When we were in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago, we watched as a couple of kids worked diligently to build a sand castle on the beach. They meticulously used their buckets and shovels to craft quite a castle, complete with sticks around the perimeter to protect it from intruders. Unfortunately for them, the tide was coming in and not much later it only took a couple of waves to wipe out all their work. At the time, I thought that was such a great illustration of what we have been learning in our journey through Ecclesiastes. That sand castle was merely “hebel”. It was nothing more than a breath or a mist that didn’t last for long.
That whole event also demonstrated quite well the principle that we’re going to look at this morning as we continue our journey – the idea that it often takes far less to ruin something than it does to create it. Or as Derek Kidner puts it in his commentary on Ecclesiastes:
It’s Easier to Make a Stink than to Create Sweetness
We’re going to read all of chapter 10 this morning. Let’s stand together as that passage is read out loud:
1 Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor. 2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, But a fool’s heart at his left. 3 Even when a fool walks along the way, He lacks wisdom, And he shows everyone that he is a fool. 4 If the spirit of the ruler rises against you, Do not leave your post; For conciliation pacifies great offenses. 5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, As an error proceeding from the ruler: 6 Folly is set in great dignity, While the rich sit in a lowly place. 7 I have seen servants on horses, While princes walk on the ground like servants. 8 He who digs a pit will fall into it, And whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent. 9 He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, And he who splits wood may be endangered by it. 10 If the ax is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success. 11 A serpent may bite when it is not charmed; The babbler is no different. 12 The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, But the lips of a fool shall swallow him up; 13 The words of his mouth begin with foolishness, And the end of his talk is raving madness. 14 A fool also multiplies words. No man knows what is to be; Who can tell him what will be after him? 15 The labor of fools wearies them, For they do not even know how to go to the city! 16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, And your princes feast in the morning! 17 Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, And your princes feast at the proper time -- For strength and not for drunkenness! 18 Because of laziness the building decays, And through idleness of hands the house leaks. 19 A feast is made for laughter, And wine makes merry; But money answers everything. 20 Do not curse the king, even in your thought; Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; For a bird of the air may carry your voice, And a bird in flight may tell the matter.
Ecclesiastes 10:1-20 (NKJV)
Once again, this is another passage from Ecclesiastes that appears at first glance to consist of a number of unrelated thoughts. But as the men who were here on Tuesday morning discovered, once we began to look at the overall passage, there are some common themes that hold this passage together. And, as I’ve mentioned, the primary theme is the idea that it is easier to make a stink than to create sweetness.
With that main theme in mind, let me make three observations about this passage that will help us to understand it better and then I’ll share some thoughts about how we can avoid making a stink.
SOME OBSERVATIONS:
1. One foolish action can ruin a lot of good
Once again, we find that an idiom that we use regularly in our culture today finds its roots in the Book of Ecclesiastes. In verse 1, Qoheleth presents us with the box art for this passage when he writes:
Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor;
Our phrase “a fly in the ointment” comes directly from that verse. In Qoheleth’s day, ointment was used for many purposes. Although it had medicinal uses, it was also sweet smelling and used as a perfume. But if during the making of the ointment a fly got into the ointment and was not removed immediately, it would die and soon the stench from the decaying body of the dead fly would permeate the entire batch of ointment. Qoheleth uses that picture to reinforce a principle that he first introduced to us at the end of chapter 9 with these words:
…But one sinner destroys much good.
Ecclesiastes 9:18 (NKJV)
As we discussed when we looked at that passage nearly a month ago, there is a communal nature to sin because none of us live in isolation. We have been fed the lie that my own sin is nobody else’s business, but the truth is that the consequences of sin are almost always far reaching and that many others are affected by that sin.
Here in chapter 10, Qoheleth takes a slightly different approach to that idea. One dead fly in an entire batch of ointment would seem to be quite insignificant and so the maker of the ointment would be tempted to just ignore it. But eventually that which seems to be such a little thing can ruin that which has been accomplished through much effort.
This principle applies to us as individuals as well as to the church as a whole. How many times in our lives are our great efforts brought to naught by some little, seemingly insignificant action on our part? Maybe it is some sin that we fail to deal with, or a relationship that we have broken or damaged, or an unkind word that we have said or a lack of proper planning and follow through on our part.
And when it comes to the Kingdom of God, it often doesn’t matter how beautiful its aroma is when one dead fly who misrepresents our King and his Kingdom stinks up everything. How many people do you know who have been turned off to Jesus by the actions of someone who claims to love Jesus and to follow Him? And it is often impossible for a host of other committed followers of Jesus to overcome the damage inflicted by just one fly in the ointment.
2. We are often endangered by our own actions
In verses 8 and 9, we are introduced to some people that are hurt in the process of their work:
• A man falls into a pit that he has dug
• Another breaks through a wall and is bitten by a serpent
• Another is quarrying rocks and one of them falls on him
• Another is splitting wood and is endangered in the process
What all these have in common is that the person engaging in these activities is endangered by his own actions.
