When all is meaningless

The book of Ecclesiastes has consistently confused its readers with its bold arguments against traditional wisdom. For us moderns, its words ring true. But what if Ecclesiastes is strikes such a sympathetic note to us because it is so materialistic, like we are? What if Solomon's exploration of wisdom "under the sun," is really an exercise in finding wanting all the options available to materialism? Join us as we start our journey with the Teacher of Ecclesiastes.

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Ecclesiastes 1:1–11 NLT

1 These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. 2 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” 3 What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. 6 The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. 7 Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. 8 Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. 9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. 10 Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. 11 We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.

Introduction—Deconversion

Over the last couple of decades there has been a trend that we Christians don’t talk much about: namely, the increasing visibility of something called deconversion—people leaving the faith. If you spend much time online, you may have read of Marty Sampson, a worship leader at Hillsong in Sydney, who posted on Instagram two years ago:

“Time for some real talk… I’m genuinely losing my faith.. and it doesn’t bother me…

This is a soapbox moment so here I go xx how many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen. Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send 4 billion people to a place, all coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it. Christians can be the most judgemental people on the planet – they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people… but it’s not for me. I am not in any more.

I want genuine truth. Not the “I just believe it” kind of truth. Science keeps piercing the truth of every religion. Lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of God. Got so much more to say, but for me, I keeping it real. Unfollow if you want, I’ve never been about living my life for others. All I know is what’s true to me right now, and Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point… I could go on, but I won’t. Love and forgive absolutely. Be kind absolutely. Be generous and do good to others absolutely. Some things are good no matter what you believe. Let the rain fall, the sun will come up tomorrow.”

Marty speaks for many.

At this point I want to emphasize: doubt is not a sin. Our reaction as Christians to our own or another’s doubt should not be fear-based anger, but love and concern. If you are wrestling with problems like those Marty wrestled with and the problems we’ll be talking about, you’re a thinking, feeling human being. That’s all. There is nothing wrong with wrestling with these issues.

However, these problems do become overwhelming when we take a particular approach to them, as we’ll see. (By the way, I haven’t found anything online from Marty since this broke in 2019, so I can’t say where he’s at in his faith. Perhaps he is keeping a low profile because of the hostile and unhelpful reaction that he got to his doubts.)

Now this is not a new phenomenon. People have been “deconverting” for millennia. But this is such a significant issue that the Bible addresses it head on by including an entire book written from the perspective of the most famous deconverter of all time.

Purpose of Ecclesiastes

Who?

Who am I talking about?

Ecclesiastes 1:1 NLT

1 These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem.

Why, King Solomon, of course. While scholars debate the issue, there is no reason not to take the words of this book as coming directly from Solomon. Both the form of Hebrew used and the historical details are compatible with what we know of Solomon. So I am going to assume that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes.

Oh, except for a little bit. As you can see, this verse refers to Solomon in the third person, as a different person from the writer. That perspective continues up to v. 11, and then starts again right at the end of the book. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the worldview expressed changes dramatically at the same point the writing style does. The best explanation for this is that an editor took Solomon’s words and wrapped them in an introduction and conclusion as a lesson for us. We have no idea who the editor was, but he was probably from before Judah’s exile to Babylon.

What?

OK, so Solomon is the teacher, but what is he teaching about? What is his primary claim?

Ecclesiastes 1:2 NLT

2 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”

The second sentence in the book summarises Solomon’s conclusion for us: everything is meaningless. Solomon, the wisest mind in history, delves into all the wisdom of mankind, and his conclusion is that it’s all meaningless.

Why?

But why?

Why does he come to this conclusion, what question is this the answer to?

Ecclesiastes 1:3 NLT

3 What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?

Solomon’s burning question was: what profit is there in all our toil?

Now, I should quickly point out, because the NLT Bible doesn’t really bring this out, that there are three key features in Solomon’s question:

First, he isn’t just asking what people get from their work, he is looking for something more than that. The Hebrew word he uses, yitron, refers to “profit;” something left over after you’ve covered your expenses; something you can save up. Solomon is asking: does work yield more than survival?

Second, Solomon recognises that life in this world involves more than just work, so the Hebrew word he uses, amal, is a negative word, indicating the unpleasant nature of the work. This might be better translated as “toil” or “hard labour” than merely “hard work.”

And finally, Solomon is only interested in profits “under the sun.”

Under the sun

The phrase “under the sun” is used 29 times in Ecclesiastes, and no-where else in the Bible. However, archaeology has found it in other ancient writings, and in these, as well as throughout Ecclesiastes, it refers to what we would call the “material world,” excluding the supernatural.

