Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹⁴ I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

    ¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶ I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷ And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

    ¹⁸ For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

INTRODUCTION

Many years ago, Socrates, a philosopher in Ancient Greece, was charged with the capital crimes of failing to acknowledge the proper gods and of corrupting the youth of Athens with his teaching. Socrates was put on trial for those things and was ultimately found guilty and put to death.

Socrates maintained his innocence throughout the trial and refused to recant. In his mind, he was doing nothing but seeking truth and virtue. Indeed, for Socrates (as he is portrayed by Plato), there was simply no other way to live. He famously said, “The life which is unexamined is not worth living.” In other words, if Socrates had to choose between a life in which he was forced to stop pursuing truth and death, he would (and did) choose death.

By all accounts, it was common grace alone that caused Socrates to have such zeal for understanding. He looked out into the world and into the hearts of men and wanted to understand what he saw; so much so that he didn’t want to live in a world where he couldn’t. We would do well to imitate his desire to understand God and the world He made.

Indeed, the Bible has many commands, like the one in Philippians 4:8, to do just that: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” The gist of the Apostle Paul’s command is for Christians to think hard about the things in this world that are worth thinking about.

The Bible not only commands us to think carefully about the world around us, though. It also gives us several examples of men and women of God who did so. In fact, that’s exactly what we have in our passage for this morning. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Preacher determined to examine every aspect of life under the sun, to use only wisdom, and then to share his conclusions.

The big idea of this passage is that all human wisdom has limits. Wisdom is better than folly, but it alone is not sufficient to predict life under the sun with 100% accuracy. And that is often really, really frustrating. The main takeaway, therefore, is to seek wisdom, reject folly, and live ultimately according to the promises of God that are ours in Jesus.

THREE PRELIMINARY MATTERS

Before we get into the heart of our passage, there are three things I want to point out to help you follow along.

First, our passage for this morning is the beginning of a larger section that runs all the way to the end of chapter 2. In that larger section, the Preacher considers the under-the-sun vanity of looking at the world by wisdom (our passage for today), the pursuit of pleasure, living by wisdom, and our daily work. In other words, for the next several weeks, we’ll consider the mysterious nature of several ordinary aspects of life.

Second, the Preacher makes two statements in this passage that have led many to conclude he could be no one other than King Solomon (v.12 and v.16). The first one is found in v.12. There, the Preacher identifies himself as king over Israel in Jerusalem. The argument is that Solomon is the only son of David (1:1) who could have said that, since after Solomon the kingdom was divided and from that point on the king in Jerusalem was only the king of the southern tribes, the king of Judah.

The second statement that those who believe Solomon to be the Preacher point to is v.16. “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me.” That lines up with what we’re told of Solomon in 1 Kings 4:29-31. “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, ³⁰so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹For he was wiser than all other men…”.

As I said in my first sermon, I do think there is a good case to be made for Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes. And yet, the two main things to see are that it is written with Solomon’s voice (even if Solomon isn’t the author; one commentator refers to the Preacher as a “second Solomon”) and it is intentionally anonymous. In my estimation, we lose more than we gain when we try to definitively go beyond those two things.

And the third preliminary point I’d like to make is to share the simple outline of this sermon. There are three main sections. In the first, we’ll consider the fact that the Preacher decided to examine the world with wisdom. In the second, we’ll consider the Preacher’s conclusions from having done so. And in the third, we’ll reexamine some of what the Preacher wrote from an above the sun perspective.

With that, let’s get into the text and begin looking at the fact that mystery inevitably results from any attempt to interpret the world around us through the lens of wisdom.

WISDOM AS AN INTERPRETATIVE LENS FOR LIFE UNDER THE SUN

In our passage, the Preacher makes a few extraordinary claims. The first of which is found in the first half of v.13 and again in the first half of v.14.

Examining Every Aspect of Life Under the Sun

¹³ And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven…

¹⁴ I have seen everything that is done under the sun…

The Preacher determined to go on a quest. And the keys to really appreciating the significance of the quest are its nature, aim, and scope.