The more I pondered these verses this week, the more that I began to see how in my own life I’m often tempted to blame someone else for my problems, when in fact they are usually a result of my own doing. This was especially true in the early days of my marriage. Whenever Mary and I had some kind of disagreement, my goal was always to prove that it was her fault. But fortunately, God began to deal with me and help me see that most of the time I was at least as much at fault in the matter and that a lot of the problems we were facing were a direct result of something that I had done.
If you’re one of those people who always blame your problems on everyone else, then these verses are a wake-up call to you to honestly evaluate your own actions and see how you have endangered yourself with your own actions.
We would all do well to heed the words of Paul:
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
Romans 12:3 (NIV)
3. We often do the most damage with our words
We’re all familiar with the adage “sticks and stones my break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” That is a lie straight from the devil and every one of us has the battle scars to prove it. So it’s not a surprise that Qoheleth spends so much time in this passage focusing on the importance of our words. Even the references to serpents in this passage would have immediately been associated with the tongue by Qoheleth’s readers who would have been familiar with this Psalm:
They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.
Psalm 140:3 (NIV)
In his epistle, James writes about just how lethal of a weapon that our words can be.
Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
James 3:5-8 (NIV)
Once again, this is not just true in our individual lives, but also in the body of Christ. One critical comment or sarcastic remark at the wrong time can ruin an otherwise meaningful worship service. An off the cuff remark can derail a fruitful Bible study. A criticism directed publicly at a teacher can rob others of the benefit of that person’s teaching.
Although we often intentionally use our words to hurt others, we can do just as much damage with a careless word. And as we saw earlier, once the words come out of our mouth, it is like trying to get toothpaste back into the tube.
Fortunately for us, Qoheleth, as he has done frequently throughout this book, doesn’t just leave us with the negative. He provides us with some positive principles we can employ in order to avoid making a stink.
HOW TO AVOID MAKING A STINK
1. Deal with my sin immediately
The longer the dead fly is allowed to remain in the ointment, the more power it will have to permeate and ruin the entire batch. On the other hand, if it is removed immediately, it will have little or no ability to ruin the ointment.
The same thing is true with sin. Even the seemingly smallest sin, if we allow it to remain in our lives, can cause massive decay and destruction. Jesus certainly taught the importance of dealing with our sin immediately:
If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
Matthew 18:8-9 (NIV)
Obviously Jesus was not telling His listeners to literally cut of their hand or foot or pluck out their eye. But what he was saying is that even if there is something in your life that might cause you to sin in the future, deal with it now. Jesus knew the result of sin that was allowed to remain and fester in a person’s life so he commanded them to deal with even their temptations immediately.
We obviously could spend at least a whole morning just focusing on this one principle and how we are to deal with our sin, but let me just briefly mention three key components:
• Confession
To confess our sin means to agree with God that our sin is sin. It is not merely an error in judgment, a mistake, or some behavior that we try to rationalize or defend. It is sin and sin has serious consequences. So the first step is to acknowledge before God that what we have done is wrong and seek His forgiveness.
• Repentance
It’s not enough just to be sorry for our sin. We also need to repent, which means that we make a u-turn and we make the choice not to continue in the sinful behavior.
• Reconciliation
There are certainly some sins that are just between us and God. But, as we’ve already discussed this morning, much of our sin affects other people. And when that happens, it’s not enough just to confess our sin to God and to repent. We also need to attempt to reconcile with those that we have hurt. In fact that is so important, that Jesus warned us that process is actually a pre-requisite to worship:
"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”
Matthew 5:23, 24 (NIV)
2. Hold on to truth, but do it with quietness
In verse 4, we find this interesting statement:
4 If the spirit of the ruler rises against you, Do not leave your post; For conciliation pacifies great offenses.
There are two important principles we find here. The first is contained in the words “Do not leave your post.” The idea here is that even if you are confronted by someone in authority over you, you are to hold fast to the truth. In other words, don’t just yield to a powerful person when they defy the truth of God’s Word and the truth Himself, Jesus.
For some of us, that is a very difficult thing to do. Some of you don’t like conflict, so the easiest thing to do in these situations is to just surrender or yield to the other person, whether that is some government official or more likely your boss at work, or maybe even your husband. But it is clear that we must stand for the truth no matter the cost.
There are others of you that have no problem whatsoever with conflict. In fact, you really like it. But the methods you employ in holding on to the truth actually create even more conflict and may actually repel people from accepting the truth. That’s why we are to hold to the truth with “conciliation”, or as it is translated elsewhere with “composure” or “calmness”.
Peter reinforces both aspects of this principle:
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
1 Peter 3:15, 16 (NIV)
On one hand, we are to be prepared to hold to the truth and tell people about our hope in Jesus. But we are to do that with gentleness and respect, not by getting in someone’s face.
