The American Dream Is Meaningless without Jesus

Ecclesiastes 2:1-26

Main Idea: Pleasure, wisdom, and work are meaningless without Jesus.

1. Pleasure Is Meaningless (2:1-11).
2. Wisdom Is Meaningless (2:12-17).
3. Work Is Meaningless (2:18-23).
4. Contentment in God and His Gifts Is the Meaningful Life (2:24-26).

Matt Chandler points out that all of us subscribe to the philosophy that what will ultimately satisfy us is more of what we already have (“Quenched”). For most of us, there was a time when we begged God in prayer for things we now have and take for granted. We prayed for a job, a little better salary, a house, a spouse, and a family; and now that we have those things, we still are not satisfied. You think to yourself, For me to be happy, I need ________, and just fill in the blank for your own life: the new iPhone, a new car, a new house, a promotion, a new relationship, and on and on you go. Our entire lives are like this. As a little boy you received a Nintendo one Christmas, and you had the time of your life playing Mario Brothers, RBI Baseball, and Tecmo Bowl, but then you wore out all those games, had to blow on them ten times to get them to work in the console, and finally got bored with them. Then the Super Nintendo came out, and you got it and loved it for a little while before the Playstation came out. On and on we keep looking to something else to relieve the boredom. As adults the things you want more of change, but the desire for more does not change. Some people sleep on the sidewalk to get their hands on the new iPhone as soon as it comes out. Two years earlier they did the same thing! That phone they could not wait to have has now become a trade-in—if they are lucky enough not to have cracked it.

Nothing ultimately satisfies. We think we “need” more to be happy, but when we accumulate more, we are still not happy. In Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon attempts to expose this philosophy as garbage. He tells us that he had it all and came away empty. Our struggle will be believing Solomon when he says, “I have had it all and done it all, and it was all meaningless.” Most of us look at stories of stars who had it all and their life turned out to be a wreck, and we think, I would trade places with you in a heartbeat. If I had all of that money and fame, I would know how to enjoy it. If I could trade places with the rich and powerful, I would appreciate it more and not make the foolish decisions they made.

Solomon lovingly attempts to undercut our faulty thinking. In modern vernacular he exposes the emptiness of the American dream. If we would stop for a second, let go of our desire for more and more and more, and look at the many examples around us, we would see that Ecclesiastes 2 is absolutely right. We look at lives like Marilyn Monroe, Kurt Cobain, and Robin Williams, and we see people who had everything this world says you could ever want, and it brought them nothing but pain and emptiness.

That is not just the case for stars on the big scale; it is also true for those around us on the smaller scale. I had a friend in high school who was rich. His dad owned several businesses, and so my friend lived in the nicest house in the nicest subdivision, and he drove the nicest car. We always wanted to stay over at his house on the weekends to swim in his pool and play in his basement. But inevitably, at 2:00 a.m. when we got hungry and crept upstairs to raid the pantry, we would find his mom passed out on the floor next to a wine glass because his dad never came home. His dad never came to his ball games or school plays, and one day his dad said to us, “I know I haven’t been around for a whole lot, but that’s the decision I made in order to be able to make money and all of this possible.” My friend and his family had everything the American dream sells, and they were miserable! Solomon pleads with us not to go that route. He says, “I outdid everyone, and it was all meaningless!”

Pleasure Is Meaningless

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

In chapter 1, Solomon concluded that everything is meaningless and fleeting because humanity rebelled against God and now lives in a cursed world where nothing we attempt to build our lives on will ultimately satisfy. If this cursed world is all there is, then there is no profit to all of our activity because nothing changes under the sun. Solomon told us we are trapped in a monotonous prison where nothing changes, and then we die.

That led to Solomon giving his personal testimony about how he tried everything to find some kind of meaning in this life, but he concluded that nothing works. The end of chapter 1 set up Solomon’s testimony, and now chapter 2 gives the details to his search for meaning. Like a scientist or a philosopher, he experiments with all kinds of things to see what has lasting value or meaning (Chandler, “Quenched”).

