Wisdom and Folly
Ecclesiastes: The Search For Meaning • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 39:16
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Wisdom and Folly
Wisdom and Folly
Over the last couple of weeks we have taken a journey through the Hedonistic Experiment that Solomon sought out to perform.
Everything he could have ever wanted to experience he did.
If he wanted to taste it he tasted it.
If he wanted to smell it he smelled it.
If he wanted to build it, he built it.
He lived the life that many of us have at one point or another thought about or dreamed of.
He had more money, women, and pleasure than could ever be experienced by any of us.
Listen again to what he says after he has concluded his experiment.
10 All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles.
11 When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.
It didn’t matter how much he got.
It didn’t matter how much he experienced.
It didn’t matter, b/c it was all futile pursuit of the wind.
Chasing bubbles only to have the pop in his grasp.
There was nothing to be gained under the sun.
This can sound hopeless and depressing, but remember his view is limited by the things he can see, touch, hear, and smell.
He is limiting his pursuit to the earthly plane.
He limits his experience to that which is readily available and satisfies his carnal desires.
I want us to think about this slowly and carefully.
If all life has to offer us is pleasure, then Solomon’s conclusion is 100% correct.
But what hasn’t he really considered in the chapter and a half that we’ve looked at so far?
He hasn’t considered that there is more to life.
That this earthly plane isn’t all that exists.
The only time he has mentioned God was earlier when he blamed him for the fate of man.
But I do what you to know that this part of Ecc does get a little more hopeful.
A little less grim.
But before it does, it gets just a little more gloomy.
So if we can’t find the meaning of life through the pursuit of pleasure, where do we go from there?
Solomon is going to take a chance to talk about wisdom.
If pleasure isn’t the key to meaning, maybe wisdom and knowledge is.
I want to be transparent with you for just a minute.
I’m a knowledge junkie.
I love to learn.
I love to think.
I love to engage in conversations and the occasional argument.
So when I read this from Solomon about wisdom and folly, I was struck to my core.
Is gaining wisdom and knowledge a pursuit of the wind?
Is growing in knowledge a meaningless and vain endeavor?
B/c if I’m honest I knew that the pursuit of pleasure and possessions is empty.
But I thought myself a little superior b/c I pursued a nobler task of knowledge and wisdom.
Here’s a deep truth that has challenged and confronted me as I have done this study.
Information fails to bring transformation.
Does that mean that wisdom and knowledge is bad?
No, it means that no matter how much wisdom and knowledge you have, if you aren’t pursuing God it will not have any meaning.
Not only that, but to have true wisdom you have to be able to ask the hard questions.
If wisdom is what you seek, then you can’t pull any punches.
Let’s Look at what Solomon has to say about wisdom.
12 Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the king’s successor be like? He will do what has already been done.
Word of Warning
Word of Warning
Verse 12 may sound a little familiar to you.
Solomon said almost the same thing in Ecc 1:13 “13 I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.”
Ecc 1:17 “17 I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.”
So Solomon is returning to look at and examine something that he has already examined.
But he feels as if it needs another pass.
He needs to know more.
Maybe there is something that he missed.
Isn’t this what we do?
We go back to the place where we thought we lost something.
So, Solomon is thinking that since God granted him with a wisdom for the ages, maybe that would be the best place to go back and check.
Maybe wisdom has value.
Maybe wisdom can shine some light on life’s meaning.
In this translation we read that he is considering wisdom, madness, and folly.
It would be easy to assume that these are three categories, but in fact madness and folly go together.
They are two sides of the same coin.
So we would be better off in we understood that Solomon is considering wisdom and mad folly.
I want us to take moment and know exactly what’s happening here.
When it comes to wisdom there are a 2 different kinds of wisdom.
Wisdom that comes from the fear of the Lord.
And wisdom that comes from practical life experience.
Here Solomon is focused most on the second type of wisdom.
Wisdom that comes from practical advice and life experience.
Madness and folly on the other hand, encompass all of the mad folly that seems to be pursued in this world.
So after, Solomon pursued and engaged in all the pleasure the world had to offer, he goes back to the drawing board and wants to reengage with wisdom and mad folly.
He wanted too look at he right way to live and the wrong way to live.
He wanted to compare and contrast the two and see if he could figure out which one would bring meaning to life.
But before he takes us to his observations about wisdom and mad folly he kinda side steps and takes down another road.
Many scholars are confused about how this all connects.
What is Solomon driving at?
How can he consider wisdom and folly but then focus on the king’s successor?
We talked about a few weeks ago that Ecc is kinda like a sermon that’s being given.
And sometimes the pastor gets lost in his thoughts and says something that makes sense in his head, but can confuse the listeners.
I’m not 100% sure that’s what’s happening here, but as he speaking and he’s thinking about the fact that he has experienced all the pleasures of the world.
