Open Hands — Pastor Sal Valenzuela · Cross of Grace Church

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

42 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #15

"Sal confesses his own struggle with chasing pleasure through technology and achievement. His personal testimony illustrates how the Preacher's findings apply in ordinary life—the hoped-for fulfillment always recedes."

Doctrinal loci· 11 surfaced

Hamartiology · 10 Theology Proper · 8 Providence / Sovereignty · 7 Sanctification · 6 Soteriology · 5 Eschatology · 4 Anthropology · 3 Bibliology · 3 Christology · 3 Pneumatology · 2 Pastoral Theology · 1

Bible citations· 36

Illustrations· 2

cultural reference · unit #3 — Tom Brady's confession of existential emptiness at the peak of success illustrates the Preacher's findings in real time. A man who won everything the world offers still asks, 'What else is there?'—and has no answer.
hypothetical · unit #38 — Sal returns to the Brady illustration, now reframing it as a question for the congregation. Brady had no answer; the gospel provides one.

Theological claims· 20

Most people assume that striving will eventually produce lasting gain, but the Preacher tested that assumption deliberately so we could learn from his findings instead of repeating his futility. unit #4
The word 'gain' in Ecclesiastes means what lasts beyond death—and the Preacher tested whether anything under the sun can provide it. unit #5
There is no gain under the sun, but there are gifts from God's hand—and the posture that receives them is open hands, not closed fists. unit #6
The Preacher's experiment matters because life is short, and we need to know what's actually worth living for before it's too late. unit #9
The Preacher tested the theory that accumulating pleasurable moments produces a meaningful life—and found that pleasure does not carry over into lasting gain. unit #10
'Under the sun' refers to the closed horizontal system of earthly life viewed without God's eternal perspective—and within that system, no lasting gain can be found. unit #14
The first experiment (pleasure) failed to produce gain, so the Preacher turns to the next candidate: wisdom. unit #16
Wisdom is the best thing this world offers for navigating life, but it cannot overcome death—and therefore it cannot produce lasting gain. unit #18
If wisdom, the strongest thing this world offers, cannot produce lasting gain, then nothing under the sun can—and the result is existential despair. unit #19
The problem with toil is not the work itself but the fact that it must be left to someone else over whom you have no control—and the payoff is sleepless anxiety, not lasting gain. unit #23
Ecclesiastes 2 is not in the Bible to shame us but to kindly tell us the truth: there is no gain under the sun—so we can stop chasing it and turn to what God offers instead. unit #25
The passage's turn is not from grasping to releasing, but from grasping to receiving—from the preacher's closed fist to God's open hand, which gives rather than takes. unit #27
God gives the same realities the Preacher tested (food, drink, work, wisdom), but he also gives the capacity to enjoy them as gifts—which changes everything. unit #28
The problem is not the gifts (pleasure, wisdom, work) but what we demand of them—we ask created things to do what only the Creator can do, and a gift makes a lousy God. unit #29
The one who pleases God is not the one who earns favor through impressive works but the one who lives in humble dependence, fearing God rather than trying to control life. unit #31
Ecclesiastes creates a hunger for a gain that death cannot take away—and that hunger is resolved only in the gospel. unit #32
The grasping life diagnosed in Ecclesiastes 2 originates in Genesis 3, where Adam and Eve reached to take what God had not given—the first act of unbelief. unit #33
Christ, the second Adam, reversed the grasping posture of the first Adam—he did not grasp but gave himself, and through his pierced hands God gives the gift of salvation by grace, not wages. unit #34
The gain the Preacher could not find under the sun came down from above it in Christ—and it cannot be grasped, only received. unit #35
Christ is the ultimate gain, and unlike the world that continues grasping vapor, believers are called to live backwards—with open hands. unit #39

Quotations· 6

"Why do I have 3 Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey man, this is what it is. I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think God, it's got to be more than this... I mean, I've done it. I'm 27, and what else is there for me?... I wish I knew. I wish I knew." — Tom Brady (unit #3)

"By grace you have been saved, and that is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works." — Paul (unit #34)

"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." — John (unit #36)

"I considered all things lost that I would gain Christ." — Paul (unit #39)

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." — David (unit #41)

"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." — Jesus (unit #41)

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Full transcript

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0 · Sal introduces himself, references the previous week's sermon, and sets expectations for the difficult emotional terrain ahead

Good morning, church. My name is Sal Valenzuela. I serve as a church plant resident here at Cross of Grace full-time, preparing to hopefully, God willing, plant a church in the Horizon City area next fall. So definitely continue to appreciate your prayers for that. I'm excited to share what God's Word has this morning for us. Ricky did a wonderful job opening up the book last week and comparing it to like a cold plunge. I think this morning we're gonna— we're definitely gonna take that cold plunge, and it's gonna feel like that for a greater part of the sermon. So just bear with me before we gasp for some air at the end, but it's the Lord's design. Amen.

