Latest / Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons / Vanity of Vanities, What is Vanity? (Ecclesiastes 1:1-11)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

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Vanity of Vanities, What is Vanity? (Ecclesiastes 1:1-11)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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We take some time now to go to God's Word, and
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we're starting something new today. We're starting
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a sermon series on the Old Testament wisdom book
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of Ecclesiastes. So we're pausing our sermon
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series through some of the miracles of Jesus.
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We'll pick that up in a few Sundays to consider
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the resurrection of Jesus, perhaps the greatest
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miracle that there is. But for now, we go to
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the book of Ecclesiastes. I'm going to introduce
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the book today and go over some themes that are
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in the first half of that chapter. We're looking
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at verses one through 11 of chapter one. You
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may not be as familiar with Ecclesiastes. If
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you're looking for it, keep going past Job, past
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Psalms, past Proverbs. And you'll run into Ecclesiastes.
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If you see Song of Songs, you've gone just a
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little bit too far. But this is an incredible
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book. This is a useful book. This is a book of
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wisdom. And I think it's very applicable for
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our time. So we're going to spend quite a while
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on this. But by way of encouragement today, as
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we look at a book that may not be as familiar
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to you, I want to offer you a quote from a very
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good Bible scholar. named Sidney Gredanus. He
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says this, Ecclesiastes may be the most difficult
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biblical book to interpret and to preach. Sounds
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good. Let's go for it. Ecclesiastes one, one
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through 11. Please follow along and give attention,
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for this is God's word. I read today from the
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English Standard Version, the words of the preacher.
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The son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of
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vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities,
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all is vanity. What does man gain by all the
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toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation
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goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains
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forever. The sun rises and the sun goes down.
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and hastens to the place where it rises. The
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wind blows to the south and goes around to the
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north. Around and around goes the wind, and on
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its circuits the wind returns. All streams flow
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to the sea, but the sea is not full. To the place
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where the streams flow, there they flow again.
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All things are full of weariness. A man cannot
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utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing.
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nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been
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is what will be, and what has been done is what
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will be done, and there is nothing new under
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the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said,
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See, this is new? It has been already in the
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ages before us. There is no remembrance of former
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things, nor will there be any remembrance of
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later things yet to be among those. who come
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after. The grass withers and the flower fades,
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but God's word stands forever. Let us pray. Lord,
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how we thank you for your wisdom and how we thank
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you for your word and how we thank you for Ecclesiastes.
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Lord, I ask that as we study this book that you
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would give us great insight and application here
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and that it would be the ultimate longing of
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our hearts to always live for you. These things
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we ask in Christ's name. Amen. You all probably
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know fairly well or you've heard me or others
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say it quite a bit. Westminster Shorter Catechism
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number one. What is man's chief end? And the
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answer, man's chief end is to glorify God and
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to enjoy him forever. It's an incredible statement
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of purpose. It's an incredible statement of meaning
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for the Christian. Your job, your responsibility
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is to glorify God with everything you've got.
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Why is it then? that we come upon a book of meaning
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like Ecclesiastes and we don't get something
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like the Shorter Catechism. Why is it that when
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we go to Ecclesiastes we have these words that
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somehow don't give us the warm fuzzies inside?
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This is a book of meaning and we want some sort
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of a short pithy memorable statement that we
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can utter, and yet the writer of Ecclesiastes
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does not give this to us. Why? Why doesn't he
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just come right out and say the gospel or something?
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Zach S. Wine says, Ecclesiastes sounds like a
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crazed man downtown. He smells like he hasn't
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bathed. He looks like it too. And as we pass
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by, he won't stop glaring at us and telling us
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our lives are built on illusions and that we
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are going to die. If you know the book of Ecclesiastes,
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you probably agree with that statement. Ecclesiastes
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is a very unique book. Do you remember in high
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school, and some of you are there currently,
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how you'd have superlatives? and you'd have the
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most likely to succeed, you might have the best
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athlete, the best dressed. Ecclesiastes would
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get the most unique, I think, because it is a
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unique book. And indeed, many people agreeing
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with Zach S. Wein's statement here avoid the
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book like the plague. They say this book is pessimistic.
