Possessions, Pleasures, and Joy Under the Sun Kile Baker January 19th, 2025 Series Tagline: Discovering what is meaningful, by determining what is meaningless. Typical Theme Verse: 2 “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.” 3 What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?” — Ecclesiastes 1:2 Our Theme Verse: "There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him?" — Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 hevel הֶבֶל - Used as futility or Vanity…vapor or smoke. Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good”...until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives…But it turned out to be futile. “Is there anything on the earth that will truly satisfy the human heart?” The Menu Comedy (2:2) Alcohol (2:3) Art & Skill (2:4) Nature (2:5-6) Money & possessions (2:7-8) Music (2:8) Sex (2:8) Affirmation (2:9) Work (2:11) “Change and constancy are the two balancing weights on the seesaw of human experience, and God has given humanity the means to enjoy both of them by patterning the world with rhythm. We love the fact that springtime feels new; we love the fact that it is springtime again.” – Living Life Backward, 30-31 Ecclesiastes 5:10-20 10 The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile. 11 When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes? 12 The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep. 13 There is a sickening tragedy I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. 14 That wealth was lost in a bad venture, so when he fathered a son, he was empty-handed. 15 As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands. 16 This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind? 17 What is more, he eats in darkness all his days, with much frustration, sickness, and anger. 18 Here is what I have seen to be good: It is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. 19 Furthermore, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God, 20 for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart How to Enjoy Life’s Menu: Feeding any appetite becomes unhealthy if you feed it with the wrong thing, or with the right thing in the wrong amount. Next Step: Reduce what you overindulge in, and raise what you under-indulge in. You need to stop pursuing what you can still gain, and instead enjoy the gifts God has already given you. Next Step: Slow down and enjoy the good things God has given you. Enjoying what God has given you helps you enjoy Him as the giver. Next Step: Practice contentment by saying thank you to God for what you have. Next week: The Truth About Time