Fear God and Enjoy Life (5-24-2020)

“Fear God and Enjoy Life” Devotional for 5-24-20 Beginning Scripture: I Corinthians 14-16 “The unspiritual self, …can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. [The purely natural self] …has no capacity for them. …Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and [we] can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, ‘Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?’ has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit. (The Message) Ecclesiastes, the book we study in today’s Sunday School lesson, is a book written for mature persons. It seems Solomon wrote it toward the end of his life when he was thinking of death and wondering what good was his great wealth and all the products of his life’s work. There are no easy answers in this book. Unlike novels or movies with neatly tied up endings, this book might not satisfy those looking for a cheery clear and easy conclusion. I will admit that this lesson was VERY difficult for me. There are several reasons, I think, that I struggled with it. As I read the first two chapters, it dawned on me that Solomon and I were quite different in several ways. He was wealthy and his wisdom has been long-celebrated by preachers, theologians and scholars. Of course neither of those things are true for me. Especially during the COVID-19 crisis, I’ve become aware of the distinct possibility that I will die from this disease. Solomon too was thinking about his own death. He came to the conclusion that being worldly wise makes you no less likely than the ignorant fool to die and lose it all. I spent a good portion of my life in education and learning – acquiring it and providing it. Yes, I have degrees and awards but my diplomas are now gathering dust, packed away in a box somewhere that will likely end up in a dump with much of my other stuff after my death. I have even been ridiculed for my education and knowledge, something Solomon himself predicts in this book. One of the main purposes of Ecclesiastes is to force us to take our own mortality seriously and to consider carefully how we have lived and how we should live. As my mama used to say: “Life is short.” There is no disguising that fact along with the reality that all or most of our accomplishments will probably die with us no matter how zealous and sincere and hardworking we have been. This is why the New Testament is needed: to teach us that only God’s grace saves us. Or, as my beginning Scripture from first Corinthians teaches, if we are spiritually alive we have access to God’s Spirit. “Spirit can be known only by spirit.” One of the commentaries I read speaks of the tensions explored in Ecclesiastes: 1. Wisdom helps us cope with life, yet it says that acquiring knowledge as such has less meaning than true spiritual knowledge and wisdom. 2. We need a strategy for maintaining a basic level of subsistence but wealth in and of itself is a fraudulent substitute for true contentment. 3. Government is necessary, yet the worst evils in the world are committed by cruel or incompetent people with power. 4. Religion can help us become righteous people, yet we should not try to impress God and we should not wear ourselves out with irrational excess. The commentary says that the resolution of all these tensions described in Ecclesiastes “is found in the affirmation that the most important thing in life is to ‘fear God and keep His commands” (Ecclesiastes 12:13) HCSB Study Bible (Holman Bible Publishers) p. 1086 Fear of God The phrase “fear of God” has been bothersome to me for a long time. Early in my religious training my strict religious teachers tried to put the fear of God in me by their punishments of me and by promising that God would visit on me various kinds of punishments and bad stuff if I was a bad boy. Well, I was an energetic little kid and received some of those punishments because I could NOT stay still. Although I am sure I deserved the punishments, my enduring impression was that God is someone way up there who was counting my every bad thought and deed and would eventually serve his vengeance upon me. I was scared of God and I did not want to be anywhere near him. I knew I should not feel these feelings, that I should have kind and loving feelings toward God always, but my predominant view of God was not someone who loved me unconditionally, but someone who was “going to git me.” Of course I have an entirely different feeling about and attitude toward God now. But still I needed some training about meaning of this phrase, “fear of God.” I am grateful for this Sunday School lesson, for the study of it gave me a needed motivation to explore the idea and to get some explanation of the phrase. Part of Solomon’s wisdom and goodness was he did not shrink from being realistic about life and death. He wanted his readers to face the fact that life has its puzzles. Our days are filled with frustrations; and life often seems like a riddle. True, Solomon was pessimistic as he faced reality. He wanted to keep his readers from placing confidence in their own efforts and energies. In Ecclesiastes there are many references to the importance of fearing of God. In 7:18 he says: “It’s best to stay in touch with both sides of an issue. A person who fears God deals responsibly with all of reality, not just a piece of it. (MSG) In 3:14 he concludes “that whatever God does is final—nothing can be added or taken from it; God’s purpose in this is that man should fear the all-powerful God. In 5:7 - “Dreaming instead of doing is foolishness, and there is ruin in a flood of empty words; fear God instead.” Ultimately to fear God means we stand in awe of Him and depend on Him, not ourselves. We recognize that we are human and finite, whereas He is divine and infinite. Two of the things I read that were the most helpful to me with regard to fear of God were as follows: • “God poses an ominous threat to my ego, but not to me. He rescues me from my delusions, so [that] he may reveal the truth that sets me free. He casts me down, only to lift me up again. He sits in judgment of my sin, but forgives me nevertheless. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but love from the Lord is its completion.” From JoHannah Reardon “What does it mean to fear God?” https://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/bible-answers/spirituallife/what-does-it-mean-to-fear-god.html • And from John Piper: “Tremble if you ever feel any inclination to leave God, there is only destruction away from him.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Qby8TKLME So I do fear God in that I fear losing my relationship with God. It would be hell to me. I have heard that hell is being in the presence of God and not knowing it. The thought of never knowing the presence of God terrifies me. Enjoy Life Yet all of this was NOT Solomon’s last word. The other piece of his message that I think is as equally important as fear of God is the following from Roy B. Zuck of Dallas Theological Seminary: One suggestion Solomon makes repeatedly throughout his book, is to enjoy life. He writes, “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work” (2:24). “There is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God” (3:12–13). “So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot” (3:22). “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun!” https://voice.dts.edu/article/fear-god-enjoy-life-the-message-of-ecclesiastes-zuck-roy-b/ Summary I have a wonderful study Bible which has lots of material from one of Helen and my favorite Christian writers, Max Lucado. In his introduction to the book of Ecclesiastes he concludes: [Solomon] tried knowledge (1:13), pleasure, possessions, and projects (2:3-8). He was serious about each. He built a temple and a palace. [He had many wives, and horses.] In spite of it all, or because of it all, he was restless. ‘I hated life,’ he journaled. He was isolated (3:22), frustrated (5:17), and longed for the good old days when things were simpler and the wine was sweeter. He kept a record of his longings. …Maybe he knew he wasn’t the only one to get to the top of the ladder only to find it against the wrong building. If that’s where you are, or might be, this book is for you. Questions and Challenges - Identify some piece of knowledge that you learned in your life that was helpful to you in your survival and thriving. - Give an example of a time or an instance in which you were spiritually alive and felt it. - What does the phrase “fear of God” mean to you? Prayer Dear God, my relationship with you is so precious. Thank you for all of your creation and always make me aware of your abiding presence and the power of your love. Help our people to know you and to live happy lives. We praise you for your Word, especially those written by you through Solomon. We pray these things in the name of Jesus our precious savior, Amen.