The Path Diverged
Notes
Transcript
Solomon is discussing wisdom and folly in this passage. We gave the first part of this sermon two weeks ago, and basically covered the main point of the whole thing. We find our joy not in our circumstances and how we can manipulate them, but in the God who loves us.
Solomon continues discussing wisdom vs. folly. And as always, in his theology, wisdom is tied to the fear of the Lord. One cannot be wise, unless you fear the one true God, you are his follower. If you are not his follower, you cannot truly be wise.
Because how wise is it to ignore the invitation of the creator of the universe, to ignore his morality and his salvation. It’s not very wise.
Yet, left to ourselves, all of humanity ignore him and we all choose to fulfill our own desires and create our own religions, so that we do not have to face him.
Wisdom is tied to the fear of God. Folly is tied to the worship of self and everything else.
Shall we read the passage?
So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
As it is with the good,
so with the sinful;
as it is with those who take oaths,
so with those who are afraid to take them.
This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
and even their name is forgotten.
Their love, their hate
and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
in anything that happens under the sun.
Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.
I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me: There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.
The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded
than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.
As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of the fool to the left.
Even as fools walk along the road,
they lack sense
and show everyone how stupid they are.
Solomon discusses how everyone who lives has a common destiny. But, still, the path of the wise and the path of the foolish are different.
Will you pray with me?
1. The Common Destiny
1. The Common Destiny
Solomon boldly asserts that the righteous and the unrighteous share a common destiny.
So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
As it is with the good,
so with the sinful;
as it is with those who take oaths,
so with those who are afraid to take them.
What is that common destiny?
A. All Are Sinners
A. All Are Sinners
No matter how much a righteous person claims to be righteous, they are just as much of a sinner as a self-proclaimed wicked person.
I am just as much of a sinner as Adolf Hitler was.
At least, this is what Scripture teaches.
This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.
Our hearts are full of evil and much of the time, we do that evil, though we have learned to pretend that it is actually good, because the result of what we are doing might be good, possibly, so we conveniently forget the path that we took to get here.
Paul quotes these concepts in Romans
As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
No matter what we claim, there is nothing we can do to change our state.
B. All Struggle through Life
B. All Struggle through Life
Because of our sin, whether we are righteous or wicked, we all struggle through life.
I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.
This is the question that we have already discussed: why do bad things happen to good people? Well, no one is truly good. The question is: why do good things happen to us at all.
The self-proclaimed righteous and the self-proclaimed wicked both struggle through life. They both struggle with sickness, death of loved ones, financial insecurities, relational problems.
It’s amazing how many Christian parents I have talked with who grieve because their children, who they raised very well, have left the faith and are living horrible lives.
Because we all struggle through this chaotic life on this broken world.
C. All Die and Are Judged
C. All Die and Are Judged
And then, after this life, the righteous and the wicked will die. Every single person who has ever lived has died. Except for Enoch and Elijah, but that is a discussion for another day.
This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.
What happens after death?
Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
Do we know what that truly looks like? No. We can read descriptions in the Bible, but we do not truly know what it will be like when we stand before the judgment seat of God and answer to everything that we have done on this earth. The decisions we have made, the things that we have said. And we will hang our heads, because we realize that we are the foolish. No matter how much on this earth we have attested to our righteousness, even the good things that we have done are filthy rags.
I won’t be able to stand before God and say: But God! Look at all the sermons that I have written.
The destiny of the righteous and the wicked are both right there in front of our Creator and Judge.
2. The Path of the Foolish
2. The Path of the Foolish
While the destiny of the righteous and the wicked is the same, the paths of the wise and the foolish are different.
Remember where wisdom comes from:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
To him belongs eternal praise.
The truly wise person has come to the point of saying: I am going to follow the one true God. And I am going to follow him as he has said to follow him, namely through faith in Jesus Christ.
The fool has refused to do this.
A. Forgetfulness
A. Forgetfulness
Because of this, the fool has a life of forgetfulness.
Solomon tells the story of a poor man who saved his city by his wisdom. But, no one remembered him.
So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.
God has shown himself in so many ways. We see him in creation.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
We see him in our lives as he gives us blessings that we do not deserve, leading us to groups of people that show us kindness.
