Beyond the Sun Pt.5
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Introduction
Introduction
What do you have in your heart these days?
Last week I alluded to what the heart represented in the Old Testament.
Judgment - by judgement I don’t mean spiritually judgmental of other, but rather our ability to discern what is just or unjust in our treatment of others.
Desires - deep down what we really care about
Will - (what our hearts are set on is what we pursue)
Moral direction - our heart serves as our moral compass.
So what do you have in your heart these days?
Let me expound on that question just a bit with another question:
Do you think there’s anything dwelling in your heart that doesn’t belong there?
Have you ever had a reaction to something someone else did or said, and thought to yourself afterwards, where’d that come from?
(Kassie)
Today we’re in part 5 of our series entitled Beyond the Sun in which we’ve been digging into the book of Ecclesiastes.
Pt. 1 Finding your purpose in life and satisfaction for your soul in anything other than Jesus Christ is vanity and grasping for the wind.
Pt.2 In every season, whether it’s really good or really bad, keep Jesus first and people close. In good times pour into those who are weak, and in bad times let those who are strong pour into you.
Pt.3 Question: How sad would it be for us to satisfy our flesh through all of our labor, yet leave our souls famished and malnourished?
Pt. 4 Surrender to Jesus Christ is your everything.
If we bring what it means to fear God into the New Testament context it means that we bend our knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Today we’re going to be in Ecclesiastes 8-10, we’re only going to look at a few verses in chapter 8 and 10, and we’ll probably spend the majority of our time in chapter 9.
Pray…
Tension/Truth
Tension/Truth
8 No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.
You and I have no power over life and death. (The biggest health nuts on the planet still die.) They might live longer than they would have otherwise, but they still die.
But there is One Who does have power over life and death, what His name church?
Jesus is your everything.
9 All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt. 10 Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. 11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
As human being we are utterly, completely, and totally depraved.
Not only are we without power over death, we are without power over our own wickedness.
Going in and out of a holy place doesn’t save anyone…Church can’t do anything for you apart from and authentic and intimate relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Don’t mistake God’s patience (His not executing judgment speedily) as an opportunity to continue in your sin.
God is patient, but He is also just. And if you are continuing in sin, when are you going to repent? Like, where’s your honesty and integrity with God.
What does that conversation you’re having with God sound like? “God I know this a sin, I know this is what you had come to this earth to be crucified for, but, I think I’m going to keep doing it, maybe until you do something miraculous in my life.” No! He already did the miracle.
And just know this, if you are choosing to continue in sin, you are trading the good gift of God for a…(cheap knock off, counterfeit…that doesn’t even do it justice) You’re trading soul satisfaction for fleshly gratification.
And I’m just telling you, if you’re playing this game where you’re like, I’ll confess it and tell the Lord I’m sorry and He’ll forgive me and then I’ll wait a few days and then go back to my sin, you’re playing the wrong game.
You think you’re playing that game with the Lord, let me turn that around, you think the Lord is playing that game with you?
If you think you’re playing this game with God where you can run to your sin and run back to Him and then run back to your sin, the only god your playing with is a figment of your imagination, it ain’t Jesus, it ain’t the God of the bible.
You can’t have a genuine encounter with Jesus and get up and walk away from Him the way you were before you encountered Him.
This is how wicked we are.
Here’s how sinful we are, we think we can enter a holy place and then leave and sin, and come back to the holy place like God didn’t see our sin outside the holy place. As if entering into the holy place is what makes us holy.
Some of you are even using church to play this game with God.
You know what two of my biggest fears are?
We don’t do enough to lead as many lost people as possible to faith in Jesus Christ.
We convince people that religion can save them.
This is why I keep telling you, I just don’t care to play any sort of religious games.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
How religious does it look to meet the needs of orphans and widows and to keep yourself pure from the corruption of the world?
I hope you know this, more importantly I hope you practice this, church doesn’t earn you anything with God.
Church is here to help you maintain an intimate and authentic relationship with the Lord and with other believers.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
We can be so incredibly near sighted sometimes. Honestly, it shocks me sometimes just how temporal, we, even as Christians can think. And listen, I’m one of them. Sometimes I shock myself at how temporal and non-eternal my perspective can be.
Sometimes I get so fixated on the temporal that’s in front of me that I become blind to the eternal kingdom of God that I already exist in.
Here’s one of the ways we do this: We prioritize possessions over people. What’s going with you into eternity?
Your relationship with the Lord. Your relationship with other believers.
To fear God means we maintain an eternal perspective…we keep our hearts and minds fixed on what is eternal rather than what is temporary.
Chapter 9:1-5
1 For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. 2 All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; To the good, the clean, and the unclean; To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.
The end of everything temporary is either death or destruction.
Let’s just say, 250 years from now (250 is pretty feasible) what kind of condition do you think your possessions are going to be in?
Momento Mori - remember that you will die, and you could die at any moment. And in my mind this begs a question, while I’m still alive, what am I living for? Am I living for the temporal or the eternal?
11 I returned and saw under the sun that— The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them. 13 This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: 14 There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. 15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. 16 Then I said: “Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard.
Be careful who you listen to, just because someone seems like they’re important, doesn’t mean you should listen to them.
More often than not God calls and uses the unqualified, when we look throughout the arc of the biblical history what do we see?
We see God call the person who often has the opposite personality/character and/or skillset from what He’s calling them to do on His behalf.
