The Great Experiment (Afternoon)
Download MP3Now, this week, we are going to actually be continue continuing our new sermon series that we started last week in the book of Ecclesiastes. Now, if you missed last week, Joel talked through chapter 1 and he laid the groundwork for us about what is to come in this study. Today, we're gonna continue in chapter 2. Now, if you were here last week, last last week's sermon might not have been quite as encouraging or as hopeful of as a start as maybe you would have wished. But, I think the point for us is this.
Speaker 1:Ecclesiastes deals with real life as it really is. It's not glamorized. It's not put into the best light for us. It's just raw and it's real. Now, this reminds me of, actually, a funny story from last week.
Speaker 1:After church, went home that day, put the kids down to bed, and I'm doing dishes at the dishwasher or at the sink. I don't like doing dishes. Some people like doing dishes. I don't. It's one of those toilsome tasks for me that just has to be done.
Speaker 1:So I'm sitting here trying to be a good husband and get it done as fast as I can, and I get all the way to the bottom of the sink, do what I think is the last dish, get a sense of satisfaction that I'm done, only to turn around and realize at the stove, there's a pot, there's a pan, or there's a plate, and under the table, there are a few plates and for some reason in the dog bowl, there's a plate. And, I realize, I'm not done. I'm not even close to being done. And, I find myself muttering, you have got to be kidding me. Again, every day, it's the exact same thing.
Speaker 1:And then I kinda pause and I chuckle because that's literally what Joel was preaching on that morning and I hadn't realized it up until that moment. And then, I remembered Ecclesiastes and, actually, I was encouraged. I had some comfort in that moment because it gave me a framework, it gave me some words that as we dig into this book, I think we can all relate to Ecclesiastes. That's real life. Every day, the toil, the hevel that Joel talked about and I like Ecclesiastes.
Speaker 1:For me, it has become one of my favorite books over the last several years alongside of the Psalms and the book of Job. There's been a lot of hard things in my life over the past few years and when I went to a book like Proverbs, I would actually get frustrated sometimes because in Proverbs, it's very clean-cut and orderly. And if you live this way, this will happen. And I said, that's not exactly what I see in my life happening right now and I'd just be discouraged. But in Ecclesiastes, it's like a relatable friend.
Speaker 1:It's like, oh, life's hard for you too? Yeah. It stinks. And it's gonna keep stinking for a while. And you wanna know what?
Speaker 1:That person who doesn't really seem like they're making wise decisions, it might be better for them for a while, and it's not gonna be for you even though you're trying to make right decisions. And so, Ecclesiastes, I think, really helps us relate to what's happening in the world around us. Ecclesiastes is gonna shoot us straight. It also reminds me that God is with us in those moments that he's in the mess. It doesn't mean everything's spinning out of control, it doesn't mean that my life is turning out differently than I thought, It means that God is there redeeming every one of those moments and encouraging me, encouraging us to look to him.
Speaker 1:So, that's what Ecclesiastes is gonna do. It's gonna encourage us to ask those hard questions of God, to take an honest look at life. Today, we're gonna see what the preacher says about pleasure and the role that it can and it cannot play in our lives. And, again, he's gonna shoot us straight and we need to listen because if there's anyone anywhere at any time that can speak into this topic, it's the preacher. So, if you'll look at your worship guide or follow along in your bible, we're gonna read starting in chapter 2 verse 1.
Speaker 1:I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself, but behold this also was vanity or hevel. I said of laughter, it is mad and of pleasure, what use is it? I searched 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.
Speaker 1: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 been before me in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: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 sons 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.
Speaker 1:Then, I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, it was all heavily and a striving after the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks, Lord. If you'll pray with me.
Speaker 1:Lord, we need to hear from you today. I believe that you have a word for us. There are words, all kinds of words, being spoken to us all throughout the week. All kinds of things pressing on us and wooing our hearts. But, today, we wanna hear a word from you.
Speaker 1:That's what we need. And so Lord, we ask that you will speak to us from your word and by your spirit. Lord, I pray now that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart will be pleasing and acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
Speaker 1:Now, if you recall at the end of chapter 1 last week, the preacher discusses how even the pursuit of wisdom proved to be vanity or hevel. It's that vapor. Do you remember Joel held that candle up and blew it? Just for a brief moment, there was smoke then it was gone. It had no lasting value, no gain.
Speaker 1:So, if Solomon couldn't find meaning in the pursuit of wisdom, today he shifts to the pursuit of pleasure. Now, it should come as absolutely no surprise to any of us that the majority of what we do in life is motivated by the pursuit of pleasure. If we're honest with ourself, it is probably under what every single act that we do, every single thing that we think is. And, I mean, this is actually why life is so hard for us, because there is suffering, there's pain, there's death in life. This seems to be the opposite of pleasure.
