1 00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:03,840 There we go OK, you guys were all ready to go when that music 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:05,600 stops. So welcome back to it. 3 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:08,119 Just as a reminder, the wait tonight will work is we will go 4 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:12,600 through the the fill in the blank notes and then as we wrap 5 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:15,600 that up, we'll have some acoustic worship after we do 6 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,040 group discussion and so very excited about this. 7 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,560 If you're missing any of the fill in the blanks, you can ask 8 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:22,000 me afterwards. If you're watching On Liberty 9 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,720 live stream, then this does end after the teaching portion 10 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:28,520 because we don't live stream all of the table discussions. 11 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:32,800 But last session where we started this Ecclesiastes open 12 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,320 with a difficult observation about life. 13 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,840 The teacher, as we call him, looked at the world and 14 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,040 described it as vapor, something that is real but fleeting and 15 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:42,720 something you can't grab a hold of. 16 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,200 He kept calling it Hevel, and y'all will probably remember 17 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,920 Hevel often gets translated one of two ways. 18 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,320 One is vanity. The other thing is anybody 19 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,000 meaningless? Everything is meaningless. 20 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:00,200 And so he's basically trying to say this life is fragile. 21 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,160 You can see it, but you can't control it. 22 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,400 And so if life is so brief and difficult to control, where does 23 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,520 real meaning come from? And so as Chapter 2 begins, the 24 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:13,000 teacher decides that he's going to approach that question from a 25 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,160 different angle. If wisdom alone can't untangle 26 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,840 the mystery of what life is, maybe finding things to enjoy 27 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,680 can. He's thinking maybe the answer 28 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,440 to life is not deeper thinking, but more fuller living. 29 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:29,520 And so if life feels empty, maybe the solution is to fill it 30 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,520 with laughter and entertainment and experiences and pleasure. 31 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:37,320 And so the teacher is actually going to begin with an 32 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:40,760 experiment, as you'll see. But what he decides is that 33 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,360 instead of observing life from a distance, he's going to step 34 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:45,920 directly into the pursuit of pleasure and see what life 35 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,160 brings them. Many of us have walked that road 36 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,440 already, but that impulse that he does is one of the defining 37 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,440 things about our modern culture. Today, when life feels stressful 38 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,080 or confusing or unsatisfying, the most common advice that 39 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,040 people hear is pretty simple. It's some form of enjoy yourself 40 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,520 more, have fun, take the trip, buy the thing, upgrade your 41 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,000 lifestyle, find the experience that will make you feel alive 42 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,960 again. Entire industries are actually 43 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:15,480 built on the promise that the next experience will finally 44 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:19,000 deliver satisfaction to us. Every advertisement you see for 45 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,120 anything ever is essentially saying you're missing something. 46 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,200 But we have the answer. And so the teacher in 47 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:29,000 Ecclesiastes has a rare ability to test that theory in ways that 48 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,160 most people never could. Just as a recap, he was 49 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,240 extraordinarily wealthy, had immense power and creative 50 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:37,760 freedom and the ability to pursue literally anything he 51 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,240 wanted to do. That's why the teacher uses the 52 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,760 voice of King Solomon, even if it's likely not King Solomon. 53 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,720 But long after Ecclesiastes records this experiment, I just 54 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:50,440 wanted to share this at the beginning tonight. 55 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,880 Jesus himself would address the same human instinct in the same 56 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,120 way in one of his teachings. He warns us in Mark 834 through 57 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:00,800 38. That's not in your notes, just a 58 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,880 bonus if you want it. Mark 834 through 38, he says 59 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:07,680 after calling the crowd to join his disciples, he says, if any 60 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,880 of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way. 61 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,520 Take up your cross and follow me. 62 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,160 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. 63 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,640 But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the 64 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:24,960 good news, you'll save it. And what do you benefit if you 65 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,280 gain the whole world and lose your own soul? 66 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:29,680 Is anything worth more than your soul? 67 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,120 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous 68 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,680 and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person 69 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:40,360 when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. 70 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,480 It's the same thing that he's addressing, just again from a 71 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,920 different viewpoint. But what Jesus says here, it 72 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,520 talks about a deeper struggle that sits beneath the pursuit of 73 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,400 pleasure. A person can accumulate all of 74 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,920 the experiences, all of the possessions and success, and 75 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,320 still discover that something is missing. 76 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:01,280 And the problem isn't that enjoyment exists. 77 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:03,480 It's something that we are all welcome to pursue. 78 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,840 But Scripture is consistent when it shows that joy and 79 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:09,680 celebration and good gifts are all part of God's design. 