What are you Pursuing?
Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26
Kris Ryan was one of my best friends in college. We both arrived as freshman at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall of 1998 to play football for the Quakers. Kris was from Pittsburgh and I was from Chicago. We became fast friends. The Ivy League is one of the oldest football divisions in NCAA history. Our sophomore season, Kris became the starting running back while I was moved to fullback from tight end and was responsible for clearing the way for him. Kris became one of the best running backs ever to play football at the University of Pennsylvania. It became clear after his breakout sophomore seasons that he had the opportunity to become the all-time leading rusher in history of the school. Kris was pursuing history.
After an injury ended my playing career, I joined the coaching staff for our senior year and Kris, now an All-Ivy running back and NFL prospect, had a legitimate shot at breaking the record. We talked throughout that season about the goal and having his name written in the record books. He was pursuing history and I had a front row seat. The day finally arrived and Kris broke the record. I’ll never forget him breaking the record and becoming the all-time leader in rushing yards in the history of the school, but not because his name is in the record books. I don’t remember who we played. I don’t remember the play. What I do remember is the conversation with Kris the next morning. Kris and I got together and I asked him how he was doing and he said last night was one of the saddest nights of his life. I was shocked. He just set the record. He finally reached what he was pursuing for four years. I’ll never forget what he said, (it has been over 20 years so this is a paraphrase), “I’ve been chasing this record for so long, I thought it would mean more when I got it. But when I got back to my dorm I just cried. I felt empty. It wasn’t enough.”
Kris chased, and chased, and chased, and when he finally reached the pinnacle of success and tried to grab onto to satisfaction, “Poof,” it was gone. “Hebel.” It was a valuable lesson for me as a young man and one I am still learning today. Life is vanity, ‘hebel,’ so says the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, a striving after the wind. I wonder if you have been like my friend Kris with goal that you were striving and chasing and pursuing only to achieve it and find that it did not satisfy. Maybe it was a career achievement, a relationship, a big purchase in your first house, or graduating from college, only to find that your goal did not bring the satisfaction you thought it would. It was a striving after the wind.
What are you pursuing? What are you chasing after? In Ecclesiastes 1:3, the Preacher asks this question, “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” His answer; nothing. He has given his answer in the prologue and now he is going to share his experience unpacking the various ways we chase after the wind. I pray that you would learn from the Preacher’s experience ask, “What am I striving after? Will it satisfy?” “Am I striving after the wind?”
The Empty Pursuit of Knowledge
The first 11 verses in Ecclesiastes introduce the Preacher and lay out the main theme of the book. They are written in the third person. Verse 12 begins the first-person discourse from the preacher’s own lips. Ecclesiastes 1:12, “I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.” The Preacher does not give his name in the book, but the most natural reading is that Preacher is King Solomon. Solomon was king over Israel, as one united kingdom, and ruled in Jerusalem. Some scholars believed that it was not Solomon, but someone who wrote as Solomon to instruct people based on his life. It is possible as it was a common practice in the ancient world, but the most natural reading is that the Preacher was King Solomon especially after focusing the beginning of this discourse.
As this discourse begins, it is important to notice, how often the Preacher refers to himself and his own pursuits. Ecclesiastes 1:13–18,
[13] 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. [14] I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
[15] What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.
[16] 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.” [17] 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.
[18] For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
There are several refrains that should have stood out to you as you heard that passage, “I said in my heart or I applied my heart,” “all that is done under heaven” or “under the sun,” and a “striving after the wind.” The Preacher shares his personal pursuit of wisdom or knowledge. Wisdom here is not referring God’s wisdom as one knows from the Proverbs (the first book in the Wisdom Literature) that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom in this context is probably referring to human knowledge.
The Preacher tried to gain satisfaction by pursuing knowledge. In our western context, it would be as one is pursuing college and master’s degrees and PhD’s, and licenses and certifications. The Preacher studies and grows in human wisdom. The more he learned, the more he increased his sorrow. All his learning and all is knowledge could not make the world better. “What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.”
The smartest people in the world who have all the “answers” do not have more happiness but sadness. The more you know of life “under the sun,” will not answer life’s deepest questions. Education is a wonderful tool, but there will always be more knowledge to attain and more ideas to discover. Degrees do not give identity. Diplomas do not provide meaning. They may help us achieve status and wealth in life, but the wisdom of the world will satisfy. The Apostle Paul wrote to the wise of his day in Corinth, those who loved knowledge and human wisdom and teachers who could draw a crowd,
[20] Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? [21] For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. [22] For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, [23] but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, [24] but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God…[28] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. [30] And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, [31] so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:20–24; 28-31)
The message is the same. If you live for worldly wisdom, you will not be satisfied. It is a striving after the wind. He can run and run and run after it, but you will never catch it. It is only in realizing that more knowledge cannot fix this world and our fallen hearts that will turn to true wisdom that is not under the sun but over the sun.
