What It Means to Be Human

Please turn with me your Bibles to Ecclesiastes.

If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.

We'd love to give you a copy that you can use and have.

If you don't have a Bible, feel free to raise your hand.

We'll bring one over to you.

We're in Ecclesiastes chapter 12.

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

We are in the final passage of the book of Ecclesiastes,

which was a 14-week series.

And we'll be in verses 8 to 14 this morning.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father,

you have the words of life.

Where else can we turn?

To whom else can we go?

So we have come once again to you,

to your words of life,

for your word is truth.

Please address us from your words so that

all of our beliefs,

all of our attitudes,

perspectives,

may be conformed to your word.

Speak to us and transform us so that

all of our priorities,

all that we say and do,

might be conformed to your word.

Lord,

so that we might be a humble people,

governed by the word of God,

living in a manner that pleases you.

Give us listening ears,

listening hearts,

and glorify the name of your Son,

Jesus Christ,

as we behold him in your word.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please stand,

and if you are able,

as we honor God,

as we read his word,

I'm going to read the passage I would like for us,

Ecclesiastes 12,

Ecclesiastes 12:8–14

verses 8 to 14.

Vanity of vanities,

says the preacher,

all is vanity.

Besides being wise,

the preacher also taught the people knowledge,

weighing and studying and arranging

many proverbs with great care.

The preacher sought to find words of delight,

and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

The words of the wise are like goads,

and like nails firmly fixed

are the collected sayings.

They are given by one shepherd.

My son,

beware of anything beyond these.

Of making many books,

there is no end,

and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter.

All has been heard.

Fear God,

and keep his commandments,

for this is a whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

with every secret thing,

whether good or evil.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover,

but the cover of a book

does tell you important things about a book.

On the front cover,

you find the title of the book.

The back cover usually has a summary blurb of the book,

along with maybe a few endorsements.

And the cover of a book

frames the book

and brings all the pages together into a unity.

That's the function of Ecclesiastes 12, 8-14,

which I just read.

It's the back cover of this book,

and it matches the front cover of the book,

which is Ecclesiastes 1, 1-11,

and there are important parallels

between the beginning and the end of the book.

In chapter 1, verse 1,

we were introduced to the main voice of the book,

which is the preacher.

It said,

the words of the preacher,

the son of David,

king in Jerusalem.

And then in chapter 12,

verses 9-10,

we're introduced to the same preacher.

The preacher also taught the people knowledge.

The preacher sought to find words of delight,

and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

So at the beginning of the book

and at the end of the book,

we see the author of the book,

the redactor of the book,

peeking through.

And as it began in chapter 1, verse 2,

so here it ends in chapter 12, verse 8,

with the refrain,

the thesis of the book,

vanity of vanities,

says the preacher.

Vanity of vanities,

all is vanity.

Throughout our 14-week sermon series in this book,

we've seen that word,

vanity,

48 times,

or 38 times,

sorry,

and it's a translation of a Hebrew word

that means breath,

or wind.

It's the Greek equivalent of the word

that is used in Romans 8-20

to describe that all creation

has been subjected to futility.

That word,

futility,

vanity,

breath.

After Adam sinned and humanity fell,

we,

ever since then,

we have been living in a world

that is a mere breath,

the merest breath.

Our fleeting lives vanish

like a puff of wind

in the blink of an eye,

and all of our earthly strivings

and accomplishments

come to naught.

In such a world,

how then shall we live?

Ecclesiastes 12, 8-14

answers that question

and brings the book

to its climactic conclusion,

and this is the main point

of the passage

and of the book as a whole.

To be fully human

is to fear God

and keep his commandments.

And we're going to see,

explore this in two parts.

First,

we'll look at the words of truth

for every season,

and secondly,

we'll look at the words

of the shepherd

for every sinner.

Many Bible commentators

and theologians

think that the author

and the narrator

of Ecclesiastes

is here contradicting

the kind of the dark

and sobering

and grim message

of the preacher

throughout the book

and that he is now

finally bringing everything

back to the traditional

biblical wisdom

of fearing the Lord.

However,

that's a misinterpretation

of this book

and it's only a surface level

analysis of this book

and misses the main point

of the book

because this is not

the first time

that we've been told

to fear God.

We've been told

to fear God

many times already

in chapter 3,

verse 14,

chapter 5,

verse 7,

chapter 7,

verse 18,

and chapter 8,

verse 12.

