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The Vanity of Wisdom (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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For now, we go to God's Word as we continue in
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our sermon series through the wonderful book
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of Ecclesiastes. We will pick up at verse 12
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of chapter one and take it through the end of
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the chapter, so 12 through 18. As I said, we
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began this series last Sunday. And as we were
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going along, we came upon some difficult words
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to translate, especially what's in my text. Mine
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says vanity of vanities. And so we talked about
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how your translation may say meaningless, meaningless,
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all things are meaningless, or futility of futilities.
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And we took it back to the original Hebrew word,
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hevel. And as we were looking at that, we said
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what it means. The word vanity, it comes from
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a word that means breath or mist, meaning that
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things come and things go just like a breath,
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just like a mist, just like a vapor. And we said
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how important it is for us to know what that
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means for it really forms just our understanding
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of the entire book. We don't want to get that
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word wrong. And so I would ask that you continually
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keep that in your mind as we go through the whole
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book. Ecclesiastes but for now let me read to
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you our text Ecclesiastes chapter 1 12 through
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18 and it reads in this way I the preacher have
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been king over Israel in Jerusalem and I applied
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my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom
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all that is done under heaven It is an unhappy
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business that God has given to the children of
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man to be busy with. I've seen everything that
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is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity
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and is striving after wind. What is crooked cannot
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be made straight, and what is lacking cannot
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be counted. I said in my heart, I've acquired
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great wisdom. surpassing all who were over Jerusalem
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before me and my heart has had great experience
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of wisdom and knowledge and I applied my heart
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to no wisdom and to no madness and folly I perceive
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that this also is but a striving after wind for
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in much wisdom is much vexation and he who increases
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knowledge increases sorrow this is God's word
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let us pray father we do thank you for your word
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we thank you for the book of Ecclesiastes even
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though we might find it difficult and perplexing
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Lord we know that there is great truth here reading
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a difficult book makes us more and more depend
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upon you for understanding and so Lord help us
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to trust you And would you grant us that understanding,
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these things we ask in Christ's name. Amen. There
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was an old British poet named Thomas Gray who
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wrote a poem titled, Ode on a Distant Prospect
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of Eaton College. Maybe the title's not all that
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well known to you. But one of the things that
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he says within the poem, I think, is well -known
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to us. Within this poem, Gray is describing children
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who are playing in a churchyard, and the children's
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voices are so just filled with joy. And he's
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listening to all of their sounds and their squeals
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and everything, and he's thinking, this is great,
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but they don't know what is ahead for them. And
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so Gray begins this poem in a happy way. He says,
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ah, happy hills, ah, pleasing shade, so far so
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good. But then it takes a turn for the dark.
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He said, ah, fields beloved in vain, where once
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my careless childhood strayed, a stranger yet
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to pain. What Gray is communicating within that
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poem. is that sometimes in life everything seems
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great, everything seems dandy and wonderful.
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But then as we grow, as we mature, we start to
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see things that bring about pain in our lives.
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And he says this toward the end of the poem.
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To each his sufferings all our men condemned
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alike to groan. the tender for another's pain,
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the feelings for his own. Yet, ah, why should
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they know their fate since sorrow never comes
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too late and happiness too swiftly flies? Thought
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would destroy their paradise. No more where ignorance
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is bliss, tis folly to be wise. If you've ever
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wondered where does that saying where ignorance
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is bliss, tis folly to be wise, it comes from
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this poet, but actually I think it can be attributed
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to somebody else because the ideas expressed
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within this poem are actually ideas expressed
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by Kohelet, the one who is called the preacher,
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the teacher in Ecclesiastes. These, I believe,
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can be attributed to Solomon. Think about that,
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though. Ignorance is bliss. What this means is
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we can't go backwards. There are some things
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in this life that you cannot unsee. There are
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some things in this life that you can't unlearn.
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In our quest for meaning, maybe we ask, Lord,
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can I just go back to the way that it was? This
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section is about that. I believe this is Solomon
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at the end of his life, reflecting back on his
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life and his quest for meaning under the sun.
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And so two points that I want us to gather from
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this is one, this is about the search for meaning,
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but this is also about the limits of wisdom.
