Ecclesiastes 1: Vanity of Life

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B: Ecc. 1:1-11
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Welcome

Good morning, and welcome to Family Worship with the church family of Eastern Hills Baptist Church. I’m Bill Connors, senior pastor, and that video we just watched was an explanation video about the theme for our State Convention Mission New Mexico Offering, which we collect every September and October to support the work of the Baptist Convention throughout the State. As Steve Ballew just shared, the theme for this year is “There’s Still Room.” There’s still room at the table of the Lord for the lost in New Mexico. We’ve been asked to pray, give, and go so that the banquet may be full. Our goal as a church is $10,000. Please begin praying for this offering, asking the Lord how He would have you give to support the work of New Mexico Baptists throughout the State, and asking the Lord who you could invite through sharing the Gospel.
I’d like to welcome those of you who are visiting with us, whether you are in the room or online. Whether you are here in the room or online, you can let us know that you’re joining us this morning by texting the word “WELCOME” to 505-339-2004, and you’ll get a link back that connects you to our digital communication card. We would like to be able to drop you a note letting you know that we’re glad you’re here. If you’re in the room and would rather do a physical card, you can grab the card that says WELCOME from the back of the pew in front of you, and you can fill that out during the service and drop it in the offering plates by the doors as you leave at the end, or you can bring them down front to me at the close of service so that I can welcome you personally and give you a welcome gift: a mug filled with chocolate. I look forward to meeting you later this morning.

Opening

If I were to ask you which book of the Bible gives you the most joy, the most bounce in your step, the most hope and excitement, I would be almost willing to bet that your answer would not be Ecclesiastes. It’s just not the book you’re going to be likely open to when you want to have your spirits lifted. Throughout our six-week series on this surprising little book, we will consider what its author has to say about the reality of life in this fallen world, and what his final conclusion is on the matter. Ecclesiastes is a decidedly real book, which neither hides from nor glamorizes the human condition, and which wrestles with many of the same questions that we wrestle with even today, probably almost 3000 years after it was written. This morning, we will be looking at the first 11 verses of the book as our focal passage, so let’s stand as we’re able in honor of God’s Word as we turn in our Bibles and Bible apps to the first chapter of Ecclesiastes:
Ecclesiastes 1:1–11 CSB
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.” 3 What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun? 4 A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets; panting, it hurries back to the place where it rises. 6 Gusting to the south, turning to the north, turning, turning, goes the wind, and the wind returns in its cycles. 7 All the streams flow to the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than anyone can say. The eye is not satisfied by seeing or the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Can one say about anything, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us. 11 There is no remembrance of those who came before; and of those who will come after there will also be no remembrance by those who follow them.
PRAYER (First Baptist Church of Mountainair, NM)
“What in the world can bring meaning to life?”
This is the overall question that the book of Ecclesiastes seeks to find the answer to. It’s a great question—one that we still ask and seek to discover a resolution to today.
The author of Ecclesiastes is actually referenced in the name of the book itself. In verse 1, where “the Teacher” is mentioned, the Hebrew word here is “Qoheleth.” This word means literally “one who gathers” (a group together), for example, a teacher gathering students for a lecture. The Greek word for a gathering is ecclesia, and so the name of the book has been given that name from the Greek.
The identity of Qoheleth is somewhat contested, but I believe that the book gives us the identity of Qoheleth fairly clearly:
Ecclesiastes 1:1 CSB
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Ecclesiastes 1:12 CSB
12 I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Ecclesiastes 12:9–10 CSB
9 In addition to the Teacher being a wise man, he constantly taught the people knowledge; he weighed, explored, and arranged many proverbs. 10 The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and write words of truth accurately.
Tradition ascribes the book to the hand of Solomon, as he would be the only “king over Israel in Jerusalem.” After Solomon, the nation of Israel was split into the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which didn’t have Jerusalem in its territory, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, which had Jerusalem as its capital. This happened because of the foolishness of Solomon’s son Rehoboam. Exactly one king fits the definitions given in verses 1 and 12 of chapter 1, and was an exceedingly wise man as referenced in chapter 12.
So why call himself Qoheleth? Giving himself this name allows him to take the role of the sage giving wise sayings, instead of the ruler issuing decrees. Given what the book tells us about what he tried, I believe it’s safe for us to see this book as an aged Solomon’s answer to the pursuit of power, wealth, pleasure, sex, and knowledge. He sought to answer this ultimate question of meaning by trying everything he could try. Essentially, Solomon went on an extended field trip so that we could learn in the classroom of his life. Throughout this series, we’ll look at more of the specifics of that field trip, and seek to apply the lessons of Solomon to our lives today.
While we are starting at the beginning of the book, Qoheleth in a way did not. Instead, he started at with the conclusion of his journey:

1) The Conclusion: “Futility!”

