The Rat Race | Ecclesiastes 4:4-16

Welcome back to our study in Ecclesiastes.

You know, I actually hadn't initially

planned to preach this morning.

It wasn't in our plan as elders.

We had a different one.

And after hearing Jeff Steele's encouragements last week

about running the race well, I was

thinking about this next section in Ecclesiastes.

And I thought it would be helpful and practical for us.

Helpful in the way, though, that wisdom literature tends to be.

There are the bumper lanes at the bowling alley,

keeping you from going off course,

keeping us from the extremes, helping

us to run the right race, helping us not get turned around.

Now, a quick little commercial, as you remember in the

benediction from last week, Grant mentioned this.

If you're needing to catch up on sermons,

they're called Oak Hill Bible Church sermons now.

And you can look those up, Spotify,

anywhere that you've missed.

Now, the previous sermons in this series

established Solomon as the author.

We considered the motto or the repeated phrase,

vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

In the first couple of chapters, Solomon

gives us numerous examples from his experience

from the natural world to prove that our existence

under the sun and this side of glory is vapor,

or as Josh reminded us, soap bubbles.

Last time, Solomon forced us to look at the harshness of life,

to acknowledge that the world is full of difficulty,

full of strife.

But last time, we were also drawn to the throne of Christ,

remembering that for those who are in Christ,

death is actually an advantage.

Now, death for everyone.

It's the sharpest needle for all the soap bubbles

that we chase.

But the reality of death helps us

to cherish life appropriately.

Now, we've been following an outline during this time.

See it on the screen if my clicker works.

Nope.

Help me out, Wes.

Thank you.

The outline we've been following so far here,

we're in the section, the proof that all is vanity,

the second section of this book.

It'll be a little bit of time.

Jeff will give me a hard time for how long it takes me

to get through this series.

But we'll take a little while before we get to chapter 7,

the prescription.

But for now, we're going to unpack this argument

about the rat race.

Now, we keep seeing in Ecclesiastes,

there's nothing new under the sun.

Stories come and go, and they come again.

What is old becomes new.

New becomes old.

And it's that way with timeless truths.

People chase things that never truly satisfy.

And not because everything that we chase is bad,

but because we who do the chasing

do so with wrong motives or in wrong ways.

There are classic stories that reveal the same.

How many of you are familiar with the picture of Dorian Gray

by Oscar Wilde?

Any literary buffs in here?

A few of you, OK.

In it, the main character becomes enchanted

by a rich man's materialistic view

that beauty and personal fulfillment

are the only things worth pursuing in this life.

And as Dorian is having his portrait painted,

he realized that his beauty is going to fade away.

And he wishes that the portrait will age instead of himself.

And what follows is a despicable tale of vice and greed,

an insatiable appetite for more and more

that is never satisfied, an evil that grows and grows

as Dorian tries to evade the reality of his own wickedness.

Now, that portrait grows more unrecognizable

with every evil deed.

Because even though Dorian doesn't age,

his portrait not only ages, but it shows evidence

of every evil deed that he pursued.

Now, that story ends tragically and poetically.

Dorian seeks to destroy the painting that

showcases his wicked life.

And when he takes a knife to it, he

transforms to represent everything

the portrait contained.

And then the portrait returned to depict

his young and handsome form.

Now, Oscar Wilde came up with that story

when he had his portrait done.

And he wondered aloud.

He said this, what a tragic thing it is.

This portrait will never grow older.

And yet I shall, if only it was the other way.

That's a tale as old as time.

The soap bubbles that we chase, they never fulfill.

But our appetite grows more and more ravenous

as we chase the senses that thrill us,

but never cure what ails us.

And it's with these things in mind

that we return to Ecclesiastes chapter 4

Ecclesiastes 4 · chapter mention

to learn from Solomon about the rat race.

Now, as you turn there to chapter 4,

consider that phrase, rat race.

And if you saw our social media post,

you notice the title of the sermon,

we're going to contrast that idea of a rat race

versus this idea of the village.

But for now, think about rat race.

Some of you might think of that 1960s movie of the same title.

Maybe the silly early 2000s movie is a little more relevant

to our crowd of Mr. Bean.

Yeah, you don't have to raise your hand and say that you know it.

I heard the laughs.

Now, with that concept, some of you literary buffs,

those who knew Oscar Wilde, you might think of rat race

with the great Gatsby.

