Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Ecclesiastes 4 - Life Together

Episode Date: March 24, 2022

In this series, Jonny Ardavanis explore the main themes in the book of Ecclesiastes. Watch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artavanis and this is Dial In. I wanted to thank you guys for listening to the series. It's so cool to see how the Lord is using His Word across the globe. This study in Ecclesiastes is currently being streamed in over 90 countries, which evidences just a hunger for people to know the truth, and so I'm thankful for that. In this episode, we're going to be in Chapter four, and we're going to be looking at Solomon evaluating life under the sun and saying that there's only one way to truly experience joy in life. And we'll look at that through the lens of deep relationships and meaningful community. Let's dial in. All right, let's recap king solomon is the most powerful wealthy wise man in the world and he's

searching for meaning and satisfaction in a broken world and while he embarks on this tour with unlimited resources and unlimited power he is going to operate as our tour guide. And this tour that he leads us on is not being conducted in the sphere of hypothetical laboratories, but rather on the streets of the university of life. In chapter four, we are going to see him say in verses one, four, and seven, he says, I have looked again, I have seen in verse four, and then I looked again in verse seven, meaning that Solomon is making observations personally and then providing those observations for us here. He's not discussing his search or theoreticals of life at a round table with philosophers, but the realities of life are being discussed at coffee shops with everyday people as he himself searches

left and right, up and down for that which provides true and lasting meaning. After chasing satisfaction through intellectualism, pleasure, and productivity in chapter two, we read that Solomon's conclusion is that all of his pursuits were chasing after the wind. In chapter three, his perspective shifts a bit and he begins to describe the times and seasons of life. He is full of angst because even though he has all the pleasures money could buy and all the power that money affords, he ultimately doesn't have the wisdom or power to stop time. The clock ticks. Time is a relentless storm that wages on, and we are just a tiny boat on a wave that cannot be stopped. Solomon will say, there is a time for everything. And in chapter three,

he is going to realize that he is not the master of time, but there is one who oversees and ordains all the events that happen in time. But in the midst of this understanding, Solomon is going to acknowledge a reality in verse 11 of chapter three, that God has set eternity into the hearts of man, meaning somehow your soul, my soul remembers Eden and knows that we are created by an eternal creator and we are destined to live forever.

Now, as we come to chapter four, the thoughts that Solomon has to offer us seem more fragmented than that of the first three chapters. But there is a structure here that allows for us to listen to the words of Solomon under a general banner. A theme, if you will, is being highlighted and I wanna get to that in a moment. But first, I want you to think with me.

After concluding that your life, my life, Solomon's life is brief and unpredictable, and death won't consult your calendar, what is the logical ensuing question? What question comes next after owning the rapidity of your own life? Well, after coming to the realization that life is like sand slipping through your fingers, the question that follows is how do I live my short life well? This is a common question among students in college and recent retirees. What am I going to do with the remaining years of my life if they are indeed fleeting and fragile? Solomon is going to answer that question in this chapter, and he reveals that people are often and typically tempted to respond to the brevity of life

by living for themselves, as if their own dreams, plans, ambitions, goals are their main driving concern. But Solomon here is going to teach us, because there is a silver strand that connects all of these verses together. After Solomon concludes in chapter three, that time is something we do not control and that our lives are on loan from God. In chapter four, he will provide us with wisdom regarding how we can never steward life as a gift unless we share it with others. We can never steward life as a gift unless we experience deep and meaningful relationships. Solomon will explain that you can never have a life of meaning or happiness as long as you live for me, myself, and I. And although you may deny that you do, you only have to consider who you spend most of your time

thinking about in order to know that this is the natural instinct of the human mind, to be self-consumed. This is why the scripture details for us what loving God actually looks like. It looks like loving our neighbor as ourself because you need no help in thinking on and loving yourself. Now, in a moment, we're going to look at five deterrents to deep relationships in meaningful community. But before we do so, we are going to survey the synopsis that Solomon provides regarding man's relationship to his neighbor. And what you're going to see in verses one through three

is that man's relationship to his neighbor is broken. In verse one of chapter four, he says, then I looked again at all the acts of oppression, which were being done under the sun and behold, they saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them. And on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. So even though it is God's demand and God's desire for those whom he made in his image to love one another, Solomon will reveal that in verses 1 through 3, history reveals a common theme. Man oppresses man.

