Ecclesiastes: Words and Vows

So we are working our way through the book of Ecclesiastes.

This is King Solomon's life.

He's at the end of his life.

If you've been with us, we've been talking about how it might not have been King Solomon who wrote the book.

It might have been somebody else who wrote the book in King Solomon's voice about Solomon's life.

He's at the end of his life.

He's a little disillusioned.

He's not always writing what's right and wrong.

It's very philosophical.

It's very ranting at times.

And then he kind of comes back to his senses at other times.

And so he's telling us what living in this world is like.

And we get to chapter 5, and finally he takes his shot at religion, right?

I mean, it's only a matter of time if you're ranting that you're eventually going to get to religion or politics, one of those two.

And so finally in chapter five, he begins in on religion.

And so I'll reread some of these verses as we go and make four different points as we make our way through these verses in Ecclesiastes 5.

Here's verse 1.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.

To draw near, to listen, is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

So the first point here, sort of an overarching point for this passage, is we should draw near to God not to prove ourselves with our words, but to receive his words to us.

So we draw near to God not to prove ourselves with our words, but to receive his words to us.

And maybe you grew up in a culture where you felt like you had to use certain words and make more and more and more religious promises to try to maintain some status with God.

Or maybe you felt like you needed to impress God with your words or your next promise, and then you didn't do too great on that promise, so make another promise and another promise and another promise and more words and more words.

And eventually it doesn't have much to do with the heart, it just has to do with a whole bunch of religious jargon at a certain point.

And maybe this is even tied into sort of like looking around to other people around you, different Christians, different people, and you're going, well, they look like this and they sound like this, and I'm gonna use those words, and I'm gonna kind of fit in like this, and this is what my faith is gonna look like.

And this becomes incredibly exhausting.

And it becomes exhausting because it's not from your heart, it's it's not it's not you, it's not an expression of what God has done in your life coming back to him.

It's just about your effort.

It's just about your words and your promises, not about his words to you, which births something, which births devotion and words back to him.

Verses two and three.

I think that'll make more sense as we go.

Verses two and three.

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God.

For God is in heaven and you are on earth.

So he's saying, Hey, be careful here.

Uh remember who you are and who God is.

And you know, God is great and glorious and holy and perfect and just, and remember who you are.

You are you are his creation, fallen, imperfect, sinful, means you don't get everything right.

So remember, remember here who you're speaking to.

Remember this.

Therefore, let your words be few.

For a dream comes with much busyness and a fool's voice with many words.

And this is point number two.

Our words toward God fall short of God's greatness.

They just do.

They always do, they always will.

Our little one, our smallest one, turned four this past week, and we had a party.

We had a My Little Pony party.

There's a four-foot My Little Pony in my den right now.

That's a lot of fun to have flying around when you're trying to watch TV.

Love that.

One of the great gifts that we gave our four-year-old was a uh Moana doll.

We thought this was a great gift until we realized what she does.

Do you know this?

Does anybody know this?

The first time you hear it, the first, the first time you hear it, you're you're at Moana, that's right.

And the first time you hear it, you're inspired.

We saw it in the theater.

I saw it in the theater, not once.

I saw it twice.

Just to let that out there, just to let y'all know.

I saw this movie twice in the theater, Super Dad.

I get some award for that at some point.

I don't know when.

I it should come.

And so the first time I heard her sing this song, I'm a glory story guy.

I cried in the rookie when he came out of the dugout and into the movie, and I'm like, he's made it, he's gonna throw some pitches in the major leagues.

I'm crying.

I'm a glory story guy.

She's on her boat, she's singing this song, she's gonna restore the heart of Tahiti, and she's singing this, and I I'm in this, I'm in this.

And then this doll's been in my house for a week.

And I'm waking up to this.

This noise, these words, they're they're in the den, they're in the kitchen, they're in the playroom, they're in my bedroom, they're in the hallway, they're in the bathroom, they're they're everywhere.

At one point they meant something to me, right?

And I may have teared up in the theater, I may have.

