Do Not Be Overwise, Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:18 (October 30, 2016)

Transcription

1 Do Not Be Overwise, Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:18 (October 30, 2016) 10 Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 5 It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. 6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity. 7 Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart. 8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 9 Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. 10 Say not, Why were the former days better than these? For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. 11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. 12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. 13 Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. 15 In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. PRAY We are working our way through the book of Ecclesiastes on Sunday mornings, and Lord willing we will wrap our study in two more weeks. A lot of commentaries and scholars say that in our passage for today there s no single point the author (called the Preacher ) is making. They are just a collection of random proverbs. But I think there is an argument you can trace out from these verses. I admit it s hard to see, but I think it s there J.D. Shaw 1

2 Clearly, many of these verses have to do with wisdom. Ecclesiastes is a part of the genre of Scripture we call wisdom literature, of which there are five books Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. I think the argument the Preacher makes in these verses on wisdom goes likes this: first, he wants us to see the goodness of wisdom. Second, the limitations on wisdom. Third, the heart of the wise. First, the goodness of wisdom. And before we do anything else, we have to define what wisdom is. If we re going to call it good, we must be able to identify it. What is it? Wisdom is not intelligence. Wisdom is not a high IQ. You can have a sky-high IQ, be member of MENSA, and be an incredibly foolish person. If you work on campus at Ole Miss, I m sure you ve been around some of these people. Wisdom does not mean intelligence. Nor does it mean ignorance or stupidity. Nor is wisdom just knowing what is the morally right or wrong thing to do in a given situation. You can know the Ten Commandments and keep them, and still not necessarily be a wise person. If you decide not to steal, that s a wise decision, but still you may not be a wise person. Having wisdom means knowing what to do in any given situation when your intellect can t give you the right answer nor when the moral rules don t apply. So, for example, when you are faced with the question, like so many in Oxford face, What career path should I go down? only wisdom can give you the answer. Intelligence won t answer that question choosing a career is not like a math problem. There are factors involved that can t be measured. Nor is your career path a moral issue, unless one of your options is to be a hit-man for the mob. Careers are, for the most part, not right and wrong issues. What career path should I take? Should we move into this neighborhood or that neighborhood? Should I date this person? Should I marry that person? How should I talk to this person who hurt me? How much help should I give my adult child? What should I do with my time once I retire? All these questions, and these are the vast majority of questions we face, are matters of wisdom. So, for example, the New York Times ran a great article a few weeks ago on David Letterman now a little over a year removed from his retirement. And in it he admitted that he struggled with his very, very successful career as a late-night talk show host. He said, I m a little embarrassed that, for 33 years, it was the laser focus of my life When the show was great, it was never as enjoyable as the misery of the show being bad. Is that human nature? The article went on to say that his biggest concern now is his son, Harry, and that Letterman constantly second-guesses himself about how to raise him. There was a long season in my life where didn t get in bed by 9PM (like now), but instead watched David Letterman every night. So I feel qualified to say that he is a very bright, intelligent man. Yet, his intelligence was no help to him when it came to how 2016 J.D. Shaw 2

