4. Finding Fulfillment In Life (2)

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Hymns: 414 Is Your All On the Altar; 273 Jesus, I Come; 306 Pass Me Not;  

 

Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes

(Remember Now Thy Creator)

– Finding Fulfilment in Life (2)

Ecclesiastes 2:4-11

4 I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: 5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: 6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: 7 I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: 8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. 9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. 11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

 

OUTLINE

  • Emptiness of Worldly Possessions (v4-8a)
  • Emptiness of Worldly Entertainment (v8b-11)

 

INTRODUCTION

The Book of Ecclesiastes shows THE SEARCH FOR THE MEANING OF LIFE. This search led Solomon farther and farther from his Creator. Then one day, he wakes up and sees that it is all so empty. Solomon sees no purpose in such a life. How sad Solomon became!

Solomon shows us the unsatisfactory nature of life under the sun and its ensuing labour. In his quest to find fulfilment or satisfaction in life, Solomon in his old age conceded that there is no true happiness without God in the arithmetic of life.

Solomon teaches us to esteem the spiritual, to find fulfilment with God is true happiness. He tells us that the wisdom of this world gives us no such happiness. It is barrenness and a sullen cold chill.

Life with God is most precious because it brings true happiness, most pleasant because it gives true hopefulness and most permanent because it brings true holiness (Proverbs 3:13-18). This is found when we find salvation in Jesus Christ, God’s precious and permanent peace comes to us.[1]

Solomon explores and brings us on a tour of the natural man’s ways to show us their futility. Briefly, his search trail leads this way:

Search for this world’s wisdom: (Ecc. 1:18) … the conclusion … is that it is lacking, and crooked and cannot be straightened and much study is a weariness of the flesh… (Ecc. 12:12)!

The search of Pleasure: (Ecc. 2: 1, 3) Pleasures of this world stings and gives no true pleasure but pain and misery as we saw last week. Gives himself to wine: this is folly — for he wakes up with a hangover.

The search of Satisfaction in Earthly Possessions (v4-11), he found to be empty and vain.

 

(1) Emptiness of Worldly Possessions (v4-8a)

4 I made me great works; I builded me houses;…

Man in the pride of his own strength will seek to find some permanent real estate on earth for himself – 99-year lease is not good enough, it has to be 999-year lease or freehold that it can last a thousand generations.

This was what the descendants of Cain did. Genesis 4:16 tells us that he went out from the presence of the LORD, left his parents Adam and Eve and build an empire for himself. When man departs from God, his perspective is earth-bound. Genesis 4:17 tells us that Cain builds a city and name it after his son Enoch.

Genesis 4:17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. 

This Enoch in Genesis 4 is the ungodly Enoch. There is another Enoch named in Genesis 5 who is a godly man. He was taken to heaven directly without seeing death. He sought after God.

Genesis 5:19-24 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. 21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

The Bible tells us that Abraham was such a man like the godly Enoch who walked with God. In his sojourn in Canaan, he did not build a single building, he lived in tents. And the author of Hebrews tells us that Abraham has a godly perspective to life that is not earth-bound.

Hebrews 11:9-10, 13-16 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God…. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

He has a heavenly perspective to life. It does not mean that we cannot own a house. But it does mean that we do not allow ourselves to be carried away to accumulate possessions that we know ultimately we will leave behind with us when we transit from this earth into eternity.

The nations of the world build towers in their major cities as a symbol of their prosperity and presence:

 

Rank Building[A][9] City Country/region Height (m)[3] Height (ft) Floors Built
1 Burj Khalifa★ Dubai  UAE 828 m 2,717 ft 163 2010
2 Shanghai Tower Shanghai  China 632 m[10] 2,073 ft 128 2015
3 Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower Mecca  Saudi Arabia 601 m[11] 1,971 ft 120 2012
4 Ping An Finance Centre Shenzhen  China 599 m 1,965 ft 115 2016[B]
5 Lotte World Tower Seoul  South Korea 555 m 1,823 ft 123 2016[B]
6 One World Trade Center New York City  United States 541.3 m 1,776 ft 104 2014
7 CTF Finance Centre Guangzhou  China 530 m[12] 1,740 ft 111 2016[B]
8 Taipei 101 Taipei  Taiwan 509 m[13] 1,670 ft 101 2004
9 Shanghai World Financial Center Shanghai  China 492 m 1,614 ft 101 2008
10 International Commerce Centre Hong Kong  Hong Kong 484 m 1,588 ft 118 2010

 

Solomon was no different. 1 Kings 4-10 describes the vast building projects and wealth of Solomon.

1 Kings 4:1 So king Solomon was king over all Israel. 1 Kings 4:20-21 Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry. 21 And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. 1 Kings 5:4-5 But now the LORD my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. 5 And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. 1 Kings 6:11-14 And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying, 12 Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. 14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it. 1 Kings 6:38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.

We see the turn of heart in Solomon’s life here:

1 Kings 7:1-2 But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. 2 He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. 1 Kings 7:8 And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.

4 …I planted me vineyards:… 5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: 6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: 7 I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: 8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces:

 1 Kings 9:17-19 And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether, 18 And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, 19 And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

He gave himself much to build, both in the city and in the country. He builds vineyard to produce the best wines and gardens and orchards, swimming pools…notice that the leisures of this life that do not bring us back to a grateful acknowledgement of our Creator is fleeting and not satisfying to the soul.

And, having been at such vast expense in the beginning of his reign to build a house for God, it can be noticed he spent more time building his own house than God’s house.

 When the Creator had made his great works he reviewed them, and behold, all was very good; everything pleased Him.

