Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
THE VANITY OF SELF-INDULGENCE - "I said in my heart, 'Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.' But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, 'It is mad,' and of pleasure, 'What use is it?' I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11).
The vanity of self-indulgence is perhaps the easiest of topics for us to identify with because it covers the smorgasbord of fleshly desires we most typically crave: wealth, power, status and sexual intimacy.
Solomon sought after, accomplished, and exceeded these feats to the extent that no man could rival him. His vast array of riches, entitlement, personal conquests, and material accumulation were unparalleled, yet he was not supremely satisfied with his "work hard, play hard" attitude that boastfully demanded great reward for the fruits of his labor.
He sought all the comforts and temporary satisfactions this world has to offer and found himself more discontent than ever. Money, women, alcohol, laughter, and parties were simply means to a spiritual black hole, void of even the slightest spiritual rest. The apostle Paul would later (indirectly) coin many of the conquests Solomon pursued as works of the flesh.
"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21).
Keep in mind, this is not an exhaustive list. Paul simply touches on specific sins the Spirit laid on his heart to write to the church in Galatia. The Bible expounds on many other sin issues we struggle with that would be covered under the umbrella of self-indulgence. But the main issue we must wrestle with, as Solomon did, is why our hearts grow less content the more we gain of all this world has to offer.
“Always be content with what you have; never be content with who you are.”
Like gravitational pull, our flesh craves temporary satisfaction in any form or fashion, whatever the cost. We are discontent more often than not with who and what God has provided to meet our needs, and we see no need to personally change because we're perfectly content with who we are.
For instance, the divorce rate among Evangelicals compared to secular society proves that our propensity to sin knows no bounds because our statistics are virtually identical to atheists. In other words, we have flipped the quote James MacDonald provides and wonder why we are not happy, not living in peace, and not satisfied overall with God's provision.
In truth, we are no different than our "lost" family, friends and neighbors, for we face the same challenges and opportunities, and subsequently have the personal choice to either react or respond to the life we have been given.
However, contentment differentiates us as Christ-followers from the world and sets our feet on higher ground. Again, Paul beautifully illustrates this reality through his own life.
"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need" (Philippians 4:11-12).
Paul knew what it felt like to live in abundance, but he also knew what it meant to be stripped of everything he owned and thrown in prison. His pre-conversion life overflowed with power, status and possession, while his post-conversion life in Christ resulted in poverty, persecution, and punishment.
Yet despite how we would logically equate blessing with Christianity and cursing with atheism, Paul flips the tables and reminds us that the key to spiritual peace is found in contentment, stating, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). We must die to our preconceived notions that worldly success or gain has any value to the Lord, for Jesus repeatedly provided examples to us regarding the blessings of sharing abundantly with those in need.
"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Luke 12:32-34). "For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:43-45).
It is safe to say that in the midst of Solomon's conquests and pursuits, he failed to recognize how selfish he had become. His love of self created a stronghold around his heart and allowed Satan to twist his illusion of contentment into a buffet of debauchery and idolatry. Make no mistake, wisdom in and of itself was not enough to wake Solomon up from his self-imposed nightmare. Only the love of God who allowed Solomon to test the limits of his human capacity, saved him from utter ruin and destruction.
The book of Proverbs states, "As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man. The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise" (Proverbs 27:19-21).
If we were to take the spiritual temperature of our hearts by measuring how self-indulgent we are to all the pleasures this world has to offer, how high would our thermometers read? Would we even admit we have a high temperature? Would we remain held captive in deception, blind to our own blindness, thinking a teaspoon of spiritual Motrin will cure our fever?
Or would we be honest enough and rush ourselves to an emergency room where only the Great Healer can save us from our infirmities? Because in all honestly, the majority of us already know we are fever-stricken by temptations and cancer-stricken by sin, which draws us further into self-indulgence.
We are simply unwilling to relinquish complete and unconditional control of our lives to the Lord. We hold back whatever fractional percentage of control we foolishly believe we need to survive by subsequently brainwashing ourselves into thinking our vices are reserved for emergency situations only.
Subsequently, that is why so many addicts relapse, because they are fearful of relinquishing full control without a safety net. But God is not content with 99.99% of our hearts. He demands a full and unequivocal 100%, because the price He paid for our salvation far outweighs all the riches the world or Solomon could ever dream of!
Scripture declares, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:15-17).
This incredible statement from John begs the question, "Do we believe what He says is true?" Reason being, there is an obvious disconnect between our spirit that believes this to be true and our flesh that steers us away from applying Christ's wisdom. We don't argue the truth of the matter; the truth simply gets lost in translation in the application phase of sanctification. That is why Jesus commands us, "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41).
Because our Savior was born of human flesh, He understood the spiritual battle we fight every day. His ability to empathize with the temptations we face, which demands we feed our appetite of self-indulgence, allowed Him to accept the wrath of sin and death on our behalf despite His own struggle at times. For in truth, Jesus' statement to His disciples to watch and pray in order to guard themselves from temptation, came directly after He faced His own test of personal will and temptation.
"And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will'" (Matthew 26:39).
In the end, the wisdom we glean from Christ's example of self-sacrifice on the cross and Solomon's pursuit of excessive self-indulgence, can save us from our own destruction if we apply what we have learned universally.
In other words, we cannot keep our "spiritual" life and our "practical" life independent of one another. Our life is not compartmentalized, despite how hard we may rationalize in our minds that we can live that way. We must embrace contentment.
For without contentment, we are slaves to our own flesh, unable to stop our eyes from achieving what we falsely believe will fill the void in our heart, make us happy, and/or bring us peace and comfort.
Solomon understood the hard way that living the grandiose life was not all it's cracked up to be. For the more he gained under the sun, the further he drifted away from the relationship he once had with the Lord. But as we will come to understand studying Ecclesiastes, there is a time and season for everything, and the Lord redeemed Solomon just as He did for his father, King David.
Therefore, we must begin anew as they did, confess our sins, and humbly request of the Lord, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). For only then will we come to understand the depth and breadth of our Father, who loves us despite how far we fall and wayward we become pursuing our selfish passions.
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17).
