Everything Is Meaningless - Proper Worship

Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 5.

Ecclesiastes 5 · chapter mention

Ecclesiastes, chapter 5.

Ecclesiastes 5 · chapter mention

It's a privilege to contribute to the series we're in For those who have not been here.

We are in a series preaching through the book of Ecclesiastes, the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, and I'll be preaching today from chapter 5, entitled Proper Worship.

Proper Worship, and we're seeing that this Old Testament book is not just a book in which Solomon expresses his skepticism, as most people think of this book, but actually it's a book which prepares us to receive the gospel.

Last week, kelly took us through chapter 4 and the 4 things that Solomon observed, and he uses an example of information regarding the recluse Howard Hughes.

He talked about his life.

I want to just read something regarding his death.

It says when the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died on April 5, 1976, there was no one in his immediate family to claim the body.

No one visited the funeral home to pay their last respects.

There was no will.

No one could say that they were his friend or his close relative.

What a sad thing, because in his own estate he owned several gambling interests in Las Vegas.

His company's public relation officer called the casinos in Vegas and asked if they would observe a minute of silence for Mr Hughes, whom they called a great American.

And so, at a certain moment in time, casinos in Las Vegas observed a minute of silence for Howard Hughes.

Time magazine reported the event.

Time said, quote casinos fell silent, housewives stood uncomfortably clutching their paper cups full of coins as the slot machines, the blackjack games paused and at the crap tables, the stickman cradled the dice in the crook of their wooden wands.

Then a pit boss looked at his watch, leaned forward and whispered OK, roll the dice, he's had his minute.

When I read that, I think sometimes that's what some of us perceive are.

Coming together to worship is about.

After a busy week of work and different family events, we drag ourselves into our seats to give honor and glorify God for an hour and a half hour, and when that's over we go back into the busyness of our lives until the next time we gather for worship.

It's easy if we're not careful.

It's easy to come to a worship service like this without giving thought to what it is that we are actually doing when we gather on the Lord's Day.

For many we have done it for so long.

We function without reflection.

But in these verses Solomon calls upon us to make sure we are approaching God properly when it comes to worship.

If we're going to worship properly, solomon tells us we need to be careful to make sure of two things.

Number one first, we must make sure that we are worshiping the true God.

Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well, when he said to her a woman, believe me, the hour is coming.

When she said you know how do you get this water?

And Jesus said believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

You worship what you do not know.

We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Jesus told the woman at the well that true worshipers are worshiping the Father in spirit and in truth.

And by truth he means that we are worshiping according to how he's revealed in Scripture.

The second thing we must realize if we're going to worship properly is that we are worshiping, making sure we are worshiped with the reverence do his name.

And that second part is what Solomon is exhorting us to do in these first seven verses of the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter five.

So let me read the first seven verses of Ecclesiastes five, and then two verses from the book of Hebrews Guard your steps.

Ecclesiastes five one 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 they are doing evil.

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.

Therefore, let your words be few, for a dream comes with much business and a fool's voice with many words.

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 you should vow and not pay.

Let not your mouth be led 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 is vanity, but God is the one you must fear.

And then look to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, verses 28 and 29.

Hebrews 12:28

Says therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

Father, take these words from the book of Hebrews and the book of Ecclesiastes and gently apply them powerfully to our hearts.

We pray for you to grant us grace to understand what it is we're being exhorted to do in Jesus' name, and everyone said Amen.

There are two things that matter most when it comes to making sure we are worshiping properly.

It's worshiping inwardly and outwardly.

Now, by outward worship we're talking about worship styles, the type of music we sing, you know, having a coffee bar and all of this that we enjoy here at Trinity.

Outward worship has to do with styles and there's been a lot in the church over the years on what the best style is and so forth and so on.

There's been all these debates about the worship wars, but Solomon doesn't deal with outward worship at all in these verses.

He deals entirely with inward worship.

In other words, solomon deals with our attitude, with which we approach God when we come into his house.

Do we have the proper attitude?

And Solomon is concerned with how we come into the house of God to worship.

The statement guard your steps, found in Ecclesiastes 5.1, guard your steps could actually be a reference to the southern steps that were unearthed by an Israeli archaeologist in 1967.

The southern steps are a set of enormous steps leading to the southern wall from the south.