It’s not that Solomon started with an assumption that everything was futile and then worked his way back. It’s that he’s starting his telling of his search for meaning in this life by letting us in on where he landed. He says that everything that you can do in the world is futile for providing meaning for your life.
Ecclesiastes 1:2 CSB
2 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”
The word that is translated by the CSB as “futility,” or “futile,” is the Hebrew word hebel (heh-vel). This word generally means “breath” or “vapor,” and so imparts the idea of being weightless, without form, and useless for anything, meaningless. It can also be used to refer to idols, which are likewise worthless.
This Hebrew word is also used when comparing the length of the human life to eternity, especially in its meaning of “vapor.”
Psalm 39:5–6 CSB
5 In fact, you have made my days just inches long, and my life span is as nothing to you. Yes, every human being stands as only a vapor. Selah 6 Yes, a person goes about like a mere shadow. Indeed, they rush around in vain, gathering possessions without knowing who will get them.
Psalm 62:9 CSB
9 Common people are only a vapor; important people, an illusion. Together on a scale, they weigh less than a vapor.
Psalm 144:4 CSB
4 A human is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
So the Teacher in Ecclesiastes has landed on the answer to the question of, “What in the world can bring meaning to life?” What we will see throughout this series is that everything he considers, everything that he looks at and tries, everything that the world says will bring meaning or significance or worth to a person’s life are hebel. Not that people themselves are worthless or insignificant, but that all of the pursuits that we have fall short. Everything is transitory and therefore of no lasting value. If we build our lives on the things of this world, the things that Qoheleth sees are hebel, we build our lives on lies.
“Wow, Bill… great message you’re preaching. Really hopeful and positive.” I know. But Ecclesiastes wasn’t written to make us feel comfortable and peaceful. In fact, quite the opposite. It was written so that we would honestly look at what we place our hope and faith in, so that we would evaluate if its worthy of that hope and faith. This is why the subtitle of this series is “the meaningless and the mundane of life.” If we’re going to honestly consider those things, we’re going to have land on the fact that there are lots of things that we consider to be of vast importance right now that have essentially zero importance for eternity. This is why Solomon asks the question in verse 3, which is kind of a rephrasing of the basic question of the entire book with a focus on profit and work:

2) The Basic Question: “What can we gain?”

I have always really enjoyed Winnie the Pooh. I’m not sure that I was much into old Pooh-bear when I was young, but Maggie really was. We enjoyed The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, both in book and film versions. The characters are a fascinating mix. Pooh is the simplest (and hungriest). Piglet, the worrier. Tigger, the positive one. Kanga, the mom. Roo, the child. Owl, the intellectual. Rabbit, the controller. Gopher, the busiest. And then there’s Eeyore: The cynic.
Ecclesiastes is an Eeyore kind of book. And you can almost hear the deep voice of Eeyore as you read the question in verse 3:
Ecclesiastes 1:3 CSB
3 What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?
The answer to this question has already been given, so we know this question is essentially rhetorical. The answer is “nothing,” because everything is ultimately futile.
What Solomon means by this question is this: what is the net profit that a person can show from a life of hard labor? When he speaks of things “under the sun,” he is referring to the things that happen in this world, because everything on earth happens “under the sun.” This is why I posed the original question the way I did at the beginning of my message today.
Think of all the things that we chase in life. We chase power and popularity and prestige and dead presidents. We pour time and money into fun and fads and fortunes and favorites. We dream that if we had this, that, or the other thing, then we’d be where we want to be, and we’d arrive at meaning or purpose or happiness. Even most of the really important things in life: family and work and other relationships with people, won’t last forever in this life. We can’t take any of those things with us into eternity.
In this, Job really had it right when he said:
Job 1:21 CSB
21 saying: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I’m not saying that all of these things aren’t valuable in life. Lots of them are, and even incredibly valuable. I’m saying that they aren’t ultimately valuable—they aren’t of ultimate, eternal importance if we aren’t in a right relationship with God. Ecclesiastes isn’t the only place in Scripture that we see this pessimism about the things of this world and their value after our lives end. Jesus also had some strong things to say about what it means to chase worldly results:
Luke 9:25 CSB
25 For what does it benefit someone if he gains the whole world, and yet loses or forfeits himself?
John 6:27 CSB
27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”
Malcolm Forbes is credited with coining the proverb, “He who dies with the most toys wins,” in the 80’s. But the reality is that he who dies with the most toys still dies and leaves his toys behind. The only things that we will take with us into eternity are things that are of eternal value. And the evidence for this conclusion is all around us.

