Futility Under The Sun

  • David Fairchild
  • Sep 12, 2004
  • Series: Ecclesiastes

INTRODUCTION

This morning we are going to talk about and grapple with a philosophical question. It is the one question upon which philosophy was born. What is the meaning of life? This single question, along with it’s twin sister “who am I?” has provoked thought, encouraged introspection, and fueled debate for the last 30+ centuries. It is a question that many have asked, and few have been satisfied to answer. It is as elusive as it is foundational to our existence. It is a question that has humbled many as they consider its weight and its implications. Through time this questions has led to answers that are ridiculous, answers that are complex, answers that are hopeless and have led to despair and subsequent suicide.

The question we are asking is this “what is the reason for our existence?” or we could say “what is our ultimate purpose?” “What’s this life all about?”

Many in our day are looking for a purpose to exist. A purpose profound enough, big enough, consuming enough, that it grabs us by the shirt collar and demands our attention. Many are looking for a reason for living that will plumb the depths of our passions and sustain us until we breathe our last.

The book of Ecclesiastes is a book that is going to ask this question again and again. But the way in which this question is going to be asked is in a form that many Christians are uncomfortable with. Most Christians in our day are looking for a “Christian-Lite” brand of religion. They are not interested in thinking deeply. Often we are a ship with huge sails and no rudder that feels and catches every wind that blows but has no navigation, no compass, no bearings because it simply exists to move and stay afloat. It exists to feel the wind and be moved by it, or we are a ship that has sharp rudders to keep its course precise, it’s destination locked, but has no sails to move it. It can’t feel the wind blow and even if it did it would be impotent to do anything about it. It has direction but no motion. This is where we fail this side of heaven. We are either shallow and emotional, or we are deep and immovable. We either know quite a bit about one thing, or we know a very little about everything. My prayer is that through this book we are moved but that we don’t mistake movement with progress. I pray we keep our eyes focused on Christ and after six months with the Koheleth (the preacher of 1:1) we are closer than when we first set sail.

Our American society in the last three decades has stopped teaching our children, and ultimately ourselves, “why” we exist. Because of this we can’t teach them “how” to exist. We learn math, we learn to spell, we may even learn some history along the way, but to teach our children and ourselves to dive deep and plunge into the water of philosophical inquiry is not only uncomfortable, it is uncommon.

Some of you are going to find yourselves wondering about certain words or concepts that you don’t understand or are not familiar with, its o.k. to be ignorant on certain topics, I know I certainly am ignorant of many, but it’s not o.k. to stay ignorant with these discussions. My hopes are when you hear a word or think of something you haven’t considered before you will write it down and get to thinking and studying through these issues. We can use a popular slogan today to excuse our laziness: “it’s all about Jesus” but even that slogan needs clarification- which Jesus? The Jesus of the Koran, the Jesus of Mormonism, the Jesus of eastern mysticism? Our thinking always effects our feeling, so let’s think deeply over these next several weeks.

The Importance of Philosophy and its role in Theology

First off I should probably define the word philosophy since we are going to be talking quite a bit about it.

Philosophy comes from two Greek words “Philia” which means love, and “Sophia” which means wisdom. The word literally means “lover of wisdom.” If you are a biblical thinker, you should be a lover of wisdom. In Proverbs, another book written by Solomon, wisdom is personified in a woman that should be sought after and cherished. We are called to find it, keep it, understand it. We are told that wisdom is better than rubies and gold. We are told that the fool dies for a lack of wisdom. We are told “whoever loves wisdom makes his father rejoice…” (Proverbs 29:3).

We can say with confidence when we survey the entire bible that you and I are called to be philosophers, in other words we are called to love wisdom. Not just any wisdom, but God’s wisdom because it is from God that wisdom comes.

Over time we have separated philosophy from theology. Where once the questions of the philosophers served to set up the answer of the theologian, where once philosophy was “the handmaiden of theology” today human philosophy apart from God is the pervasive culture in academia. Theology has become, to the secular philosopher, only one of many sub-categories of thought, usually relegated to religious expression in anthropology.

But all truth is God’s truth. Any thought that conforms with God’s wisdom is His. We shouldn’t be afraid, as Paul demonstrated last week as we considered his Mars Hill address, to ask the same questions the philosophers ask so we can offer a cogent biblical response.

Solomon does this in an ancient oriental form of a philosophical apologetic or defense of his faith. It’s difficult to pick up because the form God inspires by the Holy Spirit into and through Solomon is called literary pessimism. It’s a negative argument to demonstrate a profound truth.

When you visit your doctor, if the illness is serious enough the doctor will spend a great deal of his time to get you to understand the magnitude of your sickness. He will take you to the brink of despair and hopelessness so that when the cure is provided, it is taken. This is what Solomon does as he writes his book of repentance for you and I to consider almost 3,000 years later.


Today we categorize philosophy to aid in our studies though in ancient times all of life was inextricably linked together and wisdom was to be gained and kept not at a piece of a puzzle but as a unified whole which couldn’t be separated from the other.

In western Philosophy, there are 4 main branches of philosophy that are considered:

Metaphysics (being/meaning): Meta means above; this is the study of the nature of things above physics. Metaphysics covers the kinds of things most people probably think of if asked what philosophy covers e.g. those 'big questions', such as, is there God, why are we here, what is the ultimate nature of the universe, and so on.

Aesthetics (beauty): Is concerned with the essence and perception of beauty and ugliness. Aesthetics also deals with the question of whether such qualities are objectively present in the things they appear to qualify, or whether they exist only in the mind of the individual; hence, whether objects are perceived by a particular mode, the aesthetic mode, or whether instead the objects have, in themselves, special qualities—aesthetic qualities. Philosophy also asks if there is a difference between the beautiful and the sublime.

Epistemology (knowledge/truth): The philosophy of knowledge. Concerned with such questions as, is knowledge of anything really possible, is our knowledge certain, how do we get our knowledge, what things can we have knowledge about, what exactly is knowledge, etc.

Ethics (can be social ethics/community) (Greek ethika, from ethos, “character,” “custom”), principles or standards of human conduct, sometimes called morals (Latin mores, “customs”), and, by extension, the study of such principles, sometimes called moral philosophy. This article is concerned with ethics chiefly in the latter sense and is confined to that of Western civilization, although every culture has developed an ethic of its own.

I’ve highlighted different words so that you can see why we use these four words in our material and on our website. Meaning- Metaphysics, Beauty- Aesthetics, Truth- Epistemology, Community- Ethics (specifically social ethics), are all part of what our infinite-personal God has communicated to us through His word to answer the questions raised by the philosophers of our age (knowingly or not).

I give this information to you because we are going to be primarily dealing with issues raised in the branch of Metaphysics, though we are going to be touching on every other category through the studies.

Philosophy began with God

In school we are taught that philosophy was birthed when Thales predicted a solar eclipse that occurred on May 28, 585 B.C. Obviously Solomon predates Thales by over 400 years. He also predated Phythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and wrestled with the same questions these men wrestled with. The difference is that his conclusion is wholly different then theirs.

This morning we are going to be examining a 3,000 year old philosophical work.

Background of Solomon

Solomon is King David’s son. He was born of Bathsheba, the woman David committed adultery with and had her husband murdered at the front lines of a battle. Though David loved God greatly, he was still a sinner that needed God’s grace. If you ever want to read a Psalm written by someone who has committed a great sin, read Psalm 51. It is the Psalm David wrote after he had sinned against God with Bathsheba.

David knew he was getting old and was frail and he decided to pass his kingdom on to Solomon. He told Solomon to keep his nose in the word and follow God and he would be fine. Had Solomon followed his fathers instructions we would not have Ecclesiastes. This book is a book written by a man that attained great wealth, pleasure beyond measure, and intelligence without an equal.

Because of God’s love for David and for his son Solomon, God came to Solomon in a dream and told Solomon to ask for any blessing and He would give it to Him. Solomon wanted to lead God’s people and be a good king so he asked God to give him wisdom to lead. God grated Solomon wisdom and because he didn’t ask for fame, or power, or money, God gave him those as well. I wonder what you and I would ask for if God came to us with the same question?

Solomon was brilliant, he wrote 3 books of the bible; Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. He is considered the wisest man that has ever lived, and perhaps is the richest that has ever lived. He had a fleet of ships that would bring gold to him every day from far off lands. He had thousands of servants, tremendous amounts of land, and was a genius. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. What in the world would a man with 700 wives need with 300 concubines? Needless to say, Solomon had an answer. Solomon married a woman that God had forbid so that he would gain favor from different nations and because of their worship of a foreign, non-existent God, Solomon’s eyes were taken off the Lord and instead placed upon himself and his own wants and desires.

He is like a mix between Bill Gates, Hugh Heffner, Brad Pitt, and Albert Einstein. So what philosophical conclusions does this rich, sexually active, powerful, genius come to after living a dream many men can’t even imagine?

Let’s jump in….

STUDY

Verse 1- The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

We get to hear Solomon’s sermon preached to his congregation.

What is the meaning of life from this great king and philosopher?

Verse 2- "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

Here is what he’s saying: Futility of Futilities, all is futility!

Who does this sound like? Sartre? Camus? Heidegger? Nietzsche? Foucault? Hemmingway? Marilyn Manson? Trent Reznor?

This is the conclusion of the existential movement. Our lives in the final analysis are utterly meaningless. That’s what the word “vanity” means…futility, utterly meaningless. It’s used 38 times to describe our lives.

Doesn’t this sound a little depressing? Yep! It’s supposed to be. Solomon is simply voicing what each of us have felt.

Solomon uses a Hebrew literary form to bring this idea of utter futility to the supreme degree by calling it “futility of futilities.” It’s like calling Jesus “King of Kings” or “Lord of Lords.” It’s a device used to emphasize the word.

Have you ever felt that way when you woke up? You take a shower, brush your teeth, eat your breakfast, get in your car, drive to work, work, drive home, watch t.v., go to bed, and do it all over again. Have you ever stopped and said “what is the purpose for all of this?”

This is perhaps the most terrifying conclusion that you and I could come to. That everything we feel and experience, all of work and our labor, everything we strived so hard to attain or accomplish at the end of it all is utter futility.

There was a slogan for a movie that said “In space no one can hear you scream.” What was so frightening wasn’t the terror of the monster, but the dread of the nothing. In space you’re alone, isolated, cut off. Scream as loud as you can, it doesn’t matter, no one hears.

This is what Solomon is doing with you and I…He looks deep into the nothing and tells you what he sees. For him to say that “all is vanity” is to say that nothing has meaning or significance ultimately.

Frederich Nietzsche (1844-1900) Stated in his work “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” "God is dead...and He died of pity." For Nietzsche, religion emerged in order to bring comfort and consolation to weak people lacking courage to create their own values. Human culture is decadent due to the "herd morality" and due to Christianity's emphasis on peace, love, forgiveness, meekness and humility, which is nothing but weakness.

Nietzsche believed that the nothingness and meaninglessness of our existence should give us one motivation only “the will to power.” Simply speaking “might makes right.” “The strongest wills survive.” “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” These are all different forms of nihilism. Nihilism literally means “nothing-ism.”

But nihilism’s great enemy is Biblical theology because the existence of God guarantees the ultimate meaning and significance of personal life.

Nihilism declares that nothing really matters. It may matter to us individually, but it doesn’t matter ultimately. We might care, but the blind universe could care less.

Solomon will speak about this futility of life “under the sun” or in other words; apart from God. For Nietzsche, who spent his last 11 years of thinking he was Jesus Christ as he went mad, I can’t disagree. Nietzsche and the lot are all right if life is without God. There conclusion is a biblical conclusion apart from God. Without God, everything is futile and hopeless and meaningless. Life has no ultimate value, man has no ultimate purpose, and we must all say the same…it is futile!

It seems as if we are born toothless, bald, in diapers, and unable to walk, only find when we get old we are toothless, bald, in diapers, and unable to walk. And the only time anyone seems to care about us is when we’re born and when we die because that’s the only time we make the papers. Life seems like a mist, and the bible agrees with that assessment.

Here’s how he came to his conclusion…he tried it all!

Verse 3- What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun?

Good question? What profit is there?

You go to school, you go to work, you pay your bills, you work hard for the conveniences you are told you need, so you spend your whole life trying to buy those conveniences by being inconvenienced at work.

What does all your labor gain for you? What does working for these things that you can never enjoy because you are too busy working for these things which are supposed to work for you. Who is the slave and who is the master? If you are working for these things and you don’t own them yet, who is the master and who is the slave? Who owns whom?

We work our whole life, we labor under the sun, we finally retire so we can enjoy life and we die before we can. They stick us in a box to be worm-food and someone else gets to enjoy what we worked hard to get.

He is going to use the term “under the sun” 29 times as a way to describe life on earth without a concern for God. No hope, no God breaking in, no grace, no future with Him, just life under the glare of the sun.

We often think that if we just work hard we can get past our differences. We can work our way to happiness. We can find a cause, or join a movement to save a whale, or save a tree, or save JLo’s next victim of a husband.

Verse 4- One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.

We live under a myth that if we just keep trying we’ll get somewhere. It’s like we a birthed out of the womb, we jump on a treadmill and run as fast as we can until we die and fall off, then the next generation comes and does the same thing. Our generation thinks is so important. That we will have everything figured out, we’ll fix the world. We are finally at the peak of the evolution.

The earth watches us and it laughs.

What is so sad is that when we figure out that we are not as important as we think we are, instead of turning to God to find out who we are and what we have been called to be, we slowly slip into hopeless depression.

We see generations coming and going, we see our labor as futile, we begin to view life as Solomon did.

Ernest Hemmingway, a great writer, was ultimately an existentialist. He believed that life was pointless and without meaning and he believed that the only control and meaning that can be gained in this life is to determine the time and way in which you die.

