Truths for Balanced Living - Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

Truths for Balanced Living Ecclesiastes 7:15-29 (c)Copyright July 5, 2020 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche As the average person looks at life, it is hard to see any order to life. Solomon is refreshingly honest in this book. He sees what life looks like to those who live "under the sun" or apart from God. As you read the words, you see Solomon taking us between despair and faith. He begins with these words, 15 I have seen everything in this meaningless life, including the death of good young people and the long life of wicked people. This is a struggle for us. It is a puzzle. Why is it that so many good people seem to die "before their time" and people who pay no attention to God seem to live long and often prosperous lives. Why do good people seem to struggle, and crooks seem to prosper? Why do people who serve sacrificially die young while it seems some nasty people just continue along their merry way? It is impossible to predict (or control) life. Someone has said this is why in gambling, the house and the bookies get rich, but the ones who are gambling will only win a debilitating debt that will threaten to undo their lives, hoping for that "one great hand." In light of the unpredictable nature of life, how do we live? How do you keep going when life seems so confusing? This is what we are going to look at this morning. The first step to coping is with a definition. On this side of the grave, we define blessing as long life, prosperity, and the ability to do the things you want to do and enjoy doing. God defines blessing as being in the right relationship to Him. Because of this, we always view death as a tragedy (unless a person is ancient and wants to die. Then we call it a blessing.) However, if death is really victory and a "graduation" leading to our eternal reward, and is a welcome from the Lord; if death is when we become fully alive in Christ, as we are told by Jesus and in the Word of God; then even the death of a believing young person is not tragic! It is painful for us because we have lost something we planned to outlive and enjoy for many more years. Solomon is going to give us some bedrock principles that will guide us as we live our lives in this unpredictable world. On the first read, these words confuse. However, as we carefully listen to understand, we will find wisdom. 16 So don't be too good or too wise! Why destroy yourself? 17 On the other hand, don't be too wicked, either. Don't be a fool! Why die before your time? 18 Pay attention to these instructions, for anyone who fears God will avoid both extremes. Keep Your Balance You are not alone if you shake your head at these words (and some of those to come). Some people believe Solomon is just being cynical. In this case, he says, "Don't knock yourselves out trying to live a good life. There is nothing gained by it." I do NOT believe that is what Solomon is saying. Instead, I think Solomon is helping us think clearly. In verse 20, Solomon acknowledges that there really are no "good" people. We like to think of ourselves as good and godly people. Perhaps you live much better than the people around you. But the average person around us is not the standard for what defines "good." God is. So why does Solomon say not to be "too good?" Solomon is warning us about feeling "Self-righteous." A self-righteous person believes they have earned God's favor by their own good deeds. I know you have met self-righteous people. These are people who feel if everyone lived their lives more as they do, they would all be better off. You sense they think God is very lucky to have them on His side. They strut around with an air of superiority and condemnation toward all who do not measure up to the lofty standards by which they operate. Here's the problem: they are destroying themselves! They have convinced themselves they deserve salvation because of their performance. They are blind to their need for grace, mercy, and forgiveness. They are like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who were regularly condemned by Jesus for their spiritual arrogance. They are too good to be saved. Solomon is not telling us to stop trying to live a godly life. Not at all! He is merely telling us to strive for godliness with humility and realize that we still fall far short and rest in the hands of a wise, loving, and gracious Father. We need balance in our life. Chuck Swindoll gives us some examples of balance, ... fall in love with the Lord, but don't lose touch with humanity, don't check out of reality. Get hold of the Scriptures and make a study of them for yourself, but don't get caught in bibliolatry (where you begin to worship the print on the page.) be committed to witnessing --absolutely committed to making Christ known--but please, please give the non-Christian a break. Have a little wisdom and tact. (p 210) Pursue God's Wisdom Rather than the Wisdom of the World 19 One wise person is stronger than ten leading citizens of a town! 20 Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins. 21 Don't eavesdrop on others-you may hear your servant curse you. 22 For you know how often you yourself have cursed others. 