Sermon: Christ Brings Meaning to Our Lives

Ecclesiates 2:1-11 (NLT) 

I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?” After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world.

I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. I build reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves.

I bought salves, both men and women, and other were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire.

So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless – like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.

Introduction

Ecc 2:1-11 resonates so deeply with our culture today. Ecclesiates started off with a depressing note “EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS”. In his attempt to understand the purpose of life on earth, Solomon begins by telling us the conclusion, that life is meaningless. While Solomon has already “published a paper” with a clear-cut conclusion in order to spare future generations the suffering and misery of seeking after foolish, meaningless, materialistic emptiness, most of us would still embark on this journey of seeking our purpose in life. “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life” is equivalent to today’s YOLO, “You Only Live Once.”

Today, we understand the fact that life on earth is like a brief candle, dew in the morning, vapor in the wind: here today and gone tomorrow. That’s why so many of us are trying to maximize pleasure over such a short time. Turn on Facebook, we can see all sorts of quotes and captions telling us to secure financial freedom, quit your lousy job, travel the world and clear the bucket list. We ask ourselves: how can we live happily? Come, let’s try pleasure. But Solomon, in his wisdom, concludes that it is meaningless.

People seek meaning in “good things” that bring pleasures

The author of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon was a king with great wisdom. He was famous for his wisdom, wisest man alive. Solomon sets out to experience and investigate what may bring meaning to our brief lives. Would pleasures and the indulgence of desire perhaps bring us the meaning of life that we seek? Could the “good things” in our lives: tasty food, intoxicating drinks, groovy music, fun-filled company, be the answer to our meaningless lives?

In his wisdom, he knows 2 things for sure: (v2) Laughter is silly. Pleasure is not helpful. There is no doubt for him. It would be foolish of him to give up his wisdom and give into abundance of sensual pleasure. “Good things” can help to ease our challenging lives when they are used moderately and occasionally, but excessive and immoderate use of it is foolish and fruitless. For two reasons: (1) It does no good: Solomon recognizes that “good things” cannot and will not satisfy the soul. It cannot bring peace to a guilty conscience, nor can it lift up a frowning face. (2) Worse, it may do a great deal of damage. Excessive and uncontrolled use of “good things” leads us to many inappropriate behavior, which can cloud our rationale and compromise our faith. It can lead us away from God and His ways and eventually keep us out of an intimate relationship with Him.

But for our benefit today, Solomon wants to (v3) experience the kind of “happiness” that most people find during their brief life in this world. In v3 he says “After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine.” Solomon reluctantly accepted the challenge. The idea of associating himself with folly disgusts him, but he chose to forfeit his wisdom and cheer himself with wine as any fool would. Here in this context, wine refers to good food and tasty drinks. In today’s context, it can be a lot of things: video games, shopping, TV, Facebook, or even cigarette and drugs.

But even as he is experimenting, he is maintaining a safe distance with folly while maintaining sufficient wisdom to manage it. He will not let the folly of pleasure master him. Solomon applied wine to himself rationally. When we have spent our time in hard and honest labor, Solomon showed us that we can allow ourselves some comfort from “good things” to refresh ourselves, for “good things” are God’s bountiful blessings, but only when we need them and moderately.

Yet, in Solomon’s attempt to balance between wisdom and folly, he concluded that it is meaningless. In our attempt to indulge in “good things” and at the same time maintaining our wisdom to use it moderately, we may think to ourselves “Well, these are good things that if I use moderately while I continue to live an honest life, I am good.”, but it is proven to be meaningless. At the end of all these, we find ourselves asking: “is that all?”

People seek meaning in hard work and achievements (v4-6)

Some people seek meaning in work and achievements. We fill up our schedule with one tasks after another. For some ladies, there may even be a few task in the same hour. We busy ourselves meeting people, completing projects and piling up achievements, hoping that we may find our place in this meaningless world. Solomon tried the same thing. In v4 we see that Solomon tried to find meaning in hard work and magnificent projects: he build huge houses and palace for himself, planted wonderful and beautiful vineyards, build gardens and parks with all kinds of trees and he even built a reservoir to water the plants. In fact, in v10 we know that he enjoys it: I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors.

