Sermon Text: Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, 12-14, 2:18-26
Date: August 3, 2025
Event: The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C
Ecclesiastes 1:1-2, 12-14, 2:18-26 (EHV)
The words of Ecclesiastes, David’s son, king in Jerusalem.
2“Nothing but vapor,” Ecclesiastes said. “Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.” …
12I, Ecclesiastes, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I applied my heart to seek out and explore with wisdom everything done under the sky. (What a burdensome task God has given the children of Adam to keep them busy!) 14I have seen all the actions done under the sun, and, look, it is all nothing but vapor. It is all chasing the wind. …
2:18I also hated all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard under the sun, since I must leave it all to the man who comes after me. 19And who knows—will he be wise, or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard and so wisely, under the sun. This too is vapor that vanishes.
20So I changed my course, and my heart began to despair over all my hard work at which I worked so hard under the sun. 21Sure, there may be a man who has worked hard—wisely, aptly, and skillfully. But he must hand over whatever he accumulated by all his hard work to a man who has not worked hard for it. This too is vapor. It’s so unfair! 22For what does a man gain through all his hard work, through all the turmoil in his heart as he works so hard under the sun?
23Bah! Pain fills his days. His occupation is frustration. Even at night his heart does not rest. This too is vapor.
24There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. 25For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him? 26Yes, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to the man whom he considers good, but to the person who goes on sinning God gives the task of gathering and collecting, but only so that he can give it all to a person whom God considers good. This too is vapor, nothing but chasing wind.
Let’s Not Chase the Fog
This past week, I was reminded in several ways that we have entered into what is colloquially known around us as “Fogust.” Now, this might not be as true in the East Bay, but certainly in Belmont, we are getting into the time of year when the fog can be thick and prominent (which has sort of been true for this whole weirdly cold summer up here on the hill). But whether it is a reality for us where we live or something we run into as we travel around the Bay Area, we know what it’s like to be under blankets of thick fog from the marine layer. Seeing the sun here before noon is often a novelty during these foggy days.
But fog is weird. It totally obscures your vision, but unlike a curtain that you can grab and pull back, the fog disappears as you get “close” to it. So, visibility remains constant; there’s always this wall in front of you obstructing your vision, but it’s not a wall that you can ever approach. It remains a constant distance away as long as the fog’s thickness remains the same. You’re in the fog, but you can never really get to it; it surrounds you, but you never actually have it.
But this morning, our focus isn’t on weather phenomena or the properties of condensing water vapor. No, all of our readings focus on the fleeting, temporary nature of earthly wealth as a reminder to put our focus and priority on the eternal, never-ending blessings that God provides. And there’s probably no better person in the history of the world to lead us into that topic than King Solomon.
Solomon was David’s son who took over the rule of Israel after his father died. Famously, God gave Solomon a blank check to ask for blessings from him. We read about this in 1 Kings 3, right at the beginning of Solomon’s reign as king. This is a bit of a lengthy section, but I want to read it this morning in its entirety to give both Solomon’s and God’s perspective:
The LORD appeared to Solomon in Gibeon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
Solomon said, “You have shown great mercy and faithfulness to your servant, my father David, just as he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward you. You have shown this great mercy and faithfulness to him and have given him a son who is seated on his throne to this very day. O LORD my God, now you have made your servant king in the place of my father David, but I am a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And I, your servant, am among your people whom you have chosen, a great people, who cannot be counted or numbered because they are so many. Now give to your servant a perceptive heart to judge your people, to distinguish between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”
In the eyes of the LORD, Solomon’s request was good. So God said to him, “Because you have asked for this, and you have not asked for a long life, nor have you asked for riches, nor have you asked for the lives of your enemies, but you have asked for discernment to reach just verdicts, therefore I will act according to your words. Yes, I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you before you, nor will anyone like you rise up after you. In addition, I will give you what you have not asked for: such riches and honor that there will not be anyone like you among the other kings throughout all your days. If you walk in my ways by keeping my statutes and commands just as your father David did, then I will give you a long life.” (1 Kings 3:5-14)
God is clear with Solomon that he has his head and heart in the right place. He doesn’t seek selfish things—wealth, health, or even wisdom for personal gain. No, he asks for wisdom and discernment to be a good king and shepherd for the nation of Israel. He knows how much he doesn’t know and how overwhelming a task the throne is. Without the wisdom that God imparts, there’s no way that he would find any success.
The result of God’s blessings for Solomon is that he was wiser than anyone else and—at least at that time—had more wealth than any other ruler in the world. So Solomon is in a unique position to be able to examine worldly wealth with a godly perspective better than anyone before or after him.
