[“Power of One” video]
That video illustrates very well the overall theme of the passage that we’re going to look at this morning. Since we’re only covering six verses this morning, let’s go ahead and read this passage out loud together:
13 This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: 14 There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. 15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. 16 Then I said: "Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard.17 Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; But one sinner destroys much good."
Ecclesiastes 9:13-18 (NKJV)
In this passage, we’re introduced to the power of one. On one hand, there is the poor wise man who was able to save a small city with only a few men in it from the attack of a great and powerful king. That is the power of one being put to good use. On the other hand, we have the one sinner, who through the power of one destroys that which is good.
Like Qoheleth, I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time on the negative aspect of the power of one. But I think it is helpful for us to reflect for a moment on how one sinner can indeed destroy much good.
In spite of our claims to the contrary, the effects of sin are almost never confined to the person who commits the sin. That is why both Jesus and Paul often pictured sin as being like yeast. If you’ve ever made bread, you know that it takes just a little bit of yeast mixed into the dough to cause the entire batch of dough to rise. And since we all live within a number of communities, when we sin, the effects of that sin spread within our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces and our churches.
Perhaps the clearest Biblical example is that of David and Bathsheba. When David looked down from his rooftop one evening and lusted for Bathsheba, he set into motion a series of events which still continue have a tremendous impact in our world today.
• Bathsheba’s husband Uriah was set up to be killed on the battlefield
• The child conceived from that illicit affair died
• David’s family became completely dysfunctional. His son Amnon raped his sister and then was killed by his brother Absalom. And then his own son Absalom rebelled against him and tried to take his kingdom.
• After his son Solomon died, the conflict within the family was so great that it led to the splitting of Israel into the southern and northern kingdoms. They have still not been reunited to this day.
Although the effects of sin may not always be that widespread, we have adequate evidence from both the Scriptures and from our own experiences to recognize that just one sin can have far ranging consequences. And that knowledge should hopefully be a strong deterrent when we’re tempted to commit some sin in our lives.
But the greater part of this passage deals with the more positive aspect of the power of one. So let’s take some time to reflect on…
HOW TO USE THE “POWER OF ONE” FOR GOOD
This passage ought to be a great encouragement to all of us who often ask ourselves, “What can just one person do?” Just one poor man in a small town was able to use the power of one to thwart the attack of a great and mighty king.
Not surprisingly, many commentators on this passage tend to spiritualize this passage and view it as an allegory where Satan is the great king and the poor wise man is Jesus. But if we just take this text at its face value based on a plain reading of the text, the author seems to be focused here on the practical value of wisdom and not the cosmological battle between good and evil.
As we’ve seen previously in the book of Ecclesiastes, there is a limit to the value of wisdom. Our wisdom will never be adequate to figure out God. And wisdom is not a guarantee of any kind of personal profit, gain or advantage in our lives. But, as Qoheleth has consistently pointed out, wisdom is certainly better than folly. But in this section, we find some additional observations about wisdom that will allow us to use the power of one for good.
• Power comes from wisdom, not from strength
This is such an important principle that Qoheleth makes it twice in this short passage. First, in verse 15 he writes:
Wisdom is better than strength…
And then in verse 18, we find these words:
Wisdom is better than weapons of war…
This certainly flies in the face of the idea that “might is right” and it also clearly refutes the concept of “the survival of the fittest” that is the basis for the theory of evolution. Although it is true that strength and might may prevail in the short run, wisdom is much more profitable in the long run. And in a world where most people seem to pay attention to those who are the most powerful and have the loudest voice, Qoheleth offers this warning:
Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.
Just a couple of weeks ago Time Magazine released the results of its online poll of the world’s 100 most influential people. Can you guess who was at the top of the poll? [Wait for answers].
Those are all pretty good guesses, but the poll was actually topped by someone named “moot”. It turns out that “moot” is actually a 21-year-old college dropout also known as Christopher Poole who hacked into Time’s computer and rigged the top 21 positions in the poll so that the first letter of each person’s first name spelled out a cryptic message. Moot was as the top of the list because, technology-wise at least, he had the loudest voice.
But even without the antics of moot and his fellow pranksters, the list is populated with those who are hardest to ignore in our culture – politicians, actors, entertainers, and athletes. And if we’re not careful, even those of us who are followers of Jesus can get caught up into listening to the shouts of these fools.
Even when it comes to teaching the Scriptures, there is a tendency for us to listen to those with the loudest voices, the ones with the largest churches, or those who have written the most books, or the ones who have prominent places on TV and radio. I’m certainly not saying that you shouldn’t listen to these people just because they are well known. But I would certainly caution you against assuming that their teaching is right just because it is popular or fashionable, In fact, I think I can make a pretty good case that one of the leading sources on spirituality in this country is a well known female entertainer who has clearly denied that Jesus is the only way to God.
But Qoheleth leads no doubt that wisdom is superior to strength and power and might. But, as we’ll see, not just any wisdom fits the bill. So we need to define exactly what Qoheleth means by wisdom in this passage.
Most of us have probably heard lots of definitions of wisdom and how wisdom differs from knowledge. I think my favorite one is this one:
Knowledge is knowing how to pick your nose,
wisdom is knowing when.
But frankly, no definition that we’ll find in any dictionary is really adequate. Fortunately, however, the Bible clearly defines the kind of wisdom that Qoheleth is writing about.
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But 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. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
James 3:13-18 (NIV)
It’s interesting how well this fits with our passage from Ecclesiastes. Worldly wisdom is loud and self-serving. It results in destruction, decay and disunity. But heavenly wisdom, the kind we need to seek, involves humility. It is quiet and peaceable. And that is the only kind of wisdom that results ultimately in good.