And he reflects on the fact that nothing changes, that there’s nothing new, and that nothing is remembered from the end of Chapter one, maybe his reflection is that this exercise of looking at wisdom and folly is also in vain.
Because he may look at it.
He may come to a conclusion, but that doesn’t mean that the one that follows him will see and come to the same conclusion.
The one to come after the king can’t do anything different than Solomon has already done.
If he truly had experienced all the pleasures of the world and didn’t hold back on experiencing them then he would have definitive say on the futility of the pursuit of pleasure.
And he knows that no one will do anything more than he had done.
The next king could surely meet and reach the heights of what Solomon had done, but he couldn’t do more.
Solomon is acting like a concerned parent here.
It’s like he’s saying “learn from my mistakes.”
Learn from my choices.
This is true for us right.
We look at our children and we see that they are little mirrors of our own brokenness and we want to shake them and say, “Hey! Don’t do what I did. Don’t Follow in My Footsteps.”
“I did it so that you don’t have to.”
He wants his successor to know that if he couldn’t find the meaning of life in the pursuit of pleasure than no matter how hard he tries it isn’t there.
At the same times he is talking to us.
He tried it all.
He did it all.
And he is saying you could never do it better.
You could never commit to it more.
Pleasure will never satisfy, It will never scratch the itch you hope it does.
Solomon’s pursuit of it is proof enough.
This is his warning to you. Pursue something better.
So what does he have to say about wisdom?
13 And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.
14 The wise person has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.
Wisdom’s Value
Wisdom’s Value
There’s a little glimmer of hope here in Solomon’s considering of Wisdom.
He sees that wisdom is better than folly.
Just as light is better than darkness.
Think about it, up till this point Everything has been vanity.
All pursuits have been meaningless.
There is nothing worth pursuing, but here there’s a glimpse of light in the darkness, something does matter.
And this is interesting b/c of what he said back in the first chapter
Ecc 1.15 “15 What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.”
Ecc 1.18 “18 For with much wisdom is much sorrow; as knowledge increases, grief increases.”
Maybe wisdom can’t straighten out what is crooked.
Maybe wisdom brings sorrow and grief.
But at the same time, maybe wisdom is the better alternative to folly.
Wisdom is advantageous.
And the way he spells this out is in the contrast between wisdom and folly running parallel to light and dark.
Wisdom is like light.
The wise know where they are going.
They know what lies ahead of them.
They know that disasters and joy are reality in this life.
However, the foolish are walking around stumbling in the dark.
Not sure of the road they are on.
Not sure of the path they are taking.
Not sure what is going to show up right around the corner.
Wisdom doesn’t simply bring light.
It gives vision, allowing those who are wise to see.
Wisdom reveals the path of life.
It reveals the way to live.
The wise have eyes to see.
to see what he is doing and where he is going.
However, for the foolish or the one living in folly, he lives in darkness.
He cannot know the way.
He is blinded b/c he “has no eyes to see”.
Okay so we need to take a quick look at wisdom and folly or foolishness.
We talked a few weeks ago that Ecc. falls into a specific type of biblical literature called “Wisdom” literature.
This is the same category as Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, and some Psalms.
In wisdom literature it is common to contrast the way of the wise with the way of the fool.
Much like what Solomon is doing here.
And in the Bible Wisdom is always better than folly.
And we can see this play out in life.
Wisdom is always better than foolishness.
Prov. 10:1 “1 Solomon’s proverbs: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son, heartache to his mother.”
So what is wisdom?
And especially according to the Bible.
Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord.
Psalm 111:10 “10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his instructions have good insight. His praise endures forever.”
Wisdom is living in light of the instruction given by God.
Living a life that honors God.
Listening to his voice obeying his commands.
Living life the way he designed it to be lived.
Wisdom is the aim of Ecc. 12:13 “13 When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity.”
So living your life in light of who God is and how he created you to live is wisdom.
So in order to be wise you have to see yourself how God sees you.
And you have to follow him.
So biblical wisdom is different from earthly wisdom.
Earthly wisdom is using the things of this earthly realm to benefit yourself.
To make decisions that don’t necessarily glorify God.
For us on this side of the Cross, those of us who are followers of Jesus, there is a perfect wisdom that has been put on display for us to see.
In 1 Cor 1:24 “24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,”
You see here that Jesus is called the wisdom of God.
So if we want to see wisdom in it’s purist and perfect form we must look to Jesus.
We must look at and imitate his wisdom.
Christ being wisdom is not a foreign concept only found in 1 Cor.
Rather it is sprinkled all throughout the NT.
The wisdom of Christ and the way that God’s kingdom works is found in the parables of Jesus.
Jesus being rightly seen as the creator of the Universe in Colossians places him as the wisdom that created all.
Eph 1:7-8 “7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding.”
