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Wisdom knows the human condition Daniel Patz, Lead Pastor Grace Church, Sunday Worship Ecclesiastes 7:19-29 April 3rd, 2011
SUMMARY of Text Ecclesiastes 7:13-29 ESV (13) Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? (14) In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. (15) In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. (16) Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? (17) Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? (18) It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. (19) Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. (20) Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (21) Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. (22) Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. (23) All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me. (24) That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? (25) I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. (26) And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. (27) Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things-- (28) which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. (29) See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.
Ecclesiastes is part of the Bible’s wisdom literature, which is concerned with…Wisdom. Wisdom is found in the rich soil of the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom starts with a proper orientation to God. I read 13-29 because in this section he gives two important aspects regarding wisdom and the fear of the Lord. WISDOM BOWS BEFORE GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AND ACCEPTS MAN’S DEPRAVITY. Last week we saw the first half of this – Wisdom that embraces and bows down in faith before God’s mighty power. WISDOM TAKES A CLOSE LOOK AT THE HARD WAYS OF GOD AND RESPONDS WITH REVERENT TRUST. This is what we saw last week in verses 13-18. This morning we will look at the last verses of the chapter (19-29) and see the second side of wisdom’s fear of the Lord. Not only does it bow before God’s sovereignty, but it also accepts man’s depravity…and takes it to heart. We know we are talking about the nature of wisdom for He says in verse 19: (Ecc 7:19) Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
MAIN POINTS/Outline Main Point of verses 19-29: WISDOM HUMBLY TAKES TO HEART THE CORRUPTED HUMAN CONDITION. In this passage we see the PREACHER expressing the broken condition of man. If fact we will see that strength (in wisdom) comes from those who quickly realize that they are not strong. Wisdom comes to those who know they are not so wise. Strength is not found in the ability to muscle everything around, but in the wise discernment of our limitations.
4 Important Realities of the Corrupted Human Condition:
Ecclesiastes 7:20-22 ESV (20) Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (21) Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. (22) Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. Here he states the truth – “not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”
Romans 3:23 ESV for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:10 ESV as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; Isaiah 53:6 ESV All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Ecclesiastes 7:23-24 ESV (23) All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me. (24) That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? Here I think he is tell us that even the wisest man is really a fool. In all his searching he is just in pre-school. This is a humbling reality. We cannot self-determine all the wisdom we want. Wisdom is a gift from God and He gives it in limits on earth. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. The wise know this and are humbled by our limits. We accept mystery and unanswered questions with faith in God. Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. (9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. The wise are humbled by knowing their limitations and they patiently wait upon the Lord: Psalms 131:1-3 ESV A Song of Ascents. Of David. O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. (2) But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. (3) O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.
Ecclesiastes 7:25-26 ESV (25) I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. (26) And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. This wise man seeks out the nature of good and evil and He finds that when it comes down to evil we are all dupes by nature. Apart from the grace of God (to those who please Him) we will be sucked into the death trap of sin and temptation. Here lady folly is introduced. She pops up many places in Proverbs. This passage is not specifically warning about wicked and loose women – but about the nature of sin – it is like a women who knows how to seduce…and we are suckers. Addiction can get at us all. Sin is like a black hole and we all will be sucked in unless God’s grace interferes. Only the godly are able to escape. This is wisdom’s strength – not a macho attitude but an attitude of understanding our weakness and our tendency to be tripped up and deceived by sin. All of us by nature have the gullibility of our first parents – Adam and Eve. We will stumble headlong into the pit. Wisdom recognizes our weakness and fervently seeks God for help.
Ecclesiastes 7:27-29 ESV (27) Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things-- (28) which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. (29) See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. Here he says that he continued his search to understand people and human nature and He cannot find a formula to explain it all. 1 and 1000 of men he understands but not one woman. But this he knows – God made things good and we mess it up. We have schemes – bad intentions, bad motives…impure hearts. We are not a bunch of innocent and ignorant children – we are sinners who desire and intend on doing bad things. Romans 3:13-18 ESV "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." (14) "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." (15) "Their feet are swift to shed blood; (16) in their paths are ruin and misery, (17) and the way of peace they have not known." (18) "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
CONCLUSION Take to Heart the human condition: 1) By looking to Christ – who saves us and is making us new 2) Being humbled and not bitter in your relationships with others What are we to do with this passage? Wisdom comes to grip with, takes to heart, the corrupted human condition. We look to Jesus! He is the new Man! Jesus is the only true answer. Jesus is the Wisdom that took on the corrupt human condition (our human condition) and took its just dessert. He is Wisdom and He not only knows the human condition, He is the only answer to escape from our condition. We are born in this old way of Adam and He is a new Adam. When we were united to Christ we put off the old person and are made new…so live it out. Respond in faith to Christ. Look to Him for grace. Put off the old and put on the new. Know your neediness and know the One who supplies. Romans 6:6-14 ESV We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (7) For one who has died has been set free from sin. (8) Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (9) We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. (10) For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. (11) So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (12) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. (13) Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (14) For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
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