Far from contradicting

the preacher,

the narrator here

endorses the preacher.

In verse 9 and 10,

besides being wise,

the preacher also taught

the people knowledge,

weighing and studying

and arranging many proverbs

with great care.

The preacher sought

to find words of delight

and uprightly he wrote

words of truth.

The narrator,

the author of the book,

the redactor of the book

is here affirming

the words of the preacher

that he has been relaying

to us all throughout

the book of Ecclesiastes.

So the main argument,

vanity of vanities,

all is vanity,

is still true.

We live in a fallen world

where everything is vanity.

All comes to naught.

It's all undone

by our last enemy, death.

And it's when we recognize

that our lives

are but a breath,

that we are fleeting creatures

who have no control

over the passage of time

and no control

over the events of life,

that we become

a humble people

who fear God,

who are submitted to him.

There is an intriguing parallel

between Ecclesiastes 12,

9 to 10,

and 7, 29,

that one of our

incoming church members,

Charles Dye,

actually pointed out to me

in our conversation

earlier this week.

And I have a slide

to show the comparison.

Ecclesiastes 12,

9 to 10 says,

besides being wise,

the preacher also taught

the people knowledge.

weighing and studying

and arranging

many proverbs

with great care.

So the preacher

sought to find

words of delight

and uprightly

he wrote words of truth.

Now compare that

to Ecclesiastes 7, 29.

It says,

see, this alone I found,

that God made man upright,

but they have sought out

many schemes.

You see the highlighted words

that are repeated

in those two verses,

found,

many,

sought,

upright.

It's as if the preacher

intends Ecclesiastes

to be a corrective,

an antidote

to what he found.

And what he found

was this,

he found that humanity

as a whole

has strayed

from the uprightness

or straightness

in which God created them

and have instead

sought out

many schemes.

And for that reason,

preachers sought

to find many proverbs

to counteract

their many schemes.

And uprightly

he wrote words of truth

so that those

who have strayed

from their uprightness

may be guided back

by these words

to return

to the righteousness

of the Lord.

This interpretation

is confirmed

by the use of the word

arrange in verse 9.

Arranging many proverbs

with great care,

the word arrange

means more literally

to make straight.

And that's a word

that's used

only three times

in the entire Bible

and two other times

also occur

in the book

of Ecclesiastes.

It says in Ecclesiastes 1.15,

what is crooked

cannot be made straight,

cannot be arranged

or ordered.

7.13,

consider the work of God

who can make straight

what he has made crooked.

In both contexts,

the preacher spoke

of the futility

and vanity of life.

Human beings

cannot make straight

what God

has made crooked.

We,

no matter how hard

we try,

cannot undo

the subjection

to futility

due to sin

that creation is under,

that all of humanity

is under.

Only God

can make straight

what he has made crooked.

And so the preacher

cannot straighten out

this fallen world.

So instead,

he does,

the best thing

he can do

is to straighten

and order

the many proverbs,

the words of the wise,

which are given

by the one shepherd,

namely God,

as it says

in verse 11.

And it's the word

of God

and the fear

of the Lord

that can straighten

out the sheep

that have strayed

away from

the uprightness,

the path of God.

So then the author

of Ecclesiastes

is exhorting us here

to cherish

these words of wisdom.

The preacher,

whose words

the author

has reproduced here,

was wise.

And this wise man

weighed and studied

and arranged

many proverbs

with great care.

In fact,

Ecclesiastes 1.16

told us

that this preacher

had acquired

great wisdom,

surpassing all

who were over

Jerusalem before him.

This is why I think

that this is an allusion

to King Solomon,

the preacher,

who is specifically

noted in 1 Kings 4

as possessing wisdom

that surpassed

the wisdom

of all the people

of the East

and all the wisdom

of Egypt,

for he was wiser

than all other men.

He also spoke

3,000 proverbs.

Verse 10

continues to command

the words

of the preacher

to us.

The preacher

sought to find

words of delight

and uprightly

he wrote

words of truth.

The word delight

in the phrase

words of delight

is used

in two primary senses

in the book

of Ecclesiastes.

In the first sense,

it means pleasure

or delight

and that's the way

it's used

in chapter 5,

verse 4

and chapter 12,

verse 1.