First, he turns to pleasure, or what we might call “hedonism.” O’Donnell notes, “Within the house of hedonism there are many rooms,” and Solomon tries to sleep in them all (Ecclesiastes, 43). He adopts the lifestyle of eat, drink, and be merry. Tim Keller points out that it is not until Solomon already concluded that there are no answers in life that he turns to pleasure (“The Search for Pleasure”). If nothing that I do matters and the world is going to burn up in the end, then I need to lighten up. Solomon’s attitude is like the guy in the Tim McGraw song who got a bad diagnosis from his doctor and in response did all sorts of crazy things like skydiving, mountain climbing, and riding on a bull. Many people turn to pleasure, if not for ultimate meaning, then for distraction from lack of meaning.

Most of us make our decisions based on what will maximize our pleasure and happiness. We look for what comedian Jerry Seinfeld calls, ­“little islands of relief in what’s often a painful existence” (quoted in Lavery, Seinfeld, 158). Solomon’s goal is to determine if pleasure provides a solid basis for our lives. Should it be the driving force? Solomon announces his verdict—pleasure is meaningless (2:1)—in advance of the details of his experimentation (Murphy, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 184). Pleasure looks like it will make us happy, but it will not. Solomon is in the right position to make this conclusion because he had “epic parties” that fed almost 30,000 people with filet mignon every day.^[3]He lived larger than any of us ever could, and he concludes that it was futile.

He turned to laughter and comedy, and he echoes Ecclesiastes 1:3 when he says that laughter and pleasure have no real profit. In fact, laughter is madness. We love comedy movies and passing around funny YouTube clips, but laughter cannot provide a basis for life. Quoting comic lines from Tommy Boy(1995) and Dumb and Dumber (1994) will not build depth into your life or friendships (Eswine, Recovering Eden, 67). Alistair Begg points out that comedy is fleeting and does not deal with the weighty matters of life (“Search for Satisfaction”). No one ever walked out of Billy Madison (1995) stunned into silence and contemplating life, but they might do that when they walk out of American Sniper (2014). Laughter can momentarily distract us from real pain, but it cannot overcome it. So Solomon does not conclude that laughter is evil unless you try to turn it into the solution for life’s problems (Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 291).

Begg says that Solomon leaves the comedy club and heads to the bar because he now turns to pleasure in wine (2:3) (“Search for Satisfaction”). Many people turn to substances for pleasure and to cope with life’s problems. Proverbs 31 mentions that some use alcohol for this numbing purpose, but Solomon says that way of life is empty.

No doubt beverage alcohol is a controversial topic for many, but let us be honest about what the Bible says. According to the Bible as a whole, and Ecclesiastes in particular, wine can be a joyous thing when used as God intended. Ecclesiastes 9:7 commands, “Drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works,” and 10:19 states, “A feast is prepared for laughter, and wine makes life happy.” On the other hand, the Bible is clear that wine can be bad and evil when used and abused against God’s design. The Bible condemns drunkenness as evil, and our experience shows alcohol can be a killer. There is no end to the commercials that show the “joy” alcohol can bring you, but you never see the commercial on Super Bowl Sunday with the party girl hugging the toilet at 3:00 a.m. or the dad pulling off his belt in a drunken rage (Eswine, Recovering Eden, 69). The Bible says positive and negative things about alcohol—wine can be used in appropriate or inappropriate ways.

This backdrop sets up Solomon’s experimentation here. Scholars disagree about what Solomon’s experiment looked like. Some believe the phrase “my mind still guiding me with wisdom” indicates that Solomon did not get drunk (Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 291). Thus, he was a self-controlled connoisseur of fine wine. Others think the phrase “grasp folly” indicates that he did indulge and became sloppy drunk (Enns, Ecclesiastes, 43). So the two options are that he was either a wine connoisseur who knew how to pair fine wine with his main course, or he was a frat boy wasting away in Margaritaville. Which is it? In my opinion Solomon did both. I think he says he tried wisdom and folly—he tried every angle—and he came away empty. As Garrett points out, he wanted to find out if drinking and parties were the best solution to the emptiness of life in the face of death, and he concluded that drinking does not take away the pain (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 291).

