Ecclesiastes 1:1-2
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
There once was a man who had everything he could ever dream of.
He was born as the heir-apparent to the king of a very powerful nation. In his upbringing everyone revered him, and even considered him to be the chosen one, spoken of in prophecies.
As he grew, his fame grew with him. He had his choice of any woman in the world to be his wife, and he made that choice. And then he made it again, and again, and again as it suited him. By the time he was done, he had over a thousand women to be his wives.
He accrued wealth like nobody had ever seen before. Kings and Queens came to verify the rumors of the richest person in the world, and they were blown away when they saw it with their own eyes.
He threw parties on such a large scale that even the wealthiest, most important people in the world were impressed and entertained.
He ate and drank food and wine of the highest possible quality for every meal of every day, with whomever he wanted to eat a meal with.
He sought wisdom and knowledge, and he obtained it all. There wasn’t anybody alive or dead who was wiser than this man, and he was revered as a sage.
This man lacked nothing, and this man was none other than Solomon, the Son of David, who happens to be the Preacher that is referred to in the book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes falls into the genre we call “Wisdom Literature.” This is a genre that we are perhaps not quite as used to or as comfortable with, especially the way that it presents itself in Ecclesiastes. The wisdom literature in the Scriptures are Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Job, and Ecclesiastes; which just so happen to be some of the books that we have the hardest time dealing with the application of. I don’t know what it says about us that the wisdom literature is the hardest for us to understand, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusion from that.
In general, wisdom literature is exactly what it sounds like. It a specific type of Scripture that’s primary purpose is to dispense wisdom to the people of God. That’s not to say that this is all it does; just like every other genre of Scripture, these books are multi-faceted. Although redemption may not always be the primary purpose, this book also plays a part in pointing us towards the redemption that is found in Christ. Though historical narrative isn’t its primary purpose, we can certainly learn historical things from this book. While this book may not seek to develop deep aspects of theology all the time, it certainly informs our theology in hugely important ways. Ecclesiastes is going to do all these things, but what it is most concerned with is dealing with the nitty-gritty aspects of life and how the wisdom of God informs our way of living. This book is incredibly down-to-Earth, and we can feel the humanity of the author as he struggles with the same things all of us struggle with all the time. The author speaks as one of us, burdened by the same difficulties, frustrated by the same hardships, and perplexed about the same evils in life. For this reason, even though Ecclesiastes may make us feel uncomfortable at first, I believe we will find it incredibly refreshing when we let our guard down and hear the voice of one of our brothers contemplating the difficulties in life and how his belief in God helps him to respond.
What even better is that it presents itself as a type of sermon that we can settle in and listen to.
It opens by mentioning the words of “the Preacher,” and the Hebrew word translated as Preacher there refers to someone who assembles people together, especially for congregational worship. So the context of this book is that Solomon, the Son of David, that all-important guy who had everything he ever wanted and experienced everything the world has to offer, is calling the people of God together and is about to preach a sermon to them. Who wouldn’t want to listen to that sermon?
Well, you might be surprised when you listen to what he has to say. This is no feel-good sermon that you get from celebrity preachers today. Right off the bat our expectations are thwarted and as we are met with these incredibly strange words: Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
Vanity of Vanities
Vanity of Vanities
State: What does he mean when he says this? The further we dig, the stranger it gets.
“Vanity” here, or “hevel” in the original Hebrew, is a word that refers to meaninglessness, a vapor, a flash in the pan, a fleeting moment that is ultimately inconsequential.
And we don’t get uncomfortable with the idea of meaninglessness; we all know that there are plenty of things that are time-wasters and carry no actual value. We all have habits that we would confess are vanity, worthless. The time spent scrolling on social media, too much time spent on video games, arguing politics with strangers on the internet, being a fan of the Lions, trusting the government to do whats best for you, things like that.
But the way that the Preacher uses the term does make us a little uncomfortable, and maybe it should. This all-wise, all-important preacher uses the word “vanity” to describe literally everything. Do you know what the biggest waste of time is according to Ecclesiastes? All of it.
It isn’t just the usual suspects that the Preacher calls out for being vanity, but he adds to the list.
