What is Fitting

0:58It doesn't matter if you're among family, friends, or enemies. Sometimes, even severe disagreements. Margaret Thatcher, known as the Iron Lady of British politics, once said in an interview for the Sunday Times: Economics are the method, the object is to change the heart and soul. So here you have a political candidate who uses money. To appeal the heart and soul of the constituent. Does that sound familiar? What Margaret Thatcher understood was that often these three things tend to make us feel safe, they give us a sense of security, especially when we have them.

1:52Or at least that is what we think when we're in pursuit of them. So, this morning, as we continue in Ecclesiastes, the preacher or Solomon will address the evils that he has observed regarding these three subjects in chapters five and six. We have called this series a puzzling book or a puzzling time. But if we were to entitle the first half of Ecclesiastes, we might entitle it a life in review. Every year, during the week between Christmas and New Year's, our favorite news shows and late-night TV hosts will review or relive all of the important things that happened over the past year.

2:42I'm not really looking forward to this year. The first half of Ecclesiastes is a lot like the week between Christmas and New Year's, because Solomon is near the end of his life and he is reviewing all of the things, the things that he has learned or noticed over his lifetime. And much like the year 2020, it's not that great. In fact, it's rather dismal. And one of the reasons Ecclesiastes is puzzling is that this laundry list of all that Solomon has learned, particularly of the evils and perils that he has observed or even practiced in his lifetime, calls into question the problem of evil.

3:26And it seems like Solomon does very little to give a solution. But Solomon understood that we live in a world that is under the curse of sin and death, which goes back to our first parents, Adam and Eve. As we look at what Solomon has to say about religion and politics and money, we will learn that the material world is fleeting, but the redemption through Jesus is forever. Beginning in chapter 5, Solomon addresses the dangers of approaching God in a flippant way.

4:03Now, we have to keep in mind that Ecclesiastes is written toward the end of Solomon's life, but also keep in mind that Solomon was the king responsible for building the temple, the first earthly brick and mortar temple, which was central to the Hebrew life. Everything was centered around the temple and the worship that took place in it. Solomon observed was that even though the temple had not been in use very long, already people were entering the temple with an attitude of complacency and manipulation.

4:42Listen to what Solomon says, beginning in verse 1. Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer 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.

5:17You see, church, because one had to approach God in a certain way, the people were becoming legalistic and formalistic in their worship. They concentrated on ritual rather than approach the house of God with faith and repentance. And that's what a fallen world does. This is what we do. This is why the Pharisees in Jesus' day would make rules to make sure that you didn't come close to even breaking the law. Modern-day Jews call it fencing the Torah. Let's make rules upon rules so that we do not come close to breaking the rules.

5:58This is how we, as a fallen people, People are deceived. This is how we deceive ourselves. We're really good at taking something that is meant for our good, something to serve us, and we take it too far and serve it. We make it too important. We expect more from it than it's meant to give. Our religious practice is the same way. We somehow make the ritual part of the redemption rather than something we are to enjoy and see it as something that points us to our God.

6:36Solomon is warning us that when we make the ritual primary, we have missed the point. And we are in danger because we are no longer worshiping the Creator God, but rather we're worshiping the created God of ceremony. It disregards faith and repentance completely and makes our works the Redeemer. And Solomon goes on to tell us in verse 2, not to be rash with our mouth. He says, Do not let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God.

7:10Take a look at the screen behind me and read with me what Jesus says in Matthew 6, 7, and 8. He says, And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you are. Need before you ask him. So, Jesus and Solomon tell us that we cannot use language to impress or manipulate God.

7:42And in verse 3, Solomon tells us, A dream comes with much busyness, and a fool's voice with many words. See, when we're really busy, we get really tired. And when we get really tired, we fall asleep. And when we fall asleep, we dream. And when we dream, we live in a world of fantasy. We don't live in reality. Solomon goes on to tell us in verse 4: when you make a vow to God, you had better pay up, because God does not live in fantasy. Only fools live in fantasy.

8:19So our words, when uttered to God, have weight. What I mean by weight is that they can become millstones around our necks if we make vows that we do not keep. Proverbs 10:19 says, When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. When my girls were younger, I took them out on a date night. And we went downtown to a little sandwich shop that had bluebell ice cream. And after we ate our sandwiches, Julie said, Julie's my youngest daughter, she said in the cutest little voice, in her cute little puppy dog eyes.

9:00Can I please have another scoop of ice cream, Daddy? Well, of course, I said yes. I mean, what are you going to do? Then a smile came across her face, and she kind of got that Grinch look, and she said, works every time. She knew that even at a young age, if she asked her dad in the right way, I would give her what she wanted. I was manipulated. Yes, I still got her the extra scoop because it was cute and she made me laugh. But God's not like that.

