The Sacrifice of Fools | Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

A couple of key reminders before we dig in today.

Solomon wrote this work as a reflection in repentance.

And he has that repeating motto and phrase,

vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

And that phrase, it confronts people

who are too focused on this life under the sun.

Throughout the chapters one and two,

Solomon gives numerous examples from his own life experience

and from the natural world to prove

that our life, our experience under this sun,

this mortal life, this side of glory is just a vapor.

Soap bubbles.

Now we've seen this harshness of life.

And last time we were drawn to the throne of grace,

remembering that for those who are in Christ,

death is actually an advantage.

It's the reality of death that helps us

to cherish life properly.

We also spoke on the rat race of life.

That never ending hamster wheel.

But the encouragement was to change our thinking

from me to we.

Now here's the outline up on the screen for you

that we've been following along.

We're still in that second section of the book,

this overarching theme, the proof that all is vanity.

We're getting very close to the turning point

of the book in chapter seven.

We have maybe two more sermons after this week.

And we'll see a sharp turn there in a good way.

But we're continuing and today the title for this section

in Ecclesiastes chapter five is the sacrifice of fools.

Now many of you are familiar with this saying,

better to remain silent and be thought a fool than what?

There's a bunch of different ways you can say it.

Then to open your mouth and remove all doubt

or to show that you are anyways.

There's a lot of different ways.

But we've learned that saying, have we not?

Growing up you've heard it.

If you're in American context, you've heard it.

The thought is that people may not think that you're wise

if you're silent.

They may not think it, but they don't know.

It's up in the air.

But if you speak up, then they'll figure it out.

They'll know that you are not wise.

Now that saying, that worldly saying does have an element

of truth to it within the context of scripture.

Proverbs 17, 28 says, even an ignorant fool

when he keeps silent is considered wise.

When he closes his lips, he is considered understanding.

Doesn't mean he is wise.

It doesn't mean he is understanding.

It means he at least casts a little bit of doubt

as to whether he's an actual fool or not.

Proverbs 18, 13, he who responds with a word

before he hears, it is his folly and shame.

Speaking up shows folly oftentimes.

Now that secular quote, it pokes at a person's love

for the approval of others.

How other people think about you.

Does any of us want, do any of us want

to be thought of as a fool?

You wake up this morning and say, that's me.

I want to be a fool.

I'm gonna say a bunch of foolish things today.

No, and so this quote encourages people to remain silent.

And even God's word there says, hey,

if you don't know, then don't say it.

Now have you ever felt that way, inclined to be quiet

simply because you didn't want to appear foolish?

Now maybe you were in class, students.

Maybe you're in class and your professor asks a question

and you didn't want to get it wrong.

You don't do the hand raise.

Maybe it's an open-ended question here in church

about the Bible.

Ah, you don't want to get that wrong.

You'd be a terrible Christian, right?

You should laugh at that.

What about when you're at work

and your boss wants to know something

and you don't want to speak up

because it may not look favorably upon you

or your team members?

Now this quote, this secular quote,

it could be helpful for the person

that is prone to just blurt things out.

I think of Peter in God's word in the gospels.

But I think that the secular quote really misses the mark

when it comes to promoting godliness

because we know we're not supposed to care more

about what other people think than what God thinks.

Amen?

And see, that's where Solomon picks up in chapter five,

truly considering who we ought to please.

In this section, we're gonna see the first of many times

that Solomon is gonna call the reader to fear God.

Throughout chapter four, we witness the devastation

that can be brought about when a person only focuses

on their own advancement, their own wealth,

when a person is focused on worshiping self.

And Solomon was faithful to remind us

that that rat race of self can be fought.

We can combat that by focusing on others,

seeking the good of others,

and working together with others for common and good goals.

And that's why the encouragement was change our thinking

from me to we.

Now I want you to turn in your Bibles

to Ecclesiastes chapter five.

And in a moment, we're gonna see that God has a lot to say

through Solomon about true worship,

authentic worship of God, and the dangers

of inauthentic worship.

Let's go ahead and stand as we read God's word here

out of Ecclesiastes five.

If you don't have a Bible, it's on the screen as well.

But Ecclesiastes five, beginning in verse one,

we'll go through verse seven.

Guard your steps as you go to the house of God

and draw near to listen,

rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools,

for they do not know that they are doing evil.

Do not be hasty with your mouth or impulsive in your heart

to bring up a matter in the presence of God,

for God is in heaven, but you are on earth.

Therefore, let your words be few,

for the dream comes through abundant endeavor

in the voice of a fool through abundant words.

When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it,

for he takes no delight in fools.

Pay what you vow.

It is better that you should not vow

than that you should vow and not pay.

Do not allow your mouth to cause your flesh to sin,

and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God

that it was a mistake.

Why should God be angry on account of your voice

and wreak destruction on the work of your hands?

For in many dreams and vanities are many words.

Rather fear God.

You can take a seat.

Now, as we dig into this passage,

I have to give a notice and a disclaimer on the front end.

