You Can't Take It With You Series

You Can’t Take it With You

Ecclesiastes 2:18-26

Rev. Brian Bill

July 27-28, 2024

Billy Graham was fond of saying, “You’ll never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul.” That is, until now, because I came across a picture of one this week. As we continue to journey with Solomon in his search for satisfaction as recorded in the Book of Ecclesiastes, we come face-to-face with this truth: You can’t take it with you.

Last weekend we discovered: We will never find our purpose in life if we put the pursuit of our pleasures, projects, possessions, prestige, or performance above God’s priorities. The more Solomon pursued these things, the more he lost perspective on the purpose of life.

After the service last weekend, Grayson Doran, who is 17-years-old, told me he wrote a poem while he listened to the sermon. I was blown away when he sent it to me.

“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity,”

Says the King Solomon. Killing my sanity.

When I needed some grace beyond measure,

I was always looking for some more pleasure.

I found out that all my possessions,

Became pure and utter obsessions.

I needed the Lord to hit me with a rod,

But I was too focused on being my own god.

Pastors say that sin is abhorrent,

But life gives it to me in a torrent.

When you think your sin is out of reach,

It always comes back like a blood-sucking leech.

I was the one searching for laughter,

But I found out there was none thereafter.

If I become one to do drugs or to do beer,

I would find out that no pleasure was near.

I’ve often tried to find out what would make me glad,

But when I found the answer, I wish I already had.

You see God is the one that can give us pleasure,

And He’s also the one that gives grace beyond measure.

Trust me when I say that the search ain’t worth it,

Continue living in it, you’ll be in a pit.

Find hope and pleasure in the One who made you,

That way you’ll know the way to happiness that is true.

Here’s our main idea today: We can’t find our worth in our work, but we can worship God by how we work. When Solomon tried to find meaning in what he did, he concluded work is not worth it. If you’re looking for worth, work doesn’t work.

Let’s stand and read Ecclesiastes 2:18-23 together: “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.”

Remember that Solomon had been searching for satisfaction “under the sun,” which meant he was doing so without God in the picture. His conclusion in the first part of verse 18 is quite strong: “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun…” The word “all” means everything, and “hate” means he “loathed his labor.” The word “toil” can be translated as, “backbreaking labor, sorrow, affliction, and trouble.” This noun and two related verbs are used collectively ten times in this paragraph. If we live our lives without the Lord, our labor will be loathsome. Apart from God, your work is empty.

Next, he gives us two facts we must face.

Facts to Face

1. When we die, we’ll leave everything to someone else. Solomon spells this out in the second half of verse 18: “…seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me.” As the saying goes, “He who dies with the most toys…still dies.”

2. There is no way to know if the person will be wise or foolish. We see this in verse 19: “And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.” Solomon didn’t like the idea that he did all the work, but another person would get all his wealth. The thought of leaving the fruit of his labor to a fool was maddening to him. Psalm 49:10 says, “For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.”