“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” ~Matthew 23:23-24
A common quotation says, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials grace, in all things love.” Unfortunately, most who use that saying these days do so to avoid engaging in what they think are “secondary doctrines.” It is clear in today’s passage above that Jesus does indicate that some parts of the law are more important than others; however, the decision on what is secondary does not fall upon us to make. It must also be understood that Jesus never gives any permission to set aside the less weightier matters. The Pharisees did their tithes and Jesus said they should have done that, but not at the expense of the bigger things.
The Pharisees had the truth. They had it. They had the Scriptures, and they knew them well. Yet they missed it entirely. They never saw what it was for, why it was there, and they ultimately had no intention of carrying its purpose out. They followed the letter of the law almost to perfection and it was only for show. Jesus didn’t buy it. It is absolutely crucial to have the truth, but if you miss the point of the truth, why bother having it? Jesus said to not give pearls of wisdom to the pigs lest they trample over it.
For its whole history, Israel struggled to understand why God gave them the law. There were three major parts to the law: moral, civil, and ceremonial. The moral law was based off God’s character. The civil law was specifically for their theocratic nation. The ceremonial law was for dealing with sin and preparing for the Messiah. In this woe, Jesus charged the Pharisees of fulfilling the civil laws but completely ignoring the moral laws, which could be summed up in the 10 Commandments. In His hyperbolic analogy, the Pharisees sought to purify their water so much that they would strain out a gnat if it fell in, but in the process, they failed to see the entire camel in it. It is the same as Jesus saying, “Don’t complain about the speck in your brother’s eye when you have a plank in your own.” The Pharisees sought to extract every possible tithe out of their people but never did what they were supposed to do with it all. Why? Because they used the tithes to build their own wealth. They would rob widows this way (as I described previously).
Isaiah faced the same issue. God didn’t care for any of the tithes and sacrifices when the heart was wrong. Isaiah 58 addresses that issue when speaking of fasting. Anyone can fast food for a given time, but the kind of fast God wanted was to not merely to stop consuming on self but to support and protect others. God’s idea of fasting was to loose the bonds of wickedness, undo heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, break every yoke, share with the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. and to not expect a reward for doing so. Jesus said that when we have done all this, our response should be: “We are but humble servants. We have only done that which we ought.”
I have never liked the suggestion of “secondary doctrines” because it comes with the connotation of, “That other stuff is not important, I don’t have to believe it.” Never is such an idea hinted at in Scripture. These people want to try to major in the majors and ignore the minors. The problem is when you ignore the majors, you miss the point of them. The reverse issue is also true. When you focus so much on getting the finer details right that you miss the big picture, you have the same problem and are stuck on a similar ditch on the other side of the road. Jesus said we must do both, the majors and the minors.
As I’ve mentioned in recent weeks, there is one major that we should be focused on: Jesus Christ. Paul declared he had one message: Christ and Christ crucified. To get that major, we must get the minors correct as well, because everything points to and reveals Christ. If we get a minor wrong, we get a distorted view of Christ. But if we focus on the minors so much that we miss the picture they reveal, we miss the point. I love the origins debate because it reveals all the issues at hand, but origins done correctly will point to Christ. Origins pointing to origins misses the point.
We can be religious all we want, but what are we doing with God’s people? Are we just hanging out in our own circles, or are we taking God’s Kingdom into this world and going after souls? It is so easy for Christians to hide in Christian circles and never face the world out there. Or when they face the world, they hide their identity as Christians. Are we out to bring justice for the downtrodden, mercy for the broken, and faith for those who need a boost?
About a mile from my house, the government is building a facility for unaccompanied minors. This is basically a holding facility for those who have come across the border from Mexico and have already been identified has having no family members with them (so do not believe the hype that the Trump administration is separating children from families. They aren’t.). Most people’s reaction has been to do what the media tells them to do: thinking politically and attacking Trump for setting it up. My initial reaction to this facility is this: “They are coming regardless. What can I do?” I have no idea if I can do anything with these youth, either due to clearance, my skill set (though a teacher’s skills might be useful) or whatnot, but that was my reaction. That reaction hasn’t gone away yet (as of writing this). I may have the door shut on me, but how can this facility be so close to me, where I have to drive past it every day just to get to the city, and me not do anything? I saw protestors already on the nearly empty street it is on (seriously, there’s more rock quarry truck traffic and dogs than cars). They are just following the political talking points. I want to do something with these kids. I don’t know what yet or what I can do, but I want to do something.