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I don't want to read it. They say, this book
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is fatalistic. Can I give you a better istic?
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Ecclesiastes is realistic. Ecclesiastes is realistic.
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Look at verse two. Vanity of vanities, all is
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vanity. This is one of the mottos of the book,
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the most prevalent motto of this book. The word
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there in the Hebrew, the word for vanity, is
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Hevel. Hevel. One commentator says of this word,
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Ecclesiastes is the only book whose interpretation
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is controlled entirely by the meaning of one
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word. The word Hevel. It's mentioned 78 times
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in the Old Testament, but 38 times it's in this
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book. Hevel? Now, what in the world does it mean?
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Well, I'm reading out of the English Standard
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Version, and many of you are as well. And so
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you've heard the way that this is translated,
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Vanity of Vanities. Anybody remember that song?
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It goes back a ways. You're so vain, you probably
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think this song is about you. That's not really
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what this is talking about. This is not talking
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about the mirror. that maybe you have in your
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house, ladies, and you sit in front of it, and
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you do your hair, and you make up a vanity mirror.
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That's not really what this is about. Years ago,
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when the Latin Vulgate came about, this word,
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hevel, was translated into Latin with this word,
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vanity. I think it's vanitas. It doesn't mean
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that. What are some other translations? Today,
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you might be reading out of the NIV or the NLT.
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And so the word that is used in the NIV, I believe,
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is meaninglessness. Meaninglessness. All is meaninglessness.
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Is that a good translation? Well, I think the
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translators of the NIV would say so, but when
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I look at the book of Ecclesiastes, I see incredible
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meaning, not meaninglessness. I see Meaning.
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What about the NASB and the CSB? They use the
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word futility. Futility of futilities. Kind of
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a similar definition of meaninglessness. Well,
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friends, when you look at words, other words
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for meaninglessness or futility within the Old
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Testament, there are six other words that speak
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in that way. And none of those other words are
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present in the book of Ecclesiastes. And so I
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think something else is going on within this
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book. And so let's take it back to the very literal
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definition of Heve. Very literally, that word
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means breath or vapor or mist. If you will, listen
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to this from Psalm 39 verse 5. Behold, you have
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made my days a few hand breaths, and my lifetime
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is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind
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stands as a mere breath, as a mere hevel. Or,
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for a New Testament equivalent, the book of James,
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chapter four, verse 14. No surprise here. For
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James is wisdom literature of the New Testament.
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It says, yet you do not know what tomorrow will
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bring. What is your life? For you are a mist
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that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
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The word hevel means breath or vapor or mist.
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And what's being communicated is exactly what
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may have happened to you this morning when it
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was cold. Maybe you were outside, maybe you took
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a breath in the cold, and you can see the evidence
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of your breath. But it doesn't stay there in
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front of you, does it? Matter of fact, if you
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tried to grab the breath that you can see, you
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can't, right? It just dissipates even more. Children.
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In the recent snowstorms, did any of you make
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a snowman? Okay, alright, I see some snowmen
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that were built in the back, well done, good
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job. Is your snowman still standing? Of course
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not, it was nearly 70 degrees the other day.
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That's what's being communicated here, is that
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things come and things go, and the only thing
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left of your snowman is maybe a cold carrot on
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the ground. That's what the preacher is communicating
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to us. But he does it in a very special form,
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a superlative form. Vanity of vanities, we can
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see this in the Hebrew, Hevo of Hevalim. It's
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very much like when you read King of Kings and
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Lord of Lords and the Holy of Holies. It is the
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greatest, grandest way of describing something.
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And that's exactly what the preacher does here.
