Ecclesiastes 1:16-2:11
Ecclesiastes 6:6 “Though a man lives a thousand years twice over, but doesn’t find contentment—what’s the use?”
Today, I want to focus on one of the universal questions of life, “How in the world can I be happy?” But to think about this deeper, eventually, we need to ask ourselves, “Will my perspective or view of happiness, really lead me to be happy?” Solomon, who wrote Ecclesiastes, asked this same question about 3,000 years ago. He said, “Though a man lives a thousand years twice over, but doesn’t find contentment-what is the use?” It was Solomon’s life long search for satisfaction. If you will join with me, let’s walk on the road that leads to happiness. Ps 37:4, says, “Seek your happiness in the Lord, and he will give you your hearts desire.” Let’s pray as we begin this journey.
I How Not to Be Happy
Solomon was an interesting character in the Bible. Like all of us, he too had a quest for happiness. But unlike most of us, he had endless opportunities and resources to go about his search. The Bible says that he was the wisest man who ever lived, and also the wealthiest man. As the King of Israel, he had all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted. Each of us has a lot on our plates. Sometimes we wish like Solomon that we had unlimited resources as a means to be “happy.” Some of us right now are striving to be in a position like Solomon. We review Solomon’s life not to make us feel “depressed or disappointed.” But we look at his life as an education, hoping to change our current perspective on “how we can be happy.” Though Solomon had endless opportunities and resources to be “happy,” happiness eluded him. He went to the “extremes” in five areas of life: 1) education, 2) pleasure, 3) achievement, 4) wealth, and 5) success. But according to him, but bottom line was that none of these ultimately satisfied him. He is not saying that we should not pursue success in the world. Rather, he makes a point that these things are not the source of LASTING happiness.
Solomon did his best to receive the finest education. But he said, “I thought if I just knew more I would enjoy life more. I became better educated than any king before me but the more my wisdom, the more my grief. I studied and learned all these things but I discovered that the more I know the more I realize I don’t know. While growing up, he must have been an honors student and valedictorian of his high school. He probably could have graduated with high honors at Yale University, and was currently working on his 9th. But he said something profound, “The more education I got just increased my number of questions. It didn’t ultimately satisfy me.” If you looked up the word pleasure in the dictionary, you would probably see a picture of Solomon’s face next to it. Just like Michael Jackson was once known as the king of Pop, Solomon was the king of pleasure. First thing he did was try “laughter.”
In today’s terms, he hung out at all the comedy clubs and made friends with Jerry Seinfeld or Chris Rock. Laughter, like education is good. We all know that God laughs, and that he has a great sense of humor. But the sad thing is, in our society, we have you can experience laughter without happiness. Laughter, like many things, does not last. The temporary lift does not have anything to do with our ultimate purpose of life. Solomon also knew about and had every brand of alcohol ever made. He said, “I tried cheering myself with wine.” He drank thousand dollar bottles of wine every day, tried every brand of beer, and out drinking hard liquor. He tried to be happy going to all the clubs and house parties. They he even had a nickname, “party animal,” because partied hard all night long! Though he was the life of every party, he said, “The social scene did not satisfy me.”
Take a look at 8b, “I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well-the delights of the heart of man.” Another translation says, “I had all the women a man could want and then some.” Solomon was the ultimate playboy. The Bible tells us that Solomon as king of Israel had 700 wives and 300 paid mistresses! Talk about “extreme” polygamy. Today, we have polygamy in our society, it is just in series—serial polygamy; people going from one relationship to the next, to the next, and the next. Solomon said that didn’t satisfy. He took it way beyond the normal limits and found that, that also didn’t satisfy either. A person saw a bumper sticker which said, “So many women, so little time.” So he wanted to see what the guy looked like. He was surprised to see that instead of a super stud, he saw someone worn out and beat up. The emptiness increases as the number goes up. Solomon said, “I denied myself nothing. I refused my heart no pleasure.” While exploring pleasure, Solomon found that pleasure promises more than it can deliver, and worse off, accomplishes nothing. He found that it didn’t last, and it left him, of all things, “bored.”
