One of our great fears is being forgotten.
Something that disturbs us is how quickly our lives are forgotten. We want our lives to matter and we wantto achieve something of lasting significance. We want to be remembered forever! Like rock stars, one of our great fears is being forgotten.
This past week millions of people all around the world watched Michael Jackson’s funeral. Let’s take a poll. Howmany of you watched it? Have you ever seen a gold-plated casket before? In 1995, at the height of his popularity, Michael released a video called "History". If you are older you may remember the commercial. It depicts how Michael Jackson may have liked to be remembered. (Note to reader: The video was shown to the congregation.)
Since the beginning of time men have longed to be remembered. Egyptianpharaohs built pyramids that still stand to this day. Roman emperors built coliseums, ornate temples, fortresses, sprawling cities, and giant statues. Others conquered the known world, amassed gold and silver, transformed entire cultures, and changed the trajectory of history.
In our own day a notable person is Sheikh Mohammed, the Crown Prince of Dubai, who is building the most luxurious cities in the world. Dubai features man-made islands in the shapes of palm branches and a crescent moon, the world’s tallest buildings, mega-malls, world-class golf courses, the largest man-made ski dome in the world (located in the heat of the Arabian gulf), and refrigerated beaches that keep tourists cool and protect their feet from the hot sand.
For most of us it’s enough just to pay the rent ormortgage! Yet what is really behind this drive for success? Is it not a quest to be remembered, to achieve some thing of lasting significance that we can hold on to and feel satisfied about?
Deep down we think, "If I build that business, if I build my dream home, if Iget that sweet ride, if I have enough money, if I could do that that one thing,or accomplish that one goal, then I would be satisfied!"
Solomon set out to be successful in life.
Solomon was one of those men who set out to be successful in life, and he was willing to take whatever shortcuts necessary to achieve lasting significance. He was willing to marry the daughters of pagan kings and enter into unholy alliances. He was willing to utilize slave labor to build world-class buildings. He was willing to sell out God and worship foreign gods. Solomon’s godwasassuringSolomon'sown success. But the harder he chased his own success, the emptier and more dissatisfied he became.
In Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 (NIV) he says, " 'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.'What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again."
"All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look! This is something new'? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow."
Our earthy accomplishments produce little lasting satisfaction.
It’s hard to accept. But our greatest accomplishments,our greatest successes, produce little lasting satisfaction.
In Ecclesiastes 2:17-23 (NIV) Solomon laments, "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. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless."
When we die, everything we been striving for will go to someone who hasn’t worked for it or earned it. In Ecclesiastes 5 Solomon observes that whenever we are successful and receive an increase from our fields, there is always an official in a higher place eying our success. And that official is ready to take what we have produced.And above that official is another official, and another, and another. (Ecclesiastes 5:8-9) All of our prosperity, all our success, goes to local government, then to state government, then to federal, the king, etc.
And whatever we do keep for ourselves,Solomon is brutally honest about.Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 (NIV) says, "Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are (these goods) to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep."
Throughout Ecclesiastes Solomon is grasping for a deeper definition of success. There must be something deeper to grab hold of! There must be something that provides satisfaction.And if it is not success, then what is it?
A new definition of success.
In Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 (NIV) Solomon says, "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,for without him (God), who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind."
This morning I leave you with a new definition of success. True success is not found by loving money. Success is not foundby increasing goods that we pile in the corners of our homes and stare at. It is not found by amassing wealth. Not by having an abundant harvest. Not by building things. Not by laboring. Not by erecting statues in our own honor. Not by making success itself our goal.
True success is pleasing God. (Ecclesiastes 2:26) And when we make pleasing God our goal, we find all the things we had hoped success would bring us: enjoyment, contentment, satisfaction, wisdom, knowledge, happiness, and abundance. But without God, not even the greatest successes can bring lasting satisfaction. In Ecclesiastes 2:25 (NIV) Solomon says, "For without (God), who can eat or find enjoyment?"
It’s a good question. How can we find enjoyment, true satisfaction, without God? We cannot.