This passage is incredibly difficult linguistically

to decipher, and I'm talking about the original Hebrew.

Now, your English Bibles are still good translations.

I'm not knocking those.

The issue is not as much the translation,

but it's the manner in which the Hebrew is used.

Even as we read this portion of the passage,

we're not talking about the original Hebrew.

Even as we read this portion right here,

it's likely you heard this part about dreams and vows,

and you said, huh?

What is going on here?

What are we talking about?

The words and the concepts require explanation,

but also the grammar and the syntax require study.

And so I've labored and endeavored to help in that,

but this is not a seminary class.

You didn't show up to church today to do sentence diagrams

and to study roots and lemma and meaning.

That's not the purpose.

So the disclaimer is this.

I'm going to present to you what I have learned,

and I will provide what I pray is

a clear and actionable understanding of this passage,

but I'm not going to get bogged down in all the exegesis.

And if you want to nerd out later with me, you can.

But wisdom literature, it requires

this kind of consideration, careful consideration,

because it often does not make sense at first glance.

This passage is an example of that.

So now as you look at verse 1, you see a command.

And this should get your attention,

because if anyone has ever approached Ecclesiastes and said,

eh, you know, this is just a guy who

is upset at the end of his life and just discouraged.

He gives you a command.

So you should pay attention.

He says, guard your steps.

Now that word for guard emphasizes keeping watch.

And it is the same term that is used in Psalm 127.

Pastor Jeff explained this a few weeks ago.

Unless Yahweh guards the city, then the guard's work

is pointless and empty.

You remember that?

Now here, the emphasis for guarding

is that a person would pay special attention.

I'm sorry, I clicked through.

Disregard the slide for a second.

You're like, what does that have to do with this?

Guard your steps.

You'll see in a moment that if somebody needs to do something

here, it's guarding their steps.

You need to keep careful attention to your walk.

It's the steps that you take.

We were on a family road trip this past summer.

We made it to Zion National Park.

How many of you have been there?

Show of hands?

That is more than I expected.

That's cool.

At the end of that bus loop, you know where you arrive.

You get to that beautiful slot canyon called the Narrows.

Some of you have even seen it on whether you watch YouTube

or people's social media, whatever.

But those of you who have been there, you know it's important.

If you get into that river, you have

to pay attention to where you step.

Even if you have walking poles through the water,

when you're going through that river,

your feet are sliding all over the rocks.

And you need to be careful.

Now also, here's where the picture is.

Also, at Zion National Park is a place called Angels Landing.

If you've walked through the cliffs,

you know that there are a lot of dangerous spots.

The pictures don't do it justice.

You're up several hundred feet.

It is scary if you're up there.

You need to watch your steps.

So scary that we couldn't take our kids,

because I didn't trust our youngest

to be able to walk through there.

Now we had a lot of moments as a family this past summer

where we needed to guard and keep watch over our steps

at Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon,

all those places.

And it makes sense practically.

If you're on a dangerous path, don't you

need to watch your steps?

Doesn't that make sense?

So Solomon says, guard your step.

Imagine if your whole life was like walking

on a narrow tightrope along the cliffs.

What if every moment of every day

needed to be kept watch over so that you don't stumble?

Imagine if there was some dynamic where every step you

take could be either a great blessing

or a catastrophic failure, surviving the narrow path

or falling to certain doom.

That's the concept here in verse 1.

And in Hebrew, that word for steps

carries this connotation of a journey or a pace of life.

It has more to do with a person's whole habit of life

than it does just that moment of approaching the house of God

or the temple really here.

Similarly, in the New Testament, Paul often

uses a Greek term to describe how a person lives,

their habit of life.

And the most common contrast being

either you walk in the newness of life

or you walk according to the flesh.

That is a consistent theme in God's word.

So when you see Solomon's emphasis of guarding

your steps into the house of God,

remember he's talking also about a person's whole life,

not just when they go to a special place,

but all their life.

It is an emphasis, though, on their spiritual worship.

Now, he gives a special emphasis to the house of God.

This seems to be intentional really

to consider life beyond yourself, life

beyond just the mundane moments.

The very next verse makes that clear

because he reminds us of our position compared to God's.

I find it striking.

Now, I've seen so many worship services

across multiple continents.

I have seen genuine Christians worshiping the one true God.

And I have seen idolatrous love and false worship

and false religions.

I have seen the saddest of them all, though.

Those who think that they are worshiping God, but in fact,

are focusing their worship on self.

Now, I'm not speaking about judging

a person's heart and intent.

I am speaking about those professing believers

who put together a worship service or a way of life that

seems so close and yet we know is so far.

And if it helps to give an example, let me give this one.

Consider Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church.

Jesus is mentioned there, even in his mouth.

God is spoken well of.

But the gospel?

Gospel is not the focus.

Taking up one's cross?

Don't talk about suffering there.

Now, see, people across time and history,

they desire to create a religious system in which they

can easily do what they want and get what they want

without having to submit to an all-powerful creator.

