You would take those Bibles and open them to
the Old Testament wisdom book of Ecclesiastes.
As we continue in our sermon series through this
wonderful and yet often neglected book, we are
not neglecting it here at Fairview. We're just
moving right along through it. Ecclesiastes chapter
five focusing. on verses one through seven, and
I would ask you to follow along with me, for
this is God's word. Guard your steps when you
go to the house of God. To draw near to listen
is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools,
for they do not know that they are doing evil.
Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart
be hasty to utter a word before God, for God
is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore,
let your words be few, for a dream comes with
much business and a fool's voice with many words.
When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying
it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what
you vow. It is better that you should not vow
than that you should vow and not pay. Let not
your mouth lead you into sin. Do not say before
the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should
God be angry at your voice and destroy the work
of your hands? For when dreams increase and words
grow many, there is vanity. But God is the one
you must fear. Blessed are those who hear and
keep what is written. Let us pray. Father, we
bless you and we praise you and we thank you
for your word. As we hear of a word that speaks
of worship and as we hear of a word that speaks
of listening, Lord, would you open up our ears,
our minds and our hearts to know you and to live
out your word. These things we ask in Christ's
name, amen. We have noted it many times in our
study of Ecclesiastes, how many times that Ecclesiastes
seems to be referencing Genesis, and especially
the beginnings of Genesis. And we noted before
the individual that we call Abel, of Cain and
Abel. And we noticed how the word for Abel is
actually the word that is found throughout all
of Ecclesiastes, and it's actually the word Hevel.
And we said how much that Abel fits that, because
for a time Abel was there. And yet because Cain
rose up and struck him down, then Abel was gone.
And this is what the word Hevel, vanity, Shows
us isn't it that it quite literally means a breath
of vapor a mist that is here and it is gone and
so as Abel was there for a time then he was gone,
but You'll notice before that happened. You'll
remember that Cain and Abel were to offer sacrifices
and So they come in Genesis chapter 4 to do that
very thing Abel brought a sacrifice of the firstborn
of the flock and it was accepted by the Lord.
Cain's sacrifice, though, was of the fruit of
the ground and it was rejected. Was it the content
of the gift that was rejected or was it the content
of the heart? Well, we don't have to speculate.
The book of Hebrews actually jumps in here to
show us it was a heart issue. Hebrews 11 for
by faith Abel offered the God a more acceptable
sacrifice than Cain Through which he was commended
as righteous God commending him by accepting
his gifts And so we see with Cain and Abel we
see a very foolish sacrifice, don't we? Is that
not also what we see in Ecclesiastes chapter
5? It opens up speaking of this foolish sacrifice
and what it's really telling us is that we are
to come bringing the sacrifice of praise before
the Lord our God and We should come with hearts
that are ready to worship We should come with
prepared hearts into the very sanctuary of God
to offer to God worship that is less than worshipful
and less than prepared is sinful and it is foolish
and we must repent of our lackadaisical, our
casual way of worship. You'll also note here
within this section that the emphasis on this
passage is on listening. We must pay attention
to the very word of God because we were made
to worship and he tells us how. And so what we
see within this passage are actually two things
here, two actions that are part of worship. He
speaks of sacrificing, and the writer of Ecclesiastes
speaks of vows. And so let's look at sacrifices
first. If you read the Old Testament, you do
see many times that it speaks about sacrifices.
But sacrifices were never to be done casually.
Sacrifices were never to be done by the Israelites
without meaning, without purpose, without heart.
Isaiah chapter 1 shows that God is sickened by
Israel's sacrifices because they're done without
hearts that love him. The book of Amos in chapter
5 says that God hates their sacrifices because
they are the sacrifices of fools. Their foolishness
is shown in that they don't listen. Sacrificing
without listening is not what God wants. And
throughout the scriptures we are reminded of
this. 1 Samuel 15 22 says to obey is better than
sacrifice. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 shows
us this incredible time of listening. Hear, O
Israel, the Lord your God is one. It's as if
God is saying, hear ye, hear ye, pay attention
to what I'm telling you. And certainly we remember
Romans chapter 10 verse 17. Faith comes by what?
