Contemplating Your Legacy – Part 1
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26 (12-17)
May 23, 2021
By now you are settling in to the mindset of the preacher
Here in the book of Ecclesiastes.
He is cutting through all deception and lies
Of the great salesman this world faces.
We understand how this life works.
• We have an enemy who is a deceiver and a tempter. (the salesman)
• We have humanity with a fallen flesh that wants the world (the consumer)
And it is amazing how often
The world buys the sales pitch of the enemy hook line and sinker.
Because the salesman is offering what the consumer desires
It is far too often A VERY EASY SALE.
Paul spoke of it to the Philippians
Philippians 3:18-19 “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”
• Paul said their “god is their appetite”
• He said “their glory is their shame”
• He said their focus is “on earthly things”
That about sums it up.
We have a world filled with humanity
Who are seeking to find enjoyment and happiness in this life
And they are willing to sacrifice their conscience and morality to get it.
For this group of passionate consumers we have the salesman.
And he merely offers to the consumer that which they want.
James said it like this:
James 1:14-15 “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”
It is a story that plays out in front of us daily.
How often have we seen humanity take the bait of the salesman
And purchase that which only brings momentary pleasure
But not lasting satisfaction?
We’ve seen it more times than we can count.
At times we have even been participants in it.
Well, TO SHED SOME LIGHT ON THE LUNACY of it all
The book of Ecclesiastes introduces us to the preacher.
We might better consider him the critic.
• He has also tried all that the salesman told him to buy
• Now he is writing the review for the young man to read.
And over and over and over we find that his assessment is the same.
“This too is vanity.”
HEBEL in the Hebrew (mist or vapor or smoke)
• It’s a mirage.
• It doesn’t bring the satisfaction it promises.
And we’ve already seen him write the review
On two massive attractions for the young man.
THE FIRST – is the one most commonly endorsed; KNOWLEDGE
The young man is most often promised that knowledge is power and the secret to success is an education.
• An education isn’t bad, but in and of itself it cannot satisfy.
• Namely because it cannot straighten what is crooked, nor can it supply what is lacking.
• You cannot educate a man into the kingdom of heaven.
So to sell knowledge as the all-satisfying objective of life
Is nothing but a mirage.
THE SECOND – is the one most commonly tried; PLEASURE
The young man may be offered knowledge, but far too often what he first pursues is pleasure.
• Like knowledge, pleasure isn’t bad. God created it and created you with the capacity for it.
• But if pleasure becomes the all-satisfying objective of life then again you are chasing mirage.
For one reason sin can be pleasurable as we saw with
The Preacher’s pursuit of wine, works, wealth, and women.
AND THAT LEADS TO JUDGMENT
But also pleasure is short-lived.
Seeking it LEADS EITHER TO FRUSTRATION OR BOREDOM.
It is a mirage.
Those where the first two attractions that the preacher sought to review, THIS MORNING WE MOVE ON.
And the issue contemplated by the preacher this morning
IS NOT typically one that is initially sought by the young man.
In fact, most young men don’t give much thought to it at all,
But the older a person gets the more they naturally begin to think about it.
And it is the issue of LEGACY
• Something that will last.
• Something that will cause men to remember me.
It is typically the last attempt of the old man
To leave his mark on the world.
But like the rest, he’ll find no satisfaction here.
Now again, don’t get me wrong,
THE BIBLE SPEAKS VERY HIGHLY OF LEAVING A LEGACY.
Exodus 20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
Again:
Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;”
Often in the book of the Kings
• We read about how God’s favor rested on Judah,
• Not because their King was so good,
• But rather because the blessing of David trickled down.
1 Kings 15:1-5 “Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, like the heart of his father David. But for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem; because David did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.”
Legacy is important, so long as it is the right kind of legacy.
When Paul wrote to Timothy he wrote:
2 Timothy 1:5 “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.”
The write kind of legacy is very valuable.
But pursuing the wrong kind of legacy
Will only cause you to end up in frustration and despair,
And that is the message of the preacher here in Ecclesiastes.
There are actually 5 points to be made in our text.
And I warn you this morning that his outlook
Can appear very depressing and dark.
But I will say it to you again that
The book of Ecclesiastes is only depressing
If you are seeking to make this world your treasure.
If instead you are like Paul who has said:
Galatians 6:14 “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
• If you can say that with Paul then you’re not going to have any trouble at all with this message.
