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Sermon Transcript June 4, 2017

Ecclesiastes: Getting the Most Out of Life

!e Power of One to Destroy or to do Good!

Ecclesiastes 9:11 - 10:4 !is message from the Bible was addressed originally to the people of Wethers-eld Evangelical Free Church on June 4, 2017 at 511 Maple Street, Wethers-eld, CT, 06109 by Rev. Michael J. Conserva. !is is a transcription that bears the strength and weaknesses of oral delivery. It is not meant to be a polished essay. An audio copy of the sermon on CD is available by request at (860) 563-8286. An audio version of this sermon may also be found on the church website at www.wethefc.com.

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Sermon Text

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swi�, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like �sh that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. !ere was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. !e words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. Dead (ies make the perfumer's ointment give o) a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the le�. Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great o)enses to rest.

Ecclesiastes 9:11-10:4

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Introduction

Fred Phelps was head of the Westboro Baptist Church, a self-proclaimed religious

organization that many have listed as a hate group. It’s uno?cially known as ‘the most

hated family in America.’ !ey gained notoriety for protesting the funerals of those in

the LGBT community, military veterans, and disaster victims, those whose deaths, he

believed, were the result of God’s hatred of America’s "bankrupt values" and tolerance of

homosexual lifestyles.

Before starting an organization that hates everyone else in the world, Fred Phelps was a

successful lawyer in the 60’s. In fact he was a civil rights activist who took on cases of

racial discrimination. He fought Jim Crow laws and oDen won. He worked to secure

equal rights for black citizens. He is an example of the power of one to destroy and the

power of one to do good.

In this passage, we’re introduced to the power of one. !at is the power one to do good

or the power to destroy or do harm or evil. In this story there is a poor wise man who

was able to save a small city with only a few men in it from the attack of a great and

powerful king. You see, that is the power of one man being put to good use. But then on

the other hand, we have the one sinner, who through the power of one destroys that

which is good. I think it is important to take a moment and reFect on how one sinner

can indeed destroy much good.

�e Power of One to Destroy!

!ink about it! We see the eGects of sin everywhere and we know that sin is never

con-ned to the person who commits it. In the NT Jesus and Paul oDen described sin as

being like yeast. You know a little bit of yeast mixed into the dough causes the entire

batch of dough to rise. We are in community with one another, and we live in diGerent

communities and when we sin, the eGects of our sin spread like yeast. !ey spread

within our families, with in our neighborhoods, our workplaces and our churches. You

never sin unto yourself.

I could point to many biblical examples, but a great example is the story of David and

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Bathsheba. At a time when David was not at war he looked down from his rooDop and

saw beautiful Bathsheba and he lusted aDer her and he allowed his Fesh to overtake him

which set into motion a cascading series of events that hugely impacted David and his

entire family (blood line), but has impacted us and continues to impact us even today.

For instance:

• Bathsheba’s husband Uriah was set up to be killed on the battle-eld.

• !e child conceived from that illicit aGair died.

• David’s family became completely dysfunctional. His son Amnon raped his sister

and then was killed by his brother Absalom. And then his own son Absalom rebelled

against him and tried to take his kingdom.

• ADer his son Solomon died, the conFict within the family was so great that it led to

the splitting of Israel into the southern and northern kingdoms. !ey have still not

been reunited to this day.

We see and feel the eGects of sin everywhere. Although the eGects our sin may not be all

that widespread, there is plenty of evidence, both biblically and from our experiences, to

show that sin can have a far ranging consequences. One would hope that would be a

strong deterrent in our struggle against sin and temptation! So the question is, why isn’t

it? It's because we are not applying wisdom. We choose folly over wisdom.

!at’s the negative side right! One sinner destroys much good! But we need to look at

the positive side of the ledger because we do see the power of one person for good. !is

is part of our way of life, when we say, ‘that we will live with the conviction that God is at

work in our lives.’

�e Power of One for Good!

Qohelet illustrates this with a story,

I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. !ere

was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it,

building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by

his wisdom delivered the city.