While we must focus on sound doctrine and teaching the truth, that must not be at the expense of serving the people of God. I am no fan of suggesting that we can solve things through politics, however, we cannot sit back and do nothing, letting the world burn. Let us go out and save souls.
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by Steve Risner
Surrender. This isn’t a word most find appealing, but I’d like to share some things concerning it with you today and next week. Recently in a prayer meeting, a man from a local church stood and prayed a prayer very similar to a prayer I’d had on my heart for some time. That prayer centered on surrendering all to the Lord. It was a beautiful prayer. He was much more eloquent than I would have been and more so than I will be in the paragraphs to follow, I’m sure. My hope is that you can take something away from this to better your walk with the Lord.
He began by saying that we don’t actually need more of God in our lives. I thought that was interesting. But he went on to say we need to surrender more of ourselves to the Lord and there will be more opportunity for God to work in and through us. I've often heard God described as a gentleman - He won't force Himself into your life if He's not welcome. This is what that portion of his prayer was getting at. If we give God a little piece of our heart, He won’t do much in our lives. If we give Him more, He'll be more present.
We see this throughout the history of the nation of Israel. When they were all in, He was all in. When they sought help from some other place or worshiped other gods, He removed Himself from them. Over the course of a believer's life, as we mature (or IF we're maturing) in our faith and grow closer to the Lord, we sacrifice more, we give more, we're more conscious of God's working and moving, and we are more open to His leading. This can all be summed up in the word surrender. This is a struggle every believer deals with for his or her entire walk with the Lord. We can always surrender more. As we surrender more, He fills in those areas that we've given up to Him.
I can see how this would mean we have more of God in our lives. However, the real deal here is that we've given more space to the Lord, so His moving, leading, and power in our lives is more easily seen and made manifest. It's really less of us. He's given us all of Himself already. We can join John the Baptist in saying, “He must become greater; I must become less.” All the while, God may very well have been moving or speaking to us, but we hadn't given Him the ear we needed to hear Him. This changes as we surrender more.
“God didn't just rent the attic. He bought the whole house.” This was one statement made during this prayer of surrender and it spoke to me. What a great description of so many of us! We have God in our heads—we know of Him, we may even know Him personally, but He's never made it to the rest of our lives because we've let Him stay in the attic, and we've locked the doors to the rest of the house. He paid the price for it all, not to have a piece but to have the whole thing. Our lives should be His.
James 4:7 tells us to “Submit yourselves, then, to God.” Then the result of surrendering to the Lord and not giving in to our flesh or the enemy is stated: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” As we surrender ourselves to the Lord, we give up those fleshly desires and it becomes easier to resist the devil. As we resist him, he runs! We submit to God, and we resist the devil. In Proverbs, it's beautifully said: “My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways.” God isn't interested in anything before He's interested in you. He wants your heart—all of it—and He can do amazing things with you. But if we hold back something, His presence in our lives is diminished. It's only after we've given Him ourselves that He will happily accept those other things we want to give Him.
In Mark 12:29-30, Jesus is quoting Moses when He says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord alone is God. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” God is not ambiguous here. He doesn't say He's satisfied with some of us or a part of us or even most of our hearts. He wants it all. He references every aspect of our existence: our inner person and our physical body. In fact, the first of the Ten Commandments is, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” He wants nothing before Him. He wants nothing between us and Him—no distractions, no competition, nothing.
How do we NOT give God everything? How do we not surrender when we know it's the right thing to do? Due to a lack of trust (a lack of faith in His care for us), we hold back. There may be other reasons, but I feel this is a big one. We give Him pieces of our lives that are not really difficult to surrender. We surrender things that we can do without anyway. We may offer Him something that others can see so we benefit not from God's blessings but from the praise of men. We've all done it. We've all done the right thing for the wrong reasons. Resist this! It's not easy.
