Wisdom Is Life

Intro:

Good morning!

As always, it is good to see everyone and if you are joining us online, welcome and glad you could be here this morning.

Thank you again to our Audio and Video team for making all of this possible.

As we begin this morning, I want to give you a bit of a warning.

Whether you are here or at home, I want to ask you to pay very close attention today.

Our text is one that has been often misunderstood and I don’t want any of us to fall in the same trap.

It is fairly complex and somewhat of a brain teaser.

My main concern is that if you aren’t purposeful in staying plugged in this morning, you may mishear or only partially hear what is being said.

To give you a visual for what I mean, here is a screenshot of some of my notes from this week.

I had to spend hours, breaking this text down, figuring out what the preacher was referencing, and what he was intending to communicate.

My goal today is to speak as simply as possible and let scripture explain scripture.

Let’s jump into our text and you will see what I mean.

Is everyone ready and focused?

In our first phrase he says he has tested “all this”, and by that, he is referring to all the text on wisdom and folly.

Ecclesiastes 7:23–8:1 CSB

23 I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. 24 What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it? 25 I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. 26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap: her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. 27 “Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, 28 which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman. 29 Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.” 1 Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

Did you see what I was talking about?

To all the ladies in the room, hear me say this, the preacher is not making generalized statements about women.

We will get to those statements in a minute, but if you were concerned, trust me, there is good stuff in there, and I promise we will address it.

Okay, the first thing I want us to discuss this morning is his question in vs 24.

Ecclesiastes 7:23–24 CSB

23 I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. 24 What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it?

Only God can possess all wisdom.

How many times have we resolved to do anything?

There is a lesson here, that everyone needs to learn.

If you haven’t learned it yet, when you truly discover God’s grace, you will.

We cannot resolve to do something and actually see it through for the remainder of our lives.

Where is the issue?

What was the error of the preacher’s desire?

He tried to accomplish something that he is incapable of doing.

He says, “I resolved… but it was beyond me.”

He tried and failed.

This is a truth that we must remind ourselves of on a daily basis.

We cannot be the men and women that we are called to be in our own strength.

It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can be the people we are meant to be.

We and the preacher alike, have the enemy in our ear first thing in the morning and throughout or day, whispering the lie that we can do it on our own.

I have loved singing Psalm 90 these last few weeks because it speaks to our moment by moment need for the Lord in our lives.

In introducing this song, Shane B makes a remarkable point about our condition.

Psalm 90:14–17 CSB

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your faithful love so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days. 15 Make us rejoice for as many days as you have humbled us, for as many years as we have seen adversity. 16 Let your work be seen by your servants, and your splendor by their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish for us the work of our hands— establish the work of our hands!

Shane says that it is only a person that is unsatisfied that ask to be satisfied.

Duh, right?

But isn’t this exactly what we need?

When we try to step out on our own and accomplish works in our own strength, it is because we are not satisfied.

The psalmist is speaking for us what we need to say daily.

Satisfy me with your steadfast love!

Look at the dependency that he reveals.

Satisfy us...

Make us...

Let us see...

establish FOR us the work of our hands.

Who is doing all the work?

The Lord is doing the work and anytime we try to take over, we are going to fail and suffer for it.

I can tell you for certain, this week as I was studying this passage, I was and still, ask the Lord for His wisdom.

It is only through Him that we can truly understand what He intends for us to learn.

Again, when we try to understand this life on our own, we miss it.

Ecclesiastes 7:25–26 CSB

25 I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. 26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap: her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

Do you remember the preacher saying earlier in the book that he sought out all the wisdom of the world and that he turned himself over to all folly?

His intent was to understand the world and therefore gaining wisdom.

He shows us in this passage the result of that endeavor.

Do you remember Russ talking about the allusion in this book?

Remember, an allusion is an expression designed to call something to mind without directly mentioning it.

He used the example of Lady and the Tramp.

This is another use of allusion.

He isn’t talking about women in general, but rather he is pointing to Proverbs 1-9.

Let’s read some of chapter 9 and all have an “Ah-Ha” moment together.

Turn with me and lets read these.

