Ecclesiastes 8:1-9
Notes
Transcript
Ecclesiastes 8:1-9
Ecclesiastes 8:1-9
We have 5 chapters left in the book of Ecclesiastes. For those of you who haven’t been around since I started the book, let’s do a little recap. This book starts out saying this: Ecc 1:1 “1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” So, an assumption can be made as to who the write is, correct? A Preacher, the word is Qohelet, which means preacher or speaker of the assembly. Most scholars believe this is Solomon.
King Solomon reigned from 970-930BC, took over the kingdom at about 20. How many years? Quick math, 40. How many books did he write in the Bible? He wrote Most of Proverbs, Song of Solomon, some of the Psalms, and this book, Ecclesiastes. What does the word Ecclesiastes mean? The Hebrew name for this book is Quohelet. The name Ecclesiastes comes from the root Greek word Ecclesia which is translated as church. If we’re talking about Ecclesiastical issues, we’re talking about church stuff. So, this is a message for the people of Israel, from their preacher.
When is this book written? Towards the end of Solomon’s life, about 935BC. We know this because, as we’ve been studying, King Solomon has been outlining his search for meaning “under the sun.” What does that mean? Everything under the sun? It means he tried to find meaning in life here on earth, apart from God by filling it with stuff, with people, with fast cars, with riches, the best food…he manipulated people, he built things. King Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, and he found that he was chasing smoke. That first message I did, I brought dry ice and put it in a bowl of water so we could take a minute to watch the smoke, the Hebrew word is hevel. It’s beautiful to watch, isn’t it? Oppenheimer just came out, a movie about the atomic bomb. When we watch those bombs go off, what are our eyes drawn to? The smoke, right? The billowing plume, in 8K, wanting to watch every little swirl, every interaction with the air particles, the current…it’s beautiful. But, what happens when you try to grab it? You can’t, it’s gone, it’s empty.
So, old Solomon is imparting his knowledge here, but there’s something different about God here in this book than in his other writings, isn’t there? Every time King Solomon uses the name God in this book in particular, he uses the word Elohim, which means Creator. It’s impersonal, there’s no reverence, he’s separated himself from the God of his youth. I have to admit, I struggle with this. This is the wisest man who ever lived except Jesus. He was just a little wiser than my wife, just a little. If there is a person who Chuck Norris would call for advice, or protection, it would be my wife, right? But, in his infinite wisdom, King Solomon hung God in the sky and said I want to try it all and see what I come up with, and he came up with a grasping at smoke. Let’s get into this week’s text and see what we can glean and apply to our lives, not only so we don’t fall into the same trap chasing the wind.
PRAY
1 Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, And the sternness of his face is changed.
Who here is an old time Kung-Fu movie fan? That wise old man right? So calm and collected. Why is he like that? Because he KNOWS he can dismantle you, quickly, easily. He’s seen it all, he’s ready for your every chop.
There’s something about him though, right? His face. When they show the villian’s face, it’s contorted, and he’s getting frustrated.
Once you know what a word means, it’s so much easier to use it correctly, isn’t it? Same thing with Scripture…when you understand the who, what, when, where, why, and how, you can now defend that scripture. You can use it as a scalpel to do spiritual heart surgery. You’re not going to wield it like a madman and start hacking at things…it’s gentle, and it flows like water from you.
Truth flows the same way. There’s no trying to keep all of the stories straight. This is how we should interact with people. Honey, here’s your scripture to back up the fact that you can call out my face. Dads, we get that look from our kids, don’t we? Hey dad? Wait…nevermind. My oldest daughter did this recently. Hey Dad, can I NOPE. Nope. And she hurried away from me. I didn’t want to see her anyway <snark>…makes me want to file that face in my mind. What a horrible dad I would be! She should feel comfortable coming to me with any issue, shouldn’t she? And I can control this. I look at this every morning. I know the muscles, the crinkles, I know…I have control over that. I tell my kids, don’t get mad at me, get mad at your attitude and change it. My wife and kids want me to get mad at my face…or they’ll get mad at it for me, right? Seek to understand so you can explain.