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As if to say vapor of vapors. It's the perplexity
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of perplexities that life comes and it goes whether
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or not we understand it. Professor Benjamin Shaw
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says this, many interpreters misunderstanding
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the significance of vanity think that the message
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of the book, is that life without God is meaningless
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and that only when one turns to God in faith
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does life have any meaning. Thus the book is
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essentially seen as an evangelistic tract trying
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to convince the unbeliever to turn to God so
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that he might find meaning in his life. Solomon
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is leading the reader through a careful and sometimes
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painful examination of life under the sun. He
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wants the reader to see life in all of its complexity,
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its difficulty, its evanescence, its disappointment
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and its frustration. And so rather than meaninglessness,
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this is a book about meaning. The preacher observed
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life under the sun to see how everything is marred
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by sin. Everything is marred by frustration.
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Everything is marred by the endless cycle of
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the mundane. Everything is marred by injustice.
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These are his observations. And they may also
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be yours. As you read through Ecclesiastes, you
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might say, hey, I've thought that too. Hey, I
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see that too. But at the same time, this may
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not be the most delightful journey. Very few
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verses of Ecclesiastes outside of chapter three
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make their way onto a greeting card. But friends,
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if you like honesty, if you like it when someone
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just tells it like it is, you will like Ecclesiastes
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and you will learn to be honest with yourself
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and you will learn to be honest with others and
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you will learn to be honest with God and crying
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out to him and saying, God, I need you. I need
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your help. in all of the challenges of life.
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For the longest time, Ecclesiastes has been my
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favorite biblical book. I don't know if we're
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supposed to have favorite books of the Bible,
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but I do. And yet for the longest time, I couldn't
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figure out why do I love this book so much? Why
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do I love to study it and why do I love to memorize
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it? And friends, I think the answer to that is
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that shortly after becoming a believer, I encountered
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Ecclesiastes. And when you become a new believer,
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suddenly you have to reconcile why are things
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the way they are? And why am I the way that I
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am? And why are you the way that you are? Why?
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Because of sin. Sin has thrown a ginormous monkey
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wrench into the perfection of God's creation.
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And we are living in the aftermath. We are living
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in the aftermath of the fall. I was reading a
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comic strip this week. Anybody remember that
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comic strip called BC? I like that one. And in
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this strip, there's two men who are talking.
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And the first one says to the second, how powerful
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is this so -called creator of yours?" And the
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second one answers, he could trash the whole
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planet just like that. But there's a third person
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listening in who says, I don't think we need
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to be too worried about that. We're doing a fine
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job of it ourselves. You see, what the preacher
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is doing is he's observing the fallout from sin.
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And he sees a world that is fleeting. He sees
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a world that is passing away. And the writer
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of Ecclesiastes wants us to see the good and
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the bad and the ugly of it all. He gives us a
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candid photograph without a filter and without
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any edits. He shows us a portrait of life with
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warts and all. You might say, well, it's such
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a glowing review of the book. Who wants to read
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this? Who wants to read about these things other
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than maybe me? One commentator says, Ecclesiastes
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is the only book of the Bible written on a Monday.
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There's something to that. Ecclesiastes is a
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book written in a minor chord. And so who does
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want to read this? And who wrote this? And why
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does the Holy Spirit inspire such words? And
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what does any of this have to do with Christ?
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Let's talk about authorship for just a minute.
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If you look in verse one, you see the words of
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the preacher. This starts off written in the
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third person before it switches to the first
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person in verse 12. This has led many to believe
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there may be a narrator involved in this book.
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I don't know if that's for sure or not, but even
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if there is a narrator, he is communicating in
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chapter one, one through 11. the words of the
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preacher. And so it's really all of the words
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of this preacher. You might say, well, who is
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this preacher? Does he have a name? Well, knowing
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that he is full of wisdom and knowing that he's
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the son of David and knowing that he's the king
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in Jerusalem, this leads many to believe, and
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I believe rightly so, this is probably Solomon.
