Christ In Ecclesiastes
Christ in Ecclesiastes
Bro Brendan Leow | 4 October 2026 | Ecclesiastes 2:11
"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun." — Ecclesiastes 2:11
The Reality of Our Goals
Picture a scenario in your heads. Imagine you have everything you ever wanted in this world. If you’re a student, imagine getting straight A’s in all your exams. If you’re an employee, imagine climbing the corporate ladder or getting a big bonus. Or maybe it’s becoming a billionaire who owns a fleet of luxurious cars.
You’ve achieved everything that you wanted. And for a moment, everything feels perfect.
But then comes the question, “What’s next?”
Because very often, once we finally get what we wanted, we simply find ourselves wanting something else.
Imagine a child who dreamed about making more money so they could buy their favourite video games. Fast forward 10 years later, when the child is already working and able to afford most of those games, they may not want to buy those same games anymore.
Not because they couldn’t afford them, but because video games simply didn’t interest them as much anymore.
Essentially, the things that once made us so excited eventually become ordinary or even redundant. So we move on to the next thing.
But the question we find ourselves asking is: Will the next thing finally be enough?
That is the question Ecclesiastes forces us to confront.
About the Book
Ecclesiastes is a book that takes an honest look at life. It covers many areas including wisdom, pleasure, work, wealth and even death.
And one of the key recurring phrases in the book is the phrase “Under the sun.”
The author of this book, King Solomon, is examining life from the perspective of our human existence in this world.
He looks at what happens to us under the sun—our work, our achievements, our pleasures, our struggles and ultimately our death.
This book makes us ask: If the things that we spend our lives pursuing eventually disappear, then what is actually worth living for?
This sermon explores on 4 lessons that we can draw from Ecclesiastes, how these lessons point us toward Christ and how we should live as Christians today.
Lesson 1: Heavenly Treasures Are Eternal
The first main point that we learn from Ecclesiastes is that heavenly treasures are eternal.
This contrasts with the temporary nature of this world, as highlighted in Ecclesiastes chapter 1.
In verse 2, Solomon states:
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
And then in verse 4:
“One generation passes away, and another generation comes.”
The word vanity comes from the Hebrew root word hevel, which primarily means breath, vapor or breeze, referring to its short-lived nature that disappears in an instant.
In this verse, Solomon states that everything we accomplish in this life will eventually disappear. The things that we spend so much time building and achieving cannot follow us into eternity.
We see this clearly when we look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2.
In this chapter, we learn that Solomon withheld very little from himself in this life. He experienced life to an extraordinary degree.
Scripture mentions that he built houses, planted vineyards, gardens and orchards. He acquired male and female servants. He possessed great herds and flocks. He gathered silver and gold and many other possessions, among many other things recorded in Ecclesiastes chapter 2.
Verse 9 says:
“So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.”
And then verse 10:
“Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.
I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,
For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;
And this was my reward from all my labor.”
So Solomon experienced wealth, achievement, pleasure and success, while still retaining his wisdom.
But then we come to verse 11, and this is where everything changes.
“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun.”
Let’s think about that for a moment.
Solomon had almost everything that this world could offer him. He had the wealth, the wisdom, the possessions.
And after experiencing all of that, he says: “There was no profit under the sun.”
So what then truly matters for us?
Let's look at what Jesus says in Mark 8:36:
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
Notice the similarity between Jesus' question and what Solomon said.
The point is simple.
Even if we somehow gained everything this world has to offer, none of it can compensate for the loss of our soul.
This is why Jesus gives us a different perspective in Matthew 6:19–20:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal.”
The treasures of this world are temporary. But the treasures that we lay up in heaven are eternal.
In 1 Corinthians 15:58, Paul says:
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
That is a powerful contrast with Ecclesiastes.
Solomon repeatedly describes the things of this world as vanity and says there is “no profit under the sun.”
But Paul tells Christians that when we labor for the Lord, our labor is not in vain.
And that changes the way on how we should look at lives.
Because sometimes we may wonder:
“Is it really worth it to sacrifice my time for the Lord?”
“Is it worth it to teach a Bible class?”
“Is it worth it to evangelize when people may reject me?”
“Is it worth it to serve in church even when no one is watching?”
“Is it worth it to remain faithful when the world is enjoying things that I am choosing to sacrifice?”
Scripture tells us: Absolutely.
To feel the weight of this first lesson, place two men side by side: Solomon and Paul.
Solomon had wealth. He had wisdom. He had possessions. He had pleasure. By every measure the world uses, he had it all. And his verdict at the end of his life? "All was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 2:11)
Paul, by contrast, experienced a great amount of suffering in his life. Look at what he endured for Christ:
“24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—" (2 Corinthians 11:24–27)
"besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches." (2 Corinthians 11:28)
And yet at the end of his life, Paul wrote:
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day." (2 Timothy 4:7–8)
Why could Paul speak with such confidence while Solomon could only speak of vanity? Because Paul understood that his life was not about what he could accumulate — it was about what was waiting for him in heaven.
The difference between these two men was not what they had. The difference was where they placed their ultimate hope.
Solomon looked at life under the sun — and all he found was vanity.
Paul looked at life beyond the sun — and he found the crown of righteousness.
This world is not our final destination. Every blessing in it is temporary. The house we build will one day belong to someone else. The possessions we accumulate will one day be passed on. But what we do for the Lord endures forever.
Perhaps the question we have been asking ourselves is the wrong one. We ask, "What am I doing with my life?" The better question is this: "What am I doing for Christ?" That is the greatest treasure.
