Meaningless Wisdom

INTRO

Here is a list of some of the most famous Philosophers (wise men) of recorded history, and I want you to listen to their names and then try and tell me what they all have in common....

Plato

Aristotle

Epicurus

Socrates

Confucius

Voltaire

John Locke

Immanuel Kant

Rene Descartes

Friedrich Nietzsche

David Hume

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

PRAYER

A - God our father in Heaven you possess all wisdom. Your ways and thoughts are so beyond our own that we have no category to even asses them. Rather let us as our brother Job did before us shut our mouths before you and simply listen.

C - Lord we confess that we often chose our own insight over your word. We are wise in our own eyes and we confess that our hearts are deceptive and we need your help, your spirit to bring us clarity.

T - Thank you father that you are patient and long suffering. That you give grace upon grace and that it is your good pleasure to grow us in wisdom and understanding. Ww thank you that you have invited us to tase and see that you are good that you have invited us to seek and to know you.

S - Be with us today we ask. As we look into the living word we ask that you would grow us, speak to us and in fact renew our hearts and minds this day. In the name of Jesus and for your glory we do pray. AMEN.

MESSAGE

Ecclesiastes 2:12–17 (ESV)

12 So 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. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 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. 15 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. 16 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! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 7:15–25 (ESV)

15 In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. 19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. 20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. 21 Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22 Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. 23 All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? 25 I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.

Ecclesiastes 8:16–17 (ESV)

16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.

Ecclesiastes 9:13–18 (ESV)

13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. 17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

Worldly Wisdom is of Great Value

Proverbs 3:16 ESV

16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.

Proverbs 16:16 ESV

16 How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

Proverbs 24:6 ESV

6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

Ecclesiastes 2:13 ESV

13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness.

Ecclesiastes 7:12 ESV

12 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.

It is good for living each day.

good, better & best

It is better than foolishness.

look at the alternative

It will prolong your life and bring you happiness.

chance may befall anyone but there are some general truths...

Worldly Wisdom Will Leave You Wanting

Ecclesiastes 2:15 ESV

15 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.

Ecclesiastes 7:23–24 ESV

23 All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?

Ecclesiastes 8:17 ESV

17 then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.

Proverbs 21:30 ESV

30 No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord.

It will end in death.

Worldly wisdom is only good for this life

It will not preserve your name.

Do you want to leave a legacy?

Illustration: The rich man and Lazarus

It will not save your soul.

Worldly wisdom may actually keep you from salvation

Saving Wisdom Comes From God Alone

1 Corinthians 1:18–31 ESV

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 2:6–14 ESV

6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

It is only obtained as a gift.

you are saved by grace through faith…this is a gift of God

It often appears as foolishness ot the world.

the wisdom of God VS man

In it is the meaning of life.

Solomon sought to answer this question…

Divine Wisdom is of Greatest Value

It is key for living each day.

How to pursue righteousness

How to seek after God

It will ensure your life and give you reward.

God has your best interest at heart

He invites you to enter into His rest

It will preserve your name.

Your name will be written forever in the Book of life

You will be given a new name

It is ever increasing.

You can increase until death

God WILL grow you

CLOSE

Group Questions

Who is someone in your life that you consider “wise” and why?

What are some things that can cause you or those you know to doubt the truth claims of Christianity?

What have you observed that causes you to think the world does not work right?

Growing up, what did you think of the “rules” in the Bible? Did you see them as freeing or constricting? How does viewing them as God’s wise design for your flourishing alter your view?

List some examples of wise counsel in Ecclesiastes 7–11? How can we live them out practically?

What are some things you would love to know the answer to, but you know you will not get the answer? What does this lack of knowledge tell you about the human condition?

What are some practical ways going against God’s wise design hurts us?

What are some ways we try to get ourselves out of brokenness but make things worse?

Many people think they suffer because of some unknown sin they committed that God is mad about and wants to punish. Does the teaching in Ecclesiastes 7–11 alter that view?

In what ways does the meaninglessness of life show us the goodness of God?

How does knowing you serve a God who has suffered in your place and on your behalf aid you in dealing with suffering in your life?