80 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:12,880 It's OK. The problem comes when we begin 81 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:16,000 expecting those gifts to carry the weight of our meaning and 82 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,240 our identity. So if pleasure can entertain us, 83 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,800 but it can't really anchor us to the Lord, where does lasting 84 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,120 meaning actually come from? For the 1st 2 verses, 85 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,720 Ecclesiastes 2, The 1st 2 verses, I'm calling this the 86 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:30,720 promise of pleasure. And he says this. 87 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:34,880 I said to myself, come on, let's try pleasure, let's look for the 88 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,920 good things in life. But I found that this too was 89 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,640 meaningless. So I said, laughter is silly. 90 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:43,680 What good does it do to seek pleasure? 91 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,880 Well, the teacher double s down and he makes this decision like 92 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,040 we talked about, that he's going to run an experiment. 93 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:51,800 And he says to himself, let's try pleasure. 94 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,360 So in other words, if wisdom can't unlock the meaning of 95 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,320 life, then maybe enjoyment could. 96 00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:58,560 You're blank. There is enjoyment. 97 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,480 And that phrase is translated as let's try when he says, come on, 98 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:05,840 let's try pleasure. It comes from a Hebrew 99 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:10,000 expression that is actually pronounced nasakana, and it 100 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,960 carries the whole meaning or idea of testing, of testing or 101 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:17,400 proving something. The teacher is basically saying, 102 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:19,880 I don't know if this will work, so we'll put it to the test. 103 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:23,520 We'll give it a shot. He's intentionally putting 104 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,000 pleasure on trial to see if it can hold up and deliver 105 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,400 satisfaction. He's trying to explore whether 106 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:30,880 or not this is actually what people are searching for. 107 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:34,200 And so a lot of people genuinely wonder this. 108 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,720 If life feels confusing and temporary, I wonder if the best 109 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,160 response is simply to enjoy it as much as possible. 110 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:42,840 We say things all the time about this, don't we? 111 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:44,600 You know you can't take it with you when you go. 112 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,320 So we talk about all of these ways to justify what we want to 113 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:49,680 do. And so he describes the search 114 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:51,840 as looking for the good things in life. 115 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:54,800 Now, if I were to ask you to write down what the good things 116 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,960 are in life, like a top ten list of the good things to pursue in 117 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,280 life, we would probably get a whole bunch of different lists 118 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,640 and there'd probably be a lot of overlap, but we probably 119 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:06,080 prioritize a few things differently. 120 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,200 So what are the good things? Well, the Hebrew word behind the 121 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,440 idea is tove. Tove means good, pleasant, or 122 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,440 beneficial. That's your blank there. 123 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,880 It's beneficial, good or pleasant or beneficial. 124 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,240 It's the same word, by the way, that is used all throughout 125 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,040 Genesis when God looked at his creation and declared it good. 126 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:30,040 So it's a pretty powerful good. And some people might recognize 127 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:32,520 that word also from the familiar phrase mazel tov. 128 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,760 Mazel tov. It's heard a lot of time at 129 00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:41,440 Jewish celebrations and mazel refers to fortune or blessing. 130 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:43,840 Tov carries the idea of goodness or well-being. 131 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:46,440 So he's looking at these things and saying let's pursue the good 132 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:48,880 things. So when someone says mazel tov, 133 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,080 they're they're celebrating a good thing happening in 134 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:55,040 someone's life. Pleasure itself in this is not 135 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:56,760 presented as evil. You'll notice that. 136 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:59,680 So it's not one of these deals where somebody is calling you 137 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:01,640 hedonistic for trying to pursue pleasure. 138 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:03,840 Enjoyment and laughter and celebration. 139 00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:06,320 They're all part of this world that God has created, and I'm so 140 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:08,840 grateful for that. But the teacher's question isn't 141 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:11,600 whether the good things exist. His question is whether good 142 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:13,960 things will satisfy the human heart. 143 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:17,240 And that's why this experiment begins with laughter, something 144 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,320 that we've all experienced. Laughter represents the lightest 145 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:22,040 and most immediate form of pleasure. 146 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:28,080 And so when somebody laughs, unless it's a fake one, it shows 147 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:29,720 that they really are enjoying that moment. 148 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,600 Something struck them as funny. Is there anybody you can think 149 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:36,080 of that has one of those laughs that makes you laugh either with 150 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:41,200 them or or at them? Well, the teacher quickly 151 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:43,320 reaches an uncomfortable conclusion about that. 152 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:44,680 He says, well, laughter is silly. 153 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:46,880 What good does pleasure actually do? 154 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,640 And so that word that is translated as silly comes from 155 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:54,400 the Hebrew word halal. In some ways, that word can mean 156 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:58,240 praise or celebration, but in other ways, it carries the sense 157 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,560 of something that is foolish or empty. 158 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:04,320 We talk about laughter when it's attached to pleasure. 159 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:07,520 But is there anybody here or anybody, like, watching online? 160 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:09,160 Do you laugh when you get uncomfortable? 