Latest / Reformed Thinking / Good Gifts Make Bad Gods: Navigating the Vapor (Ecclesiastes 2:1-26)

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Good Gifts Make Bad Gods: Navigating the Vapor (Ecclesiastes 2:1-26) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reform thinking picture.
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Picture a guy who just won the largest lottery jackpot in human
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history. OK, now imagine that same guy
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also happens to be the chief executive officer of like the
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largest, most successful technology conglomerate on
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earth. He dictates global markets
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before he even finishes his morning coffee, right?
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He has it all. He.
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Has everything. And to top it all off, he
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possesses the intellect of a Nobel laureate.
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When you see someone holding all those cards, unlimited financial
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resources, absolute structural control over his environment and
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this brilliant analytical mind, there is an automatic, almost
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subconscious assumption you make.
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You think he beat the system? Precisely.
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You look at his life and assume he solved the puzzle of human
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happiness. You think to yourself, well, if
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I had his bank account, his freedom and his brain, my
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anxieties would just vanish. I would be completely at peace.
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I mean, that is the standard mathematical equation of the
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human heart. That is, we think endless
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resources plus vast intellect equals guaranteed joy.
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We believe that sadness or anxiety or a lack of fulfillment
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is just a resource allocation roblem.
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Like if you just had more money, or a better house, a more
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prestigious career, or, you know, a more curated social
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circle, the math would finally workout.
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You would balance the Ledger of your life and achieve total
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satisfaction. Today we are putting that
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specific mathematical equation to the test.
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This is a special deep dive into the biblical book of
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Ecclesiastes. Looking specifically at chapter
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2, verses one through 26, we are examining 2 rigorous theological
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analysis that center on a single fascinating theme.
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Good gifts make bad gods. We have the historical record of
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a man who ran a calculated, incredibly expensive experiment
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on wealth, success and the pursuit of happiness.
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And the results are they're completely devastating.
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They really are. We are bringing together sources
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that examine how to find true, lasting joy in a world that
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feels frustratingly temporary. The mission for you today is
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highly specific. You are going to learn how to
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find actual resting joy in a fleeting life without taking the
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good things you possess and turning them into idols that
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will eventually crush you. 3000 years ago, the wisest man in
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history ran a massive experiment to find out if unlimited money
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and pleasure actually cure human anxiety, and his findings
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shatter everything our modern culture dictates about the good
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life. Well, the author of this text is
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King Solomon, and before we look at his experiment, we really
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have to establish his credentials and his historical
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setting because his environment is what makes the experiment
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valid. Yeah, setting the stage is
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crucial, right? As a point of historical
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accuracy, the sources we are looking at reject the critical
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scholarship that tries to claim this book was written by an
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anonymous post exilic editor. Like someone writing much later.
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Yeah, by post exilic scholars mean someone writing centuries
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later, after the nation of Israel returned from their exile
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in Babylon, who just used Solomon's name as a literary
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device. But the internal evidence
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completely refutes that idea. The specific autobiographical
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details regarding unparalleled wealth, massive architectural
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projects, and unmatched wisdom. They point directly and
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exclusively to King Solomon in the 10th century BC.
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And his historical setting is the crucial variable here.
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Yes, this is the absolute zenith of the Israelite theocracy.
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Following the military victories of his father, King David
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Solomon stepped into a reign of completely unprecedented peace,
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geographical expansion and economic dominance.
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The sources paint an unbelievable picture of this
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era. I mean, we are not talking about
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a moderately successful ancient king living in a slightly larger
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tent than his neighbors. No, not at all.
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The historical records in the Book of First King state that
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during Solomon's reign, silver was as common as stones in the
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streets of Jerusalem. Think about that visual for a
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second. Silver was treated like gravel.
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It is hard to even conceptualize that kind of wealth.
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It is cedar wood, which was a premium.
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Imported building material from Lebanon was as plentiful as the
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common Sycamore fig trees growing in the local foothills,
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and the Queen of Sheba, who was a spectacularly wealthy monarch
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in her own right, traveled from the ends of the earth to see
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this Kingdom. And she was left completely
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speechless. Totally breathless, she was
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accustomed to luxury. Yet, the text says the sheer
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magnitude of his culinary achievements, the architecture
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of his palace, his wisdom, it overwhelmed her.
