Vanity of Vanities, What is Vanity? (Ecclesiastes 1:1-11)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

We take some time now to go to God's Word, and

we're starting something new today. We're starting

a sermon series on the Old Testament wisdom book

of Ecclesiastes. So we're pausing our sermon

series through some of the miracles of Jesus.

We'll pick that up in a few Sundays to consider

the resurrection of Jesus, perhaps the greatest

miracle that there is. But for now, we go to

the book of Ecclesiastes. I'm going to introduce

the book today and go over some themes that are

in the first half of that chapter. We're looking

at verses one through 11 of chapter one. You

may not be as familiar with Ecclesiastes. If

you're looking for it, keep going past Job, past

Psalms, past Proverbs. And you'll run into Ecclesiastes.

If you see Song of Songs, you've gone just a

little bit too far. But this is an incredible

book. This is a useful book. This is a book of

wisdom. And I think it's very applicable for

our time. So we're going to spend quite a while

on this. But by way of encouragement today, as

we look at a book that may not be as familiar

to you, I want to offer you a quote from a very

good Bible scholar. named Sidney Gredanus. He

says this, Ecclesiastes may be the most difficult

biblical book to interpret and to preach. Sounds

good. Let's go for it. Ecclesiastes one, one

through 11. Please follow along and give attention,

for this is God's word. I read today from the

English Standard Version, the words of the preacher.

The son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of

vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities,

all is vanity. What does man gain by all the

toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation

goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains

forever. The sun rises and the sun goes down.

and hastens to the place where it rises. The

wind blows to the south and goes around to the

north. Around and around goes the wind, and on

its circuits the wind returns. All streams flow

to the sea, but the sea is not full. To the place

where the streams flow, there they flow again.

All things are full of weariness. A man cannot

utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing.

nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been

is what will be, and what has been done is what

will be done, and there is nothing new under

the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said,

See, this is new? It has been already in the

ages before us. There is no remembrance of former

things, nor will there be any remembrance of

later things yet to be among those. who come

after. The grass withers and the flower fades,

but God's word stands forever. Let us pray. Lord,

how we thank you for your wisdom and how we thank

you for your word and how we thank you for Ecclesiastes.

Lord, I ask that as we study this book that you

would give us great insight and application here

and that it would be the ultimate longing of

our hearts to always live for you. These things

we ask in Christ's name. Amen. You all probably

know fairly well or you've heard me or others

say it quite a bit. Westminster Shorter Catechism

number one. What is man's chief end? And the

answer, man's chief end is to glorify God and

to enjoy him forever. It's an incredible statement

of purpose. It's an incredible statement of meaning

for the Christian. Your job, your responsibility

is to glorify God with everything you've got.

Why is it then? that we come upon a book of meaning

like Ecclesiastes and we don't get something

like the Shorter Catechism. Why is it that when

we go to Ecclesiastes we have these words that

somehow don't give us the warm fuzzies inside?

This is a book of meaning and we want some sort

of a short pithy memorable statement that we

can utter, and yet the writer of Ecclesiastes

does not give this to us. Why? Why doesn't he

just come right out and say the gospel or something?

Zach S. Wine says, Ecclesiastes sounds like a

crazed man downtown. He smells like he hasn't

bathed. He looks like it too. And as we pass

by, he won't stop glaring at us and telling us

our lives are built on illusions and that we

are going to die. If you know the book of Ecclesiastes,

you probably agree with that statement. Ecclesiastes

is a very unique book. Do you remember in high

school, and some of you are there currently,

how you'd have superlatives? and you'd have the

most likely to succeed, you might have the best

athlete, the best dressed. Ecclesiastes would

get the most unique, I think, because it is a

unique book. And indeed, many people agreeing

with Zach S. Wein's statement here avoid the

book like the plague. They say this book is pessimistic.

I don't want to read it. They say, this book

is fatalistic. Can I give you a better istic?

Ecclesiastes is realistic. Ecclesiastes is realistic.

Look at verse two. Vanity of vanities, all is

vanity. This is one of the mottos of the book,

the most prevalent motto of this book. The word

there in the Hebrew, the word for vanity, is

Hevel. Hevel. One commentator says of this word,

Ecclesiastes is the only book whose interpretation

is controlled entirely by the meaning of one

word. The word Hevel. It's mentioned 78 times

in the Old Testament, but 38 times it's in this

book. Hevel? Now, what in the world does it mean?

Well, I'm reading out of the English Standard

Version, and many of you are as well. And so

you've heard the way that this is translated,

Vanity of Vanities. Anybody remember that song?

