Introduction: A life, without God, is an empty life. This is true for Christians who choose to live outside the will of God. Solomon was a man chosen by God to be king over His people, yet his life was "...vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."
Have you ever met a Christian with this attitude toward life? I have met plenty of them. What is the problem? How can a good Christian think this way? Solomon is showing us that a life, out of tune with God, is a life out of touch with hope.
As we approach Ecclesiastes 5, we find Solomon's personal observations of humankind. He sees the depravity of man. When you take a long look at man and his condition, it can be a distressing thing. You have heard it said:
Look to self and be depressed,
Look to others and be distressed,
Look to Jesus and be blessed!
Solomon observes a number of things about humanity:
1. Human words.
- Be cautious about making a vow; "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words." (Ecclesiastes 5:1-3)
* Commitment these days is nearly a thing of the past. There is a lack of commitment in many areas: marriage, job, church, tithing, children, faithfulness, etc.
* Men, who have lost their commitment to God, are rarely committed to anything else. This is one of the reasons Solomon's life was so filled with emptiness. He found no reason to commit to anything.- Be committed in keeping a vow; "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God." (Ecclesiastes 5:4-7)
* Though Solomon encourages his family and friends to keep vows they have made to God, he, at the same time, discourages them from ever making a vow. He is right when he says, "...Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay..."
2. Human wickedness.
- Our injustice, "If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they. Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field." (Ecclesiastes 5:8,9)
* Injustice is not limited to a certain class of people. Solomon sees injustice from the poor of the land to the king of the land.
- Our greed, "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep." (Ecclesiastes 5:10-12)
* Solomon is saying, the more you get, the more you want. The receiving of goods never satisfies the greedy heart.
3. Human wretchedness.
- Our birth; "As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand." (Ecclesiastes 5:15)
* We come into this world with nothing.
- Our life; "There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand." (Ecclesiastes 5:13,14)
* It is possible, yea, probable, to be reduced to nothing in this life.
- Our death; "And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?" (Ecclesiastes 5:16)
* We leave this world with nothing.
4. Human wisdom. - Ecclesiastes 5:18-20
"Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God. For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart."
- Solomon now gives a solid instruction to those in his audience. He teaches them that, no matter how dismal things look, there can be a blessing.
- Notice that he calls working and having your needs provided the "gifts of God."
This brings us to another question that must be answered Biblically. Does Ecclesiastes, in any way, teach the philosophy "eat, drink, and be merry"? One might think so if he were to only read the passages in Ecclesiastes addressing this. Each passage concerning enjoyment is balanced with a passage concerning death. For example:
- Ecclesiastes 2:12-23 with Ecclesiastes 2:24-26
* "And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done. Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool. Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity. Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity."
* "There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I? For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit."- Ecclesiastes 3:16-21 with Ecclesiastes 3:12-15,22
* "And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?"
* "I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past...Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?"- Ecclesiastes 6:1-7 with Ecclesiastes 5:18-20
* "There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other. Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place? All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled."
* "Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God. For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart."- Ecclesiastes 9:1-4 with Ecclesiastes 8:15-17
* "For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion."
* "Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun. When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it."
Solomon, even though he teaches what life was like when he was away from the Lord, still balances his bad philosophy then with what God would someday do. If one chooses to eat, drink, and be merry now, he still has to face God in judgment someday. Solomon is also teaching that, in light of the shortness of life and certainty of death, one should enjoy God's blessings and the fruits of his labors today. The Apostle Paul said to Timothy, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." (1 Timothy 6:17) Solomon is not advising reckless pleasure and drunkenness, rather he is counseling his audience to appreciate God's gifts while they can.
Conclusion: What great wisdom Solomon offers to his listeners! "The preacher" warns his family and friends of the hopelessness of life when one chooses to live beyond the will of God. Can you imagine viewing life from this situation? Previously, we learned that Solomon believed it was best to have never been born. In this chapter, he says when you are born, you are born with nothing; and when you live, you can lose it all; and that when you die, you have nothing still.
Christians should not live this way. What Solomon says is true, and you will not be able to take anything with you when you die. This is why it is best to send it on ahead. Notice the words of Jesus in Mark 9:41, "For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward." Then, in Matthew 10:42, Jesus said, "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward."
Rather than investing in this life only, learn the importance of sending your investment ahead of you. God will keep it safe in Heaven's bank.