Been There. Done That. Now What?
04/02/2006 - The Benefits of Wisdom
Last Sunday morning, rookie race car driver, Paul Dana, was killed in a tragic racing accident during a warm up session at an Indy Car speedway in Miami, Florida. Apparently, he never saw the disabled car in front of him and slammed into it going 200 mph. His car shattered to pieces and the thirty year-old driver was taken to a nearby hospital where two hours later he was pronounced dead.
Dana's wife, Tonya, who was in Indianapolis at the time, where the couple lived, was notified of her husband's death while she was attending a church service there.
Paul Dana was a member of the Bobby Rahal/David Letterman racing team. He was an up and coming star just hours away from beginning his most promising season yet. But it all ended so suddenly, so tragically.
The next night during his closing comment on his show David Letterman was visibly upset, wringing his hands together as he said, "Racing is thrilling, exhilarating but also very dangerous. Paul Dana's experience should remind everyone that getting there one day does not guarantee the next."
When I heard him say that I couldn't help but think of what Solomon said to us last week. Who can straighten what God has made crooked? You cannot discover anything about your future.
I went home last Sunday and read in the paper that right around the corner from where we live, in Eagleville, a 38 year-old man took a gun and shot his wife and then shot himself in the head leaving behind a 10 year-old daughter all alone who called 911 to inform police.
Tragic. Gut wrenching. This is the world we live in. And I don't always get it? Why do these horrible things happen? Who can figure it out? Who can straighten what God has made crooked?
These are the questions that Solomon is asking and these are the questions that you and I ask all the time. And Solomon is going to continue to ask them in the passage that we're looking at today.
If you have a Bible please turn with me to Ecclesiastes 7:15-29. This morning we continue our series called Been There. Done That. Now What? with a teaching I've called "The Benefits of Wisdom." Last week we began this chapter and today we're going to finish it. And as I mentioned, in chapter seven Solomon makes a u-turn in his journal back to wisdom living. He's coming home after his long "under the sun" quest. And in today's passage he gives us three benefits of living life wisely.
But first look at verse 15, In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
Solomon's confused. The word on the street in his day was that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. But that's not always the way it works. So he says, "During my lifetime I've seen it all. And I don't get it. Why do the good die young and the bad live on and on?" Did you ever wonder that? I have.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart some say was the most brilliant musical genius who ever lived, yet he died a pauper at the age of only 35 and not a single person came to his funeral. Who knows how many more symphonies he would have written if he had lived just one more decade?
Oswald Chambers a devout Christian man who trained young pastors, served as a military chaplain during World War I, and is best known for his classic devotional book called My Utmost for His Highest died of a ruptured appendix in relative obscurity somewhere in Egypt at the age of only 43. And years later it was his wife, Biddy, who compiled his thoughts into a book.
Peter Marshall, a brilliant Scottish preacher and former chaplain of the United States Senate, died suddenly at age 47. His inspirational prayers in the chambers of the Senate were legendary and touched thousands of hearts and lives, but he too died young.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who had the courage to speak out for God and defy the Nazi's died at the age of 39. He was hanged at dawn on April 9, 1945, just three weeks before his concentration camp was liberated by Allied Forces.
Jim Elliot was only 28 when he and four fellow missionaries were hacked to death by Auca Indians in the jungles of Ecuador in 1956, depicted in the recent movie "End of the Spear." His journals and the writings of his wife, Elisabeth, have inspired countless men and women to live life with abandon for the cause of Christ.
Jesus himself died young. He was only 33 years old when he was betrayed and denied and crucified for charges that were completely false.
"I've seen it all," Solomon says, "and I can't make sense of any of it. Not only do good men and women die young, but the wicked seem to live forever."
Solomon himself was succeeded by some of the most wicked kings who ever lived. Manasseh, the son of King Hezekiah, ascended the throne when he was just 12 years old and ruled the nation of Israel for 55 years. He murdered members of his own family, slaughtered thousands of innocent people, and filled Solomon's temple with all kinds of pagan idols. The Bible says he shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end. The sins of Manasseh affected generation after generation and yet he was the picture of health until the day he died. What's up with that?
Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union for almost 30 years and it's estimated that he was responsible for the deaths of up to 60 million people during his oppressive reign of terror. And yet he lived to the ripe old age of 74, longer than any of these others I've mentioned.
In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
Now generally speaking, good things do happen to good people and bad things do often happen to bad people, but when that gets reversed we can get real confused.
So Solomon says in verse 16, Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise—why destroy yourself? 17Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool—why die before your time? 18It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Those who fear God will avoid all extremes.
What's Solomon saying here? I think he's saying don't try to figure it all out. Don't be overrighteous and think you know all the answers to life and don't be overwise and destroy yourself with the paralysis of analysis by trying to figure everything out. You can't. That's what's been driving Solomon crazy. There are plenty of mysteries that we're not going to be able to solve in this life. So we have to be content to live with the tension of unanswered questions.
In these verses I think Solomon gives us the first benefit of wisdom. Wisdom gives us balance. Don't be overighteous and think you have an answer for everything. You don't. I don't. But don't be foolish either and think it doesn't matter how you live. It does. Bad choices can get us all in trouble and even hasten our own death he says. Things like drug and alcohol abuse, pornography, sexual promiscuity, poor health habits, foolish risk taking can all destroy our life. Instead, fear God, obey him and avoid extremes. I like that.
That statement also reminded me of what we talked about last summer in our series More Ready Than You Realize. The first dynamic of a spiritual friendship we said is being a safe person. Your friends and my friends are more ready than we realize to talk about God and discuss spiritual things, but they're looking for a safe person, someone who won't shame them or judge them or condemn them or preach at them or try to sell them something.
We need to avoid the extremes of being over zealous and needlessly offending people as well as the other extreme of being complacent and not giving a rip about those around us who are missing out on the life that Jesus offers. That's just as bad.
Brian McLaren told the story of his son's high school friend, Dan, who while on vacation with them one summer said, "Mr. McLaren, coming to church has really helped me. All I really want now is to learn the ways of Christ. But one thing, I hope I never become a 'born again.' A friend of ours at school became a born again. She used to be a really nice person, but now she's always judging everybody and she's pushed all her friends away. It's like they either have to convert or she doesn't want to be their friend. So I want to keep learning the ways of Christ, but I don't want to be a born again."
Did you hear that? Over the years I've heard people say that too. They want to follow Jesus, but they're afraid that if they do they have to become some pushy, Bible banging, mean spirited, judgmental, born again type. But that doesn't have to come with the package. Jesus was the safest person on earth to be around, unless you were a religious hypocrite. But everyone else seemed to be comfortable around him. He was safe and we need to be safe too. Those who fear God avoid all extremes.
The second benefit of wisdom is that it gives us strength. Look at verses 19-22, Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city. 20There is not a righteous person on earth who does what is right and never sins. 21Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you— 22for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.
Solomon says wisdom won't make us perfect. There's not a person on earth who always does what is right and never sins. That truth is taught throughout the Scriptures. That's what makes the Lord's Table that we're going to observe today so meaningful.
Years ago the London Times ran an article asking the question, "What's wrong with the world?" It encouraged readers to respond with their thoughts. And one of the responses came from the famous British author G. K. Chesterton, who simply wrote, "Dear Sir, 'In response to your question, 'What is wrong with the world?' I am. Yours truly, G. K. Chesterton." That's a wise response. That's a man who knew that he was part of the problem.
Wise living won't make us perfect, but it can make us strong. And one of the strengths of the wise is that they don't listen to everything people say. They practice the art of selective hearing. And that is only possible, I believe, if we keep our ear tuned to what God has to say.
In our four week course called "Walking with Jesus" we spend some time interacting with an article written by Henri Nouwen. The article is about the spiritual disciplines that keep us connected to Christ. And one of those disciplines is solitude, routinely spending time alone with Jesus away from the voices of other people. And I love what he says about that.
Nouwen writes, "Solitude is being with God and God alone. Is there any space for that in your life? Why is it so important? It's important because it's the place in which you can listen to the voice of the One who calls you the beloved. To pray is to listen to the One who calls you 'my beloved daughter,' 'my beloved son,' 'my beloved child.' To pray is to let that voice speak to the center of your being, to your guts, and let that voice resound in your whole being."
"There are many other voices speaking - loudly, 'Prove that are the beloved.' 'Prove that you're worth something.' 'Prove that you have some contribution to make.' 'Do something relevant.' 'Make a name for yourself.' 'At least have some power - then people will love you. Then people will say you're wonderful, you're great.'"
"These voices are so strong in this world. These were the voices Jesus heard right after he heard God say, 'You are my beloved.' If you keep that in mind, you can deal with an enormous amount of success as well as an enormous amount of failure without losing your identity, because your identity is that you are the beloved."
Be careful who you listen to. Take praise in stride and criticism as well. Consider the source and remember you too have been critical of others. So be quick to forgive. I told someone recently, leaders get way too much credit when things are going well and way too much blame when they're not. One of my professors once said, "Pastors need a tough hide and a tender heart." That's good advice for anybody.
Wisdom gives us balance, wisdom gives us strength and finally, wisdom gives us insight. Look at verse 23, All this I tested by wisdom and I said, "I am determined to be wise"—but this was beyond me. 24Whatever wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound—who can discover it? 25So 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. 26I 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. 27"Look," says the Teacher "this is what I have discovered: "Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—28while I was still searching but not finding—I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. 29This only have I found: God made human beings upright, but people have gone in search of many schemes."
The insight wisdom yields is that wisdom has its own limitations. There are mysteries in this life that we just have to learn to live with. Even Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, couldn't figure everything out. And I know that's uncomfortable. And at times I wish God would have revealed more truth to us. Maybe if we had 67 or 68 books in the Bible instead of 66, we could find more answers to the enigmas of life. But I don't think so because if we could figure it all out what need would we have for God?
Solomon exposes a bit of his heart here when he talks about being ensnared by a woman. Part of his problem was that he married lots and lots of women who worshiped lots and lots of other gods and that just added to his confusion.
Yet in his obsession to discover the meaning of life he talked to women and to men. He dialogued with scholars and people on the street. And when he says that he found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all he's not saying men are better than women. Instead, he's using a Hebrew literary device to say that not only are upright people rare, they really don't exist.
So he's back to what he said earlier, There is not a righteous person on earth who does what is right and never sins. People have gone in search of many schemes.
That's the truth of Scripture. The Hebrew prophet Isaiah said the same thing this way in Isaiah 53:6, We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
And that brings us right to the Lord's Table, doesn't it? This table is for all of us who have gone our own way, all of us who have searched out our own schemes. It is for all of us who are unrighteous and yet have recognized that even so we are the beloved. God loves us and God wants to forgive us. And so he provided his son, Jesus, who went to a cross where the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus died for our sin, in our place, so that we can have life. And in a moment, we're going to come to this table and remember Jesus in the way he asked us to.