He did this for the purpose of discovering what was good for Adam’s sons to do under heaven (2:3). The last phrase of verse 3 is a key phrase. The experiment is intended to find out man’s purpose under heaven. Again, Solomon purposefully takes a secular perspective as if this cursed world is all there is. If there is no God and no afterlife, what is best for man to do? Solomon does not take an atheist position; he takes a position of uncertainty. He just cannot know for sure what lies beyond his experience (Keller, “Search for Pleasure”). So what is worthwhile for us in our short years on earth before we die (Longman, Ecclesiastes, 89)?

Solomon now lists all the other things he turned to in this search. So many things on this list are the things many of us think would make our lives happy and fulfilling. Look at all his achievements. He built houses (2:4). Solomon built God’s house, the temple (1 Kgs 5–6). He built his own palace, which took 13 years and was bigger than the temple (1 Kgs 7:1). He also built houses and shrines for his wives, and he had seven hundred of them (1 Kgs 7:8; 11:3,7). Many people think if they could just have a bigger house in a nicer neighborhood then they will have arrived. Or maybe you want a lake house or a beach house. That is your dream situation. Solomon had all of that and then some! In fact, he built entire cities (2 Chr 8:1-6).

Solomon indulged in the best of architecture, the best of agriculture, and the best of engineering (2:4-6). He planted vineyards, gardens, and parks. Your gardening hobby or the worlds your kids have created in Minecraft pale in comparison to Solomon’s creations. He constructed an entire irrigation system to water these gardens and parks (2:6). One can still find these pools of Solomon in Israel today. Literally, Solomon tried to create a new garden of Eden (Longman, Ecclesiastes, 89). The phrase “every kind of fruit tree in them” (2:5) is used three times in the creation account (Gen 1:11,29; 2:9). He tried to get back to paradise, but one cannot get back there in this fallen world.

Solomon would have been number one on an ancient version of MTV’s Cribs or Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. He had tons of servants who waited on him hand and foot. Many of you are thinking right now, “Gosh, it would be nice to have a maid to clean the house, a chef to cook my meals, a landscaper to mow my grass, and a stylist to put on my makeup and choose my clothes each day” (Driscoll, “A Goose”). Solomon had all of that.

He had more herds and flocks than any person before him in Jerusalem (2:7). He accumulated an insane amount of silver and gold. The phrase “the treasure of kings and provinces” refers to vassal states that sent Solomon tribute and to the taxation of his own people (Longman, Ecclesiastes, 92). Solomon did not just have money; he had military victories and fame because he subdued surrounding nations. He had so much money that silver was as common as stone (2 Chr 9:27). Can you imagine that? In Solomon’s day they treated Benjamins the way we treat pennies!

He loved the arts, and he had enough money to buy his own choir (Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 292). He did not have iPods or CD players, but he did not need them because he could buy the band. Some of your daughters would love to buy the band One Direction and have them play whenever it suited them (Driscoll, “A Goose”).

Finally, Solomon indulged in sexual pleasure. In addition to 700 wives (1 Kgs 11), he had 300 concubines (cf. Eccl 2:8). A concubine was a woman given to a man simply for the purpose of sexual pleasure. Concubines were objects. Thus, Solomon could out-locker-room-boast basketball all-star Wilt Chamberlain (who once infamously claimed to have been with 20,000 women!) and infamous playboy Hugh Hefner. So many people are on an endless search for sexual pleasure. They may not have a thousand women literally, but they have that many or more in their pornographic Internet history or romance novels. They constantly look for a new illicit experience in order to be satisfied, but like Solomon they come away empty and disappointed—the high only lasts so long.

