Enjoyment. Enjoyment is a really big thing, isn't it, in our culture and the way that we live.
! The barista serves you a coffee. Enjoy. The salesman gives you the keys. Enjoy. People say,
are you enjoying your work? Are you enjoying your children? Are you enjoying your retirement?
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. It really is the litmus test for everything, isn't it? Enjoyment.
But do we really know the meaning of the word in life? It turns out from our passage this afternoon
that true enjoyment is a very, very slippery thing. It's a very difficult thing to grasp
and it's a complex thing in this world in which we live under the sun.
It's been a while since we've been in Ecclesiastes but in the chapter before this, the preacher
of Ecclesiastes says these words, everyone to whom God has given wealth and possessions
and power to enjoy them, this is the gift of God. He tells us enjoyment is a power that doesn't
come to us naturally or necessarily. It is not something that man can gain by himself within
his own power. It is a power, it is a gift that only God can give. Enjoyment is received
as a gift. Now, you might remember, it's been a while, hasn't it, since we've been in this
book. But the preacher of Ecclesiastes takes us on a tour of the world, a realistic tour
of the world. And Ecclesiastes is such a helpful book because it speaks to all of us, it speaks
to us if we're Christians or if we're atheists, if we're agnostic or we're secularist or anywhere
on the scale. It speaks to us without using complicated theological language or religious
terms. And it just says to us, let's look at the world as it is. Let's see the world in
its realism. Let's see what it's like to live in this world if there is no God. And let's
see the absurdity of life in this world without God. And to realise that the systems by which
we live and trust and expect are actually broken and frustrated. That what should happen in the
world doesn't always happen. That there are anomalies in life, unexplained things. And his
particular point today is that while God gives wealth and possessions and material things to
people, true enjoyment is elusive, no matter what you've got. And that's the problem here,
isn't it? If you look at verse 2, he gives the example of a man. He's an outstanding man,
a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions and honour, so that he lacks nothing of all that
he desires. Can you imagine that? Yet, he says, God does not give him power to enjoy them,
but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity. It's a grievous evil. He's saying here that there
is something worse than being a person who has absolutely nothing in this world. There is
something worse than that. It is being a person who has everything without really enjoying anything.
He shows us two things here. He shows us, first of all, a grievous evil in this world. A grievous
evil, this confused promise of enjoyment and human inability to enjoy things properly.
A grievous evil, firstly. Stories were told in ancient Greece of the various punishments that
the mythical god Zeus dished out on his enemies. And one Greek myth tells the story of Tantalus.
Tantalus had been invited to a meal with Zeus, the gods and the mortals eating together. But Tantalus
upset Zeus over something. So, Zeus made Tantalus to go into Hades and to stand in a pool of water.
Sounds okay? But whenever Tantalus bent down to drink the water, the pool would drain underneath his
feet. He was so near and yet so far to enjoying the water. As an added torment, Zeus positioned Tantalus
below a tree full of fruit. But he could never quite grasp the succulent fruit there. Tantalus.
Tantalus. Homer describes the scene as Odysseus visits Tantalus in Hades. Odysseus says,
I saw the awful agonies that he had to bear. The old man stood in a pool of water which nearly reached
his chin. And the thirst drove him to unceasing effort, but he could never reach the water to drink
it. Whenever he steeped to drink, the pool was swallowed up. And there at his feet was the dark, dry earth.
Trees spread their foliage high above him. And there dangled pomegranates, apples, sweet figs and
luxurious olives. But whenever the old man went to grasp the fruit, the wind would toss up the branches
into the shadowy clouds above. What a tortuous experience that must be. But it's not just for a world of myth.
He says here, isn't he, this is the grievous evil, this phenomenon that actually exists in the real
world. Where like Tantalus, a person can have everything around them while not enjoying anything
truly. And this guy here in the passage, he has everything, doesn't he? Wealth, possessions.
He owns a detached London home. I quite like cars. And there's a guy on my street who has this
gorgeous BMW, BMW Estate. It's got white leather trim. And I envy him, if I'm honest. I see him
driving it. I envy him. But the preacher wants us to question, how are we judging the world?
Who are we jealous of? Because it is a grievous thing, he says, that sometimes the ones that
we envy are actually the ones that ought to be pitied. I judge that man on my street to
be blessed and to be satisfied because of the things that he has outwardly. But it ain't
necessarily so. For some reason, this man in the passage does not have this power to enjoy.
