“LIFE ACCORDING TO THE WORLD” “SORTING YOUR LIFE OUT”

Services

Sunday
10:30 AM Worship Service

Wednesday
6:30 PM Bible Study

May 24, 2023

“LIFE ACCORDING TO THE WORLD”

“SORTING YOUR LIFE OUT”

ECCLESIASTES 2:1-26


Solomon records three stages in his experiments as he searched for a satisfying meaning of life.


  1.   Solomon Tested Life- Ecclesiastes 2:1-11


*Pleasure- Wild Living, Enjoyment


Ecclesiastes 2:1 “I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity.”


Psalm 104:1-35


1 Timothy 6:17 “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”


#He Tried Amusement


Ecclesiastes 2:2 “I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” 


Proverbs 14:13 “Even in laughter the heart may sorrow,
And the end of mirth may be grief.”


1 Kings 10:21 “All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.”


1 Kings 4:22-23

If you live for pleasure alone, enjoyment will decrease unless the intensity of the pleasure increases.


#He Tries Alcohol


Ecclesiastes 2:3 “I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.” 


Solomon’s stomach may have been full, but his heart was still empty.


*Work- searching for meaning in a career- Ecclesiastes 2:4-11


#He Started With Great Works


Ecclesiastes 2:4-6


1 Kings 4:33 “Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.”


#He Also Had Workers


Ecclesiastes 2:7 “I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me.”


#His Wealth


Ecclesiastes 2:7-8 “…Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. 8I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.”


Of course Solomon accumulated wealth, in flocks and herds, as well as in gold and silver:


1 Kings 8:63 “And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.”


1 Kings 4:21 “So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.”


There can be joy in the doing of great projects, but what happens when the task is finished?


Ecclesiastes 2:9-11


“Success is full of promise, until men get it.” Said Henry Ward Beecher, “and then it is a last-year’s nest from which the bird has flown.”


Solomon tested life, and his heart said, “vanity!”


2.   Solomon Hated Life- Ecclesiastes 2:12-23


What good is it to be wise and wealthy if you are going to die and leave everything behind?


*Work, and Wisdom didn’t satisfy him.


Ecclesiastes 2:12 “Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly; For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—Only what he has already done.”

Since both the wise and the fool will die, what is the value of wisdom?


*Mans Work doesn’t separate him.


Ecclesiastes 2:13-16


Both the wise man and the fool die, and both the wise man and the fool are forgotten. 


Ecclesiastes 2:17 “Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.”


We as Christians should love life:


Psalm 34:12 “Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good?”


1 Peter 3:10 “For “He who would love life And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit.”


We live by promises and not by explanations, and we know that our “labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58


*Solomon Considered His Wealth- Ecclesiastes 2:18-23


#First, you can’t keep it.


Ecclesiastes 2:18 “Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.”


Jesus spoke about this-to the rich fool- Luke 12:13-21


1 Timothy 6:7-10- Paul speaks on this


Matthew 6:19-34


#Second, you can’t protect it.


Ecclesiastes 2:19-20 “And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. 20Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun.”


The view “under the sun” always leads to pessimism.


#Third, we can’t enjoy it as we should.


Ecclesiastes 2:21-23 “For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? 23For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.”


At this point, Solomon appears to be very pessimistic, but he doesn’t remain that way very long. In a step of faith he reaches the third stage in his experiment.


3.   He Accepted Life- Ecclesiastes 2:24-26


True enjoyment is a gift from God.


Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 “Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. 25For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

1 Timothy 6:17 “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”


The important thing is that we seek to please the Lord and trust Him to meet every need. 


Ecclesiastes 2:26 “For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.”


Proverbs 13:22 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”


Isaiah summarizes this section for us.


Isaiah 55:1-3


Are you living for God or for self?