Ecclesiastes Part 3 The Meaning of Life

 

Ecclesiastes Sermon #3 The Meaning of Life

Chapter 2:12-26

Wisdom vs. Foolishness

I watched the news as I often do in these times and I saw a very interesting clip:

A reporter was going around the beach interviewing people asking why they weren’t wearing masks, and one young man said, “I know where I’m goin’.”  The reporter said in a confused voice, “I don’t understand what you mean.”  “Well, I’m a Christian, and when I die I’m goin’ to Heaven.  I’m not afraid to die.  Where are you goin’ when you die?”  Of course, the clip ended there.

Some of you have already been triggered by my bringing up masks or lack of masks and by bringing up the idea of death from COVID and you are ready with a response to impart your wisdom to me.  Hold on tight and try not to get distracted by all that and CANCEL me because of this, because there’s a point to all this.  God is saying something that you might not be expecting here.

We started a series here pre-COVID on Ecclesiastes called “The Meaning of Life.”  As if the meaning of life part 3 wasn’t enough of a title, we have today, Wisdom vs. Foolishness like a clickbait title, hmmm… I wonder what he will say is wise?  Who does he think he is saying his views are wise and others are foolish?  

Have you noticed, maybe especially recently in our politically polarized CULTURE that everyone thinks that they are wise and anyone who disagrees with them is foolish.  Now slow down a second.  I’m not just talking about the people you disagree with, I’m talking about us too.  Me and you.  

I noticed the other day that someone was arguing online, which is usually just name calling and they were calling the other side of the argument “sheep” as a derogatory term and then the other side said, no “you’re the one that’s a sheep.”  Sometimes both sides of an argument will say that they are awake and the other side is asleep.  Well which is it?  Which side of the argument is awake and which is asleep, which side is sheep and which side is, goats?  I find this imagery exceedingly interesting because it is all “under the sun.” as Solomon would have said in Ecclesiastes.  Biblically isn’t it a good thing to be a sheep? Well... only if you have the Good Shepherd… and you know the sound of His voice calling to you… interesting, you can also be a sheep who has gone astray… interesting. 

So today we are going to continue our long-term series on Ecclesiastes with the end of chapter 2 verses 12-26.  Wisdom and Foolishness, but let’s recap were we left off with our first two installments in the series:

In our first two discussions on the book of Ecclesiastes we talked about some fundamental understandings of this book.  

• This entire book was read every year by the Jewish people at the Feast of Tabernacles - Sukkot.  This means that this perspective, this viewpoint, the wisdom of Solomon contained in the book of Ecclesiastes was and is ingrained as THE wisdom to live by for the Jewish people.  And, as we read the New Testament, an understanding of Ecclesiastes that was ingrained in the Jewish listeners is an important backdrop to consider when reading the New Testament.

• Under the sun means without God in the picture… just what we can see under the light of the sun, the natural world only.  You see Solomon was doing a grand experiment with his money his life and his power so that we didn’t have to, he was trying everything “under the sun” as if there was no God and all that exists is the natural world, to see if there was real value in all the pleasures and toil and wisdom and wealth and supposed happiness that can happen in life… which he could do because he had all the wealth and wisdom and power imaginable… and what he kept finding was what he called vanity.

•  vanity did not mean what we would currently call vanity, looking at yourself in the mirror all day, no, but vanity on the other hand, when Solomon said it, meant it just couldn’t be figured out, it was like a vapor that couldn’t be grasped, it was here one moment and gone the next, it was unfigureoutable, and he thought long and hard about these things, he was a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, philosopher, poet, scientist, and architect who turned all of his attention to these things, and found that all of this under the sun stuff was vanity.  

And last time, we looked in Romans to see what God was doing with all the futility that Solomon describes in the world: 

Romans chapter 8:20

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself would be set apart from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.   For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of child-birth until now.

So why is life under the sun futile?  Paul says, because God subjected all creation to futility.  You can stack up pleasure after pleasure, but in the end, it goes nowhere, and you’ll just be exhausted.  Like Solomon, spinning your wheels, and you fall over and die.  Every person has the image of God, you were made in the image of God, whether you are a Christian or non-Christian you bear the memory of God within you.  And, that is why futility is so disheartening, there is something inside of you saying this is not right!  You have an intuition that something has gone really really wrong.  Something is not right in this world.  

 

So, with all this in mind, I know that’s a lot to keep in mind, let’s dive into the next section at chapter 2 vs. 12.

12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the one do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.

14 The wise have eyes in their head,

    but fools walk in darkness.

