Wisdom and the high cost of folly

Work smart not harder.

Working in a kitchen I learned this idiom.

The preacher points us towards - what the world might call work smarter not harder - but it’s more than just this little idiom - the preacher is going to show us that:

Godly Wisdom is better than worldliness.

Ecclesiastes 9:14–16 “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. 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. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.”

It’s unclear if where the preacher gets the example from.

But: the example is clear, and it is another one of his striking example.

The city is called little in our translation: but we could also see it as an insignificant town - a little village besieged by a great king.

It would be like if the American government decided to take over skull valley.

But the preacher doubles down on his stark imagery - a poor but wise man was the agency of deliverance for the city.

This would certainly be a turn of events, and the preacher uses this as an example to start to draw out the incredible value of wisdom.

Wisdom is:

Better than might.

Better than shouting rulers

Better than weapons of war

The preacher uses an example that may have been known to the listeners, but unknown to us and then makes the claim to show that wisdom is better than all these.

We tend to want to trust in:

Might - rulers - and weapons - they promise security.

This is worldly wisdom:

amass enough might, money, get the right leaders, get better weapons - you will be safe.

This isn’t a condemnation of any of these things rather:

If you’re strong and dumb, rich and dumb, you blindly trust leaders, or are armed and dumb: all of these things are incredibly foolish.

A strong fool with pick a fight and inevitably lose.

A rich fool will lose all his money.

Leaders, even the best, are sinners and will lead you astray if you’re not careful.

If you’re armed and a fool - there’s a high likelihood that someone will get hurt.

But the preacher says - wisdom that flows from God is better:

Many throughout the history of the church has seen Christ as the embodiment of the wisdom of God.

We see a similar counter intuitive preaching from Christ, but we also see something even more important:

Jesus was poor.

From some backwater town.

Yet - his life and sacrifice is sufficient to save all who believe.

His sacrifice calls us away from worldly wisdom and into complete trust in Him as our sovereign king.

This wisdom is folly to the world - yet it is the wisdom that has made us alive.

Christ exemplifies what the preacher is showing us - and shows us what Godly wisdom can do.

But the preacher wants us to see that wisdom is tenuous:

Even a little folly comes at a high cost.

He shows us:

The ease in which things are spoiled

Ecclesiastes 10:1 “Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.”

We sat on this verse for awhile in staff bible study this past week - think about how easy it is for something to spoil.

If you brought a bottle of water today - or were sipping your coffee at coffee hour - what would you do if a fly flew into it?

But perfumer’s ointment - meant to be poignant and smell good - to cover the smell of death or what we might consider poor hygiene.

But a little fly - rotting in it - undoes the good it might do.

The preacher will go on to draw out how important wisdom is in comparison to folly - how wisdom leads us to right - while folly to death.

yet - a little folly, a little sin will soil a great deal of wisdom.

In Daniel’s preparation to preach a few weeks ago, he came up with a phenomenal way to describe the insidious nature of temptation and sin. He said:

Sin is something we think we might enjoy.

It’s rare that a man will just wake up one morning and have an affair.

It’s rare that a woman will lie to her husband about a major purchase that could put them into financial ruin.

It’s rare that someone will just decide one day to enter into an unbiblical romantic relationship.

It’s rare that someone will become addicted to pornography or drugs without ever having been exposed to it before.

No - each of these are built on little decisions to forsake the wisdom of God, to chose worldly wisdom over Godly wisdom, to chose something we might enjoy over the joy of knowing God.

Then instead of being inclined to Godliness, folly seems better and better, and our lives start to announce folly - until it is easy to sin and hard to seek righteousness and wisdom.

but the preacher lands this section with one more example of the goodness of wisdom:

Ecclesiastes 10:4 “If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.”

The world can rage around you - but wisdom comes from resting in Christ, a sureness that He is Lord and king:

Imagine the power of not responding to anger with anger. The power of responding with calmness.

The preacher is pointing us towards a sanctified life - a life in which Christ has scooped out the leaven of malice and wickedness and replaced our hearts with hearts of flesh, hearts that desire to glorify God.

But the preacher shows what Christ has told us - even a little leaven - even a little folly - ruins the whole thing.

All this is leading us to see:

The high cost of folly

Folly misplaces things:

It sets the foolish up high and the wise down low

It takes the place of good things.

But folly is more than just misplacing things - folly comes at a high cost.

When I worked for a bio-tech everything had an SOP. A part of this was because we worked with animals and despite what PETA will tell you - we didn’t want the animals to suffer. So, the SOPs laid out the best way to do this, they also protected us from unnecessary danger.

Companies, especially companies that do dangerous work and are wise: have best practices and safety procedures to protect their employees as best as possible from danger.

If you are foolish as you dig a pit, break down a wall, mess around with heavy stones, or are careless while splitting logs for winter: there’s a high probability that you will get hurt.

The times I’ve gotten hurt while doing yard work - my explanation always starts with… I was doing something stupid.

Likewise: If you don’t care for your instruments of work, it’s just going to make your job harder.

it goes back to my grumpy old chef’s saying - work smarter not harder.

The preacher ends this section by showing the cost of folly:

The lips of a fool: consumes him, ends in madness, and lostness.

Wisdom and folly are a quintessential example of work smarter not harder:

But wisdom is more than just nice advice to make your life a little easier:

Folly - which leads to sin consumes a life and destroys it.

Folly speeds up the likelihood of an early death and ensures a spiritual death.

Avoid the folly that says: this might be enjoyable, this might be fun - because it leads toward inevitable death.

Folly and sin come at a high cost.

The preacher finishes by showing us:

The Right ordering of things

He starts with a woe or a warning - it’s not good if your leader is a child or your leaders are drunkards:

Rather a hardworking leader, that knows that season for things is better.

But what is more each of us are called to:

Work hard in the toil we’ve been given

Enjoy bread, wine, and material gifts in the season they are given,

To respect those in authority.

The preacher has shown us - the incredible value of of wisdom:

a poor wise man who was forgotten saved his little town from a mighty king - because of wisdom.

Likewise he has shown us the incredible cost of folly:

A little folly can make your life harder.

A little folly can ruin your life.

A little folly can lead to death.

Therefore - he shows us to cling to wisdom and flee folly.

This can seem like it’s a call to do something to earn something.

And worldly wisdom is going to say: salvation is never free - nothing is free - there’s a catch.

But Christ has given the Christian salvation freely - the only thing you bring to your salvation is the sin that made it necessary.

So what is the place of wisdom and folly?

Wisdom is a gift given in salvation - a part of your sanctification is a new heart - a heart that loves God’s law and hates sin, a heart that desires God’s wisdom in all things.

You are coming to see the high cost of your folly - the high cost of doing as you please.

You are learning to forsake worldly wisdom for Godly wisdom.

In other words - when Christ meets you, draws you out of your sin - he gives you new affections - new desires - and sin no longer seems like something you might enjoy - you see sin for what it is:

A dead fly that makes the perfumers ointment of life to stink.

There was once a poor man from a little town - and he defeated the prince of the world - not by might but by dying a shameful death.

This death - made him king and freed you from sin. His resurrection raised you to life - his sending of the Holy Spirit is sanctifying you - so you can see this folly - and truly live in the wisdom of God.

May his wisdom rule your life, that you know the high cost of folly and flee to him daily.