Lesson 2: Wisdom Alone Cannot Save Our Souls
Solomon turns next to the limits of wisdom itself:
"So I said in my heart, 'As it happens to the fool, it also happens to me, and why was I then more wise?'… For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!" (Ecclesiastes 2:15–16)
Think about this. The wisest man of his age — the man who had prayed to God for wisdom and been granted it beyond any king in Israel — faces one unavoidable reality. Wise or foolish, both die. And once death comes, the memory of both eventually fades. What then was the use of wisdom?
Solomon is not saying wisdom is unimportant. He is the king who prayed to God for wisdom and devoted much of his life to teaching it to others. We must live righteously. But he acknowledges one hard truth — wisdom alone is not enough to overcome death.
And thousands of years later, humanity is still struggling with the same problem. There is one thing a human being cannot overcome — death.
In 1967, James Bedford, an American professor, became the first person to be preserved through cryonics — his body stored at sub-zero temperatures in liquid nitrogen, in the hope that some future scientific breakthrough might one day revive him. He is still frozen today. Humanity keeps looking for a solution — a medical, scientific, technological way out of death. And every attempt eventually meets the same wall Solomon met: both the wise and the fool die.
If wisdom cannot overcome death, then where is our salvation?
Turn to John chapter 11, where Jesus is speaking to Martha just before He raises her brother Lazarus from the dead:
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25–26)
Christ has conquered death. This is not a scientific breakthrough we are hoping for. This is a promise already confirmed by His own resurrection.
"But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." (1 Corinthians 15:20)
"So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'" (1 Corinthians 15:54)
The hope that Solomon could not find under the sun — we find in Christ. The hope of resurrection and eternal life. And in that hope, we can rejoice in what awaits us.
Lesson 3: The Reality of Sin and Judgement
Solomon does not pretend everything is fine. He is painfully honest about the human condition:
"For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin." (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
Paul says the same thing centuries later:
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
Solomon does not divide people into "good people" and "bad people." We are all sinners. And this matters, because we tend to label others and make general judgments about their character. We decide, by our own standards, who is good and who is bad. But those categories are deeply subjective. What is bad to you may still be acceptable to me. When does someone become good, and when does one become bad? By whose measure?
Solomon lifts the matter out of our hands entirely:
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14)
We are all to be judged by God. Not only our visible works, but every secret thing that nobody knows. And the New Testament makes clear who the Judge is:
"…He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:31)
Jesus Christ is our appointed Judge.
With this in mind, the way we live must change. Everything. There is a Chinese saying — "人在做，天在看" (rén zài zuò, tiān zài kàn) — people are doing, heaven is watching. God sees it all.
So the next time we are tempted to think:
"No one's watching."
"It's not hurting anybody."
"It's not my problem — let me sweep it under the carpet."
Stop. Ask one question before every action: "Will God's name be glorified when I do this?"
Christianity is not just acting as a Christian on Sunday. It is living faithfully in every part of life — in the quiet corners where no human eye can see.
Lesson 4: Enjoy God's Blessings — Don't Idolize Them
Here is the balance Solomon strikes beautifully.
"I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor — it is the gift of God." (Ecclesiastes 3:12–13)
Life is worth living. Blessings are good. They are gifts from God, and we are meant to enjoy them.
"Now godliness with contentment is great gain." (1 Timothy 6:6)
Practice gratitude, not pessimism. Ecclesiastes is not a book telling us to hate life. It is a book telling us to see life clearly — with God first.
The problem is not enjoyment. The problem is when blessings replace God. When they divert us from Him. When they push Him out of the picture. It is good to have hobbies, interests, careers, families — but none of them are supposed to be our main source of meaning. If we idolise material things, we end up like Solomon — concluding at the end of our days that all was vanity.
Instead, put God first:
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:33)
"in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Thank God first. For good exam results. For a promotion at work. For every blessing in life. The source is God, not us. No matter what we have been blessed with, the ultimate Giver is Him.
And this takes humility. It takes a lot of humility to practice thanksgiving. Because when things are going well, it is so easy to get caught up in our own success. It is normal to feel pride. It is normal to begin thinking we no longer need God.
Which is why Jesus warned:
"Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:23–24)
Why is this so hard? Because when we have everything, we stop thinking we need God.
Hence, Ecclesiastes reminds us that we were made to receive God’s blessings, while remaining grateful and faithful to Him.
The Full Arc of Ecclesiastes
Look at how this remarkable book begins and ends.
It begins with "All is vanity" — the honest cry of a man who had tasted everything and found it empty.
It ends with "Fear God and keep His commandments." The one thing that is not vanity. The one anchor that holds.
In between, Solomon lays out a truth every one of us needs to carry:
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Eternity is in our hearts. There is a hunger inside every human being that cannot be filled by anything under the sun. It can only be filled by what is beyond it. And the answer God has prepared for that hunger is a world where tears will finally be no more:
"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4)
Come and Enjoy the Gift of Eternal Life
Everything in Ecclesiastes is pointing us somewhere — away from vanity, away from grasping at the wind, away from the illusion that this life under the sun could ever satisfy. It is pointing us to Christ.
The treasure Solomon could not find — Christ has given.
The death Solomon could not escape — Christ has conquered.
The judgment Solomon warned about — Christ is appointed to carry out.
The joy Solomon longed for — Christ makes possible, with God in first place.
Come and enjoy this gift of eternal life.
Hear the gospel. Believe. Repent. Confess faith in Jesus Christ. Be baptized into His death, burial, and resurrection. And remain faithful all the days of your life. Then look forward to the eternal reward waiting for us in heaven — where no blessing will ever be vanity again, because every one of them will be enjoyed in the presence of the God who gave them.
Not under the sun — but beyond it. Forever.
