"Wisdom in a Crooked World"

Introduction: Ecclesiastes 6:12 asks a pertinent question that connects us to the text before us today. What is good for man for the few days we live in the crooked world we live in? And what comes after this life? The Preacher again continues to reveal reality, real life under the sun and how that can be enigmatic and seemingly meaningless. But when we apply the wisdom that comes from God, not divorced from him, we can truly find a wise life.

CTS: A wise life can be found in this crooked world when Christ is our wisdom.

When Christ is our wisdom, we find...

I. Wisdom in Death (1-4)

The Preacher is going to contrast a number of different things, much like the Proverbs, in this passage. We have discussed the the Preacher could be Solomon. It could be, but at least he is a Solomon like character that he represents, so this isn’t out of the ordinary. And he will use wisdom literature to make his point, and he takes often wisdom, gives it a bit of a darker reality to it, but it communicates that much greater the need for godly wisdom, not just wisdom in of itself.

First, a good name is better than riches: We have seen an this reemphasizes that riches don’t make a man or woman. It is rather then reputation and integrity of a person that truly valuable. An actual name was often given to describe a person, their identity. We don’t do that much today. We usually pick what’s the nicest sounding name we like. But what this points to is that when someone hears the name of someone, it should exhibit some sort of response to the kind of person they are, for their experiences with that person define what they perceive about them. Sometimes that is ill-founded when not much time has been spent with someone, but given more time and interaction, you begin to form what you believe about that person. So a good name is important. It’s more important than the riches you gain. Jesus’ name isn’t related to what he owned, but what He did. And what He did proved who He was, that He was and is the Son of God, God-in-the-flesh. And that name is intimately involved with his death, which is the point of the Preacher.

Our name leaves a legacy: Our death and how we end is much more important than how we begin. What is reflected on at a person’s funeral is much more important and fundamental to a person than a person’s day of birth and subsequent celebrations of that day. Death reminds us of who we are. Funerals are a place where great reflection takes place: a place where we ponder and think about our own lives and how we live it, how short it is, and what we do with it. The day of death truly reveals who we are and what we are about. I always think about that classic scene in the number of version from a Christmas Carol, how no one cared when Scrooge died. As a matter of fact, they rejoiced because they would no longer have to suffer under his oppressive hand. His own death, seeing it, made him reevaluate what he was about.

Sorrow is better for us than foolish partying: We live in a death denying culture. I have said this many times before. We want to sweep it under the rug, turn the channel when it comes on our screens on the news, and do whatever we can to medicate ourselves from it’s reality. We will mindlessly entertain ourselves until we think of it no more. Yet the Preacher tells us that sorrow is good for us, for it gives us true wisdom.

Psalm 90:12 ESV

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Jesus reiterates this wisdom in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:4 ESV

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Jesus’s death brings ultimate wisdom: The life of Jesus exemplifies this truth so vividly. We have just finished celebrating the birth of Jesus (which is very important), but it leads to the main purpose of his birth…his death. The death of Jesus brings about true wisdom, for in his death is actual life…eternal life. It is through his death we die to our sin, and live.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Sin is paid for by the death of Christ to bring life to us who were dead. We now live in life. The Gospel shines forth in death, and death for the believer is actually greater than the day of their birth in reality, for they enter into the presence of God, free from pain and suffering, continuing into the eternal life purchased for them by the death and resurrection of Christ. It’s through His death, that when we die, we actually live!

II. Wisdom in Rebuke (5-6)

Another area that we find wisdom in this crooked life is to be confronted with our own foolishness. Wise living means

We hear the rebuke of wise people: People do not like to be told they are wrong. Young people are infamous for doing this (and unfortunately, we pander to it by saying things like “let them sow their wild oats, they will come back eventually.”) Wise living means we listen to others and hear their rebukes. And this applies to humanity in regards to the Gospel. The Gospel offends us, at least its supposed to. If the Gospel doesn’t offend my person in some way, then it’s not the real Gospel. The Gospel reveals that I’m wrong. True wisdom is accepting that conviction, that rebuke for my sin, and trusting not in myself but in the One who pays that sin debt for me.

We reject the songs of the fools: That also means we stop listening to that which panders to our own sensibilities. The voices of the culture that tells us that we are ok and we don’t need to be fixed. To make much of yourself. Nothing wrong with a sense of self-esteem, but that esteem needs to be founded in God’s view of you, not the view of yourself. We are wicked and self-deceptive.

