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Common Paths On A Frustrating Journey
Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:11
Skip Heitzig

Ecclesiastes 1 (NKJV™)
12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered.
16 I communed with my heart, saying, "Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge."
17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Ecclesiastes 2 (NKJV™)
1 I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure"; but surely, this also was vanity.
2 I said of laughter--"Madness!"; and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?"
3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.
4 I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards.
5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
6 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove.
7 I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me.
8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.
9 So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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21 Ecclesiastes - What's the Point? - 2000

"The pursuit of happiness" is written into the script of the American dream. As a culture we take it literally and go for it wholeheartedly. Have you ever stopped to observe those on that pursuit? Have you ever met someone who stopped pursuing it because they found it?  Solomon, the king of Israel was able to create and finance his own dreams. He walked down many roads to find the illusive golden pot of happiness at the end of the rainbow.  But what was it he found?

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon delves into the hard issues of life, and attempts to find satisfactory answers that avert despair. Pastor Skip Heitzig examines Solomon's search for meaning.

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Outline

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  1. The Path of Learning (1:12-18)

  2. The Path of Partying (2:1-3)

  3. The Path of Building (2:4-6)

  4. The Path of Acquiring (2:7-11)

Questions for Discussion:
  1. What are the most common pathways that people in our society travel to become happy?

  2. Think of those people that you know who are truly happy - in their marriages, in their work, in their relationships, etc. What are the key elements that seem to bring such contentment?

  3. Most commercials promise you a level of happiness if you buy the product and most products come with a warranty against defects. Why don't most products come with a guarantee that you'll be a happier person once you buy it?

Transcript

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My son came to me the other day with an unusual gift catalog, and one of the gifts was a sign I found interesting. I wanted to share it with you. It's a sign. It says, for sale, parachute, used only once, never opened, small stain.

I looked at that and thought, you know, there are some things in life you can only do once. You can't repeat them. You can't go back and do them again. And that's how our life is on Earth. You can only live it once. We can make lifestyle decisions. There are many paths that a person can take, but you make that choice and you walk down that path. The question is, which path gives the most satisfaction?

That was in Solomon's mind as he wrote this book during a period of his life. I've entitled this message, Common Paths on a Frustrating Journey. ABC News program some time back did a special called the Mystery of Happiness, Who Has It, How to Get It. They asked people the all important question, what is happiness? Here's some of the answers they got back.

One man said, $100 million. A woman said, more ready cash. Another man said, a castle. Another guy said, a private island, and another guy said, a bunch of women. Solomon would have answered that question all of the above. But that's exactly what he tried to do.

A bunch of women he had in his life, a castle he had in his life, incredible amount of expendable income all to find satisfaction in life. And he left us a journal. This Book of Ecclesiastes is essentially his personal journal of what he has discovered after looking down many pathways.

Last week was the opening premise and then he gives his personal experiment beginning in verse 12 and on down. Now, Solomon ought to know because he did have the money and the time. He was the King of the nation of Israel. And though he was the King-- interesting, you know, you think if I could only be King. He was the King, but every experiment brought him deeper and deeper into despair and disillusionment.

The former president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, after his second term, early in his second term one April morning wrote these words. I am the president. I am the most powerful man in the Philippines. All that I have dreamt of I have, but I feel a discontent.

There is a perspective I want to remind you of in this book. It's that phrase, under the sun. Remember that from last week? That's all important to understanding this treatise. Twenty nine times Solomon uses that. Under the sun. It's the horizontal perspective of life. He's looking around.

Seldom does he look up and perhaps that's the reason that in this book, though the word and name of God is used, it is not the name Yahweh, which is the typical covenant name the Jews use for God. Rather, it is the word Elohim that is used. The creator God. The all generic God. The God of the secular mind is more Elohim than Yahweh, which is personal.

It's like today people say, you know, the big guy upstairs or the good Lord. Generic. That's the view of Solomon in this book. Here is the point of it all. Your life will never make sense to you, ever, until you consider the plan that God has for your life.

Imagine what it would be like trying to take a bushman from the deepest, darkest jungles of you name it, and place him in New York City to fend for himself with no preparation at all. What a cruel thing that would be to do to somebody. That person wouldn't be equipped to handle it. It's equally as wrong and as cruel to try to live life in this world without knowing your maker, your manufacturer, or following this, the manufacturer's instruction book.

