#4 A Mint Condition Pack of Jovis (Ecclesiastes 2:12-17)

Notes

Philip Brown explores Solomon’s comparison of wisdom and folly in a fallen, frustrating world marked by brevity, mystery, and unchangeability. Acknowledging that wisdom offers real gains—like clearer vision, better outcomes, and avoidance of needless mistakes—the preacher honestly confronts its limits under the sun: death equalizes all, wisdom is costly and exhausting, and legacy fades quickly. Through relatable Kiwi stories, pop culture, and personal anecdotes, the sermon moves from the vanity of life to the greater wisdom and folly of the gospel. Jesus, the true Son of David, defeats death and reorients everything, turning hatred of life into love for it and offering enduring remembrance in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

"So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind" (Ec 2:12–17)