So we come to the end of our little trek through the strange little book of Ecclesiastes. For the last couple of months we’ve explored with Solomon the purpose of our fleeting life on earth.
Last
year, the ferocious and terrifyingly condescending interviewer Jeremy Paxman
commented on why he quit Newsnight a
few years ago. Why did he do it? He was at the top of his game. “I‘m no longer
interested in catching out politicians” he said. “I’m interested in the bigger
questions. Is there a purpose? What do things mean? And what is the right way
to live?”
That’s
what we all want to know. What is my identity? What is the point of me being
here? Solomon spent his whole life searching for answers to these questions
that are so fundamental to all of us.
When
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein comes to life, his dramatic first words are, “Who
am I and from whence did I come?”
People
go on quests, they go to India, they go backpacking all over the world to find... themselves. The American comedian Jarrod Kinsey wrote
recently, “I google myself to find out what sort of a person I am.” He doesn’t have
a clue who he is but he hopes that perhaps someone on the Internet will.
We’ve
seen as we’ve looked at Ecclesiastes that we can waste a whole life, the only
one we have, looking for meaning in all the wrong places.
We
saw a couple of weeks ago that our lives take on an eternal significance only when
God is at the centre of our personal universe instead of ourselves.
And
now, having said that the key to living well is to remember God when we’re
still young, Solomon wraps up his book with a bit of autobiographical
information and a bottom line.
“The
teacher was wise” he says in v9 “and he imparted knowledge to people.” Solomon was wise. He was blessed with something approaching
analytical genius. People came to him with personal problems and logical conundrums
– and he gave them inspired answers. People went away saying “Why didn’t I
think of that, it’s brilliant!” Solomon had a mind that could unlock doors.
People marvelled.
But
as I said a few weeks ago, though Solomon had plenty of wisdom for other people
he tragically never applied it to his own life. Ecclesiastes tells us how he
forgot God, how he neglected prayer, how he drifted away from regular worship
and got confused and lost and wasted his life.
“He
pondered and searched out, and set in order many proverbs” says v9. That’s feels
like an understatement. Solomon was really into collecting proverbs. We still
live by proverbs today. Finish them off for me:
·
Too
many cooks… spoil the broth.
·
A
stitch in time… saves nine.
·
An
apple a day… keeps the doctor away.
·
Many
hands… make light work.
1
Kings 4.32 says Solomon collected three
thousand witty and wise sayings like this. Three thousand! He gathered them. He studied
them. He catalogued and classified them. He wrote new ones. V10 says “he searched
to find just the right words.”
I
can just imagine him at work. “A stitch done soon… No. A stitch today saves… dismay.
No, that won’t do. Or a stitch early saves three. No. A stitch before
saves four. Hmm, not quite right. A stitch… in time… saves nine. Yes! [punches the air] Nailed
it!”
That’s
not a hobby. That’s an obsession. Solomon was a proverb nerd. We’d say he
needed to get out more.
But
he was the wisest person of his day. People came from all over to listen to
him. He spoke truth into their lives. How much more do we need to let Jesus Christ,
the wisdom of God, speak liberating truth into our lives and shape them? “The words I have
spoken to you are spirit and life” Jesus said.
“The
words of the wise,” says Solomon in v11, “are like goads.” Cattle prods. He
means that some words can be painful to hear, that’s true, but we still need to
hear them. Sometimes, God says uncomfortable things, painful things – it’s to
keep us from experiencing greater pain.
Wisdom
can be difficult to hear, no doubt about it. The word of God tells the truth about human nature.
It isn’t always flattering. We push it away. We resist it. But it is a gift of
God, who loves us, to keep us from coming to grief.
A
funny thing happened to me. I once shared an office with a colleague who said
to me one day, “Do you mind if I just share something with you?” I said, “Of
course, go ahead.” He then proceeded to bomb me verbally. I’m sure it was intended
as constructive and no doubt it was lovingly said, but all I heard through my
filter was “you’re a nice guy John but I hate your guts.” It took a while for
me to see objectively the wisdom of his words. Sometimes God’s word comforts
the afflicted. Sometimes it afflicts the comfortable.
Then
Solomon says, v12, “Of the making of many books there is no end, and much study
wearies the body.” Isn’t that a great verse for when you’re doing GCSEs or
A-levels?
I’ve
got literally hundreds of books on my shelves. Some of my books I have had for years and never even opened. I could
spend the rest of my life reading everything and doing nothing.
Homer
Simpson once said, “Books are useless! I only ever read one book, To Kill A Mockingbird, and it gave me
absolutely no insight on how to kill mockingbirds!"
