Ecclesiastes 4:4-16 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
INTRODUCTION
Good morning, Grace Church. Christ is risen.
For years, I missed the fact that we say “Christ is risen” not “Christ has risen.” The difference is a really big deal. He is, right now, risen from the dead.
This news is, of course, not a new or small thing. If it were either of those (new or small), you probably wouldn’t be here. The fact that the resurrection is simultaneously enormous and familiar confronts preachers with the annual question of how to address it in a way that really draws us into appropriate awe and worship and action.
Pastor Colin talked about this challenge recently in preaching through a couple of very familiar and significant passages (Psalm 23 and Luke 19:28-44, the Triumphal Entry of Jesus).
Of course, ultimately, the Holy Spirit will work in us or nothing of spiritual significance will happen. There is no sermon form, word count, particular passage, angle of approach, or amount of preaching animation that will stir us to worship and obedience all by itself. We need God’s help this morning or none of us will respond to the truth that Jesus is risen from the dead in the way we ought.
At the same time, though, we do have to decide what we’re going to preach on and how we’re going to handle it.
Colin, as we’ve experienced a few times already, is particularly gifted at shining light on different facets of familiar passages. He helps the passage feel new because he’s able to point to something a bit different about it. Thanks be to God.
I tend to take another approach. Rather than address a familiar topic (like the resurrection) with a familiar passage (one directly on the resurrection, like Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, and John 20:1-10), I tend to attempt to overcome the sometimes-numbing effect of the familiar by coming at things from a completely different perspective.
And for that reason, we’re going to spend Easter in Ecclesiastes!
If ever there was an above the sun idea, it’s the resurrection. And if ever we are going to appreciate it, it will be because we see it in appropriate contrast to its under the sun alternatives. The next passage in Ecclesiastes provides just that for us.
The big idea of this sermon is that the only real and lasting solution to the problems we face in this life (physical, relational, emotional, and spiritual) is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The author of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher, was inspired by God to help us see that there are no lasting earthly solutions to our earthly or heavenly problems. The main takeaway, then, the primary response to this passage, is to surrender entirely to the risen Jesus.
PERPETUAL UNDER THE SUN TEMPTATIONS
There are three main sections to our passage for this morning. In each we see an under the sun temptation that is ever-before all of us: Discontentment (4-6), isolation (7-12), and the longing for worldly power (13-16). In each, we’ll also get a small glimpse of the Preacher’s solution (sometimes implied and sometimes explicitly stated).
As we make our way through them, beginning with discontentment, I invite you all to consider the frustration, the difficulty, the confusion, and the pain they often cause. Consider carefully what the Preacher says in the way of a solution. Consider carefully what you’ve tried in the way of a solution. And ask yourself if that’s all there is. Ask yourself if there’s something in you that longs for something more than what the Preacher offers or you’ve tried. Doing so is the key to Easter being more than merely a cultural tradition or an uninspiring reminder.
Discontentment (4-6)
In vs. 4-6, the Preacher names three areas of discontentment common to mankind in his day (and, as I’m sure you can easily see, in ours as well). The first is found in v.4, the temptation to discontentment through envy.
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Throughout the first four chapters in Ecclesiastes, the Preacher addressed man’s work/toil several times. There are, according to him, aspects of it that are good. Mostly, however, he observed that our work tends to be a source of discontentment. He names another aspect of that here.
When we work hard day after day after day, simply because we want to earn enough money to get what our neighbors have, it’s the exact same as spending our lives chasing the wind; perpetually running after something that can never be caught. There’s always going to be a neighbor with more or better stuff than us. Trying to keep up is frustrating and discouraging and leads only to more and more discontentment.
Who among us has not fallen into that pit? Do you know that temptation? Do you drive by a bigger, fancier house and think of how to make it happen? Land? Education? Relationships? Toys? Clothes? Vacations? The Preacher observed that much of our work is done merely on account of our discontent in having less than others.