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He's the one who fits this description. And as
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we get into chapter two, we'll see even more
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of that. So I do believe this to be Solomon.
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I also find it very telling the way that this
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begins that he is the king in Jerusalem. And
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yet what comes first in verse one? The preacher.
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He announces that he is the preacher or the teacher
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or quite literally the assembler before he ever
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says that he's king. This is how much he values
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what he is going to tell you, what he's going
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to tell us. And this Solomon invites us to observe
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life with him. I will call him Solomon. I will
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call him preacher. I will call him teacher. And
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I will call him by the literal title, Kohelet.
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Just know that any of those titles or names,
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I'm referring to the same person I believe to
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be. Solomon. And so Solomon invites us on this
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tour of life with him. Last week I went on vacation
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with my family and we were at a beautiful spot,
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Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean. It was wonderful.
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One of the things that we did while we were there
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is to get on a boat. And it was a very unique
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boat. It was like, think of a hybrid between
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Gilligan's boat and a submarine. And so beneath
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the submarine portion, obviously sitting below
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the water, but what made it great were all the
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windows around. So as you're traveling through
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the water, you are gliding past schools of fish.
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You are gliding over coral reefs. You are gliding
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past sea turtles to the delight of my family.
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Think about Ecclesiastes a little bit like that.
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not with the sea turtles and not with all the
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joy of it all, in that we get to travel with
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Kohelet to see his observations about life. And
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I want to share with you three observations in
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chapter one, very briefly, that we'll see throughout
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the rest of this book. And so these are three
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themes, work, death, and creation. Let's look
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at work first. Look at verse three. What does
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man gain by all the toil at which he toils under
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the sun? When he uses the word toil here, this
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is expressing hard work. This is expressing the
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misery of work. Sometimes we work and we labor
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so much and we strive and we sweat and we get
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to the end of the day and we say, for what? Also,
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we can do it again tomorrow. There is oftentimes
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repetition in our And so he asked this question,
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what's the gain? What do I gain out of all of
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this toil? And the implied answer is nothing,
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because he's looking back at life. Many believe
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this is Solomon at the end of his life looking
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back at all he did and wondering, was it all
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worth it? I remember feeling like this in the
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very first job that I got after college. Many
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of you know that I was a newspaper reporter for
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several years before going into ministry, and
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my first job as the youngest reporter on staff,
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I can assure you I did not get the best stories.
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When I got the job, I knew I had to dress the
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part, so I went to Belk and I bought four brand
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new shirts and four brand new ties, and I wore
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those shirts. out every single day going into
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the newsroom. The only way I knew what day of
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the week it was was on Friday when they let me
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wear jeans. Perhaps you feel like that, don't
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you? Sometimes with your work, the repetition
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of it all. I remember looking at my minuscule
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paycheck and looking at all the work that I was
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doing and how hard I was working and thinking,
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this is what the next 40 years of my life look
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like. Again, perhaps you have felt like that.
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Perhaps you have felt like you're on a bicycle
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and you are pedaling as hard as you possibly
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can and you've gone for many, many miles until
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you realize it's a stationary bike and you've
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gone nowhere. That's how Kohel feels here. He
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feels like what is the gain of all of these things,
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but it's not because his work is unsatisfying.
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We're unfulfilling. It's not just because Solomon's
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the lowest like I was in the newsroom. No, he's
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the king of Israel. Look at verse four and you
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can see why he feels this way. A generation goes
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and a generation comes, but the earth remains
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forever. The reason he feels this way is because
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death is coming. This is our second theme of
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death. And perhaps you feel the most like Kohelet.
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Whenever you experience a loss, a family member
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dies, a friend passes away, maybe with each high
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school reunion that you go to, the numbers are
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dwindling, and you feel like this. And yet, as
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those numbers dwindle, the earth continues to
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spin, doesn't it? It's said oftentimes as a means
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of comfort, the sun will come up. But with Kohelet,
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it's kind of the opposite. He acknowledges that
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one day the sun will come up, but I will not.
