NORTHSHORE CHURCH OF CHRIST

Solomon paints us pictures of the wise man and the foolish man in the 10^th chapter of Ecclesiastes. As we take trip after trip around the sun, we can start to wonder what we are supposed to be doing and if we are doing it right. Solomon nods along beside us. He, too, has wrestled with all those thoughts, and God granted him wisdom to understand man’s place and purpose under the sun. God grants man wisdom so we can walk rightly, honorably, justly in this world, thus gaining the precious rewards of healthy consciences, happy lives, and inner peace.

According to Ecclesiastes 10…

The wise man takes care in his life, takes care of his tools, works hard despite less-than-optimal conditions, uses his words skillfully, does not curse rulers but controls himself, feasts at the proper times, and brings home the bacon to his thriving, healthy family. His words give grace and return to him with favor. He can calmly sit while his master rails at him because he knows his place, knows he is in the right, and knows that to rise against the ruler would be shameful and foolhardy. His steps are established by the Lord in wisdom. “Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!” (10.17).

The fool demonstrates his lack of sense through laziness, silly speech, incompetence, and lack of moral judgment. He spouts unhelpful words. He makes excuses and does not work. “It might rain,” he says, and stays inside to play video games instead of doing what needs to be done today. With a super-inflated ego, he “educates” others and believes that wisdom resides with him, but everyone around him realizes he doesn’t even know what road he’s on and he certainly can’t guide others! “The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness” (10.13).

This is not just dealing with social issues or things that are “worse vs. better.” Solomon speaks here of morality, of the way a man orders his steps before the Lord, of righteous living vs. wicked living.

Paul’s Similar Admonitions

Paul similarly commented on wise living in Ephesians 5.6–21. Some will attempt to deceive Christians with empty words, but Paul wants us to carefully discern and not become partners with those “sons of disobedience” who are “darkness” (5.6–8). Those fools will perish in their folly. Paul charges us to “walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord” (10.8–10). Paul continues:

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Sprit addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (5.15–21)

Walk in the wisdom of the Lord! His paths are straight and level, our foot will not slip, our lives will be established come what may. What confidence, what joy, and what peace you will find!

Our Lord Jesus the Anointed One preached, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matthew 5.13).

How are Jesus’ disciples “the salt of the earth”?

For one thing, salt gives taste and flavor to make foods more palatable and even delicious. Who doesn’t like a little salt along with their meat? Bland food can be made enjoyable with a few dashes of salt.

For another thing, salt preserves. Before refrigeration, men packed their raw meat in salt containers, which preserved it for long periods of time. Salt staves off bacteria.

For the Israelite, Jesus’ statement had meaning even beyond flavor and preservation because God had mentioned salt several times in relation to their covenant. Notice Leviticus 2.13: “You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.” Did God really need salt? Did it make the grain taste better to God? God didn’t actually eat it, but He demanded that no grain offering be offered to Him without the proper seasoning.

Later, God said to Aaron and his household (the High Priest line among the Levites), “All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you” (Numbers 18.19). What does that mean—that it was a “covenant of salt”?

Interestingly, Abijah schooled King Jeroboam using the same kind of language in 2 Chronicles 13.5: “Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?”

If you put those two together, you see that God gave a “covenant of salt” to the family of the High Priest (Aaron) and the family of the King (David). The priest and the king were two major leaders among the Jews—the first was their highest spiritual leader who ministered before the Lord on behalf of the nation; the second was the highest political authority. God gave to both a covenant of salt, meaning a perpetual covenant—a covenant which would always be preserved before the Lord.

But then a terrible thing happened. Assyria overthrew the northern kingdom of Israel, and then a hundred years later (or so) Babylon overthrew the southern kingdom of Judah. From that point on no son of David ruled as King in Israel. How could God say He had given them a covenant of salt which would last forever?

Enter Jesus, the True High Priest and True King from the house of David. In Christ, the High Priesthood and the Kingdom converge beautifully and eternally. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7.14).

On top of that, God has made His people (you and me!) into a kingdom of priests (Exod. 19.6; Rev. 1.6; 5.10).

God’s covenant of salt remains fully in effect, never broken, in the reign of Jesus Christ and through His people who still walk in this world as the salt of the earth. Let us continue to season this world and preserve it by keeping the covenant of our Lord.

(Thoughts from our Wednesday Ecclesiastes study)

God has made both the day of prosperity and the day of adversity (Eccl. 7.14). We don’t know from day to day what we will find. Will a friend call to tell us someone we love just died? Will the book deal come through we’ve been working so hard to land? Will our son win the big game with a three-point fading jump shot? Will our spouse get into a tragic car accident?

