This sermon on Ecclesiastes 1 was given at Canon Court Evangelical Church, Fetcham.
The book of Ecclesiastes doesn’t always have a great reputation. It is seen as a rather pessimistic and sceptical book, drawing conclusions that are more likely to dishearten than encourage. Therefore, it was to my surprise that in a period when I was particularly discouraged, a much older and wiser Christian upon hearing my difficulties and doubts encouraged me to study the book of Ecclesiastes. I have found that like the stars in a darkened sky, the backdrop set by the book of Ecclesiastes regarding the reality of our lives, makes the hope of eternal life in Christ all the brighter.
‘The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:1) We don’t really know who this preacher is, the word literally means ‘one who speaks in the congregation or assembly’. Of the sons of David, Solomon best fits the description within the book. However, whoever it is, it is clear that their conclusions deserve our consideration. Anyone who reads the book has to confess that these are weighty words, words that are worthy of the wisest man who ever lived, if in fact Solomon is the author. There is no soft start or leisurely introduction for this Preacher. He gives his findings up front, the opening poem contains his final conclusion. Indeed, these words are repeated again in his conclusion in chapter 12: ‘Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:2) As we shall see, the Preacher concludes that Under the Sun – its’s all in vain, there is no gain, nothing we do will remain.
1. UNDER THE SUN – It’s all in vain. There is no gain. Nothing we do will remain.
This idea of vanity not only opens and closes the book, but this is the Preacher’s constant conclusion throughout. Thirty times he will conclude that something is vanity or vain. Given it is such an important phrase for the Preacher, we need to make sure we understand it properly. The Hebrew word, ‘Habel’, has a number of senses that all overlap. The dominant one is picked up by the translation we have read together, which the ESV, KJV and NASB all choose, ‘vanity’. It denotes 'not achieving the desired outcome', 'futile', 'unsuccessful', 'lacking substance or worth', 'hollow' and 'fruitless'. It is a failing of purpose. However, there is also a complimentary sense of a failing of permanence. ‘Habel’ is also used to refer to a ‘mist’, a ‘vapor’ or a ‘mere breath’, particularly in Psalms and Proverbs. This is what leads Eugene Peterson to paraphrase the Preacher’s conclusion as ‘Smoke, nothing but smoke. There is nothing to anything - it’s all smoke.’ The Preacher tells us that everything is fleeting and futile. It lacks purpose and permanence. How does the Preacher arrive at such a cutting conclusion? He does not leave us in the dark, for in this poem, like a mathematician, he shows us his working out so that we can check it for ourselves. His conclusion (verse 2) is prompted by the question (verse 3) and supported by the explanation (verses 4-11).
The question, ‘What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?’ (Ecclesiastes 1:3). Under the sun is a reference to this world and our life in it. All of our lives are lived under the sun, within this world. And the question the preacher asks is what we gain from them? [Renovating and selling a house] This idea of gain is a commercial term, it refers to a surplus or something left over at the end once everything has been paid. Once the sum of our life is worked out, the Preacher wants to know whether there is a remainder. What do we take away from our lives? What do we get from all the effort and work we put in during these years?
If you are starting to worry that the Preacher is being overly transactional, that his analysis of life is too clinical and cold, I want to encourage you to read the rest of the book. Despite his reputation, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes has a surprisingly positive view of life under the sun. In Ecclesiastes 2:24–25, he will state ‘There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This…I saw, is from the hand of God…’ or Ecclesiastes 3:12–13, where he states ‘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.’ There are good things in this life that we can enjoy as gifts from God: friends and family, good food and rewarding work. However, these are gifts to be enjoyed in our time, not gains to be cherished for all time. When we come to consider what we gain, we have to consider what is left over at the end. Friends and family, food and work can all be enjoyed while we are here under the sun, but when your eyes close for the last time and you leave this world behind, you will leave all of that behind as well. What will you have gained in that moment? As Job reminds us, we leave this world as naked as we came (Job 1:21).