Beginning in verse 12 of chapter 1, there is a change in the wording. Solomon goes from third person to first person. Speaks about I, me, my, myself. In other words, here begins his personal experimentation down four paths to find satisfaction, but he finds frustration.

The first path is the path of learning. He says, I the preacher-- remember a better term would be the philosopher or the searcher-- was King over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven. This burdensome task God has given to the sons of man by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun and indeed all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

What is crooked cannot be made straight. What is lacking cannot be numbered. I communed with my heart saying look, I have attained greatness. I have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge and I set my heart to know wisdom, to know madness and folly. I perceive this also is grasping for the wind, for in much wisdom is grief and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

At this point in his life he approached life as a thinker, a philosopher, an educator. Notice in verse 13 the words seek and search out. It means to carefully investigate a subject by looking at it from all sides, to do the research, to get down to the root of the matter. So Solomon rolls up his sleeves and does the research.

Some of you know what this is if you've ever done a master's thesis or a doctoral dissertation. You have to dig and research and look at a subject from all sides and then present it. That's what he does. This is his doctoral dissertation on the meaning of life. His master's thesis on the purpose of it all.

He was a powerful King. And during this period of his life-- in fact, for 40 years Jerusalem was at peace, unlike today-- unparalleled prosperity in the nation. So this guy has time on his hands, money in his pocket, and visitors in his palace. That's right. Kings sent delegates to Jerusalem to interview Solomon from all over the surrounding regions. The most notable was the Queen of Sheba, the book of First Kings tells us.

So imagine the opportunity for Solomon to talk to and interview and log down his findings. Seeing people from different walks of life in his own kingdom, rulers and important people from other kingdoms. And to gain wisdom by observing. Carefully turning around why they live, what they do.

Jump down to verse 16. I communed with my heart saying-- in other words, I said to myself-- look, I've attained greatness. I have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge. Wrong, Solomon. You are dead wrong. You didn't attain nothing. God gave that wisdom to you. Isn't that what the Bible says? He prayed for wisdom and God granted it to him, gave it to him.

I think Solomon has become a bit arrogant in this period of his life. By the way, this happens a lot to smart people. They can come to a place and they kind of look down their noses at everybody else. Oh, I'm the smart one around here. Paul noted that in 1 Corinthians 8. Knowledge puffs up. It's love that builds up.

Look at verse 13, that phrase I set my heart. Verse 16, I communed with my heart. Chapter 2 verse 1, I said in my heart. He doesn't even look up to God for divine help. This is an inward look. This is the philosophy of a man who has looked around and then looks within. No wonder he's frustrated. As somebody well said, look around and be distressed, look within and be depressed, look to Jesus, be at rest. That was his mistake. He didn't do that.

There's a conclusion in this journey, at least a sub-conclusion before the ultimate conclusion of verse 18, back in verse 15. What is crooked cannot be made straight. What is lacking cannot be numbered. I think he's looking at humanity, at the human nature, and he comes up to this conclusion.

You cannot take a natural man-- at the end of my journey, at the end of my experiment, I discover you can't take a natural person, a natural man, a sinner alienated from God, and expect that person to be able to solve all the problems of his or her life just by education and wisdom. There's a crookedness that you can't straighten out. There is an old nature that education cannot fix.

Jesus said that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That's why he said you must be born again. You know, some trees naturally grow crooked. It's part of the DNA, the genetic structures in the root system. It's in the program. They grow naturally crooked. We are born with a bent, and you can take the old nature and educate it, and refine it, and teach it nice prolific vocabulary. It's still crooked. Because that which is born of the flesh is flesh. It's crooked.

Verse 18 is Solomon's conclusion at the end of it all. He's walked down the long hallways of academia and he's a pessimist. Listen to his words. In much wisdom is much grief. He who increases knowledge increases sorrow. I first discovered that verse in college. I pondered it long and hard. I thought, so why am I doing homework? He who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Somebody said, philosophy is the study that enables a person to be unhappy more intelligently. Right? The more you understand about the world in which you live, you gain insight into what's wrong with it. It makes it worse off.

Education is not the answer to this nation. It is not the answer for your children. It's a good thing. It's important, but apart from God, it will not straighten out a person's life. It's not the answer to all the ills. Just educate people. If that were so then we would expect to see college campuses, as the very paragons of peace and serenity. Are they? A long shot away from that. They're the magnets of unrest and controversy and disillusionment.

