[Ecc 1] Everything Is Meaningless (Lim)

John C Lim

Ecclesiastes 1

 

1 The words of the Teacher,  son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
       says the Teacher.
       "Utterly meaningless!
       Everything is meaningless."

3 What does man gain from all his labor
       at which he toils under the sun?

4 Generations come and generations go,
       but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
       and hurries back to where it rises.

6 The wind blows to the south
       and turns to the north;
       round and round it goes,
       ever returning on its course.

7 All streams flow into the sea,
       yet the sea is never full.
       To the place the streams come from,
       there they return again.

8 All things are wearisome,
       more than one can say.
       The eye never has enough of seeing,
       nor the ear its fill of hearing.

9 What has been will be again,
       what has been done will be done again;
       there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one can say,
       "Look! This is something new"?
       It was here already, long ago;
       it was here before our time.

11 There is no remembrance of men of old,
       and even those who are yet to come
       will not be remembered
       by those who follow.

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.  13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 15 What is twisted cannot be straightened;
 what is lacking cannot be counted.  16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge." 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.   18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.  Eccl. 1:1-18

We believe the book of Ecclesiastes is written by none other than King Solomon, son of David who is known to us as the wisest man in the Bible.  We have heard of his extraordinary discernment when two women came to him fighting over a baby, each claiming the baby is hers.  Today, we begin a series on this book of Ecclesiastes.  Some may argue that Ecclesiastes should not be included in the canon of the Old Testament as this book seems to argue for secular wisdom.  However, this book cannot be understood properly in its full context without presupposition that Solomon is a believer who shares his understanding of life through wisdom given by God.  We are fortunate that Solomon left behind this book that we can glean and learn life’s most valuable lessons that God taught him through his life. 

As we live in tumultuous times with seemingly complete devastation of what we believed to be solid financial foundation of our economy, lessons Solomon shares in this book couldn’t come at a more opportune time.  Solomon is not an ordinary man if we accept the premise that this book is written by Solomon.  Solomon as the king of Israel is writing this book towards the end of his life as he looks back on his life and pens these words in deep reflection.  This is his attempt to leave behind for the future generations life’s invaluable lessons that he learned while paying steep price.  We may even add that we can learn from his abundant mistakes. 

Solomon lived a life that is as close to what majority of the people would consider extremely charmed life.  He did not have to go through the struggles and hardships that his father, David went through.  He lived life that only few can dream of with such abundance with abandon.  Yet, in the end as he looked back at his life, he suddenly becomes quite somber and offers his insights and his wisdom.  Let us for the time of looking at the book of Ecclesiastes open our eyes, ears, and hearts and draw from Solomon’s lips what he has to share with us. 

Solomon is a rare individual who seems to have tried everything life has to offer in general.  He is not someone we would categorize as an ordinary person who lives and dies without too many controversies.  Rather he seems to have been an extreme radical who is driven by emotion or by exceptional intelligence.  He seems to have traveled from one extreme to the other.   However, he was a man of extraordinary reasoning power and logic, full of passion for life.  He is someone who lived his life fully even if it meant making all the mistakes along the way.  As wise as Solomon was, he suffered greatly for the wrong decisions he made.  No matter how wise a person is in his knowledge of the world, living a life that pleases God and honors God is different.  With Solomon’s some very blatant judgments in his life, he does show remarkable capacity to understand complex issues of life and draw practical conclusions that anyone could see and understand.  Such is the beauty of his writing. 

As Solomon lays out his thesis in the book of Ecclesiastes, he starts off with a seeming display of utter disgust in verses 1-2.

The words of the Teacher, ^[a] son of David, king in Jerusalem: "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."

 

Let’s dwell on this outburst from Solomon. Who is this man, Solomon that he dares to utter such an outcry as if he represents all humanity?  He was the third king of Israel after Saul and David.  By the time Solomon became king, the Kingdom of Israel had been fairly well established.  Unlike his father, King David, Solomon was not a warrior king but a wise king who ruled his kingdom with his wisdom which God granted him.  Here is a man who basically had everything a man could ask for.  He had power, wealth, and wisdom.  He bathed himself in luxury all his life and now when he reached end of his life, he had the nerve to say that everything is meaningless? 

We may shout back to him and say that we want to see it for ourselves, and that we want to experience all that he did and come to similar conclusion.    Truly, do we really want that?  I doubt it.  I for one would not want his life to come to his final conclusion.  Solomon can hold his tongue and allow us to try what he had and let us come to our own conclusion.  Do we wish that we had the same opportunity that he had and hopefully come to the same conclusion as he did?  But as this book is not ours, let us continue to listen to what he has to say.

