WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.040 All right, good morning, church. Would you turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 2. 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:15.820 ! That is page 518 in the Pew Bible. Ecclesiastes chapter 2, page 518. 00:00:15.820 --> 00:00:28.839 ! So last week we saw that the book of Ecclesiastes begins with the observation that everything is 00:00:28.839 --> 00:00:38.820 fleeting. Vanity of vanity, says the preacher. All is vanity. And that word vanity is being used 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:46.120 in the older sense of empty or futile. It's a translation of the Hebrew word Pastor Matt 00:00:46.120 --> 00:00:52.659 pointed out last week, this Hebrew word hevel. And if you have the ESV open in front of you, 00:00:52.659 --> 00:01:01.000 you'll see that the ESV margin note points out that hevel literally means mist or vapor. 00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:09.599 It's ephemeral, doesn't last, it's fleeting. You know, you wake up early in the morning 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:16.979 on an autumn day and there's a mist covering the grass and the hills. It's settling between the 00:01:16.980 --> 00:01:23.439 trees and on your early morning drive or walk. It's so thick you can only see a few yards ahead of you. 00:01:24.700 --> 00:01:34.280 But in an hour or so, the sun rises and the mist that once seemed so thick and impenetrable is gone. 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:43.960 That's what hevel means. It's fleeting. It's ephemeral, like a mist, like a vapor. It doesn't last. 00:01:43.959 --> 00:01:51.159 And according to the preacher or teacher whose voice runs throughout this book, 00:01:52.139 --> 00:02:00.939 all of human life is hevel. Everything is fleeting. Nothing lasts. 00:02:04.259 --> 00:02:11.019 And now, that observation is undeniably true, isn't it? 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:19.900 In chapter 1, Ecclesiastes held up the permanence of the created order in order to highlight and expose 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:27.020 the impermanence of human endeavors. The sun continues to rise and set. The rivers continue 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:37.060 to run to the sea. And what of our human toil? It fades and is forgotten like mist dispelled by the dawn, 00:02:37.060 --> 00:02:45.280 like a vapor dissipating in the breeze. Now, when we're young, this observation feels 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:54.379 a bit overly pessimistic, right? I mean, nothing lasts. You know, sure, we're going to lose our hair, 00:02:54.379 --> 00:03:08.579 but nothing lasts. But at the same time, isn't the pressure that we feel, even in our youth, 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:15.699 to get the most out of life, to not miss out, to live while we're young? 00:03:15.699 --> 00:03:25.899 Is that impulse not just testimony to the truth of what Ecclesiastes is showing us? 00:03:27.579 --> 00:03:32.759 That everything is fleeting. So, we have to live life while it lasts. 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:43.319 Now, if that's true, if everything is fleeting, how should we live? 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:55.019 How do we find lasting meaning or joy in a fleeting world? In the mists of human existence 00:03:55.020 --> 00:04:03.960 and human toil, is there any substance to be found? The poet Mary Oliver once famously said, 00:04:04.020 --> 00:04:08.020 what will you do with this one wild and precious life? 00:04:12.600 --> 00:04:18.199 Well, in chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes, we're taken on a quest, a quest to try to figure out 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:24.500 how to find joy and meaning in a fleeting world. We're sort of taken along as Ecclesiastes 00:04:24.500 --> 00:04:32.519 engages in a series of existential tests to try to find substance and satisfaction. And as we'll 00:04:32.519 --> 00:04:41.180 see, this quest feels and sounds surprisingly contemporary. It's as if Ecclesiastes could be 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:51.860 any one of us today. So, we're going to follow him on this quest, on these tests, and see if we can 00:04:51.860 --> 00:05:00.259 find any lasting meaning or joy in a fleeting world. So, let's look at the first approach, the first test 00:05:00.259 --> 00:05:09.180 in verses 1 through 11. And first, we're going to explore the life lived for pleasure. Let me read 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:16.800 verses 1 through 11. I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:25.240 But behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, it's mad, and of pleasure, what use is it? 