Ecclesiastes: The Wisdom Behind the Wisdom

May be seated.

Well, another delightful passage for 2017, uplifting to you.

Just don't seek wisdom, right?

Just forget it.

Forget knowledge, forget wisdom.

Those of you in school, you might like that passage actually.

You'll quote it back to your parents.

All right, well, let's make sense of this passage.

What is Solomon saying here in this book of Ecclesiastes?

And that's what we're doing for the next couple months, working our way through the book of Ecclesiastes.

So if you're here last week, if you braved the cold and the ice, we talked about Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner.

If you remember that conversation, you remember that cartoon and what that was, if you remember, was Wiley woke up every day to chase that bird, right?

And he had good gear, he had good weapons, he did bombs, he had all the good stuff, and he could just never quite pull it off.

He could never quite get that bird.

And he even if he had, even if he had gotten that bird, we know how the storyline would have worked because it's how our lives work.

He would have gotten the bird, he would have cooked it, he would have had a nice meal, he would have slept well that night, and he would have woken up the next day, and he would have found another bird to chase, right?

That's just what we do.

It's what we do with approval, it's what we do with money, it's what we do with knowledge, it's what we do with looks.

This is this is where King Solomon is at at the end of his life, and he's done a lot, and he has a lot, and to all of that, he says, vanity of vanities.

He says, Havel is the word, vapor.

It's like a vapor, and it's there just for a second and then it's and then it's gone.

And this guy has a lot.

I mean, the equivalent of probably around a billion dollars a year coming in, right?

Like, I'd like to try that roadrunner.

Anybody want to try that roadrunner?

He's like, I think I might be okay with that roadrunner.

And even then he's saying, no, it's it's vapor, it's vapor.

He's revered, he's powerful, he's insightful, he authored Proverbs.

Okay, that's a book in the Old Testament, like the wisest book ever written.

And I know we're a room full of smart, accomplished people, and you've you're gonna do something, or you did something already, but you didn't write Proverbs, okay?

That's one thing you didn't do.

This guy has you beat, okay?

He has me be more money, more power, more talent, more accomplishment.

And to that, he says, a bell, vapor.

Like it's all there.

And then it's gone.

Right?

And the question we asked last week, we'll keep asking is what do you do when everything you thought would give you meaning doesn't deliver?

What do you do then?

What do you do when you realize it was vapor?

So that's our text, Ecclesiastes 1, 12 through 18.

I'll reread a couple different chunks in two different passages.

All right, 12 through 15, I, the preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.

So this is the one thing he wanted so much.

He wanted this so badly.

And he says this it's an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

I have seen everything that's done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, vapor, and a striving after wind.

What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

He's saying, here's what I've been doing, and I've done a lot, and I'm exhausted.

And so a few points to guide us.

Number one, wisdom.

Wisdom, wisdom is insight into how life works.

That's what wisdom is.

We love wisdom, right?

We all love wisdom.

I love wisdom.

It's why every morning I wake up and I listen to a podcast.

I listen to a new podcast every single morning.

Something new, something new to learn.

And I mean, it's kind of a rotation of like leadership and then psychology.

And I listen to this one where a guy interviews comedians just because I love it.

I love it.

I learned something from it.

Or a theology.

This week I listened to a great one on how Cliff's son built the Cliff Bar Empire, and I was like loving it.

I come home and tell Christy all about Cliff Bar started.

Like it's like wisdom, and there's always a new book.

There's always an there's always some new book to read.

We love wisdom.

We form groups to share wisdom.

We send links because of wisdom.

And wisdom helps us, like it really helps us.

It helps us avoid heartache, it helps us avoid problems, or we're in a problem and we seek out wisdom.

You're like, hey, can you help me with this one?

And somebody helps you with that and it gets you.

There's wisdom for how to walk the spiritual Christian walk with Jesus.

There's wisdom and how to do your finances, there's wisdom for relationships, there's wisdom for parenting, there's wisdom for career, there's wisdom for so much, right?

After two weeks of utter failure of building a fire in my own fireplace, I can't do this.

Brad teaches me how to build a fire in my fireplace.

I needed that wisdom.

I have two weeks.

I'm going, how can I not start a fire in my own fireplace?

I mean, this is ridiculous.

I need some help.

I need some wisdom to help me, right?

And nobody would say, you know what?

Be unwise.

This is the path.

This is the path you should go down.

Go down the path of being unwise, make unwise decisions.

This would be a great path for your life.

Nobody would say that.

And yet, here's a guy who has pursued wisdom, has gained wisdom, has written the book on wisdom, and he says the pursuit of wisdom is an unhappy business.

He says, You're gonna chase the wind.

He says, You're gonna run, and you're gonna run, and you're gonna run, and you're gonna feel like your life is always just like you're not quite catching your breath.

And he's not even done with his point.

Like, I mean, he goes back into it again.

And this is what we see in Ecclesiastes.

Like, he just lets it rip.

Ecclesiastes so verse 16 I said, in my heart, I've acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me.

And my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge, and I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly.

I perceive that this also is also but a striving after when.

For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

So what is he saying?

What's he feeling?