It's also known as the rabbis' stairs, because rabbis would bring their disciples to the stairs and teach them there.

They were executed, as I said, in 1967 by archaeologist Benjamin Mazar, and they are the northernmost extension of the Jerusalem Pilgrim Road leading from the pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount.

Some of you remember that went to Israel with us.

We saw the southern steps.

These steps were built in such a way that the worshipper had to actually slow down to as he entered the house of God.

The slowing down speaks of coming to worship fully cognizant of what we are doing.

We must approach God in such a way that we give Him acceptable worship.

The inward dictates the outward.

So we must make sure that our hearts and minds are approaching God properly.

And when we approach God in prayer are we aware that we must come before Him, waiting silently for Him to speak?

That's why it says in verse one to draw near, to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

Now, solomon will not suggest that any verbal outward words is wrong in prayer, but he certainly is promoting the fact that we must come, and come to him in silence.

It's imperative that we remember the proper relationship when speaking with God.

He is the Creator and we are the creature.

Habakkuk 2.20 reminds us the Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth be silent before him.

The Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth be silent before him.

All true prayer is a response to what God has already spoken.

Are you aware of that?

We come listening to God's words before we utter anti-words of our own, and so the first need we have when approaching God is to listen carefully to what he has already said in scripture.

A few examples of how listening to scripture informs our praying will help underscore that.

You remember when Elijah appears to King Ahab in 1 Kings 17?

There's no mention of Elijah until chapter 17 of 1 Kings and suddenly he appears on the scene and he comes and rebukes and confronts King Ahab and he says it will be neither do nor reign these three years, except by my word.

And we all relish in the fact that Elijah shut up the heavens.

But you know what Elijah really did when he confronted Ahab.

What he really did is he confronted him by reminding him of what God had already said in scripture In the book of Deuteronomy.

God said if Israel was disobedient, then God would shut up the heavens, so it would not reign.

So what Elijah was really doing was quoting that scripture from Deuteronomy when he said there shall be no do not do nor reign for these three years, except by my word.

Wow.

And how about Daniel in chapter nine, when he simply called on God to remember to do what he had already said?

You remember?

Daniel prayed.

We have not listened to your servants, the prophets who spoke in your name, to our kings, our princes and our fathers and to all the people of the land.

To you, oh Lord, belongs righteousness.

Open shame, as I adoth this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which they have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed against you.

To us, oh Lord, belongs open shame to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

To the Lord, our God, belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God, walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets Daniel, nine, six through 10.

So these were really scriptures being prayed to God, and that's what we must do when we will come to worship.

Now, in these first seven verses we read in Ecclesiastes five.

The author tells us three things about how we should enter worship.

Number one up to this point, the preacher has given us mostly his observations about life in the fallen world, but now he's given us several admonitions in these verses, reminding us that we must be careful how we approach God, and there's three specific things that Solomon has said.

The first admonition is to remember which we quoted earlier, but I'll quote it again that we are going to the house of God to worship.

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

Solomon is reminding us that God alone must be the focus of worship.

When we come to his house, we must remind ourselves that the God we worship is holy and majestic and we must remember that as we come, when we enter his house to worship, we're not to do it casually, as if we're dropping by a friend's house for a visit.

In the Old Testament, god was worshiped spatially at the Tabernacle and Temple.

Remember when God took Moses to the top of Mount Sinai and showed him the pattern for the Tabernacle God's dwelling on earth?

The same was true later when Solomon built the Temple.

Both Tabernacle and Temple were constructed in such a way so as to discourage a person from coming casually.

If we're a member of the Old Testament, you could not enter casually into the Holy of Holies.

You could only enter representively when the High Priest entered.

Once a year you had to come on a specific day and with a specific sacrifice on that day, and that was the appointed way to worship.

And in the New Testament, jesus has now come as our great High Priest, who has offered the final sacrifice for sin for all time.

Aren't you glad you didn't have to hack an animal before you came to church this morning.

I am so glad Because when Jesus expired on the cross in that place, at that exact moment of his death, the veil separating the Holy Place to the Holy of Holies was rent and that signal that the way into the true Holy of Holies has been open.

You can say amen with a clap.

What that means, among many things, is that we're no longer dependent on any building or location to enter to experience the presence of God.

We don't have to go to a building to experience.

As Heather pointed out in her exhortation, the New Testament teaches that the church 1 Corinthians 3-9, you are God's building.