But when Solomon reviewed all his works that his hands had wrought, with the utmost cost and care, and the labour that he had laboured to do in order to make himself easy and happy, nothing answered his expectation; behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit; he had no satisfaction in it, no advantage by it; there was no profit under the sun, neither by the employments nor by the enjoyments of this world.

And yet, when he looked back on all his works that he had wrought, and the labour that he had laboured, it seemed only as the chasing of shadows. The pleasure faded with his novelty. Unrestrained desire was the source of this vanity and vexation. He would keep back from his eyes nothing that they desired.

 

(2) Emptiness of Worldly Entertainment (v8b-11)

8… I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

There is a limitation to this world’s entertainment to cheer the heart. There is a limitation to the learning of instruments for personal enrichment. Whereas music that is for the praise of God is on the contrary so meaningful and speaks true comfort and joy to the heart.

The descendants of Cain – man by the name of Jubal was the father of all musicians, the maker of the first musical instruments.

Genesis 4:21 And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

Remember Charlie Chaplin (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977), the English comic actor and director of silent films. It is interesting how the silent movies were termed “the American Tower of Babel” that gels the migrants coming to America speaking different languages. Inadvertently, it provides an escape from confronting a life without knowing the living and true God and the true state of our depravity.[2]

Why did he go into the entertainment industry? This is the conversation he had with his Christian mother with attended the church of Rev. F.B. Meyer in London, his father was a drunkard. This caused the family to be always in debt and in poverty. This excerpt is taken “Charlie Chaplin, My Autobiography”, pages 286-289:

When I returned to Hollywood [from England], I dropped by to see Mother… “Well, what do you think of your son and all this nonsense?” I said whimsically.

“It’s wonderful, but wouldn’t you rather by yourself than to live in this theatrical world of unreality?”

“You should talk,” I laughed. “You’re responsible for this unreality.”

She paused. “If only you had put your talent in the service of the Lord–think of the thousands of souls you could have saved.”

I smiled. “I might have saved souls but not money.”[3]

The song “Smile” in Chaplin’s movie became an instant hit in America…men having to be happy without God!

 

Smile

tho’ your heart is aching,

Smile

Even though it’s breaking,

When there are clouds in the sky- You’ll get by,

If you

Smile through your fear and sorrow,

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You’ll see the sun come shining through- For you.

Light up your face with gladness,

Hide ev’ry trace of sadness,

Altho’ a tear may be ever so near,

That’s the time you must keep on trying,

Smile- What’s the use of crying,

You’ll find that life is still worthwhile,

If you just smile.

 

Read how subtle are the words of the song. It is a sentimental appeal to get by life without God by self-consolation or self-delusion.

You will realize that those who entertain others but they themselves always feel lonely. Biblical joy is not the entertainment kind of happiness. Solomon understood this when he is sought the fullness of entertainment during his lifetime and find no satisfaction in it. It just does not connect with his soul. There is a part of him that tells him that true joy comes through worship of God, the ultimate realisation this wayward child of God.

 9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. 11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

The queen of Sheba came to Israel and she beheld the glory that God has bestowed upon Israel, giving praise to God …1 Kings 10:4-9 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built, 5 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. 6 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. 7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. 8 Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. 9 Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.

 

CONCLUSION

Solomon looked on all the works that his hands had wrought, and on the labour that he had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. May we take heed to Solomon’s testimony and re-orientate our lives to have eternity’s values in view. Amen.

 

[1] Denis Gibson, Go for the Life that Wins!, D. & E. I. Gibson, 1 February.

[2] This is the write-up from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin “…became one of the best-known film stars in the world before the end of the First World War. Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era. As new immigrant groups arrived in waves to America silent movies were able to cross all the barriers of language, and spoke to every level of the American Tower of Babel, precisely because they were silent. Chaplin was emerging as the supreme exponent of silent movies, an emigrant himself from London. Chaplin’s Tramp enacted the difficulties and humiliations of the immigrant underdog, the constant struggle at the bottom of the American heap and yet he triumphed over adversity without ever rising to the top, and thereby stayed in touch with his audience. Chaplin’s films were also deliciously subversive. The bumbling officials enabled the immigrants to laugh at those they feared.” His working life in entertainment spanned over 75 years, from the Victorian stage and the Music Hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer, until close to his death at the age of 88.”

“In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Chaplin the 10th greatest male screen legend of all time. In 2008, Martin Sieff, in a review of the book Chaplin: A Life, wrote: “Chaplin was not just ‘big’, he was gigantic. In 1915, he burst onto a war-torn world bringing it the gift of comedy, laughter and relief while it was tearing itself apart through the First World War. Over the next 25 years, through the Great Depression and the rise of Hitler, he stayed on the job. It is doubtful any individual has ever given more entertainment, pleasure and relief to so many human beings when they needed it the most”. George Bernard Shaw called Chaplin “the only genius to come out of the movie industry”.”

[3] This excerpt is taken “Charlie Chaplin, My Autobiography, Simon and Schuster: New York, NY (1964)” [page 289]…How strange that her [Chaplin’s mother] life should end here, in the environs of Hollywood, with all its absurd values… Then a flood of memories surged in upon me of her lifelong struggle, her suffering, her courage and her tragic, wasted life . . . and I wept. It was an hour before I could recover and leave the room… I was asked if I wanted Mother cremated. Such a thought horrified me! No, I preferred her buried in the green earth, where she still lies, in Hollywood Cemetary. I do not know if I have given a portrait worthy of Mother. But I do know that she carried her burden cheerfully. Kindness and sympathy were her outstanding virtues. Although religious, she loved sinners and always identified herself with them. Not an atom of vulgarity was in her nature… And in spite of the squalor in which we were forced to live [when Chaplin was young], she had kept Sydney and me off the streets and made us feel we were not the ordinary product of poverty, but unique and distinguished.