Contemplating Your Legacy – Part 2
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26 (17-26)
May 30, 2021
This morning we come back to our study of Ecclesiastes.
The preacher, also known as the critic, is giving his review
Of everything that is done “under the sun”.
And his objective is to help the young man know the truth about life.
He began by addressing those two chief temptations that all men face.
• One is the MOST ESTEEMED – Knowledge
• The other is the MOST EMBRACED – Pleasure
But both are nothing more than a mirage.
Neither can provide true satisfaction or happiness in life.
• While knowledge is certainly to be preferred over pleasure knowledge lacks the ability to straighten what is crooked or to supply what is lacking.
• And pleasure, thought it can be quite enjoyable for a season, ultimately leaves you either frustrated or bored.
And, having given his life to searching out both of them,
The preacher has now left his review that
Neither knowledge nor pleasure are to be the sole pursuit of life.
LAST TIME WE MOVED ON as the preacher began to examine something else that eventually becomes important to men and that was his LEGACY.
We started working our way through this text.
#1 HIS EPIPHANY
Ecclesiastes 2:12-14
Very simply the preacher, with his legacy in mind,
Determined to compare wisdom with pleasure to see which was better.
And hands down he came to his answer.
(13) “And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.”
And we have no argument there.
• No one sees foolishness as a virtue.
• An education is a good thing.
• Certainly we prefer wisdom over pleasure.
But that WASN’T his epiphany, in fact everyone knows that.
His actual epiphany was much more disturbing.
(14) “The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.”
He was blindsided by the reality that in this world (under the sun)
The finish line for the wise man is the same as the finish line for the fool.
I’ve preached a lot of funerals
• I’ve preached the funeral of wise men and the funeral of fools.
• I’ve preached the funeral of rich men and the funeral of poor men.
• I’ve preached the funeral of the educated and the funeral of the uneducated.
AND IT IS AMAZING HOW SIMILAR THEY ALL ARE.
AND THE POINT IS THAT ALL MEN DIE.
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”
And even though knowledge is better than folly, no amount of wisdom or education can stop death.
Genesis 3:19 “By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
The epiphany of the preacher was that
It didn’t matter how hard he pursued wisdom,
In the end he would die and be buried just like the fool.
That was his epiphany.
#2 HIS ENIGMA
Ecclesiastes 2:15-16
And we saw the mystery that baffled him.
(15) “Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. WHY THEN HAVE I BEEN EXTREMELY WISE?” So I said to myself, “This too is vanity.”
Today we say, “Eat right, exercise daily, die anyway.”
Since both the wise man and the foolish man still end up at the grave
HE COULDN’T HELP BUT ASK HIMSELF:
“Why then have I been extremely wise?”
Was all my quest really accomplishing anything?
And that was bad enough,
But there was STILL ANOTHER THING that greatly grieved him.
(16) “For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as the wise man and the fool alike die!”
There is even no benefit to your legacy.
There is no guarantee you’ll even be remembered.
• And I read you a list of several US Presidents that not many people in here even knew.
• I gave you name Martin Cooper who invented the cell phone and no one in here knew who he was.
And we see that LEGACY IS A TRICKY and unpredictable thing.
For example:
The first idea of a flushing toilet was made by Sir John Harington of England which is why people speak of going to “Use the John”
In the late 19th century another inventor took the idea and ran with it creating a line of flushing toilets. His name was Thomas Crapper.
When American soldiers in England saw his name stamped on the toilets the name became slang for the toilet and even for using the restroom.
Legacy is tricky.
Well, the preacher has just figured that out.
Wisdom couldn’t keep him from dying
And wisdom couldn’t cause him to be remembered or remembered well.
The simple fact is “all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die!”
It is a sad and dark reality.
And that led us to the 3rd point which we just barely started examining.
#3 HIS EMOTION
Ecclesiastes 2:17-21
You see again there his 3 statements.
• (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…”
When he realized that all his efforts to obtain wisdom
• Could not make him righteous,
• Could not supply satisfaction,
• Could not keep him from death,
• And could not protect his legacy,
HE WAS CRUSHED.
He had undoubtedly figured himself
To be a little better than the average man by means of his wisdom
And on this day he learned that they were mere equals.