3 much emphasis he gave to his career, nor is it really any help when he has to decide how firm or lenient to be with his twelve year old son, and when to be one or the other. Nor are those moral questions, right-or-wrong issues. Only wisdom can guide you through these issues. So, of course wisdom is a good thing, and the Preacher urges his readers to get it. Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. 12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. Ecclesiastes 7: And if the Preacher is indeed Solomon, as I think it is, then he also wrote this about wisdom in the book of Proverbs: The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. 8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. Proverbs 4:7-8. How do you get this wisdom? You take the Scriptures, all of them but in particular the wisdom literature, and you turn them over in your mind time and time again. You meditate on them. You think on them over and over and over again, and you work out the implications in your life. Psalm 1:1-2: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. There are no shortcuts; wisdom is something that only comes with time. For example, Ecclesiastes 7:10 says, Say not, Why were the former days better than these? For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. The Preacher says don t complain about how things used to be: don t talk about how great this town was or how great this country was or how great people were when you were growing up but now everything is going to hell in a handbasket. Have you ever heard anyone say that? Have you ever said that? The Bible says that statement is foolish; it does not come from wisdom. So in order to gain wisdom, you take that Proverb and you think on it, over and over and over again. And you ask, Why? Why is it foolish to say things were better in the good old days? Then you come up with answers. So you meditate on verse 10. First, if you are determined to believe that the past was, without a doubt, superior to the present, then it s going to make it very difficult for your life today to ever satisfy you. No matter how good your life demonstrably is right now, you can always complain that it s not like it used to be. You won t be content. Second, maybe the past wasn't as great as you remember it to be. Maybe you re not really remembering what life was like twenty, thirty, fifty years ago, but just a few good things that stick out. Certainly some things about life probably were better, but not everything was better. Third, even if your past was great, maybe it wasn t so great for another group of people. Maybe life for them today is way better than it was for that group of people fifty years ago. Fourth, every generation that's ever lived has always complained about the kids these days. I don t care how old you are, I guarantee you that when you were a kid there were old people complaining about you and your behavior. I know it was true 2016 J.D. Shaw 3

4 when I was a kid. Every generation is tempted to think things were better when they were young. Fifth, if you always go around complaining that things aren t as good as they used to be you ll bore people. No one will want to strike up a conversation with you, because they ll be afraid they ll get trapped in all your memories. So the next time you hear someone talking about the good old days you can tell them that the Bible says that a wise person would never say that! But don t you see? When you take the Scriptures and meditate on them turn them over in your mind time and time and time again, and apply those truths to your life, it will make you into a wise person. The kind of person who says wise things, the kind of person who doesn t say foolish things, the kind of person who makes good decisions. Intelligence alone won t get you that, and neither will simply knowing right from wrong. You need wisdom and once you get it, can bring an immense amount of good to your life. But second, the limitations on wisdom. If you re wise, then by definition you re not a fool, but it is no promise that you will have an easy, good life. Ecclesiastes 7:15-18: In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise [ overwise in the NIV]. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them [the old NIV gets the sense of it right when it says, It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes ]. You say, What? How could it be bad to have too much wisdom? Overwise? How could anyone possibly be overwise? How could wisdom cause you to destroy yourself? These verses have thrown off a lot of people over the years, because it almost sounds like the Preacher is contradicting all the places everywhere in the Bible that commends seeking wisdom. But, of course, I don t think it s a contradiction at all. The Preacher is saying that if you count on wisdom to deliver you a good life, it will lead to your destruction. You ll be disappointed because it won t happen, and that disappointment can lead to despair and, ultimately destruction. First, wisdom can t guarantee you a good life. You can be a very wise person and go through lots of pain and suffering. We have many examples from Scripture, but I ll just give you two: first, Joseph. If you know the story of Joseph, he was an incredibly wise man. He was so wise that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, pulled him out of a dungeon, made Joseph his prime minister, and said of him: [T]here is none so discerning and wise as you are. Genesis 41:39b. We're told that Joseph was thirty years old when this happened, so of course Joseph had this wonderful, good, blessed life up to that point J.D. Shaw 4