3) The Evidence: The seemingly endless cycle of life

How can Solomon say that everything is futile, and that a person essentially gains nothing from the work that they do in life? Well, he looks around at the world around him, notices the constant cycle of things in nature, and then applies that observation to the idea of profit. This is how he begins to build his case for everything being hebel.
Ecclesiastes 1:4–8 CSB
4 A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets; panting, it hurries back to the place where it rises. 6 Gusting to the south, turning to the north, turning, turning, goes the wind, and the wind returns in its cycles. 7 All the streams flow to the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than anyone can say. The eye is not satisfied by seeing or the ear filled with hearing.
I think that these evidences are fairly self-explanatory, but there might be a couple of nuances that we don’t get or ways of speaking that could confuse us a little. First, keep in mind that this section is a poem, and so we should expect the language here to be a little poetic. For example, in verse 5 Solomon is not saying that the sun is literally “panting” from hurrying back to the place where it rises. He’s painting a picture for us to understand. He’s going to use imagery.
Ask the display person to bring up each verse as you go through the list:
(4) Birth and death continue generation after generation, or age to age. And even though generations of people come and go, the earth remains in its place.
(5) The sun never ceases its circuit of rising, crossing the sky, and setting. The sun is portrayed as a runner endlessly making his way around a racetrack.
(6) The winds blow where they please, and never truly stop (something we will see when in future messages we talk about “chasing the wind).
(7) Streams flow to the sea, but the sea doesn’t get any more full. The streams are never done with their work of filling the sea, constantly pouring water into the ocean.
Pausing here for just a moment, I also need to make note of what Solomon has just done. The sun travels every day from the east to the west. He explained the wind as gusting to the north and the south, and circling back again. The streams start in the heights and flow down to the depths. In addition to painting the picture of the cyclical pattern of nature, he’s also illustrated that futility exists everywhere.
This is how he can say in verse 8:
(8) All things are “wearisome,” meaning that they are all tiresome because they are all repetitive—these things will just go on forever as far as our perspective is concerned.
Confronted by the wearisome nature of the world, our mouths are unable to say anything about it to change it.
Our eyes are never satisfied with seeing (probably a reference to getting things that we lust after or personal pleasure).
Our ears are never satisfied with hearing (probably a reference to knowledge).
This is living out the Fall. Just as in the Fall humanity was broken because of sin, so all of creation along with us is trapped in a cycle of monotonous and meaningless motion, forever moving but accomplishing nothing. It has been subjected to futility, according to Paul:
Romans 8:19–21 CSB
19 For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.
And just like us, the creation is awaiting its escape from this bondage to futility. And that is where we find hope.

4) The Escape: The hope of something new.

