Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 - Ron Wallace

Okay, we are back in Ecclesiastes this morning.

Ecclesiastes chapter five.

I asked a handful of people to be ready to to read something.

I didn't get to talk to all of you before the service, but that's like a little bit over halfway through the sermon, so you don't you can relax for a second.

I'm not gonna call on you for at least like 10 or 15 minutes.

So Ecclesiastes chapter 5 this morning.

Ecclesiastes 5 · chapter mention

It's Dan Smith's birthday.

He loves attention, so you guys should all swarm him afterwards and wish him happy birthday.

He's only 42 years old.

Still has half his life in front of him.

Okay, Ecclesiastes 5.

The author in Ecclesiastes so far has talked about uh the vaporness of life, how we can't build on anything, we can't get anywhere because this life and its possessions are temporary.

They're fleeting.

And it can be really frustrating when you take stock of everything and you realize that everything you've worked for will eventually be enjoyed by someone else, and you have absolutely no control over that.

Or if you decide the opposite of that, to just kick back and enjoy everything and take it easy, you soon find out that even laughter is empty.

There's really no substance in just uh kicking back and taking it easy.

And it leaves us wondering, what are we doing?

What are we doing here?

What where are we going?

Everything seems so pointless and so empty and so temporary.

Why?

Why is this?

This is the depressing theme of the first four chapters of Ecclesiastes.

And lest we get this attitude, this haughty attitude of, well, this is all pointless, and you can't teach me anything because everything's pointless anyway, the author then turns our attention to God in chapter 5.

What does it look like to draw near to God?

The one who created all of this, the one who stands above and outside of all of this and rules with perfect wisdom every living cell under the sun, every bit of matter in the cosmos ruled by this creator.

How do we approach this person that can shape our will and shape our existence?

Is he even approachable?

Or is this just another frustrating reality that we're up against in Ecclesiastes?

That here we are stuck with no real control over anything, and on top of that, the one that does have control is just high above with no thought or concern concern or love toward us.

Is that just another frustrating reality that we're dealt with?

Well, let's look at our text here this morning in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verses 1 through 7.

Ecclesiastes 5:1–7

I'm gonna I'm gonna read these verses and then we'll kind of dive in there.

Ecclesiastes 5, 1 through 7.

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.

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 biz 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 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 is vanity.

But God is the one you must fear.

We we see something about God from this text.

He requires some things.

And I don't mean that he requires some things the same way that some uh diva that's getting ready to do a performance, and they want to make sure that they have the right flavored water before they go out on stage, and they gotta have the right snack before they perform in front of everyone.

That's not what God requires, it's not those types of requirements.

But God is a big deal, so he requires some stuff.

We were talking about this the past week in our house.

God is such a big deal that when Jesus came and rose from the dead, they said, We're gonna start time all over.

Like we're going back to year one.

We're gonna start, and we can debate, like, yeah, but that's BC is the you know, it's before the common era, and then it's common era.

But they history stopped and then they said we're starting over the calendar according to when around when Christ was here.

Imagine something today that happened so big that we're like, you know what?

In the light of the events that just happened, when New Year's Eve comes and we we celebrate that new year, we're just doing away with all the calendars and we're just completely starting over.

That is God.

His character demands something.

He is holy, and therefore we should approach him with reverence.

And I think this is a thought that has been lost on us over the last 30 years or so.

Somewhere along the line, we wanted God to feel more approachable, so we really honed in hard on his grace and his mercy and his love.

And yes, he is all of those things, absolutely.

But perhaps we have focused so intently on those things in an effort to make God seem more kind that we have inadvertently avoided God's holiness.

And it is his holiness that makes him God, that makes him other, that makes him better than us, better than the very being of us.

He is better, that makes him worthy of worship.

It is his holiness that has prompted the building of temples that were very elaborate.

If you get into the author's mind here, get into his head.

He's heard stories and maybe even been involved with people that had died when mishandling the Ark of the Covenant.

Or people dying when they didn't enter the parts of the temple that that put you closest to God.

They didn't enter those parts in the appropriate way, and they were killed because of God's holiness.

And Revelation chapter 4.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

Listen to what John describes the throne of God like.

I'm gonna read Revelation 4, uh verses 6 through 8.

It says, And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass, like crystal, and around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures full of eyes, in front and behind, the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature like with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

What do these creatures say of God day and night?