This conclusion of the Preacher, everything lacks purpose and permanence, is prompted by his question in verse 3, ‘What does a man gain from life at the end of the day?’ and supported by his explanation in verses 4-11. His explanation focuses on the permanence of the world around us in contrast to our transience. ‘A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:4) The sun goes up and down in the sky (1:5), the wind goes round and round on the earth (1:6) and the water runs in and out of the sea (1:7). On and on this world goes, but we do not go with it. We are only here for a short period of time, one generation after another comes and goes and nothing changes. ‘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.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Now the Preacher isn’t stupid, he isn’t denying the existence of inventions. The iPhone is a new piece of technology. However, ultimately it is just another means of communication, something there had always been. Similarly, we may have planes and cars, but they are just upgrading the horse and cart, methods of transportation. Electricity replaces candles, computers replace books, pharmacies replace traditional medicines. There are updates, but the building blocks of our lives stay the same. Our clothes may have changed style, but they are still clothes. We have rearranged the furniture, but the room has not changed. This world struggles with the same problems it has always struggled with: disease, disaster and death.
Furthermore, what is under the sun now will not be remembered by those under it later. ‘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 1:11) As the generations come and go, they barely remember each other. We might remember the names of our parents and grandparents. But do you know much about your great-grandparents. Men like Winston Churchill might be remembered for generations, but he will not be remembered forever. Even those who live the most influential and significant lives will eventually be forgotten. Even the greatest legacies will not last for long when compared to the lifetime of this planet. Those we help, the societies we shape, fade into the background of forgotten history along with us. This is the explanation the Preacher gives for his conclusion that everything is futile and fleeting – one day we will all be forgotten along with all we do.
When I was a child and we went on holiday as a family, it was often to the north coast of Ireland. We would take a house up there for a week or two in the summer and whatever days it didn’t rain we would go to the beach. When we got to the beach, we had a very set routine. My older sister would immediately get her wetsuit on and head into the sea to swim and play all day. I went and got my bucket and spade out of the car and started to play in the sand. I often built sandcastles and walls and trenches along with as deep a whole as I could dig. I would play in the sand all day. One time I found a plastic toy dinosaur and had hours of fun playing with it in the hole and around my little city of castles. At the end of the day, my sister would come back from the sea and I would clean off my bucket and spade, we would get in the car and we would go home. It didn’t take me long to realise that if I came back the next day, there wasn’t going to be much of my creation left. The sea would come in and turn everything I had made back into what it was, sand. Sometimes if I dug a hole deep enough, I would come back the next day and there would still be some kind of hole there. But give it a few days and there would be nothing left. You would not have even known I had been there. Hundreds of thousands of children had played in that sand before me, and I never knew. That is what the Preacher is telling us. Our lives are like sandcastles on the seashore. There for a day, and then forgotten. The tides of time will wash all the achievements of our lives away. Under the Sun - It’s all in vain, there is no gain. Nothing we do will remain. In one sense I gained a lot from those sandcastles. It was fun and enjoyable at the time. It must have been, I can still remember that dinosaur almost 20 years later. But at the end of the day, as I drove away what was left over? A pleasant memory? One day my mind will fade, and I will remember those sandcastles no more. Relationships with my family? One day my parents, my sister, I will all be dead and those relationships have ended. A day building sandcastles by the sea as a child is all well and good. But if that is all there is to our entire lives here, can’t you see why the Preacher says that it is in vain, it lacks purpose and permanence?
I wonder if, in the words of the Preacher, you can start to hear a whisper of the words of the Jesus? ‘For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?’ (Mark 8:36) If we gain everything there is under the sun, what will it profit us? Under the Sun - It’s all in vain, there is no gain. Nothing we do will remain. That is what the Preacher proclaims in Ecclesiastes 1, and in doing so he darkens the sky so that the star that comes shines all the brighter. For the Bible not only tells us of the reality of life under the sun, but the richness of life in the Son. In the Son - The gospel remains, Christ is gain. In the Lord our labour is not in vain.