9:40His children cannot manipulate him. They can't amuse him into giving us what we want if we ask in a certain way. He's wiser than that. To think that we can pray in such a way as to manipulate God is to live in a dream world. It is to live in fantasy. Or as Solomon describes it in verse 7, it's vanity. To live in vanity is the opposite of wisdom. And wisdom is seeing things for what they really are, not what they could be or what you want it to be.

10:24So Solomon points out that God is not interested in the mechanical rituals. Or our many words. But he is interested in our honest worship. What is honest worship? Honest worship comes from faith and with obedience. Now, as Christians, we no longer live under the sacrificial system, but we still struggle with being legalistic. And we like to elevate our preferences to godlike statuses. We like hymns, though, we like contemporary music. We like John Piper. No, we like Pastor Allen.

11:09We should preach verse by verse. Man, I sure wish we could hear preaching addressing the topics of the day. We might think that church attendance or taking the Lord's Supper every week will somehow convince our neighbors or our Father that we are righteous, but it doesn't. And what is worse is that I can't really stand up here and tell you that you should not try your best to worship in the right way. Church, none of these things are necessarily bad. In fact, they're good things.

11:45I would always encourage you to attend worship. Practicing the Lord's Supper in the way in which it is described in Scripture is a good thing. The gathering of the saints is a grace that God gives us. As is singing songs on Sunday morning. But let's not forget that true Christian worship only has some to do with what we do on Sunday mornings. It has even more to do with how we worship in everyday life. As Paul reminds us in Romans 12:1, he says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Our worship should flow out of our hearts and be a product of love and gratitude for our Redeemer.

12:43We should never worship through legalism. When Saul was the king of Israel, Saul, the king, not Saul, who became Paul. I know that's confusing. The Hebrew people were told by God to destroy the Amalekites. God told Saul to leave nothing alive, not even the livestock. But Saul disobeyed and took the king prisoner and kept the best-looking livestock for himself. Later on, he claimed that they were for sacrifices to God. But look at what the prophet Samuel says to King Saul after he disobeyed God by sparing the Amalekite king and their livestock. Look at the screen behind me.

13:28Samuel says, Has the Lord? Lord, as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey us is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams. The word obey can be translated to hear or to listen. Don't ask me to pronounce it in Hebrew. I speak fluent hik and oki, but I can't speak Hebrew. But that word is the same word used by Solomon in verse 1.

14:03Brothers and sisters, we need to understand that our faith and how that plays out to the watching world is directly tied to listening and obeying God's word. That is why we spend a significant portion on Sunday mornings preaching God's Word. That's why we spend time in our life groups wrestling over scripture. That is why we discuss God's word and how to live it in our discipleship classes on Sunday morning, which are starting back up in January. So that's a shameless plug.

14:38We want you to know God's Word because it is imperative that we use God's Word as our standard. It's imperative that we spend more time listening, hearing, obeying God's Word rather than trying to make it fit our own beliefs or the beliefs of this world. The Bible is fairly clear on. How we are to view time, money, family, sex, and justice. The problem is, we often don't like what God says. So we try to add to it or subtract from it, or we try to cover up our disobedience with religious practice and nice-sounding prayers.

15:24The preacher moves on to address government in verse chapter 5, verse 8 and 9. He says: If you see a province, the oppression of the poor, and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter. For the high official is watched by hire, and there are yet higher ones over them. But this is gain for a land in every way, a king committed to cultivated fields. Solomon tells us not to be surprised or amazed when we see rulers oppress the poor or violate justice and are not righteous people. He tells us we should expect it because in a fallen world that is corrupted by sin, it just makes sense that it would begin with our leaders.

16:18And it doesn't matter what form of government. When the people of Israel screamed out for a king, God warned them through Samuel. Samuel warned them in 1 Samuel 8 that a king would take. Take their sons and appoint them as soldiers, that he will reap their harvest, and he will require them to make his weapons of war. The king will take their daughters and make them cook and clean for him. And he will take the best of the harvest for himself and enslave them. Solomon, as king of Israel, does all of these things. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, 700 wives, 300 concubines. He made others pay tribute to him, and he amassed great wealth at the expense of the people of Israel. And still, he enslaved others. And the Bible says that whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, or anywhere in his dominion, it was built.

17:27If anyone knew how power and honor could corrupt a person, it was Solomon. Even with all the wisdom that he possessed, he still turned from God and built houses of worship for other gods. His own sons split the kingdom of Israel from north and south and eventually all turned away from God. Israel was conquered by kings from pagan nations to the point that Israel doesn't even. Even exist like it did then. Because that's what rulers do. They fight and conquer and use those they rule to do their bidding. They are men and women who are fallible and prone to sin, just as you and I are. Solomon, who is king, sees that in a fallen world, it is obvious that rulers are going to be corrupt or prone to corruption.

