What Are You Satisfied With?

Sermon Text

Ecclesiastes 6

6 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: 2 A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.

3 If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he— 4 for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. 5 Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice—but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?

7 All the labor of man is for his mouth,
And yet the soul is not satisfied.
8 For what more has the wise man than the fool?
What does the poor man have,
Who knows how to walk before the living?
9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire.
This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

10 Whatever one is, he has been named already,
For it is known that he is man;
And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he.
11 Since there are many things that increase vanity,
How is man the better?

12 For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?

New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.

• Ecclesiastes 6 describes the evil of possessing wealth, honor, family, long life, or tireless work while lacking the God-given ability to enjoy what appears good.
• Every kind of person shares the same deeper problem: created things can feed the mouth, but they cannot satisfy the soul's wandering desire.
• We cannot define or secure goodness for ourselves because we are creatures, not God; arguing with the One who names and rules us only multiplies our frustration.
• Human sin began by distrusting God's goodness and seeking good apart from him, leaving us with disordered desires and a world of restless labor.
• God's answer is Jesus Christ, the goodness of God in the flesh, crucified and raised to reconcile sinners to God, together with the Holy Spirit who opens blind hearts to see Christ.
• Believers learn contentment by recognizing dissatisfaction, repenting of idolatry, resting in Christ, and receiving created gifts as reminders of the good Giver rather than substitutes for him.

• Which gift, achievement, relationship, or experience are you asking to provide satisfaction that only God can give?
• Where have you possessed something good but lacked gratitude or the ability to enjoy it?
• How does the repeated cycle of work, consumption, and renewed need reveal the limits of created things?
• Why can neither greater wisdom, greater pleasure, nor a longer life solve the soul's deepest restlessness?
• How are discontentment and the desire to define goodness for yourself forms of distrust or idolatry?
• What does the cross and resurrection reveal about God's goodness in a world where things are not as they should be?
• How does the Holy Spirit change a person's ability to recognize and delight in Christ?
• Which ordinary gift can you receive today as a reminder of God's goodness without confusing the gift with the Giver?

Satisfaction

The soul's deep rest and contentment, which created gifts cannot finally provide but which is found in enjoying God himself.

Goodness

Moral beauty, generosity, and blessing whose ultimate source and perfect standard is God alone.

Vanity

The vapor-like, elusive quality of life under the sun—real but fleeting, impossible to grasp or control.

Soul

The person's deepest life and desire, represented by the Hebrew word nephesh, which remains restless when it seeks fulfillment apart from God.

Idolatry

Putting ourselves or a created gift in God's place by trusting it to define or provide the goodness only he can give.

Creator-creature distinction

The truth that God is the sovereign Maker and source of goodness, while human beings are dependent creatures who cannot become or overrule him.

Contentment

A learned rest in Christ's sufficiency through changing conditions of abundance, need, work, disappointment, or loss.