Even today, we see it in those evangelical approaches

with the LGBTQ movement and policies that are supported

by professing Christians.

See, believers, even professing believers,

want to tell God what is good and holy rather than listen

to him on matters of life.

Solomon here in Ecclesiastes 5, he's

using a scalpel to confront half-hearted worshipers.

Listen.

Here, he is speaking to the person who loves a good song,

who shows up to the worship service cheerfully enough,

but who listens with ears half open.

Look at the next phrase in verse 1.

He says, draw near to listen rather than to offer

the sacrifice of fools.

Now, the comparison is fierce.

And it is to the point.

Do you want to be a fool?

We joked about it on the front end.

No.

No one woke up and said, I want to be a fool.

Well, do you want to offer the sacrifice of fools?

If not, Solomon says, listen.

Listen.

Now, without needing a lot of explanation in the passage,

Solomon points to this great disconnect

that people have in their lives.

People are driven by vanities, chasing the wind.

Yet they show up to the church service week after week

and give lip service to God.

They offer some sacrifice, but they don't truly honor him

as king in their life.

Now, in focusing on listening, Solomon

forces the reader, the listener, to consider

if they are characterized by such a posture.

Come near to the house of God to listen and to learn

and to obey, rather than coming to the house of God

to bring half your heart.

Now, in contrast, this listening of fools,

or the contrast of listening and the contrast of fools,

there's many words that we can use,

or many phrases we use to talk about foolishness.

And it's all throughout God's word here.

Now, Solomon is rebuking those who

think that they can use their abundance of language,

their abundance of thoughts, their abundance of education,

their abundance of understanding,

their abundance of knowledge to think that they can bring

something helpful to God.

That is a pointed conviction for us.

If you've been following along with our study in Ecclesiastes,

you've seen many issues.

You've been confronted with trying

to explain this world, this world that is confusing,

this world that is upside down.

You've wrestled with the nature of injustice,

the nature of God's sovereignty.

And in all of your thinking or considering,

you will only get so far without God.

Your human mind can only go so far

without God declaring to you how to think, how to respond.

So for that person who is focused on life here, then,

yes, their life is doomed.

Vanity of vanities.

All is lost.

And Solomon says that consistently,

to wake you up, to make sure that you're not

that half-hearted worshiper, because he's not

writing to unbelievers.

He's not writing to those people who are far off.

He's writing to the people who are right there.

This materialistic mind that we're prone to have,

we focus on what we see.

We focus on what's in front of us.

We want the best life now.

How many of us really want to wait?

If you had an option, now or later,

wouldn't we all choose now?

Yet, has God promised that?

No, the best life for the believer is the one to come.

So Solomon uses words purposefully

to jab at our kidneys, to poke us in the back,

to wake us up from this vain life

so that we don't just look at what's in front of us.

To interpret this life, you need the author,

the author of all life.

You need the Bible.

You need his words.

And when you see his words, you need to remember,

that is God speaking.

You don't draw near to the house of God to listen to man.

You draw near to the house of God to hear God,

to learn about who he is and who we ought to be with his help.

So listen.

How many of you remember Saul?

Foolish Saul.

He wanted always to bring something to God, did he not?

Especially when he made a mistake.

You remember this?

1 Samuel 15.

But what can you offer the one who has all things?

Can you really bring him something?

He gets rebuked by Samuel.

Has Yahweh as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as in obeying the voice of Yahweh?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.

So come near to listen to his voice.

Come near to obey him.

It's a tragic thing when a person is being foolish

and they think they're doing something to please God,

but in fact, they're doing something evil.

That's why I mentioned Joel Osteen.

That's why I mentioned false gospel productions

like in Lakewood Church.

I'm not picking on them.

I'm saying this is tragic that fools are offering sacrifices

that do not please God.

May that not be true of us.

But there are further instructions here

for the true worshiper in Ecclesiastes 5.

Verse 2 says, do not be hasty with your mouth.

Don't be impulsive in your heart to bring things up to God

because he's in heaven and you're on earth,

so let your words be few.

Now I want you to see some similar language here.

Right out of Ecclesiastes 5, Jesus in Matthew chapter 6

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

says some very similar things.

I'm going to read it for you here.

I'll put it up on the screen.

I've highlighted or underlined those comparison points.

Jesus said, when you're praying, do not

use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do,

for they suppose that they'll be heard for their many words.

Therefore, do not be like them, for your Father

knows what you need before you ask to pray in this way.

Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one,

for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Do you notice Jesus is pointing his listeners

to the same truths that Solomon was speaking of?

In verse 7, you have this meaningless repetition

and these many words.

And Solomon said, don't be hasty.

Don't be impulsive.

And he even said, let your words be few.

And then in verse 9 here in Matthew 6, our Father in heaven.

And then what do you see in Ecclesiastes 5, 2?

God who is in heaven.

The comparison is clear.

There are more, but I want to focus

on what Solomon is teaching.

He's teaching us to take the right posture before God.