In that sense,

it means that

the preacher

sought to discover

and express

the many proverbs

not only truly

but in a witty

and memorable

and delightful way

which is evident

in the poetic imagery

and the beauty

of the phrasing

in both the book

of Proverbs

and Ecclesiastes.

But there's

an important second

meaning of that word,

delight,

and this is the way

it's more commonly

used in the book

of Ecclesiastes

and it means

matter

or way.

For example,

in Ecclesiastes 3,

Ecclesiastes 3:1

verse 1,

it says,

for everything

there is a season

and a time

for every matter

under heaven.

The word matter

there is a translation

of the same Hebrew word

that is rendered

delight

in chapter 12,

verse 10.

Again,

Ecclesiastes 3,

17 says,

God will judge

the righteous

and the wicked

for there is a time

for every matter

and for every work.

Again,

Ecclesiastes 8,

Ecclesiastes 8:6

verse 6,

for there is a time

and a way

for every matter

although man's trouble

lies heavy on him.

The preacher's concern

in this book

has been comprehensive.

It has encompassed

all of human life

under the sun.

And here

are the words

that are true

and delightful

for every time

and season,

for every matter

under the sun.

Fear God

and keep his commandments.

for this is

the whole duty

of man.

These are

the words

of truth

for every season.

Whether you are

rejoicing or weeping

right now

in your season of life,

whether you are

single or married,

whether you are

healthy or sick,

whether you are

young or old,

pay attention

to these words

the author

is telling us

because these are

the words of truth

for every season

written by

someone who is

wiser than all of us.

And these are also

the words

of the shepherd

for every sinner.

I mentioned this already

but note that

these words of wisdom

do not ultimately

belong to the preacher.

He is not the originator

or the creator

of these proverbs.

He doesn't say

that he thought

of these

or came up with these

or he created

these words.

Those are not

the kinds of verbs

that is used here.

Instead,

he says he simply

weighed and studied

arranged,

sought,

and found them.

The word way,

which means to ponder

or think about,

comes from a word

that means year.

The Hebrew word

for year.

It means to listen

or consider carefully.

The preacher

listened to wisdom.

He sought

and found wisdom

because the wisdom

of Ecclesiastes

does not belong

ultimately to man,

not to Solomon,

but to God.

It says in verse 11,

the words of the wise

are like goads

and like snails

firmly fixed

are the collected sayings.

They are given

by one shepherd.

The words

collected sayings

and many proverbs

are contrasted

with the emphatic word

one,

the one shepherd.

The many proverbs

and this extensive

collection of sayings

all ultimately

have one author

and one owner

and one originator

and that is God.

And we know

that the one shepherd

is a reference to God

because of the way

he is singled out

as the one,

the one shepherd

and because

throughout scripture

God is described

as the shepherd

of his people.

In the first book

of the Bible

in Genesis 48, 15

at the end of his life

Jacob says,

God has been my shepherd

all my life long

to this day.

In the last book

of the Bible

in Revelation 7, 17

it says,

the lamb

in the midst

of the throne

namely Jesus Christ

will be their shepherd

and he will guide them

to springs of living water

and God will wipe away

every tear from their eyes.

And in between

the first book

of the Bible

and the last book

of the Bible

there are many references

to God

as our shepherd.

We read

in the assurance

of pardon,

the Lord

is my shepherd

I shall not want

Psalm 23.

God is the shepherd

and overseer

of our souls

1 Peter 2, 25

O shepherd of Israel

you who lead

Joseph like a flock

Psalm 80 verse 1

Psalms 80:1

and this is what

the words of the shepherd

the words of God

are like.

They are like goads

and like nails

firmly fixed.

These vivid images

convey two different

characteristics

of God's word.

First,

the words of God

are like goads.

We don't really use

goads very much

nowadays

but this is a

traditional farming

instrument.

It's just a long

stick that has

a pointed end

and the farmers

would use it

to goad oxen,

prod the animals

to go in a certain

direction

by pricking them

so that,

you know,

and if an ox

refuses to heed

the prodding

of the goat

then it can stray

and fall into a ditch

or it would certainly

be useless

for farming

because it's not

moving in the direction

that the farmer

wants it to move.

The words of God

are like goads

that direct us

and keep us

on the upright

path of God.

In Acts 26, 14

Saul,

also named Paul,

mentions that

when Jesus

appeared to him

on the road

to Damascus

he said,

Saul, Saul,

why are you

persecuting me?