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So the search for meaning or the search for wisdom
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and the limits of wisdom. Now we should say this
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right off the bat. Wisdom is a good thing. Wisdom
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is a gift from God. Wisdom is an attribute of
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God. But. It has limits in a fallen world. Solomon
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uses his wisdom to find meaning, but wisdom,
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while it helps in a fallen world, wisdom doesn't
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fix everything in a fallen sinful world. The
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fix is not found in our wisdom. The fix is found
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in someone else's. And yet at times, Solomon
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goes after wisdom and meaning that isn't always
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good. and that doesn't always satisfy. But we
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do know this about Solomon, that he was a man
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of incredible wisdom. Let's see where he got
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this wisdom. If you would like to, turn with
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me to 1 Kings chapter 3, verses 3 through 9.
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1 Kings 3, 3 through 9. Solomon loved the Lord,
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walking in the statutes of David his father.
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Only he sacrificed and made offerings at the
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high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice
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there, for that was the great high place. Solomon
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used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that
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altar. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon
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in a dream by night. And God said, ask what I
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shall give you. And Solomon said, you've shown
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great and steadfast love to your servant, David,
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my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness.
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righteousness and an uprightness of heart towards
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you and you have kept for him this great and
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steadfast love and have given him a son to sit
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on the throne this day and now oh Lord my God
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you have made your servant king in place of David
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my father although I am but a little child I
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do not know how to go out or come in and your
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servant is in the midst of your people whom you
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have chosen a great people too many to be numbered
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or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore
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an understanding mind to govern your people that
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I may discern between good and evil. For who
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is able to govern this? You are great people."
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So what does Solomon do within this text? He
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is visited in a dream by Yahweh. Yes, this is
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a dream, but it's really the Lord who appears.
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And verse 10 says, it pleased the Lord that Solomon
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had asked And so, God does grant Solomon incredible
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wisdom. Flip ahead to chapter 4, and I'll read
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29 and on. 1 Kings 4, 29, and God gave Solomon
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wisdom and understanding beyond measure and breath
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of mind like the sand on the seashore so that
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Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all
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of the people of the East. and all of the wisdom
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of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men,
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wiser than Ethan the Ezraite and the Heman and
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Chalcol and Darda, the sons of Mahal, and his
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fame was in all the surrounding nations. He also
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spoke 3 ,000 Proverbs and his songs were 1 ,005.
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He spoke of trees from the cedar that is in Lebanon
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to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He
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spoke of beasts and of birds, of reptiles and
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of fish and people of all nations came to hear
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the wisdom of Solomon from all the kings of the
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earth who had heard of his wisdom. You hear that
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then. Solomon indeed has incredible wisdom. Can
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you imagine people from all different nations
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coming to you to hear your wisdom? This was reality
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for Solomon. But here we need to note something.
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He has godly wisdom. There are different wisdoms
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that are out there, and we need godly wisdom.
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The secular philosopher Bertrand Russell said,
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to conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. Do
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you hear the problem with that? To conquer fear
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is the beginning of wisdom? I don't think so.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all
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wisdom. Do you hear the difference? Wisdom is
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the reverence. It's the respect. It's the awe.
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It's the understanding of the very holiness of
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God. Wisdom is ascribing to God the glory due
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his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
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of it all. And yet, in Solomon's quest for wisdom,
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at times he strays away from that which is good.
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He strays away from that which satisfies. We
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need godly wisdom. And so what Solomon shows
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us at times is that looking around his observation
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in the world is that things are incredibly broken.
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And his conclusion is this. Wisdom cannot fix
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entirely the mess that we are in. Even when we
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give our whole selves to it. Look in verse 13.
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And I applied my heart. to seek and search out
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by wisdom all that is done under heaven. He applied
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all his heart to this. This is not a half -hearted
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search for wisdom. This is Solomon diving in
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head first. He uses that common phrase, his whole
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heart. What is he doing? He's examining everything
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that happens under the sun and he's trying to
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understand it all. And he's doing so. with wisdom.
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If wisdom were an Olympic sport, Solomon would
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be on the top of the podium. But the thing is
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that as Solomon observes all of the brokenness
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of this life, he realizes that spot on the podium
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is not that tall. And the gold of that medal
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is not that shiny. And so what Solomon does,
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and we're going to see this in chapter two, Solomon
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begins to look elsewhere because the quest for
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meaning can't deliver on all of its promises.
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And he says, I think in verse 14, no, towards
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the end of verse 13, it's an unhappy business.
