Wisdom, Pleasure, Work: The Smoke You're Trying to Hold On To

Introduction

There are three things that get you out of bed in the morning, that keep you going through the week, that make you feel like you're getting somewhere: knowledge, pleasure, and work. Three great motivators of city life, three values everyone chases. In this second installment of the series "The Clarity of Christ for an Inconsistent World," the preacher opens Ecclesiastes 1:12 to 2:26 and does what Solomon himself did: he invites you to examine these three pursuits down to the bottom, then to ask a blunt question of them, do they hold up as the meaning of your life? His conclusion is sharp: each one is true and good as a gift from God, but becomes smoke the moment you make it your goal. And at the end, Jesus adds what Ecclesiastes hadn't yet seen: instead of a loss, the Father was pleased to give you a kingdom.

Sermon Outline

1. Wisdom and knowledge : the grief that rises with them

• The text: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18. "I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky." He looked at everything, examined everything, and concludes: "all is vanity and a chasing after wind."
• Wisdom and knowledge are relevant, valued, almost mandatory in city life today. We live in a fast-changing time; you have to keep learning to succeed, sometimes just to survive. Our society admires the researcher, the scientist, the person who "knows their stuff." Nobody wants to look foolish in front of their friends or their boss. That's normal.
• But pushed too far, knowledge becomes an obsession. Some people are so expert in one tiny field that it looks like their whole life is devoted to that small bit of knowledge. As always, whatever takes the place of the meaning of life becomes an idol.
• The queen of Sheba's testimony about Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:5-6) is a striking one: "I didn't believe their words, until I came, and my eyes had seen it; and behold, not even half of the greatness of your wisdom was told me." And yet the crack is right there: "he who increases knowledge increases sorrow" (Ecclesiastes 1:18).
• A very concrete illustration from the preacher: he holds up the latest issue of a serious current-affairs magazine. Headlines written by real experts: "a diplomacy of profiteers," "America without a lighthouse, Europe without life," "how to deny a genocide," a whole section on Gaza. Nothing joyful. The deeper you go, the more the preacher's point holds: knowledge alone leads to grief. It isn't what you were looking for in the first place.

2. Pleasure : the fleeting thing that lets life go on

• The text: Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 then 2:8. Solomon says to himself, "Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure." He gives himself to wine while keeping his heart guided by wisdom as an observer, and he amasses silver, gold, the treasure of kings, singers, and many concubines.
• Even this life of indulgence has consequences, even for a Solomon. 1 Kings 11:4: "When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his God, as the heart of David his father was." That kind of deep intimacy with other people can't leave you untouched.
• Pleasure still remains a major motivator: sexual pleasure obviously, but also the pleasure of being recognized, of a good reputation, of rest, of vacations, of wealth, or simply of love. Whole companies make their living off our pleasures, what would TikTok or Instagram be without our constant chasing after pleasure?
• None of these pleasures is bad in itself. But if it becomes the meaning of your life, the problem is obvious: pleasure is fleeting, like smoke, it disappears. There's the moment, and then there's the after.
• A very personal illustration from the preacher: a few months ago he lost a friend he'd had since middle school. One of the sharpest minds he's ever known, quick, brilliant, very generous, able to ace an exam without studying. But his life was devoted to his sexuality and to his experiences with various drugs. A perfect hedonist. Illness set in, his brain deteriorated over the years, and he died isolated. The very fleeting moment of pleasure passes, but life goes on afterward, and reckless decisions shape the future. "This also is vanity."

