The Vanity of Success

The Vanity of Success

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11; Mark 8:34-38

In this passage, the author lays out his experiment in seeking happiness “under the sun” by pursuing success. The structure of the experiment follows standard scientific methodology:

  1. The Hypothesis: Can attaining success “under the sun” result in happiness ? (v. 1a, 3)

  2. The Experiment: A robust catalog of enjoyments and achievements attained. (v. 4-10a)

  3. The Conclusion: Did the enjoyments and the achievements produce lasting happiness? (v. 1b, 10b-11)

As we walk through the experiment with the author, we’ll think about:

  1. The LOGIC of success as a life-defining pursuit.

  2. The LIMITS of success as a life-defining practice.

  3. The Successful LIFE according to Jesus.

I. The Logic of Success as a life-defining pursuit.

Here is the logic behind the hypothesis that drives the Preacher’s experiment:

  1. I like feeling good 

  2. It feels good to indulge/win/enjoy 

  3. Therefore, the more I indulge/win/enjoy, the better I will feel 

In short, if I succeed in life, I will be happy and I will disprove the Preacher’s conclusion that all is vanity.

Here is the point of the experiment: If anyone ever achieved the kind of success that would provide a steady, sustainable stream of the finer pleasures of life, Solomon did. If anyone held onto the ability to remain scientifically objective about the whole thing, Solomon did.

The Preacher merely observes that he knew the most successful man of the day and this is the conclusion he reached after decades of success and the pleasures that go with it:

“Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” (2:11)

II. The Limits of Success as a life-defining practice.

First, it is extremely Individualistic. 

Did you notice how many times in these eleven verses that the personal pronouns I, me, my, myself were used?  39 times in 11 short verses!! 

At least two nasty consequences tend to follow this individualistic self-obsession:

  1. Selfward skew. 

  2. Social isolation. 

Second, it is arrogantly Exclusive. 

The Preacher brags that he undertook this experiment for the noble purpose of discovering what “was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.” (2:3)  But two realities are immediately obvious:

  1. There simply is no way that the broad sweep of “the children of man” were ever going to be able to achieve what Solomon achieved! 

  2. Solomon’s outrageous success actually came from the labor and was built on the backs of thousands of “children of men” who did not fare all that well from his brilliant success.

Lastly, this kind of success is ultimately Corrosive.

  1. This kind of success destroys its owner.

  2. This kind of success pollutes downstream. 

Dismissing the pursuit of success and pleasure would not be solving the problem. If Solomonic success cannot lift us out of the conclusion that everything under the sun is vanity, REDUCING the definition of what I call my own personal success will not do that either.

  • My own smaller definition of success is no less limiting than Solomon’s and no more able to beat the label of vanity than was his.  It is just as individualistic and isolating, just as exclusive and arrogant, just as corrosive and destructive, just as much chasing the wind, but only on a smaller scale.

Here is the secret we learn from Jesus on this mystery: It is not the PURSUIT of success and subsequent pleasure that is the problem, but rather our DEFINITION of success that is the problem. As it turns out, the success we seek - even to Solomonic proportions - is not too large, but rather, too small!

III. The Successful Life according to Jesus

In Mark 8:34-38, Jesus articulates a better logic of success. He lays out a better path to success, and endorses hard pursuit of a far better reward.

…If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.

~ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory