The Hunt for Happiness | The Search - Ecclesiastes 2 | Tony Walliser

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Silverdale's Lead Pastor is Tony Walliser.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Well, good morning. It is so good to see all of you here worshiping with us today. I'd like to welcome all of you here at this campus, but I'd like to welcome all of our campuses and venues and those of you that are worshiping with us online. If I haven't had a chance to meet you personally, I'm Tony Walliser, one of the pastors here at Silverdale. And it's been a while. So I am very thankful to be able to be with you today to get to share God's word with you. Been gone for about a month. I'm so thankful for Maddie and all of our campus pastors. They're filling in. I was on a mission trip to Japan and vacation, other stuff like that. I know some of you are like, I didn't even know you were gone. Good, that's the way it's really supposed to be. But I'm so glad to be back anyway. So this is what I encourage you to do. Go and take your Bibles and open up in the Old Testament to the book of Ecclesiastes. Um, Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Turn to Ecclesiastes 2. You got a smartphone, you can open that app to Ecclesiastes as well. Also, do this take out these Bible study outlines that we provide for you. We give these outlines so you can follow along and take notes as we study God's word together. Ecclesiastes is part of the wisdom literature found in the Old Testament. Most of it's written by King Solomon. And in Ecclesiastes 2, you have Solomon's search for happiness. Let me just sort of give you an understanding that Solomon, he's this rich guy and he's able to do things to the extreme. And so Ecclesiastes is the journal of his search. What is the meaning of life? How do you find happiness? Now, if you ask most people, hey, what do you want out of life? Most people say, I just want to be happy. Just want to be happy, right? It's one of the number one searches on Google. It's one of the most asked questions in AI, how to be happy. And yet USA Today says that 70% of Americans are not happy. And you go, okay, well, there's a disconnect there. What's going on? We all want happiness. Very few people have happiness. I mean, years ago, ABC News had a special report called The Mystery of Happiness. What is it? How do you find it? They asked and interviewed different people. Well, what would make you happy? One person said a hundred million dollars. Another person said a private island. Another person said a castle. Another person said a lot of women. Well, today we're going to study a man who had all of that and much more. He is King Solomon. He is on this pursuit of happiness, the meaning of life. Ecclesiastes is the result. It's really a very depressing book because he's going on this search and he's not finding what he's looking for. Now let me remind you who Solomon is. Solomon is the richest, most powerful king that's ever reigned in Israel. He reigns for 40 years. His name Solomon means peace. He literally had 40 years of peace. Unlike Israel today, there was peace on every side. And he had unlimited resources. So he had time on his hand, money in his pockets, unlimited resources, and so he decides, because he has the mind of philosopher, brilliant man, I'm going to find the meaning of life. And he goes on this hunt, this search for happiness. Now, you and I can learn from his mistakes and from what he learned. Because we all know this. You only got one life to live. You better get it right, right? I mean, it's sort of like this advertising sign for sale. Parachute. Used only once, never opened, small stain. Okay. Well, there's certain things you can't try again. You there's no redo's, right? Well, life happens to be one of them. You have one life to live, you better get it right. And so Solomon is on this pursuit of happiness. He's a pursuit of the meaning of life, and Ecclesiastes tells us what that looks like. And we have his conclusions as well. And so on your outlines, there's six paths that Solomon went after to the extreme, trying to find happiness. And I want you to see them because they're the same thing that we do in our culture as well. Number one is this, jot this down. First is the path of pleasure. The path of pleasure. Now, don't we all like pleasure, right? We like comfortable shoes and clothes and a nice bed and good food to eat. I mean, goodness, if I had to vote between pain and pleasure, I choose pleasure every day, right? We want pleasure, of course we do. Solomon starts there. Look at it, verse 1. I said to myself, Come, let's try pleasure. Let's look for the good things in life. So pleasure becomes his first pursuit, and he goes to the extreme. He starts throwing these massive parties. He's bringing in comedians, right? Check