It is hard for you

to kick against

the goats.

Saul was busy

persecuting

the church of Christ.

He was busy

trying to stamp out

the gospel of Jesus Christ

from the face

of the earth

and Jesus

appears to him

in a vision

and says to him,

it is hard for you

to kick against

the goats.

The word of God

and the way

he is directing

the course of human history

he is trying

to direct Paul,

here are the goats

pointing to him

with the stick,

they go this way

and Paul is kicking

against it

and resisting it

screaming all along

the way

but finally

he responds

to the goading

of the word of God

and he repents

of his sins

and turns around

and he becomes

the famous apostle

to the Gentiles

who perhaps

more widely

and more effectively

proclaim the gospel

and plant the churches

than anyone else

in human history.

Being poked by goats

is not fun.

It hurts

but it's pain

that leads to life

and salvation.

It's pain

for our good.

It's pain

that aligns us

with the purposes

and priorities

of God.

Where in your life

do you feel

the poking

of the goads

of God's word?

is there

a sin

or a habit

that you

refuse to give up?

Stop kicking

against the goats.

Follow

where the shepherd

is leading you.

The words of God

also like

nails firmly fixed.

If you've ever

tried to remove

a nail

that has been

driven into a wall

with a hammer

with your hands

you know that

it's impossible

to do.

I'm not talking

about a nail

that's loosely

hanging on drywall

that you forgot

to use the drywall

anchor in.

That's just kind of

like barely hanging

in there

and just falls

right out.

I'm talking about

a nail

that's driven

firmly into

a wall stud

into a beam

of wood

with a hammer.

Unless you have

the proper tools

for it

you will never

be able to

pull that nail

out

no matter

how strong

you are.

