Ecclesiastes The Futility of a Godless Life Look At The Book! Ecclesiastes The Futility of a Godless Life

Have You Ever Experienced A Fruitless Search? Tried very hard to find something only to never find it? Johnny Lee: “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” Bigfoot, Nessie, and the Yeti. And Bono and U2, “Still haven’t found what I’m lookin’ for.” Ecclesiastes is about the fruitless search for meaning apart from God. What did Solomon discover?

Wisdom Without God Is Vanity Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 -- I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge. And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

Solomon Renowned For Wisdom 1 Kings 4:29-30, 34 – “Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt….Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.”

Wisdom Highly Sought At The Time Solomon contrasts wisdom with madness and folly and arrives at the conclusion that all is vanity. It is all striving after wind. Have you ever tried to catch the wind and hold it in your hand?

Yet, Godly Wisdom Is Valuable Proverbs 2:2-6 – “Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

As James Discussed…. James 3:13-17 -- “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.” Such wisdom is GOOD wisdom.

Pleasures Without God Are Vanity Whether speaking of eating and drinking, sensuality, or any other form of earthly pleasure. Ecclesiastes 2:1-3, 8-11 -- I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?” I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives….

cont… Vs. 8-11 -- Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines. Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.”

Pleasure Alone Is Vanity Proverbs 21:17 – “He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not become rich.” Earth provides many distractions Ecclesiastes 7:26 – “And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.”

Yet: Keep God First Psalm 16:11 – “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Isaiah 58:13-14 – “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make your ride on the heights of the earth….”

Work Without God Is Vanity Ecclesiastes 2:4-8 Solomon speaks of building houses Of planting vineyards Of building parks Of purchasing slaves Of flocks, herds Of silver and gold Of many concubines Yet all was vanity

Even When Work Is To Provide For Pleasures Ecclesiastes 10:19 – “Men prepare a meal for enjoyment, and wine makes life merry, and money is the answer to everything.” Solomon says these things in the context of the vanity of all things on this earth.

All Earthly Works Will Be Burned Up 2 Peter 3:10 – “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” So, Solomon is quite right when stating that all works on this earth are striving after wind.

And yet… Proverbs 16:3 – “Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.” James 4:14-15 – “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow….Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that….”

Possessions Without God Are Vanity Ecclesiastes 5:10-12, 18 -- He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity. When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.”

1 Corinthians 15:32 “If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” What a sad view of the entirety of life!

Ecclesiastes 6:7 “All a man’s labor is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not satisfied.” If God is not first in our lives, then all our belongings and possessions are for nothing.

But With God…. 2 Cor. 9:10-11 “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.”

With God All Things Are Good 1 Corinthians 7:35 – “This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.” 1 Timothy 4:4 – “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude….”

The Conclusion Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 -- “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”