He's feeling something, he's experiencing something.

What is it?

Point number two, wisdom's never ending.

It's not that it's not good, it's just that it doesn't end.

Right?

And this is part of the greatness of it.

There's always another podcast, there's always another book, there's always another nugget to apply to your life.

And this is part of the greatness of it because we need it.

We're never quite the parent we should be, or the spouse, or the friend, or the son, or the daughter, or the coworker.

We're never quite that.

And so we always need another nugget, and that's also the curse of it.

Because where does it end?

And this is what he's saying: where does it end?

And he's he's just journaling this, just raw feelings, and he's feeling like I thought I was gonna hit something, like I thought I was gonna hit the end of wisdom and find something, and he's just finding that it's never ending.

And see, what this does is this nails, it nails secular self-help and it nails performance religion.

It nails both of them because both of them keep you on treadmills where you aren't quite sure if you're ever enough.

If you're ever really okay, really accepted by God as you are right now.

Or if you need just a little more, just another application, just another refinement, and then you'll be okay.

Oh, you know, that that nugget, you know, that bit of wisdom about your false self, that bit of Christian living principle to apply, then you'll be okay, then you'll be secure.

See, he's nailing secular self-help and performance religion.

He says, Havel, vapor, vapor.

But there's good news.

Good news, there's another way.

That's the good news.

He's hinting toward another way.

And this is point number three.

There's a wisdom behind the wisdom.

So wisdom is never ending, but there's a wisdom behind the wisdom.

So my three-year-old has a lovely um, this is giraffe.

Draffy.

This is her lovey.

Yeah, I don't know what who you know if your kid has a lovey.

This is this is giraffe.

We got real creative on the name, real creative household, uh, because it is in fact a giraffe.

And she cuddles it.

I've been watching the sweep as I've been thinking about the sermon and thinking about this illustration.

So she gets the head of giraffe and she gets it right up in here, and she just cuddles it in, right?

Well, every night, she's this is very important.

Giraffe is very important.

Come about 7 o'clock.

Giraffe is very important.

A few weeks ago, a month ago, uh, our family came in from out of town from Virginia.

My sister, her two daughters, some of my nieces, uh, some of my three-year-old's cousins, Emma and Alyssa, all there.

Somehow Giraffe makes it into the minivan and takes a trip to Virginia.

Okay, Giraffe's taking a vacation.

She's got a little too suffocated there all night.

All right, so Giraffe goes to Virginia.

I explain to my three-year-old, Giraffe is on a trip.

We know where he is, he is safe.

Objectively, she does understand this.

Okay, I know she's three, but she understands Giraffe is with her cousins.

She loves her cousins, she knows Giraffe is safe, but it's objective, right?

So at this point, it it's sort of, it's not personal, it's it's objective.

So she understands Giraffe's safe, but she can't, she can't get Giraffe.

She understands Giraffe is safe, objective, but not personal.

All right, three days later, Giraffe arrives via UPS, suffocating in a box, on a plane.

I don't know, I don't know.

She doesn't care, right?

Like just magic.

Giraffe shows back up.

This was helpful three bedtimes later, right?

Like we got through three bedtimes, giraffe's back, and we move, right?

We move back from objectivity back to back to something personal.

Like back to something she could she could have close to her.

But here's the reality of Giraffe.

It'll never be transformative for her.

It's just personal, right?

So it's objective, it's personal, can't be transformative.

It's just helping her get along.

And it does that.

It's wonderful for that.

It helps her get along.

Legitimately, it does its job.

I mean, really, he's a crutch, right?

That's what I tell her at night.

I tuck her in and I say, he's a crutch.

But the point is, and we know it, the point is, we know it.

Draffy only has so much power, right?

Right?

Objectivity and personal, that's wonderful.

That's wonderful.

Here's my point.

Slowly she will, she will begin to see, and it might, it'll take a few years, she will begin to see there's something, there's something behind the draft that's bigger, and she won't need the draft anymore.

Like she'll slowly begin to realize her security in our home is not really based on holding on to Giraffe at night.

She's gonna realize there's actually two parents that search the house frantically at about 6:45 to find Giraffe wherever he ended up during the day so that she would have it.

And that love is the thing that becomes security for her.

See, that's the wisdom behind the wisdom.

It's love behind wisdom.

That's the transformative power behind the thing that's even personal to us.

Wisdom is personal and it's helpful, but it only goes so far.

We have to understand there's a love behind wisdom.

Here's what I'm saying.

When I say this, there's wisdom behind wisdom.

Paul's saying it in 1 Corinthians 1 30, and because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

See, Jesus is the wisdom behind the wisdom.

And that wisdom is unmerited love and redemption on the cross, all of your sin and shame, all the inadequacy that we're trying to use wisdom for to make us feel more adequate.

He takes all of that sin and shame and inadequacy on the cross and he puts over onto us righteousness and redemption, salvation for eternity and for here and value as human beings.

See, Christ stepped into that never-ending trying to be good enough and know enough and be enough, all the exhaustion Solomon is feeling from all of his pursuits.

Christ comes into that and says, I'm your wisdom.