Or, we give Him the stuff that seems like it's what Christians do. We go to church on Sunday. We might listen to Christian music on occasion. We pray before some meals or when we're in trouble or have a loved one in trouble. We might give a few bucks here and there to help out. We give out of abundance (whether time or money) but not when it really counts or really hurts. If we go to church and spend a minute in prayer for each meal and, say, once or twice a week because we need help, we're looking at about 2 hours of our week. What about the other 166 hours of the week? Okay, so you're sleeping for 56 of those, give or take. But we're looking at a small portion of actual time that we sacrifice to the Lord. What's keeping you from fully surrendering? Is He on your mind most of the time? Are you talking with Him throughout your day? Are you looking for ways to bless others in His Name or to share Him with others? Are you thanking Him for those blessings He gives throughout your day?
Or, we give God the junk and keep the rest. We offer up our sufferings and our hurts, our problems and pain, but we forget about Him when we're not in the valley. When we're on the mountain top and life is going well, we forget about Him. He deserves our attention, our time, and our resources all the time, not just when we're in trouble.
Why? What's the big deal? If I give God some of my time, some of my heart, some of my life, isn't that enough? Can't He do amazing things with something so small? Of course, God is capable of doing whatever He likes, but He wants your participation and your heart. He's worthy of all we can give Him and so much more. We owe a debt to Him we can't possibly begin to pay. The highest praise isn't enough to glorify Him. The most dedicated life falls short. But this shouldn't hinder us or discourage us from giving Him all of us. It should push us to lay it all down because He's worthy of that and He deserves it and so much more. He gave Himself for us—He gave up every last drop of blood for us. He left heaven's glory and came to the earth as a humble child, born in very unimpressive circumstances to live a perfect life in harmony with the Father, teaching us His ways, and then dying a terrible death for our rebellion against God. He gave us all of Himself willingly and, according to the Apostle Paul, He did this while we were still at war with Him. Paul writes, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” How awesome is that!
My question is this, and I think about this often: if you've truly encountered Jesus Christ and have even a tiny bit of understanding of what He's done for you and what you should receive (death and hell) versus what you will receive (heaven’s glory and His presence) as His disciple, how can you not actively pursue surrendering more to Him? Likewise, if this is true, how can you keep quiet about the Good News? I'm not suggesting we all should be pastors or preachers, but I am suggesting that, just as Christ said and as the Apostle Paul modeled for us, we should be telling others as we go about our business. Christ said that, “As you go, make disciples...” What this means is that if we truly get what the deal is—what we deserve because we are like every other human being (a terrible sinner) and what Christ gave up, suffered, and accomplished for us while we still deserved death and hell and where we will spend eternity solely because of His work for us—we'll openly and freely talk about our faith and live out that faith in front of anyone we meet. Jesus deserves such devotion and commitment, and those He died for need to hear it and know it.
That's where we'll leave it this week. Next week we'll continue on this topic and explore why God is worthy of our total surrender and what sorts of things we may be holding back from Him—things that may be hindering His power and presence in our lives. Thanks for reading and be blessed.
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In 1994, I was living in Seattle, Washington just under the Space Needle, pursuing my career in music and living for myself. I had been chasing after worthless things of this world hoping to become rich or famous and make something of myself. Then this Alice In Chains EP Jar of Flies came out and I really started to question the choices I had made from the very first listen of the very first song of this EP. The song is called Rotten Apple. It was so eerie, and I could feel the pain coming from the musicians from the beginning of this EP. They had previously released one of their most successful albums and it seriously started to make me wonder: if even these guys aren’t happy with their fame and fortune, why might it make me happy?
It got me thinking and I began to realize that I was moving toward the point of no return in my life. As it says in the song, Rotten Apple:
Innocence is over
Ignorance is spoken
Confidence is broken
Sustenance is stolen
Arrogance is potent
I had a decision to make. Was I going to go all out for fame and fortune and the happiness and excitement this world had to offer, or would I return to the faith of my youth? This was the faith my parents had tried their best to teach me as a child through their words and actions. Were they perfect? Well, no, they were not, and even they would admit to this. But they loved me; I knew without a doubt that they loved me. I didn’t really know why they loved me, but I can tell you now that I have six children of my own that I have a much better idea why.