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It's an unhappy business, this search for meaning
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by wisdom. And to whom does he attribute this
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unhappiness? It's an unhappy business that God
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has given to the children of man. Now to us,
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This sounds strange. Why would he say it like
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this? I think it's because Solomon understands
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the sovereignty of God. He understands that all
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things are in subjection to him. Solomon understands
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that because of sin, a curse is in place on all
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of life and that sin has consequences. And we,
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friends, we are living in these consequences.
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And so then. Solomon understands something else,
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and that's our second point this morning. He
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understands that there are limits to what wisdom
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can do. There are limits to what wisdom can do,
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and I want us to see this in two ways. One, wisdom
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can't fix everything, but two, wisdom at times
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hurts. We mentioned that this is an unhappy business
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as he says. I imagine that this is Solomon at
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the end of his life. He is older. He is sadder.
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He is grayer and his pursuit of meaning by wisdom
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has taken its toll upon him. And we have sympathy
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for Solomon here. He desired a noble task, but
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he is worse for the wear. Look in verse 14. I
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have seen everything that is done under the sun
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and behold. All is vanity and a striving after
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wind. He's seen everything, he says, meaning
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this is a comprehensive search. And what is his
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conclusion? It's all vapor. It's like a mist
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that comes and goes. And then he says, it's like
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striving after wind. Now, depending on your translation,
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you may have different words here. Your text
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may say chasing after the wind. I actually think
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it's more than chasing. I think it's more than
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striving. I think what is being communicated
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here by Solomon is his attempt to shepherd the
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wind. It's his attempt to capture the wind, to
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manipulate the wind, to make the wind do something.
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Garth Brooks, the country singer, has an album
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titled Roping the Wind. And it's got some of
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his all -time hits on it, Rodeo, Shameless, Papa
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Love Mama, The River, great album. Roping the
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Wind, I think, is a great illustration of this.
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And there's also something about that album that's
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helpful here, too, beyond the title. Apparently,
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a bandmate of Garth Brooks once said to him,
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you'll never earn a living making music. In God's
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perfect providence, that album went 14 times
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platinum. He made a living with that album. But
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what is communicated here? Roping the wind is
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a fool's errand, and yet the wisest man on earth
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attempted it. And what is his conclusion in it
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all? Look at verse 15. What is crooked cannot
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be made straight. And what is lacking cannot
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be counted. I can remember the first time I came
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upon verse 15 and I said, my Bible's wrong. That
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can't be right. Shouldn't this say something
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like, God can make straight what is crooked?
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Doesn't that make sense? Well, of course it does.
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And we would affirm that statement. But Solomon
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here is not making a doctrinal statement about
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God and his abilities. No, Solomon is making
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a solomonic statement. about the limitations
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of wisdom in a crooked world. Sometimes things
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are just too crooked. Philip Riken says here,
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some things are so bent out of shape that they
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resist all of our efforts to make them straight.
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And if we were to flip over, and I won't do that
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now, but if we flipped over to chapter seven,
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verse 13, we would see this as well, that God
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is the one who makes these things crooked. Why
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is that? And at this point in this sad book,
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shouldn't we get some encouragement? No. Not
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yet. Because some things in life cannot be fixed
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by wisdom. Preachers telling it like it is. This
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is real life. And his search for meaning has
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turned up befuddling results. And no, he's not
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making a distinction between the unbeliever and
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the believer. No, the believer must go through
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this too. The believer must face the limits of
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wisdom in a fallen world. Look at verse 17. And
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I applied my heart to no wisdom and to no madness
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and folly. He's contrasting wisdom and he's contrasting
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it with madness and folly. And what is his perception
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after all of that? It's like rope in the wind
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and it takes its toll because sometimes wisdom
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hurts. To go back to our poem, where ignorance
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is bliss, tis folly to be wise. Look in verse
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18, for in much. wisdom is much vexation, and
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he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
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Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever wanted
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to know something so badly, but when you know
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it, you wish you could unlearn it? When I was
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first ordained into this church and into Calvary
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Presbytery, I was placed immediately on a Presbyterian
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committee, the Session Records Committee. It's
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where they put all the rookies. All the young
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pastors get their turn on the Session Records
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Committee and what you do in that committee is
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you review the minutes of other churches, other
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sessions. It's long and it's tedious work and
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I did that for two years and then I was nominated
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for the Shepherding Committee and I thought now
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I'm on the way up. This is where I want to be,
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right? This is important work. Well, I was at
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the first shepherding meeting and they went around
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the room and we introduced ourselves in case
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we didn't know one another and we were supposed
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to say, why do you want to be on the shepherding
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committee? And I said, I want to be on the shepherding
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committee so I don't have to be on the records
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committee. More than three hours later of dealing
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with really, really difficult, troubling topics,
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I said to the whole committee, can I go back
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to the records committee? Friends, when our eyes
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are open to the difficulties of life, sometimes
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we wish we could go backward. To be lighthearted,
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anybody ever watch that documentary on fast food?