1 · Sal confesses his former dislike for Ecclesiastes and testifies to a dramatic reversal after a workshop

And I'll just say one last thing regarding Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes, out of the 66 books of our canon, Ecclesiastes always ranked towards the bottom of the totem pole for me. And I always like to say a little qualifier, who cares? It's God's inspired word. Just my sinful self ranking the books. Ecclesiastes was towards the bottom for me always, uh, not in my top 5. And I had the unique opportunity to participate in a Simeon Trust workshop earlier this year, and it was on Ecclesiastes. And the Lord just had mercy on me and opened my eyes to where this book is now in my top 5. There's no— it went from the bottom 5 to the top 5. It's just amazing. So I hope the same happens for you today.

2 · Sal reads the entire primary text aloud, establishing the biblical foundation for the sermon

So let's, uh, let's open up our Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 2, and we're going to read starting in verse number 1. Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verse number 1. And let's remember that this is God's very word. Amen. I said in my heart, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad, and of pleasure, what use is it? I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine, my heart still guiding me with wisdom. And how to lay hold on folly, that I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure For my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands, 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 be gained under the sun.

3 · Tom Brady's confession of existential emptiness at the peak of success illustrates the Preacher's findings in real time

All right, in 2005, 60 Minutes sat down with one of the most successful young men in America at the time. His name, none other than Thomas Brady. I don't know if his name was Thomas. Tom Brady, 27 years old, 3 Super Bowl rings, in 4 years, 2 Super Bowl MVPs, the fame, the money, the face on every magazine. He was standing on the summit of American life, the exact spot our culture tells everyone to climb toward. But partway through the interview, Steve Croft asks him what this whole upward trajectory has taught him about himself. Brady starts talking about pressure, and then in his own words, and I quote, he says this. He starts asking the interviewer, why do I have 3 Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey man, this, this is what it is. I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think God, it's got to be more than this. And then he adds, I mean, I've done it. I'm 27, and what else is there for me? So Croft asks him the obvious follow-up: what's the answer? What's the more? And Tom Brady answers, I wish I knew. I wish I knew.

4 · Sal contrasts Brady's accidental discovery with the Preacher's deliberate experiment

Here's what that is. That's not the confession of a man who lost. That's the confession of a man who won, who got everything the world says to want and found it empty. And here's the thing, Brady never meant to run a success experiment and test his heart like the preacher was. He wasn't asking any of those questions on the way up. He just assumed the top would hold what it promised. The emptiness just ambushed him. That's why all he could say was, I wish I knew. He never saw the deeper question of life coming. What Brady stumbled into by accident, another man walked into on purpose about 3,000 years before this interview. A king with more money, with more power, more pleasure, and more wisdom than Brady, ran a deliberate experiment. And unlike Brady, he ran it to the end and wrote down the results. And that matters for us because none of us thinks we're running an experiment either. Neither did Brady. We're just living. We're just living life. The career, the house, the family, the next milestone. Quietly assuming that if we keep pushing, at the end of it all, something will be left over. We'll have something to show for it.

5 · Sal defines the key term 'gain' as used throughout Ecclesiastes—not wages but lasting value that survives death

Ecclesiastes has a word for that that is used throughout the book, and that word is gain. It's the question he opened the whole book with. If you remember last week in Ecclesiastes 1:3, he says, what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? He's not talking about a paycheck, obviously. He means what lasts, what carries over. What can you hold in your hands and say, this made all my striving worth it? The king ran that experiment to the very end so we could read the results instead of living them. That's what wisdom is for.