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Note the contrasts: ‘a little city with few men’ and a ‘great king…building great

siegeworks against it.’ !e little city with a few people didn’t stand a chance, but we see

in this story that a poor wise man outsmarts a great king. He saves the day, yet he is

unrewarded, unrecognized and not respected. Whether the poor man delivered the city

by diplomacy or military strategy is not the issue. !e point is that the city owed its

survival to him, but he received nothing for it. !e sad truth is: wisdom is sought out

only in desperate times; otherwise, only those who have wealth or power are in a

position to demand public attention. Although the wise man failed to personally pro-t

from his labors, his wisdom was not pro-tless for others or for his world. !is story

should encourage us because like the poor wise man, if we apply wisdom in life it will

help us to navigate ourselves through the adversities and the di?culties of life. Life is

already hard enough, so use wisdom to navigate your way through life.

In fact, this poor man’s wisdom impressed !e Teacher (9:13) so much that he draws

three conclusions from this parable (9:1 6-18):

Godly wisdom is better than might. In 9:16a !e Teacher writes, “Wisdom is better

than strength.” We lose strength as we advance in years, but the wonderful truth is that

we can gain wisdom as we grow older. Wisdom works. It is based on eternal principles.

Plug into wisdom and your life will be a success.

Godly wisdom is not always heeded. In 9:16b-17 !e Teacher writes, “But the wisdom

of the poor man is despised and his words are not heeded. �e words of the wise

heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.” Sadly,

wisdom frequently goes unrewarded. We have all heard the expression, “Give credit

where credit is due.” Well, unfortunately, in our fallen world this does not always

happen. ODen, godly wisdom and counsel falls upon deaf ears, or at best, goes in one ear

and out the other. !erefore, when people do heed godly wisdom we ought to get

excited. Although it is true that strength and might may prevail in the short run, wisdom

is much more pro-table in the long run. And in a world where most people seem to pay

attention to those who are the most powerful and have the loudest voice, Qohelet oGers

this warning:

�e words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler

among fools.

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Godly wisdom can be overcome by sheer folly. In 9:18 again !e Teacher writes,

“Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.” As

eGective as godly wisdom is, a single person—“one sinner”—can cancel much good. !is

phrase “one sinner destroys much good” is like our, “one rotten apple ruins the whole

barrel” or “one bad egg spoils the omelette.” !roughout the Bible, there is an abiding

principle: “A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough” (1 Cor 5:6). We must guard

ourselves from being contaminated by sin which will destroy godly wisdom.

At the same time wisdom has limits. For instance our wisdom will never be adequate

enough to -gure out the mysterious things of God. And from the story of the old wise

man that rescued a city, there is no guarantee that wisdom will give you a leg up on life

or that you will gain an advantage or personal pro-t from wisdom. But Qohelet has

consistently pointed out that wisdom is certainly better than folly and it will help you in

navigating your way through life.

!is thinking can subtlety creep into the church, especially when it comes to teaching

the scriptures. !ere is a tendency for us to listen to those with the loudest voices, the

ones with the largest churches, or those who have written the most books, or who have

prominent places on TV and radio. Now, I’m certainly not saying that you shouldn’t

listen to these people just because they are well known, but I would be a miss not to

caution you against assuming that all of their teaching is right just because it is popular

or fashionable. In fact, it is pretty well documented that one very well known female

entertainer, who happens to be one of the leading sources on spirituality of our day has

clearly denied that Jesus is the only way to God.

Qohelet leaves no doubt that wisdom is superior to strength, power and might. But, as

we’ll see, not just any wisdom -ts the bill. So we need to de-ne exactly what Qohelet

means by wisdom in this passage.

Most of us have probably heard lots of de-nitions of wisdom and how wisdom diGers

from knowledge.

Wisdom isn’t simply intelligence or knowledge or even understanding. It is the ability to

use these to think and act in such a way that common sense prevails and choices are

bene-cial and productive. Wisdom is applied knowledge.

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How’s this for a de-nition…

Knowledge is knowing how to pick your nose, wisdom is knowing when.