161 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,920 Right, Halal. All right, The teacher's not 162 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:16,440 condemning laughter itself. He's just saying, well, laughter 163 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:18,400 doesn't really fill your life either, does it? 164 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,120 Laughter can distract us, it just can't fulfill us. 165 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,320 And entertainment as a form can always give us temporary relief, 166 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:27,960 but it still doesn't answer the deeper questions of life. 167 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:31,160 And so as laughter fades, the same questions often come right 168 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:33,000 back. And the teacher is starting to 169 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:34,760 uncover something important that we're going to see. 170 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,200 Pleasure can stimulate the senses, but it can't settle the 171 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,760 soul. So when the search for pleasure 172 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:42,880 or enjoyment becomes the foundation of our search for 173 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:45,520 meaning, it will always reveal its limits. 174 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:50,800 It's good, it's just not enough. If you're new to this, you'll 175 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,400 see personal insight questions at the end of each section. 176 00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:55,280 Those are for you to do in your own time. 177 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:57,320 If you'd like to go a little deeper, we won't go through 178 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,640 those here. So the next section is just over 179 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,280 verse 3. So Ecclesiastes 2, verse 3 is 180 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,920 the experiment with escape. And I'm glad that we're doing 181 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:10,040 this because I'll be honest with you, one of the first times I 182 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,800 got to preach on a Sunday for Pastor Tom, who was here before 183 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,200 me, I talked about escapism and how sometimes we just look at 184 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:18,880 our life like, I have to work until this time so I can finally 185 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,840 do what I want to do. And our whole view is just, 186 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:23,960 well, one day I'll get to do anything I want to do. 187 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,920 The problem is, as a Christian, your job never really ends. 188 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,640 I mean, that's whether you work in vocational ministry or not. 189 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,080 Maybe your job at a church or not at a church, it ends at some 190 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:36,840 point, but your call really doesn't. 191 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:39,520 There's always something to do. But if you're only living your 192 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:42,200 life to figure out a way that you can do whatever you want, 193 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,840 that's a problem. Not that it's bad to to enjoy 194 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,480 what you have saved up or enjoy what you've worked towards 195 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:50,280 totally. OK, that's godly. 196 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,160 There's scripture on that too. But again, can't be what you 197 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,480 feel like will fulfill you ultimately because it won't. 198 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:58,440 And so I preached that and I felt pretty good about that 199 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:00,640 young youth pastor preaching a message like that and had 200 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,240 somebody's visiting grandparents pulled me to the side afterwards 201 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:05,680 and say, well, we live in a vacation home. 202 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:13,560 Do you believe we're in sin? It was fun. 203 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:17,680 Anyway, after being in the experiment and saying laughter 204 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:20,600 and basic pleasure doesn't really help, the teacher moves 205 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:22,760 into something that is a very big strategy. 206 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:25,560 Listen to this verse. After much thought, I decided to 207 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:30,240 cheer myself with wine and while still seeking wisdom, I clutched 208 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:32,960 at foolishness. In this way, I tried to 209 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,800 experience the only happiness most people find during their 210 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:41,200 brief life in this world. So he decided to cheer himself 211 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,600 with wine. And the word that is translated 212 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:49,080 heart in the Hebrew, just so you know, is Lev, the ancient Hebrew 213 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:50,800 thinking there? Lev was not just the place of 214 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:52,680 your emotions. A lot of times today we separate 215 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:55,080 the head and the heart. But Lev was not just for 216 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:56,640 emotions. It was the center of a person's 217 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:01,240 thoughts, their desires, and your blank is decisions and 218 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:03,760 direction. In other words, it describes the 219 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,400 Control Center of a human being, of their whole life. 220 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:10,320 And so the teacher's not just saying that he wanted to enjoy a 221 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:11,960 drink. He's just describing an attempt 222 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,120 to lift or manage his inner life through pleasure. 223 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:17,040 And a lot of times, that's what we'll do, even if we're saying 224 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:18,680 is a joke. If something is stressful, what, 225 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:21,440 you know, I need a drink, you know, or something like that. 226 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,280 So the statement that he makes there is important because he's 227 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,120 also showing that his pursuit isn't careless. 228 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,160 It's something he considered carefully. 229 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:31,880 He's not writing a lesson about alcohol. 230 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:33,240 I've heard this one used in alcohol. 231 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:36,280 There are other ones that do apply, but he's not talking 232 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:38,200 about even getting drunk. He's just saying I just thought 233 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:41,040 I would go ahead and experience a good drink and see if that'll 234 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:44,440 help change my inner thoughts. The issue here is not the drink, 235 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:47,120 it's the human instinct to try to escape the weight of life 236 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,000 through the drink or through anything else. 237 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,120 The phrase that is translated here is after much thought comes 238 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,920 from the Hebrew expression, which is nahag Lev, and we just 239 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:58,560 talked about Lev, which is the heart. 240 00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:01,840 It literally means to guide or lead the heart. 241 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:07,040 Lead the heart, in other words. Here the teacher is saying he's 242 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:09,680 intentionally directing his own desires. 243 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:13,040 He's not accidentally stumbling into a drink, as most people 244 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,040 don't. He explains that he has decided 245 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:18,600 to cheer himself with wine, and that idea right there of 246 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,440 cheering or stimulating the heart is my shock. 