The word of the cross is folly to the world. It says we are broken and lost and deserve judgment. Friend, if you are a non-Christian, maybe one who is trying to find satisfaction in academic pursuits, please know that you cannot learn your way out of your sin. Our knowledge cannot save us. Our human wisdom cannot make amends for our sin. It is only when we realize our limitations and fallenness will we begin to see our need for a Savior and that the true wisdom of God is Jesus Christ. He came and lived in perfect wisdom. He was the one who was never crooked and never needed to be made straight. He came to make the world right again by reversing the curse as far as it is found. Jesus became a curse for us by taking God’s wrath on the cross. Now, if you turn from your sin and your empty pursuit of knowledge, and trust in Christ as the wisdom from God, Jesus will redeem you from the curse and give you the promise hope of the resurrection.
The Empty Pursuit of Pleasure
The Preacher tried to find life’s answer in knowledge, but found it lacking. He then turns his heart to pleasure. Ecclesiastes 2:1, “[1] I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.” We all seek happiness. We all want pleasure. We may chase that pleasure in different ways, but the end goal is the same. Blaise Pascal said,
All men seek happiness This is without exception. Whatever different means they use, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both—to be happy. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves. [1]
What makes your happy? What gives you pleasure? As we will see from the Preacher, all pursuits of pleasure without God will not satisfy, but leave us empty.
Before we work our way through each of these pursuits of pleasure of the Preacher, we must ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what we are striving after. There may be some of you listening who are not Christians and I pray that you would take a hard look at your life and see how maybe what you are striving after cannot be found in that pursuit. And I would ask the same of those who are Christians. Beloved, you may have a good solid biblical theology, but a faulty practical theology. You may be more worldly in your pursuits than you want to admit. We all are called to live for God who is over the sun and the Preacher wants to help expose the vanity in our hearts. How did the preacher pursue pleasure?
First, he went after laughter. Ecclesiastes 2:2, “I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” Solomon wanted to escape life and he sought after humor to do it. Laughter is good medicine is a paraphrase of Proverbs 17:22, which actually says, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Laughter and a merry heart are a blessing from God, but so much of the laughter we experience is far from the laughter alluded to in the Proverbs. Most laughter that is celebrated in the world is crude and demeaning. We tend to laugh at other people’s expense. We use humor to lift ourselves up while we put others down. How many young people watch hours and hours of the same sitcom that is filled with humor that is ungodly and demeaning? Proverbs 26:18-19, “Life a madman who throws firebrands, arrows and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I am only joking!” Humor is a gift of God, but the humor we use and experience so often not about serving others. It is too often about serving ourselves at the expense of others. The Preacher went after laughter and said, “What use it?” Vanity.
The Preacher then turned his heart to wine. Ecclesiastes 2:3, “I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.” He probably is not referring to drunken pursuits, because of the phrase, “my heart still guiding me with wisdom” yet we cannot be sure. The Bible condemns drunkenness but it does not condemn drinking wine or alcohol. The Preacher searched to find satisfaction in wine, in its taste and sophistication and the environment that surrounds it. The growth of wine bars and microbreweries has taken over the Charlotte Metro area. More and more people are trying to find satisfaction here, but there is nothing new under the sun. It is vanity.
After wine, the Preacher turns to construction and the creation of great buildings. Ecclesiastes 2:4–6, “[4] I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. [5] I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. [6] I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.” Solomon was a master architect and foreman. His building projects were on a massive scale. Notice that everything is in the plural, “great works, houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, and pools.” His scale was massive. And yet, the key to understanding his empty pursuit in this construction is who he built all this for: myself. Three verses and three times we that Solomon said he was building for, “myself.” This is a key for us to understand why our pursuits become empty. If we are the center of our pursuits, they will never satisfy.
As the Preacher built great works, he had a great assortment of slaves and possessions, Ecclesiastes 2:7–10
[7] I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. [8] I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. [9] So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. [10] And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.
He had it all. We may not think our lives resemble much of Solomon’s life, but the average life of a 21st century American is very similar.
We may not own male and female slaves, but we hire people to do serve needs and do the things we can’t or do not want to do from cutting our grass, to changing our oil, to cleaning our gutters. We may not have herds and flocks, but most of us probably own at least 4-5 pairs of shoes while a vast number of people in the world can barely afford one. We may not have silver and gold and the treasure of kings, but our houses are filled with paintings, and flat screen TVs, and fine furniture. We may not have sings putting on concerts on our back porches, but we have access to any song, by any artist, in any time, with a simple voice command, “Hey, Alexa…” We may not have had the thousand of sexual partners that Solomon had with 300 wives and 1,000 concubines, but we have access of endless options of free sex with a click on our multitude of screens. I actually think we are very much like Solomon who said, “I kept my heart from no pleasure.” What makes you happy? What pleasure are you pursuing?