By hearing and hearing by the word of Christ
and therefore the believer The action the believer
must have when we come into worship is to listen
and to listen well. Because how does God speak
to his people today? He speaks by his word, doesn't
he? And he does not give his word to be ignored.
The word of God must always be central in our
worship. Therefore, we will never have a worship
service without the reading of God's word. And
this is not just true in kind of New Covenant,
New Testament worship. Actually, you can see
this in Old Testament worship as well, that a
priest would read from the Scriptures. Nehemiah
shows us this very well. The priest would read
from the Scriptures and there would be a time
of silence. There would be a time for listening.
It's just like Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 7
has to say, there is a time to be silent. and
there's a time to speak and we must really consider
in whose presence we are when we come for worship
because what this passage is doing here it's
not talking about the decided pagan the hard
-hearted person who doesn't want to have anything
to do with God no this is speaking about worshipers
those who desire to come into God's presence
to lift up their voices and praise and to hear
from Him, and yet to offer such praise without
meaning, without heart, without new obedience,
this is wrong. And so we must be mindful of who
God is and who we are when we come into His house.
This also speaks in verse two about our problem.
It's not just that we don't listen, but we talk
too much, some of us more than others. But verse
two puts us in our place, doesn't it? It says,
be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart
be hasty to utter a word before God for God is
in heaven and you are on earth. This is a reminder
of who God is and who we are. We ought to have
the spirit of David. This has actually already
been referenced by Dalton. But Psalm 8, specifically
verses 3 through 4 should remind us of who we
are and who God is. For it says, when I look
at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the
moon and the stars which you have set in place,
what is man that you're mindful of him? And what
is the son of man that you care for him? Indeed,
God is in heaven and we are on earth. And consider
even the way that Jesus prays, our Father who
art in heaven. When we come before God in worship,
we are addressing the very one who resides in
heaven and who created the heavens and the earth
merely by speaking it into existence. And so
let us respect God. Let us fear God, this text
says in verse seven. On a day in which we should
honor our mothers, and as we remember from the
commandments that we ought to give to respect
to our fathers and to our mothers and to all
in positions of respect and honor, how much more
honor and respect should we have of the eternal,
almighty, and triune God? This shows us that
our words are to be few. We are to be humbled
by God's word and to listen to him. And then
we get this kind of proverb in verse three, for
a dream comes with much business and a fool's
voice with many words. What is this showing us
here? But that there is, as there is kind of
a correlation between the busy body and the nightmares
they have, there's a correlation between the
man who speaks too much and never listens. We
must be people who listen, because as this text
also shows us, to not listen is vanity. To not
listen is evil. And so we must listen. Now, I
know what you may be thinking here, as this is
talking about sacrifices, we're not making sacrifices
right here. We're not slaughtering lambs here
in the sanctuary, are we? And so what kind of
sacrifices do we give? Hebrews chapter 12 28
through 29 says offer to God acceptable worship
with reverence and awe for God is a consuming
fire. We offer a sacrifice of worship and praise.
We worship the almighty, the eternal and the
triune God. And when we do so, we should recognize
that we are in the very presence of holiness.
Right? We are in the presence of holiness. We
are like Moses Before the burning bush standing
on holy ground This should characterize our worship
this kind of this fear this all this reverence
this respect of God and There is no place in
the sanctuary for flippant casual worship We
are to leave from this sanctuary today saying
To ourselves and to God. I gave my best in worship
today. And so as you go home. And maybe you're
having lunch with the family. Around the table.
