Wisdom and Limitations

Have any of you heard of something called Decision paralysis?

This is something that I witnessed when I worked in restaurants.

Specifically, when I worked at The Cheesecake factory.

If you don’t know, The Cheesecake Factory boasts a menu of more than 200 items and 30 cheesecakes.

They have just about any kind of dish you can imagine.

From Breakfast to Burgers, Tex-Mex to Pasta.

But something happens when people would come to eat at The Cheesecake Factory.

It would take them forever to order their food.

They could not make a decision.

They had all they ever wanted at their fingertips, but choosing something was paralyzing.

Have you ever felt this type of decision paralysis?

I felt it for a long time.

When I was growing up I would hear from teachers, family members, and from parents, that I could be anything I wanted to be when I grow up.

That caused me to look out at the world and be unable to settle on what I wanted to be b/c there were so many choices out there.

I can be anything.

But this reassurance, though well meaning is actually detrimental to our minds and hearts.

I can’t be anything.

I’ll never be the best NBA player.

I’ll never be a world renowned Surgeon.

I’ll never be the pope, not that I would want to be.

And this really hurt my outlook on life growing up.

I couldn’t make a decision b/c what if I missed out on something.

What if I made the wrong decision.

What if the decision I made was the one thing I couldn’t be or do?

This was not the intent of my teachers, family, or parents.

They wanted to encourage me.

But their encouragement led to me being overwhelmed.

So when Corrie and I started having kids, I was very intentional and don’t tell them that they can do or be anything.

That may rub some of you the wrong way, but the truth is I don’t want my kids to suffer the same way I did.

What does this have to do with the sermon text we are going to look at this morning?

Part of the culture that we live in is one that doesn’t like boundaries or limitations.

But actually as created beings, boundaries and limitations cause us to thrive.

When we don’t know our limitations then we over extend ourselves.

We start crossing boundaries that should never be crossed.

We start moving past limitations that keep us who we were created to be.

When we try and live outside our limitations we start messing with God’s design.

Our sexuality is distorted.

Our identities are lost.

We lack purpose and meaning in our life.

We need to know our limitations so that we can view ourselves rightly

This is where Solomon is heading this morning.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve talked about living wisely and living redemptively.

Two weeks ago we talked about living wisely and redemptively when it comes to the authorities in our lives.

Last week we talked about living wisely in the reality of the brokenness of this world.

And this morning we are going to talk about living wisely when it comes to our limitations as humans.

We are going to touch on living wisely knowing that our wisdom is limited.

Living wisely knowing that we are going to die.

and Living wisely with joy within the limitations that God has given us.

Before we begin let’s Pray.

Let’s look at the limitation of our wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 8:16–17 CSB

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night), 17 I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.

Wisdom’s Limits

Solomon talks about his pursuit of wisdom up to this point in Ecc.

Ecclesiastes 1:13 CSB

13 I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.

Ecclesiastes 2:12 CSB

12 Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the king’s successor be like? He will do what has already been done.

We talked about earlier that Solomon is known in the Bible as being the wisest man to ever live.

His wisdom is a gift granted to him by God.

1 Kings 4:29–31 (CSB)

29 God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore.

30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

31 He was wiser than anyone...His reputation extended to all the surrounding nations.

So, Solomon was known for his wisdom.

And he uses it all to seek and search for the meaning and purpose of life.

And he discovers that life and wisdom is more complicated than we believe it should be.

As God’s creation we are limited in the amount of wisdom we can have.

We can spend every minute of our life seeking after wisdom and still only find a small piece of the pie.

This would be frustrating for someone like Solomon.

Someone who is not wasting any effort to seek and pursue wisdom.

Why would one want to seek after wisdom?

B/c they want to learn about life.

They want to see what works and what doesn’t.

This does tie back to last weeks sermon.

Even though we do the right things in the right ways, we don’t know if we are going to have the best outcomes.

In fact, the outcomes may be opposite of what we truly want.

This is the frustration that Solomon finds.

He will never completely know.

He will never completely understand.

He will never completely grasp the reality of the world around him.

Why?

