God is Greater Than…Pleasure: The first trap to consider is thinking that hedonism, of pursuing pleasure or avoiding pain, will lead to a meaningful life. It’s tempting to think that indulging in good food and wine, accomplishing great things, having wealth, being entertained, or having lots of sex is the key to happiness. However, none of these things bring ultimate satisfaction. Is there anything better? Recorded on May 1, 2022, on Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, by Pastor David Parks.
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This message is part of our “God is Greater Than…” sermon series. There are several common traps that human beings have fallen into for thousands of years. Traps of believing that certain pursuits are satisfying enough to take the place of God in your life. But in the end, these pursuits reveal themselves to be ultimately meaningless and lead to a hollow and deeply unsatisfying life. Our series will examine the traps of pursuing pleasure, wisdom, work, and wealth before coming to the conclusion that God is greater than all.
Sermon Transcript
All year, we’re focusing on, The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a new sermon series we started last week called “God Is Greater Than…” As we said, there are several common traps that human beings have fallen into for thousands of years. These traps are traps of faith, of believing that certain pursuits are big/important/satisfying enough to take the place of God in your life. But in the end, these pursuits lead to a life of hebel, the Hebrew word translated as meaningless; ultimately, these pursuits lead to a life that is hollow and deeply unsatisfying. Our series will examine the traps of pleasure, wisdom, work, and wealth before coming to the conclusion that God is greater than all, and it’s only in him that life has meaning/significance which will last forever. Today, we’ll consider the trap of pursuing a life of pleasure, a life of happiness, a life of self-gratification. How could that be such a bad thing to try and be happy?? If you have a Bible/app, please open to Ecclesiastes 2:1.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 (NIV), “I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives. 4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem[a] as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. 10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. 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.”
So if you missed our series introduction last week, you can go back and watch that if you’d like more background on the book of Ecclesiastes. But we said last week that we’re assuming that King Solomon is the author, which means this book was written almost 3,000 years ago. And King Solomon was known for his wisdom which was a gift from God. So because he was the king and had vast resources and because of his wisdom, Solomon decided to go on a journey of discovery. He went on something like a quest to understand everything that is done under the sun — a phrase that means basically everything done in this broken world apart from God. And he did this in order to find out what, if anything, is truly meaningful, what among all the possible activities really matters, really gives us meaning and purpose under the sun? Here in chapter 2, Solomon describes this journey. Let’s go back and work through this text starting with v. 1.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-2 (NIV), “I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be [hebel] meaningless. “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” Let’s pause here. So one of the most common traps in life under the sun is to think that pursuing pleasure, or having the freedom to pursue pleasure, or at least finding ways to avoid pain as much as possible, will lead to a meaningful/significant life. And it’s very understandable to think this way. After all, how could it lead to a bad outcome if you’re able to increase the amount of happiness or pleasure in your life? How could it be bad to decrease the amount of pain and suffering in your life? Wouldn’t that be a good thing? This way of thinking, of pursuing or being motivated by pleasure, is called hedonism. In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, English philosopher Jeremy Bentham who lived around 1800, is quoted writing, “Nature has placed mankind [notice he doesn’t reference God, this is purely a life under the sun perspective, “Nature has placed mankind…”] under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain, and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.” (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hedonism/) Bentham believed that morality or what is right and wrong, doesn’t need to be defined by God. But instead, morality can be determined by the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. But what is the conclusion of the Teacher more than 2700 years before Jeremy Bentham? That hedonism also proved to be hebel/meaningless. Laughing is great. And pleasure is great. But what does it actually accomplish? Let’s keep going v. 3.
Ecclesiastes 2:3 (NIV), “I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.” So first, Solomon tried drinking wine in his pursuit of pleasure. As long back in history and wherever in the world that we find evidence of human beings, we also find evidence of alcohol. It was no different thousands of years ago than it is today. Especially during times of stress, alcohol can be a very common means of trying to avoid pain and increase pleasure. A study by the RAND corporation came out in Sept 2020, showing that “Alcohol consumption rose among adults over age 30 by 14% during the pandemic, with a 41% increase in women heavily drinking.” Don’t answer this out loud, but did you have a more difficult time with alcohol during the last two years? Did alcohol become more of a medication for you to help you deal with life than just a fun treat? The bible does say not to get drunk, but it doesn’t say that drinking itself is a sin. In fact, the first miracle of Jesus recorded in Scripture is when he turned something like 150 gallons of water into the finest wine at a wedding. But does alcohol work? Does it make life rich and meaningful? It might seem like it in the short run. Author Malcolm Gladwell writes about alcohol in his book, Talking to Strangers, saying that alcohol is very effective in producing a myopic or nearsighted effect. In other words, when we drink, we lose sight of bigger, and often deeply troubling issues and questions. Questions like, is there anything actually meaningful in life under the sun? But like so many things, alcohol can be easy to overindulge. The reason why is complicated and multifaceted, but part of the trouble is that with every drink you get worse at decision-making. So with every drink, another drink sounds better and better. That is until you feel like you’re going to die. But what happens the very next day? You feel terrible from drinking too much AND all your issues and existential questions come rushing right back into your view. This is hebel. So drinking doesn’t work. What else did Solomon try?
Ecclesiastes 2:4-6 (NIV), “I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.” So drinking/partying didn’t lead to a meaningful life, but what about accomplishing great projects? Solomon built a temple for worship in Jerusalem, he built a huge palace for himself, and many other building projects. There really is no one that can organize people to accomplish big goals/projects like a wealthy king. And was Solomon wealthy? Oh yes. Let’s look at a passage from 1 Ki 10.
