Suffering For The Kingdom

We will have visitors so explain who I am talking about when I say “Preacher”.

I’m not referring to myself in the third person.

You will hear me use the word Hevel in our time today and that is the Hebrew word for what is translated in most modern versions as vanity.

Hevel can be defined as temporary or upside down.

It is also Hebrew for the name Abel which is referring to the brother of Cain.

That also helps us understand the meaning of the word because of the story of these two brothers.

Cain received the reward that Abel should have received, but in Cain's jealousy, he killed Abel.

That is sometimes the nature of this world because of sin.

Those things are important to our understanding of what the preacher is saying.

For our members and those that have been listening recently, I’d also like to mention that the last two weeks, under God’s direction, I spoke directly about systemic racism.

As we move forward in this book, I want to remind you that we do need to continue to pursue the Lord in how we personally respond, but as we study Ecclesiastes we will discuss suffering and oppression that existed then and still does today.

In doing so we need to remember there are many people that God has and will continue to put in our lives that are suffering.

The challenge for us is that we don’t get tunneled visioned.

This further emphasizes the need for us to abide in Christ.

There is more to be done than anyone of us can do.

We must trust and rely on the Holy Spirit to move us where He needs us when He needs us.

This morning you will see that the tone of the book changes during these first seven verses of chapter five.

We read the first three last week, but there was more for us to discuss than we had time for.

Prior to this next section, we can see the preacher looking back over his life and making suggestions based on what he has experienced.

As you are about to see, he becomes very direct in chapter five.

For this section, he isn’t making suggestions, but rather, is speaking with authority and directing the readers (which includes us) in how we should approach God.

Ecclesiastes 5:1–7 ESV

1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words. 4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6 Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.

Do you see how straight forward he is being?

You can’t read this text and then wonder what he was saying.

Keep in mind as well, where we have been in the last few chapters.

Chapter 3 was all about God’s timing and His calling for each of us as members of the body.

Chapter 4 discussed the evil that exists in the world and our response to that evil.

The preacher follows that up with this section on Fearing God.

Remember that we discussed previously that “fearing God” means to live in right relationship with Him.

Our response to oppression and suffering in this world must start with personal worship.

How have you seen your personal worship make a difference in someone else’s life?

Because the world is hevel, our authentic, personal connection to the father is the only way it will improve.

There is famine, disease, poverty, and death all over the world.

If you have had the opportunity to travel to different parts of the world, you know that those things are found everywhere.

Geography, culture, age, gender, none of those are immune to suffering.

But we know because of scripture and personal experience that God desires that all people have full bellies, are well, have the things they need to survive.

If God’s desire for His creation is for them to know Him and by virtue of Him, to understand love, peace, joy, and provision, why do so many in the world live in suffering?

I want to bring us back to a familiar passage.

Colossians 1:27 ESV

27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

I was hesitant to share this verse because I and Glen have pointed to it so many times.

My hesitancy is rooted in pride though, not because it isn’t applicable.

I don’t ever want to seem like a one-trick pony.

Regardless of how I feel, the message that God has for us has not changed.

The Gospel will always be the Gospel and we will always have a roll in it.

Look at what Paul is saying here.

Let’s read 24-29 together.

Colossians 1:24–29 ESV

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

God is using Paul the church at Colosse to show the gentiles the truth about who Christ was.

I want to point out what Paul was saying about the cost.

“in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,”

He is saying that any suffering that Christ did not endure, he is now enduring for the sake of the gospel.

He is willing to suffer for the sake of people.

God called them, they suffered in obedience.

Paul’s experiences with God fueled his determination to make Christ known at all personal costs.

Paul wasn’t just good at what He did.

He didn’t have a talent for public speaking.

We know his story.

On his way to persecute believers in Christ, he was confronted by God.

That experience forced him to see the truth, that Jesus was the son of God.

That experience caused Paul to worship God as never before.

That worship is what fueled Paul.

Because he knew the truth, love, and grace, he was willing to suffer anything so that others would know what he knew.

Oppression and suffering still have a foothold in this world because the people of God, who know the truth, love, and grace, are hoarding it for themselves.

We don’t choose to suffer for others because of a good sermon or good intentions.

We only suffer when we are motivated by love, which is God manifested.

We are motivated, just like Paul, by encountering the Holy Spirit.

Scripture is full of people that knew and loved God.

Their personal experiences with God drew them closer to God and forever changed them.

Psalm 5:7 ESV

7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.

Psalm 95:6 ESV

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

Psalm 122:1 ESV

1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

Micah 4:2 ESV

2 and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Hebrews 12:28 ESV

28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,

It becomes clear as we look at these people’s testimony that God’s desire is to be in a relationship with Him which brings us to our knees in worship.

God wants our hearts, not our best efforts.

In every other area of our lives, the way we move forward is by working really hard.

That logic does not work with God.

We cannot work or negotiate our way into right relationship with God.

Ecclesiastes 5:2–5 ESV

2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words. 4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

I think we often feel defeated in our walk with God and in accomplishing what He has called us to because we are going about it in the wrong way.

We can’t approach ministry and relationships like we approach a job.

You don’t get extra points for staying late, working harder, or going the extra mile.

All of those things are our attempts to appease God and they never can.

The goal we are working towards is perfection and it is literally impossible.

When we try to achieve that level of perfection on our own we are falling into a trap.

Keep in mind that it was a desire for equality with God that led Satan to fall.

I don’t think that any of us approach our relationship with the goal of being equal to God, but by trying to depend on our works instead of His, we are at the very least trying to add to what Christ has done.

I want to remind you of what the preacher said in Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 ESV

14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

Did you see what the preacher just said?

“God has done it so that people fear (have a right relationship) God.”

Our feeble attempts at trying to be right with God by working for it is pointless.

