Ecclesiastes 3 - for the Byrds...

The passage that made song history with the Byrds...

1 There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

15 Whatever is has already been,
    and what will be has been before;
    and God will call the past to account.[b]

16 And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
    in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

17 I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment
    both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
    a time to judge every deed.”

18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath[c]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

When we examine this passage, we see that there is a time for every event in our lives -both good and bad. That we will find ourselves going through them at some point. We were all born, we will all die. We all move, we all have times for anger and times for embracing. As Matthew Henry's Commentary tells us, Solomon here in the first 14 verses tells all this as a warning to us even today, that time is short so make the best of it for Christ while we're here. If we look back at verse 11 it tells us how no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Think about this. 

In verses 15 - 22 Solomon dives into the fact that even with all our advanced technology there is nothing new under the sun. So true. When you can find ancient brothel houses in Pompeii that have graphic images of what each woman did still able to be seen thousands of years later, it shows us that indeed, nothing is new. Sin hasn't changed, just technology. We're all still sinful people in need of a Saviour. Also, what we see is that without the fear of the Lord guiding us and leading us in our judgments, we will fail. Solomon seems defeated when he talks about humans and animals, how we humans have no advantage over the animals? Sure we both die, but animals don't have the hope of salvation - we do! If we were nothing but like the animals then Solomon was right in saying we might as well do what we want, just enjoy our work and other things. But thank God he wasn't right. We are made in the image of God as we saw in the Garden of Eden! We're hand-crafted in our mothers' wombs by His hand! Jesus came to save us by his death! Solomon didn't have the advantage of that when he wrote, but looking back we can see how his words are so true, that life without God IS meaningless or as some versions put it, vanity! It really is all about us and nothing more if God does not exist. But he DOES so we have a responsibility to seek Him out and serve Him, so serve well! 

Ecclesiastes 2 - Wisdom is folly?

Ecclesiastes 2 (NIV)

1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem[a] as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
    I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
    and this was the reward for all my toil.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
    and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
    nothing was gained under the sun.

12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
    and also madness and folly.
What more can the king’s successor do
    than what has already been done?
13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly,
    just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise have eyes in their heads,
    while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
    that the same fate overtakes them both.

15 Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
    What then do I gain by being wise?”
I said to myself,
    “This too is meaningless.”
16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
    the days have already come when both have been forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise too must die!

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Another passage filled with lots to unpack, so let's begin...

Verses 1 - 3 has Solomon trying all the pleasure of life... yet through his slide downward one might ask where was his wisdom that God gave him? He tells us in verse 3 - my mind still guiding me with wisdom. So even though he slid away, God was still merciful in allowing the wisdom he gave to Solomon to guide him - keeping him safe through everything he experienced. And from what we see form this passage - he tried it all. The pleasures of the world, the latest house and gardens, lots of land and water, slaves, silver and gold, harems, the works. He was the Donald Trump of his day and then some. What did Solomon find out? It was all useless and worthless. Tell that to the guys off Dragon's Den like Kevin O'Leary!

Verses 4 and onward Solomon shares exactly what he did. He denied himself nothing, he indulged, he worked and toiled and got rewards for what he did, but verse 11 says, Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. Wow. He felt the emptiness of life itself. In verses 17 and 18 he says, 17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun,... He found no satisfaction like that old Rolling Stones song. His wisdom came shining through as he realized everything in life is temporal and we can't take it with us when we die. Someone else inherits whatever we leave behind and does whatever they want with it. That is sad when you hear it that way.

In the last section of this passage, we see this, 24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness,... Now some would make the mistake of saying "As long as we follow God we'll be happy healthy and wealthy and wise! Well God MAY give you that but it's not guaranteed. All that is promised here is wisdom, knowledge and happiness. A happiness that comes from knowing God and not from accumulating things or positions or whatever life experience you can have. In the Matthew Henry's Commentary it says, Solomon found that knowledge and prudence were preferable to ignorance and folly, though human wisdom and knowledge will not make a man happy. So true. Even being wise and knowledgeable can't make us happy, there are a lot of unhappy scientists and mathematicians out there. 

So to close, find your worth in God. Work here yes, but don't put stock in it.

Only God makes us happy and fulfilled, nothing else can.

Ecclesiates 1

Today starts the series on Ecclesiastes. It is a 12 part series based on the chapters in the book. 

Ecclesiastes is a book often quoted for things said in Chapter 3, but we'll focus on that when we get there. In the meantime... Chapter 1!

