Untitled Sermon (9)

Good morning – we are continuing our series “Lessons in Lockdown” – giving us an opportunity to talk about what we believe God is saying to us in these days.

This morning I want to open out Ecclesiastes 4 if you want to get your bibles ready.

We’ve been really privileged to work alongside many friends in ministry, both in a full-time capacity, but also for many years as volunteers alongside our paid work.

When we came into full-time paid ministry – in our first church we were advised not to have any friends within the church.

Whatever you do, don't be friends with people within your congregation. Why? Because it's dangerous.

If you are friends with people, they can hurt you.

I remember taking some time to process and understand that. I knew in previous generations in Elim – that would have been the advice given to ministers, so I tried to submit – but I have to say it was a tough call.

And at some point, I realised I got really isolated, and I got lonely.

Helen and I grew closer at that time, as a family we hunkered down – but we live a gospel that involves getting alongside each other. That WE are not peoples answer – but Jesus is and as we started to get to know people, to invest our lives in theirs – not out of trying to disobey – but philosophically, struggled.

Theologically we saw a God who got involved, a saviour – Jesus who entered the mess, the hurt of relationships, of being let down by people, friends time and time again – If God is willing to do it – why not us?

I can genuinely say we tried, but it was just not in us.

After these 14 or so years since we left our jobs and our home in Leeds. Forgetting the years before working on teams and committees and just getting our hands dirty and involved in local church

I've come to the conclusion that isolation is more dangerous than any possible dangers of friendship.

Matt Branaugh - Christianity Today looked at the evidence around isolated Christians.

He talks about the fact that there's dangers for us individually when we're isolated, but it's dangerous for us as a church as well.

He said, when you are isolated, you're more prone to feelings of sadness and loneliness, which makes sense.

You're also more prone to anxiety and stress, your stress levels go up.

You're more prone to get discouraged because you don't have people around you to encourage you when you're feeling down and lonely and sad.

You're more prone to fall into temptation, to sin issues, to addictions.

You're more prone to make really bad decisions because you don't have sounding boards around.

You're more prone to crash and burn. If you're isolated.

And yet we find ourselves in a time that IS isolation for many of us.

And So, I want to look at this ancient book of Ecclesiastes and find out what wisdom we can mine today.

Because technology didn't cause this condition that we find ourselves in, the pandemic hasn’t caused this problem - they propagate it, but this is an ancient problem, people have been isolating forever.

So I'm going to walk through this text, I think there's some really helpful stuff in it for us.

Now before I do, I need to briefly explain the structure of it.

Ecclesiastes 4:7 and the structure is three different peri-copes, three little sections, that go together with one theme threading through all three, it’s called a chiasm.

In English we tend to start at our starting point A, and work our way through points B, C, D normally so our solution would be at the end.

In the bible particularly in the OT in Hebrew, but the Apostle Paul especially uses them in the NT we find these other little sequences

And this one here there is A, then B, the A again.

Chiasm

A 4: 7-8 Story of isolated rich man

B 4: 9-12

A’ 4: 13-16 Story of isolated King

So, the first A v7&8 is a story about an isolated rich man.

The second A’ v13-16 is the story of an isolated King

& in between is the author's solution for isolation to us - B.

So let's talk first of all about the isolated rich man starting in v7,

7 I observed yet another example of something meaningless under the sun.[1]

If you've ever studied Ecclesiastes, you know, ‘under the sun’ is the authors little phrase for living life as though God doesn't exist or as if you don’t care about Him anymore.

Living life with what the world has to offer.

He's looking at the world through that perspective.

And he says under the sun, from a worldly perspective, I saw something that's completely meaningless.

What is it?

8 There was a man all alone; [2] [mark in your bible – all alone] - It says literally, there is a person and he has no second.

He has no second. There isn't anyone else in his life. He has no companion. He has no friend. He is completely isolated.

he had neither son nor brother. [3]

These are the two closest male relatives.

And these would also be the beneficiaries of his wealth.

He doesn't have them.

It doesn't say that he never had a brother and he never had sons.

Maybe he's lost sons through neglect or through divorce.

We don't know how he got to this place.

But what we know is he is all alone.

He's probably cut off his relationships, but he doesn't really care because he is making a tonne of money.

