Week 10 - Ecc. 7:15-8:17 | R-E-L-A-X

Good morning, church.

There's a famous sports moment I'd like to bring to your mind. A few years ago, the Green Bay Packers were in a slump. Reporters swarmed their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, with questions about their struggles. The pressure was on. The season felt like it was slipping away. In a live interview, with cameras rolling and microphones pointed, Rodgers looked straight into the camera and gave his now-famous advice to the fans: "R-E-L-A-X." It was a simple, one-word command, but it became a rallying cry. It wasn’t a call to quit or give up, but a call to trust—to trust the plan, to trust the team, and to stop striving—or let’s be honest, fans don’t really strive. We don’t play! We stew. We armchair quarterback. And it creates more anxiety than it solves. It perfectly captures a feeling we all know: the deep tension between wanting to control outcomes and feeling powerless.

This is exactly the tension King Solomon tackles in Ecclesiastes 7:15–8:17. He's looking at life “under the sun”—where things don't always go our way, where the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper, and he's essentially giving us the same advice: "R-E-L-A-X." Solomon’s not being flippant here as I hope we’ll see. His advice is deeply wise and also theological.

He's showing us that when the world feels chaotic and unfair, the path to peace isn't through more control or frantic striving. It's found in a humble, faith-filled surrender to a God who has a plan, even when we can't see it.

The big idea for today is: Lasting life and fun are found only in following God and learning to R-E-L-A-X in Him!

So, how do we begin to find this lasting life and fun, how do we start to truly R-E-L-A-X in Him? It all begins with the first letter of our acronym: R for Release.

1. R - Release Your Need to Control Outcomes (Ecclesiastes 7:15–18)

As we dive into this first section, I want you to pay close attention to two things: First, notice the jarring contradiction Solomon lays bare about how life often works. Second, observe his warning against two dangerous extremes we’re tempted to run to when things don't add up.

Let's read the text together.

Ecclesiastes 7:15-18 (NLT)

15 I have seen everything in this meaningless life, including the death of good young people and the long life of wicked people. 16 So don’t be too good or too wise! Why destroy yourself? 17 On the other hand, don’t be too wicked either. Don’t be a fool! Why die before your time? 18 Pay attention to these instructions, for anyone who fears God will avoid both extremes.

As we just observed, Solomon begins with a jarring observation that challenges our fundamental sense of fairness. He says, “In my meaningless life I have seen everything, including the death of good young people and the long life of wicked people.” This reality directly contradicts our expectation that good actions should lead to good outcomes and bad actions to bad ones. We want life to operate with predictable math, but Solomon shows us a world where the equation often fails to compute.

This is the source of a kind of “tug of war” we can feel at times. It's the pressure to swing to two dangerous extremes:

On one side, we can become like a "resentful legalist." This is someone who tries super hard to be good and follow all the rules, hoping God will owe them good things. But when bad things still happen, they get really mad at God and others, feeling like life isn't fair.

Or on the other side, we might become a "despairing hedonist." This is someone who sees all the unfairness and just gives up on trying to be good. They think, "Nothing matters anyway, so I'll just do whatever feels good right now, even if it's wrong." But this path always leaves them feeling empty and sad in the end.

Solomon warns us against both, cautioning us not to be “overly righteous” or “overly wise,” and also not to be “overly wicked” or a “fool.”

What does he mean by “overly righteous”? He's not telling us to sin a little. Instead, he's warning against a prideful, self-sufficient righteousness that relies on their own performance to earn God's favor. Again think in terms of legalism, where someone judges others while believing that they have mastered the formula for a good life. This approach is a dead end that leaves us feeling empty and grasping for more. And on the other hand, the warning against being “overly wicked” or a “fool” is a stark reminder of the natural consequences of sin, even if they aren't immediate. Rebellion against God's design leads to destruction, even if there's a season of apparent success.

So, what’s Solomon’s advice in this tug of war? He says, “Pay attention to these instructions, for anyone who fears God will avoid both extremes.” This isn’t a call to lukewarm living or compromise. It’s a call to wisdom—a balanced perspective that acknowledges the brokenness of the world while clinging to the truth of God’s sovereignty. It’s the courage to live in the tension without being undone by it, because our hope doesn’t rest in our performance or wisdom, but in God's ultimate plan and His good design for the good life.