5 No! Joseph had either been in slavery or in prison for the previous fourteen years. He did manage to work his way up to the head of Potiphar s household, but only to be falsely accused of rape by Potiphar s wife and thrown into prison. Yet, again, Joseph worked his way up. We re told that the warden of the prison put Joseph in charge of everything, and paid no attention to whatever Joseph handled because if Joseph looked after something it was going to be handled to perfection. Nevertheless, he still languished years in prison before Pharaoh finally gave him the good life that we would expect a man with his wisdom to have. You may think, Well, didn t Joseph start off kind of brash and arrogant? Maybe he didn't develop wisdom until later, and that s why his life was so hard. OK, then we have Job. Job 1:1 says that Job was one who feared God and turned away from evil. Proverbs 9:10 says, The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Job was wealthy, Job had a big family, he feared God we have every reason to think that Job was an exceptionally wise man. Yet, what s the one thing everyone knows about Job? He had a horrible life. He lost his children, he lost his wealth, and finally even his body was covered with sores, and we know that none of it was his fault. His wisdom did not guarantee him a good life. Second, wisdom can t even guarantee you ll be a good person. Now we ll look at Solomon, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes himself. We read in 1 Kings 3 that he prayed to God for wisdom to govern and lead Israel. This was a prayer that greatly pleased the Lord. He said to Solomon, [B]ehold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. 1 Kings 3:12. And for a time, Solomon had a wonderfully blessed life for a time. But, in spite of his wisdom, Solomon managed to make a complete wreck of his good life. We read that, I don t know what else to call it, fell into sexual addiction he had a thousand women in his harem. He stopped worshipping the God who gave him this wisdom and worshiped dumb and mute idols of wood and stone instead he broke the most primary and foundational command God gave him. 1 Kings 11, where we read of Solomon s fall, is one of the saddest chapters in the Bible every time it comes up in my reading plan, I always dread it. Friends, all the wisdom in the world cannot stop cancer, cannot prevent traffic accidents, and won t keep your heart from ever being broken. Nor is the wisdom you have today an absolute guarantee that one day you yourself won t totally blow it and begin tearing your life completely apart with your own two hands, hurting those who love you most all the while. It is not enough just to have the wisdom to make good decisions. Solomon is saying you need something more. He probably wrote Ecclesiastes at the end of his life, after he d already made a mess of everything. And he tells us in chapter seven that there is one thing he didn t consider earlier in his life, in spite of his wisdom J.D. Shaw 5

6 Ecclesiastes 7:1-4: A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning [a funeral] than to go to the house of feasting [a wedding, or a birthday party], for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. The Preacher is saying the one thing he didn t factor into his wisdom is death. Death comes for everyone, and we all should think about it we should factor it in. It should be the backdrop against which we view everything in our lives. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning. We don t encourage thinking about death in our society. You can go a long time in this life into your twenties or thirties and never attend a funeral, never see a dead body. The young extremely isolated from death in our culture. But the Preacher says that the wise won t push the thought of death aside or self-medicate or distract themselves so that they will not consider it. No, the Preacher would say that to be an adult and refuse to consider your own mortality would be the sign of stunted emotional and psychological growth. But when you do, the Preacher promises your heart will change, in a good way. Third, the heart of the wise. The Preacher says you ll find three things in the heart of the wise, you ll find three things in your heart if you view your life against the backdrop of death: first, you ll find patience. There are some people in your life that have really let you down. They ve hurt you. I m not talking about abuse, just garden-variety disappointments. We all have people in our lives like that a spouse, a parent, a child, someone at work. It s gone on for years and years and years. And you don t know if that person is ever going to change. And the temptation will be to say, This person will never change. But we can t do that. I love Ecclesiastes 7:8: Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. When Preacher means is that the end of a man s life is better than its beginning he means that it is possible to judge a man s life only at the end; only once it is over is it possible to really judge a person s life. This person who has let you down may never change, but the Preacher says the one thing you must not do is pronounce judgment on them now. The time is not ripe. In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us also tells us this when he says, Do not judge, lest ye be judged. We can t wash our hands of people and say we are finished with them, because then we are judging J.D. Shaw 6