You are God's building.

It's like we have to go to a building.

We're thankful we have this building to worship in, but the presence of God isn't limited to this building.

Second, corinthians 6 says we are the temple of the living God.

We are the temple of the living God.

And how about 1 Peter 2, 4, and 5, when Peter says you also come to him, the living stone.

You also, as living stones are built together a spiritual house.

How many know?

You're a living stone.

You come to the living stone which is Jesus.

He imparts to us his life and when he does, we become stoned.

That's what it says.

First, peter 2, you come to him, the living stone, you also as living stones.

What happened is I come to him, he imparts to me his life, and then I become a living stone, and then he gets stoned.

So tell somebody, you went to church and got stoned this morning.

And what does God do with stones.

I asked one church that and somebody yelled out you throw them at people.

I said no, that's not right, that's radical, but it's not right.

What are stones?

All building in the first century was done by stones and God brought people, brought when the temple was built.

That's what happened and said the temple was built by members of Israel honing the stones, preparing the stones in private.

So when they came together they fit together perfectly.

And that's what happens with the church of God.

You're part of this body.

You're a living stone that God has built you together to other stones, with other stones.

So enjoy being stoned.

I better get out of that because I'm stuck.

So wherever the church of God gathers, that is where he is present.

Jesus promises that wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, there he is in the midst.

The second thing we learn is that worship is about listening much and saying little.

Worship is about listening much and saying little.

How are we to come?

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

In the Old Testament, worship was conducted largely in silence, and we moderns don't like.

Do you ever see when there's a silent period in the church and it's a little bit awkward.

We feel like we need to jump up and say something or do something.

We're not comfortable with silence.

We go to most homes today.

When I go to home, sometimes to make a pastoral visit, I'll find a TV on in every room, the radio blessing people.

On social media.

Today we have thousands of voices speaking to us.

Solomon warns us against offering the sacrifice of fools.

Now, when he draws near to listen.

He is not saying we should never talk at all, as I previously said, but the word listen is closely tied to listening with an ear to hear what you hear and obey.

It's like a football coach who says to the football team okay, everybody, listen up.

He doesn't mean merely tune in and listen physically, but he's listening is to listen to obey.

Listening is a major part of our worship because we're listening to obey.

We should be James 1.22,.

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Be doers of the word, not, and not hearers only.

How about verse two of Ecclesiastes 5?

We read 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.

Therefore, let your words be few.

Translation God is God and we're not.

So shut up and listen.

Sorry to be so rude, but it's the only way I knew to say it, so I put it in my notes Let your words be few.

You are on earth and God is in heaven.

Now, of course, this is not just a statement about what we do when we come together for corporate worship.

It's a general rule of the ungodly.

The Bible, in both testaments, clearly calls us to let our words be few.

This is not a statement about when we come to worship only, but a general rule of the godly.

Remember Proverbs 10,.

19 is a good example.

The one who restrains his lips is wise, because in the multitude of words, sin is not lacking.

Did you know that if you don't open your mouth, people will mistake you as a wise person?

Go ahead and try it, it works.

Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.

James 1, 19.

If you have to hear, you know people pointed out that you have two ears and one mouth, so God intends for you to listen twice as much as you talk.

Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.

How about Proverbs 17?

Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent and discerning, if he holds his tongue Again.

When the Bible says, let your words be few, it's not just a statement of physical distance, but of reverence.

God is above all, and we must remember that when we come into his presence we should listen intently so we don't offer the sacrifice of fools.

You say what is the sacrifice of fools?

He tells us what it is.

In the text we read the foolishness of broken promises.

The foolishness of broken promises.

Making rash statements with your mouth is the sacrifice of fools.

Making vows you do not keep is the sacrifice of fools.

How many of you have come to altars and altar calls and said things rashly that you weren't prepared to carry out?

Maybe you were moved in the moment by emotion, but you were not ready to carry it out.

We've all tried to bargain with God.

How many of you have ever bargained with God?

God, I'll make a deal with you do this for me and I'll stop doing this or I'll stop doing that.

God, if you get me this job, I'll stop drinking.

And what happens?

They get the job.

And how do they celebrate with a drink, or can be something as serious as vowing to stay married.

How many have been challenged to honor your marriage vows?

God, I promise, remember what you said.

