Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless.
"Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?"
I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly-- my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well-- the delights of the heart of man. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
(NIV)
This is the 100th anniversary of powered flight! It was 100 years ago that the Wright Brothers successfully flew the first airplane at Kitty Hawk.
After Wilbur and Orville Wright’s successful flight on December 17, 1903, they joyfully sent a telegram to their sister in Dayton, Ohio. The message read: "First sustained flight, 59 seconds. Home for Christmas."
The sister, also elated, ran all the way to the newspaper office with the telegram. Laying the message on the editor’s desk, she announced, "I thought you would want to see this for tomorrow’s paper."
Sure enough, the next day it was in the paper, but you had to look for it. It was buried on page 16, underneath the obituaries. The notice said, "Local bicycle merchants to spend Christmas at home."
Can you believe it? One of the major events of the 20th century and the editor completely missed it.
That editor is not the only one. Many of us have a difficult time sorting through the events of life trying to understand what is important and what is unimportant.
Some of you may have seen the film, "Places in the Heart,” which came out several years ago.
The film concerns a widow, played by Sally Field, trying to raise two young children during the depression. Also living on her farm is a blind man who lives there as a boarder, and a black man whom she puts to work after she has caught trying to steal silver from her home.
Each night, the blind man cranked up the old style Victrola and listened to a recording of a book for the blind. One day, the children sneak into his room and listen to one of the records. Suddenly they hear a noise -- someone is coming -- and quickly put the record away, but as they do, they scratch the record.
That night, the blind man goes to the room to listen to the recording.
"New York Public Library Recording For the Blind," says the voice on the
Victrola.
"Trent’s Last Case. Chapter One. Between what is important and unimportant, who can understand."
And then, because the children have scratched the record, the needle skips and over and over the voice says,
"Between what is important and unimportant, who can understand?
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Between what is important and unimportant, who can understand.
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"Between what is important and unimportant, who can understand?
CLICK
That phrase of the broken record becomes the theme of the entire movie as every character tries to seek out and discover what the difference is between what is important and unimportant.
In the movie, a man struggles with his own passions. He loves his wife, but has an affair that threatens their marriage. Between lust and love, he hasn’t understood the difference between what is important and unimportant.
The widow of the movie is offered an easy way out of her difficult situation. Split up the kids and live with relatives. She refuses, because between easy answers and the difficult task of being a caring parent, she has the wisdom to know the difference between what is important and unimportant.
Throughout the movie, some of the characters fail to make that discovery. A few, however, have the wisdom to know the difference between what is important and unimportant.
Throughout life, some people are able, but some are unable to know the difference between what is important and unimportant.
I read about a man recently who was being interviewed about his beautiful home. He gave them the Better Homes and Garden type of tour, and pointed out the great treasures of his home. The person conducting the interview asked, "what’s the most important thing in the house--is it the Rembrandt hanging in the hallway?"
"Yes," said the owner of the house, "Or at least it was until last summer when the river flooded and house was being flooded. For a while the Rembrandt was not nearly as important as the inflatable raft out in the garage."
There is a story of a child who was raising a frightful cry because he had shoved his hand into the opening of a very expensive Chinese vase and then couldn’t pull it out again. Parents and neighbors tugged on the child’s arm, with the poor child crying louder and louder. Finally there was nothing left to do but to break the beautiful, expensive vase. Once broken, it became clear why the child had been so hopelessly stuck. His little fist grasped a penny which he had spied at the bottom of the vase and which he, in his childish ignorance, would not let go. For the sake of a mere penny, the expensive vase was lost.
"Between what is important and unimportant, who can understand?"
We grasp what is UNnimportant, we cling to it and in so doing, sacrifice and lose the very things that are important.
In Ecclesiastes, our Old Testament lesson for this morning, the author writes of the brevity of life, and of the difficulty in discerning between what is important and unimportant.
