I grew up in the riotous 60’s. Those were the days of Viet Nam, Race Riots, LSD, Hippies and a great deal of turmoil. More than one of my high school class-mates became drop outs. Not only did they drop out of school but some of them dropped out society. Some moved south and became beach bums, and others moved to the hills and became ski bums. It was not uncommon to hear someone say that he was going off to “find himself.” Those were days when Hindu gurus were as common as houseflies. Every third person my age was climbing to top of mountain to ask some guru about the meaning of life. Thankfully, I didn’t have to find life, He who is “the way, the truth and the life,” found me.

Although that sort of thing was common in the 60’s, it was not new to the 60’s, nor did it die in the 60’s. This is basically what Ecclesiastes is all about: “What is the meaning of life?” Solomon wanted happiness, peace, joy and fulfilment. He thought that if he got some of these, then life would have meaning for him. This book is the chronicle of Solomon’s search for life through various mazes. He lit a candle and swept the world to find “IT” – whatever “IT” might be. In chapter 1 he tried a couple things, including philosophical wisdom, but found nothing substantial. Now he moves on to pleasure at any price – riotous mirth. He is like the man in Jesus’ parable: “Soul thou has much goods, eat, drink and be merry, before you die.” Like many of my contemporaries, he laid aside the garments of a student and took up the toga of the hedonist.

And we must keep in mind that this was a deliberate choice. So many people, young and old, are led into sin by their friends; they sort of stumble into it. They want to be cool, so they start smoking, until they can’t quit. They want to be macho, so they start chewing tobacco cud. They want to be acceptable so they dress like whores or hoodlums. They want to look like some specific movie-star so they get a tattoo. They want to test the thrills that others express so they experiment with various drugs. It is not that they rationally think about their choice and all of its consequences. If they did, they would never get into the problems that they do. Solomon said in his heart: “Let’s try to see how much of life I can find in blowing my mind with alcohol. I choose to party until I can’t stand up, and to laugh until I can’t breathe.” Despite the fact he said that wisdom is folly, still, this is a man with some of the blessings of God. He could not avoid doing things with his eyes wide open and his mind alert. He would eventually come to understand the nature of his bad choices. And this is one of the keys to understanding why God put this strange book in our Bibles. Solomon’s search for the meaning of life was not just for himself, but for us. We don’t need to go where he has already gone.

So here was an experiment which failed: “I tried mirth and pleasure, but they are vanity.” Yet, in the search for truth, a failed experiment should never be a waste. So long as the lesson is learned and not repeated it is a good lesson. The lesson of this book is this: “I’ve tried to be happy in these things and found them wanting.” Now you and I don’t have to try; they don’t work.

But why was Solomon’s experiment with mirth a failure? Why was there no lasting good there?

Because we were never created for excessive physical pleasure.

Ask yourself this question: “If I was an accomplished artist, and I painted a masterpiece, would that painting have been created for it’s pleasure or mine?” Obviously, the painting itself could feel no joy, pride or pleasure. I did it for me, whether directly or indirectly. I might have painted it to give to someone else, but I receive joy in the painting and giving. I might have painted it to be shown to the world, but I take pride in that others are enjoying it. I did it for me, certainly not to give that piece of art pleasure. And similarly, when God created humanity, it was for Himself, not for us. I say again for perhaps the twelfth time this month, “We have been placed upon this planet to glorify God.” But we can glorify God through lots of different means. We can please the Lord through obedience in a thousand different things. And through the singing of praise or through the thanksgiving of our lips. We can glorify God by the proper maintenance of our bodies – His creation.

And one of those means is the reception and dispensing of joy. Yes, to be happy, joyful and content can bring glory to the Creator. There is a little empty place in every heart which can’t be filled with food, knowledge or pride. Only smiles, laughter and joy can occupy that tiny spot. Just as a round peg can’t enter a square hole – nothing fits this place but joy. So the Lord created in us a need for a certain amount of godly pleasure, and pleasurable things. But, any excess in this area becomes sin in God’s sight. Too much of a good thing ruins it. When Jackie was small and someone would try to tickle her, her defense was often: “If you don’t stop, I’ll throw-up.” In a sense its very true, too much laughter will make you ill. Just ask Solomon.

And he said that pleasure was vain anyway, because it was only temporary.

I remember a day 30 years ago, when I was out shopping at the mall with Judy. In those days, I didn’t go to the mall very often. Number one, I didn’t have any money to spend. And number two, I don’t like shopping anyway. But on this occasion I was talked into going and perhaps to sooth me, the first stop was the book store. On this day I spent $6 and bought a book called, “Murphy’s Law and other reasons why things to wrong.” As followed my wife for a couple of hours, I read that book and was totally entertained – it was funny! But you know, the next time I read it, it was not nearly as funny as the first time. Why is it that some jokes are really funny, but not the second time?

Solomon is not confining himself to laughter; he’s thinking of everything pleasurable. For example, he tried food. Do you like food? I like it very much; it love certain kinds of food. But how permanent is food? Some of you haven’t heard this story. As a high school kid, I worked two summers as a surveyor for a mining company in Wyoming. We lived in a little town where the only entertainment was a pair of cafes. We worked for 10 hours; we ate and we slept. My favorite café deliberately put a really good T-bone steak on the menu. My employer paid for all our meals, so every night for a month I ate a T-bone steak. I thought it was impossible, but at about the 5th week, I had tasted enough steak for the rest of the summer. Solomon has tried food, and laughter, and even building projects like gardens and pools. I’m sure that he enjoyed them all to a point, but then everything needed to be bigger and better. The things he mentions in this chapter are all superficial, partial, selfish and exaggerated. If they were really worth while, they would last, but they don’t.

Solomon’s experiments failed because some of them fell below the level of decency.

A drunken man is not a man at all, but an animal. There is no lasting pleasure in being a beast. Someone high on pot or crack is not human and doesn’t behave humanly. There are dozens of common social sins which bring the sinner below the level of a man. No doubt there is a bit of excitement in some sins, but are they worth our dehumanization?

I’m convinced that the only way that our lives can mean anything… they are worth living… Only if they are ascending – moving upwardly – not downwardly into the gutter. Solomon’s experiments failed because they lead only to further despair, gloom and futility. The reason so many, including Solomon, sink so deeply into pleasure, is because they are so desperately sad. There are places in this book when Solomon sounds even suicidal.

A depressed man was told by his therapist to go hear the great comedian who was performing down town. “You need to laugh” The man replied, “It won’t work, doctor, I am that comedian.”

What is the road to a fulfilled life?

Verse 24 – “There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.” At first glance this doesn’t sound like a good verse. But the key is not the eating and drinking, but in what follows. Make your soul enjoy the good in your labors. Idle, useless self-enjoyment means spiritual, and ultimately, physical destruction. But in a day of good hard work and accomplishment, there is something worth while. A day of hard work, making us really hungry and physically exhausted, there is a kind of pleasure.

But there is one more important ingredient. We must realize that the source of real joy is in the Lord. It is important to work and to accomplish the duties of daily life. It is more important if they are in the middle of the will of God. This is because day after day becomes a week, which becomes a month, a year and the a life. Now that the years have passed, what have I done that is eternal?

“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” said the Lord Jesus. Verse 26 – “For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”