That type of humility is a hard pill to swallow.
And it crushed this preacher.
But let’s look a little deeper as to exactly WHY he was so bothered.
Here in verses 17-21 he actually shows us 3 reasons why he was so bothered.
1) WASTED LABOR (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.”
Imagine pursuing wisdom
With the expectation that it will make you better off than everyone else,
Only to find that it didn’t.
There is a real sense of injustice there that is hard to swallow.
I remember a recent undercover journalistic experiment where a journalist started interviewing college students on campus regarding socialism. When a particular student said they thought socialism was a good thing, the journalist then told them of the new university policy to use a socialistic grade averaging standard. The students were instantly infuriated.
That was a spoof, but life is eerily similar.
We think that if you study hard and work hard and if you push through the difficulties that life owes you success.
We actually get frustrated with people
Who seem to land in success without having to do the work.
But it is generally assumed that
• If you will go to college,
• And study hard,
• And make good grades
• Then you will get a good job and have a successful life.
BUT THERE IS NO SUCH PROMISE.
SOME PEOPLE STUDY HARD AND STILL FAIL.
AND even those who do manage to become successful in this life
Still face death and so ultimately there is no winning.
AND THE PREACHER WAS BOTHERED.
His work he says “was grievous to me”
Ever had work like that?
Ever had a job that was really, really hard?
You’re only means of justifying such hard work
Is that the payoff will be worth it.
But when you learn that the payoff isn’t worth it,
It just makes the work that much more bitter.
So now the preacher actually hated all the work he did.
• He saw it as a waste.
• He saw it as unnecessary struggle.
• He hated it.
That’s not the only reason he despaired.
2) ABANDONED ACCOMPLISHMENT (18)
“Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.”
When I was about a year old my parents bought the 50 acres
Where my mom now lives.
• It was a ½ mile off the highway so accessing it meant often times walking through the mud.
• Many nights around 2 in the morning my dad would come in from a horse sale and lead horses in the dark, through the mud to his land.
• Terrible Tuesday in Wichita Falls (a massive tornado) gave my dad and grandpa the opportunity to go and gather up debris from which they built a barn and pens.
• Over time he would salvage and gather to build fence, get farm equipment just to be able to turn that 50 acres into something he could use.
• He loved that barn, he loved that land.
Before he died, he was sitting in his back room looking out the window and he said,
“I’m just sitting here wondering who will own this land after I’m gone.”
Now he wasn’t in despair, he had long since determined he wanted a heavenly inheritance, but there is a certain sadness in a statement like that.
All that work, All that labor
And you leave and have no say over what happens next.
TO FURTHER PROVE THE POINT,
2 months after my dad died my mom painted that barn turquoise.
THE POINT IS someday you leave it all.
• Land, houses, barns, equipment, degrees, certificates.
• You take none of it with you.
Luke 12:13-20 “Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ “But God said to him, ‘ You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’”
It’s an important question.
“Now who will own what you have prepared?”
Psalms 49:10-12 “For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.”
Psalms 49:17 “For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him.”
1 Timothy 6:7 “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.”
That is what grieved the preacher; “for I must leave it”.
And that still isn’t the only thing that bothered him.
3) UNCERTAIN MANAGEMENT (19-21)
“And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil.”
• Perhaps if you knew that you were leaving your land to a son who could run the farm…
• Perhaps if you knew that you were leaving your business to a man who would care for your legacy…
BUT THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES.
The preacher was leaving all that he had accomplished
To the man who would come after him
“And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?”
And the ironic thing for Solomon was that his son was a fool.
The kingdom of Israel was never bigger and never more prosperous
Than when Solomon reigned as king.
• His son and heir to the throne was Rehoboam.
• When Rehoboam became king the northern 10 tribes approached him asking for relief from the hard service that Solomon had placed upon them.
• Rehoboam’s counselors advised him to listen to them and make the nation stronger.
• Rehoboam listened to his friends instead who encouraged him to show them his strength.
His answer:
1 Kings 12:11 “Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'”
What was the response of the northern 10 tribes?
1 Kings 12:16-19 “When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So Israel departed to their tents. But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.”
• The northern 10 tribes seceded from the union and the kingdom was split.
