The Search That Comes Up Empty | Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:11

I invite you to open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter one. Again, Ecclesiastes is one of the five so-called wisdom books. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

As I said two weeks ago in the first sermon in this series, Ecclesiastes is dear to me. I trust it is to many of you. I have always found it to very much resonate with my experience of life under the sun. I’m thankful to God that words like these are in the Bible. It’s a great comfort, even as challenging and frankly uncomfortable and just difficult as these words are. It is good to know that God is not unaware of our plight, that he is very in tune and he knows more deeply than we do the things that we face.

Ecclesiastes is jarring for some, uncomfortable for many, for most of us, not what we would expect to find in a book like the Bible. It’s breathtaking in its honesty about the way that things are. I read this quote to you last week. I’m gonna read, or two weeks ago I should say, I’m gonna read it again today. This is by Zach S. Wine.

He wrote a really helpful book called Recovering Eden that’s on Ecclesiastes and in it he pins these words. To want more than is offered here under the sun and then on the basis of reverence for God to scream for a new and different life well captures the vocal mood of this book. So if that resonates with you at all, to want more than is offered here and then on the basis of reverence for God to scream and to cry out from somewhere deep within you for a new and different life, if that resonates, that’s the tone, that’s the emphasis, that’s the mood of Ecclesiastes. Two weeks ago we considered the prologue, verses one through 11 of chapter one, in which Solomon identified himself as the preacher. He gave us the motto of the book from verse two that all is vanity and remember how we thought about when we see that word vanity, what we should think and feel is futility. All is futile in this life under the sun.

Then in verse three, Solomon asks the great question of the book, what gain is there to be found in all that men do in all of our toil under the sun? What can man meaningfully gain? And then verses four through 11 of chapter one are a poem that makes the answer to that question pretty clear. There is no meaningful lasting gain from all of our toil under the sun. So that’s set up the rest of the book for us and with that by way of introduction, let’s put our eyes on the scriptures. If you don’t have a Bible with you, there are black ESV Bibles in the seats around you.

You could also download a Bible app that might serve you well. We’re gonna consider today chapter one in verse 12 through chapter two in verse 11 of Ecclesiastes and listen now as I read. This is the word of God. I the preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem and I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

What is crooked cannot be made straight and what is lacking cannot be counted. I said in my heart, I have acquired great wisdom surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge and I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceive that this also is but a striving after wind for in much wisdom is much vexation and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure, enjoy yourself but behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad and of pleasure, what use is it? I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine, my heart still guiding me with wisdom and how to lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks more than any who had had before me in Jerusalem.

I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women and many concubines, the delight of the children of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me and whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure for my heart found pleasure in all my toil and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

We thank God for his word today and every day. The sermon title printed in your bulletins, the search that comes up empty. No need to be clever here. The preacher is seeking to answer that question of chapter one and verse three. Is there any meaningful gain through all the things that men do, through all the things that men pursue in this life under the sun? And in our passage, he considers whether gain can be found in wisdom and whether it can be found in pleasure.

Those are the two sections of the message. Will wisdom do the job? Will pleasure do the job? Now, I’m gonna acknowledge this at the outset. Even in an assembly this size, we’re all wired differently. We all have different proclivities, different bends in our frames.

Some of us are gonna lean more one way than the other. Some of us are more inclined to seek for gain through wisdom and being wise. Others of us are more inclined to seek for gain through pleasure but either way, we’re all gonna be laid low this morning. We will be mowed down by the futility of both and we will be driven to the only hope that exists. My prayer is that we’re gonna be pulled under the rock that is higher than we are. In that regard, Solomon is an equal opportunity offender.

Whether you are a wisdom person or a pleasure person, we’re gonna get it today. So be prepared and lock in and listen. Particularly if you’re here and you don’t normally spend time on Sundays in church but you live life under the sun, listen and wrestle with whether this resonates with your experience. Because I promise you, if you’re anything like me and like any number of people sitting in this room, you’ve tried it all and there’s emptiness in it all. Let’s consider wisdom. Chapter one, verses 12 to 18.

You can put your eyes on verse 12. Solomon says that he, the preacher, has been king over Israel and Jerusalem. And then he goes on in verse 13 to let us know that he’s about to go in. He’s gonna fully engage in all that is done in the world and try to sort it out by means of wisdom. And remember that Solomon had great wisdom. If you’re familiar with his story at all, you know that he was granted a request by God.