So
here’s the bottom line from a man who, until Jesus came along, was considered
the wisest person who had ever lived.
What
pearl of wisdom will Solomon finish his book with? After all he’s said about
meaninglessness, about life, about love, about existence, about the pursuit of
happiness, what will he conclude to be the point of it all? What brilliant,
quotable, timeless, clever epigram will he sign off with? Hold your breath…
Here it comes…
Verse
13: “Fear God and keep his commandments.” That’s it.
Fear
God and keep his commandments. We know about the commandments. Jesus said they
boil down to just two. “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.
And love your neighbour as yourself.” Jesus said, “Do that and you will live.” All
you need is love. That is the key to living well.
But
what about fearing God? God says 365 times in the Bible “do not be afraid” but almost
as many times we find this seemingly contradictory expression “fear the Lord.”
I
once met a very intelligent woman who was in my Alpha course discussion group.
She was quite interested in Jesus but, when someone mentioned the fear of the
Lord, she completely shut down. She walked out. It turned out that she had a
violent father and she grew up petrified of him and his violent mood swings. (She
came back eventually and became a Christian by the way. It changed her life).
But
God does not want us to be scared of him. The fear of the Lord is not dread.
It’s not terror. It’s not cowering and hiding from a controlling, bullying psycho.
I was never scared of my dad, growing up, but I did hate the thought of
offending him.
If
we do not fear the Lord, we will probably fear someone else instead. We will
let someone else set the agenda, even if it’s not what God’s will for us. The
counsellor and author Ed Welch says, “When we are in our teens, it is called
peer pressure. When we are older, it is called “people-pleasing.”
Church
leader Rick Warren was interviewed recently by Piers Morgan. And at one point
in the interview Morgan cornered him and put him in a very uncomfortable
position. It was an aggressive line of questioning over an area where western
thinking is increasingly at odds with God’s word. Warren explained his position
while the interviewer was interrupting and cutting in. In the end he just said,
“Look. I fear God's disapproval more than I fear yours.”
I
believe the fear of the Lord is an aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit that
the church in our country has overlooked. I think this is something that the
Holy Spirit wants to bring to greater prominence in our worship.
In
Isaiah 11 it says of Jesus, “he will delight
in the fear of the Lord.” To fear the Lord is delightful! To live in the fear
of the Lord is to just revel in his mighty strength and his majestic grandeur.
To live in the fear of the Lord is wonderful. You savour over and over again
his breathtaking, awe-inspiring greatness.
The fear of the Lord does not mean that none of the
things you are afraid of will ever happen to you. Whatever you fear might
well happen to you. But because you fear the Lord what you fear, in the end,
will turn out to be nothing to be afraid of.
Last
week, I was reading Psalm 34 which mentions fears five times.
Think
of the things that can raise your level of fear and worry. Money and debt. Heights.
Blood test results. Flying. Job insecurity. Spiders (apparently this is the
most common phobia of all, affecting four times as many women than men bizarrely).
The threat of terrorism. Needles. Brexit – what’s going to happen? Fear of the dentist…
“I
sought the Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” says Psalm
34.4. But three verses later it says, “The angel of the Lord encamps around
those who fear him” and “those who fear the Lord lack nothing.”
The
fear of the Lord intensifies and magnifies his presence and power among us. When Peter, at the Lord’s command to throw
the nets on the other side, pulled in the greatest catch of his life he didn’t
say “Ah cool, loads of fish!” He knew he was in the presence of greatness. He
was awed. His heart started to thump. His pulse began to race. He had a lump in
his throat. The power of God was present! He said, “Go away from me, I’m a
sinful man.” The fear of the Lord.
The
fear of the Lord intensifies and magnifies his presence and power among us. When Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord’s glory
filling the temple he was undone. It was overpowering. He didn’t say “Wow!” He
said, “Woe!” It overwhelmed him. God’s presence was totally gripping. His knees
went weak. His hands went sweaty. He said, “How can life be the same again? I’m
a man of unclean lips and I’ve seen the Lord!”
We
are about to go into a season, maybe a four-year period, where we will make
significant changes to this building. The final outcome will be fantastic, I’m
sure of it. In my mind I’ve seen it already and I am convinced it will be worth
it. But it will be extremely demanding. It will take a lot of work. It will
cost a lot of money.
But
do you know what I fear? My biggest fear is that we will become so absorbed by
bricks and mortar that we’ll forget that all this is about him and for him. My
job is to ensure that our eyes are firmly fixed on Jesus all the way through
and I am committed to doing that.
“Here’s
the bottom line” says Solomon. This is what it all boils down to: “fear God.”
Or
as it says in Joshua 3.5, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do
amazing things among you.”
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 2 April 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment