Living for Your Job – Ecclesiastes 2

SPEAKER 03 : 0:00

Your pursuits don’t bring satisfaction, even though we explore everything possible. Look at verse 10. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. See, some people think, well, I just haven’t got on it. You know, I’m not finding that right thing for me. I’m not finding the thing that brings me satisfaction and happiness. And Solomon says, hey, pursuits in this life don’t bring satisfaction, even though you explored everything possible.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:56

Welcome to the Thursday broadcast of Hope for Today. You know, we often think we just haven’t found the right thing yet. We haven’t found the right job or the right pursuit. But in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, Solomon says he held nothing back. Every desire, every pleasure, he had it all, and he still comes to this conclusion. Pursuits in this life do not satisfy. Today, Bible teacher David Hawking continues his study called Living for Your Job. And he’ll take us back into the Word in just a moment. First, a quick note. We want to let you know that we’ve begun a brand new series in the book of Ecclesiastes, and we encourage you not to miss a single program as we work our way through this important book of Scripture. It’s going to become so valuable to you and minister to your heart in some powerful ways. And if you do ever miss a broadcast, you can always catch up by visiting our website at DavidHawking.org, where programs and resources are available for you. That’s DavidHawking.org. Let’s get into God’s Word here on Hope for Today, and here’s David with day two of Living for Your Job.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:14