23 I have always tried my best to let wisdom guide my thoughts and actions. I said to myself, "I am determined to be wise." But it didn't work. 24 Wisdom is always distant and difficult to find. 25 I searched everywhere, determined to find wisdom and to understand the reason for things. I was determined to prove to myself that wickedness is stupid and that foolishness is madness. 26 I discovered that a seductive woman is a trap more bitter than death. Her passion is a snare, and her soft hands are chains. Those who are pleasing to God will escape her, but sinners will be caught in her snare. After the command not to be overly wise, Solomon again urges us to pursue Godly wisdom. We remember Solomon was known as a man of extraordinary wisdom that was bestowed upon Him by God. Wisdom is "the ability to know how to apply experience, knowledge, and sound judgment." We have seen it too many times: people who are educated beyond their intelligence. In other words, they possess degrees but don't understand the realities of living! As a society, we have worshiped education. We find someone with credentials, and we turn to them for answers! (Television stations generally also turn to them for interviews). The thing is, people can be well educated but have no common sense! Solomon urges us to discover how to make a right application of knowledge. One wise man, says Solomon, is more valuable than 10 leading citizens. A group of knowledgeable people without wisdom is like reciting a dictionary without constructing any sentences. You have a lot of verbiage with no communication. As evidence of this, all you have to do is watch the evening news. You will inevitably see someone with two lines of letters after their name spewing words with no meaning. I admit I have become somewhat cynical. I am convinced many people try to convince you of their intelligence by stringing a bunch of scholarly and unrelated words together to overwhelm or intimidate the listener. This way they can avoid any rational discourse. Some of the favorite phrases today are things like, * "We don't believe in faith; we believe in science" (as if the two were contradictory . . . they are not!) * "Any educated person recognizes this" (the idea here is that if I call you a name I hope plays to your insecurities, then you will back off and won't see that I have no real argument to give for my beliefs). * "That is what people used to believe, no one believes that now." To add extra power to this, you can say, "no educated person believes that now." (This does not tell us anything about the truth or falsehood of a belief. It only describes what people believe is right. . . not what is ACTUALLY true). Truth is not established by public opinion. Truth is timeless and unchanging. This is why wisdom is so necessary in our day. We live in a society of slogans, innuendo, and Facebook rants. If something is repeated enough times, we believe it is true! The wise person won't fall for this. They will ask, "What is it that is being affirmed?" Then they will ask, "But, is that true?" Solomon tells us wisdom is difficult to find. I am convinced however, this is why we need to be students of the Word of God and of Jesus, the Son of God. This is the value that comes from studying Paul and Solomon, and so many others. These are people who have been granted supernatural wisdom. You will not gain understanding from reading a verse a day. It is too easy to take such things out of context. You need to follow the logic, understand the arguments, and engage with the larger text. Solomon affirms, "foolishness is madness." When we follow the way of the fool (the person who lacks wisdom), we get into trouble. Solomon illustrates, I discovered that a seductive woman is a trap more bitter than death. Her passion is a snare, and her soft hands are chains. Those who are pleasing to God will escape her, but sinners will be caught in her snare. The height of foolishness is seen in a person who allows themselves to be seduced by another. Most likely, Solomon is writing to men. If he were to address this to women, I believe he would say, "a smooth-talking man is a trap more bitter than death." The idea is, that the foolish person thinks infidelity (cheating on your spouse), or immorality, (sleeping around even if you are not married), will bring you the relationship for which you are yearning. This is what is portrayed on television and in the movies. However, it is a lie! Solomon says what actually happens is you get caught in a prison of your own making. The Road Less Traveled The final verses in the chapter are what theologians would call "stinkers." (OK, maybe that's not what they would call it, but that is what I call them.) They sound terribly sexist and even at that we aren't sure what Solomon is saying. Let's look at the last three verses of chapter 7. 27 "This is my conclusion," says the Teacher. "I discovered this after looking at the matter from every possible angle. 