In a Volatile Place


Sermon by Wiley Lowry on October 31, 2021 Ecclesiastes 10:1-11:6

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We’re back into our study of Ecclesiastes tonight and we’re picking up in Ecclesiastes chapter 10, if you want to turn there in your Bibles. In the pew Bibles it can be found on page 558.

And you know that one big story is made up of many little stories. And around 1450, a German craftsman and inventor named Johannes Gutenberg, developed the printing press. Some years later, 1516, the Dutch scholar, Desiderius Erasmus, published his annotated text of the Greek New Testament. It was in 1505 that a German law student was caught in a terrible thunderstorm and he made a vow that he would become a monk. And Martin Luther made good on that vow. He entered a monastery and began a life of strict discipline, prayer, and Bible study, which eventually led to the study and reading of Erasmus’ Greek New Testament. On October 31, 1517, in response to error and abuses in the teaching and practice of the Catholic Church, Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the chapel at the University of Wittenberg. And because of the work of the printing press, within two weeks, copies of those critiques had spread throughout Germany and within two months had spread throughout Europe. It’s the invention of the printing press, a publication of the Greek New Testament, and a random thunderstorm – three separate and seemingly unrelated events, and yet they tie into a bigger story. They tie into the story of the Protestant Reformation, to the story of the recovery of the good news, the message of salvation by faith in Christ according to the grace of God and the glory of God. It’s a story of a movement which changed the world’s history. One story, and yet many different characters, events, and contributing factors. And we mark the anniversary of that Protestant Reformation, of course, tonight.

Well as we come to our passage in Ecclesiastes, it deals with several different topics. In particular, there are three topics in this passage. There is authority or dominion, there is work, and there is speech. Now those three topics can seem like they are unrelated to one another, and this chapter in fact can come across in some ways as scattered and random, and yet these three things – authority, work, and speech – they relate to a bigger story. They relate to a bigger picture. It’s one that goes all the way back to the beginning of creation. It’s one that goes all the way back to the core of who we are as human beings. And it’s one we especially need to hear and remember tonight as we are in the midst of what many call a moral revolution. So let’s give our attention to God’s Word tonight, and before we do that, let’s pray.

Our Father, we pray for wisdom and we pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and to open our minds to understand Your Word and to see how Your Word points us to Christ and points us to our purpose in glorifying You and enjoying You forever. Speak, Lord, for Your servants listen. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

Ecclesiastes chapter 10:

“Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.

He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall. He who quarries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them. If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed. If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer.

The words of a wise man’s mouth wins him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness. A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him? The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.

Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning! 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! Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks. Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything.

Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.

Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.”

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever.

Authority, Work, and Speech

I wonder if you noticed as we read through that passage how scattered this passage seems to be. The writer of Ecclesiastes is going back and forth between these three main themes – between authority or power, and work, and then speech. In verses 4 to 7 of chapter 10, he talks about the anger of the ruler and folly that is set in high places. And then in verses 8 to 10 it’s about physical labor – about hauling rocks and chopping wood. Verse 11 to 14 deals with the words of the wise and the lips of the fool. But then, when we get to verse 15 it’s back to toil. In verse 16 and 17 it’s the king. In verse 18 it’s sloth. And then in verse 20 it’s back to speech again, this time in relation to the king – “Do not curse the king.” And then when we get to chapter 11, it begins by addressing once more, work – “Cast your bread upon the waters. In the morning sow your seed and at evening withhold not your hand.” It’s back and forth all throughout this section. It’s power and work and speech and work and power and speech. And one writer made the comment in his commentary on this section that there’s no logical or obvious connection between these different sections of this passage.