Somebody once estimated a cumulative knowledge. They said that if you could represent all of the knowledge gained and accumulated from the beginning of history to the year 1845 as one inch then the knowledge accumulated from 1845 to 1945, only 100 years later, would be three inches. The exponential increase in what we know. But that the knowledge gained from the year 1945 to the year 1975 would be represented by the height of the national Washington National Monument in DC towering up into the sky.

We know so much. Knowledge doubles every two years on earth. So that in two more years, everything that we know now, from the beginning of history and now, will double. You can go on the internet today, get into cyberspace, and in a few minutes learn the gross national product of Iran or whatever. You can know things so quickly.

But when you want the answer to the fundamental questions like, how can I be happy? What's the purpose and meaning of life? You won't find it in pure education or philosophy. In fact, some of the brainiest, heaviest, smartest brainiacs I've ever met are some of the most pessimistic burned out people you can ever be around.

Listen to one of them. His name is Albert Szent-Gyorgyi. A doctor, a Nobel Prize winner, a laureate in medicine and physiology. He was asked, what would you do if you were 20-years-old? He said, I would share with my classmates the rejection of the world as it is. Is there any point in studying and work? Then he says, fornication. At least that's something good. What else is there to do? Fornicate and take drugs against this terrible strain of idiots who govern the world. How would you like to have that guy counsel you? Let's find the smartest guy here. Here's one. Oh, no thanks.

Solomon takes another path in chapter two. It's the path of partying. I said in my heart, come now I will test you with fun, joy, laughter. Mirth is the word that's used in the text. Therefore, enjoy pleasure. But surely, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, madness and of fun, what does it accomplish? I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine while guiding my heart with wisdom, how to lay hold of folly till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

Now, I think you'll agree if anyone could throw a party it was this guy. He had the wherewithal to pull off the biggest, wildest party ever. And he pursues hedonism with all the vigor that he can. He's the party animal of the 10th century BC. Listen to this account in 1 Kings 4.

The daily food requirements for Solomon's palace-- remember the word, daily-- were 150 bushels of choice flour, 300 bushels of meal, 10 oxen from the fattening pens, 20 pasture fed cattle, 100 sheep or goats as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and choice fowl. That's the daily food. It's estimated it would take literally thousands of people in and around the palace to consume this much food on a daily basis.

Here's a guy with unlimited resources, undiminished curiosity, and no accountability. What does he do? Party on, dude. That's his philosophy during this period of his life. He mentions comedy or laughter. And we can only imagine that he probably tried to bring in the best court jesters or clowns, comedians, and he'd sit back and listen to the one-liners. It got old after a while. I don't know, he had Shlomo Letterman or somebody like that back then. It got old. It was vanity, he said.

Now, I do believe comedy is a gift from God. I think we probably should laugh more than we do. It's good for you physically. Scientists, doctors tell us that. But comedy can also cover up a lot of pain. It can be a diversion. It can be a veneer. I've read some of the lives of comedians all the way back from Mark Twain, Eddie Murphy, some of their quotes. The emptiness, the pain they felt inside.

Sammy Davis Jr. charmed his way into the hearts of America. He died in 1990. Funny guy, made millions laugh. He was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times in 1990 before his death. Here's part of that article. He buried his pain in alcohol and cocaine chasing the delusion that his swinging lifestyle somehow compensated for his two divorces, his estrangement from his children, and his futile efforts to become what he thought others expected him to be. I didn't like me, Davis told an interviewer. My life was empty. Comedy didn't cut it, his own or somebody else's.

Verse 3, Solomon mentions wine. Now, he mentions gratifying his flesh with wine while guiding his heart with wisdom. So don't picture a drunk laying in the gutter with a paper sack with Boone's Farm apple wine and him going, hey, can I have a dollar, please. This is the guy who's just had enough booze to dull the senses, become gregarious. But picture the sophisticate. He's got the tuxedo on, the champagne glass in hand. He has it all. Or does he?

He says, here this is also vanity. I had it all. It's all vain, it's all empty. Doesn't mean anything. Jim Murray said, every package from hell comes disguised as an ecstasy. That makes sense right? The devil isn't going to try to tempt you with something that looks crummy. He's going to get a package with the best bow on it and the greatest looking wrapping paper, and you go oh, now that looks good. Every package from hell comes disguised as an ecstasy.

He takes another path beginning in verse 4. First, the path of learning then the path of parting. This is the path of building. Verse 4, and notice the emphasis on himself. I built my works great. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards. I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove.