Now, in taking a right posture before authority in general,

we have a lot of good examples in scripture.

You think of Esther and Mordecai,

who chose their words very carefully to the king.

You think of Daniel and his friends as Jeff,

like to call them Shadrach, Meshach, and Benny.

Shadrach?

Rakhshach and Benny.

There we go.

I knew I'd get it wrong.

I didn't write it down.

Purposefully disobeying their rulers,

but using their words wisely.

Or how about Nehemiah, who carefully

requests a privilege from the king.

And he gets granted and his role is cut bare.

Now, if humans respond in such a way to human rulers,

human people, human rulers, how much

more should we approach the ruler of all the rulers?

The king over all the kings.

And I think in our day and age, we need that reminder.

There are some wild mottos out there today.

Jesus is my homeboy.

You've heard that one.

I'm going to pick on it.

I'll pick on another one.

This thought that, hey, God is strong enough

for all of your criticisms.

God is strong enough for all of your anger.

Just let it out.

Now, here's my issue in this.

In such a thing like that, we take

a posture that makes it seem like God owes us something.

There is a place for lament.

Don't get me wrong.

There is a place for crying out.

There's a place for supplication.

There's a place for appeals.

But always with humility.

Always.

We should not be so cavalier with our words.

So Solomon says, let your words be few.

Be reverent in your approach to God.

Why?

Because he is in heaven.

He sits enthroned above.

And you?

You and I?

We're just creatures.

We are not the creator.

Solomon's rationale for the worshiper is this.

He says, remember your station.

Be reverent in your worship.

Focus more on listening and obeying

than making brash and hasty statements.

Learn from the Almighty through his word

and choose your words carefully with him.

In Ecclesiastes 5, verse 3, Solomon

Ecclesiastes 5:3

makes a statement that has puzzled scholars for centuries.

Still does.

It's a very troublesome passage.

And I'm no closer to understanding it

than anyone else.

But I think we have enough context clues to understand

what verse 3 means.

Of the difficulty in verse 3 is that this word dream

and then this phrase abundant endeavor or much business

and effort, those things are not clear.

They're not clear concepts in the text on its own.

But we have to remember the poetic nature of wisdom

literature.

We need to bear in mind all those normative principles

that we laid out on the front end,

a biblical interpretation of wisdom literature.

And that involves context and theme as well.

So we're going to look at synonymous parallelism.

I said we're not going to do a lot.

This is like the one nerdy thing we're going to do for you.

OK?

And you're just going to see, I just

delineated it real briefly to show you a comparison so

that we can understand this portion better.

The two concepts are on the top and the bottom.

I gave you some of the grammar in the middle.

But there's this dream that happens

through abundant endeavor compared with the fool's voice

through abundant words.

That's the flow that you see there.

This is a sorry, synonymous parallelism.

There's too many parallelisms I had in my brain.

Synonymous parallelism.

So you have a comparison.

Dream is in a negative context because a fool's voice

is in a negative context.

It's not a contrastive statement where

one is better than the other.

This is a similarity here.

So the dream is not good.

The dream in question is not a good thing.

It's not a prophetic dream.

It's not a good thing from God.

This is something that you should not

desire, something that is created in the mind of men.

We're going to come back to that.

So how do the dream and the fool's voice,

that one's more obvious, come about?

Well, each comes about through an abundance of something.

Now, that word abundant or many is repeated on purpose

to make this comparison.

So those negative things, the dreams and the fool's voice,

they happen after something, after a lot of something,

actually.

So what are those abundant things

that bring about each negative connotation?

Now, for dreams, the abundance is an endeavor or a business,

a specific task or job.

And though Solomon did not provide a lot of context

right there, I think the whole letter provides the context

that we need.

Just take a look at these verses right out of Ecclesiastes.

In chapter 1, in chapter 2, in chapter 3, in chapter 4,

Solomon describes this endeavor given to the sons of men.

Grievous work, he says.

He repeats the same thing in chapter 2,

that man's endeavor is painful and vexing.

He mentions the same in chapter 3 and chapter 4.

So in this context, in chapter 5,

this is what I think Solomon is saying.

Dreams, specifically the kind of day dreams,

the false realities that we hope for in our vapid moments,

they're brought about because we get distracted in all

of our chasing of soap bubbles.

We escape our reality.

We enter into this foolish pattern

of hoping for things that God has not promised.

We believe that we can be the authors

of our own circumstances.

And we make plans to do what we want to do,

not necessarily what God wants us to do.

James gives us a caution about this.

In James chapter 4, he says, come now,

James 4 · chapter mention

you who say today or tomorrow will go to such and such

a city and spend a year there and engage in business

or endeavor and make a profit.

Yet you don't know what your life will be like tomorrow.

You are a vapor that appears for a little while

and then vanishes away.

And instead, you want to say, if the Lord wills,

we will live and also do this or that.

But as it is, you boast in your arrogance.

And all such boasting is evil.

I hope you see the comparison with Solomon's wisdom here.