Christ pours out on us wisdom so that we can Know God and live the life that we are called to live.
We can walk in the wisdom of God when we live in the Spirit of God.
James also tells us that God is the giver of wisdom.
Jame 1:5 “5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.”
And that the wisdom that comes from God is different than the wisdom of the Earth.
James 3:17 “17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense.”
The wisdom of God and our pursuit of that wisdom will bear in us good fruit.
A Godly life, and the power of the spirit.
Godly wisdom will transform us into the image of Jesus.
And its not secret that in the Gospel of John, Jesus is seen as the light that pierces the darkness.
Meaning that he is the wisdom that makes wise, but that the fool hides from his light.
So the wise are those that seek after God.
Those who pursue God with their hearts, mind, soul, and strength.
They are those that fear the lord and obey his commands
On the other hand, The foolish are those that reject God.
Those that hate his instruction
The fool despises wisdom
Pro 1:7 “7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.”
Ps 14.1 “1 The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.” They are corrupt; they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.”
They don’t want anything to do with God or his instruction.
They are like the insolent child who don’t want to recognize God for who he is.
They would rather live their lives void of true and lasting meaning.
Now to be sure, the bible paints a rather poor picture of the foolish.
And the picture painted is one that can leave us shaking our heads and wagging our fingers at how ridiculous they behave.
But the truth is the bible uses some hyperbolic language in these circumstances.
God is truly trying to reveal to us not simply the actions of the wise and foolish, but their hearts.
And even if someone is given over to folly, they may not be a picture of the foolish we see painted in the bible.
Their actions may not be as selfish and self serving as the fools shown to us in scripture.
But never the less, if they haven’t submitted to God’s lordship then they are in active rebellion against him.
So they may be generous.
They may be good family people.
They may say the right things.
They may have honesty and integrity in business.
They may pay all of their taxes and give to the orphanage.
They may even be “good people”.
But even if they do all those things, if they don’t recognize God’s rule and reign, he would call them fools.
He would say that they aren’t living in the wisdom given by him, but they are living in the wisdom of the earth.
They are doing the things that will not get them a cross look on earth, while forfeiting their life with Jesus.
And the wisdom of the earth is beneficial for the things under the sun.
But it doesn’t benefit on the other side of eternity.
Therefore, the wisest thing someone can do is lay aside their life and follow Jesus.
Submit to God and listen to him.
Know that God’s way is best and following him will lead to eternal life.
A prize greater than any one we could receive here.
B/c the reality is We all face the same fate.
What is this one reality, this one fate that comes to both the wise and the foolish?
Death. The great equalizer.
14 The wise person has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.
15 So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” And I said to myself that this is also futile.
16 For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise person dies just like the fool?
The Great Equalizer
The Great Equalizer
We are all going to experience death unless Jesus returns soon.
But for all of history, both the wise and the foolish have faced death and neither of the groups have overcome.
Death is the great equalizer.
This is pretty bleak.
As a culture and society we don’t often think about death.
Sure we think about it when someone we know and love dies.
When a celebrity dies.
But those are all instances outside of ourselves.
How often do you think about your own death.
B/c the reality is we all fall into the trap of wanting to live longer.
We try diets.
We try new food trends.
We even try to look younger.
Let’s get some tightening eye cream.
How do I get rid of these crows feet.
Maybe we even try Botox.
This is funny b/c recently I was at a friends house and we were watching christian music videos b4 we did a bible study.
One came on by a pretty famous Christian Band.
And as I’m watching the video, something just strikes me as odd about the lead singer.
He just doesn’t look right.
So I look around and ask, what’s wrong with that guys face.
It just seems off.
It looks like he’s had Botox and a really bad dye job on his hair and goatee.
But that’s the thing right, we don’t want to look older b/c getting older means that we are closer to death.
And this may be uncomfortable, and I’m not trying to be flippant about it, but at one time or another we will all die.
One commentator put it this way, “It is one thing to believe that all men are mortal, accepting the reality of death in intellectual terms, but it is something entirely different to recognize that we ourselves must die.”
In my experience, this seems to be most present in teenage boys.
That’s what Solomon is really thinking about here in this text.
Does wisdom or folly really matter b/c wisdom will not add anymore years to your life.
There seems to be no lasting advantage to pursuing wisdom.
But we also know that being foolish can lead to an early grave as well.
But we are all gonna end up in the grave at some point.
And so for many, this reality, this absurdity does call into question the meaning of life.
But it all goes back to perspective.
If you believe that all there is to the world and life is the here and now, then it makes sense that all you would want to pursue is pleasure.
As that phrase popularized a decade or so ago states, “YOLO…You only live once”.
So again the question is, why pursue wisdom if the wise are going to die like the fools.
Remember, for those of us in Christ, our lives are not our own.
Why do we pursue wisdom?
