Fear, Worship and the Resurrection

David Poland

Ecclesiastes: Life in a Broken World • Sermon • Submitted 2 months ago • Presented 2 months ago

Ecclesiastes 5:1–7

Easter

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Sermon 11 in a series through the Book of Ecclesiastes, Happening on Easter 2024

Notes

Transcript

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 50:16-23

Psalm 50:16–23 ESV

But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver! The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”

Scripture Reading: John 4:23-24

John 4:23–24 ESV

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Sermon

Well Once again, and as always, Good Morning Church! I was truly glad when they said to me, let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

Especially on this blessed Easter Morning. For it is today (along with all other Sundays, but today especially) that we proclaim that HE IS RISEN!

SO for those of you who may be new here, you might be thinking, OK then, we will be getting an Easter Sermon, something NOT so depressing and NOT so “vanity of vanities all is vanity” and not so “I thought that the dead who are already dead were more fortunate that the living who are still alive.” But if you are thinking that way, we will get the people who have been here for a while to let you know.... We don’t stop the “going through the book of the Bible” train for anything. Not Easter, or Mothers day, Fathers day… really the only break is a four week break for Advent...

So today we are looking at Ecclesiastes 5:1-5. But before we dive in, and before you all leave in protest over not getting an Easter Sermon, I have Two thoughts:

The first is this: isn’t it every week that we gather together to celebrate our Risen Savior? Even the fact that we are sitting here on a Sunday Morning is a testimony to that fact, for without the resurrection we would be meeting on a Saturday. In a not-trying-to-be-flippant way I say this with all honesty: every Sunday is resurrection Sunday. So what fundamentally makes this Sunday Different?

but here is the second: There was a time As I was looking forward to this Particular Passage and had as the preliminary title “how to Go to Church”. And today, what is considered the Most important day on the church calendar, wouldn’t a lesson on how to go to church be most appropriate? Especially when we stop and consider a Phenomenon that many of us lovingly refer to as C&E Christians. These are those people who go to church only on Christmas and Easter. For those, who might not often come to church isn’t a lesson on how to go to church EVEN MORE appropriate? But it gets better. how we come to church, and how we do all of “this” has fundamentally changed BECAUSE of the very first Easter Sunday. In other words, WE get to come to church, we have church, we gather together all because of the resurrection, and we understand all that we will hear in light of the resurrection. it is in the center of all we do, least of all it its in the center of all the things that center on how to come before God in his holy temple.

So really, It all works out because If i had to pick ANY passage in the book of Ecclesiastes to preach on an Easter Sunday, i would be hard pressed to find a more appropriate passage than the one that is in front of us today.

So with that being said, let us read our passage for today. Ecclesiastes Chapter 5 verses 1 through 7

Ecclesiastes 5:1–7 ESV

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 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.

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning, Lets open with a word of Prayer.

Our Father In heaven, Holy Righteous, just and perfect is your name. WE humbly come before you today understanding that you are God in heaven and we are not. your ways are not our ways, your foolishness is higher than our most lofty thoughts. So we first ask that you would help us to guard our steps. By the work of your Holy Spirit we ask that you would help us to hear what you have said and allow our words to be few. Empower us to live for you we pray. Help us to know you, to love you and even today to understand what it means to fear you. It is in The name of our resurrected savior that we pray — the name that is above all other names — the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN

What a beautiful and wonderful passage we have before us in the Book of Ecclesiastes. It is what one of my commentaries called “the most ‘God-Forward’ of all the passages in the Book of Ecclesiastes.” For in this passage we speak much more explicitly of God than we will in any other passage in this book. And what comers into focus when God takes center stage in the book of Ecclesiastes? Well It is something that we have been talking about for a few weeks now, that we need to understand that we should know our place.

This passage opens with an exhortation: “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.” and ends with an exhortation “God is the one you must fear” and then how we live then falls in the middle of all of that. But before we dive in there are just a few notes that we should make about this theme, and what is being said here that prepare our hearts for this passage.

The First is this: Notice that you are supposed to guard your steps WHEN you go to the house of the Lord. Not “if”. not “Should you find yourself happening to be at the house of the Lord..” Solomon is telling us to be careful when we go, but THAT we will go is outright assumed.

Second thought is this: While Solomon would be writing this possibly even looking at the beautiful temple that was built when he was king, and so when he thought of “the house of the Lord” there was a particular temple in Jerusalem that he was looking at. But in reality we should understand that The commands here go much farther than that temple. Reason one is that The distinction between holy and common space is abolished only with the death and resurrection of Christ, and this is symbolized in the Gospels by the ripping of the temple veil. So when the curtain was torn the commands that we read here in how we approach the “house of God” become applicable to our whole lives. And really we know that because, reason two: jesus, our resurrected savior, taught us that this was the case as well. We are to worship not at the mountain or in the temple, but he is looking for those who will worship “in spirit and in truth.” SO we need to hear this because, in some sense, our whole lives are now “going to the house of God.”

But before we dive in I would like to make one more point: Why do we ALL need to hear this? I have no doubt that I will go home today and i'll open up some website, some discussion board, some... something, and i will be inundated with churches that have made a blasphemous spectacle of what should be a holy Easter service. It's where they take what would normally be a worshipful church service and turn it into a circus and a charade that no longer brings glory and honor and praise to god. I have no doubt that i will see that - because it happens every year. We live in what one commentator said is “the most blasphemous age in all of church history.” But before I go around thinking “i am sure Glad that I didn’t go to one of those churches, the issues of the heart are here for all of us.

And so, as we open this and see that Solomon will be sharing choice words and giving exhortation to anyone who thinks that they can sort of have hardly recreationally worship god, we have to know that this danger lies close for us all. We must bow and understand that God has commanded how we are to worship him? And we will see these truths through what Solomon said, but understanding the lens of what we celebrate today: The resurrection of our lord and savior.

So as we get ready to go near to the house of god may we do so with hearts humbled and contrite but also enlivened by the resurrection power of our savior, jesus christ, our lord that is our hope on resurrection Sunday.

And so what is the first attitude? The first thought, what is the first thing that we must do in understanding how we can follow What Solomon has commanded here? When you go to the house of the lord, Guard your steps. And open your ears.

OPEN your EARS

We have here a passage that has actually a lot of parallels. We've read similar things in, Isaiah... David in the psalms will say, similar thoughts to what we read here… But it's not something we immediately would think of.

Ecclesiastes 5:1 (ESV)

To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools

We need to remember something we noted last week: that when Solomon says better, it's not like we think “good better best” rather to be better is to be lofty and to have more value and weight because of the nature of what it is.

So what are we called to do? How do we guard our steps? When we come to the house of the lord, We open our ears. We listen. Because to listen is far better. When the lord speaks to us through the songs, we sing through the word, we read through the word, we hear his word proclaimed when the lord speaks to our hearts and minds: We listen. In a time and an age, when we like to go, go, go, go. Do do, do... our minds our ears are bombarded by thoughts and sounds and messages. Not all bad, but are we actually LISTENING to God? you can open up your spotify app, and find countless christian podcasts, Saying, all sorts of stuff, a lot of it Good. but are we really Listening. You can go on YouTube now and hear just about any sermon preached in any church in the world. But that will not do any good if you are not actually LISTENING !

We can open up and read our bible… but are you actually listening? if you haven't opened our ears, We will be left with fruitless pointless legalism. Many times people come ask me. Okay. David how much should i read the bible? And here's my answer. You may not like this answer, but it's the only one I have: More.

Well, what does that mean? Well... read your Bible more. Well, i already read it. X amount of time… read it more. Well can you give me a number? Can you give me a number of how much i should read my bible? I can’t And the reason i can't is because different times different seasons, different people will need different amounts, first of all.

But second of all, and really the most important: if i give you a number There is a strong temptation that you will sit down and read a chapter… or read for 15 minutes and then you click off you to do list never LISTENING, check read one chapter or check read 15 minutes. Never once opening your ears to hear what the Lord has said and it will be for you worthless. Because to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools. To listen is better than sacrifice is better than reading is better than doing is better than trying to live a righteous life. 5 minutes in your bible LISTENING is better than 15 minutes scanning, but best of all IS 30 minutes actually listening. So read more, but when you read, you have to listen! It is far better to open our ears. And listen.

