Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Notes
Transcript
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
The first 4 chapters of Ecclesiastes have been a lesson in futility. The Preacher, which we’re pretty sure is Solomon keeps complaining. I’m so bored…I’ve tried everything. I’ve tried every food, every game, every hobby, every vice…and I find that everything is just chasing after the wind. It’s all smoke, nothing matters, nothing satisfies, nothing is new under the sun. He turned to his studies, and found that the water cycle never stops. He found that history repeats itself, and everything that has happened will happen again and the things that are happening now are happening now - SPACEBALLS - Now, now.
Knowing what we know of then, what do we find now? Is there anything new under the sun? We are what’s new. There will never be another you who can do what you can do, provide what you can provide, love like you can love, endure what you can endure. What else is different from then to now? Jesus came. He set things right, set us free, so we could have a better understanding of what our purpose in life is. What is our purpose? Andy hit it on Sunday, to tell the WHOLE WORLD about HIM! What did he do for us?
This book helps us see the depths of dispair the wisest man on earth can come to. Has it been hard to read? It has been for me…I keep going “This entitled little...” How in the world can this man be a good dad? But I check myself, because we’re to be slow to speak, and slow to anger. When people are in dispair, when they’re hurting, they need someone to listen to them, to help them get all the bad ideas out…A safe space
I’m not saying give them the floor and listen to every sob story, but listen to them, so you can make connections with your life. The price the ONLY WORTHY LAMB OF GOD paid, so that if we confessed with our mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe that He died for our sins and was raised from the grave that we too shall be saved with him.
I don’t know how many of you know right now, but There are 1/4 million rockets aimed at Israel right now from Lebanon, Syria, and the Gaza Strip. The Ezekiel 38-39 war is coming and there’s nothing that can stop it. Now is not the time to waste telling people that without Jesus, they will die in their sin. That should concern you as much as it should them. Those who have put their faith in Christ don’t have to worry about this life, because we will be with each other in eternity. My kids met a new boy down the road from my in-law’s house. The first thing they told us when they were telling us about him was that HE KNOWS WHO JESUS IS. They
People need to know that there are seasons of our life that we all go thru. AND, we go thru ALL of those seasons, God has those events on our calendar, we’ve either been thru them, or we’re going to go thru them. Those connections are so we can help others get thru them. It’s not our job to walk their walk, but sometimes people need to be shown how to walk. That takes time, right? Effort, it’s hard to pour into someone. We don’t always get the results we want to see, but planting a seed isn’t just casting it from your hand to the ground. That ground needs to be cultivated, the spot prepared, the seed planted then covered. We discount the planting of the seed as a cast-away thing. Welp, at least you planted a seed…I need to change the way I look at that in my mind…did I plant a seed? Or did I throw it at them and hope it fell into their shoe? Like it was a run-by fruiting...
With all of that said, Solomon has spent 4 chapters telling us all the stuff he did and how nothing satisfied. Now, finally, he’s finally trimming the fat. Let’s hear what the wisest man up to the coming of Jesus has to say as he comes to his senses.
1 Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. 2 Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes through much activity, And a fool’s voice is known by his many words. 4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed— 5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. 6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God.
The term House of God is found 50 times in the Bible. 46 in the OT, 4 in the NT. About a dozen times it’s referring to where God lives with us. Solomon built the first true House for God to live in. When he finished it, he prayed the longest prayer in the Bible and the Spirit of the Lord came down and filled the temple. Smoke cleansed it. It is a place of worship, but also a place to study scripture. Is God restricted to a place? He is NOT. He dwells within those who call Him Lord, love one another, and obey his commands, right? BUT, we still have those places where we congreate, worship, and study His Word. Right now, this is our House of the Lord.
How should we approach God’s house? On the Southern Steps to the Temple in Israel, those steps are different, aren’t they? Someone who’s been there, what’s different about them? They’re staggered. They go from 12 inches deep, to 35 inches deep, and 7-10 inches high. They were designed this way to force those coming to the temple to think about the next step…to walk prudently.