You never met a true workaholic until you have met Solomon. Look at verses 4-6. Basically he said, “I will try to find fulfillment by initiating a great public works program: homes gardens, parks, reservoirs. But I turned in despair from hard work as the answer to my search for satisfaction.” Solomon’s public works are world famous. You can still go see the archeological digs of his public works. He built a great society to find satisfaction in working hard. But in all these things, he said, “I can work and work, but what is the use?”
Money didn’t solve his problems either. Solomon said, “I owned more livestock than anyone else…I piled up silver and gold. In the cultural arts, I organized men’s and women’s choirs and orchestras.” Solomon was the wealthiest man in history. He was richer than Bill Gates, Sam Walton, and Donald Trump put together. His face was on the hundred dollar bill before Benjamin Franklin’s. His baseball card collection was awesome! He was also a patron of the arts. He woke up every morning to the sweet sound of the violin. He had a living IPOD around him every day. The Bible says that it took him 14 years to build his house. 1 Kings 4 says it took “30 cattle and 100 sheep every day to feed his entire household!” He was a very extravagant man. A rich man was once asked, “How much does it take to make a man happy?” He said, “Just a little more!”
Last of all, Solomon tried to achieve much success. He did his best to be famous. He said, “I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me…Yet when I surveyed all I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless…under the sun.” Solomon was at the top of the ladder, the undisputed leader of the most influential nation at the time. His empire stretched all over and he was world famous. He was successful in everything he did. Everything he touched worked out. But at the end of all of it, he said “I am still unsatisfied.”
The question here is, “What do you do when everything you’ve ever wanted is not enough?” This was Solomon’s predicament. He got it all, he tried it all, he spent it all, but he was still unsatisfied. Why is this book of Solomon’s in the Bible? Is it to depress us or rain on our parade? I think God is trying to teach us that here are some dead ends in life that we can avoid. He wants to teach us to save our time, and save our money-happiness is not found in these things. Solomon’s came to a conclusion in life in 2:17, “So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”
Freddy Mercury, the lead singer of the band Queen, was the first rock super star to die of AIDS. At the height of his career he wrote these words: “What is there left for me to do in this life? Did I achieve what I set in my sights? Am I a happy man or is this sinking sand? Was it worth it?” Solomon says he tried education, pleasure, achievement, wealth and success. They are not bad things; they just don’t permanently satisfy. If those things don’t bring happiness, then we have to ask, “What does?” We have the answer to that given to us by God.
II Learning to be Happy
If you want to know the happiest man who ever lived, it was Jesus. He knew the secrets of happiness, and he was extravagant in sharing them as well. He shared them Matthew 6:3-10, known as the Sermon on the Mount. These are the things we need to be working toward if we really want to be happy. There are 8, but I will highlight 5 of them. First, we need to get to know God. Matthew 6:3, “How happy are those who know their need is for God.” In our lives, we meet many people and get to know them. But the coolest person to get to know is God. The amazing thing is, the more we get to know him, the more amazing our lives become. The more we know God, the more we will realize what the first step towards happiness is. We have to recognize that our real hunger is for God, who is missing in our lives. The truth is if anything but God is at the center of your life, you will not be satisfied. It is because the Bible says that God made you as a spiritual being. You’re not just a piece of flesh.
Happiness is a spiritual thing. Happiness is God alone. We have to change our view and understand that happiness is more than just “physical.” The problem is, in our society, we are inclined to think that happiness depends on these 5 aspects that Solomon strived for. But the truth is we are not just physical beings. We have a spirit inside that gives us meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. If we continue to ignore than man is both a physical and spiritual being, we will never discover what true happiness really means. Solomon did everything he could possibly do with his physical being, but it had nothing to do with his inner spiritual being. One person said that God created a God shaped vacuum in your heart. When you try to fill that emptiness with anything but God it is like trying to put a square in a round hole. As we all know, it doesn’t fit. What you are really searching for when you search for happiness, is God. You were made to know God and our greatest need is to know Him. The sooner you figure that out, the easier your life is going to be. That is when we will stop trying to find replacements, imitations of the real thing. We need to know God.
Next, when life disappoints us, we need to trust God. We need to change our view that life is just about “having fun.” Life is not only about that, but we also experience a great amount of pain as well. We experience a lot of heartache. Living a happy life does not mean live a problem free life. Rather, we have to learn how to be happy not only in happy times, but in tough times as well. We have to learn how to be happy not only when we have the best job, but seemingly the worst job, when things in life come easily, or when things are a bit difficult. Moreover, we need to learn not only how to be happy when we succeed, but also when we fail.
