The Pursuit of Happiness
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 & 24-26
Don’t worry, be happy! Isn’t that what we all want? Aren’t we all told, we deserve to be happy. We certainly tell others, ‘You deserve to be happy!’But where do we find happiness? We try to find happiness in lots of different places.
Qoheleth - the ancient version of Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri - what will make me happy? Verse 1 says, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” v.1
Qoheleth, make me LAUGH (v.2) Laughter connects us with others, reduces stress, and is a natural pain-killer. It releases endorphins, chemicals in our brain, that promote pleasure and alleviates pain. Life just feels better when we can have a right laugh about it. Here’s some of the best jokes from the Edinburgh Festival 2022:
•	I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me, and I couldn’t get Pasta. (Masai Graham)
•	Did you know, if you get pregnant in the Amazon, it’s next day delivery. (Mark Simmons)
•	My attempts to combine nitrous oxide and Oxo cubes made me a laughing stock. (Olaf Falafel)
•	I used to live hand to mouth. Do you know what changed my life? Cutlery. (Tim Vine)
It turns out, it has to be a proper belly laugh, not just a minor snigger. Sometimes, it’s not a one-liner joke or a so-called TV comedy. It’s not even a comedy night. (By the way, have you noticed how stand-up comedians have become the new rock stars, performing to vast stadium crowds. Top comedy tours are generating over £20 million in ticket sales; Ricky Gervais pulled in £1.41 million in just one night at the Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl.)
What often makes us laugh the most is the ordinary absurdity of laugh. It’s:
•	The kitten or puppy coming across a mirror for the first time. 
•	The baby laughing uncontrollably as you make a funny noise. 
•	Your friend’s attempt to stand upright and steady on that slippery slope…
Have you ever laughed so much, it almost hurt? Despite experiencing real pain, you also are left feeling fantastic. Without that pain you wouldn’t have experienced the endorphin effect. So, there’s a paradox: it’s possible to experience both pain AND pleasure. Life doesn’t have to be either/ or, we’re capable of it being both/and.
But even the best belly laugh doesn’t last for ever. It’s temporary. It’s like mist. It’s ‘hevel’ (Remember that word introduced in Ecclesiastes 1?) That’s why Qoheleth says, in verse 2, trying to find true, lasting happiness in laughter is foolish, madness.
Qoheleth, what about PLEASURE? We live in an age that values pleasure. We put a price on it. We’re prepared to spend more for pleasurable experiences. We are typically having more extravagant but shorter holidays. We’d rather fly long-haul to a beach in Indonesia for 4 nights, than have two weeks in Wales for less. Maybe a beach in Bali is more Instagram’able pictures than Barry Island?
What’s your position on theme parks? Even the best roller-coasters are ‘hevel’ – temporary experiences. Alton’s Tower’s new Wicker Man is the longest-lasting rollercoaster in the UK. The ride last 3 minutes 30 seconds. If you get pleasure from roller-coasters, it’s amazing! And for that, average queuing time on a Saturday is 87 minutes – often two hours or more. Two hours of your life that you’re never going to get back for 3 and half minutes of ‘pleasure’ – and then it’s over. Finished. ‘Hevel’. No wonder Qoheleth is left questioning what pleasure-seeking really accomplishes? 
We’re all told it’s our right to be happy. But there’s a lot of guilt with happiness. We feel we should be feeling happy. After all, what have we got to be sad about? And when we have to admit to ourselves, if not to others, that we feel unhappy, we feel like we’re failing at life. Everyone else looks to be so happy!
Depression isn’t ‘cured’ simply by a change of location. Suicide rates typically go DOWN during times of economic hardship/ recession, but then rise when the financial good times return. Why? During the recession we have something external to blame and fight against. The reason I’m feeling this way is because of the recession. But, when the economy recovers and we no longer have that external enemy to blame – and yet we’re still feeling depressed – we’re left with no one else to blame but ourselves. We (wrongly) must be the enemy.
Qoheleth, “I tried cheering myself with WINE.” V.3 “I tried…” In other words, ‘I experimented’ with this and then that. Alcohol, smoking, drugs…. Chocolate, just food in general, exercise...  We’ve all got something we go to when we feel low or in need of a ‘pick me up’. We consume whatever is our ‘pleasurable thing’, not so much for the taste, rather for the feeling they give us. We learn to associate that taste, the consumption, with the feeling. To re-create that feeling we drink, smoke, inject, or eat more of it. 
For others it’s tattoos. There’s nothing wrong with tattoos. They’re deeply personal, often beautiful works of art. They’re part of who we are. But, for some, the pleasure is not just in the image, it’s in the pain of the needle. That pain releases endorphins that acts both as pain-killer and pleasure-maker. Pleasure and pain, again. What starts as something very healthy, can become a controlling addiction.
Others seek happiness in their WORK/ CAREER. They find pleasure in the sense of achievement. Actually, it’s just another addiction compensating for a lack of something – just dressed up as a value, a socially acceptable addiction. The affirmation of being thanked, appreciated, noticed. The affirmation of getting ‘that’ job, promotion, job title. Assistant > Manager > Head of > Director > Chief Executive…. The kudos of climbing the ladder, being the boss…
Qoheleth knew all about this. He’d built bigger and better houses, palaces, with ever grander gardens, country estates… Now, we seek happiness and pleasure from visiting such places, palaces of the rich and famous. Often built with the proceeds taken from the poor or other nations, and now we pay them so visit. Madness! Meaningless!Have you noticed how we, and those around us, get sucked into this too. We want bigger and better homes. Bigger and better cars. Bigger and better wealth. We tell ourselves, if only I had ‘this’ or ‘that’ my life would be so much better; I would feel so happier. And yet, if/when we get it, we still feel there’s something missing. 