My favorite Biblical example of this principle is the teenager Daniel and his three friends who refuse to violate God’s instructions about their diet, but who do that in a very respectful and gentle manner.
3. Be prudent
In verse 10, we find these wise words:
10 If the ax is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.
Far too many times, we rush into things in life without the proper planning. We chop and chop and chop away, but we never seem to be able to actually accomplish anything. And the resulting damage is often impossible to overcome. We’re so eager to get things done that we fail to take the prudent steps to prepare ourselves properly.
Even Jesus commended the need for proper preparation and planning:
"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ’This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
Luke 14:28-30 (NIV)
A lot of the stink we make could be avoided if we would just take the time to plan and prepare properly and take the steps that are prudent. We would be wise to remember the first rule of carpentry – measure twice, cut once. So that’s why I always have to buy extra materials when I try to complete a project.
4. Think before I speak
If much of the damage that we do is with our words, then it only makes sense that we need to guard those words. That is a principle that we find throughout Scriptures, but which James writes about most clearly:
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
James 1:19, 20 (NIV)
Unfortunately, many of us reverse this command and we’re quick to speak and slow to listen. And as a result, our works often create a stink that is difficult to get rid of. The Bible has a lot to say about our words, but I think that if we could keep in mind just this one principle, we would avoid 99% of the problems that are caused by our words:
• Use words that build up, not tear down
Paul imparts this principle very clearly in his letter to the church at Ephesus:
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)
If we would just use that test every time before we speak, we would speak very few words that we would ever want to take back. If you could take only one thing from my message today it should be this principle. I want to encourage you to begin right now to consciously ask yourself this question every time you are ready to speak: “Will the words I am about to speak help build up the person to who I am speaking?” If you can’t answer yes to that question, then you seriously need to consider whether you should speak those words.
I know how guilty that I have often been in this area. And I try to justify my jesting or sarcasm by saying that it was just humor. But the problem is that the other person often doesn’t take it that way. So instead of building up the other person, I’m actually guilty of tearing them down. So I’m really thankful for the person in this body who ends every email he sends with these words from Ephesians. I need to be reminded daily to make sure that my words build up and not tear down.
5. Live a life of balance
Qoheleth writes these words in verses 18 and 19
18 Because of laziness the building decays, And through idleness of hands the house leaks. 19 A feast is made for laughter, And wine makes merry; But money answers everything.
Qoheleth is emphasizing the need for balance in our lives. On one hand if we are lazy our houses will be in disrepair. But on the other hand if all we ever do is work and never take time to enjoy the simple things in life that God has given to us life will be miserable.
This idea of balance is one that we find throughout the Bible and it applies to many areas of our lives. Here are just a few that come to mind:
• Balance between work and play
• Balance between doctrine and practical application
• Balance between time alone with God and relationships with others
• Balance between spending time with other believers and time with unbelievers
6. Be flexible
Even if we follow all of these principles, that is not a guarantee that life will go smoothly or that we won’t occasionally make a stink in spite of our best efforts. That’s why Qoheleth writes these words at the end of verse 14:
No man knows what is to be; Who can tell him what will be after him?
Once again, he is reminding us that we can’t control every aspect of our lives because we are not sovereign. Only God is sovereign. So we need to remain flexible in our lives. Life is going to throw us curveballs and knock us off balance. So sometimes, while we hold to Biblical principles, we have to be flexible enough to change our methods and approaches to life.
I don’t know about you, but as I look back on my life, even my life as a follower of Jesus, I can see that I’ve made a lot of stink in my life. And unfortunately some of those stinks, which were seemingly quite insignificant at the time, have damaged or destroyed some good things that took a lot of effort to create. In particular, I’ve said some things I wish that I could put back into the toothpaste tube. Maybe you find yourself in the same position this morning. And if that’s the case I don’t want to leave you discouraged. So here’s…
THE GOOD NEWS:
• God is in the business of cleaning up our stink
Even though we are often incapable of cleaning up our own stink, God is both willing and able to do that on our behalf if we’ll let Him. But He has only promised to do that for those who love Him and who have committed their lives to Him.
So if you’re here this morning and you’ve never committed your life to Jesus and accepted Him into your life as your Savior and your Lord, I want to encourage you to do that today. If that is a decision you are considering or even if you’d like to know more about what that involves, I encourage you to take your bulletin, fill out the Care Card on the flap and check the box that reads “I would like to learn how to begin a personal relationship with Jesus.” Then you can place it in the offering plate or give it to me after the service.
If you’ve already made that decision, then let me leave you with this promise:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 (NIV)
The “all things” that Paul writes about in that verse certainly includes all the stinks that you have made in your life. If you’ll just turn them over to Him, He’ll help you work through them. But that doesn’t mean that He’ll do all the work. Perhaps you’ll need to seek forgiveness from someone that you’ve hurt. Maybe you’ll have to make restitution of some kind. It’s likely that you’ll have to make some changes in your life. But if you’re willing to do that, then God can complete the cleanup process no matter how big the mess.
