Ecclesiastes 2:12-26

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Isaiah 42:10-12
• Hymn — O Come Let Us Sing to the Lord (#13)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Psalm Reading — Psalm 18:25-36
• Hymn — Day by Day and with Each Passing Moment (#676)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
• Sermon
• Hymn — O Father You Are Sovereign (#75)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Wisdom and Work in Light of Eternity

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:12-26

I. Wisdom Apart from God — Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

A. Solomon plays an experiment: he tests wisdom in a world "under the sun" — as if no sovereign God were in control

1. Ecclesiastes is not condemning wisdom, work, or other good things in themselves, but testing them as potential ultimate sources of meaning
2. The "wisdom" in view is not the fear-of-God wisdom of Proverbs 1:7, but practical, general, human wisdom

B. Wisdom has obvious benefits — it is better than folly as light is better than darkness (Ecclesiastes 2:13-14)

1. As a general rule, living responsibly and wisely pays off — even unbelievers can see this
2. But wisdom fails the permanence test: death is the great equalizer (Ecclesiastes 2:16)
3. The wise and the fool both die and are forgotten

C. The root problem: seeking Godlike wisdom

1. The Serpent's temptation in Genesis 3:5-6 — "you will be like God, knowing good and evil" — is the same pursuit Solomon is exposing
2. To seek wisdom as a god is to repeat Adam and Eve's error, which brought death and the curse
3. Post-Enlightenment philosophers who remove God and seek meaning through reason alone ultimately produce nothing lasting
4. Even modern AI illustrates the irony: technological wisdom leads to intellectual laziness and dependence

II. Work Apart from God — Ecclesiastes 2:18-23

A. The toil of a lifetime must be left to another after death — who may be a fool (Ecclesiastes 2:18-21)

1. All labor fails the permanence test just as wisdom does
2. Echoes God's curse on Adam: toil, thorns, and a return to dust

B. The portrait of the workaholic (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23)

1. All days are full of sorrow; even at night the heart does not rest
2. This is the person who sacrifices family and relationships to climb the corporate ladder
3. Work has become an idol — it consumes everything and gives no lasting joy
4. The so-called "greats" who sacrifice everything for their sport or career frequently leave behind broken families, and in time their records are broken and their names forgotten

C. Work as God turns a person inward and isolates them from others

1. The tireless athlete is never home; the workaholic at the beach ignores his children
2. When wisdom or work becomes an idol, we lose both God and the joy of human companionship

III. Wisdom and Work With God — Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

A. Solomon's positive conclusion: enjoyment in toil is a gift from God's hand (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)

1. Wisdom and work are not bad — they are good gifts; the problem is making them gods
2. Apart from God, nothing can be truly enjoyed; with God, all good things are received freely as gifts
3. As Calvin observed, our hearts are perpetual idol factories — we lose God and immediately make whatever satisfies us into an idol

B. God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to the one who pleases him (Ecclesiastes 2:26)

1. Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire illustrates this: "God made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure" — the gift is enjoyed as a gift from God, not as an end in itself
2. The best workers and wisest people are those free to receive their work as gift rather than making it their god

C. Joy in wisdom and work is inseparable from community and companionship

1. Even before the fall, Adam's work in Paradise had a kind of incompleteness — he needed Eve to share the fruit of his labors with (Ecclesiastes 4:9 — "two are better than one")
2. Proverbs 27:9 — "oil and perfume make the heart glad, and so does the sweetness of a friend"
3. Ebenezer Scrooge illustrates the transformation: awakened by a glimpse of his own death, he begins using the fruits of his labor to enjoy friendship and family — living life backwards from death

D. The ultimate answer to the despair of life under the sun is Jesus Christ

1. Christ came down from life above the sun to live life under the sun, doing good and obeying God perfectly
2. On the cross he cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" — he knew the full weight of vanity and forsakenness
3. Rising from the dead, he brings a great company of friends with him — restoring the joy of companionship that sin destroyed
4. John Owen's insight: when we see Christ we will say "I have been waiting for this day," and Christ will say, "So have I"
5. Christ has risen victorious over the vanity of vanities for us — the answer to Solomon's despair is the cross and resurrection