 

Solomon draws a simple conclusion from his years of life here on earth.  He would conclude with one word that basically describes his life on earth.  That word is meaningless or better known to us as vanity.  He emphasizes that it is not simply meaningless but utterly meaningless.  Then he adds on by saying everything is meaningless.  It is as if he wants to get this point crossed to us by stomping his feet or jumping up and down trying to make a point.  We get his point, don’t we?  We are waiting for his explanation why he makes such a pessimistic conclusion.  Why is he so intent to make this point?  What is the point of living if everything is utterly meaningless? 

 

There are many people in this world who seem to have everything life has to offer.  Some are born with silver spoon and at times we are envious of their good fortune.  Some people never have to worry about money or work as they inherit their parents’ abundant wealth, never experiencing what difficult choice they have to make between putting food on table or keep house warm in cold winter.  But without Christ in their life, those people though they have the world have nothing.  Without Christ, we are nothing but dead corpses.  All the luxuries in life cannot match the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.  At the same time, though we may not have anything of value in this life, if we have Christ, we have everything.  We only need to have one thing that truly counts.  That is to have Jesus Christ in our lives. 

 

According to Solomon who had it all, it is really simple.  Everything is in vain.  As we live in this world, we ought to think about what Solomon says here.  We have numerous projects we have worked on in the past and we still have numerous projects we are currently working on.  We’ll have more projects when we are done with our current projects.  We have had many hobbies and interests.  We have collected various things over the years and have found them to be wanting and perhaps some are sitting in the closet.  We are constantly looking for something new to awaken our interest and our enthusiasm.  We are acquiring new hobbies, new things and new friends.  We live for the weekend and then we dread going back to work.  We take vacations and worry how things are at work and we worry how we are going to get all the work done in the weekend.  So the cycle of life continues on for so many of us.  Look at what Solomon says in verse 3.

 

 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?

 

He throws this question to us to think about.  What do we gain from all our labor at which we toil under the sun?  We work in order to provide for our family.  We work in order to attain certain measure of financial stability.  We work in order to get what we would like for ourselves.  We work hard to get to where we want to be in life.  Business owners work many long hours to establish their businesses and enjoy some respite that may or may not come.  Students study diligently in order to become successful with their academic goals.  When we look at people in high stress work, we can see how quickly they age over the years.  Perhaps money is fair exchange for all the stress they must encounter but then maybe not.  From high blood pressure brought on by high stress jobs to over taxing hours at work taking time away from their family life, there is a price to pay for success in this world.  There is no such thing as a free lunch.  With great compensations come great sacrifices as well. So after all that work and energy spent on all the wonderful work, what do we gain under the sun?   

 

We look at our achievements and accomplishments and momentarily may be proud of such things.  We look at the gains we have made from the time of our birth.  From meeting famous people along the way to being part of something big, we can’t hide our proud feelings.   We can’t deny pride in achieving success whatever that means to different people.  We beam with unashamed joy at having accomplished so much.  Perhaps when we walk down the streets, people recognize who we are and are eager to let us know that they know us.  We open our mouth and people flock to hear what we have to say as if what we have to say is truly significant to garner such undivided attention.  We dine at famous restaurants dishes that have been prepared by famous chefs, feeling like we’ve finally arrived.  We drive with that knowing smugness that only few could afford what we have.  Is that all?  Is this what we have lived for and worked so hard for?  So what do we gain from all these achievements under the sun? 

 

Instead of offering his quick answer to this question of what man gains from all his labor at which he toils under the sun, Solomon meanders in verses 4-7 through what he observed in nature.  Let’s look at these verses.

 

Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.  The sun rises and the sun sets and hurries back to where it rises.  The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.  All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

 

When you examine what Solomon says here, he is describing the cyclical nature of all that happens on earth.  Just as we are born, we die on this earth that has been and will be.  Sun, wind, and streams are busy going about their business but ultimately, they go in circles.  As we saw earlier, Solomon is a wise man who observed nature and came to some fascinating conclusions.  He shows remarkable understanding of the way nature works.  He understood the basic workings of the planetary system and our weather pattern.  And then Solomon draws closer to his points in verses 8-11.

 

All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.  Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"?  It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.

 

Solomon says that there is nothing new under the sun.  All our activities and our endeavors are in the end meaningless.  No matter how far we have traveled and enjoyed good things in life, in the end everything is meaningless.  We can see and hear all kinds of wondrous things in this world but ultimately, but there are still more to see and hear.  There is no end in sight to how much we can be exposed in what we perceive to be new experiences that delight our senses.  Our very existence according to Solomon is futile at best.  We know for a fact that men make monuments to be remembered by posterity.  Yet in due time, these things will also be no longer remembered.  We work desperately to be remembered and yet our efforts are all in vain.  He says all things are wearisome and that there is no satisfaction in all that we pursue.   Yet when we look at our world today, everyone is busy pursuing something and moving towards certain direction, oblivious to everything else.  They perhaps or we continue to rush through life trying to get to that destination. 

