The limits of wisdom

Now, if you have your Bibles, perhaps you can open them again at Ecclesiastes chapter 8,

Ecclesiastes 8 · chapter mention

a chapter that helps us to think about the limits of wisdom. Our question this evening is,

how to live wisely, how do we live wisely in a world that is unstable and unpredictable?

I think it's a very helpful chapter for us. It speaks to those of us who have ever acted unwisely.

Perhaps we have talked back to a teacher and got ourselves into trouble, or we've spoken with our

colleagues about our boss not realizing they were right behind us. Perhaps we've said, well,

everyone else is doing it, and so we decide to do something we shouldn't, but we're the ones that

get caught. Or when you've jumped in with words and actions before stopping to think, is this really

the right time? A preacher can help us to recognize there is value in wisdom. But it's also a chapter

that's really helpful if we've ever found ourselves thinking, well, if I just have wisdom and enough

wisdom, then I've found the key to life and I can expect life to go smoothly. Maybe some of us have

thought that and discovered the hard way that life comes with no guarantees. Life is unstable and

unpredictable. Whether it's the people in our lives, whether it's the events and circumstances of life,

there is always something or someone with the potential to turn things upside down.

So Ecclesiastes chapter 8 is wisdom, and it's wisdom for real life.

Ecclesiastes 8 · chapter mention

Our preacher is going to say to us, absolutely, wisdom is good, but we need to recognize that the

best of wisdom has limits in the twists and turns of life. So we're going to see three guiding

principles to move us through this chapter. One, that wisdom has value. Secondly, that wisdom has limits.

But then as we finish, to recognize that wisdom is still to be chosen. This is God's wisdom.

Principle one, wisdom has value. Look at chapter 8, verse 1. Who is like the wise? Who knows the

explanation of things? A person's wisdom brightens their face and changes its hard appearance.

In chapter 7, there were lots of better than statements. And in one of those, it said,

wisdom is better than money. It's a better defense. It's a better security. It is something that is

lasting. So we find our preachers very positive about wisdom, living God's way, which makes sense.

God is our creator. So living by the maker's guidelines and instructions is wise and good.

In verse 1, it's good for our understanding. Wisdom is a way of interpreting. It's a good thing to have

wisdom to understand and interpret the events and the situations and the emotions that we experience

day by day. There's benefit in that. Perhaps to illustrate, the world probably divides into lots

of different ways. But one way that we divide is into those who can read maps and those who can't read

maps. It's a bit different now that there's Google Maps. But if you go back in time, remember those days

when you had to navigate a new city or you had to go on holiday? Some people read well, some people don't.

Well, wisdom is like having that security and confidence. I can read the map. I can read the map of

life. I can navigate by God's wisdom. So wisdom is good for understanding. It's also good for our happiness

and our joy. That's why it says a person's wisdom brightens their face. It's like that aha moment,

that moment of clarity. Things come clear. We find meaning. We find a good way forward. Wisdom is

positive. Now, of course, we would expect the preacher to say that. After all, this is an Old Testament

wisdom book. So wisdom, of course, is going to be better than folly. But he doesn't stop there.

Remember, he's taking us on this journey through life under the sun, and he's going to show us not

just that wisdom has value, but also that wisdom has limits. We go to the end of the chapter,

verses 16 and 17. We hear a different tone. When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the

labor that's done on earth, people getting no sleep day or night, then I saw all that God has done.

And so on. Then the end of the verse, end of the chapter, even if the wise claim they know,

they cannot really comprehend it. Life isn't black and white. And so the preacher is applying his mind

to consider, what do we do when the rules just simply don't work out, when life doesn't go to plan?

And so he is applying his mind. He's trying to figure life out. It gives him no sleep. And he's aware

of all the things that cause sleeplessness in our lives. Maybe losing sleep because of anxiety,

or stress, or fear. And as he applies his mind, he understands that wisdom has limits. It will not

give us the key to life in and of itself. Why? Because God is in control. He sees that God is the ultimate

actor. Just as he said in chapter 7, God acts, and we can't turn back those actions. If God makes a

thing crooked, we cannot make it straight. He says we cannot fully comprehend all that God is doing in

the world. Perhaps we've wrestled with that reality that God is God, and we are not. And we can struggle

with that, and we will never come to discover the meaning of all that God is doing. In fact,

you'll finish by saying, if you hear someone who claims, well, I have wisdom. I figured life out.

They're wrong, because you can't. So wisdom is good. It has value. That's how he introduces the topic.

Wisdom has limits. It's how he closes the topic, because of the world in which we live.