28 Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman! 29 But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path." Remember, Solomon is looking for wisdom. I believe he is saying, I could maybe find one man in a thousand who had wisdom and as yet, he had not found a single woman he considered to be wise. Ladies, before you tear Ecclesiastes out of your Bible and burn it as sexist, remember a couple of things. First, women were not educated at this time, their domain was the home. Second, Solomon, therefore, is writing to men. I can tell you from being in men's meetings, that men will say that women do not make sense or are not logical at all; they are "so emotional." Men generally nod at such generalizations. I suggest, with a measure of confidence, that if I could be a fly on a wall at a women's meeting, I would hear a woman say "all men are insensitive, incapable of human emotion, and oblivious to the real world." Most of the women would nod their heads in agreement. The point is this: wisdom is uncommon. It is hard to find wise people. Why is it so hard? Solomon says, "God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes." In other words, "Don't blame God for lack of wisdom." He created us good and wise individuals. It is mankind who has derailed the wisdom train. Sin has led us to where we are today. Conclusions Once again, Solomon brings us to that point of recognizing our need for spiritual rescue. Until we recognize our lost state, we will continue on the treadmill to increasing foolishness. Our world is not getting better. We are not "more enlightened" than generations before. It seems to me that we are becoming increasingly superficial and gullible. Jesus came not only to rescue us from sin . . . He came to rescue us from ourselves! He came to rescue us from foolishness and intellectual and spiritual blindness. Left to our own devices, we will become increasingly more godless and profane. One of the startling things about the book of Revelation is the times we read God showed executed some judgment. Still, the people chose to harden their hearts, refuse to repent and continue to pursue the dead-end road to destruction. We are living in a crazy world. You don't have to look for examples of the world "gone wrong." These are times when good seems to lose and evil seems to triumph. Solomon has been drawing us back to trust in Christ. The fact that we say some things aren't fair reveals that we do believe there is right and there is wrong. That leads to the question: "Where did this notion of right and wrong come from? I believe Solomon wants us to turn to the Lord and the source of good. God gets a lot of blame for things that are due to our own choices. I am convinced that most of the tragedies of the world are due to man's sinfulness. I believe even the environmental anomalies will someday be traced to things we did. God allows things to happen to accomplish several things, one Pastor gives some suggestions: * The hard things in life are a test to help us determine whether we are really trusting Christ for our salvation. If we only trust Him in the good times, we are not really trusting Him at all. * The hard things in life remind us to turn our hearts away from this vain world and look for true meaning and happiness in the world that is to come through Christ. In other words, we will not sufficiently hunger for what is ahead until we see this world cannot satisfy us. In other words, suffering is part of our preparation for eternity. When you see injustice, prejudice, and evil of various kinds, it should remind us that these are the very things God will make right in the coming day. * The hard things show us and convict us of our own sin. When we see such things in the world, we are reminded that we could be guilty to some degree of the same sin. For example, all the talk about racial prejudice should alert us to the areas of our lives where we are guilty of looking at people in terms of their color, ethnicity, gender, or socio-economic status instead of as people who, like us, are made in the image of God. Hopefully this realization will drive us to repent and realign our thinking, Sometimes the hard things of life serve as a correction for our sin. It may be discipline for our sin. In other words, some things may come into our life as God's "kick in the pants" to make things right in our life. We can rant and rave about the hard things of life, or, stop and listen and try to learn from them. We can pursue wisdom rather than rage against God as fools. The Lord is good. Those who are wise will run to Him and hide in Him. Once again, it all starts with Jesus. Until we are right with Him, all these principles are going to be difficult, if not impossible. Fortunately, He is not hiding. He waits for you with open arms. You must come to Him with open arms also. This means leaving the stuff and baggage of life behind. We come to Him with confidence in His kindness and mercy offered through the grace of God through Christ. We cling to Jesus as the One who alone can lead us out of the pooled foolishness of our world. And when we come to Him, He will give us the Holy Spirit to guide us by wisdom and truth. And if we follow faithfully, He will make us shine like lights in the spiritual darkness of the world around us. He will help the world to see His wisdom in us. 1