The Words of One Shepherd

Call to Worship: Isaiah 12:4b-6 // Prayer

Adoration: Our God, we have drawn water from the wells of your salvation, and life from You, the Fountain of Life. And so we give thanks to you: you have brought all your measureless power to bear, and have made a way of salvation for us in your Son—in fountain of his blood, spilled that we might live. And you have come to dwell with us by Your Spirit, and have shown yourself mighty in our midst. We bless and praise your incomparable name!

Confession: Father, this is your world. And yet we remember, the battle to redeem it is not done. Within our own hearts, it is not done. And so we bring also to you a confession of our sins: of time that you have given us, which we have wasted on foolish pursuits; of gifts you have given, that we have received selfishly instead of with thanksgiving; of pride and unkindness that we have embraced instead of humility and gentleness. In all these things and more, we have sinned against you: Father, forgive us.

Thanksgiving: If we had to work, to earn our salvation as wages, we’d have no hope. But we have not worked, but instead, we have believed in You, the God who justifies the ungodly! And in your grace, you have counted our faith as righteousness, and forgiven our sins, and removed all condemnation from us forever. And so we bless and praise your incomparable name!

Supp: And with this great gospel in our hearts, we appeal to you for the children you have given us. You know our weakness. Please, strengthen our hands to pass this great gospel on to them. Please, give us sincere faith to live out in our homes, when no one but our spouses and children are watching. Please, give us diligence in family devotions, to teach all your ways to our children, most especially the gospel of forgiveness in Christ. Please, work in their hearts by your Spirit, that as they grow, they might repent and trust in Jesus, and so lead lives that glorify your incomparable name // and we ask this same thing for the families of CTC Uganda—we think of Moses and his three children, Jessie and her brothers, and all the other little ones you have given to our brothers and sisters there: we ask that they would grow up, nurtured in Scripture, and that they would be found clinging to Christ as they come of age // and we lift up to you the church in North Korea—amid all the darkness and oppression of that place, that they might shine as an unquenchable light until the darkness is pierced in every corner by the light of your truth; may they be equipped by your power for all truth and boldness in the face of the terrible persecution which is brought continually against them // an in our own country, we ask for our nine supreme court justices: we offer prayer to you that they and their families might be blessed and protected; that all might come to a saving knowledge of you; and that you would guide their hearts to make their rulings with justice and righteousness, that we might live quiet lives and spread your gospel freely // all these things we ask of you, Our Great Shepherd, and rest ourselves in your wise and superabundant grace; and we also ask, as we hear from your word, that you might challenge us, change us, and comfort us…

Family Matters

Sunday School plug

Small Groups // Will be starting up again the week of September, studying the book of Philippians // Curriculum available?

Scholls area: Wed, 6:30 to 7:30 pm; Hillsboro area: Thur, 6:30 to 7:30 pm; email to come out this week with this info + addresses

Jim Degeer memorial service at 1 pm; for those staying for the service, a light lunch will be available in the kitchen between services, and refreshments will be served after

Benediction

Revelation 1:5b–6. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Sermon

Intro:

Who are you supposed to be? And how do you get there?

These are questions which plague both Western culture and the Western church.

Go back several centuries, and there was this assumption that everyone knew what a human being was. And so, the thought was: society ought to have certain expectations of how you behave, because of what you are as a human; and parents and schools ought to train children up into that kind of behavior—to live as virtuous citizens, conforming to societal norm. About 250 years ago, Rousseau came along and challenged that: he said that when society exerts external pressures on you, they damage you. So instead, pressures should be removed so that the natural goodness of the human heart—so he thought—could be allowed express itself.

Add to this the Nietzsche, who about a century ago, said that since God doesn’t exist, modern man has a duty to invent himself. And there you have the recipe of our times: you invent who you are by allowing the “goodness” of your own feelings and desires to externalize themselves. You invent yourself according to your feelings. And so who are you supposed to be? You’re supposed to become true to your inner self—and the only sin is to repress your inner self. Who are you supposed to be? True to yourself. And how do you get there? By listening to your heart.

