“Are the wise really wise?”
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
Opening Timer Illustration: Set timer for 30 minutes – Did you know - What happens in 30 minutes? “Mission Maker Magazine”, page 18, Edition 2008, (www.WorldChristianDatabase.org).
7,764 souls began life in the world
3,444 souls meet Jesus face-to-face
3,420 baptisms occurred in foreign mission
$1,311,888 dollars where given to foreign missions
$1,368,924 dollars were embezzled from Christian funds by leaders
10,896 people migrated internationally
402 children became homeless or family-less
2,275 rural poor migrated to cities
1,140 people moved into urban slums
68 people began supporting themselves only by collecting garbage
1,375 children under age five died from preventable starvation related causes
22 million was given to all Christian causes (3% from Christian incomes)
10 Christians died for their faith witness
Thesis: Are the wise really wise if they do not have God in their lives? Solomon says “No they are not!”
Scripture Text: Ecc. 2:12-26
12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
and also madness and folly.
What more can the king’s successor do
than what has already been done?
13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly,
just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise man has eyes in his head,
while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
that the same fate overtakes them both.
15Then I thought in my heart,
“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?”
I said in my heart,
“This too is meaningless.”
16 For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
in days to come both will be forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise man too must die!
17So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.
24A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Introduction:
Our subject this morning is “Wisdom” – Our author Solomon discusses the thought of whether a person who is wise is really wise if God is not a part of his or her life. He talks about the nature of wisdom in comparison to foolishness. He concludes that a person may be wise in the things of the world but this really does not mean anything if they are not endowed with Heavenly wisdom from God.
James addressed this same subject in his New Testament book: James 3:13-18
13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
James speaks of two sets of attitudes. One focuses on negative attitudes and the other positive attitudes.
We have in the passage, James comparing two lifestyles on what he calls "wisdom from above" and "wisdom that is from below." Vs. 14-16 speak of wisdom from below or earthly wisdom and Vs. 17-18 speaks of wisdom that is from above which is from heaven.
Guernesey states this about the text, "We have found James’ description of the two sets of values very helpful in pinpointing the kind of values, attitudes, and behavior that make for healthy lives and relationships." (122)
A lifestyle based on "wisdom from below" has earthbound values (A mind set). James speaks here in 3:15 that "wisdom from below" is a value system that is "earthly", "Unspiritual", and "devilish." Earthly is a word designated to mean standards of this earthly realm.
Remember, though, this can mean subtle deception like spoken of in II Cor. 11:14: And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Matt. 4: 1-11: Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’" Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’" Jesus answered him, "It is also written: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: `Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’" Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
The scene here is where Satan tries to use sound reasonable dialog to seduce or coerce Jesus over to His thinking. Take careful note, he tempted Jesus with power, control, wealth and fame. Also note, words seldom thought of as demonic but yet are. Satan desires to get us seduced into values which are based on a lifestyle that makes the pursuit of riches, intellect, comfort, or power and recognition, as the goal in life. Wisdom from above is a wisdom from God, from Jesus in Heaven. This wisdom is the type of wisdom which is meaningful and which has eternal value.
Solomon understood that wisdom/knowledge all by itself without the presence of God means nothing, it is feudal, it is worthless, it has no eternal value or meaning.
Quote from: New Commentary on the whole Bible: Old Testament (Quick verse 2007). In this book, Qohelet searches for the key to the meaning of life. He examines life from all different angles, trying to discover a source of true satisfaction. The dominant tone of the book is negative. As Qohelet searches. for satisfaction “under the sun,” he returns to the refrain, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” He shows from personal experience that all earthly activities, when pursued as ends unto themselves, lead to emptiness and despair. It is a mistake, however, to brand Qohelet as a skeptic or a prophet of despair. Qohelet’s despair is experienced only as he seeks meaning in the activities and things of this life. He shows that the highest good in life is in fearing God and obeying his laws (12:13, 14), and in enjoying the good things of life while one can.
T.S. - So let’s explore what wisdom really is and isn’t:
I. Solomon says that wisdom without God’s involvement is meaningless, useless and it makes life pointless!
a. He observed that wisdom is better than foolishness, better than stupidity.
i. He notes wisdom is like light it does help you see thing better.
