Ecclesiastes
Class 3 – Frustration
I.
Review
A. The
theme – Vanity of vanities. All is
vanity. – Inclusio. Throughout the book.
B. 1:3
– The question is asked: What does man
gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? (ESV).
1.
Last week we looked at the word “toil” “labor”
“hard work” “efforts” (amal) עָמָל
2.
Answer: “meaningless”,
“vanity” “purposeless” is what Qoheleth
found. “All is vanity” Every work or labor we do is meaningless
under the sun.
C. Is 53:11 - Out of the
anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied
1. The
anguish – is the very word we find in Eccl – amal
2. Christ’s
anguish/labor is described earlier in the chapter – pierced for our
transgression, crushed for our iniquities, punished, wounded, carried our
infirmities, sorrows…
3.
And in the end he received
what Q never could find – Is 53:11 – he was satisfied. God approved his work and raised him from
the dead.
a.
His work accomplished its
eternal purpose – he covered our sin so that we might be forgiven, justified,
adopted into God’s family and have eternal life.
b.
Also – he dealt with our
infirmities and sorrows – in our own resurrection there will be no more sorrow,
no more sickness. Rev 21 & 22.
c.
He labored, expected gain and
received it. For all eternity.
4.
And he redeemed our labors as
well.
a.
Our labors do follow us in
us.
1)
I Cor 15:58 – be steadfast…in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
2)
Phil 1:21 – to live is Christ and die is gain.
3) Rev 14:13 - Our works follow us - I heard the voice from heaven
saying, "Write,’ Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now
on.'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from
their labors; for their works follow with them."
b. God
does not award us for our bare works – they are tainted with sin. He does not
grade on the curve – You got most of it right, partial credit.
1) Rom
8:28 – he causes them to work and be used in his good plan and what we will see
one day is the way in which he took our feeble works and used them in his
kingdom.
2) We
will look at Rom 8:28 in SS this week – Joseph story in Gen 46.
II.
The question - What does man gain by all the toil at
which he toils under the sun?
A. The
question is asked 3 times in Eccl.
1. 1:3,
2:22, 3:9
2. Implied:
2:11, 5:15-16
B. The
answer is “vanity”, “meaningless”. He looked for some form of satisfaction, but
he came up empty.
C. And
that leads to the second part of the answer: Besides discovering that life
under the sun was meaningless, he also experienced something else:
1. 1:14 – heavy burden (NIV); unhappy business
(RSV)
2. 2:17 – grievous
3. 2:10 - despair
4. 3:10 – the burden (NIV); business (RSV)
travail, grievous task, vexation,
many cares, miserable business, (Hebrew – inyah
- עִנְיָן
used on in Eccl – one of the late words that helps us date the book. (2:17, 3:10,
5:3 (5:2 Heb), 8:16, 1:13, 4:8, 5:13
– BDB – Strongs 6045) (from anah – Strongs 6030b)
5. 5:17 – darkness, frustration, affliction and anger
III.
Frustration, vexation, the grievous task
A. What
is frustration?
1. Frustration
is when our hopes or expectations are hindered by reality. [1]
a. For
example: Parents getting kids ready to go to church in the morning:
1) Your
expectation of how the morning will go
2) The
reality of how it goes
3) The
result: how do you walk into church on Sunday morning?
b. Qoheleth
1) Expected
that wisdom, wealth, wine, women, song, morality,,, would bring him lasting
satisfaction.
2) But
he was never filled on the inside (1:7 – like the seas)
3) Could
never quit the rat race once he began (1:1:6 – like the wind and the sun)
4) And
though he was wise, he was one day going to die and everything he worked for
might go to some fool who did not work for it – 2:19f
5) And
that is what left him “frustrated” 2:23
B.
Here is the problem: The world does not conform itself to our wishes, hopes and
expectations. [2]
C. Our
culture is a frustrated culture. And
every aspect of our culture frustrates us.
1. Justice
– look at what is going on in Missouri.
2. Finances
– striking at McDonalds…$15 wages is the wish.
3. Employment
– better jobs than what we have
D. We
expect certain things, set our hopes on them, and even expect them to come
about. But things happen. Reality steps in. We don’t get our every wish granted to
us. We often don’t even see some of our
greatest expectations granted.
1. The
result – angry, frustrated – throw things, riot, yell….
IV.
So how do we deal with these frustrations?
A. Duke
prof - “Get over it”. [3] “There is no rhyme nor reason to the
universe. It is just one damn thing
after another.”[4] (Note: It is not “one satisfying thing after
another.”)
1. There
is no purpose in the universe.
2. And
if you are looking for some teleological explanation – some goal, something
that in the end will satisfy you, then you are just out of luck.
3. “The
teleological worldview is the second strongest illusion nature hoists on us” [5]
4. Get
over it. Science is the source of all
knowledge. And science does not give us
any eternal purpose or goal. If you are
looking for something to give you lasting satisfaction – the thing Qoheleth set
out to discover - there is none.
5. (Science
is just one perspective. It also can not
tell us about love, justice, right and wrong, spiritual matters… It does not
have the tools. The atheist can not even say that Hitler was wrong.[6]
)
6. Our
culture is in the process of adopting this world view. No purpose in life. Life is just one damned thing after
another. Meaningless. (Seinfeld show – a
show about nothing.)
B. Another
way to deal with it
1. If
we change our ideas and expectations and hopes then we will not be so
disappointed. What frustrates us is our
overly optimistic view of the world – we hope for too much. [7]
We expect too much.
a. We
expect our kids to get up, get dressed, eat, and we all go off to church to
worship the Lord happy. No fighting. No
lost shoes. No running late.