247 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,320 That's the whole idea of drawing something along or pulling it 248 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:29,080 forward, pulling it forward. So that image is like trying to 249 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:30,520 pull your heart into a better mood. 250 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,160 Your heart doesn't want to, but you're trying to encourage it. 251 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:36,920 One time when we were taking a group of people down to 252 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:42,040 Guatemala, they were bringing a cow up a very narrow path on a 253 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:44,400 hill to go deliver it to a family. 254 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:47,680 And this cow got scared and would not go all the way up the 255 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:49,680 hill. And they were trying hard to 256 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:52,600 pull this cow and eventually most of us left. 257 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,800 And I think the idea was, hey, this cow's going to get up to 258 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:57,200 the top of the hill one way or the other. 259 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,360 But you may not like to see how it's going to happen. 260 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:05,720 They did get the cow up the hill on on its legs, but trying to 261 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:07,440 pull it. And that's the way it is for us 262 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,360 sometimes when we are in a foul mood, when we're in a foul 263 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:12,840 headspace. It's why David had to write in 264 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:14,640 the Psalm so often. Come on my soul. 265 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:16,520 And have to try and stir himself up. 266 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:19,720 That's the image that you see there with Mashaq is trying to 267 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:22,560 pull the heart forward because when life feels heavy, people 268 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:24,960 will often look for something that'll lift their spirits or 269 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:28,600 temporarily numb what they feel. Most often that one what will 270 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:30,640 distract me, what will help me disassociate. 271 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,240 But it's important to notice that he has something that is 272 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:36,960 very interesting. And, and this is the the 273 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:39,760 probably my favorite thing about this whole chapter that I 274 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:41,520 learned as I went through this, this study. 275 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,840 He's not abandoning wisdom here, even though he says he clutches 276 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,760 at foolishness. It says he's attempting to hold 277 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:51,400 on to wisdom while exploring indulgence. 278 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:55,440 That shows how easily people try to balance both worlds, doesn't 279 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:57,880 it? We want the benefits of wisdom, 280 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,080 but we also want the relief that comes from escape. 281 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,880 And so the verse where he says clutched at foolishness is 282 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:07,840 Sickluth It it refers to behavior that ignores wisdom or 283 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,880 here's your blank, temporarily sets it aside. 284 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,840 And that's probably a good way to put what we do into words. 285 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,160 Temporarily sets wisdom aside. We know the right thing to do. 286 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:19,800 But you know what? It's been a long day. 287 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,080 It's been a long week. It's been a rough season. 288 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,840 Things have been crazy because it's always crazy. 289 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:28,200 You know what we say now, man, how are things going? 290 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:30,520 They've been crazy, man. What are the odds? 291 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,040 Me too. So what happens is we start to 292 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:36,400 get fed up and we say, man, I just need relief. 293 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,040 I know this is not the right thing to do, but I'll take this 294 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,120 wisdom and I'll temporarily put it to the side. 295 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:42,360 I'll come back to it in the morning. 296 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:44,640 It would have been extra foolish back then. 297 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:48,160 Right now we do it because we know how forgiving Jesus is, and 298 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:49,960 we take advantage of that mercy all the time. 299 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:53,880 But the teacher is acknowledging something that is pretty honest. 300 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:58,040 We know what is wise, but we often still choose a path that 301 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:00,800 offers us temporary relief, and we just assume we'll make up for 302 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,680 it the next day. Eventually, the teacher explains 303 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:06,280 why he ran this experiment at all. 304 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:08,640 He says he was trying to discover what kind of happiness 305 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:12,440 people should pursue during what he calls the brief life in this 306 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,280 world. Although I'm gloriously 307 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:20,240 middle-aged, I know that the older you get, the more brief 308 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:21,960 life seems. You would think that the longer 309 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:24,760 you live, the longer it seems. But the older you get, I'm sure 310 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:27,560 I don't have to convince you, the more brief it seems. 311 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:30,960 And so that Hebrew phrase that is brief, life again connects to 312 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:33,120 the word heaven. We were talking about in chapter 313 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,400 one that life is vapor, like it's short, it's fragile, you 314 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:38,560 can't control it. And you see it for a moment and 315 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:43,480 the next moment it's gone. That question is still something 316 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:46,600 that drives a lot of us today. So I'd ask you, when you know, 317 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:50,440 when life feels stressful or overwhelming, what common advice 318 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:52,680 do you hear that points you towards a form of escape? 319 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:57,080 It might not be wine, although I've talked to enough people it 320 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,440 might be. Sometimes it is entertainment or 321 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:04,000 distraction, or social media or doom scrolling. 322 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,000 Isn't it crazy that even the term is doom scrolling? 323 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:10,640 Comfort spending? Oh, I'm sorry, I meant retail 324 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:15,160 therapy or any number of the ways that people try to 325 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:17,920 temporarily silence what they're feeling on the inside. 326 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:19,880 It just doesn't work as a big picture. 327 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,280 And so the teacher in this chapter is trying to help us 328 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:25,080 recognize something about our own hearts. 