It goes back a ways. You're so vain, you probably

think this song is about you. That's not really

what this is talking about. This is not talking

about the mirror. that maybe you have in your

house, ladies, and you sit in front of it, and

you do your hair, and you make up a vanity mirror.

That's not really what this is about. Years ago,

when the Latin Vulgate came about, this word,

hevel, was translated into Latin with this word,

vanity. I think it's vanitas. It doesn't mean

that. What are some other translations? Today,

you might be reading out of the NIV or the NLT.

And so the word that is used in the NIV, I believe,

is meaninglessness. Meaninglessness. All is meaninglessness.

Is that a good translation? Well, I think the

translators of the NIV would say so, but when

I look at the book of Ecclesiastes, I see incredible

meaning, not meaninglessness. I see Meaning.

What about the NASB and the CSB? They use the

word futility. Futility of futilities. Kind of

a similar definition of meaninglessness. Well,

friends, when you look at words, other words

for meaninglessness or futility within the Old

Testament, there are six other words that speak

in that way. And none of those other words are

present in the book of Ecclesiastes. And so I

think something else is going on within this

book. And so let's take it back to the very literal

definition of Heve. Very literally, that word

means breath or vapor or mist. If you will, listen

to this from Psalm 39 verse 5. Behold, you have

Psalms 39:5

made my days a few hand breaths, and my lifetime

is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind

stands as a mere breath, as a mere hevel. Or,

for a New Testament equivalent, the book of James,

chapter four, verse 14. No surprise here. For

James is wisdom literature of the New Testament.

It says, yet you do not know what tomorrow will

bring. What is your life? For you are a mist

that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

The word hevel means breath or vapor or mist.

And what's being communicated is exactly what

may have happened to you this morning when it

was cold. Maybe you were outside, maybe you took

a breath in the cold, and you can see the evidence

of your breath. But it doesn't stay there in

front of you, does it? Matter of fact, if you

tried to grab the breath that you can see, you

can't, right? It just dissipates even more. Children.

In the recent snowstorms, did any of you make

a snowman? Okay, alright, I see some snowmen

that were built in the back, well done, good

job. Is your snowman still standing? Of course

not, it was nearly 70 degrees the other day.

That's what's being communicated here, is that

things come and things go, and the only thing

left of your snowman is maybe a cold carrot on

the ground. That's what the preacher is communicating

to us. But he does it in a very special form,

a superlative form. Vanity of vanities, we can

see this in the Hebrew, Hevo of Hevalim. It's

very much like when you read King of Kings and

Lord of Lords and the Holy of Holies. It is the

greatest, grandest way of describing something.

And that's exactly what the preacher does here.

As if to say vapor of vapors. It's the perplexity

of perplexities that life comes and it goes whether

or not we understand it. Professor Benjamin Shaw

says this, many interpreters misunderstanding

the significance of vanity think that the message

of the book, is that life without God is meaningless

and that only when one turns to God in faith

does life have any meaning. Thus the book is

essentially seen as an evangelistic tract trying

to convince the unbeliever to turn to God so

that he might find meaning in his life. Solomon

is leading the reader through a careful and sometimes

painful examination of life under the sun. He

wants the reader to see life in all of its complexity,

its difficulty, its evanescence, its disappointment

and its frustration. And so rather than meaninglessness,

this is a book about meaning. The preacher observed

life under the sun to see how everything is marred

by sin. Everything is marred by frustration.

Everything is marred by the endless cycle of

the mundane. Everything is marred by injustice.

These are his observations. And they may also

be yours. As you read through Ecclesiastes, you

might say, hey, I've thought that too. Hey, I

see that too. But at the same time, this may

not be the most delightful journey. Very few

verses of Ecclesiastes outside of chapter three

make their way onto a greeting card. But friends,

if you like honesty, if you like it when someone

just tells it like it is, you will like Ecclesiastes

and you will learn to be honest with yourself

and you will learn to be honest with others and

you will learn to be honest with God and crying

out to him and saying, God, I need you. I need

your help. in all of the challenges of life.

For the longest time, Ecclesiastes has been my

favorite biblical book. I don't know if we're

supposed to have favorite books of the Bible,

but I do. And yet for the longest time, I couldn't

figure out why do I love this book so much? Why

do I love to study it and why do I love to memorize

it? And friends, I think the answer to that is

that shortly after becoming a believer, I encountered

Ecclesiastes. And when you become a new believer,

suddenly you have to reconcile why are things

the way they are? And why am I the way that I

am? And why are you the way that you are? Why?

