what-s-the-point-of-living-for-pleasure

What’s the Point of Living for Pleasure?

2:1-11; 3:12-14

Today, we come to a subject that preachers throughout the ages have preached about, i.e., our deep human temptation to have our lives guided by, even driven by, our cravings for pleasure. I grew up in churches in which this seemed to be a main theme of most sermons. When a friend would miss church and then ask what the sermon was about, we’d say, “It was one of those sermons calling us to sing ‘I don’t drink and I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls who do’ sermons!” It seemed to me that preachers in the south became very eloquent and passionate when they preached against the destructiveness of the “pleasures of the world”.

But, over the past weeks of preparing for this series in Ecclesiastes, I’ve come to the conclusion that, although preachers still preach about pleasure, they preach about it in a different way. Many of the sermons about pleasure I’ve heard or read online, don’t really warn people about pleasure. They want to emphasize that God is the creator and giver of pleasure, that God is not a spoilsport wanting to ruin our lives by taking away our pleasures. I read one sermon based on the text we come to today that had 7 out of 8 pages going over what the pleasures that Solomon writes about would look like in our own world. But, in the sermon, there were no warnings about where following our cravings might lead. No calls to repentance or change.

So, let’s face it: As much as many pastors love to talk about pleasure, there are some challenges to doing it in a way faithful to the whole of the Bible. Why? Because, on one side, we are all imperfect people so our own cravings can (and most certainly will) lead us astray. But, on the other, pleasure itself is not wrong. Every good gift is a gift from our Father. And, God himself is described as one who experiences pleasure. Ps 104:31says, “May the glory of the Lord endure for ever, may the Lord find great pleasure in his works.” When pleasurable things are engaged in as a part of our walk with him, they bring us great joy. But, those two biblical truth sometimes seem to clash one another in our daily lives.

To gain focus for our message today, I want to remind you of a man in our world who has experienced almost every kind of pleasure and success the world has to offer. Tom Brady is the quarterback for the undefeated New England Patriots. Life seems to have gone well for him for a long time. Brady has won four Super Bowl rings, MVP trophies... Even a small list of his accomplishments on the football field extends for pages! He’s dated supermodels and has married a supermodel. He has earned millions and still has a contract for many more millions. Has experienced that many men in America dream of. Because of that, an interview he did on CBS’s 60 Minutes baffled many in our pleasure-focused world. Brady said:

Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, “Hey man, this is what is. I reached my goal, my dream, my life.” Me, I think, “God, it's got to be more than this. I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.”

Tom Brady, 60 Minutes Interview with Steve Kroft

So, things that give pleasure are all parts of God creation. But, pleasure seems to be incapable of bringing lasting meaning to our lives. This is a very important matter for the way we live our lives, isn’t it? And, the topic is too big to be covered exhaustively in one sermon. However, I find that Solomon gives us insights into the role of pleasure in our lives that he had learned after a life of being able to experience even more pleasures than Tom Brady and countless successful men and women combined have experienced. Solomon’s words are found in Ecclesiastes 2. I’ll simply let him guide us today:

#1: The Experiment: I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless (2:1).

The word “test” indicates that what will follow in ch.2 is an experiment, a deliberate attempt to discover whether what most people talk about living for really works. Remember that Solomon, the Philosopher, wants us to think about the meaning of life if there is no God. Life without God is what he calls life “under the sun”. In his society – and in ours as well – most people seem to think that there is some pleasure that we need to experience or we will never find satisfaction. The proposed solution to discovering fulfillment in life “under the sun” is to experience the kind of pleasure that fits the way we are. If people won’t let us have the pleasure we think we want, we say that they are ruining our lives. The idea is, “Discover who you are. Don’t let anybody dictate their rules to you. Fulfill your desires and you will really live!” Solomon said, “I lived my life to test that philosophy.”

Notice this: Solomon looked at the way he had lived his life as being a conscious and intentional attempt to find out if pleasure in this world could fill his inner being. Do you see the second phrase in v. 1? He said his test was to “find out what is good.” By that, I mean that he wasn’t just flying into a life of breaking all the rules his parents had ever given him and living a life of debauchery – as some college students do when they first leave home and get out under their parents’ restrictions. No, this was a reasoned attempt to see if what our world has to offer might actually fill the hole inside his heart.

But, Solomon had always anticipated what the end of this living a life of pleasure would be: i.e., that all the joys of the pleasures of the world would prove to be fleeting. Deep down, he always knew that living that way would eventually prove to be “meaningless.”

But he went on with the experiment anyway.

#2: The Plan – Trying Every Pleasure (in case you think he didn’t give it a real chance) (2:2-10)

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure (2:10).