This is our mission here, to reach the people the church isn’t in our community. How do we do that? By equipping you all to teach. We help you understand, not so you can understand, but so you can explain. Afraid? Start with your kids…Start with someone elses kids, mess them up first. No, I kid. Take stuff from today home and have real conversations with them, let them see you struggle with a meaning, let them see you apply what you’ve learned, but most importantly, use that knowledge to break down barriers with people. We’re equipping you to explain what you believe to people around you. Improve on our tools.
Prov 15:13 “13 A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”
This is what a merry heart looks for, a sorrowful one, why? What do we bring? THE GOOD NEWS. The truth that Christ lived and died for their sins, he’s the king of sorrows…the conqueror of sorrows, right? He helped you thru your hard times…you know he designed those hard times for you, so you can be the light of the world and make connections with people, not to tell them about MY JESUS, but about THIS JESUS.
Romans 10:14 “14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”
Preach
2 I say, “Keep the king’s commandment for the sake of your oath to God.
Romans 13:1 “1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
God appoints our authorities, right? Paul just said He did. Does that mean God’s rules don’t apply anymore if He put some idiot in charge? NO. We should follow orders though, that line up with Scripture, or don’t have bearing on our spiritual purity.
Prov 22:1 “1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold.” We must remember our names mean something. It means enough to God that they’re inscribed on His hands according to Is 49.
Bring honor to God in all things you do. Show grace and mercy. - EXPOUND
3 Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.”
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power; And who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
How do we handle disagreements? Especially when it’s with someone in a position of authority? Do you make a scene? Do you pout? Do the people around you know you’re upset? How should we respond when we are corrected?
“This is the dumbest decision I’ve ever seen and I’ll not be a part of it.” Should we shout obsceneties? Make threats? Stomp off? How do people look at you when you do that? Do you ooze Christ there?
Prov 13:3 “3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.”
My dad used to tell me this: “It’s best to let people think you are an idiot, rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt.” Our mouths get us in so much trouble. It’s so hard to tame the tongue. To truly get a handle on it takes an act of God for some of us. I used to be really sarcastic. My tongue was forked. Remember Chandler Bing from Friends? I was him, always something quick to say back. My fight was with words and man I was good…until the Lord took it from me. I try with people now: “If you open your mouth again, things will not end well for you.”
Ecc 8:4 “4 Where the word of a king is, there is power; And who may say to him, “What are you doing?””
What do you do when you have an audience with the king? When you don’t agree, you take it to them privately and discuss it. He just gave a command you don’t agree with: What if your boss says “We are supporting planned parenthood with our charitable giving.” Do you wrote a scathing e-mail and cc the whole company? Or do you go and discuss that with them privately? Even knowing you may not make a difference…have that conversation. Even those in positions of power need to know their power is not absolute. A humble man will listen to both sides and act wisely, as King Solomon did thru most of his life. BUT, how you handle that response, how you handle correction, and, how you handle rejection when you’re not heard, SHOULD BE honoring to God. When you speak your mind, stand up for what’s right, there’s peace. You may not know the heart behind a decision, and you may never know, and that’s ok. You be right with God in your heart.
5 He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment,
In your day-to-day work, if you’re doing what you’ve been instructed to do, what happens? You get rewarded, right? There’s usually a method to your jobs. You meet the deadline, you make what you’re supposed to make for the company, there’s a bonus, right? I’m assuming here now that we’re not dealing with a boss you disagree with. What does that earn you though? If you’re given a task and you do it well, as instructed, all the way, with joy? You earn a reputation, right? You earn respect, confidence in you. Sometimes people will show off your work, right? You get promoted. If you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, do you get repremanded? Do you get in trouble? NOPE, you are the example. Stay there, do everything as unto the Lord.