A good portion of the chaos around us comes from the fact that we’ve given ourselves the task of inventing who we are, but it simply doesn’t work. We are not infinitely mold-able clay; we are human--have a design and a purpose given by the one who made us.

But how about in the church? What is the common Christian understanding of who we’re supposed to be? Well I think there are some bad ones floating around:

For example, sometimes we mimic the world, and say, ‘Just be who you are, because God accepts you that way.’ It’s a half truth, made into a lie.

Or, we we think: I’m supposed to be someone who prayed that prayer, and now attends church, and has the correct viewpoint on things—I’m supposed to be someone who does the Christian things, and I get there by making ‘a decision for Christ.’ It’s a life defined by external or emotional Christian cliches, rather than God’s Word.

Or maybe I’m supposed to be someone who is living the fulfilled life because I asked Jesus into my heart and now he’s answering all the needs I feel—I’m supposed to be someone who feels good because I belong to Jesus.

Or maybe, ‘Now I have Jesus, so I can go off and change the world in his name.’ I’m supposed to be someone who makes a lasting change to the world because I hold the correct views on justice and government policies, and I take action on those views.

Now, there were some elements of in those ideas I just mentioned. But each one falls quite short of the biblical mark. Who are you supposed to be? And how do you get there? It’s not just our culture, but we ourselves who need the biblical answer.

Who are you supposed to be as a human being? And how can you make progress toward that?

Solomon’s answer this morning will be blunt, but wonderfully helpful. What does Solomon have left for us, after all the false answers that he cleared away? Over the past few Sundays, he called it, ‘the path of wisdom and action and remembering your Creator.’ This Sunday, he’ll sum it up in two words: fear and obey. Fear your God, and obey his commands.

And he’ll give us one path to get there: God’s Words—specifically, Ecclesiastes in this case. Words of truth that guide us on the path to joy, and keep us there.

Or, to put it all together: You were made to fear and obey God; Ecclesiastes will guide you there.

The Message of Ecclesiastes

Let’s take a closer look at the breathtaking declaration which brings Ecclesiastes to a close:

Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Look at how he makes that declaration: “The end of the matter, all has been heard.” In other words, “I’ve delved into everything you could try to take, and make into the central purpose of man.” If you’ve read through Ecclesiastes, in a sense, you’ve heard about everything. All the roads have been explored. We’ve come to the end, and everything’s been laid on the table.

And as it’s been laid on the table, all paths but one were seen to be fleeting, vain, and unable to carry the weight we might try to put on them. And what was the remaining path? Solomon described it as the path of wisdom and action, or the path of remembering your Creator and enjoying his gifts. Finally, here, he describes it from a slightly different angle: fear God and obey his commands.

And he clarifies also, “this is the whole duty of man”—meaning, it’s for all mankind, not just the nation of Israel. Why? Because this is what human beings were designed for. It’s the right way to live as God’s creatures in the universe he made.

So then, once all has been said, that’s what’s left: fear God and obey his commands—it’s the design of all mankind.

But what does it mean? First, what does it mean to fear God? I addressed this in last week’s sermon—it’s the same thing as the command to “Remember your Creator.” It’s the same ultimate thing as knowing God and worshiping God. It’s an attitude in the human heart toward God so profound that no one phrase can describe the whole of it.

The idea of the Fear of the Lord is often explained as a kind of reverence. It is said, “to fear the Lord means to revere him.” And that is true. But it is a reverence so severe, so lofty, so deep, that it can properly be described as fear, even though it is quite different from the simple kind of fear that you might feel toward, say, a dangerous animal or an out-of-control vehicle. It is a reverent and joyful fear.

And as we saw, if you look back to chapter 5, the fear of the Lord comes from catching a glimpse of his transcended glory and his sovereign power as he rules from the courts of heaven over every detail of his creation. And this humbled posture of the heart is what paves the way for true worship—the kind of devotion that pleases God.

Is that you? Have you begun to see that about God—just how indescribable his glory is? Just how perfect his beauty and righteousness are? And has your heart responded to it?

Matthew Henry, writing about 300 years ago, described it like this. He said that the root of true Christian living is, “the fear of God reigning in the heart, a reverence of his majesty, a deference to his authority, and a dread of his wrath. Fear God, that is worship God, give him the honour due to his name, in all instances of true devotion, inward and outward.”