• The kingdom Solomon built was split.
• The temple Solomon built was used only by 1 tribe (Judah in the south)
It is what Solomon feared
(19) “And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.”
How can that be fair?
But it is real and it led the preacher to despair.
(20-21) “Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil.”
Can you wrap your mind around this?
It is important that you do.
We are talking about what is done “under the sun”.
We are talking about all you accomplish “under heaven”.
AND YOU DON’T GET TO KEEP ANY OF IT.
AND YOU DON’T GET ANY SAY OVER IT AFTER YOU’RE GONE.
It really forces a man to begin to ponder
Just what he is building or accomplishing.
Well the preacher did and it led him to despair.
And if this world is your treasure it will do the same to you.
His Epiphany, His Enigma, His Emotion
#4 HIS EVALUATION
Ecclesiastes 2:22-23
Here again we come to THE ACTUAL REVIEW.
“For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?”
Now he’ll actually answer that in a minute, but first you need to ponder it.
WHAT DO YOU GET FROM IT ALL?
And this has been a major point of the sermon of the preacher.
Ecclesiastes 1:3 “What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun?”
That is the same thing he’s asking here again.
“For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?”
• What is the profit?
• What is the benefit?
And he asks that “BECAUSE all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity.”
• Look at the man killing himself to obtain this world…
• Look at the man worrying endlessly about his stuff…
He is consumed by it.
We think of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 6:27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?”
There is just so much that is totally out of your control.
But you see the man who is killing himself
To obtain that which he can never keep,
And that which he will leave to someone else
Who may in fact ruin it all.
“For what does a man get..?”
What if you spend your life and you make your fortune and you store up a 401K and you have all your stuff.
• What happens when the government starts printing money and writing checks it can’t cash and inflation takes over and your dollar is no longer worth anything?
• Of even if your retirement doesn’t run out and you amass a fortune that is still in tact when you die, but your heir determines to invest it all in Bitcoin or something else and it all poofs away?
When Corenelius Vanderbuilt (the shipping and railroad mogul) died he was worth an estimated 95 million dollars (roughly 3 billion in today’s terms).
By the 4th generation it was all gone.
What did he get for all his work and all his worry?
And you know the answer.
NOTHING
So do you see the preacher’s evaluation?
Do you see the critic’s review?
“This too is vanity.”
• It’s a mirage
• It’s a mist
• It’s smoke
Men work hard and worry hard and push themselves to win at life, But in the end they leave it all.
And their legacy vanishes like smoke.
• Are you really going to spend your life trying to build something that lasts only on earth?
• Are you really going to spend your life trying to store up something that must stay on earth when you leave?
• Are you really going to be a man who has many possessions but is not rich toward God?
THAT IS THE QUESTION.
How foolish to be a billionaire on earth and a pauper for eternity.
The preacher saw his life’s work and saw that it was a vapor.
• It vanished
• It poofed away
• Like a morning cloud it was quickly gone.
You need to learn that in your pursuits of life.
Now, there is one more point that the preacher makes here.
#5 HIS EXHORTATION
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26
Now, in verse 22 he asked, “What does a man get in all his labor..?”
Well here in verse 24 he actually answers that question.
(24) “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.”
So what is the answer to the question?
“What does a man get in all his labor?”
AND THE ANSWER IS: he gets the momentary satisfaction of that labor.
DID YOU PLOW THE FIELD? Well you get the momentary satisfaction of looking at that plowed field.
DID YOU PAINT THE HOUSE? Well you get the momentary satisfaction of looking at the painted house.
DID YOU MOP THE KITCHEN FLOOR? Well you get the momentary satisfaction of a clean kitchen floor.
And I don’t know how that hits you, but it’s true.
There IS satisfaction in your labor in this life.
And you SHOULD enjoy those things.
IN FACT, there is even evidence that in some ways
God even shows favor and blessing in this way to those who love Him.
Verse 26 is sort of a proverb.
• I remind you it’s a proverb and not a prophecy because if you turn a proverb
into a prophecy you will wreck your faith.
• A prophecy is always true all the time.
• A proverb is generally true much of the time but there are always exceptions.
(26) “For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.”
Solomon has noticed this before.