Talk about worship. Talk about the scripture,
talk about the sermon. And think to yourself,
did I really give my best in worship today? Too
many churches. Too many worship services are
seeking to have the sort of worship that's all
about me, right? Too many churches are trying
to entertain people. Too many people are trying
to make their worship services about the people
and not about God. We don't have to come up with
creative means of worship because God tells us
how he would like to be worshiped in his word.
But maybe sometimes you leave the sanctuary and
you say, I didn't really get a lot out of that.
Friends, that's the wrong statement to make.
Here's the right question to ask. What did I
put into worship today? What did I put into worship
today? Did you listen to the word? Is your Bible
open? As you are able to read, are you tracking
with what is being said here? Are you are you
seeking to understand it and apply it to your
life? Maybe the preacher isn't your favorite.
Maybe I'm not, but look beyond the preacher to
the very word of God. In order that you can say
Lord, I really listened to you today. But also
this text seems to speak of preparation for worship,
doesn't it? There are some very simple and very
good ways in which we prepare for worship, right?
And so are we going to bed at a good time in
order to be well rested for worship? This is
a way in which we can say, I really gave my best
in worship. As we like to say around our household
and as many of you do, church starts on Saturday
night, doesn't it? So taking care of the things
that you need to do beforehand on Saturday such
that you can really give yourself to worship
but also Are we coming in humility? Right are
we coming in humility into the sanctuary to worship
are we coming with repentant? Obedient hearts
are we praying that God would help us to worship
another way of preparation is Are we holding
grudges when we come into worship? Or are we
settling the score as it is before we come here?
God's word, especially Matthew 5, tells us to
do that. We are to make amends with people before
we come here. And so this is another manner of
preparation for worship. This is how we can offer
to God our sacrifice of praise. But you can also
see, moving on, in verses four through seven,
the second thing that this is about. This has
to do with vows, doesn't it? And as I led off
sharing about a bad sacrifice with Cain, here
let me show you a bad sacrifice from somebody
that you may be familiar with, especially if
you're in the Covenant Sunday School class. We
studied judges recently. Do you remember Jephthah,
right? Jephthah makes a bad vow, doesn't he?
He's coming back from battle and he says, whatever
comes out of my house to meet me when I return,
I will offer as a burnt offering. Tragically,
who comes out the door? His daughter, right?
His daughter comes through the door. And so notice
what this is saying here. It's better to not
vow than to vow and not pay. And as we see from
some other locations, it's better not to vow
than to make a foolish vow. Deuteronomy chapter
23, 21 through 22 says, if you make a vow to
the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling
it. For the Lord your God will surely require
it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But
if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty
of sin. Oh, would that Jephthah had read this
portion, remembered this portion. But it's not
only negative vows that we see in Scripture,
we have wonderfully kept vows too. Do you remember
Hannah? Hannah prayed, she vowed that if the
Lord would open her womb, this is in 1 Samuel
1, if the Lord would open her womb and give her
a child, she would dedicate that child to the
Lord's service. and she kept her vow. And so
what this shows us that as breaking of vows is
terribly sinful and making bad vows is sinful,
keeping our vows brings glory to God. Now our
vows may look a good deal different than what's
talked about here in Ecclesiastes, but we still
do make vows, right? We make marriage vows. baptism
vows of our children, membership vows in the
church, these are taken publicly around us, but
also in the very presence of God. And so we must
remember that when we take vows. Remember who
is listening as you take vows, the holy triune
God. And this God is always true to his word
even when we are not. And so remember your vows
today, friends. Remember your vows that you make
to your spouse. Remember your membership vows
and that you give glory to God husbands when
you love your wives well. Remember your vows
that you made to this church and know that when
you keep them, when you support the work and
the worship of this church, you are keeping your
membership vows and bringing glory to God. And
so maybe this seems like a no -brainer, but be
more like Hannah than Jephthah. Can we do that?