We live in an unstable and unpredictable world. And so what happens in the middle of our chapter is he

shows us three areas of life that impose limits on wisdom. And the first limit comes from authority.

So verses 2 to 5, you find him considering authority by focusing on the king, who of course in the Old

Testament was the ultimate authority figure. For our purpose, we can substitute that for any authority

figure over us, whether that's our employer, our teacher, our government officials, our parents.

There is authority established. And what does the preacher teach us about authority? Well, he says in

verse 2, very simply, we should obey. Obey the king's command, I say, because you took an oath before

God. Obey to keep the promise. Obeying the people in authority over us is one way of outworking

the Ten Commandments. Obey to honor our father and mother by extension to honor those in authority.

In the New Testament, Peter says to us, show proper respect to everyone. Love the family of believers.

Fear God. Honor the emperor. So Old Testament, New Testament, we should honor those who are in authority.

In verse 3 and verse 4, he says you should keep close to those in authority. Do not be in a hurry

to leave the king's presence. Now perhaps, you know, showing loyalty to the king. Why?

He says because the king is so powerful, he can do whatever he pleases.

You should stick close to the king because his word is powerful and it is foolish to resist.

There's a proverb in verse 5, whoever obeys his command will come to no harm and the wise heart will

know the proper time and procedure. There is wisdom in knowing how to relate well to those in authority

and to be guided by wisdom and how we do that. But there's an implied limit to wisdom.

And it's this, and he's already spoken to us of this in chapter 5, authority figures don't always act

justly. Authority figures can be unjust, cruel, and self-serving. Chapter 5, verse 9.

After talking about the poor being oppressed by high-up officials, in verse 9 it says,

the increase from the land is taken by all the king himself, profits from the fields.

So even as the believer in the Lord Jesus looks to live wisely in this world, it won't always save us

from knowing injustice in an unstable, unpredictable world, especially as we understand that our control

is limited and there are authority figures over us. Maybe we know this if we've had experience of

serving under a bad boss. Maybe we know this by experience as the tired parent who has lost the plot and

acted unjustly to our children. There is a limit implied that wisdom won't shield us from bad authority.

So that's one area of life in which there are limits to wisdom. The second area of life,

verses 6 to 8, is to do with the times of our lives. And we've met this idea before.

In chapter 7, verse 13 and 14, consider what God has done who can straighten what he has made crooked.

When times are good, be happy. But when times are bad, consider this. God has made the one as well

as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future. So our preacher will keep reminding

us of this, that our times are in God's hands and often that creates limits to wisdom. Verse 6 has a twist

on the proverb that we were just introduced to in verse 5, that there is a right way, there's a proper time,

there's a proper procedure, but that right way may see us weighed down by misery. It may lead to us

experiencing difficulty and trouble. The preacher reminds us in verse 7, no one knows the future. So we can't

predict and we can't plan with certainty. We all plan, but we have to know that those plans may not come

to fulfilment. And to help us to see that, in verse 8, he uses the image of the wind. As no one has power

over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. The wind is a force that can be

dangerous. The wind is a force that is out of our control. Some of us know this well. You know hurricanes and

typhoons or west coast storms. Well, the preacher says in the same way, you and I, we have no control over

the day of our death. We have no control over war and peace. And we have no control over the grip of

wickedness that we see in lives and in societies. And so the limit that he points to is this.

God's wisdom does not guarantee the good life. We cannot get to the bottom of God's working. And so

there is always the possibility of our life being turned upside down. I think this is a reminder of

of the deceit of the prosperity gospel. It says, follow Jesus and health and wealth will be yours. Only good

things will come your way. It's a reminder of that simplistic, here are seven steps to improve your

life. There are always limits and uncertainties. We've thought before about Jesus' teaching. Remember his

parable about the man who had a good crop and who decided that he would build bigger barns. He would

store up for himself. He would eat, drink, and be merry. And he was called a fool. He didn't understand

that he didn't have control over his life and he didn't understand that he needed to be right with his

God. There's a third area of life where wisdom's limits confront us. And it's as we see the injustice

that takes place in the world, which tragically shows itself in so many different ways as the preacher

begins to outline for us. So in verse 9, what do we see there? There is a time when a man lords it over

others to his own hurt and to the hurt of others. Don't we see corrupt rule? Don't we see the abuse of power?