 

So, Solomon jumps right in here and says, I turned to consider, I really thought about this, and I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness, It is like being able to see vs. being blind.  So, this is interesting to me, it is more imagery which is often again used in the online name-calling that I mentioned, “well you’re blind to the fact that...” “well if you could only see it my way… which is of course the right way.”

Imagine we have two men, one is an upstanding citizen and father and husband, he works hard and has a house in the suburbs with a loving family who he provides for and a job which he is faithful to. And we have another man who is waking up on a beach somewhere smelling of alcohol and urine and doesn’t know what happened last night for the 100th night in a row.  Here is the interesting thing, most of us, perhaps all of us, would say that the first man was wise and the second man was foolish, but if you have encountered fools like this man you might consider what he would say of the man living the conventional lifestyle is just a docile sheep, a cog in the machine or the man trying to keep us all down and that he… the man on the beach is the one that is truly awake, living his life in whatever way he sees fit and not being enslaved by the media and the system… Do you see it?  He thinks he is wise.  Now, I feel sometimes like I can overstate things but I don’t think that this can really BE overstated. 

 

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE WISE UNDER THE SUN, BECAUSE EVERY FOOL THINKS HE IS WISE UNDER THE SUN.

Back to Solomon in verse 14:

Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them. 15 Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity. 16 For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools? 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.[c]

Let’s talk about death:

Have you ever been to the funeral of someone who you thought was wise under the sun?

Have you ever been to the funeral of someone who you thought was a fool under the sun?

Did their wisdom or foolishness really matter in that moment?  Or did it all come down to Jesus Christ either being allowed to save them or not?

So, Solomon sees that:  if all there is is to this world is wisdom and foolishness and fighting over who is right and who is wrong, this is why the World under the sun HATES LIFE!  Just like Solomon, it is easy to see the futility of life.  I can wear a mask and sanitize my hands and stay home and STILL DIE!  This life under the sun is given up to futility… but why?  Well we would have to get out from under the sun and remind ourselves from Romans, that IN HOPE THE CREATION ITSELF WOULD BE SET APART FROM ITS BONDAGE TO DECAY AND OBTAIN THE FREEDOM OF THE GLORY OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD.

Back to Solomon:

18 I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me 19 —and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? 23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

 

Is this hitting you where you are?  Is this what the world is in right now?  Despair, all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation, even at night their minds do not rest.

Should we talk about COVID at all?

There is a difference between helping people get ready to suffer by making sense of biblical teaching about suffering and physically embodying that teaching in the moment when someone is suffering.  There are hundreds of thousands of people dying and millions of people grieving and when talking to an individual about this the most important thing is to listen to the Holy Spirit, our comforter, and discern what is to be said and what is to be done, instead of spouting your ”wisdom under the sun.”

Here are the facts that you might not want to mention when someone is suffering from the Coronavirus:

-Jesus could have stopped the Coronavirus and He has not.

-Since He always does what is right and good and just, therefore, He has wise and good and right and just purposes in this deadly disaster.

-Jesus has all foreknowledge and all authority over the natural and supernatural forces of this world.  He knows exactly how the virus started and where it’s going next.  He has complete power to restrain it or not.

-He is never forced to tolerate what he does not allow and will.

-The question is, how are we to understand this and make sense of it and have compassion and grace for people in the middle of it.

 

Solomon continues in verse 24:

24 There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; 25 for apart from him[d] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.[e]

 

Perspective:

The same physical things happen to a Christian with a disease as a non-Christian.  Both can die.  The difference for Christians who trust Christ is that our experience of this is not condemnation.  We are not doing the work of gathering and heaping to give to another.  

 

The World is FREAKING OUT under the sun, because this is a thunderclap message saying REPENT!  THERE IS MORE TO THIS LIFE THAN WORK AND PLAY STUFF UNDER THE SUN!!!  There is no joy in an atheist or agnostic view of a pandemic, there is only crippling anxiety and fear.  

 

The pain in a disaster like this for a follower of Christ is purifying not punitive.  We know God has not destined us for wrath.  We die of disease like all men.  Not necessarily because of any particular sin, but for those who are in Christ, the sting of death is removed.  There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  

 

We see throughout the New Testament that it does not please God when you argue over conspiracies.  It pleases God when you use the wisdom and knowledge and joy that only He can give and you tell people the Good News of Christ Jesus.  Nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus.  When you are compassionate to those who are scared and angry and anxious and freaking out, don’t bash them with your brand of wisdom under the sun.  Care about their eternity in that moment.  God is preparing them through this in hope that they too can be set free, SET APART FROM their BONDAGE TO DECAY AND OBTAIN THE FREEDOM OF THE GLORY OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD.