WEBVTT 00:00:00.810 --> 00:00:04.990 For now, we go to God's Word as we continue in 00:00:04.990 --> 00:00:09.130 our sermon series through the wonderful book 00:00:09.130 --> 00:00:16.230 of Ecclesiastes. We will pick up at verse 12 00:00:16.230 --> 00:00:19.710 of chapter one and take it through the end of 00:00:19.710 --> 00:00:23.250 the chapter, so 12 through 18. As I said, we 00:00:23.250 --> 00:00:28.320 began this series last Sunday. And as we were 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:31.000 going along, we came upon some difficult words 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:35.000 to translate, especially what's in my text. Mine 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:38.359 says vanity of vanities. And so we talked about 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:41.079 how your translation may say meaningless, meaningless, 00:00:41.259 --> 00:00:45.119 all things are meaningless, or futility of futilities. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:48.619 And we took it back to the original Hebrew word, 00:00:49.020 --> 00:00:53.320 hevel. And as we were looking at that, we said 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:59.520 what it means. The word vanity, it comes from 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:03.240 a word that means breath or mist, meaning that 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:06.079 things come and things go just like a breath, 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:09.760 just like a mist, just like a vapor. And we said 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:12.719 how important it is for us to know what that 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:16.819 means for it really forms just our understanding 00:01:16.819 --> 00:01:19.079 of the entire book. We don't want to get that 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:22.120 word wrong. And so I would ask that you continually 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:24.260 keep that in your mind as we go through the whole 00:01:24.260 --> 00:01:28.489 book. Ecclesiastes but for now let me read to 00:01:28.489 --> 00:01:34.250 you our text Ecclesiastes chapter 1 12 through 00:01:34.250 --> 00:01:39.030 18 and it reads in this way I the preacher have 00:01:39.030 --> 00:01:44.329 been king over Israel in Jerusalem and I applied 00:01:44.329 --> 00:01:48.890 my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom 00:01:48.890 --> 00:01:52.769 all that is done under heaven It is an unhappy 00:01:52.769 --> 00:01:55.269 business that God has given to the children of 00:01:55.269 --> 00:01:59.209 man to be busy with. I've seen everything that 00:01:59.209 --> 00:02:03.010 is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity 00:02:03.010 --> 00:02:07.450 and is striving after wind. What is crooked cannot 00:02:07.450 --> 00:02:11.030 be made straight, and what is lacking cannot 00:02:11.030 --> 00:02:15.430 be counted. I said in my heart, I've acquired 00:02:15.430 --> 00:02:19.400 great wisdom. surpassing all who were over Jerusalem 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:23.159 before me and my heart has had great experience 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:27.099 of wisdom and knowledge and I applied my heart 00:02:27.099 --> 00:02:33.039 to no wisdom and to no madness and folly I perceive 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:38.680 that this also is but a striving after wind for 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:44.219 in much wisdom is much vexation and he who increases 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:49.090 knowledge increases sorrow this is God's word 00:02:49.090 --> 00:02:55.849 let us pray father we do thank you for your word 00:02:55.849 --> 00:02:59.550 we thank you for the book of Ecclesiastes even 00:02:59.550 --> 00:03:02.449 though we might find it difficult and perplexing 00:03:02.449 --> 00:03:06.729 Lord we know that there is great truth here reading 00:03:06.729 --> 00:03:09.490 a difficult book makes us more and more depend 00:03:09.490 --> 00:03:12.370 upon you for understanding and so Lord help us 00:03:12.370 --> 00:03:15.419 to trust you And would you grant us that understanding, 00:03:15.819 --> 00:03:22.419 these things we ask in Christ's name. Amen. There 00:03:22.419 --> 00:03:29.879 was an old British poet named Thomas Gray who 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:35.159 wrote a poem titled, Ode on a Distant Prospect 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:40.860 of Eaton College. Maybe the title's not all that 00:03:40.860 --> 00:03:43.629 well known to you. But one of the things that 00:03:43.629 --> 00:03:46.490 he says within the poem, I think, is well -known 00:03:46.490 --> 00:03:52.710 to us. Within this poem, Gray is describing children 00:03:52.710 --> 00:03:56.030 who are playing in a churchyard, and the children's 00:03:56.030 --> 00:04:01.509 voices are so just filled with joy. And he's 00:04:01.509 --> 00:04:04.629 listening to all of their sounds and their squeals 00:04:04.629 --> 00:04:07.610 and everything, and he's thinking, this is great, 00:04:08.189 --> 00:04:12.520 but they don't know what is ahead for them. And 00:04:12.520 --> 00:04:16.839 so Gray begins this poem in a happy way. He says, 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:21.180 ah, happy hills, ah, pleasing shade, so far so 00:04:21.180 --> 00:04:23.360 good. But then it takes a turn for the dark. 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:27.800 He said, ah, fields beloved in vain, where once 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:32.319 my careless childhood strayed, a stranger yet 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:38.600 to pain. What Gray is communicating within that 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:43.129 poem. is that sometimes in life everything seems 00:04:43.129 --> 00:04:46.370 great, everything seems dandy and wonderful. 00:04:47.870 --> 00:04:52.250 But then as we grow, as we mature, we start to 00:04:52.250 --> 00:04:55.629 see things that bring about pain in our lives. 00:04:56.649 --> 00:05:00.029 And he says this toward the end of the poem. 00:05:00.970 --> 00:05:04.310 To each his sufferings all our men condemned 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:07.480 alike to groan. the tender for another's pain, 00:05:07.620 --> 00:05:10.600 the feelings for his own. Yet, ah, why should 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:13.740 they know their fate since sorrow never comes 00:05:13.740 --> 00:05:17.620 too late and happiness too swiftly flies? Thought 00:05:17.620 --> 00:05:21.540 would destroy their paradise. No more where ignorance 00:05:21.540 --> 00:05:28.379 is bliss, tis folly to be wise. If you've ever 00:05:28.379 --> 00:05:32.339 wondered where does that saying where ignorance 00:05:32.339 --> 00:05:36.009 is bliss, tis folly to be wise, it comes from 00:05:36.009 --> 00:05:39.970 this poet, but actually I think it can be attributed 00:05:39.970 --> 00:05:44.189 to somebody else because the ideas expressed 00:05:44.189 --> 00:05:47.649 within this poem are actually ideas expressed 00:05:47.649 --> 00:05:51.449 by Kohelet, the one who is called the preacher, 00:05:51.750 --> 00:05:54.790 the teacher in Ecclesiastes. These, I believe, 00:05:55.250 --> 00:05:58.689 can be attributed to Solomon. Think about that, 00:05:59.490 --> 00:06:04.089 though. Ignorance is bliss. What this means is 00:06:04.089 --> 00:06:06.879 we can't go backwards. There are some things 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:10.579 in this life that you cannot unsee. There are 00:06:10.579 --> 00:06:13.439 some things in this life that you can't unlearn. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:16.839 In our quest for meaning, maybe we ask, Lord, 00:06:16.980 --> 00:06:21.800 can I just go back to the way that it was? This 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:25.579 section is about that. I believe this is Solomon 00:06:25.579 --> 00:06:30.139 at the end of his life, reflecting back on his 00:06:30.139 --> 00:06:34.199 life and his quest for meaning under the sun. 00:06:35.050 --> 00:06:38.129 And so two points that I want us to gather from 00:06:38.129 --> 00:06:42.230 this is one, this is about the search for meaning, 00:06:43.410 --> 00:06:46.850 but this is also about the limits of wisdom. 