Every day, but especially on Easter, we’re meant to read this, recognize the vanity of it, see it in ourselves, and feel our heart’s cry: What is to be done about this?! It’s so foolish. God, how can I be freed from it?
The second area of discontentment temptation he mentions is in the way of laziness.
5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
The picture here is a contrast from v.4. In v.4, the man misguidedly works hard. In v.5, the man misguidedly doesn’t work at all. He is discontent with God’s design for him. Therefore, rather than work as God intends, he folds his hands like someone in a recliner about to take a nap…always! And tragically, his discontentment has built to the point that his body ends up eating itself in the way of starvation.
Most likely, none of us have experienced laziness to that extreme, but the temptation is there under the sun. Again, given the fact that we’re all lazy at times, and we’re all affected by the laziness of others at times, we’re right to wonder what can be done about it. There must be something, right, Grace?
The third and final area of temptation toward under the sun discontentment is found in v.6.
6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
If work or the stuff we can get from it were truly able to satisfy us, more work, leading to more stuff, must lead to more satisfaction, right? That’s the mindset the Preacher was addressing in v.6.
He addressed it, by rejecting it. He states emphatically that neither work, nor anything it can produce, are able to deliver on any lasting promise of satisfaction. And in that way, v.6 perfectly completes vs.4 and 5.
Work driven by envy (v.4) is a perpetually bad and hollow temptation. So too is the temptation to avoid all work (v.5). V.6 adds the idea that working without stopping, to gain without limit, is a continual and hollow temptation as well (v.6). It just can’t deliver on what it promises.
The Preacher concludes, therefore, that it is better to have less stuff with rest than more stuff without it.
Are there any workaholics in here? Do any of you struggle to take a sabbath? Are you driven to work more and more, at the expense of more and more, to gain more and more? Under the sun, it’s inevitable at times. So how do we get out of this cycle? What help is there for real deliverance?
Which of these areas of discontentment have you experienced in yourself or the people around you? All of us have experienced all of them on some level. And as such, we know how frustrating and discouraging they can be. We’re always vulnerable to falling into those pits. The Preacher watched as those around him did so time after time. Why does work need to be so hard and distracting and consuming and discouraging?
Embedded in each of these discontentment observations is a kind of solution: get rid of envy, work hard, and be still—collectively, be content. Good advice for sure, but is it that easy?
Isolation (7-12)
That leads to the second section and the second perpetual under the sun temptation named by the Preacher. Because people can be so challenging, there’s a constant pull to pull away, to isolate.
Do you know that temptation? Do you ever feel like it would be better (or at least easier) if you could just get away, do what you want, and only be responsible for yourself? The Preacher’s words are sobering for those who think that the solitary, isolated life is preferable to the trials of community. He warns in vs.7-8 that isolation only ends in unhappiness.
7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
The man who has no family or close friends with whom to share and leave the fruits of his labor, is an unhappy man indeed. No matter how rich he gets, he is faced with the constant, nagging question of what benefit he’s really getting from it. Part of what makes any gain meaningful is being able to bless loved ones with it.
It is a universal truth that whenever we let people get close enough to bless them and be blessed by them, we also open ourselves up to being hurt by them as well. Some of you know that all-too-painfully well. When we experience that, the temptation is to pull away, to get out, to be by ourselves.
But the Preacher’s observation is also his help. He points out the truth that the grass is rarely greener and never long-green on the other side of the isolation fence. To work is to deprive yourself of the pleasure of leisure. That is always hard, but it’s often mitigated by the knowledge that others will be blessed by it. Absent that, it’s not worth the sacrifice.
Again, what is to be done? If isolation is bad, but being around others often leads to hurt, what help is there? From where does our deliverance come? How do we really escape the tension and the unhappiness?
The Preacher gives similar challenges and advice in the next four proverbial verses. Look at v.9.
V.9, don’t give into the under the sun temptation to isolate because two people working together produce significantly more than two individuals working the same job by themselves. If you don’t believe that, go watch the Reeds frame up a house together.