Enjoyment does not come as standard with stuff. He gives another example, doesn't he, in verse
3. If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are
many. But his soul is not satisfied with life's good things. And he also has no burial. I say
that a stillborn child is better off than he. We'll talk about the stillborn child bit in
a moment. But just look at this man here. He has made it, hasn't he? In the culture in
which the preacher speaks, he has done it. He's reached a peak. He's reached the kind of
zenith of life, hasn't he? And he says, let's put a figure on enjoyment. Let's quantify, if
we can, enjoyment. Look, how many years of life would you like? How much money would you
like? How many children do you want? And the preacher really hands it up, doesn't he? He
maxes out the numbers. This guy, he's got a hundred children. It's ridiculous, isn't it?
But he's maxing it out. A long life, verse 6. Let's think, how long do you want to live?
A thousand years? No, verse 6, he lives a thousand times two years. Two thousand years. He's made
it. He's got long life. He's got riches. He's got children. He's got everything. But even
after all of that, verse 6, he enjoys no good. He sees no good. Somehow, he stood in a pool
of affluence that drains away every time he tries to taste it. Maybe ill health plagues him.
Maybe with more money just comes more worry. He gets sleepless nights. Maybe it's simply
that it's just never quite enough, is it? How much will be enough? Just one more child.
Just a few more years of life. Just a bit more money. But no matter if you're penniless or
a millionaire or you have a large brood, if you live out a century or more, the answer
is often the same, isn't it? Just a little bit more. I'd be satisfied then. Just a little
bit more. That's all I ask for. But enjoyment doesn't always come as standard with more.
Bankers have jumped off bridges asking what is the point of life? In some financial crisis
they say I've lost it all and so I might as well end it all. But even more grievous than
that the preacher tells us is the man who can think such dark thoughts about his own life
when he's gained it all. When he's reached the top and he can't get any higher and he's
still not satisfied. It's important we see what he's not saying here. He's not denying that
some possessions and things that we can have are more satisfying than others.
Some things are just better, aren't they? It's important we see he's not saying that
the man who lives under a bridge is objectively as well off as the man who lives in a mansion.
Some people have things which are better than others. Some people have more money and more
children, more. God gives wealth and possessions and honour to some people more than others.
That's life, isn't it? But he's warning us that enjoyment does not come necessarily with more.
A person can have the best things in life and yet remain unfilled. He is a man who is not
satisfied with good things and verse 3, he has no burial. Somehow with all of this stuff he can die
unnoticed and unfulfilled and unlamented. And so the writer says to us it's time to rethink who you are
jealous of and why. Because the people that we are quickly most jealous of in the world are not always
the happiest. And often they are the most miserable people in the world. Because enjoyment is a power that
comes as a gift from God. And it is not automatic in the gain that we take in life.
Now if we think about that and we look at it logically, that seems unfair, doesn't it?
It seems unfair that even when a person manages to eke their way up the ladder and to earn lots of good
things in their lives, to get to the top, when a person does that in a right way, when they get
everything that their heart desires, they're still left wanting more. It's unfair. Seems cruel, doesn't it?
That's why the writer says that it's a grievous evil that this happens. That the system that we expect to
work is broken. That things don't happen as they should. That enjoyment doesn't always come as we expect it to
come with stuff. And that is a grievous evil. It shouldn't be like that.
And yet, whilst it is a grievous evil,
the world is like that
as a kindness from God.
It is a kindness.
The world is like that and we cannot do anything about it.
Just look at verse 10 there.
Whatever has come to be has already been named.
And it's known what man is and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he.
That is how the world is.
And God has subjected the world to frustration.
We know that, don't we? Ever since
before, back in Genesis 3.
God has placed a curse on the world.
Frustration.
And there is evil and grievousness in the world and in the systems by which we hope to live.
And whilst that is a terrible thing, it is also a great kindness from God.
It is a kindness to wake us up.
And to burst the bubble.
Because secondly, it is a gracious kindness.
This confused way of things.
Of enjoyment.
Of our inability to always enjoy things, even when we gain things.
It is a grievous evil and it's a gracious kindness.
I don't know if you are sort of sat here listening to the preacher in Ecclesiastes 6.
And you might sort of think, well, I get what he is saying here.
But actually, I am okay.
I feel quite content with my life.
I am not a millionaire.
I rent.
And that's okay.
I am fine with a mediocre life.
I am fine with Friday night TV.
And takeaways.
I am fine with my family.
And relative good health.
I am not an athlete.
But I am okay.
I am good.
I don't need more.
If that is you, let me say that you are gifted.
That is a gift from God.
To be content in that way.
God has given you this time.
He has arranged circumstances in your life that you would feel like that.
You can enjoy things.
And that is a good thing.
Perhaps you don't even know that it's a gift.
But it is a gift from God.
And you are to be envied if that's you.
God is helping you to enjoy life.
But even if that is you,
the preacher wants all of us
to feel the tension
of why that isn't true
for many other people.
You might not be asking the questions
that the preacher is asking.
But somebody needs to.
Because things are not always
how we assume they should be.