6 · Sal articulates the sermon's main thesis and structural framework: the chapter moves from closed-fisted grasping (vv

And here's what he found, and I hope that we'll see today in this whole chapter: there is no gain under the sun, but there are gifts from God's hand. Last week, Pastor Ricky asked us a question. What do you have your fist around? I don't know if you remember that. Ecclesiastes 2 answers that question because the chapter paints a picture about 2 postures of the hand, and that's what we're gonna see today. A big chunk of this passage, verses 1 to 23, describes a picture of a closed hand, the preacher grabbing at everything under the sun, trying to seize his gain. And then verses 24 to 26 describe the posture of an open hand. Receive what God gives.

7 · Sal transitions into the first major section, signaling the structural shift to examining the Preacher's three experiments: pleasure, wisdom, and toil

So first, let's get into the cold plunge and look at the closed hand. We're going to see the grasping wife, a 3-part experiment.

8 · Sal introduces the Preacher's first experiment—testing whether pleasure can provide lasting gain

So look at verse 1 where he starts, where most of us might start, in a scary place with unlimited money. Zero accountability. Pleasure. I said in my heart, verse 1, come now, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy yourself. But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad, and of pleasure, what use is it? I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine, my heart still guiding me with wisdom. And how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

9 · Sal highlights the Preacher's self-conscious methodology and his motivating urgency

So notice the method. He says, I will test you with pleasure. This is deliberate. And notice also verse 3, he tells us why this test that he's doing, this experiment that he's running, why it even matters. He wants to see what is good for for the children of man to do during the few days of their lives. The few days. That means the clock is running. That's why he conducts the test. If life is short, you better find out what's actually worth living for.

10 · Sal interprets the Preacher's verdict on pleasure: individual moments of pleasure cannot accumulate into lasting meaning

He starts with laughter and wine. He's testing the theory that feeling good is the game, that if you can just stack up enough good moments, enough laughs, enough good nights, it'll add up to a life that was worth it. The preacher says, I tested it. Laughter is madness. Pleasure— what use is it? It doesn't add up. It just doesn't carry over.

11 · Sal catalogs the Preacher's exhaustive pursuit of pleasure through acquisition and building

So then he turns to to pleasure from that kind of thing, to pleasure through building. In verses 4 through 8, he says houses, vineyards, gardens and parks, irrigation systems. He's doing infrastructure, herds, flocks, silver, gold, servants, singers, concubines, the delights of the sons of man. This is the, this is the full spread. Everything a man with unlimited money and unlimited power could build, buy, or enjoy. And verse 9 sums it up: he became great and surpassed everyone before him. There was no version of pleasure left untested, no stone left unturned.

12 · Sal applies the Preacher's findings to the congregation

That means, as we look at this section, none of us here gets to sit this scene out. Whatever our version is— the project, the career, the thing we're building, the good time we're chasing, the comfort— Preacher has already tried it. And if we're honest, it's easy to feel like the good life is just one more thing away. One more finished project, one more time of being right, one more time of being comfortable. This man finished everything. All his projects.

13 · Sal highlights the tragic irony: the Preacher's heart found pleasure in his toil (v

Here's the thing, it all went into the same experiment. The infrastructure and the indulgence, all of it went into the same search. And look at verse 10, don't miss this. He says, whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. He got all of it. And he even says his heart did find pleasure in all his toil. It felt good. In the moment, the itch got scratched, which makes what comes next worse. Look at verse 11. 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.

14 · Sal defines the key phrase 'under the sun' as life viewed horizontally, without reference to God's eternal perspective

This phrase is important. He considered all that his hands had done. He had reached the outer limits of what a man can possess, and the verdict? Nothing. Vapor. Nothing to be gained under the sun is what he says. Under the sun is another phrase you'll see throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, meaning this closed-looped horizontal system, life down here. Under the sun is life viewed only from Earth's horizon without God's eternal perspective.

15 · Sal confesses his own struggle with chasing pleasure through technology and achievement

So what pleasure are you quietly hoping will add up to a life that finally feels fulfilled? I'll confess a silly one of mine to break the ice that I struggled with in the past. Early on in my marriage— I got married very young at the age of 21— money was a little tight, and there was all kinds of technology that I couldn't afford but I wanted. And why technology? I don't know. The Lord knows my heart. I don't know my heart. I wanted the latest iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and MacBook. I remember thinking if I could just have that, I'd be happy. And I didn't want it for status so everybody could always got the latest. It wasn't that for me. I told myself it was about being productive. It was about being able to do more and enjoy more. And then as years went by and we got better jobs and better pay, I did eventually end up buying these things. Every single one of them I just mentioned. And for a little while, it delivered exactly what I thought it would. But guess what? It never lasted. There was always a next version, a next need. That's the M1 chip. Now it's the M2. Now it's the M4. Now it's the M5. And it's like, I just got the M5. The happiness I was banking on kept moving just out of reach. And if I'm completely honest, I've chased that same feeling in different things, like vacations, new place to travel, in my career, trying to do the best, to be the best at what I do. That's going to make me happy if I'm the best at what I do. It's a big one for me.