It seems that Solomon wanted a perfect environment. You know, Jerusalem has good weather. It can have a good rainy season. And though there's a lot of rocks, you can move them, and you can put in some soil, and grow just about anything. So I think he thought, I'm going to build some parks and some pools, some forests, some groves of trees. And he built buildings. The most notable is what? Temple. Took him 20 years to build the Temple. One of the wonders of the world.

After he built the Temple, get this, it took him 13 years to build his own house. Must have been a cool looking pad. He not only built the Temple and his own house, he built another palace up in the forest of Lebanon, a summer retreat I presume. He built another palace for the daughter of Pharaoh, one of his 300 wives.

Not only did he build the Temple and his own house and a palace in the forest and a palace for the daughters of Pharaoh, he built cities, the scripture tells us. The city of Gaiser, the city of Hauser, the city of Megiddo, the city of Beth Horon, the city of Tadmor out in the desert. This guy was out of control. I mean, he just had ambition.

And some people do try to find satisfaction in building, creating, manufacturing, building up a business, a name for themselves. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with that. God is a creator. We're made in the image of God. It only stands to reason that human beings would want to think and create and build. But apart from God, as was the case here, it is empty.

You can develop a Solomon complex if you build just for self-gratification. Caesar Nero, I think was like that. He was one of Rome's emperors. As the saying goes, Nero found Rome a city of bricks, but he left Rome a city of marble. Fabulous builder. But he did it for himself. He didn't care about Rome.

One of the most interesting building projects I've ever found is a house up in San Jose, California where I lived for a while. I didn't live in this house. I lived in an apartment. But there was a house up there called the Winchester Mystery House. And some of you may have visited that place.

It's a Victorian mansion, sprawling place, 160 rooms, 37 fireplaces, three elevators. But there's really no rhyme or reason to the Winchester Mystery House. I mean, you'll have room attached to room, stairways leading to brick walls, passageways going nowhere. It was just added onto.

Here's the story. Sarah Winchester, who built the house, lived in the east, consulted a medium. The medium told Sarah Winchester that the spirits of those who died, because they were killed by Winchester rifles, her family's guns, were trying to seek their revenge to haunt her and kill her own family. A curse was put on Sarah Winchester according to the medium. The only way to escape the curse was to move west, buy a house and build it continually until she died, which would break the curse and find the key to eternal life.

So in hope of breaking the curse and finding eternal life, she built the Winchester Mystery House. This was a Solomon complex. It brought her real pain, it really didn't bring her much joy. We go on in the text we just read, Solomon got into the nursery business. Plants, gardening. Which by the way, is part of the original mandate. God put us on the Earth to cultivate the ground from which man was formed.

Did you notice in verse 6, I made myself water pools? If you go to Israel today, down by Hebron there are three pools next to each other called Solomon's pools, believed to be from that time. These pools are huge. The average length is 420 feet long by 230 feet wide by 40 to 50 feet deep. Pools filled with water at one time to irrigate what Solomon had built here. Enough to satisfy a person, right? He had it all, right? He should not be empty, right? He was empty.

Like another builder I can think of. You've heard his name, Ted Turner, of Turner Broadcasting CNN fame. After all he has built in his life, you know what he said? He said, life is like a b-grade movie. You don't want to leave in the middle of it, but you don't want to see it again either. No lasting satisfaction.

Fourth and finally is the path in this experiment of acquiring things. Verse 7. I acquired male and female servants. I had servants born in my house, yes. I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and a special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.

So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also, my wisdom remained with me. That's debatable. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure for my heart rejoiced in all my labor and this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked at all the works that my hands had done and on the labor which I had toiled and indeed all was-- there it is again, vanity-- grasping for the wind, there was no profit under the sun.

I imagined Solomon made this serene setting of forest trees, smell the flowers, waterfalls, and he thought, you know, this is so lovely, but it needs to have people. Not just me, it needs other people in it. Now, he had 1,000 women, 300 wives, 700 concubines, but he wants to bring more people in. Now, you and I would go out and socialize and make friends.

Not Solomon. He would just go buy them. Notice the language, I acquired male and female servants. I also gathered for myself silver and gold. And he says, I acquired male and female singers. So yeah, I like that person just-- I'll buy them all, bring them on in. So he had people waiting on him hand and foot.

