"Life in the Middle"

Intro: Two extremes is now a society we live in. You are either one or the other, there is no middle road. And in some respects, that is the right way to look at some things. Some things are just right and wrong. Black and white. Undeniable facts about life abound. And yes, sometimes people deny facts. But there are also some things that I think we can have disagreements about and continue on living. But not now. If you disagree on this thing, you deserve to be cancelled. Or you deserve to be thrown out of the country. Etc.

What I want you to see today from this text is a middle road, but this middle road by the Preacher isn’t meant to diminish what is right and to do good, but rather, to make us question our conceived notions of this or that. You see, we are naturally bent to think that I have to earn grace. And if I can’t earn it, then I’ll just live like I want or deny it entirely. But there is a third way, and that third way is the only way. It’s life in Christ!

CTS: Live a life defined not by super-righteousness or wickedness, but defined by a simple trust and obedience to Christ.

I. God Has Created All Days (14)

Going back to verse 13, we consider the work of God. Who can make what He has made crooked. We didn’t focus on two words last week that I think really need to be emphasized, because it can be jarring. It can really cause us to say, wait…what? God has made this world crooked? What does this mean? Is God the author of evil and wickedness? Is He the cause of evil?

Verse 14 continues in this question, and states that God has made prosperity and adversity. Enjoy one and observe the other.

Here are some basic things we understand about God that come into question when we see wickedness and adversity:

There is one God (monotheism)

God is the creator of the world

God is all-powerful

God is personal

God is wholly good.

So, the question becomes. If God is all-powerful, why is there evil in the world? Can he not stop it? So that must mean that God isn’t all-powerful. That leaves people to believe in a god that is less than the Bible communicates, a weaker god. Or it leads them to believe he must not exist or is not worthy of my worship. Or, maybe he is all-powerful, but he chooses not to stop evil because he is not wholly good. This would make God the author of evil, and He does not apologize for it. Therefore, why would I worship a God who is not good?

This is essentially the problem of evil. So how do we answer this? How to do we deal with it? Did God make this world crooked because he is not good or he is just not powerful enough to stop it?

The answer is the sovereignty of God. God is in control, and brings allows these things because it was necessary that these things came to be. This is rooted in also His choice and power to give humanity a free will. Without a free will, man are merely robots, forced to do this or that, therefore God forcing worship or forcing wickedness, making God the author of each reaction. Yet God is so sovereign, that He by giving us free will, he would know every distinct choice we would ever make and every outcome of what you would freely choose in every situation and chose to enact that very world. The billions and trillions choices of every human being, and chose the world in which you would freely make the choices you make to bring about His ultimate and sovereign will.

God is not the author of evil. Satan began in his rejection and rebellion, and we therefore chose to rebel against God as well. Yet God knowing that we would freely choose and reject Him, still uses the evil and wickedness of our choices to bring about His will. He is not thwarted. So in a sense, yes, He made a crooked world. That crooked world is made because of our free rejection of God. Every person has rejected and fallen short of the glory of God. Every person a sinner. Adam and Eve’s sin has tainted our wills, yet we are accountable for our own sin.

So we understand this, and we live in this. We enjoy the day of prosperity, for God has given to us. But He has also given us adversity, allowing for adversity to happen. This causes us to realize the gravity of sin, whether we have done it ourselves or experienced it second-hand.

Application: Philip Ryken gives us four reasons why God allows suffering that I think is helpful. 1) Crooked things are a test to help us determine if we are really trusting in Christ for our salvation: Not ourselves! 2) The crooks teach us to turn our hearts away from this vain world and teach us to look for happiness in the life to come. 3) Crooked things convict us of our sins. 4) Crooked things in life may correct us for our sins. It should cause us to consider and to flee from sin ourselves. The world is broken. We must remember that. We cannot be always sheltered into thinking that the world is always good. It’s not, but God is redeeming it, and he is taking the crooked world and making it straight through Himself, His own Son Jesus. We rest in God’s sovereignty, for His will is better than ours, His plan is greater than ours. What He has allowed is what brings Him most glory!

II. Life Doesn’t Seem Fair (15, Psalm 73:1-15)

The Preacher continues to show the despair of life under the sun, the vain life. He has observed this adversity and observed the vanity of living a life according to trying to overcome the crookedness of it. This seems to go against God’s promises in Scripture. A paradox it seems. Ex 20:12 tells us to obey our parents and our life will be long in the land. Deut 4:40 promises long life if the people obeyed. But how does this line up when the righteous die young?