Back to chapter two again of Ecclesiastes. But pleasure, fun, laughter, that wasn’t all he pursued. He went after wine, drinking. He said, hey, that’s a lot of people I notice drink wine, and they seem to do it in order to have fun. I mean, look at our television sets. You think there’s something new under the sun? Why, Solomon knew it in his day, and we’re doing the same thing today. You can’t have a TV program without somebody asking you, do you want a drink? Everybody’s drinking on that program. I finally discovered what it is. The real key, I believe, is to fill in time. That’s what I believe, the real key. They just keep asking for a drink. Once they have one, another guy asks for it again. And they’re just all drinking, all the time. It’s being perpetuated on our brains that that’s kind of an in thing to do. So you go out to lunch with a businessman and you’re going to have drinks. Why? It’s a thing to do. I asked a guy the other day who’s sort of a drinker. He’s not a Christian. And we were talking. We were at a lunch. And I asked him, I said, hey, do you enjoy that stuff? I just about fell over. He turned to me and just looked me straight in the eye and says, I hate it. I said, why do you do it? Hey, man, you’ve got to get along in this business world. I’m telling you, you’ve got to have this stuff. He said, but I can’t stand it. I said, why do you do it? Hey, you’ve got to do it. You’ve got to do it. It’s a part of the game. I said, no, you don’t. No, you don’t. You don’t have to do it. Everybody’s doing it. Solomon decided to do it. And yet the Bible says he kept his wisdom with him. So he didn’t lose control. He said, I’m not going to get drunk in this thing, but I’m going to find out what it is that everybody thinks is so sharp about drinking yourself into some sort of condition where you can have a little moment’s pleasure or relief. What does he say? Verse 3. I searched in my heart. Boy, anybody who drinks, you better understand that. Search in your heart. Why? I search in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their life. And this also, as he concludes at the end of the passage, is vanity. It was a colossal waste of time. It didn’t achieve it. Momentary relief. That’s it. Have you ever watched that commercial? Well, you don’t watch television, but the carnal Christians who watch television, you know on television they frequently have an ad about Rolaids. Have you noticed that, Rolaids? Haven’t you always wished somebody would just kind of stop the thing and say, the better thing instead of Rolaids would be not to eat too much? And Solomon said, hey, I tried that stuff too. It didn’t work. It didn’t work. And his achievements, verses 4 to 6, it tells you about all his great achievements. He said, I built myself houses, plural. And you can read about that in 1 Kings. A couple of years ago, my wife and I had dinner with a… a guy and his wife whom we had met and had the joy of telling him about the Lord, seeing him get his life straightened out, and he wanted us to meet his close friend of many years. He’s a multimillion-dollar contractor in this country, and he flew in on his own little private jet to have this little dinner. And this guy is as worldly and as carnal and as, you know, secular as you can imagine. He got really stoned just at that meal. And we’re sitting there, we’re talking, and he’s achieved so many fantastic, he’s built great shopping centers. And at that meal, I’ll never forget asking him the question. I said, what do you think life is really all about? He was half stone. But he said, and I won’t use his swear words, but he said, I would sure blankety blank like to find out. So for two hours, I told him about the God who made him. He’d never been to church in all his life. Told him about Jesus Christ, what he could do about forgiveness and love. He said to me, he said, you know, Dave, that’s the greatest story I’ve ever heard in my life. How come people aren’t telling it more? There’s a man who never heard it all his life. Live for everything that he thought he should pursue. And as he looks at it, there’s nothing there. Nothing there. Happiness, it fleets out the window. It’s not there. What’s real? What is real? Solomon says our pursuits do not bring satisfaction. Not at all. You talk about possessions, look at verse 7. He had greater possessions, the Bible says, than all who were in Jerusalem before him. He’s the top of the ladder. You can’t get any bigger than this. Money, look at verse 8. I gathered silver and gold, special treasures of kings and provinces. You can read back in the book of Kings if you want to relate ancient history. Ancient coinage to today. If you want to see the value of silver and gold, get a good Bible commentary or handbook, look it up, compare it with today, and you’ll discover there’s nobody in the world, including all of the world’s richest men, that even compare with Solomon. even translating the values of that day into our day. There’s nobody in the entire world that would compare with King Solomon of the past. He had it all, people, everything. The wealthiest and wisest monarch of the ancient world. He had music, as verse 8 says, all this stuff. He had it all. He had fame, everything. But he said our pursuits don’t bring satisfaction. I’d like you to see just three things in quick succession here related to that. I would say that Solomon’s argument is that our pursuits don’t bring satisfaction even though we excel in them all. Look at verse 9. So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. That’s an interesting point, because a lot of people who are out there in the marketplace, they think if they only could excel in something, that then they would really have made it. Then they’d really find out who they are. Then they’d really find out what life’s all about. Are you kidding? Solomon excelled in everything. So pursuits don’t bring satisfaction, even though you excel in them. Because when you’re not excelling in them, you think, oh, well, they would be satisfying if I could only be the best in that thing. And secondly, your pursuits don’t bring satisfaction, even though we explore everything possible. Look at verse 10. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. See, some people think, well, I just haven’t got on it. You know, I’m not finding that right thing for me. I’m not finding the thing that brings me satisfaction and happiness. And Solomon says, hey, pursuits in this life don’t bring satisfaction, even though you explored everything possible. And third, it seems to me that he’s saying that our pursuits don’t bring satisfaction. One, even though we excel in them all. Two, even though we explore everything possible. And three, even though we have a measure of enjoyment in what we have done. Even though we do enjoy what we have done. Look at verse 10. My heart rejoiced in all my labor. He looks at it and says, man, that was something what I just did. On all the labor in which I had toiled, I looked at it. It’s like our monument to our own credibility and greatness. Our little trophies, what our hands have done. I looked at it and I rejoiced in it. But as I thought about it, it was nothing to that. Nothing to it. It didn’t bring the satisfaction in my heart that I thought it would bring. First problem is that our pursuits don’t bring satisfaction, and he goes quickly to the second problem that affects all of us, whether we want to face it or not, and that is that death is no respecter of persons. It is impartial, and it is inevitable. The Bible says it’s appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. And as Solomon reasons through this in verses 12 to 17, I think he gives at least four things that are good for us to see. He’s talking about wisdom here because he evaluated wisdom. But in all this wisdom, learning, knowledge, understanding