3. Work : the solid thing that also ends in smoke

• The text: Ecclesiastes 2:4-11. "I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit. I made myself pools of water, to water from it the forest where trees were grown. I bought male servants and female servants... I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem." He became greater than anyone before him in Jerusalem, without losing any of his wisdom.
• Then he reflects: "I looked on all the works that my hands had worked, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun."
• You work to live, but if you live to work, that's a different matter. We spend more time at work than anywhere else. The opposite is dramatic too: those who can't find work carry a heavy burden, and those who live in idleness without needing to work create their own dysfunctions.
• In the preacher's grandfather's day, nobody asked, "are you passionate about your job?" You worked, you earned your living, and if the government didn't take too much, you were content. Today we look for fulfilling work, work that uses our talents. That's exactly what Solomon does.
• Modern-day fallout: from working too much, or staying glued to the phone to answer calls, sleep troubles rise, the brain never switches off, serious health problems come, panic attacks follow. The world of burnout, a phenomenon Ecclesiastes may have already known. Work, when it takes a place that isn't its own, also falls under the smoke.

4. The reflection : the wise and the fool share the same fate

• The text: Ecclesiastes 2:12-16. "I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness." Yes, there's a real advantage, a bit like a cat that sees in the dark while you fumble around.
• But: "I perceived that one event happens to them all." We all die, wise or foolish. And: "there is no more memory of the wise man than of the fool forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten."
• Under the sun (that is, on the purely physical plane, before we've even talked about eternity), this is true. Nothing lasts long. Can you name the great dictators of World War II? Maybe. What about the generals? What about your great-grandparents' era? We often remember the name of a villain better than that of a good man. Living a good life doesn't guarantee that you'll be remembered.

5. Despair : the inheritance that slips through your hands

• The text: Ecclesiastes 2:17-23. "So I hated life... I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?"
• Solomon despairs over his legacy. There are examples everywhere of companies the next generation ran into the ground. Solomon himself: his son Rehoboam listened to the counsel of his friends instead of the elders, and the kingdom was torn in two (1 Kings 12). Then the Egyptians came and carried off all the treasure (1 Kings 14:25-26).
• This depression the preacher describes is shared by many, especially around retirement age. When young, you plan: I'll get this degree, land that job, accomplish so many things. Some succeed, good for them. Most, by the end, look back on a long list of things they wished they'd done but never got to.
• Jesus tells the story of the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21. A man reaps a bumper harvest and decides to keep building bigger barns. And God says to him: "You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared, whose will they be? So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Jesus' question is simple: are you rich toward God?

6. Solomon's answer : pleasure becomes a gift

• The text: Ecclesiastes 2:24-26. "There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God."
• A first clue, one that Jesus will complete: God is sovereign. Pleasure given by God becomes everything it was meant to be. Work given by God becomes everything it can become. Knowledge given by God can even become a joy, a life. It's in his hands that you can finally find the fullness of your hopes in these three areas, because wisdom, work, and pleasure are gifts from God.
• God doesn't want his people to be ignorant and foolish. He wants his people to know pleasure, to know joy, "the joy of Yahweh is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). Not sadness and depression. And work is a gift from his hand: it feels good to accomplish something. The preacher shares his own small joy, he fixed his toilet this week, and he's proud of it.

7. The key of Christ : instead of a loss, a kingdom

• The text: Luke 12:31-32. "But seek God's Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you. Don't be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom."
• What Jesus adds to Ecclesiastes is a perspective that goes beyond life under the sun. All these concerns create fear; the Father answers by giving you a kingdom. Instead of a loss, it becomes a kingdom. Instead of being scattered after your death, he promises you something that is truly solid, something that outlasts even the time of this world.
• And this kingdom isn't just something far off, coming someday. Jesus said, "the Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). If you are in Christ, you're already living in it. The deposit of eternity is already in you. You already have one foot out of vanity, because you already have one foot in the newness of life.
• And Christ walks with you in all three areas: he accompanies you in the pursuit of wisdom, "the Spirit... will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). He shares your pleasure: the one who ate with sinners so freely that the legalists were scandalized, the one who turned water into wine (John 2:1-11), won't he also share your pleasure with you? He walks with you at work, he calms you, he strengthens you, he walks with you through the valley of the shadow of death, and he even fills your working hours with touches of eternity, in the moments of sharing and prayer with the people you work alongside.