Speaker 1:So, we want all the pleasure, we want none of the pain. 1 pastor and author named Zach Eswein said that we are all asking the question in life. The question. Here it is. Is there anything in this life, anything under the sun that can truly satisfy my heart?
Speaker 1:That's the question. That's certainly Solomon's question today and we're gonna take a look at this experiment that he does to discover the answer. Now, what Solomon does here is really very fascinating. In verse 1, Solomon speaks to himself and he tells his own heart that he's going to test it with pleasure. And then he's gonna use his mind to observe what happens.
Speaker 1:So he's gonna be both the subject of his experiment and he's gonna be the researcher behind it. This actually reminds me of the practice of self experimentation in medicine. I studied a little bit about this this week. It was fascinating. I didn't realize how common it was.
Speaker 1:There's a long history of scientists and physicians who have sought to make discoveries and for one reason or another, they've decided to use themselves as the guinea pig. I mean, this is how we've learned about a lot of things in our world. Things like yellow fever, cholera, anesthesia, cocaine, polio vaccines, many many many other discoveries. But self experimentation, it's a little crazy. It can really actually be dangerous.
Speaker 1:There are people who die from this, people who injure themselves. It's also difficult to remain responsible and objective. But here, Solomon says that he is able to enter into this unashamed pursuit of pleasure while also keeping his wisdom and his senses. Now, this sounds difficult for anyone, but if there was a person who is ever able to do it, it would be Solomon. Not only is he basically unlimited in wisdom, which has been given to him by God, but he has unlimited resources as king.
Speaker 1:I mean, he has influence. He has power. He has money. There's no bureaucracy or red tape. He's got a team of professionals at his whim and fancy.
Speaker 1:He is the man for this job. So, it's important to understand what exactly it is that Solomon is pursuing with this little experiment. Verse 1 says, he's testing himself with pleasure. Now that word pleasure, it's not innately either sinful or godly. He isn't seeking godly pleasures.
Speaker 1:This is just pleasure, whatever could be gained in the eyes of the world. But he's also not throwing himself headlong into total debauchery and sinfulness. That's not what this word pleasure means. The Hebrew word could actually be translated joy or gladness. So Solomon is going to pursue joy and particularly a sense of gain from that it for us.
Speaker 1:He reveals the outcome. He says, you can guess this, it's all hevel. Just like his search for wisdom left him empty and without gain, he says that his search for pleasure does the exact same thing. So let's take a few minutes and let's look at a few of the things that Solomon seeks in his pursuit of pleasure and joy. The things that he hopes hopes will bring him ultimate gain, ultimate purpose in life.
Speaker 1:Now, Ecclesiastes doesn't go into a lot of details about these, so I want us to do our own little investigation into the nature of them in our own lives. So, let's start in verse 2. In verse 2, he goes to laughter. Now, laughter is awesome. I think laughter is a gift from God.
Speaker 1:It can bring a lot of levity to our heavy and difficult lives. I mean, laughter has been proven to have health benefits. It's been called medicine for the soul. In chapter 3, Solomon goes on to say that there is a time for laughter in life. Laughter can help us to celebrate good things.
Speaker 1:Laughter can help us reflect on fond memories. So laughter in many ways, it does bring us joy and pleasure. Have any of you ever laughed so hard that you've actually cried or you've lost control laughing and you really just can't stop? Or do we have any people who snort when they laugh? Do we have any snorters out here?
Speaker 1:No one? We've got some. I know we do. Laughter's awesome. It can make us just lose ourselves for a moment.
Speaker 1:That's why we go to comedy shows. That's why we love comedy. But, also, there are limits. There are downsides. Have you ever heard the person laugh Chapter 3 says that while there is a time to laugh, there's also a time that laughter isn't appropriate.
Speaker 1:People can use delusion or madness. I mean, I think about the Joker from the Batman series. His laughter was actually an evil unsettling laughter. We live in a really broken world. There are a lot of sad and heavy things that we face.
Speaker 1:In the end, laughter doesn't hold a candle to all of that. Proverbs 1413 says that, even in laughter, the heart may ache and the end of joy may be grief. So, yes, laughter can be medicine for the soul, but it can't heal all of life's wounds. It can't undo, it can't distract from everything. So, in the end, laughter just leaves us in the wake of our reality and it's just a mist, it's heaven.
