“VANITY OF VANITIES: A CHASING AFTER THE WIND”
Text: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:1–11; 12:13–14
“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:2)
INTRODUCTION: THE MOST HONEST BOOK IN THE BIBLE
Ecclesiastes is Scripture’s unsanitized diagnosis of human life under the sun.
It does not flatter man. It does not entertain illusions. It tears away the lies we live by.
Solomon—the richest, wisest, most accomplished man of his generation—stands at the end of life and declares:
“I have tasted everything this world offers.
And I tell you the truth: it cannot satisfy the soul.”
The Hebrew word “vanity” (hebel) means:
Vapor
Breath
Smoke
Something that looks solid but vanishes when grasped
To chase vanity is to run after what cannot be held, to spend one’s life on what cannot last.
I. THE VANITY OF HUMAN TOIL AND CAREER
“What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?”
(Ecclesiastes 1:3)
1. Work without God is a treadmill
You rise early
You labour
You grow tired
You retire
You die
And someone else inherits what you built.
“He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.” (Psalm 39:6)
2. Career becomes vanity when it defines identity
“I am my job”
“I am my achievements”
“I am my productivity”
But titles die, companies collapse, economies shift.
A life spent building a name on earth ends with a name on a gravestone.
II. THE VANITY OF WEALTH AND POSSESSIONS
“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.”
(Ecclesiastes 5:10)
1. Money promises what it cannot deliver
Security → yet fear increases
Freedom → yet bondage grows
Satisfaction → yet hunger remains
The more one owns, the more one worries.
2. Wealth cannot solve ultimate problems
Money cannot:
Buy peace
Delay death
Heal the soul
Reconcile you to God
“For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” (1 Timothy 6:7)
Rich or poor, the grave levels all men.
III. THE VANITY OF PLEASURE AND ENTERTAINMENT
“I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth… and, behold, this also is vanity.”
(Ecclesiastes 2:1)
Solomon pursued:
Laughter
Wine
Music
Sexual pleasure
Luxury
Entertainment
Yet he concluded:
“Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful.” (Proverbs 14:13)
1. Pleasure distracts but never heals
It numbs pain
It delays reflection
It masks emptiness
But when silence comes, the soul still aches.
2. Pleasure must escalate to satisfy
What once thrilled soon bores.
What once sufficed soon requires more.
This is why pleasure enslaves rather than frees.
IV. THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE
“In much wisdom is much grief.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:18)
1. Knowledge reveals problems it cannot fix
We know more than any generation
Yet we are no happier
No more at peace
No more righteous
2. Intelligence cannot answer eternity
Wisdom can explain how things work,
but it cannot answer why we exist.
Apart from God, knowledge increases despair.
V. THE VANITY OF FAME, HONOR, AND HUMAN PRAISE
“Then I saw that all travail and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbour. This also is vanity.”
(Ecclesiastes 4:4)
1. Fame is borrowed breath
Today celebrated
Tomorrow forgotten
Eventually unknown
“Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20)
2. Living for applause enslaves the soul
Approval becomes addiction.
Rejection becomes devastation.
If man’s praise fills you, God’s glory empties you.
VI. THE VANITY OF TIME AND EARTHLY LIFE ITSELF
“One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:4)
Life under the sun is marked by:
Repetition
Futility
Death
The sun rises, sets, rises again—
but man rises once and falls forever.
Without eternity, time becomes cruel, not meaningful.
VII. THE TURNING POINT: WHAT VANITY IS MEANT TO TEACH US
Ecclesiastes is not nihilism.
It is God’s mercy stripping away false hope.
God allows vanity so that:
We stop worshiping creation
We stop trusting ourselves
We stop building our own kingdoms
Vanity is a holy disappointment designed to lead us to God.
VIII. THE FINAL CONCLUSION: THE ONLY MEANING THAT LASTS
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
(Ecclesiastes 12:13)
Meaning is not found under the sun
It is found above the sun.
Only when life is lived:
Before God
For God
In submission to God
does vanity give way to purpose.
IX. CHRIST: THE ANSWER TO VANITY
Jesus entered our vanity-filled world.
He bore futility
He suffered meaninglessness
He conquered death
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
In Christ:
Work becomes worship
Suffering becomes redemptive
Life gains eternal weight
CLOSING EXHORTATION
Do not spend your life chasing the wind.
Do not build on what burns.
Do not anchor your soul to vapor.
“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” (Matthew 6:20)
When God is central, nothing is meaningless.
When God is absent, everything is.
Final Word
Vanity is the echo of a soul made for eternity,
trying to live on earth without God.
Turn to Him. Fear Him. Trust Him.
And what was once vanity will become glory.
The book of Ecclesiastes starts out with a startling exclamation:
“‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’
says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless’” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).
Other translations have the word vanity or futility in place of meaningless. The point is the same: Solomon in his old age has found everything in this world to be empty and void of meaning. This lament becomes the theme of the whole book.
Saying that everything is meaningless sounds depressing, but we must keep Solomon’s point of view in mind. This is found in Ecclesiastes 1:14: “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” The key phrase is under the sun, which is repeated throughout the book. Solomon is sharing an earth-bound perspective. He is only considering life “under the sun”; that is, a human life lived to the exclusion of any consideration of God. From that godless perspective, everything is indeed “meaningless.”
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon discusses ten vanities—ten things that are “meaningless” when considered from the limited point of view of “under the sun.” Without God, human wisdom is meaningless (2:14–16); labor (2:18–23); amassing things (2:26); life itself (3:18–22); competition (4:4); selfish overwork (4:7–8); power and authority (4:16); greed (5:10); wealth and accolades (6:1–2); and perfunctory religion (8:10–14).
When Solomon says, “Everything is meaningless,” he did not mean that everything in the world is of zero value. Rather, his point is that all human efforts apart from God’s will are meaningless. Solomon had it all, and he had tried everything, but when he left God out of the equation, nothing satisfied him. There is purpose in life, and it is found in knowing God and keeping His commands. That’s why Solomon ends his book this way:
“Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind”
https://www.gotquestions.org/everything-is-meaningless.html
The book of Ecclesiastes starts out with a startling exclamation:
“‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’
says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless’” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).
Other translations have the word vanity or futility in place of meaningless. The point is the same: Solomon in his old age has found everything in this world to be empty and void of meaning. This lament becomes the theme of the whole book.
Saying that everything is meaningless sounds depressing, but we must keep Solomon’s point of view in mind. This is found in Ecclesiastes 1:14: “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” The key phrase is under the sun, which is repeated throughout the book. Solomon is sharing an earth-bound perspective. He is only considering life “under the sun”; that is, a human life lived to the exclusion of any consideration of God. From that godless perspective, everything is indeed “meaningless.”
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon discusses ten vanities—ten things that are “meaningless” when considered from the limited point of view of “under the sun.” Without God, human wisdom is meaningless (2:14–16); labor (2:18–23); amassing things (2:26); life itself (3:18–22); competition (4:4); selfish overwork (4:7–8); power and authority (4:16); greed (5:10); wealth and accolades (6:1–2); and perfunctory religion (8:10–14).
When Solomon says, “Everything is meaningless,” he did not mean that everything in the world is of zero value. Rather, his point is that all human efforts apart from God’s will are meaningless. Solomon had it all, and he had tried everything, but when he left God out of the equation, nothing satisfied him. There is purpose in life, and it is found in knowing God and keeping His commands. That’s why Solomon ends his book this way:
“Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind”
https://www.gotquestions.org/everything-is-meaningless.html
