Ecclesiastes 4:4-16 Two are better than one P a g e 1 In the end So it is with death Jesus conquered death and has promised the same resurrection for all of His children. Now we have nothing to fear for our last breath on earth will be our first breath in heaven. Ecclesiastes 4:4 Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. 5 The fool folds his hands And consumes his own flesh. 6 Better a handful with quietness Than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind. 7 Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun: 8 There is one alone, without companion: He has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labors, Nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good? This also is vanity and a grave misfortune. 9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. 13 Better a poor and wise youth Than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more. 14 For he comes out of prison to be king, Although he was born poor in his kingdom. 15 I saw all the living who walk under the sun; They were with the second youth who stands in his place. 16 There was no end of all the people over whom he was made king; Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
P a g e 2 Ecclesiastes 4:4 Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. Solomon has told us already that work is a gift from God (e.g., Eccl 2:24). But like all of God s blessings, work can be distorted by sin. He addresses the one who s motives come from a selfish heart. The purpose of their work was not to produce beautiful or useful products, or to help people, but to stay ahead of the competition and survive in the battle for bread. God did not put the selfishness factor into human labor; it s the result of sin in the human heart. We covet what others have; we not only want to have those things, but we want to go beyond and have even more. Envy can take on many forms someone s good looks, their job or grades, intelligence But of all the things that we are tempted to envy, usually our neighbor s possessions are near the top of the list. The world is full of Joneses trying to keep up with the other Joneses. Don t be a Jones! We must learn contentment! Verse 5 The fool folds his hands And consumes his own flesh. Deane "This expression is really equivalent to 'destroys himself,' 'brings ruin upon himself.'" Solomon is saying this fool is the picture of complacency and unwitting selfdestruction, for this comment on him points out a deeper damage than the wasting of his capital. His idleness eats away not only what he has but what he is: eroding his self-control, his grasp of reality, his capacity for care and, in the end, his self-respect. Solomon moved from one extreme to the other and began to study a man who had no ambition at all. Perhaps the king could learn about life by examining the antithesis, the way scientists study cold to better understand heat. Courson makes a great analogy. In the sixties, the so-called summer of love dawned in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco when Timothy Leary exhorted an entire generation to Tune in, turn on, drop out. Here, Solomon comments on its precursor as he observes the fool fold his hands
P a g e 3 and drop out. Although the fool correctly assesses the futility of materialism, however his decision to drop out is wrong, for he ll end up starving and devouring himself which is exactly what happened in Haight Ashbury. We ll quit working; we ll quit striving, for we have seen the vanity of the materialism of the previous generation, they said. But in one year, the summer of love turned into a summer of sickness as drugs and death proliferated in San Francisco. 2 Thess. 3:10 If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. Proverbs 6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep 11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man. Solomon had no sympathy for lazy people It may be pleasant to sleep late every morning and not have to go to work, but it s unpleasant not to have money to buy the necessities of life. These verses describe two equal and opposite errors. As one man says, As toil can be all consuming, so idleness is self-cannibalizing. 6 Better a handful with quietness Than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind. The Preacher reflects on the value of contentment. It is better to have less and be content (with quietness) than to have more and constantly be grasping for more on top. It s better to not run the rat race, but neither should you run away from the normal responsibilities of life. It s good to have the things that money can buy, provided you don t lose the things that money can t buy. 7 Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun: 8 There is one alone, without companion: He has neither son nor brother. Solomon thought of a man alone, without family or close friends. Yet there is no end to all his labors, Nor is his eye satisfied with riches. The man in
P a g e 4 Solomon's thinking works hard and wants to gain more and more. But he never asks, For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good? This also is vanity and a grave misfortune. The more man has, the more he wants. There s always something new to buy, new to play with, somewhere new to go but it never brings satisfaction. Hughes notes, Solomon teaches us to work hard, but be content with what you have. Find your satisfaction in the goodness of God, like the little girl who misquoted Psalm 23 but spoke better than she knew. Rather than saying, The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want, she said, The Lord is my shepherd; that s all I want. Most of us want so many other things in life that it is hard for us to say that, but whether Jesus is all we want or not, the truth is that he is all we need. 9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? These are some really rich gems I would like to return to these verses and conclude our message with them. 13 Better a poor and wise youth Than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more. The Preacher begins this section with a proverb, observing that it is better to be poor and wise (and young!) than to be old, foolish and have great wealth and status. 14 For he comes out of prison to be king, Although he was born poor in his kingdom. Not sure whom Solomon is referencing here It sounds more like the story of David, who served as a shepherd before claiming his crown. Yet the mention of prison sounds like something from the life of Joseph. So perhaps the story comes from somewhere else entirely. 15 I saw all the living who walk under the sun; They were with the second youth who stands in his place. Verse 13 tells a rags to riches story about a king who rises from poverty to sit on the throne, but.. in verse 16 he confesses, There was no end of all the people over whom he was made king; Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
P a g e 5 Part of the lesson here is that No matter how popular a ruler is, the day will come when someone else takes his place and all his glory fades away. Why work hard to be famous, if you're forgotten the moment you re gone? The star ends up being a mere shooting star. Who remembers our 25th President? Or the Masters Championship in 1977? Who founded General Motors? Who invented the ball point pen? Who was the 3rd and 4th men to walk on the moon? That s why they call it the NFL ot or ong. All these accomplishments were big deals at the time, but who remembers them now? So Solomon teaches us the instability of political power and the fickleness of popularity. As the Preacher looked at the man s life he saw that it was vanity from beginning to end. There seemed to be no end to the man s work. Day after day after day he kept working away, from dawn until dark. How long was his work week? 60 hours? 70 hours? Yet the miser was never satisfied; he always wanted more. Derek Kidner calls him the compulsive moneymaker. But for what purpose? No matter what he gained, the man had no one with whom to share it. He was working too hard to make any friends or to start a family. 9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. There is a better way to live and work, Two are better than one Oh yes we can apply this to marriage but The Preacher is talking about all of our other relationships as well. The b uddy system is not just for school field trips and swimming in the ocean; it is God s plan for our life and service to him. It has been this way since the beginning, when God created Adam and said, It is not good that the man should be alone (Genesis 2:18). Why are 2 better than 1? Because they have a good reward for their labor. Two heads are better than one Whether we are in the church, in the workplace, or at home, our work is more rewarding when we share it with someone else.
P a g e 6 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. The application for this is endless with two traveling on the rocky and treacherous roads help was given to a friend when they fell or sprained an ankle This warning is reminiscent of the famous television commercial in which an old woman has an accident at home and says, I ve fallen and I can t get up! We get knocked down by life s troubles fear, loneliness, depression for Christian friends who help us walk straight. How grateful we should be Finishing verse 10 But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. I ve got your back! I ll be your wing man To the Hebrew mind there was nothing worse than being alone I know Jesus is always with me but there is a lot to be said for having those who love you around you. Me in the hospital this verse ran through my mind every minute of every day 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Two can sleep back to back and stay warm all night. You get the sense that even in the midst of a thousand wives and concubines, Solomon felt alone. The wisdom in this is so far beyond getting caught in the woods on a cold night No lone rangers in the Kingdom we need each other! Ryken says it this way There is spiritual warmth in going through life with other believers. It is easy to grow cold in the Christian life, to become numb to the work of God, and eventually freeze almost to spiritual death. But when we are growing cold, the heat of another Christian can warm us up. The prayer of an elder or deacon, the verse that a friend shares from Scripture, an exhortation to turn our hearts back to God these are some of the sparks that God uses to keep the fire burning. WE need each other! 12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. Weather was not the only danger people faced. Danger was always lurking out on the
P a g e 7 open road. There is safety in numbers. Two people are more than twice as hard to defeat as one. Therefore, sometimes all it takes to protect us is one person who has our back, a comrade at arms. Hilary and Scott Two really are better than one better for work and for warmth, better in times of woe and of warfare. Do you have a wing man someone who has your back? Are you in relationships that are strong enough to help you grow in Christ? If you are married, are you spending time with your spouse in prayer? If you live with other Christians, are you speaking to one another about spiritual things? The biggest and best is to be in a home fellowship are you in one? Is anyone holding you accountable in your most vulnerable areas of temptation? Does anyone in the world know you well enough to guard your back through prayer? Sooner or later we all need someone to reheat us with the gospel, or pick us back up when we have fallen, or help us fight a spiritual danger. Ending verse 12 Solomon adds And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Solomon started with the number one (v. 8), then moved to two (v. 9), and now closes with three. This is commonly applied - and well applied - to the idea of recognizing and embracing God in the marriage relationship. Jesus + one is always a majority spiritual friendship is essential for spiritual health What an incredible thought Jesus is our Lord, our,, and Savior Vine s expository Dictionary of New Testament words defines with the idea of loving as well as being loved. Webster defines as a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. As you know there are several words for love in the Bible and the one that carries an emotional component to it is PHILO.
Agape love is God s love its without condition and is the kind of Love God loved the world with For God so AGAPED the world. P a g e 8 PHILO is the love one friend would have for another. a term of endearment God s love is always described with the word Agape except in one place only one verse. There is only one place the Bible describes God s love as Phileo John 16:27 for the Father Himself loves (Phileo) you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. Jesus loves you with passion Jesus is the best friend you will ever have. Jesus said that we are not simply his servants but truly his friends. I asked dozens of people what came to mind when they think of a friend One your side, in defense of you What a friend we have in Jesus!!! Cheer you up when you are down Corrects you Rebukes you Wants the best for you Faithful Forever Love Fellowship Fun Tears Companion What a friend we have in Jesus!!! When our hearts are cold, Jesus wraps us in the arms of his love to warm us up again. When we fall down, He picks us up, reminding us that our sins really are forgiven and that by the power of the Holy Spirit he can help us stand. When we are in desperate danger, fighting against the very powers of Hell, Jesus defends us and recues us not just by his death, but also by the power of his eternal life. Jesus is the friend we need most of all. Two really are better than one when one of the two is the Best One of all.