The author of Ecclesiastes said in our lesson, "I tried cheering myself with wine and embracing folly...I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
"I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made resovoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well, the delights of the heart of men. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired. I refused my heart no pleasure...Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done, and what I had toiled to acheive, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun."
Those words could have been written by any modern writer today. You could easily find them in Esquire, Time or Good Housekeeping.
When the author says in verse 10, "I denied myself nothing that my eyes desired, I refused my heart no pleasure," he speaks the voice of our society today.
We deny ourselves nothing that our eyes desire. We refuse ourselves no pleasure.
Men and women stand before God and witnesses and say their vows to one another, promising to be husband and wife until death parts them. But as the years go by, for some, it becomes easy to put aside the vows of a marriage to engage in an affair. "I denied myself no pleasure," as the Old Testament writer said.
"Between what is important and unimportant, who can understand?"
Some never understand.
A man goes to work day after day, commits himself to a job and sacrifices his home life. He wants to get ahead. He wants to make money. He denies himself nothing. But-- His children grow up and simply see him as someone who moves in and out of the home. Moments with the child are lost forever.
"Between what is important and unimportant, who can understand?"
Some never understand.
Sunday morning comes, and at 11:00 the channel is turned to the movie and the family stays at home while the church begins to hear the call to worship.
"Between what is important and unimportant, who can understand?"
Some never understand.
And the tragedy is, that at the end of life, with the wonderful resume of accomplishments, nothing important has been done.
As the writer of Ecclesiastes said, "I denied myself nothing that my eyes desired...yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done, and what I had toiled to acheive, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun.
Myron S. Augsburger has pointed out how much the world’s values differ from God’s. "God says, ’Blessed are the poor in spirit.’ but we say ’blessed are the achievers.’ God says, ’Blessed are those who mourn,’ but we say ’blessed are the self-fulfilled.’ Jesus says ’Blessed are the merciful,’ but we say ’blessed are the manipulators’...Jesus challenges the very selfishness that determines so much of our social behavior.
So many of the problems in our society stem from the fact that we are unable to judge between what is important and unimportant.
The divorce rate. The drug culture. The unhappiness that so many feel. If we could just learn to judge between what is important from what is not.
How do we do that? How do we learn to judge between what is important and unimportant?
You learn this, according to St. Paul, by keeping your mind on Jesus Christ.
In our New Testament Lesson, St. Paul wrote a letter to the Philippians, in which he said, "Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven."
Just as Ecclesiastes vividly describes the society of today, so does the letter of Philippians when it speaks of people whose god is their stomachs.
This does not mean simply that people are gluttons, eating constantly. The stomach means any self centered desire that rules the life of an individual.
If it is not the stomach, it is the hormones that drive our passions. And if that is our god, then it is easy to set aside marriage vows to satisfy our passions of the moment.
If it is not passion, then perhaps it is the ego. And if that is our god, then it is easy to set aside the concerns for others and look out only for yourself. Ignore your spouse, ignore your children, ignore your neighbor.
But, says St Paul in our New Testament lesson about such folks, "Their destiny is destruction...their glory is their shame. Their minds are on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven."
How does one judge between what is important and unimportant--put your mind not on earthly things, but on heavenly things.
In another of Paul’s letters, the one to the Romans, Paul says in chapter 8 of that letter, "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."
In Ecclesiastes, the author had accumulated many memories, and he sorts through all of the great memories he had. "I’ve done this and I’ve done that" is his basic theme in that passage. But he goes on to say, "Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done, and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Nothing was gained."
In our lives we accumulate many memories, and the day will come when we will sort through them. It is not necessary that we will have to say the same thing that the Old Testament author said, that when we surveyed all that we had done, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind."
"Between what is important and unimportant, who can understand?" You understand by giving your life to Christ, and setting your mind on him. And having done that, you can sort through all the clutter of your life, all the desires and impulses and activities, and sort through them and know what is important and unimportant.
Copyright Maynard Pittendreigh, 2003
All Rights Reserved