The world is full of exploitation and oppression. And you know that we live in a world of evil because there is oppression on every side. Just ask the countless kids today who are being abused or the Chinese people that live under a communistic regime or those in Ukraine running from their life seeking shelter in sewers, churches, and barns. Matthew Henry says, it grieves Solomon to see might prevail against right. Creation groans in Romans 8 because oppression abounds here in Ecclesiastes 4. Ecclesiastes begs us to consider that if we stop and stare at the world long enough without distraction,

we know that a man's relationship to his neighbor is broken. Now, throughout the remainder of the chapter, Solomon is going to provide for us five deterrents to deep relationships and consequently to true happiness. And then briefly at the end, we will look at what relationships provide. But this first deterrent to deep relationships in verse four is envy. He says, I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done under the sun is

the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after the wind. In chapter three, we saw man's desire to outdo nature. And in chapter four, we see man's desire to outdo his neighbor. One pastor alludes to the reality that you don't wear the clothes that you wear because you need them,

but because you needed someone else to see you wearing them. You probably didn't need the new iPhone. You probably didn't need a five-bedroom house. You probably wanted what someone else had or wanted someone else to want what you have. Possessions are not inherently bad, nor is money. It's not money that is the root of all evil, but the love of money, Paul will say.

But when possessions are fueled by envy, we have ourselves a recipe for isolation and consequently unhappiness. Proverbs 14 30 will say, a heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. But not only does envy rot the bones, it also deteriorates deep relationships. The wheels of life are driven by the competitive spirit. And Solomon knows this and draws our attention that you go to work to keep up with the Joneses and we drag others down to lift ourselves up or we lift ourselves up to bring others down. But Solomon will tell us, envy is what prevents us from sharing in one of the greatest joys of life, relationships. It's one thing for a friend to comfort you, but one of the surest ways of evaluating if

you have an envious spirit is by considering if you have ever found yourself truly rejoicing and celebrating other people's success. Any friend can share in your sorrows, but it takes a true friend to share in your joys and triumphs. Jealousy derails your chances of deep community because you will only be able to get to a certain level within your friendships as long as you have to pretend to be excited by the blessings in their life. Solomon bids us to consider envy is a cancer that eats away at your heart and destroys community. But not only is envy a deterrent to deep relationships, secondly, we will look at verse five and see that laziness is a deterrent. In verse five, Solomon says, the fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. Solomon bids us to consider a reality. You cannot love your neighbor if you are a lazy neighbor. Why? Because relationships take hard work. David Gibson says,

instead of embracing life and giving oneself to others, the lazy person gives himself to himself so that at the end of his life, all he has left is himself. There is no such thing as a guy or a woman who has deep community that isn't a proactive pursuer of people. I remember my dad first teaching me the motto, it takes a friend to be a friend. But this motto and this idea is lost in a culture where everyone thinks they should be pursued. But intimacy takes and requires hard work. No one stumbles into deep and meaningful relationships. They are fought for and they are worked for. Solomon will reveal that laziness is a way of hating your neighbor. The slugger gives his life to himself instead of embracing his life and giving himself to others. But not only is envy a destroyer of relationships and not only is laziness,

third, we will look at discontentment. In verse 6, Solomon says, one handful of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after the wind. On the other spectrum of idleness in verse 5 is the one who is perpetually discontent because he always wants more and can't live in the present because he only thinks of the possibilities of tomorrow. It's easy to think on what the future will bring if we achieve something new. But Solomon tells us that life is better with less if we have someone to share it with.

