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Ecclesiastes: Enjoy Life & Fear God
Chapters 1-4 are a reflection on meaning in life.
Can you find meaning in this life apart from God?
At the end of your time on earth, what will you have gained?
The Teacher in Ecclesiastes says that apart from God, everything is meaningless and a chasing after the the wind.
Now in Chapter 5, we begin to look at Ethics (moral principles that govern a persons behaviour).
In particular today, we will focus on the attitude that we should have when we come to the House of the Lord.
This very helpful instruction for us, but certainly not what you might expect from a message about worshiping God.
The building that we are in today is really very humble in contrast to the amazing Temple that was at the centre of Jerusalem.
The interior was cedar panelling with ornate woodwork that was covered entirely in gold.
The temple is where you would go to offer a sacrifice to God, and it was a big deal.
There was a part of the Temple that was off limits called the Holy of Holies.
Only the High Priest could go there, and only once a year.
The temple was the House of God, he was said to be enthroned above the Cherubim, truly a holy place.
What sort of attitude would you have if you were going to the Temple?
Reverence.
Excitement.
Awe.
Joy.
What goes on in our hearts on the way to church?
-grab a coffee
-get family in the car, on time, in church clothes
-hopefully it’s a peaceful drive, but all sorts of things are known to go down in the car on the way to church.
-Overall, I think that our culture has adopted a very casual approach to going to church.
When did we become NUMB to Worship?
When did it stop being a big deal to be in God’s presence, with God’s people, singing his praises?
God uses the imagery of feet and paths in the Bible to talk about something bigger then your two feet.
The feet are used as way to think about human conduct.
We must guard our steps on the way to God’s house.
Just because we are going to church doesn’t mean that our behaviour is righteous.
We must watch our steps all week long.
At other places in the Bible, we see that God will help us to guard our paths, and lead us on the right paths for his names sake.
But here, the Teacher gives you and me some responsibility.
Guard your steps.
ILLUSTRATION:
We have mats by the doorway in our house, especially in the wet seasons of life.
My wife’s sincere hope, is that our wet shoes won’t make it past that mat and onto the inside floor.
She doesn’t want the mess.
And then to make things even more exciting, it turns out that kids aim for puddles.
Have you ever noticed that.
There is a giant puddle and the more mature parts of you and me say to walk around.
But the kid inside says, Jump in the middle.
Well, our kids tend to listen to that voice that says jump, and they love it.
What are messes are we jumping into midweek, and then tracking into church?
Are we careless in our actions, Monday - Saturday, and then just show up casually on Sunday as if none of that matters?
Don’t hear me wrong.
I’m not telling sinner’s to stay away.
If you have messed up, if you have sin, if you have done wrong, you are still welcome here.
Come and find the loving forgiveness of a God who loves us at our worse, and be made whole.
But that includes repenting of sin, turning away from wrong behaviour.
Learning to guard your steps.
What I am saying, is that we need to guard our steps.
Exercise caution in the way that you live, so that you are living for God all week long.
It’s better to draw near in obedince, than to offer the sacrifice as fools do.
Let me rephrase that.
Approach God with with quiet attention rather than a loud show of religion.
Will we come to his house with a quiet attention?
prepared to listen, or will we make a sacrifice as fools do.
What makes a sacrifice foolish?
Bringing a Sacrifice that God doesn’t want.
Think about it, sacrifices cost you something.
In the Old Testament it costs you one of the best animals in your flock.
Now, a sacrifice can cost you real dollars, real time, real investment of yourself.
What if you went to all that effort and expense in vain?
That would be foolish.
Yes, it is good to bring God our very best, our very lives, and use it all for his glory.
But, not if it is in the place of justice.
And what good is a sacrifice from a person who ignores righteousness.
Kids like to buy their parents presents, at least mine do.
But do you know what makes my birthday special, its when we all have a wonderful time together, its when they are obeying and getting along.
I think that’s a fair illustration of this point.
Yes, it is wonderful to bring our heavenly father gifts, but they are so much better when they come with unity, righteousness and justice.
The problem here is not that we want to come and talk to God.
That’s a good thing.
The problem is being impulsive, or careless with our words.
Words that pass through our mouths, but don’t touch our hearts.
Words where we speak before we know what it is that we are saying.
I like to watch some reality TV shows where there are judges and people who are singing.
What the judges want from the singers is authenticity.
They want to see that there is a connection between the lyrics and the performer.
We should be authentic in our prayers and authentic in the songs that we sing to God.
We shouldn’t rush into prayer, saying words on impulse that we aren’t connecting with.
Sometimes I find that there are little phrases that I just pray without thinking, how about you?
Lets think about what we are praying, and who we are praying to.
For we are in on earth, and God is in heaven.
There is a world of difference between us.
And we don’t want to come to God carelessly and not even thinking about what we are singing or saying.
It would probably help us to picture ourselves before the throne of God when we pray.
To remember that he is awesome, and we are privileged to approach him in prayer.
God is in heaven, and you are on earth.
So let your words be few.
Mean what you say.
take your time.
Pray in Jesus name.
Let the Holy Spirit help you.
Its God who is your audience, so give him your whole attention when you come before him in prayer, and in song.
This is the sort of perspective that we are instructed to have when we come to the House of God.
To help understand this proverb, it is important to know what the word “dreams’ means.
We should think of it like Hebrew word hebel, or breath.
In the literature of the ancient Near East a dream is often a figure for anything that is an illusion and not a reality—something that is “unreal.
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