329 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,520 And remember, we said this last week, we love to look at 330 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:30,440 scriptures and look at them as a window to view other people. 331 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,160 But if you are willing to look at it as a mirror, it'll be much 332 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:37,560 more beneficial. Ecclesiastes is showing us that 333 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:39,760 escaping life, this is important. 334 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:43,640 You don't have a test, but man, if you did, escaping life and 335 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,200 understanding life are two very different paths. 336 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,360 And when it's laid out that way before you, I mean, which one 337 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:50,920 would you choose? Well, of course we want to 338 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,360 understand life. To ultimately escape life is not 339 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,920 really the option that we're looking for, but we're going to 340 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:58,560 see what it is to build the dream life. 341 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:02,480 Next, in verses 4 through 6, the teacher goes on and he says 342 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:04,880 this. I also tried to find meaning by 343 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,960 building huge homes for myself and by planning beautiful 344 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,880 vineyards. I made gardens and parks, 345 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:14,319 filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. 346 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:18,240 I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many 347 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:22,920 flourishing Groves. Now, before we step into the 348 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,200 building projects here, it helps to recognize that this kind of 349 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,920 pursuit still informs the way that a lot of us think today. 350 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:31,480 And when I say us, I'm specifically talking about 351 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:36,960 Americans in America. We describe it as the American 352 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:39,720 dream. By the way, I don't want to live 353 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:41,680 anywhere else, so I'm not here to bash America. 354 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:45,720 But what is the American Dream? Work hard, build something 355 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:49,360 meaningful, own a home, create stability and leave something 356 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:52,320 behind for the next generation. Nothing wrong with any one of 357 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:55,120 those things. Again, unless that is your 358 00:17:55,120 --> 00:18:00,200 ultimate meaning or fulfilment. For a lot of people, the dream 359 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:03,160 is not just about comfort, it's about proving that their life 360 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,600 counted for something. You don't have anything to prove 361 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:08,000 to another human being about what you built with your life or 362 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:10,400 didn't build with your life. We're all accountable to the 363 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,760 Lord, so the assumption that we live by is simple. 364 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:16,000 If we can build enough or achieve enough or create the 365 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,840 right kind of life, then I'm sure meaning will follow. 366 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:22,440 But it never does. So after looking at pleasure and 367 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,160 escape, the teachers now moving on to the path that people will 368 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:27,960 chase all too often in their search for meaning, which is 369 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,880 accomplishment. So instead of simply here's your 370 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,800 first blank here, instead of simply enjoying life, he begins 371 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:39,320 building a life. And isn't it hard to enjoy 372 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,360 something while you're in the the process of building it? 373 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:44,440 You may enjoy building things, and that's great. 374 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,360 But what I'm saying is you enjoy your house a lot more when you 375 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:49,160 move into it than when it's being built. 376 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:52,640 And so he's surrounded by blessings and he doesn't even 377 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:56,520 know how to enjoy them. So he talks about houses, 378 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,880 vineyards, gardens, parks, and he talks about irrigation 379 00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:02,280 systems. They all begin to appear here 380 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,120 because he's showing how successful and how productive he 381 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:07,600 is. And the language he's using here 382 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:10,000 is really showing how intentional all of it was 383 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:12,320 because his life was filled with activity. 384 00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:16,320 Maybe the the options for escape I mentioned earlier don't apply 385 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:21,120 to you, but how many of us just try to stay busy because we're 386 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:23,040 too afraid to be alone with our own thoughts? 387 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:26,720 I used to not even want to be alone for time with the Lord. 388 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:29,760 I mean, except for maybe a 5 to 10 minute prayer. 389 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:31,880 I was too afraid of what the Lord might tell me. 390 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:35,240 And for good reason, because He'll mess you up. 391 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:42,480 The word that's translated as made, it shows a deliberate 392 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:47,200 effort in construction. That word translated made is a 393 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,760 saw, and it is a very broad and very descriptive word. 394 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,960 It's used in a lot of contexts. It can be used to do or to make 395 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:59,920 or to accomplish or to produce something through effort, to 396 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:01,360 produce something through effort. 397 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:06,720 It is also a similar word used when in Genesis when God made 398 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:08,840 the world. So we've seen how we called it 399 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,720 good, and now the word on how he made the world. 400 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:16,120 In other words, the teacher here is describing large intentional 401 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:18,680 acts of creation and accomplishment. 402 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:21,720 And you should also know that in Hebrew thought building 403 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,400 something was often connected to the idea of establishing a 404 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:25,880 legacy. They all wanted to build 405 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,120 something that was going to remain for years and years 406 00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:30,240 after. That was part of what they 407 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:31,640 wanted. They wanted their name to live 408 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:32,320 on. They wanted their 409 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,560 accomplishments to live on. And so because of that, this was 410 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:37,360 something he was looking for. They were all symbols of 411 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:39,720 stability or influence or long term success. 