1. Proverbs has a lot to say about wisdom:
a. The book of Proverbs was penned into the Bible for the specific purpose of bringing wisdom into people’s minds and hearts.
i. Proverbs 1:1-6: The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: 2 for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; 3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; 4 for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance— 6 for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
ii. Proverbs 2 tells us that wisdom is rooted first and foremost in the fear of God and if we start with a healthy respect and reverence for God then we are on the path of wisdom which will lead us into knowledge of God Himself.
iii. Proverbs 2:6: or the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
iv. Proverbs 2:12: tells us that wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men.
v. Proverbs 3:13-18: 3 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor 17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace 18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed.
b. Wisdom as we discover in just the first 3 chapters of Proverbs starts with the fear of the Lord and then focuses on the fact that God is the one who gives wisdom because man has no wisdom on his own – that type of wisdom is earthly, humanistic, and even devilish according to James in the New Testament.
ii. Foolishness is compared to darkness – you cannot see what or were you are going or even doing.
1. Proverbs verses on foolishness;
a. Proverbs 1:7 says that fools despise wisdom and discipline and those who do not fear God are fools.
b. Proverbs 1:22 “Fools hate!”
c. Proverbs 1: 32 said the complacency of fools will kill them.
d. Proverbs 3:35: the wise will bring honor to their lives but the fools will bring shame.
e. Proverbs 14: 8, 9: The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception. Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright.
f. Proverbs 16:22: Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it, but folly brings punishment to fools.
g. Ecc. 5:1: Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
h. Romans 1: 1For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles 24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
b. Solomon has wise counsel to us today – a person may have intellect, he may be smart in certain things but this type of “Wisdom from below” is useless, and even meaningless when it is used outside the realm of God and in the end when this person dies – they will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and all of Heaven will look at them and say, “You are such a fool!”
i. I want to share something with all of you today, I have had over 8 years of college and I can tell you that the secular Universities are filled with a lot of fools!
ii. I look around in our society today and I see a lot of fools running around claiming to be experts on the creation of this planet and promoting their own distorted twisted myths and lies about creation, and Global warming and the like.
1. They are saying they know more than the Bible – but the Bible is over 4,000 years old and they are not!
2. I have even heard the phrase in the media that those who believe in the Bible are fools! Not so it’s the one who does fear God and put their trust in His word who are the fools.
iii. I look at the push for homosexual rights in our country and Romans just told us those who do this are fools!
iv. I look at those who are working feverishly at trying to eliminate God from our government and public life and they are fools.
1. Case in point: One of the biggest fools in US History was Thomas Jefferson :
a. He and George Washington did not agree on much because of his twisted religious beliefs:
i. Thomas Jefferson had bought into the lie of the Enlightenment, French promoted Age of Reason and he eventually slipped into the Deism and the Unitarian belief system.
ii. Marshall notes, “Deism emphatically rejected the Triune God of Holy Scriptures. It renounced the divinity of Jesus Christ, His sacrifice on the Cross to atone for the sins of men, and His resurrection. Indeed, according to the Deists, there was nothing to atone for: to them, the concept of man’s nature as sinful and fallen was repugnant and absurd. They exalted reason and intellect, and anything that was not logical or rational they summarily rejected-including all the supernatural elements of the Christian faith. In sum, Deism offered a more appealing deity-a conforming abstract, the Prime Cause to which all effects could be traced, an ever gentle, loving and kind Supreme Being quite different from the righteous authoritarian of the extreme Calvinists (page 96).
iii. Jefferson bought into Tom Paine’s “Age of Reason” This book attacked Christianity: Marshall notes this:
1. Like other Deist works, it was widely read and contained such profanities as: “The Christian mythologists, calling themselves the Christian Church, have erected their fable which, for absurdity and extravagance, is not exceeded by anything that is found in the mythology of the ancients.” And “Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was author, on which only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditional or invented absurdities, or of downright lies.” He also referred to the New Testament Gospel as “The fable of Christ” (Page 99).
2. Jefferson went so far while he was President to re-write the Bible and called it the “Jefferson Bible.” He removed every reference to the supernatural, the Virgin birth, the Resurrection, the raising of Lazarus, and all other miracles (Marshall, page 111).
3. He believed that we as a nation had evolved past the foolishness of believing in things like this – He tried pushing his distorted views and the country lashed out at him for it.
c. Solomon says the reality check comes when the fool dies and has to stand before God in heaven and give an account for his life and actions.
II. Solomon says “I hated life when God was not involved in it!”
a. He hated living because it was grievous and stressful and unfulfilling.
i. Let me ask you a question have you ever met someone who “Hated Life?”