V.10, don’t give into the under the sun temptation to isolate because if you’re alone and get hurt, your troubles are far more than if you have someone right there to help. I experienced this in dramatic fashion when I fell into Lake Erie ice fishing, went immediately into shock, and needed my cousin to pull me out. If he hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t be here.
V.11, don’t give into the under the sun temptation to isolate because you’ll be colder. How’s that for practical? With furnaces and electric blankets and heated car seats, things are a little different today, but the simple truth remains that there is more emotional, spiritual, and physical warmth in community. Today, right now, as a gathered together people, as a church, we are experiencing that in significant measure. By God’s design, you cannot feel the same measure of resurrection warmth at home, by yourself, as you can here with the gathered people of God.
And, v.12, don’t give into the under the sun temptation to isolate because you’re more vulnerable to being attacked when you’re by yourself. Walking by yourself on ancient roads was often an invitation for bad actors to rob you. It was, therefore, a common practice in the Preacher’s day to travel from city to city in groups.
The Preacher calls for community by warning of the consequences of its lack. If you don’t want to be unproductive, vulnerable, cold, or attacked, don’t do life by yourself. That sounds fineish on the surface, but once again, we’re left knowing that there must be more to the solution than just that. There must be something stronger and more permanent than those things to drive back our desire to isolate and protect ourselves from the pain others can cause.
Attempting to Hold onto Worldly Power (13-16)
The third and final under the sun temptation presented by the Preacher deals with the desire for worldly power. To articulate this idea, the Preacher wrote an interestingly structured story about three kings.
13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
In this story, the first king was old and foolish (defined in large measure by his unwillingness to “take advice”). Eventually, he was replaced by a new, young king who had risen from poverty and imprisonment by way of wisdom. This second king was one men gladly followed. He was popular. The third king, which really refers to all kings to come (“those who come later”, 16), are those who have forgotten the good rule of the second king. They do not rejoice in his reign as did those he reigned over. The future kings forgot the past kings—bad and good.
The point of all of this is that there is a constant under the sun temptation to believe that true satisfaction and significance come from gaining and hanging onto worldly power. If only my kids would just obey. If only my spouse would just align himself or herself to my perspective. If only those at my work understood things as well as me. If only my friends were as insightful as me. If only the governor or president would take me as his primary counselor. If only those things, then surely things in general and my life in particular would be better.
But the Preacher, once again, helps us to see that that too is hollow under the sun. No earthly king will be truly satisfied and no earthly kingdom will last. And soon, even the best, most beloved kings will be forgotten. Seeking lasting meaning and significance in worldly power is, once again, like chasing the wind. Therefore, the solution, once again, must be more than a bit more power or obedience, right?
Do you feel this next round of vanity, Grace? Can you feel a longing for something greater than anything that is found under the sun? As you consider your work, the relational trials you’ve endured, and the futility of your longing for power, do you see that there must be more? As you imagine the hardships in your life, do you long for a greater deliverance than anything you’ve experienced; a full and lasting deliverance?
EASTER IN ECCLESIASTES
While the Preacher provides some measure of help in each of the areas of perpetual temptation, like all of his solutions, they leave us wanting. None of his suggestions are long-lasting, much less permanent. Anyone who has experienced the pain of coming in and out and in and out of discontentment, isolation, and the pursuit of lasting power (which is everyone) longs for something not found under the sun.
We’re in Ecclesiastes on Easter because, in some ways, more than any other book in the Bible, it helps us recognize the emptiness of life under the sun and therein stirs up in us a longing for a fuller kind of deliverance. Ecclesiastes primes our hearts for the message of Easter.
What Ecclesiastes does not do, however, is get us all the way to the bottom—at least not explicitly. We need deliverance from discontentment, isolation and broken power, for sure. But those things only point to the greater problem and the greater need for deliverance.
Grace, we feel the emptiness and vanity of all the things the Preacher named, along with everything else under the sun, ultimately because all of them have been corrupted by sin, even as we’ve been corrupted by sin.