412 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,680 By the way, you ever notice when somebody does have some sort of 413 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:45,560 inheritance, it doesn't make people feel impressed by them. 414 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:48,560 What do we normally say? Like, oh, you got daddy's money 415 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,120 or, you know, must have been nice to get that inheritance. 416 00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:53,680 I mean, it doesn't make anybody respect you, but we still try to 417 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:55,720 set up our our loved ones in this way. 418 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,080 So the teacher goes on to really double down and he talks about 419 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,920 planning vineyards, which again, in the ancient world, it really 420 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:04,800 represented prosperity and security. 421 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,240 The average person may have had farming of some sort, but it 422 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,160 wasn't going to be a vineyard because grapes required years of 423 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:12,880 care before they ever produced fruit. 424 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,400 So planning a vineyard was an investment and a flourishing 425 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,360 vineyard communicated that you were wealthy. 426 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:22,880 And he also describes creating gardens in parks that are filled 427 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:24,840 with fruit trees. That Hebrew word that's used for 428 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:30,200 parks there is pardais. That word is referring to like 429 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:34,600 an enclosed garden or some sort of royal park that is associated 430 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:36,920 with beauty or luxury or abundance. 431 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,120 Abundance is your word. And I just thought this was kind 432 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:42,120 of cool. So that word, it's pronounced 433 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:45,360 Pardais. That word would later travel 434 00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:48,040 into other languages and eventually became the origin of 435 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:51,800 the English word paradise. Paradise. 436 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,080 So these are not small backyard gardens. 437 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:56,920 These are not like when you visit a friend and you go, oh, 438 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:58,480 my goodness, are those Roma tomatoes? 439 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,440 What are you doing? No, this was something 440 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:03,240 extravagant. This was something that would 441 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,120 have cost him. And so to sustain all of this, 442 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:09,160 he builds reservoirs and talks about collecting water for 443 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,000 irrigation. It's a really random flex, but 444 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:13,760 he's trying to be thorough in this. 445 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,160 He's trying to show just how much effort he's invested in 446 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:21,000 shaping his world around him. And so this shows us something 447 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:22,080 that's important about our heart. 448 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:25,000 When pleasure does not satisfy us, then we turn to 449 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,400 productivity. Here's the problem with a 450 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,560 productive person. They are never satisfied. 451 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,920 Look at all you've done. Aren't you excited about what 452 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:36,920 you've accomplished? I would be, but there's so much 453 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,400 more to do. Uh huh. 454 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:44,000 Congratulations. We've all arrived together, so 455 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,520 we convince ourselves that if we can just build enough or achieve 456 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,040 enough or accomplish enough, then our lives are finally going 457 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:50,360 to feel meaningful. But they don't. 458 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,520 And so a lot of people today still chase what we would call 459 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,320 the dream life. And maybe for you, it's a 460 00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:59,000 successful career, or a beautiful home, or impressive 461 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:01,640 accomplishments, or just a lifestyle that reflects 462 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,200 achievement. Again, none of these things are 463 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,240 wrong by themselves. Hard work is important. 464 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:10,880 Creativity is a gift from the Lord, but renewing our minds in 465 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,880 this study, it's going to require us to recognize the 466 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:17,640 difference between building something meaningful and 467 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,400 building something ultimate. And those are your blanks. 468 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,080 We have to learn the difference between building something 469 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:25,280 meaningful and building something ultimate. 470 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,360 Work and achievement are great gifts from God, but they were 471 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:31,480 never meant to become the foundation of our identity. 472 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:35,480 But the teacher is now about to discover something that a lot of 473 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,440 successful people eventually realized, too. 474 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:41,120 Even when you do build a life that everybody admires, the 475 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:44,640 question of meaning will still remain so. 476 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,880 Verses 7 and 8 are next. This is power, wealth, and 477 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:52,600 entertainment. The teacher goes all out, all 478 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,280 right, he says. I bought slaves, both men and 479 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,160 women and others were born into my household. 480 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,480 I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the 481 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:04,520 kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. 482 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:09,800 I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many 483 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:13,960 kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both 484 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,480 men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. 485 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:19,920 I had everything a man could desire. 486 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:23,560 All right. Well, as the teacher is 487 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,640 continuing to describe his search for meaning, the 488 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:29,200 experiment grows larger because he had accomplishment, things he 489 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:30,760 had built. And now he's turning towards 490 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,280 something that's also powerful in the human experience, which 491 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,280 is influence and wealth and luxury. 492 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:39,600 So if building a successful life doesn't satisfy the heart, maybe 493 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:44,880 complete abundance could. Complete abundance could. 