Ecclesiastes 7-8

Radiant Church, August 11, 2019 Mike Rydman Ecclesiastes 7 and 8 Life is Not Fair Ecclesiastes 7:1-11 Wisdom does not always work out immediately in this cursed world, but because of the gospel, things do work out ultimately, for God’s glory and our joy The world doesn’t work the way it was originally designed: This is why the gospel was/is needed: Good News to combat bad reality God has a design for everything Sin leads to brokenness and meaninglessness All humanity has sinned and departed from God’s design The gospel is the answer to our brokenness and meaninglessness The gospel allows us to recover and pursue God’s wise plan Does Christianity “work”? The wicked prosper while Christians suffer A pastor quits being a Christian, because God didn’t grow his church With evil and suffering in the world, how then can God be a loving god? Before we judge God’s ways, let’s look at ways we sometimes choose to cope: Ecclesiastes :1-4,6 being realistic A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity. Ecclesiastes 7:5 deceived by flattery, hearing what you want to hear about yourself It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the songs of fools Ecclesiastes 7:7, 11-12 love of money, makes us deceitful; wisdom is worth more Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart. Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. Ecclesiastes 7:8 pride instead of patience Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Ecclesiastes 7:9 anger instead of kindness Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:10 pining away for the good old days, some past golden age Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. Ecclesiastes 7:13 In response to man’s sin, God made the world crooked. We cannot fix it Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? Ecclesiastes 7:14 God brings both good and bad – keeping us from controlling what is still in the future In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. Ecclesiastes 7:15-19 We tend to go to one extreme or the other: being religious is no better than being wicked; neither are the gospel In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why would you destroy yourself? Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It si good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. In being intentionally wicked, we’re trying to take control of getting us what we want In being religious, we’re trying to bribe or coerce God into giving us what we want Ecclesiastes 7:19-20 none of us are immune from sin. This is why the world is broken Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. Barna Research: 97% of adults and 91% of Christians believe that “the best way to find yourself is to look inside yourself” Romans 3:11-12, 17-18 None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of god before their eyes. Ecclesiastes 7:21-28 earthly wisdom leads us to brokenness; God’s wisdom leads us to humility before God Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. That which has been far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things – which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. (Solomon is not against women. The woman here is like false wisdom) Ecclesiastes 7:29-8:1 God made us right, but we all went wrong See, this alone I found, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes. Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is unchanged. Ecclesiastes 8:2-7 it is wise to submit to authority – God put them there, for our good…even if our “good” comes through hardship I say: Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him. Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. For there is a time and a way for everything, although a man’s trouble lies heavy on him. For he does not know what will be, for who can tell him how it will be? Ecclesiastes 8:8-9 no one can control when they die No man has the power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. all this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt. Ecclesiastes 8:10 wicked people who pretend to be holy may have a great life, but they die and are judged eventually Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. Ecclesiastes 8:11 justice does not usually come immediately, so people are not afraid to sin Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. 2 Peter 3:9-10 the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Ecclesiastes 8:12-17 life is not fair, but wisdom causes us to trust God even though we don’t understand what is happening in the moment Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear Go, because they hear before him. But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God. There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the wicked, and there are wicked people to who it happens according to the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that Go has given him under the sun. when I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. however much a man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out. Many Christians are using the way of Jesus to pursue the way of self But, “we can risk telling the truth about ourselves because we serve a Lord Jesus who will not allow our failures to be the final word in our relationship with him.” –John Starke We are a people in exile God is sovereign and has plans for our lives God uses exile to purify His people and reorient them toward His Purposes We need to have soft edges and firm centers Believe: the power of God for truth and life How we live in the midst of conflicting world views Love: the power of God to direct our actions, language and respect Live: the power of God to enable us to live out the call of God on our lives Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. Our prayer today and going forward must be: Your truth, Your way, your name