The Futility of Life

January 11, 2026|The Futility of Life|Ecclesiastes 1

JD Cutler

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Good morning church family. I am so very glad to be with you this morning. As I was preparing for this message I was thinking about how vastly different this Biblical book is than much of the bible. I was thinking that we often look to our bibles for encouragement, and rightly so, especially the New Testament.

I don’t know about you, but I like the neatness of the New Testament. Think about it. In the opening pages, Jesus bursts onto the scene to save sinners and proclaim the good news. Even in its more difficult parts where he suffers and dies are quickly eclipsed by accounts of his resurrection. In Acts, despite difficulties and dangers, the gospel advances, churches are established, and men and women are saved. In the epistles we find trouble but there in the background is always the hope of the risen savior who promised even the gates of hell could not stop his church. It ends with revelation, the end of the story. Christ is victorious, God’s people join him where they will spend eternity with him.

So we often approach the Old Testament the same way.  We like the stories that have with clear heroes and noble lessons. We love the encouragement of God’s promises and the blessings poured out on the faithful. But unlike the New Testament, the Old Testament hope is veiled, its not fully revealed. We get glimpses of God’s redemptive promises and prophecies concerning the future, but we don’t get to see them fulfilled, we don’t get a sense of resolution, in fact it ends with a warning because God’s people have once again rebelled against him. Beside the narratives and history books of the Old Testament, there are a series of books we call wisdom literature. In Psalms, for example, we are encouraged to worship God in all seasons of life. We are giving words for praise and lament, words for times of worship and times of sorrow. The book of Proverbs is full of Godly wisdom for parenting, working, and living in the world God created. But among the Old Testament wisdom literature, there is one book that is surprisingly stark. 

...if you have ever looked around at life, and thought is there any point to all this, then this is the book for you.

A book that takes a long hard look at life on this Earth and proclaims, is there any point to this all?

And that’s the book we are going to be looking at periodically over the next year. Sounds exciting doesn’t it?

But if you have ever looked around at life, and thought is there any point to all this, then this is the book for you.

Beginning this morning, once a month, during our Sunday morning worship, we are going to step away from the preaching series we are in and hear from the book of Ecclesiastes. Because I believe that in examining the vanity of it all, we will actually find comfort and wisdom, not because we ignored the difficulties and mysterious of life, but because we plunged their depths together. 

Let me invite you to open your bibles to Ecclesiastes 1. 

As way of introduction, I want to begin not with the words of Ecclesiastes, but the words of John Lennon.

In 1971, John Lennon wrote the song ‘Imagine’ that begins with this verse.

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us, only sky

He goes on to ask us to imagine a life with no religion. Although he doesn’t expressly say it, he is asking his hearers to imagine a life without God, to ask, what if this life was it? What if this was all there was.

His conclusion, we would be living life in peace, no greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man, sharing all the world. 

His thesis is that thoughts of life after death, of religious duty and obersvations, of things other than the physical world hold us back from experiencing real joy and contentment. That we can find real purpose in this life and in this life alone.

Interestingly enough is that the author of Ecclesiastes is evaluating that claim some almost 3,000 years before Lennon.

His findings are in direct contrast to the conclusion the song reaches. 

Although there is some debate among scholars, many infer from the references within this book that Solomon is the author, and I see no major reason for not accepting the authorship as belonging to Solomon. It doesn’t change the truth or the books claims, but it does add some weight to the author’s ability to evaluate life. He was incredible wise, he was incredibly wealthy, he was incredible successful and productive. He had everything this world had to offer in his day. We don’t have to read far into the book to find his conclusion on the matter. Follow along in your copy of God’s word and let’s read the first two verses of chapter 1 together this morning. ‘

Ecclesiastes 1:1–2 ESV

¹ The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. ² Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Depending on your translation, you may have just read a number of things.

CSB (HCSB)- 2 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”

NASB- “Futility of futilities,” says the Preacher, “Futility of futilities! All is futility.”

NIV- “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

Grasping what the preacher is saying here is key to building a right understanding of this book, so this morning I want to lay the foundation for our study through Ecclesiastes by looking at ‘The Futility of Life’ under three divisions. 

The first division is…

I. THE OBSERVATIONS OF THE PREACHER

The title given to the book comes from the idea of a gathered congregation, most likely because of the designation the author uses, translated as the preacher or teacher. The idea is one that speaks to a gathered people or a congregation. You can see why the Hebrew word has been translated Preacher or Teacher. 