Ecclesiastes 1(NIV)

Everything Is Meaningless 

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

2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
    says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
    Everything is meaningless.”

3 What do people gain from all their labors
    at which they toil 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 No one remembers the former generations,
    and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
    by those who follow them.

Wisdom Is Meaningless

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 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 crooked cannot be straightened;
    what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said to myself, “Look, I have 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.

Footnotes:

1. Ecclesiastes 1:1 Or the leader of the assembly; also in verses 2 and 12

Okay, that is a lot to take in. Let's start with who wrote this. It was Solomon. The man had it all being the King of Israel. God had blessed him with riches and fame as well as the wisdom he asked for. He hadn't asked for the riches and fame, but God gave it to him anyway rewarding a wise choice for what he could ask God for anything in his life to be blessed with. Solomon had allowed himself to get sidetracked with the things of this world. Yes, the man who was given wisdom beyond any other man lost his way. He took multiple wives, and then some were not from Israel. He lost pleasure in the things of God so he tried pleasure in the things of the world - after all he could afford it!

What happened next? Look at what he says about the things of life - meaningless! Other translations put this as vanity of vanities. Useless is the word we would use. What's the point? I can see that question raised so easily, we spend our lives getting the right education to get the right job, get the right house, get the right friends, find the right spouse, have the right kids, find the right church, have the right car, have the right "toys" in life to try and satisfy us. In the end it's all utterly meaningless. I'm not saying there is NO value in studying hard and getting a job to support a family. That's an admirable thing. But how many people are workaholics? How many give up on marriages and try again with someone new? How many church splits have there been over petty things? 

Solomon tried everything to satisfy his desires, and found it all wanting. Nothing he chose to pursue would fill the void he felt. As believers we would ask - why didn't he just pursue God and avoid all that heartache? It's easy I think, we can get distracted by the world because we feel our lives are not as good as our neighbours. They seem to have no problems financing a great home, nice cars, their kids are great and we seem to struggle no matter what we do and we get jealous. We take our eyes off the Lord and start to look at the things of this world and think, we need that too.

The Bible warns against comparing ourselves to those of the world and what they have in Psalm 73:3 - 5, 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4  They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.[a] 5 They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills. See how easy it is to be envious of the world? 

In verses 9 - 10, Solomon states boldly how there is nothing new under the sun. It's true. Just look at our world. We have superheroes in the movies today, but in previous generations they had Robin Hood and Sherlock Holmes. Sports heroes have been around for generations. Music has changed, but how many times have we heard a "new" song only to discover it was a remake of an old classic? The heart of sinful acts have not changed, just the forms. Previous generations had their form of pornographic materials, today ours is just more direct and digitized and easier to access than ever before. Even modern atrocities we see in the news like the situation with ISIS is not new, we look back at history and we see Hitler and how he and the Nazis almost wiped out the Jewish people by themselves. Go back further and we see Napoleon and more. Go back further to Genesis 6 and we see how mankind was so wicked God decided to wipe it out save for Noah and his family to start over again. 

In verse 11 Solomon writes about former generations and how the get lost as time goes on. It's so true. Sure we have those unique people that are remembered more than others for various reasons like Elvis Presley to John F. Kennedy, from Hitler to Cain. But for the most part, people spend a lifetime building things up - and "empire" of wealth and fame, only to be quickly forgotten when they retire and pass away. Musicians come and go, sports and movie celebs too, politicians come and go. Even the big billionaires come and go only to be forgotten within a generation of people. This is why Solomon looked at it all and asked why do we keep doing what we're doing when it the grand scheme it means nothing but a blip of life eternal?

This is why we need to focus on the eternal. To ensure the next generation grabs hold of the faith we have and makes it theirs. A quote from C.T. Studd says it all: Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Believe me I am as convicted by this as you are. When I am dead and gone, how will I be remembered? A dad who led his family well in the Lord? A pastor who led people well? Or a disinterested dad or one who just coasted? Maybe a pastor who didn't go back into the ministry full time again because he lacked the spiritual fervor? Ouch. 

So yes it's nice to have the odd thing, as long is the thing does not have us, and we need to remember that everything in this world is meaningless unless it is focused on Christ alone. Watching the Leafs maybe win a Stanley Cup, watching the latest offering from Marvel or DC at the movies, getting the next car, the bigger house, the new pet, the new job - all of it is meaningless outside of Christ. I hope I never get to where Solomon was and think I can find meaning in the things of this world only to discover that it never mattered anyway and I should have just stuck with Christ to begin with.