Solomon concludes his search for pleasure by saying he denied himself nothing (2:10). He had the most success, the best houses, the most possessions, the richest lifestyle, the most sophistication, the finest wines, the most incredible parties and feasts, the greenest lawns, the best servants, more money than we could possibly imagine, military fame, popularity, endless entertainment, and as much sexual pleasure as anyone could ever indulge in, and he says it was all empty (2:11). It led to nothing but brokenness. Incidentally, much of what he detailed is a violation of the kingly laws in Deuteronomy 17 and ultimately cost Solomon’s son the kingdom.

Here is the point: He outdid anything we could ever do. Solomon had more and did more than anyone before him (2:9). He indulged in every desire and saw it as the reward for all his efforts (2:10). He concludes that everything was meaningless; he did not gain anything and simply was trying to grab wind (2:11). Even though he played out every one of his fantasies in real life, nothing fulfilled. We think to ourselves that we just need more, and he says, “No! You can accumulate more money, stuff, and partners, but it will not matter!” Nothing brings meaning. If that is true for him, what hope do we have?

When will you be happy? In your mind you say, “I will be happy when ________.” What would you put in that blank? Listen to Solomon through the Spirit: it will not work! You think, If I could just have the American dream, everything would be different and I would be happy, but when you get it, you are not happy. It is all fleeting and does not satisfy. The state championship, the raise, the new car, and the big house—they all fade!

The cry of this generation is, do not repress your desires because that is dangerous and leads to depression, maybe even suicide. No matter what your desire is, whether it has to do with gender identity, sexual orientation, pleasure, or dreams, do not repress them. Solomon lovingly warns us that indulging in whatever feels good is dangerous. You may get all you ever wanted, but you will not want it when you get it. It will not satisfy. God loves you, and He knows indulging under the sun leads to brokenness. Pleasure is not bad, but because of the fall, it cannot be our final guide. It cannot be ultimate. Pleasure is a good thing that if turned into a god thing becomes an enslaving thing. So, if foolish hedonism does not work, then maybe living the right kind of life will. Right?

Wisdom Is Meaningless

Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

Solomon now turns to a consideration of wisdom, madness, and folly (recalling 1:17). He starts with a passage that is difficult to translate, but the HCSB says, “For what will the man be like who comes after the king? He will do what has already been done” (2:12). The basic idea is, “Son, don’t try to outdo me because you can’t.” We find the same plea in the conclusion of Ecclesiastes (12:12). Solomon wants his son to learn from his experiments—and his mistakes—so that he does not repeat them. He does not want his son to think, Oh yeah, well you did not try ________, and I will, and I bet I will find meaning in it. Solomon assures his son that he will end up doing the same things and be in the same place. Solomon tried it all. He lived wisely and foolishly, and none of it worked. We should do what he says, not what he did!

Wisdom has a relatively greater value than foolishness (2:13-14). There is more profit in wisdom than folly just as there is more profit in light than darkness. I usually get up early in the morning while it is still dark outside, and as I get ready. I do not turn any lights on because I do not want to wake anyone else up. One morning as I got out of bed to stumble into the bathroom to get ready, our dog Molly was not in her bed but for some reason was sprawled out on the floor. I did not see her and stepped on her, sending me falling into my dresser and her shooting like a bullet in the other direction. Without light I could not make my way through the house without stumbling. The image here in Ecclesiastes is clear and recalls a similar notion from Proverbs (4:10-19). Wisdom helps you navigate this world without stumbling because it allows you to see clearly the pitfalls, and it allows you to discern the right decision in each situation.

So yes, wisdom is better than foolishness, but the value is only relative, and it does not last. Why? Wisdom’s gain over folly is fleeting because both the wise and the fool share the same fate. Death is the great equalizer. That is Solomon’s point. What is the use in exerting all of this energy to be wise if this world is all there is and we all end up as worm food in the end? Why deny myself the seeming fun of the foolish life and work hard to be wise when we all end up the same? Death makes meaningless even trying to live the right kind of life in this world.