Romans 13:2 “2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”
God will ask us “Why didn’t you just do what you were asked to do?” When we respond with “I don’t know...” what if he says “You know, I had you in that position with that obstanate boss, so you could earn his respect to be able to speak truth into his life because he needed to have someone who had worked so hard to earn his respect tell him about My Son.” Those bosses are put in our path for a reason. Be the best, earn your way into their presence. Don’t give them a reason to doubt your commitment and integrity, you may be the conduit that the Lord has built thru that wall.
A wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgement…
6 Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, Though the misery of man increases greatly.
7 For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur?
A wise man is patient. He plays the long game. That stinks sometimes, doesn’t it? Andy will be in the fruits of the Spirit next time. Who knows them. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self Control. If you have those things, people know there’s something special about you. A patient man knows when to move, and when not to. It’s hard to wait…AND it’s hard to know when to move. How do we get better at that judgement? Trial and error my friend, something we don’t put into our equations though, is as we get more council, we’re multiplying our data aren’t we? We need to learn from other’s mistakes, and share our own. Take a breath, check your face, know that the Lord allowed this for a reason, and let Him direct your steps.
Look at the life of Joseph in Genesis 37-50. If God had told him he would be sold into slavery as a young man, gain an amazing reputation and gain power while a slave because of your integrity, get sent to prison under a false accusation, gain a position of leadership among the prisoners, save a man’s life by interpreting a dream, get forgotten in prison, interpret another dream and you’ll be promoted to 2nd in command of Egypt, and I will bring a famine to bring your brothers to you so you can have your sweet revenge on them…do you think Joseph would have been the man of wisdom and compassion the Lord needed him to be? What was his revenge? He played a prank on them, making it look like the youngest brother had stolen from Pharoah, and they feared for their lives. They didn’t recognize Joseph, but he did them. He wanted them to panic a bit…so when they found it was their brother, he could remind them: Genesis 50:20 “20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”
Solomon is aching to know what we know, the end of the story, the Revelation of Christ. The Preacher is telling the people DON’T GO LOOKING FOR IT, I’ve tried, it’ll get you nowhere. We are privileged, we know the end of the book. It’s right here…but we don’t know the part we play. Be patient in the process. The Lord is doing something special with you. Endure with joy.
8 No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.
Remember, when we were closing up Chapter 7, King Solomon said this:
Ecc 7:25-29 “25 I applied my heart to know, To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things, To know the wickedness of folly, Even of foolishness and madness. 26 And I find more bitter than death The woman whose heart is snares and nets, Whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God shall escape from her, But the sinner shall be trapped by her. 27 “Here is what I have found,” says the Preacher, “Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason, 28 Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find: One man among a thousand I have found, But a woman among all these I have not found. 29 Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes.””
King Solomon, the wisest man in the history of the world at this point, is searching for one man. Thruout this book, we see so many references to the One Man he’s looking for. The One Man who could deliver a soul from death. He’s scouring this world for everything under the Sun, driven mad thruout his life which is filled with trial and error. He’s searching for one man who can save. Someone who has power over the spirit, was there such a man?
Matt 27:50-51 “50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,”
Scripture like this must have really shredded the hearts of the Jews who truly knew God’s Word and were not held captive by the production of power and position. That’s why they couldn’t believe Jesus was who he was, why Nicodemus came to see Jesus in private…because there was so much to lose by legitimizing Jesus as who He is, the Son of God.
Aren’t we there sometimes? What do we have to give up to follow. Not a believer, not a rooter, not a part of the cheering section, but to FOLLOW. To WALK. To STAND. To CONFRONT. To MOVE. What must you do?
9 All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.
I won’t ask how many of you do your own devotions, but I highly suggest you carve time out and do them. Men, do them in the presence of your kids. Ladies, you too, but studies show that there are many more faithful women than men in the world today. It’s so frustrating to study the stats and listen to people who try to explain why this is from a psycology standpoint. It’s not psycology, it’s somewhat social conditioning…but in the end, it’s a heart problem. We men, God has given us authority, and we want to exercise that authority. Look at the issues Jesus had with his own disciples here:
Matt 20:24-28 “24 And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.””