There was no end to his toil,

yet his eyes were not content with his wealth[4]

He's working more and more hours, but he still doesn't feel like he has enough.

It's this vicious cycle that we see in our communities all the time.

We may see it in our lives too

He laments, “For whom am I toiling,” “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”

This too is meaningless— a miserable business! [5]

He has this moment of clarity. He's working really hard.

But he has no relationships.

He has no enjoyment of true life with other people.

He's completely isolated.

He's got no spouse; he's got no kids. He's got no friends.

This too is meaningless.

He stands up one day and he shouts, what am I doing, but it just echoes through his big house because there's no one there to address the question.

He's just completely alone.

And this is how our author sets up the problem with this story of this isolated man.

Now in verse nine, he comes to the solution.

He's going to tell us how to fix this.

9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.[6]

His solution is: friendship is better than isolation. Isn't it embarrassing that God has to tell us this?

It should be pretty much common sense. But he obviously needs to tell us.

Now, you may have heard this section read at weddings. But it has nothing to do with marriage. It's talking about two friends that are working on something together.

This is not about people who are married. This is for people who are human. So, for all of us,

What it says is ‘two are better than one’

We can go back to our chiasm and we can fill in that centre section – the solution.

Chiasm

A 4: 7-8 Story of isolated rich man

B 4: 9-12 Two are better than one.

A’ 4: 13-16 Story of isolated King

We will get to the story of the isolated king in a bit, but what he's going to do is to give us three brief illustrations of how 2 is better than 1.

1: V10 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble[7]

The imagery here is of travel in the ancient world. At the time this was written, there wasn't roads, there wasn’t streetlights.

If you're travelling at night, It was very dark, there's lots of danger.

Some of these paths would run on the edges of ravines and you could slip off and just go down into the ditch.

There were pits that you could fall into.

Jesus in Luke's Gospel at one point said we don't want the blind leading the blind or they'll fall into the pits. There were so many pits that you could fall into that Jesus could reference them and people were like, yeah, those pits are really dangerous.

So - it was dangerous to walk along the road. You didn't do it by yourself. Because if you fell, you needed someone to help you up

Two are better than one.

Let me ask you a question. Who catches you when you fall?

Who do you talk to when you've messed up?

Who listens to you when you failed, when you've made mistakes, when you fallen on your face, when you fallen into sin?

Who do you talk to about that?

Two are better than one.

“ I think I messed up”.” Really? What did you do?” “Well, I did this…”

“Well, mate, you did mess up. It's bad. Thanks for telling me. Let me remind you of your identity in Christ. Let me remind you that the cross works for you.

Remind you that Jesus doesn't love you any less right now than he did five minutes ago.

Let me remind you of who you are.

And then let's talk through this because I want to walk alongside you and help you walk out of this.”

That's called a friend.

When I asked you who is it that you call for this?

Did anyone pop into your mind?

If not, it's because you're isolated and you are in a dangerous place.

Second illustration is in verse 11.

11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? [8]

They would journey, they'd sleep outside at night under the stars, it got very cold at night.

They wouldn't carry sleeping bags and blankets with them.

It's too hard to carry that stuff.

All they had was their cloak.

If you’re all alone, you would bundle up in your cloak, and you would put their head on a stone for a pillow and you would shiver through the night.

But if they were travelling with a partner, you would get in really close and tight, put both of the cloaks on and with your body heat in the cloaks, you would stay warm all night.

Two is better than one when you're exposed and vulnerable.

Who do you lean into when you're exposed, unguarded and vulnerable?

When you're thinking how in the world am I going to get through this?

Who is it that you call?

Or who is it that knows and loves you so much that they're already there?

When you're sitting in the hospital waiting room and surgery is taking longer than you thought it was going to take who's sitting there with you?

Can you picture them in your mind?

Who is it that comes and hugs you when it goes wrong – and says that was awful, but I love you anyway.

Who is it?

The third illustrations in verse 12,

12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer[9]

Walking along the road in the ancient world, there were bandits along the way. And if there are two of you, you're less likely to be attacked. If there are two of you and you are attacked, you're more likely to win the battle.

Remember, the Good Samaritan, the reason he got in trouble is because he was walking down the road by himself.

This is why we tell our kids not to walk alone at night because being alone makes you vulnerable.

Let me add this, in the middle of an attack is not the time to say I need to go make some friends. It's too late.