In verse 8 he collected fine metals, treasures, which begs the question, we've got to ask at least some time, how much was this guy worth? What was his salary? What did he make every year? Was it what, $50,000, $100,000, $200,000 a year? Here's the account of what this guy made annually. 1 Kings 10. Each year Solomon received about 25 tons of gold. Somebody calculated that. It's a little over $2 billion by modern estimates.

This did not include the additional revenue he received from merchants and traders and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land. It goes on to say, Solomon made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones. Have you ever wondered-- wanted to ask Bill Gates, hey, listen, with all that money, are you happy? Here's a guy who makes more than Bill Gates. Ask him. Hey, Solomon, you happy? You got it all, man. Money, right? Expendable income, right?

Benjamin Franklin said, a man has never achieved happiness through money and he never will. Money does not have the ability or the resources to make us happy. Because he says, the more a man has the more a man wants. Solomon had it all. Solomon wanted more.

Notice he tries music. He says, I acquired male and female singers and he collected musical instruments. That's kind of interesting. Did you know that Solomon was a musician? At least a composer. First King says, that he composed 1,005 songs all by himself.

Now, I can just picture the guy bringing in the Jerusalem Philharmonic dressed in their little bow ties and probably setting before them his music, his composition, like the Austrian emperor did to Amadeus Mozart. Here, play my stuff. Then he could just sit back and listen to it and expect to have the problems go away. And it sounded lovely till the music stopped and the emptiness came back again.

Music is a gift of God, isn't it? Everybody loves it, Christian, secular person. We don't agree on styles of music, but we all like music. It's what theologians call common grace. God has commonly given to all men as a gift, music. One of the things God has given us. But music apart from a relationship with God is in itself an empty pursuit.

Our teenagers look to music icons as their role models, and you can blame them, but you did it too when you were their age. And yet, those musicians who fill their lives with composition and music are so often so empty. We quoted Elvis last week, remember? I'm so lonely he said. Kurt Cobain killed himself.

I finished a biography about John Lennon based on his diaries. He was a tormented guy till the day he died, from youth. Rod Stewart said, most days I wish I was dead except for those three hours that I'm onstage.

One of the most famous musician actresses in the world is Madonna. I know this because one time I was in Jordan, Amman, Jordan, and I'm in a taxicab and I took the taxi cab from Amman, Jordan all the way to Baghdad, Iraq. The only way to get there was by cab. It's 24 hours one way by car.

And the guy who was driving us was smoking continually and playing Madonna music on the whole trip. Tape after tape. And you know, after a while I just-- I had enough of it. I thought, you know, I can't take it any longer. I begged him, listen, I'm an American citizen, I have rights.

And so you think here's somebody who is attained worldwide fame with her music. How happy is she? Well US Magazine asked her that question, are you a happy person? Here's Madonna's response. I'm a very tormented person. I have a lot of demons I'm wrestling with.

She probably meant that figuratively, although we would wonder. But I want to be happy she says. I have moments of happiness, but I cannot say I'm ever happy. I'm working toward knowing myself and I'm assuming that will bring me happiness. Music is joyful, it can be wonderful, but can also cover up divertus from those quiet lonely moments where we're with ourselves and face ourselves.

Look at verse 9 a little more carefully. I became great and excelled more than all who were in Jerusalem before me. My wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure.

Now, think about it. Surrounded by forests, the smell of flowers, cascading waterfalls, servants. What do you do for an encore? Where do you go from there? What else can you get? After a point you go, forget it all, I've done it all. Been there done that, no joy in it.

So you have a dream and let's say with that dream you are aggressive and you can orchestrate and organize your dream. And let's say you come into some money so you can not only organize and orchestrate your dream, you can finance your dream and get what you want. What will the payoff be? You want to know what the payoff will be exactly? Verse 10 is the answer.

He says-- now, listen carefully-- for my heart rejoiced in all my labor and this was my reward from all my labor. The temporary satisfaction of getting that item or doing that thing during that period of time, that good feeling, is what I got. Now, be honest. Sin can be fun. Don't kid yourself. Don't tell anybody, well, sin isn't any fun. What are you nuts? If sin wasn't fun, you wouldn't have people doing it. It's a blast.

There's a lot of pleasure to be had out there apart from God, but the reward, the prophet he says, the word which means that which is left over and lingers and endures and feeds my need for satisfaction, only last temporarily.