My parents never gave up on me! They loved me with truth and in patience and self-control. They were there when I needed them. They were also willing to trust God and not be there when I selfishly wanted my own way. Sometimes they would just listen to me, and other times they would give me advice that many times I didn’t take into consideration. I mean, in my mind, they were old, what did they know? How arrogant of me!
In 1994, I came to a realization that I was either going to go my way or God’s way. I figured I was much too far down the road of destruction for God to take me as I was and to allow me into His Kingdom. There was no way, in my mind, that He was going to accept me.
I can assure you that He not only accepted me as a person, but I have tried to serve Him every day since an incredible day in January 1995. Later that year, I would meet that wonderful woman I would have 6 amazing children with. My wife Jaya and I got married in 1997, and we have tried serving the Lord together ever since.
Some of you might be thinking, “But Jason, you don’t know what I’ve done, you can’t understand.” Well, you’re right. I cannot understand, but I know the one who can. He loves you. He’s pursuing you even now. Friends, even when Jesus became my Savior, I still struggled with my past actions and sins against God.
In 1996, a band came out with a song that helped me overcome the shame and guilt of my past. Their name was Skillet and the name of the song is I Can. Here are some lyrics from the song to consider:
Do you really love my soul, even after I hated you?
Do you really know my name, can I really come to you?
Are you really more faithful than the changing of the seasons and the morning sun?
Do you really know my name, can I really come to you?
I can, I don't care if the rooster crows
I can
If you have breath in your body, it’s not too late. Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”
If you’d like to learn more about Jason’s story, you can find it in his book, How Being Consistent Changed Everything.
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Pleasure is a good thing, right? We all like it when things are going our way, when we get to spend time with people we enjoy doing things we like, and when we have material blessings that bring us pleasure. In our society, we often go to great lengths to not only avoid displeasure but to pursue those things that bring us happiness.
As we continue our journey through Ecclesiastes, the first two chapters focus on how various aspects of life are meaningless. In the Teacher’s quest for meaning in life, he has looked at nature and wisdom and found both to be meaningless, so now he investigates pleasure in today’s passage of Ecclesiastes 2:1-11.
If the material things of this world make us happy, then surely they should provide fulfilled meaning to our lives, right? First, the Teacher surrounds himself with laughter (verse 2), but that only kept him happy temporarily. Next, he tries drinking wine to give himself pleasure, but not too much that he doesn’t have his senses to analyze the experience (verse 3). This, too, does not satisfy him.
In verses 4-6, the Teacher tries to find meaning in doing great things. He builds houses for himself, and he plants vineyards, gardens, and parks. He planted fruit trees for pleasurable foods. He built water reservoirs to water all these. Of course, being king, the Teacher did not physically do the work himself, but he used these things as a creative outlet to fulfill his desires to accomplish good things, hoping that would bring him not only pleasure but meaning to his life.
Next in verse 7, he buys slaves to do more great things in his household, and he also acquired more livestock, hoping that all of these material things would bring meaning to his life. In verse 8, he builds his financial wealth and then acquires singers and a harem of women. By worldly standards, he had everything that all people would ever strive for! He was the greatest man alive. In all this, he states that he kept his God-given wisdom intact (verse 9).
The Teacher sums up his pursuit of pleasures in verse 10: “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.” He had the means to be able to do and obtain whatever he wanted, and he did so - all for the purpose of determining what would give meaning to his life, of course. He did feel delighted and rewarded for all of this of course, but not enough to give his life true meaning.
We see that all these pleasures did not fulfill the Teacher in verse 11: “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” We may feel like riches can buy us all the things that we need to be happy, but the Teacher did that and it didn’t work out that way for him. Everything was still meaningless. All of these pleasures were still like chasing after the wind, and he really didn’t gain anything that truly mattered.
We as humans get so caught up in the things of this world. I know it’s cliche to say how we’re all trying to “keep up with the Joneses” or have the latest and greatest thing, but it is true, isn’t it? We may be content with what we have for a time, but then a newer and better thing comes out and we just have to have it!