Work itself specifically spells out our purpose in life. Paul said “Those who do not work, shall not eat.” It seems that we are hard-wired and designed to labor, to be creative and to be productive. God created man to work. Adam, the first man, was charged to be productive: (Gen 1:28) Be fruitful and multiply, take charge of the earth, sea and sky. We might perhaps find our answers in honest work, great labor and magnificent achievement. But to that, Solomon concluded that it is meaningless.

Personally, I am a person who seeks meaning of my existence in work and achievement. Work makes me feel alive, success and accomplishments makes me feel that I am important and I am worthy of being alive. That’s why you will find me constantly working and looking for things to do. My Friday morning projects, setting up the church computer system, learning guitar, going to camps, solving problems and etc. I am constantly trying to prove that I am worthy of existence. Such personality makes a wonderful engineer, but I struggle as a person because I feel a terrible sense of insecurity and helplessness when I am not “doing something”. I am so comfortable of “doing” things as God’s Child, I struggle in simply “being” His son.

When all the work ends and as the wind wash away the evidence of our labor, we find ourselves asking, “is that all?”

People seek meaning in material possession (v7-8)

Some of us finds joy and fulfilment in accumulating material possession. It’s pretty straight forward: more money, more cool stuff, more fun! Especially in our culture of consumerism today, we are certain that “money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy things that makes us happy!” Our parents tell us that, our friends tell us that, even the advertisements tell us that. But is that the answer?

Solomon had great possession as he lived. In v7 he told us that he had slaves of men and women; he had large herds and flocks more than any of the kings before him (which are only two: Saul and David); he had great sums of silver, gold and treasures; he had wonderful band of singers and beautiful concubines (in fact he had 700 wives and 300 concubines). In v8 he said: I had EVERYTHING a man could desire. But yet his conclusion was: everything is meaningless.

Material possession gives us a false sense of security. They are good things that can make us feel important and powerful. In times of trouble, cash savings can cushion our fall and medical insurance can look after us when our health fails. But our false sense of security comes when we actually believe in the permanence of these things. None of these, which is built upon silver and gold is permanent, nor it is a strong refuge that can keep us in forever. When we finally have EVERYTHING a man could desire, will we sit in our mansion and ask the burning question: is that all?

People seek meaning in power (v9-10)

All these work and pursuit had made Solomon to become very powerful and authoritative. He said in v9: “So I became greater than all who lived in Jerusalem before me.” We know from history that Solomon did became very powerful as a king. His aggressive foreign diplomatic policies had subdued many lesser nations and his wealth and achievement surpassed that of his father, David. With such power, Solomon had access to all sorts of delights, which allowed him to draw an accurate conclusion from all the entertainment and enjoyment he partook. Yet in the midst of all these childish delights, Solomon did not give himself into complete folly but instead he was certain his “wisdom never failed [him]” as written in v9. In the course of all the experiment, unlike so many of us in the partaking of entertainment, he remained sensible and reasonable over his appetites for pleasures. In most cases, perhaps even all cases, we who are foolish, often allow our cravings and desires run wild and unleashed into gluttony of pleasure when we possess power and authority.

V10 enforced a certainty that Solomon had indeed experimented on all that can bring a man pleasure, not by unlawful means, but lawful means. Anything that is within his lawful authority, he did not refrain from enjoying them. For our sake, he became a “Yes-man” of pleasure. We might protest that if Solomon had his wisdom remained with him, he can limited in his liberty to experiment all things, but we must remember that Solomon’s wisdom allowed him to make a true judgement: there cannot be true pleasure in “good things” obtained via unlawful means. Guilt will eventually seeps into our heart and rob us of true pleasure. It would be unwise and counter-productive. Instead, by mastering his power with wisdom, Solomon made himself a great example of how we can truly enjoy the reward for our hardwork. V10 Solomon remarked that he “even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all [his] labors.”

But even in honest use of power, no matter how wise we can be in the exercise of authority, the question remains: is that all?

Everything is meaningless

Here in v11 we find a contrasting picture with Genesis. When God was done with His Creation of great and manifold of things, He reviewed them and He remarked that “all was very good; everything pleased Him.” (Gen 1:31); however, in Solomon’s case, even though he had exercised great creativity and productivity, but as he reviewed them, he responded in the other end of the extreme: it was all so meaningless – like chasing the wind.