This is the first step to finding life and even joy in a chaotic world: we must release our grip on a world we cannot control.

And the only way to loosen that grip is by focusing on Jesus and the gospel.

Jesus lived the perfectly righteous life God requires, exposing our inability to measure up. And at the same time, He provided the solution to our failure. In Him, we see true righteousness. Not cold, judgmental self-righteousness or legalism and religious rule following, but rather we see a life that perfectly fulfilled God's law relationally and incarnationally! And then, the Righteous One endured the ultimate injustice on the cross, bearing our sin and futile striving. And in that work He didn’t just forgive us, He clothed us in His righteousness so that our confidence isn’t in a life that neatly "adds up" under the sun, because it never will. No, now our confidence is in the One who orchestrates all things beautifully, who became sin for us so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God.

And that radical grace, it humbles us and frees us! It allows us to release control—not through passive resignation, but through active trust in God's good design.

When we remember through observing Jesus’ life that we are far from what God requires we are humbled. And also, when we remember Jesus’ love demonstrated by His willing sacrifice, we are filled with hope! God’s ways, although sometimes confusing are good and we can trust Him, even when we feel and are not in control! We can truly release ourselves into His care!

You see, church, this isn’t about “accepting Jesus into our hearts” so we can get what we want. It’s about recognizing His absolute lordship and choosing to follow Him—believing that His plans are good, even when they don't match our desires or make sense to our limited minds.

Jesus perfectly embodied this release, living Ecclesiastes 7:18 perfectly: “Pay attention to these instructions, for anyone who fears God will avoid both extremes.” His perfect fear of God kept Him from all extremes, leading Him to perfect obedience and trust, even to the brutally unjust cross. Yet, in God's grand design, that sacrifice remains the most profoundly good and gracious act in history. Because of Jesus’ finished work, we can R-E-L-A-X and truly follow God, finding lasting life and fun!

But relaxing in Him isn't passive. It demands a new way of seeing and living. It requires us to move from simply releasing control to actively embracing God's wisdom and living it out. This brings us to the next letters in our acronym: E for Embrace Godly Wisdom, and L for Live in it!

2. E - Embrace Godly Wisdom & L - Live in It (Ecclesiastes 7:19–8:8)

In vv. 19-8 of chapter 8, Solomon shifts our focus from the formulas of life that don’t always add up in the world’s math, to the power of true, godly wisdom. And this wisdom as he points out, isn’t a list of facts or a formula for guaranteed success; but rather, it’s a posture of the heart that finds its anchor in God. Solomon declares:

Ecclesiastes 7:19 (NLT)

One wise person is stronger than ten leading citizens of a town!

He’s saying that one person with true wisdom is more powerful than a council of ten of the most influential people. This isn’t a power based on brute force or political influence, but a power that comes from understanding God’s perspective and learning to live in light of it.

And this anchoring wisdom that God invites us to embrace and live is has three key facets:

In vv. 20-22, the wisdom of God invites us to embrace the reality of Universal Sin (vv. 20–22)

a) Godly Wisdom Humbly Acknowledges Universal Sin (vv. 20–22)

Look at it with me:

Ecclesiastes 7:20-22 (NLT)

20 Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins. 21 Don’t eavesdrop on others—you may hear your servant curse you. 22 For you know how often you yourself have cursed others.

Solomon confronts our pride head-on. He reminds us that even our best efforts are tainted by sin. The temptation for "overly righteous" people is to pretend this isn’t true. But true wisdom, Solomon says, starts with a humble confession: “I am a sinner”. This is a call to grace-filled humility, as we are all sinners, and our wisdom should lead us to extend grace to others, knowing we need it just as much.

This is true. All of us are sinful people. But I want to add a side note of nuance and Godly wisdom here: If you’re in Jesus, as we already mentioned, you wear His righteousness. That means your identity isn’t 'sinner trying to be righteous', you’re a saint who sometimes sins. You were a sinner. You were saved. And now, in Christ, you are made new! I know this is a small distinction, but folks, it makes all the difference!

As Jesus once said, those who have been forgiven much, love much! You have to understand what you’ve been saved from to stay humble, but you also have to be reminded of who you are now that Jesus has saved you to stay hopeful!