• But if you are also holding on to a foolish hope of somehow finding satisfaction in this world then the words of the preacher may rightly cut and sting you this morning.
But it is needed discipline to set right the mindset of God’s people.
So let’s begin to contemplate our legacy with the preacher this morning.
#1 HIS EPIPHANY
Ecclesiastes 2:12-14
An epiphany is an illuminating discovery or realization.
• In short, the Preacher is about to tell you something he learned.
• It is a conclusion he has come to.
He had given his heart to pursuing knowledge or philosophy.
He had given his heart to pursuing pleasure (even drunken folly).
And he had said that both of them were vanity.
Well after pursuing them to their full end
The Preacher then decided to compare them
So as to be able to tell the next generation about them.
(12) “So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done?”
• So in one hand he is holding “wisdom”
• And in the other hand he is holding “madness and folly”
And he sees them as the 2 great temptations of life
Which men continually pursue as the means of finding satisfaction.
And he knows that the person coming after him
Will LIKELY PURSUE one or both of them as well.
“for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done?”
This is what Paul was talking about when he brought up the past failures of the children of Israel.
• He mentioned how they craved evil
• He mentioned how they were idolaters
• He mentioned how they acted immorally
• He mentioned how they tried the Lord
• He mentioned how they grumbled
And Paul told us about them
Because he knew something about the way the tempter works.
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man…”
That is to say nothing has changed.
All the way back in the garden
Satan was tempting men with KNOWLEDGE and PLEASURE.
Genesis 3:4-6 “The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Well the Preacher knows that too.
He knows that wisdom and folly are the two great offers of the salesman and he knows that he’ll offer them again to the man who comes after him.
Now, what you are seeing is the FIRST APPEARANCE of the Preacher’s CONCERN ABOUT HIS LEGACY.
• He has already started thinking about what is coming after him.
• He has already started thinking about the temptations the next King will face.
And his objective is to build a legacy
By basically steering humanity in the right direction.
SO HE’S GOING TO COMPARE WISDOM WITH FOLLY.
Well, what was his epiphany?
What was his revelation?
(13-14a) “And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.”
So in all his searching he did come to one conclusion.
If you must choose between wisdom and pleasure, which should you take?
Wisdom.
• It’s better.
• It’s better like light is better than darkness.
• It’s always better to know where you are going than to be clueless.
And we have no problem with that.
• No one applauds ignorance as a virtue.
• No one applauds foolishness as a desirable trait.
If I read Ecclesiastes 2:13 anywhere in the world
It would be the general consensus that it is true.
“wisdom excels folly”
And if we had the time we could insert the entire book of Proverbs here
As that is precisely the point made there.
Proverbs 3:13-26 “How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver And her gain better than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways And all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who hold her fast. The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, By understanding He established the heavens. By His knowledge the deeps were broken up And the skies drip with dew. My son, let them not vanish from your sight; Keep sound wisdom and discretion, So they will be life to your soul And adornment to your neck. Then you will walk in your way securely And your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden fear Nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes; For the LORD will be your confidence And will keep your foot from being caught.”
“wisdom excels folly”
• If you’re going to pick one or the other, obviously pick wisdom.
• If you’re going to college and you are offered there both an education and a good time, then by all means take the education.
No one argues with that, and certainly Scripture affirms it.
But even in that obvious evaluation
There was something else the Preacher learned,
And this is what is going to crush him.
(14b) “And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.”
And all of a sudden we jump right into
What is the ultimate futility and even insanity of life.
Take two young men,
• Both of them about to graduate high school.
• They are both offered the same two temptations of wisdom and pleasure.
“Young Man A” chooses wisdom and knowledge
• He goes to college and takes his studies seriously.
• He graduates with a high average
• He becomes an expert in his field
• He makes good decisions about life
• He succeeds in life’s endeavors
“Young Man B” chooses pleasure and folly
• He goes to college and skips class
• He stays out late partying and drinking
• He fraternizes with girls and sows plenty of wild oats
• He eventually drops out of college
• He spends his life paycheck to paycheck working a manual labor job
WHO WON?
Well the world tells you “Young Man A” won by leaps and bounds.
But did you catch what the Preacher said?
NOBODY WON, THEY TIED.
“one fate befalls them both.”
• How can that be?
• How can you say they tied?
• How can you say they all ended up dead even?