And yet I think that’s part of the point, because our lives defy easy categories and neat categories. We’re always trying to handle different parts of our lives all the time with wisdom. And different things are coming at us at different times. And the randomness of this passage conveys something about the volatility of the world in which we live in, a world which is broken by sin, by the fall, the effects of sin on the creation order as God has designed it to be. And so this passage teaches us, it shows us the damage that has been caused by sin and folly, and it shows us the need for wisdom. It begins with an analogy. It says, “Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” And that’s a vivid picture of what folly does. And what that verse is saying to us is that folly, a little folly, spoils a good thing. It actually connects back to the last verse of chapter 9. If you look back at chapter 9 verse 18, it says, “Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.” You see what he’s saying? Wisdom is good, but one sinner, just a little folly, can ruin a lot of good.

You see, ointment and perfume, you’re probably aware from just reading the Bible, ointment or perfume was a valuable commodity; it was a valuable part of life in the ancient world. Think back about when Jesus was born. What did the Magi bring to him? They brought to Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Think back to Jesus’ death as He was being prepared for death and He was anointed with that costly jar of spikenard. These were expensive commodities, and yet for all of the time and effort that went into making and keeping these expensive oils and ointments, it could all be ruined. It could all be ruined with just one little dead fly. And instead of smelling nice, it would put out a stench, as the writer says here.

Folly and Wisdom in Authority

I have a personal policy at children’s birthday parties or other gatherings where there are little ones running around. It’s this – Don’t eat the dip. Because the probability of double dipping is high in those sorts of situations! And you know what they say about taking a dip and taking a bite and taking another dip – it’s like putting your whole mouth in the dip. Well that’s sort of what’s going on with the dead fly in the perfumer’s ointment. A little problem goes a long way. And that’s true in all of these areas that this writer is thinking about, that Solomon is thinking about. In government, in work, and in speech, a little problem goes a long way. “A little folly,” he says, “outweighs wisdom and honor.” Folly outweighs wisdom when it comes to power, and how often have we seen in positions of leadership or of someone ruling over others, that they are unable to rule over themselves. And when folly is set in high places, as verse 6 says, then someone could manage a large budget, they could have oversight over many people and direct a major corporation or institution, and he or she may even have a lot of knowledge and all of the right credentials. And yet without wisdom, without the ability to control one’s anger or to control one’s lust or to control one’s appetites, there’s going to be trouble. And it could be just a moment of folly and it all crumbles down, it all slips away.

“Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child and your princes feast in the morning!” There’s really no point of us naming names, is there, but we could all name names and we could all think of incidents of politicians and business leaders, of media figures, of celebrities, of pastors who had great influence and who had great honor, and yet they couldn’t keep it; they couldn’t hold onto it because they acted in a moment of folly. And the Preacher in Ecclesiastes is commending to us poise; he’s commending integrity, not only for those who are in authority but also for those who are under authority. That’s what it means to be wise in a broken creation in the realm of authority or power or dominion.

Folly and Wisdom in Work

But then he also says to us that folly outweighs wisdom when it comes to our work. These verses are really dealing with two extremes when it comes to work. It’s the extreme on the one hand of overwork, and on the other hand of sloth or of laziness. I’ve read several articles in the last few months about these two extremes. There have been articles written about “workism.” What the writers call an almost religious belief that work is the centerpiece of one’s identity and of life’s purpose. But then there are also articles about the death of the American work ethic. It seems strange that these two extremes could be presented to us at almost the same time, and yet Solomon talks about them in just the span of a few verses in Ecclesiastes 10 and 11. Those two extremes could exist even in our own congregation, couldn’t they? That’s the nature of sin. That’s what sin does. It’s like a pendulum that swings to the two different poles opposite from the ideal. And we see that sometimes even in one person, that there can be a temptation, as one writer says, “to make an idol of work or to be idle” – i-d-l-e. And those are the two extremes that are being presented to us here in this passage when it comes to work.

And overwork is connected in these verses to inefficiency. And all of our work is subject to inefficiency, isn’t it? These verses are talking about being injured on the job; it’s talking about the exertion using dull tools. We could also add to that constant distractions and stress and fatigue and burnout, because in some cases our work never ends. And our phones and our devices have us always on the job. And yet we have to ask the question, “Are we really all that more productive because of it?” And then on the other side there’s laziness, which is connected to the unknown, to uncertainty. Chapter 11 verse 4 says, “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.” What’s that saying? It’s saying that always watching the weather, always waiting for the perfect conditions before acting, will lead to inactivity. And we hear a lot about inactivity today in the job market, don’t we?

I was reading just today about what people call “the great resignation” that has been happening all around us. And there was a headline that went viral recently. It said, the headline said, “Jobless Americans have few options as benefits expire.” And then there was a picture under the headline. And the picture, now whether this was intentional or tongue in cheek or not, I don’t know, but the picture was the picture of a storefront with a person standing there and a sign in the window in all caps, “NOW HIRING.” So here you have “few options as benefits expire,” and this image of “NOW HIRING.” That’s what we’re dealing with. That’s what we see all around us in these “uncertain times.” There have been many who have dropped out of the workforce and not come back in.

But then there’s also a danger for the wealthy in the area of sloth and laziness. Some commentators say in chapter 10 verse 19 when it says, “Bread is made for laughter and wine gladdens life and money answers everything,” that that can be a comment on the previous verse that, “Through sloth the roof sinks in and through indolence the house leaks.” Haven’t we seen how oftentimes there is a real temptation for those with abundant resources to want to make life all about play and leisure and to go from one vacation to the next. What is that? That is sloth and that is laziness. And the writer of Ecclesiastes is saying to us, “There’s plenty that we do not know, and only God determines if what we do will prosper, so get to work.” Or to quote the title of one of Kevin DeYoung’s books, “Just Do Something” and do it with wisdom. Pursue wisdom in how we do our work.

Folly and Wisdom in Speech

And then there’s speech. Folly outweighs wisdom when it comes to our words. Chapter 10 verse 12, “The words of a wise man’s mouth wins him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him.” Verse 14, “A fool multiplies words.” Verse 20, “Even in your thoughts do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice or some winged creature tell the matter.” Now of course that is figurative language that’s used to make a point, and the point is this – We don’t know how our words can come back to bite us, but they can. And our words can do real damage. There’s a joke that’s often said around here and in this congregation – “Be careful about whom you talk about, because you never know who’s related to someone else.” And there’s some truth to that, and yet it’s not a joke, because our words, one comment, one harsh word can do real damage. And James writes in the New Testament in James 3:5-6, “The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life.” Folly is revealed through our mouths, and sometimes that’s through an abundance of words. And we love to talk on things we don’t know about and it comes across as folly.

But sometimes all it takes is a few words. And I’ve read before that one zinger can erase up to twenty acts of kindness. So one harsh word, one bad joke, can empty a reserve of loving actions. That’s how powerful the tongue is. And we live in a time in which there are plenty of outlets for us to get into trouble with our words. Whether it’s email or text or Twitter or whatever is your favorite social media app, we oftentimes respond without thinking and we will say things through those means that we would never say face to face to someone else. And that’s not to mention the way that we often see around us the way people mimic the sort of discourse, the divisive and harsh language that we see in political discourse and in the media around us. A little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. One fool in a position of leadership spreads folly throughout the whole organization. A foolish approach to work spoils the good purpose of our work as God designed it, and a foolish word can damage a reputation and it can ruin a relationship. Just like a dead fly in an expensive ointment, or like a spark in a dry forest, or like a loose rock on the side of a mountain. It doesn’t take much. Just a little folly and there can be widespread and lasting damage.

Be careful. Be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful what you hear. Be careful what you say, what you do, where you go, whom you trust. Be careful, even what you think. We all need to remember the dangers of sin and temptation, and that family and relationships and career and reputation, all of those things can be damaged, ruined even, with just a little bit of folly. And as much as every adult in this room needs to hear that, the youth need to hear it as well, because one glance, one click, one drink, one bad relationship may lead us down a path from which it is more difficult to recover than we ever thought possible. Charles Bridges said this in his commentary on the book of Proverbs, he said, “Dread the first step, and do not imagine you can stop yourself when you want to. Dread the first step, and do not imagine you can stop yourself when you want to.”

