Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Ecclesiastes Explained: Finding True Fulfillment | Solomon's Wisdom | Brad Klassen & Jonny Ardavanis

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

Join Dr. Klassen as he unpacks the timeless wisdom of Ecclesiastes and its profound relevance for modern life. Discover how Solomon, the wisest and wealthiest man in history, found that true fulfillment comes only through the fear of God.Key themes explored:The purpose of life "under the sun"How to find meaning in a fleeting existenceUnderstanding death's role in shaping a meaningful lifeBalancing enjoyment and reverence for GodThe relationship between wisdom and the fear of GodFinding joy while living in a fallen worldBiblical perspective on adversity and prosperityDrawing from Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, learn why "fear God and keep His commandments" is more than just a conclusion—it's the key to living life to the fullest. Perfect for anyone seeking deeper understanding of life's purpose and how to find genuine satisfaction in a world of temporary pleasures.🎯 Biblical References:Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, Genesis 3:17-19, 1 Kings 4, Ecclesiastes 6-7Watch VideosVisit the Website Buy Consider the LiliesFollow on Instagram

Dr. Klassen, thank you for sitting down. I want to talk to you about the book of Ecclesiastes. When we look at Ecclesiastes, it's written largely, people assume, to be King Solomon. He says, I, Solomon, and he is the wisest and the wealthiest man in human history, you could say. He's got everything money could buy. He's got 300 wives could buy. He's got 300 wives and 700 concubines. He has every single woman he ever desired. And yet you find throughout the book that he is searching for satisfaction and yearning for significance. And he can't seem

to find it in anything under the sun. And you see that reoccurring theme. But I want to maybe, even as you're teaching through this with a large group of men, talk to us about the book of Ecclesiastes. Why is it so contemporary? Why is it so relevant to even what you see amongst many men today? What are some of the grand themes that emerge? And what are the main principles from the book that are helpful for us in even our modern context? Yeah, there's a lot there. And I'll try to answer all those questions, but certainly jump in and explain God. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah. Well, first of all, I do believe it was Solomon who wrote this. And I would say that there has never been a man so uniquely fitted for writing a book like this than Solomon. As you said, one who is gifted an incredible amount of wisdom. First Kings 4 says that he was wiser than anyone in the East. And the Lord had gifted him that insight, that knowledge. Secondly, he was one who had all that men would ever think that they need. He had the wealth.

He also had all the political power that one could want at that time. And he tried with pleasure in so many different ways as well. He was able to seen it all. He had experienced it all. was preserved by the Lord. He was able to be rescued from that and then leave us with this amazing book that deals with the heartaches and the challenges and the misconceptions and the wrong-headed pursuits that men and women so often get caught up with in this life. And when people talk about Ecclesiastes and the interpretive key or the approach to it, I like to remind them that Ecclesiastes, unlike what some critical scholars would say, is not just a random collection of different wise sayings. It is a book,

and it does have a framework, and it does have a conclusion that is that interpretive key. And you have the ending of the book expressed so well what the book is really all about. And that's verse 13 and verse 14 of chapter 12. The conclusion when all has been heard is this, fear God and keep his commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. Now, in that conclusion, Solomon is bringing together all these different themes that he's dealt with. Of course, foremost of that is the fear of God. Over and over, he comes back to that term again and again of fearing God. In fact, what is important to catch in Ecclesiastes is that wisdom has its limits, but fear of God is the ultimate virtue. Wisdom is useful.

It is important. It is necessary. But wisdom is something which really puts the emphasis on us. In some ways, it's like a human work. But one thing completely takes the accolades out of our hands, and that's the fear of God. Because at the end of the matter, as he says, our ultimate responsibility is not even about ourselves. The ultimate responsibility is to have that affectionate reverence for God and recognize who he is. He's sovereign, he's holy, he is righteous, and he is wise. In that fear, there is a humility that recognizes that in all of those things that God is, we

in and of ourselves are not. And that's crucial for understanding the contents of the book, but other things as well, keeping his commandments, because this applies to every person. And then he says in verse 14, for God will bring every act to judgment. One of the key themes of the book of Ecclesiastes is death. And over and over, Solomon reminds the reader that life under the sun, this mortal life that we live is actually relatively brief. It's a breath. It's fleeting in nature. He even calls it a few days under the sun, relatively speaking. Now, the problem with people today, and probably this is a struggle throughout humanity. Of course, we hate thinking about death

because death reminds us of sin. But in our generation in particular, a generation that is so characterized by wealth and comfort, ease, we hate thinking about death. We'll call it even a psychological disorder. It certainly can be. I'm not talking about obsessing over death. But one of the messages of Ecclesiastes, which is so important, is we have to think about death. Ecclesiastes is in many ways an exposition of Genesis 3, specifically of verses 17 to 19 of the thorns and the thistles and the dust of the ground and the fact that we will return to it. How do we live outside the garden? And for us to recognize life properly and to locate significance in the right place in God himself and that fear is to focus our thinking on that reality and to look at death and realize it's coming, and it doesn't do me any good to ignore it.