16 · Sal summarizes the first experiment and signals the transition to the second

That's fist number 1, closed around pleasure. Empty. So the search continues, and this time the preacher reaches for something better. We're going to get something better. For pleasure? Nah, we know in Christ it's not about pleasure. If pleasure can't deliver the gain, maybe wisdom can.

17 · Sal reads and introduces the Preacher's second experiment: wisdom

Look at verses 12 to 17. So I turned after the pleasure, 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, 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— and thank you for this honesty, preacher, because we've all felt like this before, if we're honest. The Bible's honest. So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after the wind.

18 · Sal clarifies that wisdom is valuable for navigating life, but it fails the ultimate test: it cannot overcome death or secure lasting remembrance

Starts with an honest admission. Verse 13: There is more gain in wisdom than in folly. Wisdom works. It makes a real difference in life whether you live wise or foolish. Make better decisions and have fewer disasters. Ecclesiastes is not cynical, and this text is not telling you to stop learning or stop being wise. That's not the point. Of everything under the sun, wisdom is the strongest candidate there is. And that makes the next part in verse 14 so hard to hear. In verse 14, and yet the same event happens to them all. There's a wall at the end of every life, and wisdom can't climb it. The wise man dies just like the fool. All that understanding, all those good decisions, and the grave takes him anyway. Verse 16 just adds to the heaviness. It says, give it a few generations and the wisest man and the biggest fool are equally forgotten. Wisdom can help you walk through this life, But it can't get you beyond death.

19 · Sal intensifies the emotional weight of the Preacher's discovery

Do you feel the weight of that? That's the cold plunge. The strongest thing this world offers just failed the test. If wisdom can't carry over, nothing down here can. He feels it too. Look at verse 17. So I hated life. This man who had it all, the man who knew more than anyone, looked at all of it and hated life. That's where grasping at wisdom left him.

20 · Sal applies the wisdom-grasping diagnosis to contemporary life

Brothers and sisters, as you meditate on this, what are you trying to think, plan, or understand your way into a peace that only God can give. I don't know if just my algorithm is really messed up, or I've poisoned it, or a combination of the two, but in our culture, something I see— 2 clear places where we see this, it's not the only place, but it's a good example— is with health and with money. People constantly checking the retirement account Running the numbers, losing sleep, sometimes even losing relationships over it. And let me be clear, they're not just stewarding their future. They're trying to buy a security that only God can give. Others also— there's a fine line between stewardship, brothers and sisters. Others also take health past stewardship. The body isn't just being cared for anymore. It's being managed like it can guarantee more years, more peace, more control than what God has promised.

21 · Sal summarizes the second experiment and transitions to the third

It's fist number 2, closed, closed around wisdom. It's empty. Look at verse 18. I hated all my toil. First he was saying he hated his life, he hated life. Now he says he hates his life's work.

22 · Sal reads the Preacher's verdict on toil

Let's read it. Verse 18, I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. Verse 20, so I turned about and gave my heart up to despair. Over all the toil of my labors under the sun. Because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

23 · Sal explains the Preacher's despair over toil

Here's what's eating away at him. It's not the work itself. Remember, verse 10 said his heart found pleasure in all his toil. The problem is verse 18: I must leave it. Everything he built and Every project, every acre, every accomplishment, all of it gets handed off to someone who most likely never lifted a finger for it. And verse 19 takes it a step further: who knows whether he'll be wise or a fool? You don't get a vote. You spend your life building it and you have zero control over what happens to it the day after you're gone. Then the question comes, what has a man from the toil and striving of heart? What's the take-home pay? And verse 23 hands him the receipt, if you will: sorrow, vexation, and a heart that can't even rest at night. That's what grasping actually pays— lying awake at 2:00 a.m. anxious about things that you can't even control anyway.