In busying ourselves, in chasing soap bubbles,

we dream of foolish things, things that

don't lead us to worship God.

Now, the fool's voice, this one is easier to understand.

There's just a few proverbs I'm going

to put on the screen for you.

You can take a picture if you want to remember,

write down the references.

But constantly, God's word speaks

about the abundant words and the fool going hand in hand.

The mouth of fools pours out folly, gushes forward.

The heart of fools proclaims, yells it out of folly.

A fool spreads out folly just indiscriminately.

The mouth of the wicked pours forth evil things.

Do you see the pattern of the fool?

Literally, the evil things, the evil words, all of those things

just gush from the mouth of the fool.

The fool is seen in his abundant words.

So we contrast the fool with the wise man.

There is encouragement for how to be wise.

Proverbs 10, when there are many words, transgression

is unavoidable.

But he who holds back his lips has insight.

He who has a cool spirit is a man of discernment.

He who holds back his words has knowledge.

I love Proverbs 18, 21 here because it reminds us

of how powerful words are.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Now wisdom, contrasted with folly, seeks to live carefully.

To use the mouth or to use the tongue,

to use words to give life.

So Ecclesiastes 3 is highlighting

this abundant busyness, these abundant words that people use.

And they just show their folly on display

with all the things they busy themselves with

and all the words that they surround themselves with.

And it's seen.

It's obvious.

Now when a person has much to say to God,

it's likely that they've heard little from God.

Think about that.

Even if they think their dreams for the future

involve honoring him in some way,

the reality is that many professing believers

give their dreams to God, and they expect

him to fulfill their plans.

They often explain to God why their thoughts are so good,

and they don't focus on listening to him at his word

and seeking to obey him.

Now the next section here, verses 4 through 7,

they really need to be taken as a whole unit of thought

because there's a consistency of concepts here.

So we're going to dig in.

But you see it up on the screen.

We're going to highlight the first theme, vows.

Vows.

So what's a vow?

And do believers still make vows today?

Now first, a vow on the day of Solomon

during the days of the temple, it wasn't uncommon.

In fact, the idea of a vow actually

goes back to Israelite worship in the days of Moses.

In Deuteronomy 23, Moses taught God's people the same thing

that Solomon says here.

Look at the similarities.

I put it on the screen for you.

The similarities with Deuteronomy 23 on the left

and Ecclesiastes 5 on the right.

When you make a vow to Yahweh your God,

you shall not delay to pay it.

That's not exactly what Solomon said.

If you refrain from vowing, it will not be a sin.

Isn't that what Solomon said?

It's better not to vow than to vow and not pay.

You shall be careful to do what goes out from your lips.

Same.

Same encouragement.

This is not a new concept in Solomon's day.

This is consistent for God's people.

They need this reminder.

What would be another good example of a vow?

How many of you are familiar with Judges chapter 11?

Judges 11 · chapter mention

Now don't say it because you open your mouth,

you might be a fool, right?

Just test there for the joke.

Judges 11, Jephthah.

You remember him?

He vowed to God that if God would give him a victory

against the sons of Ammon, that he would sacrifice

whatever and really whoever came out of his home

to meet him in his return from battle.

Some of you know the story.

The first thing to come out of his house

after God gave him victory was his one and only child,

his daughter, and he had to sacrifice her to not disobey.

Now this daughter had great faith to willingly follow

through with her father's vow, but what a tragic outcome.

Jephthah opened his mouth with hasty words

and look at the consequence.

God did not demand the life of his daughter.

It was Jephthah's carelessness

that brought about his daughter's demise.

Don't let unbelievers try to twist God's word there.

Now I think this is a great example

of being careful with what you vow

because that same word is used in Hebrew in Judges 11

as it is here in Ecclesiastes 5,

but you may say, well, I don't make vows,

you know, apart from the wedding people, right?

I don't make vows.

Well, maybe, I've heard a lot of professing believers though,

more than I care to mention,

say they've done an if-then promise with God.

God, if you get me into the school or program I've wanted,

I'll serve you, I'll honor you with everything.

God, if you let me marry this person,

I promise we'll serve you.

God, if you let me have that dream job with all the perks,

I'll give more to the church.

God, if you rescue me from this really difficult situation,

I promise I'll do better next time.

God, if you give me what I want,

I'll do what you want me to do and live faithfully.

Do you hear the wickedness?

Do you hear the wickedness and promises like that?

Those vows, they focus on what someone wants,

not what pleases God.

And that's often the basis of such vows.

Not every vow would be blatantly selfish.

You think about Jephthah, though his words were hasty,

his intent was for the protection of others as well.

There was a decent element to it,

but he used his vow poorly.

Now, so much of the time, people make vows,

they make these promises that they never intend to keep.

That intense moment passes away

and they never give God a second thought.

As we heard last week, every time a mouth is open,

a heart is on display.

And that's why Ecclesiastes 5 and Deuteronomy 23

caution the listener against hasty vows with God.

Now, have you thought about the nature of a vow even?

