Seen vs Satisfied
Notes
Transcript
Solomon was a prolific author. If he lived today, he would be on the New York Times best seller list, multiple times. People would be lining up to read his next book. His songs would be on the top of the charts, just because of the amount of things he wrote.
He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
Because he wrote so many proverbs, I understand why in the middle of the book of Ecclesiastes, he actually picks up the form of proverbs, in order to make his point. He is talking about wisdom from 7:15-10:3, and to do it, he picks up the form of the book of Proverbs. 2 or three verse chunks, thrown together in a seemingly disjointed trail of thought bubbles. In fact, many people looking at this section try to claim that Solomon did not write this portion.
However, these are not disjointed sections of wisdom literature. He is making a point, beginning and ending the section with a statement about wisdom versus folly.
Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful
than ten rulers in a city.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.
Wisdom provides satisfaction through the fear of God. Folly corrupts one’s existence.
This section is basically three chapters, so we are going to take it in two weeks.
This week, we are going to discuss 7:15-8:17.
In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
Do not be overrighteous,
neither be overwise—
why destroy yourself?
Do not be overwicked,
and do not be a fool—
why die before your time?
It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.
Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful
than ten rulers in a city.
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
no one who does what is right and never sins.
Do not pay attention to every word people say,
or you may hear your servant cursing you—
for you know in your heart
that many times you yourself have cursed others.
All this I tested by wisdom and I said,
“I am determined to be wise”—
but this was beyond me.
Whatever exists is far off and most profound—
who can discover it?
So I turned my mind to understand,
to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
and the madness of folly.
I find more bitter than death
the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap
and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
but the sinner she will ensnare.
“Look,” says the Teacher, “this is what I have discovered:
“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
but not one upright woman among them all.
This only have I found:
God created mankind upright,
but they have gone in search of many schemes.”
Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.
Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
Since no one knows the future,
who can tell someone else what is to come?
As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
so no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night—then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
As he explores the wisdom of wisdom, he contrasts the seen world with the satisfying word. Before we dive in, would you pray with me.
1. The Seen World
1. The Seen World
Solomon explains what he has seen in the world, as he has lived in at as the wisest man ever. Seeing the world, under the sun, as a human, he sees this juxtaposition between competing ideas, two warring factions, if you will.
A. Righteousness vs Unrighteousness
A. Righteousness vs Unrighteousness
He first explains the battle between the righteous and the unrighteous.
In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
Do not be overrighteous,
neither be overwise—
why destroy yourself?
Do not be overwicked,
and do not be a fool—
why die before your time?
His focus is not on the actual fact of whether someone is living a perfect life or living a wicked life. His focus is on their perspective. Is their hope in righteousness? This would be called “self-righteous.” Look at me! My life is going to be great because of how perfect I am living!
Or is their hope in how much fun they are having in life? Look at me! It doesn’t matter what my end is because I am fulling my every dream right now. Don’t you wish you were me?
Solomon says that both groups will meet a miserable end. The self-righteous will still perish in their righteousness. It will not save them from any misery. The wicked will die before their time.
This battle has no solution, because both extremes are wrong. He is not saying that we should hug a middle ground of being a little good and a little bad. He says we shouldn’t be focusing on ourselves at all.
It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.
Incidentally, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, which is where Solomon turns next.
B. Wisdom vs. Folly
B. Wisdom vs. Folly
Solomon looks at wisdom and sees it’s worth.
Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful
than ten rulers in a city.
But, unfortunately, even though wisdom is so valuable, even he, the wisest man in the world, could not be completely wise.
All this I tested by wisdom and I said,
“I am determined to be wise”—
but this was beyond me.
Why is that the case?
Well, it’s because wisdom is found through the fear of God. And no one, truly left to themselves, seeks after him.
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
no one who does what is right and never sins.
Solomon sees that in the folly around him.
He looks at our relationships, showing we aren’t truly friendly, left to ourselves.
Do not pay attention to every word people say,
or you may hear your servant cursing you—
for you know in your heart
that many times you yourself have cursed others.