Maybe you just think of that phrase,

keeping up with the Joneses.

Most people have an idea about a rat race.

It's a hamster wheel of never ending motion

and never ending fulfillment.

Constant struggle, no enjoyment, no rest.

And while our American culture of work may depict this well,

the concept is not new.

It's not found just in our culture.

It's rooted in the heart of mankind.

And Solomon is going to show us where much of our vexation

comes from.

And he's going to show us a better way.

Now, we have essentially three sections to cover today.

And since we have the kids with us,

I figured it'd be a good exercise to see how we are

reverent to God's word.

Like Jeff had us stand for the reading.

And we'll stand every time we read.

It'll be a good opportunity to stretch as well.

I don't have as many object lessons

as Josh did today with bubbles.

So we'll do the standing instead.

So let's go ahead and stand for the reading of God's word,

beginning in verse 4.

Solomon says this.

I've seen that every labor and every success of the work

is the result of jealousy between a man and his neighbor.

This, too, is vanity and striving after wind.

The fool folds his hands and embrace

and consumes his own flesh.

One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor

and striving after wind.

Then I looked again at vanity under the sun.

There was a certain man without a second man,

having neither a son nor a brother.

Yet there was no end to all his labor.

Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches.

And for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of good?

This, too, is vanity.

And it is a grievous endeavor.

You can be seated.

Now you remember, we talked about this on the front end,

that wisdom literature sometimes requires consideration.

And it often doesn't make sense at first glance.

So we need to consider each statement that is made here

in these several verses.

First, in verse four,

Solomon points out something very interesting.

He says that every labor and success or skill in work

comes from jealousy or envy.

Is he correct?

Think about work.

Do people often perform just for performance sake?

Or do they perform to outdo another coworker

for some personal gain?

How about professional athletics?

We have the Summer Olympics coming up, right?

Do people compete to be the best they can be?

Or do they compete to be better than everyone else?

I think Solomon brings us that faithful wound

that wisdom literature often provides.

He says the uncomfortable truth.

We struggle as humans to compete or work

simply for the sake of excellence.

And we are often more concerned with wanting

to do better than others.

That's the nature of that well-known statement,

keeping up with the Joneses.

That's the nature of the rat race.

And before you think too highly of anyone

that's very skilled, famous athlete or producer of art,

even if they're pursuing their passion strictly

for the art of the game,

I've heard that said before on numerous interviews,

or the beauty of their art, consider this.

Do they truly not care if they're better than anyone else?

Isn't the very standard of their greatness

measured in comparison to others?

Who is as talented as Michael Jordan?

We were talking about him earlier this morning.

Who is as hardworking as Kobe Bryant?

Who is as skilled as Michelangelo?

Who's as brilliant as Da Vinci?

See, even the way we think about success and greatness,

it belies that same truth that Solomon exposed.

Every labor, every success is the work of jealousy.

It's vanity and striving after the wind.

It doesn't last.

It fades.

Sure, some of the greats in any field,

they obtained riches or they lost money.

They obtained riches or they obtained fame,

but what's gonna happen to them?

They're gonna die.

They can't escape that sharp needle of death,

and it will prove their efforts are in vain.

So you might say, okay, there's no point in trying then,

so I'll just give up.

Well, Solomon points that out too.

He points out the futility of striving

after vainglory and just quitting.

Verse five says, just fold the hands.

Just fold the hands.

And look at the wording there.

It's very interesting.

It says, consume one's flesh.

That's another way of saying that that lazy person,

that idle person, they self-destruct.

They eat themselves from the inside out.

Hunger and ruin come upon them.

So where's the gain?

What do you do if striving so hard is just jealousy

and you just give up and you die, what do you do?

Well, he says you can't just hate the rat race

and respond in idleness

because that's only gonna bring an inner rot.

That's not the answer.

We have to guard ourselves from thinking

that the noble thing to do is to pray for poverty.

The scripture never presents poverty

as the goal or a good place to be.

There's a passage here in Proverbs six

that I'll read to you.

It says, go to the ant, O sluggard,

observe her ways and be wise,

which having no chief officer or ruler,

prepares her food in the summer

and gathers her provision in the harvest.

How long will you lie down, O sluggard?

When will you rise from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber,

and notice the next line here,

a little folding of the hands to rest.

Your poverty will come in like a vagabond

and you want like an armed man.