Now we can discuss Revelation and is this uh is this a picture of something or is this literal?

But either way, what are these creatures circling the throne of God saying about him day and night?

They say, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.

That's the one thing that they circle around God saying.

That's the one thing that best describes God.

They are not circling around him saying, nice, nice, nice, God is so nice.

Love, love, love.

God is love.

It is paramount as we try to grasp who God is, that we grapple with this holiness.

If he is not holy, then he is not worthy of our worship.

No matter how nice he is or loving he is, no matter how well he executes justice, if he is not holy, he is not worthy.

But if he is, if he is perfectly holy, spotless, without one blemish, without no trace of imperfection in his character, then that demands something of us.

We can't be flippant about that.

The author understands that as he starts in on these seven verses, that's what he understands, the the big holiness of God.

And what does he lead off with in these first seven verses?

The first thing he says is guard your steps.

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

Now, I just mentioned how the priest in the Old Testament, they would have to do certain cleaning rituals to enter into the Holy of Holies in the temple of God in the Old Testament.

Our author here, he knows that.

He's well acquainted with being very careful when approaching God.

In our terms today, people would say this was just a matter of respect.

It's the same idea behind people dressing up to come to church, the same idea behind buildings and modern churches being built big and elaborate.

It's the same idea behind these steeples and stained glass windows.

These are reverent and respectful.

It's the idea that drove people to war wear suits to church.

And they we did this for years.

We wear suits and we dress in our best to come to church.

Now look, I'm not, if you're not in a suit today, like me, I'm not in a suit, I'm not dogging that.

That personally, this is about the best that I can do.

This is what I got.

I don't own a lot of suits.

I'm too short and I'm too fat to make, they don't make suits that fit me well, so I'm like, forget it, I'm never wearing a suit again.

So I'm not dogging it if you don't have a suit on.

But if it does get your mind prepared that you're coming to a place to hear from God and your dress helps remind you of that, that, hey, I'm gonna dress a little bit different than I am when I'm going out to get a sandwich, hey, then by all means get dressed up.

No one here is trying to tell you where or where you can go or how you go there.

If you have been free by Christ, then you are free indeed to go, move about, see things, do things.

But if you are pursuing holiness, which by the way, for the Christian is not an option, then we must guard our steps.

Now, if you think back to the Old Testament, you have these elaborate temples pointing to God's holiness.

You have this temple of God.

There's a thick curtain separating an area where common folks can come into the temple, and then where the priest goes, into the Holy of Holies.

And in the Holy of Holies, the priest would go once a year to offer an atonement for our sins for the people, an animal blood sacrifice to cover the sins of the people.

He had very strict rituals that he had to follow to be able to enter into the holies of holies.

He was approaching God.

There was a serious to this, seriousness to this.

He had to take this very seriously.

Now I'm going to read Matthew 27, 50 and 51, and listen to what happened when Jesus was crucified on the cross when he died.

Matthew 27, 50 and 51.

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, yielding up his spirit.

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and rocks were split.

That huge curtain in the temple, dividing where the common folk could come and where the priest had to come, and we had we had to do all these rituals to get in there to cover the sins of the people, that curtain was torn.

God tore that curtain to signify to us that we no longer need a high priest to atone for our sin.

Because what did Jesus just say when he died on the cross?

John 19, 30.

It is finished.

It's over.

No more high priests needed because Jesus just atoned for our sins once and for all.

And by the way, there's so much more to Jesus dying on the cross than just he died to take away my sins.

That's a beautiful fact.

But it's packed full of rich theology.

I would encourage you to grow in that, analyze it, fall in love with all of the scripture that's tied to Jesus dying on the cross.

And also, I would encourage you to hang with me here.

I'm going somewhere.

Jesus God tearing that curtain and making that division, that that uh tearing down that division to where the common folk could now approach God.

Jesus dying on the cross and making that happen, that has major implications.

That curtain tearing has major implications.

1 Corinthians 3, 16 and 17 says, Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

We are the temple of God now.

The place where the Spirit dwells.

It's not the Holy of Holies anymore.

It's not hidden behind a big thick curtain anymore.

We don't have a high priest.

We are priest.

Jesus finished the atoning work so that the Old Testament priest didn't have to keep sacrificing.

He is the sacrifice.

How casual are we about that?

This verse tells us to guard your steps when you go to the house of God.