24 · Sal applies the Preacher's findings to the congregation with a series of probing questions

Let me ask you another question as we consider this section. Is your work something you do, or has it become who you are? What are you hoping the next win or the next accomplishment will prove? What are you hoping it will prove? That's fist number 3, closed around toil. It's empty. 3 grabs: pleasure, wisdom, toil. Same verdict. And notice where— notice where he's reporting from. There's different places that you can do this experiment from. He— most people find out the world can't deliver when they hit rock bottom. The preacher found out at the very top, and that's the mercy of this chapter, brothers and sisters. Most of us will never get high enough to run the experiment for ourselves, which means we could spend our whole lives assuming the game is just a little higher up, just one more rung, just one more season, one more show on Netflix, one more movie, One more city, one more closed deal. God let one man climb all the way, and he reported all the way up, and he reported back at the top, it ain't here. It's not here. So let me ask you, friend, after looking at these things, Where are you looking for gain outside of God, outside of God himself? Where are you looking for gain? Maybe you already know. Maybe you've known since last week when Ricky was preaching, when you were asked, what is your fist around, and something came to mind immediately. Maybe it came to mind again this morning somewhere between our conversation and our journey with pleasure, wisdom, and toil. Brothers and sisters, some of us may be tired. You've been gripping something for years— the business, the dream, the version of, of your life that you're sure would settle it if that was different about your life. And you're starting to suspect what this chapter has been showing us, and it scares you because if that's empty, what's left? Some of you might be the ones verse 23 is describing, lying awake at night, heart racing over things that you can't control.

25 · Sal offers pastoral reassurance that the chapter's purpose is not condemnation but kindness—God wants us to know the truth so we stop wasting our lives chasing what cannot deliver

Let me encourage you before we read another verse, friend. Ecclesiastes chapter 2 isn't in our Bibles to just beat us up about insecurities or what we can't grasp, or us shaming us for grasping. It's there because our God is kind enough to want us to know the truth. There is no gain under the sun. This is really important because if we think there is, we make a lot of decisions in our lives for all kinds of things that will affect the trajectory Because deep in our hearts we're thinking there is a gain and I'm pursuing that. And if the chapter ends there at verse 23, we'd all go home with fists that are turned up empty and nothing else. But it doesn't end there.

26 · Sal reads the passage's climactic turn (vv

Look at verse 24. Now we're going to switch from the closed hand posture to the open hand posture. There is nothing better— which already sounds good because we've just been hearing there is nothing worse— there is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also I saw is from the hand of God, for apart from him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy. But to the sinner, he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after the wind.

27 · Sal identifies the structural and theological turn of the passage

So now we're going to look at the receiving life. Now watch what's happening here. After 23 verses of grasping You'd expect the preacher to say something like, just let it go, stop grasping, just release it. But that's not what he says. Look again at verse 24. There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. And then the line that changes everything: this also I saw is from the hand of God. That is the turn. That is the turn. So far the passage has been dominated by what the preacher can build, buy, taste, understand, and control. But now for the first time, another hand enters the story, the hand of God. And that hand is not taking, it's giving.

28 · Sal clarifies that the open-handed posture is not passivity but receptivity

An open hand is not just merely empty, but that posture— you're now in a place to receive from God. Look at what God gives: food, drink, your work, wisdom, knowledge, joy. It's some of the very stuff that the preacher just already tested. Nothing on the table changed, which I like. That's wisdom literature, does that paradoxical type of thing. Like pleasure, wisdom, work— it's not there. Oh, God gives pleasure, wisdom, work. The difference is not merely that now he— the difference is, is not merely that now he receives them as gifts. Verse 25 says, apart from him, apart from him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment? Even the ability, brothers and sisters, to enjoy God's gifts is itself a gift from God. We don't simply receive the meal, we receive the capacity to delight in it, which means we need to say something clearly.

29 · Sal clarifies the passage's logic: the problem is not the gifts themselves but what we demand of them

I want to clarify something, because after everything we've walked through so far, you might think this passage is anti-pleasure or anti-wisdom or anti-work. It's not. The preacher is the one who says wisdom beats folly. He's the one who calls dinner and work gifts of God. The gifts were never the problem, and the gifts in your life are not the problem. The problem is what we ask of those gifts. We tend to demand gain from things God only ever meant as gifts. This whole chapter, we watched the man ask created things to do what only the Creator can do. And here's the truth underneath it all: a gift makes a lousy God. A gift makes a terrible God.

