Studies In Ecclesiastes

Studies In Ecclesiastes Presentation 04

The Rat Race Chapter 4v1-16 Presentation 04

Introduction Someone has said, "The two greatest days in a person's life are the day he was born and the day he finds out why he was born". It is with the second of these great days that this book is concerned. Why are we here? Men have grappled with this question through the ages. The bible teaches that man, made in the image of God, has a purpose - and that purpose is to live his whole life in relation to God. When man forgets his purpose, he loses sight of what life is all about. The design of this whole book is to show that life without God is meaningless! Chapter 4 introduces us to the man who sees life as no more than a rat race – he thinks that life is all about getting to the top. Presentation 04

The Victim Of Oppression Every race has its casualties, including the rat race. Its first casualties are those on the receiving end rampant selfish ambition. People who have been dehumanised and downtrodden. The oppressed here in v1-3 are those who have shut God out of their lives. That is not the reason for their oppression but it is the reason for their hopelessness! This bleak and harrowing picture is of those with no present comfort nor future expectation. All light is extinguished in the pitch-black tunnel of their life. They can't say with the apostle Paul, "this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison“ 2Cor.4.17because they have closed God out. Presentation 04

The Victim Of Oppression In the C19th, visitors to the American slave plantations were surprised to hear the Negro slaves sing with joy as they worked in the fields. Many of the slaves were oppressed but not hopeless! They were able to see beyond this vale of tears and could anticipate future glory that would one day be theirs. And so could sing, "I've got a home in glory land that outshines the sun". But the man who has closed God out life has no song to sing. Presentation 04

The Victim Of Oppression The burden of the oppressed becomes all the more crushing when he realises that the one with the power to bring about reform and his oppressor are one and the same person. His oppressor is hardly going to pass over profit in order to alleviate his suffering. He therefore concludes that the best thing he can hope for in life is death. More recently someone has said, "the best thing in the world is never to be born and the next best thing is to die". This is precisely the view of the oppressed in this passage v2-3.. It is hard for many of us to enter into the hopelessness that oppression can produce in the human spirit. Presentation 04

The Spirit Of The Competitor The second casualty in the race is the man who is fuelled by envy. All that motivates his achievements and drives his ambitions is the craving to outshine and not be outshone. His work, paraded for our admiration, is based on something as insecure as being better than someone else. Even in ‘friendly rivalry’ he cannot bear to be outclassed by others. Think of the language that identifies this man’s motivation. He speaks of, 'getting on, keeping up, and keeping ahead'. Presentation 04

The Spirit Of The Competitor One of the big problems of today’s society is that envy is strapped into the driving seat of the competitive heart. The man who earns £400 per week wants £450 but once that is agreed and he learns that the man further down the line is getting £475 decides he must have £500. Envy is a self-destructive appetite for, "Envy eats nothing but its own heart. Envy is the worm which eats out true job-satisfaction, it is a fretting canker". It destroys and spoils, it does not provide the basis for a satisfying and meaningful life. The story is told of a philosopher who passed an envious man looking somewhat dejected. He asked the question, "has some evil happened to you or some good to your neighbour?" Presentation 04

The Drop Out The next casualty of the rat race is the man who drops out of the race in v5. because he despises its “dog eat dog” values. This attractive solution created the drop out boom of the 1960s when numerous youngsters sickened by the pressures of the rat race and its values, put on their haversacks, joined the hippy trail and ended up in some commune or retreat. Now while their diagnosis of society may have been fairly accurate their prescription was woefully inadequate. They had reacted not just to the back-stabbing competitive spirit, they had reacted to the whole idea of work. Lives lived this way are not marked by substantial achievements but by laziness, cf v5 "The fool folds his hands and ruins himself". He has set out on a course of unwitting self destruction. His idleness eats away not only at what he is, it erodes his self control and grasp of reality, his capacity for care and in the end his self-respect. The lazy fool wears himself out perhaps even more quickly than anyone else. Presentation 04

The Drop Out The next casualty of the rat race is the man who drops out of the race in v5, because he despises its “dog eat dog” values. This ‘attractive solution’ was responsible for creating the drop out boom of the 1960s. A great many young people sickened by the pressures of the rat race and its values, put on their haversacks, joined the hippy trail and ended up in some commune or retreat. Now while their diagnosis of society may have been a fairly accurate one, their prescription was woefully inadequate. They reacted not just to the back-stabbing competitive spirit of the age but also to the whole idea of work. Presentation 04