At that point, you need to have friends when the attack comes, they need to be in place before it happens.

Who stands with you when you're being threatened or attacked?

Who do you share that message on social media with, and say, Hey, read this, look at this and they say, this is rubbish – delete it

Who's that person for you?

The authors conclusion of this section is fascinating.

At the end of verse 12, he says,

Two are even better, for a double-braided cord is not easily broken. [10]

That's not what it says. I hope you are shouting at your screens for me reading that wrong!

It does not say a double braided cord - that's what we would expect it to say.

He's just made the point two is better than one.

Here's one example of to being better than one, then another example ‘two be better than one’. Here's another example to be better one. Here's my conclusion. Three is better than one.

That’s a strange conclusion

Now, I know you were at that wedding, you heard it preached that this is him and her and Jesus, and they're the three? We had it at our wedding. I’ve preached it at a wedding - confession time.

That's fine. That's not what he was thinking when he wrote it.

The author wasn't thinking about weddings and Jesus.

What he was likely thinking about was A Near Eastern proverb.

An ancient Sumerian text called Gilgamesh and Huwawa – go on say it out loud. (Not the Huwawa who make mobile phones)

He would been aware of this story and in this story, Gilgamesh is reminding his friend Enkido who's about to abort a mission because he's afraid that he doesn't have enough men.

He's trying to remind him of the power in numbers.

And here's the quote that he would have been aware of

“Stop Enkidu, two people together will not perish! A boat in tow will not sink! No one can cut through a three-ply cloth![11]

This was a story that had gone through the ancient world, people understood if you have one cord, it's not that hard to break. If you get another one and you wrap them around together, it's harder to break. But if you get a third cord and you weave them together in a braid, it's almost impossible to break them.

So what he's saying here is two is better than one, two is better than one, two is better than one. In fact, let me just say it this way. Three is even better than two.

We're not done with our story yet.

Look back at the chiasm.

We have the story of the isolated rich man, we've learned that two are better than one and actually three are better than two.

And now we're going to go to the story of the isolated King.

And in this story, we're going to learn one last thing and then we'll see how it applies to our lives today.

13 It is better to be a poor but wise youth [ok – remember him] than an old and foolish king who refuses all advice.[12]

In ancient Israel, the older people got the wiser they were understood to be. [it’s one of the main reasons we all look up to Pastor Michael]

The older you are, the wiser you are. It's just the way it worked.

But this King is old, and he's foolish.

Why?

Because he no longer knows how to listen to a warning.

He's foolish because he no longer takes advice. He has dismissed his advisors.

He's going it alone. He is isolated himself.

He got a little older, maybe experienced a little success.

He found himself thinking, I don't need to listen to people anymore.

It’s so easy to get like this.

And he's called foolish as a result.

14 Such a youth could rise from poverty and succeed. He might even become king, though he has been in prison. [13]

The youth becomes successor to this king, but he's not from the king's family. He comes from poverty. And we also know that he's wise from v13.

The youth may have come from prison to the throne, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.

We don't know where he came from.

But here's what we do know verse 15

15 I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king’s successor.[14]

In contrast to the old unwise King, the young man is surrounded by people.

He hasn't alienated himself.

He hasn't isolated himself.

It says in verse 16,

16 There was no end to all the people who were before them. [15]

Here's what our author is saying. He's saying two is better than one, three is better than two, but being surrounded is best of all.

Look what happens next.

But those who came later were not pleased with the successor.[16]

Imagine that, people being unhappy with a leader - Can you can you even imagine?

This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. [17]

The authors says it doesn't really matter that he was being criticised.

Why? Because he's surrounded by people who love him.

He's got friends, he could actually lose his kingship. If he keeps his friends, He's ok.

Two is better than one, three is better than two, being surrounded is best of all.

So let me walk you through just briefly what this might look for us as a community today.

Those of us who find ourselves isolated in this season – or as we come out of it.

Let's just think about ourselves as followers of Jesus this side of a cross.

We know the truth of the cross and we know the truth of the indwelling Christ and the power of the Spirit living within us.

And this is too obvious – but I’m still going to state it.

Two is better than one, two is you and Jesus, it's me and Jesus.

Jesus is the answer, the ultimate and supreme answer to isolation. He just is.