Moses - Felt inadequate and claimed he was not eloquent - Confront Pharaoh and speak God’s law to Israel
Gideon - Fearful, hiding, and from an insignificant family - Lead Israel’s army against Midian
Jeremiah - Young and convinced he did not know how to speak - Serve as God’s prophet to nations
David - Youngest son and an overlooked shepherd boy - Chosen to become Israel’s greatest king
Amos - Shepherd and farmer - who was called to confront Israel’s wealthy and powerful leaders
Esther - Orphaned Jewish exile living with a concealed identity - led to approach the king and risk her life for her people
Peter - Impulsive, unstable, and prone to speaking before thinking - who became the earliest apostolic leader and shepherd God’s people in the New Covenant
Matthew - Tax collector, a traitor to the oppressive Roman empire - who became an apostle and proclaimed Israel’s Messiah
The disciples - Ordinary men without elite rabbinical education - Who became teachers of the nations and establish God’s kingdom throughout the known world.
Paul - who’s faith was in his own obedience to the law and a violent persecutor of Christians - Who became the foremost missionary to the Gentiles
Timothy - Young, apparently timid, and physically frail - Who was called lead churches and confront false teachers
Jonah - Resented the very people to whom he was sent - went on, against his own desires to preach repentance to wicked Ninevehites.
17 Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good.”
There’s a growing problem in our culture today, and the reality it’s not a new thing, it’s probably almost as old as time itself, but the problem is that whoever’s the loudest gets listened to.
It’s like, whoever can make the most noise thinks they have the most influence.
Of course with the advent of social media (FB, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and youtube, etc. it’s just exacerbated this problem hasn’t it?
Often times, real wisdom, wisdom that you should listen to, doesn’t come from those who are making the most noise. It usually comes from those who really aren’t seeking to make noise.
One sinner destroys much good - We could also say one sin can undo a lifetime of good works.
(Ravi Zacharias)
It only takes one sinner, to make one bad decision, in the presence of many righteous people, to completely undo a world of good.
Know this, follower of Christ, what you do and what you say matters. As a follower of Christ you are an Ambassador of Him, you represent Him. And when you say things you should say, when you do things you shouldn’t do, that aren’t in alignment with His word, you mis-represent Him.
Point: When your conduct falls out of alignment with His Word, you give others a distorted idea of Who Jesus is.
Ecclesiastes 10: four verses.
1 Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.
Have you had a single fly get stuck in your glass of water? Did you continue drinking that water? No, you poured it out, or you requested a new drink from your waiter.
How much folly (foolishness) does it take to corrupt wisdom and honor? Just a little.
Have you noticed that where there’s a foul stench there’s also a lot of flies? Of course we know why right? It’s because flies feast on decaying matter.
In other words, where there’s death there’s flies.
And that’s often what our foolishness leads to, death.
Foolish actions and foolish words don’t bring about life, they bring about death.
Point: Something small and corrupt, one foolish action, a few foolishly spoken (or written) words can spoil something valuable and carefully developed.
2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, But a fool’s heart at his left.
Raise your hand if your left handed? The bible hates you. (I’m just kidding)
Let’s talk about this historically and culturally.
Most people are right-handed. In the ancient world, the right hand was therefore ordinarily:
The stronger hand
The working hand
The weapon hand
The hand used for greeting and agreement
The hand used to confer blessing
The position of readiness and protection
That physical reality developed into cultural symbolism.
For example:
God’s “right hand” represents power — Exodus 15:6.
To be at someone’s right hand is to be protected — Psalm 16:8.
The king’s right hand is the place of honor — Psalm 110:1.
God upholds His people with His righteous right hand — Isaiah 41:10.
Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand — Hebrews 1:3.
Of course if you’ve ever been to the middle east, then you know that the left hand is used for less than pleasant tasks.
The point Ecclesiastes 10:2 is making is this.
Whatever is in someone’s heart, whether it is wisdom or foolishness, eventually manifests itself in outward actions.
What’s in someone’s heart isn’t necessarily known to the people around them, but what their right or left does gets found out.
And listen, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been on both sides of wisdom and foolishness.
There was a time in my life before I knew Christ when I can tell you with 100 percent confidence that what was in my heart was foolishness, there was also sin and wickedness.
And because I had grown up in my church I was pretty good at sort of hiding my inner foolishness because I knew how to modify behavior in front of the right people.
But eventually my foolishness, along with my sinfulness, got exposed.
9 He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, And he who splits wood may be endangered by it. 10 If the ax is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.
Wisdom says, there comes a time when you need to stop chopping and sharpen the edge of the axe…
(Ax illustration)
Application
Application
What’s in your heart?
If your heart, your judgment, your desires, your will, your moral direction, your decision-making were to be laid bare before the Lord, what would He see?
Would He be pleased with it, or would He be disappointed?
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.
The ultimate reality for all of us is that we are going to be laid bare before the Lord.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
(The following can all be made new).
Judgment - by judgement I don’t mean spiritually judgmental of other, but rather our ability to discern what is just or unjust in our treatment of others.
Desires - deep down what we really care about
Will - (what our hearts are set on is what we pursue)
Moral direction - our heart serves as our moral compass.
Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re realizing that you need a new heart.
Maybe you’re a believer, and maybe you have been for a long time but maybe you’re realizing that your ax is dull.
And it’s time to sharpen it. Even though you’ve got a new heart you’ve allowed some foolishness, some disobedience to creep in and corrupt what God made new.
Closing
Closing
Gospel invitation.
Repent? Believe? Obey?