God says, anything you ask, I’ll give it to you. And he asked to have wisdom that surpassed any other and God granted that request. The Lord had given him a wise and discerning mind unlike any before him or any after him. You can look at 1 Kings chapter three and verse 12 and find that written there. So Solomon is the man for the job. If anybody can sort out life under the sun by means of wisdom, it’s him.

Just for us to keep in mind, the kind of wisdom that Solomon is seeking and applying needs to be viewed as wisdom under the sun. That’s important. In that sense, it’s worldly common kingdom wisdom. And even if we view Solomon’s wisdom as written of here, as that of a godly man, his wisdom is limited when it comes to resolving the futility of life or helping us to accrue meaningful gain under the sun. That’s gonna be evident. In the middle of verse 13, you’ll see the phrase all that is done under heaven.

That refers to all that happens in life, both human deeds and also things that happen to people. And then the last sentence of verse 13, because of the fall of man, because sin came into the world, this is true. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. We continue on. You can put your eyes on verse 14. Solomon’s really clear.

He’s seen it all. And he says it’s all vanity, it’s all futility. And a striving after wind. What a wonderful phrase. You understand what it means. When you read that striving after wind, envision yourself running around in the backyard trying to catch the wind with your hands.

Solomon tells us that his quest to make sense of life through the means of wisdom has been as fruitful as that. And then verse 15 poetically depicts the limits of wisdom. What is crooked cannot be made straight and what is lacking cannot be counted. It depicts our inability to make things right. I don’t care how smart you are, how wise you are, how much you study, we ain’t fixing this. The world is the way that it is.

And we will not be the ones to change the situation. Verse 16, Solomon reiterates the greatness of his wisdom and knowledge. He reassures us that he has what it takes to carry out this search. The search for meaning and gain through wisdom. Verse 17, he says that he has applied his heart to know wisdom as well as madness and folly. And he perceived that this pursuit is also just a striving after wind.

So whether it is trying to make sense of life through wisdom or whether it is the pursuit of wisdom in and of itself as this great good, both come up empty. We can engage in the pursuit of wisdom, of knowing wisdom and folly, but it will not deliver what we think it will deliver. In fact, verse 18, you can put your eyes on that, Solomon says that this pursuit of wisdom and knowing the difference between wisdom and foolishness makes things worse on the one hand. Isn’t that interesting? Basically what he’s saying here, gaining wisdom and knowledge really at the end of the day just stresses us out and makes us sad. To all of those who are here this morning and you do lean toward the wisdom side of this thing.

Like you, you’re kinda like brother, I’m more mature. I’m certainly more godly, more godly enough anyway as to think that pleasure would do it. I’m not that sensual, I’m not a hedonist, but perhaps you’re more inclined to think that through wisdom and thoughtfulness and discernment and awareness and all of these kinds of things that you can accrue some kind of meaningful gain in this life under the sun. Maybe that’s you. I’m gonna speak with you for just a moment. Is there value in wisdom?

Yes, so let’s not throw babies out with the bathwater. Is there more value in wisdom than in foolishness? Absolutely, we’re gonna see that in our next passage in Ecclesiastes. Might your life go better if you pursue wisdom rather than foolishness? Yes, but if you’re prone to put hope in wisdom, there is so much suffering and frustration and pain and emptiness in this life that wisdom can do absolutely nothing about. Might you be able, with wisdom, might you be better able to cope with it all?

Possibly. Might your coping be healthier? Possibly. But what real good does wisdom give you? What ultimate difference, ultimate difference does wisdom under the sun make? You can be as wise as you want and death is coming for you.

As dies the fool, so dies the wise one. We’ll get to that in upcoming verses two. As we come to the end of chapter one, if you’re anything like me, we are ready for the preacher, Solomon, to tell us about God. Like brother, this would be a good time. I mean, homie, give us some relief. Tell us about salvation and he will eventually.

He just isn’t quick with it. He’s a wrestler. He grapples with things the way they are. He’s skeptical. He’s honest. I love this book because there’s nothing trite or sentimental in it.

No sugar coating. Solomon has no time for catchy slogans or anecdotes or cute quotes. He says, no, pass on those. For Solomon, no doubt, God rules and reigns. And here it comes. God rules, God reigns, and he is the one who lets the world go on as it is.