The Image of God in Authority, Work, Speech  

You see, these verses have a lot to say about the impact of folly, especially folly in the areas of authority or dominion, of work and of speech. And the reason that these things are so significant, significant to our lives, significant when we think about the major categories of wisdom, of living a wise life, the reason why this passage is so relevant for us today, for each one of us, is because they’re not separate, disconnected, and unrelated topics, but they actually tie into a bigger picture. They actually tie into a bigger picture that began at creation when God said, “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness,” Genesis 1:26-28, “and let them have dominion.” “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them, and God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion.” It’s the image of God.

What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Well it means many things, but among other things it means to have dominion. It means to reign over creation and stewardship and service to the God who has made us and provided all things for us. It means to work, to be fruitful and to multiply, to fill the earth, to cultivate the earth. And it means to speak just as God spoke all things into being and made us in order to speak and to enjoy relationship with one another. The reason we need wisdom in dominion and work and speech is because these are part of what it means to be created in God’s image. And being created in God’s image is the sole basis for our dignity and value. It’s the sole basis for our dignity and value of being human, of being a man or a woman. And so much of where we go wrong in our culture, and even in our own thinking, comes back to this – Is our dignity and our value in how we choose to identify ourselves or in what we choose to make of it? Is our identity, is our value in our job and our money and accomplishments or popularity or sexuality? Or is our identity and our value found in this – that we were made, by and soul, male and female, in the image of God?

Bavinck said, “The essence of human nature is its being created in the image of God.” We were made to image and honor God in stewardship and in work and in relationships, and yes, all of those things have been polluted because of sin. The image of God has been distorted in man and woman. But it has not been lost. We still represent God. We still image God in a fallen creation and we represent Him while we also wait for the restoration of the image of God in us through the work of Jesus Christ. Because you see, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn of all creation. And what God is doing and has accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the restoration of all creation into the new heavens and the new earth, but also the restoration of the image of God in humanity among those who trust in Christ for salvation. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3, “We with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord in the gospel, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” “Whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,” Romans 8:29.

Our dignity and our esteem does not come from what the world says we should be or what our sinful hearts and emotions feel like we should be. Our dignity and our esteem comes from the way God has made us in His image, and the way He restores His image in us through faith in Jesus Christ and by the work of the Holy Spirit. John Calvin makes this comment about the suffering of Christ on His way to the cross. And he says this, “The face or the image of Christ, dishonored by spitting and blows, has restored to us that image which had been disfigured and almost effaced by sin.” Think about that. That the One who is the true image of God, the exact representation of His nature, that He was nearly dehumanized, that the image of God was almost marred beyond recognition on the cross by His suffering and His death, by His abuse and His rejection and His deep utter humiliation. And for what reason? Why did Jesus go through all of that? He went through all of that in order to restore us to God and in order to restore the image of God in us so that we might be like Him in all that we do, so that we might represent the image of God in dominion and in work and in speech. He did all of that, He went through all of that shame and scorn and pain and suffering, He overcame it by His resurrection so that we can truly know what it means to be human and to be made in the image of God, restored into the image of God.

That is amazing grace, and it’s that amazing grace that is the true source of where wisdom can be found. Wisdom that we need in authority and in work and in speech. It’s found in Christ. It’s found in His life, death, and resurrection. It’s found as we trust in Him and give our lives to Him and live in order to be more like Him so that we can represent our great God and Savior in all that we do. Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You for Your wisdom. We thank You for Your grace. We thank You for the work of the Holy Spirit and we ask that You would pour out Your Spirit more upon us and make us, renew us from one degree of glory to another, that we would behold with unveiled faces the glory of Christ in the Gospel of Jesus. And we pray all of these things in Jesus’ name, amen.

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