Speaker 1:So, next, Solomon moves on, he tests out alcohol. Now, how exactly he tries to, quote, cheer his body with wine and lay hold of folly while also being guided by wisdom, I don't honestly know. That sounds like a tricky balance, but alcohol, like laughter, can be a gift. Ecclesiastes 9 says that it can give us a merry heart. In chapter 10, it says, it gladdens life.
Speaker 1:We see Jesus turning water into wine. We see Paul telling Timothy about its health benefits. The feeling that alcohol can give us when it is rightly used can still be a good thing. However, scripture is also clear and we all know about the dangers of alcohol. Proverbs 20 calls it a brawler, a mocker and it says it can lead astray.
Speaker 1:I don't need to tell you the number of people who have tried to find real joy or comfort at the bottom of a bottle. It's never found. When alcohol is abused, it can bring total devastation to the user and everyone around. It can lead to abuse, poor decisions, even death. Even when it is rightly used, the reality is the good feelings just don't last that long.
Speaker 1:Alcohol, even at its best, cannot truly satisfy us. So next, Solomon moves on. He spends several verses talking about the work of his hands. His productivity, his accomplishments, his love of nature, his works of art. Now, we're not gonna spend tons of time here because that's actually what next week's sermon is about.
Speaker 1:Having purpose in using your gifts in life, though, is a God ordained thing. God told Adam and Eve to work the garden and to exercise healthy dominion over all of creation. Solomon's description of what he accomplished in these feats showcases all the good things in life. Things like work ethic, creativity, seeing the tangible environment. There are so many things that what Solomon was doing shows to be good.
Speaker 1:Now, when you hear this description of what Solomon accomplished and built, what comes to mind? I mean, he's describing some sort of farm, park, botanical gardens kind of utopia, you could say that he's trying to recreate the Garden of Eden. He's creating a habitat of perfection with all the trappings that he could want. I mean, think about it. There's food he's grown himself.
Speaker 1:There's drink from his own vineyard. There's beauty everywhere. There's comfort. He looks around and sees the work of his hands. Does this sound familiar?
Speaker 1:Have any of you maybe tried to perfectly curate this existence that we want for ourselves with all of the things that we wish we could have at a moment's notice right there. We wanna be free from pain, free from problems. We wanna get back to Eden. The problem is it doesn't last. Everything fades and erodes.
Speaker 1:Buildings fall apart, they fall into disrepair, they're destroyed, businesses run out of money and go bankrupt, your work is devalued and forgotten, trees are cut down, late frost kill all of the plants in your garden. I'm not bitter. None of it lasts. Solomon's Mini Garden of Eden, it must have been a sight to behold at that time though. I mean, I get excited looking at my yard when I finish mowing my grass.
Speaker 1:Does anyone get a real sense of satisfaction from mowing your yard? Yeah. I love it. It's toilsome. It's hard work.
Speaker 1:It takes a lot of time, but then when you're done, you look out on the fruit of your labor and you get the sense of satisfaction. But you wanna know what? Those dang weeds pop up so quickly. And those little critters, what are they called? Oh, children.
Speaker 1:Yes. They run-in the exact same spot every time and make that grass that I just mowed go bald. And then there are sorts of animals that poop in my yard. Heavy rains wash out the foundation and erode it. My water bill's absurd from watering my grass, especially if you're in Jefferson County.
Speaker 1:It's all a chasing after the wind. It's hevel. Solomon finds the same thing. So, next, we see that he boasts of his power, his possessions, his money. Now, for most of us, if we're honest, as much as we wouldn't want to admit it, this is probably one of our primary motivations in life.
Speaker 1:Now, whether it's that unquenchable desire to rise in power and influence in your own sphere or the desire to have just a little more financial security or the need to have the next best thing. It tends to get us all. Now, there's been a lot of research lately about the sad irony of modern Americans being some of the wealthiest and most successful people that the world has ever seen. And yet, we're some of the most unhappy people. We easily fall into the delusion that more means better, that it will make us happier.
Speaker 1:Adam and Eve wanted more. Think about it. They had every tree in the Garden of Eden, every fruit, but they just needed that one more, that one tree, that one more fruit. Our lives are far too often dictated by the next thing on our wish list, and our culture does us no favors. Social media only strengthens this unquenchable appetite.
Speaker 1:We see what everyone else has and we want it. Now in the days of social media influencers, we don't really want to be like the Hollywood celebrities anymore. They're messed up right and that's too far out of reach. Instead, you can be a social media influencer that is just within your grasp and we find ourselves thinking that we need the next clothes, the next shoes, the next iPhone, the next vacation, the next promotion, the next child, the next blank, you name it, and it goes on and on and on and it's never enough. I mean, has it been enough for you?