00:06:47.470 --> 00:06:49.529 So the search for meaning or the search for wisdom 00:06:49.529 --> 00:06:52.490 and the limits of wisdom. Now we should say this 00:06:52.490 --> 00:06:56.490 right off the bat. Wisdom is a good thing. Wisdom 00:06:56.490 --> 00:06:59.509 is a gift from God. Wisdom is an attribute of 00:06:59.509 --> 00:07:06.660 God. But. It has limits in a fallen world. Solomon 00:07:06.660 --> 00:07:09.579 uses his wisdom to find meaning, but wisdom, 00:07:09.699 --> 00:07:13.060 while it helps in a fallen world, wisdom doesn't 00:07:13.060 --> 00:07:16.920 fix everything in a fallen sinful world. The 00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:22.720 fix is not found in our wisdom. The fix is found 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:27.759 in someone else's. And yet at times, Solomon 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:31.959 goes after wisdom and meaning that isn't always 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:36.060 good. and that doesn't always satisfy. But we 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:38.079 do know this about Solomon, that he was a man 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.879 of incredible wisdom. Let's see where he got 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:43.439 this wisdom. If you would like to, turn with 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:51.899 me to 1 Kings chapter 3, verses 3 through 9. 00:07:53.339 --> 00:07:57.060 1 Kings 3, 3 through 9. Solomon loved the Lord, 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:00.019 walking in the statutes of David his father. 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:03.920 Only he sacrificed and made offerings at the 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:08.040 high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:12.220 there, for that was the great high place. Solomon 00:08:12.220 --> 00:08:14.759 used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:18.100 altar. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon 00:08:18.100 --> 00:08:22.439 in a dream by night. And God said, ask what I 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:25.339 shall give you. And Solomon said, you've shown 00:08:25.339 --> 00:08:28.459 great and steadfast love to your servant, David, 00:08:28.540 --> 00:08:32.120 my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness. 00:08:32.769 --> 00:08:35.710 righteousness and an uprightness of heart towards 00:08:35.710 --> 00:08:39.230 you and you have kept for him this great and 00:08:39.230 --> 00:08:42.429 steadfast love and have given him a son to sit 00:08:42.429 --> 00:08:46.250 on the throne this day and now oh Lord my God 00:08:46.250 --> 00:08:50.049 you have made your servant king in place of David 00:08:50.049 --> 00:08:53.649 my father although I am but a little child I 00:08:53.649 --> 00:08:57.370 do not know how to go out or come in and your 00:08:57.370 --> 00:08:59.710 servant is in the midst of your people whom you 00:08:59.710 --> 00:09:02.879 have chosen a great people too many to be numbered 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:06.320 or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:10.320 an understanding mind to govern your people that 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.799 I may discern between good and evil. For who 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:15.840 is able to govern this? You are great people." 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:18.320 So what does Solomon do within this text? He 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:23.139 is visited in a dream by Yahweh. Yes, this is 00:09:23.139 --> 00:09:26.559 a dream, but it's really the Lord who appears. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.279 And verse 10 says, it pleased the Lord that Solomon 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:36.409 had asked And so, God does grant Solomon incredible 00:09:36.409 --> 00:09:41.230 wisdom. Flip ahead to chapter 4, and I'll read 00:09:41.230 --> 00:09:47.649 29 and on. 1 Kings 4, 29, and God gave Solomon 00:09:47.649 --> 00:09:52.570 wisdom and understanding beyond measure and breath 00:09:52.570 --> 00:09:55.889 of mind like the sand on the seashore so that 00:09:55.889 --> 00:09:58.769 Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all 00:09:58.769 --> 00:10:01.529 of the people of the East. and all of the wisdom 00:10:01.529 --> 00:10:05.049 of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men, 00:10:05.350 --> 00:10:08.470 wiser than Ethan the Ezraite and the Heman and 00:10:08.470 --> 00:10:11.610 Chalcol and Darda, the sons of Mahal, and his 00:10:11.610 --> 00:10:15.149 fame was in all the surrounding nations. He also 00:10:15.149 --> 00:10:19.710 spoke 3 ,000 Proverbs and his songs were 1 ,005. 