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Wish you could unsee that, but I guarantee nobody
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was eating fast food for a while after that.
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But on a more serious level, maybe you remember
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the first time that you learned of death. The
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first time that you experienced the loss of a
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loved one and you said to yourself, I didn't
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know, I didn't know it could hurt this bad. Maybe
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the time that you went to the doctors, you had
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something bothering you and it turned out it
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was worse than you could have imagined that the
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cancer had metastasized. Maybe the first time
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that you learned of real poverty. You said to
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God, how in the world Can it be that this many
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people live in these conditions? Maybe the first
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time that you learned of war, and you realize
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how many people die from it, and it just never
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seems to stop. You wish you could go back in
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time to unlearn those things. I'm not endorsing
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this, but did anybody ever see the movie Men
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in Black? Remember the thing that he put up in
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front of the eye? Erase the memory? Sometimes
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we wish. We could just erase our memory. But
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there is no going back. For in much wisdom is
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much vexation. And he who increases knowledge
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increases sorrow. You cannot have one without
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the other. To increase of knowledge would be
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to increase our sadness. This surely tells us
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what we already know now. There are limits to
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our wisdom. There are painful limits to our wisdom.
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Now in a book on wisdom, who would expect this?
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Who would expect that the writer of Ecclesiastes
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would say, hey, be wise. But by the way, it hurts.
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It's not a great endorsement. And in chapter
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two, Solomon will say, why have I been so very
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wise? Well, friends, here's why. because a wise
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man or a wise woman knows the limits of wisdom
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and looks beyond them to the one who embodies
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it. It is true, wisdom cannot fix fully the effects
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of a sinful, fallen, broken world, but Jesus
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can, and Jesus does, and Jesus will. This is
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the world, as I said last time, this is the world
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that Jesus came to save on a crooked cross. Jesus's
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wisdom saves. Jesus is God's wisdom. If you would
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like to join me in First Corinthians chapter
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one. First Corinthians chapter one, I'm going
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to read a few different verses here, but starting
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in verse 18. And it reads in this way. For the
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word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing,
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but to us who are being saved, it is the power
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of God. The wisdom of God is Christ Jesus. And
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when we believe in Jesus, when we place our trust
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in him, it's at that point that we are considered
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wise. And so in our quest for wisdom, Don't look
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any further than Jesus. The Holy Spirit changes
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our hearts to embrace him so that we will not
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be fools any longer, but they will have the very
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wisdom of God. If you flipped over to chapter
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two, verse eight, you would see this. None of
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the rulers of this age understood this, for if
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they had, they would not have crucified the Lord
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of glory. And so you see. A definition of godly
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wisdom does not match up with ungodly wisdom.
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We need this over here. We need the spirit to
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move in our hearts that we would become wise
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in Jesus Christ. Why? Because the wisdom, this
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wisdom over here, this wisdom of the ungodly,
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this wisdom will pass away. But the wisdom of
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God is found in the one who is eternal. The wisdom
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of God is found in the one who conquered death.
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And so in this way, I'll contradict myself. Wisdom
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can, and wisdom does fix what is broken, because
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Jesus is the wisdom of God. Now, believing in
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Jesus doesn't remove every vexation, but then
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again, Jesus' kingdom is not of this world, right?
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Jesus is preparing for us an eternal weight of
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glory in a place of no more vexation, of no more
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vanity, where our sorrow will be turned into
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joy. Some people struggle with Ecclesiastes because
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they don't see Jesus in it and they don't see
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Jesus quoting it. But friends, let me tell you
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this. If you are not a believer in Jesus, you
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are ignorant of true wisdom. And the vexation
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and the sorrow of this life will be as good as
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it gets. But here's the good news. You don't
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have to stay in the heavens. You don't have to
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stay in the vanity. You don't have to stay in
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the dark because Jesus has come and he is described
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as someone greater than Solomon. And so today,
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take a word from the wise, trusting Christ. because
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He is the wisdom that we need. Let us pray.