I myself have experienced that. Technology is one of my weaknesses. Multiple times I’ve bought a new iPad, laptop, phone, or another gadget when the one I had really did work just fine. I always come up with some way to justify the purchase to myself, and after I order something new, I always anticipate its arrival with excitement. When the new gadget arrives, sometimes it does bring me happiness for a while; other times, it’s disappointing to find out it doesn’t work the way I hoped it would. But either way, the “joy” that it brings me is truly only temporary.
We experience that same thing with relationships with other people too. Maybe you’ve just met or started dating someone, and the relationship is so new and exciting and amazing! But after a while, the newness wears off and maybe you start to see some of that person’s flaws. That may take a short time or not happen for years. Or maybe the person you thought was loyal to only you cheated on you with someone else, and the “joy” you had early on is now replaced with betrayal.
We see from the Teacher and from our own life experiences that the pleasures of things or people will never truly satisfy us. It all ends up being meaningless in the grand scheme of life. Sometimes it takes us a while to figure that out, but that is where everything does lead in this fallen world.
Don’t get me wrong, pleasure is not inherently a bad thing. But we need to make sure our focus is properly aligned. We can experience happiness with the things and people of this earth, but if we’re solely focused on them then we’ll miss what’s important - a relationship with God who created it all. He is the only thing that can truly give our lives meaning and lasting pleasure. We need to continually thank God for giving us all the things in our lives that do bring us joy, even if it is only temporary, and remember to keep our focus on Him for true pleasure in our lives.
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“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’” ~Matthew 23:16
This is the only one of the woes in this chapter in which Jesus did not call out the Pharisees and scribes by name, nor directly call them “hypocrites.” In order to put this into this scathing statement against the religious hypocrisy, Jesus must have seen and heard this statement numerous times. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made it simple to not even swear oaths, but to simply let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.”
Oaths in Biblical times were much more than merely “I give you my word.” They were legally binding. When Jacob tricked Esau into selling his birthright for a bowl of stew, Esau swore with an oath to give it up. It was only when he didn’t get it that Esau realized his folly, but he was never repentant of his sin regarding it.
Vows made today are similar to the oaths made then. Today, when people made a vow, they do so upon something they hold dear. A witness in court or a politician taking the oath of office is typically asked to place their hand upon a Bible and told to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (though today, things are changing for the worse). The idea is that the thing being used for the oath is what would hold that person accountable for breaking that oath. A person who lies on the witness stand or fails to uphold their duty in office is held accountable to the judgment of that which they swear upon. To lie upon Scripture is akin to lying to God, and those who know Scripture knows what can happen when you lie to God (just ask Ananias and Sapphira).
Many people tend to take such vows flippantly because it is ultimately just tradition and the serious implications are never really brought to mind. This is part of what Jesus is addressing. Integrity is no laughing matter. Any time God makes a promise, He is obligated to keep it, lest He deny Himself. And as God is the standard by which all righteousness is judged, any person who says they will do something and fails to do it is a liar. They failed to keep their word. Not following through on what you said you would do involves multiple sins: lying, hypocrisy, double-standards, disrespect, disobedience… shall I continue? That’s why God takes it so seriously.
What the people would do here, however, is arbitrarily place values upon the “down payment” or the standard upon which the oath is made. To swear upon the temple or the altar was dismissible because of how nonchalantly it was treated. But if you swore upon the gold of the temple, now you are making a vow upon what makes the temple so valuable. If you swear upon the sacrifice, then you are serious about what you are doing. Jesus didn’t take that well. Gold and sacrifices can be found anywhere; what makes them special is where they are found. God gave specific instructions on how He was to be worshipped. So, when Christ died, not just any altar would do. It was a specific altar, which the whole book of Hebrews describes as being in heaven, upon which God’s wrath would be carried out. And only Jesus could be placed upon that altar.
Jesus set the record straight that it is not the gold that is special, but the temple that makes it special. It is not the sacrifice that is special, but the altar upon which it is placed that makes it special. The altar is what made a sacrifice atone for sin. Anything else could be a sacrifice but it wasn’t for sin.
