Ecclesiastes Chapter 2 Verse 1

 Solomon sets out to see if there is any meaning in and of itself, self-

contained satisfaction, in happiness. That is the word in the Hebrew

translated here, “mirth.” It means doing things that according to

human reason will bring about happiness in a life.

 He says to himself, “therefore enjoy pleasure,” and the word for

pleasure is the “best of everything.” I will go after the best of

everything and surely that will make me a happy man. The best house.

The best company. The best vineyard, gardens, pools… It’s the same as

the heart of the average American…

 The American dream. Start from close to nothing or nothing at all.

Work hard. Find success. Buy a house, have a family and save enough

to retire while you still have some life left to live. That resonates.

There’s a sense of human satisfaction in that, as well as striving for

the best. The best house. The best family. The best education for my

kids. The best youth athletics program. The best church… It’s almost a

given to say we all want that…

 Solomon had all of that and so much more than any of us. And his

conclusion is that it did not deliver what it promised. It promised

happiness, but it didn’t deliver, and most of us will never find that out!

The trap is in the striving and focus and priority we place on it…, but

only the very few achieve the apex of society. Elon Musk, Jeff Besos,

Bill Gates, Forrest Frank… So, we get caught in this pursuit of the

best, never achieving so never finding out what Solomon found out,

and therefore just chasing what does not satisfy, never knowing it

doesn’t actually satisfy because we don’t actually get there!

 Elon Musk is worth over a trillion dollars. The first in history, perhaps

other than Solomon. And, he’s on his third wife. Listen, I know folks

get divorced for a number of reasons, but for a man that has

everything, he didn’t have the patience, kindness and unconditional

love to make his first two marriages work.

 His first wife cited in the divorce that he was overbearing, controlling,

obsessed with his career and refused to talk things out with her in

terms of their relationship issues. The point that I’m making is that a

man of peace and a man that is content and a man that is living in

happiness doesn’t look like someone controlling others and obsessed

with career success. Bezos and Gates have gone through similar

stories…

 Now, Forrest Frank, on top of the world. Rocketing to stardom and

absolutely killing it. Yet just recently he announced that he will no

longer attend or accept physical trophies at music award shows,

including Christians awards such as the Dove Awards. Why? He posts

on Instagram that it’s because his music is not for his personal

gratification but it is from Jesus and for Jesus. And his songs include

titles like, “God is Good,” “No Longer Bound,” “Good Day,” “Never

Get Used To This,” “Praises,” “Beautiful As Ever,” and, “Come With

Me!”

 Solomon’s chorus is don’t follow me! Forrest sings, “I was down but

now I’m UP!” Solomon writes, “I was up but now I’m DOWN!”

Here’s the point, the world has all the things we want, but God has

all the things we need. And when we start to get what we need, we

find out, those are the things we really want!

 Isaiah 55:2, God trying to help us out, reads, “Why do you spend

money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not

satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul

delight itself in abundance.”

 Listen to Proverbs 4:5-9, “Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not

forget, nor turn away from the words of My mouth. Do not forsake her,

and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is

the principal thing; Therefore, get wisdom. And in all your getting, get

understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you. She will bring you

honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an

ornament of grace; A crown of glory she will deliver to you.”

 The world says get the best of everything and it will make you happy.

Pursue it all the time. Think about it constantly and don’t rest until you

get it. Rise and grind and you will be king, you will be queen. And we

get hooked, trapped. When God says, put Me first, and back to

Proverbs 4, I will deliver to you preservation of purpose. I will keep

you UP. I will promote you, bring honor to your life and place a crown

on your head and grace in your heart. Patience, gentleness, happiness,

contentment…

 Is Forrest rich? Oh yea. Is he famous? Absolutely. Does he have

everything everyone wants. He sure does. AND, he has understanding

so that he actually enjoys all of it. Let me get down to earth for just a

moment.

 Your boss a problem for you? Groan to go to work? 1 Peter 2:18 says,

“Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the

good and gentle, but also the harsh.” Sounds crazy. Sounds stupid.

But respect and revere that bad boss and your will find yourself happy.

Your husband not perfect? Ephesians 5:22 says, “Wives, submit

yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.” Titus 2:4-5

says, “Love your husbands, love your children, be discreet, chaste,

homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands…” Oh man is it

getting uncomfortable in here! But do that, and see if you don’t get

what you need…?

 Your wife not perfect? Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your

wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for

her…” See if you don’t find a satisfaction that far surpasses your

thought of how great it would be if your wife met your perfect

expectations. Here’s the fun part. No one believes me! I don’t even

believe me! HA! Everything in me says, “Whatever!!” That’s why

this takes something other than belief, it takes faith. Faith is

behaving like God sees what you don’t….

 By faith the walls of Jericho fell. By faith, Joshua and Caleb entered

into the promised land. By faith, Joseph became second in command

of Egypt. I could go on and on… It wasn’t by belief or understanding

or reason… By faith, Jesus defeated sin and the grave… Solomon

lived by human belief and all that he did made absolute sense. But his

life was faithful to him and not to God… And after getting it all,

which few ever do, he said holy smokes, its all worthless…

Ecclesiastes Chapter 2 Verses 2 – 11

 If someone would have just warned him about all of this!?

Deuteronomy 17:14-20, “When you come to the land which the Lord

your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will

set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall

surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from

among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a

foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply

horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply

horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way

again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn

away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. Also it

shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write

for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the

priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all

the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be

careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his

heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside

from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he

may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst

of Israel.”

 Solomon had all the wisdom to know how to get all these things and

do these things for himself but in the end what he lacked was faith and

so it all meant nothing to him and added nothing to him! Don’t

multiply horses and chariots. How did Solomon do? Don’t multiply

wives. How did Solomon do? Don’t multiply gold. How did Solomon

do? Failed!