Watch yourself.

Show some respect in the way that you're treating all of this.

Now, I honestly don't think that when the author wrote this text, that he was talking about our bodies being temples and to watch our steps and to show respect to our own bodies.

I think he was pointing to show, he was pointing us to show reverence to God by guarding ourselves as we enter his presence.

But man, can we draw some parallels here?

We've gotten to a place in our society where we don't guard our steps in anything.

Everything goes.

There's nothing sacred.

And I think we would be ignorant to think that that hasn't bled over into the way that we worship God, into the way that we treat things, into the places that we go, into the things that we see, into the way that we care for our own bodies, which are the temple of God.

All of that casual, cavalier attitude toward everything has certainly played a part in us dumbing down God's holiness.

And a better picture of God's holiness will give us a more worshipful heart.

I don't know what God would convict you over on guarding your steps, but I would say don't ignore it.

Whatever it is, make an effort to view God as holy, just as we're told to be holy.

In 1 Peter 1:15, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:15

We need to guard our steps, not be so cavalier about where we're taking ourselves and what we are doing and what we're doing with the temple of God as it pertains to holiness.

And now I'm gonna read verses uh one, the second part of verse one through chapter seven.

If you've if I've asked you to read something, that's coming up.

Your time to shine is coming.

When you read, you're not gonna have a microphone, so please be loud.

Uh embrace it.

You're here.

You're we're here for it.

We want to hear you.

Uh one verse one B through seven of chapter five.

To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that 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 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 is vanity, but God is the one you must fear.

The author says to guard our steps in the first part of that verse number one.

And then he spends the rest of these first seven verses telling us to guard our mouths, to listen.

This isn't unique to Ecclesiastes.

In fact, we're gonna look at that.

I've got a few people here that are gonna read a Proverbs for us on this idea of listening, to guard your mouth, and listen to these verse.

The first is my wife.

Would you read Proverbs twelve fifteen?

Okay.

Proverbs eighteen thirteen.

Proverbs twenty-one, twenty-three.

Okay, and Kevin's in the hallway, so I'll skip that one.

But the idea is simple.

We need to guard our mouths.

Guard our mouths.

Listen to the the last part of that first verse again.

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

We are so quick to speak, and sometimes it is our very words that we are quick with that end up condemning us.

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

Be slow to speak, be choosy and careful.

I love this this next part of the verse.

Why?

Why would we be careful to speak?

What why would that be?

Well, it says, For God is in heaven and you are on earth.

You want to act like you know the whole situation, that you can see everything, that you've got it all figured out, that you would do it differently if you were God, if you were the one in charge?

Well, God is in heaven and sees everything, the end from the beginning.

He has an amazing view of time and of all circumstances.

You are on earth with everyone else.

You can't see.

You can't see it all.

He even doubles down on it after that and he says, Therefore, let your words be few.

You want to be known as a fool?

Be a person who does a pretty good business in saying too many words.

Puff yourself up.

Make promises that you can't keep.

So in the moment you seem really awesome, but you have no intention of keeping it.

Vow things to God that you don't follow through on.

And then when it comes time to follow through on it, just say, Oh shoot, I shouldn't have said that, God.

That was my bad.

I overcommitted there.

That's a fool.

That's who God has no pleasure in.

Guard your mouth.

Think about it a little bit.

Your words mean something.

Verse 4 says, pay what you vow.

What you said matters.

Verse 6 says, Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?

You don't think your words have any weight or carry any matter with them?

Like you can just go about saying things that you you're that you're uh someone before God to make yourself look like you're somebody before God and that he's just okay with that?

Sometimes we often we we do this, we offer up our words as if God needs us.

We offer up our words uh for critiques.

We have people that will just critique everything.

I'm guilty, I'm a critic.

I am guilty of this.

But are your critiques to just the way things are going, maybe the the order of the service, may you you look at this and you're like, man, I need to share my critiques because my critiques are the sac are what are a sacrifice to God.

Don't let your critiques and your words be the sacrifice of fools.

You think you're doing God some favor by pointing out our blunders and all of these things, but yet it says that to draw near to listen is better.

God doesn't need me, He doesn't need you pretending like you're impressing him with all that you have to say.

Guard your mouth lest he destroy what you have done.

We we bebop around uh saying things before God to trick others into thinking that our hearts aren't as Dark as they really are.

As if we have people to fear.