00:10:19.929 --> 00:10:22.769 He spoke of trees from the cedar that is in Lebanon 00:10:22.769 --> 00:10:26.389 to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He 00:10:26.389 --> 00:10:28.830 spoke of beasts and of birds, of reptiles and 00:10:28.830 --> 00:10:32.360 of fish and people of all nations came to hear 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:35.379 the wisdom of Solomon from all the kings of the 00:10:35.379 --> 00:10:42.080 earth who had heard of his wisdom. You hear that 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:47.159 then. Solomon indeed has incredible wisdom. Can 00:10:47.159 --> 00:10:49.480 you imagine people from all different nations 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:53.159 coming to you to hear your wisdom? This was reality 00:10:53.159 --> 00:10:58.460 for Solomon. But here we need to note something. 00:11:00.620 --> 00:11:04.879 He has godly wisdom. There are different wisdoms 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:08.360 that are out there, and we need godly wisdom. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:12.179 The secular philosopher Bertrand Russell said, 00:11:12.659 --> 00:11:17.460 to conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. Do 00:11:17.460 --> 00:11:20.379 you hear the problem with that? To conquer fear 00:11:20.379 --> 00:11:23.559 is the beginning of wisdom? I don't think so. 00:11:24.340 --> 00:11:27.759 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:30.830 wisdom. Do you hear the difference? Wisdom is 00:11:30.830 --> 00:11:33.269 the reverence. It's the respect. It's the awe. 00:11:33.549 --> 00:11:36.250 It's the understanding of the very holiness of 00:11:36.250 --> 00:11:39.889 God. Wisdom is ascribing to God the glory due 00:11:39.889 --> 00:11:43.629 his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning 00:11:43.629 --> 00:11:51.509 of it all. And yet, in Solomon's quest for wisdom, 00:11:52.169 --> 00:11:54.850 at times he strays away from that which is good. 00:11:55.470 --> 00:11:59.320 He strays away from that which satisfies. We 00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:03.500 need godly wisdom. And so what Solomon shows 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:07.200 us at times is that looking around his observation 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:11.799 in the world is that things are incredibly broken. 00:12:12.419 --> 00:12:16.259 And his conclusion is this. Wisdom cannot fix 00:12:16.259 --> 00:12:20.139 entirely the mess that we are in. Even when we 00:12:20.139 --> 00:12:23.639 give our whole selves to it. Look in verse 13. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:28.580 And I applied my heart. to seek and search out 00:12:28.580 --> 00:12:32.480 by wisdom all that is done under heaven. He applied 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:35.840 all his heart to this. This is not a half -hearted 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:39.480 search for wisdom. This is Solomon diving in 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:44.279 head first. He uses that common phrase, his whole 00:12:44.279 --> 00:12:48.000 heart. What is he doing? He's examining everything 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:51.100 that happens under the sun and he's trying to 00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:58.039 understand it all. And he's doing so. with wisdom. 00:13:00.139 --> 00:13:04.000 If wisdom were an Olympic sport, Solomon would 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:07.259 be on the top of the podium. But the thing is 00:13:07.259 --> 00:13:09.919 that as Solomon observes all of the brokenness 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:12.539 of this life, he realizes that spot on the podium 00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:15.620 is not that tall. And the gold of that medal 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:18.899 is not that shiny. And so what Solomon does, 00:13:18.940 --> 00:13:21.320 and we're going to see this in chapter two, Solomon 00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:25.379 begins to look elsewhere because the quest for 00:13:25.379 --> 00:13:28.279 meaning can't deliver on all of its promises. 