Why do we pursue godliness?
B/c we have an eternal perspective.
We know that life if much, much more than our earthly life.
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
1 For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands.
2 Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling,
3 since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
4 Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.
6 So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
And as those who are loved by God and those that love God we should seek to be who he has called us to be.
Life isn’t futile.
Death isn’t meaningless.
For those of us who belong to Jesus.
Whether we are wise or foolish we will all die.
And even more than that we will all be forgotten.
Eventually, no one on earth will remember our names.
However, for the ones that pursue wisdom, we are going to be remembered by the one that matters.
We will be remembered by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Though our family, friends, and co-workers may forget us, Jesus never will.
And when we shed the earthly tents we will spend eternity with him.
In the fullness of his glory.
In the fullness of his light.
Knowing that this life wasn’t meaningless b/c we were saved by Jesus.
But with an earthly perspective, we will miss this truth.
We will see the world and its struggles.
The world and it’s problems.
And much like Solomon we will be distressed.
Listen to what he says.
17 Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Struggle with Life
Struggle with Life
Do you feel how much honesty is in his statement.
Here’s the thing about wisdom.
Wisdom allows us to see the world for how it really is.
Solomon was the wisest man to ever live.
He knew the highs and he knew the lows.
He knows the toils and he knows the frustrations.
He has had the good times and the bad.
And he is distressed.
not only that…He hated life.
This life he hates and one described in the opening chapters of Ecc. is a life without the knowledge of God.
A life focused on the pursuit of pleasure.
A life that is empty and meaningless.
Remember that key phrase in the middle of v. 17 “under the sun”
Everything under the sun is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Think about it all that Solomon had gained.
All that he had worked for.
The money, the houses, the women, the wisdom.
Those things he will all lose when he meets the fate that comes to all men.
When He dies, all the toil.
All the struggle will have been in vain.
B/c it will all be gone.
But at least he’s being honest.
He sees no point to any of this under the sun.
And he’s not afraid to say so.
He knows that all that he has gained will be lost.
And he’s looking at it and asking the question why did I even try.
What was the point of it all?
Here’s the thing about wisdom, both Godly and earthly.
It doesn’t shy away from the hard questions.
Wisdom isn’t content with the status quo.
Wisdom isn’t afraid to call things as they really are.
And here’s the thing that I find true in most of the Christians that I come across.
We aren’t honest with God.
In fact, there are many that are afraid of being honest with God.
We’ve given into the lie that we can’t question or call out to God.
That we can’t share our burdens, doubts, and frustrations with God.
We’ve lost the art of lamenting.
Lament is defined as the passionate expression of grief and sorrow.
I think alot of it comes from our biblical illiteracy.
B/c if we actually read and studied the bible, we would see laments all over the place.
Over 1/3 of the Psalms are lament psalms.
There is a whole book in the OT about Lament—Lamentations
I saw this video from a psychologist a few weeks ago and it struck me as odd and true.
She said that children will only lash out and lose control when they feel safe.
She said that a child will only tell their parents “I hate you” when they feel secure.
And the reason why is b/c they know that no matter what they say, that the truth remains that the parent is going to love and care for them regardless of what they say.
Meaning that they can express themselves openly and honestly b/c they trust or have faith in the love of their parent.
Now get this, how much do you love and trust God.
Do you believe that even if you cried out to him in a moment of anger, frustration, and feeling overwhelmed he would still love you and care for you?
Do you believe that you can openly and honestly communicate with God?
Can you express your self to God?
Because believe me, he already knows how you feel and what you think.
You aren’t hiding it from him.
You just aren’t being honest with him.
This life under the sun isn’t always sunshine and rainbows.
It isn’t always good.
And there is something cathartic about saying out loud to a God who is near what you are actually feeling and thinking.
Especially when you know that Jesus experienced everything that you experienced.
He felt loss, he endured betrayal, he wept at the brokenness of the world.
Jesus sympathizes with your pain.
At the same time, Jesus gives us purpose in the pain.
Not only that when we look at the reality of death to come, we know that our death will not be in vain.
But how can we have such a perspective?
Paul tells us once again in Col. 3:1-4
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Christ is our life.
We died to self and were raised with Christ when we believe and trusted in him.
So even though death will come to us all, life is found in those who belong to Christ.
So the question for you is:
Do you belong to Jesus?
Is your life found in him?
Have you repented of your sins and turned toward Jesus?
Are you pursuing him in all that you do?
Or is your life limited to “under the sun” living.
Is you life meaningless.
Or do you find meaning in the Life of Jesus.
If you haven’t given your life to Jesus, he wants you to know that he loves you and died for you.
And he offers you salvation.
He offers to give your life meaning.
He offers himself.
Trust and believe in him.
Not in your work.
Not in your behavior, but in him and him alone.
Let’s pray.