• We just said that it is obvious in the world and everywhere else that wisdom is way better than folly.
• We just said that wisdom was better than folly like light was better than darkness.
So how can you now say that they both end up in the same place?
Well let’s keep listening.
His Epiphany
#2 HIS ENIGMA
Ecclesiastes 2:15-16
An enigma is a mystery;
It is something that is hard to understand or explain.
And here is his.
(15a) “Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?”
Did you catch the riddle?
“Why then have I been extremely wise?”
• What is the point if we both end up at the same place?
• What is the point if there is really only one fate?
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”
We learned it way back in the garden; all men die.
• You can go to school and you can learn all there is to know.
• You can graduate at the top of your class.
• You can have all sorts of intellectual breakthroughs in your field of study.
• You can turn that education into success and wealth and prestige.
And you will still die just like the kid who learned nothing.
WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE CANNOT DEFEAT DEATH.
Think about it.
• Despite all our research and scientific advancement.
• Despite all our understanding of diseases and medication.
• Despite all our innovation of medical machines and procedures.
• Despite all our knowledge about diet and exercise.
• Despite all our investment in safety and precaution.
• Despite all our focus on prevention and testing.
Death remains our nation’s number 1 killer.
Wisdom cannot stop death.
If you believe in the sovereignty of God you know
It can’t even delay death.
Psalms 139:16 “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”
IT IS THE SIMPLE TRUTH THAT DEATH IS COMING.
And it is indiscriminate.
• Death hits the wise and the foolish
• Death hits the moral and the immoral
• Death hits the cautious and the reckless
• Death hits the healthy and the sick
• Death hits the young and the old
• Death hits the hard working and the lazy
• Death hits the famous and the insignificant
• Death hits the useful and the useless
• Death hits the family man and the bachelor
• Keep going…
And this realization punched the preacher right in the gut.
“Here I thought that I was really doing something by pursuing wisdom, but in the end that wisdom could not keep me from dying.”
“Why then have I been extremely wise?”
But listen, IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT avoiding death here.
There’s a BIGGER FRUSTRATION here that the preacher is feeling.
(16) “For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die!”
Do you see the issue?
• It’s not just that wisdom couldn’t keep him from death.
• It’s that wisdom couldn’t even keep him from being forgotten.
Through wisdom he couldn’t escape death,
But he also couldn’t protect his legacy.
HE HAD NO CONTROL OVER IT.
• “no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool”
• “all will be forgotten”
How many people in here recognize these names?
(just raise your hand if you know who this person is. Don’t answer Peggy, just raise your hand if you know them)
Zachary Taylor
Chester Author
John Tyler
Benjamin Harrison
William Harrison
Those men were all presidents of the United States.
How about this guy?
Martin Cooper
• I promise you that our culture is captivated by the work of Martin Cooper.
• Teenagers wonder how their lives would have ever existed without his
accomplishments.
Martin Cooper invented the cell phone.
Sure there are exceptions to the rule.
There are some famous people or wise people that we haven’t forgotten.
Solomon is one of them.
But by in large, the truth remains
“there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool”
Not only can you not escape death,
But you can’t even create your legacy.
Our culture is filled with broken records and forgotten feats
• Massive buildings and structures that once were a testimony to their architect have long since been torn down.
• Fortunes built through enterprise blown by future generations.
Or think about this, it is especially relevant in our current culture.
• Men who history remembered as great men, and how easily that history can be rewritten to see those great men as evil.
• Did you ever think you’d live to see the day when George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or even Abraham Lincoln would be considered racist?
• Did you ever think you’d live to see the day when Mt. Rushmore was under attack?
Even a legacy is not safe.
• I don’t care how wise you are.
• I don’t care how much you accomplish.
• I don’t care how much good you think you are doing.
YOU CANNOT PROTECT IT.
Because you will die and you will be forgotten.
The history of this church
• Shows 24 men served here as Pastor before me,
• And if you can name 10 that means you’ve probably been here your whole life.
• Men who served God’s people in this church and they are forgotten.
• Someday my name will move up that list into oblivion as well.
And as the Preacher contemplated that
It broke his spirit and he cried, “Why…?”
WHAT’S THE POINT?
So the preacher figured out that wisdom is indeed better than folly,
But the sad part is that it’s not enough better
To keep you from death or from being forgotten.
Does that hit you sort of sideways?