More does not always mean better.
And God kindly speaks to us
in that phenomenon.
saying to us that this world
and your things
actually are no place
for ultimate rest
and satisfaction
and enjoyment.
That the enjoyment of good things
is not in the things themselves.
enjoyment isn't as standard.
But it comes from me.
Says God.
He said,
I want to turn your thinking
upside down on this.
And so what the preacher does is
he gives us extreme examples,
doesn't he?
We've had the extreme man
with all the riches
and the children.
And then we get this other example
of a stillborn child
in verse 3.
When we hear that verse
and when we hear those words
stillborn child
it feels quite frightening,
doesn't it?
It feels worrying
that he uses this comparison
and he claims
that a stillborn child
can be better off
than anyone.
We kind of
come back away from that,
don't we?
Something jars with us there.
He's using very powerful
poetic language.
But actually what he says
is true here.
He says,
I've shown you one extreme,
the man who has everything.
He has made it.
Now let me show you
the other extreme,
the one who has nothing.
The one who never had anything.
A stillborn child.
And the question
that hangs in the air
is who is better off
between the two?
And he shocks us,
doesn't he?
A stillborn child
is better off
than the man
who had all those things
in his life.
He plays with our minds here.
He exposes the scales
we use to judge
true enjoyment
in life.
Because according
to the systems
of the world
we naturally
trust in
and live by,
the answer seems
obvious,
hasn't it?
Which is better off?
Well, we want to say,
do you even need
to ask the question?
We think of the
stillborn child here
and we say,
don't we,
what a waste.
What a waste of life.
It is tragic,
isn't it?
It is a terrible thing.
But when we say,
what a waste,
might we say that
in the wrong way?
Might we say that
because we feel
that that person
died
before they had
a chance to live?
Before they had
a chance to experience
stuff
and to experience
things
and to gain
anything?
They never got
the chance
to go to a restaurant.
or to go
to a musical.
They never got
the chance
to earn their
millions,
did they?
How tragic.
What a waste.
They've never
even seen
the sun.
They've never
felt the breeze
on their face.
They've never
gained anything
in this life.
And it's the worst
possible life
we can imagine,
isn't it?
one that never
even got started
in the first place.
Never enjoying
anything.
But that's just it,
isn't it?
Enjoyment does not
come as standard
with those
things.
For us,
enjoyment
is so
mingled
with stuff
and experiences
and gain
in God
himself.
And so
the stillborn
child can
possess
what the
wealthy man
fails to
grasp
in all of
his affluence.
Just look at
verse 5.
Moreover,
it's not seen
the sun
or known
anything yet.
It finds
rest
rather than
he.
how can
that be
true?
How can
that be
right?
How can
that be
real?
When there's
no source
of life
or enjoyment
or rest
or happiness
that lies
behind the
things that
we gain
in this
world,
for the
secularist
or the
atheist
or the
agnostic,
actually,
there is no
answer to
that,
is there?
As to why
he would
say this.
a stillborn
life is
simply a
tragic waste
of life.
But the
preacher shows
us that
life and
rest and
happiness and
fulfilment are
not gained
in things
and experiences
in isolation
from God
himself.
It is a
great comfort,
isn't it,
to those who
mourn at
such an awful
moment,
that there is
more to
real enjoyment
and real
life than
simple sensory
experience.
That we can
see here that
there is more
to be life
than the
eye can
see.
Life is a
gift,
and enjoyment
of life
is a gift.
And God
can give
that gift
to someone
who has
nothing
in the
world's
eyes.
someone who
never had
anything in
the first
place,
whose life
never even
got started.
God can
give that
gift to
that person.
The answer
this afternoon
in enjoyment
isn't having
less,
necessarily.
It's okay to
have nice
things,
isn't it?
It's okay to
have good
things.
But you
can be at
rest even
with nothing.
How?
The answer
is God,
isn't it?
It's an
oxymoron that
Jesus Christ
lived by,
and he
died by,
one who
possessed
everything as
the Son of
God,
eternal Son of
God,
who possessed
all of the
riches and
glory and
comfort and
satisfaction of
heaven,
and yet he
chose to have
nothing,
who for the
joy that was
set before him
endured the
cross.
And now he
is seated at
the right hand
of the throne
of God.
Discontentment
in great
riches is a
grievous evil
in this world,
but it's also
a great kindness.
God isn't
withholding your
right for
more when
he doesn't
give it to
you, when
you ask for
it.
He is
exposing your
need for
him.
And if
you feel
discontent
with all
that you've
got today,
that is
God's mercy
to you.
That is
his kindness
to bring you
to himself.
He won't
let us be
content with
second best,
will he?
He wants you
to be content
with him
and in him,
the giver of
true enjoyment.
Let's pray
together.
Let's pray.