Do you feel that? Humans wrestle with this. If there is a God and if God rules and reigns, why does the world look the way it does? It’s a real question. Why does he let it go on the way that it is? Because he clearly does.

There’s no gain to be found. There’s all this vexation, stress, sadness, and God does not immediately deliver us from it. He could stop our having to deal with futility. You thought about this. The Lord could, at any time at which he chose, stop the futility of it all. We would no longer have to deal with it because he does have the power to change it, but he doesn’t.

It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. That continues. It was true in Solomon’s day, it’s true now. God doesn’t put a stop to it. We have to linger here. If you don’t have this tool in your toolbox as a Christian, you need it.

You need it. God does not save us by giving us immediate escape from this cursed world. He doesn’t give us immunity from it either. In the world, you will have tribulation. We’ve read that somewhere, right? All right, let’s keep talking honestly.

It’s clear in light of all that, in light of everything we’ve been considering, it’s clear that we need to be saved out of our condition under the sun, amen? We do. You long for it, so do I. Well, if that’s true, then it only follows, doesn’t it, that salvation is going to have to come from somewhere else other than under the sun. If we gotta be rescued from it, we’re gonna have to be saved out of it by something outside of it. Y’all know where I’m going.

What do the scriptures reveal? What is the gospel? That God, God the sun, light of light, God of God, very God of very God, all those things of the same substance and essence as the Father, that God the sun would come and enter into our life under the sun. He would come from outside of it into it in order to save us. He would enter the world where there is no gain. He would endure its vanity and its futility.

He would feel its pain. God the sun incarnate would suffer and sweat under the same sun. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. That means he lived under the sun with us. Now, when Jesus talked, he sounded like Solomon at times. He spoke really clearly about how things are in the world.

But he said things that Solomon couldn’t say, though. Like, take heart, I have overcome the world. Solomon can’t say that. But the one who’s greater than Solomon can. He rescued us from our bondage to the God of this world and to the fear of the grave. He set us free from the curse of the law by taking our sin and guilt and law breaking on himself and dying for it.

And the grave couldn’t hold him. The devil had no claim on him. This is why he got up from the dead because he is the Lord, the righteous one. You can put your eyes back on verse 15 of chapter one. What is crooked cannot be made straight and what is lacking cannot be counted. As has been said, we can’t fix this.

We can’t sort it out. We will not be able to make things right. Chapter one in verse 15 cries out for Jesus of Nazareth. When you read verses like that, despair of your own righteousness, despair of your own strength, lament the way things are, cast yourself on Christ. Two passages thinking about wisdom that I want us to have in our minds and hearts. You can write them down.

If you want to turn, you can. I’m not gonna read. I’m just gonna kinda communicate what’s in them. The first would be Colossians chapter two, verses one to 15. In light of everything in Ecclesiastes one, 12 to 18, read and meditate on these passages this week. In Colossians two, Paul says that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Amen. And so, says Paul, don’t be taken captive by philosophy according to human tradition and the spirit of the world. Don’t go looking there. Why? Well, because the fullness of deity dwells in Jesus. And in him, says Paul, you’ve been born again.

You’ve been baptized into him and made alive together with him. Your sins have been forgiven. Your debt has been nailed to the cross. And in Christ, God has triumphed over all the rulers and authorities, the heavenly ones, and put them to open shame. Why would you go anywhere else? In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Trust in Christ. Turn from yourself. Not only from your own sin, but turn from your wisdom. Get over that and cast yourself on the wisdom of God who is Christ for you. And then, the other passage was read in our service earlier, First Corinthians chapter two, man. Paul, I love this, did not come with lofty speech or human wisdom because it wouldn’t do the job.

He said, I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. What is the best thing in the world for a human being? It is to see our need of forgiveness. It is to see God for who he is, to be ruined on the one hand by that because we have not met his standard, because we have rebelled against him, and then to see that the Lord is a redeemer and that he has sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh to die for our sins, to fulfill all righteousness, and to conquer the grave so that we might live with God forever. And through faith alone, apart from anything that we do or ever thought, willed or wanted, we are forgiven, counted righteous, and will live forever. It’s the best thing in the world.

That’s what Paul means. When I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified, do we care about moral virtue? Sure. Do we care about worldly wisdom? Sure. Do we care about other things in this life?

