In 1624 John Donne wrote Meditation number 17 which most of you will probably know as his famous poem No man is an island.
! No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manner of thy friends or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.
No man is an island, he says. I am part of mankind. We were made for community. We were made as individuals to be part of a whole, hardwired for community.
We know that, don't we? Loneliness is not a good thing. But the preacher, the writer of Ecclesiastes asks us, do we really believe that?
Does this world behave like it believes that? We met the preacher, the writer of Ecclesiastes a few weeks ago. He's the godly realist.
He warns us about the danger of trying to break away from the limits that God has placed on us in this life under the sun. Creaturally limits.
He warns us of treating life as if it is a project for gain, rather than a gift from God.
And in this section in Ecclesiastes chapter 4, he warns us of trying to pull away from others.
Of the temptation of pulling away from the whole.
Of being an individualist. Of going it alone.
Of saying in life, me first.
In verse 9 he says, two are better than one.
Deep down though, our problem is treating life as if we are on a kind of private TV show where we are the star.
Guests come and go maybe, but I am the regular.
And it comes down to me and to me alone.
Saying of my life, me, not us.
Me first.
So in this passage the preacher wants us to warn us of the folly of going it alone in life.
When God has made us for community.
For each other.
He says three things to us.
First of all he says, look at the ugliness of going it alone.
Look at the ugliness of going it alone.
If you just drop your eye down to verse 1 to 3 there.
The preacher starts off here, doesn't he, by becoming a news correspondent.
He goes out into the world and he watches the world.
He sees what goes on in the world and he journals it down.
And there's his headline in verse 1 at the top there.
Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun.
He sees a world where people are living for me, not for us.
People treading on other people to break away from the whole and to rise up above everybody else.
Of oppression with no one to comfort those who are being oppressed.
And as he looks out over the world it's just story after story after story.
Of oppression.
Of child abuse.
And of murder.
And of human trafficking.
And of rich tyrants.
And warlords.
And refugees.
And unfair trade.
And abusive fathers.
And prostitution.
And poverty.
And unfair society.
A world that we see so clearly today.
And he sees so many sickening things in the world.
Do you remember the story of baby P.
Peter Connolly.
A 17th month old baby who was killed by his parents after abuse.
My little boy is 24 months this week.
And that story just sickens me to the stomach.
He was beaten violently by his parents.
And he died from his injuries.
Because at the heart of it they were saying in their lives.
Me.
Not us.
See the ugliness.
Apparently they pulled out his fingernails.
They knocked his teeth out.
They broke his back.
It's an extreme case isn't it.
But this is where it goes.
Where it leads.
This is what living for me looks like.
In full force.
This is a showcase of where it goes.
Left unrestrained.
When it's me.
Not us.
And he is crushed by this vision.
In verse 2 to 3.
I thought the dead who are already dead.
More fortunate than the living who are still alive.
He says I looked at the world.
And I thought you know.
It would be better not to be born.
Even.
How can a man of God say that?
Well remember he is a realist.
He doesn't just give us the trite answers.
He doesn't whitewash over the world as it is.
He may say to us.
Well do you think I'm being over the top here?
Well just look at the world as I have seen it.
Try and watch the world as I have watched it.
Watch children in need without the funny bits.
Watch comic relief without the comic relief.
He makes us watch everything.
He gives us the detail doesn't he?
Of the tears of the oppressed.
Feel the injustice.
Feel the ugliness of selfishness and where it leads.
This is the ugliness of me, me, me.
Not us.
Jesus Christ summarised the law of God.
And he said the Lord our God the Lord is one.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.
And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
God's law underpins all of life.
And when we break it, the world becomes an ugly place.
When I don't love my neighbour as I love myself.
And life is about me, not about us.
As you listen to the preacher, maybe you're thinking,
this is all a bit extreme.
This is not who I am.
Just think for a moment.
Which person have you thought most about since we last met?
Who have you filtered everything that you've seen or heard in the last week for?
As you sit here right now, isn't there one person in the room
who you see everything through and for?
Who you process everything for?
The one person that you spend most of the time thinking about
and wanting to keep happy?
One person, me.
As we've gone through Ecclesiastes,
hasn't that been the way that we've all thought?
My repetitious life.
My fleeting pleasures.