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She admitted that not even half of his greatness had been
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reported to her. If that level of physical
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prosperity requires a careful theological distinction, under
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the Old Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant given at Mount Sinai,
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God promised the nation of Israel literal, physical and
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material blessings in the land as a sign of covenantal
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faithfulness. You see this laid out in
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Deuteronomy chapter 28. Spot on.
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If the king obeyed, the crops would yield massive harvests,
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the enemies would be defeated, and the treasury would overflow.
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Solomon experienced those physical blessings to the
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absolute maximum degree. He maxed out the Old Covenant
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promises of earthly prosperity. Which is very different from the
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new covenant. Yes, this is distinct from the
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New Covenant where the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians chapter
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one that the church receives spiritual blessings in the
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heavenly places in Christ. But Solomon's era had a very
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dark theological underbelly. Right, it wasn't all just golden
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age perfection. Far from it.
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Despite all his God-given wisdom, Solomon apostatized in
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his later years. He directly violated the strict
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covenantal commands laid out for kings.
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In Deuteronomy chapter 17, Moses explicitly wrote that a king
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must not multiply horses, multiply wives, or multiply
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silver and gold for himself. And Solomon broke all three
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rules on a colossal scale. He did.
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He accumulated massive numbers of horses from Egypt, he hoarded
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exorbitant wealth, and he married 700 foreign wives.
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Those foreign wives turned his heart after other gods, leading
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him into terrible idolatry. OK, so let me stop you there
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because a natural objection comes up.
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Why shouldn't I just look at this account and think this guy
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is just a cynical billionaire who doesn't know how to be
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happy? Right.
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Like a rich celebrity complaining.
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Yeah. Exactly.
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I mean, if a billionaire gets on television today and tells you
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money doesn't buy happiness, you roll your eyes.
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You think, well, you just don't know how to spend it right.
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Give me a fraction of your wealth and I will show you how
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to be happy. Why should you and I trust
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Solomon's assessment of life? That is a highly natural
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objection, but it misunderstands the nature of the text.
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Ecclesiastes is not the diary of a thoughtless hedonist to party
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too hard and woke up with a hangover of cynicism.
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Nor is it the writing of an ascetic monk who hated the
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physical world from the start and wanted everyone to live in
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poverty. This is the inspired
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retrospective journal of a repentant king at the end of his
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life. He is surveying the wreckage of
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his own idolatry. So he's analyzing it with
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complete clarity. Yes, he had the intellect to
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observe what he was doing while he was doing it.
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He functioned almost like a new Adam back to the Garden of Eden.
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Adam was placed in a paradise to rule and subdue it.
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Solomon tried to use his massive wealth and political stability
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to recreate the Garden of Eden through architectural and
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agricultural dominion. He had the resources to run a
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flawless test. If the peak fulfillment of
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earthly blessing under a literal theocratic government could not
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satisfy the human soul, then modern man is an absolute fool
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to try and replicate his experiment.
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Solomon is effectively saying do not waste your life chasing what
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I already caught. I'm handing you the lab results.
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There is nothing there. Wow.
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And since he had the resources to run this flawless test, we
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have to look at the specific things he tested.
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He starts with the very things our modern culture worships on a
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daily basis. Pleasure and materialism.
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Yeah, verses one through 11 it breaks it down.
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Right, in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, he outlines this rigorous
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experiment. And he didn't just dabble in a
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few weekend hobbies. He states that he applied his
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heart to test laughter. He tested wine.
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He built magnificent architectural wonders.
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We're talking palaces, sprawling vineyards.
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Massive irrigation pools to water his private forests.
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He achieved total cultural supremacy.
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He acquired elite male and female singers.
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He gathered massive amounts of gold, silver and livestock.
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He acquired everything a human being could possibly conceive of
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desiring. Well, to understand his
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conclusion, you have to look at the specific Hebrew terminology
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that controls the entire text. OK, unpack that for us.