Key Takeaways

• Wisdom, pleasure, and work are the three great motivators of your life, each is good as a gift from God, but none holds up as the meaning of your life.
• Knowledge pursued for its own sake ends in grief: "he who increases knowledge increases sorrow" (Ecclesiastes 1:18).
• Pleasure is fleeting like smoke; the moment passes, but your reckless decisions shape your future for a long time.
• Work that you make your reason for existing will wear you out through sleep trouble, panic attacks, burnout, and the legacy you leave may well slip through your hands.
• Under the sun, the wise and the fool share the same fate, death. This blunt reality shatters every purely earthly illusion of meaning.
• Jesus' question: are you rich toward God?, that's what outlasts the grave.
• Receive wisdom, pleasure, and work as gifts from the hand of God, and you find in them the fullness of your hopes.
• Don't be afraid: the Father was pleased to give you the kingdom. You already have one foot in it if you are in Christ.

Personal Application

1. Of the three motivators (wisdom, pleasure, work), which one is currently taking the place of the meaning of your life? How do you recognize it concretely (your schedule, your conversations, what keeps you up at night)?
2. On knowledge: at what point has your need to "understand more" become a grief that consumes you, instead of a service to God and others? What feed, what scrolling, what project do you need to put down?
3. On pleasure: what "very fleeting" decision are you tempted to make this week that could affect your future for years? Are you willing to receive pleasure as a gift from God (on his terms), rather than grabbing it for yourself?
4. On work: are you living by your grandfather's logic (I work to live) or by today's world's logic (I live for fulfilling work)? Where is burnout already starting to touch you, and what is God asking you to set down?
5. Jesus' question to the rich fool: if your soul were required of you tonight, would everything you've prepared be of use to anyone, and above all, in what way are you rich toward God?

Scripture References

• Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 (wisdom, knowledge, and grief)
• Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 (pleasure, then great works)
• Ecclesiastes 2:12-23 (wise and foolish, despair over legacy)
• Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 (pleasure and work as gifts from God)
• 2 Chronicles 9:5-6 (the queen of Sheba's testimony)
• 1 Kings 11:4 (Solomon's wives turn away his heart)
• 1 Kings 12 (Rehoboam and the division of the kingdom)
• 1 Kings 14:25-26 (Shishak of Egypt carries off the treasures)
• Luke 12:16-21 (the rich fool)
• Luke 12:31-32 ("don't be afraid, little flock")
• Luke 17:21 (the Kingdom of God is within you)
• Nehemiah 8:10 (the joy of Yahweh is your strength)
• John 2:1-11 (water turned into wine at Cana)
• John 16:13 (the Spirit guides into all truth)

Frequently Asked Questions

If wisdom, pleasure, and work are good, at what point do they turn into smoke?

The preacher is very clear: none of the three is bad in itself. They tip over the day one of them becomes the meaning of your life, the idol you hang your worth, your future, your identity on. Receive them from the hand of God, and they become a fullness; grab them yourself as your reason for existing, and they leave you with grief (wisdom), a fleeting moment that passes (pleasure), a legacy that slips through your hands (work). Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 draws the line: "this also I saw, that it is from the hand of God."

What does it actually mean to "be rich toward God" (Luke 12:21)?

In the parable of the rich fool, Jesus doesn't condemn the ability to gather resources or build something, the preacher points this out, that's not what's in question. What's in question is doing it while being poor toward God. Being rich toward God means placing your wisdom, your pleasure, your work in his hands, seeking his kingdom first (Luke 12:31), placing your treasures where death has no hold, in what outlasts the grave and follows you into the kingdom.

How do you square "don't be afraid, little flock" with the reality of burnout, grief, and the unexpected?

The preacher doesn't deny the vanity of life: it really is inconsistent, and the unexpected is sometimes the rule, that's why we buy insurance, and even then, it doesn't always pay out. But Christian hope isn't found in what happens under the sun; it's found in what is eternal, in the kingdom the Father was pleased to give you. That kingdom is already at work in you if you are in Christ. It doesn't exempt you from the ups and downs, it's what lets you go through them without collapsing.