We see people hurting others to benefit themselves. Whether we're thinking about a coup in Niger,

whether we're thinking about people traffickers and the tragedies happening in our seas,

whether we have experience of the boss who acts as a slave driver. There are those who will use

power and abuse power. He looks at a different aspect in verse 10, the celebration of wickedness

in a community or a society. Then too I saw the wicked buried, those who used to come and go from

the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. Here is a society that has rejected

biblical wisdom that praises somebody who lives a wicked life for sure, perhaps, turning up to worship,

but their wicked lives. But their wicked lives are known. The celebration of wickedness when what is wrong

earns people's praise, when it earns the applause of a society. Whether that's the ruthless businessman

who's approved of because he is making it in the world, whether that's art that pushes the boundaries

of morality and is praised, wisdom cannot shield us from these kind of things. Verse 11 and 12,

he moves on to think about the limit of wisdom in the face of slow justice and no justice.

In verse 11, when the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, what happens? People's hearts

are filled with schemes to do wrong. And we know this, don't we? There are times when people don't get

what they deserve. There are times when it seems like in this world crime does pay, when laws are broken

with no consequence, with the effect of the spreading of evil in people's hearts. Well, everybody else seems

to be cheating the system and getting away with it, so why don't I? Unethical policies don't seem to

disadvantage a business, so why don't we pursue that too? Verse 14 takes us perhaps to the greatest

injustice that many of us wrestle with, maybe the most painful question. There is something else

meaningless that occurs on earth. The righteous who get what the wicked deserve and the wicked who get

what the righteous deserve. To ask the question, why do good things happen to bad people and why do bad

things happen to bad people? Takes us to the voice of our preacher?

And it can lead people to lament. You know, why bother being righteous? Why bother being obedient,

looking to live by God's wisdom when my life turns out this way? I'm trying to follow God's wisdom.

I expect things will look better than they are. And so the preacher wants us to see this limit that

despite choosing wisdom, life can still be heartbreaking and we can still find ourselves being stepped on.

This preacher is a gift to us, I think, because he confronts life with honesty. He doesn't settle for easy answers. He prompts us to think deeply.

And I'm sure as we think along with the preacher that we can recognize these same limits. We can have that sense of

vanity, that sense of life just being crooked and not right.

And as we recognize that,

we're all going to be, whether we're doing it deliberately or subconsciously, we're going to be choosing a response

to God's wisdom in light of what we see

in our world and in our lives.

Maybe it's the response of frustration.

I expected more from God's wisdom.

I expected life would work out better

as I try to live by God's wisdom.

Perhaps

there's a sense of relief.

Well, it's all too hard to figure out anyway,

so let me not even bother

applying my mind.

For some people

in the modern world, there's simply

a rejection of this idea that wisdom

has limits.

not for so many.

All we need is a little bit more education.

We can fix this.

We can figure it out.

We can make sense of life.

We can end all that seems to be crooked.

How should we choose to respond

as we recognize that wisdom has limits

in an unstable world?

Well, what our preacher wants us to do,

what God wants us to do,

is to trust.

That even still,

God is on the throne.

That God understands.

That God will work all things together

for good in the end.

And that in Jesus,

there is wisdom

and there is life.

And we should hold on to him

as we face the limits

and the instability

of the world.

So that takes us to

our final point.

And it says that even still,

even knowing there are limits,

we should choose

the way of wisdom.

wisdom.

So having established these brackets

that wisdom is good

and wisdom comes with limits,

let's look for his positive instruction

because there is positive instruction

in here

that we should still choose wisdom

as the better way to live.

There are two different perspectives

to help us to think about that.

First of all,

in verses 12 and 13,

to consider the future.

As we wonder,

is it worth it

to keep following God

and his wisdom

in the face of all the wickedness

and injustice we see?

Verse 12 and 13,

Although a wicked person

who commits a hundred crimes

may live a long time,

exaggeration to show

seeming prosperity,

I know

that it will go better

with those who fear God,

who are reverent before him.

Yet because the wicked

do not fear God,

it will not go well with them.

In the face of the instability

that we see,

we need to learn

to look to the future

and to the God

who holds the present

and the future

in his hands

and to understand

that in the end,

the judge of all the earth

will do right.

That God's perfect,

righteous justice

will be exercised.

One of the more helpful

theologians on this topic

is a chap called Miroslav Volf.

He's a Croat

and he lived through

the Balkan Wars

and so he has a lot

of reflection

on war

and cycles

of revenge

and hatred.

And so he finds himself

thinking,

what is the only way

out of that cycle

that gripped the Balkans

in the 90s

of violence

and revenge?

And for him as a Christian,

he came to the conclusion

the only thing,

the only way to escape

it gripping our hearts

is to trust

in the justice of God.

To leave justice

in God's hands.

To learn to trust

in ultimate justice

even in the face

of so much

injustice

in the present.

And that makes sense

especially

in light of the New Testament

and especially

in light of

Jesus' teaching.

so much

of Jesus' teaching

focuses on that

great reversal

that takes place

in the end.