I have

in my bedroom

above the bed

Matthew 11

28-29

written in

Korean calligraphy

framed

and it's a big

heavy frame

it's like

five feet

by three feet

it's unwieldy

to carry

but if I remember

correctly

that massive frame

is hanging

by one nail

one nail

firmly fixed

that one nail

firmly fixed

holds that entire

weight of the frame

which I would have

a hard time

holding for more

than a few minutes

24 hours a day

365 days a year

year after year

after year

it's amazing

on nails

firmly fixed

you can hang

the heavy frames

of your life

likewise

on the words

of God

which are like

nails firmly fixed

you can hang

your entire life

every choice

that you make

every word

that you speak

everything you believe

every relationship

you have

you can hang

it all up

on the word

of God

and it can bear

that weight

but if you hang

your life

on other words

words of men

the wisdom

of this world

would be like

trying to hang

a heavy frame

on a plastic

thumbtick

pushed into a drywall

it will keep

falling off

and you've done

this before

I'm sure

like you're just

trying delicately

to make sure

it stays

it's wobbling

and then

you walk away

and then that

footfall

boom

vibrates

and it falls

to the ground

you can't bear

the weight

of your life

Jesus said

in Matthew 24

35

heaven and earth

will pass away

but my words

will not

pass away

the word

of God

shall not

change

and shall

not be moved

the word

of God

is like nails

firmly fixed

are you

betting your life

on the words

of God

or on the words

of men

what do you

give more

weight to

in your life

do you care

more about

what scripture

says

or

do you care

more about

what scripture

says about

the social

and political

issues in life

or do you care

more about

what your

friends say

or what your

social media

news feed

says

what popular

opinion says

what the

newspaper

pundit

says

do you

spend more

time listening

to or

reading God's

word

or more

time listening

to other

podcasts

other people

talking

reading other

books

magazines

every word

of man

that is posted

and published

throughout human

history

will fade

and be

forgotten

but the

words of God

will remain

forever

so the

author of

Ecclesiastes

gives us some

paternal advice

in verse 12

my son

and if you're a

woman you can

hear my

daughter

beware of

anything beyond

these

of making

many books

there is no

end

and much

study is a

weariness of

the flesh

the words

many books

and much

study form an

intentional contrast

with the many

proverbs

from the

words of the

shepherd in

verse 9

every single

day I mentioned

to you a few

weeks ago

every single

day 7.5

million blog

posts are

published online

every single

year up to

1 million books

are published

and if you

include self

published books

that number is

closer to 4

million

that's about

11,000 books

published every

single day

every year I

have I come

up with a

reading plan for

myself at the

beginning of the

year I work

through try to

work through all

of them I only

get to about half

of them and

and and I feel

like I'm making

progress and I

read every day

but guess what my

list of books to

read or books that

I want to read just

grows longer and

longer and longer

and longer every

single year

and with each

passing year my

conviction grows that

it's better to

reread an old book

that has stood the

test of time than

to read a new book

and with each

passing year my

conviction grows that

the best books to

read are books that

contain the most

scripture books that

help me to understand

scripture better because

scripture is the

pearl of divine

wisdom amidst a sea of

worthless rocks I

can't count the

number of times I've

read something and

thought it was all so

novel and insightful

only to find months

later years later oh

it's been in God's

word all along I can't

count the number of

times I've read things

or and heard things

and thought oh that

is so true and so

wise only to find out

in further study in

the months down the

line or years down

the line oh actually

the word of God

actually contradicts

that and that thing

very thing is exposed

to be false and

foolish I talk a lot

about scripture when I

preach and you know

why it's because apart

from it I don't have

anything useful or

helpful to say

this is why I take

care not to recommend

books to people by

saying that oh that's a

must read I sometimes

slip and I do say that

but don't believe me when

I say that about any

book other than the

word of God there is no

book outside of holy

writ that is a must read

second Timothy three

teaches us that in the

last days people will

be lovers of self

lovers of money lovers

of pleasure rather than

lovers of God having

the appearance of

godliness but denying

its power always learning

and never able to arrive

at a knowledge of the

truth second Timothy

four verse three

continues this morning

for the time is coming

when people will not

endure sound teaching

but having itching ears

they will accumulate for

themselves teachers to

suit their own passions

academic fashions are

always changing new

ideas are always being

proposed new dissertations

are always being written

and the people of this

world are always learning

but never able to arrive

at the knowledge of the

truth you can study

philosophy and theology

for decades and cultivate

an air of sophistication

and an appearance of

godliness even yet know

nothing of the power of

God for salvation for

those who believe

you can go to a therapist

for decades

peeling away layer after

layer of your own life

and of your own past

learn ever more about

yourself and about your

upbringing and turn every

stone and every trauma

and trigger in your life

and yet never arrive at a

knowledge of the truth

because transforming power

lies not in knowing self

but in knowing god

in fact you cannot even truly

know yourself apart from

knowing god

john 17 verse 3 says

John 17:3

and this is eternal life

that they know you

the only true god

and jesus christ whom you

have sent

first corinthians 1 21 says