18:30Even those with the best of intentions are going to fail because we were never meant to be ruled over by man. We were meant to be ruled by God, who is perfectly just and perfectly wise. So, to put our faith in any political system, whether they are conservative or liberal, Democrat, Republican, capitalist, socialist, communist, a democracy or a monarchy, it's folly. In the movie The Patriot, Benjamin Martin, the character played by Mel Gibson, says, Why should I trade one tyrant 3,000 miles away for 3,000 tyrants one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man's rights just as easily as a king can. How true is that?

19:23However, we are still called to submit to authority. For even though they are prone to corruption, Or are even acting in corruption, they are still placed over us by God. Remember, Solomon was appointed by God. We are told to be subject to them, for they have been given authority by God, according to Romans 13. And they are used as agents for our good. However, we should know that when a government fails us or a ruler fails us, this should come as no surprise because they are sinful men and women. But our God can still use them for his glory, and he does.

20:11Also, there may be some of you who are going into politics. In fact, I would say everybody here rules over something or someone. Just understand that if this is you, then listen to Solomon who understood by experience that those who do not fear God and obey His commands will eventually fall prey to corruption. You will seek to rule in your own way and for your own way. But Christians can take hope in that the Holy Spirit will give us gifts to lead in the way God would rule. He gave us the Holy Spirit.

21:01To help us. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh and its passions and desires. Solomon next turns his attention to money, and he spends a majority of his time in chapters five and six talking about money or wealth. And that's fitting because wealth and power tend to go together. Solomon points out three evils regarding wealth in chapters five and six. The first is the man who loves money and wealth. In chapter five, verses 10 through 12, Solomon points out how hopeless and vain the love of money is, because the man who loves money will never have enough. They will never be satisfied.

21:55He or she will never find true fulfillment. Look at the screen behind me and listen to Derek Kinder as he talks about the love of money. He says it may show itself more subtly in a general discontent, a longing not necessarily for more money, but for inward fulfillment. If anything is worse than the addiction money brings, it is the emptiness it leaves. Man with eternity in his heart needs better nourishment than this. In fact, The preacher says that a person who is just a laborer will sleep better than the one who has a full stomach. Because not only do they overindulge, but they worry about losing all that they have.

22:45The second grievous evil describes a man who worked extremely hard to build up his wealth. He toiled and sweated over every earned penny. And through some business failure that he did, he lost it all. And he left his family broke and destitute. In October of 1987, on what historians and economists call Black Monday, the stock market suddenly crashed. In a matter of hours, the stock market fell 20%, and no one really understood why. They never saw it coming. There was no warning.

23:27Let's look at the screen behind us: how Chris Rupke, who is now the chief financial economist at Union Bank, which is one of the largest banks in the world, what he recalls about that day. He said, it made you question things outside of Wall Street, as well as questioning all you had learned about financial markets. After losing 20% of your money, your savings, it made you question your day-to-day life, what you were doing, how your career was going, how your family was. Everything seemed to Out of whack.

24:02And of course, this last year we've seen businesses destroyed by pandemic, by violent protest. Many have lost jobs. If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that everything that you thought was secure can be gone in a matter of moments. That is what Solomon sees, and he calls it a grievous evil. First, because a person can work hard and save and try to be smart with their money and still lose it all through no fault of his own.

24:37And second, it doesn't really matter because he will die and take none of his riches with him. But I want you to notice that this man did nothing to care for his family except to make money and lose it. He did not labor in the spiritual care for them. He did not teach them a trade or give them any means by which they could labor. He merely toiled to make money only to lose it. He expected something from money that it could not give.

25:13He expected peace and security for his family and for his soul. But wealth cannot give peace and security for either one of those. Remember in Matthew 19, Jesus answers a wealthy young man who claimed to have obeyed. All of the commandments. And Jesus told him to sell all that he has and give it to the poor. And that young man couldn't, and he went away sad because he had put all of his trust for peace and security in his wealth. And when Jesus saw that, he told his disciples, it's easier for a rich man, or it's easier to pass through the eye of a camp, for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

26:01It's not wrong to have wealth, as we'll see in a bit. But the great evil here is to put all your trust into your wealth. It is fleeting and can be taken away in a moment, because that's what happens in a fallen world. The third evil is a man who has wealth and honor, and that's found in chapter 6, verse 1 and 2. He has so much wealth and honor that he lacks nothing. Wealth and honor given to him by God, but God does not give him the ability to enjoy those things.