Of its nature, it was self-assigned and earnest. The quest was not given to the Preacher. It was something he decided to embark on of his own volition.

It’s like the weirdos who choose to willingly subject themselves to the rigors of running marathons; who pay for the pain of training and racing hundreds of miles over many months.

It was not only self-assigned, though, it was also earnest. The Preacher says that he “applied [his] heart” (13 and again in 17) to the quest. Another way to translate that is he “gave [His] heart” to the quest. This is further emphasized by the twin clauses, “to seek out” and “to search out”. Somewhat like saying “holy, holy, holy,” the repetition is meant to emphasize the earnestness with which he engaged the quest. He gave his whole heart, all of himself, to seeking and searching. He decided to do it and he determined to hold nothing back. Head-first, no hesitation.

This is not merely an aspiring marathon runner who was pressured and decided reluctantly to give it a shot. It’s an aspiring marathon runner who, unprompted, went all-in from the beginning; bought clothes for every condition, bought all the pairs of shoes upfront, changed the diet for maximum benefit, found the best base fitness and refining training plans, and cleared everything necessary out of the schedule to fully train.

I wonder what you have applied your heart to. Is there anything that someone might describe you as having given your whole self to? It’s important that we all do that and (as we’re about to see) it’s really important that we give ourselves to the right thing and in the right way.

So, what exactly was the Preacher’s quest and what was its scope? What did the he give his whole heart to seeking and searching out and to what extent did he do so?

The short version of the aim of the quest is: understanding. The Preacher wanted to be able to make sense of the things in life. He wanted to be able to really understand the world around him. Therefore, he gave himself entirely to figuring out “that which is done under heaven (13), or, that which is “done under the sun” (14).”

Finally, concerning the scope of the Preacher’s quest, it’s critical for us to understand that the Preacher earnestly set out on a self-assigned quest to understand “all that is done under heaven” (13) and “everything that is done under the sun” (14).

All of us have certain things we like to know more about; that we’re eager to understand. I love finding out more ways to use my lathe or catch trout on a fly rod, for instance. I know others who like to study certain aspects of their work to be able to do their job better. Still others have been through particularly hard things in life and long to know more about how to help themselves and others to heal from that. There’s an entire philosophy of education that is built around the idea that people always learn better when they study things they care about.

But the Preacher didn’t limit himself to examining a few areas of personal interest. Astonishingly, he tells the reader (in this passage and repeatedly throughout the book) that he determined to leave no stone unturned. His quest was for nothing short of making sense of everything around him.

He gave his whole heart to seeking and searching understanding regarding work, time, family, the sun, the wind, the waters, the human body, history, wisdom, happiness, morality, pleasure, folly, aging, gardens, buildings, parks, plants, servants, animals, treasures, rulers, conquering, ruling, marriage, sex, memory, inheritance, food, God’s sovereignty, birth and death, sowing and harvesting, killing and healing, tearing down and building up, tears and laughter, mourning and dancing, eliminating and gathering, hugging and keeping distance, seeking and letting go, destroying and mending, silence and speaking, loving and hating, making war and making peace, and that’s just what he explicitly names in the first three-and-a-half chapters!

He skipped the marathon and jumped straight to a desert 100 miler.

Even more astonishingly though is that the Preacher claims to have actually done it.

¹⁴ I have seen everything that is done under the sun…

To be clear, he was not claiming to have seen everything that could be seen. God alone can do that. It is to say, however, that he really did examine everything that he encountered.

All by itself, that’s pretty staggering. Therefore, when we add to that the fact that the Preacher had more ability to encounter more things than almost anyone in the history of the world (because of his vast power and wealth), we can see that this is an even bigger deal than it already seems.

Again, the Preacher determined to give his whole self to seeking to understand all that is under the sun, and he did so to an unmatched degree.

Using Only Wisdom

There’s one more aspect of this first point to examine before we move on to the Preacher’s findings. There’s one more question to ask. Through what lens did he look at the things done under the sun?

That might sound like a strange question, but it’s critical. Doing what the Preacher did by looking through different lenses makes a world of difference.