I mean, seriously, think about it.

Why would someone need to make an extra serious statement

to make a promise, to make a vow?

The only reason would be that we don't tell the truth.

We're not trustworthy, therefore we need a special term

for when we actually mean it.

Wow.

So we emphasize when we're telling the truth.

This is gonna hurt some of you just for how we talk.

I'm not saying it's always sin, but it's how we talk.

Honestly, I'm telling you the truth right now.

Shouldn't you always tell the truth?

Why are you pointing it out now?

Should I have not been believing the previous things

that you said, but now I'm gonna believe you

because you're honest about it?

Should I have not been believing the previous things

that you said, but now I'm gonna believe you

because you're honestly telling it to me?

How about this one?

Well, to be totally honest,

does that mean the other times you weren't totally honest?

This time you really mean it.

The other times, should I not believe you?

I swear, I promise, hey, you young ones over here, no cap.

You're laughing because it's true,

because you know you do it.

One hundred.

Yeah, I know you don't like hearing me say it.

I don't like saying it either,

but these are things that people say.

Are they not?

These are the modern equivalents of making a promise

or a vow saying you really mean it now,

but what did you mean before?

How bad is it that we frequent such sayings?

And it's because we're untrustworthy people.

Vows exist precisely because we don't tell the truth.

That's why they exist.

Now, how much worse would it be

to preface telling a lie saying this?

Well, I really promise, this time,

I'm totally telling the truth when it's actually a lie.

Is that worse?

I think it's worse.

I think God thinks it's worse.

One scholar said that such vows are like wrapping up

your untruthfulness inside a false promise

and a pledge of truthfulness.

You wrap it up, you put it in a bow real nicely,

but you have no intention of keeping it.

Now, how does such a vow look to God?

He sits enthroned above.

He sees our hearts.

He sees our motives.

He knows our intentions.

And that is why verse five says, it is better not to vow

than to vow and not pay it.

Don't make promises you can't keep,

and especially do not do that with God.

And verse six explains the principle.

In an abundance of words and promises,

a person may end up sinning

even if that wasn't their initial intention.

I would argue, though, that not intending to sin

is still correct.

Not intending to sin is still quite different

from intending to do righteousness.

Let me say that again.

Not intending to sin is quite different

than intending to do righteousness.

Now, in verse one, we were cautioned to guard our steps.

Now, here in verses five and six,

we're cautioned to guard our mouths.

And the words matter here.

And it makes reference of a messenger,

this messenger of God.

And here's the scenario.

A person goes into the temple.

They're in public.

They make this vow to God.

It's seen.

Others see it.

And they intend that God should keep his end of the deal.

God, if you do this, then I will do this.

And it's public.

Now, those temple authorities who are there, they see it.

And they send a messenger to collect what is due

when God follows through with his end of the bargain.

So here's an example.

Maybe the man said something like this.

God, I vow to give you 10% of everything that I acquire

if you give me favor in my next business deal.

And you think, okay, giving more money to the temple,

more money to God's ministry, amen.

So the temple authorities, when they hear that that man

has indeed made quite a sum of money

off his latest business deal,

meaning that God was honorable, God honored his end,

then this man now owes his 10%, correct?

Just like Jephthah owed his daughter.

Solomon says that in such a moment,

when that collection is due, don't say it was a mistake.

Don't say, I meant to say 5%.

Don't say, well, you know,

I meant to give God what he's due

after I earned some interest.

Let me earn some interest first.

Then I'll give him the 10.

Don't say, well, actually, it'd be better.

It would be better if I gave God 10% of my next deal

because that one's gonna be even bigger than this last one.

So let's go to that next one.

No, the word for mistake here, it's very harsh.

You know, Jephthah didn't say it was a mistake,

painful as it was, painful as his vow was.

This word for mistake that you see here in the text,

it hearkens back to Leviticus 2 and Numbers 15.

I'm not gonna go through the passages, too much there,

but it speaks about an unintentional sin, unintentional,

something done without a purpose of disobedience.

It's still sin, but you didn't try to do it.

And Solomon says, don't say it was that.

Solomon says, if you fail to pay your vow,

do not say that it was unintentional.

Don't tell God that you made a mistake.

Don't say it was a misunderstanding.

In fact, Numbers 15 gives this contrast.

Their first is described as an unintentional sin

and the second is this high-handed sin of rebellion,

egregious, blatant, arrogant disobedience to God.

High-handed sin that's seen in the fallen angel,

in the serpent, and in all of his dominion.

Such high-handed sin is even in reference in Deuteronomy 17.

God is instructing Moses that any man

who doesn't listen to the priest,

who's ministering on behalf of God, shall die.

Take a look, this is what God's word says.

The man who acts presumptuously

by not listening to the priest who stands there

to minister to Yahweh your God or to the judge,

that man shall die.

Thus you shall purge the evil from Israel

and all the people will hear and be afraid

and will not act presumptuously again.

For this one here, the Christian nationalist

has a lot to think about

if they wanna usher in this again.