The book of Ecclesiastes seems to be a compilation of thoughts written in a reflective tone at the end of one’s life. If we accept Solomon as the author it is the record of one who though fell, repented and is reflecting on the time that he wasted in his life pursuing meaning, purpose and satisfaction apart from God.

Charles Swindoll, speaking of this book says, If I were to speak to an audience of unbelievers using a book of the Bible, I would use Ecclesiastes. It hits people right where they live. I know of no more realistic piece of writing than this book, because it rips off our masks. Even Christians find that it pulls no punches and hides no secrets. It tells it like it is. Solomon stops at nothing as he explores life in the raw. He makes a full investigation of all we can see from the human perspective. In reading his words, we feel the full weight of a life lived "under the sun" (Eccl 1:14)-that is, apart from God's perspective....If you're beginning to wonder if life might be better without God, pay attention to Ecclesiastes. You'll see what that life is like! It can make you appreciate the presence of the Lord.  (The Swindoll Study Bible NLT - Page 779)

Why then is it such an important book for us to study as Christians? Because as Swindoll notes there may come a time in your life that you begin to wonder if you wouldn’t be better off without God. If you embraced everything the world has to offer, would your life be better.

Even if you have no such thoughts, many Christians seem to be living out a ‘practically atheistic’ life. They acknowledge God but they live as though he isn’t really there. For this reason, God records for us the thoughts of one who has fully pursued everything the world has to offer and his conclusion on the matter. As we contemplate the obersvations of the preacher, there are three key phrases to understand so that we may rightly understand his words.

The first is the word vanity.

The preacher uses this word 38 times throughout this book, often saying vanity of vanities, doubling up the word. In Hebrew thought, a language without punctation in the way we use, it is a way to emphasize something. In a similar way we would use an exclamation point. We even see this in the New Testament when Jesus says, truly, truly before he declares a kingdom reality.Whatever the word vanity means it is the basis of the main idea of the book. The word itself is difficult to capture in just one english word, which is why we see translations like futility and futile, and words like meaningless. The word in Hebrew literally means vapor or breath. Figuratively it is used to address things that are evanescent, unsubstantial, worthless. Some of the offered english words scholars use are absurd, meaningless, pointless, futile, enigmatic, hot air. 

Today when we hear the word vanity, we often think of its modern usage that deals with conceit or pride. But when the King James Bible was translated into English, the word vanity meant emptiness, which came from the latin ‘vanitas’. Words change over time and the word vanity no longer conjures the ideas it once did. When the preacher says vanity of vanities in Ecclesiastes, a better way to understand it is frustrating enigmatic. 

Something hard to figure out, something that frustrates us by its solution evading our grasp.

The overall message of Ecclesiastes is that life is hard to figure out, the prospering of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous, the pointless and endless cycles and repetitions in life, the brevity of life, all remind us that as humans there are many questions that are unanswerable in human wisdom, and we will have to live with many questions we simply cannot answer, which is why frustrating enigmatic is about as close as we can come to grasping what the Preacher says when he declares, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. 

The second phrasing we need to understand in Ecclesiastes is the phrase- under the sun.

One that the preacher uses 29 times through this book. The preacher is trying to evaluate life without God, who is above the sun, or what comes after death, which is beyond the sun. He limits his investigation to what humans can accomplish by their efforts alone in the here and now. But it is not all bleak, seven times in the book, he climbs above life under the sun and contemplates that maybe the point is to enjoy the things God has given us under the sun. By the end we will see him look at life from its highest perch, considering both God and the afterlife before he makes his concluding remarks. But for much of the book, he is addressing life from the perspective of a humanistic, naturalistic viewpoint. Which, as we have said, is far from being the Christian worldview, but not always far from the way we attempt to live our day to day lives. 

The third phrase is ‘striving after the wind’. This is a little harder to translate, because Solomon is the only writer to use it, but we might say trying to catch the wind, or as the Hebrew root word suggests, possibly trying to shepherd the wind. Trying to control it or guide it. He often uses this phrase in conjunction with vanity.

One place that pulls it all these three thoughts together is Ecclesiastes 1:14 where the preacher says “14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.” 

We might say, with our understanding of these words now, I have seen everything that is done on the earth apart from the divine, and it is all frustrating enigmatic and ultimately useless.

What a statement, right?

What does the author include in everything?

As we go through Ecclesiastes we will see him evaluate worldly pleasure, worldly wisdom, the work of our hands, advancement and achievements, riches and prosperity, all things we can spend our life pursuing trying to find meaning and purpose, satisfaction and contentment, and yet his observations lead him to echo his opening statement at the end of his writing when he says in Ecclesiastes 12:8 “8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.” 