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The controlling word of the book of Ecclesiastes is the Hebrew
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word hebel. Older English translations often
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render this word as vanity or meaninglessness.
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But those words carry too much modern philosophical baggage.
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They make it sound like nihilism.
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Right, like nothing matters at all.
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Yeah, but the literal translation of Hebel is breath
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or vapor. It describes something that is
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transient, elusive, and ungraspable.
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Picture stepping outside on a freezing winter morning and
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exhaling. You see your breath for a split
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second, a white cloud in the air, and then it completely
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vanishes. You can't hold onto it.
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No, you cannot hold it in your hands.
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You cannot lock it in a safe. You could not build a foundation
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on it. That is heble.
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Like trying to catch fog with your bare hands.
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You think you have a firm grip on it, but when you open your
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fingers there is literally nothing there.
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Precisely. And when Solomon evaluates his
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grand experiment and pleasure in building, he uses a very
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specific accounting term, yethron.
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It means advantage or net gain. So he is looking at the Ledger
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of his life. He is.
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He sees all the massive expenditures of energy, the gold
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spent, the countless hours labored by his workers, the
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political capital utilize, and he asks what is the Yuthron?
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What is the actual net gain of all this effort?
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And his devastating verdict is that the net gain is 0.
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Zero. He calls the entire enterprise
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Rau Ruash, which translates to a striving after wind or feeding
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on wind. You can chase the rent all day,
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you can run until your lungs burn, but you will go to bed
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starving. You know, the grammar he uses
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really highlights the mindset of someone trying to build their
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own personal utopia. It sounds like someone
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desperately trying to play the role of the creator.
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The Hebrew syntax in these verses is highly revealing.
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In verse one, when he says I said in my heart, he uses the
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emphatic independent personal pronoun Annie right next to the
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first person verb. What does that signify?
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It translates to I even I myself.
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This is the supreme rationalist taking total autonomous control
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of his destiny. He is the master of his faith,
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the captain of his soul. And as you read through verses 4
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through 8, you are hit with a barrage of specific Hebrew verb
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forms known as call perfects. Call perfects.
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Right. In Biblical Hebrew, a call
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perfect verb describes a completed, undeniable action.
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It is not I tried to build where I was hoping to plant.
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It is an authoritative declaration.
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I built, I planted, I made, I bought, I gathered.
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No, I see. It is the grammatical equivalent
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of pounding his first on the table.
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To declare his total dominance over his environment is
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relentless humanism. And right alongside those
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authoritative verbs is the glaring repetition of the
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prepositional phrase for myself. Exactly.
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I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards for myself.
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This is the posture of a totally autonomous human heart turned
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completely inward, trying to construct a universe where it
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functions as the deity. He sought joy, but because he
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sought it entirely apart from God, it turned to ash in his
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mouth. It always does.
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But let me play devil's advocate here.
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If I look back at the book of Genesis, God creates the
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physical world and calls it good.
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He looks at his creation and calls it very good.
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Yes, he does. God created the grapes that make
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the wine. God created the capacity for
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human laughter. God gave humans the ingenuity to
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design incredible architecture and compose brilliant music.
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Are we bordering on a worldview that hates the physical world?
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If God made all these things, why is Solomon looking at wine,
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architecture, and music and calling it all a striving after
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wind? Are we supposed to feel guilty
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for enjoying a prime steak, taking a nice vacation, or
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buying a comfortable house? That distinction is the hinge
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upon which this entire theology swings.
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The text absolutely does not teach that the physical creation
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is evil. Gnosticism teaches that the
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physical world is evil and the spiritual world is good, but
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biblical Christianity vehemently rejects that.
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OK, good. The title of the analysis we're
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examining phrases it perfectly Good gifts make bad gods.
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The problem is never the gift itself.
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The problem is the human tendency toward idolatry.
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The text teaches that when you take a genuinely good gift from
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creation, like a flourishing career, a loving marriage, a
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beautiful home, or a fulfilling hobby, and you demand that it
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provide you with ultimate salvation, meaning, or peace,
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that gift becomes a cruel God. So sin takes a gift and twists
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it into a savior. The things of this world make
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wonderful servants but terrible saviors.
