The Shadow of Happiness
Pastor Tan Thai · Jan 6, 2019
This sermon examines King Solomon's journey to find happiness in Ecclesiastes, showing that wealth, pleasure, and fame under the sun are all vanity. The true key to happiness lies in recognizing God as the One who ordains every season of life and looking up to Him rather than seeking fulfillment through earthly means alone.
The sermon opens with two famous songs by Vietnamese composer Văn Cao — "Suối Mơ" (Dreaming Brook) and "Thiên Thai" (Heavenly Paradise) — as symbols of the human longing to escape into an ideal world that is always imagined but never truly grasped. The preacher observes that everyone secretly yearns for happiness, yet happiness in this earthly life seems like a shadow — glimpsed only to disappear, seemingly within reach but always slipping away.
The heart of the sermon examines King Solomon's memoir in Ecclesiastes. Solomon had everything — power, wealth, wisdom, and total freedom to pursue every desire without constraint. He tried pleasure, wine, grand projects, philosophy, riches, and fame. Yet after it all, he could only sigh: 'All of it is vanity and chasing after the wind.' The sermon cites modern research from Time magazine confirming that wealth, education, and youth do not guarantee happiness — a discovery Solomon made more than two thousand years ago.
The preacher then expounds Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, where Solomon lists fourteen contrasting pairs of seasons in life: birth and death, weeping and laughing, loving and hating, war and peace. No one can choose to live only in one season while avoiding its opposite. Each appointed time carries its own purpose and value, shaping the character and maturity of the person who passes through it. The parable of the old man and the missing horse — where no one can judge whether an event is misfortune or blessing — underscores that humans see only the present moment while God holds the whole picture.
The theological climax of the sermon is Ecclesiastes 3:11: God has placed 'eternity in the human heart,' causing people to long perpetually for something greater than finite earthly life. This explains why every earthly satisfaction remains temporary. The preacher concludes with Romans 8:28 and Psalm 121:1, calling the congregation to lift their eyes to God — the Creator and Sovereign of every appointed season — to receive meaning, help, and true happiness.
The sermon closes with practical counsel from Ecclesiastes 12:1 — remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come. True happiness arrives when you give thanks to God for what you already have, accept the seasons He has ordained, and though living under the sun, learn to look upward to the One who gives life its meaning.