Solomon says we cannot know anything of what will be after us. In other words, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring…or even later today, for that matter. So we should be joyful in the day of prosperity and when days of adversity come, just sit and think about it. Ponder the brevity of life and the reality that we are not in control. Only God knows. Only God controls.

One crooked thing is that sometimes righteous people die early, and sometimes wicked people live long and prosper in this adventure under the sun.

The trick is to remember we are really all in the same boat. “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Eccl. 7.20). No matter how righteous you are, you will never work your way out of being a sinner! Solomon does not say to abandon the righteous path, throw caution to the wind, and be as wicked as you want. Rather, he still says, “Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?” (7.17).

He encourages the path of humility: “Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others” (7.21–22). Your own heart is crooked; therefore, don’t be surprised and don’t get bent out of shape when others around you have crooked hearts. It is true, “God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes” (7.29). Humility comes when we can think rightly of ourselves. Pride comes when we gloss over our own failings, shortcomings, and sins. If someone calls me a moron, I should halfway agree with him and not take to heart. He’s also a moron, but I don’t need to go there, do I? I should welcome him as my fellow moron in this adventure under the sun.

Another crooked thing is that our rulers are sinners, too, and they have power over us. Solomon encourages us to “Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him…for the word of the king is supreme…” (8.2, 4). The wise man submits to earthly authority, not because they are good, but because they are appointed by God.

Even though there are crooked events and crooked people, Solomon depends upon this rule: “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God” (8.12–13).

And he always returns to this rule, as well: “And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun” (8.15).

Praise God. Depend on God. God will make the crooked things straight in His time.

Here are a few lessons we talked about on Wednesday night—thoughts drawn from Ecclesiastes 7.

STRANGELY BRIGHT

Joe Rigney wrote a little book called Strangely Bright in which he riffs off the song,

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

Rigney’s idea is just opposite—when we understand God’s grace and Jesus’ wonder and beauty, the things of the earth will grow strangely bright. The more we grow in godly wisdom, understand the character of God, see how He works, and trust His judgment, the more this earth means to us. It doesn’t become less real; it becomes more real. The colors are more vivid, the smells more wonderful, the sounds more musical.

10 Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
       For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

THE HOUSE OF MOURNING

Pondering the day of our death is good. What do we have to look forward to after we die? We think about the end of all men…for what are we striving? Are we resting, even in our labor? Are we working from a platform of resting in God’s strength and promises? Or are we so narrowly focused on THIS LIFE that we miss the meaning of life altogether?

3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
    for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
    but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

DON’T BE SO ONLINE

This is getting harder and harder. What did the new President do today to make headlines and shake up the world? Is our country going to conquer the world or will it be overthrown in a few years? What are Taylor Swift and Kanye West doing at the grammy’s that is so important? Look at all the shiny pictures of my neighbors and acquaintances on FaceGram and X-book. We get so lost in all the madness, the churning and burning of a downright foolish world, and we get distracted from the gift of life that God has given us to enjoy right this very day and hour. Here we are. What blessings do we have to count today? What blessing can I be to the people around me today? How can I bless the name of the Lord right now?

5 It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
    than to hear the song of fools.
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,
    so is the laughter of the fools; 
    this also is vanity.

Moses had led Israel out of Egypt to the foot of mysterious Mt. Sinai. And…

The Lord called to [Moses] out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” (Exod. 19.3–6)

Some believe God only cared about Israel in the Old Testament and only now under Jesus does He care for all nations. Not true! God did not abandon the rest of the world when He chose, blessed, and set His love on Israel. In fact, through Israel He blessed the world. That was always His plan.

Nothing inherently beautiful, wonderful, or good in Israel made God pick them out of the other nations. God assured them of this in Deuteronomy 7 and 8:

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deut. 7.6–8)

God did not choose them because of their strength or numbers.

“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. (Deut. 9.4–6)

God did not choose them because of their righteousness.

God loved them because He loved them. If God chooses to deal with man in this way, who is man to speak back to Him? If God chooses to deal with man today through Jesus Christ, and if He demands that we love Him with heart, soul, strength, and mind, and if He demands that we love our neighbor as ourselves, shall we then speak back to God?

Back in Exodus 19.5, God said, “All the earth is Mine.” Even when He chose Israel, He reigned sovereignly over all the nations, and all nations were still subject to Him. Their relationship with God was different than Israel’s, but God had not abandoned the rest of the world.

In Jesus Christ we see the fullness of God’s plan rolled out to all people, and this is why John 3.16–18 is so sweet to Christians today:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned…”

Like Israel of old, God’s new Israel (Christians) are not chosen because we are mighty or super-righteous. He chooses us because He loves us, has mercy on us, and blesses us in His Son—through our faith in Jesus’ name.

Praise God! All the world is His.