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That's why I've called this sermon series Life
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Under a Setting Sun. And yet, even under the
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setting sun, there is a meaning there. Socrates
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famously said, the unexamined life is not worth
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living. And that's what Solomon is doing. He's
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examining life. And as he does so, he recognizes
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the brevity of it all. Look in verse 11. He says,
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there is no remembrance of former things, nor
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will there be any remembrance of later things,
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yet to be among those who come after. Some translations
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don't say the word things. Some translations
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say the word. people there, that there will be
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people who are just not remembered. A friend
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said to me once that she thinks a lot about who
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will be at my funeral when I die. What she was
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really getting at is what kind of impact will
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I make on others who are around me. The preacher,
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though, takes it a step further. as if to say,
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they may show up for your funeral, but they won't
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always remember you. Friends, what a sobering
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and sad and traumatic thought. And yet, even
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as generations come and as generations go, look
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in verses five through seven, the world just
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keeps turning. Kohelet I believe here is reflecting
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on the creation account. He's looking back to
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Genesis and he sees the natural order of all
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things and he sees it all happening and he says,
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what is accomplished? Don't we feel like that?
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Every new year that comes about, maybe every
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birthday and all of the running around that we
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do that we think is so important and yet at the
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end of the day, The end of the week, the end
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of the month, the end of the year, we ask, why
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do I do all of these things? What is the most
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important thing in my life? You can see here
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he talks about satisfaction in verse eight. All
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things are full of weariness. A man cannot utter
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it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor
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the ear filled with hearing. What a heavy statement
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to make, that all things are full of weariness.
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You can almost visualize the preacher crying
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out, is there anything else out there for me?
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He says, there's nothing new under the sun. Everything
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is mundane. Everyone will die. Again, why does
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the Holy Spirit breathe out such words? And what
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does any of this have to do with Christ? Friends,
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this is what I really want you to hear. This
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is the fleeting world that Jesus came to save
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This is the fleeting world that Jesus came to
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save to make all things new Jesus came to redeem
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this world and make a place for us without the
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heavens Jesus makes a place of permanence without
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death without the toil of work Maybe just the
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joy of work for you remember what happened When
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Adam and Eve, when the whole thing fell in, right?
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That God placed a curse on labor. In Christ,
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that will be lifted. And so the Holy Spirit breathes
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out these words for you. He breathes out relatable
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words. Solomon thinks the thoughts that we think.
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Solomon says the words that we say, or maybe
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he says the words that we're too scared to say.
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He shows how fallen the world is. But our purpose
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with this book isn't just to observe. No, our
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purpose with this book is to long for more. Our
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purpose with this book is to long for Christ
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who makes all things new. And so when you lose
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that loved one, when your work feels cursed,
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when the sun comes up but you don't feel like
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getting up yourself, look. To the truest preacher,
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the truest teacher, the truest assembler. For
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you remember what sin has done. It has made a
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mess of the world. But Christ comes to make all
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things new. Jesus went through the heavens. to
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satisfy divine justice. Jesus entered into our
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world, the mundane, the toil, the injustice,
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the sorrow, and he went through it all to the
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cross to ensure that you will be remembered.
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You will not be forgotten. You who are in Christ
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are in the Lamb's book of life. This book has
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us longing for something greater than the Heav
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'l of this life. As I mentioned, this has something
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to do with creation. Yes, we may look back at
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creation, but really what this book will do is
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have us looking ahead, looking ahead to the new
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creation, not to the old Eden, but to a renewed
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Eden. And so Christian, take heart that even
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in the midst of the Hevel, Christ really is making
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all things new. And in the meantime, There is
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Ecclesiastes to help us know how to live under
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a setting sun. Let us pray.