Ecclesiastes: Part 1...Pastor Phil Strong

1-16-11

Text: Ecclesiastes 1

● Ecclesiastes is an intriguing book, one that is widely quoted and, I think, often widely misunderstood.

            Thanks to those who carefully preserved the sacred texts and “The Byrds” (not the original writers, but they covered it), the content of Ecclesiastes maintains some cultural relevance [“To everything ________” (‘turn, turn, turn’)].

● It’s a book that creates a certain level of “spiritual vertigo”. What it offers us are some really hard questions, some terribly perplexing paradoxes and few concrete answers.

● This book has an accessibility that other biblical texts do not because it is more personal than it is historical.

Because of the commonality of its themes and emotions, the book has “relatability” (sp check)…

            ~ What’s the point in working so hard? You develop these big dreams about how you’re going to change the world, you live, you amass a bunch of stuff and you die and leave it all to someone who’s gonna eventually toss it in the “Mama Carmen” yard-sale, anyway!

            ~ Let’s face it, life is more like “Groundhog Day” than any of us care to admit [insert movie reference here] We live on the “eternal cul-de-sac”; we get up, eat the same breakfast, make the same commute to work, order

the same quadruple shot Americano, sit in the same cubicle, do the same monotonous work you did yesterday, have the same tuna salad croissant for lunch, make the drive home, eat some dinner, catch some “Sportscenter”, call it a night and wake to “I Got You Babe” on the alarm and do it all over again [this is my solid theological argument for not having to make the bed].

● Ecclesiastes is really not a good resource for developing doctrines or creeds. There are no dates of battles with neighboring nations, no obscure ruler’s name which are hard to pronounce, no begatting… just a candid reflection on man’s “life under the sun”.

First impressions?

            It appears that we have been introduced to the creator of the “Life sucks and then you die” apparel. This guy seems seriously disturbed.

It’s easy to reach some early assumptions based on the immediate “rantings” of the author. We would immediately assume that the tone will be one of cynicism and sarcasm. It makes us want to flip to the end to see if he “pulled the trigger”.       

● The responses seem somewhat “manic”. The writings often seem to veer from extreme fatalism--- this is the way life is; just lie back and don’t try to fight it, to unbridled hedonism--- “Eat, drink and be merry”.

● So, we are curious; we skip to the epilogue: “The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you. And that’s it. Eventually, God will bring everything we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil” (Eccl.12:13).

● If we didn’t know better, we would assume that this is the writing of some deranged homeless guy, living under a bridge, curled up with a bottle of “Jack” (Daniels, that is).

But, he’s Solomon. He’s ‘peerless’; ‘unequaled’. He had a palatial spread (it took (13) years to finish it according to 1 Kings 7) worthy of “MTV Cribs” furnished with (700) wives and (300) girlfriends [if you had 700 wives, why the 300 girlfriends?] and a hot tub that holds 11,000 gallons of water (1 Kings 7). He was a poet and a song-writer; he could talk movies, philosophy, politics, sports… even give you the scientific name for the weed that grew out of the crack in the wall (1 Kings 4:33). His life was the epitome of extravagance and his mantra was: “Everything I wanted, I took--- I never said no to myself” (Eccl. 2:10).

● This is a piece of philosophy that asks the existential question…“Why? What’s the point?”

● As humanity, we don’t function well when life gets random; when it appears that our lives or the experiences of our lives seem pointless.

            What we often experience, along with all of creation, is the gnawing feeling that things are just not quite right. It’s this need for the “why?” that seems to set us apart from all of creation. We all know that life gives us a “start” dot and a “finish” dot and a bunch of other rather random dots/experiences for us to string together.

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Solomon enjoyed the typical family dynamic: his parents, David and Bathsheba, were the typical “boy sees girl naked on the roof, boy has to have girl, boy gets girl pregnant, boy has girl’s husband killed and boy moves girl into the house”. We see it every day, right?

● When he’s about (20) years old, he inherits his father’s throne and becomes King of all Israel (1 Kings 2).

God shows up to him in a dream and “grants him one wish”. Every (20) year-old guy’s dream, right? (we all know he should have asked for ‘a million more wishes’… duh!). But, given the nature of his circumstances, he asks for wisdom to rule rightly.

            Side note: It’s interesting how the context of our lives seems to determine the content of our prayers (e.g. when life is going according to plan, we might ask for _____; when you are standing at the bed of a loved one with a terminal illness, what might your one request be?)

The occasion for his writing?

Solomon is essentially contemplating “life in the rearview mirror”. Solomon is offering the wisdom gained through his own stupidity (usually the most impactful kind). It’s what we love about Solomon.

● As you begin to read a bit of Solomon’s journal, you could easily get annoyed by his laundry list of self-indulgence. In essence, he is saying… “I’m smarter than you, I’m richer than you, I’ve had more women than you, so pay attention!”

● Solomon offers something that our present culture greatly values: “street cred” (“street credibility”).

Urban Dictionary.com defines it as: Street cred is the respect that someone earns based solely on their real-life skills or experiences.

● In essence, it gives you the right to speak because the listener is convinced that your knowledge is first-hand (e.g. Bill Gothard: call me when you get married and have a couple of kids… then we’ll talk).

● Solomon says, “Did it, owned it, built it, tried it, bought the t-shirt…meaningless!”

Frequent expressions found in Ecclesiastes:

   “under the sun”- 28 times      “meaningless”- 35 times           

                            “chasing the wind”- 9 times

“meaningless”- vapor, breath, fraud, delusion, temporary. It’s best portrayed by what happens when you exhale into the cold air; you see the vapor, then it quickly dissipates.

● It describes an unhealthy and destructive pre-occupation with self. It’s an inability to see beyond yourself. Interestingly, as a home furnishing, a vanity is where you sit and admire yourself.

            It’s the meaninglessness of a life that can’t see beyond the boundaries of its own self-interest.

“under the sun”- everything that happens in time and space from birth to death; a euphemism for the life we live on earth [expound on this more next week].

In life “under the sun”, you can live without knowing “how”, but living without the “why” is absolutely life-threatening.

“Just because!” How often were you content with that answer when you were growing up? Most of the jobs I had, I realized quickly that I was not being paid to ask why!

That’s why you are angered at injustices and so frustrated when evil (disorder) seems so prevalent. It’s why you are so totally perplexed by unprovoked suffering and senseless tragedy. You were not made for it.

When it comes to life, most of the time, we are “asymptomatic”.

            We often don’t experience the symptoms which warn us of our unhealthy condition. We’re not particularly miserable or what we would consider unusually discontent. We are just gradually robbed of life.           

This book is for those who think that life is about having it all and for those who have it all and have yet to find the life they long for.

I read one commentators reflections on  Ecclesiastes and he said: “… we end up actually living in denial of the fact that we aren’t nearly as important as we think we are.”

            I would disagree. I would suggest that the point of Ecclesiastes is that, too often, we underestimate how valuable we really are. Solomon seems to be saying in his own sarcastic, cynical way, that it’s a shame to lose a life to such trivial and fleeting pursuits.

● Or, to quote Jesus…“What kind of deal is it to get everything you want, but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?” (Matthew 16:26, Message)