1. He has dedicated his life to work and built wonderful, awesome things that somebody else is going to squander and destroy. (2:4)
2. He has dedicated his life to knowledge and found that more knowledge only meant more sadness. (1:17)
3. Living wisely will end in the same way as living foolishly (2:17)
3. He has dedicated himself to chasing after the next big thrill, the next big moment, and found that it never satisfied him. (2:1)
4. He dedicated himself to chasing after women, and found that his lust was never quenched.
5. He made himself the center of the universe, and everyone wanted to be around him, yet he still felt alone.
6. He noticed that living the most upright and moral life added no value to a person’s life, but they would die a tragic death while a sinner continued on in prosperity.
All of this experience and more has led the Preacher to open up his sermon with words that will resonate through the entire book: it’s all vanity, a vapor, its meaningless, none of it can last. We will all lay down and die, and we will have no control over anything that happens to us, our loved ones, our legacy, or our stuff when we are gone.
To show you that this isn’t just one of those weird Old Testament things that don’t apply today, hear the apostle Paul speaking on the same observation in the book of Romans
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Now if you’ll bear with me being a nerd for the next 20 seconds, I want to help you see an important connection between Ecclesiastes 1 and Romans 8.
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and I already mentioned to you that the word we translate from Hebrew to get vanity is “Hevel.” Well, the New Testament was originally written in Greek, and at that time they had translated the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek as well, and they called it the Septuagint. Well, the greek word for vanity in Ecclesiastes 1 is the same word we find here in Romans 8 that gets translated as futility.
In other words, Paul is making a connection to the worldview of Solomon, recognizing that this Earth has been subjected to vanity! Paul also notices that we are all going through the motions in this vain existence, where nothing of value gets done. Humanity pours so much effort into so many different things, and its like we’re running into brick walls over and over and over again.
Are we feeling uncomfortable yet? I think its good that we do, because we need to be as honest with ourselves as the Preacher is being in this text.
Illustrate: Over the course of this last week as I was preparing for this sermon, I found myself noticing so many moments that led me to wonder if all of this is vanity. Whether or not you normally follow the NFL, many of you have heard of Damar Hamlin after the events that took place on Monday night. There we saw a 24 year old living his dream that he worked his whole life to achieve. He put in countless hours, blood, sweat, and tears to become a professional football player. He ate the right food, did the right exercises, disciplined his body, did everything exactly the way he was supposed to. And then, after a routine tackle, he collapses and goes into cardiac arrest.
Vanity of vanities! Even though Hamlin appears to be recovering (praise God), we were reminded on national television of how delicate life is and how even if we do all the right things, everything can be ripped away in a moment and we have no say in the matter. Everything we have been building towards could vanish in an instant, and we could have no say in the matter.
Apply: We all experience this same type of thinking at some point or another in our lives. Life offers many opportunities to look back and reflect, and sometimes that may be unpleasant.
Its incredibly common for people to go through midlife crisis, where they look back on their life and begin to wonder if they have truly lived up to their potential. They regret the time wasted and wonder if they can make a change that will allow them to truly leave an impact.
Graduating from school, playing your last game in a sport, retiring from a job, experiencing the end of a relationship, losing a loved one, or experiencing a tragedy are all examples of times where life forces us to consider things from a higher level, and many times we may wonder if any of this has been worth it. We may wonder if anything about what we’ve done has made an impact, left an impression, or resulted in something that could truly be called meaningful.
And in these moments where we are reflecting on life and being faced with the vanity of it all, you will be tempted to respond in one of three ways.
You will avoid eye contact, choose to escape from the uncomfortable reality, and go back home and choose your activity of choice that helps you to forget about all of this.
Or, you will face the reality head on bravely, initiate a staring contest with your mortality, and lose. You will come to the realization of your own vain existence, and that realization will overwhelm you, and the only thing you will be able to see around you is the humdrum, meaningless motion of the world.
Or, you will see that nothing ultimately matters, abandon all caution, and choose to live foolishly for pleasure. In the words of the Preacher, today we eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
Or, let me suggest a fourth option:
Look to Christ, who has redeemed the vanity of life. As we will see over the course of the next several months, this is where the book of Ecclesiastes is leading us.
God in Christ has redeemed the vanity
God in Christ has redeemed the vanity
You may or may not be familiar with the term Nihilism. Its a philosophical worldview that claims that nothing matters and there is no true value in the world. In my opinion, its the only logical worldview for an atheist. Its the one where you initiate a staring contest with your mortality and lose, realizing that nothing really matters at the end of the day.