The creation of Solomon’s hand seems to fall short in bringing lasting pleasure and meaning to him. While they may have brought Solomon great joy and pleasure, they were worthless. These enjoyment are temporary and cannot bring any lasting joy to his heart. They were delightful for a while but he soon gets used to it. This is the same with us. We refuse to admit it, but we all do recognize the temporal nature of all pleasures. For a while they keep us happy, but the next moment such effect wears off and we find ourselves seeking for even more and greater pleasure. It never seems to be enough.

We are designed to be creatures of desire and we are designed to desire things that can bring us eternal values and satisfaction. The pursuit of temporal enjoyment and pleasure cannot bring true satisfaction to our soul. We are designed this way so that we may be driven to seek and pursue things beyond this temporal world. Temporal things can give us a taste of goodness and give us a glimpse of what eternity of that goodness looks like. But the truth is, we can try to fit all shape and sizes of things, but it will never satisfy us. It will eventually fade away. We can try to get more of these delights, try to fill up this emptiness in our hearts with more but it will always leads us back to the question: is that all?

Christ gives meaning to our lives

Perhaps the greatest downfall as observe in Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, is the complete absence of the role of God. As Solomon seeks to experiment and experience life that he may offer wisdom, his perspective is limited to that which can only be observed by men. In Solomon’s pursuit of this investigation, God was never in the picture. His presence is not central in this part of the Scripture.

The limitation of Solomon’s experiment had led him to dismiss life itself as meaningless. Without God in the picture, all pursuit of pleasure, work and achievement is pointless and meaningless. Even eating and drinking on a daily basis, to enjoy the pleasure of one’s labours, becomes a pitiful emptiness when God is not central.

Today, this becomes relevant to us without a doubt. In the review of our lives thus far we find ourselves leading a completely meaningless life, running a blind race with seemingly no everlasting reward or value. Sometimes, we don’t even realise that it is meaningless. Our biggest mistake is to place God beyond the center of our lives. Without God, there can be no meaning.

The work of Christ on the cross has enabled us to put Christ at the center of our lives. Paul said in Gal 2:20 “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” As we put our trust in Christ, we have committed our old selves onto the cross to be crucified with Christ. We have put to death the old way of our lives. The old lives that put ourselves or anything other than God at the center. It must be put to death. Now we are given a new life where Christ is the center. This changes everything.

This changes the pursuit of pleasure, work and achievement. The pursuits of these things will no longer be aimed at pleasing ourselves, but in glorifying God. This changes the very motive of all things we do under the sun. Glorifying God becomes the reason why we choose to do certain things and choose not to do certain things. 2 Cor 5:15 assures us that indeed “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”

Personally, I have experienced such change of my my life goals and purpose. As a young boy I aspire to be wealthy and famous. I once told my mother that I would buy her a big house where she can live comfortably. But my pursuit of that goal never seems to satisfy me. Though I was excellent in many things, I was restless and dissatisfied. When I came to know Christ when I was 17, I remember a conversation with my mentor from the Methodist Church about what surrender is: it means giving up my personal pursuit of dreams and goals and to embrace what God intends for me. 8 years down the road, I saw a gradual yet dramatic change in my life goals. It is no longer about myself, or my family. It is about God. Knowing Christ led to me to know that the very purpose of my life is to worship and to glorify Him. Today, my life goal is to live my life in God’s way, according to God’s purpose and plans for me.

Conclusion

And indeed, the answer to our meaningless pursuit of pleasure is not more pleasure. The answer is Christ Himself. It is found in living this life in God’s way. In fact, Solomon concludes Ecclesiastes by instructing us to live life in God’s way: (Ecc 12:13) Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.

When Christ becomes the center of our lives, he leads us to live life in his way; and he fills our hearts with everlasting joy. Christ came to offer us the Living Water and those who drink it will never thirst again. No amount of pleasure, work and achievement can satisfy us like Christ does. These things keeps us wanting more, but Christ bring us everlasting joy that keep us contented even in times of suffering and lack.

So, even as we return to our daily routine of work and our pursuit of life, let us put Christ at the center of all these things, let us live our lives in His way, in glorifying Him, so that He may become the hope and meaning of our pursuit of lasting pleasure. A pleasure that is found in Him and Him only.

God's Character, My Encounter.