1. They are not pleasant people to be around are they?
ii. Solomon hated his work because he felt like he was trying to catch the wind and of course you cannot
b. He even states “I hated what I had toiled for – remember he was a millionaire!’
i. He stood back looked at his money, his palace one of the 7 wonders of the world, his gardens, his buildings, his 1,000 women, his army, his kingdom and said “I hate it all!”
c. He said, “I hate it all!”
i. I hate it because I am going to leave all this to someone and who knows they may be fools and lose it all and so what have I accomplished then?
1. Nothing, - By the way he was perceptive because the kings that followed him lost it all and even lost the kingdom because of sin and evil.
a. For more insight on this read the Book of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
ii. He realized that his death was coming –just around the corner and all that he had gained through life was going to be left to someone else and who knows what would happen to it all.
1. He goes on more emotionally in our text and says, “I was so grieved my heart became despaired1”
2. Solomon realized at this point in his life that this meant nothing if he did not have God as a part of it.
d. He also notes in our text how he was so in despair and anguish that his mind would not rest at night.
i. There was no peace in his life – no meaning – no point and it kept him awake.
1. Have you ever been in Solomon’s shoes?
a. Unable to sleep because all these things are racing through your mind?
b. You toss and turn all night
c. You are trying to figure out how you can do this and that, you are worried and then you realize this all means nothing because God is not involved in it.
d. I am wasting my life away, my time is being used up on worthless, meaningless projects that have no eternal value equated with them.
i. How dumb am I? This is not wisdom! This is foolishness! I am so stupid!
ii. Illustration: I actually typed into Google the words “I hate my life!”
1. I was shocked how many I hate my life websites came up!
2. Here is the opening page of one website:
You’re having a bad day. We want to know about it.
Maybe your agony exceeds ours. That could be interesting. Because really, no one cares about the happy stuff. We aren’t interested in ILoveMyWonderfulLife.com.
Select "Vent" and spread misery all over this site by posting your crappy details. The rest of the world is looking forward to it! Just don’t use full names. A lawsuit would exceed our funding and then you’d spoil the fun.
We all could use a fix of other people’s misery, so click “Vent” also to learn how much worse others have it.
e. I also found this other website www.allaboutlifechallenges and read this girls story. It is a testimony of how God brought this young lady to Him – great testimony story - go read it “I Hate My Life – personal story!
f. I also found out in my search that you can actually by a bumper sticker which says, “I Hate My Life!’ to proudly display your attitude toward life.
III. Allowing the hand of God to enter into your life and work is what makes
everything worthwhile and meaningful.
a. Solomon ends our section in verses 24-26 sharing that we must allow the hand of God to enter into our hearts, our minds and our lives.
i. For without God who can find meaning and enjoyment in life.
b. Solomon also tells us that real wisdom only comes from God and those who please Him will find it.
i. Not only wisdom but also knowledge and happiness.
1. The sinner on the other hand will accumulate all kinds of things only to have someone else come along and spend his or her money and use his or her stuff.
2. And the one who pleases God gets it all in the end!
3. So we need to quit trying to catch the wind and we need to quit running around in circles going nowhere!
Conclusion:
Are the wise those who possess wisdom from below really that wise in the eyes of God? The answer is no they are not. Those who are wise are those who listen to wisdom from above – When we invite the Lord to be a part of our life then he will impart to us wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom only comes from God and intellect and earthly knowledge do not necessarily produce a person with wisdom.
An Inspirational Thought, Motivational Thought -
Time Will Continue To Tick By
by Catherine Pulsifer
"Lost yesterday,
somewhere between sunrise and sunset,
two golden hours,
each set with 60 diamond minutes.
No reward is offered,
for they are gone forever."
Horace Mann
Time is one of the few things we cannot stop. We can stop all the clocks in our home, we can refuse to wear a watch, we can throw out all the calendars, however, time will continue to tick by.
Time is precious, yet too often we do not use it to our advantage. Nor do we appreciate it. Time cannot be captured and kept until we need it. It is today, this moment. Yesterday is long gone, and there are no guarantees we will see tomorrow. Today is what we have and how we use it determines our appreciation of time.
T - Truthful about how you are using your time.
I - Initiative - take it, rather than procrastinate.
M - Manage your time, do not waste it.
E - Efficient and effective use of your time will allow you to achieve more than you can imagine.
We need to be wise in how we use the time that God has given us and the wise-person is the one who invites God into their life and says, “Lord, here is my time it belongs to you – How should I spend it?”
Closing Illustration: From Blue Fish TV – “Life is Temporary”