This worldview makes sense for the atheist, but is the Bible promoting this view as well? While it may seem like it at time in this book, there is a subtle but all-important difference between Nihilism and the worldview of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes. It may not be a detail that jumps off the page at you from first glance, but it’s a difference of worldview that has to do with God, the Garden of Eden, and a prophesied plan.
All the way back in the beginning, when God first made Adam, he made him with a purpose.
gen 2 15
English Standard Version Chapter 2
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Adam was meant to work, and his work was meant to be meaningful. But that purpose or meaning was given by the Creator, and so it was within the context of his relationship to the Lord that Adam’s work had purpose. Death was not even a thought at the time, and there would be no destruction of the fruit of Adam’s labor. In God’s paradise garden, Adam had meaning and purpose in his life, which is summed up by the Westminster Shorter Catechism question number 1:
The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition The Shorter Catechism
Quest. 1. What is the chief end of man?
Answ. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.
Of course, we know that Adam did not do as God had commanded him. Adam became ambitious, he started to wonder if there was a higher purpose that he had not yet discovered. He began to wonder if God was restrictive, holding him back from a higher calling and a better purpose. And so Adam spurned God and chased after that godless purpose.
The problem was, that purpose didn’t exist. Not only did Adam fail to find his white whale of a higher calling, but in his rebellion against God he lost what it meant to be man, he lost his purpose.
See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.
Gen 3 23
English Standard Version (Chapter 3)
therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
English Standard Version Chapter 3
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return
And so this becomes the state of mankind. We know that Cain becomes Jealous for glory, murdering his brother. We know the story of the Tower of Babel, and how humanity began to search for greatness and purpose apart from God. This is humanity’s curse, our greatest sin, and this is the context that Solomon lives in, which leads him to look around and declare, “vanity of vanities! Its all vanity!” The reason that everything is vanity is because mankind has set itself to seek a purpose apart from God that simply does not exist. Try and try as they might, it isn’t there, and before they realize it they lay down and die empty.
Apply: And don’t we do the same? Haven’t we sought out schemes? If we are being honest with ourselves, how many of our short-term or long-term goals include the glory of God? How many of our New-Years resolutions were intended to glorify God? When we buy our houses, pick our schools, plan our days, interact with our neighbors, how often is it in order that we might bring glory to God? We have followed Adam and have sought out schemes, and our lives have become vanity as a result.
But I also mentioned a prophesied plan earlier, and we can’t begin to understand our own purpose today without understanding that plan. You see, before Adam ever forfeited his purpose in his rebellion against God, God had made a plan to redeem his people and to restore them to their purpose.
The wisdom of Solomon helped him to see this purpose, which caused him to write this postscript at the end of his sermon:
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
These are the final words of the book, the application of the sermon, and the purpose of mankind.
And being on this side of history, we see how God’s plan came to fruition when Christ redeemed us from our broken estate and restored us to live meaningful lives both now and in the future.
Present- Christ enables us to once again glorify God with our actions
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Illustrate: To give an illustration about how this works, imagine someone has given you a brand new car; but they took the engine out before they gave it to you. Sure, you have a new car, but without the engine the thing hardly serves a purpose.
In our sin and rebellion against God, we have lost the very thing that gave us our purpose in living. But praise be to God that Christ has returned that purpose to us; Christ put the engine back in!
Future- Christ is bringing us back into the eternal sanctuary where we can fulfill our true purpose forever.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Apply: Church, I know this has been a hard year for many of you on so many levels. I know that there have been times where you’ve probably wondered if any of it is worth it. I know there have been times where you’ve wondered if your life has any purpose or meaning.
Please hear these words: Christ loves you dearly and paid the price to return your purpose to you. Know that because of him and his love for you, your life can have purpose once more.
But please, stop chasing after things that can never satisfy you or give your life true purpose. Commit yourself to God in Christ, live for his glory, and rediscover the purpose that we had once lost. In a time for New Years Resolutions, use this as an opportunity to commit yourself to the work of God in Christ. When we do that and seek to glorify God in all things, no matter what else happens to us, we will know for certain that our lives are truly meaningful.