As we seek to release control and embrace and live in Godly wisdom, we have to acknowledge the universal effects of sin upon all of us and also to embrace and live within our limitations.

b) Godly Wisdom Accepts its Limitations and Honors God's Unknowable Ways (vv. 23–29)

Look at it with me in vv. 23-29.

Ecclesiastes 7:23-29 (NLT)

23 I have always tried my best to let wisdom guide my thoughts and actions. I said to myself, “I am determined to be wise.” But it didn’t work. 24 Wisdom is always distant and difficult to find. 25 I searched everywhere, determined to find wisdom and to understand the reason for things. I was determined to prove to myself that wickedness is stupid and that foolishness is madness. 26 I discovered that a seductive woman is a trap more bitter than death. Her passion is a snare, and her soft hands are chains. Those who are pleasing to God will escape her, but sinners will be caught in her snare. 27 “This is my conclusion,” says the Teacher. “I discovered this after looking at the matter from every possible angle. 28 Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman! 29 But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path.”

Solomon describes his own quest for wisdom. He “examined everything” and “searched for wisdom and a reason for everything,” only to conclude, “Wisdom is always distant and difficult to find. I was determined to be wise, but it didn’t work.” We can't “see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end”. We get glimpses, but not the full blueprint. Solomon then brings it all to a head with verse 29: “See, this alone I found: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path.” This is the core of the problem: we have chosen to go our own way, and our own schemes always lead to futility.

Now, a quick note on verse 28, where Solomon says, "Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman!" This can sound jarring, but it's important to understand this as hyperbole, an exaggeration to make a point. Solomon has already established that "not a single person on earth is always good and never sins" (v. 20). His point here isn't to say that men are inherently more virtuous than women, or that no woman is virtuous. Rather, he's emphasizing just how rare true, perfect righteousness is in a fallen world, for anyone. He searched for perfection, and he found it nowhere among humanity, male or female. This only underscores the universal need for the one truly virtuous person, Jesus Christ, who we’ve already discussed.

And again, by focusing on Jesus and His gospel message, we are confronted by our sinfulness but also His provision to cover us, which both humbles us and frees us to enjoy life knowing we can’t measure up by our striving, but in faith in Jesus, we already to measure up and God promises He’s always glad to see us!

We won’t always get it or understand in our wisdom, but we don’t have too because we can trust God’s goodness and His heart of love!

Which is really what Solomon puts a fine point on in our next section where he turns from personal humility to public submission—to what it looks like to live wisely under imperfect earthly authority.

c) Godly Wisdom Lives Humbly Under Authority, Trusting God's Justice (8:1–8)

Let's continue reading in chapter 8:

Ecclesiastes 8:1-8 (NLT)

1 How wonderful to be wise, to analyze and interpret things. Wisdom lights up a person’s face, softening its harshness. 2 Obey the king since you vowed to God that you would. 3 Don’t try to avoid doing your duty, and don’t stand with those who plot evil, for the king can do whatever he wants. 4 His command is backed by great power. No one can resist or question it. 5 Those who obey him will not be punished. Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right, 6 for there is a time and a way for everything, even when a person is in trouble. 7 Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen? 8 None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked.

Solomon’s advice is to live in submission to authority. This is a call to a life of obedience, not because we're afraid, but because it's the wise path. It’s a reminder that even when we don't understand the decisions of earthly authorities, our trust should ultimately be in God, who ordains all authority. The wise person trusts that a day is coming when God will make everything right. Injustice won’t last. The wicked won’t win. Though we can’t see the end from the beginning, a wise person trusts the end of the story. This is our second point: to embrace Godly wisdom and live in submission to it.

The gospel connection here is clear: The wisdom Solomon searched for is “exceedingly deep,” but in Christ, we have access to it. Paul writes in Colossians 2:3 that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”. Jesus is the one “who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). He is the perfectly righteous man that Solomon couldn't find. Our wisdom isn't in our own ability to figure things out, but in clinging to Christ, in whom all things are held together. The Christian life isn't about being perfectly wise or righteous on our own; it's about surrendering our messy, fallen wisdom to the perfect wisdom of God found in Jesus.

Which at the end of the day, takes acceptance. We must learn to accept the mystery of how God opperates in the gospel of Jesus, which even Paul acknowledges is foolishness to the world who is perishing, and only when we learn to accept it in faith, will we then begin to experience the joy held within! Which brings us to our final 2 points of our R-E-L-A-X acronym. Accept the mystery & X-perience the joy!