494 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,440 Normally what we do when we see somebody have abundance in an 495 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:53,880 area we don't is we say something like this must be 496 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:58,360 nice. It's it's like the most passive 497 00:24:58,360 --> 00:25:01,880 aggressive way to say, I hope your vacation was awful. 498 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:09,360 That there is the description in these verses. 499 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:11,480 It's really important. The teacher is talking about 500 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:14,520 servants filling his household, massive herds and flocks, 501 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,680 enormous amounts of things that he needs other people to manage. 502 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:20,160 He can't even manage everything he's built, that's how much he 503 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,920 has. So again, in the ancient world, 504 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,120 he surrounded himself with everything people thought would 505 00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:28,160 bring fulfilment and then needed people to help manage the things 506 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:32,440 that provide fulfilment. In modern terms, we call this MO 507 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:38,720 money, MO problems. One of the keywords in this 508 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,000 section though, is is the word that is translated as servant. 509 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:47,080 The Hebrew word there is ebed, and it refers to someone in 510 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:51,360 specific who served a household, a household or under the 511 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:53,880 authority of another. And the New Testament, when you 512 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,320 see things being discussed like being a slave of Christ, that 513 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,720 word is Greek, it's doulos. But here it's ebed and it meant 514 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,080 it meant complete loyalty to a household. 515 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:06,040 So they were completely loyal to this household and managing all 516 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:10,880 of the irrigation and reservoirs and gardens and parks that that 517 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:14,200 he had. And that would be including jobs 518 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,840 that we would now call administrators, labourers, 519 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:20,960 Craftsman, musicians in attendance that were all there 520 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,640 purely just to make sure this place continued to run the way 521 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,320 it was supposed to. The teachers describing a 522 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,120 household that is so large it requires an entire system of 523 00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:32,040 people in order to continue to function. 524 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,840 And he's still not happy. But he also describes owning 525 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:38,720 more herds and flocks than anyone who had lived in 526 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,680 Jerusalem before him. And in the ancient world, 527 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:43,360 livestock was not just a source of food. 528 00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:46,160 It was also a visible symbol of wealth, just like the vineyards 529 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,280 and the size of a person's herds communicated their level of 530 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,080 prosperity. So the larger the herds, the 531 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:54,000 greater the influence, which is your blank there? 532 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,080 The influence. Then he talks about gathering 533 00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:59,040 silver and gold. Am I the only one that heard the 534 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,760 Christmas song? All right, so I'm not the OK. 535 00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:03,960 All right. Silver and gold. 536 00:27:04,360 --> 00:27:09,920 The Hebrew word for silver is cassuff, and it is translated 537 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,800 literally as silver. You're welcome. 538 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:18,600 However, because it was silver, the word also came to represent 539 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,680 money. Money. 540 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:22,920 That's your blank. Or financial wealth in general, 541 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:25,720 in the same way that green can represent money today. 542 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:30,720 Or, you know, when the teacher says he accumulated silver and 543 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,720 gold from kings and provinces, he's also talking about being a 544 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,360 massive economic power. But even wealth wasn't the end 545 00:27:37,360 --> 00:27:38,560 of the experiment In these verses. 546 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:40,560 He then filled his life with entertainment and luxury. 547 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:42,840 We talked about some of those servants to the household he 548 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:45,040 had. He talks about servants, 549 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,000 singers, both men and women to perform within his Royal Court. 550 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:51,320 Music and artistic performance were also central to royal 551 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,120 celebrations. I don't know if you know this or 552 00:27:54,120 --> 00:27:57,600 not, but today most people don't have musicians in their house. 553 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,000 I mean, maybe you're raising them, maybe you're hearing them 554 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,800 play hot cross buns on the recorder, but you don't normally 555 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:09,160 hire people to just be there and play music in case it it hits 556 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,640 your fancy. The teacher mentions even 557 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,280 concubines, describing them among the delights of men. 558 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,440 So he's talking about sexual pleasure in this too. 559 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:19,720 And the Hebrew word associated with that idea of pleasure or 560 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:23,680 delight is pronounced TA anoog. That word carries the sense of 561 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:28,640 luxury or sensual enjoyment. I made that one in the blank 562 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:30,040 just so you'd be uncomfortable writing it. 563 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:35,240 Or indulgence. In other words, the teacher 564 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,280 explored not just wealth and power, but every form of luxury 565 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:41,480 that his status could provide. So when we read this section, 566 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,800 it's clear that the teacher really is testing a powerful 567 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,440 assumption we still have today that fulfilment will come if we 568 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:50,000 reach a certain level of success. 569 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,040 And that's normally our workaround, isn't it? 570 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:55,120 Normally our workaround is, I don't think that having this 571 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,560 will make me feel fulfilled, but I think that once I have this, 572 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:02,480 fulfillment will follow. It's so elusive though, isn't 573 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,480 it? The deeper lesson here is not 574 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:09,720 that wealth or influence or that enjoyment are inherently wrong. 