I promise to love, honor and cherish, forsaking all others and cleaving to this person as long as we both shall live.

Remember saying that a lot of people who make that vow on average 50% of the people who made that vow break it at a later time.

How sad.

Do Christians not understand the importance and seriousness of their words?

I get it that non-Christians say rash things before God, don't want to keep their vows, but what about born again people who speak rashly with their words?

We need to understand the sacredness of a vow before God.

It's better not to vow than it is to vow and not keep it.

So there are legitimate and biblical reasons for divorce, but generally speaking, we must be careful to honor our vows.

Psalm 154 says he honors those who swears to His own hurt and doesn't change.

And how about Deuteronomy 23-23,?

If you make a vow to the Lord, your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord, your God, will surely require it of you.

When we do make a vow before God, we should be careful to fulfill what we have vowed.

And the third thing we notice is worship is about giving.

Worship is about giving.

There's a verse in Deuteronomy 16 where God commands that every worshiper not come before him quote empty-handed.

That's why we always mention Derek always mentions that giving is part, a vital part of our worship.

It's where we worship not the only way, but important way.

And don't default and think you're only, we're only talking about money.

In the same way, we default in thinking only about singing as part of worship.

Singing and giving financially are part, but they're not the only part.

Worship is essentially a disposition that we come before God with the disposition of a worshiper.

You're coming to give what you have to the Lord.

You are mirroring the Father when you come, who is the greatest giver of all.

This is the proper attitude that I should come to the house of God with and in the process, we do receive, but that is not why we come.

So let me ask you are you regularly giving financially as part of your worship?

I know this church is very generous, but I speak to everyone.

Are you regularly giving as part of your worship, something you need to plan to do?

And when we speak this way the subject of tithing comes up.

Are we under a law of tithing?

And I would say absolutely not.

We're not under a law of tithing.

But tithing is like training wheels on a bicycle.

It's a good discipline that teaches us to give, but it's only the basic level.

It's a good place to start.

So I would encourage everybody that's not tithing to do so.

But don't stop there.

It's only the beginning.

Ties and offerings Start by practicing tithing regularly and then growing in giving beyond through ties and offerings.

Make sure you're worshiping regularly by your giving, not just singing.

And at Trinity we don't pass the hat or anything.

We just tell you the ways you can give and you have a choice in that matter.

Perhaps that's why Solomon warns, beginning in verse 10 of this fifth chapter, against the love of money.

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.

But also this also is vanity.

When goods increase, they increase.

Who eat them?

And what advantage has their owner?

But to see them in it with his eyes?

Sweet is the sleep of a labor, whoever he eats, whether he eats little or much.

But the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

There is a grievous evil that I've seen under the sun Riches were kept by their owner to the hurt and those riches were lost in a bad venture.

And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand as he came from his mother's womb.

He shall go again naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.

This also is a grievous evil.

Just as he came, so shall he go.

And what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?

Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and anger.

Verse 18, behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun.

The few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil.

This is the gift of God, for he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Beginning at verse one of verse 10, I'm sorry, paul warns, solomon warns against the love of money, not money itself.

In fact, the Apostle Paul's teaching on this subject does not prescribe the giving away of all wealth.

He exhorts us in 1 Timothy 6, not to be arrogant, nor to put our hope in wealth, but to be generous and willing to share.

Remember the rich young ruler who was unwilling to heed Jesus' words to sell all that he had and give to the poor?

He was not willing to do it.

He went away sad because he wouldn't part with his money.

Jesus' words were not necessarily meant to be a prescription for all believers to give away everything they have.

One problem having lots of money is learning how to properly manage it.

The person of average means doesn't typically have the headaches that comes with great wealth embezzlement lawsuits and questioning whether people like you or not, or like you because of your money.

There are many examples of the paranoia and fear that come from having much wealth People such as Sir William Burwell, who spent much of his time amassing a huge, extraordinary art collection but lived his past years like Howard Hughes the recluse as a recluse, for fear that fire or theft would take away his art.

Solomon says that labor's sleep is sweet, while the sleep of a rich man will not let him sleep Rich men.

Solomon observed that some people think that riches will bring life.

Riches are deceptive because he wants us to know that they can be easily lost.

Here's what we can learn from people who've easily lost fortunes, for example, former lottery winners.

Are you aware of the fact that most lottery winners end up in bad shape financially?