So how do we get that kind of wisdom? In the video that we watched at the beginning of the message, there was one phrase that I think gives us some good insight into how we do that:
• “One voice can speak with wisdom”
Let’s return once again to the first part of verse 17:
Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard…
There is only one voice that speaks the “words of the wise” and that voice is God’s. But God, unlike the fools of this world doesn’t usually shout out His wisdom. Instead, He invites us to come quietly into His presence and listen to Him as He speaks quietly to us.
Most of us are probably familiar with the account of Elijah when God invited him up to the mountain to experience the presence of God, but let’s return there again for just a moment.
The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
1 Kings 19:11-13 (NIV)
God wasn’t in the wind, He wasn’t in the earthquake, He wasn’t in the fire. Instead His voice was merely a whisper. And in order to hear God’s voice, Elijah had to quiet himself and listen carefully.
That principle still applies today. If we really want to hear the voice of God then we have to follow the admonition of the Psalmist:
Be still, and know that I am God…
Psalm 46:10 (NIV)
Frankly, most of us aren’t very good at this. For the most part, we don’t really like silence. I know I’m certainly guilty of that. Even when I’m studying and working on my sermons, I usually like to have some music playing in the background. We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with sounds of all kinds and so silence is pretty uncomfortable for most of us. I’m always amazed when we include some quiet time in one of our worship services how long that time seems, even if it’s only a matter of seconds.
But if we want to get the kind of heavenly wisdom that James described, we must quiet ourselves so that we can listen to the words of the one voice that speaks with wisdom. We must discipline ourselves to sit down with God’s Word and set aside all the distractions that keep us from hearing Him as He speaks to us through His Word. We need to turn off the TV and the radio, get away from our computer and our emails and just sit down with our Bibles and allow God to speak to us.
That is the only way we are going to hear His voice and the only way that we can use the power of one for ultimate good.
• Wisdom often comes from unexpected places
It’s quite instructive that the wisdom in this passage comes from the place that we would least expect it – from a poor man in a small town.
Far too many times, we seek wisdom in all the wrong places. We think if we can just read the right book, or go to the right seminar, or find the right church or make some other external change that life will be better.
But what we find instead is that wisdom doesn’t just require more information, it requires transformation as well. If I want to be wise, it means that I must change on the inside and not just change my external circumstances. And in that process, God often uses tools that we wouldn’t expect to develop godly wisdom in our lives.
Sometimes He uses pain, disease, difficulty and trials. And sometimes he uses other people. But usually not the people we might expect. He uses someone who has endured struggles that are similar to ours, He uses that quiet person who never speaks up in a group to come to us one on one, He uses a family member or a neighbor or someone right here in this local body rather than a well known “expert” who is on TV or who has written a shelf full of books.
For me, that happens every week on Tuesday morning with a group of godly men from our church. Not one of them has a degree from a well-known Bible college or seminary. None of them have ever written a commentary. Most of them don’t know any Greek or Hebrew. But they love God and love His Word and as we discuss the Bible together, it helps me to develop wisdom that is indispensable as I prepare a sermon each week.
Wisdom doesn’t always come from the person who seemingly has all the right answers. It often comes from the people from whom we would least expect it. So we need to keep our spiritual eyes and ears open so that we can take advantage of those opportunities when they come along.
But even as we listen to the voice of God and as we obtain wisdom from these unexpected places we can’t expect that things are always going to go smoothly all the time. In fact, we find a word of warning in the midst of this passage:
• Don’t expect the world to embrace godly wisdom
Let’s go back to verses 15 and 16 one last time:
15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. 16 Then I said: "Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, And his words are not heard.
Even though this poor wise man had saved his small city through the power of one, no one even remembered what he had done. In fact, as Qoheleth writes, his wisdom was actually despised by those around him.
In general, the world is usually not very impressed with godly wisdom. In fact, many times they are downright hostile toward it. Just ask Carrie Prejean. By now, I’m sure that many of you are familiar with her response to the question she was asked during the Miss USA pageant a couple of weeks ago. An openly homosexual judge asked her a question about gay marriage to which she replied, in part:
…in my country and in, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think that it should be between a man and a woman
At the time, she was booed by a significant portion of the audience, but that was nothing compared to the way she has been excoriated by so many since then. Even the pageant director of the Miss California contest, Keith Lewis, wrote these words to the judge who had asked the question: “I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss CA USA 2009 believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman…Religious beliefs have no place in politics in the Miss CA family.”
Although Miss Prejean’s testimony has been weakened to some degree by revelations of some revealing photos that she had previously posed for, in this case she certainly held to what she knew to be godly wisdom even though she knew that the judge who asked the questions as well as much of the American public would certainly not embrace those beliefs.
But what is really interesting is that Carrie Prejean has been given a platform to expound God’s truth that she would have never had if she had answered the question the way that she knew the judges wanted and had gone on to win the pageant. And to her credit, she has not backed down even one bit from her commitment to traditional marriage between one man and one woman.
In a sense Carrie embodies both the good and the bad that is possible with the power of one. On one hand, at some time in her life she listened to the quiet voice of God and developed her convictions about marriage based on listening to His voice and also from the wisdom that was imparted by her parents and others in her life. And as a result, she has used the power of one to advance good here in this world.
On the other hand, some of the things she has done in the past have actually destroyed that good, at least to some extent.
One person really can make a difference – either to advance good or to destroy it. The difference lies not in our own strength or power, or even in our human wisdom, but rather in whose voice we are listening to. If we listen to the loud, demanding voice of this world, it will lead us into sin that will not only impact us but others as well, destroying much good in the process. But if we take the time to get quiet and listen to the still small voice of God and then live our lives according to His wisdom, we can be a positive influence for good.
