The Vanity of the Unexamined Life (Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:14)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

And now if you would please take those Bibles

and open them up. To the Old Testament book of.

Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 6 verse 10.

Ecclesiastes 6:10

And we're going to take it through about chapter

7 verse. 14 as we continue where we left off.

in this wonderful book of wisdom, Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 6:10

6 verse 10. Please listen, for this is God's

word. Whatever has come to be has already been

named, and it is known what man is and that he

is not able to dispute with one stronger than

he. The more words, the more vanity. And what

is the advantage to man? For who knows what is

good for man while he lives the few days of his

vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For

who can tell man what will be after him under

the sun? A good name is better than precious

ointment, and the day of death than the day of

birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning

than to go to the house of feasting. For this

is the end of all mankind, and the living will

lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter,

for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of

the wise than to hear the song of fools. For

as the crackling of thorns under a pot so is

the laughter of the fools. This also is vanity

Surely oppression drives the wise into madness

and a bribe corrupts the heart Better is the

end of a thing Than its beginning and the patient

in spirit is better than the proud in spirit

Be not quick in your spirit to become angry for

anger lodges in the heart of fools. Say not,

why were the former days better than these? For

it is not from wisdom that you ask this. Wisdom

is good with an inheritance, an advantage to

those who see the sun. For the protection of

wisdom is like the protection of money, and the

advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves

the life of him who has it. Consider the work

of God. who can make straight what he has made

crooked. In the day of prosperity, be joyful.

And in the day of adversity, consider God has

made the one as well as the other so that man

may not find out anything that will be after

him. The grass withers and the flower fades,

but God's word stands forever. Let's pray. Father,

we once again give you praise and thanks for

the book of Ecclesiastes, but Lord, there are

difficult statements in here, things that might

be confusing to us. And so Lord, would you give

us a spirit of understanding? Would you open

up our ears and our minds and our hearts to hear

from you now these things we ask in Christ's

name. Amen. Maybe you have heard of the ancient

philosopher Socrates. Socrates, ancient philosopher

who taught Plato. Plato goes on to teach Aristotle.

Socrates is known really for two big things.

And I think he would be known for more things

if we had his writings, but we don't know really

what he wrote. We don't have his writings. Most

of the things we know about Socrates we learn

from his students. But Socrates said this statement

according to Plato. He said, the unexamined life

is not worth living. Have you heard that before?

The unexamined life is not worth living. We should

consider the time and the place in which Socrates

said this. He was in ancient Greece in and around

400 BC, and at that time there were many philosophers,

and there were many philosophies going around.

And it was confusing to the common man. The common

man said, well, if these ancient philosophers,

if they can't come to a consensus on what is

true, how can I? And so people seemed to give

up the pursuit. truth, but not Socrates. Socrates

used what is commonly called today the Socratic

method. He asked good questions of people that

they would examine themselves to see what truth

really is. Well, before Socrates, there was a

greater prophet, a greater philosopher, And this

is Solomon, the person that we believe wrote

Ecclesiastes. And Solomon is doing something

the same as Socrates, and that he is trying to

get us to consider life, to consider death, to

consider what true wisdom is. And I actually

think that we live in a similar time as Socrates.

As in Socrates' day, many people gave up the

pursuit of truth. I find today that people are

not so concerned about truth, are they? People

are not so very much engaged with the deep things

of God. People actually aren't engaged with the

shallow things of life. You ever stop and talk

to somebody about Jesus and they look at you

like, how dare you talk to me about such a strange

topic, right? We need to consider who Christ

is. We need to consider the deep things of God.