Maybe we remember

the parable

of the rich man

and Lazarus.

The rich man

was living it up.

The poor man

Lazarus

was laying at his gates.

Dogs were licking

his wounds.

The rich man

offered no help.

Well,

when they die,

there's a great reversal.

It's the rich man

who's in torment

and it's Lazarus

who's in glory.

Or the parable

of the sheep

and the goats

and Jesus

the judge.

And in the end

there is reward

for those

who live

by God's wisdom.

In the end

justice

is done.

And so we trust

in the God

of justice.

Especially in light

of the gospel.

We remember

that Jesus

on the cross

has taken

the judgment

that we deserve.

And by faith

in him

we live knowing

that our verdict,

God's verdict

on our lives

is already in.

That we are

not condemned.

That we will

be welcomed

into glory.

And so

with Paul

in Romans 8

and verse 18

we are able

to say

as those

who trust

in Jesus

our present

sufferings,

the injustices,

troubles of life

are not worth

comparing

with glory

to be revealed

in us.

But we need

to live

in light

of eternity

to have

that perspective.

so that

we would

still

choose

the way

of God's

wisdom

to live

in faith

and obedience

in an

unpredictable

world.

So we need

to consider

the future

but he also

says

that we need

to consider

how we live

in the present.

Verse 15

we've heard him

say this before

so I commend

the enjoyment

of life

because there

is nothing

better for a

person under

the sun

than to eat

and drink

and be glad

then joy

will accompany

them in their

toil

all the days

of the life

God has given

them under

the sun.

He comes

back to this

so often

in the face

of all the

difficulties

all the apparent

meaninglessness

of life

what do we

choose?

We choose

to enjoy

God

and we

choose

to feast

we choose

to enjoy

his everyday

gifts and

goodnesses

and when we

choose that

when we

choose

contentment

and joy

in God

and from

God

the preacher

says that

even those

dark clouds

of troubles

will not

completely

block out

the sunshine

of God's

love

and God's

goodness

towards us

so we

recognize

that there

are limits

and there

is injustice

but we also

recognize that

God is good

and generous

and we

make sure

to enjoy

and to

especially

enjoy

the greatest

gift

who of

course

is

Jesus

who is a

source of

eternal

joy

for his

people

unlike the

kings that

we meet

in Ecclesiastes

the kings

that we meet

in our day

those in

authority

Jesus is the

king we can

trust completely

he is never

unpredictable

he is never

unfaithful

we should

obey

stick closely

to him

and love

and honor

him

in light of

all the

uncertainty

about the

times of

our lives

we are

invited to

trust in

Jesus

the Lord

who gives

us the

promise of

hope in

life and

in death

and as we

recognize that

there is so

much injustice

we place

ourselves

in the

hands of

Jesus the

judge

who judges

justly

the one who

suffered the

just for

the unjust

to bring

us to

God

so Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8

is wisdom

for real

life

it recognizes

how often

life can be

unsettling

but even

as that is

true

still he

insists that

choosing God's

way of wisdom

still makes

best sense

choosing to

follow Jesus

who is the

wisdom of

God for us

is still

the best

way to

live

that we

would choose

to walk

with him

today

even as

we'll sing

in a moment

even if we

find ourselves

walking in the

valley

that we

would look

to him

as the

ultimate

hope and

security

for our

lives

so let's

pray about

that now

let's pray

Lord our

God we

recognize

and confess

that you

established

this world

and it was

very good

but we can

see so

clearly the

effect of

sin in

this world

we recognize

and acknowledge

along with

the preacher

the brokenness

the injustice

the sorrow

the confusion

that can so

often reign

in our

lives and

seems to

reign in

our world

Lord as we

come to an

end of

ourselves

where even

as we seek

to be

faithful

we find

our plans

thwarted

we find

ourselves

disappointed

and we

live with

fear

Lord help

us to

keep on

trusting

in your

way of

wisdom

for our

lives

help us

to put

our trust

in Jesus

our wise

our good

our gracious

our just

Lord and

King

so that we

might enjoy

everyday life

recognizing your

generosity

towards us

and we

might also

have hope

as we

consider

our death

and eternal

realities

so please

help us

that by your

spirit you

would keep

applying your

truth to

our hearts

and our

lives

that you

would guide

us in all

wisdom we

pray in

Jesus name

Amen

so let's

close by

singing the

hymn that

we've been

learning over

the last few

weeks in the

valley bless

the Lord and

we can stand

again as we're

able to sing

together

when the

path that I

feared is

the way

he has

said

and I

long

to