But, we refuse to see his hand. We refuse to remember his gifts. We refuse to be changed.
B. Chaos
B. Chaos
The fool, refusing to see God, has a life of chaos.
Solomon writes
Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.
Because our hands are all over our lives, we make messes of everything. We might think that we are wise. We might think that decisions we make don’t have any ramifications. Come on! The teachings and morality of Scripture is so outdated! Why follow it?
But, they do have ramifications. They affect others today and tomorrow. What happens to a generation that gets into a ton of debt? Their kids and grandkids have to pay it off.
What happens to a generation that exults free sex? Their kids and grandkids don’t have any idea what a family is, and multitudes of women have not experienced the loving cherishing of a man.
Our decisions have consequences in this life, creating chaos. Our decisions have consequences in the next life. As we stand before the judgment seat of God, and we agree that we have not lived up to his holy standard and there is nothing we can do to atone for these grievous evils that we have willingly committed. And we are driven away from the holiness of God to the place far removed from his presence, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Chaos.
C. Stupidity
C. Stupidity
The fool, willingly choosing this destiny, has a life of stupidity.
Now, I normally do not allow my kids to say stupid, and I will not allow anyone to call anyone else stupid in my presence. That word removes someone’s humanity and it makes us pretty prideful, because we are placing ourselves above them.
So, notice that I did not call the fool stupid, but he has a life of stupidity.
Even as fools walk along the road,
they lack sense
and show everyone how stupid they are.
This is the fate of all of humanity. This is me. So many people look at me and for some reason they lift me up as an example of being a good guy. Except for my sister. She’ll tell you the truth.
I am sinner. I am a fool, left to myself. My foolishness so often gives a bad smell, like Solomon mentions in verse 1.
Because I choose to go my own way, instead of God’s. I have the audacity to claim that I know what is best. That my path will bring happiness.
It doesn’t. Never does. Those are the claims of a fool. And left to myself. I am that fool. A desperate sinner in need of a savior.
3. The Path of the Wise
3. The Path of the Wise
The great thing is: we don’t have to stay on the path of the fool. There is another path. I don’t know if you ever played Super Mario Brothers. We had a Nintendo growing up, and we had Super Mario Brothers 3. My brother could do some amazing things with it. And on certain levels, there were secret paths, where you could transfer between worlds, to beat the game faster.
What I am about to say isn’t a secret. But, if we look at our life and say: I am the fool, and I have lived my own life long enough. I’ve made a mess that I cannot fix. I need help.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Jesus’ death is applied to your account. All that mess that you made being a fool, is paid for, taken care of, doesn’t apply to you anymore.
And we are vaulted from the path of the fool, to the path of the wise, not because of our righteousness, but because Christ’s.
A. Joy
A. Joy
And that path of the wise is defined by joy.
Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.
Who has the audacity to claim: The creator of the universe already approves of what I do. Those who are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. The amazing thing about our salvation is not that all of a sudden we are able to be perfect. That is hogwash. The amazing thing is that when God looks at us, he doesn’t see us as sinful fools. He sees the righteousness of Christ. So, we can hold our head high and say: the past doesn’t define me anymore. I don’t have to live under condemnation, but under grace. That is the foundation of true joy.
Does that mean that we willingly sin. No! Sin has a nasty way of destroying joy.
B. Meaning
B. Meaning
The path of the wise is defined by meaning.
Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.
So many people I have interacted with do not have meaning in their life. Solomon didn’t. They have lived for so many different things, but at the end of their life, it is empty.
But, those who have lived for the God, dying to their sinful desires, prioritizing spending time with him and his people, find meaning in the midst of this meaningless existence. Their purpose to their life, because they see their life and everything else as a gift.
B. Misunderstanding
B. Misunderstanding
But the path of the wise is also defined by misunderstanding.
Do you remember that story that Solomon told about the poor man who saved his town through his wisdom, but everyone forgot him. In fact,
So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.
Despised is a harsh word, but it is true. We can stand up as followers of God, in our joy and our meaningful life, and people will despise us. We shouldn’t surprised by that. If the roles were reversed, we would despise ourselves as well.
Instead of being surprised by the reaction, we pray for them, that God would touch their lives and they would jump paths from the fools to the wise through Jesus Christ, just as we were able to.