Review

We are in our study of the book of Ecclesiastes. We have caughtSolomon in the midst of his life-long experiment where he is testingall that life has to offer to see if indeed there is any lasting fulfillment

to be had under the sun.

Solomon first tries wisdom. If wisdom could make a man happy,Solomon would know. He was the wisest person who ever lived.What did he conclude? He said, I’m glad I was wise rather than afool, but it comes with it’s own set of problems. It didn’t ultimatelyfulfill.

Now for those of us who have been granted less mental horsepowerthan others, it’s difficult to imagine how being so smart might leaveyou with a feeling of emptiness. I’ll tell you how you can personallyexperience it; just structure your life so that in 2020 the only peopleyou are allowed to speak with are pre-schoolers. Everywhere you goyou would be the smartest guy in the room, by a long shot. Doesthat do it for you? Would that suddenly make you feel satisfied?You’d feel lonely, annoyed, unfulfilled.

There’s no way you’d trade your adult wisdom for a preschoolconception of the world; but, you can see instantly and intuitivelythat wisdom doesn’t fulfill. Solomon slammed up against thatlimitation in chapter 1 and so he turns to the pursuit of pleasure. Andhe tries seven different pleasures.

And what we saw in chapter was frighteningly American. Solomonwas under the the same spell many of us are under that what weneed to make him happy is just more of what we already have.

And Solomon tries all of these things in various amounts, variouscombinations and is conclusion was NOTHING satisfies forever.NOTHING.

So Solomon ends this section with the same conclusion, “It’s allvanity.”

The Mistaken ConclusionNow if all we had were these two sections, this could lead to aserious misconception about how we are to live our lives. Some ofus might be led to believe that since none of this makes us happyand since we are all going to die in the end, what’s the point of tryinganything?

It’s all meaningless and pointless and vapor. Some people readEcclesiastes and they despair of life. It simply reinforces what theyalready believe to be true and what they feel in their soul already;everything is meaningless.

I’m not going to try and exercise because what’s the point?Because no matter how hard I try, the sag is coming. The wrinklesare going come. My body will rot in the ground. So why exercise.

And for some of us, the inevitable end just saps all motivation fromtrying anything. For some this future reality sucks the marrow out oflife.And so some of us walk around with the stain of an Eeeore complex.

Ahh, be careful! That’s not the message of the book. Today,Solomon is going to begin to give us a window into where he isgoing. He doesn’t lay down his hand of cards all at once. He lays itdown one card at a time every couple of chapters until - finally at theend of the book - we see he’s been wryly smiling all along hiding aflush. And Today we get the first card in that final hand he’s beenhiding.

Is life meaningless? What’s Solomon’s answer? Life is a vapor; yes,our life is a dash on timeline but it is not meaningless. And I canprove that Solomon finds meaning by showing a collision of twoverses that make absolutely zero sense if life is in fact, just fatalistic,pointless, predetermined doom.

So we will start in chapter 2 verse 18 with a paragraph here thatsounds like it comes out of the mouth of Eeore. This paragraph isgoing to sound like the conclusion is that life is absurd, empty,aimless, going nowhere.

He’s talking here about work. He says that work is really hard. “norest for the weary.” It’s toil. He said, you sweat; the work itself istough. He says, your days are full of sorrow and vexation. At the endof the day your body is sore, you’ve got slivers in your fingers; aboard fell on your shoulder and it’s deep into the soft tissue. Hard

work makes you ache.

It doesn’t have to be physical work. Maybe it’s the stress of yourmental work.

You’re so consumed with your project you don’t sleep at night.You have all these people depending on you.They are all waiting for you to do your part.You’ve made some mistakes and you’d better not mess up again.Decisions you make effect 100s of people and could mean millionsof dollars.Your up thinking about the next step.You are pressed by deadlines, trying to solve problems, thinkingabout the people management problems, trying to motivatedissatisfied customers.Work is tough.

Why do you do it? Well because there is reward. Accomplishmentfeels good. There is fruit to your labor. But Solomon can’t help butthink about where it’s all headed. He’s so shocked by the horror of it.Sure there’s fruit but only for a season. He says, okay, let’s just sayI do an amazing job. Let’s just say I kill it. In the end, no matter howmuch I work, no matter how much I accomplish I have to leave myempire to someone else, and who knows, maybe that person will bea fool.

