Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Ecclesiastes 2 - The Pursuit of Pleasure

Episode Date: March 3, 2022

In this series, Jonny Ardavanis explore the main themes in the book of Ecclesiastes. Follow along as Solomon searches for meaning and significance in a world of futility and brokenness.Watch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artavanis and this is Dial In. In this series, we're looking at the main themes in the book of Ecclesiastes. And in this episode, we're going to see that in Solomon's pursuit of pleasure, it ultimately doesn't satisfy and doesn't fill the void within his soul. Let's dial in. So in the previous episode, we were introduced to our preacher king, Solomon. He is on a search, a search for meaning and significance and satisfaction in a world where all share the same destiny. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, as the saying goes,

because dust is the destiny of all men. So no matter how high Solomon ascends, he knows that he will ultimately and inevitably descend six feet under like everyone else. Rich, poor, talented, and ordinary all come to the same end. Death is the great equalizer. And although Solomon is financially rich beyond measure, he is questioning whether his life will be bankrupt of any lasting significance beyond the moment. So Solomon's quest continues. There must be more in this life, Solomon says, than the mere living of it. Now in this section, from the end of chapter one through the end of chapter two,

we are going to see that Solomon is going to pursue meaning in three different spheres. These three pursuits that we will observe in this section, although 3,000 years ago, are the same pursuits in which people attempt to fill the void within them today. These three spheres that Solomon will chase are number one, intellectualism, number two, pleasure, and number three, productivity. And on his pursuit of happiness, Solomon will conclude after traveling down each of these different paths that intellectualism, pleasure, and productivity in of themselves are dead-end streets and do not satisfy the soul. I want to look first with you at the dead end street of intellectualism. In chapter 1, verses 12 through 18, Solomon says in verse 13, and I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom about everything that has been done under heaven. So the first path that he is going to pursue is

the intellectual one. Solomon believes that the answer to his deep-seated angst might be found in growing knowledge. He says, I devoted myself to study and to explore wisdom. So before he becomes a party animal, Solomon is going to take the highbrow route of intellectualism and increase in wisdom and knowledge like no one before him. And with a pile of books and a group of scholars to discuss art and culture, language, politics, nature, and philosophy, Solomon will endeavor with all of his God-given wisdom to maximize all that can be learned under the sun.

Because Solomon's assumption is that if ignorance is our greatest enemy, then the only way that we can solve for meaning in this life is by enlarging our education. I want you to picture with me the degrees that hang on every single wall and every single inch of Solomon's massive castle. And I want you to picture these degrees as I read 2 Kings 4 verses 29 through 34. It says this regarding Solomon's wisdom. It says, He spoke 3,000 proverbs and his songs numbered 1,005. He spoke about plant life from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish.

And from all the nations, people came to listen to Solomon's wisdom sent by all of the kings of the world who had heard of his wisdom. Solomon, Solomon, the world says, share with us your knowledge, a true Renaissance man with any subject, with any person, and in any language, everyone is flocking to hear the wisdom of Solomon. A couple things to note. Currently on Google, when I type in how did the E and stop there with a blinking cursor after the letter E, the first pre-populated question that appears underneath is how did the Egyptians build the pyramids? This is a question that has puzzled archaeologists and engineers for thousands of

years. How did they build the chambers and haul the massive slabs of stone? And from an engineering perspective, the Egyptians are applauded for theabs of stone. And from an engineering perspective, the Egyptians are applauded for the complexity of their architecture and the modernity in their culture. But listen to the summary that it says in verse 30 of 2 Kings 4. It says, Solomon's wisdom was greater than all of the wisdom of the east and all of the wisdom of Egypt. Second Kings four tells us that he wrote 3000 Proverbs. We have 31 of them in the Bible. It says he wrote 1005 songs. We have one of them appropriate called the songs of Solomon. But in his pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, Solomon is going to realize that wisdom itself can never

answer the craving for meaning. Why? Because Ferguson states, because information in the mind cannot of itself satisfy the needs of the heart, nor can it tame the unruliness of the soul. And we see the same reality today. We live in the most educated society in human history and the questions we can ask of our own environment like, are we more satisfied than before? Are we happier? Has the hunger for meaning been satisfied? Ferguson says to ask the question is to answer it. In our own education-obsessed culture, we have more expressions of crime, greed, violence, and fear than ever. The most educated sinners do the most damage. An education may fill the mind, but it cannot tame or cleanse the soul.