00:13:28.580 --> 00:13:31.399 And he says, I think in verse 14, no, towards 00:13:31.399 --> 00:13:34.659 the end of verse 13, it's an unhappy business. 00:13:35.259 --> 00:13:38.539 It's an unhappy business, this search for meaning 00:13:38.539 --> 00:13:43.220 by wisdom. And to whom does he attribute this 00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:47.720 unhappiness? It's an unhappy business that God 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:51.159 has given to the children of man. Now to us, 00:13:51.309 --> 00:13:54.330 This sounds strange. Why would he say it like 00:13:54.330 --> 00:13:56.870 this? I think it's because Solomon understands 00:13:56.870 --> 00:14:00.090 the sovereignty of God. He understands that all 00:14:00.090 --> 00:14:03.929 things are in subjection to him. Solomon understands 00:14:03.929 --> 00:14:07.830 that because of sin, a curse is in place on all 00:14:07.830 --> 00:14:12.870 of life and that sin has consequences. And we, 00:14:13.110 --> 00:14:16.710 friends, we are living in these consequences. 00:14:17.909 --> 00:14:21.100 And so then. Solomon understands something else, 00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:25.000 and that's our second point this morning. He 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.019 understands that there are limits to what wisdom 00:14:29.019 --> 00:14:33.279 can do. There are limits to what wisdom can do, 00:14:33.620 --> 00:14:36.740 and I want us to see this in two ways. One, wisdom 00:14:36.740 --> 00:14:41.720 can't fix everything, but two, wisdom at times 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:46.409 hurts. We mentioned that this is an unhappy business 00:14:46.409 --> 00:14:49.509 as he says. I imagine that this is Solomon at 00:14:49.509 --> 00:14:52.870 the end of his life. He is older. He is sadder. 00:14:52.990 --> 00:14:56.929 He is grayer and his pursuit of meaning by wisdom 00:14:56.929 --> 00:15:00.710 has taken its toll upon him. And we have sympathy 00:15:00.710 --> 00:15:03.809 for Solomon here. He desired a noble task, but 00:15:03.809 --> 00:15:06.629 he is worse for the wear. Look in verse 14. I 00:15:06.629 --> 00:15:10.090 have seen everything that is done under the sun 00:15:10.090 --> 00:15:14.110 and behold. All is vanity and a striving after 00:15:14.110 --> 00:15:16.629 wind. He's seen everything, he says, meaning 00:15:16.629 --> 00:15:19.529 this is a comprehensive search. And what is his 00:15:19.529 --> 00:15:22.710 conclusion? It's all vapor. It's like a mist 00:15:22.710 --> 00:15:26.350 that comes and goes. And then he says, it's like 00:15:26.350 --> 00:15:31.190 striving after wind. Now, depending on your translation, 00:15:31.269 --> 00:15:34.250 you may have different words here. Your text 00:15:34.250 --> 00:15:37.590 may say chasing after the wind. I actually think 00:15:37.590 --> 00:15:40.559 it's more than chasing. I think it's more than 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:42.980 striving. I think what is being communicated 00:15:42.980 --> 00:15:46.600 here by Solomon is his attempt to shepherd the 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:49.820 wind. It's his attempt to capture the wind, to 00:15:49.820 --> 00:15:53.519 manipulate the wind, to make the wind do something. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:03.220 Garth Brooks, the country singer, has an album 00:16:03.220 --> 00:16:06.960 titled Roping the Wind. And it's got some of 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:09.740 his all -time hits on it, Rodeo, Shameless, Papa 00:16:09.740 --> 00:16:14.759 Love Mama, The River, great album. Roping the 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:19.059 Wind, I think, is a great illustration of this. 