The Vanity of Wisdom
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Last week we began making our way through the book of Ecclesiastes, and what we saw last week, is sort of the umbrella whose shadow covers the rest of the book.
Last week we saw that - ALL is VANITY!
We saw that CREATION is in a state of Futility...
AND that mankind is in a state of Futility...
And ALL of it due to the SIN of mankind.
Just look at Creation Solomon told us...
We see the futility of this world...
The sun continues to RISE…and go down...
The winds blow SOUTH and then back north...
Every stream flows into the sea and yet the sea is never full!
All of these things - pointers to the reality of SIN in this world!
Not only that but MANKIND is in a state of Futility...
One generations goes, and another fills it’s place...
We’re BORN, we live, and we certainly - DIE...
This is REALITY and this is our plight.
All is vanity....all is vanity...
and it’s this phrase that we need to get used to hearing:
The Vanity of...
The Pointlessness of...
TODAY - as you can see - it’s - The Vanity of Wisdom!
NOW - in my studies, i’ve come to find out that some people have trouble interpreting Ecclesiastes, because of what seems to be contradictions within it.
For example, in other parts of Scripture we see that Wisdom is to be sought!
Here we see that Wisdom is Vanity...
i was confused by this confusion....because...
The bible clearly teaches us about 2 kinds of wisdom!
WISDOM FROM ABOVE...
AND WISDOM that is - Worldly!
15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
Ok, so there’s an EARTHLY, unspiritual, DEMONIC wisdom that we DON’T want...
BUT THEN...
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
We WANT this wisdom!
Ecclesiastes is NOT TEACHING us about THIS wisdom!!
Ecclesiastes looks out at the UNBELIEVING World and says - OK, let me tell you where you’re heading…regardless of what you ATTAIN in this world!
And so we need to know that as we head into this today...
12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”
17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
The first thing we’ll see today is this:
SLIDE: The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom: Under the Rule of God
The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom
The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom
13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
Solomon here says that he sought to SEARCH OUT by WISDOM, all that is done under heaven...
So he sought every avenue...
Walked down every road..
And came to understand...
That “Pursuing wisdom” even at its base level…is UNDER THE RULE of GOD!
There have been MANY - wise people that have walked this earth...
MANY UNBELIEVING - wise people who have walked this earth...
And the typical thought behind their wisdom is - THAT THEY themselves made it happen!
I work in an industry - the medical industry....where coworkers of mine need to often speak with Doctors...
Now, we typically think of Doctors as being - WISE...
What i’ve heard from many of my co-workers is that - a lot of Doctors are - arrogant people...
Why would that be?
Because they attribute their KNOWLEDGE to their cognitive ability...
They attribute their knowledge to THEIR OWN DOING!
This is who we are as HUMANS...
By DEFAULT!
By Nature!
*Struggle with Pride
Remember the time when Jesus stood before Pilate - and He said this?...
10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”
11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
Jesus says - UHHH, No....rethink that son!
You would have NO authority over me…unless it had been given you from above!
But do you hear the PRIDE in Pilate’s thought process?
He just ASSUMES that his power has been - SELF-EARNED!
And Jesus says - NO, NO....Even your earthly, WORLDLY power - falls under the RULE of God!
Let’s go OLD Testament!
(Romans 9:14) - well, this is going to REFER to the OT...
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
The power of Pharaoh…UNDER the RULE of God!
We look around this world and we see many different kinds of RULERS...
The leaders of Afghanistan...
Iran
Iraq
Egypt
Brazil
Belgium
North Korea
Canada
Japan
ALL of them…GIVEN authority by God...
UNDER THE RULE of GOD!!
The world however - IN ITS PRIDE - would say - no, WE’VE attained this power...
We BOW to - NO ONE!
Truth is - If the World would humble itself - and bow to Jesus -
…it would end up seeing...
SLIDE: The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom: A Hopeless Task
The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom
The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom
13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
It is an UNHAPPY BUSINESS - to seek WISDOM in this world…to rest in WISDOM of this world!
It is a LOUSY JOB - this is saying
And ONLY a CHRISTIAN would think this way...
the WORLD PURSUES worldly wisdom - and presses on - listen - IN HOPE!
In hope that all the answers will be found!
More and more we see the world HOLD UP - Science to try to DEBUNK Christianity!
More and more we see the WORLD fight against Christianity!
The World CLAIMS that Christianity is -
Mean!
How can it make this claim?
Because it doesn’t consider ULTIMATE reality?