 

Without Christ in our lives, everything we do is wearisome.  Without Christ in our lives, all that we accomplish and all that we achieve do not bring true satisfaction and happiness.  As much as we pursue what we deem important and significant, we are merely chasing something that in the end proves meaningless.  No matter what we become in this life with all the acknowledgements from our world, all that means absolutely nothing when Christ is missing from our lives.  On that day when we are face to face with God, He will not ask us anything else other than whether we knew Christ and accepted Him as our Lord and Savior.  

 

It seems we are all in hot pursuit of something even this day.  Where are we going to?  Where are we headed? Look what Solomon says in verses 12-15.

 

I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.  I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!  I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  What is twisted cannot be straightened;
 what is lacking cannot be counted.  

 

He describes his own journey of seeking after the truth.  Because of his exceptional intelligence in seeking after knowledge, he tells us that he studied about these things very deeply and explored by wisdom all that is done under heaven trying to make sense of it all.  In verse 13, he mentions God for the first time.  He says “What a heavy burden God has laid on men!”  Solomon observes that we have this burden on us which God has laid.  We carry this burden on us throughout our life here on earth.  From the burden of having to work to provide our family to aching over all kinds of sorrows that occur throughout our life’s journey on earth, we continue to trudge on in this life even this day.  From valleys to heights of life, we cry in pain and laugh in joy.  From temporary failure to feats of success, our life is never constant but constantly changing for better or for worse.  And Solomon once again observes that he has seen all the things that are done under the sun and that all of them are meaningless, or a chasing after the wind. 

 

With one stroke, Solomon the wisest man who ever lived says simply that all the things done are meaningless.  It is nothing more than a chasing after the wind.  As much as we work so hard to make a difference, ultimately, it is a chasing after the wind.  Look at verse 15.

 

What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

 

Imagine picking up a twisted branch that has fallen from the tree.  As we grab it in our hand, it remains as it is.  That branch cannot be straightened no matter how much we want to change it or want to see it change.  When we try to straighten it, we end up breaking it.  The way it is made is the way it will be.  And Solomon continues to expound his point in verses 16-17.

 

I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge."  Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.  

 

In order to give more credence to his argument, he lays out his credential as one who is not simply saying this flippantly but with great care and much thought.  He says he applied himself to the understanding of wisdom but that all proved to be nothing more than a chasing after the wind.  This academic pursuit or intellectual endeavor has proven to be nothing more than a chasing after the wind.  Even though Solomon became a great intellect in his own right in that time, he concludes that his attempt to understand is ultimately meaningless.  And Solomon shares his heart felt conviction about his own experience in verse 18.

 

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

 

Solomon is being intellectually honest when he shares his own conviction regarding what he has learned and how he feels about it.  As he gained much wisdom, he confesses that it came at a price of deep sorrow.  It is curious that more knowledge brought more grief.  Obviously we will learn from the book of Ecclesiastes in the next several weeks what he is talking about in greater depth but it is interesting that for all his endeavors, there is greater sadness when one comes to deeper understanding of life.

 

Apostle Paul professed in Philippians 3:8-9a. 

 

“What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him,”

 

Although Apostle Paul was a brilliant scholar of great reputation, he vowed staunchly that knowing Christ as His Lord trumped everything else.  Even if we achieve the highest level of intellectualism, that will not bring us any closer to true happiness or true satisfaction.  We can find true meaning when we have Christ in our heart. 

 

Wisdom is worthy goal for all to pursue but we must understand that there is a limitation in wisdom.  Wisdom is not an end in itself.   There is a barrier in wisdom that we cannot breach no matter how much we delve into it.  Wisdom can only take us so far and we realize that it cannot take us any further and rather leaves us completely devastated.  We would also confess in the end that all that wisdom without Christ only brings us emptiness and deep sorrow. 

 

Many people in our world today have sought this wisdom and have achieved this wisdom but have found no true happiness or satisfaction.  It is like having reached a place where no man has gone before only to find that this place is nothing but an utter disappointment.  Such is our human pursuit. 

 

As we ponder about our life in general, where are we today?  Even as we work hard at our jobs and pursue our dreams, where would we be in the end?  Would we be happy and satisfied when we reach that place which we strive so hard to reach? 

Are we willing to travel with Solomon in pursuit of this knowledge or wisdom?  Are we willing to be intellectually honest and true to ourselves when we discover the truth?  Only when we are truly honest and are willing to open our eyes, ears and our hearts through the Holy Spirit, will we be able to reach the conclusion Solomon came to so many years ago.