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:23.659 And there's also something about that album that's 00:16:23.659 --> 00:16:26.399 helpful here, too, beyond the title. Apparently, 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:29.480 a bandmate of Garth Brooks once said to him, 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:34.370 you'll never earn a living making music. In God's 00:16:34.370 --> 00:16:37.549 perfect providence, that album went 14 times 00:16:37.549 --> 00:16:43.710 platinum. He made a living with that album. But 00:16:43.710 --> 00:16:47.690 what is communicated here? Roping the wind is 00:16:47.690 --> 00:16:53.129 a fool's errand, and yet the wisest man on earth 00:16:53.129 --> 00:16:57.029 attempted it. And what is his conclusion in it 00:16:57.029 --> 00:17:01.769 all? Look at verse 15. What is crooked cannot 00:17:01.769 --> 00:17:04.920 be made straight. And what is lacking cannot 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:08.359 be counted. I can remember the first time I came 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:11.740 upon verse 15 and I said, my Bible's wrong. That 00:17:11.740 --> 00:17:13.980 can't be right. Shouldn't this say something 00:17:13.980 --> 00:17:16.680 like, God can make straight what is crooked? 00:17:17.460 --> 00:17:19.640 Doesn't that make sense? Well, of course it does. 00:17:19.779 --> 00:17:22.619 And we would affirm that statement. But Solomon 00:17:22.619 --> 00:17:25.700 here is not making a doctrinal statement about 00:17:25.700 --> 00:17:29.640 God and his abilities. No, Solomon is making 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:32.670 a solomonic statement. about the limitations 00:17:32.670 --> 00:17:37.369 of wisdom in a crooked world. Sometimes things 00:17:37.369 --> 00:17:41.109 are just too crooked. Philip Riken says here, 00:17:41.269 --> 00:17:44.769 some things are so bent out of shape that they 00:17:44.769 --> 00:17:48.049 resist all of our efforts to make them straight. 00:17:49.250 --> 00:17:51.089 And if we were to flip over, and I won't do that 00:17:51.089 --> 00:17:52.849 now, but if we flipped over to chapter seven, 00:17:52.950 --> 00:17:55.890 verse 13, we would see this as well, that God 00:17:55.890 --> 00:17:59.849 is the one who makes these things crooked. Why 00:17:59.849 --> 00:18:04.420 is that? And at this point in this sad book, 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:09.900 shouldn't we get some encouragement? No. Not 00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:14.900 yet. Because some things in life cannot be fixed 00:18:14.900 --> 00:18:19.059 by wisdom. Preachers telling it like it is. This 00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:21.700 is real life. And his search for meaning has 00:18:21.700 --> 00:18:24.880 turned up befuddling results. And no, he's not 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:27.279 making a distinction between the unbeliever and 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:29.960 the believer. No, the believer must go through 00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:33.279 this too. The believer must face the limits of 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:37.779 wisdom in a fallen world. Look at verse 17. And 00:18:37.779 --> 00:18:40.960 I applied my heart to no wisdom and to no madness 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:45.299 and folly. He's contrasting wisdom and he's contrasting 00:18:45.299 --> 00:18:49.500 it with madness and folly. And what is his perception 00:18:49.500 --> 00:18:52.920 after all of that? It's like rope in the wind 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:58.859 and it takes its toll because sometimes wisdom 00:18:58.859 --> 00:19:03.759 hurts. To go back to our poem, where ignorance 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:07.599 is bliss, tis folly to be wise. Look in verse 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:14.539 18, for in much. wisdom is much vexation, and 00:19:14.539 --> 00:19:18.140 he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. 00:19:20.019 --> 00:19:23.880 Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever wanted 00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:26.900 to know something so badly, but when you know 00:19:26.900 --> 00:19:32.420 it, you wish you could unlearn it? When I was 00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:36.079 first ordained into this church and into Calvary 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:40.589 Presbytery, I was placed immediately on a Presbyterian 00:19:40.589 --> 00:19:43.509 committee, the Session Records Committee. It's 00:19:43.509 --> 00:19:48.470 where they put all the rookies. All the young 00:19:48.470 --> 00:19:50.829 pastors