Personally, I think one of the best de-nitions of wisdom is found in the book of James,

which is oDen referred to as the book of Proverbs in the New Testament.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds

done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and sel�sh

ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not

come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy

and sel�sh ambition, there you �nd disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that

comes from heaven is �rst of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of

mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a

harvest of righteousness.” James 3:13-18 (NIV)

It’s interesting how well this -ts with our passage from Ecclesiastes. Worldly wisdom is

loud and self-serving. It results in destruction, decay and disunity. But heavenly wisdom,

the kind we need to seek, involves humility. It is quiet and peaceable. And that is the

only kind of wisdom that results ultimately in good.

So how do we get that kind of wisdom?

Let’s look at verse 17 once again:

Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard… (NIV)

I know of only one voice that speaks the “words of the wise” and that is the voice of God.

But God, unlike the fools of this world doesn’t usually shout out His wisdom to the

world that is to mankind. Rather, He invites us to come quietly into His presence and

listen to His voice speaking quietly to us.

!ere is a great illustration of this in the life of Elijah when he returns to the mountain of

God and the voice of God comes to him and says, !e LORD said, "Go out and stand on

the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." !en a

great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the

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LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. ADer the wind there was an earthquake, but

the LORD was not in the earthquake. ADer the earthquake came a -re, but the LORD

was not in the -re. And aDer the -re came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he

pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. !en a

voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (I Kings 19:11-13)

God wasn’t in the wind, He wasn’t in the earthquake, He wasn’t in the -re. Instead His

voice was merely a whisper. And in order to hear God’s voice, Elijah had to quiet himself

and listen for the voice of God.

!at principle still applies today. If we really want to hear the voice of God then we have

to follow the admonition of the Psalmist:

‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10).

Frankly, most of us are not very good at doing silence. We don’t really like silence.

When my kids do homework they oDen listen to music and they tell me it helps them

concentrate. I don’t do that, I am of another generation and I treasure my silence. I work

best in silence. DiGerent strokes for diGerent folks, but the point I want to make is that if

you want to get the heavenly wisdom that James described, we must quiet ourselves so

that we can listen to the words of the one voice that speaks to us through the Scripture.

We have to discipline ourselves to sit down with God’s Word and set aside all of the

distractions that keep us from hearing His voice through His Word. We need to turn oG

the TV, the iPod and get away from the computer and the cell phone and the emails and

just sit with our Bibles and allow God to speak to us through His Word. !at’s the only

way we are going to hear His voice and get His wisdom and use the Power of One for

ultimate good.

It’s interesting because wisdom oDen comes to us from some of the most unexpected

places. As a matter of fact, I think it is quiet instructive that wisdom in this passage

comes to us from that place that we would least expect it—from a poor man in a small

town.

Too oDen we look for wisdom in all the wrong places. We think if we read just the right

book or go to the right seminar or -nd the right church or make some other external

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change in our life that our life will be all the more wiser. Nothing could be further from

the truth. Wisdom doesn’t just require more knowledge or information, but it requires a

transformation of the life from the inside out. If I want to be wise I must change on the

inside and not just change my external circumstances. !roughout that whole process

God oDen uses circumstances and situations in our life to develop godly wisdom.

For instance, sometimes !e Lord uses pain and suGering. Some of us know what that is

all about. Sometimes he uses di?culty, adversity, trials and people. People oDen become

the sandpaper in life that sand oG the rough edges in our lives. Just think of the

relationship you have with your spouse. ODen times !e Lord uses people whom we

might never expect. He uses someone who has endured struggles that are similar to ours,

He uses that quiet person who never speaks up in a group to come to us one on one, He

uses a family member or a neighbor or someone right here in this local body rather than

a well-known “expert” who is on TV or who has written a shelf full of books.

Wisdom doesn’t always come from the person who seemingly has all the right answers.

It oDen comes from the people from whom we would least expect it. So we need to keep

our spiritual eyes and ears open so that we can take advantage of those opportunities

when they come along. !at is why if you are not part of a community group you need

to get into community. !at’s our Fow here. Worship, Community and then we ask,

What’s the next step? And that is Service. Where can you serve in the church?

