For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up 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 together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast 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 for war, and a time for peace. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away. - Ecclesiastes 3:1‭-‬15 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Recognize

We need to see that there are appropriate times for certain things. Then the author uses an literary device to illustrate them. There are certain seasons to life. Sweet times and bitter tough times. But there is a subtext to this, there is a certain frustration underlying these different times of our lives. The preacher wants to emphasize that we do not have control over these seasons and these times. We may make 10 or 20 year plans, but this is an illusion. We don't get to control the rhythm of life. There are 14 positives and 14 negatives in life, it feels like a net zero. You win some and lose some. Even now, during this time of covid, this plays out. People were thinking of starting businesses only to be shutdown. High school and college freshmen looking forward to a new circumstance only to find themselves stuck at home starting at a screen. As individuals, we can't make covid go away or make this pandemic pass.

But there is someone in control. God is orchestrating everything. He is wise and has good purposes in mind. But even if we accept these overarching truths, we still struggle. We can't see the big picture. What sets us apart from the animal world is the desire for meaning & purpose. Why? Because we were made for a purpose by God. We can't see how our little lives for into the big picture. We can't see the beauty and redemption. It's like a Seurat painting viewed from up close. All we can see are little dots, but not the whole painting.

Respond

God sees violence, war, and pain. And God sent Jesus. To be born into the world. So that we could have hope. For Jesus to die, so that the church could be redeemed. A time for Jesus to be rejected and God the father to refrain from embracing him. Even if we cannot see the purpose or meaning of our life's circumstances, the cross tells us that we can trust God. In what looks like the senseless violence of the cross, God was working out good things.

Slavery to meaning

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, "What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?" And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. - Ecclesiastes 2:12‭-‬26 ESV

Rev. Travis Drake

Exhausting search

Is there a point to being wise rather than being foolish? The preacher says yes, there is more goodness in wisdom. But death throws a wrench in the works, no matter whether you are wise or foolish, death comes for them both. Not only that, their legacies will be forgotten. Even more than that, immediately after you die, the one who comes after you could completely undo everything. This brings him to a dark place, even hating life. He sees the desire for the things of God, but without the power of God. He desires flourishing, but can't make it happen by his own power.

The confusing rebuttal

God comes into the passage. He gives enjoyment to those who love him. God has not been mentioned or heard from in this book. Suddenly, we hear about how work is not considered all vanity... Because God comes into the picture. We are to work, eat, and drink because God enables us. The powerlessness of us as sinners is contrasted against the great power of God at work in us. We are to hold both these as true. 

Finding resolution

There's a natural tension between these two ideas. An image of powerlessness of human beings & the image of the power of God bringing pleasure and enjoyment and justice. They're both held as true. So there's a challenge, there is still meaning in life, even though we find joy in work, work in itself does not bring meaning. Meaning comes from God and works that last. Trying to find ultimate meaning in what we do isn't being our own master, but rather to choose a master other than God. We will then derive our identity from what we do. So what then? The hand of God changes things from vanity to meaningful. How does this work? The hand of God is what saved Israel from Egypt. The hand of God brought his people out from slavery. But not just physical slavery. But also the slavery of identity. The need to be the best worker, smartest student, best looking, etc. True wisdom is first acknowledging that we need someone to save ourselves. According to the gospel, slaves makes more slaves, but God makes sons and daughters.

Application

Search: The text does not tell us to stop searching for meaning. But take your frustrations to God. Put on a biblical lens and examine your life for where we seek acknowledgment in what we do.

Practice: When we find things that we are worshipping rather than God, repent and turn to God. Leave your identity to God. Take Sabbath seriously. Take a break from trying to justify yourself.

Ecclesiastes: Exploring Pleasure

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after. - Ecclesiastes 1:1‭-‬11 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The Pursuit

Purple often learn things by accident. The preacher in this passage was trying things intentionally. It's one thing for someone who makes minimum wage to say money doesn't make you happy. It is another thing for Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men, to say the same thing. King Solomon had the money and resources to pursue whatever he wanted to.

The Roads Taken

Laughter is good, but even after that you still need to face the harsh realities of life. It is often a coping mechanism to deal with the absurdity of life. But we are laughing through tears. Last year, there was a documentary called "Laughing Matters" which explored the link between comedians and depression. There is this idea of the sad clown. Comedians use laughter to cope with abuse, difficult & painful situations. But ultimately, it isn't enough. After the laughter ends, it is still dark. 

The preacher tried alcohol, both fine wine and drunkenness. He tried building all sorts of houses, gardens, etc. There are parallels in this passage with the garden of Eden. There is no paradise we can create in this life. He accumulated great wealth, servants, and slaves. But all this proved meaningless. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. The delight of man still left him empty. He was widely known and powerful beyond anyone in his day. He made pleasure his target and in that he found some measure of pleasure. But at the end of it all, it was all without meaning and pointless. 

The conclusion

So then what? The preacher had gone through all those things to see like an experiment whether there is meaning to be found in these things. There is no lasting satisfaction. True joy and lasting pleasure is to be found with God. Alcohol, houses, sex, all these things are good things given by God. But when we make them too important, they will spoil and they will spoil us. So we should find God in the word. It will not come immediately but rather slowly. But it is a slow meal, joy will come as we abide in God.

Life is meaningless but for God & redemption

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after. I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. I said in my heart, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge." And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. - Ecclesiastes 1:1‭-‬18 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Thesis

The title of this book means assembly. The author of this book calls himself the preacher. Many scholars believe the author was Solomon, but that is contested. The author never identifies themselves. It is written in Solomon's style, but it could have been another person writing from Solomon's perspective. This was not an offense, but rather a regular way of writing. The main point of this book is that life is a mist. Human existence is fleeting, meaningless, and pointless.

What does man gain from all the tool and struggle? This isn't gain in the sense of economic goods, but rather what's the meaning of it all. For the next 12 chapters, the author will support his main point.

Proof

Three main ideas are presented: life is fleeting, life is reparative, & we are limited.

For the vast majority of us, our best and worst days will be forgotten. September 11, 2001, when two places flew into the twin towers, are but a footnote in a junior highschooler's history class. Our children may know of major milestones in our lives. But grandchildren? Or great grandchildren? Our lives will likely be forgotten. We will have no legacy to speak of.

The sun and moon rise and fall. The clothes get washed, get dirty, and the piles of laundry reappear. Nature is awesome to see, but after awhile, we see nothing but repetition. The house has something in need of repair or maintenance, it is fixed, and something else is in need of fixing or maintenance.

There are twisted things that can't be straightened. There are so many things that he cannot fix. Life has so many things that don't add up. We don't accomplish all that we wanted. People get depressed and for some, they have a midlife crisis. 

Perspective

Many secular, atheist thinkers state that life is without purpose. Dawkins and Russell both admit that life does not have a purpose without a God. 

The Christian perspective is not all roses either. We should expect suffering and futility in life. The brokenness in life is because of our rejection of God. But the good news for the Christian is that the way the world is now, will not always be. Jesus came and died to set us free from the futility of life. His death kicked off the redemption of this world into a new heavens and a new earth. Even though we will experience the futility of brokenness of this life, even as we try to fix things, we know that God is working out a final and total restoration.