Proverbs 13:22 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”
What is the preacher’s point?
• That there is a benefit to all your labor and striving.
• There is a reward.
• There is even a reward from God in this life.
That is NOT TO SAY every good man gets rich and ever bad man loses his fortune, we understand the flaws in the prosperity gospel.
The preacher is just merely pointing out that
There IS a reward for your labor on earth, and it is a reward FROM GOD.
• If you plow your field and are able to enjoy it, that is a gift from God.
• If you are able to paint your house and you like it, that is a gift from God.
• If you mop your floor and enjoy how it looks, that is a gift from God.
There IS satisfaction there.
Just know that it is a temporary and fleeting satisfaction.
IT IS DESIGNED THAT
• You can get NO eternal satisfaction from plowing a field.
• You can get NO eternal satisfaction from painting a house.
• You can get NO eternal satisfaction from mopping a floor.
WHY?
(24) “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good.
And incidentally, DON’T read that statement like one of infinite bliss,
• Like when you sit on your porch in a cool summer evening and say, “It just
don’t get not better than this.”
That’s NOT what he’s saying.
He is saying, “I’m glad you enjoy this, because there is “nothing better” coming.”
• This is the treasure.
• This is the reward.
It’s sort of like when Jesus told the Pharisee
Who loved men’s applause for praying or giving or fasting.
Jesus said, “You have your reward in full.”
That’s what the preacher is saying.
There is “nothing” more than the momentary pleasure you feel right now.
WHY?
“This also i have seen that it is from the hand of God.”
Because God designed it that way.
All of the actions and labors on earth.
• God has permitted there to be temporary pleasure and satisfaction in those things.
But God has also designed it that
There can be no eternal pleasure or satisfaction in those things.
WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?
(25) “For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?”
Do you know why God will not allow the labors of this life to satisfy you eternally?
Because God demands that only He be the source of eternal satisfaction.
We go back to that great Psalm 73 where Asaph learned how fleeting the wealth of the world is, and we listen again to his statement.
Psalms 73:25-28 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”
Do you hear him?
Nothing in this life satisfies for eternity.
“Whom have I in heaven but You?”
We might also ask, “WHAT have I in heaven but You?”
And the answer is: NOTHING
I so wish that I could get this through the head of our culture.
People who think heaven is about all the great stuff they’re going to enjoy.
There is ONE ATTRACTION in heaven…ONE
It is Jesus Christ.
He is an attraction of such greatness that the inhabitants of heaven
• Never tire of His presence,
• Never grow weary in His worship,
• And never desire even for a second to go and do anything else.
Revelation 4:8 “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
HE IS THE ATTRACTION!
God has ordained it that way.
All glory is His for all eternity.
God will permit you
To have momentary enjoyment in what you accomplish on this earth;
That is actually a gift from God.
But if you try to squeeze any more enjoyment out of it than that,
You will be disappointed for God has ordained
That He and He alone will be the source of eternal satisfaction.
And this of course is where we hear the preaching of Jesus ringing loud and clear.
Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
• Do you hear Him talking about how it is all fleeting?
• Do you hear Him telling you that it won’t last?
Matthew 6:31-33 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Listen young man; listen old man.
STOP PURSUING THAT WHICH YOU CANNOT KEEP
AND START PURSUING THAT WHICH IS THE TRUE RICHES INDEED.
Let me give you another story from Jesus to close.
TURN TO: LUKE 14:15-24
Did you hear that?
• “I need to go out and look at” my land.
• “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out”
• “I have married a wife”
Now, let’s be clear.
Those ARE all enjoyable things.
• Who ever bought land and didn’t enjoy looking at it?
• Who ever got a new car and didn’t enjoy driving it?
• Who ever got married and didn’t want a honeymoon?
All those things are designed as a temporary gift from God in this life.
But to make the acquisition of those things
More important than the one true treasure which is Christ
Is the epitome of foolishness!
You must understand that there is only One who is truly worthy of pursuit
There is only One true treasure.
Every other treasure and pursuit will leave you empty.
• Wisdom
• Pleasure
• Even a legacy
None of them can satisfy.
Only Christ – LISTEN TO THE PREACHER YOUNG MAN.
