Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 - Awake, Aware, and in Awe of God
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Introduction & Review
Introduction & Review
2 sections - 1-3, 4-7.
Both have to do with how we approach God. Warnings against foolish behavior toward God, which turns worship into vanity and evil
Unguarded, unlistening, hasty, unmindful toward God
Both sections emphasize that we are under God’s sovereign reign, whether we realize it or not. And so Solomon gives us a picture of wisdom in worship by showing the danger of foolish worship.
Foolish worship is false worship. And it’s rejected by God.
How can our worship be wise and acceptable to God?
INTRO TO WORSHIP
Deliberate act of glorifying God
Individual & corporate/together
Biblical picture of worship starts with offerings in Gen 4 and is fulfilled in Revelation with the people of God dwelling with the LORD forever in the New Heavens & New Earth, bringing the glory and honor of the nations to God,
3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
And between Genesis & Revelation, worship involves offerings, sacrifices, vows, prayers, physically kneeling or bowing or lifting up the hands, serving God and His people, proclaiming what He has done.
Ps 96 - great picture of worship
7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! 8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! 9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
When we tell others what God has done, that’s teaching and preaching; when we tell God what He’s done, that’s praise. Both are acts of worship. And both can happen in speech or song, as Ps 96 begins:
1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
And Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 is all about worship, specifically through offerings, prayers, and vows.
The word “God” occurs more frequently in Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 than any other section in the book. Whose preferences define good worship?
True worship - the act of deliberately glorifying God - has God at the center. God is the object of our worship. It’s designed by God’s desires. It is defined by God’s directions. It reflects God’s preferences. It aligns with God’s goals. It is surrendered to Him as LORD.
Q. How should we approach God in worship?
Divide text into two points, then two points of application
I. Approach God in Humility and Surrender (vv1-3)
I. Approach God in Humility and Surrender (vv1-3)
<<READ 1-3>>
Solomon in his context.
Before the arrival of the Messiah, there were certain types of worship that were impossible outside Jerusalem. Many of Israel’s most holy days, including the Passover, required all of Israel to travel to Jerusalem every year to observe at the House of God, the Temple.
If someone attempted to celebrate Passover in their homes, the way Jewish people do all over the world now every year, God is absolutely explicit that it was not the Passover.
5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt.
This is another example of the fact that Biblical worship is not a matter of personal preference. If worship is to be acceptable to God, it must be according to His design.
29 “When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30 take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ 31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. 32 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
So Solomon begins, “guard your steps when you go to the house of God.” The wise person takes worship seriously.
And the wise person will begin by drawing near to listen.
ILLUST: Leaning in to hear // If you know you’ve got a good ear and a bad one, you’ll turn the good one toward them.
When God tells his people to listen or hear His words, it’s more than just a command to have the words rattle their eardrums. If God tells you to listen or hear, it’s a call to apply His words. In Deuteronomy 6, through Moses the Lord commanded Israel:
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Think about this and rejoice with me - the LORD, who made everything that is, spoke and light came into being; spoke and invented water and electrons and time and hummingbirds and redwood trees; spoke and established what bacon would smell like, the way it would feel to roll a tiny little piece of fuzz between your fingers, He decided that and made the world what it is by His word
He has invited you to draw near to Him
And He has something to say to you and me, spoken through every page of Scripture and in these last days through His Son Jesus Christ.
And Solomon says the wise person will draw near to hear.
The sacrifice of fools is the worship of one who doesn’t guard his steps, doesn’t draw near to listen, does whatever he thinks God ought to want.
As Samuel, the prophet of the LORD told Saul when the LORD rejected him from being king over Israel for his disobedience
22 And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
And in vv2-3
Just as bad as the sacrifice of fools - he says your mouth can get you into trouble.
The fool runs into the Temple and thinks he’s got everything figured out. He is faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap to conclusions in a single bound. He doesn’t know he’s doing evil because he has super-hearing; sorry, super-selective hearing.
He wants God’s blessing, yes indeed, and so he rushes in with his bad sacrifice ready to go, he's been practicing r-r-r-r-r-rolling his r-r-r-r-r-r-r-s because he thinks that will impress God, he’s got lots of rash, hasty words to say and he wants to say them all.
Solomon says, “Don’t do that. Remember - God is in heaven and you’re on earth” - He is the holy, all-knowing King - when the fool huffs & puffs into the Temple courts, the priest might look up from whatever he was doing and not have a clue who this guy is or what he was doing five minutes ago, but God is not fooled. And whatever the fool wants to ask, God already knows that, too.
So, he says, let your words be few.