Imagine Jesus looking into your eyes and saying these words - “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” [18]

let me be your friend. Let me be your ultimate friend.

Over this past year I have been pondering the spheres of influence, the different circles of Jesus relationship and friendships.

And if you will allow me to simplify it.

I see Jesus having

1) One - The Disciple whom Jesus loved – most probably John. That really close friendship

2) Three – Peter, James and John

3) 12 - Disciples we commonly associate with Jesus

4) Dozens - 70/72 - We see him relating to these and sending them out

5) Thousands - Crowds/masses

If I can work backwards – perhaps there are some models we need to consider as people seeking to be disciples of Jesus – to be discipled and to be being discipling others.

1) Crowds / Masses/Thousands

I see this not so much about number – but about an environment

In the past I have so eloquently called this our ‘big’ – we need to be in the big and the small.

That sense of coming in to loads of people and being able to worship together, be taught together – a sense of awe of being part of something so much bigger than ourselves – but this is always going to be a place where we will struggle to go deeper.

2) The next would be the dozens – in the NT we see the 70/72. People we can know by name but never fully know everybody.

Dunbars law suggests we can only know so many people well, truly well – its more than a ‘Hi’ but you can’t expect everyone to be able to care for everybody else. It just won’t happen – yet how many of us on Sundays expect this when we can meet together.

3) The next would be the twelve – not necessarily 12 people – but it’s a good number to work to. For us this would be our lifeGROUPS.

During this time our lifeGROUPS have been really gracious and expanded to let extra people in while we work with potential new leaders.

We are talking about a circle of people with who we can pray together, study together, talk about life on a personal level and mutually encourage. It’s the start of accountability in informal sense.

Statistically - people who 'stick', who stay, who grow in a church are those who have committed to a smaller group – whatever that looks like and I would want to encourage that for everyone in our church.

4) Lastly – I’m just going to go down to the ‘handful of friends’.

Jesus spent more time with Peter, James & John than Rest - intentionally

Was this favouritism? Was this a clique?

Or did Jesus just know that there needed to be a tight knit core of friends in his life.

People with whom he could just hang out with, laugh with.

Talk about spiritual growth/development at deepest levels

Pour wisdom into and they pour back into us

If you want to grow in any sense: spiritually, intellectually, professionally etc - need to develop / foster close relationship with a few grace-oriented truth-tellers in your life.

Two is better than one, three is better than two, but being surrounded is better still.

At this time relationships, grouping are hard work – especially when we can’t all meet together. Its been hard for a season, and as our lifeGROUPS take a break for summer it can be so easy to become isolated, can I encourage you to make sure you are keeping in contact with other people.

That you are being proactive in YOUR contacting others.

I know some of our lifeGROUPS have organised themselves into smaller groups so you can walk together, catch up with each other in ways that fit into government guidelines.

It’s going to take ALL of us being proactive in this season to fully be church, and to keep connected.

Over summer we’ll be continuing with our Sunday morning services and the Bible course.

Maybe for some it means picking up a phone and keeping contact with others, writing a note and saying hello to a friend – for others it will be using skype/facetime some type of video call – but don’t leave it to others – be proactive.

We are missing you, missing catching up and we can’t wait until we can celebrate together fully as a church – but until then - Two is better than one, three is better than two, but being surrounded is better still.

I am going to hand back over to Ben & Emily as we take communion together. A sacrament that displays life as a Christian – not being just about me as an individual – but part of a community.

Let’s prepare our hears for communion together.

Parable:

Freezer full of food. Hob & Oven work on gas, but there is a problem with gas supply.

You have electricity (freezer), you have a microwave and you are hungry.

Everyone know the microwave is not as good as a meal made in the oven and on the hob – but while the gas is being sorted out – are you going to sit and starve?

[1] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ec 4:7.

[2] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ec 4:8.

[3] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ec 4:8.

[4] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ec 4:8.

[5] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ec 4:8.

[6] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ec 4:9.

[7] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ec 4:10.

[8] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ec 4:11.

[9] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ec 4:12.

[10] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ec 4:12.

[11] http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr1815.htm

[12] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ec 4:13.

[13] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ec 4:13–14.

[14] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ec 4:15.

[15] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ec 4:16.

[16] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ec 4:16.

[17] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ec 4:16.

[18] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mt 11:28–30.