He preached and died his doctrine as his wife fell asleep, he quietly got out of bed, grabbed his favorite hunting rifle and with great care he positioned his rifle right where it could blow him to bits.

One of his most famous books was titled “The Sun Also Rises” and guess where he got his title? From the next verse.

Verses 5-7- 5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. 6 The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. 7 All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again.

Life apart from God isn’t forward and linear. It doesn’t progress along a path of perfection, it’s cyclical.

Our life is to be lived Corum Deo “before the face of God”, it is to be lived under the perspective the sovereignty of God, and always to be lived for the glory of God.

From the perspective of living under the sun, even history and time seems meaningless. All things seem to just repeat and recur. Nothing seems to come to any point of conclusion. It just keeps repeating for eternity.

Apart from God we will never end the cyclical rut of life. It will simply go on and on until we die.

Verse 8- All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.

If all you and I have is our senses, if all there is in this life is what we can see and hear, we will never be full. If our sense are the key to our happiness, you will be a miserable person because they are never satisfied. Our consumerism is built upon this truth. From mailers, to telemarketers, to billboards, to t.v. commercials, to radio ads, to internet pop-ups and spam mail, we are called to worship the God of consumerism and his prophets are the marketing guru’s.

Our senses never have enough. We crave more and more. Drug pushers and pimps base their livelihood on that cold, hard fact.

Verses 9-10- 9 That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which it may be said, "See, this is new"? It has already been in ancient times before us.

Nothing is new! We try so hard to be original that we think stealing from the past is an original idea. Have you seen the hat’s and pant’s and shirts I like to wear? I buy them looking worn because I’m following the fashion model of Ecclesiastes!

Music just samples and bites old licks and bass-tracks and calls it new.

Even our philosophical originality is in question. This entire book sounds like it was writing by a modern philosopher dealing with existence.

People do what people do because it’s their nature, and human nature, without the intrusion of God’s grace will continue down it’s course of self-destruction.

The humor in all of this is that Solomon said 3,000 years ago that everything that was called “new” in his time had already came from ancient times before him!

We often mistake movement with progress. We think we are making progress but in reality we are driving around a cul-de-sac and wondering why the neighborhoods all look the same.

Most of us were publicly educated and don’t know history, so we keep thinking we’re coming up with new ideas!

Solomon says “there is nothing new under the sun.”

Verse 11- There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after.

All we’re left with is the here and now apart from God, but the problem is that now is boring and tiresome. So let’s make it meaningful. Let’s live so that we are remembered after we’re gone.

Let me ask you a question…who’s in the obituary today? That’s going to be you and I one day and no one is going to read it! We want to be remembered for greatness but all we have under the sun is nothingness.

Life has no meaning, life has no purpose, life has no goal apart from God. Every movement and philosophy tries to bridge a gap that can’t be bridged apart from Christ.

Man cries out in despair, but refuses to accept the only answer to the question, the only reason for his existence, the only motivation for living. He rejects the notion that he is not his own god, his own prophet, his own sage, and his own savior. Man has fallen into a hole so deep he can’t see his own hand. He feels it, he senses that it moves, but he is unable to open his own eyes with his own philosophy.

In contrast to this idea of eternal recurrence stands the prophets of old. They looked forward to new things God has yet to do, they look forward to being called by a new name (Isaiah 62:2), a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 66:22), they look forward towards the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31), and having a new spirit (Ezekiel 11:19), and a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). And they urged their people to sing new songs as new things happened (Psalm 33:3; 96:1; 98:1).

The God that I’m speaking about this morning is not a blind God, He sees, He is not a mute God, He spoke, and he is not a deaf God, He hears, and if we cry out to Him, if we come to Him with humble hearts and empty hands aware of our own frailty and our own despair apart from Him, He will transform us into something new.

Jesus says “come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls."

In a Greater Wise Man, Jesus gives us answers raised by the philosopher. Part of the gospel’s Good News is that even if our work is tedious and routine, it doesn’t have to be futile. Jesus had, as part of his mission, the purpose of taking us beyond futility to profit in our work. Yet He asks the same penetrating question “what profits a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

This may be why he came as a carpenter. Tools he knew how to handle, wood and iron were the stuff He worked with. His knuckles felt knicks and His fingers had blisters. The Son of God entered our human labor. Shoulder to shoulder He toiled with the rest of us. Doing God’s will entailed doing this kind of work. It had a purpose.

Futile days and futile weeks we may have, where life loses its attraction. But a futile life will not be our lot. Christ’s news is too good to let that happen. Life is filled with meaning because He is making all things new and He begins with you and I.

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