I mean, could you imagine if you had to listen to Jeff

or myself or any other elder here or you deserve death?

We're not advocating that, let me be very clear.

Would that be wild?

If you didn't listen, then you would deserve death.

That's what God said in Deuteronomy 17.

Now he's not saying listen to the man.

He's not putting the authority in the hands of the priest.

He's saying this is my authority

and the priest and the people will carry out my ways

and my intent to purge the evil presumptuous arrogant man.

And that's what anger is God.

Think about this.

People who say that they're close to him,

who want to follow him and yet give him half their ear,

half their attention, that is more high-handed

and arrogant than those who say I don't know God.

People who speak well enough of him,

but when it comes to giving him wholehearted worship,

they deride even faithful people as fanatics

or too intense.

They make excuses for not serving the king.

They always have something that took away from honoring,

took them away from honoring God

and they will always excuse their lack of faithfulness

as a simple mistake, an unintentional sin.

Now Solomon learned this.

He knows all too well about paying lip service

to the true king.

I just gave you this warning in Deuteronomy 17.

If you don't listen, then you deserve to die,

but just a couple of verses later in Deuteronomy 17,

we have the clearest foreshadowing of Solomon's failure

of his half-hearted and high-handed sin against God.

And it was written well before his reign.

Take a look.

It says this, he shall not multiply horses for himself

nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt

to multiply horses.

He shall not multiply wives for himself

or else his heart will turn away

nor shall he greatly increase in silver.

Now Solomon knew it because of verse 18.

Now it will be when he, the king,

sits on the throne of his kingdom

that he shall write for himself a copy of this law

on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

Solomon did that.

He wrote it with his hand.

He knows what God's word says.

He knows that God's word commands him

to read this all the days of his life,

to learn to fear Yahweh, his God,

and to carefully guard his steps

and observe the words of this law.

Solomon knew it.

He had to write it.

Not only that, Solomon had immense wisdom from God

and Solomon knew what God required of a king.

He knew what God required of his people.

But Solomon was just as guilty as we can be today

of giving lip service to the true king.

We can hear God's instructions and not obey him.

We can wax eloquently about theology,

knowing more about the study of theos

than knowing theos or God personally.

Let me just read to you what Solomon did.

You see on the screen the warning.

Let me read to you what he did.

And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen,

1 Kings 10 says.

He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen.

The king also made silver as plentiful as stones

in Jerusalem.

Solomon's import of horses, 1 Kings says, was from Egypt.

And a chariot was imported from Egypt

for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150.

I thought he wasn't supposed to have too many horses.

Then he amassed 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen.

I thought he wasn't supposed to go back to Egypt.

Where were his horses and chariots from?

Egypt.

I thought he wasn't supposed to amass much silver.

He made silver as plentiful as the stones.

How about the wives?

He wasn't supposed to multiply wives for himself.

You know, you know, if you grew up in the church

that he did this.

And why was the warning here?

Because they would turn his heart away.

In the very next chapter of 1 Kings, chapter 11,

1 Kings 11 · chapter mention

it says this, now Solomon loved many foreign women

along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite,

Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite woman

from the nations concerning which Yahweh said,

you shall not go along with them because they will surely

turn your heart away after other gods.

And the scripture says, Solomon clung to these in love.

700 wives, 300 concubines, and his wives turned

his heart away.

He made idols of the goddesses of Ashtoreth, Sidonians.

Solomon did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh

and he did not follow Yahweh God fully

as his father had done.

You see the warning in chapter 17

and you hear the testimony of what he did.

Friends, we're learning from Solomon.

Chapter five is a reminder.

Now he lived in this time when there were sacrifices

and vows of the temple and today, praise God,

we don't have that system.

We have such immense blessed access and atonement

from the one true God, the one true God.

The one true God, but we have the same kind of hearts

as in Solomon's day.

Solomon knew God's word and yet he gave God

half-hearted worship.

Solomon knew what he was supposed to do

and yet he didn't do it.

When Solomon wanted to build the temple,

do you know what God said to him?

In first Kings chapter six,

God didn't focus on the building.

God didn't focus there.

He didn't focus on the gold and the adornment.

He focused on Solomon.

He said this in first Kings six.

He said, if you walk in my statutes,

if you do my judgments and keep my commandments

by walking in them, guarding your steps,

then I will establish my word with you.

God encouraged the same thing in Deuteronomy 17

that the king needed to not turn aside one way or the other

away from God's commands,

but he needed to walk in God's ways

and he needs to know God's word.

The emphasis for God was not on the temple,

but on the walk, the same steps that Solomon speaks of

in Ecclesiastes five, verse one.

Guard your steps as you go to the house of God

and draw near to listen rather than to offer

the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know

they are doing evil.

The passage is on the screen again.

I want God's word to seep in more than the words

that I've shared today,

that you would see that Solomon learned this lesson

very late in life and God was faithful

to rip the work of his hands away.