Absolutely. But the thing that we are about is Christ for sinners. This is what the church has always been. Paul says that this was his MO so that their faith in Corinth might not rest in the wisdom of men. That’s not a firm foundation. Your faith does not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Because when Christ is preached, the power of God is at work. Does it make sense to people in the world? No. But to those who are being saved, it does. Paul says we do not impart, excuse me, we do impart wisdom, but not a wisdom of this age. Isn’t that beautiful?

In light of Ecclesiastes, we do impart wisdom, but not a wisdom of this age. Well, what kind? We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God which God decreed before the ages for our glory. Now, what is that hidden and secret wisdom? Please answer. Christ, the mystery of Christ.

This is what was hidden for ages and what has now been revealed through the prophets and the apostles. The secret, hidden wisdom is not some gnostic inner knowledge. It is the mystery of Christ to save sinners. That God, from all of time, has been saving a people, Jew and Gentile, every tribe, language, people, and nation, and he’s doing it through Christ and for him. And that all of the promises that he made would be fulfilled in Christ. All of the penalty of the law would be borne by Christ.

That’s the wisdom we impart, says Paul. None of the rulers of this age understood this, but God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. Solomon’s pursuit of wisdom would not get it done. That’s because true wisdom is only found in Jesus Christ. He is the wisdom of God. He is wisdom in the flesh, and he has become to us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

And so, beloved, today, tomorrow, as long as he gives you breath, trust him, believe in him, fall on him. Salvation coming from somewhere else shows us one other critical thing. This is for your comfort and mine. Salvation had to come from outside of life under the sun. It shows us that salvation exists outside of us. Now, does the Spirit of Christ indwell us?

Yeah, amen. But our salvation, in terms of its ground, its anchor, its security, is found outside of us always. We don’t look within for that. We look to Christ only for that. We’re always looking outside of ourselves to him. We don’t look within any more than we would look to something under the sun to save us.

We’re unashamed of the Protestant Reformation in this church, and we say with the saints, from then to now, extra nos, outside of us. That’s where salvation is found, because Christ stands there for you, unaffected, unchanged, unmoved by your weakness or frailty, by your doubts and fears. And that’s the only comfort that a sinner could ever have. I promise you, none of us on our deathbeds will be comforted at all by the strength of our faith. Christ for us, though, that’s different. All right, so that’s the wisdom part.

We’re now pivoting to part two, pleasure. So if you haven’t been offended yet, get ready. And I will say this now, I aim always, you guys know this, I aim to be thoughtful, I aim to be, I use discretion in what I say and don’t say. I’m mindful of the fact that we got a lot of children and young people in the room. And I’ll go ahead and tell you that I am gonna talk very honestly today about pleasure. I don’t think in any way that is inappropriate.

But I just want even parents in the room, be prepared. I hope it produces some good conversations, because these are necessary conversations. Okay, so Solomon, again, you put your eyes on verse one of chapter two. He lets us into his mind and heart. He’s already gone all in, searching for gain and the meaning of it all through wisdom. Now he says he’s gonna test his heart with pleasure.

As we might put it, he’s gonna live the good life. I mean, to the nines, man. He says later, I withheld nothing from myself. Anything I wanted, I just had it. None of us have ever known that. Let’s be real, we don’t have the means.

You got the desires, you ain’t got the means though. He had both. Okay, the question Solomon raises and is seeking to answer is this, are there things in the world that can truly satisfy the heart of a human being? He’s gonna do everything he can to find out. Wisdom fell short, it wouldn’t do the job. Maybe pleasure will.

I wanna speak briefly to his method. Because let’s just acknowledge this right now. He’s gonna engage in all the things and a lot of the things that he, well, not a lot, some of the things that he engages in, we would rightly call folly and even sin. No apologies there, that’s clear. But in terms of his method, understand this. You can put your eyes on verse three and verse nine and see where I’m coming from.

His method is not to just run mindlessly into debauchery. His wisdom remains with him, he says. He’s observing, he’s reflecting, he’s drawing conclusions as he tests whether pleasure will do the job. Does that make sense? Okay, so the preacher, Solomon, is gonna lay out all the goods of this life and we’ll see whether these goods can deliver. I put them under a number of headings in my notes and we’re gonna take them one at a time, obviously.

First one is laughter. So everything that I’m about to talk about, these things are good. In and of themselves, they’re not bad. Can they be abused by sinners? Sure, they’re good things. They’re not ultimate though.