3. A - Accept the Mystery & X - Experience the Joy (Ecclesiastes 8:9–17)

The final verses of our passage are the most challenging and yet the most hopeful. Solomon returns to the brutal honesty of life “under the sun,” only to lift our eyes to the reality of a God who is both sovereign and just.

Let’s read the final verses of our text:

Ecclesiastes 8:9-17 (NLT)

9 I have thought deeply about all that goes on here under the sun, where people have the power to hurt each other. 10 I have seen wicked people buried with honor. Yet they were the very ones who frequented the Temple and are now praised in the same city where they committed their crimes! This, too, is meaningless. 11 When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong. 12 But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off. 13 The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows. 14 And this is not all that is meaningless in our world. In this life, good people are often treated as though they were wicked, and wicked people are often treated as though they were good. This is so meaningless! 15 So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun. 16 In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people’s burdens here on earth, I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night. 17 I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun. Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim.

Solomon sees the cycle of oppression and injustice firsthand. He sees the powerful exploit the weak, and the wicked go unpunished. This is the source of our deep frustration. We want the bad guys to get what's coming to them. And when it doesn’t happen, we become cynical. But Solomon’s profound insight is that God's justice is not always immediate, but it is always ultimate.

He says, “When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.” He understands the human heart. When there are no immediate consequences, we think we can get away with it. We forget that God “has made everything beautiful for its own time” and that “whatever God does is final”.

Then, in verse 12, Solomon gives us a glimpse of the hope that transcends the injustice he sees: “But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off.” This is a radical statement of faith in the middle of chaos. Even when it doesn't look like it, God is still working for the good of those who reverence Him.

He then concludes with a passage that brings us back to the core theme of Ecclesiastes. He says that the righteous and the wise are in God's hands, and that we can't fully understand God’s work from beginning to end. In other words, stop trying to figure it all out. Lay down the burden of carrying a blueprint only God can see. This is our final point: to accept the mystery and experience the joy God gives.

This is the beauty of Solomon’s conclusion. He doesn't give us a tidy answer. He gives us something better: He points us to a Person. He doesn't say, “Here's the solution,” but “Here's the reality—and here’s the One you can trust in the middle of it.” The gospel is the full and final answer to the injustice Solomon witnessed. Jesus is the righteous man who suffered and died, not because he was sinful, but because he was righteous. The cross is where God’s righteous anger against sin was poured out on His Son, and His grace was extended to us. This means that for those who are in Christ, the end of the story has already been written. The scales of justice will be balanced, and every tear will be wiped away. In Christ, we can truly relax and experience the joy of trusting God’s justice.

Conclusion:

So, what do we do when life doesn’t add up—when the tug of war between extremes leaves us tired, disoriented, and worn thin?

We R-E-L-A-X.

Not by checking out, but by trusting in. We Release our need to control outcomes. We Embrace the wisdom of God instead of leaning on our own understanding. We Live it out daily in faithful obedience, even when it’s hard or doesn’t seem to make sense. We Accept the mystery, knowing we won't always get the answers we want. And we X-perience joy—not the fleeting kind that comes from temporary success, comfort, or control, but the lasting joy of knowing the God who holds all things together.

That’s where true life is found. Not under the sun—but in the Son.

Let’s pray.

Prayer Lord Jesus, thank you for this brutally honest book that speaks so clearly into the real tensions and frustrations of our lives. Thank you for not offering us quick fixes, but for pointing us to Yourself.

We confess that we often try to make the math of life add up on our own—and in doing so, we get trapped by our desire for control, our self-righteousness, and our despair. Forgive us, Lord.

Give us the anchoring wisdom to humbly acknowledge our sin and our limitations. Help us to live in joyful submission to your authority—not out of fear, but out of trust in your goodness and your perfect timing. When we’re faced with injustice and confusion, remind us that you are the ultimate King, and your justice is coming.

We surrender our “schemes” and our exhausting efforts to control what only you can. We cling to you—our wisdom, our righteousness, and our hope.

In a world where life under the sun doesn’t add up, we trust that life in the Son does. Even our suffering is not wasted, because you are working all things for your glory and our good. Strengthen us to walk by faith, trusting you to make everything beautiful in its time.

In your name we pray, Amen.