This song of the fools is short-lived cackling thorns under the pot. Destructive yet short-lived. It is vanity and goes up in smoke quickly.

We should always be willing to be corrected, to believe in the Gospel and to live in that Gospel for the rest of our lives, letting God discipline and use others to live out the Gospel to those around us.

III. Wisdom in Patience (7-10)

Oppression is a by-product of impatience: The Preacher sure brings oppression into the mix a lot lately. But maybe it speaks to something about our reality. It’s real. And it often comes from misplaced loves and wrong wisdom. The wisdom of the world is telling us to get get get as fast as we can. Impatience toward what we want or can’t have can lead to oppression. Oppression of others, even willing to be bribed. The Preacher says that even the “wise” can look around and see this oppression and sink into despair and madness. Corruption happens, even to the best of us. Why? Because we are impatient.

The end is most important: Ever hear the phrase, “it’s not how you start, but how you finish?” That’s a great summary cliche for this section. Patient lives that rely on God’s grace and His plans yield an end that we should all desire and attain. How we finish life is better than how we begin it. And the journey along the way, we patiently wait for His plan. We live out the Gospel, a long obedience in the same direction, and that is summarized in saying “That’s a life that was well-lived.

And more than that, we know that the end of life is what we set our sights on.

Romans 8:18–19 ESV

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

In that waiting, we should be patient. Patient in God’s planning and timing. Patient instead of proud. Humble and trusting people. Not proud, loud, and unwilling to wait for what I believe is mine.

Anger is a byproduct of impatience: Anger is often found in not getting what I want when I want it. And it can happen in all kinds of situations. We get angry with our spouse because they don’t give us what I want now. We get angry with our kids because they are holding me back from what I want. We get angry in our churches, and pastors and leaders must be careful of this, because things are not going the way believe they should go as quickly as I like. Everyone needs to get with the program, and if they don’t, they are stopping what I want. And that’s the problem. It’s about what we want rather than the needs of others. And most importantly, it becomes about me rather than what God wants and His timing.

Looking back often hinders us: Impatience can also lead us to look back at the “good old days” and think that it was so much better back then. I hear it all the time in our culture. Life was so much better back in the old days. And sure, there are some things that I think we need to look back in the past and say, we need to keep that, or maybe we made a mistake losing that. Those are often things that are good and solid things that are godly and biblical, but because of convenience, we let go of it. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. We are talking about “I want things to be like they used to be.” Illustration: The Israelites had this kind of issue when they came back and rebuilt the temple.

Ezra 3:10–13 ESV

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

And that leads to hindering the future. Churches can be notorious for this. Keep doing the things we have been doing since the 50s and keep expecting it to work. Sometimes we have to adjust to the culture. Not eschewing biblical mandates and the Bible while we do it. But adjusting how we reach and how we engage with people. We look forward to what God desires for us, in a time such as this. We were made for this day, and we are made to live in this age for the glory of God. That will look different than it did back in the 1950, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s. Looking back blinds us to what is to come. Patience in looking forward and making godly changes in our lives for His glory is our goal.

IV. Wisdom in God (11-13)

The Preacher ends this prose of wisdom with the idea of wisdom itself. Wisdom is like this. He shows us its benefits, but then wants us to ground it in someone.

The Advantages of Wisdom: Is like an inheritance. That inheritance is like protection for whats to come. Riches and an inheritance can protect somebody’s livelihood in an emergency. He is likening this to gaining wisdom. It will come to your aid in the midst of life’s biting reality. The crooked reality will hit and this kind of wisdom will get you through.

Wisdom preserves life. But how? We inherit it through the Son Himself, the personification of wisdom. He lives this wisdom in a crooked world. It’s in his life of patience and obedience. It’s in his focus on his death and the life it would bring. It was his focus on focusing people on Him, the greater Temple and His greater sacrifice, that would make the people of God, better than any Temple before. Jesus was patient to the end, knowing that the end of His life was the beginning of life for all who would put their faith and trust in Him.

Conclusion: So, the Preacher is right. We can’t make straight that was crooked. The work of God is making a crooked world (which you can say that was made possible by his allowing of humanity free will) and making it straight again. And He promised He would. It is fulfilled in Jesus Himself, who put our crookedness upon Himself to make us straight, redeemed, and given life. We died to self in Him and are raised to newness of life!

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 ESV

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.