Girls know that, right? That’s what mom’s do…Share and share alike, get along with your siblings, put yourself in their shoes for a minute. If you hear that from a dad, there’s been some social deconstruction done with them.
Men are made to lead…most times we’ve got nobody following us. What do we say? I want it my way. My siblings never help me, why should I help them. I’ll knock them out and take their shoes and try them on. We often lead foolishly, we want so bad to rule that we don’t understand why everybody hates us when we’re in that position. That’s because we don’t take the time to earn that position from people. We want to take it, or worse yet…have it given to us. What happens when you are given something you didn’t have to work for? You don’t respect the cost, so it means nothing to you. As parents, do you teach your kids the value of work? The heartbreak of loss? How to overcome tragedy? It’s so much harder to learn when you’re older…so much so that it consumes people and drives them to hopelessness.
I’ve been taking this book chunk by chunk to show you that Solomon dealt with the the issues we deal with today. This book really reminds us that we have an uphill task ahead of us. We need to teach this world how to unlearn what we’ve learned. This world needs what’s new under the sun. It needs your fingerprints on it, because it gave you, and only you those fingerprints.
If all of you would turn to Daniel 4, I want to read a few things here. (Explain Daniel 4) Listen to the dream in part.
Daniel 4:10-11 “10 These were the visions of my head while on my bed: I was looking, and behold, A tree in the midst of the earth, And its height was great. 11 The tree grew and became strong; Its height reached to the heavens, And it could be seen to the ends of all the earth.”
Daniel 4:17 “17 ‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers, And the sentence by the word of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men.’”
Daniel 4:22 “22 it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong; for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens, and your dominion to the end of the earth.”
Daniel 4:26-27 “26 “And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you, after you come to know that Heaven rules. 27 Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity.””
Daniel 4:29-30 “29 At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. 30 The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?””
Daniel 4:33 “33 That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.”
Daniel 4:34-37 “34 And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, “What have You done?” 36 At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.”
One man, who defied his king. One man who proved himself righteous. One man who had 3 friends who were faithful as well and righteous. The actions, the fortitude, and the countenance of a few changed the heart of a king. Does it take more? Will we see justice in our lifetime? Will they see justice in their lifetime? Why was Daniel given authority and credibility? He didn’t compromise his convictions, BUT, he did his job better than everyone else. So much so, that the King of Babylon, recognized God and changed before he died.
Will we see Nebuchadnezzar in Heaven? I sure hope not…in my flesh, because of what he did. BUT, I’m not his judge. Jesus stands before all of us as we give the account. As we hear in the parable of the workers, even those hired at the end of the day, the master pays them the same. That’s a reflection of these verses…God gives to whom He will. He must punish inequity…The wages of sin, what we earn thru our sin, is death. Our death. Hebrews says we are appointed once to die, then the judgement.
Can we overcome that much debt? We can’t. We’ll never earn enough righteousness to offset our sin, and God knew this. He made a way for us. He sent the one man Solomon was looking for. That man was Jesus. He took our sin and hung it on the Cross. He carried it with Him to the grave and buried it, and left it behind. That is where the true Christian is made. When we die to our sin, and come out of the grave knowing it’s behind us…now we should act like we’re thankful and be changed.
Remembering that all it takes is one man, one woman. All it takes to change a heart is the boldness of one person who has been purchased by the blood of Christ. This world is confused because we confess our lives to Christ, then we go on about our lives as if nothing changed. Our change, though, goes back to verse 1, remember? Ecc 8:1 “1 Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, And the sternness of his face is changed.” You know the interpretation, and that makes your face shine and attracts people to you, because there’s something different. Then, we open our mouths and tell them why.