30 · Sal applies the open-handed posture to three areas: work, pleasure, and wisdom

So just to be super clear, I thought it might be helpful to paint a picture of the perspective change that an open-handed posture brings. Yes. So let's look at work first. Work becomes the assignment God has given you for today. You can enjoy it. You can work hard. You can do it well. You can come home and you can actually rest because the results are— were always in God's hands anyway. It doesn't have to prove anything anymore. What about pleasure? Pleasure becomes a gift again. The next meal, the next trip, the next night out no longer has to fulfill you, so you're finally free to enjoy it for exactly what it is. It doesn't have to be the fancy dinner that finally satisfies— that, man, that if I could just have dinner at Café Central. Order whatever I wanted. It can just be dollar taco night received with gratitude from the hand of God. And wisdom becomes what it was always meant to be— not a way to secure your future. You're not gonna do that with wisdom, but a good gift for walking through life. You can keep learning and keep growing leave tomorrow in God's hands.

31 · Sal interprets the passage's final contrast (v

The chapter ends with a line being drawn between 2 lives. To the one who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy. And of course, to the one who pleases him— I don't want there to be any confusion, so a quick note— it's not talking about salvation for the impressive, or the one who pleases God is not the one who finally builds enough like the preacher. You're gonna see that throughout Ecclesiastes, fearing God rather than trying to control life is the posture. That's the posture of true wisdom. The one who pleases God is not earning favor but living in humble dependence on him. That's what it means to please him. To the sinner, by contrast, he gives a different assignment. Gathering and collecting sound familiar? That's the grasping life. Verse 26 says God governs every gift and he distributes it as he sees fit.

32 · Sal identifies the passage's role in the biblical-theological arc: Ecclesiastes creates a hunger for a gain that death cannot take away—a gain that the Old Testament cannot provide but that points forward to Christ

And so as we look at our passage this afternoon, even the best our text has to offer today, the received life, the received life, It's truly a grace from God. It's like a daily bread from the hand of God, but it still creates a hunger, still leaves us with the hunger for a gain that death cannot take away. I think that's what Ecclesiastes is doing in the redemptive arc. It's creating a hunger for a gain that death cannot take away.

33 · Sal traces the grasping posture back to Genesis 3

So to address that lingering hunger that's been created, we got to go back further than the time of Ecclesiastes, all the way back to the garden in Genesis 3. A tree and a hand reaching out to take. The serpent's promise was gain. You will be like God. And humanity grabbed when Adam and Eve ate of it. That's where the grasping life was born. Every grasping impulse in this chapter and every grasping impulse in our lives traces back to the first act of unbelief— taking what God had not given.

34 · Sal presents the gospel as the resolution to the grasping posture

But here's the good news. Here is the good news. Philippians chapter 2 says that Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. What Adam reached to steal, Christ already had, and he didn't grip it. He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. The second Adam did not come grasping. He came giving himself, stretched out on a cross, and there he His hands, his hands were pierced. And through those pierced hands, God handed over the gift, not wages, because scripture says in Romans 6 that our wages is death. That's what we deserve. But instead, a gift was given. Ephesians 2 also says, by grace you have been saved, and that is not your own doing, it is The gift of God, not a result of works.

35 · Sal summarizes the gospel resolution: the gain the Preacher sought under the sun came from above it in Christ

Church, that's the gain the preacher couldn't find. It was not under the sun. It was never meant to be found under the sun. The gain that the preacher was looking for came down from above it. It cannot be grasped, it can only be received.

36 · Sal applies the gospel to unbelievers

If you've never trusted in Christ, you've probably spent your life looking for gain, and the preacher already searched for it everywhere in the world. It isn't there. But there is a gift held out to you in Christ. John 1:12 says, but to all who did receive him Him. He's the ultimate. To all who did receive him, who believed in his name— that's what it means to receive Christ, to believe in his name— he gave the right to become children of God. You can't earn it. You can only receive him by faith. So today, turn from the life of grasping for what this world can't give and put your trust in Jesus.