Now there are several good principles here in this passage,

but consider that similar language,

folding of the hands to rest in Ecclesiastes four verse five.

Here you can see that scripture presents poverty

as something destructive, something bad.

Truly poverty is a result of the fall.

It is not something to be desired.

Yet this passage also clarifies

that there's a righteous response

for those seeking to avoid poverty,

or even if they're poor to be in it,

you're to work diligently.

That's what the ant does, work diligently,

not for riches, but for provision.

And scripture presents a better way

to think about finances, this side of glory.

This is one of my favorite passages

out of Proverbs chapter 30 verses eight and nine.

Proverbs 30 · chapter mention

Keep worthlessness in every false word from me.

Give me neither poverty nor riches.

Feed me with the food that is my portion,

lest I be full and deny you and say, who is Yahweh?

Or lest I be impoverished and steal

and profane the name of my God.

Now I love this passage because it reminds me

of two key principles for the Christian life.

One, wealth has the potential to reduce dependency on God.

And two, poverty has the potential

to reduce willingness to work.

Now personally, these are things that I see all too often

in my work with Children's Hunger Fund.

With regard to number one, when I travel,

sometimes I meet wealthy people on the plane

or out to dinner, and they'll see my work shirt

with my company logo and blazon on the front,

and they'll wonder what I'm doing in such a place.

Really they're asking why a white man,

a Mizungu is in Africa.

I must be doing some kind of business

and gaining some kind of wealth.

And when I share that the business I come for

is to see local churches faithfully loving their community,

faithfully loving their neighbors,

they look at me with bewilderment.

Often they acknowledge that it's good to help others,

but they ask how can such work be done

when the needs are so great?

See these wealthy people, they don't depend on God.

That's why it's more difficult for a camel

to go through the eye of a needle

than for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of God.

In contrast, I also spend time with some of the poorest

people on the planet.

There are faithful Christians from impoverished churches

that take me to visit homes where the family,

often a single mother and her children,

barely even have their basic provisions met.

They don't have running water, no stable food source,

clothes are in tatters, their shelter barely standing up,

a life that we cannot imagine but in movies.

And yet for those who come to know God,

they say this, it is enough.

God sees us, God cares for us, it is enough.

And in their poverty, they can still depend on God.

So you see that wealth has that potential

to reduce dependency on God.

But with regard to number two,

I've been witness to the tragic circumstances

where an impoverished person is so distraught

that they become unwilling, not unable,

but unwilling to work.

And they live out Ecclesiastes four or five.

And it is painful to see.

As such discouragement leaves a person in a terrible state,

they're unwilling to be faithful in their work

like Proverbs six encourages.

And I've seen the other side,

I've seen those who just want an opportunity.

They're eager to put their hands to work

and to labor towards provision, but the truth remains,

poverty has the potential to reduce a willingness to work.

So what is the answer?

If wealth and poverty are so dangerous,

well, look at Ecclesiastes four, verse six.

There is some balance to be had.

You must work, that is part of life.

But don't do so excessively.

If you keep both hands full of attempts

to multiply your wealth,

you're gonna miss the quietness and the rest

that God has for you.

The enjoyment that can come even in small amounts,

this side of glory.

Solomon says, even a little rest, he says a handful.

You can put out your hand if you want to imagine

just a handful of rest, it's not a lot.

Not as much as how many of you want, I imagine.

People ask me, hey, Adam, are you tired?

Your schedule's full.

I said, I'm like the Hulk, I'm always tired.

He's always angry, I'm always tired.

A little rest, a little handful

is better than two fistfuls.

You think about how much you can gather in two fistfuls.

It's quite a bit more than what you can get in one hand,

but a little rest is better than two fistfuls

of toil and vexation.

But to understand that, we need that final verse.

And take a look at verse eight.

In this section, you have a lonely person.

No family, no next generation, no sibling,

toiling towards riches, and he asks himself,

why am I doing this?

For whom am I doing this?

And this is the ultimate lesson regarding the rat race.

It's been said that a person can know the price

of everything and yet know the value of nothing.

A pastor once recounted that he never had a young woman

come to him in tears and tell him that she hates her dad

because he used to drop her off at school

in an old beat up car.

He never had a young woman tell him that she hates her dad

because he didn't buy her a pony or couldn't afford

to send her to the school missions or vacations trip.

But that he's had too many young women with dads,

with fancy cars and enough wealth to send every classmate

on that trip who don't know the love of a father.