We need to use our minds better. Coming to the

rescue is this wonderful book of Ecclesiastes

and this wonderful passage that we have just

read. This passage helps us to consider that

which has eternal consequences. So look at verse

10. Whatever has come to be has already been

named and it is known what man is. As we look

at this you may find yourself transported back

to chapter 3. We've made this remark several

times in this book that so many things that we're

reading about in Ecclesiastes seem to take us

back to Ecclesiastes 3 because I believe that

verse 10 actually sounds a good bit like verse

14 of chapter three. For there it says, I perceived

that whatever God does endures forever. Nothing

can be added to it, nothing or anything taken

from it. God has done it so that people fear

before him. There is this understanding as we

look at Ecclesiastes that there are things that

are high above us, things that we can't quite

understand, right? But as our passage says, who

can understand these things? Who is governing

these things? The implied answer is it's obvious,

right? It's God. Once again, we are confronted

with the reality of the very sovereignty of God,

that he is foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

So when we come upon statements in this passage

that might be difficult or when we come upon

things in life that are very very hard for us

Friends we are to trust God Because he is in

control of our every moment of life. He knows

what is good But thankfully he does clue us in

to things about himself and about this life And

that's really what chapter 14 is doing. It's

giving us a number of things for us to consider

in this life. And the way that it does this is

these better than statements. Look at your text

here. You can see these better than, these good

statements in verse one, two, three, five, eight,

and 11. And the way that it goes about doing

this is quite literally in the Hebrew, it just

uses the word good over and over again. It uses

the Hebrew word of tov. But saying something

is gooder is not good grammar today, so we use

the statement better than. It's a little bit

like children in school. Have you learned about

those greater than, less than, equal to statements?

I see heads nodding, right? 10 is greater than

five, where the kind of sideways V is pointed

towards the larger number. That's a little bit

about like what's going on in the first half

of chapter seven here. And so let's look at some

of these greater than, better than statements.

I won't be able to cover them all, but look in

verse one. A good name is better than precious

ointment. Now, you might say, well, in what way?

I think we are to understand that this precious

ointment is something that's costly. It's expensive.

And so we should consider how a good name is

better than that. Well, we already saw last Sunday

this discussion on wealth. And sometimes wealth

is just not all it's cracked up to be. But what

Solomon wants us to see here is that a good name

is what it's cracked up. to be, our reputation,

right? Now, I know some of you women have been

wearing the same perfume for years or even decades,

and sometimes we get to know the women in our

lives by their scent, right? You smell their

perfume on somebody else and you say, hold up

a second, that's my wife's perfume, right? Or

that's what my mother used to wear. Well, guess

what sticks with you longer than your scent?

It's your name. It's your reputation. And so

consider this. How are you known? When people

say your name out loud, what do they think of?

What is your reputation? Now be careful with

this a little bit because people's opinions are

fallible, but how are you known? And if there

be ways in you that maybe are not the most wonderful

ways, remember that the Lord is sanctifying us,

right? And so as we look at these further better

than statements, if you see some that describe

you a little bit, take those things to the Lord.

Be humble enough to pray about them. Be humble

enough even to talk with a brother or sister

in Christ for help. on these things, right? Because

we can see something like this in the next statement.

Look in verse five. It is better for a man to

hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the

song of fools. Solomon says something similar

to this in Proverbs chapter 12 verse one. Whoever

Proverbs 12 · chapter mention

loves discipline loves knowledge. But he who

hates reproof is stupid. Friends, are you humble

enough to receive reproof, correction, even discipline?

The fool wants nothing to do with this. The fool

says, I don't want to hear it. You're wrong.

I'm right. But a truly wise person can receive

gentle and loving criticism and correction. And

so ask yourself, am I able to receive this kind

of correction because a fool cannot, right? And

so once again, if you are coming short in this

area, take it to the Lord and ask for his humbling

work upon you such that you could receive reproof

in order that you would continue to look more

and more like Christ Jesus. Because you see what

it says next. It uses this description here.

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so

is the laughter of the fools. This also is vanity.

What this is showing us here is that there are

people who are foolish, who would rather not

hear any kind of correction, but instead would

rather surround themselves with foolish laughter

and talk and chatter, right? And the way that

it expresses this I think is important. The crackling

of thorns. Have you ever tried to make a fire

out of thorns? How long does that fire last?

Usually not very long, right? But it can make

a lot of noise here. And so that's the fool who

makes a lot of noise but without a lot of substance.

Those thorns will not keep the fire going. but

the correction of the Lord will be good for the

soul here. But also we need to be careful with

how we address the fool. Proverbs does this again

and again. Do you ever try and correct a fool?

