction

In every generation, there are trends and fads that are great at the time, but could cause us to cringe later in life. Show of hands, let’s see who participated in some fads from the last few decades:

—pet rocks [pic]

—tamagotchi [pic]

—fanny packs [pic]

—80’s hair [80’s hair pic, man mullet pic]

People spent years thinking these things are cool, that this thing will make them happy. But just a few years down the road, they realize how silly it was. They look back with embarrassment.

We started walking through the OT book of Ecclesiastes last week. A book that wants to offer that kind of perspective…to keep us from mistakes. And King Solomon, our Teacher, reminds us how silly life can be.

- 2 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”

Throughout this little letter, the Teacher will trace why this is true. That due to the unfortunate, but true realities that nothing on earth “under the sun” can bring ultimate satisfaction, and that our lives are but a mere breath, everything under the sun is without meaning.

TS - Today we are going to begin to see how the Teacher came to that conclusion. We walk that path with him to try to find meaning and significance. He started in a place that most of us today would begin. He focused on himself, looking for meaning in pleasure and wealth.

- I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. 2 So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?” 3 After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world.

4 I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. 7 I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. 8 I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire!

Our Teacher starts with an obvious choice to find satisfaction…pleasure. Now, “pleasure” kind of has a negative connotation to it that makes it seem ungodly. Not true here. The word here for ‘pleasure’ could accurately be translated as ‘happiness.’ Solomon began his pursuit of satisfaction with what he thought would make him happy.

Isn’t that the dominant pursuit of our lives today? Happiness? Almost every single decision we make is based on making ourselves happy now, or getting us to a future where we will be happy.

Dave Gibson - “In all our varied pursuits—earning a living, finding a spouse, raising good children, having fun, keeping fit—we exhibit a common desire to be happy in what we do. We do not simply exist, suspended motionless in time. We shape and change the world and seek to control it. We plan and dream about our individual lives. We live with a purpose, toward a specific end, and we have a goal: to be happy.”

And we can admit this isn’t a new pursuit. It has been this way since the beginning in the Garden of Eden, Solomon writes about it here 3000 years ago. Blaise Pascal, the famous theologian, mathematician, and scientist, wrote this 375 years ago:

Blaise Pascal - “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they use, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both—to be happy. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

TS - This is our default setting, to make ourselves happy. We even expect (and sometimes demand) that others will do whatever is necessary to make us happy. It is the driving force of life. What does our Teacher turn to in order to find happiness? He looks in the same places we do:

He begins with laughter. He tries to be entertained. Tell some jokes. Make me laugh. Distract me. And that’s fine…for a time. The joke that is so funny the first time isn’t the tenth time you hear it. It’s just annoying after that. It’s good to laugh, but it doesn’t last.

He moves on to alcohol. He tries to find happiness in wine. Isn’t that what alcohol tries to sell us today? The commercials don’t show the angry, abusive alcoholic, or someone in tears at an AA meeting, it shows your buddies having a great time. And it may give a good time for awhile, but it doesn’t last either. Reality always comes crashing back in.

He continues on to find happiness in what is probably the most common place today to find it…money and possessions. He works to create an environment where he is surrounded by this expansion of wealth. He describes what he did:

—built huge homes

—designed vineyards. Keeps the wine flowing.

—Wonderful garden. All the food he could desire.

—Slaves. He doesn’t just own things, but people too. He doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to do. Others can do it.

—Amasses great sums of gold and silver. More and more money. Solomon’s estimated worth was over $2.1 trillion. He sits securely atop Forbes list of richest people in the history of ever.

—He brings hundreds of beautiful women to have at his disposal. We learn in the books of history in the OT that Solomon had 300 wives and 700 concubines. Oddly, he doesn’t even mention his wives here in his pursuit of happiness…and I will not comment as to why that may be. All he mentions are these hundreds of women that he holds no sense of responsibility for. They live 100% for him.

“I had everything a man could desire.” Yes, he had that and then some. And he doesn’t just have it for a moment. Did you notice the effort to make it all sustainable? Vineyards to keep the wine flowing. Reservoirs of water to ensure the food will last. Slaves that reproduce so they will always be present. Hundreds of women in case he gets tired of one of them. Shocking amounts of money in case he gets bored. He has created an environment where happiness should create itself.

So his wine won’t run out, his water won’t run out, the food won’t run out, the women won’t run out, the slaves won’t run out, the money won’t run out. He has indefinite happiness. How’d it turn out for him?

- 9 So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. 10 Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. 11 But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.

His grand experiment fails spectacularly. There is no happiness to be found in any of those things. Chase happiness all you want and you simply won’t find it. It’s like chasing the wind…you will not catch it. And this isn’t just a biblical phenomenon, it’s a contemporary one. Citing a study in her book America the Anxious, Ruth Whippman writes:

Ruth Whippman - “Surprisingly, the higher the respondents rated happiness as a distinct personal ambition, the less happy they were in their lives generally and the more likely they were to experience symptoms of dissatisfaction and even depression… These studies concluded that paradoxically, the more people valued and were encouraged to value happiness as a separate life goal, the less happy they were.”

Why is that? Why do the things that should bring happiness utterly fail? In , our Teacher doubles back to this idea of happiness, specifically as it relates to money and possessions. He helps us begin to understand why we can’t find true happiness there.

- 10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! 11 The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!