So how do we break out of the cycle and escape from the futility of our worldly existence? How do we escape from the bondage that we find ourselves in—Bondage to the brokenness of ourselves, those around us, and the world? The Teacher contemplates the same question:
Ecclesiastes 1:9–10 CSB
9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Can one say about anything, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.
While the reference here talks about the fact that there’s not really anything that is truly “new” in the day-to-day fundamentals in life of birth and death, sunrise and sunset, the winds blowing, and the streams running their courses, it alludes to the fact that it is in the truly new that we would escape the meaningless and the mundane. People think that they will escape the meaningless and mundane of life in achieving fame, power, fortune, or happiness, but as verse 11 explains:
Ecclesiastes 1:11 CSB
11 There is no remembrance of those who came before; and of those who will come after there will also be no remembrance by those who follow them.
So the escape is for someone to be able to truly say, “look, this is new life.” Throughout the rest of Israel’s history in the Old Testament following the writing of Ecclesiastes, God promised newness as the future escape from the difficulties they found themselves in. That newness was going to be realized in the promised Messiah:
These will be a list on screen, and I’ll just read the passages.
A new name:
Isaiah 62:2 CSB
2 Nations will see your righteousness and all kings, your glory. You will be given a new name that the Lord’s mouth will announce.
New heavens, new earth:
Isaiah 66:22 CSB
22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will remain before me”— this is the Lord’s declaration— “so your offspring and your name will remain.
A new covenant:
Jeremiah 31:31 CSB
31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
A new spirit:
Ezekiel 11:19 CSB
19 I will give them integrity of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh,
A new heart and again a new spirit:
Ezekiel 36:26 CSB
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
So the people of Israel were looking forward to this delivery from futility through the newness that Messiah would bring. While we might be tempted to say that Ecclesiastes doesn’t really fit with the rest of Scripture because of its generally negative tone, it’s the reality of its perspective on life which makes it so important for us to really give some serious thought and prayer to.
In his commentary on Ecclesiastes, Duane A. Garrett said that this about this particular passage:
This passage is not a contradiction to the gospel but a call for it. The world is in bondage; and humanity is unable to explain, find satisfaction in, or alter it. Only the Word, who came into the world from above, can open the way of understanding and escape. He has done a new thing: he has created a new covenant, given the new birth, new life, and a new commandment. He gives a new name that will last forever. Everything else is old and passing away.
—Duane A. Garrett; Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (NAC)
So the escape is to break the cycle, and the only one who can break the cycle is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, because His arrival on the scene of history was to bring about something that was completely new, because He was completely unlike every other person who had ever walked this earth. He was new.
John 8:23 CSB
23 “You are from below,” he told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
And since Jesus is both fully God and fully man, He is able to break the cycle of futility that we started when the first people sinned in the Garden of Eden. Jesus is the greater Teacher than even Solomon—the greatest Teacher of all—and He promised freedom to those who belong to Him.
John 8:31–32 CSB
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
And how does He provide that escape from futility? He does so by taking our failures on Himself, the complete and total ugliness of our sin, and He took the punishment for those in our place on the cross. And the way we will escape the monotonous cycle of the world is through His new life.
Luke 9:23–24 CSB
23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it.
Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. The promise is that if we lose our lives in Christ, surrendering to Him as Lord, trusting in Him as Savior, then we are promised that we will in fact save our lives in the process. Paul explained our escape in Romans 6:
Romans 6:4–6 CSB
4 Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,
It’s only in Jesus that we will be set free, and that freedom will be not just an eternal freedom, but the freedom to live a life that is no longer meaningless and mundane, even in the meaningless and mundane, which we will consider more next week.

Closing

Ecclesiastes takes a very real look at life, and in the futility that Qoheleth finds there, it points us to the fact that ultimate fulfillment isn’t found anywhere but Jesus. We chase a lot of things that we think will fulfill us, but which always fall short. The world may claim to offer true and lasting fulfillment, purpose, and meaning, but unless those things are eternal in nature, even they will not be any profit to us in the Kingdom of God. And for us to be pleasing to God, we need to be set free, which is only possible because of Christ.
If you’re here this morning and you’re feeling like you’re lacking purpose or fulfillment, Jesus wants to give those things to you. The problem is that you’re separated from Him because of your sin. He loves you and died for you so that you could be saved, and your being here (whether in person or online) this morning is no accident. He is at work in your life, calling you to Himself. Will you stop going your own way, turn away from your sin, and trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior? It can be as simple as saying, “God, I admit that I have sinned and turned away from You. I don’t want to go my own way any more. I believe that Jesus died to pay for my sins and that He rose again, and that He is Savior and Lord. I surrender completely to You, turning from my old life and trusting in what Jesus has done for my salvation. Please save me.” It’s not the words, it’s the surrender to Jesus in faith that matters. Pour out yourself to God and be delivered from the futility of lostness. If this is you, we’d love to celebrate your new life with you. If you have questions, come and let us know. If you’re online, email me.
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Closing Remarks

Bible reading: Joshua 17, which we will finish next Sunday, then Ecclesiastes, then Paul’s correspondence to the Thessalonians, one chapter per day.
No Pastor’s Study tonight.
Prayer Meeting this Wednesday at 5:45, and we’ll continue our look at Paul’s prayer for the church at Philippi in Philippians 1.
Next week we will have Sundaes on Sunday again, so please plan to stay after service next week and enjoy a time of fellowship and ice cream together.
Finally, don’t forget that we have a Q&A space set up for questions regarding our upcoming generosity campaign called Endeavor. If you’ve got any questions, we would love to hear those. Visit the Parlor (where is it) right after service, and we’ll have it set up before service as well through September. We just want to make sure everyone has had opportunity to have all of their questions answered.
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Benediction

Hebrews 13:20–21 CSB
20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
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