life, he said, as I compare it to the event that happens to us all, how is the wise man better than the fool? We all die. What does your wisdom do for you to prolong your life? Nothing. Death is no respecter of persons. So it seems that he puts these four points on. One, that death does not recognize the excellence of wisdom. Verses 12 to 14, he clearly says that wisdom excels folly. A light excels darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head. The fool’s walking around stumbling in the darkness because he doesn’t think first. So wisdom is better than being a fool, obviously. But his point is that death does not recognize the excellence of wisdom. Secondly, I think he’s saying that death does not respect the desire for wisdom even. Look at verse 15. He said, I said in my heart, as it happens to the fool, it happens to me. Why was I then more wise than I said in my heart? This also is vanity. Getting down to the desire for wisdom, that motivation. He said, why did I even do it? If death truly eliminates any partiality, Any judgments as to whether you’re better because you’re wise or worse because you’re a fool, if death eliminates it because the same event happens to both, then why did I even seek wisdom? What’s the point? We all have to die. Third, it seems to me he’s saying that death does not remember the work of wisdom either. Verse 16, there’s no remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. Just give a little time and they’ll forget who you are and what you have done. And how does a wise man die? He says, as the fool. Verse 16. Hey, you talk about morbid stuff. You talk about discouraging, depressing. If you don’t understand the points that he’s driving at, you could read some of this and walk away and say, man, I have just been crushed. Bombed out for good. But it’s the joy of God that’s in this book that will lift your spirit and cause you to understand how to truly live on the job. But at this point, death itself is no respecter. One more thing. Death doesn’t relieve the burdens of wisdom either. Look at verse 17. Therefore I hated life, because the work that was done unto the Son was grievous, a heavy burden to me, for all is vanity and grasping. Why was it a heavy burden? His wisdom caused him to understand that the inevitable fact is death is coming. And the fact that death is coming and I can’t do anything about it becomes the grief to my heart. I can’t solve that problem. I can’t stop it. Even because I’m wise and wealthy and I’ve got all this going for me, I can’t change one fact. I’m going to die just like the fool. Death is no respecter of persons. One more problem to face. The third problem is in verses 18 to 23. And it’s simply this, that other people, others, are going to inherit what we have done in our lives. And he lays three principles on us, all of which have a conclusion. Let’s look at the conclusion first. In verse 19, last phrase, this also is vanity. A second statement in verse 20 and 21, and a conclusion again, verse 21, this also is vanity and a great evil. Again, something in 22 and 23, and then the statement at the end of 23, this also is vanity. Three times, like a refrain. This is what we call Hebrew poetry. And they do it different ways. Don’t have to rhyme. Sometimes they’re parallel statements. Sometimes they’re done with a point and a principle, and then a refrain that causes you to know this is poetry. And he, like the poet of old, is reeling off this stuff about how others will inherit what you have done. And his conclusion, it’s vanity, it’s vanity, it’s vanity. What are the three things that he’s concluding about this? One is that we don’t know what they’re going to be like, do we? How many parents think that they can secure… The response of their children when they give them what they have themselves worked for inherited. And as you look at life, that’s not the way it is. So often the kids will do something entirely different. They will be entirely different than their parents. So they have the same kind of what we say genetic possibilities. So they have the same kind of background that might influence their behavior. Many times the children simply do not do what their parents did. Their value system is not the same as the parents, and they don’t want it. And maybe they were the rebellious sin nature of fighting against the authority of their parents. So the parents become the enemy, though the parents are trying to protect the kids. And as a result, one day the children become something other than their parents are. And you tell me this is not a grief to parents? It hurts deep within our hearts, and we wish we could change it. The truth is that because every individual is unique and every single child that is born has its own nature and its own propensity to evil, there is nothing that we can do apart from the grace and power of God to change it. And that is a stark reality that hits many of us as we grow older. You don’t know what people will be like who follow you. And do you know the story of Solomon and who it was that followed him? Rehoboam. Lack of conviction, lack of principles in his life. And the whole kingdom is split and torn up. And Jeroboam, a man who caused Israel to sin and go into idolatry, he takes over. Not even in the messianic line, but he takes over and starts ruling Israel. And thus we have a divided kingdom. Was Rehoboam what Solomon was? Solomon, who also was given the name Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord. Solomon, who was pleasing to God, the Bible says, with the exception of how he pursued these things in his life. Solomon, who at the end of his life saw all of these things and gave his heart back to God alone. Did his children do that? No. What was the history of the kings of Israel? Every one of them were bad. What was the history of the kings of Judah? A father is good and a son is bad. And another son is bad and then a son is good. And it goes on and on like that. That’s one of the griefs that we must bear, and Solomon says it’s vanity. We don’t know what they’ll be like who follow us. And a second problem, which he mentions in verse 20 and 21, is they’ve not labored for what we have done either. They didn’t lay a finger to anything that we have done, and we have left it to them. Others are going to inherit what we have done, but they’ve not done one thing to achieve it. He says that’s vanity. It’s interesting, he adds at verse 21, it’s not only a vanity, it’s a great evil. I think many parents, grandparents, ought to think twice about that statement in Solomon. It’s not only vanity. In the terms of to you and what you have done, now you’re giving it to somebody who hasn’t lifted a finger. You say, well, I’m doing it in love and to give them a good start in life. But Solomon not only says it’s vanity, he says it’s a great evil. Because the truth of the matter, if you give too much, you have now set in the stage of a person not sensing their own accountability to God. They don’t sense their own responsibility to life and the people around them. Instead, they think, hey, it’s a culture of getting rather than of giving myself and of committing myself to life and the responsibilities of it. It’s a great evil, he says. And a third problem related to this is that our struggles and sorrows that we’ve done in our life make no difference whatsoever to this fact that someone else whether it’s a child of yours or someone else in life, is going to eventually get all that you have done. No matter how much you struggle, you say, I worked hard for that. And Solomon says, big deal. Vanity. Because someone else will get it after you’re gone. And you look at this and you’re saying, this is a positive message? Hey, sometimes we need to face the negative because we don’t understand the positive without the negative.