Speaker 1:Have you noticed how even the good things don't ever actually measure up to be all that we've imagined and imagined them to be in our mind. No matter how good it is, it actually can't be good enough. I mean, I'm guilty of this myself. In like a week and a half, I'm going on sabbatical for a while and my wife and I are kicking it off day 1 by going on a trip and that trip in my mind, is gonna be amazing. It's gonna fix every problem I've ever had.
Speaker 1:And I'm gonna do all the fun stuff, and it's gonna be great. But, it can't live up to that. There is no way. Right? It always leaves us disappointed.
Speaker 1:Solomon had it all. None of us will ever be as successful as he was, have as many possessions, have as much power, as much influence. And he said, in the end, there was no gain. It's a vapor. It's a mirage hevel.
Speaker 1:So, finally, Solomon pursues sex. Now, sex in its proper context is a beautiful thing. It's a gift from God. Here's the problem, we live in a sex saturated culture. Everything around us tells us that sex sells and that we need just a little more sexiness in our lives and we get numb to it because it's so common, but it's pretty unbelievable.
Speaker 1:You can't go out there and find a show or a movie or an advertisement that isn't sexual. And yet, if you ever talk to anyone who'll be real enough with you and someone who has pursued sex as the goal, they will tell you that it's never enough. It never quenches that desire or fully satisfies. I mean, think about it. No one is ever like, yep, done that.
Speaker 1:I'm good now. I won't be needing any more of that. It's not gonna happen. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. No one could out boast him and his accomplishments in this arena.
Speaker 1:And he says in verse 10, whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure. So, if anyone needs a test case to see if sex will make you happy, just look at Solomon, but it doesn't. Happy, just look at Solomon, but it doesn't. Even when sex is used as God intended it between 1 husband and 1 wife in marriage, the little discussed reality is that it can never be all that you want it to be.
Speaker 1:As a pastor and as a counselor, I know that one of the most common conflicts in marriage is over sex. It can't fully satisfy all of your desires. It won't bring you lasting, meaningful gain. Now, as I read these things that Solomon pursued, I have to ask myself the question, what would list of pleasures that we all pursue include? What about the pursuit of self discovery, of knowing your true self?
Speaker 1:Society tells us that you will never be truly happy living under everyone else's expectations and categories. The only way that you can really find happiness in life is to find your truth about yourself and then pursue that and live into that as fully as you possibly can. Or what about the pursuit of the perfect appearance, the pursuit of youthfulness? We spend tons of time and money thinking about how we can look perfect for ourselves and for others. The idol of being skinny enough or strong enough or fast enough or young enough.
Speaker 1:We try to fight aging. We try to be free of wrinkles. We try to be free of gray hairs. It just consumes us. Or what about pursuing entertainment, concerts, and events, and podcasts, and streaming subscriptions, it all consumes ungodly portions of our lives in an effort to just keep up with it all.
Speaker 1:In order to flee our own hard realities, we escape into some alternate world even though it doesn't actually make us feel better. I mean, my wife and I fight for intentional time together each day because it's actually easier to just sit kinda near each other and zone out on our phones or watch a show and never speak to each other. Is that what marriage is? I could keep going. There are more and more things that tempt us every day.
Speaker 1:But, for Solomon, the results are in. What is the conclusion of his experiment? He steps back, he considers everything that he's done and he looks at it with an objective perspective. And, yes, much of it has brought him some degree of pleasure, but in the end, did he find that ultimate gain, that meaning to life that he was looking for? Without a doubt, he says, no.
Speaker 1:Verse 11 says, it was all hevel and a striving after the wind. No gain. Okay. So, let's reflect on his experiment here for a few minutes. Did you notice a few themes?
Speaker 1:Have any gut reactions? Here's some things that stood out to me. 1st, before we paint all of these in a bad light, actually, all of these pleasures and joys that he pursued were gifts from God. They can be used for good or they can be distorted, but these things in and of themselves are not evil and they do bring some degree of pleasure. No honest person will say that these things can't bring satisfaction.
Speaker 1:We don't have to deny that, but we shouldn't be confused about how long that sense of pleasure lasts. Here's another reflection, There is absolutely no mention of God. No idea that wisdom is found in the fear of the Lord as he recreates this Garden of Eden, there's no walking with God in the garden. God is absent. In fact, all of this seems extremely selfish and consumeristic.
Speaker 1:I mean, listen to Solomon here. I made great works. I built and planted for myself. I made myself gardens. I made myself pools.