Education alone has no power to purify and has no ability to satisfy because it cannot untangle the web that is the human heart, and it cannot provide for what is lacking in the soul. Solomon says, The more I learned, the sadder I became. Not only can the wisdom of the world not satisfy, says Solomon, but what we see is that the most intelligent and most educated individuals are typically those that are the most tortured internally.

Solomon will agree that wisdom is better than folly, but he says in Ecclesiastes 2.13 that the same fate will overtake them both. Wisdom alone cannot satisfy. Culture calls you down this dead-end street. Pursue the wisdom of the world, the complexities of life. Then, then there is pleasure. But Solomon says, I've tried that route. I was the wisest man in the world. Everyone flocked to hear my wisdom people from all over the world, but it's a dead end street. It doesn't satisfy. So Solomon runs down one dead end road and then leads him down another. So first the dead end street of intellectualism and secondly, the dead end road of the pursuit of pleasure. Turning from intellectualism, Solomon now says that he will in verse 13 also know folly and in verses one through three of chapter two, he will say that he will pursue pleasure.

He said, I said to myself, come now and I'll test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself and behold, it too was futility. He said, I said of laughter, it is madness and of pleasure. What does it accomplish? I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely and how to take hold of folly until I could see what good there was in the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives. Solomon takes the path of hedonism. He says, I'm going to escape through unrestrained and unrestricted pleasure, parties, laughter, madness, alcohol, and oh yeah, women, lots of women. First, I want to look at the parties with you. Solomon was a party animal, and I want to read for you the provisions that were necessary

for one of these parties. You might not understand the measurements being stated, but hang with me. 2 Kings chapter four, verses 21 through 23. And Solomon ruled over all of the kingdoms from the Euphrates river to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon's subjects all of his life. Now listen to this verse 22. Solomon's daily provisions were 30 cores of the finest flour Now you might not be a farmer and you might not understand what's going on here, but from conservative estimates, these provisions daily would feed as much as 20,000 people a night. Solomon was throwing absolute ragers for years on end. No DJ necessary to bump the music. Solomon would buy the bands, in-house entertainment, everyone's invited. Come and let's party like there's no tomorrow. But not only was this man a party animal, he was a ladies' man.

1 Kings 11 verse 3, Solomon had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines, and his wives led him astray. Hugh Hefner was known for having six girlfriends in the playboy mansion. Solomon says, I got married to six women last month. Parties, women, and then Solomon says he sought out in his heart to seek laughter. Laughter is good medicine. Solomon will say this himself in Proverbs 17, 22. He loves to laugh and maybe you love to laugh. Life is so serious and laughter is good, but a good laugh doesn't last. Notably, the most comedic personalities of our previous century are those that have been identified as the most depressed. And Solomon will testify to this, but I want you to just examine with me some of the most comedic influences

of the last 50 years. John Belushi, known as one of the funniest men in the 20th century and one of the seven founding cast members of Saturday Night Live, shortly after starring in the movie Blues Brothers, was found dead after overdosing on a drug combination of cocaine and heroin called Speedball. The comedian that looked up to John Belushi the most was a character you would likely know. His name was Chris Farley, and he was known as this comedic disciple of Belushi. And although he was often celebrated as the funniest man in the world, Farley, like his hero Belushi, would die at the same age due to the same drugs. Drugs that he had used for many years to mask a yearning within him, because Farley himself would say that when the roar of laughter dies down, the silence is a terrifying sound.

Robin Williams, the star of many movies and the cause of much of the laughter of my childhood, would say this. I think the saddest people always try the hardest to make people happy because they know what it's like to feel absolutely worthless and they don't want anyone else to feel like that. Robin Williams, one of the greatest comedians of all time, would take his life at the age of 63 in his coastal California home. Laughter is good medicine, but it cannot alone satisfy the soul. And Solomon draws our attention to the reality that culture cries. And after years of searching for the next laugh, party after party, comedian after comedian, Solomon will tell us that a good cry is better than a good laugh.

Why? Because Ferguson notes, because life is no laughing matter, or because we see some things more clearly when our vision has been cleansed by tears. We live in a culture obsessed with entertainment and humor. But Solomon says, I've pursued the path of laughter. It's a dead end street and not the prescription for lasting joy. But not only will he pursue parties and women and laughter, he will also say then he will pursue alcohol. He said, I tried to cheer myself with good wine. Now there's nothing wrong biblically with wine in of itself, but Solomon is going to use wine to try and buoy himself from the pit of emptiness.