My season of life.
Last week if you were here.
We filter everything in life through and for ourselves.
That is the central process of all that we do, isn't it, naturally?
Now can I say that is good on one level.
As I listen to God and apply his word,
I must apply it to myself, mustn't I?
No one else can believe for me.
No one else can come to God with my sins and my guilt
and repent on my behalf, can they?
I must do that myself.
One theologian said that if I deal with the gospel at all,
I must deal with it as if there are no other people in the world.
Martin Luther said that the only two things a man must do alone
are his believing and his dying.
But at heart, if we're honest, we know that we are like this.
Our hearts run on me fuel.
We are more often than not excited by me things
rather than us things.
We don't just watch the oppression through a window.
We are little oppressors ourselves.
We enjoy it.
Don't we, if we're honest, when we feel better than others?
There is the thin end of the wedge.
We are part of what makes this world ugly.
Going it alone is ugly, he says.
Second of all, though, he says that going it alone is self-destructive.
It's self-destructive.
The problem with living the kind of private TV show, star show life
is that it oppresses others, it's ugly.
But he goes on to show that if you hate your neighbour,
you are also hating yourself, ironically.
Ironically, the oppressors are the ones destroying themselves.
Just look at verse 4 and 5.
I saw that all the toil and all skill in work
come from a man's envy of his neighbour.
This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
When the engine of life is me, not us,
when the focus is me,
all that I do inevitably will destroy me.
I will be driven by jealousy
and the need to better others,
to compare myself with others,
to rise above them.
And all of my work and my skill
will only come from that desire
to break away from community,
to stand out and to rule the world
in my own little way,
to live on an island.
And we all do it, don't we?
We all have that impish, perverse thing in us
that rejoices at others' misfortune.
We enjoy sympathising with others
in their misfortune.
We can put our arm around them
because there is something in us
that feels better about ourselves in comparison.
We're driven by envy
and not by genuine love.
Someone said,
a true friend is someone who weeps when you weep,
but who rejoices when you rejoice.
We're more sympathetic
with those who weep
than we are rejoicing
with friends who rejoice, aren't we?
We don't get as excited
about people's success and happiness
as we do about their misery.
Because we love to be in a pecking order.
We love to see others lower than ourselves.
It's why we, people watch
Jerry Springer, isn't it?
And Jeremy Kyle,
to get that feeling,
myself rising up.
And that will either lead, he says,
to manic busyness,
working and toiling in envy,
or to bone idleness,
folding his hands,
the fool.
Going it alone
will either burn you out
or it will eat you up.
Verse 5 is weird, isn't it?
If you look at that.
The fool folds his hands
and eats his own flesh.
Cut off from the community.
It's a very strong image,
isn't it?
A fool chews his own fingers off.
A fool eats his own flesh.
We often hear about
those who suffer
at the hands of oppressors.
But here the preacher
shows us
the suffering of the oppressors
themselves.
An envy that eats away at life.
An attitude of comparison
eats away
at everything in life.
The Proverbs say that
whoever isolates himself
seeks his own destruction.
He breaks out
against all sound judgment.
Going it alone
is self-destructive.
Some people
can't afford community.
They can't afford
to invest in relationships
of any kind
because they can't afford
the time.
They can't afford
the money they will lose.
or they can't afford
to work less.
But the preacher says
that is
an unhappy business.
You'd be like the guy
in verse 7 and 8 there
who has
no
relationships
but has
many riches.
He could buy
as someone
puts it
everyone a meal
in the restaurant
but no one
wants to sit with him.
And he doesn't want
anyone to sit with him
either.
He hasn't stopped
to ask
what am I doing
all of this for?
Virginia Woolf said
no pleasure
has any relish
unless we share it.
The ugliness of it
the self-destructiveness
of it.
And thirdly
and lastly
community
is a mess
worth making.
Community
is a mess
worth making.
And looking at
verse 9
to the end here
the truth of this
passage is that
living for us
and not for me
is actually
always going to be
better for me
in the end.
And he gives us
some scenarios
to prove the point
doesn't he?
Living in community
is better.
Verse 9
work is better
in community.
You can get
more done.
You can get
more fruit
for your toil
more work
with others.
Hard times
are better
in community.
You can lift
one another up.