In verses 2-10, Solomon begins to tell us some of the pleasurable places he looked to find life. I’m not going to embellish what he said and try to help you envision all that Solomon experienced so that you might feel tempted to live like he lived. That’s another problem with preaching about pleasure. When the preacher tries to describe the temptations of engaging in any kind of pleasure, the hearers are often tempted just by the description! But, if you want to read about the incredibly lavish lifestyle he lived, you can read about it in 1 Kings 4:22-23; 1 Chronicles 27:29-31; & 2 Chronicles 9:25-27.

In Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon summarized it all. He began where he thought most would begin:

He Tried Fun and Laughter – Laughter is madness (2:2),

Fun is a good thing. After two days of intense meetings back in Chicago last week, I had the chance to spend a couple of hours with my grandchildren. We did silly things. We laughed. We sang. It was lots of fun. It was SO good! I tell you that, without a doubt, times of laughter are gifts from God to us.

But, just having fun and laughing all the time always proves to be empty. Just think about watching back-to-back-to- back silly movies: Anchorman, Dumb and Dumber, Ishtar, etc. will leave you feeling like you’ve only had cotton candy for all your meals. If you have a friend that you only laugh and joke with all the time – and never share the challenges and pains of life with – you will soon discover that in the midst of all the laughter, there is a hole, an emptiness. Solomon is not saying that all laughter is evil. He’s saying that times of laughter alone are no solutions to the biggest issues of life (e.g., that death comes). Living a life of unending fun is a total failure as an answer for how to live and why to live.

Solomon concluded that that kind of “laughter is madness” and to live just to have fun accomplishes nothing. It will leave you empty inside. If that’s what the center of your life is about, it’s meaningless.

He Tried Alcohol – I tried cheering myself with wine (2:3).

Notice how carefully Solomon states this in v.3: I tried cheering myself with wine… — my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

Solomon is not saying he went out and got drunk every day. To the contrary, he wants to be the kind of person who partakes of the pleasure of alcohol without being consumed by it. He was an astute man. He knew that every thinking person in the world knows that a life of drunkenness is empty, addictive and harms everything and everyone around the drunk. We need no great “Philosopher” to teach us that! Solomon wants to test whether the pleasure of experiencing the world’s best wines and whiskies and food gives lasting meaning to life. This was an experiment in pleasure – not in debauchery. And, with the growth of gourmet cooking and baking in our own world, it’s an experiment many seem to be trying in our day too.

Notice especially the comment in v.3: “in the few days of our lives.” He wanted to find out whether drinking great wine and great food were a sufficient answer to the emptiness of life in the face of death. He thought of the many, many people saying in times of frustration and pain, “I’ve got to have a drink.” Solomon discovered that great wine might bring some happiness to the connoisseur but it is no remedy for the deepest longings of our human hearts.

He Tried Expanding the Range of Pleasure -- “I enlarged my sphere of activities (2:4).”

What Solomon meant by “I made great works” in v. 4 is that, “I tried the things that others had not or could not.” Those who have grown up in religious homes, as Solomon had, understand this. Church kids always wrestle with the question, i.e., Have I missed something by growing up in a religious home? Solomon chose to throw away any taboos of his culture and to engage in any pleasure he could conceive of.

He built gardens and vineyards and a household of servants. Like many successful people, Solomon really didn’t have to do any of his own housework. He could go into the seclusion of his home and gardens and try to separate himself from the problems of the people in his kingdom. But, he became ever more separated from his people – except when people served him as slaves.

And I think v.8 is especially insightful here. Solomon gives us the detail that he brought in both male and female entertainers. That had never happened before. The entertainers in his world had been men only. I think that Solomon was saying this: “Music is one of this world’s greatest pleasure. But, we soon get tired of the same old/same old. Well, I went a step beyond what anyone has ever done. I brought in men and women entertainers. I tried music and the arts. I tried every kind. I tried it it non-stop.”

And in case we think there is something that he might have missed, Solomon adds in v.9, “I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I did it without leaving wisdom behind.” In this context, what he meant was that he had tried more of what this world had to offer than anyone in his society ever had. As he lived that way, he was always asking, “Is this what brings meaning to life?” In an all encompassing declaration, Solomon stated: I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure (2:10).

#3: The Evaluation -- Everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind… (2:11).

Pleasure has a way of promising more than it can produce. David Hubbard said, “Pleasure’s advertising department is better than its manufacturing department.” When experiencing pleasure becomes the main thing in life, the enjoyment it brings will decrease so that the intensity of the pleasure must increase. A time of diminishing returns sets in when there is little enjoyment – only bondage and addiction. No matter what the advertising of our world promises when it says, “Buy this or do that, and you’ll be happy”, it cannot deliver – not in a lasting way. That’s what Solomon learned. It is good to experience pleasure but there is no pleasure great enough to be our reason for living.