The enemy of community is wanting something we don't have and missing what's right in front of us. Many people miss the beauty of life by blaming their unhappiness on what they don't have. But not only do those people miss what God has intended for them, but they suck the joy out of every environment they live in. Solomon knows what it's like to feel discontent, the thought that you will arrive when you obtain. But those who are discontent never arrive because once they obtain what they sought out to obtain they will only want what's next which creates a vicious cycle of almost there the puritan

jeremiah burrow says we find contentment not by addition but by subtraction and gk chesterton will say there are two ways to achieve contentment. One is to accumulate more and the other is to desire less. Solomon business to consider discontentment destroys deep relationships and meaningful community. But fourth, we will see that busyness destroys relationships and community. In verses seven through nine, he says, then I looked again at vanity under the sun. There was a certain man without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother,

yet there was no end to all of his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches and he never asked, and for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure? This too is vanity and it is a grievous task. We'll stop there. People often seek independence by building their own kingdom and once they do, they live in it alone. Success at any price comes at a costly price. Solomon says you can spend everything to get to the top but lose everything of value along the way. So Solomon here

paints a picture for us. A man at the end of his life who has deep pockets, but has no deep friendships, which is vanity and striving after the wind. A man who has everything he wants, but no one to share it with, which is vanity and striving after the wind. A man who knows the price of everything, but the value of no one, which is vanity and striving after the wind. The Wall Street Journal agrees with scripture. The happiest people are those who spend their lives in deep community, not necessarily deep wealth. Life is a gift and those that enjoy the meal of all that is life, do it with others at the table. Remember, your life is on loan from God. He is the

one who grants breath and he is the one who will take it away. So with every breath, you will find more peace, happiness, and quietness for your soul if you live loving others instead of loving yourself. And Solomon says that busyness distracts us from this. Surely this busyness is not only for the person seeking occupational success, but also ministerial business as well. It is very possible to miss relationships and deep community by putting upon yourself the perennial pressure of accomplishing everything that's not currently being done ministerially. And although only God knows our hearts, one must consider if he lives for God's glory or if he chases his own legacy. Because Solomon will tell us that chasing after legacy is chasing after the wind.

Busyness often mutes the beauty of life because the beauty of life is most evidenced by the relationships in it. And busyness often suppresses depth. Of course, busyness itself is not bad. Paul will say that he wants to spend and be spent for the gospel and for the glory of God. But even Paul, the one who labored and gives us the analogies of living life as a farmer, soldier, runner, boxer, and slave, even he would describe

the rich relationships which he had with those whom he served beside. In Romans 16, he mentions 30 names that he greets with affection. In Romans 15, he says he longs and anticipates their company. In a world of social friendship, John the Apostle says in 2 John that he longs to see the brethren face to face. Busyness mutes the beauty of life because it's hard for us to live in deep relationships when we are consumed with everything else. But fifth and finally, Solomon will tell us in verse 13 that pride is a deterrent to deep relationships and meaningful community. And he paints a picture for us once again. He says, a poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king

who no longer knows how to receive instruction. Solomon tells us that it is impossible to have real relationships if you refuse to learn from others. The most difficult type of people to live with, work with, and befriend are those that think they have nothing to learn. Solomon says in verse 13, the delusion of self-sufficiency prevents someone from relying on those around him.

And without this dependence and trust that I need other people in my life, there's no deep community that can be formed. And this is why Proverbs 26, 12 says, do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them. So Solomon says that pride and a lack of teachability kills and destroys relationships. But not only does Solomon list these five deterrents to meaningful community, he will also give us three relational blessings that are a gift from

God. And I'll cover those briefly. And they're listed in verses nine through 12. In verses nine and 10, he says, two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion, but woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. First here, Solomon says that friendships provide perspective. He says that the road of life has many dangers, but friends both point out looming danger and they lift you out of trouble when you stumble. Secondly, in verse 11, he says, furthermore, if two lie down together, they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? Friendships, secondly, bring warmth to life, both in a real and figurative sense.

Relationships warm your life. What Solomon has in view here is that people traveling would often sleep close in order to provide warmth, but the warmth that companionship provides transcends the physical and implies to the enjoyment of everyday life. Solomon says, sometimes life is cold, and when you go through the storms and winters of life, have a friend close by. Last, third, and finally in verse 12, friendships supply strength. Solomon says, Solomon draws our attention to the reality that surely one man, the lonely traveler, can easily be overcome. But there is strength in numbers. There are many dangers of

living a life of isolation in the physical sense here, but Solomon will also describe the dangers of isolation in a spiritual sense in Proverbs 7. But the wise man and the happy man lives a life rooted in community that provides perspective, brings warmth, and supplies strength during our life under the sun. Stay dialed in.