An Empty life
Ecclesiastes 1:1-18:
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
4A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
7All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
8All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. 16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem be fore me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
In John Piper’s online ministry, Desiring God, a woman by the name, Abijah wrote to share her spiritual struggle:
Dear Pastor John,
Hello! So, I have been dealing with much in life, which has been really hard for the past three years. Normally I could face life’s challenges with the assurance that God was in control and that I could trust him. But beginning in 2018, I started to get really depressed about the whole
meaning of life and my own purpose. It was in the midst of my challenges
that I lost someone I really loved, and it broke me like nothing ever has. My entire view of God and life has been shattered. I can’t seem to get myself out of wondering why life is even a thing. Life, at least my life, often feels like it has no meaning. Can you renew my vision for life? Can you explain to me:
What is the meaning of life?”
The reality is that Abijah’s struggle is quite common among many people, especially today when life has become more difficult. However, the fact is that this is not a new problem. Many years ago, a man with greater wealth, wisdom, and power expressed the very same concern and wrote about it in the Bible. He noticed the monotonous patterns of his daily existence and wondered what the meaning of his life was or what could give him a worthy reason to live continually. This man was no other than King Solomon, the son who succeeded King David as the King of Israel. But what is sig nificant about King Solomon is that with his questions, he decided he needed to find answers by testing certain routes to find meaning, record his research, and then, share his conclusion. All his work is found in the book of Ecclesiastes.
This awesome book is what we will be studying together from the beginning of this month till the end of October. I’m personally excited because I consider the Book of Ecclesiastes one of the most inspiring books of the Bible. Why? Well, it is not only because the book helps us in defining the most precious possession we have, which is our life. Since we only have one life to live, and we only have it for a short time, we don’t have the luxury of wasting it. We must live this one life to the full est. Plus, this book is also special to me because God used it to turn my life around when I was sev enteen years. I attended a summer camp in the Philippines, and their theme during the camp was “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth,” which was based on Ecclesiastes 12:1. It was during that camp that I gave my life to Christ and surrendered to serve the Lord for full-time ministry. For us here at BCI, we will spend at least 12 Sundays expounding the book with our theme entitled - “Living Our Lives with No Regrets.”
Here’s a critical question for all of us - If God allows you to live for 80 or 90 years here on earth, in the end, would you be satisfied, or would you have some regrets? I’m sure we all desire to experience the best blessings in life and live with full satisfaction until we find ourselves transported to our eternal rest. What can we do in order achieve or what can we do to move towards that expe riencing that kind of life? The good thing is that King Solomon provided us with some guidelines in the Book of Ecclesiastes. The question is whether we are willing to listen to him. So, for this morning, let’s begin our studies in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and discover where King Solomon started his re search work. Here are three important divisions in our text:
I THE TEACHER (v. 1-3)
As we begin to read the first chapter, there are two items about the author we need to high light:
A. His Qualifications
When you go back to verse 1, the author of this book identified himself
with two essential descriptions from these words – “the Preacher, the son of Da vid, king in Jerusalem.”
First, the author's description as a preacher is taken from the Hebrew word “Koheleth,” which literally means “caller” or “speaker in an assembly.” So, King Solomon considers himself as someone gathering a congregation to announce an important message. In ancient times, the king usually gathered an assembly and would address them from the balcony of his palace.
Also, another important truth about Solomon when he wrote this book is he wrote this when he was already at the tail end of his life. Many Bible scholars believe that King Solomon drifted away from the Lord and tried to live his life without Him. Just as we will find in the book, he tried to fill his life with anything or everything he thought could satisfy him. By the time he wrote the book, he was already restored back in his fellowship with God, so he knew by experience how critical is God’s
presence in our lives. Certainly, there is more credibility to what saying because they are based on his experiences.