#4: The Time to Reflect – Everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it (3:14).

In 2:11 and 3:12-14, Solomon takes some time to reflect on the meaning of trying to live life “under the sun” with pleasure as it’s main focus. He’s found it empty. And, in 3:12-14, Solomon points us to God as the only one who gives us anything that satisfies. I want us to do what Solomon did. I think that in church, we sometimes hear a message like this – but we go home and it makes no difference in our lives. Solomon took time to stop and reflect on what he had to learn from this experiment. Like Solomon, you need to take the time to meditate on what difference this part of God’s Word should make in the way you live.

What has God said to you today? Do you ever find yourself tempted to think that the Bible is wrong about this? That maybe lasting satisfaction is to be found in pleasure? Of the many things I would like to say to you, I think there are two parts of Solomon’s message that you should reflect on today. They are: 1) the main problem with pleasure and 2) the essential questionabout pleasure in this world.

The Main Problem: Living to fulfill self-centered pleasure will prove to be empty.

This conviction saturates this entire passage. The first word in v.1 is “I” and then the words I, me, my and myself dominate everything else. They’re used almost 20 times. And, it’s not just the words. It’s also the focus of all he experiences – I did it all “for myself” (2:4) he said. He’s wanting us to see what it had taken him years to see; i.e., a life with self at the center is a life that will end up in hell. Sin started that way. Adam and Eve said, “I will be god. I will live my life as I want.”

I see this as the greatest danger that you will face in our society. The messages that will bombard you in this world will tell you that to really live, you have to focus on yourself. You have to do things for yourself. You will be told again and again, “If you find that you are drawn toward a certain way of life, then go for it – indulge yourself -- no matter what God says.” I tell you that this temptation to think that doing what you crave to do without regard to God will happen in greater and lesser ways almost every day.

You must come to grips with whether Jesus is truly the Lord of your life – or whether you still in control. If his Word says, “This is how I would have you live” and your inner longings say, “But, I want to live a different way…” – then you will have to make the choice that Solomon puts before you. Will you seek to find your life by fulfilling your own desires through pleasure?” The Bible says it will prove to be empty. Do you believe it? Do you trust that living as God directs you will always end up better than following your own desires? That’s one of the biggest questions wants you to ask.

The Essential Question: Will You Put God First?

Even though pleasure is a terrible god, pleasure is wonderful when it is received as a gift of God. In 3:12-13, Solomon clarifies some things. Like we all know, it is wonderful to be joyful and to eat and drink and find pleasure in the gifts God has given us. But, if you put those things in God’s place, they will let you down. What do I mean by enjoying life with God at the center?

Receive every pleasure not as a right but as a gift from God. Be grateful for each joy, whether small or great. I think the main characteristic of my father’s life was that he was grateful for each small gift that God provided. As I look back at his life, I know this was the key: He didn’t think that pleasures were his right – nor were they a necessary source of his satisfaction. They are gifts from God. I want you to live that way. I want to live that way too. That’s what Solomon is call us to see: 3:13 – “Eating and drinking, and finding satisfaction in all we do -- this is the gift of God.”
Engage in pleasure God’s way – That’s what is meant practically by “the fear of the Lord” in 3:14. The phrase, “fear of the Lord”, is closely tied to the 1^st commandment in the Bible. What it asks is whether there is anything in your life that you put ahead of God. If you say, “I’ll be a Christian if God lets me keep having sex the way I want to” or “if he let’s me get the car I want” or “if he… (You can fill in the blank.) What pleasure do you refuse to surrender to God -- that God dare not take from you? That pleasure is your real god – it’s an idol. Living for it will prove to be meaningless.

The paradox is that we cannot genuinely face life’s temporariness with any lasting satisfaction without first coming into a relationship with God. And, when we bring him into our lives through faith in Jesus, we suddenly discover that this powerful and holy God is good. And he loves us. And he wants us to enjoy the life he gives us.

All pleasure (whatever it is) is all God’s idea. He created all the things that are pleasurable. He designed us to experience pleasure. Pleasure is a a gift from God but a terribly inadequate substitute for God. About what pleasure are you tempted to say, “I’ve got to do that thing or I will not be content. I’ll be a Christian and give Jesus everything else, but I have to have that pleasure or I’m out.”

I declare to you on the authority of God’s Word: The pursuit of any pleasure apart from God will always be like “chasing after the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:11). But the joy that comes from living for God will satisfy your soul.