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:32.319 I searched my heart. I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine, my heart still guiding 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:38.480 me with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the children of man to 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:45.280 do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:50.479 for myself. I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:56.779 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves 00:05:56.779 --> 00:06:01.719 and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, 00:06:01.859 --> 00:06:07.719 more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the 00:06:07.719 --> 00:06:13.179 treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, 00:06:13.180 --> 00:06:22.400 the delight of the sons of men. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. 00:06:23.019 --> 00:06:29.519 Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:37.280 I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:46.479 for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, 00:06:47.479 --> 00:06:58.179 and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:07.920 So where does the life lived for pleasure lead? Well, Ecclesiastes gives us his conclusion right up front 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:14.720 in verses 1 and 2. I said of pleasure, what use is it? This also is vanity. In other words, living for 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:22.019 pleasure in a fleeting world leaves us empty. Now, lest we think that Ecclesiastes is just some 00:07:22.019 --> 00:07:30.120 prude moralist casting judgment on something he hasn't actually tried. In verses 3 through 10, 00:07:30.180 --> 00:07:36.099 he tells us just how far he went down the road of experimenting with the so-called good life. 00:07:37.379 --> 00:07:46.560 He says in verse 10, whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. Wine, laughter, sex, 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:57.519 he tried it all. But again, lest we think Ecclesiastes was simply a foolish frat boy living a life of 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:04.620 senseless debauchery, think again. After all, it doesn't take much wisdom, right, to realize that a 00:08:04.620 --> 00:08:09.819 life of excessive hedonism is empty and miserable. He was powerful, he was influential, he was rich, 00:08:09.819 --> 00:08:18.379 he achieved the life that many only dream of achieving. He reached the top. And at the top, 00:08:18.459 --> 00:08:25.519 he admits in verse 10 that yes, there was pleasure. But at the same time in verse 11, 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:29.680 he realized that he hadn't actually gained a thing. 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:36.679 It was all still empty. He was still just grasping at wind. 00:08:39.820 --> 00:08:47.940 So we see then that living for pleasure, even the most refined and sophisticated pleasures in life 00:08:47.940 --> 00:08:55.540 will never be the path to lasting joy. And if we think that the next promotion or the bigger house 00:08:55.540 --> 00:09:03.520 or the more influential friend circle or getting the more prestigious degree will finally fill our 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:14.620 souls with lasting meaning or joy, if we live that way, then we too are striving after the wind. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:22.740 Living for pleasure in a fleeting world will only leave you empty, Ecclesiastes says. 00:09:26.179 --> 00:09:28.960 And sooner or later, many people make that same discovery, don't they? 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:35.500 And Ecclesiastes, having realized the emptiness of the pleasure-centered life, moves on to his next 00:09:35.500 --> 00:09:41.200 experiment. He now takes a second approach in verses 12 through 17. And the second approach is 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:48.519 not the pleasure-centered life, but the wisdom-centered life. Let me read verses 12 through 17. 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:58.939 So, I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly, for what can the man do who comes after the king 00:09:58.939 --> 00:10:06.199 only what has already been done? Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there 00:10:06.199 --> 00:10:12.639 is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:24.360 darkness. And yet, I perceived that the same event happens to them all. Then I said in my heart, 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:33.539 what happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise? And I said in my 00:10:33.539 --> 00:10:41.399 heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise, as of the fool, there is no enduring remembrance, 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:50.939 seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool. 00:10:52.679 --> 00:11:01.860 So, I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving 00:11:01.860 --> 00:11:12.300 after wind. So, Ecclesiastes in verse 12, having realized that as far as pleasure goes, there is no 00:11:12.300 --> 00:11:17.460 more that can be done than he and the other kings have done before him. Realizing that, he turns to 00:11:17.460 --> 00:11:25.200 wisdom, right? Perhaps accumulating wisdom will provide the substance that we are looking for in a fleeting 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:32.759 world. Leaving material pleasures behind, we will cultivate the life of the mind, the life of culture, 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:37.720 the life of well-living, right? Because in the ancient world, wisdom wasn't just intellect, 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:46.820 it was skill for living the good life. And in doing so, Ecclesiastes discovers two things. 