What about us? How many promises do we make and not keep? How many times do we “cross our heart and hope to die” or “pinky promise” and actually keep our word? The Bible is filled with examples of what happens when people make rash oaths (think Jephthah, Darius, or even Joshua) and the consequences when that happens. We sign legally binding contracts, some of which are for our protection, but some of which enslave us until the terms are complete. I was enslaved to a contract, to an oath I had signed, when I went to school. I had student loans. I gave myself one of my best Christmas gifts a month ago by paying off the entirety of the debt three years early. My oath’s obligation was fulfilled. But how many of us go take out a loan to get a house or a car just because we want the model and then are enslaved to it for 10, 20, 30 years paying it off? There is nothing wrong with having a house or car, but do we realize what kind of commitment that is when we sign on the dotted line?
We live in a culture that cherishes fickleness. The Sawi Tribe of Papua New Guinea had a culture in which the legendary heroes were the ones whom could build up the greatest friendships only to betray and eat them. When they heard the Gospel, they thought Judas was the hero. Are we truly any better in modern day America? We no longer live in a society that expects those who make vows to live by them. If so, we’d have run over half of Washington D.C. out of office long ago. And they know it too, because they truly don’t believe we’re going to do anything about them. That’s why Jesus was such a threat to the Pharisees, because he held them accountable to their word and exposed them publicly as the frauds they were. But I have news we may not want to hear: He’s going to hold us accountable for our word too.
Jesus made it so simple. Don’t even swear or make oaths. Simply live with basic integrity where anyone who hears you give your word will know you will come through. If you say, “yes” you do it. That’s all there is to it.
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In 1997, I was able to marry my wonderful wife. In 1998, our first child came into this world - a bouncing baby boy! We were such happy and proud parents who were thankful to God for this amazing gift. My wife and I both were already believers in Jesus Christ and had decided long before our first child was born into this world that we would be praying for him every day. But how does one pray for someone not yet born into this world? Once we realized my wife was pregnant, we talked and came to a decision that we would begin to pray for our child’s salvation and sexual purity every day until this child was married. He is now 21 years old, and we continue to pray for him to keep working out his salvation and for his and for his future wife’s sexual purity, whoever that may be. As far as we all know, including him, we haven’t met her yet.
We now have six children (two boys and four girls) that range in ages from 12 to 21 years. My wife and I continue to this day to pray for our children to continue to work out their salvation in order to grow and to become mature and complete, not lacking anything, as well as for their and their future spouses’ sexual purity until they are married. We believe that praying together and coming in agreement to the Lord on this topic is very important. You need to be of one mind with your spouse, as a house divided is easily broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12 states, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Friends, in a marriage the “three cords” should be God Almighty, the husband, and the wife. A marriage founded upon God as the center of it cannot easily be broken. Husbands, be willing to lead by example. Love your wife as Christ loves the Church. Admittedly, I am still very much working on this.
We prayed for our son and read the Bible together before bed, long before he even understood what was going on. Once his brother came along 15 months later, we continued in reading the Bible, praying together, and singing a blessing over them every night. Even though our sons are in college now, we continue this same routine to this very day. Have we missed some evenings? Oh, sure we have, but if we are all home, we have tried to make this our nightly routine, and it is now a tradition in our home. Proverbs 22:6 is our guide in this and we have decided to trust in God and His good and right ways: “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
Admittedly, our children are still growing up, so we are still in the trusting stage of this proverb and in many of God’s promises. Do we think our children will follow God and His good and right ways? Yes, not just because we trust God, but because we trust our children, too.
A funny thing happened when our sons moved out. My wife and I realized that they have to make their own way now. Boy, was this hard to do! Giving up control and fully trusting God Almighty and allowing your children the complete freedom to make their own decisions for right or wrong can be hard, but it is the way it is eventually supposed to be. So, as a parent you have a choice to make. You can show the children God has given to you the ways of God Almighty, or not. You are the example that your children will see virtually every day while they are growing up. Be thankful and appreciate the opportunity that God has given to you and your spouse to raise these children. Parents, take this responsibility seriously; your children will eventually leave your home and make their own lives. This is something that is very good.
So, I will leave you with this. It is not about you and your dreams; it is about following God and His plan for your life and your family’s descendants. Are you willing to sacrifice your dreams and desires for people you haven’t met yet? Your grandchildren and great grandchildren are depending on you to make Godly choices now so that they can be even that much farther down life’s spiritual road than you ever were. Please prayerfully consider giving them that wonderful selfless gift.