I can tell you the same can be true for those

who grow up in poverty, where the father doesn't rightly

value the lives of his children.

See wealth doesn't make men monsters any more

than poverty does.

But those two fistfuls of toil can overflow

and bring pain to everyone that's near.

Chasing soap bubbles doesn't just bring heartache

for the one chasing, but also for those who are near them.

The desire for overindulgence resides in all of us.

Kids are in the back, parents,

does your kid always have room for dessert?

And to the wealthy person, do they always have time

and attention for a new business venture?

What we need to guard against is pursuing life

with selfish motives.

Selfishness leads to loneliness.

That is the person in verse eight, they're alone.

They've toiled for wealth,

but they have no one to share it with.

Think of an aged man who spends his whole life

trying to set up an inheritance for his children

only to realize in his later years he ignored them

and now they want nothing to do with him.

Vanity of vanities.

A saint who's gone by to be with the Lord said this,

there are two ways to get enough.

One is to accumulate more and more.

See, there's never any end.

The other is to desire less.

Think about that for a moment.

What are you wanting?

Do you really need it?

What will pursuing that want demand out of you?

There are some questions that you can ask yourself here.

If you're trying to gauge whether you're on that side of the

whether you're on that side of restlessly striving

or lazily listing.

If you're on the lazy side, who are you feeding off of?

Who is doing the work so you don't have to?

And how can you give back to them?

If you often focus on yourself, can you devote a day

every week to serving others?

If you're that person chasing the wind,

who are you really striving for?

Are you pretending to strive for others

while really striving for yourself?

What tasks and responsibilities can you get rid of

so that your relationships can flourish?

See, it's not just an American problem.

The constant quest for personal advancement

plagues every culture because it plagues the human heart.

And that's at the heart of the tragic story of Dorian Gray.

You could also consider Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Some of you are more familiar with him,

but it's our story too.

We can make ourselves so busy toiling

for what we think is best that we miss God's best

right in front of us.

The toiling person can alienate all friends and family.

Or the toiling person can have a family.

They can have children, but they allow their heart

to reside elsewhere.

And they become the most tragic of loners,

surrounded by everyone and yet loved by no one.

Thankfully, Solomon doesn't leave us without an alternative.

And he provides practical wisdom in these next few verses.

Let's go ahead and stand for the reading of these verses

in Ecclesiastes four, verses nine through 12.

And we're gonna see an antithesis to the rat race.

Solomon says this, two are better than one

because they have good wages for their labor.

For if either of them fails,

the one will lift up his companion.

But woe to the one who falls when there is no one.

But woe to the one who falls when there is not a second one

to lift him up.

Furthermore, if two lie down together, they keep warm.

But how can one be warm alone?

And if one can overpower him who is alone,

two can stand against him.

A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

You can be seated.

The grace here is that Solomon says

there's something better than striving after win.

There's something better than pursuing selfish pursuits.

Now, if I were to summarize this response

to that selfish loner pursuing the rat race,

I would say this, it's better to pursue partnership.

It's better to pursue fellowship.

It's better to build the village than to pursue yourself.

Now, it's often said that it takes a village.

We say that with all kinds of things.

To raise the next generation, it takes a village.

To provide safety and protection, it takes a village.

To build a stable civilization, it takes a village.

The antithesis of selfishness is selflessness.

Being others focused, seeking the good of other people.

And Christians know this principle.

You know this principle because it was read to you

this morning in our call to worship.

In Romans 12, the believer is to love others,

to show honor, to help needy saints,

to associate with the lowly, and so on and so on.

And all of that presumes an idea of community.

It presumes a village.

Now, specifically in this passage,

there are a few key encouragements

that I wanna point out.

In verse nine, there's a good reward

when work is done together rather than alone.

Now, that could allude to better profits for more work,

or you may work less.

You have less toil because many hands make light work.

Or even it could be the blessing of company

while working, whistling while you work

to follow the dwarves.

Some of you enjoy that, right?

Not everyone hates group projects.

Some do.

The point is that working with someone

is better than going it alone.

Now, I know some are going to object to that.

The pain point, group projects.

I didn't enjoy those growing up.

You don't have to raise your hand

and out yourself on that one.

But think about the alternative.

If the alternative to living in a group is living alone,

is that really better?

Now, there is a price to partnership.

You give up your independence.

And husbands and wives in here say amen.

You need to think about another's interest.

You think about their comfort.

You listen to their reasoning.

You adjoice, adjust to their pace and their style.

You build trust together.

And that's true not just for building marriages.

That's true for building any kind

of relationship or friendship.

And if you do it faithfully, the rewards are joint.

They're together.

Neither person is exploiting the other.

Verse 10 points out a blessing in togetherness.

Help when one falls.

The loner has no help.

They fall down and they're just down.

Who among us has never fallen?

Who among us has never messed up?

Raise your hand, cast the first stone.

Who among us never needs help?

Even the most stable and dependable people need help.

And it's a grace because otherwise

they would become puffed up

and think that they don't need God

like Proverbs 30 warns.

Community can bring help when it's needed.

It's better to live in a village

than to chase after soap bubbles

because when you need help, it'll be there.

And I'm so thankful.

Don't we see this with our church family?

How often is a need posted

and within hours, sometimes minutes it's met?

What a grace community is.

Fellowship is important

when we encounter difficulties in life.

Now not only does the village bring a good reward

and help when needed, but as verse 11 points out,

in community we can have warmth and comfort

from the elements.

Now some commentators take it to mean marriage,

but the language doesn't point out a meaning.

It doesn't point out a marriage relationship.

The language here is very basic.

It's just saying in general, when it's cold at night

and people sleep, they sleep near one another to keep warm.

Sharing body heat during a cold night

isn't something maybe that we experience

especially when it's a hundred degrees outside,

but those who love camping, you've experienced it.

It's a basic principle of wisdom.

Being together brings warmth and comfort.

They don't even have to do anything.

They're just near you.

That's a grace that community brings.

Now final blessing of companionship

or not being alone is in verse 12.

I know it's a weird thing to think about for us.

Our roads in the US are not nearly as dangerous

as those around the world

or what was in the ancient Near East

when Solomon penned this work, but imagine for a moment,

you remember the story that Jesus shared in Luke chapter 10

Luke 10 · chapter mention

about the man who was accosted by robbers?

The roads were dangerous.

Peril could come at any moment.

So two people traveling together provide some kind of aid,

some kind of resistance against those hazards.

Now it's not a promise of protection.

It's just a principle for living wisely.

Now with the threefold strand,

some people take that to be an illusion to the Trinity

or an invisible helper, i.e. there's two people

and then God is that third strand.

It doesn't say that.

I'm gonna caution you from taking that interpretation

because it's highly mystical.

A plain reading provides the encouragement.

If one is bad, being on your own is bad,

two are better, isn't three better than two?

And isn't four better than and five better?

And you get the context here.

Solomon says being alone is bad, being in community is good.

The village is a grace.

Now there's actually an ancient Near East Sumerian proverb

that he's quoting about friendship here.

And preachers today, we use current events and stories

to drive home a point and that's what Solomon was doing there,

that three-cord strand.

Most of us were like, where did that come from?

It was a proverb of the day.

Now to be clear, Solomon isn't pointing out

that companionship is an eternal reward.

He's not saying that.

But he says under the sun, in this life,

living in fellowship is better

than living as a lonely miser.

He's also not saying that these are the only benefits

of companionship, there are more.

These are just the basic blessings

that companionship may bring and they show the reader

why building a village is so much better

than pursuing the rat race.

Selfish pursuits never satisfy us

because they leave us with no room

to enjoy life with others.

We become so obsessed with our own enjoyment

that we miss the blessing of giving.

We become blind to the joy of watching others enjoy life.

Did you not enjoy seeing the children laugh

and enjoy the idea of bubbles?

They haven't even opened them yet.

How much more fun will it be when they open them?

And those bubbles are there for an instant

and then they're gone,

but won't it be enjoyable to watch them?

If Solomon were here today,

he would caution us against devoting ourselves to projects

because he knows that projects tend to rule over us

rather than us over them.

He would tell us to be motivated in our work

towards being a benefit to others,

to be a blessing in our community.

He would admonish selfish labors undertaken

for one's own benefit.

I imagine that Solomon, having written this,

with all of his wives and concubines and staff,

he was a man surrounded by people

and yet constantly lonely.

If for us believers, we live in such a different life

than those who are guided by personal pleasures.

We live differently from Dorian Gray and Ebenezer Scrooge

and even Solomon before his repentance.

As believers, we don't live like Darwin noted.

Some of you learned this in school,

this horrible heresy, the strongest survive.

In fact, in scripture it says,

we seek the survival of the weakest,

of the most vulnerable.

The same principles were promoted

by Solomon thousands of years ago.

We help the one who fell down.

We help the one who's freezing.

We help the one who's in danger.

That's why we benefit from clear instructions,

imperative commands.

The New Testament is so helpful.

If you wanna learn those, go to a passage like Romans 12.

So many other New Testament passages as well

teach us about life together.

And you'll be blessed in that study.

Now our final section here for the day,

you might think is completely separate from everything

that we've seen so far this morning,

but I think there's a continuity of principles

that are displayed.

So for the final time, stretch your legs.

Let's stand for the reading of God's word

in Ecclesiastes four, verses 13 through 16.

A poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king

who no longer knows how to receive warning.

For he's come out of prison to become king

even though he was born poor in his kingdom.

I have seen all the living who walk about under the sun

go along with the second lad who stands in place of him.

There is no end to all the people,

to all who were before them,

and even to the ones who will come later,

they will not be glad with him.

For this too is vanity and striving after wind.

You can be seeded.

Now a brief context here is you look at that old foolish king

versus the poor, wise lad or youth that your Bible may say.

In the ancient Near East and generally in cultures,

old age is associated with wisdom.

Wisdom goes with old age.

Wisdom doesn't tend to go with youth.

So that's a bit shocking here that this young man is wise.

Second, in the ancient Near East

and in cultures around the world today,

when you think about being poor,

being poor means you don't have any access to education

where you would grow to become wise.

So you have an interesting conundrum.

This young and poor person, how could they have wisdom?

Yet they do.

Here is such a man and he's contrasted as better

than the old man.

The old and foolish king.

So we have to say, why?

Why is he regarded as better?

And the text says, because the king no longer knows

how to receive counsel.

The king is not living well in his community.

The king has grown arrogant in his time of leadership.

He thinks everything he does is right, is great.

He doesn't listen to others.

And so he's a fool.

Note that Solomon says he no longer knows

how to receive warning.

He no longer knows how to take advice.

That means at some point earlier, he did.

At some point earlier, he received advice.

At some point earlier, he was good at living

in his community and listening to others.

The king wasn't always foolish, but he became so

in his pride and in his arrogance.

That's contrasted with this poor and wise young youth.

It says he came from prison to become king.

Some people think it's a reference to Joseph rising up.

Maybe, but the context is not clear.

So that's not the emphasis.

The Hebrew grammar is very difficult.

Scholars have debated a few different views,

but I think the plain reading gives us a clear emphasis.

Age and position do not hold any legitimate significance

nor does overcoming poverty.

Harkening back to the past,

harkening back to the passage we looked at briefly

like Proverbs six and Proverbs 30

and earlier in Ecclesiastes four

about thinking about the rat race,

I think it is reasonable to consider this

that the poor and wise youth, he lived well in his community.

He was practicing being one another person.

He listened, he provided help and strength and comfort

that we ought to provide to others.

It seems like that young man didn't live for himself

and he valued others because that's the opposite

of what is said of the king.

And people followed the first king,

foolish and old as he was.

I am not going to make connections

to our political situation today

because it is too on the nose.

And after following that old and foolish king,

the people follow the young and wise king

who was once poor.

It's a neat story for a time,

but they're gonna forget him too.

They'll forget the old foolish king,

they'll forget the young wise once poor now rich king

and they're gonna go on to the next

and to the next and to the next.

And that's what verse 15 says,

it references a second lad or a second youth

and the pronouns are what play a trick on us here.

So I'm just gonna make it very simple.

The him in verse 15 is the he of verse 14,

which is the poor yet wise youth in verse 13.

So there are three characters here.

You have the old foolish king

who's supplanted by the poor and wise youth.

Then you have that poor and wise youth

replaced by another youthful king.

And every time the people just move on to the next one,

they don't care about the rags to riches story.

In the end, they just move on to the next ruler.

So what's the advantage to the king who wants to rule?

Verse 16 highlights that vast influence of the ruler.

So many people are under his authority.

So many yet will be glad when he is replaced.

Oof.

Now I think there are some clear connections

with the previous section on companionship

and community on the village.

And there are principles for leadership here as well.

Political gain or leading the village that you help create

is not what you may expect.

Once you have community,

be careful about your aspirations for leadership.

You may have good ideas.

You may even have great ideas,

but you may also find yourself in the position

of the old foolish king not listening to others.

So when you think about the sad state of forgotten kings,

consider that the nature of this village

is not for personal gain.

It's not for authority.

You can't be pursuing those things.

You have to pursue the good of the community,

the good of others.

And a good leader knows that he doesn't know everything.

He knows that he needs counsel.

A good leader looks out for others

and seeks to help them when they fall,

seeks to keep everyone safe and protected.

But even in doing so, a good leader,

they lead not to be remembered,

but simply for the intrinsic goodness of caring for others.

And one day, hopefully they'll care for him.

Now Solomon missed that aspect of building the village.

He got so caught up in the rat race,

so consumed with his own potential

that he missed the simple pleasures

of being a blessing to others.

His family shows it.

You wanna know one way to combat the love of money,

one way to fight against the love of materialism

and materialistic success?

It's this, to help sever the love of money,

spend your money on others.

Give it away.

Do it regularly, gladly, generously.

That's how we encourage giving here at Oak Hill.

Give regularly, gladly, and generously.

But don't stop at that pattern with the Lord.

Continue that same pattern with others.

And don't restrict such generosity

towards your finances.

Give your time.

Give your thoughts.

Give your effort.

Last Sunday, you saw the well of emotion come up

when Jeff Steele began speaking about his family,

specifically about his grandchildren,

learning and growing and praying.

And we've heard our little ones this morning say amen

and stand with us and sing with us.

I'm thankful to learn from men like Jeff Steele,

other men in this church, and men like Solomon.

The value in this life is not in what you earn,

but in whom you have around you,

your community, your family, your village.

If you want a simple takeaway from the passage today,

change your thinking from me to we.

When you pray, don't ask God for you.

Ask God for us.

When you think about your plans,

don't focus on what brings you satisfaction.

Think about others.

When you're prone to despair, reach out to a brother

or sister who you know will pick you up when you've fallen,

who will comfort you when the cold sets in.

And if you don't know who those people are,

you say, I don't have such a person,

then become such a person for someone else.

Be someone's helper.

Be someone's protector.

Be someone's friend.

In response to Ecclesiastes 4 verses 4 through 16,

Ecclesiastes 4:4–16

you can honor God by striving not for yourself,

but for others.

Be the one who provides help

so you can receive it when the time comes.

Be the one who brings strength and protection

so you can receive it when the time comes.

Be the one who brings warmth and comfort

so you can receive it when the time comes.

Now, as you consider these principles,

I pray that you see the foreshadowing

of the ultimate help and strength and comfort

that comes from the perfect one, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

He is and he has been all of these things for us,

but he calls us to be like him as well.

So our call is to pursue faithfully following his example,

to pursue the good of our village.

Let's pray together.

God, we need help.

We need help to avoid the rat race

that we find ourselves in, big or small.

We need help to build the village that's around us.

We need help to consider our own motivations.

We need help to recognize the ways that we get caught up

doing things for ourselves.

God, please help to convict us of wrong thinking.

Help us to see when we're envious of others.

Help us to repent when we're envious and slothful and lazy.

God, we ask that you would encourage our hearts

about what we do and what we do for others.

God, we ask that you would encourage our hearts about this

life that you've given.

Remind us of the good blessings.

Remind us of the joys that can come with fellowship,

with companionship, with one another.

God, we ask you to help us to be thankful

when we're cared for by others.

May we return praise to you because you provide us care

through other people. God, we also ask that you would

guard us from bitterness when we feel left out of the village.

Help us to see that we often get in our own way

of being included.

And God, give us grace to be better friends,

to be better companions.

Equip us to be the kind of friend to others

that we want for ourselves.

God, we ask that you help us to enjoy and appreciate

the village that you've given to us.

May we seek to give more than we receive,

and may we ultimately find peace and comfort

in the true friend, the best companion,

our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Help us to run the right race, not the rat race.

Help us to rightly value our village.

And help us to look forward to that purpose

and help us to look forward to that perfect eternity.

We see the shadows and glimpses here and now

of good things to come, but help us long for that day

when all is made right.

Orient our hearts more towards you this morning

as we continue in our worship through song.

May we praise your son, Jesus, and may we recognize

our hearts that stray and trust in you more,

seeing that there is still good things that you have

for us under this sun.

We pray this in Christ's name, amen.