Maybe you have made similar observations about the absurdity of life, or the pointlessness of it all, or the futility of life. Maybe you have struggled with purpose or meaning. The most natural question is why? Why does life under the sun seem so futile? Which brings us to our next division. 

II. THE REASON FOR THE FUTILITY OF LIFE

Ecclesiastes is interesting in that it is one of the books that is not directly quoted in the New Testament, however, Paul does use the Greek word that the translators of the Old Testament used in the Septuagint to translate vanity in both Romans 8:20 and Ephesians 4:17. Specifically, I want to look at Romans 8:20. You don’t have to turn there, you can keep your place in Ecclesiastes, but let me read it to you. 

Romans 8:20 “20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope”

There in Romans 8 Paul is addressing the fact that even all of creation is frustratingly waiting for freedom in the return of Christ, the resurrection of mankind, and the creation of the new heavens and new earth.Paul actually begins his argument in chapter 5 by talking about the consequences of sin, when he says, Romans 5:12 “12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—” After addressing the consequences of sin for mankind, and dealing with the frustrating reality in his own life in desiring to do good, but finding himself doing evil, and the redemption experienced in Christ, as well as our future hope in Christ, he reminds us that the consequences of sin have affected everything in the world.

Ecclesiastes describes life in a post Genesis 3 and pre Revelation 21 world.

In short, Paul offers an explanation for what Ecclesiastes declares, life under the sun is futile because creation has been subjected to futility.

To say it another way, Ecclesiastes describes life in a post Genesis 3 and pre Revelation 21 world. 

Prior to Genesis 3, at the end of the first chapter, we see that God looks over everything that he had made and behold, it says, it was very good. In Genesis 2, we zoom in on the creation of man, he is placed in a paradise where he is to be a co-laborer with God tending the garden which seems like it included watching over it by enjoying the beautiful vegetation and the good food God had provided. He is given a help-mate. Everything is good, everything has a purpose, everything is in right relationship with God. There is no frustration or mystery to life. And then comes Genesis 3. Adam and Eve, believe the lies of the serpent and sin against God.Most of the rest of chapter 3 is God pronouncing the results of the fall of man and the subsequent curse that falls upon him. The animals are cursed, childbearing is cursed, the relationship between husband and wife is cursed, the ground is cursed, and Adam’s work is cursed, with God’s final words summing up the now futility of man’s life in verse 19, God says,  “19  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The rest of scripture from then on is full of strife, difficulties, violence and death, until we get to Revelation 21 where we read these words. 

English Standard Version Chapter 21

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

We live in a fallen, cursed, and sin-sick world. A world where man has been ushered out of the immediate presence of God, and even the creation itself is suffering the consequences.

No other worldview can account for not only the condition of the world and all the pain, suffering, and death it includes as well as the innate frustration that it brings because no other worldview takes into account that we are living in a reality that has been so thoroughly corrupted by sin. If this world is it, if we are all is no more than a biological reality accidentally and randomly formed or even purposefully evolved to survive, then we should have no problem with death and difficulties. That’s just life. Nothing really matters if life has no point and no purpose.

One might be tempted to argue, that we can give life purpose. We can enjoy life even if this is all there is. That is exactly what the author of Ecclesiastes says he tried to do and the wisest and wealthiest man the Bible says lived under the sun, says that everything he tried to accomplish in his own power ended with absolute frustrating futility. Ecclesiastes therefore stands as a testament in Holy Scripture of the futility of life lived in the reality of being separated from God. Ecclesiastes describes what a son or daughter of Adam can expect to find chasing the various things this material world has to offer, and its conclusion is that apart from God, as creatures living in a cursed world, life is vanity. Which brings us to our last division as we explore what the preacher says in this first chapter as he describes the…

III. THE HOPELESSNESS OF MAN’S ABILITY 

Let’s pick up in verse 3 and touch a few of Solomon’s statements concerning the hopelessness of our ability. Ecclesiastes 1:3 “3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?”

There’s the question, isn’t it?

What can we advantage, what profit does a man have in all his toil or work that he undertakes under the sun?

Remember, under the sun is considering these things from a strictly naturalistic and humanistic viewpoint. 

Does he impact the world?

Solomon says a generation goes and a generation comes but the earth remains forever.

Does he affect the patterns of the world?

Solomon says the sun rises and the sun goes down, the wind continues blows and one way and then the other, the stream run their course and flow back again. 

What does he say all of this means for man?