2. IN THE SON – The Gospel remains. Christ is gain. In the Lord our labour is not in vain.
Many of you will remember that before photography went digital and cameras were on the backs of phones, photographs had to be developed. I remember after returning from our holiday, we would go to a chemist with my mum and leave rolls of film from her camera with them to develop. Camera film isn’t much use. You can’t put it on the wall or show your friends and family. If you look close enough you can make out the image, but it isn’t clear. The colours in it are inverted, that is why it is called a negative, as what was dark is light and what was light is dark. Only when it is developed, turned into a positive photograph, does the clear image appear. Sometimes we see Christ in the Old Testament like we see a photograph in undeveloped film. It is there, but not as clear. Everything is inverted and you see the other side of the coin. Because Ecclesiastes shows us the foolishness of life under the sun, it helps us to see the wisdom of life in the Son. The puritan Thomas Watson would famously write, ‘Until sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.’ In the same way, until this world seems vain, Christ will not seem gain. Ecclesiastes helps us to see the vanity of this world. Against the backdrop of the vanity of life under the sun, we are shown the value of life in the Son.
Nowhere is Ecclesiastes directly quoted in the New Testament. However, Ecclesiastes poses questions that the New Testament picks up and resolves. Ecclesiastes points out problems that the New Testament will solve. Will anything remain? Is there anything to gain? Is it all ultimately in vain?
Will anything remain? Peter will pick up on the transience of our life when he states, ‘"All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.’ (1 Peter 1:24–25) Peter isn’t saying anything here the Old Testament didn’t already declare. In fact, he is quoting directly from Isaiah 40 in Old Testament, yet he clarifies and focuses it in on the gospel. The permeant, unchanging, never ending, never fading, always true, word of God is the good news of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We who were sinners and strangers, rebels against a holy and righteous God can receive new life and forgiveness of sins if we have faith in Jesus Christ because of his sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. That is a truth that is timeless. The tides of time will not change or alter it in any way. The Gospel will remain, because God will remain. Long after the sun stops crossing the sky and the wind blows no more. Centuries after the streams stop flowing into the sea, God will still be God. ‘"You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands, they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end."’ (Hebrews 1:10–12). Because God will remain, the word of God will remain. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. If we build our lives on the Gospel, we have a firm foundation that will remain.
Is there anything to gain? Is something that we can obtain that will last longer than our sandcastles on the seashore? In recounting the achievements of his life before he met Christ in Philippians 3, Paul reminds himself of all the thing he used to consider as gain, ‘…circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.’ (Philippians 3:5–8) Such is the value, the worth, the significance of Jesus, if you lose everything else under the sun but have the Son, you have gained. In Ecclesiastes, the Preacher explains how death cancels any gain we get through the course of our life. No matter what we accumulate, friends or family, wealth or status, power or pleasure, death comes to us all and leaves us all empty hand. But in Philippians, Paul explains how the gain of Christ is something that even death cannot erase. In Philippians 1:21 he writes, ‘For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ For Christians, death is not loss, but is gain for in it we move closer to our gaining Christ in our glorification! John Calvin paraphrases Philippians 1:21 as, ‘Whether in living or dying, Christ is gain.’ In Christ we have something, someone, to hold on to, to hold on to us, both in life and in death.
Is it all in vain? In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul will answer yes. Yes, it is all in vain. Our preaching is in vain. Our faith is in vain. Our labour of behalf of the Lord is in vain. If Christ was not raised from the dead. ‘And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain… And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins…If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied…If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."’ (1 Corinthians 15:14–19, 32) However, as Christ has been raised from the dead, our preaching is not vain and our faith is not futile. We are no longer in our sins. Tomorrow we may die, but because Christ was raised we know will one day be raised from the dead as well. There is a permanence and purpose to our lives, for we have been given life eternal. No longer fleeting and futile, we have started out on a journey that will stretch into eternity. The resurrection reverses the reasoning of Ecclesiastes. ‘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?’ (Ecclesiastes 1:2–3) Paul, having assured the Corinthians of the certainty of Christ defeating death and being raised from the dead, will close that great chapter urging them, ‘Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.’ (1 Corinthians 15:58) [APPLY – evangelism, discipleship, service, devotions]. The labour we do in the Lord will last. We can store up treasure in heaven while here on earth, treasure which rust and moth cannot decay. Gains that death cannot take away.
Under the Sun - It’s all in vain. There is no gain. Nothing we do will remain. In the Son - The gospel remains, Christ is gain. In the Lord our labour is not in vain.
ALEXANDER ARRELL