SPEAKER 01 : 19:17

This Bible teacher and author, David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back to close out our study time in just a moment, so do stay right there. First, David’s son, Matt’s here, and we’re going to tell you about this month’s powerful study resource. Matt?

SPEAKER 02 : 19:34

Jim, this note from the forward of my dad’s book, Is Life Worth Living?, Really captures the sad condition of our world today. It states contemporary culture has lost its way. We have rejected or at least neglected the moral and spiritual values of the Bible. And in our secularism, we have replaced God with ourselves and seem to believe that something is right or wrong, depending on how the majority of people feel about it. Well, nothing could be further from the truth, and following this path does not bring us into fulfillment or a sense of well-being in the end.

SPEAKER 01 : 20:06

Solomon discovered this in stark and vivid terms, Matt. Yeah. He was surrounded with wealth, pleasures, and power, and it all led to his powerful conclusion, life without God on the throne of your heart is sheer vagueness.

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You know, and in today’s world, mankind’s pursuits leading to vanity are viral everywhere we look.

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So, Matt, how do we avoid that vanity? How do we stay strong, committed, faithful, and enthusiastic in our walk with God?

SPEAKER 02 : 20:33

Well, Solomon has Holy Spirit-inspired insights for us in Ecclesiastes. That’s why we’re studying through Ecclesiastes right now and why we’re offering you a special power package this month.

SPEAKER 01 : 20:43

The Is Life Worth Living Pack and it features David’s book study of Ecclesiastes titled Is Life Worth Living? Plus every audio message in our current radio series. The complete package, just $40.

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The Is Life Worth Living Pack will bless and strengthen you.

SPEAKER 01 : 20:59

And please do know that your purchase will also help the ministry of hope for today. And as always, please continue praying for hope for today. Yes, amen. Start with that. Oh, and remember that David’s study notes for this series are also available for download. That’s just $10. And these are David’s original study notes, his sermon notes for each message in the Ecclesiastes series. They’re perfect for following along as David teaches. And the complete pack, just $10. And you can order a print version by calling us or download them by going onto our website. www.davidhawking.org. That’s davidhawking.org. And the phone number here again, 875-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S., 875-24253. Or in Canada, 888-75-BIBLE, 888-75-24253. We highly recommend picking up these resources so that you’re able to grasp the material in Ecclesiastes from every angle. And as we sweep into the new year, we need your help to make sure that we’ve got the grease in the wheels, you might say, needed to go full steam ahead with this broadcast ministry. Listening friends, contact us and tell us that God is working in their lives through this radio program. And that’s because faithful listeners like you have stepped up with God’s help to give generously what’s needed for Hope for Today to remain on the air and online. You can donate at DavidHawking.org. That’s our website, DavidHawking.org. By calling us at 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. In Canada, call 888-75-BIBLE. Bible by the numbers 24253. Or if you prefer to write us and send a donation by mail, in the U.S., write to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. And thanks for anything you can send our way. And here’s David.

SPEAKER 03 : 23:17

Well, we’re continuing our study in Ecclesiastes, and we’re in Chapter 2. The whole theme of our series is the question, is life worth living? That’s answered in this book. Some say no, because it just winds up being nothing but soap bubbles and emptiness and a one-way street going nowhere. Well, that kind of depression, though it’s implied as a possibility, Solomon certainly ran into that, but he learned from the Lord what was really important in life, and that’s why we need to carefully study the book. And at the end of every section in the book, there’s a little paragraph of application that And a lot of people have a difference of opinion over that. I personally believe that Solomon is telling us what is the truth and what does make life worth living. And I hope that you will see that as well, especially as it relates to your job and all that you’re accumulating in your life. There are problems to face. Solomon mentions them. And we know that our pursuits don’t bring satisfaction, even if we excel in them all. A lot of people think, if I really am successful, then I’ll be happy. But a lot of people are not. If you explore everything possible for you, it doesn’t necessarily bring satisfaction in our hearts. And a lot of the problem is we don’t enjoy it. And that’s why in Ecclesiastes we’ll make note of the fact of how often in the little conclusions, these applications that are made, it mentions the word enjoy. Enjoy the good of your labor. It’s the hand of God that’s behind it. That’s what Solomon came to conclude about occupation, the accumulation of things. Our Lord Yeshua said a man’s life does not consist of the abundance of the things that he has. Well, we got more coming. If you miss any of this… Go to davidhocking.org on the web and you can listen to the broadcast and pick up something you might have missed.

SPEAKER 01 : 25:36

And you will be blessed. Well, thank you, David. Now, if you’ve got a friend or loved one who doesn’t know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, make sure to invite them to listen along with you to this daily broadcast on the radio and online at DavidHawking.org. Listen to gospel, just too good to keep to ourselves. Amen. There’s nothing more important in this life than sharing the love of Jesus with people in our lives. So tell someone about this broadcast today. Well, next time, David wraps up his message called Living for Your Job out of Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Don’t miss it right here on Hope for Today.