Solomon focuses exclusively on the material world, and he relentlessly turns his insight on what happens throughout the material world.

Ecclesiastes 1:4–7 NLT

4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. 6 The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. 7 Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea.

This passage poetically summarises Solomon’s recognition of the terrible burden of the endless cycle of material existence.

Human helplessness

But it is not just nature that is trapped in a meaningless, endless, wearisome cycle. Humanity, too, is trapped in this same cycle.

Ecclesiastes 1:8–11 NLT

8 Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. 9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. 10 Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. 11 We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.

No words, sights or sounds can ever satisfy us. History repeats itself and nothing ever breaks out of this toilsome wheel of existence. History is meaningless and ignored.

Solomon is not alone in this observation. In Hinduism our lives are bound to the wheel of “samsara,” the endless wheel of existence, and we are reincarnated again and again. Buddhism claims that this endless cycle is an illusion that traps us.

The whole thrust of those two faiths is to escape this endless cycle, this wheel of samsara.

The necessity of a heavenly perspective

This all sounds so depressing, doesn’t it? Is this really the Bible’s view? I think you already know the answer to that, and if you skip to the end of Ecclesiastes itself, you will find the editor drawing a helpful conclusion:

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 NLT

13 That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. 14 God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

This conclusion brings in something that Solomon has refused to countenance: a heavenly perspective.

You see, God is at work in history, so it is worth remembering the past.

Ruth 4:18–22 ESV

18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

The book of Ruth ends with this triumphant genealogy, demonstrating how Ruth’s hesed lead directly to Israel’s greatest King. It is ironic that David’s son, Ruth’s great-great-grandson, denies the significance of his own ancestry.

Because Solomon is refusing to look beyond the sun, beyond this material world, he has forgotten that God can do a new thing. In Isaiah’s prophecy God declares:

Isaiah 43:19 NLT

19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

God gives a shape to history—he works in people’s lives towards a great work of redemption.

Solomon’s perspective might seem neutral, but by denying even the possibility of something “beyond the sun,” Solomon has denied himself the intellectual, moral, and emotional resources to deal with the unfairness of a fallen world.

In the coming sermons we’ll hear about the depth and breadth of Solomon’s search “under the sun.” He searched all the paths of worldly life, and found that none of them provided meaning.

Solomon wasn’t wrong about this. He hasn’t missed something. In fact, the preacher of Hebrews agreed with Solomon when he explained that many of the old saints didn’t find their faith fulfilled under the sun, either:

Hebrews 11:13 NLT

13 All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.

The difference between Solomon and these saints is that they recognised that their home was not “under the sun.” They accepted that they were citizens of heaven.

It has been said that Christians can become so heavenly minded that they become of no earthly use. This warning is almost always unhelpful. It’s like warning a politician to keep his integrity from interfering with his political maneuvering—it’s a rare politician who needs such a warning.

In the same way, Christians rarely need to be worried about being too heavenly minded, as Paul wrote to the Philippians:

Philippians 3:18–21 NLT

18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

So don’t worry about being too heavenly minded. Instead, keep in mind God’s perspective from beyond the end of time, which reveals the final purpose of all this groaning and suffering. Paul explained this so beautifully in his letter to the Roman church:

Romans 8:18–23 NLT

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

Being heavenly minded means working for God’s kingdom here on earth. That’s why the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbour! Here are some things we can do to counter “under the sun” thinking. (I have taken these ideas from an American project called The Great Opportunity):

Start new churches (new churches provide more new opportunities for people to encounter Christ)

Disciple our youth (the whole church needs to live their faith, including struggles with doubt and sin, in a way that our youth see and experience)

Use new media (digital media is like the Gutenberg Press, we should be all over it)

Care for the poor (in a materialistic world, giving up material goods for others is a radical statement)

Build intellectual leadership (the Gospel is always engaged in the marketplace of ideas, and communicating it with clarity, consistency, and winsomeness requires strong intellectual foundations)

See more at https://www.greatopportunity.org/

As we here on the Gold Coast in 2021 wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, let’s add to God’s family as many as we can!

Come, Lord Jesus!

Let’s pray:

Lord Jesus, we yearn for an end to the groaning of this world. We long for reconciliation with you, when everything will become meaningful and purposeful, and we can put behind us foolish behavior, weakness, and wickedness. We want to bring as many as possible with us into your rest. Protect us from falling into the trap of Solomon, and thinking that our own wisdom can discern truth. Help us to always lean humbly on you.