get their turn on the Session Records 00:19:50.829 --> 00:19:52.670 Committee and what you do in that committee is 00:19:52.670 --> 00:19:55.589 you review the minutes of other churches, other 00:19:55.589 --> 00:19:58.450 sessions. It's long and it's tedious work and 00:19:58.450 --> 00:20:01.269 I did that for two years and then I was nominated 00:20:01.269 --> 00:20:04.410 for the Shepherding Committee and I thought now 00:20:04.410 --> 00:20:07.690 I'm on the way up. This is where I want to be, 00:20:07.809 --> 00:20:10.329 right? This is important work. Well, I was at 00:20:10.329 --> 00:20:12.190 the first shepherding meeting and they went around 00:20:12.190 --> 00:20:14.069 the room and we introduced ourselves in case 00:20:14.069 --> 00:20:16.069 we didn't know one another and we were supposed 00:20:16.069 --> 00:20:18.369 to say, why do you want to be on the shepherding 00:20:18.369 --> 00:20:20.650 committee? And I said, I want to be on the shepherding 00:20:20.650 --> 00:20:22.269 committee so I don't have to be on the records 00:20:22.269 --> 00:20:27.970 committee. More than three hours later of dealing 00:20:27.970 --> 00:20:31.190 with really, really difficult, troubling topics, 00:20:31.230 --> 00:20:34.109 I said to the whole committee, can I go back 00:20:34.109 --> 00:20:38.869 to the records committee? Friends, when our eyes 00:20:38.869 --> 00:20:41.650 are open to the difficulties of life, sometimes 00:20:41.650 --> 00:20:44.690 we wish we could go backward. To be lighthearted, 00:20:44.869 --> 00:20:47.690 anybody ever watch that documentary on fast food? 00:20:48.670 --> 00:20:50.809 Wish you could unsee that, but I guarantee nobody 00:20:50.809 --> 00:20:53.549 was eating fast food for a while after that. 00:20:54.650 --> 00:20:59.309 But on a more serious level, maybe you remember 00:20:59.309 --> 00:21:02.589 the first time that you learned of death. The 00:21:02.589 --> 00:21:04.769 first time that you experienced the loss of a 00:21:04.769 --> 00:21:06.670 loved one and you said to yourself, I didn't 00:21:06.670 --> 00:21:11.150 know, I didn't know it could hurt this bad. Maybe 00:21:11.150 --> 00:21:15.690 the time that you went to the doctors, you had 00:21:15.690 --> 00:21:17.710 something bothering you and it turned out it 00:21:17.710 --> 00:21:20.250 was worse than you could have imagined that the 00:21:20.250 --> 00:21:23.769 cancer had metastasized. Maybe the first time 00:21:23.769 --> 00:21:27.890 that you learned of real poverty. You said to 00:21:27.890 --> 00:21:30.980 God, how in the world Can it be that this many 00:21:30.980 --> 00:21:34.900 people live in these conditions? Maybe the first 00:21:34.900 --> 00:21:37.660 time that you learned of war, and you realize 00:21:37.660 --> 00:21:41.759 how many people die from it, and it just never 00:21:41.759 --> 00:21:44.759 seems to stop. You wish you could go back in 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:48.480 time to unlearn those things. I'm not endorsing 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:50.380 this, but did anybody ever see the movie Men 00:21:50.380 --> 00:21:53.519 in Black? Remember the thing that he put up in 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:56.859 front of the eye? Erase the memory? Sometimes 00:21:56.859 --> 00:22:01.390 we wish. We could just erase our memory. But 00:22:01.390 --> 00:22:06.549 there is no going back. For in much wisdom is 00:22:06.549 --> 00:22:10.869 much vexation. And he who increases knowledge 00:22:10.869 --> 00:22:15.269 increases sorrow. You cannot have one without 00:22:15.269 --> 00:22:17.930 the other. To increase of knowledge would be 00:22:17.930 --> 00:22:22.589 to increase our sadness. This surely tells us 00:22:22.589 --> 00:22:26.289 what we already know now. There are limits to 00:22:26.289 --> 00:22:30.109 our wisdom. There are painful limits to our wisdom. 00:22:31.289 --> 00:22:33.829 Now in a book on wisdom, who would expect this? 00:22:34.069 --> 00:22:37.150 Who would expect that the writer of Ecclesiastes 00:22:37.150 --> 00:22:40.089 would say, hey, be wise. But by the way, it hurts. 