So, what does he think of it all? “Nothing but vapor. Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.” He doesn’t think much of it at all. Many English translations try to translate the metaphor. You may be familiar with translations calling the things of this world “vanities,” “futility,” or being “meaningless.” But I appreciate our translation continuing to keep it as “vapor” or “breath.” What is Solomon’s primary point? Everything we value so highly in this life is truly as valuable as a single breath expelled from the nose and as worth chasing after as the mid-morning fog.
And why is that? Because it will all end. Jesus’ story in our Gospel beats us over the head with that point: “I will tell my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your soul will be demanded from you. Now who will get what you have prepared?’” (Luke 12:19-20). Earthly wealth has value and usefulness; the physical resources we have at our disposal are blessings from God to be used as our responsibilities direct, and are even meant for our enjoyment. But what happens when our focus is on them to the exclusion of all else, especially our soul’s eternal well-being? The “stuff” of this world can so easily become a false god to us that we worship and adore. And that leaves us in a really bad state, both spiritually and eternally.
One of the things that both Jesus and Solomon point to to show the fog-like nature of earthly wealth is the lack of control you have over it after you die. We have some blessings in our day to allow the wealth that we have accumulated to do something worthwhile. We can establish a will and trust, ensuring that anything we leave behind in this world will go places and accomplish things we value. That could be supporting friends, family, and other people who are dear to us. That could be supporting charities pursuing causes of high importance to us, such as helping the downtrodden, advancing medical research, caring for animals, or a million other possibilities. One of the highest callings we can dedicate those resources to is the spread of the gospel, whether we think locally by supporting an individual congregation or in a broader way by supporting mission efforts in North America and worldwide.
All of those are great, wonderful blessings that can help alleviate concerns about how any earthly wealth we have accumulated after we’re gone is used. But it doesn’t solve it completely. In fact, Solomon’s point from 3,000 years ago still stands: I must leave it all to the man who comes after me. And who knows—will he be wise, or a fool? While we are not required to pass along an inheritance to a family member we feel is incapable of handling those resources, who’s to say that a given charity, medical facility, or even a church will handle it well? We can do a lot to help those resources go to places that we value and are important to us, but the reality is that after we’re gone, we have just as much control over how those resources are used as Solomon did—none.
Ok, so earthly wealth ought not to be our focus. What is its place in our lives? Solomon observed, “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him?” Earthly, physical blessings are not evil. They come from God! He wants them to be part of how we carry out the responsibilities that he’s given to us and to be enjoyed. But remembering where they come from is a huge part of enjoying earthly blessings. They are things that are on loan to us from God. They are temporary, not permanent, and should be treated as such.
Instead of focusing on them as of prime importance, we see them as gifts from a loving God. And that leads us down the path of seeing what is truly the most important, because God’s love not only (or even primarily) gives us daily bread and beyond; God’s love gives us eternal life.
If you’re like me, time spent meditating on texts like this can bring up a ton of guilt. We’ve all, at one time or another, prioritized gifts over the Giver, valued the creation more than the Creator. And for that, God’s love has a solution as well. God’s love not only gives temporary blessings but also gives the one thing needed: the eternal solution to our sins. Whether it is the sins of mismanagement or misprioritization of earthly blessings or anything else, Jesus’ sacrifice of everything—his very life—to save us solves those sins. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have the one thing that we do take out of this life and have forever, a resource that never runs out, a reserve that never runs dry.
The forgiveness of sins, for as intangible as it may seem to us, is the opposite of trying to hold onto the fog. It is the thing that endures through eternity. God’s love for you, made clear to you in Jesus, is the most important thing we have, the greatest blessing that God gives. As such, it should be our number one priority in this life. And nothing temporary should take its place of primacy in our hearts, and by God’s grace, nothing will.
This week, I encourage you to reflect on the numerous blessings that God has given you. You might not be what the world would call “wealthy,” but we all have what we need to survive and then some. Find time to give thanks for that today and every day, because truly, these are blessings from God. But then also take the time to examine how you are structuring your blessing priorities. Does the car, the phone, the computer, the game, the job, the schoolwork, the leisure, or anything else God gives for our blessing and enjoyment overshadow Jesus? If so, how can we stop chasing after that fog and dedicate ourselves to what is truly important, to what lasts forever?
Are we chasing the fog? Probably at times. Moving forward, let’s instead focus on chasing after God’s forgiveness, the gift already given to us and that we long to prioritize above all else, now and forever! Amen.
