SERIES: “BE SATISFIED”
“WARNINGS ABOUT WORSHIP”
ECCLESIASTES 5:1-7
OPEN
Some warnings seem humorous. I remember seeing a box some years back with the following label: WARNING! This box contains envelopes. It’s been reported that there is a sign posted on a Catholic church that reads: “Warning! No Parking. All violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Issued by the Sisters of Charity. On a laser in a physics lab, the sign reads: “Do not look into laser beam with remaining eye.” One Arkansas farmer discourages trespassers from his fields with this warning: “Please do not trample the poison ivy or feed the bull.”
During prohibition, bootleggers began to press grape juice into the form of bricks, which was not against the law. However, this warning was printed on the package: “Do not let this brick sit in a gallon of water for 21 days. It will ferment and become illegal wine.”
Other warnings are very ominous and menacing. It’s frightening to see warnings about the presence of radiation and the possibilities of radiation poisoning. When you see a warning concerning the possibilities of death by electrocution on a transformer, you work a lot more cautiously. There’s always the consideration given to safety when you’re watching TV and the warning comes across concerning tornadoes in the area.
Solomon gives us some warnings about worship. Eccl. 5:1-7 – 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. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words. When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.
Not all worship is acceptable to God. Isaiah 29:13 – The Lord says: “These people come near to me with
their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only
of rules taught by men.”
So far in our study of Ecclesiastes, we have seen Solomon looking at the courtroom, the highways, and the palace. Solomon now looks at what happens at the temple. What did he see? He saw that many of the people coming and going from corporate worship were insincere in what they did and left in a worse spiritual condition than when they came. We need to carefully heed Solomon’s warnings concerning worship
PREPARE WHAT YOU PRESENT
In the Old Testament, the temple was the center of worship. It was truly the house of God because the presence of God lived at the heart of the temple – the Holy of Holies. Solomon’s warning was “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.”
When riding a bus, when you exit the bus, the driver will usually say “please watch your step”. When you exit a commercial airliner, a stewardess will generally stand at the door and say something like this: “Thank you for flying with us and please watch your step.”
Solomon’s warning in this section has to do with worship. He says, “Watch where you’re going.” “Look out!” “Pay attention to what you’re doing.” Solomon challenges his readers to prepare their hearts, minds, and mouths for worship.
Solomon rightly sees that worship does not begin when you enter a house of worship. It begins before you get there. Worship is the offering of a prepared life. Rom. 12:1-2 – Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of
God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of
worship.
Too many people come to church to receive something and not to present something. We should be together in worship to give something – the sacrifice of ourselves to God. Dave Hartson said, ““It takes more than a well prepared preacher to lead people into worship. It also takes a well prepared people to experience worship.”
What is the key to worship? Solomon says that it is being prepared to hear what God has to say. In the Bible, the concept of “hearing God” means “heeding God” as well. In Lk. 6:46, Jesus asks, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” In Mt.7:21 – Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” 1 Sam. 15:22 – But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
Solomon says that real worship is not about enjoying yourself or participating in a certain ritual. He says that true worship is about hearing and obeying. True worship is not about self-indulgence or the satisfaction of emotional needs. True worship is the opening of ourselves to listening and responding to what God wants from each of us.
The motivation for proper worship is that you are standing in the presence of God. Never forget the twin truths taught in the Lord’s Prayer – God is “Father” but He is “in Heaven”. God wants intimacy yet He wants us to remember who He is.
PROHIBIT WHAT YOU PRAY
Solomon also issues a warning about careless praying. Prayer is serious business. Like worship, people approach prayer in a flippant fashion. Like worship, we need to approach prayer with the consideration of who God is and who we are. He’s the Creator. We’re the created. Again, Jesus’ words in His model prayer serve as our guide: “Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Prayer should be done in a humble and worshipful manner.
Again, like worship, prayer should be approached in an attitude of obedience on our part. Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Too often we approach God like He is a genie in a magic lamp. We expect Him to respond to our every wish and desire.
Another thing we need to be careful about when we pray isto watch out for both hasty words and too many words. In Mt. 6:7 – Jesus says, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” God despises these kinds of prayers.
John Bunyan said, “In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart.” C.H. Spurgeon said, “It is not the length of our prayers, but the strength of our prayers , that makes the
difference.
Like acceptable worship, the secret of acceptable prayer is a prepared heart. Jesus taught that the mouth speaks what is in the heart. Mt. 12:34b – Jesus said “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”
PRODUCE WHAT YOU PROMISE
Solomon then warns us about making vows to the Lord. What kind of vows was Solomon talking about?
Michael A Eaton, Ecclesiastes, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: “The vow in the Old Testament was a
promise to God which might be part of a prayer for blessing or a spontaneous expression of gratitude. It might take the form of a promise of allegiance, a free-will offering, or the dedication of a child...”