No wonder Jesus told a parable about a wealthy person who kept building bigger and better barns to store his ever-increasing wealth. (Luke 12)  Once it was all done, he thought then he’d be able to “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” Sound familiar? Jesus called him out. You fool. Life is ‘hevel’/ temporary. Who knows how long any of us have got left? Don’t place your trust in possessions/ wealth. Heaven luggage-free.
There’s then the unpalatable reality that Qoheleth speak of slaves. This wealth, his wealth, has been amassed as a result of slavery.
“I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house.” v.7a
His property, palaces, projects were all built by, and on the trade in, slaves. His privileged position was the result in his participation in the slave trade. And if a slave became pregnant, even the baby was born into slavery – an asset to be recorded and used. He goes on to say:
“I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.” v.7b
He talks of his slaves as being just another aspect of his possessions, like his animals, gold and silver. To him, they were not brothers and sisters, equally made in the image of God; to him, they were a commodity, an asset. The uncomfortable truth for us in the UK today is that our privileged wealth and pension funds were historically built on the back of slavery. No wonder there’s a growing call for reparations; to recompense today those nations that were so devastated by our slave trade Empire.
This is a good point to ask, what’s more meaningful than wealth and possessions? People and relationships must be up there. Most of our happiest moments are spent with others: family, friends, ‘significant other’… Qoheleth knew all about this too. He’d experienced ‘the delights’. The King James Version is coy: “the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.” The Good News says: “I had all the women a man could want.” The NIV “I acquired a harem – the delights of a man’s heart.” The Message puts it: “The most exquisite of all pleasures - voluptuous maidens for my bed.” You get the idea!
Qoheleth had sought happiness in SEX. Lots of sex, with lots of people. He’s not talking about an intimate, exclusive monogamous faithful “till death us do part” relationship. Instead, he’s talking more of a hedonistic, risky-living lifestyle that that seeks happiness in the moment, in sex itself, not in the person, the relationship. But, once again, Qoheleth says, its all ‘hevel’. Even the best sex is temporary. (Sometimes very hevel!)
Have you noticed how all these things pleasurable experiences, drink, food, work, wealth, relationships, sex - are all good. They were all given for our good. They are all God-gifts for us to enjoy. That’s why, in verse 24-25, it says:
“A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” v.24-25
And yet, on their own, they aren’t enough. So, Qoheleth says, we often push the dial even more. Instead of one drink, it’s a few drinks. And when, after a while, that no longer does it for us, we go for more. Thursday becomes the new Friday. But Wednesday... In fact, not just any day, but every day. I’ve never met a happy alcoholic (though I have met many fabulous sober alcoholics.)
We crave happiness. The thing we hope will take the edge of our anxiety or anger turns out to bite us. Qoheleth says, chasing after all these things to provide true happiness is exhausting/ futile/ meaningless - like trying to ‘catch the wind’ (v.11). 
True meaning, true life, is found in God. Then the everyday stuff of life - eating, drinking, working, sex, a great conversation, walking the dog – become holy/ sacred moments because we receive them as a gift to us from God. That’s why Qoheleth  says in v.25: “..for without God, who can eat or find enjoyment?”
Paul says, in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” It’s a great promise. We quote it, post it, share it. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. But verse 13 comes after verses 11 and 12. Paul says:
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Paul is saying life is ‘hevel’, temporary. Sometimes we have much, sometimes we have little; sometime life feels good, other times it feels bad. Whatever, rather than regretting what we lack or chasing after what we don’t yet have, instead, learn to the be content in the moment, in the ‘present’. 
Why? Because that’s where we meet Risen Christ who is right here, right now. Christ is fully present. Sometimes it’s we, with our heads elsewhere, that need to become ‘present’. It is in the moment/ in the present that we discover I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” 
It is then that we discover there is a world of difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is ‘hevel’; like the mist, temporary, fleeting. Whatever we’re chasing, never quite lives up to the expectation. We become disillusioned because we had illusions. God does not promise us happiness. If you have the illusion God wants you happy, you eventually become disillusioned (or be deluded). Jesus was not happy to be crucified. BUT, instead, Hebrews says:
“For the JOY that was set before him Jesus endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2
Not happiness. But, even in the midst of horror, there was/ is joy. There’s that pleasure and pain paradox again.
There’s something heavenly, sacred, eternal about joy. Happiness can’t deal with the brutal reality of life. It wants to escape reality. Sometimes tragedy strikes, we experience intense feelings of isolation, sadness, physical pain, mental torment… No-one in their right mind says that brings them happiness. If they do, we say they’re mad or deluded... 
And yet, we’ve seen how, through the absurdity of a puppy in mirror, we can experience both pain and pleasure. Joy is not the same thing as happiness. Joy helps us experience life, both pleasure and pain.
Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is a reflection of who God is and what God is like. When we experience joy, we experience something of God, whatever our circumstances are at the time.
So, don’t try to escape the realities of life to pursue happiness. That’s madness, meaningless - ‘Hevel’.  
Instead, be open to joy - God’s surprising, deep, profound and occasionally belly laughing joy. It can come in the best if times, and the worst of times. It is found by become more, not less, present in the realty of life. Because that’s where we encounter Risen Christ. Ecclesiastes says, YOLO – you only live once – so live it now 
Instead of chasing after the wind, pursue Eternal Christ, the Author of Life.
07840 046020   DannyBrierley@ChesterRoadBaptist.org.uk