God ripped it away, ripped the kingdom, the temple,

his reputation, everything from his hands

because of his high-handed rebellion,

his arrogance towards God.

He thought he had it all and so do many of us.

Many of us are raised with good theology

or you're soaking it in right now.

First and biblical doxology surrounded

by faithful orthopraxies.

If you don't know that, don't worry, it's not for you.

Yet we must be discerning.

We must be humble.

We must consider if we're truly walking in step,

honoring the true King.

We must be humble.

The true King.

We must not pay God lip service.

So let us heed the warning in Ecclesiastes 5.7

to avoid the numerous vows, the numerous dreams,

the vain chases that we pursue in these mortal bodies

and instead, let us fear God.

Last week, Pastor Jeff encouraged us

about truly fearing and worshiping God

and here in Ecclesiastes 5, you see a similar theme

expressed slightly different but the same theme.

In both, you have a clear exhortation, a command

to fear God but don't misunderstand holy fear.

Yes, he is God in heaven and you are a human here on earth.

So bow before him, yes.

Yes, he is the only one who can forgive your iniquities,

your sin, so bow before him.

Yes, it is he working in the believer

to conform them to the image of his son.

So bow before him.

Posture yourself rightly before God.

As a believer right now today, I don't know hearts

but God does, he sees every heart.

Here's an encouragement.

If you're a believer who are currently,

you are in a sin of high-handed and arrogant nature,

then start with a proper cowering before the Almighty.

Start there and then when you confess and repent,

then you can be restored.

Then you can ask him for help.

Then you can stand up and walk in his ways.

If you're on the other side and as a believer,

your sin often seems to be unintentional.

You're not in this high-handed rebellion.

You still, you bow before the king.

You bow before him and you still can lament

and should lament that you don't want to sin

and yet sometimes you do.

Sometimes you do and you cannot conquer this flesh

without his grace.

So you bow, you bow before him.

Either case, you think about the promises of the king.

You talk about us making vows.

We have to make vows because we don't keep our promises.

God says his word and he always does it.

We don't have to highlight when God makes a vow

because his word is true.

When he says something, it is as good as a promise,

as good as a pledge.

Not with human effort, but by his divine purpose.

What are some of the things he said?

He said that he will never leave or forsake his own.

He said that he will never turn away

those who ask for his help in humility, independence.

He said that he will strengthen his own.

He said that he will not let anything

separate his children from him.

He said that he will work out all things

and yes, all things means all things

for our good and for his glory.

He said that he will preserve his own for eternity

and he will give them rest.

And these are just a few of the very clear promises of God

according to his word.

So draw near to listen, draw near to learn,

draw near to obey.

That is what will evidence a proper fear,

a proper worship of God.

Now the grace in learning from Solomon is this,

it's never too late.

It's never too late.

Some of us needed this reminder today

to draw near and to listen,

to use our words sparingly with the Almighty

to worship him in spirit and in truth.

If I were to sum up these encouragements in this section,

they would be the following.

In response to Ecclesiastes 5, 1 through 7,

you can honor God by listening to his word and by obeying,

not just paying him lip service.

You can honor God by simple words with a sincere heart.

No flowery pretense,

no excuses for good intentions unfulfilled.

Let your words be few.

Let your yes be yes.

Let your no be no.

Don't over promise and under deliver with God.

And you can honor God by remembering to walk in his ways.

Statutes, commandments,

you can go back and read Psalm 119,

listen to those sermons.

That is the evidence of true fear and true worship of God.

Listen and obey.

Your simplicity will safeguard your sincerity

and fear worship God.

I'm gonna put some questions up on the screen

as has been normal.

Take a moment.

I want you to think about those questions.

Think about true worship.

Think about listening to God and obeying him at his word.

Think about guarding your steps

and letting your words be few.

Here's my prayer before we take a moment

that this would encourage you to study more,

to dig into his word more, to listen to him more,

not to people.

We can help maybe, but listen to his word.

Learn from him.

So take a moment.

If you wanna write down these questions or take a picture,

consider them and you can have some private time.

And in just a moment,

I'll close our time with a corporate prayer.

Let's pray.

God, we ask this morning

that you would help us to think rightly about

our own intentions.

Help us to consider our proclivity to over-promise

and to under-deliver.

God, convict us of wrong thinking.

Help us to see when we're so focused on our own business,

on our dreams, on our thoughts,

when we forget your ways.

God, help us to not just listen to your word,

but to obey you at your word.

And God, please encourage our hearts this morning

about forgiveness in Christ.

May you remind us that not even Solomon in all his wisdom

could obey you without your help.

So may we remember the atonement.

May we remember the forgiveness to be had

and the blessings of Jesus slain for sinners like us.

God, help us to remember you are alone and thrown down high.

So help us to look up and away from these little kingdoms

that we like to build.

And finally, God, we ask, help us to be better listeners

and better doers of the word.

Equip us to grow in the likeness of your son, Jesus,

through the proclamation of your word,

the study of your word, and by the power of your spirit.

We pray this in your name.

Amen.