• Were you under the impression that all your studies and wisdom and labor were worth more than that?
It crushed the Preacher.
His Epiphany, His Enigma
#3 HIS EMOTION
Ecclesiastes 2:17-21
It just threw him into a pit didn’t it?
• (17) “So I hated life…”
• (18) “Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor…”
• (20) “Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor…”
• All of a sudden he hated his education.
• All of a sudden he hated all his work.
• All of a sudden he hated all his accomplishments.
THERE WAS NO BENEFIT TO THEM.
At the end he was still no better off than the lazy, foolish, drunken bum.
They all ended up the same place – DEATH & OBLIVION.
(17) “So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.”
That is a pretty good pit he just fell into wasn’t it?
REMEMBER THAT
He is here talking about all that “which had been done under the sun”
Remember the differing perspectives.
• There is under the sun and there is above the sun
• There is under heaven and there is in heaven
And when he talks about
All the labors and dreams and ambitions and efforts DONE IN THIS LIFE
He realized that “everything is futility and striving after wind.”
THINK ABOUT IT.
• Can anything you do here cause you to skip death?
• Can anything you do here guarantee you’ll be remembered?
• How many of you know the name of your great-great grandfather?
See how fleeting it all is?
And HE’S NOT DONE lamenting, not by a long shot.
There’s more to hear that we’ll talk about next time.
But this morning it is enough that
You understand the truth about your earthly existence.
As you know we take our high school students to Glorieta, NM for Camp REGEN every year.
Well we recently found out that this year’s theme passage is
Psalms 90:12.
Psalms 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”
Psalms 90 was written by Moses and in that Psalm he contemplates
• The temporary nature of human life,
But then he says:
Psalms 90:3-6 “You turn man back into dust And say, “Return, O children of men.” For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades and withers away.”
Do you hear Moses talk about how transient and fragile life is?
He compares us to grass.
And so he says “teach us to number our days”.
That is to say: give us some perspective here.
Well that is what the Preacher just poured out on your head.
He just dumped out a 5 gallon bucket of perspective on us.
• You are the hamster in the wheel…
• You are the goldfish in the bowl…
• There is a real temporariness to our lives…
• Sure wisdom has value, this life will be better for you if you live it wisely
instead of foolishly…
• Sure knowledge and hard work and morality are virtuous things that can
make this life better…
Basic wisdom and proverbs says that the hard working humble wise man
Is going to have a better life than the lazy stubborn fool.
We are not discounting that.
You clean your house and wash your clothes,
Not because it will last forever,
But because it makes today more enjoyable.
There is truth there.
But what has the preacher frustrated is that none of it lasts.
• It’s all temporary.
• None of it can stop death.
• None of it can preserve your legacy.
Regardless of what you do on this earth,
You will die, and this earth will forget you.
Genesis 3:19b “For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
THAT’S THE TRUTH.
And as I said the preacher has much more to talk about here,
But we always want to end with a gospel perspective as well.
The problem explained here by the Preacher
Is a problem that is solved in Jesus.
The Preacher looked at the wise and the foolish and lamented that they shared the same fate:
• (14b) “And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.”
• (15) “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me.”
• (16) “And how the wise man and the fool alike die.”
That was his enigma, his mystery, his riddle.
Namely that the fool and the wise man both die.
But when we listen to Jesus, we have the solution to the problem.
In fact Jesus took the story a little further.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 7:24-27
There we see our two men again.
• We see the wise man.
• And we see the fool.
• Both men built houses, both men lived life.
• Both men faced death.
That’s what the storm is there, it’s death.
Death came for the wise man and the fool just like the Preacher said.
However, we learn from Jesus that one man survived the storm.
It was the wise man.
But it wasn’t because he had great knowledge,
But rather that he had obedience and faith.
Here we see the wise man who heard the words of Jesus
AND acted on them.
He built on the rock, who incidentally is Christ.
The true wise man
• Wasn’t wise in worldly wisdom or secular knowledge.
• Wasn’t trying to avoid death, but was preparing for it.
The true wise man believed that Jesus had the answer for death
And so he tied his life to Christ
He built his house on the only thing
That was going to survive the coming storm.
If wisdom for you is a means to a good life and a lasting legacy
I’m sorry to disappoint you, it will do neither.
But if you will embrace the wisdom that leads to Christ
Then there is life found on the other side of death
And your legacy is the glory of Christ.
