Sermon Tone Analysis

Hedonistic Experiment (Part 2)

We are just about a month removed from Christmas.

And we all know what that means…the gifts that your kids or grandkids just had to have are now gathering dust in the closet or under the bed.

And now they are wanting something new b/c “we’re bored”.

This is the cycle that each parent and grandparent has seen or been involved with.

For months before Christmas a child asks and begs for a specific toy then on Christmas day they open that package and they are super excited for a couple of weeks.

Then after those couple of weeks go by and they now have nothing to play with.

If you’re really lucky you get a child who plays with the toy or gift for a couple of months.

Then their bored of it.

And lets not just dump on the kids, we adults can be just as bad.

I know that I can.

We get a new car, house, job, boat, or another expensive toy and we are happy with it, until a friend, neighbor, or family member has a bigger, better, and newer thing.

Why is that?

Because the new always wears off.

There’s always something bigger, better, and newer coming around the corner.

We can get restless and discontent when we continue to chase the feeling of joy at the start of something new.

In fact, this is scientific it actually happens in our brain.

Now, I’m going to oversimplify it b/c Science isn’t my wheelhouse, but basically our brains like new things.

And every time we experience or get something new our body releases a chemical called dopamine.

Dopamine is a chemical that makes you feel good.

So when you get something new you are having a physical and natural reaction to it.

Maybe your sitting here and wondering, like I did, why did God design our bodies in a way that we get pleasure from new things.

And therefore if we get new things and those new things grow old, we need to chase after new things in order to feel that dopamine hit once again.

To be happy once again.

Is this a flaw in our design?

If he wanted us to be content in him.

Why didn’t he just create us without this drive to get the new and better thing?

I think that this is a good question.

And I believe and the bible supports that God is intentional in his design.

That he is purposeful in the way he designed us.

And that what he has revealed to us in his word and specifically through Ecc. is that we will never find lasting happiness in chasing after the new and shiny.

Not only that but being bound to chasing after the new is an example of our need to be made into a new creation.

We are bound by sin before Jesus releases us.

We are bound to chase after things that don’t satisfy until we are recreated.

And as we walk with Jesus we will still struggle with these desires, but part of our growth into the men and women that God wants us to be is to renew our mind daily.

To exhibit and practice self control.

That’s a fruit of the spirit.

And we are able to fight against these urges b/c we have been set free from sin and death.

We have been made a new creation in Christ Jesus, the new has come and the old has passed away.

We have been empowered by the HS to walk in obedience and to renew our mind.

We have been transformed to find our satisfaction in Jesus.

But to come to the point that we can be set free from this bondage we have to know that we are bound.

We have to recognize that we are sinners.

That we are broken.

That there is more to life than this.

The New and shiny things make us happy for a moment, but they can only stay new and shiny for so long.

Then they are old and dull and we want something newer and shinier.

Thus showing us that what we are longing for isn’t something new, it’s deeper b/c if that something new could fulfill us then we would cease to want.

And that’s part of what we are going to look at this morning.

Before we get too into today’s sermon, I want to quickly go over what we talked about last week b/c it will be important for what we are going to talk about today.

The Author of Ecclesiastes, Solomon or Qoheleth, prepared us for the journey he wanted to take us on starting in Chapter 2.

He wanted us to know that he set up an experiment so that you didn’t have to.

He went out and explored pleasure, possessions, wisdom, and work to let you know that it will never lead to meaning.

And he is uniquely qualified for this experiment b/c he was extremely wise, wealthy, powerful, and influential.

He used all his wisdom, knowledge, and wealth to examine and explore all that the world has to offer and came back knowing it was fruitless, meaningless, and a pursuit of the wind.

Now this morning what we are going to do is look at the experiment.

Solomon has already told us what he found, but he wants us to know in detail how much research he actually did so that he could come to the conclusion that every pursuit under the sun is futile if we don’t have an eternal perspective.

Let’s pray and then we will dive into Solomon’s Observations.

Empty Pleasure

The first on Solomon’s list to try is pleasure.

This is the cry of most people “If it feels good, do it.”

“If it makes you happy do it.”

That’s What Solomon is saying in the first verse.

“Enjoy what is good.”

Here’s something we have to hold in tension and keep in balance.

Pleasure is supposed to be pleasurable.

God’s created things to be enjoyed.

But the problem is that like everything else, we can tend to go to far.

And we can either swing to the one end where we do everything that feels good.

Or the other where we become religiously legalistic and put a damper on any and all pleasure, even if its done in a way to Glorify God.

Our God is not a killjoy.

He is not a “fuddy duddy”.

He created us in a way that we can experience pleasure and in experience pleasure we can see and know his goodness.

We aren’t robots without senses.

We are humans who can feel, taste, touch, smell, and see.

So the problem as Solomon points out is not that pleasure is bad.

It’s that pleasure is never enough.

It isn’t an end to itself.

Pleasure is a pointer to something that truly satisfies.

In keeping with the theme of last week, I want you to notice how often Solomon says “I” in this passage.

He uses “I” 35 times in these 26 verses.

It’s all about what he did, what he experienced, what he sought after.

Now this is admittedly an autobiography, but when you take into account all the actions talked about in this passage, you can see that he was Seeking and Searching for pleasure.

Self-centered pleasure.

And if we are honest with ourselves, Solomon would fit in right at home here in America.

Where the pursuit of pleasure and happiness are king and queen of this land.

Solomon wanted to make seeking pleasure the chief end goal of his life.

However he does come to the conclusion that it’s all empty.

There is no meaning found in pleasure.

There is no meaning found in wine.

There is no meaning found in anything under the sun.

Here’s the problem, pleasure makes promises it can’t keep.

The pursuit of pleasure will eventually lead a prison.

What kind of pleasure did Solomon seek?

First, he sought after laughter.

Here’s the thing, I love to laugh.

I love to hear other people laugh, especially my kids.

Being entertained and having a good old belly laugh is an enjoyable experience.

Here recently our kids have been wanting to listen to some comedians when we are on long car rides.

Hearing them laugh and laughing with them is pleasurable.