I'm not I'm not willing to say anything, I'm not willing to commit anything.

Could have been some dust or some butter off of the uh popcorn.

I'm not sure, but it meant something to me, and now I'm waking up to this over and over and over again.

And these words now aren't from like a loved one to my heart.

Uh they're just robotic words, right?

Like out of a doll, just digital, empty words that I want to run over with a lawnmower.

Is what I want to do.

Look, this doll may not make it back from this building back to my house.

That could happen, may get lost on the way back, not sure.

But it's just there's been this movement with these words.

We we know when these movements occur with words, right?

Because you were dating that person and you you were into that person, and you were using the love word with that person, and you were telling that person that you love them, and then some things happen, and you're not feeling it so much, but you don't really want to be single again, and so you just keep using the words, and you know it, and they know it.

You're using the same words, right?

Same words, but they're just robotic now, they're just empty now.

Or your your friend comes to you, and they're they're they tell you, you know, they're gonna move to Los Angeles and they're gonna pursue their music career, and you say, you know what, you can accomplish your dream.

I believe your voice is incredible, and you're going, no, and in the back of your mind, you're going, she's horrible.

She's really not good.

This is a horrible idea.

But you just say it, right?

And it's just empty words, it's just robotic.

It made me think of this passage in Amos in this old test, in the Old Testament, this prophet.

This one verse stuck out to me.

This is this prophet speaking for God, to God's people.

And in Amos 5, 23, take away from me the noise of your songs.

So take away, Moana, off you go, right?

Off you go.

Robotic, digital, empty words, to the melody of your harps, I will not listen.

Right?

So our words should mean something, but they don't always mean something.

But God's calling us for our words to mean something.

All right, that sounds a little down.

We'll work our way out of that.

So Monday, Sam and I huddled around this passage.

In our office, we read it, read it again, read it a couple times, we just sort of looked at each other and go, uh, this is gonna take a couple days.

Like this is not an easy passage that it's not like the book of James, just flat out tells you exactly what you need to know, and right away you know.

This is this is poetry, is what this is.

I mean, it takes some, it takes some digging, it takes some sitting a little bit.

And by writing it this way, by writing it this way, it demands you to deal with it the very thing it's asking of you, right?

Verse one, slow down.

Just quietly draw near.

And by writing it this way, in this poetic form, by writing it this way, it demands you, you you can't figure out poetry quickly.

It demands you to stop and slow down and sit with it and take it in.

This made more sense to me this week as I ran into a quote by Eugene Peterson.

Eugene Peterson's a pastor.

Uh, for 40, 50 years, he was a pastor, he's a writer, he wrote, he translated the Bible into the version called the message, uh, huge influence, incredible guy.

He says, No mis there's no mistake that the psalmists and the prophets and the wisdom writers of the scriptures were poets.

It's not a mistake.

And here's what he says: here's the quote: a good poet may draw you into multi-level reality, rhythm, silence, a metaphor that may carry five different experiences at the same time.

A metaphor is a terrible way to tell somebody something.

You will probably misunderstand.

The poet doesn't care because the concern is not to tell you something, but to get you involved in a cluster of words and images that radiate truth and actuality.

All right, so I get this feeling from Peterson's thoughts on poetry, and then we're reading some poetry here in Ecclesiastes, and this text, and saying, don't rush into this text.

Don't rush into the, don't, don't rush in with all your religious words, right?

I mean, even the way he's writing teaches us something about the very thing he's saying.

Draw, draw near quietly.

I mean, it's not a line at Kroger, right?

It's not a line at Kroger that you're trying to find the fastest lane and get up there and you're gonna pay with the thing that you're gonna pay, with what your words and your effort.

No, this is about slowing down and quieting yourself so you might hear something.

So you might hear God's word to you.

The text continues, verses four down through six.

Down through seven, sorry, four through seven.

When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it.

For he has no pleasure in fools.

Pay what you vow.

It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake.

Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?

For when dreams increase and words grow many, there's vanity.

But God is the one you must fear.