 He became great and excelled more than all who were before him in

Jerusalem and all the while, he openly and with full awareness knew

the Word of God and just did his own thing. That is a sure setup for

trouble and for your heart to be entirely unsatisfied!

 Here’s what’s a setup! Being a Christian! God calls you, He enables

you, He fills you, He strengthens you, and then when you do the

things He’s powered and provided everything for, He rewards you!

How do you ditch that setup for Solomon’s? He looks at the works that

his hands had done and indeed all of it was grasping for the wind.

 Here’s the thing. Build your life and all that you have and all your

success and in all your things and stuff and people and likes and posts

and all that the successful have, focus on that and your life exterior

will build. And it can all be meaningless. Build your interior and

everything becomes meaningful. This is what Solomon did. He built

the best exterior experience possible. And he had nothing…

Ecclesiastes Chapter 2 Verses 12 – 17

 I feel like Solomon was a drag to be around! Hey king, how’s it going?

Awe, what’s it all worth anyway? Ok, king…, welp you have a good

day! HA! He turns from material things to things of human

experience. Wisdom, madness and folly. He finds wisdom to be better.

“The wise man’s eyes are in his head.” The wise person thinks about

things. Considers things. What will this do to that? What does this

mean, not just what they’re saying but why…?

 This is far better than the fool who walks in darkness and just does and

responds to whatever the senses are reporting. The day is better for the

wise is his conclusion, but in the end, we all face the same event.

Death… And then what does the day mean that was lived?

 This is the conclusion of the one who is stray from God. Why would I

say that? Daniel Chapter 12:2-3, “And many of those who sleep in the

dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame

and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the

brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness

like the stars forever and ever.”

 Every day counts to the one who walks with the Lord. And the more

you stray from the Lord, the more warped and irrational and out of

touch with reality you become! I mean, just practically speaking, stray

from what is right…? Where will your thinking and understanding be?

DUH!

 You don’t take the accomplishment of the day to heaven. You take

souls. Souls are all that go into the Kingdom of God. And you can

take tons of them! How? By using the gift or gifts that God has given

you to serve Him. Simple as that. Use your gifts for your own gain and

you gain nothing. Use your gifts for the kingdom and everyday you

are gaining and life is not hated, distressing, vanity and grasping for

the wind!

 John 11:25-26, “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And

whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe

this?” If you do, every moment of every day will not only be life, and

filled with true accomplishment, but you will also have JOY! The fruit

of the Spirit, (in other words, the result of walking by faith), Love,

JOY….

 Solomon hates life. What’s his problem? Not his life! He has

everything! His problem is his lack of faithfulness! His problem is not

his exterior; it is his interior!

Ecclesiastes Chapter 2 Verses 18 – 23

 Interesting. Solomon would lie awake at night and worry about who is

going to get his stuff. His wealth has him. If all your money and hope

and purpose is in the stock market, you watch it like a hawk. And if its

down, so are you… Solomon worried about who would get all of his

accomplishments…

 2 Chronicles 12:1-4, “Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had

established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook

the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him. And it happened in

the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up

against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord,

with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and people

without number who came with him out of Egypt—the Lubim and the

Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. And he took the fortified cities of Judah

and came to Jerusalem.”

 Many times, it’s the things God delivers us out from (Egypt) that end

up overtaking us again when we forsake His ways! Rehoboam indeed

lost everything, all that his father Solomon had left to him, including

the nation.

 Here’s the flip side of this circumstance. The righteous vantage point.

We have gifts. We are given gifts to not turn them into flesh fulfillers

for ourselves. We are given gifts and they are to remain gifts. We are

to give them away. To use them as gifts unto others and unto the Lord.

If you do this, you don’t care what people do with them because you

are doing what you should do with them. That is the nature of a gift.

 If I give you a gift and I get all bent out of shape with what you do

with it or don’t do with it, then it was never a gift. It was mine and I

put it in your hands, but it remained mine. What we leave, we leave.

There will be no regret with what we leave if we give it well…

 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.”

We should leave a great legacy and inheritance to our children and to

those around us… And if you worry like Solomon worries, then

you’re not a gift giver at all. Perhaps you’re a curse passer.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 2 Verses 24 – 25

 His conclusion after it all is to enjoy what is in front of you for the

day. Not a crazy or bad conclusion. We often get into destinationitis.

As soon as I get there then I’ll be good. As soon as I graduate school.

Then what? Then I’ll get a job. Then what? Then I’ll get married.

Then what? Then I’ll start a family. Then what? Then I’ll send my kids

off to college. And then what? Then I’ll retire. Then what? Then I’ll

move to a 65+ community and live at ease. Then what?

 Then it’s all over. And the destinations have left you feeling like it was

all so fast and so much was left undone. We are too fixated on the

destination that we miss the joy of the journey. At least Solomon

learned this it appears.

 The ultimate “then what” is eternal life or eternal death. We read that

in Daniel. Jesus talked about it with Martha. And this is the thing that

is yours for the taking tonight. The setup. To slide Jesus Christ up in

your heart of hearts from Savior to Lord… And learn what the wisest

man that ever lived missed. That faith is better than wisdom. That

what the world tells you that you want makes sense…, but what God

tells you that you need makes you happy.

 Here’s Solomon’s final thought for this chapter…

Ecclesiastes Chapter 2 Verse 26

 Your choice. No flex. Nothing else possible. Wisdom, knowledge and

joy, as you acknowledge and walk with God as Lord of you, or

gathering, collecting and loss as you stray from what is good and right.

God wants to set you up. He SO wants to…, but what do you want?