Why is our wisdom so limited?

Why will we never truly know, understand, or grasp the world around us?

The simple answer is that we aren’t God.

Only the sovereign God of the universe can see, know, understand, and grasp the world we live in.

B/c only God knows all the details, intricacies, and ties that bind this world together.

And I know that some of us feel the same frustration that Solomon feels.

We want to know the why.

We what to know and see the full picture.

We want to understand what God is doing, but the reality is we can’t.

If we know everything that God knew we would be overwhelmed and unable to live our lives.

This type of relationship is mirrored in our relationship with our kids.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t always give my kids all the information about what goes on in our home or world.

I keep things from them.

They don’t have to know everything that I know.

And I don’t ask them to.

I ask them to trust me.

I ask them to believe that I, as their father and protector, know what’s best for them.

God does the same thing toward us.

We don’t know everything that he is doing, but we should believe and trust that he is doing everything for his Glory and for our good.

When we try to figure everything out.

When we try to take God’s place and control everything we become anxious.

We become worried.

And we can’t trust him.

We become like Solomon restless and unable to sleep.

Unable to rest.

Unable to find comfort, joy, and peace.

The mechanics and government of the universe is beyond our capacity to control.

It’s beyond our capacity to know.

We need to rest in trusting our good and gracious father.

We will never know all that he is up to.

We will never know all that is being accomplished.

But we must know that everything is being done the way that he wants it to be done.

And that he is working it all out.

He can and will redeem even the worst of situations.

Weariness, restlessness, and anxiety come when we try to control what we have absolutely no control over.

Instead, we come to Jesus with our lives and find comfort, peace, rest, and joy in his arms.

Matt 11:28 “28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Finding rest means resting in our limitations.

The only thing that we have any control over are the things that we do right here and right now.

We don’t need to worry about the things that we can’t control.

We don’t need to be anxious about what the future holds.

We need to live redemptively in the here and now.

Knowing that everything is in God’s hands.

But we also have a job to do.

God has saved us to do the work he set before us.

So though we are limited we aren’t helpless.

We are called to labor for the lord.

In all the work that we do.

Taking comfort in the fact that we are being faithful with what he has called us to do.

We should be comforted in the fact that doing the work he has called us to will have an impact on the world around us.

B/c he has called us to the work.

But b/c of our limitations we can never really know the impact that we have in the world.

With all the energy, toil, and labor we put out there, we don’t know what impact we are going to have.

But we do know the God who has called us.

We do know the work he has set before us.

So we trust in him. Knowing that we are limited.

On this side of the cross, with the full revelation of God’s person and character we can know that all things are going to work out for our good and his glory.

We will never know what God is doing at all times.

But we know that everything that he does is for his own glory.

We can seek and search and we may find the part we play but we may not.

God may reveal the impact that we have on the world, or it may be kept secret until our lives are over.

But we aren’t meant to know, we are meant to trust and be obedient to what he has called us to.

Here’s the thing, it doesn’t really matter if we see or know our impact on the world.

The true test of the wise God-fearer is did you remain faithful.

Did you listen to and obey God’s word.

Did you participate in God’s work while you are on the earth.

Did you gather and worship together with God’s people and spread the gospel of salvation?

When I was younger I would often ask what the will of God is for my life.

Should I take this job?

Marry this woman?

Go to this school?

Often times God isn’t going to give you direct answers to these questions, but he has given you access to his wisdom and the Holy Spirit to help guide you.

If you want to know if your life will have an impact after your gone, ask your self this question, are you living for the kingdom of God today?

Cultivating the Kingdom of God in your circles of influence is the will of God for your life.

Whether your a stay at home mom, a business owner, a grunt in the oil field, a pastor, retired, or packing beef Jerky at Prasek’s.

The will of God is that you make much of him where you live, work and play.

Use wisdom to discern whether you are using the gifts God has given you and how he has built you and participate in the kingdom work God is doing all around you.

The end of v. 17 shows us the ultimate limits of wisdom.

Ecc 8:17 "even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.”

True and ultimate wisdom is elusive.