Speaker 1:I had great possessions more than any who'd been before me. I gathered for myself. I got. I became great. I mean, how many times does he say me, myself, or I?
Speaker 1:The answer is 40. Forty times in these few short verses. None of it has any reference whatsoever to the Lord. And to add to that, there's very little mention of anyone else at all. None of this seems to be for anyone's benefit.
Speaker 1:The only times that others are mentioned is when when he's using or abusing others in the process. Finally, here's an observation. There seems to be some inverse relationship with the accumulation of these pleasures and the actual realization of gain. It's almost as if the more he gets something, the less satisfied he actually is. This finally leads Solomon to say in verse 17 that he hates life.
Speaker 1:The man who has everything that he could ever desire hates his life. The thought of all of his hard work going to someone else plagues him day night. The more alcohol, the less joy. The more he produced, the more there is to lose. The more he possesses, the less that each new thing satisfies him.
Speaker 1:I mean, this is a little startling to me. Is it to you? Getting our ultimate wish list might not actually give us what we think. So, what's going on here? What are we supposed to take from all of this?
Speaker 1:Are all of these pleasures bad? Should we not pursue joy? Let me give you the simplest answer that I can. Romans 11:36 says this, for from him and through him and to him are all things. This perspective is completely absent from Solomon's experiment.
Speaker 1:And if we're honest, it's probably absent from the perspective of a lot of our lives and our endeavors. Hear me. It's entirely possible to have everything you could ever want and still have nothing, to feel empty inside. You believe that? These things can never satisfy us.
Speaker 1:Superstars and celebrities and athletes look at them. Do you see a lot of lasting happiness? We're all looking for pleasure in the gifts, not the giver. God is often absent when he should be the point. If you look down in chapter 2 at verses 24 through 26, it goes into this more, which again, will be next week.
Speaker 1:So, we're not going there a lot tonight. But Solomon realizes that all of these gifts, all of these pleasures are from the hand of God. Verse 25 says, apart from him, who can eat or who can find enjoyment? So the preacher is trying to teach us that you can't strive for joy and pleasure as the goal. You can't find gain that way.
Speaker 1:If you try to manipulate life to get pleasure, to get joy, to get gain, you actually lose it. Solomon found what he thought was joy and pleasure and gain. He held it in his hands. Everything that the most wealthy successful person could ever have and then he watched it escape through his fingers like sand. This reminds me of might be switching mics here in a second.
Speaker 1:This reminds me of the parable in Luke 12 about the rich fool. Here's what that parable says. The land of a rich man produced plentifully and he thought to himself, what shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I'll do this. I'll tear down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and all my goods and I'll say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.
Speaker 1:Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you and the things that you've prepared whose will they be? So, is the rich one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. What was the great sin of this man? Is it being rich?
Speaker 1:Is it having a good harvest? Was it even building bigger barns? No. This man sin that he did it all for himself and he wasn't rich towards God. This is a microcosm of the preacher's experiment in chapter 2, Harvest and produce and plenty and barns, they only come to us from the giver as a gift, but they're never the point.
Speaker 1:When we rightly see him as the creator, as the giver, and the true source of all joy, It inverts the entire equation for us. Everything is from him. Everything is through him. Everything is to him. Otherwise, it's sin, it's loss, and it won't satisfy.
Speaker 1:In Matthew 12 42, Jesus says this, the queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold something greater than Solomon ourselves And if we're honest with ourselves, it's probably where some of us find ourselves today. We can go through the motions. We can keep the status quo. You can go to that job every day, win that paycheck, maintain the image, try to keep up with the Joneses, and seek all of the pleasure and joy and gain that you can in the things of this world.
Speaker 1:How's that going for you? Jesus is better. Solomon tried it all and he said it left him completely empty. The best that life could offer, the most successful person that we could imagine and it wasn't enough. We have to come to Jesus to satisfy us.
Speaker 1:Then, in this life of toil and hardship and suffering, God is kind enough to give us these good gifts. They're little blessings that are intended to remind us that he's with us and to help us along this hard road, but only will we find their intended benefit when we look to Jesus to quench our deep thirst that can only be satisfied in him. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, we know these things deep in our hearts. We know we've tried to find water from broken cisterns, life.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. We know we've tried to find and joy in you, we know we're thirsty and you say you bring living water and so we I pray that we all will look not to these gifts to satisfy us. They can't do that, but they're from you that we will look to you. We will find true satisfaction. Jesus, we ask that you'll do this in our hearts.
Speaker 1:We know we can't do it ourselves. So we give ourselves to you. We entrust our desires to you, and we ask that you will change them to be more and more into your image. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