12 People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.

13 There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. 14 Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children. 15 We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us.

Solomon draws out a few reasons why money doesn’t, why money can’t bring happiness. He simply shows reality:

—if you love money (expect to find satisfaction there) you will never have enough. Getting more money simply makes you want more money. You will never be satisfied. You will always chase the bigger number. It’s meaningless to think it will make you happy.

—It’s too easy to spend. Whether you are the one spending it or other people are lining up to help you, money has a habit of getting away.

—We grow afraid to lose it. Once we get money and hope in it, we are now forced to protect it, to preserve it. Have to leave something for the kids. It’s makes us anxious, and find we cannot sleep.

—Ultimately, we lose it all anyway. He is brutally honest here…you will leave this world the same way you entered it…naked and penniless. Why spend your days chasing something you leave behind?

That will lead the Teacher to this conclusion:

- 16 And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind. 17 Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry.

If you make money and possessions the source of your happiness, this is all you will get: frustration, discouragement, and anger. Hear the wisdom from the man who had more than anyone ever before or since. Chasing happiness in these things does not end with happiness.

TS - there is a deeper reason why this is true. While we may try to convince ourselves we can overcome the obstacles and prove Solomon wrong, we can’t. We will inevitably repeat Solomon’s experiment and its failure. And the reason it failed for him will be the same reason it fails for us. It’s a problem of the soul. Back to Ecclesiastes chapter 2.

- 4 I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. 7 I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. 8 I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire!

This description the Teacher gives of this place of ultimate happiness he tries to create shows some similarity to another biblical place. One that did offer ultimate happiness and satisfaction. Solomon hinted at it when he says “gardens and parks.” He creates a garden, and the Hebrew word for ‘park’ shares a root with the word ‘paradise.’ Our Teacher tries to find happiness by creating a garden paradise. Sound familiar?

- 8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches.

Solomon is trying to recreate Eden. He creates this garden paradise and filled it with trees. He filled it with water. He filled it with people (slaves and women). Consciously or not, Solomon is trying to get back to Eden. To get back to what he lost in paradise.

And isn’t that what we are all trying to do? To get back all we lost. Why do we chase happiness? Because we are looking to build our own paradise. Within us all, there’s this reminder that God has invited us to a place where every need was met, where every desire was satisfied. But because of our sin, we messed it up. Now we spend our days trying to recreate it. Eden echoes in every soul.

Solomon, in a much more literal way than we ever have, tried to recreate Eden. Why did it fail? He had the trees of the garden. He had the fruit of the garden. He had the water of the garden. He had the people of the garden. He had the pleasure of the garden. Why didn’t this work? What’s he missing?

What he forgot was the God of the Garden. What made Eden so special wasn’t the trees or the water or the fruit. Eden was paradise because it was the place God was. Solomon is chasing Eden while neglecting the God who gave Eden in the first place! That’s a recipe for disaster and disappointment. Eden can’t be earned. Eden can’t be built. Eden can’t be bought. Eden has to be given.

Friends, without the God of Eden, Eden is meaningless. It’s just some trees. Just some food. What makes Eden so special is the God who walks with us there. You can chase Eden all you want, but it’s just the wind…you’ll never catch it.

Here then is the ultimate problem with chasing things to make us happy…we are chasing the gifts instead of the Giver. We are looking for happiness in things, rather than the One who gives the things. In fact, the NT will pick up on this idea and describe those who are in opposition to God and spiraling away from him like this:

- 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

The Teacher, in his wisdom, does come to finally understand. He finally gets it. Do you remember how Solomon concluded our lives would be if we chased things like pleasure and money?

- 17 Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry.

When you chase the gifts instead of the Giver, this is all it will get for you. A wasted, frustrated life. But what happens when you turn that around? When you look for satisfaction, meaning, and happiness in the Giver instead?

- 18 Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. 19 And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. 20 God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.

Notice the startling shift in tone. “Good” is used 4x. He isn’t talking about ‘meaningless’ anymore. “Enjoy” is used 4x. Frustration, discouragement, and anger, are used before this. What explains the change in tone? You saw it…”God” is also used 4x. He is showing us the stark difference of looking to the Giver instead of the gifts.

And in this ironic twist, when you don’t focus on the gift, but on the Giver instead, only then can you enjoy the gifts. Focusing on the Giver allows us to enjoy his good gifts for what they are. We don’t become frustrated because of what they are not…namely, the means to ultimate satisfaction. No, we can now enjoy pleasure, money, entertainment, possessions, people…because we have already found the source of ultimate satisfaction.

V. 20…God keeps such people (people who can enjoy life because God is their source of life) so busy they only focus on the future, not the past. They don’t look back over their life with a sense of frustration. They look forward with a sense of expectation. Because they aren’t chasing Eden, they are chasing the God who gives it.

And in a wonderful sense of poetic justice, those who chase Eden never find it, but those who look to the Giver of Eden, are invited into it. The end of Revelation mirrors the language from the beginning of Genesis. It mirrors the language of Eden.

- Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. 3 No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him.

That eternal garden is complete with trees, rivers, fruit, food. But most importantly, it is filled with the God who gives Eden to his people.

Conclusion

This is wisdom we need. This is wisdom we crave. And this wisdom echoes 1000 years later in a greater king. The ultimate King. The King who occupies the eternal throne in .

- 19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Communion