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, 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?
For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is a vapor; but God is the one you must fear. – Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
If there is anything that is truly American, it is “freedom of speech.” Today there are very high-level court cases about exactly what is “protected speech.” I am thankful for the freedom to speak truth to power, dissent from the social obsession du jour, and most of all, grateful for the freedom to preach and teach the Word of God. Many of us are aware, however, that “freedom of speech” has been wildly misunderstood to allow speech for which the one uttering it should be protected from the responsibilities and consequences that follow.
Solomon knows about temple worship. In fact, he built the temple! Remembering that wisdom literature is for the training of kings, he offers an arresting warning in the passage above. This has to do with words. Speech here has enormous responsibilities. It is critical that you know your place before God: “God is in heaven and you are on earth.” It is critical that you know your place with God’s people: “Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake.”
Solomon is revealing that our speech tells the truth about us. Our words may justify or vindicate us. This helps make sense of Matthew 11:19, where Jesus says, “Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” Your deeds prove your words, or as the KJV put it, “But wisdom is justified by her children.” Put another way, you bring forth your words and Jesus makes clear: “The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Solomon is not some collector of random moral advice. He’s just talked in chapter 4 about the need for human companionship and the alienation of working only for oneself out of envy and rivalry (all a vapor!). So now he’s still promoting the community of faith, and he knows it won’t last anytime at all if we don’t get our speech right: speech before God and speech with each other. The Apostle Paul deals too many times to be counted in his writings with the destruction that comes from human speech. Thus Solomon offers four admonitions:
Guard your steps.
Do not be hasty with your mouth.
When you vow a vow, do not delay keeping it.
Do not let your mouth lead you into sin.
No wonder he urges that few words are one of the signs of the wise: “Therefore let your words be few.”
Words matter and the freedom to utter them does not mean that we should say just anything. Wisdom dictates, in fact, that we should utter few of them. Jesus knows when to speak and when to remain silent. We hang on every one of His words in large part because there are so few of them. He is often ridiculed for not speaking up for Himself. But He’s the wisdom of God, the King of kings. He was never rash with His mouth, and the vows He made, He kept. And it is by those vows we are saved. And that’s the gospel.
Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is a vapor and shepherding wind. – Ecclesiastes 4:13-16
Chapter 4 holds together as a strand of Preacher Solomon’s thought, which is why the chapter delineation was chosen to be where it is. This strand of thought is that zero is better than one, two is better than one, and three is better than two. To put it in a different way: it’s better to be dead or never born than to suffer alone, or, it’s better to have even one other person than to be alone, but it’s the threefold cord that is not easily broken. Three is not a crowd; three is a community.
Then Solomon ends with the verses above. It seems a little enigmatic and is, perhaps, one of the “dark sayings” he speaks of in Proverbs. It is most certainly a warning. This warning is especially to leaders like politicians, businessmen, or pastors. One of the pitfalls for leaders is becoming isolated or too confident for sound advice. Without a real community of peers, things can go foolish in a hurry!
The two character examples are “a poor and wise youth” and an “old and foolish king.” They each, perhaps, had Warhol’s proverbial “fifteen minutes of fame.” The old and foolish king grew rigid and unwilling to seek counsel. A poor and wise youth replaced him. While he doubtless enjoyed his fifteen minutes of fame, the truth is that he really wasn’t up to the task. He lacked maturity (remember the kingly purpose of wisdom literature!) and training. He had not been born to kingly riches and most recently had been in something like a prison—certainly not a palace.
The king had been popular, but isolation from wise people led to his downfall. Then this poor youth becomes very popular: “There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led.” This guy is in dire need of wise peers to help him. But he apparently became isolated, perhaps working not for the good of the community, and as a result “those who come later will not rejoice in him.” Augustine is credited with saying that the dead are always replaced by the dying. The currently popular are always replaced by those who are not yet unpopular.
For Solomon, the wise will seek a better vantage. If you are in a position without trusted friends and are not eager to seek their advice, regardless of the popularity you may enjoy for the time being, “this also is a vapor and shepherding wind.”