It's not going to help my life today to pretend death doesn't exist. That's the worst thing to do. And that explains all the deviancies of this generation is that they think death will not come. They'll find some way to subvert it. But Solomon wants us to realize death is going to come, and you can't prevent it. God sends it. He has brought it upon the human race. It's Genesis 3.19. But as fears of God, we need not be fearful of death. Instead, that acknowledgement of death allows us to say, how do I want to live my life? Knowing that even the righteous die young and that my life could be cut short, or even if I live a long life, so many other things in creation outlive me.

How do I order my life? I've got to think backward from that point. That's what Solomon wants us to do. And listen, anybody on their deathbed is not thinking about sexual gratification and gratification from all the fleshly things of life, they are thinking about the most important things. And Solomon says, think of yourself there and think about what will be most important to you then. And then think backward and start living like that now. And so what's important in this study is to get people to start thinking about their deaths and that that is important. Another related issue that Ecclesiastes raises is the problem of adversity. And in the middle of the book, Solomon deals with it in different ways, looking at it from different angles.

And he asks a couple of questions that are really important. One of them he asks in chapter six, he asks, who knows what is good for man? Who knows what is good for man? And he's dealing in that context with the idea that we always think we know what's good for us. And so we think that prosperity is good for us. We think gratification is always good for us. We think of all these different things that are good for us. And in that context, Solomon is saying, no, only God knows what is good for man.

Only God knows. And then he develops that further and he talks in chapter 7 about the things that God has bent, the crooked things. And he's not talking about morally crooked. He's talking about circumstances, more specifically about adversity. And he's saying that as a result of the curse which God has brought upon creation, creation groans. And even the righteous man will have days of prosperity and days of adversity. The days of adversity are the crooked things. And Solomon in that section, chapter 6, chapter 7 in particular, he helps us by avoiding two common responses to adversity. One of those approaches, we all know, it's the approach of the fool who says that since God is sovereign, he sent these adversities even on the righteous, then my moral actions don't even matter.

So why don't I just dive into sin? And that's not an option. But another option is that of more of the moralist. And the moralist or the striver, when he or she faces adversity, wants to figure it out. I just talked to somebody yesterday going through some pretty significant adversity. And the question from that person was, what sin have I committed that God would do this to me? I've examined my life. I can't find it. But, Pastor, can you help me find my sin? And if I find it, I can deal with it and I can be done with the adversity.

And I took them back to Ecclesiastes and said, you know, maybe you have committed sin. Maybe you're blind to it. But, you know, most of the adversity that we as Christians face is not even due to our sinful actions. These are the bent circumstances in a fallen world outside the garden. And the right response to all of it is not just to strive harder. It's not just to try and find the answer, to check off the boxes and think I can be done with it.

Solomon calls upon us to trust, to know that we're not able to handle the enigmas of life. And the way through it is not by avoiding it or by remedying it. It's by trusting. And Solomon helps with that so much because he doesn't answer all of the enigmas of life. This book is full of all these enigmas that Solomon raises time after time. What about this? What about that? What about this? And he keeps doing that to bring us to the end of ourselves to realize I'm not wise enough to answer or solve these things. I've got to fear God. I've got to trust. He knows what he's doing.

But then there's another emphasis in this book. And it's found in the Carpe Diem statements. You have these occasional statements that Solomon introduces to the flow of his argument where he says, enjoy life. Enjoy the life of your youth. Enjoy your work. Enjoy your food. The most basic things of life, Solomon is saying, look, you're going to have adversity. You're not going to have all the answers to the questions. In fact, you'll have very few. He says, life is challenging. You're going to die. So what do you do with your life? Do you just throw up your hands in the air? Do you go out into the desert, live an ascetic life? Do you eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die? No, you don't plunge or lean into sin, but you do steward your life.

Don't waste it. That even in life outside the garden, Solomon says, we have been given things to enjoy. And so live your life not seeking to solve all of life's dilemmas. You can't live your life not thinking that you're going to live forever. You won't in this existence, this form of existence. But in the life that you do have, as much of a vapor as it is, God has given you things to enjoy and to give him thanks in the midst of that. And that is part of

fearing God. So altogether, even though there's a lot of deep and heavy tones in Ecclesiastes, it is an optimistic book. Yeah. So it's interesting even when you maybe tether some of those themes that you're mentioning together. Solomon is looking for fulfillment in a fleeting life. He knows it's going to end. Yeah. And he's not going to consult his death day. His death day doesn't consult him. It's coming.

