Life Without God
Even though we are capable of
accomplishing many wonderful things
in this life, our primary focus
should be on eternity.
Here's Gene:
When Solomon became king, king in Israel,
he came before the Lord with
a very humble request.
A real spirit of humility.
And this was his prayer:
So give Your servant an obedient heart
to judge Your people and to discern
between good and evil.
For who is able to judge
this great people of Yours?
That's indeed a humble spirit.
Coming from King Solomon.
And notice God's response.
God was really pleased with that prayer.
In fact, God honors humility as you know.
I call this God's generous response:
Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon
[had] requested this.
So God said to him, "Because you have
requested this and did not ask for
long life or riches for yourself,
or the death of your enemies,
but you asked discernment for yourself
to understand justice, I will therefore
do what you have asked.
I will give you a wise
and understanding heart,
[I'll answer your request] so that there
has never been anyone like you before
and never will be again.
Well with God's blessing,
Solomon did indeed accomplish
a great deal in relationship to what
God promised him in giving him
not only wisdom but riches.
In fact, we read about that in 1st Kings 3:13:
In addition, [God said] I will give you
what you did not ask for:
both riches and honor, so that no man
in any kingdom will be your equal
during your entire life.
And God of course, answered that prayer.
Now sadly Solomon made some
incredibly bad decisions in his life
in spite of all of God did for him.
God answered his prayer in terms of
wisdom to rule the people.
And God gave him riches.
And God gave him honor--incredible honor.
Queen of Sheba obviously, as you
remember that story.
came and everyone who heard about
all of his accomplishments:
The temple that was built--the beauty of that
and all that he had. Deeply, deeply
impressed with Solomon.
But the fact is, as you look back on his life,
you have a very sad commentary.
Which I've entitled futility, vanity, meaninglessness.
And here is what he wrote in Ecclesiastes:
The words of the Teacher...
That is the "ecclesiastic,"
which is translated teacher or preacher.
...The words of the Teacher,
son of David, king in Jerusalem. ...
And here's one of the primary reasons
we believe this was Solomon.
There are other scholars who believe
that it could have been another king
but most evangelical scholars believe
that this was Solomon.
I mean, who else would it refer to
in this particular situation?
I mean, all of the evidence
seems to point to that.
And this is what he said
as he looked back on all of his accomplishments:
..."Absolute futility," [says the Ecclesiastic]
says the Teacher. "Absolute futility.
Everything is futile."
What does a man gain for all his efforts
that he labors at under the sun?
Now that's a pretty pathetic response
to all the blessings that God had given him.
Interesting, you go down into
verse 11 of chapter 1. He said:
There is no remembrance of
those who came before; and of those
who will come after
there will also be no remembrance
by those who follow them.
Solomon, what about Abraham?
What about Isaac? What about Jacob?
Remember them?
What about your father David?
What about the prophets
that come after you?
The prophets that spoke:
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel--
minor prophets.
He's lost total perspective
in relationship to his conclusion.
Distorted thinking. Very limited perspective.
He sounds horribly depressed.
And later on, you'll see
that that's exactly part of his problem.
He made some very bad decisions
that lead to this view on life.
And you know, as Jesus spoke one day.
And of course, the beautiful thing is
that we have the full revelation of God.
We have the total story.
We can look back on that through
the eyes of Jesus and others.
And this is what Jesus said:
For what does it benefit a man
to gain the whole world...
Now isn't it interesting that Jesus almost
used the same language there as Solomon.
Used the word: gain, a man.
And so Jesus perhaps is thinking of this book.
He's thinking of Solomon.
And He's paraphrasing. And He said:
For what does it benefit a man
to gain the whole world [and] yet lose his life? ...
Now, Jesus here is talking obviously
about eternal life.
Solomon was speaking about life here.
And that's part of his problem
throughout the whole book.
He has an earthly perspective.
He doesn't have a heavenly perspective.
He doesn't have even a perspective
on life after death.
He just thinks in terms of
what he has or had here.
Now of course, even a believer in God--
and he was I think a believer--definitely a believer.
He talked to God.
God answered his prayers.
But even as a believer
he lost total perspective on life.
You know of course, as I said
the whole story of redemption.
And with the whole story of redemption
from the Scriptures, we have both
an eternal perspective
and an earthly perspective.
We have the whole redemptive story.
Solomon was limited. And I think
as we study the book of Ecclesiastes,
you have to remember
this is not a book of theology.
We have to evaluate everything
that Solomon said in the light
of the whole biblical story.
In light of the New Testament.
In the light of what God reveals
further through the apostles and
through the prophets, which we have
of course available to us.
We need to realize this is a book written
by a man who is sharing his experience.
He's sharing this experience after trying
to find lasting satisfaction
in the pleasures of this world.
And we'll see he tried everything.
And so consequently as I said, just to
make sure that we understand that we
have to evaluate everything Solomon wrote
in the light of the whole unfolding story of Scripture.
And he wrote a whole lot of truth.
But his truth frequently was distorted
or very limited as he spoke
out of his experience
and the choices that he made
that were not in the will of God.
Now that leads to a Reflection and Response question
as we think about that. And it's this simply:
Why is an eternal perspective
so relevant at any moment in history
and how is it being violated
in our own culture today,
even among Christians?
Well I think one of the responses to that
is that mankind, all of us,
are subject to temptation.
And our temptation is to focus
on this life.
To focus on this earth.
And it's everywhere.
We can see it.
You can see it in speeches.
You can see it in articles.
You can see it in books.
You can see it on TV. Materialism.
And that was part of Solomon's problem.
God gave him riches. God gave him honor.
But he didn't use the wisdom
God had given him to even
use that to glorify God--
but to glorify himself.
And that is sad that it took place in his life.
Hedonism: Solomon was exhibit A
when it comes to hedonism
and the pleasures of the flesh.
Achievements:
Yes, he achieved great things.
Built great buildings.
Had very, very productive fields.
And yet at the end of his life, he said
it's all futile.
It means nothing.
And that's a tragedy.
And of course, as we think about that
we know that it is a particular problem
in the western world.
But not a only a problem in the western world.
You can look at countries
that begin to develop.
You can see countries that
at one point in time were under controls
that people were kept poor.
And the rich got richer
and the political leaders.
But when freedom comes
and there begins to be ability to gain,
and to profit, and to enjoy
the pleasures of this life,
there's a tendency to forget God.
You see that in America.
You see it around the world.
You see it in the life of a man
named Solomon--the son of David.
After I became a Christian,
I got my first Bible--age 16.
And someone gave me a little phrase
that I put in the front of the Bible.
I still remember writing it in.
And it really is this:
Only one life will soon be passed.
And only what's done for Christ will last.
Now that's not a big biblical verse
but it's a biblical truth.
Only one life will soon be passed
and only what's done for Christ will last.
So here's the Principle to Live By
that comes from this opening
section in Ecclesiastes:
Even though we are capable of
accomplishing many wonderful things
in this life, our primary focus
should be on eternity.