Jesus, as we know, did not enjoy much popularity at all, but when he had it (say, around Palm Sunday), He was wise in His kingliness to seek counsel with His heavenly Father while being compelled by the Holy Spirit. He even sought the companionship of His disciples in the Garden, though they proved no better than Job’s “friends.” We have great gifts in the body of Christ, the church, in each other, and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is with us always, especially as we are with each other. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. And that’s the gospel!
Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
Again, I saw vanity under the sun: one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him–a threefold cord is not quickly broken. – Ecclesiastes 4:1-12
At the end of chapter 3 in Ecclesiastes, Preacher Solomon concludes with the statement “that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot [or portion].” However, he is not finished with the subject. The enjoyment of good labor and eating and drinking is not a solitary pursuit. Instead, here in chapter 4, we find wisdom about how to enjoy life, food, and drink: enjoy these with the community of the faithful. Eat with people, drink with friends, work as contributing to the community. This is the bond that is not quickly broken. Certainly, this passage was understood in Solomon’s day especially as the ritual, festival meals of Israel, but it’s not difficult to see how it applies to the church today.
The first part of the chapter considers oppression, and particularly what we might call political oppression. “On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.” Indeed, when you look around in the world today, you see that there truly is nothing new under the sun! It would be easy to think of this as general tyranny since the last chapter spoke in those terms, but Preacher has a different angle here. It is about relationships. Twice, just in the first verse, he says “and they had no one to comfort them.” That means that suffering injustice is much worse if you must do it alone. Solomon is so sure of it that he believes it is better to be dead than suffer oppression in isolation. “And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.” At least they are finished with the torment of condemned isolation!
Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. Another observation he makes is related and exposes that there is nothing new today. In the first few verses, the oppression comes from people outside of us, but the second observation points out the harm we do to ourselves. A great deal of making work an idol comes from rivalry or envy. This is the opposite and a great enemy to the true community Solomon is putting forth. He believes there are real joys and good things in this life, but only working for oneself and labor that alienates is not the way to get these joyful things. They actually impoverish regardless of whatever other gain they may yield.
There is a great deal more in this chapter, but again, Jesus exemplifies every point here. He certainly suffered the solitude of condemned isolation (garden, trial, cross), and yet He has been building a community all along that lasts. In fact, the gospel builds the community of the church. A person who hears and believes the gospel will (in some parts of the world and at times in history) risk their very lives to assemble together as the church. Jesus tells us He is with us even to the end of the Age and has sent another Comforter. The wise will embrace these great gifts of God with great gratitude.
Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:16-20
Because this coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday, I’m taking a one-week hiatus from the book of Ecclesiastes. The passage above is the Lectionary’s gospel reading of the day. Because it is such a perfect follow-up to Pentecost (the presence of God coming down onto the church that the church may spread across the world), it is a wonderful text to preach because the gospel of the church doesn’t just spread into the world; it spreads Trinitarian-ly (“in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”). This deserves special attention.
The theological culture of the church of my youth had a very high view of “The Great Commission.” It was painted on a wall in the foyer, printed weekly on the church bulletin, set to music, and quoted frequently. In spite of the simple grammar of the passage, the operative word that received all the focus was not “make” or “baptizing” or “teaching.” It was “GO!” I put the word in all caps with an explanation point because that visually conveys the way it was taught that Jesus commissioned of His disciples.
For me and most of my peers, this was understood as a command to go out of the church and do the real work of ministry “out there” somewhere. The real work of ministry wasn’t really taking place in the church; the real work of ministry was getting people to ask Jesus into their heart, baptizing them as quickly as possible, and (far too often) never hearing from them again. Let me be clear: this is not what Jesus was commissioning His disciples to do.
Think with me quickly about the fire, or light, or lamp of God. In the original created order, the sun, moon, and stars were the lamps prepared by God on the fourth day. The glory cloud lamp led the Israelites. There was the burning bush. The same light descended upon Mt. Sinai. In the tabernacle, the fire of God came down to cook the sacrifices. In the nation of Israel, the political and religious leaders were seen as the anointed lightbearers (at their best, at least). Much more could be said through the kings and the prophets and the gospels about the fire or lamp of God.
