January 07, 2018 | Bob Bartlett
Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:1-26
“The Life Experiment” Ecclesiastes 2:1-26
Vs 1 “I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.”
- What is Solomon’s life experiment in chapter two: To find the purpose of life.
Reality: Each of us is performing a l________ experiment - validity test of God’s Word.
4 Tests of the purpose of life: “I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.”
Test #1: Wine and Food
Test #2: Luxurious lifestyle
Test #3: Amassing a financial empire ‘the treasure of kings’
Test #4: Sensual pleasure
Summation: (Vs 10) “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.”
Vs 11: “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun”
Solomon’s 3 judgments (conclusions) on the pleasure seeking life experiment?
1: Meaningless: It wasn’t satisfying – it brought no meaning to life:
2: Chasing after the wind: It’s endless and it left him empty with nothing:
- Nothing was gained under the sun: It didn’t provide fulfillment or purpose:
Summation: Vs 20 “So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun”
A life of d_______________. Desperate – absence of hope – discouraged: disillusioned:
GK Chesterton: “to be clever enough to get all the money, one must be stupid enough to want it.”
The Purpose of Life: Solomon’s “Discovery of the Obvious”
- Vs 12: “what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done”
Life begins and ends with the pursuit of God. Deuteronomy 4:29
- Vs 13: “I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness”
Life begins and ends with the wisdom of God. Isaiah 33:6
- Vs 16: “Like the fool, the wise man must die!” Ecclesiastes 7:2
Life begins and ends with death. Death is the great equalizer – evaluator of life.
Jesus on Preparedness: Matthew 24:50 “the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.”
Vs 24-26 “To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”
Solomon’s conclusion on the life experiment: Live life with the e_____ in mind. Ecc 7:8
What will I take with me? What will I leave behind? What is my inheritance – legacy?
A w_______ legacy: No lasting value, no eternal value, never finding the purpose of life.
A g______ legacy: “Always want what God wants and you will always get what you want.”
Proverbs 13:22 “A wise man leaves an inheritance for their children’s children”
Either way – you take it with you! But at God’s throne will it survive the test.