Conclusion

!e world is usually not very impressed with godly wisdom. In fact, many times they are

downright hostile toward it. Just ask Carrie Prejean. Many of you might be familiar with

her response to the question she was asked during the Miss USA pageant back in 2009.

An openly homosexual judge asked her a question about gay marriage, and she said, in

part:

…in my country and in, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be

between a man and a woman. No oGense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was

raised and that’s how I think that it should be between a man and a woman.

She gave an honest answer to an honest question based upon her convictions. Of course

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she was booed by a signi-cant portion of the audience, but that was nothing compared

to the way she was excoriated by the press and others. Even the pageant director of the

Miss California contest, Keith Lewis, wrote these words to the judge who had asked the

question: “I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss CA USA 2009 believes marriage

rights belong only to a man and a woman…Religious beliefs have no place in politics in

the Miss CA family.”

Miss Prejean’s is not perfect and her testimony has been weakened to some degree by

revelations of some revealing photos that she had previously posed for, in this case she

certainly held to what she knew to be godly wisdom even though she knew that the

judge who asked the questions as well as much of the American public would certainly

not embrace those beliefs.

But what is really interesting is that Carrie Prejean has been given a platform to expound

God’s truth that she would have never had if she had answered the question the way that

she knew the judges wanted and had gone on to win the pageant. And to her credit, she

has not backed down even one bit from her commitment to traditional marriage

between one man and one woman.

In a sense Carrie embodies both the good and the bad that is possible in the life of one

person. On one hand, at some time in her life she listened to the quiet voice of God and

developed her convictions about marriage based on listening to His voice and also from

the wisdom that was imparted by her parents and others in her life. And as a result, she

has used the power of one to advance good here in this world.

On the other hand, some of the things she has done in the past have actually destroyed

that good, at least to some extent.

One person really can make a diGerence – either to advance good or to destroy it. !e

diGerence lies not in our own strength or power, or even in our human wisdom, but

rather in whose voice we are listening to. If we listen to the loud, demanding voice of

this world, it will lead us into sin that will not only impact us but others as well,

destroying much good in the process. But if we take the time to get quiet and listen to

the still small voice of God and then live our lives according to His wisdom, we can be a

positive inFuence for that which is good, and pure and peaceable and right.

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Kidner, Derek. A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance: Ecclesiastes and the Way of the

World (Downers Grove; IVP) 1976.

https://bible.org/seriespage/15-wise-beyond-words-ecclesiastes-913-1020

Provan, Iain. Ecclesiastes/Song of Songs: !e NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids; Zondervan) 2001.

Greidanus, Sidney. Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes (Grand Rapids; Eerdmans) 2010.

© by Rev. Michael Conserva - All rights reserved

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Sermon Title: !e Power of One to Destroy or to do Good! Sermon Text: Ecclesiastes 9:11 - 10:4 Sermon Date: June 4, 2017

• !ink of someone who is spiritually mature. Share about that person. What do you believe are the characteristics that make him/her mature in Christ?

• Read Eccl. 9:13-18, Why is wisdom to be preferred over strength (9:13-18)? Why is wisdom unimpressive to most people?

• How can a little foolishness ruin great wisdom (10:1-3)? When did I make a foolish mistake that ended up hurting others? What did I learn from my error? How did I seek to confess and correct the hurt? What was the result?

• Have I ever worked under someone who was a fool (10:4)? Why is it critical to hold my temper when my boss is angry with me? How should I respond when I -nd myself in unfair situations at work?

• How would I describe my work ethic (10:8-10)? Is my work performance exemplary? Does it stand out to my boss and coworkers?

• In what circumstances do I tend to talk too much (10:11-15)? What steps can I take to say less today? Read Proverbs 10:19.

• Write down two or three applications that you can take away today and share them with the

group?

• What is an area of your life where you would like to grow in?

Getting To Know Me Questions

Diving Into The Word

Taking It Home