Now in Solomon’s case, he knew into whose lap the empire wouldfall? He looks at his son and he says, “We are in trouble.” And hewas FRUSTRATED because he knew that as death ripped away hisvitality, everything he had worked so hard for, he would bepowerless to control.

And sure enough Rehoboam destroyed the kingdom. You rememberReheboam was the guy who refused to listen to the advice of the

elders but instead listened to the advice of the young counselors.After Solomon’s reign, his giant empire, the height of Israel’s glorywas divided, split in two and squandered by power-hungry, selfish,petty idiots.

Rehoboam led his country into a civil war for 17 years. Nothingdestroys a country like civil war. A nation fighting against itself.

Even though Solomon didn’t live to see this, he can probably insome way anticipate this. He’s reeling at the thought of it. Given thefact that we will leave our work to another, what’s the point ofworking at all?

If you had to distill it down to its essence, “What aspect of work is sodepressing to Solomon? What does work, in its essence, lack suchthat it cannot ultimately fulfill?” DURABILITY. It lacks permanence. Itlacks what the human heart really craves, something perennial,eternal, immutable.

So the problem is one of expectation. If you expect something thatwas meant to be only a temporary fulfillment to be an absolutefulfillment, you will be disappointed. But - and here’s the key insightfrom today - that does not make the thing meaningless, pointlessand without value.

Nobody says “Eating ice cream is so pointless. When you eat it, thenext day you want more, so why ever eat it? It doesn’t produceeternal bliss so I’m just going to instead eat unsalted rice cakesbecause at least I won’t be disappointed.”

I suppose that’s one way to handle it. Or, you could adjust yourexpectations. You see, none of us should be expecting to making a

kingdom here on earth. We are in a motel six. This is my bedroomfor the night, but tomorrow night another man will spend the nighthere and I will be on my way.

Just because it’s temporary does not mean that it can’t be enjoyed.But that doesn’t mean you can’t fluff your pillow, watch a movie andfill your cup with ice water. Those things are there to help you enjoyyour stay!

If you try to make this world your home, then you can’t help but justconstantly have this feeling of panic, that death is coming. Death isgoing to sap away all I’ve ever worked for. I was so sobered thisweek in reading a quote from the movie producer Woody Allen. Itwas such an honest quote. I really appreciated it.

That sounds like it ought to be a chapter in Ecclesiastes. He wrotethis in Esquire magazine within a few days of my birth, 43 years ago.What a very wise man to be able to look ahead and see where it wasall heading. Very much wiser than many.

Now compare what Woody says here to the end of Ecclesiastes2:23…

Solomon appears to be saying exactly what Woody is saying. It’s allheading to death. What’s the point. It’s all meaningless.

But this cannot possibly be what Solomon means. Because look athow this verse collides into the next section. There’s no transitionalsentence. There’s no help in understanding how they connect. It’snear literary whiplash.

Now what in the world? What’s going on? What you see here is themotel six perspective adjustment.

Let’s not try to re-carpet the motel six. Let’s swim in the pool, sit inthe hot tub, crank the A/C and enjoy the included continentalbreakfast. Let’s just watch a movie and leave crumbs in the bed.That sounds really enjoyable.

It’s perspective that makes all the difference.

Accepting Death Creates Enjoyment

In fact, this PERSPECTIVE ADJUSTMENT is going to really helpus fill out our understanding of wisdom in general. Wisdom is acomplex idea and we too often simplify it.

Let me illustrate: What definition do you have in your mind forwisdom? The one I’ve heard the most is skillful living. Now that’s a

really good definition.

Wisdom is the ability to notice the relationship between the decisionsI make and the consequences those decisions have on me and thepeople around me.

If I decide to plant early in the spring, I will have a larger harvest inthe fall; but if I plant too early, my plants will freeze and die. That’swisdom applied to farming.If my words are soft, they tend to turn away the anger of others.That’s wisdom applied to conflict.If I procrastinate, the work only gets worse, so I’m going to do thehardest thing first and get it out of the way. That’s wisdom appliedto your todo list.

