Ecclesiastes 10, Part I

5/12/2013
Jack Abeelen
Some Foolish Things (Part 1)
Ecclesiastes 10:1-10

All notes from this sermon:

Solomon did well early on (Proverbs) but as he got older and political alliances came before him, he went astray.  He married many foreign women.
Ecclesiastes--Greek word literally "gathered things," "church," those who have been called out from the world, gathered together.

All of what we have looked at can be categorized under 4 main issues:

1. Monotony of life without a purpose
2. Emptiness/vanity to human wisdom--can't get from there to here apart from God
3. Futility in wealth, concerted effort it takes to get it terms of any long lasting rewards
4. The certainty of death

All of these leave him crying out "vanity" over his worldly view

Chapters 10-11 Comparison between the foolish man and the wise man
Chapter 12  Conclusion

Fool--200x in the Bible, always a reference to a spiritual condition where the fool is devoid of God's direction.  Opposite of fool in the Bible is wise, the man who walks with God, who knows God, who listens to the Lord, seeks after Him, lives a skillful life because he's heard what God has to say and lives accordingly.

A fool is never low IQ, less education, not willing to listen, morally bankrupt and spiritually unavailable to the Lord or unwilling to listen, lives with a short term view of life, unbeliever, fool.

Uses typical worldly examples.  That's exactly what we would be doing if we try to live apart from God. Most of you have given your life to Jesus and that's the way it should be.  That makes you wise not foolish.  Because you are saved, you live circumspect lives (Paul in Ephesians 5)

Live circumspect lives--"See that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, the days are evil, so don't be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is."

Circumspect one of many Greek words for "perfect" implies you look in every direction to make sure you don't step in it or on it, look around, watch where you are going and keep your eye on where you are headed.

By definition---fool is one who doesn't know God.  And the wise man is one who does.  So you and I aren't foolish anymore, we don't have to be

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of the child, but the rod of correct
The fool says in his heart there is no God. Denies God in practice and so he lilives as if He doesn't exist. Psalm 14
The fool is right in his own eyes, but the wise will heed counsel. Proverbs 12  People without Godmake themselves the standard of right and wrong; they worship their own ways.
Fools will mock at sin. Proverbs 14 They will eliminate conviction and justify everything.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1

Paul was able to write in his last letter to Timothy...I know from childhood you have know the scriptures which are able to make you wise...
We walk circumspectly and stay alert.
God has given us wisdom.  Bible, God's Spirit, He will teach us the way to go. Without this we are like Solomon, we have the wisdom of God but don't use it.

Fools vs. the wise
Our culture loves soft diplomacy. We are often willing to sacrifice truth for tact.  The Bible doesn't do that--generally shoots straight.

Job through Solomon, poetic books, written in Hebrew poetry
Distinction is that our poetry rhymes words, but Hebrew poetry rhymes thoughts.
Synonymous parallelism--makes point, then makes point again with different words
Synthetic parallelism--makes statement, then a series of lines that follow that support that statement saying different things about it.
Antithetical parallelism--makes statement, then contrasts it

We'll see this in the following passages.

"Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor."  Ecclesiastes 10:1

Perfumes in ancient times came from sap or bark, then soaked in oil which over time became scented by it.  Put on to hide body odor...refreshing.  In the process of making this scented oil, the sweetness of the aloe in it would attract flies....would get it in, decay, and make rotten smell.  Much more oil than rot, but that's the point.

You can spend your entire life building a reputation for ourselves, but all it takes are a few bad choices. Then it can become the only thing people remember. Foolishness has tremendous destructive capability.  So does not walking with God.  That's where hurt comes.  You might say to yourself, gosh the guy's been faithful all his life, he's only had a few bad choices.  It's not fair, but it is what it is. Politician on the take, pastor with affair. It's impossible to win them back to the place they once were. No matter if they were sorry and didn't mean it.

 It just takes one foolish move to ruin your reputation. When you hear King David who is the first person you think of? Why do you think this?  Reputation is delicate and sin so destructive.  There were 40 years where he did so well, but one act, one moment, one sin can ruin your reputation.