The Bible says sin is pleasurable for a season. And after the season you return back to the mundane and life is a drag. I know, I'm the guy that people come to when the party's over. Find the pastor. Life's miserable, what do I do now? Solomon gives us the answer.

Look at the end of verse 11. I wish this were inscribed on every Seagram's bottle. The marquee of every nightclub, every earthly pursuit, mark it well. Indeed, all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit that is gained. Leftover satisfaction under the sun.

There's a little boy who went into a pet store and his dad said, son, you can have any dog you want, you just pick it out. He was all excited, walked up the window and down looking at all the dogs. There was big dogs, little dogs, handsome dogs, ugly dogs. There was one dog that wasn't all that good looking, but the tail was wagging ferociously. This dog was excited when the boy got near the window. And the boy said, Daddy I want the one with the happy ending. Don't we all?

You look at the pathways of life and the choices, which one do you want? You'd say, well I just want to be happy. I want the one with the happy ending. Which one is it? Well, it's not just by looking under the sun, you have to look above the sun and understand who made you and why and get his perspective on your life, and then you'll find a purpose.

Look at it this way. Put a person in school, the best schools, and educate that person and you will have a very smart sinner. Give that person laughter and wine and you'll have one entertained sinner. Let that person build and amass and become famous and you'll have a successful sinner. Let that person acquire a lot of money and you'll have a very wealthy sinner. But get that person to the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ, forgiven of his or her sins, and you'll have one happy forgiven sinner. It's all vanity. It's all emptiness. Take it from the guy who did it all, who had it all. And this is his life's experiment.