It doesn’t think PAST THE GRAVE!
The world looks at Christianity and says -
I’m nicer than you are
I’m more loving than you are
I’m more understanding and caring than you are
The problem is - the world is stuck UNDER the SUN!
And throughout this book Solomon is going to be crying out - GET OVER THE SUN!
Listen - SPEND your life seeking to become and ASTRO-PHYSICIST...
and you will end up - DEAD
SPEND your life helping people conduct clinical trials...
and you will end up - DEAD
SLIDE:
The world seeks a kind of wisdom that only results in temporary solutions
THIS is why it’s a HOPELESS TASK!!
NOTHING can come of this!
*Just an example - CANCER
SLIDE:
More than 40 years after the war on cancer was declared, we have spent billions fighting the fight. The National Cancer Institute has spent some $90 billion on research and treatment during that time.
You know how many HOURS have been spent:
STUDYING
RESEARCHING
SEEKING to find the cure for Cancer…?
FIND the cure for cancer - and what does it get you?
A TEMPORARY solution…until what?
Until you die.
Get OVER the sun - Solomon says!
Not only that - BUT part of the reason this is a HOPELESS TASK is because of v15
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
It’s the pride of MAN that thinks GOD owes us EVERY answer UNDER the SUN!
I know people who take a stance that says - WELL, if it’s not in the Bible, then it’s not true!
Well that’s a dangerous game to play.
For instance…the Bible is NOT a science book.
The Bible doesn’t reveal to us - ALL matters of science...
God hasn’t revealed to us - ALL truth!
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
We don’t HAVE ALL the answers RIGHT NOW!
NOR WILL WE - on this side of the grave!
**You ever have your 4 year old ask you 1000 questions in the first 5 minutes of the day??
Ever have them ask you 1000 questions you don’t have the answer to?
It’s like the child doesn’t understand that you don’t know the answers...
back to our verse...
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
Some questions CAN’T be answered!
And this makes sense BIBLICALLY
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
This makes sense....we’re not going to have ALL the answers...
WE’RE NOT GOD!
What do we then turn to??
FAITH
And we NEED faith - otherwise we’ll experience...
SLIDE: The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom: Leads to Sorrow
The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom
The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom
v16
16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”
17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
It’s verse 18 here that i want to focus on...
“For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”
From how I see this verse, there are 2 ways to VIEW IT...
FROM ANGLE #1 - The unbeliever
The unbeliever spends his life:
pursuing wisdom...
fighting to gain knowledge...
He spends all his time...
trying to learn enough about physics, and biochemistry, and engineering...
to help him earn a position at NASA...
where his dream is to help man fly into space....and land on Mars...
He makes his way through all the schooling necessary…all the training necessary...
and he makes it to NASA.
He begins working on a 6 year project, to develop a machine that will help man more easily make it to Mars...
…and more easily land on Mars...
6 years go by...
And that 6 year project…turns into a 10 year project...
As they learned more - they realized they were off in their calculations...
FINALLY - LAUNCH day arrives!...
The rocket lifts off...
And 2 minutes after lift-off - the rocket explodes.
All astronauts on board - perish.
10 more years go by before NASA even begins to think about using that same NEW technology again.
6 years after that - TRY #2...
The launch is successful…they make it to Mars...
They land on Mars...
They gain more knowledge about the planet...
More info to bring back and file on their computers...
After 6 months, everyone has forgotten about the successful mission...
And it’s now ON to trying something new
For the Unbeliever, the more knowledge that is gained, the more he realizes that ALL the answers CANNOT be found!
And he begins to taste the reality of v14
14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
Anyone ever try to chase the wind?
Why?
Answer - pointless
Even if you caught it - what would you have to show for it?
NOTHING!
This is the reality of the UNBELIEVER who pursues wisdom...
It’s no different than them chasing the wind!
BUT - for a BELIEVER!...
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
If you’re a Christian who is actively gaining knowledge / wisdom from above...
and you DO that by getting into God’s WORD...
Notice = that doesn’t happen by just praying
But if you’re a Christian gaining wisdom from above...
YOU WILL - experience that AS your WISDOM increases, so does your SORROW!
Not only will YOUR JOY increase, but so will your sorrow!
*Conversation with Doug (couple months ago)
And so PURSUE Godly Wisdom!
To KNOW Him more!
And we can avoid all of the results of a worthless pursuit!
SUMMARY:
SLIDE:
The Worldly Pursuit of Wisdom
Under the Rule of God
Hopeless Task
Leads to Sorrow