Just one more thought here before we move on: The foolish who offer these vain sacrifices. Verse 1 says they do not know that they are doing evil. This is the tragedy of what's going on. They are so foolish. They are so warped. They are so broken in their thinking. That they don't realize that just doing the steps and doing this and doing that without listening to the god, whose house, they are approaching and It's evil. It's an offense to God.

It's rather interesting, if you look at the history of the bible and you look at when… I don't want to get into the weeds and theological words here... So I will say this, As time goes on the EXTERNAL way of worship change. (the heart is always the same, that's the point of the passage here, but the OUTSIDE looks different in different times. You had God and Abraham and Abraham worshiped in a certain way. But then moses came, god gave Moses the law. And now how we worship god, it gets formalized and we read about that in Genesis through Deuteronomy. And then Solomon builds a temple. And so now it's going to change a little bit. And then now we live post resurrection. And so, how we worship. We don't worship in the temple. We don't worship at the mountain. We don't offer sacrifices. So, how we worship in some senses changed. But in each time, when a new way of worshiping is introduced, we see people trying to do it their own way With Disastrous consequences. how disastrous? the consequence is death.

Aaron had two sons Nadab and Abihu.. And they offered before the lord. We read in Exodus “strange fire.” And So God kills them.... Because they didn't listen to how god wanted to be worshiped. They did their own thing. They offered the sacrifice of fools they lost their life for it. Fast forward to Acts and you have Ananias ans Saphira, who bring before the offering, everyone else is bringing their offerings and worship their distributing Everything... But these two decide to mix deceit in their worship... Bring their offering they lie about it, what happens? god strikes them dead because they didn't listen that what god wanted was most important...

how we worship... If we do not listen… there are consequences… What God has said and our position before that is of utmost importance.

And so now we who live in the resurrection power of our savior must open our ears to hear from him. We now can worship in spirit and truth because the same spirit that raised christ from the dead on that Easter Sunday some 2000 years ago is now at work within us. So listen. Listen And obey. But there's another step to this because it's not enough to just listen. You open your ears. And You shut your mouth.

SHUT your MOUTH

Ecclesiastes 5:2 ESV

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.

Solomon wants us to remember. Who we are and where we stand. And so it would be unwise to hastily, open our mouth. This one is actually a bit hard… because in one sense we are talking about prayer… but in particular our heart in prayer. So I will start by saying, so there is NO confusion: It is good to pray, we should pray often. We pray without ceasing… but we have to check out heart and even shut our mouth, even in following these commands.

We hastily say this that or the other thing. Our heart is hasty to other words before god. We hastily bring before him, all sorts of thoughts and things without weighing the fact that we are blessed to come before the god of the universe. So, just talk and talk and talk to hear yourself talk is bad.

Heaven is a reminder of god's greatness. It is the location of the glory and splendor of god. Therefore, as we bring our thoughts and we bring our words to god, Be careful. Contemplate. One commentator said this and i think this hits the nail on the head when we come and we're impatient and we ask we ask and we ask him, over and over again we are showing our impatience and our thinking that we know better than God. So we ask with impatience with god and our impatience is rebuked by god's greatness. When his greatness is compared to our small needs.

God’s in heaven. We're on earth. God is above us. We are below. So let your words be few.

Jesus, when he would teach how to pray would say, don't heap up empty, meaningless phrases. Like those Pharisees, do don't think that you will be heard by god because of your great, many words rather let your prayers be simple and succinct, as you take your requests before your father, who's in heaven, he hears. And he knows. There's no magical amount of pray x prayer x times and this will happen. It doesn't work like that. Sometimes we need to just shut our mouth and listen to our savior.

In the context of worship and the context of, how does this work in our lives? Now, What we have here is you have these people? Who they will pour out “Pious” which actually just trifle with, who God is and what he's done. Our words sometimes outrun our thoughts and our mind. And so, as we speak, If we're not careful what comes out Is vain at best but profane at worst. We must be careful. How we speak? And few words are better.

