Wisdom and Reality
(Eccl. 8:1--9:3)
1. Wisdom has always been a valuable quality:
Ivy Lee, a management consultant, was called in by Charles Schwab, chairman of Bethlehem Steel Company, to give him advice on how to better manage his time. After observing Schwab for several hours, Lee gave this advice: "Every evening write down the six most important things that must get done the next day, and list them in order of importance. Don’t begin item two until item one is complete." Schwab asked Lee how much he wanted for this advice and Lee said, "Use the plan for 6 months and send me a check for how much you think it is worth." After 6 months, Lee received a check from Schwab for $25,000--which was quite a lot of money in the 1920’s.
2. That wisest of kings, Solomon, has been sharing with us counsel for
dealing with life..., and now, as we come to chapter 8, we say the wise man is handling life well….let’s read verse 1….
Why does the wise man of Ecclesiastes 8:1 go from a demoralized look to a confident look? Why? Because a wise man takes life in stride and has realistic expectations.
MAIN IDEA: A wise man takes life in stride because he has a realistic perspective about people, society, and himself.
I. He Expects Those In Leadership to Be Flawed (2-9)
1. Those who Have Executive Authority (2-9)
(1) the king may be corrupt
(2) Still go along with the protocol and procedures…(5-6)
(3) console yourself at what the king cannot do (7-8), and at his mortality
(4) recognize that the evil people are enslaved by wickedness (8b)…
(5) playing the authority card too often might mean you get tossed out of the game (like Solomon’s son, Rehoboam) (9)
2. Those Who Have Religious Authority (10)
(1) people hate religious hypocrisy…and they should
(2) but, hate it or not, it has always been…began with Cain who offers a sacrifice and then kills his brother….
(3) we are all hypocrites to some degree, because none of us lives us to the standard….but it is the PRETENDING that really alienates people…people who do not have an agenda against us will accept many of our faults as long as we are open about them…
3. People who retreat in cynicism and sarcasm whine about things, but do little to change them; people who are idealistic often become crusaders who eventually burn out in utter disappointment; but people who are realistic and participate in society become INFLUENCERS for good, because they know the limits of what can be, and they are more prone to take things in stride.
A wise man takes life in stride because he has a realistic perspective about people, society, and himself.
II. He Realizes Some People Have to Be Controlled by Fear (11-13)
1. Never underestimate the power of fear…
(1) it is one of the strongest forces in the universe…
(2) a healthy version (fear of God, fear of being caught doing wrong) and an unhealthy version (phobias, persecution, and tyranny)
2. According to verse 11, punishing criminal IS a deterrent to crime; reforming those who truly want to be reformed is great, but we must accept the reality that many do not want to be reformed; therefore, it is government’s job to check crime by playing the fear card…
3. Those of us who fear God have a built in restraint system (12-13)---two tracks in Ecclesiastes: “under the sun” and revelation (either eternity in our hearts or His Word)…
A wise man takes life in stride because he has a realistic perspective about people, society, and himself.
III. He Knows Death and Life Are Unfair and Unpredictable
1. People do NOT always get what they deserve in this life; they often do, but there are so many exceptions…..
2. None of us knows the future….aren’t you glad?
3. Death awaits us all
4. Therefore, tomorrow is always a wild card…except for one thing, God is doing the dealing! But we cannot detect that “under the sun.” It is only be His revelation we know this…(2 tracks in Ecclesiastes)
A wise man takes life in stride because he has a realistic perspective about people, society, and himself.
IV. He Knows He and Everyone Else is Crazy (9:3)
1. This is one of THE most important verses in the Bible…
2. It helps you understand others; it helps you understand yourself…
(1) people are crazy, insane at heart
(2) you are crazy, insane at heart
(3) people have hearts filled with evil
(4) you have a heart filled with evil….
. Romans 3:10-11 reads,
“As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.’”
In Romans, Paul argued that when society had knowledge of God, they abandoned the knowledge of the true God and created their own gods. Rom. 3:11 does not say, “no one seeks after a god;” the issue is seeking the true God. The true God is not appealing to the natural man.
Romans 8:7 continues along this theme:
“the sinful mind is hostile to God.”
Again, the God being spoken of here is not just any god, but the true God. The sinful mind is not necessarily hostile to a false god. The sinful mind is especially hostile toward a God Who sovereignly elects some to salvation while passing over others, as is implied below. People do not like this kind of God.
Since,
“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14),
it takes a miraculous work of the Spirit for a man to accept the things that come from the Spirit of God and to understand them. Through the Holy Spirit, God overcomes man’s lack of desire for the true God, man’s hostility toward the true God, and man’s refusal to accept the things that come from the Spirit of God.
3. Nothing will help you in dealing with people and yourself more than a proper understanding of the depth and nature of sin. We are truly our own worst enemies.
A wise man takes life in stride because he has a realistic perspective about people, society, and himself.
CONCLUSION
1. We will never transform this world.
2. But we can make a difference for Christ; we can influence this world, and through salvation and DISCIPLESHIP, we can see individual transformed. But we have to engage with others.
3. Are you engaging? Are you influencing? Are you realistic about people, society, and yourself?