for since in the wisdom of

god the world did not know

god through wisdom it

pleased god through the

folly of what we preach to

save those who believe

the wisdom of god is

revealed in the gospel of

jesus christ in the folly of

christ crucified not in

worldly wisdom

the great divorce is is c.s

lewis's allegorical work

about a bus ride from hell

to heaven

it has some theological

problems but it's

nonetheless insightful as all

of lewis's writings are

in the book there's a

series of dialogues between

bright what he calls solid

people

these are the people from

heaven

there's a conversation

there are conversations

between these bright solid

people and these immaterial

ghosts

they're the people from hell

the bright solid people try to

bring the ghosts that they

knew in their life on earth

to get them to finally repent

of their sins to confront

their sins to repent of

their sins so that they can

come to heaven with them

in chapter 5 the solid being

named uh named dick tries to

get a ghost who was a bishop

and a theologian on earth to

repent of his heresy and

apostasy

instead of listening to the

solid being the ghost

corrects him and tries him

saying

because because this solid being

used to be a heretic along

with him

but then later in life he

repented

and but this is what what the

what the ghost says to the

solid being

you became rather narrow-minded

towards the end of your life

believing in a literal heaven

and hell

when the solid being tells the

ghost that he was right to

believe in a real heaven and

hell

and that the ghost had in fact

been sent to hell

because of his apostasy the ghost

is

livid

it's like what

and this is what he says of

himself

mine certainly were honest

opinions

they were not only honest but

heroic

i asserted them fearlessly

when the doctrine of the

resurrection ceased to

commend itself to the

critical faculties which god

had given me i openly

rejected it

i preached my famous sermon

i defied the whole chapter i

took every risk

but the solid being challenges

the ghost's delusion

what risk

what was at all likely to

come of it except what

actually came

popularity

sales for your books

invitations

and finally a bishopric

our opinions were not

honestly come by

we simply found ourselves in

contact with a certain

current of ideas and

plunged into it

because it seemed modern and

successful

at college you know we just

started automatically writing

the kind of essays that got

good marks and saying the kind

of things that want applause

when did we put up one

moment's real resistance to

the loss of our faith

we were afraid of crude

salvationism

afraid of a breach with the

spirit of the age

afraid of ridicule

afraid above all of real

spiritual fears and hopes

the dialogue goes on

and the solid being urges the

ghost

one wrench and the tooth will

be out

you can begin as if nothing

ever had gone wrong

white as snow it's all true

you know

christ is in me for you

with that power and i i've

come a long journey to meet

you you have seen hell you

are inside of heaven

will you even now repent and

believe

the dialogue goes on

but the ghost demurs saying

that he would consider it but

that he first needs some

assurances

these are the assurances and

concessions that he seeks from

the solid being who is in

heaven

i think i have this to show

maybe not

i should want a guarantee that

you are taking me to a place

where i shall find a wider sphere

of usefulness

and scope for the talents that

god has given me

and and

and an atmosphere of free

inquiry

in short

all that one means by

civilization

air

spiritual life

but then the solid being

responds this way

no i can promise you none of

these things

no sphere of usefulness

you are not needed there at all

no scope for your talents

only forgiveness for having

perverted them

no atmosphere of inquiry

for i will bring you to the land

not of questions

but of answers

and you shall see the face

of god

unfortunately the stubborn ghost

insists

on his need for the free

wind of inquiry

of always learning

never arriving

and then returns to hell

we are always swimming

in a world of questions

and hypotheses

and suggestions

but here

is the book of answers

the people of this world

are always learning

and never able to arrive

at a knowledge of the truth

so beware

of anything

beyond these

of making many books

there is no end

and much study

is a weariness

of the flesh

but here are the many

proverbs

the words of the wise

that are given

by the one shepherd

are you paying attention

to that word

this is the end

of the matter

he says in verse 13

all has been heard

fear God

and keep his commandments

for this is

the whole duty of man

the word duty

was added there

to help us understand

the main thrust

of the verse

but the word duty

is actually absent

in the original Hebrew

so it's more literally

that fear God

and keep his commandments

for this is

the whole of man

this is what it means

to be man

this is what it means

to be human

what is man

what is humanity's

identity

what is humanity's

duty

Plato claimed

to have found

the answer

he defined human

this way

man is a two-footed

featherless animal

profound

and he was much praised

for his definition

so another

Greek philosopher

he may have been

the first troll

to ever exist

Diogenes of Sinope

plucked a chicken

of all its feathers

and brought it

into Plato's academy

and said

behold

Plato's man

he's exposing

the fact

that merely

describing

and distinguishing

man

from other animals

in terms of

physical features

is not the same thing

as defining

what man is

what is a man's

essence

what is a man's

purpose

countless philosophers

priests and poets

scientists have tried

to answer the question

what is man

and have come up

short just like Plato

more recently

BBC Earth

launched a video

series

entitled

I forget the title

but it's a video

series attempting

to answer that question

what is man

what is human

and this was

their conclusion

to be human

is to be at the

center of your

own universe

to experience life

in all its colors

and all its potential

to be