37 · Sal applies the gospel to believers

And church, for those of us who have trusted him, do you see how free you are? I see the world enslaved at— enslaved in their gifts. Do you see how free you are? The question that drove the preacher: was it all worth it? Is already answered for you, and it was answered at the cross, not at your job, not at your accomplishments, not at your wisdom, not in the things you experience or the places you visited or the comfort you had or the respect everyone gave you. It was found already in the cross. So this week, I want to encourage you, receive your life The dinner, the work, the people at your table— none of it has to carry the weight of your great gain. Christ already carried that. And you won't open your hands by trying harder. We're— our sinful posture is this: clenching. You won't open it by yourself. It's too old and too deep within us. Today, ponder asking the Holy Spirit to do it. The same God who gives the gifts also gives the power to enjoy them. The gifts can finally just be gifts.

38 · Sal returns to the Brady illustration, now reframing it as a question for the congregation

Let's go back to the Tom Brady interview for a minute. Do you remember what his answer was to his own question, what else is there for me? He said, I wish I knew. Now imagine with me for one minute that at the end of your life or the next greatest accomplishment, you all are the ones being interviewed. What would you answer? What else is there for you? What would you say? Do you have an answer, friend?

39 · Sal answers the hypothetical question with the gospel

Thanks to the Word of God, you do know and you can know Christ is the ultimate gain. Paul says, I considered all things lost that I would gain Christ through Christ, we are brought into right relationship with God. The world around you will continue grasping and climbing and closing his fists on vapor. But as for you and me, let's live this life backwards. Let's live with open hands.

40 · Sal invites the congregation to embody the open-handed posture physically during the closing prayer

I want you to do something with me today. Let's stand as we go to the Lord in prayer. This is not going to be a mystical thing, or— but if you want to do it, you can, to paint a picture in your own mind if you would like to, right? It's just to paint a picture in your mind. Like when we raise our hands and we say, you know, I surrender, it's just like a posture of surrender. I'm raising my hands to surrender to the Lord. The Lord is already working through his word. We don't need any postures to do anything else. But if you want to with me, if the Lord has brought something to your mind that you need to release, or maybe you just— the things that you have, they are from the Lord, and you're, you're thinking that you need to take it for yourself, you're not even truly enjoying it anymore— I want you to put your hands in an open posture as we go before the Lord in prayer.

41 · Sal closes with a pastoral prayer asking God to open the congregation's hands, grant them the ability to enjoy his gifts, and make Christ their treasure

Father, we come before you this afternoon, and God, we have received from your eternal, all-wise, all-knowing word that you are the one that gives the ability to enjoy the gift. Lord, even if we're clenching our own lives because we feel it slipping through our fingers, Lord, would we let it go? Even if it's our very lives. This afternoon, may we let it go and instead receive every day that we get as a gift from you. Father, I pray in the mighty name of Jesus Christ that today you would grant us all the ability to enjoy your gifts. May we say with the psalmist, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. May the scripture that says where your treasure is, there your heart will be also— Lord, may my treasure be Christ. Holy Spirit, open my hands and may you be my treasure. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

Nov 30, 2025

On the Run

When life puts you on the run, you either run from God by taking life into your own hands, or you run to God by placing your life into God's hands—and God is faithful to those who entrust themselves to Him.

1 Samuel 22-24

Feb 8, 2026

A New House, A Fresh Start

Only God can make us clean, give us a fresh start, and establish a blessing that lasts—not through our religious effort or proximity to holy things, but through grace alone in Christ, who brings us into an unshakable kingdom.

Haggai 2:10-23

May 3, 2026

Rescuing Marriage

Marriage must be rescued by recovering its God-designed purpose as an image of Christ's covenant love for the church, which requires repentance from cultural accommodation and renewed submission to biblical authority.

July 12 · This sermon

Open Hands

There is no gain under the sun, but there are gifts from God's hand—and the posture that receives them is open hands, not closed fists.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-26

Take it further

Discuss · apply

Small groups

6 discussion questions

Ready-to-print leader brief with cross-references and landing-zone application. PDF available.

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we trace the Preacher's experiment from closed fists grasping at emptiness to open hands receiving gifts from God—and discover that the gain he could not find under the sun comes down to us in Christ.

Family table

Open Hands, Closed Fists

The sermon contrasted two postures toward the gifts in our lives: grasping (closed fists) and receiving (open hands). This prompt invites yo…

Couples

Open Hands: A Couple's Conversation

What part of the Preacher's experiment—pleasure, wisdom, or toil—did you recognize in your own life, and what did Sal's message stir in your…

Memorize

Ecclesiastes 2:24

This verse marks the sermon's theological pivot from the Preacher's futile grasping to God's gracious giving—the exact movement from closed fists to open hands that defines the sermon's central claim. It anchors the entire message: the same realities the world offers as gain become gifts when received from God's hand rather than seized for ourselves.