Hoping that wine would function as a stimulant for a life of joy, Solomon would soon realize that much wine functions as a depressant, a drain on lasting joy. And like the drug addict, it would only leave him wanting and craving more. Solomon would spend many years of his life looking at the back of a bottle. But every time he tries to dull his senses with another bottle, he is reminded of the emptiness of today, and he is then reminded of the angst of tomorrow. Alcohol became a form of escapism for Solomon, but he, like others before him and others after him,

have learned that flight from life brings no answers, because pleasure-seekers are not pleasure keepers and the way of the hedonist disappoints. And after tasting the pleasures that the world had to offer, Solomon feels more empty than when his search began because none of them have satisfied his soul and he has no pleasures left to taste. So Solomon pursues the dead end streets of intellectualism, then the dead end street of pleasure. And then third and lastly, he pursues the dead end street of productivity in verses four through eight of chapter two. Let me just read this for you. He says, I enlarged my works. I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards for myself. I made

gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them for myself. I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and I had slaves born at home. I also possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. I amassed for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of the sons of mankind, many concubines. Solomon, after looking for meaning as a party animal and as an alcoholic, will grope for meaning in this world as a workaholic. And yet we will see again that he will be bitterly disappointed. Although 3,000

years before our time, the sentiment of Solomon's words seems strikingly similar to a successful businessman's musings and struggles on the sofa of a therapist. Did you notice in verses four through six that for myself is repeated five times. Solomon is not doing this for great and grandiose motives for helping the community. He just comes out and tells you, I did these things for me, for personal gratification, to try to fill the meaning or the void of meaning in my soul. There is some sort of pride and permanence

when you build homes. And this is what Solomon is going to do. He's going to build a home for himself that takes him 14 years to build. It only took him seven to build the temple. And then he is going to build homes for all 1,000 of his women. Because something happens to the soul when you work outside all day and you step back and you look and evaluate and you go, dang, I did that. And Solomon is going to do this with homes.

And then he's going to build and design and plant and garden. And you may be wondering what to do with the little patch of grass in your backyard, but Solomon was trying to figure out what to do with the back 1,100 acres. So he's going to plant a forest and then he's going to dig wells and pools

to nourish those forests. And he single-handedly is going to engineer irrigation systems to waterish those forests. And he single-handedly is going to engineer irrigation systems to water his national parks. And he thinks to himself, I am going to leave a legacy. But productivity doesn't guarantee permanence. And no matter what he establishes, he knows that he will one day die. And eventually he will have to leave everything that he has done to someone that had nothing to do with his success. This is the drama of man and when we seek to find significance in our work in of itself we will never find it. Not only that the more wealth that we have the

more insurance we must buy to preserve it, and the greater achievements we obtain, the more tension and the more anxiety producing of insomnia. Sadly, many today have bought the same lies that Solomon believed, and he alone had the wisdom and the resources to pursue all these paths to the end and provide us with the necessary perspective. But Solomon is going to say, wisdom, pleasure, and productivity in of itself don't satisfy. It's like chasing the wind. It's like trying to grab a puff of smoke. It slips through our fingers. But the question is, why? Why do we seek pleasure? He will tell us in

the next chapter, and we will look at this once more when we get to the next episode, but he will tell us in verse 11 of chapter 3. He says, Solomon is saying that somehow our souls remember Eden, what it was like to be in the presence of God and to work and labor in a way that pleased God. And he says that our soul, at some deep level, we long to be filled in a way that God himself has designed us to be filled. But instead of filling it with God himself, we often scramble to fill it with the temporary and fleeting pleasures of the world. But Solomon says this never fills the chasm and never satisfies the soul.

Solomon is beginning to recognize that God cannot provide happiness outside of himself. He cannot provide meaning outside of himself because there is no such thing. A thousand years after our preacher king would express his frustration of pursuing the dead-end streets of the world, another preacher king would sit down with a woman at a well in John chapter 4, and this woman was seeking to fill the same void as Solomon. She was a woman who had sold her body for a place to stay, a woman who slept with many men, and she was an outcast. But this greater preacher king, Jesus Christ, would sit with this woman and tell her what Solomon would soon come to realize, that if you drink of the waters of the world, you will

thirst again because they do not satisfy. And Jesus would say, come to me and I will give you living water. I will satisfy your soul and I will fill the void within you. Jesus says, true lasting joy does not come in things. True lasting joy comes in me. I alone offer living water and I alone can fill the chasm within your soul. The search for meaning can only be satisfied in me. And Jesus says, come to me and be filled. Stay dialed in.