Like we try really hard to get their approval.

We need to impress them.

And we keep digging and digging, and our words grow more and more.

And at the end of those words is nothing.

That's what the verse says.

It's vanity.

There's nothing at the end of those words.

And verse 7 says, For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity.

There's nothing behind any of it but vapor.

And the author is saying, There is a holy God behind all of this, and he is the one you must fear.

Forget impressing mankind.

God is the one that you must fear.

Your words are leaving a record of your heart.

And God has all the records.

He has the entire set of the words that you've said.

Your wife has like half the set or more.

She knows probably half the words you've ever said.

God has the entire set.

Guard your mouth because he is holy.

Guard your steps because he is holy.

His holiness demands us to guard our mouth and to guard our steps.

In modern terms, we would say, check yourself before you wreck yourself.

And by modern terms, I mean terms from a decade ago because I don't actually know modern terms.

So I use things from back when I did know modern terms.

We are free to go and to do and to say what we want.

Yes.

So long as we as Christians are pursuing holiness and becoming more like Jesus.

Go.

Yes.

But it is also wise and commanded to pursue holiness, to guard our words, to guard our steps before an ever-present, awesome, holy God.

Now we said at the beginning, I said this back at the beginning, that the theme of Ecclesiastes has been a bit of a downer.

It's kind of a downer.

And I'm just gonna, spoiler alert, if you haven't read the rest of it, it doesn't get much better.

The guy's just in a dark place.

But from this depressing start, we ask this is this God that created all of this and put us here in the midst of all of this, surrounded by all this vapor, when we can't see through the smoke and the vapor surrounding us, is he even approachable?

Is our existence just a frustrating reality that God is in control and that we are not and that he's bent on making us suffer through all of this?

And the answer is yes.

Yes.

He is.

If you are a fool.

If you are a fool who has filled your life with things that don't matter and that won't last, then yes.

You will be frustrated.

God will frustrate you as you ponder what this is all about.

Because you are living for yourself.

If you're living for yourself, then your conclusion will be that this isn't enough.

This is a cruel joke by some creator.

He's left me on a hamster wheel and I'm just spinning.

As much as you're trying to fill it with stuff and with education and with entertainment, it's not enough.

Because we're chasing temporary high after temporary high, and God isn't even here to direct me.

That is frustrating for the person that is not looking past that to see God.

But what if, what if the frustrations and the vaporness of life, the emptiness that is found here in this life, what if that emptiness is there to point you to the source?

How cruel would it be for God to allow the emptiness and the vaporness of this life to fill you, knowing that at the end of that is no satisfaction?

What if it is all meant to point you to the source?

To point you to the one that really can fulfill you?

What if God is exhausting you of yourself?

Because no matter how much they say, no matter how much the world tells us that the answer lies within us, it actually does not lie within us.

And the only way that you get to see that is that you exhaust yourself of all the vanity, of all the vaporness.

You exhaust yourself of yourself and you turn to that holy God.

A God that is not only approachable, but actually approached us by sending his son to make a way for sinners to get into his presence.

If you're here chasing vapor, grasping at nothing, that could be the very thing that's pushing you to God.

Allow those frustrations and that emptiness to fuel you to get answers from the source of all of it.

Who is God?

I would plead with you if that's you.

Come talk to me or Rick or Jimmy or somebody that you trust and dig in more.

God is the source of all of this.

And if you're here with Christ, may we stop chasing it.

May we guard our mouths.

May we guard our steps and pursue holiness.

Get serious about the holiness of God.

Are we free to do whatever?

Absolutely.

As long as we are pursuing holiness in the midst of that.

Let's pray.

God, I thank you for being a holy God, a God that is worthy of worship.

How stupid would it be if we came in here and worshiped a being that was the same as us?

Thank you for knowing the end from the beginning, for being other than us, for being without blemish and without spot.

We praise you for that.

May our hearts, though we cannot fully grasp it, just in faith bow before you and worship you, knowing that you are good and right and just and above all that you are holy.

Just pray that you would uh bend our minds toward you and help us.

Help us to see you more clearly.

Help us to see through the haze of vapor and the emptiness of all of this to the source of all of this found in you.

I just pray that you would convict our hearts of that this morning.

Pray you would bless the remainder of our time together.

Uh, chip away at us and form us more into your image, God.

We thank you for it in Jesus' name.

Amen.