He's saying, don't just show up at worship, make all these promises, just religious words, you're just making all these promises, and then you go off and you have no intention to do them, or maybe even no ability to do them.

So point number three, our promises to God fall short due to our inability to live up to them.

Just a reality check.

Okay?

Our promises to God, as noble and sincere even that they are, I'm not saying they're all vanity, as noble and sincere even that our good promises to God are, they fall short due to our inability, us in and of ourselves, our inability to live up to them.

We need outside help when it comes to this.

This is why we need an outside savior.

So it sounds like bad news, but it's actually the best news if you begin to understand, because it's just true.

It's true.

We need outside help.

Now, in the past we've talked about, we talk about it repeatedly, there's this difference between the ideal self and the real self.

Or the ideal self and the actual self.

The ideal self loves to make vows, loves to make promises, loves to use words, and then the temple messenger shows up and says, Hey, are you gonna pay up on that vow?

And you're like, oh, now I'm living in my real self, and I'm not, yeah, that's not playing out exactly how that ideal self made that promise in that moment back there.

You know what I'm talking about because at some point you vowed to start start a Bible reading plan.

You ever done one of those yearly Bible reading plans?

How are you doing?

Doing okay on that?

I'd say about 3% of you do well on that.

Just a guess.

3% of you?

Great, highly disciplined, good for you.

We want to be you.

The rest of us, we know the feeling.

It's not working out too well.

Or maybe you've you've you said, you know what?

Jim at the office, I need to do better loving him.

God, he drives me crazy.

I'm so impatient with him.

I passively, I do things against him, I work around him.

Or Jerry next door, you know, oh, Jerry next door.

I've got, you know, I'm gonna love them more.

I'm gonna love my neighbor.

I'm called as a Christian to love my neighbor.

I'm gonna love Jim.

I'm gonna love Jerry and you're make these promises, and you're promising, and even you mean it, even if you mean it.

And there always comes a moment where that vow doesn't carry itself out.

And it's not to say that the vow is wrong, and it's not to say that we don't re vow and try again.

It's just to say our promises to God fall short of our ability to live up to them.

We have an inability to live up to them.

Or you overeat again, or you don't eat again, or you look at that image again, or you overwork again, or you lose your temper again, or you live in anxiety again, or discontentment again, and you go, I don't want to do this, I don't want to do this, I'm not gonna do this, I'm not gonna do it, I'm not gonna do this anymore.

And you just vow and vow and words and words, but but maybe you never quiet yourself.

Like truly quiet yourself over time, over and over and over again to hear his words to you about that.

Because you're always using your words to him about it.

See, it's it's not about whether you should vow or not or make promises or not.

It's about how do you think this has actually happened?

How do you think transformation actually happens?

Draw near and be quiet.

Don't let your words be many, let them be few.

You might hear something.

So has it been a week?

Are we ready to talk about it?

I watched it.

I'm not a Falcons fan.

Not, never was.

I don't think I watched a game all season, but I'm in for the city.

I'm in, I'm supporting them.

I'm in.

I don't own a Falcons piece of apparel.

I haven't been to a game in years.

I don't know much of anything about them, but I'm in, I'm watching it.

I want them to win for the city.

Fan, let's let's fight.

And it's going so good.

I mean, this is ideal, right?

You want to talk about ideal.

We are running the field.

Our defense is shutting them down.

This is amazing.

Lady Gaga comes out.

It's great.

She's flying down from the sky.

And then the Patriots come back out, and our ideal begins to slip away.

We perk up a little bit.

And then when you sat up a little bit, got off your phones.

You did.

I know you did.

That's what happened in our house.

And the ideal was gone, right?

And all that's left is the actual.

And we have that ideal self, who we want to be.

I'm always content.

In my ideal self, I'm always content.

I'm patient with my children.

I affirm my wife daily, multiple times a day.

People revere me for all that I accomplish, and I have a whole bunch of other accomplishments I don't even feel the urge to share because I'm so humble.

This is my ideal self.