So skillful living is a good definition of wisdom. But you know, there’sanother aspect of this skillful living that is not discussed nearly asoften as it should be. We put a lot of emphasis on how our wisechoices can CHANGE the world but the wisest of the wise dosomething much wiser still. They are able to accept the things thatCANNOT CHANGE. They accept realities which are cosmicallyfixed, which no amount of wisdom can change. The wise man isgoing to identify fixed realities that cannot change. Why is thatwisdom? Because how foolish would it be to spend a lifetime tryingto CHANGE something that is impossible to CHANGE? Like forexample…change the fact that we are going to die. EVERYONEdies. It would be among the most foolish things in the world to live asif this was not the case, to be surprised that this force is acting onyou. Like right now. You are 45 minutes more dead then when youwalked in.

Now as crazy as this might sound, you want to know what the key toenjoying your work is? Accepting death. This is a shocking reality.

Not only does Solomon encourage us to accept the fact that we aregoing to die, but he says the only way you are going to enjoy life is toaccept death. What an irony!

Almost all of us are doing the exact opposite. We see death as thegreat joy killer and therefore we are doing everything in our power toavoid it. We live in denial. We try to smooth out the wrinkles, extendour careers, work out to stay fit. Eat the healthiest foods we can soterrified that if its not the perfect thing, we will die.

We do everything in our power to push this thought out of our mind.But ironically, the fear of death robs us of our ability to enjoy the giftof life. If you are constantly worried that a rainbow will disappear, youwill never enjoy it. But if you know it’s only here for a second andthen it vanishes, then wow, what a treat that was and you move onwith your day.

This is what he means in the next section and this is so important.

What’s he saying?

This might sound very arrogant, but hang with Solomon for asecond. He’s saying exactly what he sounds like he’s saying, “Onlythe Christian can truly enjoy life the way it was intended.”

What does he mean by that?

The most an atheist can ever extract from food is the taste. For aChristian, the taste is the smallest part of the joy. When I eat, mysoul is filled up with delight that God is so creative, that he gives mea delight to enjoy, that he would care for me by giving me suchundeserved blessings.

A Christian pleases God by believing that the gifts are from God. It’swhat Hebrews 11:6 says, without faith it is impossible to please him.We please God when we acknowledge that he is behind the giftsand it is the acknowledgment itself that brings joy.

Many have observed the elusive nature of joy. If you pursue it, it isperpetually allusive. But when you abandon it, it alights upon youunexpectedly.

The founders of our constitution built theology into the constitutionwhen they said that all men are entitled to three inalienable rights:life, liberty and what? The pursuit of happiness. This was anacknowledgment that God intended for us to be happy.

The problem is that the pursuit of happiness could never be thepursuit of work or any of his gifts. That’s much too small an object. Itmust be the pursuit of God who gives us joy in work.

Notice from verse 26 it is God who gives joy. “For to the one whopleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy” whichmeans that God is the keyholder. And when does he release thekeys? When we accept death. Certain things you can neverchange.

Medicine can only delay the inevitable. If you hope in medicine tosave you, then you will join the despiar of woody allen because it willeventually fail you.

But if you hope in God, then you can accept all the gifts God givesyou and you accept the pain that he allows as well.

Now if you know me, I love to live life to the hilt. I love the outdoors. Ilove adventure. I love projects, designing, inventing things. I lovework. I love play. I love that. But I can truly say, the reason I’m ableto love all these things, is because I love the fact that I’m going todie. I’m not looking forward to the process, but I love the fact that mylife is larger than this physical life. And that has made me thehappiest of all men. I really believe that of all people who have everlived, I have to be in the 99.9 percentile of happiest people.

As Christians we are able to be so free from over loving the world orunder loving it. If we are given a great meal in our motel 6 we rejoice.If they completely forget our meal, we shrug our shoulders and say,“Whatever, I’m out of here tomorrow.” We can appreciate what goodthings it has to offer and shrug off whatever creature comforts aremissing. So free.

Do you realize how privileged we are? We can look death straight inthe face and accept it and even love it.

Woody Allen is despairing right now. He wrote that quote 43 yearsago. And he’s fighting off death as long as he can. He’s getting old.In a recent piece he told NPR that he believes his best work is stillahead of him. That may be true, but for his psychological health, ithas to be true. For a Christian it doesn’t have to be true.