I want you to feel it. I’m using that word intentionally. As we think about all these good things, I want you to feel that they’re good and then I want you to feel the heartbreak of how inadequate they are. Because it’s not until you’ve had your heart broken like that that you’re gonna look where you need to look. Okay, laughter, verse two, you can see it. Laughter is a gift.

We all have memories, times that we’ve had with people that we love, people that we enjoy. You hang out with them, it’s as natural as breathing, man, and it is a great time. And we laugh deep. Like your cheeks hurt, that kind of thing. Yet even though laughter is good, and laughter, it has almost medicinal properties, doesn’t it? It cannot cure us from what ails us under the sun.

And if we’re honest, there are times when our laughter is not good. Maybe we’re laughing to excuse sin or promote foolishness. We laugh about things that should shame us. Maybe we’re laughing to escape. Many of us, some of us, are always wanting to laugh and joke in banter even when the time for laughter has clocked out. To laugh when we should mourn is not good or sane.

Laughter is good, and it has its place, but it needs to yield to other necessary things in this life under the sun. There will come a day when tears will be wiped away and the laughter of true and lasting joy will be unimpeded. But for now, too much legitimate pain and sorrow remain. If this helps you, my final word on laughter, laughter can’t save. It, too, needs a Redeemer. Next, alcohol, verse three.

Some of y’all in here be like, man, I ain’t ever been in a church service where a preacher gonna say something good about alcohol. But welcome to CBC. Now I’ve just opened myself up to more charges of antinomianism, but we’ll deal with that on a different day. Verse three, alcohol is a good gift, period. The Bible is shot through with such language and images. The imagery, of course, drunkenness, sin.

Being a slave to wine, wrong, sin. But in and of itself, it is a blessing and a gift from God. He gives it to gladden our hearts. It’s an image of prosperity and blessing throughout scripture. Having said all that, here we go. Drinking for the buzz, it ain’t gonna bring you happiness.

Hear me, drinking for that feeling, it will not do it, and hear me, it’ll leave you thirsty. And even a moderate use of alcohol, which can bring us enjoyment, will not give us the gain that we long for, beloved. I enjoy it as much as anybody, but none of us are gonna find what we’re looking for at the bottom of a glass. Own it. And then think, that’s true, yet there is a kind of food and drink that does satisfy. Let me read you a couple of verses from the prophet Isaiah.

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come and buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food. What’s he talking about?

He’s talking about knowing and trusting Christ. That’s Isaiah 55, one and two, for those who are interested. The Lord gives us the best and the sweetest of fare. He gives us drink after which we’ve drunk it, we’ll never thirst again. There’s coming a day when he will serve us at his table and we’ll feast and celebrate with him. He said that he would drink of the fruit of the vine anew with us in his kingdom.

We look to that day. Laughter won’t do it. Alcohol won’t do it. What about sex? Verse eight, I front loaded every way I need to. I’m just gonna say it all.

Male or female, we all have our fantasies and sex is a particularly powerful thing. For many of us, we have a hard time believing that being able to perpetually satisfy our sexual appetites would not be as good as it gets. Or for others of us, we have a hard time believing that being made to feel as though we are the most desirable person on the planet would not give us meaning to life. And in all of this, as Solomon explored this, remember, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. I mean, that breaks your brain. What I’m getting at is anything you want, however you want it, he had access to it.

Whatever he felt that day. Now you might be sitting there and thinking, all right, well brother, that doesn’t fulfill perhaps. There’s an emptiness in that because that’s not God’s good design for sex, true. Let’s talk about even the good design of sex in the covenant of marriage. Will it deliver meaningful gain? Think with me.

Respectfully, think with me. Let’s say that tonight, husband and wife make love in every beautiful way God intended. Full of passion and freedom and delight. Devoid of pornographic objectification. Just God honoring enjoyment of one another’s bodies and of being one flesh. Let’s say that happens.

And then let’s say they fall asleep in one another’s arms. Beautiful picture. You realize Monday morning is still coming. The alarm’s gonna go off. The pressures and the stressors will be there. Bills are gonna come due.

Frustrations, they coming. And then let’s be real, we’re all gonna get older. Eventually our bodies will break down and give out even when it comes to this blessing of sex within the covenant of marriage. So even the beauty and wonder of sex, the way it was intended will not give us what we lack under the sun. Own it, own it. Next, the arts, architecture, cultivation and nature.