We’ve all been there in our prayers where we just speak and speak and then don’t know what we are saying. It is filling every thought and second with “Father God” without appreciating the fact that we are speaking to our Father who is in Heaven. I will share with you a pet peeve, and that is people who Use “father” instead of UMMM in between every line of prayer. Because it can lead to wrong thinking. your mouth has led you to sin because you thank the father for coming and dying on the cross.... which is NOT what happened… so be careful, less words are better, and God is not impressed by the VOLUME of your prayer.

By way of example. Jesus told this parable luke chapter 18… Two men. Go to the temple! Notice the location of the parable. Solomon says, guards are steps when you go to the temple.

Luke 18:10–12 ESV

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

That right there is a prayer spoken hastily. Spoken without contemplating the words that are being said. This Pharisee would have been much better to not be rash with his mouth, nor let his heart be hasty in uttering a word before God... Because the parable continues,

Luke 18:13 ESV

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

One of these prayers is filled with vain yet Seemingly pious words. the other is simple and succinct and filled with truly pious words as he brings his requests before the lord.

Here is the promise that we have, and why less words are better:

Luke 18:14 ESV

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

When we come to the house of god, we must open our ears and shut our mouth and allow god to speak to us.

But, What about when we DO open our mouths? What about the things we say we will do. Well then. You better do your vows.

DO your VOWS

Ecclesiastes 5:4 (ESV)

When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools.

When you? Promise god, something. Do it. That sounds very simple and you might have thought that on Easter Sunday We're going to get some very profound deep wrestling through the implications of some text message… Here’s what I have for you: When you tell god you're going to do something. Do it.

If you tell god, you're going to Serve him — love him — Be devoted to him — Do it. When you make a vow before god do not delay in paying.

Jesus would later call the scribes and pharisees hypocrites and blind guides because they would teach, you know, you don't have to fulfill all Vows. Right. And we get into this, this idea of… We read it when We went through it in Matthew.... Here's the short short short version: they thought “well I’ll promise, Not by god, but by the temple because, you know, it's not the same.” The temple well That's God's house. You're still swearing by God. So, do what you said.

They would think: “I'll just swear by the earth. Not by heaven” I mean heaven is where god lives.. So I’ll avoid that and I’ll swear by the earth. But then Jesus says the earth is god's footstool, you're still swearing by god. “Rather,” jesus says “let your yes be yes. And your no be no.”

Ultimately this is the same thought that Solomon wants us to see here. If you're going to make vows, if you're going to say these things, you're going to do these things. If you're going to make a promise to God, do it. Interestingly, here though. We should be careful and though …

Ecclesiastes 5:5 ESV

It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

It's good and right for us, in some sense… And let's be careful how we word this here.... It's good and right for us to bring before the lord All of us. So that Paul can write in Romans, “let no debt remain outstanding except for our unending debt to love one another.” And so i will endeavor by god's help to love my brothers. I'm going to try to do that vow.

Now, i will fail. But that's what grace is for. That's what the resurrection is for.

But Lets not jump STRAIGHT there… because there is a weight that we need to think through when It comes to the vows that we make before God. Verse six is very interesting.

Ecclesiastes 5:6 ESV

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?

It's sort of a story here of of the messenger here. Probably, the priest comes to you. Right. Imagine let's try to modernize kind of what what's going on in verse 6. To maybe wrap our minds around it a little bit. Let's suppose the church has a a fundraising… we are doing a building project, right? We want to go buy a building And so we send out little cards and everyone promises I'm going to give 50 dollars extra a month for the next five years, so the church can save up and go by a church building. Let's suppose we're going to do that --- we're not going to do that — But let's suppose that's what we're doing.

And so, you sit down, you fill out a card. I David Poland will give an extra 50 dollars a month to help fund the building project. Boom, done, turn it in. It's been five months and it turns out that I David Poland have NOT given 50 extra dollars at all. So i send the elders... here come Lawrence or Dan because they're more intimidating than I am. Laurence and Dan are coming… and There's gonna ask. Hey, you know, you signed up to do this. Why didn't you do it? That's the messenger here. So the messenger comes. Hey you said you do this Vow. The messenger comes to say, why didn't you do what you said you would do?

