Warnings for those who want to enjoy life

Text Ecclesiastes 7:16-29 Time 17/07/05 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We are looking at the third part of the Book of Ecclesiastes. This is found in 6:1-8:15. The concluding verse there is 8:15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, that is if you fear God, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun. Satisfaction is guaranteed. We looked last week at 6:1-7:15 and considered how to look at life with discerning eyes. We noted two things

1. That prosperity is not always a good thing

1 Wealth and honour don’t guarantee enjoyment

2 Earthly advantages are worthless without enjoyment

3 Man’s unaided effort can’t bring satisfaction

4 God is in control of all things and we must look to him

2. That trouble and hardship are not necessarily a bad thing

1 Discerning what’s best isn’t always easy

2 See the great importance of wisdom

3 Look to God in everything and so understand

What we were saying then is that you can’t judge a book by its cover. On the face of it the good thing seems to be wealth and possessions, etc, but things are not so straightforward. This week we turn to the next part of this third section – 7:16-29 – and again we are being encouraged to look below the surface and to avoid a superficial judgements. These are not easy verses.

Verse 16 Do not be over-righteous, neither be overwise - why destroy yourself? It sounds more like Buddhism than anything from the Bible and what about verse 28? While I was still searching but not finding - I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them that all sounds rather chauvinistic. We need to take care then not to misunderstand.

What we have here is really a series of warnings. We can put them in three groups. If we can get hold of this teaching it will be a very great help to us in all sorts of ways.

1. A warning against running to unwise extremes

1. Do not think that pretended goodness or wisdom can help you. 16 Do not be over-righteous, neither be overwise - why destroy yourself? On the face of it this would not appear to be something that the Bible would be saying. It is most likely, however, that what is being said here is something like ‘Do not be self-righteous and do not play the part of a wise man.’ It is hypocrisy and sanctimoniousness that is being attacked, a smug, holier-than-thou attitude. In the light of what he goes on to say about man’s lack of righteousness, this is an obvious thing to guard against. It is a danger for all religious people, which includes people like us. We think that because we go to church, pray, etc, that we’re something special. We must beware of getting into that sort of attitude. God will destroy all hypocrites. You know those words 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. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!

2. Do not think that a complete rejection of holiness is the answer either

Of course, on the other side, there is no merit in being particularly wicked either. 17 Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool - why die before your time? There is an unholier-then-thou attitude, a reaction to smugness and self-satisfaction that positively revels in its wickedness. It is common in our day. In a reaction against priggishness and pomposity many people positively revel in their lack of morals. That can never be right. His why die before your time? reminds us of the many who lose their lives young because of their recklessness and stupidity with drink and drugs and in other dangerous pursuits. Even if a person survives that he may still die in the flames of hell and has in a sense died tragically young.

3. See that godliness involves neither self-righteousness and self-conceit nor wickedness and foolishness.

To sum up (18) It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes (or perhaps follow both). We must be righteous and we must be wise. These are vital. We must avoid hypocrisy on the one hand and down-right wickedness on the other. Tread the narrow path of a holy and wise life that neither vaunts itself nor falls into excess.

4. See that wisdom is what you really need

Wisdom is especially needed and is the key to a holy life - 19 Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful than ten rulers in a city. Ten fine politicians with all their pretended wisdom may lack the wisdom to be found in just one God-fearing man. There is more power in wisdom within than all the outward power of a whole group of men united on a point. What strength there is in God-given heavenly wisdom. So let’s look to God for wisdom and holiness not being diverted into mere religiosity or into evil doing of one sort or another.

2. A warning against thinking too high thoughts of human power

Here is our next set of warnings. We really need to assess men’s power soberly.

1. Do not think too highly of man’s righteousness

20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. This is one of the plainest announcements of what is called total depravity in the Bible. Total depravity does not mean that a man is as bad a he can be but that he is bad in every way. Every part of him is corrupted. This verse reminds us of that sobering fact. Perhaps you know it better from the New Testament and Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It is because of our sinfulness that we need a heavenly wisdom that will lead us out from sin.

2. Do not think too highly of public opinion

In verses 21 and 22 we are given another warning Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you - for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others. This is a sort of corollary to what has been said. Given that no-one is righteous we should not be surprised that people find things in us to criticise nor should we think too highly of what others say anyway. We will have to answer to God one day and that is enough to fear. It can be good to get advice but in the end what others think cannot dictate our lives.

3. Do not think too highly even of wisdom itself

Solomon then adds in verses 23 and 24 All this I tested by wisdom and I said, I am determined to be wise - but this was beyond me. Whatever wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound - who can discover it? This is quite sobering because as we read words like these we are tempted to think ‘Yes, this is the way forward. I need to turn from hypocrisy, see how wicked this world is and how wicked I am and regardless of what others think I need to live for God.’ Yet, if even Solomon had to say that wisdom was beyond him then who are we to suppose that we either have found it or are going to find it. No, true wisdom, given who we are, is bound to be beyond us and part of wisdom, paradoxically is to see that.

So remember depravity. Do not set higher store by what people think of you. Realise that wisdom will always be something beyond you. You will never arrive as far as that is concerned. If you do find yourself thinking ‘Now I am wise’ perhaps that is a good sign that you are not.

3. A warning not to give up seeking wisdom but to realise how difficult it is

Now, having said that, the danger, of course, is of giving up the search for wisdom. It’s like the warning against hypocrisy and smugness. Just as we mustn’t react to that danger by deliberately going in the path of sin so we must not react to the danger of thinking we are wise when we are not by giving up looking to be wise.

1. Do not give up trying to find wisdom

See how Solomon reacted. 25 So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly. Investigating, searching - these are the operative words. We need to do some reckoning, some working out. On the one hand, there is wisdom itself, but on the other, there is the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly. We must face up to that and see it. Verses 26-29 sets out some of Solomon’s conclusions. They are not easy verses to understand but we are best to see them as setting out three further warnings in this area that warn us how difficult it is to seek wisdom.

2. But realise how difficult it is

1. You need to beware of the adulteress

26 I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare. It is highly unlikely that he is talking here about an individual. This is much more like the warnings we get in the Book of Proverbs against the adulteress and the wayward woman who stands for the various false philosophies and false ways in which it is possible for people to be led away from the Lord.

2. Recognise how rare uprightness is

We have touched on this already but here he underlines it from his own experience. 27, 28 Look, says the Teacher, this is what I have discovered: Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things – as he reckoned up while I was still searching but not finding - I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. Quite why he puts it like this we do not know. Perhaps it has something to do with his wives who you know eventually led Solomon astray into worshipping false gods. It is certainly not a piece of misogyny. Sadly, there are very few people in this world who are truly upright. Again and again we read of people coming unstuck in various walks of life. There is much hypocrisy as well as much outright wickedness. It is a sad fact and if we fail to reckon with it we are likely to meet with many disappointments in life.

3. Recognise the perversity of mankind

Finally, in another outstanding verse regarding total depravity, he says (29) This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes. The original creation was perfect. However, sin has come in and that has changed everything. but men have gone in search of many schemes. In all sorts of different ways men have perverted and spoiled this earth that God has made. What Solomon’s theology taught him his experience confirmed.

Again we are forced to face reality. We live in a corrupt world, a world marred by much sin. So many go astray. What guarantee is there that it won’t happen to us? The only guarantee is if we look to the Lord for wisdom. Be warned.