All things are full of weariness, a man cannot utter it. Despite all our labors and all our work, the world continues to spin, the seasons continue to change, the sun rises and the sun sets.

His conclusion? No man can even express with words the endless repetition of these cycles.

If you want a picture of the futility of our ability to affect change on the world, look no further than the speculative studies of what would happen to New York if man disappeared. 

Studies suggest that in a Biblical generation of about 40 years, vegetation would overtake the city, subways would flood, vines would overtake buildings and animals would return to the urban areas. In a 100 years, forests would replace cityscapes and skyscrapers would start crumbling. In as long as some of you have been alive, it would be almost unrecognizable from where it is today. 

Not only does he not impact the world, but we are never satisfied with our labors. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, the hear is never filled with hearing.

Furthermore, anything we could think up to bring purpose and fulfillment in our life, has already been tried before. There is nothing new under the sun. It does not mean that we do not make advances or invent new things, it simply means that there is nothing mankind has not tried in their own ability to satisfy themselves. Every new effort to bring contentment, satisfaction, or purpose apart from God is simply a rehashing of some previous effort.

Not only do we not impact the world or are we able to change the things God has established, not only are we never satisfied, we cannot even point to the legacy we leave as worth it, because Solomon says generations after us will forget us just as we have forgotten the generations before us. 

So Solomon thinks, maybe wisdom is the answer to our hopelessness.

In a term that we will get familiar with as we study Ecclesiastes, Solomon says in verse 13, I applied my heart.

Maybe the problem is that we just are wise enough to impact the world, be satisfied, or leave a legacy. Maybe wisdom is the answer.

Listen to what he says, Ecclesiastes 1:13 “13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.” 

His concluding remarks concerning his findings?Let’s read verses 16-18 together. Ecclesiastes 1:16–18 “16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. 18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” 

John MacArthur says concerning these verses- With no necessarily moral implications being made, these words measure wisdom as the ability to resolve issues in life. In spite of man's grandest efforts, some crooked matters will remain unstraightened. 

Remember the key to understanding what Solomon is saying, in verse 13 he says that he was searching out all that is done under heaven. He is observing that man’s wisdom apart from God, is never enough to figure everything in this life out. Human knowledge and wisdom are not enough to make sense of this life or to remove the vanity from it. Solomon stands as a testimony to the utter inability of man to figure out life apart from the divine. A wise man is as hopeless as a foolish one in this respect. 

Furthermore, Solomon says, the better you understand the vanity of life, the more vexation and sorrow you have. One commentator says it this way, The world is not just intellectual challenging, it is spiritually fallen. You can’t reason away grief. You can’t legislate a perfect society. You can’t educate away sin. 

Here is the reality of Ecclesiastes 1. Man, in all his toil cannot truly impact the world around him, man in all his toil cannot truly find satisfaction in his labor alone or even his experiences, and finally, man with all the human wisdom and knowledge one can possess still cannot change the frustrating conditions of this life. 

Thus begins Solomon’s words on the vanity of life. Life apart from God is a frustrating enigmatic existence. 

For someone here today that does not know Christ, who may be hearing the Bible speak with frankness and openness about their condition perhaps for the first time, maybe you are relieved. You thought you were the only one looking around at life, wondering ‘what is going on?’ or ‘what’s the purpose of all of this?’. You’re not. Ecclesiastes tells us that this is life for all those born under the sun. As we saw today, wisdom is not the answer, and as we will see as we make our way through this book, pleasure, wealth, success, and achievements will not make life make any better sense. 

But for just a minute, consider this. What if, there was a heaven above us, what if there was a hell below us? What if this life isn’t all there is?

What if this life is frustrating because we are trying to live it apart from God?

This book shows us that there is not a firm foundation under the sun for man to build on so as to find meaning, satisfaction, or the key to existence.

But the same Bible Ecclesiastes is in tells us that there is a firm foundation on which we can build our life and find all of those things and more. His name is Jesus, and he entered this fallen, sinful world, and lived a life of purpose and meaning, ultimately giving his life on the cross, so we might be reconciled to God, thus providing us a way out of vanity into the fulness of life. If you want to know more about that, please don’t leave today without talking to one of the Pastors here. 

Finally, maybe you are a Christian, and yet your experience right now is closer in line with Solomon’s exclamation, Vanity of Vanities! All is vanity!

Could it be that even though you know the truth, you are living like the world? Even though you have most stable foundation on which to build, you are attempting to build your life here on Earth on another foundation. I pray that if there are any of us here today that are living that way, then the examination of life apart from God will cause you to repent and embrace life in Christ more fully today. 

Let us pray.