Additional Messages in this Series

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11/5/2000
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What's The Point Of It All
Ecclesiastes 1
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In the book of Ecclesiastes written by Solomon, the bell of disillusionment tolls over and over again. It is a book often quoted by unbelievers because it strikes a chord of familiarity. The deepest questions about life are probed by one of ancient society's most brilliant thinkers. Modern men and women would do well to consider this man's journal and especially his conclusions so as not to make the same mistakes.
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11/26/2000
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How An Uplook Can Change Your Outlook!
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
Skip Heitzig
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Solomon didn't have a sight problem as he looked around at his world to find fulfillment. His was an insight problem. He saw a world full of allurements that all promised to satisfy but could never produce. For a long time Solomon failed to gain the needed insight, because things on the horizontal plane aren't the source of enjoyment.  It was then that he momentarily turned his eyes upward and, with a flash of perception, had balance brought to his pessimistic perspective.
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12/3/2000
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Caught Between Time and Eternity
Ecclesiates 3
Skip Heitzig
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"Man is the only animal that worships." one observer noted. Have you ever wondered why people always seem to be groping for more than they have?  No matter what our lot in life, no matter where we find ourselves, we want to know what's on the other side of the wall! Is there more? We have the strange predicament of living in time and yet longing to outlive it. Here we discover one of the great truths of Scripture - God is sovereign over both time and eternity.
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12/10/2000
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How's Your View?
Ecclesiastes 3:12-22
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Solomon was a torn and conflicted individual. He spouted a cynical glumness as he observed life, then he would lapse moments of optimistic spirituality in his journal. Perhaps that's nowhere better seen than in these paragraphs. Within the span of a few verses his divergent viewpoints can be seen. What Solomon faced is what we all face how to maintain a spiritual outlook while living in a skeptical world!
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12/17/2000
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The Case For Companionship
Ecclesiastes 4
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God said it from the very start and it's still true today: "It is not good that man should be alone" (Genesis 2: 18). Loneliness and isolation are formidable forces in our fast-paced culture. Separation is easier than integration. Seclusion is easier than assimilation. But these are not better! God created us to be comfortably knit together n meaningful relationships, sometimes in marriage, and at other times as friends.
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1/7/2001
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You've Come To Church...Now What?
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
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Think about it: Its 2001, and here you are in church...again! Why? What are you doing here? Now, I'm not trying to discourage you from attending, nor do I want you to turn on your heels and high-tail it out of here. But I do want you to think about why you're here, what happens to you while you are here, and what happens afterwards. The beginning of this New Year is a good time to consider the value of commitments we have made.
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1/14/2001
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Money Matters
Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
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Look again at the title, Money Matters. Most of us would say a hearty Amen to it. Money does matter to us: it pays the bills and buys us food to live. But how much is enough and how much will bring us happiness? Can we be trusted with money? Will we use it for the right purposes? In the end what will money profit us?
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1/21/2001
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All That Glitters...
Ecclesiastes 6
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Living in a prosperous country has its advantages. It also has its problems. Solomon understood this since his own nation was experiencing economic growth through free trade and low unemployment. But he was willing to see both sides of the economic coin. Today we consider the personal problems that prosperity can bring and solutions to those problems.
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1/28/2001
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Seven Ways To A Better Life
Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
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Steven Covey, the guru to the business community, wrote his best-selling book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and outlined a strategy for making life count. King Solomon wrote his own list, but by balancing over it you can readily see that the majority wouldn't accept these biblical directives. Let's follow along with this wise king as he takes us on a tour of these seven ingredients:
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2/4/2001
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Building A House Or A Home
Psalm 127
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The reason this psalm is important to us today is because of its author-notice Solomon was the one who wrote it. Here, the master philosopher-builder-entrepreneur reflects on the central core of human life-the home. The Christian leader John Henry Jowett wrote, "Anyone can build a house: we need the Lord for the creation of a home." I believe Solomon penned this psalm during the upswing in his outlook described in the second half of Ecclesiastes.
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2/11/2001
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Life: A Realistic View
Ecclesiastes 7:15-29
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Solomon has graduated: Rather than tipping the scales completely towards pessimism, he balances out with realism. This is a realistic view at one of man's most puzzling problems. we will explore the nature of man with undiminished realism and find out what it means to us here and now.
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2/18/2001
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Are You Getting Along With Uncle Sam?
Ecclesiastes 8
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In one of the most insightful writings about the working of human government, King Solomon shows the problems of it, the power of it, the failure of it, and the believer's relationship to it. We are citizens of God's kingdom, but we also have an earthly address. This means we are to be model citizens attracting others to our heavenly destination.
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2/25/2001
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A Matter Of Life And Death
Ecclesiastes 9:1-10
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You are alive! You will die! Those two absolutes are as basic as it gets. But how many people really live well? And how many really die well? Solomon's deep probing of the human condition and plan of God drives him to consider these two irreducible certainties. Concerning these two absolutes, there are some things we can't change but some that we can:
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3/4/2001
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Certain Truths For Uncertain Times
Ecclesiastes 9:11-18
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Have you ever felt like life is a violin solo and you're wearing mittens? Things can get pretty frustrating from time to time, can't they? In fact how often have you heard (or said), "It's just not fair"? With this seemingly precarious nature of things we must bank on the certainty of other things-divine sovereignty and biblical authority.
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3/11/2001
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Four Common Follies
Ecclesiastes 10:1-10
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The old saying goes, "Man is pretty much a fool: when it's hot he wants it cool; when it's cool he wants it hot-always wanting what it's not!" That might sound simplistic but folly is simply think of and living for the short-term. Solomon in his unique and pithy style points to several areas where folly is demonstrated in life:
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3/18/2001
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Watch Your Mouth!
Ecclesiastes 10:11-20
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An old proverb reads: "The ability to speak several languages is an asset, but the ability to keep your mouth shut in one language is priceless." There are times when that is true. The tendency to let our mouths rule, whether in a conversation or at a meal, can get us into trouble and harm others. Solomon, in poetic style, considers three foolish ways our mouths can be used:
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3/25/2001
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What Are You Doing With Yourself?
Ecclesiastes 11:1-6
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When Dr. Karl Menninger was asked, "What advice do you have for someone feeling a nervous breakdown coming on?" Astonishingly he replied, "Lock up your house, go across the railway tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person." I think Solomon would agree. In this section he is winding down his journal with this advice: Give yourself away!
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4/22/2001
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Living Life To The Brim!
Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:1
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A wise pundit once wrote, "Your life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you can spend it only once." Each of us is assigned just one shot at this thing called life. There is an eternity that we are all moving toward. So much of that eternity is shaped by how we live our lives right here and now, and that is one of the sobering thoughts with which Solomon chooses to close his journal. His theme is: Life should be enjoyed to the fullest-within proper boundaries!
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4/29/2001
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Is That Your Final Answer?
Ecclesiastes 12
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Solomon has run his course. His journey is completed. Years have passed since he began his search for meaning in life. After wearing several well-trodden paths of experimentation he now gives his final conclusion-his final answer as to the purpose of life. Boiling all of life down to its unavoidable terminus he leaves us with a few salient truths of guide our course through life.
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There are 19 additional messages in this series.
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