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When Solomon says it is a striving after win, he is not
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saying vineyards are evil. He is saying that expecting a
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vineyard to heal the existential ache of your mortal soul is like
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expecting a paper umbrella to stop at Category 5 hurricane.
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The creation simply cannot bear the weight.
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It cannot. It was never designed to.
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So if you treat your career as a way to provide for your family,
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pay your mortgage, and utilize the talents God gave you, it is
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a wonderful servant. You can find satisfaction in a
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job well done, but if you demand that your career gives you your
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entire sense of self worth, your identity, and your reason for
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waking up in the morning. The moment you fail, or the
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moment you get laid off, you are entirely destroyed.
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Spot on. The career becomes a terrible
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savior that demands constant sacrifices but offers zero
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actual security. Which leads right into the next
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phase of his experiment. If the absolute peak of human
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achievement, curated pleasure, and limitless wealth is just a
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vapor that slips through your fingers, what happens when you
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introduce the one reality that no amount of money, no amount of
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gated communities, and no amount of advanced medical science can
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avoid? You are talking about the great
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equalizer, death. In verses 12 through 23, Solomon
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transitions into a comparison between wisdom and folly, and he
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is intellectually honest here. He acknowledges that objective
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wisdom is vastly better than folly.
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He states that the wise man has eyes in his head, meaning he can
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see where he is going. Well, the fool walks in absolute
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darkness and stumbles. Right.
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It is obviously better to make smart financial decisions, eat
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healthy food and drive carefully than to gamble away your
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paycheck and live recklessly. But then he hits a massive,
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immovable theological wall. Both the wise man and the fool
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end up in the exact same dirt. And this realization causes a
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psychological breakdown for Solomon.
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He states in the text that he actually hated life under the
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sun. That specific phrase under the
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sun defines the earthly horizon. Viewed strictly on its own
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terms, without heaven in the picture.
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It is the secular vantage point. The agony for Solomon isn't just
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the biological fact that he's going to die.
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The specific torturous agony is the terror of his legacy because
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of the reality of total depravity, the biblical truth
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that every human heart is fallen, corrupted, and bent
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towards sin. Solomon realizes he has to leave
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his massive, carefully constructed empire to a
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successor. He has spent his entire life
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building this geopolitical masterpiece, and he has
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absolutely no guarantee that his successor won't be a complete
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fool. All his meticulous planning, his
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acquired wisdom, his massive savings accounts, all of it will
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be handed over to someone who did not earn it, does not
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respect it, and might squander it in a weekend.
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And Solomon had a front row seat to the character development of
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his own son Rehabaum. He did.
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And if you read the historical accounts in First Kings, you see
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exactly what happens. Solomon dies, Rehabaum takes the
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throne, and the older counselors tell him to lighten the heavy
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tax burden on the people to secure their loyalty.
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Basic political wisdom. Basic wisdom.
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But what does Rehabaum do? He ignores the wise counselors,
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listens to his arrogant young friends, and says, My father
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disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with
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scorpions. In a single foolish
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conversation, he fractured the United Monarchy forever.
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It's breathtaking falling. 10 tribes walked away and formed
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the northern Kingdom of Israel, the empire Solomon spent his
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entire life building. The wealthy hoarded the
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alliances he carefully negotiated destroyed an
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afternoon by a foolish air. It is a tragic, literal
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fulfillment of his worst fear. But look at how intensely this
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applies to modern anxieties. Think about the sleepless nights
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people endure today trying to build a legacy.
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People desperately want to object themselves beyond the
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grave through their estates, their generational businesses or
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their charitable foundations. They want to secure a permanent
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name for themselves. They want their name carved into
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the side of a hospital wing or a university library.
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Solomon is exposing the total vanity of that desire.
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You cannot control what happens after you die.
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You are building a sandcastle at low tide and the ocean of time
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is coming to wash it away. You know, this also completely
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dismantles the modern prosperity gospel.
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Oh, absolutely. Prosperity gospel tells you that
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if you have enough faith, if you declare the right words, you
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will be blessed with health and wealth right now.