We can use the wisdom that God grants us but that reminds us that we cannot have it in and of ourselves.

Rest in your limitations, knowing that you serve the One who is without limitations.

Trusting that he can take what you do and multiply it.

Knowing that b/c you are limited you only have a finite time to live.

So live doing what matters.

And what matters is glorifying God.

We do what matters today b/c soon our days will be gone.

Ecclesiastes 9:1–6 CSB

1 Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands. People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them. 2 Everything is the same for everyone: There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so also it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who takes an oath, so also for the one who fears an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live; after that they go to the dead. 4 But there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.

Death’s Reality

Solomon had just talked about the work’s of man and not knowing the impact that it will have on the lives of others.

And here he reminds the readers that all the work done by the righteous and wise is in God’s hands.

That should be comforting to you as a follower of Jesus.

The work that you do is never in vain b/c the work that you do is in God’s hands.

To live within our limitations, we must know that God is Sovereign.

Nothing is out of his hands or control.

Which also means that ultimately nothing, other than obedience and submission to him, is under your control.

God’s divine power trumps your finite existence.

We can’t escape his power.

We can’t escape his influence.

We can either submit to is or fight against it.

Solomon circles back to the ultimate limitation for humanity and that is death.

He continues to look at the world around him and hate the reality of death.

But he knows that we are all going to one day lay in a grave and there is nothing we can do to stop it.

I’m not going to spend an exorbitant amount of time on death again in this series, I’ve already preached like 3 sermons about it.

But I do want you to know this, death is coming for each one of us.

We cannot escape it.

But at the same time, death isn’t the final stage.

Earlier in Ecc 8:12-13, Solomon tells us that things will go well for the righteous and not go well for the wicked.

Though we will all face the same end, we will not receive the same reward.

If you are in Christ, if you have repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus as your savior, you will get to live eternally in the arms of the Father.

You will get to experience the new Eden.

You will have eternal life.

You will know perfect peace, joy, grace, mercy, and love

But if you don’t know Jesus, if you haven’t turned from your sins and trusted him as savior you will spend eternity separated from him.

You will not know grace.

Mercy. Peace. Joy. and no love.

Your life after death will be miserable.

Separated from everything good.

I’ve said it before, but the reality is as broken as things are here on earth, there is still God’s common grace on all of us.

The Saved and the Wicked.

Things are not as bad as they could be.

They aren’t as good as they could be either.

For those of us who submitted to God’s wisdom and gave our lives to Jesus we will experience pure goodness when we die.

For those who have rejected God’s wisdom and salvation, you will experience the absence of every thing good.

So the wise thing to do is trust and submit to God knowing that our days are short.

Now we long for the day that we can be with Jesus, but that doesn’t mean that we sit on our hands and stare longingly into the sky, rather we should do what Solomon says in the next few verses.

Ecclesiastes 9:7–10 CSB

7 Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works. 8 Let your clothes be white all the time, and never let oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun. 10 Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength, because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

Joy in Limitations

We should enjoy the good things of life.

Food and drink.

Bread and wine.

God has given us good things to enjoy them.

Creating in us a desire to enjoy them even further in the future.

This isn’t the first time that Solomon tells us that we should enjoy life.

Ecc 2:24-26 “24 There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, 25 because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him? 26 For to the person who is pleasing in his sight, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.”

Ecc 3:13-14 “13 It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts. 14 I know that everything God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of him.”

Ecc 5:18-20 “18 Here is what I have seen to be good: It is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. 19 Furthermore, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God, 20 for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.”

Ecc 8:15 “15 So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.”

These are known as the “carpe diem” passages.

We are supposed to enjoy God’s creation.

In light of the reality of death, knowing that our lives are limited we should enjoy the life we have been given.

From the mundane to the fantastic.

This isn’t a simply a suggestion, but rather Solomon command us to “Go” and enjoy bread and drink.

These are the basic staples for the ancient people.

Bread and wine.

We should enjoy the simple things in life.

This is one way that we live wisely in our limitations.

Knowing that we will never have perfect wisdom.

Knowing that we will all eventually die.

We should enjoy the life that God has given to us.