Christ and the new Israel that He is forming around Himself are to be the light of the world. At Pentecost, the tongues of flame (the breathed-out fire of God) came to rest on the heads of the disciples. This means the disciples are being set up as new lightbearers. Being baptized by the Holy Spirit they are being placed in the heavenly places with Christ (cf. Ephesians 2:6) to shine as stars. Thus, the Church is to be a city set on a hill (a new Jerusalem). The burning bush of the Church is where man now meets with God. Wherever the Lampstand Church is, there is holy ground.
That’s what the church is. The Great Commission is about the church. That’s what is to be spread in your daily goings-about through teaching, making disciples, and baptizing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. That’s what the church does. Jesus is not commissioning His disciples to leave the church; He’s commissioning His disciples who have the fire of God upon them to expand and spread the Temple-Church. The church is a house of prayer for all the nations. It may seem impossible that this will happen since we are a rather unimpressive bunch in many ways. But here is the power: Jesus says, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” That’s how it works: He’s really the one doing it in us such that we are not alone. We not only have each other as the church, His body, but “behold, I am with you always,” He says. That’s the gospel.
Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is a vapor. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him? – Ecclesiastes 3:16-15
Having experiences is a valuable commodity in our world. I once heard a Disney Institute leadership trainer say that what Disney really sells is “experiences.” The trendiest churches do not list times for their worship services because they do not have worship services; they have “worship experiences.” This is not to say that it’s immoral to have experiences or even to seek certain ones out, but our propensity for idolatry means that wisdom is necessary to discern good and evil.
Preacher Solomon offers relevant wisdom here: using experience to decide things for you can be perilous. Experience is precisely that which may hide the love of God from you. Experiences for Adam and Eve before the Fall were good. They experienced the world as a blessing, but their successors—including us—experience life under the sun as a curse much of the time. We’d like to think of a life where faithfulness is rewarded with blessing, and wickedness brings ruin and shame. Psalm 73, however, tells a different experience of life under the sun: “For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.”
Thus Solomon opens this passage in Ecclesiastes: “Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.” That’s experience not evidencing the love of God. Does justice reign in our civil courts? There seems to be no end to the books and movies about stories where justice failed in the civil courts. Does justice reign in churches? So often we hear of scandals and coverups there too. How about the home? The family is supposed to be a place of nurture where righteousness is protected and maintained, right? In Bible-Belt-Buckle Oklahoma last year there were 143,404 children alleged to be victims of abuse or neglect; after investigation, 15,187 of them were confirmed to be actual victims of abuse or neglect.
The wise Christian will, nonetheless, trust God’s gracious purposes and His inscrutable timing, which is why Solomon says in his heart: “Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.” We don’t know how God will rectify unrighteousness in this life or why He allows injustice. Experience tells us that much of the time people get away with things, and even those who are caught receive consequences that don’t nearly match the evil they perpetrated. Therefore, experience (walking by sight) is unreliable. It is by faith we believe God will bring things to rights.
Preacher Solomon then goes on to talk about another thing we like to gloss over: death. “I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.” He is not saying that people are merely highly developed animals (like evolutionists are forced to concede). He is saying that we’ve been reduced to the level of dying and returning to dirt like the animals. Adam wanted to rise up to the level of divinity, but instead, he was laid low like the non-human animals. Consequently, it’s all a vapor.
And then Solomon’s now familiar conclusion is provided: “So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?” Luther sums this up: “This then is the portion of the righteous: to enjoy the things that are present and not be afflicted by the things that are in the future.” We are not the master of the future; therefore, rejoice in the present.
This is where the death and resurrection of Christ come into sharp relief. As the Apostle Paul says, “If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Cor. 15:19). In other words, the hope of Christ is not just for now: it is for the resurrection where “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.” After all, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8, “the sufferings of this present time (our experiences) are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (God’s promises by faith). And that’s the gospel!
Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.