Yeah. And then he's also looking for fulfillment. And then there appears to be almost maybe a contrasting idea when he says the fear of the Lord is the key that unlocks the door of fulfillment that he's actually looking for. Yeah. So maybe just finally, because it appears to be contradictory in nature because fear and fulfillment appear to be antonyms. Yeah.

How do, in the mind of Solomon, in the word of God, and even to his kind of carpe diem, live hard, actually go hard, double down. How does fear and our fear of the Lord contribute to enjoying life in the here and now rather than the deprivation of joy? Yeah. And that is one of the key issues that Solomon deals with in this book, and that is looking at life the right way. He certainly does double down against the idea of seeking to enjoy things by finding the fulfillment and satisfaction in those things alone. Finding it's terminus there. That's right. He tells you that's not going to work.

Instead, things can be enjoyed only truly when fear of God is ultimate. So we enjoy these things like the wife of our youth and the work that we've been given and food and the things of this creation. We enjoy them rightly because we fear God, because we recognize who he is who has given us these things and to whom we give an account for these things. Even coming back to the conclusion of the book, for God will bring every act of judgment, everything which is hidden, whether good or evil. We have a stewardship and God has called upon us to enjoy these things rightly, but we can only truly do that when, first and foremost, our controlling, dominating way of life is all in orientation to God and who he is. And there is this fearful, reverent adoration. It's not fear that causes fight or flight. It is fear that is attractive. So a young child might fear and

should fear his father or mother, but that fear is what drives that little boy to be just like his dad. That's the kind of fear that is in view here. It is that reverent affection that causes us to bend in submission to the law of God, both the revealed law as well as the mysterious law, his providence. We bend to it. We recognize the circumstances, the adversities, that which God brings into my life, even an early death or sickness, illness, those things are from his hand. We bend to that. That is the ultimate. But we recognize as well that this God has given us these other things in life. He's given us our breath. He's given us our days. He's given us our work. And we are to live that to the max. We are not just to treat them as meaningless now that death will come

anyway. We are to run hard in life and enjoy what we do. Yeah, which is, I think, what you use the term optimistic. I think it's easy to look at the morbidity of kind of the way Solomon is presenting certain things, but then to interpret interpret even as we've talked before, scripture was scripture. We are broken people in a broken world, but it's Psalm 104 that God causes the grass to grow to feed the cattle so we can eat steak because he wants to make the heart of man glad.

And so I think that there's sometimes a lack of understanding that, yes, we're to live for the glory of God. We are ambassadors, but we're also harmonizing that we're a kingdom ambassador with a mission, with the privilege that God has extended to us as his children to enjoy our life and to live hard, as you're saying, and to the max. I like that. Yeah, in fact, in the history of the interpretation of Ecclesiastes, there's some very fascinating chapters.

In the early church, particularly beginning with Jerome, Ecclesiastes was treated as a pessimistic book and it was allegorized. And from that allegorizing came the basis for the whole asceticism. In fact, even those texts where it speaks about enjoy food and drink, that was taken to be a reference to the Eucharist. That changed with the Reformation. And in the history of interpretation of Ecclesiastes during the Reformation, a more literal approach was given. And it was as a result of a literal approach to the book of Ecclesiastes that the whole concept of vocation was rescued, that you can get married, you can work, you can even eat to the glory of God. And that was drawn from a literal approach to the teaching of Ecclesiastes. And out of that comes the whole Protestant work ethic and the whole Protestant view of marriage and the whole Protestant view of enjoying things.

But again, we can't let that leave the guardrails and delve off into the ditch of self-gratification without reference to that ultimate reference point of fearing God. Yeah. I love even that with the work ethic is, you know, William Tyndale, it says it may appear that doing dishes and preaching a sermon are different, but to God, there is no difference in regards to the ability to glorify him in that. And I love even kind of the harmonizing of all the different themes in Solomon. We are going to die. It's happening sooner than we think. And life's going to go on. You know, rivers are going to return to the sea. The sun's going to continue and we're going to die. And when all is said and done, it's happening sooner than we think, and life's going to go on. Rivers are going to return to the sea, the sun's going to continue, and we're going to die.

And when all is said and done, it's fear of God and keep his commandments. And so even that fear you mentioned of the awe of who God is as our Father is so important too. Not only the beginning of wisdom, it's the first rung of the ladder, but it's also the first rung in living a life that is truly fulfilling. That's correct. And so I'm thankful for the truth rung in living a life that is truly fulfilling. That's correct. And so I'm thankful for the truth of scripture in that regard and for your perspective. So thank you, Dr. Clausen. Oh, it's a joy. Thank you for the opportunity.