00:11:46.820 --> 00:11:54.840 First, he discovers that it is much better to be wise than to be a fool. He says the wise person has 00:11:54.840 --> 00:12:00.460 his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. So, yes, there is benefit to wisdom. 00:12:01.300 --> 00:12:07.360 And the book of Ecclesiastes will never deny that, as if to say, if you have the choice between being 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:13.120 wise and acting in wisdom and being a fool and acting in folly, choose wisdom every time. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:22.980 But he then also makes a second observation. The wise, with all of his or her wisdom, 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:37.360 will die just like the fool. Wisdom, with all of its relative value, is utterly powerless in the face of 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:47.879 death. Can you imagine Ecclesiastes with his degrees on his wall? There they hang with all their 00:12:47.879 --> 00:12:57.139 impressive pedigree. Master, doctor, they proclaim him. Look at the books he's written that line his 00:12:57.139 --> 00:13:03.440 shelves, volume after volume. Read all the endorsements on the front pages. A truly groundbreaking 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:13.260 mind, they say, pioneering, paradigm-shifting work. Look at all the conferences and fest shrifts put 00:13:13.260 --> 00:13:23.000 together in his honor. And now see Ecclesiastes at the end of his life, old age setting in, 00:13:24.140 --> 00:13:30.720 his mind starting to fade, and death with its dark shadow begins to stretch across his vision. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:39.100 Has any of it changed the fact that he will die just like the fool? 00:13:41.540 --> 00:13:49.639 And what does the dark door of death hold for him? What will any of his worldly wisdom win him 00:13:49.639 --> 00:14:00.580 in the face of death? So I hated life, Ecclesiastes says. In other words, a deep bitterness starts to set in. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:10.899 Because he will die. And sooner rather than later, his ideas will be forgotten. And his now paradigm-shifting 00:14:10.899 --> 00:14:18.100 approaches will be rendered obsolete. His books will gather dust, and he himself will be forgotten, 00:14:18.100 --> 00:14:31.340 just like the fool. Yes, wisdom was better than folly. But all his labors of mind, all his striving for 00:14:31.340 --> 00:14:38.080 insight, the discipline, the hard work, the sacrifices, what service is it to him now? 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:48.200 No. It's nothing but a bitter taste to his soul. For in the end, all his wisdom fails him. 00:14:50.060 --> 00:14:56.879 When the vapor of his life is ready to be blown away, all of his wisdom is just as ephemeral. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:09.980 Will it be any different for you, friend? Will your wisdom-centered life be anything more than striving 00:15:09.980 --> 00:15:16.960 after wind when death comes? And in that moment, will your ultimate end be any different than the fool? 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:25.540 Living for wisdom in a fleeting world will only leave you bitter in the end. 00:15:28.540 --> 00:15:37.560 But immediately, we raise another possibility, don't we? Surely, the answer to our vaporous life, 00:15:37.680 --> 00:15:44.820 our mist-like existence, isn't personal or individual, right? It's about the legacy that we 00:15:44.820 --> 00:15:50.280 leave behind us, isn't it? In a fleeting world, we may not be able to satisfy our souls with pleasure. 00:15:50.540 --> 00:15:55.320 We may not be able to cheat death with our wisdom, but at least we can leave a legacy that will enhance 00:15:55.320 --> 00:16:01.140 future generations. Isn't that where substance is to be found in a fleeting world? Leaving a legacy? 00:16:04.640 --> 00:16:09.120 Ecclesiastes is also driven to this point, actually. And this brings us to his third test, 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:14.640 his third attempt to find lasting joy in a fleeting world. In verses 18 through 23, he considers 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:21.039 whether leaving a legacy is the answer he's been looking for. But quickly, he realizes that this 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:26.120 path, too, is empty. Let me read verses 18 through 23. 