One might object, “Well, maybe our memory and the good we did in the world can live on.” If we live a wise life and leave the world a better place than we found it, then people will at least remember us. Solomon says, “Nope. Even the hope of lasting fame is an illusion” (Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 294). In the ancient story The Epic of Gilgamesh, the title character wants to inherit eternal life, but he is told that only Utnapishtim was given that gift. So Gilgamesh heads back home with the intention of building great walls and fortifications to put his name on so he can live on in the monuments he has created (Enns, Ecclesiastes, 44). Solomon’s point here, which is similar to the Gilgamesh story, is that there is no way to cheat death, and he should know. He spent years building a beautiful temple, and not one stone of it still stands. Fools and wise alike die, and that renders the effort of wisdom meaningless.

Plus, as an aside—and this is a major issue in Ecclesiastes—wisdom does not always work out immediately. Some say that Ecclesiastes is in tension with the more positive message about wisdom in Proverbs. After all, Proverbs says that a good name will live on (Prov 10:7).^[4]However, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes alike are aware that wisdom does not always work out immediately (but it will work out ultimately!). Solomon’s struggle of faith in Ecclesiastes is, Why be wise if it does not seem to work in this world? Consider the realm of sports. Every athlete is told the same narrative growing up. Work hard, respect your coach, play by the rules, be a good sport, do not complain about playing time, and show your skills in practice because that is the right way to do things. Yet, in the 2014–2015 NFL season, a guy named LeGarrett Blount smashed that narrative. He was so angry about his lack of playing time with the Steelers that he walked off the field before the game was over. The team cut him the next day, and then the Patriots signed him, and he won a Super Bowl ring. That example is multiplied in our fallen world in every field across the spectrum. Solomon is like a skeptic teetering on the edge of his faith when he sees these kinds of realities. All of us scream for a judgment, a reckoning, beyond the current miserable reality. We want a place where things are set right and folks get what they deserve.

As Solomon looks at how death and the curse render all of our efforts meaningless and empty, he despairs and hates his life (2:17). And yet, there is one more place to look for hope. If we do not live on and our memory does not live on, at least one thing does outlast us. Can we not leave our accumulated wealth as a legacy and an inheritance to our children?

Work Is Meaningless

Ecclesiastes 2:18-23

Iain Provan calls this section, “The confessions of a workaholic!” (Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, NIVAC, 76). Solomon quickly finds the idea of work vain. Work is meaningless: we exert all of this effort to amass possessions we never really get to enjoy because we were working all the time, and then we leave them to someone else, and he may be a fool who squanders all we worked to earn! What is the point in working so hard to accumulate so much that we cannot take with us? The cliché is well worn, but you never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul (see 1 Tim 6). We know that, but that truth does not stop us from being workaholics who try to get more, more, more.

In the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12, Jesus warns us about the love of money in light of death taking all we have. A rich man amassed all of these crops and wealth, and he determined to build bigger barns to store them so he could be secure for many years. God says, “You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20). It is foolish to live your life to accumulate possessions because you do not get to take them with you. No, you have to leave them behind to someone else.

Even the legacy game will not work because eventually your descendants will waste that for which you worked so hard. Statistics say that in 60 percent of cases, inherited wealth is completely gone by the end of the second generation. The fear of billionaires who are “self-made men” is that their spoiled children who never knew hunger will not have the wisdom and resolve to handle so much money. The children of Hall of Fame baseball star Ted Williams tied up so much money fighting over whether to keep him frozen! That is Solomon’s point. How long until the family fortune is spent? For Solomon the answer was “quickly”—one generation! First Kings 14:25-26 tells us that a foreign army came into Jerusalem and took Solomon’s treasure away from his son Rehoboam. This reality renders work meaningless and only causes despair. Ecclesiastes 2:22 asks the same question as 1:3, and the answer is “nothing” ultimately. There is no net gain from all of our toil.