Second in his description is that he is “the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” Although the au thor did not name himself in the text, there is no doubt that he is King Solomon because he is the one who succeeded King David on the throne. If you go to Proverbs 1:1, you will find a similar de scription for King Solomon – “The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:”
Now, with Solomon being the author of Ecclesiastes, even more, we should not ignore the words in this book. Why? It is because Solomon was specially blessed by God with great wisdom. Here’s the comment in 1 Kings 4:29-30 (ESV):
29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore,
30 so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wis dom of Egypt.
The backdrop of these verses was the Lord appearing to Solomon in a dream asking him what he wanted to ask from Him, and it would be given to him. During this time, Solomon had just started reigning over Israel after King David handed it to him. As a young man, he was overwhelmed with his new responsibility, so instead of asking for more wealth, more power, or greater populari ty. He asked the Lord for wisdom. To make the long story short, the Lord was delighted with what he asked, so God gave him together with wealth, popularity, and power. Bible scholars consider him as the second wisest man who lived on earth after our Savior, Jesus Christ.
The person who took on the responsibility to research the meaning of life is most qualified for the task. Therefore, the findings in the book are trustworthy and reliable, so you can bank your life on them.
B. His Question (v. 3)
If you jump to verse 3, King Solomon plainly states the question he strug
gled with—“What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” The key word in this question is “gain.” The word could be translated as “profit” or “advantage.” If I would paraphrase the question, King Solomon is asking what is the lasting benefit of all the work that we do here on earth? By the way, it is also important for us to highlight the phrase “under the sun.” This phrase is used about 30 times in the book, and whenever it is used, it points to our earthly existence.
Again, this is quite a practical question to ask. We are often overwhelmed with so much work and activity. What do we hope to get out of them? If you continue to live the way you are living your life today, what will be your profit? I’m sure in one time or another, we all may have asked the same question. King Solomon is verbalizing it for all of us. But he was not only going to ask, he also decided to research and find out.
II THE TESTS (vs. 4-18)
Having been gifted by God with so much wisdom, King Solomon gave himself to search for answers. If you jump to verse 13, he mentioned how extensive his research study was – “And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.” Notice the two key words he used. First, the word “seek” suggests that he “investigated the root causes of the matter.” While the word “search” literally means “to examine all sides.” Therefore, King Solomon did a compressive investigation of all human activities done under the sun.
In his study Bible, Dr. David Jeremiah commented that “King Solomon took the harder route. Instead of just trusting the Word of God, which tells us that we live in a broken world where life only has meaning when acted out against the backdrop of God’s presence, Solomon decided to test the theory himself.”
When you go back to verses 4-11, King Solomon considered nature’s monotonous cycles and recognized that nothing is gained from all activity. He cites three examples in nature: ♦ “The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.” ♦ “The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.”
♦ “All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.”
Like nature, humans go through monotonous circles—we wake in the morning, go to work, come home for dinner, watch some television afterward, and go to bed. The next day, we repeat all of these activities, but nothing happens.
Solomon also made a remarkable observation while testing his activities, which he men tioned in verses 8-9: “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”
Man is never satisfied with everything he sees and hears. No matter how
much he sees or hears, humans will crave for more. Jesus said it perfectly in Luke 12:15 (ESV):
15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetous ness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
The reality is that humans' craving for more makes them miserable. We will never be satis fied with what this world has to offer, which leads to our last point.
III THE TESTIMONY (vs. 2, 14)
Lastly, with the initial testing Solomon did, he testified about his conclusion, which is found in verses 2 and 14:
♦ “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”
♦ “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.”
The word “vanity” literally means “empty.” In other words, if we live our lives only for the things we can see (material stuff of this world) or hear (the praises and of men), we are wasting our lives, and we will regret it in the end.
Obviously, Solomon’s perspective is based on all his experiences under the sun. The truth we must see is that our ultimate satisfaction in life will never occur until there is a connection with the Lord, who lives above the sun. Pastor Ed Young wisely said these words:
“Faith in a living, holy, knowable God is enough to give our lives meaning. Faith in God gives us reason enough to live and reason enough to die.”