Solomon points out two specific sins concerning vows made before the Lord. The first is making a vow with no intention of keeping the vow. And the second is making a vow but putting off keeping the vow.
God never required vows from His people but He did give specific guidelines through Moses concerning making a vow before Him. Deut. 23:21-23 – If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from
making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your
vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.
There is an old Burt Reynolds movie called The End. Reynolds’ character is named Wendell “Sonny” Lawson. He’s informed early on in the movie that he has the same disease as Ali Mcgraw in the movie Love Story. (That would be MMD – “Mysterious Movie Disease”) Despondent over his condition, Lawson is placed in a mental hospital where he meets a mental patient played by Dom DeLuise. Reynolds’ character decides that he will take his own life and DeLuise’s character vows to help him.
The two men row out to the middle of a lake. The decision is that Reynolds’ character will die by drowning Reynolds’ character is under the water. He’s looking at the surface from the underside and decides not to go through with it. As he breaks the surface of the water he screams: “I want to live! I want to live!”
He then begins to try to swim to shore, but it’s a long way off. As he begins to swim he talks to God. He promises to obey all of the Ten Commandments, and then realizes he doesn’t know what all of them are so he promises to learn them. Then, in his panic, he says, “Lord, if you get me out of this, I will give you 80% of everything I have.”
But time passes and he is still going strong, and besides he can just begin to see the shoreline. As he continues to swim he feels his strength holding out and says, “Lord, if you help me to get to shore alive I will give you 10% of all my earnings.” Finally, he struggles to the place where he sees that he is just going to be able to make it to land and says, “Well, Lord, let’s just forget about what I said before. I think I can make it from here on my own.”
People make empty vows because they live in a religious “dream world”. They think that words are the same as deeds. Some of us may need to reconsider the promises we made on our wedding day and evaluated just how much we meant them and what we’re doing now to fulfill them. Some of us need to reconsider the promises we made on the day we supposedly gave our lives to Jesus Christ pledged to make Him both Savior and Lord. Others may need to look at promises we made during a particular crisis in our life. Are we keeping our vows in a way that pleases the Lord?
There was a woman from Memphis, TN named Pauline Port. She was a special woman who had compassion for people. She had a very special place in her heart for those who could not read or write. When she was 88 years old, she became involved with a ministry that taught people how to read.
He involvement in this literacy program was very significant. Not only did she have compassion for those who could not read, she also had compassion for those who did not know Jesus Christ. She would lead people to Christ with her genuine compassion and her radiant faith.
President George H.W. Bush (Sr. Bush) recognized her as one of the recipients of his “Points of Light” awards. It was a special recognition for those who rendered extraordinary service to their fellow human beings. The President came to Memphis, made special arrangements and then invited Pauline to join him for lunch.
Do you know what Pauline did? This little woman told the president how sorry she was, but she was unable to have lunch with him on that day because that was the day she went down to the state prison in Parchmen, MS to visit the prisoners and share God’s love with them. She had already made that commitment and that was the most important thing in the world to her.
The Psalmist writes in Ps. 66:13-14 – I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you- vows my lips promised and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.
CLOSE
Solomon says that it is foolish to offer God empty worship, empty prayers, and empty vows. The people described in this section remind me of children who visit Santa Claus at Christmas time at the mall. They come with their wants and wishes, wanting to say what they have to say and then move on. All they want to hear from Santa is that they’re going to get what they want.
Solomon concludes this warning section with the words, “Therefore stand in awe of God.” It’s basically a summary statement. The cure for empty worship, empty prayers, and empty vows is a proper respect and reverence of God.
The Bible is full of statements concerning proper respect and reverence for God. Ps. 111:10 – The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. Jesus said in Lk. 18:18 – “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Fear of God means we approach him with a willingness to learn and receive from him, and our desire, above all, is to
submit ourselves to his rule.
Max Lucado, in his book In The Eye of The Storm, tells about two battleships that were assigned to a training group. Both had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. The visibility was poor with patchy fog so the captain in the lead battleship stayed on the bridge to keep an eye on everything.
Not long after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, “Light, bearing on the starboard bow.” The captain asked, “Is it steady or moving astern?” The lookout replied, “Steady, Captain.” That meant that they were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain called to the signalman, “Signal that ship with this message: ‘We are on collision course. Advise you change course 20 degrees.’” The signal came back: “Advise that you change your course 20 degrees.”
The captain ordered the signalman, “Send this message: ‘I’m a captain. Change your course 20 degrees.” The reply came back: “I’m a seaman second class. You’d better change course 20 degrees.”
By this time the captain was furious. He spat out, “Send this message: ‘I’m a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.’” Back came the reply: “I’m a lighthouse. Change your course 20 degrees.” The battleship changed course!
Warnings exist for our benefit. They only benefit us when we obey them. Are you in obedience with what Christ wants in your life? Or are you in disobedience to Him? You, too, can change course this morning.