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:33.379 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come 00:16:33.379 --> 00:16:40.620 after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool. Yet he will be master of all for which I 00:16:40.620 --> 00:16:50.060 toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to 00:16:50.060 --> 00:16:55.399 despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with 00:16:55.399 --> 00:17:00.580 wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. 00:17:00.580 --> 00:17:10.059 This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which 00:17:10.059 --> 00:17:16.180 he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. 00:17:17.100 --> 00:17:21.600 Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:30.379 Brutally honest, isn't he? If you live your life to leave a legacy, 00:17:31.539 --> 00:17:36.599 if legacy is your hope in a fleeting world, consider, says Ecclesiastes, 00:17:37.299 --> 00:17:41.399 you cannot control what the next generation will do with your legacy. 00:17:42.919 --> 00:17:45.279 There's no guarantee that they will be wise. 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:49.879 They are just as likely to be fools and squander it all away. 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:58.420 I saw a statistic recently that most inheritances are depleted within one to four years. 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:04.899 But then we might ask, well, okay, what about really wealthy families, right? Like, sure, 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:09.460 you get a couple thousand dollars from, like, Uncle Bob. Yeah, that might not last you very long. But, 00:18:09.539 --> 00:18:13.899 like, what about the really wealthy families? Surely that's a legacy that lasts, right? 00:18:13.900 --> 00:18:23.259 Again, the just rapid squandering of millionaire inheritances is also just vastly well documented. 00:18:25.080 --> 00:18:29.700 Statistics show that the majority of family wealth disappears within just two to three generations. 00:18:32.040 --> 00:18:35.300 But that's just money, you say. What about wisdom and character? 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:43.380 But isn't that an even more fragile thing? You can hire an estate lawyer to try to protect your 00:18:43.380 --> 00:18:49.080 material wealth from being taken for granted and wasted by your following generation. But there is 00:18:49.080 --> 00:18:55.180 no legal mechanism to guarantee that your family or your community will not simply squander or ignore 00:18:55.180 --> 00:19:05.460 whatever good you try to achieve. Our legacy is just as fleeting and ephemeral as anything else, 00:19:05.460 --> 00:19:07.020 perhaps even more so. 00:19:07.019 --> 00:19:19.220 So, where do we find lasting joy in a fleeting world? Living for pleasure? Living for wisdom? Living for legacy? 00:19:20.420 --> 00:19:29.139 Do any of these things actually last? What do we gain from all our toil? What do we gain? 00:19:29.140 --> 00:19:34.480 Nothing, Ecclesiastes says. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:43.880 So, what's the answer? When we see that we gain nothing from our toil, how do we live? 00:19:45.620 --> 00:19:51.020 Denial? Just keep charging forward, ignoring the fact? Despair? 00:19:51.019 --> 00:20:04.619 Well, Ecclesiastes shows us one more possibility, and this possibility is very different from all the rest. 00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:12.779 So far, we've been asking, how do we get some lasting gain for all our toil? 00:20:12.779 --> 00:20:18.099 But this last exploration takes a different approach altogether. 00:20:20.660 --> 00:20:25.339 Ecclesiastes begins to ask, what if life isn't about gain? 00:20:27.259 --> 00:20:29.019 What if it's about gift? 00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:34.519 What if lasting joy and meaning isn't something that I can achieve? 00:20:34.519 --> 00:20:38.519 But what if it's something that I have to receive? 00:20:42.599 --> 00:20:45.379 Listen to this realization in verses 24 and 25. 00:20:46.980 --> 00:20:54.339 There's nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. 00:20:54.339 --> 00:21:17.059 For a moment, Ecclesiastes breaks through the imminent frame of a life lived solely under the sun. 00:21:17.059 --> 00:21:24.179 For a moment, Ecclesiastes says, what if there's more to life than what my effort and endeavors can achieve? 00:21:25.259 --> 00:21:28.839 What if life isn't a game to be played for gain? 00:21:29.099 --> 00:21:30.980 What if life is meant to be a gift? 00:21:33.179 --> 00:21:36.139 A gift to be received from the hand of God. 00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:45.700 In verse 24, he affirms the goodness of eating and drinking and working. 00:21:47.059 --> 00:21:53.559 Those same pursuits that he just explored in verses 1 through 23, but he affirms these things now, 00:21:54.039 --> 00:22:00.460 not from the perspective that we're autonomous, sovereign agents trying to make our mark on the world, 00:22:01.059 --> 00:22:06.559 trying to wrest some sort of existential prophet from the fleeting passage of time. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:07.659 No. 00:22:08.539 --> 00:22:10.279 The perspective is now shifted. 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:15.819 Ecclesiastes realizes that lasting joy can only be found when we acknowledge 00:22:15.819 --> 00:22:20.259 that we are creatures before a Creator. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:26.819 And as verse 25 puts it so eloquently, 00:22:27.879 --> 00:22:32.639 apart from God, who can eat and who can have enjoyment? 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:37.480 Ecclesiastes has tried to do it apart from God. 00:22:38.419 --> 00:22:39.759 He's amassed wealth and pleasure. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:44.240 He's accumulated great wisdom and knowledge. 00:22:44.859 --> 00:22:47.259 He's constructed a legacy to pass on. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:51.480 But without God, it led him to despair. 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:57.859 Because apart from God, who can eat and who can have enjoyment? 00:22:57.859 --> 00:23:04.599 Only in fellowship with God, only as creatures rightly related to our Creator, 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:07.740 can we truly eat and find enjoyment, he says. 00:23:10.219 --> 00:23:11.079 But why? 00:23:11.179 --> 00:23:12.159 Why is that the case? 00:23:13.740 --> 00:23:15.619 Well, at least two reasons, I think. 00:23:17.399 --> 00:23:23.839 First, only in relationship with God do we experience the true purpose of the gifts. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:29.039 First, eating, drinking, working. 00:23:29.919 --> 00:23:35.759 These things are meant to lift our hearts to God in praise. 00:23:36.220 --> 00:23:40.259 They're meant to be streams that lead us higher to a deeper fountain of joy. 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:47.980 But apart from God, we have to use eating and drinking and working as tools 00:23:47.980 --> 00:23:53.460 to secure our legacy, to secure our joy, to secure our permanence. 00:23:53.860 --> 00:23:56.740 And when we see those things as tools in that way, 00:23:57.099 --> 00:24:01.839 it immediately leads to this scarcity mindset where I have to amass 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:07.299 more and more of the means of production and labor for myself and for my tribe, right? 00:24:07.740 --> 00:24:09.960 Because my life literally depends on it. 00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:16.980 So I control and I amass and I have to gain more and more for me and for my people 00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:19.460 because my soul depends on it. 00:24:20.620 --> 00:24:26.640 So now, apart from God, these things are no longer gifts to be enjoyed and to be shared, 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:33.140 but they become commodities to hoard and to wage war over and to kill for. 00:24:33.140 --> 00:24:43.640 But in relationship to God, as creatures rightly related to our Creator, 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:47.660 we see these things as gifts. 00:24:49.520 --> 00:24:52.200 They are not ours. 00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:56.940 We didn't achieve them through our own effort, 00:24:57.940 --> 00:25:00.960 and thus they are not mine to hoard. 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:04.740 In fact, my mindset now is just the opposite. 00:25:05.740 --> 00:25:07.559 These are gifts for everyone to enjoy. 00:25:09.880 --> 00:25:16.980 Creatures rightly related to their Creator will be passionate about every human being 00:25:16.980 --> 00:25:26.000 having just and right access and opportunity to enjoy the gifts of eating and drinking and working. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:31.160 We'll be passionate about every human being enjoying these gifts, 00:25:31.720 --> 00:25:33.380 just as we do. 00:25:35.720 --> 00:25:39.700 Only in relationship with God do we experience the true purpose of the gifts. 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:43.460 But only in relationship with God, this is the second point, 00:25:43.539 --> 00:25:49.099 only in relationship with God do we experience the permanence of the giver. 00:25:49.099 --> 00:25:53.599 Under the sun, everything is fleeting. 00:25:53.939 --> 00:25:54.859 Nothing lasts. 00:25:56.259 --> 00:26:00.159 But God, the Creator, is not under the sun. 00:26:01.919 --> 00:26:05.159 He is transcendent and permanent, 00:26:06.439 --> 00:26:08.219 faithful and unchanging. 00:26:08.220 --> 00:26:14.319 And as the Hebrew poets in the Psalms sing over and over again, 00:26:14.839 --> 00:26:21.000 the Lord and only the Lord can rescue His people from the yawning power of the grave. 00:26:22.259 --> 00:26:23.759 How does their logic go? 