26:40Ida Mayfield Wood was the widow of the publisher of the New York Daily News at the turn of the 20th century. When Miss Wood's husband died, she inherited enormous wealth, as well as full control of the New York Daily News. But in 1907, there was a financial crisis. Panic, and it left her paranoid about her wealth. She ended up shutting herself away in a couple of dirty hotel rooms, completely alienated from society. And when she died, they found bags upon bags and pots and pans full, stuffed to the brim with cash and jewels, all throughout those two hotel rooms.

27:27Ida Wood was one of the first acknowledged hoarders in America. And it was this case that caused psychologists to acknowledge and study hoarding disorders. Ida Wood is a perfect example that this evil of this evil that the preacher writes about. She was an endeared socialite and extremely wealthy, but she could not enjoy her wealth or her status. And in the days of Solomon, one would be considered truly blessed if they had a bunch of children. Solomon says that this man could have a hundred children and still not be satisfied. He still longs for more.

28:16In fact, Solomon says that it's better that he had not experienced life at all if he had to go through life unable to enjoy the good things provided to him. He says that a stillborn child. Is more peaceful and at rest more than the man who can enjoy, who can't enjoy the wealth and honor that is granted to him by God. So you have the person who loves money. You have a person who loses everything and is too broke to enjoy simple pleasures. And you have a person who has everything but is unable to enjoy what they have.

28:56And church, this brings us to Solomon's solution and the text that we read earlier today. In chapter 5, 18 through 20, Solomon writes: Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun, the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil, this is the gift from God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

29:442020 has been one of the most difficult years in our generation. We literally shut the doors on the church because of the pandemic. And the political rhetoric that we've heard over the past nine years. Months has been caustic and sophomoric. That's right, I know a big word. And the economic boom that we experienced prior to this year has faded away and pretty much dried up. Many of us are struggling financially. We have lost loved ones. We've been sick ourselves.

30:25And we're still hearing from our government officials who swipe at each other and at those who disagree with them. All of this happened in 12 months. One year. To me, it didn't seem like a slow fade. It just came all of a sudden. And it's easy to see the wrong and the bad in this fallen world. It is easy to get stuck and lament. Church Solomon recognized all of this and said that it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment within our lot. This is what God has blessed us with.

31:12So, yes, we had to close the doors for a time to our church, but we had the technology to stream it to your home so you could still hear the Word of God. And we have heard all the political hatred, but we know that in the end, God determines who our leaders are. And even though we suffered financial hardships, I'm amazed at how we've learned and been able to give even out of our need. And what is more, when we consider our lot, the days that God has given us, we have been blessed to have been born in a time after the coming of Jesus, the Messiah.

32:04We can see clearly Jesus came to us in human form. We can see how he lived a perfect life according to God's law and fulfilled all that the prophets said. And being perfect, instead of just going back to his throne in heaven, he laid down his life by choice and took our sin and our shame and the Father's wrath upon his own head. He took on the fallen world and he conquered sin and death and redeemed us.

32:43Solomon had the law. He could only point out that we disobey it and that because of that, there are great evils. He could not conquer it. But Jesus could, and he did. We can see that Jesus died and rose again. And we can see that he ascended to heaven. Now we can eat and drink and enjoy the forgiveness and redemption that Christ has given us. Listen to what Jesus said in John 6:54 through 58. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

34:00Perhaps this morning you're struggling with enjoying what God has given you. Church, this is the one, God is the one that gives us the power to enjoy these things, just as Solomon said. Remember, the Father knows that he knows what you want before you even ask. So you don't have to pray a big prayer. You simply have to ask for the ability to do it. We only have a short time. In the grand scheme of things, we're here just for a moment.

34:43And all the things in it, all the things in the world, whether it's an ideology, like a false or legalistic religion or a political stance, or whether it is power and wealth, those things are temporary and fleeting. And we know from experience that they can be here today and nothing but a vapor tomorrow. But God's Word, the Word who was God, the Word who is with God, it lasts forever. Because the material world in this world is fleeting, but the redemption through Jesus is forever. Let's pray.

35:37Father, we know that it is you who gives us all good things, and you are worthy of all our praise and all of our affection. It's easy for us to look around and pine on a tough year. It's easy for us to see all the wrong. And evil that is in this world. But you have given us Christ. You have given us redemption. So when the trials and suffering come, we can take joy in Jesus and know that we are safe and know that we are secure.

36:27Help us to worship you in spirit and in truth and set aside all legalism. Help us to put away the love of wealth and power. Help us to live in the joy that Christ gives us through redemption. Your word tells us that you will never leave us or forsake us. And we are grateful for that. Help us to be faithful to you and obedient to your word. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.