So then, this ‘Fear of God’ is what you find in a heart which has seen something of God’s immeasurable and terrifying, and yet beautiful majesty, and has responded in worship.

So that’s the first part of what you’re supposed to be, as a human: someone who fears God in that way. And notice: this is very much the opposite of what our culture says—you were not designed to look inward and invent who you are based on your feelings, but rather to look upward, and let your heart be changed by seeing God.

And the second part of your design is to obey God’s commands:

Now, that’s straightforward, in a sense. Live your life in line with God’s commands. And what are God’s commands? Everything he’s said in his Word about the right way to live.

But why would obeying God’s commands be a central in what humans are supposed to be?

Here’s why: God’s commands come from the fact that God is Creator:

=> God made everything, and everything derives its life and goodness and beauty from him—it derives its design from him. And to be more specific, he designed and gave life to you, personally. Every good thing about you as a human being—every scrap of life and goodness and beauty you have—is derived from him, sourced from his infinite life and goodness.

=> So if that’s the case, then it’s the pure and total goodness of his own character that defines right and wrong for the whole of Creation, including mankind—including you. Or to put it another way, his commands are simply what it means to life as it was designed to be lived.

In “The City of God”, Augustine wrote:

“For this is all a person is—a keeper of God’s commandments. Not being such, he is, so to say, nothing at all, because instead of being constantly reshaped to the image of the truth, he remains bogged down in the likeness of shadow.”

In other words, to the extent that you walk away from obeying God, you become a mere shadow of what you are supposed to be. We were designed to live in joyful obedience to God’s commands.

Some of these shadows do put on good faces—they reject God’s law, but they do it behind white picket fences and neighborly smiles. They are good at hiding the darkness of their hearts, even as they waist their lives, forgetting their creator and going their own way.

But with others, it’s more obvious: the rejection of God’s law begins to peel their lives apart… pornography, destroying a marriage; uncontrolled anger tearing apart a family; dishonesty, destroying friendships… and sometimes you meet a person, and you have the impression that his out-of-control sins have reduced him to a shadow of what he ought to be.

Why is it this way? Because we were designed to fear God and obey him.

But notice: we also receive these two things—fear and obedience—in that order. Why? Why fear first, and then obedience?

Because that’s how it works in the heart. There’s a danger that you could hear Solomon’s words this morning and leave thinking, “OK, I’ll try that obedience thing. I’ll try harder. I’ll try to live my life more in line with what God has commanded.” But if you try that, it won’t work. Why? Because fear comes before obedience—a changed heart comes before a changed life. Proverbs 4:23 says:

Proverbs 4:23 ESV

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

In other words, it’s the attitude of your heart that then determines how you’re going to live and act in real time. That’s just how human beings function. We’re not robots. The things that we do flow out of who we are in the inside.

So just trying harder to obey God won’t work. If there’s a problem in how you live, somewhere behind that there’s a problem in your heart.

Jesus said it this way:

Matthew 15:18–19 ESV

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

The heart comes first. So we’re meant to live in joyful obedience to God—but that hast to start with fearing God—with opening your eyes to his infinite worth and beauty, and bowing in worship.

Do you know someone who claims to know God and love him, but doesn’t care at all about obeying? He doesn’t really know God. Have you met someone who doesn’t care who God is, and yet tries hard to obey God’s laws? It’s external and shallow obedience, not the kind we’re meant to live in.

We were meant to fear and obey God—both things, and in that order.

And in the last verse of the book, Solomon tells us why this matters. It’s not just that we’re designed to fear and obey God. God created us for those things, yes. But our Creator is also our judge. He made the world, and he will also judge it righteously on a future day, which he has appointed in his wisdom. Solomon says it like this:

Ecclesiastes 12:14 ESV

For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

So—a day of judgement is coming. That means that all of this stuff that Solomon’s been talking about—is not just some wisdom you can choose, if you’d like your life to be a little wiser. At the end of the day, you either fear God, or you don’t. You either remember your Creator, or you go your own way. There’s no third option.

This makes the question of where you’re at on this of Total and Ultimate importance. When you stand before your Creator on that day, how will the judgement go?

And I want to take a moment to put this in context with the message of the whole Bible:

As we’ve seen, the problem is ultimately a problem of the heart. But how can the human heart be healed, and brought to that state of a true and worshipful remembrance of our Creator?

There is only one way: the Creator himself humbled himself by becoming one of us, and died in our place, bearing the judgement that we deserve for our disobedience to God’s Law. And he did this to bring God’s own love to us, that all who turn from sin to him are forgiven and made into citizens of God’s kingdom.

And it is this good news—this gospel—of God forgiving sinners by grace which changes the heart. Someone hears it, and the Spirit of God uses it to make his heart new, to join him to Christ by faith, and so to plant his feet firmly on the path of fearing God and joyfully learning to obey his commands. As the Apostle Paul wrote:

Ephesians 2:8–10 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

So the bottom line is this: first God’s grace forgives and changes us; and then, this starts us off on the path of living the way we were supposed to: fearing God, and obeying his commands.

The Power of Ecclesiastes

OK. So, we’ve seen who we are supposed to be—we’re supposed to fear and obey God, and that comes through faith in Christ. But then there’s the second question we asked at the beginning: “How do you get there?” You’ve believed in Jesus, you belong to him, but you’re wondering, how do I make progress in fearing and obeying God?

The answer is this: by allowing God’s Word to shape your heart—in this case, especially the book of Ecclesiastes.

Let’s back up to vs. 9 for a moment to see this:

Ecclesiastes 12:9 ESV

Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care.

So Solomon—at least in his better years—was a preacher who used his wisdom to teach the people. And the knowledge he taught wasn’t just random proverbs, but it was proverbs arranged together in a very intentional order. And this includes Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is a series of wise sayings, arranged wisely together, in order to lead us somewhere as we read it—in order to lead us to the conclusion that life is about fearing God and obeying his commands.

Verse 10 continues this thought:

Ecclesiastes 12:10 ESV

The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

So then, these words of Ecclesiastes are true and righteous. In a world full of conflicting messages, they can be trusted. And that’s straightforward.

But the more surprising thing is this: verse 10 also calls Ecclesiastes, “words of delight.” Words of delight. Really? With all that dark stuff about how so much of life is fleeting and vain? In what sense is Ecclesiastes ‘words of delight’?

In the sense that all of those foolish paths looked good. But they were really a series of burdens—ways to burn yourself out or to become disillusioned after wasting years of your life chasing false dreams. But as we saw many times: once you turn away from those foolish paths, you now have space and wisdom for enjoying God’s good gifts, that he delights to give you.

Husbands and wives: here’s an example for you: think of the delight you can have when you leave behind bitterness toward each other, and with simple thankfulness to God, to enjoy one another as much as God blesses you to do!

Kids: think about this—you’re very young, and Solomon has commanded you: remember your Creator now. That will lead to a life of wisdom and joy in spite of the crookedness of the world.

And so the point is this: Ecclesiastes contains words that, if you’ll listen to them, will point you to the joy that comes from living the life you were designed to live: a life of fearing and obeying God.

And yet, these words will do more than just point you there. Look at vs. 11

Ecclesiastes 12:11 ESV

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.

So these words are like goads. What’s a goad? A long stick with a point on the end. A shepherd would use it to move animals in a particular direction—to a good pasture where they can eat, or to quiet waters for a drink, or a pen to safely spend the night in.

So these wise words poke our hearts. They show us places in our lives where we’ve been living foolishly or sinfully or failing to fear the Lord. They poke us, in that sense, like a shepherd’s goad, to drive us to the path of wisdom and joy.

And then, it says, they are like nails firmly fixed. The idea here is that, once these words get hold of your heart, they will attach it firmly to the wise path, and keep it there.

And why is this so valuable?

Because there are so many voices out there, clamoring for your allegiance! Some wise, some foolish, some in between—some even purposely deceitful. But how do you even know?

Mainstream voices in our society are largely untrustworthy. They regularly lead folks to abandon basic doctrines of the faith. But then you turn and start look at alternative voices—what a minefield! Consider, for example, the Hebrew Roots movement. Hebrew Roots folks say that we are obligated to keep the OT ceremonial laws. And the movement looks very attractive to many people, because it appears to be so wholesome compared to our society. But then they join, and next thing you know they’re denying the trinity or salvation by grace alone.

And many more examples could be given of this kind of thing… but how deeply refreshing to have these words—righteous, wise, and true words. Words that lead you to God’s joy and keep you there.

If you will accept them, you’ll be firmly fixed in wisdom, rather than flailing around, tossed to and fro from one fad to the next.

And how do these words have such power? Because they are given by one Shepherd—by God himself. Think of the kindness of God in doing this: he had no obligation give such help to those who sin against him. Yet he comes down, as a gentle shepherd, and with words like these he guides us into paths of righteousness, following us with his lovingkindness all the days of our our lives.

Parents, what do we want to give our children? A quick prayer to pray, followed by a series of christianese cliches based in shallow doctrine? Or maybe a promise that if they just ‘choose Jesus’, he’ll meet all the needs they feel? No. But we want to raise them in all rich wisdom of God’s Word.

We can’t keep them at home forever, right? They’re going to walk off into a world full of foolish voices. But if we’ve raised them up in the rich wisdom of God’s Word, they’ll have a shot and finding the path of wisdom and joy—the path of fearing and obeying God.

It’s interesting to see how much these things apply not only to Ecclesiastes, but also to the whole Bible:

Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon; yet it was given by the Divine Shepherd—ultimately, it is His Word. So also with the whole Bible: it was written by men, but ultimately given by God. It is God’s Word.

And just like Ecclesiastes, the whole Bible serves as goads and nails for the path of life. For example, the end of John’s gospel says this:

John 20:31 ESV

but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

And just like Ecclesiastes, the rest of the Bible gives you only two choices: live by these words, or walk away from them. For example, several months ago, we finished the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. And there Jesus taught that you either obey his words, and are like a wise man who escapes destruction by building his house on a rock, or you reject his words, and are like a foolish man who builds his house on the sand an is swept away in a flood.

So you were made to fear and obey God; and his Word will guide you there.

Conclusion:

Now how does this apply to us, as Scholls Community Church?

Well first of all, every member of Scholls has signed on to our church covenant—which means that every member has agree to guard the scriptural unity of the church. That doesn’t mean that we have to agree on every interpretation of every verse, or on every finer point of doctrine.

But it does mean that you should hold your elders accountable. If we begin to stray in our teaching—if we stray from the central truths of Scripture, or if we stray from teaching Scripture itself, and start using our sermons as launchpads for our own ideas—if we leave behind our duty to feed the flock from the Word of God—you need to be able to recognize that, to know that something’s gone wrong, and to bring it up.

The duty of an elder is to shepherd the flock of God. And the Word of God is the one central tool for doing that—and why? Because it is the only Word which carries divine power to save and to reveal the path of wisdom.

You were designed to live in fear and obedience toward God, and these are the only words that can shepherd you to that place.

Just look at verse 12

Ecclesiastes 12:12 ESV

My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

There is only one book of life-giving words, and it is the Bible. Can other books be useful for your faith? Yes. But only if they are based in the Bible. And even the best Christian books can never be used as a substitute for Scripture.

So, if that’s true, then how do we disciple one another? That’s something we’ve been focusing on as a Church this year. How do we do it? With the Word of God. If you’re a believer, you are a disciple with a mission to make disciples. How do you go about that?

With God’s words—with the Bible. And that means that every Christian should be growing in the knowledge of God’s word not just for your own wisdom and joy, but also to have something to give to your brothers and sisters, so that we all reinforce and build each other up in Christ by this Word.

So what steps might you take toward that this week? Who might you approach, to ask for help in growing as a disciple? Or maybe, who might you approach to ask if they need help? Or what are you doing to grow in God’s Word, so that you become more ready to share his words with your brothers and sisters?

The world is full of competing ideas about who who we should be, and how to get there. But the Word of our Creator provides us with the truth: our purpose is to fear and obey God; and Ecclesiastes—indeed, the whole Bible—will shepherd us to it.