Why? Verse six. Let not your mouth lead you into
sin and do not say before the messenger that
it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at
your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
Let not your mouth lead you into sin. This is
one of the reasons that I think actually Solomon
wrote this book because it sounds remarkably
similar to some of the Proverbs. Proverbs 10
19 when words are many, transgression is not
lacking. And yet sometimes we do maybe run our
mouths a little bit. Sometimes we do say foolish
things. Sometimes we take vows and we don't keep
them. Sometimes we talk badly about one another.
And sometimes people leave the church because
of that. They say those hypocrites over there,
they say one thing and they do the other thing.
Friends, this should obviously tell us to keep
our word. But doesn't this also show us that
there is no perfect church under the sun? Yes.
One of the vows that we take is that we are sinners,
right? I don't know of any other place on the
planet, I'm sure there is one, other than the
local church, where in order to be a member you
have to say, yeah, I'm a sinner. They don't ask
you that when you go for membership at the gym,
right? And so we recognize that, that this is
an imperfect church, right? But isn't that how
God has always operated, working with imperfect
people? Do you remember the disciples? Nobody's
first choice, right? And yet Jesus worked with
them and he taught them and they were the ones
who took the church out after his death and resurrection
and his ascension and the church just exploded
upon the scene. God has always worked with imperfect
people. and he's sanctifying us along the way.
And so today, maybe you need some encouragement
with your vows. Maybe you need some encouragement
with your worship. Notice how verse one and verse
four are written. I'll read part of these again.
Verse one, guard your steps when you go to the
house of God. Verse 4, when you vow a vow to
God. And I think that this is clearly seen in
most translations. It's a good translation to
see the word when. Friends, the word is when,
not if. And so perhaps today, you're struggling
with that membership vow. Perhaps today, you're
struggling to love your spouse well. You have
another opportunity right here, right now. When
you go, not if. And so yes, there's grace for
the failure. And Lord willing, if Jesus continues
to tarry, will we not be right here in the same
place again next week, again, when, not if? We
need to be here in order to keep our vows, but
God is refining us. He is creating, listening
hearts. He's stirring up our joyful hearts, right?
And so we keep worshiping. But how can we do
it? How can we continue to worship? We must remember
that God keeps his vows. God keeps his. promises.
Think of some of the most remarkable promises
in scripture. I really love from John six when
Jesus says the father will lose nothing that
he has given to the son or remember the promise
of the spirit from Joel that comes alive. in
Acts chapter two. Remember the promise of the
regenerated heart in the book of Jeremiah. God
is faithful to all of these promises and that
knowing that God keeps his promises should stir
up worship and affection for him. In terms of
sacrifice, we give our sacrifice of praise because
Jesus sacrificed his life. and talk about listening,
talk about an economy of words. Isaiah 53 shows
us that Jesus was like a lamb led to the slaughter,
but he opened not his mouth. He opened not his
mouth, instead enduring all of the pain of the
very wrath of God for you and for me. And it's
through him that we have access to the Father.
Verse two, if you look there again, and as I
already said, it puts us in a place that God
is in heaven and you are on earth. Isn't that
though what Jesus does coming from heaven to
earth in order to save us? Because of this, we
have access to the Father. Hebrews chapter 10.
Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence
to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,
by the new and living way that he opened for
us through the curtain, that is through his flesh,
and since we have a great high priest over the
house of God, let us approach with a true heart
and full assurance of faith. You and I, we can
be here because of Jesus and his sacrifice for
us. In short, you worship because Jesus gave
up his life for you. And so, as I conclude, when
you're sluggish on Sunday mornings to get here
and you would rather just continue to slumber,
listen to the very word of God. Be reminded what
Jesus did for you. When you find it hard to keep
your marriage vows after yet another argument,
remember what Jesus did for you. When your family
worship maybe isn't going as well as you had
hoped later today, remember what Jesus did for
you. Listen to the scriptures. Remember that
Jesus is your sacrifice and that he is the yes
and he is the amen. to all of the promises of
God. Let us pray.