The Drop Out Lives lived this way are not generally marked by substantial achievements but by laziness, cf. v5 "The fool folds his hands and ruins himself". He has set out on a course of unwitting self- destruction. His idleness eats away not only at what he is, it erodes his self-control and grasp of reality. It also grinds down his capacity for care and in the end his self-respect. The lazy fool wears himself out perhaps even more quickly than anyone else. Presentation 04

The Isolation Of The Competitor The fourth casualty is the man who is so obsessed with the race that he has no time for anything or anyone else v8ff. He has totally insulated himself from the needs of others around him, including his own family and friends. The consequence is one of awful isolation. Are you familiar with this rhyme? "Sow an action and you reap a habit, sow a habit and you reap a character, sow a character and you reap a destiny". The man who gives himself unremittingly to the rat race reaps the destiny of loneliness. He is not able to say, "I belong"! Presentation 04

The Isolation Of The Competitor The ‘success’ of many driven men can cost them dearly. It costs them their friends, they have no time for them, their wives, who can’t cope with the strain, their family, who feel abandoned. Nothing is allowed to interfere with their obsession to succeed. But are they successful? They end their life alone! The Greeks defined the idiot as ‘a wholly private person’. The man who brings loneliness upon himself is indeed a fool. G. K. Chesterton once wrote, "There are no words to describe the abyss between isolation and having one ally". Presentation 04

The Isolation Of The Competitor Remember Zaccheus’ obsession for wealth made him one of the loneliest men on earth until Jesus helped him see what he was doing to himself, to others and to his relationship with God! The folly of self-imposed loneliness is further developed in v9ff. We see the value of companionship in "the day of trouble". We need not necessarily think of mere financial difficulties. The day of trouble can involve ill health, or bruised emotions. What is certain is that the lonely man has made himself a stranger to any warmth of companionship. To be lonely is also to be exposed and so we are told in v9 the lonely may be overpowered but two can defend themselves. Presentation 04

The Isolation Of The Competitor Again we are not restricted to thinking about a physical attack, there is such a thing as character assassination, not to mention the whole range of assaults which temptation can bring. In all of these circumstances true friends can intervene but the man who has cut himself adrift not just from human friendship but from God is helpless. He has wedded himself to his compulsion to gain wealth, but finds he is involved in a disastrous union and one from which separation becomes increasingly impossible. Presentation 04

The Short Lived Triumph Of Ambition There are many in the rat race because of their burning ambition to be at the top of the ladder and gain the applause of men. But that kind of ambition offers no lasting security or satisfaction. Someone has said, "You may get to the very top of the ladder and then find it is not leaning against the wall". The short lived triumph of ambition is graphically illustrated in v13ff. A poor youth takes over a kingdom from an old king. The old king once did well but now he's past it and is replaced by a younger man who in turn will not stay at the top of the ladder too long and will himself in turn be replaced. Presentation 04

The Short Lived Triumph Of Ambition World racing drivers are soon replaced by younger drivers, tennis stars of ten years ago are no longer in the limelight. Many who were once at the top of their profession are made redundant. What is the point being made here with regard to achievement? The ambitious manor woman who has made their job their most cherished possession and the goal of all their aspirations, will seek tenaciously to hold onto it even when their powers wane and their usefulness has come to an end. Presentation 04

The Short Lived Triumph Of Ambition There is nothing more tragic than seeing an old person trying top do a job they have done for years but which, because of reduced powers, they are not able to do. They hold onto it because they have nothing else. Their world crashes around them when they discover they have been shown the door. Why? because they have made ‘their ambition’, their life. When Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran went into exile, to the shouts of “margbar shah” [death to the Shah], surprise and amazement were firmly etched on his face. He had devoted his life to building a dynasty with little concern for the welfare of his people. When his throne was removed he was a broken man. Presentation 04

The Short Lived Triumph Of Ambition This is not to say that ambition is wrong! If ambition means simply wanting to do things well then it is a good thing and something to be encouraged. However, if it means wanting to get ahead at the expense of other people that is not good. If it becomes all that we live for it is self-destructive. Presentation 04

Conclusion How do we react to the rat race? How do we insure against being a casualty and ending up in some decaying scrap-heap? The key is found in v6, "better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and a chasing after the wind". In contrast the driven man can never find contentment. His foot is hard down on the accelerator. He does not care whom he drives off the track in his lonely pursuit of success. His sense of perspective is warped. Jesus said, "What shall it profit man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul“ Mk.8v36. The driven man has closed God out of his world and by doing so has driven out the one source of contentment and tranquillity. Presentation 04

Studies In Ecclesiastes