it out, verse two. So I said, Laughter silly. Then in verse three, after much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. And so he's got all these resources. So he's going to say, I'm going to do all I can to just consume and have parties and have fun and pleasure. I mean, so he's bringing in comedians. I mean, if if Solomon lived today, he'd own Comedy Central, right? Every night he's got a different comedian. Okay, you got um, you know, Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart one night, and my favorite comedian is um Nate Brighetsi. He's hilarious to me. And you know, he's like, okay, he does all this stuff, and then his conclusion is, okay, that's just silliness. And there's got to be more than that, right? So he starts throwing these parties, big parties, massive parties, right? I mean, he's rolling out barrels of wine, you know, the best choicest foods. I mean, if you want to know what size it is, you could read 1 Kings chapter 4. I mean, he's throwing these massive parties. 10,000 people are showing up at his palace. I mean, Solomon looks at us and he looks at your little party in your backyard where you're barbecue, and he goes, You are preschool compared to me, right? I mean, he can throw massive parties. And so he is looking for ecstasy in every possible way he can. And guess what he discovers? At the party, there's a high, but at the end of the party there is no happiness. After all the parties in, I'm still empty on the inside. This pursuit of pleasure ended up to be a dead-end street. So he tries a second path. Jot this down. Here's the second path we try as well. The path of building projects. The path of building projects. He's like, okay, I tried the party scene, that was fun, but hey, you know what? I need to make something out of my life. I need to leave a legacy, so let me start building stuff. Verse 4. I also tried to find meaning by undertaking great projects. I built huge homes, plural, for myself, and by planting beautiful vineyards. And so Solomon starts first with his palace. Now we know based on the word of God that Solomon also built the temple in Jerusalem. Think about it. This is very ornate. It's one of the you know ancient marvels of the day. Very beautiful temple in Jerusalem. It took him seven years to build. Contrast that with his house. His house took 14 years to build. Can you imagine? I mean, if you have unlimited resources and you take 14 years to build your house, I mean, Solomon's house would be featured on million dollars, you know, mansion houses and hunters, right? I mean, he had the best architect interior designers. But that wasn't just one house. He had multiple palaces. He had one in the mountains and one by the sea, and you know, one in the forest of Lebanon, and every palace was surrounded with these palatial estates, right? And if you want a home, you know you gain a certain pleasure from your home, right? You know, you get a home, you work it, you you paint a room, and you go, ah, that looks good, right? I mean, for me, when I mow the grass every week, you know, I look afterwards and go, oh, what a beautiful yard I've got, right? And so those kind of things, and we look at that and we go, yeah, we get a little pleasure from that. And Solomon's like, yeah, I get you, you know, but look, you're planting pansies, I planted forest, right? He goes into the extreme. Check it out, look at it in verse 5. I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. I mean, again, Solomon's building projects go beyond our comprehension. I mean, even to this very day, you can go southeast of Jerusalem and you will find the pools of Solomon. Still, you find these craters in the earth. You got these huge areas, they're massive, the size of football fields, 50 feet deep. They were dug by Solomon and, you know, to collect water, why? To pump and to, you know, irrigate all of his many gardens. I mean, so this guy, he's building all these things, and you're gonna see in a little bit, he's basically saying, you know what, it was all meaningless. Didn't give me anything. Tried to leave a legacy, and it didn't leave me anything but emptiness. It's much like, you know, Ted Turner, millionaire, he's gone, died now, left all his millions behind him, obviously. But he was a builder of businesses, builder of buildings, and he had this quote about his life. Listen to what he said. He said, Life is like a B-grade movie. You don't want to leave in the middle of it, but you don't want to ever see it again. That's sad. He's describing his life, he's describing our life, right? You make it about building, okay, there's gotta be more than this. It doesn't give me the satisfaction or happiness I was looking for. So Solomon goes down a third road, a third path. Jot this down. The path of accumulating stuff. The path of accumulating stuff. I want my stuff, I want more possessions. Now, as Americans, we are very materialistic. I mean, I've traveled around the world, we are very materialistic. Did you know that most people, when they go to the mall, only 25% of people that go to the mall know what they're going to buy when they get there. 