For anyone scared of death, their motto must be carpe diem. Seizethe day. Make the day as long as you can. Suck every last drop ofmarrow out of that bone. In the darkness of a life that has noultimate meaning, seize upon the temporal pleasures that lighten theburden.

The Christian, can say, love the day or close the shades on the day.Either way, it’s okay. Our best work does not have to be ahead ofus. At any point we can move on from our work. Because we enjoyour work as a gift from God; it isn’t what we are after to fulfill us.

All the gifts of God, are mini-meals along the way to a great feast.You can enjoy those mini meals. But you can also skip them. Onthanksgiving day, I don’t have to eat breakfast or lunch. I often do,and I enjoy it if I do, but if I skip it’s only making the late afternoonbanquet all that much more delicious.

This year our theme is change what you love.

We have to change the way we love the gifts God has given us inthe world. Look at the compulsive worker of verses 22. Here he isoverloading his days with toil; he’s awake at night and his heart isfilled with worry; because this man MUST be fulfilled by his work, hehas missed the simple joys that God was holding out to him.

For this poor workaholic, his work could have been a joyful gift ofGod, if only he had had his soul needs met in Christ. He needsChrist to fill him first so he can then enjoy the gift of work.

A man dying of thirst would never be able to enjoy coffee. So muchof it would be lost on him because his greater need would always bescreaming at him. He’d be guzzling it and it would kind of help butnot really. You have to be well hydrated, relaxed and comfortable toenjoy the gift.

And so it is with the man who tries to find fulfillment in in his work.He can never enjoy the gift of work because he’s trying to extract

from it a non-existent property. The man first needs to be satisfied inJesus so that his work can be enjoyed properly in it’s context.

We can actually experience contentment. Do you know what theword contentment means. It means I need no more.

We think of the discontented greedy person as too attached to thisworld. But in reality he’s not attached enough. He’s got God’s giftsright in front of him ready to be enjoyed but he lacks the capacity toenjoy it. He can’t just eat that food and say thank you and have hisheart sing. He can’t just work hard and see accomplishment as adelight.

He’s not able to enjoy the gift. He says, “I need more!” But hedoesn’t need more; he needs God to be able to enjoy God throughwhat has been given him.

For the Christian, things are much different. Our satisfaction doesnot rise and fall based on the accumulation of trinkets. Most peoplebelieve that people and circumstances exist to make me happy. Sowhen I am not happy, whose fault is it? People and circumstances.

It usually plays itself out like this: a man wakes up and he’s got awife and children, a fine house, nice cars, and a great job thatstimulates the mind. These are all gifts from God to be enjoyed. Buthe wakes up one day and something is still gnawing at his soul. Andso the problem can’t be something wrong with me. It must be thatsomething that should be making me happy isn’t making me happyso I begin to look for imperfection in the things around me. I’m notappreciated. You are asking people to fill a void that they can neverfill.

It’s interesting in Hebrew the word translated “enjoy” in verse isliterally to “look upon the good.”

God gives us good things; and he wants us to enjoy them. Rightlyused, the basic things of life are sweet and good. Food, drink andwork are samples of them, Solomon will tell us of others as we movethrough the book. What spoils them is our hunger to get out of themmore than they can give;

So, for a moment, the veil is lifted in verse 26, to show us somethingother than futility. The book will end strongly on this positive note,but meanwhile we are shown enough in such glimpses to assure usthat there is an answer, and that the author is no defeatist. Hedisillusions us to bring us to reality.

Communion

This is why only the Christian can enjoy life. Because only theChristian does not have to fear death. And the Christian does nothave to fear death because of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Because of the cross we can enjoy what God has given and enjoywhat God has not given. Today is communion Sunday and given theLife of Christ seminar we just experienced, what an appropriateclimax to that. Wow, I’m just so thankful for Jesus. My heart isswimming with amazement, gratitude, love, adoration, worship.

Because of the cross we can enjoy God’s gifts for what they are andnot try to make them into something they are not. We have theultimate thing. We have what our hearts were made to want(reconciliation and relationship with God) so we don’t have to makelesser things into ultimate things.