575 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:15,320 I can't stress that enough. But if it takes the place that 576 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:17,880 the Lord is supposed to have in our life, then we're going to 577 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:21,360 continue to look for purpose because it just won't fill that 578 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,280 gap. So after all of this big 579 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,160 experiment has been performed, now we arrive at the final 580 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,600 section, which is the moment of evaluation. 581 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:32,600 Ecclesiastes 2 verses 9 through 11. 582 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:40,480 Mr. Blank Ah, yeah. Renewing our minds means that we 583 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,480 have to recognize how much this assumption influences the way 584 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,400 that we think about life because our culture constantly declares 585 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,720 that happiness is just one level higher than where we are now. 586 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,040 But think about it. Isn't that brilliant the way 587 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:55,840 that it's laid out? Because if culture convinced us 588 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:57,800 that it was 50 levels higher, we wouldn't even try. 589 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,000 But surely you can just go one level higher. 590 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:04,880 But everybody here has one streaming service that they 591 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:07,840 subscribe to, right? Isn't that crazy? 592 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:12,600 We're always done until the new show comes out. 593 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,120 Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verses 9 through 11 is the moment of 594 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,000 evaluation. And here's how he ends this 595 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,200 section, which is really just halfway through this chapter. 596 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,880 He says So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem 597 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,400 before me, and my wisdom never failed me. 598 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:31,920 That must be nice, he said. Anything I wanted I would take. 599 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:36,600 I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure and 600 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:39,320 hard work a reward for all my laborers. 601 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:42,840 But as I looked at everything I'd worked so hard to 602 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:47,360 accomplish, it was all so meaningless, like chasing the 603 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:49,480 wind. There was nothing really 604 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,120 worthwhile there. So after talking about the 605 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,400 pleasure, the accomplishment, the wealth, the influence, all 606 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:56,960 the luxury, now the teacher pauses. 607 00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:59,680 Because up until this point, his story has been filled with 608 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,120 activity. He's been building homes and 609 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,000 vineyards and gardens and accumulating wealth and 610 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:06,840 surrounding himself with all sorts of pleasure. 611 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:10,200 But for the first time in this experiment, he steps back and 612 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,720 evaluates everything he has pursued. 613 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:15,480 He evaluates everything he's pursued. 614 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,840 So before giving us his conclusion, he first 615 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:22,480 acknowledges just how successful the experiment had been. 616 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:24,960 That's important. I mean, think about this just 617 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:26,320 logically. If he said, I ran this 618 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,600 experiment and the experiment was a failure, well, then his 619 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,280 results would not be worth looking at. 620 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:34,680 But he said, oh, I was successful by every measure. 621 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,400 And once I was successful, here's what I found. 622 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:42,880 It's an important detail because the teacher was not a careless 623 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:44,840 man who lost himself in reckless living. 624 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:47,880 He did everything in the pursuit of pleasure wisely. 625 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,120 And verse 10 shows just how far the experiment went. 626 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,120 Because the teacher says he denied himself nothing. 627 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:59,680 His eyes desired nothing. His eyes desired anything he 628 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:04,360 wanted, he took. If there was pleasure to enjoy, 629 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:08,720 he enjoyed it. If there was a project to 630 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,000 pursue, he pursued it. If there was an experience to 631 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,000 gain, he would allow himself to experience it. 632 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:16,800 He even admits something that a lot of people can relate to, and 633 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,360 I can certainly relate to it. He says he found pleasure in his 634 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:21,880 work. The effort of building or 635 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,200 creating or accomplishing brought a sense of reward. 636 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,920 And for many of us, when we do a good job at something, we're 637 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:28,640 really thrilled and we're glad that we did it. 638 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:32,160 There's an honesty here that makes the Scriptures that is so 639 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,440 real. Hard work is satisfying, and 640 00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:36,840 achievement does bring moments of joy, but they are still 641 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,760 moments. Progress can be motivating. 642 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,200 But the teacher says, as I looked at everything I worked so 643 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:46,120 hard to accomplish that phrase there that is translated, looked 644 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:50,200 at it comes from a Hebrew word, panna, which means to turn 645 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,600 towards something in order to examine it carefully. 646 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:55,080 And the teacher's not glancing at it. 647 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,480 He's he's intentionally pausing and turning his attention 648 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:01,040 towards everything he's built so he can say, did this bring me 649 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,120 meaning? And the teacher allows us to see 650 00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:06,120 what happens when someone actually reaches that 651 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,760 destination. Even at the top of success, the 652 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:12,600 deeper question of meaning still remains. 653 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,440 His evaluation becomes a challenge for us to step back 654 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:20,680 and to examine our own pursuits. Believe that's your final blame 655 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:24,360 To examine our own pursuits. It makes us ask whether we're 656 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,840 chasing something that's truly going to satisfy the soul or 657 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:30,240 something that'll just eventually feel like chasing the 658 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:30,600 wind.