As we read Ecclesiastes, we’re right to wonder if there is a fuller kind of deliverance, especially when we see that there is a greater need for deliverance. The Preacher seems to have wrestled with that reality every day of his life, but without gaining a whole lot of ground.
Easter in Ecclesiastes is the title of this sermon. We’ve been in Ecclesiastes, but what’s the Easter part? What does Easter have to do with all of this?
Easter is the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, which is the perfect, indisputable, and impeccable promise and proof of the greater deliverance offered by God to all who will receive Him in faith.
The Preacher recognized the perpetual temptation toward discontentment and the lack of any real under the sun deliverance from it. Easter is the good news that Jesus rose from the dead to be our all-satisfying treasure. Are you discontent? Look not first to anything in this world to satisfy, for it will always fail you; look instead to the resurrected Jesus, who alone can fill you with pleasures forevermore.
Matthew 13:44 [Jesus said,] “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
The Preacher recognized the perpetual temptation toward isolation and the lack of any real under the sun deliverance from it. Jesus rose from the dead to be in never-ending, ever-fulfilling communion with us. Have others hurt you? Look not first to anyone or anything in this world to be your companion, for they will always let you down on some level; look instead to the resurrected Jesus who is entirely and uniquely everything you long for.
John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
The Preacher recognized the perpetual temptation toward seeking worldly power and the lack of any real under the sun deliverance from it. Jesus rose from the dead to be the everlasting ruler God promised and we need. He is the risen King of kings. Do you feel the need to control your surroundings? Look not first to exercise dominion, for it will never last; look instead to the resurrected Jesus whose rule and reign are perfect and everlasting.
Hebrews 1:8 But of [Jesus] [God] says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.”
Easter is the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, which is the perfect, indisputable, and impeccable promise and proof of the greater deliverance we need.
Luke 24:1-6 tells of the fact of the resurrection, “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen.’”
And in 1 Corinthians 15:19-22 Paul tells us of the meaning of the resurrection, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead…21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive”
Jesus rose so we might rise with Him!
But there’s one more piece to the puzzle that I want to give you in closing. In order for Jesus to rise from the dead, He had to first be dead. He rose because He first died to give His life as payment for our sins.
We were all made to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And yet every one of us have sinned and fallen short of His glory (Romans 3:23). Without fully understanding it, the Preacher wrote of many of sins’ disordering and frustrating effects. He called it “life under the sun.” But more than merely disordering and frustrating, the full pay-out of sin is death (Romans 6:23). In His holiness, God requires holiness. Our sin is no mere “mess up,” therefore. It is cosmic treason. And like treason everywhere, it requires the death penalty.
Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, because He paid our death penalty on Good Friday. That is, as we sing, Amazing Grace! And what’s more, we gain access to Jesus saving death and resurrecting resurrection, not by working hard enough or by being good enough or by being spiritual enough or by going to church enough, or by successfully fighting against discontentment, isolation, or the pursuit of power, but by simply realizing that we can’t, confessing that to God, and trusting in Him with all we have—to be our satisfaction, perfect fellowship, and Savior and King.
Easter is the news that Jesus is risen from the dead, but that is only good news for those who first feel the need for deliverance and the fact that nothing under the sun can provide it. Thank God for Ecclesiastes which helps us see those things so clearly.
CONCLUSION
The big idea of this sermon is that the only real and lasting solution to the problems we face in this life (physical, relational, emotional, and spiritual) is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The author of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher, was inspired by God to help us see that there are no lasting earthly solutions to our earthly or heavenly problems. The main takeaway, then, the primary response to this passage, is to surrender entirely to the risen Jesus. Surrender, therefore, Grace Church, to the risen Jesus, that you might find perfect, eternal, complete deliverance from all of sin’s effects and be freed to celebrate it in the highest.
Easter in Ecclesiastes; a first for me. I hope an encouragement to you. Christ is risen!