How many of us have our hearts set as we approach wherever we’re worshipping? Those of us with kids, we know, that argument stops the moment you shut the key off. Hot lead was being spit seconds before, but the deep breath, gather the family, and the perp walk starts…I don’t know how to stop our kids from…that. Soon my son will be able to drive, I’ll make him drive the kids, at least I can walk prudently then.
What is the sacrifice of fools? 1 Samuel 14:47-15:34 God doesn’t want our sacrifice if our heart isn’t in the right place. He wants our obedience. Are there some things in your life that just don’t make our Heavenly Father happy? You know the story around this right?
2 Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes through much activity, And a fool’s voice is known by his many words.
How many times has someone asked us to do something and we’ve just automatically said “Yep” Not really knowing what we just agreed to do? The Lord expects a bit of hesitation in us, doesn’t He? We want to get it right. We want to be pleasing…does God want “yes men?” The Lord wants a man or woman of their word. Be on-time. Keep your commitments. Agree to what you can, and don’t over-extend yourself. We’ve all been there.
Have you been a man or a woman of YOUR word? What is the first word we really understand the meaning of in our lives? NO. It’s because everything we do mom and dad said NO. Why, if it’s the word we most understand, have we conditioned it out of our lives? We want to tell people “YES.” That means we’re serving. It means we’re sacrificing. It means we’re meeting needs. We need to know our plate’s dimensions. Our spouses know what we can handle and what we can’t.
That’s when they say “Hey Honey, you need to go to urgent care and get that thing looked at.” And we respond with “I’ll be fine, I just knocked the wind out of myself.” And then she responds with “If you die today, I’m not coming to your funeral because you didn’t listen to me.” And you respond with “You listen to me...” The next thing I remember I’m at urgent care.
We keep running our mouth. God gave us a cage for that fire breather for a reason! Use it! Some of you have heard me say “Tell me you didn’t say those words out loud...” I don’t say that because I’m making you laugh. I’m saying that because I HAVE SAID THOSE THINGS, OUT LOUD, TO THE WRONG PERSON. When my mouth moves, I like to make it out that I don’t always know where it’s going, but I ALWAYS d. I have to be very guarded of what I let come out of my mouth.
Matthew 15:11 It’s not what goes in But what comes out that defiles a man right? I tell my kids all the time, stop your mouth, because it’s going to get worse. It’s like the cookie jar. My kids still don’t know sound travels. They don’t know that I can hear everything they’re doing above my head in the dungeon at the house. Let those words be few. When we pray, listen to the Lord before you hang up the phone. Should we even hang up that line? No WAY.
For a dream comes thru much activity, and a fool’s voice is known by his many words. Ever tell someone about a dream and then think “wow, that sounded so much better when it was in my head.” Some ideas are great ideas. I live by the motto I’d rather let someone think I’m an idiot, than open my mouth and remove all doubt. This culture we live in is so absorbed in themselves that they tell everyone everything. We can’t get enough of ourselves. We can’t get away from our devices.
A couple of weeks ago I was in dispair…I was confident my business was failing, and I had pigeonholed us. My wise dad, who always knows how to ruffle my feathers simply told me “You need to unplug that computer and go be a dad and a husband.” I love my dad, so what did I do? I unplugged my computer, sat down, and took a bath in the book of Psalms.
If you’re in a rut, start at Psalms 1 and read. 50 chapters in 5 days. It soothed my soul. My dreams were a mess, the devil wanted me focused on this world. He’s that bad boyfriend or girlfriend that treats you poorly and when you’ve had enough starts throwing tantrums to show you how bad it will be for THEM if you leave. Kick the devil to the curb. Seriously, start in Psalms 1 and read 5 chapters. It’ll take you 10 minutes or less if you burn thru it…but take time and recognize, there is a season for what you’re going thru.
ENDLESS SUMMER is a great movie, but a terrible, sweaty, mosqito filled mess of a time. Don’t stay in that season. Psalm 23 says we walk THRU the valley, not camp out in the shade. Put those dreams to bed. Not good ones, but the ones that keep you up at night. If you’ve got issues with anxiety about things like that, give me a call. There’s at least 1 Psalm that will talk to you, give you encouragement, and let you know that you’re not alone in the struggle. Don’t let your mouth get in the way of your healing though. Ray Comfort always says you can tell when conviction has come to someone’s heart because their mouth stops moving.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed— 5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. 6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God.
