Sermon Tone Analysis

Show video — Time to Go!

When your time is up, will it matter how much stuff you have?

All of us, at some point in our life, subscribe to the philosophy that what will ultimately satisfy us is more of what we already have.

Think about this…there was a time when we begged God in prayer for things we now have and take for granted.

A job…a little better salary…a house, a spouse, a family…and the list goes on…but we are still not satisfied.

Our entire lives are lived in pursuit of the next thing!

the newest iPhone, car, house, relationship, etc.

Some have slept outside of a retail store to get their hands on the newest iPhone after doing that just two years ago.

The phone they could not wait to have is now a trade-in and hopefully they haven’t cracked it!

As Adults, we sometimes live like our kids do at Christmas…they receive something from their list, and then very quickly grow tired of that which they asked for and now want something else.

The things we want more of change over time, but the truth is we always want more.

Nothing ultimately satisfies…we think we need more to be happy and when we accumulate more, we are not happy!

What’s worse is that we never stop to think about the lack of importance those accumulations have on our eternal destiny.

None of those possessions or pursuits will provide hope for our life to come, our even provide lasting joy while living on earth.

Let’s take it a step further…

In the pain and difficulties of life this side of heaven, do we find the accumulation of things is the lasting answer for what troubles us?

As we move in to Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon attempts to answer that question and ultimately exposes that philosophy for what it is…garbage!

He is going to tell us that he had it all, and still came away empty.

Yet I am sure there will be many of us who read this text and struggle to believe him when he says it was meaningless!

We look at the stories of celebrities who had it all and their life was a mess…and our mind immediately jumps to a rationalization of how we would do things differently.

If I had all that money, I would sure know how to enjoy it!

If I had their fame and popularity I would not make the same foolish decisions they made.

Let me remind you of 2 Cor 10:5

Solomon attempts to demolish that stronghold of the pursuit of the American Dream…that more means happy...if we would stop for just a few moments and let go of our desire for more, we will see he is exactly right.

Is the pursuit of the American Dream worth the cost when you step across the line into eternity and have to leave everything behind you?

If you haven’t already, please turn to Eccles 2:1-11…Read

Main Point — Pursuing Pleasures Only Leaves You Empty!

Solomon experiments with making his own personal happiness his chief end in life.

In verses 1 & 2 he states both the goal and the conclusion of his experiment.

The goal was to discover if pleasures were worth pursuing.

The conclusion is no, they too are meaningless.

In verses 3-8 he lists the activities he pursued to find enjoyment...

In verses 9-11 he provides a summary of his findings.

Myself = heart = inner most person…where all the decisions of life are made…Solomon is reasoning within his own mind/heart to go enjoy the good life as part of his search for meaning in this life.

Enjoy yourself = literally reads to see good…to experience that which is pleasant and pleasurable.

Test = indicates this is an experiment…this is a deliberate attempt to learn something new from personal experience.

He previously told us at the end of Eccles 1 that he tried to find meaning in earthly wisdom and intellect only to be left empty.

Now he says, I want to try another approach to get something meaningful out of life.

This is hedonism to its fullest degree.

Notice what word gets repeated in every single verse… “I”

Yes he is speaking autobiographically.

But there is so much “me, myself, and I” in this text that we get a strong sense of self-indulgence in pursuit of self-centered pleasures.

There is no indication in this text that what he accomplished was for the enjoyment of his people in his kingdom…it was for himself.

He is living life for himself rather than God!

Many people turn to pleasure, if not to find life’s ultimate meaning, they turn to pleasures to distract them the lack of meaning!

Most of us make our decisions based on what will maximize our pleasure and happiness.

The first thing Solomon tried was seeking pleasure in having a good time!

Pursuing a Good Time Does Not Satisfy.

Right away he tells us this quest failed as miserably as the first one…pleasure did not satisfy his soul any more than his wisdom did...

Behold = demands our attention…this too was vanity…vapor and smoke…

This was a comprehensive experiment.

He pursued the pleasure of comedy — v.2.

He echoes his thoughts from Eccl 1:3 when he says laughter and pleasure have no real profit.

In fact, he concludes laughter is madness…makes you look foolish…to think that a good time through laughter brings meaning to your life is delusional...