Solomon will no longer live by the myth that hard work and well-earned wealth validate life (Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 295). Workaholism kills many families in America. Many people are possessed by a restless ambition to achieve, and so they put business before everything else (Greidanus, Preaching Christ, 65). They put it before family dinner, before ball games, and before church. Why? Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 4:4-6 it is because they want to “keep up with the Joneses.” Failure at work or the loss of a job is a hard blow to many, but what is worse than the loss of livelihood is the embarrassment and shame we feel. Envy, the desire to outdo your neighbor, and the longing for recognition are the driving forces for so much restless working. But, as Tim Keller points out, all we really do is plow water. The moment the plow passes, the water fills back in, and there is no evidence we did anything. He points out that the man who created Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance spent a lifetime cataloging every word in the Bible, and what took him a lifetime to do, we can now do in ten minutes (Keller, “Search for Achievement”). What a waste! Nothing is ultimately gained, and Solomon points out that you even cheat yourself out of rest (2:23). You are never “off” or “home” from work. Your mind is constantly taken up with it. You clock out and come home, and you check your e-mails on your phone all night. You toss and turn while sleep evades you because you stress about the next work project. What futility!

Solomon exposes us to the failure of all his experiments to show us that what he missed in all his efforts was the simple joys God held out to him. All of his experiments failed, so now he finally turns to God. God is gracious to Solomon and us in exposing the failure of everything else to satisfy. God allows us to feel the meaninglessness of our efforts in order to drive us to Him! Ecclesiastes discloses the folly, brokenness, and senselessness of life without God. Like the heart cry of the psalmist in Psalm 73, the pain of death and things not working right in the world drives the true believer to deep satisfaction in God. Our hearts and flesh may fail, but God is the strength of our heart!

Contentment in God and His Gifts Is the Meaningful Life

Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

Solomon concludes that there is nothing better than to eat, drink, and find enjoyment in toil. These are known as the carpe diem passages, and Solomon says this over and over again: enjoy life, enjoy your wife, eat, drink, work, and be happy (3:12-14; 3:22; 5:18-20; 9:7-10). This is God’s gift to man—both the blessings and the ability to enjoy them. Solomon calls the reader to be content and satisfied with God and the gifts from His hand.

In the beginning God designed the world so that we would enjoy the material blessings He gave us as a means to worship Him. As we ate, drank, enjoyed our spouse, and enjoyed our work, it would cause us to thank God for His goodness. But human sin distorted that, so now we look to the created things for the satisfaction only God can give. Not only is this a rebellion against God, but also it renders our true enjoyment of these gifts impossible. We want more, more, more, and we are never happy. We think if we just had a little bit more, then we would be happy, but if we are not happy with what we have right now, then we will not be happy no matter how much we get or experience. More will not satisfy us; only God can.

Again, the problem is not the things in and of themselves but rather the value we place in them. They cannot truly deliver. So be satisfied in the Creator, and then you can rightly enjoy the created things He gives you. As Solomon says, apart from Him there is no enjoyment (2:25). Everything is meaningless without Jesus, but with Jesus we can enjoy everything.

Solomon concludes with the reason for this, and at first blush it might upset some folks.^[5]The reason for this reality is that to the one who pleases God, God gives these gifts (wisdom, knowledge, and joy), but sinners—those who go against God’s design—are tasked with collecting and collecting in order to give over what they collect to the one who pleases God (2:26). There is no letup or peace for sinners. They are in a meaningless pursuit after the wind. Then, finally, they have to give what is theirs to the one who pleases God. Jesus teaches a similar concept in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.