So what do you do as a wise person in the Lord? You recognize your Achilles heel.  Joseph was sensitive to the threat of an older woman.  He just ran.Get away from things that harm you.  Sometimes the solution is just "run."  No time for talk, just escape.  Run from the internet, the donut shop, run from the bar, just run.  Because it just takes a little bit.  How important that we recognize the value of a good reputation.  A little foolishness can ruin a good work.

Verse 2---"Much foolishness cannot be hidden. A wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart is at his left. And when a fool walks long the way  shows everyone that he is a fool"

v1 foolishness of a believer who allows a little folly to ruin his reputation (inadvertent fool)

v2 foolishness of an unbeliever, who through his life makes it abundantly clear that he's absolutely gripped by foolishness, and he likes it.  Has no interest in guarding his heart.  Heart is at his left.  No concern about his life, no focus, not on guard, I'm going to feel what I want to feel and do what I want to do.

Fool before the Lord (v1) creeps into a godly life.
Fool in the world (v2)  can't be hidden.  His heart needs no oversight in his opinion.
Wise--Wise man controls his heart, at his right hand.  "You show me the fullness of life...at your right hand is pleasure evermore" He puts a guard up. He commits himself to learning, to that discipline if you will.  The wise seeks the Lord.

Fools are easy to spot, slow to change.
v. 3 "along the way" never really has a heart to seek wisdom...all of God's warnings, all of God's callings are of little benefit because he closes his heart.  He wants to play the fool.  Ask him about God and he'll laugh it off. "I don't need Him. I'm the captain of my own ship."

v 14 "The fool has said in his heart there is no God"  He may very well determine that God exists, but he's made a determination that he wants nothing to do with him.  He doesn't need Him.  They just write Him off.
Look, we are all born sinners and if you want to continue...

Then turns to....
Foolish rulers.  Foolish anger.  Foolish responses.  Mixes the believer in with the unbeliever if you will.
If anyone needed wisdom, it's a person in charge of others.  Solomon knew this first hand.  He had the largest governing body of his day.

He asks the wise to behave in a certain manner, even when the ruler is angry and is not very qualified to sit where he sits.  He puts fools in charge. He promotes other fools.  Then he gets angry with you, the wise. It's not wise to make threats.  It is wiser to seek conciliatory means for God will use that for good.

Don't quit when the ruler gets upset.  They are being foolish but they have power.  You want to quit and walk away.  I'll show you.  See if you can make it without me. Sounds good, foolish.  An angry response to the angered is not wise, even when fools are in charge.  Incompetent people are often placed in places of power and everyone under them suffers.

The most qualified can become the slaves...while the fools ride on the horse.  The incompetent treated like royalty. Rehoboam....doesn't listen to the elders.  Kingdom split into two, and he lost all power, ability.
The best ruler is tough minded and gentle hearted.  He'll put the right people on the right horse.  But what about when you work for the fool and he promotes his family and his buddies.

It's foolish to respond to foolish anger with more of the same.  Chinese proverb "Outside angry, inside empty."  Winston Churchill and Lady Astor...witty arguing publicly.  We like getting even.  We like that better.
But then you get to this word "conciliation"---to change hostility to friendship.  Be reconciled.

v. 8 The foolish laborer
He who digs a pit will fall into it.  He who quarries stones may be hurt by them.  But wisdom brings success.

Our work is often associated with who we are.  What's your name?  What do you do?  They don't take necessary precautions to do their work effectively.  You got to prepare for the work, be careful.  Or if you just go to work with a dull axe, you're going to have to work harder.  If you would just sharpen your axe.

But wisdom brings success.  In everyone of the cases, the risk are brought about by the presumption and the lack of preparation. Don't live haphazardly.  Live there life shooting arrows then painting bulls-eyes.

Nehemiah pray-pared himself.  See if God is blessing.  If not, get on to something else.  The wise man realizes this life is short and he responds accordingly.