There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to laugh, but when we consider its usefulness to handling the weighty matters of life, laughter is of no help.

Solomon identifies that weighty matter at the end of verse 3 — life is short and what is worthwhile for man to pursue during that short life?

In other words, if all you want do in your life, and with your life is laugh or make others laugh, to go from one frivolity to another, you will always come up empty!

Laughter can momentarily distract us from real pain, but it cannot overcome it.

Solomon does not conclude that laughter is evil, he concludes that laughter is evil when you turn it into the solution for life’s problems.

(remember the purpose of Ecclesiastes)

He pursued the pleasure of alcohol — v. 3.

Turning to substances for pleasure and to cope with life’s problems is nothing new…we see here that is exactly what Solomon did.

In Prov 31:5-7 we see that alcohol is used by some to numb the pain of life... “For they will drink and forget what is decreed, And pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to him whose life is bitter.

Let him drink and forget his poverty And remember his trouble no more.”

That practice still exists today and Solomon says that way of life is empty!

There is some difficulty in interpreting this verse…

“my mind was guiding me wisely” seems to indicate that he did not get drunk…making him a self-controlled connoisseur of fine wine…as a king he held many banquets and feasts…so he would go after the finest of wines…this is the rational side of his experiment.

“take hold of folly” seems to indicate that he did more than pursue the finest of wines…he would also explore activities with wine that would be called foolish…drunkeness.

So the two options here are he either knew what wine went best with honey-glazed salmon or he was a party hearty boy wasting away in Margaritaville...

I think it could be both here…he tried alcohol from both ends of the spectrum…and the conclusion was the same.

Whether you drink alcohol because you want to pursue the finer things in life, or to “party hearty”, or to numb the pain of life, it doesn’t provide a lasting solution!

The world doesn’t tell you about the pain that comes from alcohol does it...

You never see a commercial that shows the girl at 3 am hugging the porcelain god as her friends hold her hair back until she finishes tossing all her cookies...

You never see the advertisements that depict the drunk driver who crashes into another vehicle injuring, or worse, killing the people in the other car!

You never see the reality of a brutal drunk who beats their spouse and kids out of uncontrollable fits of rage...

They never show the downward spiral of the person who uses alcohol to numb the pains of life and their need to consume more and more when the numbness wears off...

Solomon goes after what the world would call having a good time and concludes it’s of no value.

The phrase at the end of verse 3 is key to this experiment...He did all this for the purpose of discovering what was good for man to do under heaven…is there really anything worthwhile for man to pursue, to find his purpose?

Solomon is not an atheist…he takes a position of uncertainty…if this is all there is, it isn’t worth it...he is perplexed with the question of value during the brevity of life…is there anything I can pursue to fulfill me before I die?

This will become increasingly prominent throughout the rest of the book…the brevity of life.

Solomon pursued everything his heart desired!

Even If You Get Everything You Want, You Will Still Be Empty.

He pursued the pleasure of achievements (4-6).

So many of the things listed here are things many of us think would make our lives happy and fulfilling.

In verses 4-6 we see, He built many houses,indulged in the best of architecture, agriculture and engineering.

Built God’s House, the Temple.

I Kings 7:1-12 tells us that Solomon spent 13 years building his own house and it was bigger than the temple.

He built houses and shrines for his 700 wives…the American Dream is to own a single house…some of a lake house, or a beach house…Solomon had 700 of them…plus he built entire cities!

He planted vineyards, gardens, and parks.

He constructed an entire irrigation system to water those gardens and parks…some pools of Solomon still exist in Israel.

Literally, he tried to create a new garden of Eden… “all kinds of fruit trees” is used three times in the creation account of Genesis 1…he tried to get back to paradise.

Parks is similar to the word paradise…forest enclosure

Notice the scale of all these…they are plural…and as I said earlier…who were they for....HIM!

They were part of his own private residence…living large in the garden at his own pleasure…but not only that, he was extremely wealthy.

He pursued the pleasure of possessions (7-8b).

v7…He had more than anyone person before him in Jerusalem.

Given the scale of all his building projects, he no doubt needed an extremely large work force to run his daily operations.

He owned slaves and they bore many children who also belonged to him.

So to feed them, he had to have many flocks of cattle and herds of sheep and goats all over his royal ranch.