Consider Two Opposite Goals in Life!

8th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/31/22 Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, 12-14; 2:18-26 Consider Two Opposite Goals in Life! I. Living to enjoy everything this world offers II. Living to please your God We all have them. We all have what? Goals in life. Whether you formed those goals intentionally or not, you have them. For instance, your goal as a business person is to be successful, or you won’t be in business very long. Perhaps one of your personal goals is to be thoughtful and honest with every person you meet. Perhaps you’re a parent and your goal is to be the best parent possible, bringing up your children in the training and instruction of the Lord. At some point in your life, perhaps your goal was to be the best student, the best musician, or the best athlete you could be. A common goal among human beings is to enjoy life as much as possible. But just what does that mean? Well, some people who claim that as their goal announce it on a bumper sticker on the back of the vehicle they’re driving: “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” Or, “I know I can’t have it all, but I’m going to die trying.” When I read such goals or hear others state them verbally, I often wonder how things will turn out for them—at least during their lives here on earth. Will they succeed in amassing an abundance and will they actually enjoy it? The writer of these words from Ecclesiastes before us this morning tried. Although he never names himself, the opening words of this book certainly give us a strong indication that the author is King Solomon. And what we know of his life from the books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles certainly supports that assumption. In these verses of our text the writer speaks about his wisdom and his wealth. Solomon was widely known for both. He was one of the wisest men in the world at the time and he was arguably the wealthiest person ever to live. The Bible states that his yearly income was 25 tons of gold. The price of gold today is about $1,500 an ounce. I’ll let you do the math. He was filthy rich. And I’ll speak later about the women in his life. From a worldly standpoint, Solomon had it all.I’m assuming he wrote these words near the end of his life. It’s possible that by this time the following had already happened in his life, “The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command” (1 Kings 11:9-10). The Lord informed Solomon that he was going to divide the Jews into two kingdoms. Israel’s glory days were over. And Solomon’s conclusion about all that he had enjoyed in life was, “Meaningless! Meaningless!” Solomon’s assessment of his life helps us as we live ours. His words to us this morning urge us to consider two opposite goals in life. Let’s see what they are and ask our God to assist us in attaining goals that please him. I. I just mentioned Solomon’s wealth. Imagine having more money than you could possibly spend. Imagine having to work at spending your money because you have so much of it. Imagine growing weary of spending your money because you have so much to spend. Pretty hard to imagine, isn’t it? But wouldn’t you like to have that problem? You have the money to buy everything this world offers. That was Solomon’s life. But he didn’t waste his wealth like a fool. By the world’s standards he used it responsibly. In some of the verses between the portions that form our text, Solomon states that he was allowing his spending to be guided by his tremendous wisdom. That wisdom led him to undertake great building projects. He refers to the houses that he built. We know from the Bible that he not only built a magnificent Temple for the Lord, but he also built even more lavish palaces for himself and his queens. Along with that, he used his wisdom in the areas of plant and animal biology to build fabulous parks in which he and others could not only enjoy God’s creation but increase their knowledge of it. Solomon also used his wealth to support the arts. He refers to the men and women singers that he supported. I’m sure he and countless others enjoyed the music that Solomon made possible. But the spending of his wealth and his search for this world’s pleasures had a darker side, a much darker side. He admits, “I tried cheering myself with wine” (Eccl. 2:3). And then there were the women in his life. Solomon had 300 wives and had 600 more women in his harem. His search for pleasures using his “wisdom” had turned into ruinous folly. What was he thinking? Obviously, he wasn’t. He was being dragged through the muck of gross adultery by his sinful nature. And these women led him into the idolatry that we mentioned earlier. And so, as he knows he will soon hang up his crown, this is his assessment of his life’s goal to enjoy everything this world offers, “I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.” Solomon’s goal in life was living to enjoy everything this world offers. And he accomplished it! But it was meaningless. He found no lasting joy or satisfaction in any of it. There you have it. The real-life example of a man who had the means to enjoy everything this life has to offer, and he went for it all. By his own admission, however, it brought him pain, not joy. And his pain is our gain. Here it is for us: a real-life test case to live in unimaginable opulence. He attained his life’s goal, but it was meaningless. Lesson learned, right? If only that were the case. Inside all of us is a yearning to have the means that Solomon had and try to find our joy in what this life offers. But maybe not to the extremes that Solomon went. If fact, we’d try to be even more charitable than Solomon was. We just need a little more of what this world offers, and then we’ll be happy. But it doesn’t work, not when the Lord is subtracted from our life’s happiness equation. Just ask Solomon. II. So, what does work? Listen to Solomon’s advice, “A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” He speaks about two different kinds of people—the sinner and the one who pleases God. That might be confusing, so let’s make sure we know what he’s saying. We’re all sinners, every last human being. But when Solomon uses that term here in our text, he’s referring to sinful people who do not trust in the Lord for their forgiveness. Thus, they are still living under the curse of sin. And when he refers to people who please God, he’s not implying that somehow we can make ourselves pleasing to God by doing things that God is pleased with. The Bible declares, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). Our God makes us pleasing to him by working faith in us. Because we believe that Jesus is our Savior, God is pleased with us. Solomon makes the point that life without a relationship with the only true God is meaningless. If you have amassed all sorts of possessions and have enjoyed life here on earth to the hilt, but your life ends without faith in Jesus, you end up with nothing—nothing but eternal pain and loss. But if you carry out your daily lives with trust in Christ as your Savior from sin, you really have it all no matter how little that may be here on earth. But the reality is that God blesses us here on earth usually with an abundance. Let’s admit it—we have far more than we need, not to the extent that Solomon did, but an abundance, nonetheless. Enjoy those blessings, but not as an end in itself. Instead, live to please God with your life. In fact, your life is pleasing to God at this very moment because you are living with trust in Jesus as your Savior from sin. Make that your highest goal in life! As Solomon looked back on his life, he had his regrets, probably a ton of them. He had wasted most of his life trying to find his enjoyment in the things of this world instead of in his relationship with his Lord. I know those regrets. I’m sure you do as well. Too often we make our pursuit of happiness in this life our highest priority, meaning that our relationship with our Lord gets pushed down, or even buried. That’s something your Savior never did. He always used the blessings in this life to his Father’s glory. His relationship with his Father was always his highest goal. He made you his priority each day of his life as he lived each day in holiness in your place. He showed that his Father and you were his priority when he willingly went to the cross for you. Keep your Savior front and center in your life. Live to please your God. May the Lord empower you for godly living as you use the blessings he bestows on you to his glory! Amen.