You can
encourage one another.
You're safer
in battle
in war
with someone else
fighting next to you.
You can
prevail over
the man
who attacks you.
When I start
thinking
us
more than
me
when I start
living for us
we find a contentment
that we cannot
find on our
island on our
own.
And that's his
point in verse 6.
Better is a
handful of
quietness
than two
hands full
of toil
and a
striving
after a
wind.
He says
there is a
choice here
isn't there?
He makes
a comparison.
He says
you can
either be
driven by
envy
living the
me
first life
or you
can be
driven by
something else
driven by
community
by others
but some
choose
money
over
people
some
choose
isolation
over
community
some
are too
busy
to invest
in people
and he
says
you will
be rich
in that
case
you'll
have
your
hands
full
but
you will
have
your
hands
full
in life
life
will be
a
constant
toil
and it
will
eat
you
up
inside
we
may
only
get
one
handful
he says
there
rather
than
two
of
riches
but
believe
me
he
says
community
is
better
the
one
handful
that
we
have
will
be
a
handful
of
quietness
when
we
say
it
is
okay
that
my
neighbour
has
more
than
me
it
is
okay
that
someone
else
is
higher
up
than
me
that
they
are
more
fortunate
than
me
that
they
are
enjoying
things
that
I
am
not
and
with
that
comes
a
quietness
comes
an
enjoyment
of
what
we
do
have
in
thinking
us
rather
than
me
contentment
as we
go to
bed
at
night
as we
put
our
heads
on
the
pillow
when
we
are
worrying
not
about
me
but
about
others
and how
they're
doing
living in
community
can bring
a peace
that I
would
never
have
had
even if
I
was
the
ruler
of the
world
God's
design
is this
that we
are
individuals
we're not
to become
kind of
homogenous
thing
but
not to
be
individualistic
he
made
us
for
community
now
we
know
that
don't
we
know
what
the
preacher
is
saying
here
is
true
and
we
try
and
find
community
social
media
clubs
and
societies
and
organisations
we
join a
music
group
or a
book
club
we
join a
charity
group
we
have
a
street
party
we
already
know
the
wisdom
of
this
we
try
and
do
community
in our
own
way
but
often
as soon
as we
get
into
a
group
we
find
that
those
communities
are
still
run
by
egos
we
find
village
politics
that
wherever
people
get
together
don't
we
and
we
find
the
same
hurts
in
those
groups
that
we
felt
when
we
were
on
our
own
but
in
the
rest
of
the
Bible
our
need
for
community
is
only
satisfied
in
the
one
community
that
God
has
created
the
one
community
where
he
has
brought
his
people
together
some
of
you
might
be
listening
to
this
and
thinking
you
just
don't
know
how
I've
been
hurt
by
others
you
don't
know
how
badly
I've
been
burnt
by
other
people
and
I
don't
want
to
go
through
that
again
but
there
is
one
community
on
earth
only
one
community
where
hurting
people
and where
sinners
are brought
together
by something
much
greater
than
themselves
where
done
rightly
egos
those
are
left
at
the
door
Paul
the
apostle
says
to
a
church
that
he
writes
to
in
Philippi
he
says
that
we
are
all
partakers
together
of
grace
we
are
brought
together
by
a
mutual
undeserving
of being
together
by an
understanding
that
none
of us
deserve
to be
in
God's
church
we're
all
sinners
we're
all
broken
people
we're
all
people
who
tend
at
heart
to
think
me
rather
than
us
but
God
has
made
his
church
one
body
joined
in
Christ
joined
with a
bond
closer
than a
family
member
the
preacher
is not
saying
that
church
will
be a
bed
of
roses
and
community
is
perfect
under
the
sun
but
he's
seen
the
alternative
hasn't
he
the
church
of
Jesus
Christ
is
the
one
community
that
one
day
will
be
without
sin
and
without
ego
where
everyone
thinks
and is
learning
to think
you
first
us
so
he
says
to us
today
don't
destroy
yourself
come
to
this
oasis
in
this
ugly
world
of
me
start
thinking
us
not
me
start
living
for
us
and
not
me
come
to
the
church
come
to
Christ
because
living
for us
and not
for me
is
always
going
to be
better
for me
in the
end
let's
pray
together