Ecclesiastes – The Futility of LifeIf you have never read the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes, I really recommend it. It’s about the complete pointlessness of life. Even arch-atheist Richard Dawkins has, at points, declared his admiration for this book particularly in the King James translation.Ecclesiastes is an unflinchingly honest analysis of the problem of the human condition, namely its vanity, or its futility. Unlike pretty much every other book in the Bible, Ecclesiastes is not really about God. Rather, it is about us and specifically us as we might seem to be if we don't consider God.At the beginning of the book Solomon begins to seek for wisdom is that is done in this world. Some pursuits, such as the pursuit of knowledge might seem to be more valuable than others such as the enjoyment of laughter, feasting or riches, but ultimately they are all futile. Ultimately they are all in vain.The vanity of all of these things can be observed in different ways, but there is a common root to all of it – namely, the impermanence, the transience of this life. The fact that, whatever we have, can be taken away in a moment now and will be taken away forever when we are gone. This transience lends to life a kind of absurd quality, which disturbs us, and so we try not to think about it very much. We distract ourselves from it.In our passage today, Solomon speaks of toil and riches. Why is toil so vain? Why is wealth so futile? Because, ‘I must leave it to the man who will come after me’. And he may be a fool and do stupid things with everything I’ve earned. And, what is worse, I may not even get to enjoy that which I have. ‘Sometimes,’ Solomon writes, a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it’. And, what is perhaps even worse, is that I have worn myself out in all my toil for wealth which I will not enjoy and which will be left to a fool after me.‘What has a man from all the toil and striving of his heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity’. – Ecclesiastes 2:23In my opinion, one of the greatest films of modern times is a film that was made in 2002 called ‘Igby Goes Down’. Igby Goes Down is about a wealthy teenage boy who lives in New York and rebels against the vacuousness of his family and social milieu. Part of the film is about his relationship with a character played by Jeff Goldblum, who is called D.H. D.H. is an immensely rich real estate magnet who exudes confidence and satisfaction but who is really deeply manipulative and even wrathful beneath the surface.In a telling exchange Igby and D.H. speak of a third person who has suffered some recent trouble. “I believe that certain people in life are meant to fall by the wayside,” D.H. says, “to serve as warnings to the rest of us; signposts along the way.” “To where?” Igby says. D.H. pauses and then says, as though the answer should be obvious, “Success.”Now, of course, the problem with that answer is that success implies some other ultimate criteria, some goal or point to life that can, at least theoretically, be fulfilled. “Success”, without reference to anything else, is a meaningless word. And that, ultimately, is the point of the film: that wealth and social prestige and “success” in all of this is futile and ugly and tasteless and empty. Just like Ecclesiastes tells us, it is vanity. It is right to feel as Igby does, repelled by it, disgusted to his core. As he says in one emotional outburst towards the end of the story, “Everybody’s cold. Cold to the bone. Cold to the brain. Cold to the marrow.”“Be on your guard against all covetousness…”The reading from Ecclesiastes is well-chosen because it is echoed in the words of Christ to a disgruntled man who asks Jesus to adjudicate a dispute between him and his brother over their inheritance.“Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” He said to the man, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”And then he goes on to tell a story that could almost be taken from Ecclesiastes: a man has some luck with his harvest and becomes rich. But he can think of nothing better to do with his crops than to pull down his old barns, build bigger ones and store them there. “And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’”And, friends, is this not the creed of the modern age: work hard, earn wealth, retire and relax. You’ve made it.And the story continues: “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things that you have prepared, whose will they be?”What is the mistake that this man made? Our New Testament passage tells us, the Apostle Paul writing, ‘Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry’.Covetousness, which is idolatry – in other words, when we put wealth first in our lives, we worship it as though it were a God. It might look like we just work hard and want to have a decent life, but really what we doing is giving ourselves to the promises of mammon. And these promises, as we have already seen are worthless and empty. Even if we succeed, we will not have what we truly want, which is peace, joy and happiness. And we may simply die whilst we are trying. Wealth is a terrible God. This is why Christ tells us to be on guard.The AlternativeMaybe we might say to ourselves, “Well I can see why the pursuit of wealth is so futile but is there anything better to do with our time, our energy, our talent than this?” The answer, friends, is “yes”. There is something that is much better that you can do.“So is the one,” Christ tells us, “who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards (or in) God.”Christ doesn’t shy away from economics. But he tells us that we are investing in the wrong thing. To invest in earthly wealth is to put our resources into stock that will crash inevitably. But if we invest in God, if we seek his first his kingdom, if we cultivate a relationship with him, then we are investing in something that will never fade away, that cannot be taken from us. As the Apostle Peter tells us, Jesus has caused us to be born again to a living hope, ‘to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded by faith’ (1 Peter 1:3-5).I love Psalm 127, particularly in the version from the Book of Common Prayer:‘It is in vain that ye rise up early and so late take rest and eat the bread of carefulness, for so he giveth his beloved sleep.’ Psalm 127:3How many of us are wearing ourselves out serving the God of Mammon, serving the God who makes us toil and sweat for an ever-diminishing return? Friends, let us put this idol away, let us grind it down and cast it aside for the powerless illusion it really is. And let us seek the true God, whose riches endure forever.The ApplicationWhat then should be done? The application will be different for us all. But the commonality will be that as we worship the true God and recognise the futility of riches, we will recognise the relative value of our wealth in our own lives – to buy food, to procure shelter, to pay for things that will give us enjoyment, to share with others, to give to the church, to leave an inheritance to our children. We will see the good that wealth can do but we will also see the terrible temptation that it puts before us.This is why Christ appears so harsh in the story. A man has been robbed of his inheritance. Surely Christ should be on the side of justice? But, no, instead he sees into the man’s heart. Just as he sees into our hearts. “Be on your guard against all covetousness." You say you trust in God and worship him alone but how much does heart cleave to the number in your bank account? How are you shaken when it is not what you had hoped? How difficult you find it to be generous because wealth has a hold upon your heart and you are really trusting it to keep you safe from all danger? How much is your mind fixed simply on procuring more and more and more?The solution, once again, and very simply, is to be rich, as rich as possible. But to be rich towards God.I will finish with the words of the Apostle John, ‘Do not love the world or the things in the world…For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father…And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever’ (1 John 1:15-17).May you abide in him. May you be truly rich in him.In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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