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:25.079 It goes like this. 00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:29.259 If the eternal Creator chooses to love His people, 00:26:30.700 --> 00:26:34.019 then by definition He loves them with an eternal love, 00:26:34.180 --> 00:26:35.799 because He's an eternal God. 00:26:35.799 --> 00:26:39.039 And thus as objects of His eternal love, 00:26:39.399 --> 00:26:41.980 they will be loved eternally without end. 00:26:43.339 --> 00:26:45.319 Therefore, they must live beyond death, 00:26:45.659 --> 00:26:49.539 because His eternal love demands it and makes them so. 00:26:54.220 --> 00:26:56.879 But this raises a great question, does it not? 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:01.619 Why are we apart from God? 00:27:01.619 --> 00:27:06.319 Why are humans not in this fellowship with God, our Creator? 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:10.219 Why can't we just sort of slip back into it? 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:14.979 Well, it's not that easy. 00:27:16.179 --> 00:27:19.919 The reason why humans are not in fellowship with their Creator, 00:27:20.019 --> 00:27:21.979 the reason why we're apart from God, 00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:24.359 is because of what the Bible calls sin. 00:27:27.399 --> 00:27:30.259 Listen to verse 26, the last verse of our chapter. 00:27:30.259 --> 00:28:00.240 For to the sinner, 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:01.759 it separates us from God, our Creator, 00:28:02.299 --> 00:28:06.079 and it consigns our lives to emptiness and death and despair. 00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:09.980 You see, the journey that we've been on in chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes 00:28:09.980 --> 00:28:13.960 is actually the journey of human fallenness and sin. 00:28:14.660 --> 00:28:16.940 Look back at the opening verses, verses 1 through 11. 00:28:17.620 --> 00:28:21.000 You know, it's fascinating how many linguistic echoes there are there 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:24.960 in that passage back to Genesis 1 and 2. 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:27.100 You can catch them. 00:28:27.100 --> 00:28:27.120 You can catch them. 00:28:27.220 --> 00:28:29.620 Gardens, parks, trees, pools. 00:28:31.420 --> 00:28:36.840 Ecclesiastes is describing himself as trying to recreate Eden, 00:28:37.299 --> 00:28:39.960 trying to build himself a lasting paradise, 00:28:40.299 --> 00:28:42.360 but his human efforts can't get him there. 00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:42.940 Why? 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:47.860 Because the problem is, he's trying to create Eden without God. 00:28:47.859 --> 00:28:52.240 He's trying to be the creator rather than worshiping the creator. 00:28:53.740 --> 00:28:55.279 And we all do the same. 00:28:56.339 --> 00:29:00.719 We all usurp God's rightful place in our lives and become our own lords. 00:29:01.379 --> 00:29:02.519 And what's the result? 00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:09.839 Not just emptiness, as our self-made Edens fail to satisfy. 00:29:10.220 --> 00:29:12.579 The result is ultimately death. 00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:18.039 In verses 12 through 17, we see that no matter how wise we become, 00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:20.099 sin inevitably leads to death. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:22.700 The wise, the fool, they're no different. 00:29:23.139 --> 00:29:26.319 Under the curse of sin, we all deserve death. 00:29:27.740 --> 00:29:30.700 Not just physically, but spiritually. 00:29:30.700 --> 00:29:37.960 And this spiritual death, this alienation from God, lasts forever. 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:45.779 Because offending an infinite God justly calls for an infinite penalty. 00:29:47.880 --> 00:29:52.559 And so verses 18 through 23 speak not just of death, but of despair. 00:29:55.480 --> 00:29:59.140 And friends, it is an infinite despair that sin and death bring. 00:29:59.140 --> 00:30:01.940 Sin separates us from God. 00:30:03.400 --> 00:30:08.600 And separation from God, who is the source of all goodness and light and life, 00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:13.660 to be separated from God is by definition unending despair. 00:30:17.259 --> 00:30:18.620 So how do we get back? 00:30:19.660 --> 00:30:23.960 If we're apart from God in our sin, how can our fellowship with God be restored? 00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:29.059 So we can enjoy His permanence and enjoy the purpose of His gifts. 00:30:33.600 --> 00:30:36.240 But here is where Ecclesiastes' journey ends. 00:30:38.420 --> 00:30:43.319 He has seen that fellowship with God is the only way to know lasting joy in a fleeting world. 00:30:43.319 --> 00:30:48.220 And He's seen that human sin separates us from that God in futility and despair. 00:30:50.220 --> 00:30:53.099 But He does not yet see how that fellowship can be restored. 00:30:54.779 --> 00:30:58.539 He does not yet see how our sins can be forgiven. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:01.599 Listen again to verse 26. 