Sometimes it's a fool's errand to correct a fool,

right? And so before we go correcting anybody,

we need to ask ourselves, am I humble? Can I

receive this kind of correction? Or, when somebody

seeks to correct me in a gentle way, do I just

get angry? Look at verses 8 through 10, especially

verse 9. Be not quick in your spirit to become

angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.

A fool cannot receive correction because anger

is in his very core. James 119 says, know this,

my beloved brothers, let every person be quick

to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the

anger of a man does not produce the righteousness

of God. And so friends, let's ask ourselves here,

are we angry people? And specifically, are we

angered over selfish things? Or are we angered

over the things that God is angry about? I would

say that most of our anger is not righteous anger.

Most of our anger comes from, you disappointed

me. You did this to me or that to me. We don't

get our way. And in this way, we're actually

starting to see something else that's in here.

We are not patient. Look there in verse eight.

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.

And the patient in spirit is better than the

proud in spirit. When we are inconvenienced,

when people don't get things done according to

our timeline, then we get angry here. But a wise

person looks beyond himself. A wise person considers

others, right? For to be angry and impatient

all the time, this is not a virtue, friends.

It is not a virtue to be angry and impatient

all the time. Why is that? Because of who the

Lord is. God is slow to anger and abounding in

steadfast love. And those who have the Holy Spirit

dwelling inside, those who are receiving his

sanctification are being made more and more into

the image of Christ, right? And so when we exhibit

patience, when we exhibit gentleness, what are

we really doing? We're modeling our savior, the

one who is gentle and lowly, right? God is long

suffering with us. Aren't we not also to be long

suffering with one another? And so again, If

you're struggling with anger or you're struggling

with impatience, take it to the Lord in prayer

and also speak to one another. Have somebody

that you can confide in who can pray along with

you. You see, these are some of the traps of

this life, the life of vanity. But perhaps the

greatest trap that we see within this passage

is avoiding the reality of death. Look at verses

one through four, and this is where I'm going

to focus most of my attention. The trap of avoiding

the reality of death. It says in the second line

of verse one, and the day of death than the day

of birth. It's using that better than statement

once again. And so we need to consider how is

the day of death better than the day of birth?

That sounds perplexing, doesn't it? Right? And

so let's consider how a number of different ways

have been proposed to understand this. Some will

say, well, the day of death is better than the

day of birth because the day of birth is really

just a day of potential. We don't know what's

going to happen with this baby. Right. But at

the end of life at death, we know what has happened.

And so people will say this is talking about

potential and the end of life and all that somebody

has done. The second view on this. has to do

with our reward to glory. People will say it's

better to die than to be born because when you

die in Christ, you go to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, obviously that is correct. But is that what

Solomon is talking about here? I would say he's

not talking about either one of those things.

Instead, what Solomon is talking about when he

says this is that the day of death is better.

because the day of death is a better teacher.

We learn so much through death. Death, the death

of others causes us to consider who we are, our

need for Christ, and in that way, death acts

as an evangelist, pointing us to the reason that

there is death. for the wages of sin is death.

And even more than that, what death does is it

teaches us to look to the one who conquered death

on the cross. Death is a better teacher. Have

you ever noticed how when a popular musician

dies, their music becomes popular again? Even

if it's just for a matter of days or weeks, suddenly

their songs and their albums top the charts,

right? We go back and listen to them. Death does

something like that within us. It causes us to

remember. It causes us to ponder. And really

what's going on within this section is this is

telling us we need to take all of this to heart.

Look at verse two. It's better to go to the house

of mourning than to go to the house. feasting

why because it says the living will lay it to

heart a wise person really thinks about death

a wise person goes to the house of mourning what

does a fool do though a fool wants nothing to

do with it the fool ignores death but do you

want to know why it's foolish to do that I think

Hebrews 927 says it best It is appointed once

for man to die and then the judgment. It is appointed

once for man to die and then the judgment. And

so the point is this, friends, unless Jesus comes

back in our lifetime, we will all die, right?

You cannot ignore that fact. It is foolish to

do so. And so the point Solomon is making is

that sorrow is the point. He wants us to embrace

this sorrow, not because sorrow in and of itself

is good, but because sorrow does something within

us. Sorrow causes us to examine life and death.