“Life’s enjoyments are guilty pleasures but godly pleasures…A merry heart has God’s approval. It is part of his gracious will for our life.”

God wants us to enjoy the life that he has given to us.

Now, we do have to be wise about how we enjoy God’s gifts to us, b/c we do have a tendency to distort God’s gifts.

But if we are living godly lives, Fearing him and obeying his commandments, then we will by necessity use God’s gifts how he intended them to be used.

Finding pleasure in the gifts that he has given.

Recognizing our limitations acknowledges that life is both bitter and sweet.

There is wickedness and evil in the world.

But there is also goodness and joy.

There are celebrations and gifts to enjoy.

But we have to know that to truly find joy and excitement in life we have to be joined to God.

We have to recognize him as the source.

We have to live in fellowship with him.

We have to submit and fear him.

Apart from God we can’t fully enjoy this life.

So if we want to live wisely and understand our limitations we must see God rightly.

I love the picture that Solomon paints here in v.7-8.

The images conjured up here by Solomon is a celebration feast.

Most likely a wedding.

Where the food and drinks are plenty, where you dress up in your nicest clothes and just enjoy the celebration of life.

Oil on your head and beard, smelling your best, looking your best and enjoying the good gifts of life.

B/c even with the brokenness all around us we would be wrong to believe that there isn’t anything good in life.

We should have an attitude of gratitude which will overflow into a life of celebration.

If you are a married man you should celebrate and love your wife.

I want you to notice that your wife is a gift given to you by God.

You should prize her as a gift from God above.

Eph 5:25 “25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her”

If we’re honest with ourselves guys, we aren’t the best at this.

But loving our wives means laying our lives aside to serve her.

To honor her, not speaking ill about her.

Honoring and loving her in public and private.

We are to love our wives with the same costly, sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrated when he died on the cross for our sins.

Your wife isn’t an obstacle, she isn’t an object, she isn’t someone meant to please you at your every whim, rather she is one that you should enjoy and love truly, madly, deeply.

Other than serving Jesus, the most important calling to married men is to love, serve, and enjoy your wife.

That’s a high calling.

And notice Solomon also tells us in that same verse that it is also a struggle.

To truly love someone sacrificially is hard.

In fact, its one of the hardest things in the world to do.

But we only have our wives for a short time.

They only have us for a short time.

So it’s best to live a life that honors God by loving your wife well.

Enjoy your wife.

She is a beautiful gift from God.

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Also for both men and women, in v.10 we are told to enjoy our work.

Whatever we do do it well.

Your work regardless of what it is, is your ministry.

It’s your calling at least for this moment.

And you should be the best darn worker in your place of business.

You should work harder and with more integrity than anyone else.

Our God has created us to work and so we work well.

We don’t work to please man. We work to please God.

We should do the work that God has given us to do and not long for the work that he’s given someone else to do.

We do the work we have been called to with all our might, with all our strength b/c it honors God when we do so.

Our jobs aren’t just busy work, they are an opportunity for us to honor God with our lives.

We must do our very best b/c that’s what honors God.

A Puritan, William Perkins said this when talking about work, “We must take heed of two damnable sins…the first is idleness, whereby the duties of our callings …are neglected or omitted. The second is slothfulness whereby they are performed slackly and carelessly.”

In work we do, all the work we do, we can either honor God by doing our best or dishonor God by not doing our best.

Living a wise life means doing, saying, and living a life that rightly fears God.

That recognizes our limitations, but doesn’t leave us handcuffed.

This means that we recognize the beauty and brokenness in life.

That while we are on this earth we try to rediscover and recover Eden in every aspect of our life.

Finding Joy in all that God has called us to do.

But this can only truly be found if we know where the joy comes from.

God is the source of Joy and Life.

He is the spring from which all goodness flows.

So in order to live the life of wisdom that we are called to live, we must first submit our lives to God’s authority and his instruction.

Then, and only then, will our lives fall into place as they should.

If you haven’t given your life to Jesus today is the day.

Don’t waste your life.

Find joy. Grace. Love. and Peace and the feet of Jesus.