75% of mall shoppers are there for therapy. There's some hole in their heart, there's some emptiness, they're bored, they're looking for something to satisfy them. We had a lady in our church, she's passed on, she was a single lady. She bought something online every day. She had rooms filled with unopened boxes of things that she had purchased. She got a little dopamine dump every time she pressed by. It's sad. We have a culture that somehow thinks that getting more stuff is going to satisfy. Solomon had it all, and it didn't satisfy. Notice how he describes his life, verse 7. I acquired male and female servants, and others were born in my household. That means I had slaves and I had slaves born to slaves, and guess what? They are all serving me. He had thousands of servants doing whatever he, you know, his at his beck and call. I mean, you know, there's certain things in our life we're like, you know, I wish I didn't have to do that. Wouldn't it be great to hire somebody to do all these things I don't want to do, right? Solomon had that. You cut my toes, right? You wax my chariot, you scratch my back, right? I mean that that's Solomon. He's doing all those kind of things. You hunt my food, you cook my food, you slice my food up in little bite-sized pieces, right? You comb my hair, you cut my hair, you wash my hair. You design my clothes, you make my clothes, you clothe me. Can you imagine that? Solomon has all of that stuff. All those people waiting on him. It continues, verse 7. Look what else he says. I also own large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. You go, man, I love animals. So did Solomon. I mean, you go, you know what I would love? I'd love to have a ranch, have horses on it, and maybe, you know, um some dogs and a duck pond. That'd be so cool, right? Well, Solomon goes, I had hundreds of those. I had all these stables of all the most amazing horses known to man. I mean, Solomon had his own private zoo. He had all these exotic animals and birds that are brought in from around the world. I mean, goodness gracious, Solomon had it all. And then what else? Verse 8. I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and providences. The Bible tells us that he brought in 25 tons of gold every year. That's 3.5 billion dollars. And on top of that, all these merchants, all these other kings are bringing stuff to Solomon. The Bible says that Solomon was so wealthy that silver was like stones in Jerusalem. I mean, it's just wealth was everywhere. Can you imagine having unlimited resources? That you never have to balance your checkbook? That you know, you can just got a credit card and you can buy whatever your little covetous heart wants. That's Solomon. That's us. Right? We're so materialistic. You know what's happened in our culture today? So many people are going in so much debt because they think something else is going to satisfy, and it doesn't. You know, another plague that's hit our culture? Online betting, right? Did you know that there are people that lose that do online betting? $300 billion a year are lost. Most of it is men, most of it is betting on sports. What are they doing? They're looking for that jackpot, they're looking for those resources. Oh my goodness, if I could, you know, just win the lottery, the mega millions. Solomon hit the lottery, right? And it didn't satisfy. I mean, you think you're gonna win, right? All these things? Go to Vegas, look at the casinos. They're huge, they're massive, they're beautiful. Why are they? Because the house always wins. You're gonna lose, right? And yet we somehow think these things are going to satisfy. Solomon's telling us, look, your bank account can be full, but your heart is still empty. So he goes to another path. What's the path? The fourth path is this the path of being entertained. The path of being entertained. Solomon says, you know what I need? I need some entertainment. I need some music in my life. Check it out. Verse 8. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women. Now, I don't know about you, I love music, right? And in our culture today, we can have music all the time, right? We can download it on our phone, we can stream it in the car, you can say, Alexa, play this, Alexa play that, and it does. We can be surrounded by music. I love music, right? Well, in that day, in Solomon's day, if you wanted music, you had to have live musicians, right? You had to have live singers. There was nothing you could download. It had to be live. And Solomon had the resources of bringing in the top stars in Israel, right? I mean, imagine. I mean, imagine if Solomon was around today, right? If, okay, if it was me, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna have uh Paul McCartney do classic Beatles on the patio. And Luke Combs, he'll do some country and um, you know, in the living room. And um, when I'm brushing my teeth, I'll get some boy band to sing because I can only stand them for a couple minutes, you know. And I'll get uh Brittany, you know, or um, you know, I'll I'll get um Taylor Swift, you know, she'll be in my workout room. Kenny G in the bedroom, right? Whatever your mood is. These just guys are following you around, you know, whatever you need, whatever strikes your mood, they're gonna play live for you. But guess what? The song ends. Next, next, next, it doesn't satisfy. I got all this music, and yet something's still wrong. I'm still bored. So what does he do next? The next path, number five, the path of sexual hedonism. Sexual hedonism. Solomon is notorious for having a lot of women. And so here's Solomon. Okay, he's got all these beautiful, palacious, landscaped palaces and music going on and food and parties, and he's like, I it's beautiful, I love it. I need some love. So what does he do? Verse 8. And I had a harem of many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire. I mean, Solomon's sexual exploits are notorious, right? He had 700 wives, 300 concubines. They're all at his beck and call. Uninhibited sexual perversion. Solomon had it all. I mean, basically, Solomon would look at, you know what, um, Playboy Mansion and go, you guys are amateur compared to me. And what what how did he get all these women? Because he had all these treaties with all these countries around the world. Well, they sent him all these most beautiful women from their country, and they're all there at his beck and call. Whatever he wanted, okay, I'll have a blonde for breakfast and a brunette for lunch and a redhead, a tall person, or whatever it is. He he wanted it all, right? He had it all. He said, I didn't lay back at all. Whatever I desired. Can I tell you something? A lot of you, through pornography, you have your mental harem. Solomon had a real one. And just like your porn will leave you empty, he was empty. It didn't satisfy. See, another plague of our culture is pornography. 70% of men say they view it. Did you know that 10% of young women ages 18 to 24 post on the porn side at OnlyFans? Right? I mean, it ruins lives, families, it's destructive, it is as addictive as cocaine, and it will ruin you. Can I tell you? It ruins Solomon. This is one path he went down. He never got back from. It destroyed him, it destroyed the kingdom of God. Right? That's what happened. Sexual perversion, hedonism, right? He went after it, it didn't satisfy. What else? Well, six things. Number six, the path of popularity. The path of popularity. Isn't amazing that people want to be popular, right? Sure. Okay, how many followers do you have? How many likes did you get? Did your video go viral, right? Oh, I want to be a part of that in-group. I want to be a part of that team. You know what? I would love to go on vacation with that group or that person right there. I want to be popular. Where Solomon basically says, I was pretty popular. Check it out, verse 9. So I became greater than all who lived in Jerusalem before me. You go, duh, you throw a party for 10,000 people every night. You're going to be popular, right? Well, he was popular. And somehow in our hearts and minds were like, okay, if I could just be, you know, loved and popular and people like me and know me, right? And, you know, screaming fans, yell my name, and they got my picture on their t-shirt, and the news, you know, talks about how wonderful I am. Solomon had all of that, and yet it was still empty. So for nine verses, Solomon is expressing the excess that he tried, looking for meaning, looking for happiness. Here's a summary, verse 10. I denied myself nothing, my eyes desired, I refused my heart no pleasure. He said, I didn't deny myself no pleasure, no party, no person, no possession, no experience. And you go, okay, Solomon, what is the result of your hedonistic experience? You ready? Probably not gonna believe it, but this is his conclusion. Ready? Look at it, verse 11. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless, like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. I did it all, I tried it all, been there, done that, still have no joy. I still don't have any satisfaction. He could sing that song. I still haven't found what I'm looking for, right? That's Solomon. Now, don't hear me saying that God doesn't want you to have any pleasure, that God doesn't want you to listen to a comedian or listen to music or enjoy your home or have sex with your spouse. Please, only your spouse, right? Listen, God is not some cosmic killjoy, he's the one who designed pleasure for us. Think about it. He started off humanity by planting a garden, the Garden of Eden. It was paradise. He walked with Adam and Eve, they were naked in the garden. God understands pleasure, okay? But here's the thing if you try pleasure without God, it is always empty. You try anything else, you try creation without the creator, it is empty. Pastor, how do you know that? Because I'm the guy they call when the party's over. When their life is falling apart, and they go, Pastor, I've lost my family. I'm hooked on porn. I've got debt. They're taking my house away. I mean, I'm addicted to alcohol. I don't know what to do. My life is miserable. I went skydiving and the parachute didn't open. What do I do now? Right? That's the reality. And so Solomon has given us this book. And this book is all about this search and the emptiness of it. But at the end of this book, he gives us the solution. So jot that on your outline. What is the solution to our search? Solomon, he has conducted all these experiments. What was your conclusion, Solomon? Well, at the end of this book, Ecclesiastes 12, he says this, verse 1, remember your creator in the days of your youth. And then verse 13, he says, here's the conclusion of the matter. Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of all of humanity. He goes, After all of my search, all those things were empty apart from the Creator, apart from Almighty God. God is what I really needed all along. Everything else was a bunch of cotton candy. It was sweet to the taste, but immediately just melted away in my mouth. And so, how do you experience that? Well, there's three things that I want you to know if you're going to experience this fulfillment of your search with God. What are they? Number one, jot this down. First, you need to know that you are created with a God-shaped void. You're created with a God-shaped void. You've heard me say this before. You have a God-sized, God-shaped void in your soul. You're created in the image of God. You're created for a relationship with God, and nothing else but God will satisfy that God-sized void. Notice how Solomon said this in Ecclesiastes 3. He says, God has set also eternity in every human heart. You see, we're all created in the image of God. God's stamp is on you. Just like Adam and Eve, right? Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden every day. And so whenever they sinned and got kicked out of the garden, from that day forward, all of humanity has felt something missing in our heart. We're like, you know what? Something's missing. We want to get back to paradise. How do you get back to paradise, right? Because we know something's missing. Solomon says there has been this groove in our soul. And this groove is eternal. And it's only satisfied with God. It is eternal. And we try to fill this groove in our soul with temporary things. Okay, maybe this block will work. Maybe this block will fill it. And it doesn't. It never satisfies. It's just like your car. It's made to run on gasoline and yet you keep putting water in it. And so Solomon says it's all meaningless. Okay, so I've got this God-sized void. So what do we do? Number two, we replace the creator with creation. We replace the creator with creation. We go, okay, I do have this emptiness. I know I'm not happy. I know I'm not satisfied. How do I satisfy myself? I know what I'll do. I'll pursue just like Solomon all this other stuff. Notice how the Apostle Paul put this in Romans 1. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie. Can I just tell you something? That is our culture. It just lies to us continually. And they did what? And they worshiped and served things that were created instead of the Creator. Right? I mean, you see that word worship there? There it is. Anytime we go on these pursuits and searches, that's worship. Uh-uh. I'm worshiping that. You see, the opposite of Christianity is not atheism. The opposite of Christianity is idolatry. Our hearts are idol factories and we produce all these things. Surely, if I pursue that and those things and that person and that popularity, whatever it may be, this will satisfy. Solomon said, okay, money, status, stuff, spouse, surely that will satisfy, right? And so what do we do, right? We maybe even get married and go, oh, you're the one. You're the mythical one. You're the one. And then you realize, oh, they're not the one. I need to divorce this one, and there's got to be another one out there. Till you realize there ain't no one except the one, Jesus Christ. I mean, none are going to satisfy. There's no person, there's no place, there's no thing that's really gonna satisfy the deep need of your heart. Listen again. Creation doesn't work without the creator. You