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But Solomon had more health and wealth than any prosperity
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preacher could ever dream of, and it did not insulate him from
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the agonies of a fallen world or the certainty of the grave.
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His wealth actually increased his anxiety because he had more
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to lose. The prosperity gospel is exposed
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here as a complete theological fraud.
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It attempts to promise heaven without holiness, and it tries
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to use God as a cosmic slot machine to dispense temporal
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gifts. It teaches people to worship the
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gifts rather than the giver. But as Solomon clearly
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demonstrates, even if you win the ultimate earthly jackpot,
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you are still left with the crushing anxiety of losing it
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all at death. Wait, hold on.
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I need to ask a practical question here.
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You work hard your whole life. You put money in a college fund
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for your kids. You invest in your local
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community. You try to build a stable
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company that provides good jobs for people.
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Are you saying that planning for the future or trying to leave an
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inheritance for your children is fundamentally A vexation and a
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waste of time? Not at all.
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Should I just stop contributing to my retirement account, burn
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my paychecks on Friday, and not plan for tomorrow at all?
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No, and again, we have to rigorously distinguish between
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stewardship and salvation. Working hard to provide for your
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family is a biblical mandate. The Apostle Paul writes that
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anyone who does not provide for their relatives is worse than an
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unbeliever. OK, so there is a mandate.
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Saving, planning and working are callings.
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The problem arises when you use your work and you're planning to
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try and secure your own immortality.
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When you are working 80 hours a week because you are terrified
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of being forgotten, or because you think your massive estate
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will somehow make your life meaningful after you are gone,
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that is a miserable idol. Because you cannot control the
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future. You can't.
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When you try to control the future, it leads directly to the
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sleepless despair Solomon talks about in verse 23.
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The text says that even in the night, his heart does not rest.
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The anxious worker lies awake in bed, staring at the ceiling
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because the God he is worshipping, his legacy, his
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control over tomorrow, is incredibly fragile and
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constantly under threat. So we are at the absolute bottom
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of the existential barrel here. If our wisdom, our wealth, our
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carefully curated experiences, and our hard work are eventually
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mocked by a death and hand it over to someone else who might
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ruin them, is there any actual hope for joy in this life?
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Are we just supposed to walk around in a state of sanctified
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depression until we die? This is where the text makes a
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massive, unexpected shift. We reach the grammatical pivot
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in verses 24 through 26. Yes, the.
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Pivot. This is one of the most
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magnificent transitions in the entire Old Testament.
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Up until verse 24, the text has been entirely dominated by the
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autonomous human ego, the pronoun I, I built, I planted, I
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gathered. But suddenly the text shifts its
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gaze away from human autonomy and introduces the hand of God.
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In Hebrew, Miyad Hallahan. Yes, Solomon says there is
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nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and
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find enjoyment in his toil. This also I saw is from the hand
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of God. You know, there's a really
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brilliant way to visualize this shift in the text from the
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sources we analyzed. Think about a can of Peaches.
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Yes, the can of Peaches analogy. Walk us through how this analogy
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captures what Solomon is saying about the nature of joy.
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The analogy of the can of Peaches versus the can opener
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perfectly captures the theological reality of the text.
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Imagine that, Material goods your biweekly paycheck, a nice
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dinner at a restaurant, a beautiful sunset, a healthy
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family, a functioning car, or a sealed can of Peaches.
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OK, a can of Peaches I am tracking.
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God distributes these cans of Peaches to both the righteous
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and the wicked. Jesus states in the Sermon on
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the Mount that God causes the rain to fall in the just and the
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unjust. The physical gifts of creation
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are distributed widely across humanity.
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Right what theologians call common grace.
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Yes, but the spiritual capacity to actually open the can, taste
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the sweetness of the fruit, and experience genuine resting
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satisfaction in the gift that is the can opener.
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And the can opener is a distinct sovereign gift granted only to
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the person who pleases God. That is a staggering concept.
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The unregenerate man gets the can of Peaches, but he is
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standing there trying to smash it open with a rock, or he is
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trying to break his teeth on the metal, trying to force it to
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satisfy him. He has the massive house, he has
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the impressive stock portfolio, he has a luxury car.