Because of sin. Sin has thrown a ginormous monkey

wrench into the perfection of God's creation.

And we are living in the aftermath. We are living

in the aftermath of the fall. I was reading a

comic strip this week. Anybody remember that

comic strip called BC? I like that one. And in

this strip, there's two men who are talking.

And the first one says to the second, how powerful

is this so -called creator of yours?" And the

second one answers, he could trash the whole

planet just like that. But there's a third person

listening in who says, I don't think we need

to be too worried about that. We're doing a fine

job of it ourselves. You see, what the preacher

is doing is he's observing the fallout from sin.

And he sees a world that is fleeting. He sees

a world that is passing away. And the writer

of Ecclesiastes wants us to see the good and

the bad and the ugly of it all. He gives us a

candid photograph without a filter and without

any edits. He shows us a portrait of life with

warts and all. You might say, well, it's such

a glowing review of the book. Who wants to read

this? Who wants to read about these things other

than maybe me? One commentator says, Ecclesiastes

is the only book of the Bible written on a Monday.

There's something to that. Ecclesiastes is a

book written in a minor chord. And so who does

want to read this? And who wrote this? And why

does the Holy Spirit inspire such words? And

what does any of this have to do with Christ?

Let's talk about authorship for just a minute.

If you look in verse one, you see the words of

the preacher. This starts off written in the

third person before it switches to the first

person in verse 12. This has led many to believe

there may be a narrator involved in this book.

I don't know if that's for sure or not, but even

if there is a narrator, he is communicating in

chapter one, one through 11. the words of the

preacher. And so it's really all of the words

of this preacher. You might say, well, who is

this preacher? Does he have a name? Well, knowing

that he is full of wisdom and knowing that he's

the son of David and knowing that he's the king

in Jerusalem, this leads many to believe, and

I believe rightly so, this is probably Solomon.

He's the one who fits this description. And as

we get into chapter two, we'll see even more

of that. So I do believe this to be Solomon.

I also find it very telling the way that this

begins that he is the king in Jerusalem. And

yet what comes first in verse one? The preacher.

He announces that he is the preacher or the teacher

or quite literally the assembler before he ever

says that he's king. This is how much he values

what he is going to tell you, what he's going

to tell us. And this Solomon invites us to observe

life with him. I will call him Solomon. I will

call him preacher. I will call him teacher. And

I will call him by the literal title, Kohelet.

Just know that any of those titles or names,

I'm referring to the same person I believe to

be. Solomon. And so Solomon invites us on this

tour of life with him. Last week I went on vacation

with my family and we were at a beautiful spot,

Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean. It was wonderful.

One of the things that we did while we were there

is to get on a boat. And it was a very unique

boat. It was like, think of a hybrid between

Gilligan's boat and a submarine. And so beneath

the submarine portion, obviously sitting below

the water, but what made it great were all the

windows around. So as you're traveling through

the water, you are gliding past schools of fish.

You are gliding over coral reefs. You are gliding

past sea turtles to the delight of my family.

Think about Ecclesiastes a little bit like that.

not with the sea turtles and not with all the

joy of it all, in that we get to travel with

Kohelet to see his observations about life. And

I want to share with you three observations in

chapter one, very briefly, that we'll see throughout

the rest of this book. And so these are three

themes, work, death, and creation. Let's look

at work first. Look at verse three. What does

man gain by all the toil at which he toils under

the sun? When he uses the word toil here, this

is expressing hard work. This is expressing the

misery of work. Sometimes we work and we labor

so much and we strive and we sweat and we get

to the end of the day and we say, for what? Also,

we can do it again tomorrow. There is oftentimes

repetition in our And so he asked this question,

what's the gain? What do I gain out of all of

this toil? And the implied answer is nothing,

because he's looking back at life. Many believe

this is Solomon at the end of his life looking

back at all he did and wondering, was it all

worth it? I remember feeling like this in the

very first job that I got after college. Many

of you know that I was a newspaper reporter for

several years before going into ministry, and

my first job as the youngest reporter on staff,

I can assure you I did not get the best stories.

When I got the job, I knew I had to dress the

part, so I went to Belk and I bought four brand

new shirts and four brand new ties, and I wore

those shirts. out every single day going into

the newsroom. The only way I knew what day of

the week it was was on Friday when they let me

wear jeans. Perhaps you feel like that, don't

you? Sometimes with your work, the repetition

of it all. I remember looking at my minuscule

paycheck and looking at all the work that I was

doing and how hard I was working and thinking,

this is what the next 40 years of my life look

like. Again, perhaps you have felt like that.