For instance, if the Preacher examined everything under the sun, looking to find that which brough him the most intense and sustained pleasure, his conclusions would be a lot different than they were. Likewise, if the lens through which he was looking was that of how best to conquer the world in light of how the world works, it would have been a lot different still. If his perspective was to examine all things in order to find the most leisure in life, his analysis would have been different. And if the lens was to look at the whole world to find the best path for ending all conflicts, it’s a different game again.

Let me ask you all quickly, through what lens do you examine the world? When you get sick or offered a promotion or get bullied at school or tempted with a new sin or see a beautiful sunset or loose a loved one or move into a new stage of life or make a new friend or find a one-legged seagull, how do you process what you’re experiencing or seeing? How are you evaluating the things you encounter in this life?

Those are the kinds of things the Preacher’s seeking and searching shine a light on for us. He helps us to see that our answers to those questions are truly significant.

Again, then, what was the Preacher’s lens? It was, he tells us, one thing and one thing only.

¹³ And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.

What’s more, the Preacher tells us in v.16 that he did so with no small amount of wisdom.

¹⁶ I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”

In the same way that the Preacher was best able to examine all things since his power and wealth afforded him greater access to all things, his exceptional wisdom put him in an unparalleled place to be able to evaluate them. If anyone was going to be able to accurately and helpfully grasp life under the sun it was going to be the Preacher for he had more access and wisdom than anyone.

He tells the reader that he “Applied [his] heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven” (13). In other words, he determined to use only wisdom to consider everything he encountered. He decided to evaluate everything under the sun by wisdom alone; not impulse, not mere desire, not semi-sanctified common sense, not popular opinion, not opinion at all, not self-satisfaction, only wisdom.

The Preacher even went so far as to use wisdom to evaluate “madness and folly” (17).

¹⁷ And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly…

The main point here is that the Preacher used wisdom to consider whether immorality and foolishness led to a better outcome than wisdom itself. (We can’t help but to think of some of Solomon’s many foolish choices, like taking hundreds of wives and concubines.)

The Preacher really and earnestly determined to and did! seek and search for understanding in everything under the sun with more wisdom than anyone before. That sounds like a high and noble quest, doesn’t it?

Before answering that question, however, there’s an important caveat that I need to share. There’s a key clarification that we all need to grasp concerning the primary kind of wisdom employed by the Preacher.

One commentator notes, “The Hebrew word for wisdom is a broad term. Here it refers to what human beings can learn about the world without any special revelation from God” (Ryken, PTWC, 38).

That is good in a sense. Many have used such wisdom to discover amazing things about God’s world; even non-Christians and atheists. It is right to look at a corn seed and observe how long it takes to germinate and what soil it grows best in and how much sun and water it needs and what kind of yield it can be expected to produce. Billions of people have been fed because of the kind of wisdom the Preacher used in studying corn.

And yet, the same commentator continues, “The question is, how far will such wisdom take us? Will it help us to know and worship Jesus Christ as the Son of God? Will it lead us in the way of life everlasting? Will it help us understand why everything matters” (Ryken, PTWC, 38)?

The answer to each of those questions is, of course, no. This kind of wisdom is utterly unable to answer many “what” questions and absolutely no “why” questions. By itself, it can help us to see a great deal, but nowhere near everything we need. We’re about to see this in unmistakable fashion in the Preacher’s conclusions.

THE RESULT OF USING WISDOM AS AN INTERPRETATIVE LENS FOR LIFE UNDER THE SUN

Once again, if anyone was going to be able to accurately and helpfully grasp life under the sun it was going to be the Preacher. So, what was the result? What were his conclusions after having given it his best shot?

His findings seem to fall fairly neatly under a single banner: discouraging. Through approaching all of life under the sun with more common grace wisdom, with a greater measure of natural revelation, than anyone before him, the Preacher concluded his quest profoundly discouraged. The Preacher used five different terms to describe his conclusions and not one of them is positive.

Unhappy Business (13)

The first place we see the grim/gloomy/discouraged conclusion of the Preacher is in v.13.