I only eat tuna and almonds, and of course, like we've talked about many times, kale.

I only eat kale.

I always look tan without the danger of skin cancer.

Basically, I look like Tom Brady, is what it is.

Basically.

And this week I Googled to see what his houses look like.

And don't do it.

It's not helpful to you.

Forbes has a great article on the homes, in case you're wondering, but don't do it.

It will not help you.

And why does one human being get all that?

Him.

Tom.

Why does he get all of this?

And then he's crying with his sick mom.

This is not helping, right?

Because you want to hate the guy.

And you can't, because you want to be him, because he's incredible.

And women, you know what I'm talking about, because you've seen his wife.

I didn't notice his wife.

I didn't notice his wife.

You saw his wife.

And who looks like the two of those?

I mean, this is ridiculous ideal.

And Tom and his wife, I can't pronounce her name, whatever it is, I don't even know who she is.

Is this ideal that you can look up to in any ideal, uh, the worldly Tom and beautiful wife, or uh or the law, who we should be as Christians in our perfect Christian life.

If we live in law without the grace of God to cover this differential between the real self and the ideal self, you will be crushed by the law.

You will be exhausted more and more.

And what you'll find is you just have to you'll have to use more and more religious words.

You'll never be able to draw near quietly.

Just more words, more promises.

Out of yourself, out of yourself, but never hearing the word of grace and the person of Jesus for you.

That we are made righteous apart from the law by Jesus' work for us.

This reminds me of a story in the New Testament in Luke 18.

So Jesus tells the story of two men.

Maybe you remember the story.

Two men they're going up to the temple to pray.

The first guy goes up, he's a religious guy, very proud of himself.

He marches right up to the temple and he says this in Luke 18 God, I thank you that I am not like other men.

Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector, this lowly other guy back here.

I mean, what, I mean, what a religious punk.

I mean, just absolutely like he's so different.

He's got it all together.

And he keeps on going.

He says, Here's his vows.

He says, Look what I've done.

I've fast twice a week.

I give tithes of everything I get.

And then there's this other guy.

A lowlife in the realm of social and religious status.

And he starts talking, he's way off.

He's way off.

He did not just march in to this presence of God.

He is way off, and he won't even lift his head.

And all all he says, all he says is, God, be merciful on me, a sinner.

And Jesus says, that's the man who leaves justifying.

It's that guy.

A few words.

Quietly drawing near.

All he had was brokenness.

But he had a right view of his condition and who God was, and who held the power here to deem him righteous and justified and free him, and who held the power to help create transformation from his heart outward.

I mean, amidst all the performance Christianity that we can get into, and let's just call it that.

Performance Christianity, more words and more words, and more promises and more promises and more of me and how I'm going to live up to it, rather than a quieting of the self, a dying of the self to put on Christ.

See, Jesus is always the great word spoken to us, which brings us absolution and forgiveness and life.

And that's where we're found.

And we're found by His God's covenant to us, but not all of our covenants to him.

And this is point number four, last point.

We are graced, blessed to live as a quiet presence in God's perfect love for us.

We are graced to live as a quiet presence in God's perfect love for us.

This changes everything for your heart to grow quiet and for you to hear what God has to say for you about who you are.

This creates transformation.

This creates empowerment for any change in your life.

So, my brothers and sisters, may you quietly draw near to God who is sufficient for you and is all satisfying.

Let's pray together.

God, we thank you that you are sufficient and you are satisfying.

Forgive us for trying to use our words and our promises to be redeemed or feel redeemed or feel to feel like we've maintained some status with you today rather than to trust in Jesus' word for us.

And we know this is the source of our exhaustion, this is the source of our self-righteousness, and forgive us for this.

Forgive us.

God, would you help us to see this huge difference between the real self and the actual self just so that we might live in a state of confession?

That we are not perfect and we need Jesus.

Would we receive your word to us?

Would we receive your words to us, who you call us, what you deem us.

And from such grace and empowerment from our inner self, would there be great change in our hearts and lives that honor you?

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.