Life As Vapor: Ecclesiastes

I can think of no better book in the Bible to set the course for what I'm hoping this blog will look like than Ecclesiastes. It's a seldom used book that can be taken as really cynical but there is an odd sense of optimism in it when we come to understand the very fabric of what our life is here on earth. I encourage you to read it all the way through sometime, but it just so happens that this week I led a group study of it and we did a little general survey of the book so this is the sort of devotional I wrote for my youth group. As always I encourage discussion. Maybe tell me your personal experience with the things we find in Ecclesiastes and what you think about all of this. I like writing, but having conversation is even more rewarding to me. Please comment if you feel so inclined and again, if you have anything you would like to have posted to this blog just send it to me at my email address that you can find at the top of the home page. Be aware that I may have to make some editing marks here and there and how many I post will be determined by how many are submitted but I promise I won't make wholesale changes and that I will try to get around to everyone's work. This is your blog, help write it.

Thanks,
Matt

Ecclesiastes

Have you ever found yourself complaining about life, saying things like, “I don’t want to go to school or practice,” or, “I just wish I could go do something fun,” or even perhaps, “my life stinks!” Anybody? What do you sometimes find yourself wanting more out of in this life?

Now perhaps you’ve picked up on things from the media. Take TV for instance. How many shows can you think of where the main character was talking about how much they loved their job? It’s rare.

More often than not we get the message that life stinks or it is like a virtual hell on earth. The things we hear about in the positive are often just the fun things in people’s lives. Whether it’s a famous recording artist singing about the parties they get to go to or athletes tweeting about the new car they just bought. It never really seems to focus on the bulk of their lives, the work side of it, the times that are seemingly insignificant.

We journal about the moments that are the exceptions in our lives. We don’t write about how we brushed our teeth today unless that’s something we don’t normally do (yuk!). Instead we write about the stuff that doesn’t happen all the time. “Today we went on vacation to the Bahamas, last night a group of us went to see a movie, or tomorrow I’m going to buy that new video game.”
People in the world use a framework of “life is hell” when their jobs are tough or they’re ill or they just don’t see a purpose about their everyday lives.

Today I want us to look at the book of Ecclesiastes. This is perhaps the most cynical or “emo” book in the Bible to be honest so why would I choose this as my first lesson? Its because Ecclesiastes also might be one of the most real and somehow optimistic book in the Bible as well. There is a raw honesty about life contained in these words that helps us really come to terms with the nature of this life we have been given and the blessing we have.

In Ecclesiastes they use the word meaningless to really introduce the chapters to follow. The Hebrew word used here in place of meaningless is hebel which means “vapor.” When I think of vapor I think back to when I was a younger and had to have a vaporizer in my room. Vapor is made up of water droplets but it doesn’t have much substance and it doesn’t remain present very long. It comes and it goes almost in an instant. The basic idea is that we can apply to the overall theme of the book of Ecclesiastes is that we have but one life to live on this earth and life itself is fragile as vapor is also fragile.

The thought of life being fragile and that it can come and go just as vapor or could even be mentioned in the same sentence as being meaningless sounds pretty depressing. If we stopped at verse 1:2 we would be pretty sad but if we read into the rest of this book we come to find that life is anything but meaningless. In fact, in the book of Ecclesiastes our lives matter, but more importantly, the moment we find ourselves in at present is what matters most.

The first verse of the first chapter gives a little background about this book and while we are not absolutely certain about who the author is, most scholars believe it is written by Solomon. Use these verses and my very brief notes to survey some of the basic message of Ecclesiastes but I encourage you all to read the whole book sometime if you have a chance. After each group of verses, discuss what the Teacher is saying in terms we can understand. My example that I like to work off of is to compare the author to a mega superstar recording artist like Jay-Z or Justin Bieber.

*DISCLAIMER: The word “wine” really is supposed to mean Cherry Coke :)

Ecclesiastes 1:2-9

What we might understand this to mean is that we are a part of the narrative of God’s people. God has done work in the past and will continue in the future. We are important but not essential in a way.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

The author is basically saying that even after chasing earthly pleasures it does not give true meaning to his life or real satisfaction.

Ecclesiastes 2:14-19

The wise man and fool both reach the similar fate so in the end their legacy is not truly what makes a difference in who we are. Our work in the world will be handed down to the next generation just as the previous handed down to us and entrusted to us.

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

The best thing we can do is to drink Cherry Coke and enjoy the work that we are given in this life.

Ecclesiastes 4:13
Better to be a young wise man with nothing in our pockets than a rich fool.
Ecclesiastes 5:15

Our wealth will not go with us. It is the vapor that is our time on earth that truly counts, not the things we build up for ourselves.

Ecclesiastes 9:7-10

Eat, drink Cherry Coke and be merry, for this is your lot in life.

Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

Some things just happen by coincidence and the old way of thinking that we see challenged in Job is dead.

Ecclesiastes 11:9

You who are young, be happy. Let your hearts give you joy, follow the ways of your heart and desire. A life in which we only have the present moment but in that moment we have that breath, vapor, existence that we can make the world better.

I earlier used the example of successful musicians like Justin Bieber or Jay-Z who spent their time building a massive mansion and even has men and women musicians (so basically they have huge parties with entertainment). Jay-Z spent a long time working hard to build up all these things and is denying himself of no earthly pleasures. He worries that someday his enormous wealth is going to be handed down to his great grandchildren and he doesn’t know if they will be wise people or foolish. What if they throw away his wealth that he worked so hard for? In the end, he doesn’t really get a choice in the matter so ultimately, spending so much time trying to acquire wealth does not ultimately matter since there will come a day when Jay-Z will no longer be just as there was a day when he didn’t exist.

I like to think of a Great Gatsby kind of party!

We understand that in this life we are called to be a part of the narrative of God (a narrative/never ending novel that has chapters not only about Abraham, Moses, and Jesus but chapters about us that we are co-authoring with God in our lives) and are given the opportunity to participate in the ushering in of the Kingdom of God on earth. Life is made up of vapor and we are given a finite opportunity to be kingdom people. At the day of judgment when we sit down with God I imagine we’ll have a conversation about the life we’ve lived and God will smile upon us as we fondly tell God stories about our favorite parts of the life we were given and we’ll have a beautiful conversation about that life we lived together. I sometimes wonder if I’ll have much to say, if I’ll have done my very best to pen the words that God has for my life in God’s perfect plan. I would like to think that when that day comes and I read that story to God that it will sound as much like Jesus as possible.

We know that we are significant to God as Christ would have undoubtedly gone to the cross for even the sins of just one person as he came to serve and love the “least of these.” Still we understand what the author is trying to say about our place in the narrative of God’s people. We are one of many raindrops in an endless river, or a tiny blip on a timeline that stretches from the beginning of creation into eternity. We are small but God’s love for us is infinitely vast.

We may feel like Jay-Z or the author in our lives. Sometimes the things we do today will not be credited to us tomorrow. Maybe we’ll create an awesome youth room together and 20 years from now we’ll return to see that the teens it was entrusted to did not take care of it.

We may not get a trophy or recognition for the good things we do in the kingdom work of God, but it is those every moment opportunities that we have to be the Body of Christ in this world that are the true blessings handed to us by the hand of God.