Jeff Wint said that sometimes trying to cheer

someone up is the last thing that they need.

Sometimes we need to simply sit in the sorrow.

I can't remember who it was. that said this,

and I mentioned it a few weeks ago, who said,

man's greatest problem is that sometimes we have

failed to sit in our room quietly. We need to

ponder on these things. We need to examine these

things. We need to take it to heart. David Gibson

writes, when life ends or is about to end, Absolutely

everything comes into focus. The things which

don't really matter, but which we gave so much

time to, seem so empty and pointless. The lives

we touch, the generosity we showed, and the love

that we gave or received now means so much more.

Friends, we need to take it to heart. Now, does

this mean it's wrong to be in the house of feasting?

Of course not. You've seen it so far in this

book. The thing that Solomon talks about just

as much as death is joy, right? And so it is

good to be in the house of feasting. It's just

that death and funerals and graveside gatherings

cause us to ponder things that you don't really

ponder at parties. If you go to that graduation

party, If you go to that birthday party and you

just look sad and you just want to talk about

death the whole time, you're not going to get

invited back to another party. You're not the

life of the party. You're the death of the party.

But that sort of behavior is totally appropriate

at the graveside. It's totally appropriate at

the funeral, right? And sometimes that's just

where we need to be. Theodore Bezos said, it

is better To have some sorrow of mind and to

be grieved for things done amiss Than to be much

given to rejoicing and laughter for of that sadness

at length grows true gladness of mind Friends

isn't it true that after a death After a tragedy

so many of us pray these words that we find at

the end of the Bible come Lord Jesus. Death causes

us to say, come Lord Jesus, right? And speaking

of Jesus, this section right here reminds me

of another section of scripture. It reminds me

of the Beatitudes that we can find in the Sermon

on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain. Phrases

that Jesus taught like, blessed are those who

mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are

you who weep now, for you will laugh. Friends,

if you just try to avoid and minimize pain and

minimize heartache and sorrow, you will miss

the fact that Jesus meets us there in that sorrow.

You will miss the comfort that the Spirit gives

to us. And you know what? Jesus doesn't just

meet us there. No, he endured it himself. This

is actually how Jesus redeems us by suffering

in our place. He shows us then that the miseries

of this life cannot be fixed by us. They are

fixed by the suffering of Christ himself. And

because of Christ, friends, we can mourn as people

with hope. And so when you go through that loss,

When you go through that sorrow When you go through

that time of depression Friends, you can trust

that Jesus knows exactly what you were going

through He suffered through it He he sorrowed

over his friend Lazarus and ultimately he who

is called the man of sorrows went to the cross

for you and By doing so Jesus does something

we could not do Jesus make things right. Look

at verse 13. Consider the work of God who can

make straight what he has made crooked. Maybe

to our minds, it would have sounded better if

the text says that he makes straight what we

make crooked. But again, this is showing us the

very sovereignty of God. You cannot fix the problems

of this life. You cannot fix the vanity, the

hevel, the folly, the sorrow, and the death.

But you must run in faith to the one who can.

Jesus died on the cross to put death to death.

He died on the cross and arose to remove death's

sting. That through Christ, we would have everlasting

life. You see friends in Christ, the grave is

not the end. In Christ, The house of mourning

gets turned into the house of feasting. Well,

friends, as I conclude, let me take it back to

Socrates. I mentioned that Socratic method. Let

me ask you two important questions. You've maybe

heard of evangelism explosion, the two diagnostic

questions that people sometimes ask to do evangelism

are the questions I ask you now. Have you come

to a place in your spiritual life? Where do you

know for certain that if you died today? you

would go to heaven and Secondly suppose you were

to die today and stand before God and he were

to ask you Why should I let you into heaven?

What would you say? If your answers to those

questions are yes and Christ alone then Alleluia

and Amen But if not, friends, I want you to remember

how I began this sermon. The unexamined life

is not worth living. Friends, you must examine

your lives. If you are not sure what to make

of Christ, examine who you are. And examine who

Christ Jesus is. Because he is the only way to

be lifted above the Hevel, the vanity of this

life. Because he said it himself, I am the way,

and the truth and the life. No one comes to the

Father but through me. Amen. Let's pray.