7 Only death will reveal what this person is really like. Until then, who knows? They might change. As long as that person is still breathing there is possibility for change. If you believe that, you ll be patient with them. You won t write them off but continue to the relationship with them as best you can, continue to love them as best you can, continue to pray for them. Your patience will lead you to have hope for them, and we need more people of hope. And guess what? As long as you re still breathing there s still hope for you. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, the person that wounds you the most is you. And maybe you re here today and you re tired of how you are hurting others. But if your life can t be evaluated until death, there s still time for you to change. That s good news. Second, in the heart of the wise you ll find humility. Nothing humbles you like death, like realizing that you are not in any way really in control of your life. Death shows you you re not in charge, and that s a good thing to know. Why? Because as long as you are proud, as long as you are self-sufficient, as long as you think you are the lord of your life and you really call the shots, you re in a bad place. Not only will you be an incredibly arrogant person who is impossible to live with, but you can t admit the one thing you must admit: that you are a part of the problem with the world. That some part of you deep down is broken, so you want things you shouldn t want, you desire things you shouldn t. Or maybe all your desires are good but they are so totally out of order that it amounts to desiring things you shouldn t. You want your career way more than you want your family. You want sex with your spouse way more than you want friendship with your spouse. You want success for your children way more than you want character for them. You are broken. But as long as you re proud, no one can talk with you about it. No one can help you with it. No one can show you it. But thinking on death humbles you, remembering that you re not in control forces you to bend your stiff neck, and then people can talk to you. People can confront you about things that need to change. It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:5. That s the mark of a truly humble, wise person. People can talk to them about their faults, and they ll listen. They won t get angry and lash out, they won t ignore the criticism, but they ll listen and try draw out what is legitimate in the criticism and use it to grow, become more mature, more wise. Is that you? Third, in the heart of the wise you ll find the ability to trust God in suffering. Suffering will come into your life. In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. Ecclesiastes 7:14. God has made the day of adversity. And if he s made it, that means you must not run from it. Most of this suffering will come from how people treat you, usually the people closest to you. I sin against my wife and kids more than all the other people in the world combined. That s just the way it 2016 J.D. Shaw 7

8 works. So if you run from those who cause you to suffer, you ll run from them and ruin the relationship. You ll get bitter (that s a form of running), you ll close yourself off emotionally from those around you, or you ll pay back lash out in anger. But the wise person knows that God is in control of all things, even suffering and death, and trusts him. My son, do not despise the LORD s discipline or be weary of his reproof, 12 for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3: You know what that s saying? The suffering in your life is God disciplining you. It s God training you, the way a good, loving father trains his child. I had to teach my kids to say a lot of things: yes sir, no sir, please, thank you, may I be excused from the table? But you know the one word I did not have to teach them? No! No! Why? Because all of us are born selfish, all of us are born wanting our own way. And if that part of our heart isn t changed, it will lead to our destruction. But God is a good father, and he allows just enough suffering into our lives to train us so that we won t go off into destruction but find the way everlasting. Suffering will either make you a far worse person than you are now or a far wiser person that you are now. And the determining factor between the two paths is whether or not you trust God in your suffering. You may think, That s awfully hard. It is, but we know something that even the Preacher in Ecclesiastes did not know. When Jesus Christ was on the cross, do you remember how those who killed him made fun of him? Do you remember what they said? Mark 15:31-32: So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe. If I had been Jesus, I so badly would have wanted to come down and show them who I really was. But Jesus didn t. In the greatest act of love in human history, he looked at all those people jeering and mocking and spitting at him, and he stayed. He stayed on the cross and he died the death we deserved to die. He offered himself as a substitute for us. Jesus knew the Father had a plan, a plan to reconcile sinners to him, and Jesus trusted him. So when suffering and the day of adversity of any kind comes into your life, if you can remember not just your death but Jesus death for you then you can accept the suffering that comes your way and it will make you wise. I don t mean you have to just take it and like it, I don t mean be a doormat and let people abuse you and walk all over you. But you can learn from suffering, you can grow from it, because ultimately it comes from someone who loves you very, very much. Do you want to be truly wise? The ultimate wisdom, according to the Bible, is the way God saved the world through Jesus (that s in Ephesians 3). The ultimate way for you to develop wisdom is to see Jesus Christ staying on the cross for you. If you see that, then 2016 J.D. Shaw 8

9 you will become a more patient person, and more humble person, a more forgiving person, a more loving person. Isn t that what we all should want? PRAY 2016 J.D. Shaw 9