Perhaps you have felt like you're on a bicycle

and you are pedaling as hard as you possibly

can and you've gone for many, many miles until

you realize it's a stationary bike and you've

gone nowhere. That's how Kohel feels here. He

feels like what is the gain of all of these things,

but it's not because his work is unsatisfying.

We're unfulfilling. It's not just because Solomon's

the lowest like I was in the newsroom. No, he's

the king of Israel. Look at verse four and you

can see why he feels this way. A generation goes

and a generation comes, but the earth remains

forever. The reason he feels this way is because

death is coming. This is our second theme of

death. And perhaps you feel the most like Kohelet.

Whenever you experience a loss, a family member

dies, a friend passes away, maybe with each high

school reunion that you go to, the numbers are

dwindling, and you feel like this. And yet, as

those numbers dwindle, the earth continues to

spin, doesn't it? It's said oftentimes as a means

of comfort, the sun will come up. But with Kohelet,

it's kind of the opposite. He acknowledges that

one day the sun will come up, but I will not.

That's why I've called this sermon series Life

Under a Setting Sun. And yet, even under the

setting sun, there is a meaning there. Socrates

famously said, the unexamined life is not worth

living. And that's what Solomon is doing. He's

examining life. And as he does so, he recognizes

the brevity of it all. Look in verse 11. He says,

there is no remembrance of former things, nor

will there be any remembrance of later things,

yet to be among those who come after. Some translations

don't say the word things. Some translations

say the word. people there, that there will be

people who are just not remembered. A friend

said to me once that she thinks a lot about who

will be at my funeral when I die. What she was

really getting at is what kind of impact will

I make on others who are around me. The preacher,

though, takes it a step further. as if to say,

they may show up for your funeral, but they won't

always remember you. Friends, what a sobering

and sad and traumatic thought. And yet, even

as generations come and as generations go, look

in verses five through seven, the world just

keeps turning. Kohelet I believe here is reflecting

on the creation account. He's looking back to

Genesis and he sees the natural order of all

things and he sees it all happening and he says,

what is accomplished? Don't we feel like that?

Every new year that comes about, maybe every

birthday and all of the running around that we

do that we think is so important and yet at the

end of the day, The end of the week, the end

of the month, the end of the year, we ask, why

do I do all of these things? What is the most

important thing in my life? You can see here

he talks about satisfaction in verse eight. All

things are full of weariness. A man cannot utter

it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor

the ear filled with hearing. What a heavy statement

to make, that all things are full of weariness.

You can almost visualize the preacher crying

out, is there anything else out there for me?

He says, there's nothing new under the sun. Everything

is mundane. Everyone will die. Again, why does

the Holy Spirit breathe out such words? And what

does any of this have to do with Christ? Friends,

this is what I really want you to hear. This

is the fleeting world that Jesus came to save

This is the fleeting world that Jesus came to

save to make all things new Jesus came to redeem

this world and make a place for us without the

heavens Jesus makes a place of permanence without

death without the toil of work Maybe just the

joy of work for you remember what happened When

Adam and Eve, when the whole thing fell in, right?

That God placed a curse on labor. In Christ,

that will be lifted. And so the Holy Spirit breathes

out these words for you. He breathes out relatable

words. Solomon thinks the thoughts that we think.

Solomon says the words that we say, or maybe

he says the words that we're too scared to say.

He shows how fallen the world is. But our purpose

with this book isn't just to observe. No, our

purpose with this book is to long for more. Our

purpose with this book is to long for Christ

who makes all things new. And so when you lose

that loved one, when your work feels cursed,

when the sun comes up but you don't feel like

getting up yourself, look. To the truest preacher,

the truest teacher, the truest assembler. For

you remember what sin has done. It has made a

mess of the world. But Christ comes to make all

things new. Jesus went through the heavens. to

satisfy divine justice. Jesus entered into our

world, the mundane, the toil, the injustice,

the sorrow, and he went through it all to the

cross to ensure that you will be remembered.

You will not be forgotten. You who are in Christ

are in the Lamb's book of life. This book has

us longing for something greater than the Heav

'l of this life. As I mentioned, this has something

to do with creation. Yes, we may look back at

creation, but really what this book will do is

have us looking ahead, looking ahead to the new

creation, not to the old Eden, but to a renewed

Eden. And so Christian, take heart that even

in the midst of the Hevel, Christ really is making

all things new. And in the meantime, There is

Ecclesiastes to help us know how to live under

a setting sun. Let us pray.