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

This week we trace the Preacher's experiment from closed fists grasping at emptiness to open hands receiving gifts from God—and discover that the gain he could not find under the sun comes down to us in Christ.

Monday Ecclesiastes 1:3

The Preacher's opening question frames his entire investigation: "What does a man gain from all his labor?" This is not a question about comfort or temporary satisfaction, but about lasting, permanent gain—what survives death itself. As we face our own mortality, we must ask what we are laboring for and whether it can endure beyond our final breath.

Tuesday Genesis 3

In the garden, Adam and Eve closed their fists around forbidden fruit, refusing the open-handed trust that God's provision was enough. That first act of reaching for what was not given us echoes through every generation—we inherit their posture of grasping rather than receiving. The Preacher's closed fist in his experiments traces back to the serpent's whisper: God is holding out on you; take what you want instead.

Wednesday Philippians 2:6-7

Where the first Adam reached for power and divinity he did not possess, Christ, though he was God, did not grasp at his rights but emptied himself in obedience unto death. His pierced hands, outstretched in crucifixion, are the reverse image of Adam's grasping fists—and through them flows the gift of salvation that cannot be earned, only received. In Christ we see the posture God has always desired: vulnerable openness, not controlling grasp.

Thursday Ephesians 2:8-9

Paul's declaration cuts to the heart of our dilemma: we are saved by grace through faith, not by works—and yet we live as though works could save us, as though our striving could produce what only God's hand can give. The Preacher tested pleasure, wisdom, and toil looking for ultimate gain, but each failed because he was asking them to be his god. When we receive the gifts of work and pleasure as gifts alone—not as grounds for our security—we find the contentment the Preacher could never grasp.

Friday Psalm 23:1

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." This is the answer to the Preacher's despair—not because we will never lack earthly comfort, but because we have been given what truly satisfies: the Lord himself, the ultimate gain that no death can take away. Our open hands, stripped of the illusion that we can secure ourselves, are now free to receive what Christ offers and to hold all earthly gifts loosely, knowing they come from his generous hand.

Sunday-evening family table

Open Hands, Closed Fists

For the parent

The sermon contrasted two postures toward the gifts in our lives: grasping (closed fists) and receiving (open hands). This prompt invites your family to notice where they're still trying to squeeze something for lasting gain. Listen for where kids are striving, and gently help them see what they're really asking that thing to do.

Pastor Sal talked about how the Preacher kept his fists closed, trying to squeeze everything he had into something that would last forever—pleasure, success, wisdom, money. What's something you're working really hard for right now, thinking it will make you happy or feel good about yourself? Is that something you're holding with open hands (like a gift from God), or are you squeezing it with closed fists (like it has to prove something about you)?

works for ages 8+; younger children can listen and share with gentle parent help

Couples · three questions over coffee

Open Hands: A Couple's Conversation

What part of the Preacher's experiment—pleasure, wisdom, or toil—did you recognize in your own life, and what did Sal's message stir in your heart about it?
Where might we, as a couple, still be grasping for gain 'under the sun' instead of receiving the gifts God is actually offering us together?
Is there a specific area where one of us needs to shift from a closed fist to open hands, and how can we pray for and encourage each other in that?

Memory verse this week

Ecclesiastes 2:24

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.

Why this verse: This verse marks the sermon's theological pivot from the Preacher's futile grasping to God's gracious giving—the exact movement from closed fists to open hands that defines the sermon's central claim. It anchors the entire message: the same realities the world offers as gain become gifts when received from God's hand rather than seized for ourselves.

Where this was preached

About the church

Cross of Grace Church

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# Cross of Grace Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [On the Run (1 Samuel 22-24, 2025-11-30)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/on-the-run-2025-11-30)
- [A New House, A Fresh Start (Haggai 2:10-23, 2026-02-08)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/a-new-house-a-fresh-start-2026-02-08)
- [Rescuing Marriage (2026-05-03)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/rescuing-marriage-2026-05-03)
- [Open Hands (Ecclesiastes 2:1-26, 2026-07-12)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/open-hands-2026-07-12)

## About
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