Ecclesiasties 7
Ecclesiastes • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
I was sitting in my office earlier this week and something unexpected happened. I had a student come to my office to say hello! eventually, during our conversation, her discipleship came up. And she said something that I hear too often - I don’t know - during the course of her college career, she recalled a great deal of physical suffering from a complicated disease that her doctors were still trying to diagnose.
It effectively ruined her original academic plan and has left her doubting her relationship with Jesus.
And that, is when this scripture clicked.
We have now made it through half of the book of Ecclesiastes which for the most part has seemed like a constant contrasting of things:
Life under the Sun VS Life from the hand of God
Wisdom VS foolishness
Prosperity and poverty
but one of the underlying themes that has carried us through is the sovereignty of God. That is how we believers find comfort
- The sovereignty of God is one of the easiest doctrines to confess for a christian. It’s almost a natural prerequisite that for God to be God he must also be sovereign.
- But it is one of the hardest doctrines to get into our blood stream and live out day to day
often times we fall victim to praising God’s provision during the highlights of our lives but when The events of our lives make a turn into something unexpected or undesired we become hardened, and bitter, and we and we find ourselves at this crossroads where we doubt either the sovereignty of God, or the goodness of God.
can anyone relate to my student’s struggle? Maybe with health issues, maybe the loss of a family member, or a prayer that you were given an answer of no. and it left you reeling. I Know those people. I’ve been there myself.
But have you ever met someone or you know someone who has experienced the tragedies that this life has to offer, but instead of being a hardened cynic, their life, their attitudes, their demeanor is joyful. joyful to the point that it seems transcendent of their circumstances.
What is there secret? kind of spoiling the ending here, but these people are wise.
In this chapter, we’re going to see the continued contrast of wisdom and foolishness, but we’re also going to see what that wisdom looks like and the vehicle to can come to us.
Do you want to have wisdom? Do you want to experience joy no matter what circumstances you find yourself in? Joy that you don’t have to fake it, or be be delusional it claim it?
Sermon Summary
- I want to submit to you today that for the believer, Though God’s sovereign decree, Wisdom comes through suffering.
Body
A third of this chapter is divided up into proverbial statements. Proverb, in the Hebrew meaning “comparison” and these comparisons show us short glimpses of insight and understanding
A good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death than the day of birth.
A reality that is lost on us today because we can go to any store and buy lotions and ointment but is the ancient world, an ointment that would relief pain and suffering would have been an extremely valuable asset. The main comparison here is that a good name: meaning a good reputation is extremely valuable but I find it really interesting that this is where we start in Chapter 7
Because an ointment to relief pain and suffering is definitely something we want.
day of death better than the day of birth?
two ways to look at this pessimistic way - life under the sun - this life is all there this for this person it’s true. because their life is in this cycle of meaninglessness and the sooner it’s over the better
but it’s also true for the christian because it’s the day we go home!
It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
and the living will lay it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
I don’t like to mourn. I it is my least favorite activity - And what’s worse, it seems the older I get, the deeper the mourning I do. When I was 17 I thought there was no greater pain I would ever experience than my girlfriend dumping me.
At 26 I thought there would not be a pain deeper than having to leave a community that you considered family.
at 28 I thought the mourning we did when we lost our first baby was the deepest. I would much rather go to the house of feasting. But that’s not what it says. It’s good to go the house of feasting - but it’s better to go to the house of mourning.
Herman Melville, the acclaimed author, is quoted at saying
“Until we understand that one grief outweighs a thousand joys, we will never understand what Christianity is trying to make us.”
That brings a little more light into the nest proverb:
It’s not saying sorrow is good and laughter is bad, but it is a comparison between the good and the better. The sadness of face, the heart is made glad Why?
Because the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning
Mirth - Amusement
the house of mirth - the house of partying laughter, good times
I love a good party. Most of the time, I spend my mental energy thinking of happy, and positive things. I love to make people laugh.
we go to the house of mirth to have fun! not to contemplate life’s sorrows, or examine heavy topic. so when we are in these states of pleasure and prosperity, how much do we really learn?
In reality, it amounts to very little for the good of our soul. but when we go to the house of mourning with our eyes and ears wide open, our hearts enter an environment where they can be equipped with transcendent wisdom
An example of this transcendent wisdom shows up in Vs.7
Surely oppression drives the wise into madness,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
Can’t see the forest for the trees. It comes from a poem first written in the 1500. Basically to say you can get wrapped up in the minute details of a thing that you miss the big picture entirely.
as it is with this verse, When we focus on nothing but the things of this world and the oppression that seems to be everywhere, thats all we’ll see. and that can lead to corruption of our hearts, minds, and more
And this is when we take a couple steps back to see the bigger picture.
we see the promise of the sovereignty of God that doesn't waste any moment and doesn't forget any sorrow.
And of God is the one who will Judge everything in this world: What does it profit us to go around being angry?
There is a false Idea that Christians are called to offer unilateral forgiveness to everyone no matter what they have done. I just do see that in the bible.
Expound
I see the reminder of God’s sovereignty and the promise that they will pay for their sins or Jesus blood will be applied to them instead and in that reality I don’t have to let anger lodge n my heart!
Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
an advantage to those who see the sun.
For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
Now we’re getting to the heart of it: What is this wisdom that we’ve been building towards?
Consider the work of God:
who can make straight what he has made crooked?
In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
Consider the work of God:
Consider - to really look and think about God’s activity, his character, and nature. not just to observe it. but in that observation do the work of evaluating it, and seeking to understand
Do you remember the verse we went through last time?
Ec 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
We don’t know the specifics of Gods work in the past or the present or the future. But we do know…He’s made it beautiful
So what should we do?
in the good times - be joyful!
In the bad, consider. because God, in his sovereignty has made both.
It’s easy to be joyful! and appreciate our stay in the house of mirth but what if, when the day of adversity comes upon us… we did the work of seeking out the work of God? and asking the deeper questions?
Instead of why me? - what will this teach me?
Do you even love me God? - How is your love being displayed?
All I see is darkness…I will fear no evil for you are with me.
How can someone do something so horrible? Jesus can forgive someone so horrible.
Now…This isn't something you can fake, or delude yourself with or get within your own power.
we immediently switch back into the pessimistic viewpoint
If you have spent any time reading the NT you would be familiar with this concept:
Our savior himself, His life had joyous moments at weddings and feasts, and gatherings, but when we look at His description what do the prophets say about him? He was a man of sorrows. someone who was well acquainted with grief.
We see it all through the letters of James, and 1st Peter, and we see it in the letters of Paul, where he describes his suffering.
When Paul pleaded with God three different times to remove a particular hardship, he called it his thorn in his flesh. What was God’s answer?
“My grace is sufficient for you”
Vs. 15-25
The Preacher tries attain this kind of wisdom by his own strength and fails
Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found.
But I want to address one verse in this section:
And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.
We don’t know whether The preacher - if it is Solomon, has a point of redemption. But in all his wisdom, He eventually fell into idolatry by the leadings of His wives and concubines.
This verse isn’t a derogatory mark on women - but it is a warning. No matter how wise and above board you think you are, The people that you associate with will have an effect on the outcome of your wisdom and your life.
That’s one of the reasons my heart is so heavy towards people to claim to be ‘deconstructing”. In my experience, It is not an intellectual search for truth. it’s a isolation of Godly wisdom and another vain scheme out of a life of meaninglessness but without God.
If you are here today and you are in a time of adversity that’s left you doubting and confused, it’s Ok. but be careful of the company you keep. some hands will help you up, and some will hold you down.
The preacher arrives at the problem of man, and the reason we have to work to consider the work of God in the struggles of our lives in the first place: Sin
See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.
Sin is what has brought us into this state where we have no real understanding of what’s come before us or what will come after us.
But the first verse of Chapter 8 end us on an encouraging note:
Who is like the wise?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
and the hardness of his face is changed.
What is the ointment that will help relieve our pain and suffering? Wisdom.
Conclusion
- and what is wisdom, but an attitude that in the good times praises God, and in the struggles looks for His hand and seeks to understand. and when there isn't a foreseeable end or answer Trusts that God’s grace is sufficient
It’s simple to thank God when He does miracles and answers prayers just the way we want them answered. It’s also pretty easy to thank Him when we can look around and see many blessings in our lives. When our situation seems awful, though, and we’re struggling through tragedy or just plain hard times, it can seem hard to believe that God is really there taking care of things; it can be hard to say, “I know You love me. Thank you for what You are doing even now.”
In her book The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom tells of a time she discovered that God was working even in the most horrific circumstances.
Corrie and her sister Betsie had been imprisoned by the Nazis for hiding Jews behind the wall of their Holland home, and Nazi prison conditions pretty well unbearable.
For a considerable amount of time, Corrie and Betsie were located in Barrack 8 - the punishment wing. Every day, they would receive merciless beatings
She said
“It grew harder and harder. Even within these four walls there was too much misery, too much seemingly pointless suffering. Every day something else failed to make sense, something else grew too heavy.”
Yet, in the midst of the suffering, the women prisoners around Corrie and Betsie found comfort in the little Bible studies they held in the barracks.
When they were moved to Barracks 28, Corrie was horrified by the fact that their reeking, straw-bed platforms swarmed with fleas. How could they live in such a place?
It was Betsie who discovered God’s answer:
“‘”Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.” That’s it, Corrie! That’s His answer. “Give thanks in all circumstances!
And so they did! Despite not knowing what would happen next. but something did happen…The guards stopped beating them
The women were able to have Bible studies in the barracks with a great deal of freedom, never bothered by supervisors coming in and harassing them. They finally discovered that it was the fleas that kept those supervisors out.
Through those fleas, God protected the women from abuse and harassment. Dozens of desperate women were free to hear the comforting, hope-giving Word of God. Through those fleas, God protected the women from much worse things and made sure they had their deepest, truest needs met.
Application
Where do you find yourself today? Are you in a time of prosperity?
Praise God!
But if you not…Instead of losing hope, instead of becoming cynical or bitter or worse allowing harmful influences to lead you off…will you consider the work of God in your circumstances?
This is what separates the wise from the foolish. Because while our prosperity is a gift, True wisdom comes, from the sovereign decree of God, through suffering. And the wise will take that to heart.