The righteous die young, and the wicked live long lives. How is that fair? The Psalmist in Psalm 73:1-15 asks this same question. God, where are you? Why are you allowing this? The song lyric by Billy Joel “Only the good die young.” That is what the Preacher sees. He has seen this in action. This is crooked. This is a vain life. So he then tells us how we then should live. Again, remember that the Preacher is observing under the sun to get us to see its vanity.

III. Don’t Be Super-Righteous (16)

These verses can be incredibly confusing, and you wonder, is the Preacher telling me not to live righteously and to do a little bit of bad with my good? Again, remember what he is doing. He is attempting to show you the vanity of life under the sun. If living righteous gets you nowhere, if living outright wicked lives also gets you nowhere but the grave, maybe don’t do either? But when you bring this above the sun, in view of eternity, we begin to see from the rest of Scripture that the Preacher is warning against the idea that you can somehow be righteous enough to stop the crookedness of the world, that God is obligated to make your life easy peasy, a bed of rose, full of great and wonderful lives. It’s a warning against self-righteousness and righteousness for the sake of thinking God will make my life good if I do this or that.

A. Warning against self-righteousness (unbelievers)

Matthew 15:7–9 ESV

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

You cannot earn God’s favor with your righteousness. You cannot overcome your own wickedness, your crookedness by your own goodness. That goes directly against the grace of God. The Pharisees thought they could keep the Law and get to heaven. So much so that they thought they were better than others. Paul in God’s Word says otherwise:

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Matthew 23:23 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Your righteousness must be in Christ alone. That is the only way you will be considered right with God.

Matthew 5:20 ESV

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

B. Warning against super-righteousness (believer)

To the believer, we need to stop acting like that if I do enough good things, God will stay pleased with me and make my life easier. I used to believe this wholeheartedly. I use to think grace was for salvation, but didn’t carry on the rest of the way. I got to be good in my own power for God to bless my life. As long as I have a good day of reading my Bible, praying, don’t do bad things, and go to church this week, God will make my day or week go great because He is pleased with me. I cannot manipulate God. Your super-righteousness does not obligate him to make your life easy and without suffering. Grace is for all your life, whether your have prosperity or adversity. Some of the godliest people you will see in history and in your life will suffer greatly. Not because God is displeased with them, but because God will bring good out of the bad for His glory, in their lives and in the lives of others. When you watch a saint of God exude trust in God in the most horrible of circumstances, it strengthens and bolsters your faith when adversity comes your way, when the sinful choices of mankind affect you.

IV. Don’t Be Sinful (17)

But we also need to hear the Preacher’s warning as well. Don’t live in outright wickedness. He’s not saying “its good for you to sin a little bit.” No, God would never tell us to do something that goes against His holiness. This is Scripture. What the Preacher is reminding us of is living a life that is outright in rebellion against God. That will lead to destruction.

The unbeliever: Willful disobedience and living in wickedness will destroy life. People who claim to know Christ but willfully disobey Him and live in outright wickedness with no guilt or conviction are not bearing fruit and are headed to destruction.

Matthew 11:21 ESV

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Matthew 24:51 ESV

and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The believer: True believers will seek to know God and obey Him. That doesn’t mean they will do so sinlessly. This reminds us that there are times where we will fall in sin. That doesn’t excuse our sin and doesn’t mean we should say oh well, but we are reminded that we are being sanctified. But a believer will seek to honor Christ, as flawed as that may be at times. Repentance and seeking to do His will is the marks of a true believer, bearing fruit for His glory.

Conclusion: Live in the Fear of the Lord (18)

And that’s the middle road! That is fearing the Lord. Understanding our sin and knowing that God is in control, trusting in Jesus’s righteousness instead of our own. I know God is in control and I know that my righteousness doesn’t promise God’s favor. I live righteously because Christ lives in me, and I want to honor Him and glorify Him. To live holy, not to make my life easier and make God bless me, but to live holy to honor the one who make my crooked life straight again. I understand that I am not perfect and that God is making me more like Him everyday. I live and enjoy the days of prosperity and blessings. That is grace. I observe and learn from the days of adversity and crookedness. That is grace. I live in the grace of God, in the fear of the Lord everyday. That is life in the middle of Christ!

2 Corinthians 6:17–7:1 ESV

Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.