00:22:41.910 --> 00:22:44.789 It's not a great endorsement. And in chapter 00:22:44.789 --> 00:22:49.210 two, Solomon will say, why have I been so very 00:22:49.210 --> 00:22:54.329 wise? Well, friends, here's why. because a wise 00:22:54.329 --> 00:22:59.230 man or a wise woman knows the limits of wisdom 00:22:59.230 --> 00:23:02.690 and looks beyond them to the one who embodies 00:23:02.690 --> 00:23:07.950 it. It is true, wisdom cannot fix fully the effects 00:23:07.950 --> 00:23:11.490 of a sinful, fallen, broken world, but Jesus 00:23:11.490 --> 00:23:16.529 can, and Jesus does, and Jesus will. This is 00:23:16.529 --> 00:23:19.009 the world, as I said last time, this is the world 00:23:19.009 --> 00:23:23.819 that Jesus came to save on a crooked cross. Jesus's 00:23:23.819 --> 00:23:29.480 wisdom saves. Jesus is God's wisdom. If you would 00:23:29.480 --> 00:23:32.819 like to join me in First Corinthians chapter 00:23:32.819 --> 00:23:37.400 one. First Corinthians chapter one, I'm going 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:41.619 to read a few different verses here, but starting 00:23:41.619 --> 00:23:54.029 in verse 18. And it reads in this way. For the 00:23:54.029 --> 00:23:58.250 word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, 00:23:58.349 --> 00:24:02.710 but to us who are being saved, it is the power 00:24:02.710 --> 00:24:09.130 of God. The wisdom of God is Christ Jesus. And 00:24:09.130 --> 00:24:12.029 when we believe in Jesus, when we place our trust 00:24:12.029 --> 00:24:15.049 in him, it's at that point that we are considered 00:24:15.049 --> 00:24:19.420 wise. And so in our quest for wisdom, Don't look 00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:22.500 any further than Jesus. The Holy Spirit changes 00:24:22.500 --> 00:24:25.859 our hearts to embrace him so that we will not 00:24:25.859 --> 00:24:28.740 be fools any longer, but they will have the very 00:24:28.740 --> 00:24:31.660 wisdom of God. If you flipped over to chapter 00:24:31.660 --> 00:24:36.559 two, verse eight, you would see this. None of 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:40.460 the rulers of this age understood this, for if 00:24:40.460 --> 00:24:44.400 they had, they would not have crucified the Lord 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:50.750 of glory. And so you see. A definition of godly 00:24:50.750 --> 00:24:55.829 wisdom does not match up with ungodly wisdom. 00:24:56.170 --> 00:25:01.690 We need this over here. We need the spirit to 00:25:01.690 --> 00:25:05.329 move in our hearts that we would become wise 00:25:05.329 --> 00:25:07.930 in Jesus Christ. Why? Because the wisdom, this 00:25:07.930 --> 00:25:11.549 wisdom over here, this wisdom of the ungodly, 00:25:11.569 --> 00:25:15.769 this wisdom will pass away. But the wisdom of 00:25:15.769 --> 00:25:20.309 God is found in the one who is eternal. The wisdom 00:25:20.309 --> 00:25:24.190 of God is found in the one who conquered death. 00:25:25.289 --> 00:25:30.529 And so in this way, I'll contradict myself. Wisdom 00:25:30.529 --> 00:25:34.829 can, and wisdom does fix what is broken, because 00:25:34.829 --> 00:25:38.890 Jesus is the wisdom of God. Now, believing in 00:25:38.890 --> 00:25:42.529 Jesus doesn't remove every vexation, but then 00:25:42.529 --> 00:25:45.470 again, Jesus' kingdom is not of this world, right? 00:25:45.660 --> 00:25:49.079 Jesus is preparing for us an eternal weight of 00:25:49.079 --> 00:25:52.759 glory in a place of no more vexation, of no more 00:25:52.759 --> 00:25:55.599 vanity, where our sorrow will be turned into 00:25:55.599 --> 00:26:00.019 joy. Some people struggle with Ecclesiastes because 00:26:00.019 --> 00:26:03.039 they don't see Jesus in it and they don't see 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:06.220 Jesus quoting it. But friends, let me tell you 00:26:06.220 --> 00:26:10.720 this. If you are not a believer in Jesus, you 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:16.329 are ignorant of true wisdom. And the vexation 00:26:16.329 --> 00:26:20.049 and the sorrow of this life will be as good as 00:26:20.049 --> 00:26:24.369 it gets. But here's the good news. You don't 00:26:24.369 --> 00:26:27.650 have to stay in the heavens. You don't have to 00:26:27.650 --> 00:26:30.509 stay in the vanity. You don't have to stay in 00:26:30.509 --> 00:26:33.930 the dark because Jesus has come and he is described 00:26:33.930 --> 00:26:37.930 as someone greater than Solomon. And so today, 00:26:38.650 --> 00:26:44.660 take a word from the wise, trusting Christ. because 00:26:44.660 --> 00:26:48.660 He is the wisdom that we need. Let us pray.