He looks at our marriages, seeing how at odds husbands and wives are.
I find more bitter than death
the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap
and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
but the sinner she will ensnare.
A note about the following verses.
“Look,” says the Teacher, “this is what I have discovered:
“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
but not one upright woman among them all.
This only have I found:
God created mankind upright,
but they have gone in search of many schemes.”
He is not saying that men are more righteous than women. He is saying that a man who marries the woman who is a snare, who is constantly at odds, will not find a woman who is a true friend, but might find one good guy friend. The opposite is also true.
Women throughout the years have experienced the sinfulness of husbands, and so they do not see uprightness in guys, but might find one good gal friend.
Solomon tried to find wisdom, but all he found around him was folly. Unrighteousness.
C. Obedience vs. Disobedience
C. Obedience vs. Disobedience
It’s too bad, because wisdom is great.
Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.
Wisdom teaches us how to be obedient in the face of the worst rulers.
Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
That’s a useful skill to have.
Unfortunately, even obedience doesn’t provide the end that we want.
There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.
Because rulers are human and they will act sinfully, even when it doesn’t make sense.
What use is wisdom then? What use is obedience? If wisdom and obedience will not save us from the fate of the wicked? Why in the world should we trouble ourselves with them?
Solomon is looking at the world from a human perspective, trying to make sense of the warring factions: wisdom vs. folly. However, when we keep our eye on the human perspective, we never get the answers that we want.
B. The Satisfying Word
B. The Satisfying Word
So instead of looking around here for the answers, Solomon urges us to have a different focus: finding our joy not in our circumstances but in the God who loves us.
He says: if we have found wisdom, we will not be seeking self-righteousness to escape our situation, we will not be seeking wisdom in order to change our life, we will not be seeking obedience to gain people’s favor, if we have found wisdom,
A. See God
A. See God
We will see God.
When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night—then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
Wisdom lifts us up from the chaos of this world, from the competing viewpoints, and forces us to stare at the one who viewpoint is the only one that matters.
Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
And what a beautiful sight it is, to see God for who he is. Jonathan Edwards says that Jesus is the most beautiful thing that there is. And it’s true. When the world comes knocking at my door and I am just itching to open it up for then, I remember Jesus that he is everything I need.
We have an amazing God who allows us to know him. He gave us his word that we might understand him, as best that we can. We don’t have to sacrifice, we don’t have to jump through hoops, all we have to do is read and talk. And it’s amazing, to see God.
B. Be in Awe
B. Be in Awe
But, once we see God, we start realizing that we really don’t know him.
then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
Much as we try to put him in a box, try to systematize who and what he is, we cannot.
Blaise Pascal said:
Be Satisfied Chapter Nine: What about the Wicked? (Ecclesiastes 8)
“If there were no obscurity, man would not feel his corruption; if there were no light, man could not hope for a cure. Thus it is not only right but useful for us that God should be partly concealed and partly revealed, since it is equally dangerous for man to know God without knowing his own wretchedness as to know his wretchedness without knowing God.”
That was a mouthful. But God allows us to know just enough about himself that we might have a relationship with him and obtain salvation, but not enough that we should become proud and declare that we completely understand.
This awe brings fear.
Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
A healthy fear that makes us watch our lives, not that things would be better here on earth, but that we might live in a way that pleases the holy God who loves us beyond imagination.
C. Enjoy His Gift
C. Enjoy His Gift
Seeing him, being in awe of him, sets us up to truly enjoy the gifts that he gives.
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
We can let the war between the self-righteous and the self-indulgent stay over there. We can let those who are dismayed over the folly of this world and their households be over there. We can let the political talk about corruption and the lobbying for truth be over there, and we can live here wallowing in the blessing of our God and not allowing anything to distract us from the truth that God loves us, that he showers his blessings on us, and a relationship with him is not worth trading for all the jewels, relationships, and power in this world.
There is something to be said for the wisdom-led life of peace.
and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,
A life that comes through the fear of God, not the corruption of folly. Is your joy in your circumstances? Or is it in the God who loves you?