A wise person is aware of who God is, and approaches Him as a listener, in humble surrender, listening to God’s Word, teaching, and in prayer
II. Worship God in Integrity and Awe (vv4-7)
II. Worship God in Integrity and Awe (vv4-7)
Here’s verses 4-7 <<READ 4-7>>
A vow is a formal promise, witnessed or written down. Some vows were promises to give something in worship, especially as a thanksgiving for answered prayer.
Prophet Samuel - mother Hannah -
11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”
Samuel given to the service of the LORD at the Tabernacle.
Nobody has to make a vow. But Solomon says, once you make it, don’t delay in fulfilling it. And he’s quoting the book of Deuteronomy
21 “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. 23 You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.
So Solomon gives us this picture in verse 6:
So you make a vow, a promise to praise and thank Him with a gift - and the messenger comes from the Temple to receive what you’ve promised, and you say to him, “No, there must be some mistake. Um, I’ve sinned unintentionally. Instead of fulfilling my vow, I’ll just do the unintentional sin sacrifice thingy.”
And Solomon says, “No, that’s not a mistake, that’s a broken vow. Pay what you vow, don’t vow what you don’t want to pay, nobody is making you make a vow.”
25 It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,” and to reflect only after making vows.
And yet, throughout the Old Testament, men and women who love God make vows and keep them with joy. A vow is a powerful expression of commitment, devotion, love to God.
And do you think God takes it lightly? In verse 6, like in verse 2, he reminds us who we are and who God is. Even if you fool the messenger, you can’t fool God. And He may discipline a vow-breaker harshly. So, he says, worship God in integrity.
And verse 7 closes our text with a proverb about dreams and a summary.
<<READ v3 and 7>>
These are side-effect dreams, borne out of much business - the kind of business that he called “two hands full of toil and a striving after wind” in chapter 4:6.
Like laying down after a day of working at breakneck speed, only to dream you’re still in the office, only the work you’re trying to finish seems to multiply like Tribbles and you wake up only to go back to work.
The hasty babble prayers of verses 2-3 and the foolish vows of verses 4-6 are part of the vanity of a life that forgets who God is. And verse 7 ends with the solution:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, so worship God in awe. The fool’s big problem is that he doesn’t.
And in the end, it will cost him.
The wise person fears God enough to take worship very seriously. Seriously enough to guard his steps, to draw near to listen, to let his words be few, to pay what he vows.
How does this relate to our worship as the New Covenant people of God?
III. In Christ, Approach God in Humble Surrender, Integrity, Awe
III. In Christ, Approach God in Humble Surrender, Integrity, Awe
First of all, we are still called to worship God as He requires, but we are not longer required to do so in the Temple at Jerusalem.
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Old Testament system of atoning sacrifices - you can’t offer a guilt offering or a sin offering, because Jesus is our sacrifice for sins. He is our Passover Lamb. He is our great High Priest.
All these sacrifices and even the Temple itself were a shadow pointing forward to the once-for-all offering that Jesus made when He poured out His blood in payment for the sins of all who are being sanctified.
Believers gather in Christ’s Name to worship Him all over the world, but they must still worship Him according to His Word.
We are still called to draw near to listen.
<<MATTHEW 13>>
And we are still called to offer sacrifices, not atoning sacrifices, payment for sins, but sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving
15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
And these sacrifices must start and end, just as Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 starts and ends, with the fear of God.
To fear God is to know Him as LORD.
When a sinner, lost and under condemnation, hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit awakens their heart, and they see God not merely as Judge, but also as the glorious One, and they are captivated by the beauty of our God, and transfixed by His grace and mercy, and they fall before Him in repentance and faith, trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation,
The fear of God is an awe-filled reverence. Amazement. Astonishment that the LORD Himself would call us sons, daughters.
Christian worship is the joy-filled, deliberate act of glorifying God through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. We approach God as children, redeemed sinners. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. A people for His own possession. And yet, we are still creatures, and He is still God.
Beloved. And in awe.
This is why our worship should look like Ps 96 - declare what He has done - leads to awe
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The fool, who does not fear God, enters with arrogance in himself. But the wise person, redeemed, fears God and enters with confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ:
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
And two chapters later, (reverence = fear)
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
IV. Conclusion
IV. Conclusion
So, how will we shape our worship as Christians who draw near to God to listen, aware, awake, and in awe of God?
With His help, we will worship Him as He commands. We will pray the way that Jesus taught us:
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
We will worship Him not just with songs, but with a life dedicated to glorifying Him.
We will worship Him with sacrifices of praise & thanksgiving, offering up ourselves to Him and in service to one another
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
And we will worship Him not just with empty words, but with integrity.
Vows still matter
Let your yes be yes be yes. So if I say I’m going to serve God by giving this or that, I will
Not like Ananias & Sapphira
17 And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”
5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
If you accept a call, complete it.
Marriage, baptism, covenants
Be people of your word because we are people of God’s Word
Anything on service order?