Matthew 5:37 “37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” Jesus said that. Don’t lie to God. If you say you’re going to do something, do it…or don’t agree to do it. Do you think His Will shall be done with or without you? Sometimes that should concern you…but you have to follow the Spirit moving in your life. What happens when you break a vow to someone? They loose faith right? We have a term it “sullies your good name.”
What does the Bible say about a good name? Prov 22:1 “1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold.” Your name is what will be on your tombstone. Your legacy. be a man or woman of your word.
Now, does God sometimes test us? Let me give you an example. My wife and I are foster parents. We used to get calls in the middle of the night for kids needing a place. We used to moan at them…do you have any idea what time it is??? Turn them down, we can’t. One night we got a call, we had to talk about it…things were not ideal for us, but I told Hollie OK, she made the call back, and they told us they found a safe home for that little kiddo for the night. It was minutes since we took our call.
The next morning, she and I were discussing it and she said “What if God was just testing us, to see if we would say yes, not to take a child into our home who is scared and needs a safe place, but what if He was asking us “Would you say YES to ME?”” Would you listen for Me. Would you listen TO Me? In the most unopportuned time, would you be willing to love the unloveable? To serve someone who couldn’t serve you back? That’s why we became foster parents. And, most of you don’t know this but the cat’s out of the bag now, we’re still foster parents even after adopting 2 more just a few months ago. God’s not done yet, and who am I to tell Him I’m out!
I made a vow, I agreed to this journey, and until He calls me out of it, we’re going to take some time, heal and get our family right. I need to be able to govern my household properly. Sometimes a good governor has public enemy #1 living in his district. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad governor…it means you have to punish crime appropriately, especially when PE#2 is muscling in on their territory and a gang war is about to break out! We don’t know what the future holds, but my word, MY NAME might not mean anything to anyone else here, but it means something to Him who saved me, Is 49:16 “16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.” YOUR NAME has power behind it. Is it tarnished? Where His blood ran red, our sin was washed white. It takes a lot of red to make white, but Jesus can help you restore that name as he reconciles you to Him.
6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God.
Have you noticed the effect your secret sin has in your life? Did you even realize that it has ripples? An Amalekite killed Saul. Had he done what the Lord asked him to do, his sin wouldn’t have killed him.
I used to keep a journal when I was shearing sheep of each day. Where I was, what kind of sheep I shore, how many I sheared. I logged every one of the over 100,000 sheep I shore. As I was looking at it one day, closing in on that 100,000 mark, I noticed a pattern. I’d have great shearing days, then a couple bad ones, then I’d have a really good run again for a couple days, then back in the dumps. I started thinking “What could cause that.” So I started looking at the fact most times I’d have a dip, I was away from my wife. OK, so I’d be on the road, on my own, with nothing but my cell phone with me, looking at things I shouldn’t have been looking at.
After a couple weeks, I looked at it again, and noticed I’d have ruts in my days. It got to the point I knew when I’d succumb to my sin, that I’d have hard days ahead, not to mention trying to hide it from my wife. I wasn’t keeping the vow I made to God to honor and cherish my wife. I would tell God I just couldn’t help myself…and he’d discipline me, as Hebrews 12 says He will. He destroyed the work of my hands, and almost allowed me to destroy my marriage because I didn’t want to take control of my sin and do what Saul should have done, and SLAIN IT ALL. God doesn’t want my good intentions. He doesn’t want my sacrifice. He doesn’t want the little paper hat I made him, the money I give in a tithe, EVEN the work I do as a foster parent. That’s not what makes Him proud. He wants my obedience. And man, when I’m doing what He asks me to do, do I see blessings.
It’s simple, just do what He says. Last week, we celebrated the freedom that the Cross provides for those of us who love Him.
Actions speak louder than words. EVANGELIZE AARON!