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But he has no actual peace. He is.
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Starving while holding the food. Starving with food in his hands.
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Look closely at the predestinarian contrast in verse
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26. God gives wisdom, knowledge and
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joy to the one who is good in His sight, but to the Sinner,
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the text says. God gives the agonizing task of
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gathering and collecting, only to eventually have it handed
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over to the one who pleases God. The Sinner accumulates the cans
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of Peaches. You might have a warehouse full
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of them, yeah, but he never gets the can opener.
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He never gets to taste the sweetness of true contentment.
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So are you saying that the capacity for me to simply enjoy
22:10
my dinner tonight with my family or find a genuine sense of
22:13
satisfaction in my job tomorrow morning isn't something I can
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just decide to do? I can't just practice
22:19
mindfulness or read a productivity book or write in a
22:22
gratitude journal to manifest joy.
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No, you can't. It actually requires A sovereign
22:26
intervention from God. The.
22:27
Text forces us to that precise conclusion.
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Verse 25 asks for rhetorical question.
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Apart from him, who could eat or who can have enjoyment?
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The ability to find rest and satisfaction in your daily life
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is not an earned wage. You cannot generate it by sheer
22:43
willpower or psychological tricks.
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It is a divine gift. You have to receive it from the
22:48
hand. Of God.
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You do. And paradoxically, realizing
22:51
this is incredibly liberating. It frees you from the crushing
22:54
burden of forcing your career, your spouse, your children, or
22:57
your hobbies to provide meaning. When you stop demanding that the
23:00
creation act as the Creator, you are finally free to just enjoy
23:03
the meal for what it is, a temporary, gracious gift from a
23:07
sovereign God. But that brings up a terrifying
23:09
question. If the can opener, the ability
23:12
to actually find joy, is only given to the person who pleases
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God, how do we become that person?
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Solomon was the wisest man alive.
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He had the law of God, and he failed miserably.
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He fell into gross idolatry. We fail daily.
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We break the commandments. If moral perfection is required
23:30
to receive the can opener, aren't we all doomed to strive
23:33
after the wind? Where do we find the perfection
23:36
required to please the Holy God? That is the pivotal question
23:39
that demands we look at the redemptive historical resolution
23:41
in the entire Bible. You cannot read the book of
23:44
Ecclesiastes writing without looking at Jesus Christ.
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If you read Ecclesiastes Without Christ, you are left with mere
23:49
moralism, A depressing list of cynical observations about how
23:53
hard life is. You have to contrast Solomon
23:55
with Jesus. Yes, Solomon is functioning as a
23:58
first Adam figure. He tried to plant a magnificent
24:01
garden, build a paradise and rule over it in his own wisdom.
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But because of his sin, his garden only produced the thorns
24:09
and thistles of a cursed existence.
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Jesus Christ is the last Adam. He did not build a luxury garden
24:15
for himself. Instead, he willingly entered
24:17
the agonizing Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of
24:20
blood, preparing to take the curse upon himself.
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He wore the crown of thorns that Solomon's sin helped produce.
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Exactly. The contrasts between these two
24:28
kings are absolutely breathtaking when you lay them
24:30
side by side. Solomon hoarded vast amounts of
24:33
silver and gold for his own fleshly indulgence.
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He taxed his people heavily, placing a massive yoke on their
24:39
necks to build his earthly empire.
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Well, Jesus Christ, the true King of kings, impoverished
24:44
himself first. Peter chapter 1 tells us that he
24:46
did not redeem his people with perishable things like silver or
24:49
gold, but he shed his own precious blood as a lamb without
24:52
blemish. Solomon agonized over leaving a
24:55
divided temporary Kingdom to a foolish son who would tear it
24:58
apart. Jesus Christ establishes an
25:01
eternal, unshakened, likeable Kingdom that will never be
25:04
handed over to another. And Christ provides the ultimate
25:07
final answer to the great equalizer of death that
25:10
tormented Solomon so deeply. Solomon looked at the grave and
25:13
said it doesn't matter if you are wise or foolish, the grave
25:17
swallows you both under the sun. Viewed strictly from a secular
25:20
horizon, the grave always wins. It is the undefeated champion of
25:24
human history. But Jesus Christ stepped into
25:27
the limitations of life under the sun.