Don't you dare say, Solomon says, “Oh, that was a mistake.” “Oops. I i i didn't mean to actually write that down.” is not a valid excuse. DO NOT SAY TO THE MESSENGER IT WAS A MISTAKE…

You made the vow. So now, When god is destroying the work of your hands being angry with you. Why are you so surprised? That's that's the way he's telling us this story. So now, On one hand, there's application there that we should do what we say. And don't make rash vows, rather, follow through, let our yes be yes and our no be no.

But before we all mourn our total inability to ever always do all that we said… Let's look at this thought now though, through The work of our savior. Let's understand how this fear and worship in what's being said here is filtered through the resurrection. Because i'm here to tell you today. If you are a person who is sitting there thinking, well, i messed up, so god's mad at me, you don't understand the resurrection. Well, i i said this and didn;t do it so now god's destroying the work of my hand. You don't understand The resurrection.

Through the work of jesus we are completely forgiven. All our sins were nailed to the cross. Through the resurrection of jesus, we have proof of the victory that the cross purchased us. Therefore, any sin… Your inability to maintain your vow. Is that sinful? Yes. That sin was forgiven at the cross. This is why Paul can write in Romans. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus”, we don't have to worry about this last sort of, “god is going to punish the work of our hands thought”. In light of the resurrection. At the cross All my sin was punished, in the Resurrection I see that to be true. that is how this all works together.

How do we understand what it means to open our ears, shut our mouth and do our vows. We realize that jesus, paid it all, all to him I owe. because he rose in glorious victory I am empowered by the holy spirit to follow his commands. How can you open your ears? Jesus empowers you to do it, how can you shut your mouth? Jesus, empowers you to do it! How can you do your vows! It is not through your own strength and might. No! Jesus, empowers you to do it. The spirit at work within us. The same spirit that rose christ from the dead is at work in your life. This Is your hope.

So how do we tie this all together?

FEAR your GOD

We start with an exhortation to guard your steps but here's the heart behind it. — What does this Ultimately mean —

Ecclesiastes 5:7 (ESV)

God is the one you must fear.

This is the most positive things Solomon has said thus far in Ecclesiastes. Just to remind us how Ecclesiastes has sounded up to this point:

Pleasure is Vanity

wisdom is vanity,

hard work is vanity

living a wise Life, Solomon said, is vanity

trying to guide and run the times of your lives. Solomon says is vanity.

We have to realize chapter 3 from ashes to ashes dust to dust. That we will one day be dead and gone. So what do we do when It's all been vanity. It's all been pointless.

Here's the point of the entire book of Ecclesiastes. Here's where we find meaning and hope and everything we need in this broken world. Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse 7. God is the one you must fear.

So you come before him in humble worship and adoration understanding the holy great righteous sovereign king of the universe sees fit to love us. So, we Fear Our God.

Fear here is not a trembling trepidation with thoughts of God's going to get me… rather, holy reverent, awe and wonder that god would love even Me.

Today's Easter Sunday. The day, the Sunday, more than every other Sunday, though, we celebrate every Sunday of the resurrection, the Sunday more than all others... That we remember the power of the resurrection. That God would enter into creation, the second person of the trinity, Jesus christ, our lord. Though he was in the form of god did not count equality with god as a thing to be grasped but rather he humbled himself.

And therefore all the fullness of god was thinly veiled as jesus walked on this earth and he taught. And he instructed. And he was put on trial. And he was crucified. And he died. But herese the hope: That power could not Be held down. The grave could not contain him.

Why do we fear god? Because god has power over the grave and all things. Jesus rising in glorious victory shows us the power of god. And that same power… that same power that rose christ from the dead is at work within us. So we must fearfully. Reverently. Bow before him In humble, adoration.

We come before God knowing he is good. He is great and greatly to be praised. And so, we fear the lord. And it will go well for our souls.