If we are honest with ourselves, many of us are trying to find pleasure in life apart from God. We always want more. We want wants next. Whether it is the newest phone, a bigger TV, a new gaming console, a new wardrobe, we too often are longing for longing and significance and meaning in the stuff of life under the sun.
When J.D. Rockefeller, the Warren Buffet or Jeff Bezos of his time, was asked by a reporter, “How much money is enough?” He responded, “Just a little bit more.” Why do we all have the desire for a little bit more? It is part our nature as fallen human beings living in the old Adam. Adam and Eve sinned against God because they were not satisfied with all the gifts that God gave them. He gave them a garden. A lush and glorious garden. Genesis 2:9, “And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God gave them so much, but Adam and Eve wanted one more tree, the one tree God did not give them. They believed that joy and peace and satisfaction was found in one more tree, the one tree that was not offered to them. How many times do we chase that which has not been given to us?
Many scholars have pointed out that Solomon was trying to recreate an Eden like existence like our first parents. Listen to Ecclesiastes 2:5-6 again, “[5] I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. [6] I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.” The first readers would have been reminded of all kinds of fruit trees that were pleasant to the sight and good for food in the garden. And they would have been reminded that for Adam and Eve it was not enough. They wanted one more tree. They wanted to live not under God’s rule, but apart from it. They were the first to live with an “under the sun” perspective grasping for that fruit from that “one more tree.”
Adam and Eve’s grasping of that forbidden fruit is why we try to find meaning and purpose and identity in our own “one more tree” perspectives only to be like Solomon to vanity; hebel. Ecclesiastes 2:11, “[11] Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” Solomon realized, and maybe you have realized, that “one more tree” will never be enough. You may become CEO of your company but there are bigger companies. You may get that diploma but there will always be more knowledge. What are you pursuing? Are you striving after the wind? Or are you satisfied?
The Earthly Pursuit of Eternity
We all want happiness. True happiness is not found on the one more tree, but in Christ who hung on a tree. Jesus looked at his disciples and told them that he was going to have to suffer and die and then three days later rise. Mark 8:32 the text says Jesus said this plainly. Jesus said that life does not come in seeking pleasure but in sacrifice. Peter rebuked him. Peter, like Solomon, could not understand a world where suffering was necessary. Mark 8:33, “[33] But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Peter, like Solomon, was living under the sun. He was living with a horizontal view only. He did not understand the true purpose and meaning of life.
Solomon asks in Ecclesiastes 1:3, “What does a man profit for all his toil at which he toils under sun?” Solomon said of himself, “I kept from myself no pleasure,” I did not deny myself anything and yet he was empty. Those who are constantly trying to fill themselves with one more tree are not those who are full, but empty. Jesus says that only those who are empty will be full. Mark 8:34–38
[34] And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [35] For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. [36] For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? [37] For what can a man give in return for his soul? [38] For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
The answer to life is not pursuing “one more tree,” for happiness but taking on Christ tree as our happiness. We must deny ourselves and follow Christ. Jesus had everything and emptied himself of that glorious place to take on the form of a servant. He denied himself so that we could have true life. If we, like Solomon, seek to gain the whole world, we will forfeit our souls. If you live for earthly pursuits, you will be empty. If you look beyond the earth and life under the sun, you will find that eternity awaits. If we are willing to lose the whole world, we will find satisfaction for our souls.
Life in God’s world is not about gain but a gift[2]. It is not about taking but receiving. We must learn the secret of contentment in whatever the Lord has given us. We must learn the secret of living in plenty and in want, being well fed or hungry for we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We can learn to stop striving after the wind to find something more but rather we can look to Christ in whom we have more than enough.
Friends, I do not know what you are pursuing or striving after in your life. It may be a good thing, but that good thing will never satisfy. Do not live for “one more tree.” Come to the one tree where all your striving for meaning is found in the words, “It is finished.” Come to the Cross. Friends, stop striving after the wind. Do not believe the lie that happiness is found in pleasure and human knowledge. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Learn from my friend Kris. Learn from Solomon. Learn from Jesus. Life is not found in your “one more tree,” it is found in Christ and in Christ alone.
[1] Blaise Pascal, Pascal’s Pensees, trans. W.F. Trotter (Boston: E.P. Dutton, 1958), 113.
[2] Gibson, David, Living Life Backwards, p37
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