can't enjoy it. You can't enjoy life. It gives you real no meaning and purpose. And so, what is the answer? Number four three is this. Shout this down. The answer to our search is Jesus Christ. The answer to our search is Jesus Christ. You may go, Pastor, that's just too simple. Listen, it may seem simple, but it's not simple. It costs Jesus everything to be the answer to your needs. Now I want you to think about Jesus just for a second because listen, Jesus made some audacious claims. Jesus made statements like this I am the bread of life. I will satisfy every hunger of your life. You go, how could Jesus, how can you be the satisfaction of my life? That's what he claims. How about this claim? Jesus said this. Jesus said, if anyone's weary and heavy laden, let them come to me and I will give you rest. The Sabbath rest you're looking for, it is only found in me. That's what Jesus is saying. You remember in John 4, Jesus talking to the woman at the well? This lady had been married and divorced five times. She was living with another man. In her mind, she thought, okay, surely there's a man out there that's gonna meet my needs. And there wasn't until she met the man Christ Jesus. And what did Jesus say to her? Look at it in John 4. Whoever drinks from the water that I give him will never get thirsty again. Whatever your search is, whatever your hunger is, whatever your thirst is, Jesus says, I will be your satisfaction. If you're lost, I'm the way. If you're on the outside, I'm the door. Yo, how can Jesus make those kind of claims? Because he alone is the Son of God. He alone is the only one who stepped out of heaven for you. Whenever you see Jesus Christ, you need to understand, Jesus is the better and greater Solomon. Jesus really is the King of peace. Jesus really is the one who had more wealth, more power than Solomon could ever imagine. And what did he do? He left it all to reach and save you. Jesus left the riches of heaven to take on your poverty. Jesus left the applause of heaven to take the jeers of humanity. Jesus Christ, he left the comfort of heaven to be crucified for you. And when Jesus died on the cross, folks, it was for you. You go, yeah, he died for everybody. No, he died for you. For your sin, your rebellion, your idolatry, for all your senseless searches that you've gone on all your life. Jesus died for all of that. And to prove it, God raises him up from the dead. And Jesus is very much alive, and he wants to give you his life today. And what did he do? He ascended back to heaven, and he's been doing a building project that will make Solomon's building projects look like nothing. He's building a mansion in heaven for you. That's awesome. But what you got to do? You've got to learn to find your rest in him. I love the way that St. Augustine once put it. He said, Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you. So how do you do that? Well, the Bible says you repent and you believe. You turn from all your useless searches, and you trust in Jesus Christ, who is the answer to the search. You say, I uh I repent of going my way. Jesus, I'm surrendering to you as my Lord. And you call on Jesus Christ and you say, Lord, I'm not going to pursue the creation first, I'm going to pursue the creator, and then you're going to add everything else that I need. Some of you, you've never done that before. You do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Today can begin that day if you repent and believe. Others of you, you have started a relationship with God, but somewhere along the way, life has deceived you and you've abandoned him and gone after something else. And now you're empty again. And I'm telling you, repent and return back to Jesus. So wherever you may be, I want to lead you in a prayer of repentance and surrender, of saying, Jesus, you're going to be my satisfaction. You're going to be the solution to my need. So would you do that with me? I want everybody to bow your head and close your eyes and all of our campuses as well. If in your heart you're ready to make Jesus a solution of your search, would you pray something like this? Would you pray, Lord Jesus? I acknowledge that you are Lord of all. Lord, please forgive me. Forgive me for going after so many things of this world thinking it's going to satisfy. It's just been a cheap substitute. I repent. I turn to you. Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. I believe you are the bread of life that I need. I believe you died for my sins. I believe you rose again. I believe you want to give me new life. So, Lord, I trust you. I surrender my life to you. From this day forward, I choose to follow you. I will make you the center of my life. Jesus, please satisfy now the deepest needs of my heart. Walk with me. I pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.

unknown 33:24

Amen.