1) And
when it does not work out this way – sigh, angry, yell, live by the flesh not
the spirit, blame…
2.
So, expect
less.
3.
And Expect
obstacles.
a. We
have seen our kids misplace things, get up late,….instead of hoping for them
not to, expect them to do these things. And then we will not be disappointed or
frustrated.
b. Plan
a weekend at the beach – expect it to rain.
Expect that the reservations get messed up.
c. Married
– expect your husband to be a slob, gamble away his paycheck, get drunk in
bars, to smack you around…. Expect your
wife not to want to go to the bedroom with you, to stay with you for your money…
d. The
Middle TV show:
Actually, I was asleep in bed, and then I woke up and
started to worry about the Asian stock market.
It opens early, you know.
Of course.
Well, I started to feel a little anxious, so, taking Dr. Fulton's advice, I came out here to do some jumping jacks, and while I got the jumping part right, when it came to the jacks, my coordination was a little off, and I bumped into the fireplace, and mom's royal baby goblet fell and broke.
- Brick.
- That's okay.
I wanted to fix it, so I Googled "Gluing a broken goblet," and it took me to this interesting web page about Buddhism.
It said a person should imagine the things they love broken and destroyed because in the future, everything ends up that way anyway.
Okay.
So, I imagined the house burned down and you and Sue and Axl all dead and all my books gone and I had no one left in the world, and it started to make me feel better.
It did? Yeah.
Suddenly, things made sense.
It's like this Buddhist guy says.
"You see this goblet? For me, it is already broken.
I enjoy it.
I drink out of it.
But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over and it shatters, I say, 'Of course.
It opens early, you know.
Of course.
Well, I started to feel a little anxious, so, taking Dr. Fulton's advice, I came out here to do some jumping jacks, and while I got the jumping part right, when it came to the jacks, my coordination was a little off, and I bumped into the fireplace, and mom's royal baby goblet fell and broke.
- Brick.
- That's okay.
I wanted to fix it, so I Googled "Gluing a broken goblet," and it took me to this interesting web page about Buddhism.
It said a person should imagine the things they love broken and destroyed because in the future, everything ends up that way anyway.
Okay.
So, I imagined the house burned down and you and Sue and Axl all dead and all my books gone and I had no one left in the world, and it started to make me feel better.
It did? Yeah.
Suddenly, things made sense.
It's like this Buddhist guy says.
"You see this goblet? For me, it is already broken.
I enjoy it.
I drink out of it.
But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over and it shatters, I say, 'Of course.
When I understand that the glass is already broken, every
moment with it is precious.
" So I've decided, from now on, I want to spend every moment I can with the things I cherish most.
So, I'll be in my room with my books.
Try not to bother me.
It wasn't the most reassuring philosophy, but it worked for Brick, so we were happy.
" So I've decided, from now on, I want to spend every moment I can with the things I cherish most.
So, I'll be in my room with my books.
Try not to bother me.
It wasn't the most reassuring philosophy, but it worked for Brick, so we were happy.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite work for Axl.
It's a different way of looking at it.
Imagine the store not opening on Saturday.
See? The worst outcome has already happened.
Now, don't you feel better? You're fired.
Well, I already imagined that, so I'm not upset.[8]
It's a different way of looking at it.
Imagine the store not opening on Saturday.
See? The worst outcome has already happened.
Now, don't you feel better? You're fired.
Well, I already imagined that, so I'm not upset.[8]
4. We
will not be so frustrated once we quit being so hopeful.
a. Really
is that the way you want to live? Is
that the best there is?
b. Do
you really want to get up with no hopes, dreams or expectations for your
children ? your spouse? Your job? Your life?
c. Is
frustration so bad a thing that you would give up your dreams to avoid it?
d. A
life that is all magic, no frustrations, no hurts – what do you really have
with that?
V.
Qoheleth – Eccl
A. Where
does the frustration come from?
1. God
intentionally gives it to us. – Eccl 3:10,
6:2
2. Rom
8:20-22 – it is part of the result of
Adam’s sin. We live in a sinful world
and God has not exempted the world from sin’s curse and chaos.
3. And
God gives it to us this way in order to get our attention.
Eccl 4:14
Eccl 4:14
B. We
live in a world that is out of order.
And we are out of order. We need to be changed (and so does our
world).
1. And
that is what God is working on it us through the Holy Spirit. Not to get us to avoid frustrations, but to
be changed in such a way that we can grow through them to look more like
Christ.
2. I
Tim 6:17 – Like Eccl – God gives us everything to enjoy. But it comes to us, only from the hand of
God. Not from under the sun - but
through a life in a right relationship with him.
a. He
gives us all things – wealth, possession and the power to enjoy them. – Eccl 5:19f.
b. Eccl
5:19ff – and to accept our lot in life and our labors. Even the hard things.
1) I
got my Dad’s coffee cup. Worth about 50
cents.
2) I
enjoy drinking out of it. I remember my
Dad when I do. But everyone can do
that.
3) As
a Christian, I also have hope that one day, I will be seated around the table
in heaven with Christ and all the saints eating and drinking – with the sound
of laughter and being reunited with him once again. Zech 8:4
4) God
tells us (revelation – a valid way of knowing things) that there is a purpose
and a goal in life. That there are
things we can hope for. Christ has
secured them. And we can live a life of faith and hope – even in the midst of
all of life’s frustrations. Christ is
risen. And so are our hopes.
c. I
Cor 13:7 – love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things.
d. We
don’t hope for the worst. That is not
living. God has given us in Christ every
reason to have hope and to hope.
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