Life Savors: Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes Part I Rev. John Hill June 17, 2007 Contemporary Service Do you remember your first love? My first love s name was Mary and we dated for several years in high school. I would guess that most of us can remember that first time we felt as if we were in love. Some of you married that person some of us remember that person with a special fondness. But for most of us, our first love always has a special place in our lives. That is how I feel about the Book of Ecclesiastes. It was by reading the Book of Ecclesiastes that I first fell in love with the Bible. Here s how it happened. It was 1968 and my first summer in Bismarck, North Dakota. I was 12 years old and I heard a song on the radio called Turn, Turn, Turn and when the song was over, the Disc Jockey said that the words for the song came from the Bible. So I asked my mom where and she didn t know. So I asked her if she would take me to church so I could ask the minister. She drove me to church and the minister told me that the words came from the Book of Ecclesiastes. I asked him where and he said he wouldn t tell me. I had to find out the rest on my own. So I went home and started reading Ecclesiastes. And right there in the 3 rd Chapter I read these words. For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NRS) But I didn t stop there; I kept reading the entire book. And when I got to the end of Ecclesiastes, I was hooked. So I then went to Genesis and over the next several months I read all the way through the Bible. That was the summer I fell in love with the Bible and it was all because I read the Book of Ecclesiastes. I also remember telling the minister that I was going to read the whole Bible and he told me that if I had any questions I could come talk with him. I was back in his office a couple of days later when I got to Genesis 4 because I wanted to know where Cain s wife came from. I spent a lot of time in the minister s office that summer. That was also they year I got kicked out of Sunday School because I was asking too many questions.
I love the Bible and the Book of Ecclesiastes was my first love. So when Terri and I sat down to pick our favorite passages in the Bible, I knew I had to include something from Ecclesiastes, but I couldn t pick just one passage. So I decided to look at the whole book. And that means that this Sunday and next Sunday we will be talking about Ecclesiastes in the Contemporary Services. The biggest reason that I still like the Book of Ecclesiastes is because it provides us with a fairly realistic view of life The writer of Ecclesiastes is very honest that can be a bit depressing. In the first Chapter, the writer sets the tone for the whole book in verses 2-9. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3 What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? 4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hurries to the place where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south, and goes around to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. 7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow. 8 All things are wearisome; more than one can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, or the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:2-9 NRS) Basically, he was telling us that in our lives under the sun (and that is an important phrase for us to hold onto-- under the sun) he was telling us that nothing new happens in our lives. Our lives are just an endless cycle of repetition. What has happened will happen again. History repeats itself. There is nothing new under the sun. And that s why he said life is vanity. The writer of Ecclesiastes uses the word vanity over 30 times. And the Hebrew word that is translated as vanity literally means vapor. Life is like a vapor its like steam its like your breath on a cold day. In other words, he was saying that life is fleeting it quickly disappears. He was saying that life is elusive. And like vapor, we cannot fully grasp life it is beyond our understanding. In Ecclesiastes 1:14 we hear: 14 I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. (Ecclesiastes 1:14 NRS) Trying to grasp life trying to understand life is like chasing the wind. One of my earliest life memories was when I was in kindergarten and I was walking home carrying something I had drawn that day. The teacher had given it a gold star and I was very proud. A gust of wind came up and blew the paper out of my hand and blew it down the street. So I ran after it. But no matter how fast I ran, the wind was faster. And soon the paper disappeared.
Have you ever felt like that? Like no matter how hard you tried, you were making no progress like you were unable to catch what you were chasing? In Ecclesiastes 9:11 we hear this: 11 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all. (Ecclesiastes 9:11 NRS) That may not be a really positive or optimistic view of our life here under the sun, but I do think it is true. The writer of Ecclesiastes does talk about the vanity of life, the futility of life, but he also talks about how we can find some level of meaning and purpose in this life under the sun. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that the first place to find meaning and purpose in life is through enjoyment. In Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 he says: 24 There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 NRS) Enjoyment is found in some of the simplest pleasures of life through the things we eat through the thinks we drink and through the things we do the work we do the tasks we accomplish. Do you find enjoyment in the simple things of life? After my recent heart attack, I was put on a rather strict diet. As the person explained my new diet, I kept thinking, I won t get to eat anything that tastes good again. But over the past several weeks, I have found some new ways to cook and I have enjoyed eating and drinking. Food doesn t have to have lots of salt and fat to taste good. Do you find it enjoyable to sit and eat with people? Do you find joy in the work you do? Or is your work drudgery? Is it a source of stress? If work doesn t make life more enjoyable for you, my advice is to try to find some ways you can find joy in what you do or find something else to do. God wants us to find enjoyment in the work we do.
The second place we are to find meaning and purpose in this life is through our relationships. In Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 we hear this: 7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. For whom am I toiling, they ask, 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 the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 NRS) God has created us to be in relationship with one another God didn t create us to be alone. In Genesis 2:18, as God looks at Adam, he says, It is not good that the man should be alone God created us for relationships and it is through relationships that we find meaning and purpose for this life under the sun. And the third place the writer or Ecclesiastes tells us that we can find meaning and purpose is through the orderliness of creation. God has created this world with a certain rhythm. Day follows night. Spring follows winter. There is a time to be born and a time to die. Life is not totally random. We do know what to expect in this life under the sun. And that is both a good thing and a bad thing for Ecclesiastes. It is good to have an ordered world it is bad because it means nothing new ever happens life is just one endless series of repetitions. So is that all there is to life? Is that as good as it gets? Do we just eat, and drink and do our work and enjoy one another in this endless cycle of life or is there more? Right after those famous words in Ecclesiastes 3, we read this in verses 9-15: 9 What gain have the workers from their toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. 14 I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by. (Ecclesiastes 3:9-15 NRS) In these verses we hear a hint that there must be more this life can t be it. However, we can t ever begin to figure it out.
So for now many of us are left with this image of life we are like a hamster on a wheel we are living lives of vain repetition not really doing anything or going anyplace. And next week we will talk about God s plan for how we get off this wheel and become the people he created us to be. But until next week same time and same place. Eat and drink and find enjoyment in what you do and don t do it alone.