In order to be happy, we have to let go of this façade that “life only about fun and games.” It is also about being happy in painful times. When we hurt, we need to give it to God, and let him handle it. We need to know that God is with us, that God loves us, and that God will open up a way for us to overcome them. When life is disappointing, we need to trust God Third, we need to expect God to meet our needs. In life, we have expectations. However, we make the mistake of putting expectations on people. As you probably already know, people always fail to meet our expectations. Sometimes, we even fail to meet our own expectations of ourselves. This is why we should never expect someone to meet ANY of our needs. If we do, we will always be disappointed. However, God says, “Expect Me to meet your needs.” Rather than frantically grabbing all we can get, let’s relax knowing that God will take care of all our needs. The whole world belongs to God. If you are His child, they will belong to you as well. While we are waiting for God to meet our needs, let’s meet the needs of others in the mean time. I find it easy to just be self-centered and think about “my needs.” But God always blesses those who also meet the needs of those who are needy.
Let’s give more and believe that God will come through for us when we need him. Next, we must follow God’s instructions. If you do what God tells you to do you will be satisfied FULLY. The fact is God wants you to enjoy life and not just endure it. He wants you to live and not just exist. So He’s created certain principles that are there for your benefit. When you follow those principles, you benefit. When you ignore them you get hurt. Every principle, rule, or command in the Bible is there for your benefit. The closer you follow those principles, the happier your life is going to be. The more you ignore them, the more headaches you’re going to have. You’ll find yourself facing depression, burn out, anxiety and despair because you are not living the way God meant for you to live.
We have an Owner’s Manual—It’s called the Bible. God has put certain principles, guidelines for your life in His Word, the Bible. Following God instructions is like traveling on a smooth paved road. If we go by His principles your life goes a lot smoother. If you say, “Forget the principles,” we hit on coming traffic. Finally, in order to be happy, we must live with an eternal perspective. We need to look beyond the “here and now.” Jesus says, “Happy are those who are persecuted because they are good. A tremendous award awaits you in heaven.” Doing the good things and the right thing is not always easy, not always fun, and not always the most enjoyable thing. But you will have eternity for enjoying the rewards for doing the good thing. That enjoyment will go on and on. When you have a choice between doing the convenient thing or the right thing, we need to know that doing the right thing may not be so pleasant but the happiness comes from knowing that you’re going to be rewarded for this in eternity and enjoy it far longer than the discomfort we are experiencing right now. It is a matter of perspective. Last week, my wife got into a large car accident. To make a long story short, there was possibility that we would not receive the insurance money if we told the truth to who was driving the car. The report said that she was the driver, when in actuality, she was the passenger. The person who hit us was not the person specified in the report, and might not have been insured. I was tempted to collect the insurance money of $4,500 and a nice new rental until my car was fixed. Instead of collecting, we would have to pay $1,000. I decided to do what was right, instead of cheating the insurance company. When I told the truth, something amazing happened. The next day, the insurance company called back and said despite the change of story, we were covered for EVERYTHING and a car rental, till our car was fixed. Moreover, the next week, we received an unexpected check for about $700.00.
When we have an eternal perspective and do what is right, we will be blessed both on earth, and in heaven. Happiness is not a result of circumstances. Happiness is a choice. It begins the moment you choose to say, First I’m going to put God at the center of my life and THEN I am going to start working on the principles He’s told me, trusting him when things aren’t right, expecting him to meet my needs, and keeping things in the eternal perspective.
Solomon says, “Let me save you some time. I accomplished far more than you will ever dream of. I had far more money and far more pleasures and more sexual relationships and more education, more than you will ever think of. And I didn’t find it there.” What you are hungering for is to know God. Before this message, I felt the need for God, but got caught up working as a 3rd grade teacher, going to school to get my masters, trying to build my wealth, and trying to a flag football championship for my school as a coach. Though these things are okay, at the end of the day I felt tired and stressed. I realized that I need to know God more, instead of just existing every day. Let’s learn how to be happy in God today, and throughout our lifetime, amen.