Blogger note: For those of you that don’t have children or can’t have children, please consider your life and be a Godly example to those God puts into your path.
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Last week, we began to dig into Ecclesiastes 1, and we looked at how the Teacher tells us that everything is meaningless. He began by showing how nature is meaningless, and today we continue on and take a look at wisdom.
In today’s passage, we start out in verse 12 learning that the Teacher was king over Israel. As I wrote about in my introduction post, this gives more credence to the Teacher being King Solomon. We read in 1 Kings 3:1-15 that God told Solomon he could ask Him for anything, and Solomon asked God for a discerning heart to govern the people well. Because of his integrity in asking that, rather than asking for God to fulfill his own selfish desires, God gave Solomon that wisdom along with great wealth and honor. So, King Solomon was known as being a very wise king, having been given great wisdom by God.
But what exactly is that widsom we’re talking about? In Hebrew, there are generally considered to be 3 words for wisdom: sacal, da’at, and hokmah. Sacal has the idea of teaching, instruction, or knowledge, and da’at is an intimate knowing like how well God knows every detail about us. Hokmah is the word used here in Ecclesiastes (and in 1 Kings 3), and it has the idea of discernment and applying knowledge well to the situations of life. I’ve heard it said that knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, but wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. We have to have knowledge in order to have wisdom, which is the application of that knowledge.
So, knowing all of that, we see in Ecclesiastes 1:13-14 that the Teacher has much knowledge and wisdom. He has learned a lot over his lifetime, and his conclusion is that it is all meaningless! He acknowledges that over living things, like animals, don’t worry about meaning and purpose like humans do. Animals just go about their lives and do what they were intended to do without worrying about why they’re doing it, whereas humans strive to have purpose and understanding of every situation.
The Teacher equates chasing after wisdom to chasing after the wind. There is so much that we don’t understand, and our knowledge and wisdom will never equal God’s. We keep trying to fix things (verse 15) but we are not able to do so.
We see that even though the Teacher received so much great knowledge, it still did not satisfy him and give his life purpose (verse 16). Even when he applied that knowledge in the form of his wisdom as a ruler, it was still like chasing after the wind - a goal that can never be reached (verse 17). He ends this section with a depressing thought in verse 18: “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”
That thought makes it sound like we should all just give up. Why keep learning things if they just bring more sorrow? Why keep gaining knowledge about how the world works if that just gives us more grief? It does sound like all that is just a pointless pursuit that will have no benefit for our lives or for humanity as a whole.
But the thing that makes it more worthwhile is our intention and our purpose. No, knowledge won’t fix the things that are broken with this world, though our continued wisdom and application of that knowledge may make life a little easier at times. Our knowledge can help solve the inconveniences of this world, but only God can really solve what’s truly wrong; the real problem with this world is sin.
Let me give you an example. While this is not directly stated in the Bible, I would suggest that in the Garden of Eden before mankind sinned, the food there would never go bad. The fruit would never rot or have bugs that would destroy it. Everything was perfect, and there was no death, for humans or for anything else in nature. After mankind sinned and all of creation fell into sin, death now affected everything. Fruit would go rotten and spoil.
As humans have advanced in knowledge, we have applied that knowledge as wisdom and have come up with ways to preserve food for longer periods of time. I appreciate that some fruits or vegetables will last longer in my refrigerator, thanks to mankind’s knowledge on how to make refrigeration - the electricity to power it can get to my house, and all parts to a refrigerator that have all come about thanks to mankind pursuing knowledge and wisdom. But, even my refrigerator won’t make my food last forever. My food will still spoil and go bad. Even the amazing technological advances that we have learned won’t fix the real problem.
The only real solution is God. Someday, He will restore everything to perfection. While knowledge and the pursuit of wisdom are good things, they will not truly fix what’s wrong with this world. Getting an education is a great tool for making things in this world a little better, but ultimately, compared to the perfection of God, our wisdom is meaningless, as the Teacher points out here in Ecclesiastes.
Continue to pursue knowledge and wisdom as the Teacher did, but remember that the pursuit of wisdom is not our goal. Our goal is to praise God who has given us the ability to have that wisdom and who will one day fulfill all things to perfection.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
