Wise Up - Ecclesiastes 10:1-11 Series

10:1 Dead flies make a perfumer's oil ferment and stink; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. 2 A wise man's heart goes to the right, but a fool's heart to the left. 3 Even when the fool walks along the road, his heart lacks sense, and he shows everyone he is a fool. 4 If the ruler's anger rises against you, don't leave your place, for calmness puts great offenses to rest. 5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, an error proceeding from the presence of the ruler: 6 The fool is appointed to great heights, but the rich remain in lowly positions. 7 I have seen slaves on horses, but princes walking on the ground like slaves. 8 The one who digs a pit may fall into it, and the one who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. 9 The one who quarries stones may be hurt by them; the one who splits trees may be endangered by them. 10 If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge, then one must exert more strength; however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success. 11 If the snake bites before it is charmed, then there is no advantage for the charmer.

Introduction

We have been studying through the book of Ecclesiastes, and we come today to chapter 10. But to introduce this particular study I would like to give you a little context about the role of wisdom in the Christian life. We have spent all these weeks learning these wisdom principles from Ecclesiastes, but I don’t want us to lose sight of the bigger picture of why wisdom is so important.

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

If you have placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you trust Him more than you trust yourself – enough to follow Him as a disciple, then you have gone from darkness into light. And now you are called to live accordingly. How do you do that?

10 find out what pleases the Lord.

Exactly what we saw at the beginning of Ecclesiastes – we need to live for God’s pleasure. Find out what pleases Him, and make that the goal of your whole existence. That is always the path to the greatest joy in life. Jesus died on the cross not only to pay the penalty for your sin in your place, but also to purchase your life, so that you would live a life pleasing to Him. And one of the things that really pleases Him is wisdom. Wisdom is pleasing to Him; folly is ugly to Him, so we strive for wisdom.

15 Be very careful, therefore, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity

So we pursue wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to make good decisions in life. We make hundreds of decisions every day, and when the decisions you make are good and beautiful and profitable and right – that is wisdom. Folly (foolishness) is the opposite. That is when you are not very good at making the best choices. God loves it when we live wisely. And the main way to gain wisdom is through the books of the Bible known as the wisdom books – Job through Song of Songs. Ecclesiastes is one of those books.

The message of Ecclesiastes has been basically this. You will make the best choices in life when…

1) You realize that we live in a fallen, cursed, futile world. We cannot gain control of it, we cannot understand why all the crazy things that happen happen, and it is futile to try. So…

2) Instead of trying to gain control of life, trust God with all that and just enjoy the things in life God has given you to enjoy.

3) The way to do that is to fear God, live for His pleasure, and be alert to every time God makes enjoyment of one of His gifts possible.

4) But when you do that, keep Judgment Day in mind. Never enjoy one of God’s gifts in a way that would violate some biblical principle and displease God.

Those four points are the basic message of Ecclesiastes. But sprinkled all throughout that message we have run into various different proverbs that the writer drops in. A proverb is a concentrated little statement of wisdom. It is an observation about the way things tend to go in life that will come in handy in making good decisions.

So interspersed throughout his main points in this book, the writer of Ecclesiastes has been dropping a proverb here and a proverb there. But now in chapter 10 it is like he saw that the end of the book is coming and said, “Wow, I have most of my proverbs still left in my wheelbarrow; I’d better just dump them all.” So chapter 10 is just one gem of proverbial wisdom after another.