1 Kings 10:21–25 (NIV), “All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days. The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons. King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.” So with all this wealth pouring into his kingdom, Solomon built and built and built. But this, too, was hebel. Anyone who has done any sort of building project knows just how exhausting they can be. It took almost a year to remodel this little building space. It was expensive and exhausting. And then what happened? Did it lead to a life of pleasure for us? No! A month after we fully moved in we had to shut it all down because of Covid! Talk about hebel. Like drinking, accomplishing big projects can be very satisfying in the moment. But when you’re done, you have to keep working/updating/remodeling, why? Because things break down in this broken world. The work never ends. Now, there’s much more to be said about this, but two weeks from now we have a whole sermon on work. So let’s keep going in v. 7.
Ecclesiastes 2:7-8 (NIV), “I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart.” So we already talked about his wealth. But here are a few more details. Male and female slaves were very common in the ancient world. The only thing I usually note is that slavery then was very different compared to slavery in the history of our country. Slavery wasn’t race-based or lifelong back then. I’ve heard some statistics that up to 50% of the Roman Empire were slaves. This is a reflection not on the morality of slavery, but on the enormous wealth that Solomon enjoyed. In addition to the flocks and herds and silver and gold, he says he also acquired male and female singers. He had a personal choir for entertainment. He had his own PAC. Can you imagine that? Finally, he says he had a harem as well. Now, one of the purposes of sexuality is certainly pleasure, but sex was never intended by God to only be about pleasure. The purpose of sexuality is also (and probably most importantly) to accomplish the blessing of God over humanity to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. One of the purposes of sex is procreation. But it’s also described in the Bible as a way to increase intimacy and whole-life oneness between a husband and wife. But Solomon took this source of pleasure far beyond anything most people would even think of. It’s written in 1Ki 11 that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Now this was not right or good for him to do. Both in the creation narratives of Genesis 2 and in Jesus’ teaching on marriage in the gospels say that marriage is supposed to be between one man and one woman for life. Not one man, even though he’s the king, and multiple women, much less hundreds of women. And what was his conclusion about this? Look at v. 9.
Ecclesiastes 2:9-11 (NIV), “I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. 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.” I refused my heart no pleasure. This is probably a good description of modern life, isn’t it? An old slogan said if it feels good, do it. A more recent slogan says you do you. In other words, whatever or whoever you’re into, go for it! Follow your heart. Don’t withhold anything from yourself that you desire or that makes you feel good. Another term for this way of life is Epicureanism, which was founded by the Greek philosopher, Epicurus. Now Epicurus didn’t overindulge like we might imagine today. But his philosophy led to the belief that in the face of all the hebel of life under the sun, all we can do is eat, drink, and be merry. Why? For tomorrow we might die. Basically, any meaning that there is in life is meaning that we create through fun or pleasurable experiences. So you do you! But thousands of years ago, and about 500 years before Epicurus, a fantastically wealthy king tried this way of life and concluded it was a waste. It was meaningless. It was like chasing after the wind. What good is that? It was all hebel. So how should we, as followers of Jesus, think about pleasures like good food and wine and wealth and accomplishments and entertainment and sex? Should Christians avoid these things? I think the answer is not necessarily; none of these things are inherently sinful. If Solomon would’ve applied the “everything in moderation” principle, he would’ve been far better off. However, in a culture that is entirely motivated (and even defines morality) by hedonism, we must both see and understand why these things can be a trap for us, and why it’s tempting to turn to these things in order to replace God in our lives. So as we close today, I’d like to draw your attention to just one reason why hedonism, or pursuing a life of pleasure or living to avoid pain, is not compatible with the way of Jesus.
Self-sacrifice has no place in a hedonistic way of life. Hedonism is defined by what will benefit you or what you think would benefit you; it’s entirely self-centered. But the way of Jesus is not self-centered, it’s a way of self-sacrifice for the benefit of the other. Even though our culture is very hedonistic, we still recognize the value of self-sacrifice. For example, it’s not clear how a parent might be motivated by pleasure or to avoid pain when they sacrifice so much for their infant child. When parents pay huge financial costs, experience physical changes to their bodies (mostly the mother, obviously), lose many a night’s sleep, and so much more, are they motivated by their own happiness or to avoid their own unhappiness or are they more likely motivated to sacrifice all of these things for the good of their child? Or what about a soldier who dies in battle while saving the lives of many others? How does that sacrifice lead to their happiness? It doesn’t! In fact, the soldier might endure terrible pain and suffering in the process of their sacrifice. So does that mean it’s the wrong thing to do? No! And the reason is that the pursuit of personal pleasure isn’t the only or even the highest good for human beings. This was Solomon’s conclusion all those years ago. If hedonism was the way people were intended to find meaning and significance in life, then why did Jesus die on the cross? How did the cross contribute to the happiness or of avoiding pain for Jesus? The cross is the opposite of “eat, drink, and be merry.” The cross says, “I will give up everything, including my very life, for the sake of another.” Jesus says, “Do you want to be my disciple? Then deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” But does this mean that the life of following Jesus, the Christian life, is one of constant sorrow or that pain is a value in the Kingdom of God? Not at all. Even the cross had a joy to it. Hebrews 12:2 (NIV): “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.“ And what was the joy set before him? It was you and I! It was the many, many men and women who would be saved by his death. Jesus willingly laid down his life for the joy of being a blessing to us! The way to find real and lasting joy is by love/sacrifice/humility/generosity. The unexpected way to find real joy is actually to love your neighbor as yourself. And here in the church, we have the incredible blessing of being in a community of people who are trying to live this out, loving/serving one another and being loved/served in return. May we never think that pursuing our own self-centered pleasure will lead to lasting happiness, joy, or peace. May we trust in the Lord and follow the way of Jesus. The way of the cross. The way of self-sacrifice that leads to resurrection power, life, and a joy that lasts forever.