I'm the wisdom behind all of that wisdom.

In me, you can be finished.

That chase can be finished.

And it gets better.

It gets even better because Christ as our wisdom.

All right, thinking caps here.

Thinking caps.

Christ as our wisdom allows wisdom to not be an exhausting false savior.

But rather for it just to be what it is.

Help.

Just help for our lives.

But not a savior.

Not trying to make ourselves feel justified or righteous or valuable because of how much we know or how much we can apply, or we're gonna go, oh, I'll go to that next level, right?

Like I don't feel good here, but that next level of Christian spirituality.

If I can only learn that next thing, then I'll be okay.

Christ making you fully, fully redeemed by his work for you allows wisdom just to be for what it is.

Wisdom.

So here's what I'm saying.

I was trying to think of just an example, just an example.

What does this look like?

So four years ago, we start the church.

And relatively strangely, I wasn't too anxious.

I think probably too numb by that kind of decision to be anxious.

And so for the first few months, outside of like, oh man, some money coming in would be really, really nice.

Outside of that, uh, feeling pretty good.

And then we start in the fall at the Walker School.

Some of y'all were there, some of you came along at that point.

And so I start to deliver sermons.

Sermons for preachers can be extremely anxiety-filled.

And the most anxious time of the week for me became Saturdays.

Because Saturdays were the day, just an anxiety day before doing this.

All week you've been studying, you've been outlining, plugged some illustrations in, figuring things out, writing your ins and outs, how you're going to say something.

And then Saturday's the day before, so you're just all built up anxiety.

And Saturday's also the day I should be the most present at home.

My kids are at home.

And so I end up cranky on Saturdays, and the only thing that would settle me down, especially that first year, the only thing that would settle me down was to work on the sermon.

Well, this is a problem.

This should be the day I'm not working on the sermon.

I shouldn't be cranky.

I should be present with my family.

And so I vent all this to my mentor, which at the time I was meeting with him every other week, and I'm venting all of this, and he responds to me, Well, what's going on in your heart when you feel like that?

I'm like, what's going on in my heart?

What are you talking?

Like, I mean, that made me so mad.

Don't give me that feely stuff.

Tell me what to do, is what I'm thinking.

Right?

Give me some wisdom for what to do here.

Tell me what's in my heart.

I mean, and the first few times he asked me, I was like, how dare you?

How dare you ask that?

I'm gonna throw him out.

Let's talk about the falcons.

You know, let's like my heart.

And what he was doing is he was he was leading me to the wisdom behind the wisdom.

I see, there's practices to help that.

Right?

I mean, there's practices to help anything you're you're wrestling with.

But the real issue is always inside the heart.

That's where it starts, in the core of your being.

I knew the wisdom.

Study hard, outline the passage, plug in your illustrations, and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse.

I knew the and then be present with your family on Saturday.

Let go of it and be present, rely on the Lord, the Holy Spirit's gonna speak.

Like I knew, I knew what to do, but I couldn't pull it off.

I wasn't pulling it off.

And see, I had to see, and this is what he was trying to do, he was taking me past wisdom to the wisdom to Jesus.

I I had to see that God loves me so much in Jesus that this sermon can be rubbish.

And I am still fully redeemed, fully loved as his child.

I mean, I I still have to see that this church can crumble, and I am still fully valuable before God, valued, loved as a human being and as his child.

And I don't have to use this church to be my savior.

I mean, I still have to see that.

And then I'm free, and then I'm free because I'm secure, then I'm free in the wisdom, in Jesus, to not use wisdom or anything else, church, anything else, as my savior.

See, Christ as my wisdom allows me to become open to wisdom for my life without wisdom for my life to be exhaustion to my soul.

I'll say it again.

Okay, Christ as my wisdom allows me to become open to wisdom for my life, without wisdom for my life to be exhaustion to my soul.

See, if it's just self-awareness and evolution, then I need more, I need more, I need more, I need more.

Right?

I've done that.

You've you've probably done it.

Right?

Follow more principles, learn the next thing, and and you can stay hidden in that for a long time.

You can pretend your way through a lot of life.

But Christ as your wisdom, it demands an opening of yourself to be loved in all of yourself, letting go of the sin of autonomy, the sin of self-justification, all your idols to live securely in Jesus.

And that He is sufficient.

And then we begin to live day by day by the Spirit of God reminding us that our value and our worth and our salvation, our redemption is in Christ's work for us, and we're confessing over to God our bad and what we do, bad, and even our bad and the good stuff we do.

And what we're hearing is is we're hearing what's been being whispered behind wisdom the entire time, and that is Jesus is sufficient for the neediness of the core of your being.

And then we don't have to use all the other help in life to be a savior.

So, my brothers and sisters, may He be your wisdom.

Okay, let's pray together.

God, thank you for the great gift of Jesus, that He is the wisdom behind the wisdom.

Incarnate, never-ending love, that we do not have to be on a never-ending search.

Would you help us to trust in greater ways in your son and not rely on all the good things that are around us?

And would you put back the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of how you want us to walk in this world in its proper place behind our security in Jesus?

We thank you for your love toward us in all things.

Amen.