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:07.379 For to the one who pleases Him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy. 00:31:08.339 --> 00:31:11.659 But to the sinner, He's given the business of gathering and collecting, 00:31:11.779 --> 00:31:13.579 only to give to the one who pleases God. 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:14.259 And then He says what? 00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:16.039 This is vanity. 00:31:16.219 --> 00:31:17.519 It's striving after wind. 00:31:18.500 --> 00:31:19.259 Wait, what? 00:31:20.019 --> 00:31:22.519 That is also vanity and striving after wind? 00:31:23.500 --> 00:31:24.139 How so? 00:31:24.199 --> 00:31:25.439 I thought we just found the answer. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:29.539 I thought we just said that fellowship with God is the key to lasting joy. 00:31:29.539 --> 00:31:32.159 Now it's all vanity, just like the rest of our human endeavors? 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:32.659 Why? 00:31:37.059 --> 00:31:39.599 Because what Ecclesiastes points out in verse 26, 00:31:40.859 --> 00:31:46.180 it's to the one who pleases God that God will give wisdom and knowledge and joy. 00:31:48.379 --> 00:31:50.379 But to the sinner, God will give futility. 00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:53.819 And all their good will go to the one who pleases God. 00:31:56.700 --> 00:31:59.119 Do you see why all this is empty and striving after the wind? 00:31:59.539 --> 00:32:06.500 Because of this simple reality, friends, who of us can actually please God? 00:32:09.059 --> 00:32:11.480 Yes, the principle is sound. 00:32:11.879 --> 00:32:13.940 The one who pleases God will receive his gifts. 00:32:14.879 --> 00:32:18.019 But has anyone actually lived a life completely pleasing to God? 00:32:20.180 --> 00:32:27.000 Ecclesiastes actually has the honesty to admit that if it does all come down to who pleases God and who doesn't, 00:32:27.420 --> 00:32:28.700 then it's empty after all. 00:32:28.700 --> 00:32:34.600 Because Ecclesiastes is honest enough to admit that sinful human beings like himself and like you and me, 00:32:34.680 --> 00:32:36.080 we can't actually do it. 00:32:38.440 --> 00:32:41.660 We would all rather try to be our own creators and build our own Edens 00:32:41.660 --> 00:32:43.799 than humble ourselves before God and please him. 00:32:43.799 --> 00:32:53.359 And surprisingly, the New Testament makes that exact same point. 00:32:55.220 --> 00:32:57.000 The Apostle Paul says in Romans 3, 00:32:57.259 --> 00:32:59.039 there's no distinction. 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:03.680 There's no distinction between the religious and the irreligious, the good and the bad. 00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:16.720 By your own endeavors, you cannot fix your relationship with God. 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:25.579 You can't play a religious game just like we played the pleasure game and the wisdom game and the legacy game. 00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:34.839 We can't play a religious game and earn enough profit through our moral and religious toil to heal the tear of human sin. 00:33:34.839 --> 00:33:35.839 It can't be done. 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:36.019 It can't be done. 00:33:36.019 --> 00:33:40.000 And if you and I think that we can save ourselves that way, 00:33:40.740 --> 00:33:45.199 then we are just striving after the wind. 00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:50.200 But there's another way. 00:33:52.200 --> 00:34:02.220 What Ecclesiastes 2 doesn't yet see from his location and his perspective in redemptive history, 00:34:02.220 --> 00:34:13.619 what Ecclesiastes 2 doesn't yet see is that God's grace and God's gift are even more radical 00:34:13.619 --> 00:34:20.159 and extravagant than this ancient sage could ever imagine. 00:34:22.359 --> 00:34:24.440 Because when the fullness of time had come, 00:34:25.799 --> 00:34:31.139 hundreds of years after Ecclesiastes wrote his honest wrestlings with human fallenness and sin and a fleeting world, 00:34:31.139 --> 00:34:34.039 when the fullness of time had come, 00:34:35.219 --> 00:34:39.559 God the Creator didn't just offer us His gifts. 00:34:41.159 --> 00:34:42.619 He offered us Himself. 00:34:43.619 --> 00:34:49.759 You see, in Jesus Christ, God the Creator took creaturely human flesh. 00:34:50.980 --> 00:34:55.319 Jesus lived a life in our place that perfectly pleased His heavenly Father. 00:34:55.440 --> 00:34:57.000 And in the person of Jesus Christ, 00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:01.539 that meant perfect fellowship between God and humanity was restored. 00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:05.779 And what do we see in the life of Jesus? 00:35:05.780 --> 00:35:08.540 He ate. 00:35:08.540 --> 00:35:10.420 And He drank. 00:35:11.140 --> 00:35:12.040 And He worked. 00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:16.180 He fully enjoyed the good gifts of His Father. 00:35:17.380 --> 00:35:23.040 So much so that Jesus was criticized by the religious authorities of His day. 00:35:24.180 --> 00:35:27.060 He's a glutton and a drunk, they accused Him of. 00:35:27.059 --> 00:35:36.400 Here in Jesus, humanity and God, creature and Creator were finally reconciled. 