Proverbs 9:1–6 CSB

1 Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars. 2 She has prepared her meat; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. 3 She has sent out her female servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city: 4 “Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says, 5 “Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed. 6 Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.

Who is the “she” in these verses?

Lady Wisdom

Now, look with me further into chapter nine.

Proverbs 9:13–18 CSB

13 Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing. 14 She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, 15 calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths: 16 “Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says, 17 “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!” 18 But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

And who is “she” in these verses?

Lady Folly

The preacher is pointing back to this well-established understanding, that there are wisdom and folly.

So when we read this statement, we need to understand that the preacher is speaking of this description of Lady Folly.

His point in these verses is to show us what he has learned in his time with both Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly.

The sum of the preacher’s experiences has taught him a valuable lesson.

Choosing to live in wickedness and folly is more unpleasant than death.

How bold is that?

We’ve talked about this before, but I want to remind you that if the preacher was Solomon, he was better positioned than any man has ever been to experience all the world has to offer.

He was rich, famous, and in charge.

Literally, whatever he wanted, he would get.

Through that power, he learned that wickedness and folly did not bring happiness.

Isn’t this the gospel of the world?

Pursue what you want and you will be happy?

He is reminding his readers that he tried all they had to offer, got to the end of it all, and how did he describe it?

He said it was more bitter than death.

There is an important lesson for us here!

We can choose to pursue the world, but in the end, death would have been better!

The preacher does us a favor too.

Not only does he tell us the results of such a pursuit, but he also tells us how to avoid it.

Look at the last half of verse 26.

Ecclesiastes 7:26 CSB

26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap: her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

We escape or evade the draw to wickedness and folly by pleasing God.

So, how do we do that? How do we please God?

You know this one, when we abide in Christ.

In abiding, allowing Him to direct us moment by moment, we will avoid her snares.

Not because He makes us good a juking.

We avoid it by living in the wisdom of God’s leadership.

Living in submission to God does not come naturally and requires that we submit ourselves on a daily basis.

Ecclesiastes 7:27–28 CSB

27 “Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, 28 which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman.

Last week we used math imagery to understand the passage and here it is again.

However, pay close attention to it.

He says I have discovered…and, my soul continually searches for but does not find.

He adds up the total of his experiences in life and finds that he still has not found true wisdom.

Again, we need to see that a person with all the resources and power, could not find wisdom in what he could purchase or command.

I know that every one of us is far from his resource and power level.

With that being said, if he couldn’t find it in the world, neither can we.

What he is discovering is that...

Wisdom is rare.

He says that he searched a thousand people and found only one that had wisdom.

But what about his woman comment again?

I’ll admit, this one stumped me for a bit and I’m not too big-headed to admit it.

Thankfully, I don’t have to make sense of it.

We can trust God to show us.

There is a tag in your bible that points us to a passage in first kings.

Look with me and let’s see what’s up.

1 Kings 11:1–11 CSB

1 King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women 2 from the nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn your heart away to follow their gods.” To these women Solomon was deeply attached in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred who were concubines, and they turned his heart away. 4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. 5 Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not remain loyal to the Lord. 7 At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites, on the hill across from Jerusalem. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods. 9 The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded. 11 Then the Lord said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and did not keep my covenant and my statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

Solomon’s comment is not about women in general, but rather the specific women that he choose to surround himself with.

Remember that we said just a moment ago that we said we are pleasing to God, and therefore gain His wisdom.

By doing what?

Abiding is how we please God and a major part of that process is obeying what God has told us to do.

Solomon blatantly ignored God’s commands and the result was him being constantly pulled from God and even worshiping other gods.

Wisdom is rare because there are very few men and women that are willing to submit themselves to God’s authority.

We gain wisdom, by experiencing life in obedience to God.

When we choose to ignore God’s instructions, we are setting ourselves up for certain failure.

The preacher even reveals this.

Ecclesiastes 7:29–8:1 CSB

29 Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.” 1 Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

Again, allusion to creation, and he is making the point that God didn’t create us this way.

We choose to sin.

We choose to disobey.

I even get the sense at the end of this chapter that he is confessing his own sin.