About to offend some more of us now. Verses four to six. Solomon engaged in all of these things as king. Building and cultivating, they’re good things but they don’t last. Sometimes wars happen and fortunes are lost and someone else is gonna possess what you’ve made. Or sometimes hurricanes turn city streets and town centers into riverbeds, do they not?

Art, the arts offer meaning and beauty, amen. We should be honest about this. It’s evident in Asheville, North Carolina that for many who reject God, the arts become a kind of religion. Paintings and sculptures become the greatest expression of the human soul and poems become sacred texts. So I’ve seen The Notebook. It’s a Nicholas Sparks movie for any of y’all out there.

I’ve seen it, I like it. You can talk to me at the back door after. But one thing that I thought about this week as I was prepping the sermon, I remember Noah and his father sitting on the porch reading Walt Whitman poems like they’re the Bible. This is what we do. We find all this meaning in the arts. Maybe they’ll rescue us but they do not preserve our sanity.

Vincent van Gogh for crying out loud. Beautiful things, not well in his mind. And moth, rust, and fire destroy them all. I mean, I trust there was artwork in those two towers that went down on 9-11. Won’t deliver you. Nature, it’s beautiful.

It declares the glory of God. It’s full of wonders because God has made it so. But it does not matter how much you travel or how many experiences you have or how many striking things that you see, it will not satisfy that ache in your soul. If anything, it might exacerbate it. And there’s coming a day when this earth that we marvel at will swallow us. We will be put into the ground.

Nature needs a redeemer. And we, as far as building and architecture, we’re aching for that city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. A city that has no need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it light and its lamp is the lamb. And by its light will the nations walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Music, verse eight. Music is a gift, man.

Music points to meaningful joys and is a joy in and of itself. I mean, a song can put you in a time and a place, can it not? Wild, few things like music can do that. It has universal appeal and can bring people together. You listen and you’re enraptured. You can turn it up and lose yourself in melody and chords and rhythm and vocals.

But the song, the concert, it’s gonna end. The music will literally stop. The people you are enjoying the music with will have to go home. The dishes will need to be washed and lunches will need to be packed and the laundry will need to get done. Won’t deliver you. Yes, I’m speaking from real life experience.

Money and possessions, you can see this verse seven, but really the whole thing. Money and possessions, they’re not bad either. They’re good things. Yet in this life under the sun, even having it all leaves you empty. You know this, there’s studies aplenty. Some of the wealthiest people are the most unhappy.

And even speaking of our nation, the United States as a whole, we are far less content as a people than we are less. Here’s the thing, with money and possessions, no matter how much we have, we want more. It will not satisfy. And you realize that this problem, wanting a little more, it’s as old as the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve thought they needed access to one more tree, one other kind of fruit, and then we’ll be happy. Then we’ll really have made it.

All this good stuff that God gave us, all these wonders to enjoy, we just need one more. And it’s been going on and on and on ever since. Won’t do it. Fame, verse nine, fame and renown. Becoming famous will not be what we think. Anyone who has tasted even a measure of it knows that.

In some cases, fame becomes a burden. In other cases, it’s like, wow, this is just more mundane than I thought it would be. And then for others, we’ll always be craving more of it too. Feels good to be praised and affirmed and recognized, but that good feeling is ready to leave as soon as it arrives. Solomon tells us, in verse nine, that he had surpassed everyone who had come before him. He was literally the goat.

None greater. But even that was futility, he said. We come now to work. Again, we cover on all the bases, I mean, because Solomon did. Work, verse 10, also other verses, but primarily verse 10. It won’t deliver either.

It’s good to work as we’re gonna consider at other points in Ecclesiastes to enjoy our work is a good thing, but it won’t fulfill us. There will not be lasting pleasure in our work once it’s done. Notice I said lasting. Taking stock of it in the moment and feeling some sense of accomplishment is the reward. That’s what Solomon says there in verse 10. But that feeling of accomplishment and reward is fleeting.

You create the piece of art or clothing or shoes or the cabinet or the countertop or whatever it is. You build the house and you sell it to someone else for them to enjoy. You enjoy the time with clients in your job, but that’s over as soon as they walk out the door. And then at the end of it all, they might give you a watch when you retire. There is no lasting gain even in our work under the sun. Verse 11, you can put your eyes on it.