00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:43.320 But in order for sin to be fully overcome, the penalty of sin had to be paid. 00:35:43.460 --> 00:35:46.200 The justice of God against evil had to be satisfied. 00:35:47.099 --> 00:35:51.079 So Jesus willingly stood, not just in the place of us as creatures, 00:35:51.960 --> 00:35:55.240 but He stood in the place of us as sinners. 00:35:55.239 --> 00:36:05.719 And on the cross, Jesus tasted not just death, but that infinite despair of our sin. 00:36:06.779 --> 00:36:09.439 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:36:09.479 --> 00:36:09.959 He cried. 00:36:12.339 --> 00:36:17.279 Was there any human being who knew more turmoil, 00:36:17.919 --> 00:36:23.479 more vexation, more despair of soul than Jesus when He was crucified? 00:36:23.480 --> 00:36:30.599 He entered in to the vanity and emptiness of our sin on the cross. 00:36:34.099 --> 00:36:36.940 And having died for sin and being buried, 00:36:37.639 --> 00:36:39.800 on the third day, Jesus was raised from the dead. 00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:44.960 Jesus' resurrection was the final step in overcoming human sin 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:47.619 and restoring fellowship between God and His creatures. 00:36:48.199 --> 00:36:51.579 In the resurrection, sin and death were now finally and fully overcome 00:36:51.579 --> 00:36:54.340 because sin had been paid in full on the cross. 00:36:54.900 --> 00:36:56.319 Death could no longer hold Him. 00:36:57.079 --> 00:37:01.980 Death was now a legal sentence that no longer stuck on Jesus 00:37:01.980 --> 00:37:05.360 because there was no sin for it to claim. 00:37:06.739 --> 00:37:08.179 It had no hold on Him. 00:37:10.079 --> 00:37:14.420 And so the new creation, the life of restored and healed creation, 00:37:14.420 --> 00:37:18.179 could begin when Jesus rose from the dead. 00:37:18.179 --> 00:37:21.139 And the good news is this, friends. 00:37:22.039 --> 00:37:27.139 What God did in Jesus Christ, He did for you, for sinners. 00:37:28.460 --> 00:37:31.399 He became a creature for you, His creature. 00:37:32.460 --> 00:37:34.839 He stood in the place of sinners for you, a sinner. 00:37:35.619 --> 00:37:39.379 He rose again to newness of life for you so you could know newness of life. 00:37:40.079 --> 00:37:43.879 Jesus did all this for you in your place as a gift. 00:37:43.880 --> 00:37:49.500 Pleasing God is not something you or I could ever achieve by our own toil, 00:37:49.619 --> 00:37:53.119 but we can receive what Jesus did for us as a gift. 00:37:54.059 --> 00:37:57.400 You can entrust yourself to Him through repentance and faith. 00:37:57.480 --> 00:38:02.200 And when you do, God will be pleased with you. 00:38:03.059 --> 00:38:07.579 Now, not on the basis of your work, but on the basis of Jesus' work. 00:38:07.579 --> 00:38:14.860 Though you are a sinner, the Father will see you in the Son's perfect righteousness and be pleased. 00:38:18.059 --> 00:38:22.340 Friends, there's only one way to find lasting joy in a fleeting world. 00:38:22.900 --> 00:38:26.259 It's not through pleasure or wisdom or legacy. 00:38:26.940 --> 00:38:32.559 It's only through receiving God's gift of righteousness in Jesus Christ, being united to Him. 00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:46.179 And when you do, then eating and drinking and working will finally become for you what they were always intended to be. 00:38:47.279 --> 00:38:50.400 Loving gifts from your loving Creator. 00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:53.079 Gifts to be enjoyed. 00:38:54.079 --> 00:38:54.960 Gifts to be shared. 00:38:56.139 --> 00:39:00.799 Gifts that lead us back to the Giver in praise and gladness. 00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:03.780 Gifts that, yes, will last forever. 00:39:05.180 --> 00:39:05.960 Let's pray. 00:39:10.460 --> 00:39:16.420 Father in heaven, help us as a church, as those who have been reconciled to You through Your Son, 00:39:17.400 --> 00:39:21.700 to affirm the goodness of Your everyday gifts. 00:39:22.780 --> 00:39:27.360 May we be a people who take deep gladness in eating, drinking, and working. 00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:31.220 And would we be the people who look out at our world and ask, 00:39:31.740 --> 00:39:38.360 where can these gifts be enjoyed more fully, more justly, more permanently? 00:39:38.360 --> 00:39:46.900 Father, for those who are beginning to realize that they are apart from You, their loving Creator, 00:39:48.019 --> 00:39:54.519 grant them the courage and the faith to turn from trying to be their own Creator and creating their own Edens, 00:39:54.940 --> 00:39:59.220 to repent from that, and to trust in Christ, 00:40:00.680 --> 00:40:04.380 our Savior, our Lord, our King. 00:40:05.320 --> 00:40:06.700 Pray this in His mighty name. 00:40:07.019 --> 00:40:07.320 Amen. 00:40:07.320 --> 00:40:08.480 Amen. 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:08.480