Immediately after describing his self-imposed, whole-hearted, wisdom-quest for understanding, he concluded: “¹³ …It is an unhappy business…”.

It is not clear from this passage whether the “unhappy business” refers to life in general or the quest for understanding specifically. What is clear, though, is that the word for “unhappy” is more moral than emotional. It’s closer to bad/evil than to sad.

In other words, the Preacher’s first conclusion is that wisdom has taught him that a very significant part of human existence is bad. That’s not a great start.

Vanity (14, 17)

The Preacher’s next conclusion strikes a similarly somber, even if familiar, note. He determined that in light of everything he’d seen under the sun that “¹⁴ … all is vanity and a striving after wind.”

He concluded the same thing after considering the benefits of living according to wisdom instead of madness and folly, “I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind” (17).

Everything is mystery with a side of futility. You’ve probably heard the expression “herding cats”. The point is that it’s really hard to get a group of cats together. Striving after wind (or shepherding the wind) is even harder. Indeed, it’s impossible. Life under the sun is mysterious to the point that it’s impossible to grasp. That’s what the Preacher concluded.

Beyond Repair (15)

In v.15 we find another facet of the Preacher’s conclusion, this time in the form of a Proverb.

 ¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

The gist of the Proverb is that the world under the sun is filled with things that are beyond repair. This includes moral corruption, but is not merely or mainly that. The picture is like a crumpled piece of paper. Have you ever tried to smooth one out? If so, you know that it can be made better, but never fully restored to its original crispness.

It’s the fight between friends that leaves a painful memory that fades, but not entirely. It’s the picture or video you shouldn’t have seen, but can’t unsee. It’s the car crash or loss of a loved one or health diagnosis that leaves behind a measure of anxiety that never fully goes away, no matter what happens next or how much time passes.

All the Preacher’s tests, using all the Preacher’s wisdom, led him to conclude that the world is filled with crooked things and mankind is powerless to make them straight again.

The second part of the proverb only enhances the frustration. It most likely communicates the simple fact that on top of the continual futility we feel from our inability to fully restore what we know to be broken, we also feel the futility of things we will never even be able to name. As everyone of us has experienced, there are things wrong with the world that we continually feel without ever knowing exactly what they are.

Much Vexation (18)

The final two conclusions come from another proverb in v.18. The first half says,

    ¹⁸ For in much wisdom is much vexation…

Vexation in this sense refers to “an irritation, a frustration of the soul verging on anger” (Ryken, PTWC, 43).

The main idea the Preacher discovered was that as he grew in and applied wisdom to the world he encountered, it only led to more and deeper frustration. That kind of examination of the world with that kind of wisdom did not provide relief, only a growing irritation at the realization that not only are things not as they ought to be, but also that there’s nothing that we can do about it.

Increased Sorrow (18)

Finally, and maybe most gloomily/discouragingly, in the second half of the proverb of v.18 we read,

¹⁸ …he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Perhaps the simplest way to reword this is: If you don’t know how things are supposed to be, you can’t be upset that they’re not that way. Ignorance, as they say, is bliss.

By applying wisdom to every aspect of life the Preacher came to better understand how things ought to be, but also that they are much further from that than he had ever imagined. That realization increased his sorrow.

How many of you have ever had a significant disagreement/argument with someone you’re really close to (a friend or family member or spouse)? By “significant,” I mean something more than a simple misunderstanding or a brief dust up? Sins were committed, feelings were hurt, great and prolonged difficulty was experienced.

Let me press one level deeper. How many of you, during one of those significant disagreements, believed yourself to have had your head around things in such a way that should have been helpful? You thought you had a decent understanding of the situation—both sides. You thought you had a decent handle on what God’s Word has to say about a situation like that—both sides. And as far as you were able to tell, you wanted, and were trying, to honor God and the person you were arguing with.

But…

Wisdom (at least the measure you had) wasn’t working. As much as you tried to act in wisdom, it didn’t help resolve the situation. Of course, none of us are perfect, but as far as you could tell, you were doing what was right and for right reasons. Nevertheless, it didn’t help, and in some ways, it even made things worse.