If you win the $1.5 billion powerball jackpot, you may not be as lucky as you think.

Many winners befall the so-called curse of the lottery, with some squandering their fortunes and others meeting tragic ends.

Well, so many of them end up unhappy or wind up broke.

People have had terrible things happen, said Don McNay, 56, a financial consultant to lottery winners and the author of Life Lessons from the Lottery.

People commit suicide, people run through their money.

Easy comes, easy goes.

They go through divorce or people die.

It's just upheaval and they're not ready for.

Mcnay told Time on Tuesday.

It's the curse of the lottery because it made their lives worse instead of improving them.

About 70% of people who suddenly receive a windfall of cash will lose it within a few years, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education, a quote from Time Magazine.

Why live for certain for something so uncertain that can't survive behind beyond the grave?

Why not live for the true riches, even when a fortune is lost?

Here's what the prophet Habakkuk said, though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive oil, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls.

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength.

He makes my feet like the deers, he makes me tread on high places.

Habakkuk 3, 17 through 19.

You know, in proper, in Clisiasis 5, 13 through 17, solomon speaks of a grievous evil.

He has son seen done under the sun.

Riches were lost in a bad venture, so that he has nothing to leave his son.

He says, as he came from his mother's womb, so he shall go again as he came and shall take nothing for his toil he may carry away in his hand.

This also is grievous.

Just as he came, so shall he go.

And what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?

Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and anger.

You know the person is not empowered by God receives the bitter fruit of trying to find ultimate meaning in money, and it's impossible.

As we have seen many times in the book of Ecclesiastes, money does not give meaning to life.

The words darkness, vexation, sickness and anger bring to mind what I've heard many wealthy elderly people say you know what a pain old age is, a theme you'll see stated at the end of Ecclesiastes.

Money, status, power cannot hold back the certainty of death.

Death is inevitable.

Everyone must face it.

Again, the proper perspective in verses 18 through 20 here Solomon repeats this idea that a person's relationship with God, not the circumstances of life, brings true joy.

The godly person lives with joy in the good provision of God.

Realism mixed with hope is a common theme in Ecclesiastes.

Realism meet met with hope.

It's a common thing.

Great joy is our possession as believers.

But Solomon doesn't shield us from the reality that our days on earth are few and for those who have wealth, the only way to enjoy it, solomon says again and again in these verses, is if God enables us.

Finding joy and fulfillment in possessions alone is not possible.

Listen to one commentator who said it this way.

Quote the righteous person is not preoccupied with mortality.

Rather, his relationship with God keeps him occupied, and this produce produces deep and abiding joy.

The righteous person doesn't look back at his youth as the only good time of life.

All of his life is empowered by God, so all seasons are marked by joy the person experiences.

This person experiences no midlife crisis, nor does he become bitter with old age.

So here are three principles we drew from our text this morning.

Number one we need to hear from God much more than he needs to hear from us.

Amen, we need to hear from God much more than he needs to hear from us.

We hear from God mainly not only, but mainly through listening to Scripture, but we also should hear God's voice in our life, because God speaks not only through Scripture but to our hearts, as Heather reminded us in her experience.

So that is what Scripture refers to as meditation.

So if you want to worship, you must have a running relationship with God's Word, and if you don't let God's Word speak to you more than you speak, then you'll miss the opportunity to be blessed.

The second thing we learn from these verses is the love of material wealth will keep us from the true treasure of loving God.

The love of material wealth will keep us from the true treasure of knowing God.

The love of money, solomon has told us in these verses, is the ultimate distraction we must deal with.

Jesus said it most plainly you cannot serve God and mammon Impossible.

You can't serve God and money.

He made it absolutely plain.

And then, finally, the third thing we learn from our text this morning those who know God experience joy during every circumstance of life.

It takes God's grace to allow us to have joy throughout our lives, and we can.

Can you stand with me?

Let's pray, father.

Thank you, father, for these words of wisdom given to us from your servant, solomon.

Father, help us to guard our steps when we come to worship.

Help us, lord God, to come boldly, but come with reverence.

Let us not come foolishly or pridefully or arrogantly.

Teach us to draw near, to listen, which is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools for they do not know what they are doing, evil.

I pray that we would know how to come before you in worship in Jesus mighty name.

And everyone said Amen.