Good news. We have been able to recover the recording for this sermon. In any series, some sermons truly stand out. This is one of those sermons. We urge you to clear 30 minutes on your calendar and listen to this sermon. To listen, please click here.
- First Search: Pleasure in the Good Things in Life
- Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 This is what is called “hedonism” – finding pleasure in whatever makes you feel good. Solomon tries this and finds it to be lacking…
- Ecclesiastes 2:4-9 … and so he moves on to the “American dream” – a large house and the folks to maintain it. In some ways, Solomon is trying to recreate the Garden of Eden, except that it is missing something vital: the presence of God. Here we see a quest for joy that involves not just possessions, but also people who are present solely to make Solomon feel good about himself.
- Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 The summary of this first search: ______________.
- Second Search: The Life of the Mind
- Ecclesiastes 2:12-16 If physical pleasures don’t last, then perhaps cultivating learning and the life of the mind will. But there’s a problem with this thought too – as smart and “wise” as Solomon is, he will still suffer the same fate as the fool.
- Ecclesiastes 2:17-19 What is the result of such thinking? A hatred for _________. All of the wealth, houses, servants – all of it doesn’t add up in the face of dying like anyone else. Game over.
- The Result: Life is Meaningless… or is it?
- Ecclesiastes 2:20-23 If physical possessions don’t equal happiness and being smarter than everyone else doesn’t lead to joy then what’s the point? All of Solomon’s earthly work will someday decay and be given over to whoever comes later.
- Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 But the door is cracked open in these last verses: God is the true joy-giver. Those who serve Him will be given great joy. Those who don’t will simply have to live for the here and now – a life that is unfulfilling in the end.
- Conclusions
- The challenge is given in verse 26: what do you live life for?
- God calls us to faithfulness, not success here and now. Spend your time and money doing things that will last.