25:28
He took on human flesh. He entered the grave, conquered
25:31
death, and rose bodily on the third day.
25:34
Because of the physical resurrection of Christ, the
25:37
vapor is defeated. The Apostle Paul writes in First
25:40
Corinthians 15 verse 58 that because of the resurrection,
25:43
your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
25:45
The specific Greek word Paul uses for vain there is kinos,
25:49
meaning empty or hollow in Christ.
25:51
Your work is no longer hebel. It is no longer a striving after
25:54
wind. Think about it like a brilliant
25:56
world renowned architect. Imagine Solomon is this
25:59
architect. He has the absolute best
26:02
materials, Italian marble, steel beams, imported glass.
26:06
He has the best blueprints and the best construction crew.
26:09
But he is trying to build a massive skyscraper on a
26:12
foundation of quicksand. Doesn't matter how beautiful the
26:15
building is. It doesn't matter how hard the
26:17
crew works, the quicksand of death and sin is inevitably
26:21
going to swallow the entire structure.
26:23
Christ is the one who steps in and actually replaces the
26:26
quicksand with solid bedrock. He secures the foundation so the
26:29
building can actually stand permanently.
26:32
That is a highly accurate way to frame the theology and answer
26:35
your previous question about how we become the person who pleases
26:38
God. It is solely through the imputed
26:41
righteousness of Christ. We are not pleasing to God
26:43
because our track record is flawless or because we try
26:45
really hard. We are pleasing to God because
26:48
by faith, Christ's perfect obedience is credited to our
26:51
account. His righteousness is imputed to
26:53
us. That is what secures our eternal
26:55
joy, and it is also what secures our present capacity to enjoy
26:59
daily life. As a Pilgrim, we are accepted in
27:02
the Beloved, which means we can finally relax, stop trying to
27:05
earn our justification, and receive Our Daily Bread with
27:08
genuine gratitude. Understanding what Christ has
27:11
done completely changes how we interact with the material world
27:14
today. It pulls theology down from the
27:16
clouds and puts it right into our living rooms, our bank
27:19
accounts and our workplaces. It makes it incredibly
27:21
practical. The analysis we are studying
27:24
draw out three massive, rigorous practical applications from this
27:28
text. 1st, we have to slay the idol of materialism in our own
27:32
hearts. Second, we have to rebuke modern
27:35
pragmatic, seeker sensitive church models.
27:38
And 3rd, we have to embrace what theologians call the Tertius
27:41
eusis leges, or the third use of the law.
27:44
Let's start with the church. Yeah, how does Ecclesiastes
27:47
Chapter 2 indict so much of what happens in modern church
27:49
culture? The critique of modern pragmatic
27:52
ministry is devastating. So many modern churches operate
27:55
on a seeker sensitive model. They're desperate to attract the
27:59
secular world, so they use the exact thing Solomon tested and
28:02
proved were entirely empty. They rely on concert level
28:06
entertainment, expensive fog machines, stand up comedy
28:10
routines from the pulpit, and heavy emotional manipulation.
28:13
They are essentially peddling vapor.
28:15
They're trying to use the cultural tools of humanism to
28:18
satisfy the immortal soul. Solomon already ran that
28:21
experiment with infinitely better resources.
28:24
He had the absolute best singers and musicians on the planet, and
28:27
he declared it a striving after wind.
28:30
The human soul was made for God, and it will only find rest in
28:33
the robust, unadulterated preaching of the cross of
28:36
Christ. Trying to manufacture a
28:38
spiritual high through earthly entertainment is theological
28:41
malpractice. It offers people a counterfeit
28:43
joy that fades as soon as they walk out to the parking lot.
28:46
Is Solomon's unparalleled choirs and elite musicians couldn't
28:49
heal his soul? A laser light show on a Sunday
28:52
morning certainly won't. Then there's the application for
28:54
the individual believer concerning the idol of
28:57
materialism and the third use of the law.