It would be like washing your dishes again right after they are cleaned by the dishwasher.

What’s the point? They are already clean!

When we act outside of God’s direction, we are trying to add to what He has already done.

All we are really doing is getting in the way.

Trying to work on a project with a toddler.

They have really good intentions and want to be helpful.

However, they are also learning how to be independent and therefore have their own ideas about how the task should be completed.

They have ideas, but they have very little knowledge.

Charlee, my toddler, will regularly try to steer our activities towards what she wants by saying the idea and following it with, “that’s a good idea, isn’t it?”

Toddler’s have good intentions, they want to help, but they aren’t good listeners.

They are consumed with doing things their way.

Instead of being helpful, they are in the way and making a mess of things.

Don’t you see how that parallels to when we try to “fix” things in our lives?

God knows exactly what is going on and knows what needs to happen to correct or improve things.

Rather than seeking direction or waiting for Him to move, we go all toddler and jump in there and make a mess of things.

The preacher is telling us that instead of going to God with lots of ideas, we should go to Him to listen.

He spells it out for us in vs 3.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 ESV

3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.

it is worth noting here, that the word dream is not referring to what our brains think up while we are sleeping.

It is talking specifically about our planning of our own lives.

God wants us to live in honest pursuit of Him, not the American Dream.

In reading this passage, it is hard to not see that is direct opposition to how our culture lives life.

We see the preacher pointing out two ways in which we try to manipulate God into doing or acting in a way that benefits us.

First, as we just discussed, we offer sacrifices, in the form of our works.

The second way is by trying to barter with God.

We make promises to God in hopes that it will convince Him to do what we are asking.

I’ll be honest, when a child was keeping me up at night, I would try this particular tactic over and over again.

News flash, it never worked.

In all seriousness though, we do this.

We promise God that we will do X, Y, and Z if He will… fill in the blank.

Our attempts at bartering with God reveals that we aren’t pursuing God because we love Him.

We are simply trying to make Him a genie.

This is a learned, cultural behavior.

We are always waiting for the “better thing”.

How many times has someone told you they would do something and then later a better offer shows up you and they drop you like a bag of hammers?

This is a result of being desensitized by culture in the area of integrity.

Culture has taught us that it is more important that we do what we want than it is that we keep our word.

One of my all time favorite shows is Parks and Rec.

In it is the famous saying of Tom and Donna.

Who knows it?

“Treat yo self!”

In the show this is one day a year when the duo do whatever they want for themselves, no matter the cost.

You know the add-age that in every joke is a bit of truth.

What the show is brilliantly pointing out is that, as an american culture, we live that way everyday.

Rather than thinking of others, we focus on what is best for us or what will feel the best for us.

What the preacher is revealing is that we can’t serve ourselves and be in right relationship with God.

Remember that commandment that we are to have no other Gods?

When we are living for our own benefit, we are making ourselves a god.

We are telling the world and God that what we want is more important than anything else.

If God wants our hearts and He wants to pursue Him, that means only one thing.

We cannot live for ourselves and the Kingdom at the same time.

We talked last week about giving up the American Dream.

Here we see it again.

This is not a new message.

God has been trying to get man to understand this since sin first entered the world.

Jesus taught it this way...

Matthew 6:19–24 ESV

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

We cannot pursue the American Dream and a relationship with God.

We will either obey the father by living in obedience or we will choose to follow our own desires for comfort and culture.

I know that this flies in the face of what most religious people in the united states believe.

I want you to really spend some time before the Lord on this idea.

As I have said today and many times before, I do not want to be your motivation.

Only the Lord can motivate you to give up on what our culture says is important.

Let me share an example from my life on what that looks like.

When we moved back from Rockwall, TX in 2008ish.

When Glen heard we were back he asked to meet with us.

He had just been asked to be the pastor of a church that needed Youth Pastors and over lunch he asked us to pray about taking that role.

The catch was that the church was broke and they couldn’t afford to pay us anything.

I told Glen we would pray about it, but if I’m honest it was a big ’ol no from me as soon as he said it wouldn’t be paid.

Think about it, who wants a job that doesn’t pay?!

Long story short, we did pray about it.

A few days later, I was at work and was overwhelmed with the feeling that God wanted us to do it.

I called Bethany and told her.

She confirmed that she was feeling the same thing.

So, I called Glen and told him what we were feeling.

Can you believe that he started laughing at me?

I asked him why that was funny and he told me that God told him already that we were going to take the job.

Then Glen said this and it was true then and it is true today.

“Only God can tell someone to work for free.”

God was asking us to give up our “dream” so we could do what He needed.

I’ll be honest, this was a huge leap of faith for Bethany and I.

It was in no way easy and it didn’t feel good at first.

I’m not telling you this to pat myself on the back.

I’m sharing this story to tell you that making that leap of faith was so hard.

All we had ever really known was full time-paid ministry.

We both still worked full-time jobs and basically volunteered as YP’s, which is a full-time job in its self.

Just the idea of that was completely foreign to us and was in no way in our plans for how we were going to live and work.

At that point in our lives, God was asking us to give up on our dreams of working in a megachurch, which now sounds weird to say.

God asked us to follow His plan, not the one we had mapped out for ourselves.

If we are going to be God’s people, we have to be ready and willing to say yes.

We have to give up our “right” to the American Dream and receive our inheritance which is the Kingdom of God.

We are God’s love in a broken world when we are living for God the way that Paul describes.

Filling up with affliction for the sake of the Gospel.

This is our inheritance, to love God.

By allowing God to work in us and reveal Himself to us, we are going to be motivated by that revelation.

The fruit of that authentic relationship will be our hearts being made like Christ.

We will have a love the suffering and the oppressed.

Our motivation to suffer with and for others will be the incredible love of The Father.