Ecclesiastes 2:12-3:8

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. I'm so glad to have you here this morning. We're at the Book of Ecclesiastes. We're at chapter 2, verses 12 through chapter 3, verse 8. Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray.
Oh, Father, we thank you so much for this day, and we thank you for your word. We thank you for the rich blessing it is to sit at your feet, knowing that you are the one who satisfies our souls in every season. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right, here we go. Ecclesiastes chapter two, verses 12 through chapter three, verse eight.
Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly from what can the man do who succeeds the king, only what he has already done. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.
Yeah, I myself perceive that the same event happens to them all. What's he talking about here, right? You can, what better can you do than a king? Well, you could just do what, as well as the other kings do, but the reality is at the end of the day, but the fool and the wise man, both the servant and the king, they all die. The same thing happens to all of them. All right, let's go ahead and keep moving on here. verse 15.
So I said in my heart, as it happens to the fool, it also happens to me. And why was I then more wise? And I said in my heart, this also is vanity. For there is no one Sorry, it's for there is no more remembrance of the wise and the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool. So he goes on this journey that we started to talk about yesterday, and the journey being that of trying to figure out, OK, is pleasure is not going to do all of it. So maybe wisdom and fall. And then he realizes both the wise man and the fool still die.
You know, right next door to our church is a cemetery, and there are scores of people there, many of whom you've never heard of. You never will. You never know them. They're dead. They're gone. They're no longer here with us. Their remembrance is no more. Some of them, I'm sure, were fools, and I'm sure some of them, many of them were wise. But their temporary home is still there in the grave.
And this is what Coaleth is wrestling with. This is what the preacher, what King Solomon is struggling with. Therefore, the consequence of this, therefore, I hated life, because the work that was done under the sun was distressing for me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind." He's saying, okay, so if you're rich or you're poor, you're still going to die. If you're wise or you're fool, you're still going to die. And so he's vexed in his heart. He's trying to wrestle through what does this mean? In reality, this is what we're trying to get at with this book is what's the point of life?
Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who will know whether he will be wise or a fool. Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled, in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. Therefore I turned my heart in despair of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun, for there is a man whose labour is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not laboured for it. This also is vanity and a great evil, for what has man for all his labor and for all the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful and his work burdensome, even in the night his heart takes no rest.
This also is vanity. Maybe some of you are giving over to this spirit, thinking that if you just work hard enough, if you just do good enough, if you just do, do, do, do, do, maybe you'll find satisfaction or joy. And I hear this stuff in modern philosophy and even on YouTube and stuff like that. I remember I was listening to Casey Neistat one day and he was talking about if you want to be happy in life, find something you love to do it and do it every day of your life.
Well, the problem is you're still going to die. You can make all the money in the world, but someone else is still going to get your money. You can build up the biggest empire you want, but somebody else is still going to get it. It doesn't stay with you. You were born with nothing and you're going to take nothing with you when you leave. And so the writer of Ecclesiastes is saying, what's the point? He's struggling in his heart. Isn't it helpful that the scriptures don't give us canned answers, but show us the internal heartworking of this man as he's trying to work through this.
Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw was from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment more than I? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight, but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and collecting that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind."
It's just blunt, honest wisdom, right? Be satisfied. Be content with what God has given you. Be satisfied. Be content with what God has given you because that's your lot in life. You're never going to be satisfied with more. The leech has two daughters. Give, give. The eye is never full. You're always going to want more. But do you enjoy the good things that God has given you today? Are you? It's a simple type of wisdom, isn't it? Now, it's at the same time somewhat vacuous if you don't keep God in the picture.
Well, there's a poem that he puts on next, and we're going to read that and kind of explore it a little bit, and it sets the pace for the next couple passages. To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to gain and a time to lose. a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. There's different ebbs and flows, changes in life, appropriate things and inappropriate things. There is a time to demolish a house and there's a time to build up a house. There's a time where you are to rend your garments and there are other times where you need to mend your garments. And there is a time in which the right thing to do is to cause is to go to war. And there is a time in which peace must be sought.
That's the reality of life. See, this is this is what I love about the book of Ecclesiastes. This isn't life in the abstract. This isn't life idealized. But it's saying right now, really, there are problems. And wisdom dictates that we know with what the ebbs and flows of things are. There are times when I need to preach judgment and times when I need to preach comfort. There are times I need to tell you outright, you need to wake up and stop being covetous. And there are other times where I need to sit with you and mourn because someone has robbed your house. There's always this ebb and flow in life. The question is, do we find contentment? Will we find rest in God? Will we trust that God cares for us and loves us?
Let's pray. Lord, we pray that we would enjoy the simple things of this life. We pray that we would know that you give them to us from your open hand. You care for us in a marvelous way. You bring different seasons in our lives. And Lord, we pray that as the ebbs and flows of life happen, that we would respond in wisdom. We pray that we would not cling to this world, but that we would cling to you. We pray these things in Jesus's name.
Amen. Well, may you find meaning in your life, meaning not in the things of this world or even the people of this world, but may you find satisfaction for your soul and peace for your heart as you remember that God's face shines upon his beloved children. I hope you have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.