Solomon’s words raise a question: So you are telling me that God gives good things to good people and takes the things bad people have and gives them to the good people also? Well, sort of! The question, though, that needs to be asked is, Who is the one who pleases God? This verse does not mean God likes good, moral people and gives them nice things. The one who pleases God is not the religious person who tries to do the best he can. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 tells us it is the one who perfectly obeys God’s commandments. The problem for every single one of us is we are sinners, and thus we displease God. Only one person in all of history has perfectly followed God’s design and been told of God’s pleasure—Jesus. God said of Him, “This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!” (Matt 3:17). But by virtue of the gospel, if we will recognize our sin, repent of it, and believe in Jesus, then we are united to Christ by faith so that God no longer sees us in our sin but sees us in union with Christ as His beloved child in whom He is well pleased. In Christ God gives you great gifts and now the ability to enjoy them as we are satisfied in Christ!

Despite much of contemporary American Christian thinking, God is not a cosmic killjoy. So many were given the impression growing up that Christianity teaches us to reject the “worldly” view that happiness comes by addition (i.e., adding more money, stuff, and pleasure to your life as Solomon tries in Ecclesiastes 2), and instead the Bible teaches that happiness comes by subtraction (subtract every enjoyable thing from your life because that is what God wants) (Driscoll, “A Goose”). If it feels good, then it is probably a sin, so get rid of it and suppress your desires. Some of you may even be thinking that this sermon is another example. Oh great! Another sermon where I’m told to be miserable. You’re telling me that all of those pleasures Solomon mentioned and all of that education and all of that work—those are all bad things. I should not want a house or a car or money or sex or any of those things. I just get to be miserable? No! That is not Christianity. Not one of those things Solomon mentioned is necessarily evil. Music, laughter, gardening, sex with your spouse, and all of those other things can be good and holy if used as God intended. The problem is we revolted against God, so now we are broken. But in Christ we are redeemed to recover and pursue God’s design for our lives, which includes enjoying the material gifts He has given to us.

Conclusion

Solomon’s life in so many ways reminds us of the prodigal son (Luke 15). So many think the prodigal son’s sin was partying too much, and then he came to his senses and wanted to leave his party days behind. We so often forget the story does not just begin with partying; it ends with partying. Yes, there’s a party in the far country that leaves the son broken, but there is also an epic party when he gets back home. Dancing and singing can be heard outside. The difference is the son cannot enjoy the party rightly until he is satisfied in the father’s love.

That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Satisfied in Christ and His love, we now can enjoy life, marriage, children, work, laughter, gardening, building, and so many other pursuits as God intended! As C. S. Lewis reminds us, our problem is not that we desire too much; it is that we desire too little. When we pursue created things at all cost, we settle for cardboard pizza at Chuck E. Cheese’s instead of enjoying a night at Ruth’s Chris when we are satisfied in Jesus! We live in a Genesis 3:19 world where dust returns to dust, and we long for Genesis 3:15 to come true. David died, and he decayed. Solomon was a backslidden king who decayed into the dust. But one Son of David did not dissolve into the dust. He walked away from the tomb, ascended into heaven, and boldly took his seat at God’s right hand where Psalm 16 says there are pleasures that last forever. Do you want pleasures that last forever and are not fleeting? In Christ we are already raised from the dead and seated in the heavenly places (Eph 2:4-6). So enjoy life now and forever.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What do you and the people around you think is necessary to be truly happy?
2. Why do we continue to think possessing more than we have right now will make us happy when we are not happy with what we have?
3. Why do pleasurable experience and the accumulation of money and things not ultimately satisfy?
4. In what practical ways does a life of wisdom make more sense than a life of foolishness? If this life is all there is, think through how those advantages are canceled.
5. Why do most of us kill ourselves to succeed in work despite the Bible’s repeated warnings that we do not get to take our stuff with us when we die?
6. Were you given the impression growing up in church that pleasure was to be avoided? Why do you think that was what you were taught?
7. What do we often think we need to do for God to be pleased with us? What does the Bible say is the path to God’s pleasure?
8. What are some ways we use pleasure, possessions, relationships, and work in ways God did not design?
9. What are some ways we can enjoy pleasure, possessions, relationships, and work in ways God did design?
10. How can we fight against finding satisfaction in created things and instead find it in God alone?