28:59
Let me quickly define the third use of the law for anyone
29:02
unfamiliar with the term. The first use of the law acts as
29:05
a mirror to show us our sin. The second use acts as a curb to
29:09
restrain evil in society. The third use of the law, the
29:13
tertius usis legis, is for the Christian.
29:16
It teaches us that because we're already justified by faith
29:19
alone, the law now acts as a guide for how to live a life of
29:22
grateful obedience. Because your eternal standing is
29:25
secure in Christ, you are finally free to hold things of
29:28
earth with an open hand. This connects directly to the
29:31
teaching of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which
29:33
famously states man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy
29:38
him forever. Notice the specific divine order
29:41
in that statement. You must glorify God first, and
29:45
in doing so you receive the capacity for true enjoyment.
29:48
When you invert that order, when you seek your own enjoyment
29:50
apart from God's glory, which is exactly what Solomon did in his
29:53
experiment, you lose both God and the enjoyment you are
29:57
desperately chasing. The third use of the law teaches
29:59
us that the commandments of God are not a ladder we climb to
30:03
earn salvation. They are a guide for how to live
30:05
a life of gratitude because we are already saved.
30:09
You don't demand that your spouse, your bank account, or
30:12
your hobbies provide transcendent meaning.
30:15
You recognize them as the can of Peaches, graciously handed to
30:19
you by a Father who has already secured your eternity.
30:23
Wait, if my earthly legacy is literally just vapor and my
30:26
salvation has nothing to do with my own work anyway, why
30:29
shouldn't I just sit on my couch?
30:30
Why bother going into the office tomorrow, or trying to build a
30:33
successful business or painting a beautiful painting if it's all
30:36
going to turn to dust eventually?
30:37
Isn't this just a massive excuse to be lazy?
30:40
The text firmly corrects that misunderstanding the fleeting
30:43
nature of life is an alarm clock for holiness, not an excuse for
30:46
laziness. Knowing that your days are
30:48
numbered should produce a deep reverence and a desire to
30:51
steward the time you have been given faithfully.
30:53
So the vapor should motivate us. Yes, you work hardly as under
30:57
the Lord, not because your work is going to make you immortal,
31:00
but as an act of creaturely dependence and gratitude.
31:03
You change a diaper in faith. You preach a sermon in truth.
31:07
You run a financial spreadsheet with absolute integrity, knowing
31:10
that while the physical product may fade, the act of obedient
31:14
faith is eternally significant. You are freed from the anxiety
31:18
of building a permanent legacy which allows you to throw
31:21
yourself fully into the work of today.
31:24
You are free to be faithful in the mundane.
31:26
Exactly. We have covered incredible
31:28
ground today. We started by looking at the
31:30
question weight of autonomous driving under the sun.
31:33
We saw Solomon, the ultimate test case, build an empire of
31:36
dirt, only to find it haunted by death and the terrifying
31:39
uncertainty of legacy. And we followed that dark Rd.
31:42
all the way to the liberating joy of receiving life as a
31:45
sovereign gift through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
31:48
You are freed from demanding that the creation act as your
31:51
creator. I want to leave you with the
31:53
final thought to Mull over something that builds on
31:55
everything we have discussed. Consider the frustratingly
31:59
temporary nature of your current favorite earthly joy.
32:03
Think about the fact that the vacation always ends.
32:05
The delicious meal finishes, the applause fades, the beautiful
32:09
moment passes. We naturally lament that
32:11
transience. We hate the good things end.
32:13
We do. But what if that fleeting nature
32:16
is actually God's severest mercy?
32:18
What if the vaporous quality of earthly joy is God actively
32:21
protecting you, making sure you do not chain your immortal soul
32:25
to a sinking ship? That reframes the entire human
32:28
experience. The disappointment we feel when
32:30
a good thing ends is just a pop to look up.
32:32
It points us to the eternal. Thank you for joining us on this
32:36
deep dive into reformed thinking.
32:38
Take a breath, look at the gifts in your hands, and eat your
32:41
bread with gladness today.