Indeed, trying unsuccessfully to act in wisdom usually only makes things harder. Trying to do what’s right only to have it backfire in your face is often more frustrating, more challenging, and more upsetting than if you hadn’t. Sacrificially doing what’s right in the face of persistent rejection tends to only increases the sorrow, permanently bending things for both people.

And to make matters even more that way—more unhappy business (13), more vanity (14, 17), more beyond repair (15), much more vexation (18), and more increased sorrow (18)—is the fact that all of this, the Preacher discovered, is that which “¹³ …God has given to the children of man to be busy with.”

It’s not only the way things are, but God’s hand is in all of that on some level. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!

We’ve all felt this; sometimes with the kind of crushing weight the Preacher experienced. Some of us are in it right now. The more you understand, the harder things are. The harder you try, the worse things get. This life is one big mystery, with the unavoidable cumulative effect of unhappy, vexation and sorrow. So, what are we to do with all of this? How are we to make sense of this, especially if God is involved in all of it?

That leads to the final section.

LIVING UNDER THE SUN ACCORDING TO THE ABOVE THE SUN WISDOM OF GOD

If all the under the sun wisdom available to us is not sufficient to live a life of joy and contentment, then what are we to do? Simply, we must seek and live by a higher wisdom, above the sun wisdom.

We need not only general revelation, we need special revelation as well. All the under the sun wisdom in the world is never sufficient to live in this world as we were made to do so. And in that way, all the under the sun wisdom in the world cannot lead to a life of genuine satisfaction and fulfillment. The path to those things is found in the promises of God alone, which are ours in the Word of God alone.

There are, of course, many promises of God to us in Jesus, but there are two of particular significance regarding the Preacher’s observations and conclusions: promises concerning the nature of sin and God’s relationship to it. He certainly had some measure of awareness of these, but like the rest of his understanding (along with every man before Christ), it was incomplete.

Sin of Mankind

Things are the way the Preacher observed because of the corrupting effects of sin. Again, of course, the Preacher knew of sin, but he did not know the full measure of its corrupting effects.

In a very real way, all that the Preacher experienced can be summed up by two NT verses: Romans 8:7-8 and Romans 8:22.

Concerning the reason the Preacher experienced what he did in mankind, Romans 8:7-8 cuts straight to the heart of the matter, “the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

And concerning the reason the Preacher experienced what he did in the rest of creation, Romans 8:22 sums it up, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

Under the sun wisdom is sufficient to recognize the corruption of men and the fact that the rest of creation is struggling, it’s sufficient to recognize that there is nothing that man can do to fix it, and it’s sufficient to know that if that’s all there is, it is vexing and sorrowful indeed.

But we need above the sun wisdom (wisdom from God, given in His Word) to really grasp the extent of what’s happening, why that’s happening, and what can be done about it. And that leads to the second promise of God.

The Sovereignty of God

The world is the way the Preacher observed because of sin and mankind is powerless to do anything about it. But God’s Word tells us what under the sun wisdom can’t: that every ounce of the sovereignty of God is continually at work in every single thing the Preacher saw for the greatest good of those whose hope is in Jesus. The Preacher was right to conclude that God was in everything he experienced, but he was wrong about how.

We find that promise just a few verses later in Romans 8.

Romans 8:28-30 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Practically, this means that in every aspect of the mystery the Preacher discovered through wisdom is being worked by God for the good of His people. It is not, therefore, ultimately unhappiness, vanity, striving after wind, vexation, and sorrow, but temporal and eternal gladness and peace and joy in Jesus.

Grace, the world is as the Preacher observed, but it is also more than that; much more than that. For every visible display of hevel (vanity), is a billion purposeful, gracious, merciful, good, loving works of God in and around in through them all. And a life of clarity (not mystery) comes only when God’s grace opens our eyes to that in His Word.

CONCLUSION

All of the Preacher’s wisdom, great as it was, is addressed by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 1:18-22 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

    “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.