This is the preacher’s conclusion. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it and behold all was vanity and a striving after wind and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. Pleasure didn’t deliver. Now I say all that and I’ve said everything I’ve already said. And let’s be honest about how we are. Or maybe this is just me.

We all hear this and we’re like, but bro, come on. Like if I had all that. Like sure, it’s easy for Solomon to say he tasted and experienced it all. Deep down, we don’t take Solomon at his word. We believe the lie of the devil that pleasure will actually do it. Empirically verifiable, y’all.

I mean, as a race, we believe the lie. We all go foraging around for pleasure. I mean, think about it. Think about the human race even in our context in the West. The rebelling of teenagers. What’s that about?

This, I’m gonna go do it and feel it and experience it. I’m gonna find meaning. I’m gonna have a great time doing it. Think about the exploits of college students and young adults. What is that? This, thinking that it’ll do.

Thinking that I’m gonna find something. I’m gonna find what I’m looking for. Oh, but it ain’t just young people. Think about the midlife crises. What is that? Other than the fact that you’re lamenting a bygone era.

You can’t do it like you used to could do it. You don’t look like you used to look. You’re not as desirable as you used to be. You’re watching all this stuff happen and say, man, that was really great. And you lose your mind and you go chasing and forging around for any kind of pleasure you can acquire and you’ll blow your life up doing it. Why?

This, we’re all over the place. Own this. This is still all of our tendencies in our flesh. We are all over the place scrounging for whatever we think we can find. Doesn’t matter who we hurt. Doesn’t matter what it costs.

And the sadness in it all is it’s gonna come up empty. It will not deliver. Put your eyes back on verse one of chapter two. We are concluding. I said in my heart, come now. I will test you with pleasure.

Enjoy yourself. But behold, this also was vanity. Maybe you’re sitting here today and you’ve tried a lot. You’ve experienced a lot. And you’ve found that there is something that you’re longing for that you’ve not found. I would offer you words from C.S.

Lewis, my paraphrase of him that I think is quite strong in this regard. And I would encourage every soul in this room to consider it. If there are longings in my heart that nothing in this world can satisfy, perhaps the most logical conclusion is that I was made for another world. Think about that. Which takes us to Psalm 16, 11. The words of David, the words of Christ ultimately.

You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is the fullness of joy. And at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Short term sacrifice for long term gain. Theology to cross, we suffer now, glory’s coming. Do not for one second think that God is holding out on you that he doesn’t want your joy or that he doesn’t want your pleasure.

He does, he just wants it eternally and invincibly. The way God is often depicted and talked about, you would never get that idea. Because he sounds mean, he sounds like he just prohibits everything. He doesn’t want you to have a good time. Nothing could be further from the truth. But he ain’t, he’s not gonna let us have it now under the sun.

Again, C.S. Lewis, he’s not gonna let us enjoy mud pies in the slums when he’s invited us to a holiday at the sea. God is for our joy and for our gain eternally and invincibly. He means for us to find it in himself through Jesus Christ and then forever. It will be his joy to give us the kingdom. That’s what Jesus said.

Fear not little flock. It will be your father’s joy to give you the kingdom. He will delight to invite us into his joy when this life under the sun comes to an end. That’s gonna be a day, ain’t it? Amen? It’ll be a day.

We will no longer have to fight for or search for lasting gain, which is a fight we can’t win and a search that comes up empty. We won’t be doing it anymore. With the Lord and a new heaven and a new earth, gain will be our resting heart rate and it won’t go anywhere. That’s what makes it even better. Not momentary, not fleeting, permanent, gain. This quest of Solomon and Ecclesiastes that is futility is gonna be given and kept by God.

And even in the intervening time, may this encourage you, particularly for the older saints in the room, but really for anybody. We know, none of us know the day or the hour. None of us know our day is what I mean. Should the Lord tarry, well, none of us are promised tomorrow. May this encourage you. Even in the intervening time for believers who die in Christ, there is gain, sincerely.

You remember what a dying thief said. You remember what he asked. He said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And what did our Lord say? He did not say that, well, you’re gonna have to wait for a while and it’s gonna be all right and eventually it’s gonna be good. It’s not what he said.

He said, truly I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise. So whether he returns for all of us today or whether our number is called at some point between now and when he does, for the believer there is gain, even as we perish in Christ. Wisdom under the sun won’t do. Pleasure under the sun won’t do. Only Christ will do.