He is in the category of people that were made upright, but choose to pursue many schemes.

All of us can take a queue from this line of thought.

As we saw last week, all of us sin.

All of us have pursued many schemes, giving in to lady folly in order to chase what we thought would bring us happiness.

Even in the end though, the preacher has not given up on wisdom.

We should seek wisdom, but not in our own power.

Wisdom should be sought by abiding.

By choosing to live under God’s leadership, we will gain true wisdom.

What is the advantage of wisdom?

If he has spent his whole life in pursuit of it, what can we possibly gain that he didn’t?

This passage, again is alluding.

The word interpretation here is pointing us to a familiar story.

You remember the story of Joseph.

He was sold into slavery by his brothers.

He was bought by Potiphar and worked in his house.

Potiphar’s wife lied, we’ll leave it at that, and Joseph was put in prison.

Let’s pick up there. Look with me.

Genesis 40:5–41:15 CSB

5 The king of Egypt’s cupbearer and baker, who were confined in the prison, each had a dream. Both had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning. 6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they looked distraught. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” 8 “We had dreams,” they said to him, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.” 9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: “In my dream there was a vine in front of me. 10 On the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms came out and its clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” 12 “This is its interpretation,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. 13 In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand the way you used to when you were his cupbearer. 14 But when all goes well for you, remember that I was with you. Please show kindness to me by mentioning me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison. 15 For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should put me in the dungeon.” 16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was positive, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. Three baskets of white bread were on my head. 17 In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” 18 “This is its interpretation,” Joseph replied. “The three baskets are three days. 19 In just three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from off you—and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh from your body.” 20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he gave a feast for all his servants. He elevated the chief cupbearer and the chief baker among his servants. 21 Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position as cupbearer, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had explained to them. 23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him. 1 At the end of two years Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile, 2 when seven healthy-looking, well-fed cows came up from the Nile and began to graze among the reeds. 3 After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside those cows along the bank of the Nile. 4 The sickly, thin cows ate the healthy, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. 5 He fell asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and good, came up on one stalk. 6 After them, seven heads of grain, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up. 7 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven plump, full ones. Then Pharaoh woke up, and it was only a dream. 8 When morning came, he was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him. 9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I remember my faults. 10 Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and he put me and the chief baker in the custody of the captain of the guards. 11 He and I had dreams on the same night; each dream had its own meaning. 12 Now a young Hebrew, a slave of the captain of the guards, was with us there. We told him our dreams, he interpreted our dreams for us, and each had its own interpretation. 13 It turned out just the way he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.” 14 Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they quickly brought him from the dungeon. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to Pharaoh. 15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it.”

Genesis 41:33 CSB

33 “So now, let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt.

Genesis 41:37–39 CSB

37 The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants, 38 and he said to them, “Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?” 39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are.

What was Joseph’s source of wisdom, a wisdom that brought him from prison to the second-highest position in all of Egypt?

God’s wisdom.

Joseph said it from the beginning, that interpretations belong to God and so he spoke what God revealed about the dreams.

Just as an extra bonus, we have the reminder that sometimes in order for God to reveal Himself, it takes time.

Joseph was enslaved and then imprisoned.

It took years for God’s call on his life to be fulfilled and in order for it to be fulfilled, there were years of suffering.

It too was hevel.

Going back to our passage in Ecclesiastes, when we make it our goal to submit to God and follow his leadership in every area of our lives, we are changed,

Something wonderful happens.

Look at the last part of 8:1 again.

Ecclesiastes 8:1 CSB

1 Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

God’s wisdom, when manifested in our lives, changes us back into what we were created to be.

We are changed from broken vessels, into the glorious creation that God made in the beginning.

He says that wisdom brightens our faces and the sternness is changed.

Think about that.

How do our faces look when we are depressed or stressed?

They look dull and tight.

We grit our teeth when we’re upset.

When we allow God to be the Lord of our lives and submit to Him, He brings wisdom, peace, and joy.

At that time, we not only feel better about life and ourselves, but people can see it our faces and hear it in our voices.

Our hearts and our perspectives have changed because we aren’t in control of those things.

We are showing the world the true nature of what God wanted when He created us.