the greatest wonder

in the world

that's the first thing

that came up

when I searched

on Google

that's a boldly

man-centered way

of looking at the world

but hey

at least it's honest

because that's how

most human beings

in this world live

like they are the

center of the universe

like the world

and their life

and everybody around them

revolves around them

but the word of God

tells a very different

tale doesn't it

it says

fear God

in verse 13

the word God

is actually fronted

for emphasis

in the Hebrew

so literally it says

God you shall fear

that's the way

it's translated

that same expression

Ecclesiastes 5 7

God is the one

you must fear

the order of the word

itself conveys

the point that the

author is making

wisdom

does not begin

with I

or me

or you

it begins

with God

God

you shall fear

I heard this

helpful illustration

in one of the sermons

at the Sovereign Grace

Pastors Conference

this past week

that I was at

before Copernicus's

publication

of the revolutions

of the heavenly spheres

in 1543

most people in the world

believed that

the sun revolved

around the earth

and the planets

revolved around the earth

but unsurprisingly

the math didn't add up

because if you observe

the planets

from the vantage point

of earth

it looks like

they're moving backwards

in their orbit

which doesn't make sense

but lo and behold

when you put the sun

at the center

of this galaxy

all the math

adds up

that's what spiritual life

is like

man-centered philosophies

man-centered theologies

man-centered psychotherapies

never work

the spiritual math

simply doesn't add up

it's only when God

is on the throne

of our lives

when God

is the center

and the heartbeat

of our lives

that everything

falls into place

seek first

the kingdom of God

and all these things

will be given to you

as well

if your goal in life

is to please yourself

and make yourself

happy

by doing

what you want

for yourself

rather than

what God wants

you will never be happy

I guarantee it

because as long

as you are

the center

of your universe

the math

will never add up

but if you put God

at the center

of your life

and make your life

about glorifying him

and enjoying him

and pleasing him

then you will be happier

than you ever imagined

second century church father

Irenaeus

once said this

the glory of God

is the human being

fully alive

because to be fully human

is to fear God

and keep his commandments

that is the whole

of what it means

to be human

this is the end

of the matter

the fear of the Lord

is the beginning

and the end

of wisdom

why

verse 14

for God will bring

every deed

into judgment

with every secret thing

whether good or evil

because to be human

is to be a creature

that is accountable

to the creator

to be human

is to be a servant

that does the bidding

of the master

that's why

when Jesus

the son of God

took human flesh

took on human flesh

and became a man

it says in Philippians 2

7

that he emptied himself

by taking the form

of what

form of a servant

being born

in the likeness

of men

what does human form

and the likeness

of men

entail

servitude

that's what it means

to be human

and we can't rightly

understand ourselves

with our own

dim lights

around the world

we need

the word of God

John Calvin

who is probably

the most influential

theologian

of the Protestant

Reformation

begins his classic

work

the Institutes

of Christian Religion

by saying

that without

knowledge of God

there is no

knowledge of self

why

because we were

created in the image

of God

and our very being

our entire selves

are contingent on God

in him we live

and move

and have our being

act 17

we can only

therefore rightly

know ourselves

in relation to God

knowledge of self

apart from knowledge

of God

is impossible

and our standing

with God

whether you are

righteous or not

also we cannot

understand apart

from God's own

revelation

think about it

this way

in a dimly lit

restaurant

sometimes I

the cynical side

of me assumes

that this is why

restaurants always

dim their lights

so you could barely

see anything

everything

in a dimly lit

room looks romantic

and warm

right

and then you can't

see anything

but imagine

if you took a whole

bunch of fluorescent

light bulbs

and lit the entire

place up

right

now you can see

everything

oh those

that little stain

on that white

tablecloth

and that

oil

that grease streak

on your plate

and your silverware

and that

oh that cockroach

crawling on the edges

of the wall

and then oh

you could even see

the food stuck

between the teeth

of the person

that you're eating

with

you can see

everything

when we look

at ourselves

against the

darkness

of our

surrounding world

it's easy

for us to think

oh yeah

I'm wise

yeah

I'm righteous

but when

we look

at ourselves

against the

light of the

world

Jesus Christ

then we see

all our sins

and shortcomings

as they really

are

Calvin puts

it this way

as long

as we do not

look beyond

the earth

being quite

content with

our own

righteousness

wisdom

and virtue

we flatter

ourselves

most sweetly

and fancy

ourselves

all but

demigods

suppose

we but once

begin to raise

our thoughts

to God

and to ponder

his nature

and how

completely

perfect

are his

righteousness

wisdom

and power

the straight

edge

to which

we must

be shaped

then what

masquerading

earlier as

righteousness

was pleasing

in us

will soon

grow filthy

in its

consummate

wickedness

God's

perfect

word

is the

standard

the

straight

edge

the ruler

to which

our lives

must be

shaped

we can

only know

ourselves

rightly

in the

light of

the knowledge

of the

glory of

God

in the

face

of Jesus

Christ

so then

what can

we do

when we

behold

our own

consummate

wickedness

the hideousness

of sin

in the

light of

the glory

and holiness

of God

what can

we do

what can

we do

when Isaiah

Isaiah 53:6

53 verse 6

the word of

God tells us

that all of

us

we like

sheep

have gone

astray

we have

turned

everyone

to his

own way

when God's

word tells us

that God

made man

upright

but they

have sought