Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Guard your steps when you go tothe house of God. To draw near to listen is better than tooffer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.2Be 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. Thereforelet your words be few.3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice withmany words. Whenyou vow a vow to God,do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools.Pay what you vow.5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.6 Let not your mouth lead youinto sin, and do not say beforethe messenger that it wasa mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?7 For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity;but God is the one you must fear.
What kinds of things in your life do you think about ‘guarding’? We of course think of physical things that need to be protected, even our family members and loved ones where we might think the word “guard” would apply. But do you ever think about guarding your words?
Solomon tells us that we are to walk prudently when we go to the house of God. Literally he is telling us to “guard” ourselves when we go to worship, and specifically he is referencing the words we speak. You only guard that which is valuable and susceptible to being ruined, abused, or harmed. In this case the implication is that our words ruin, abuse and harm US.
But how does this fit into the context of what the preacher has told us so far?
Solomon’s point has been that as men live, ‘under the sun’ they will never find the answer to life. Man is made to search for meaning and purpose, he cannot help but to try and find it, God has made us that way. But, He says that man will always, under the sun, come up empty. Man will not find out what the key to life is no matter what century he lives in, no matter the technological advance, or the intellectual sophistication.
You live in this world under the sun, and you have to conclude, what difference does anything make. Work, pleasure, education, they take us nowhere. And as we saw last week there is no justice, man seems like the animals, everywhere there is abuse of power and mistreatment of the weak, men are lazy, envious, lonely and even popularity is fleeting and means nothing, it is all vanity, chasing after the wind.
All of this being true under the sun, nonetheless Solomon isn’t bound to these conclusions. He, on the other hand is joyful, contented, happy, and even celebrates. Why? How does he maintain this outlook? As we saw last week, he has the judgment in mind. It is when looking in faith to the promises of God at the end, that gives him this joy and makes him able to submit cheerfully unto God even when and especially when, he doesn’t understand what in the world is going on.
And so, what are we to do seeing that everything under the sun is vanity, seeing that man seeks and will not find? We look to the end, to the judgment as Solomon has made clear in 4:17, and then he speaks of worship.Of course! Where is the end most powerfully set before the people of God? In worship! That is why the Psalmist says that he didn’t find an answer for what he was beholding in the earth, until he went to the sanctuary and THEN he knew the end of those who do evil. In worship things are to be set right. Worship is to set forth the reality of the end as the present experience for the people of God. Solomon logically takes us to the seriousness of worship and to an understanding of what we are doing, to whom we are speaking and, therefore the guarding of our words when we are before the face of God.
The modern church is in danger and we could spend all kinds of time this morning looking at biblical principles that are not only ignored but in some cases are even scoffed at. This is seen, it is illustrated with no more profundity than it is in worship. The church’s worship is more subjective than objective, it is man centered, activity centered, success driven, and ignores the means of grace. There is little understanding of what is taking place, who the audience is, what therefore is appropriate for the occasion, and even a smaller understanding of where worship takes place.
The bottom line is that there just isn’t a lot of thought that goes into worship much past, what will bring the most people to the church, what do the people like, and how can we make it fun so that they will want to come back.
If we look to the other side, to those churches whose forms are more historical and therefore whose experience we would more relate to, we find other problems. An exaltation of the forms themselves, a ritualistic legality that lacks heart and fervor, a going through motions because this is what we have always done and STILL we find that if you ask most people where worship takes place, they would give you the address of their church building.
But I don’t want us this morning to look at all the problems “out there”. I am convinced that to do so is a necessity, it is necessary to know the landscape and I know that many feel that this is too negative and plows the ground for pride to exalt its ugly head. I agree that it is negative, but the Bible is often negative. Oftentimes our silence, our refusal to say that something, or someone is wrong, or that they are shallow and missing something, even being foolish…is often the very reason that there is plenty of foolishness winning the day. Foolishness is becoming the norm and I fear that often it is because people don’t want to say anything that sounds “negative”.
But there is enough foolishness in every one of us to keep us from arrogant, proud presumption. There is never a reason for us to lack graciousness, charity and humility, even if and especially when, we have to be, for God requires us to be, negative.
So, the question this morning is what is the Holy Spirit saying to us in this passage? The words of our text are strong, we might even think too strong. I mean, does Solomon really think that people who come to church with many words, but without really thinking about what they are saying and what they are doing, are EVIL? Or that they are fools? Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how many of us read our confession of sin yesterday in worship but truthfully, we didn’t really confess anything? How many say the words but with little to no thought about what we were saying in the presence of the Holy One?
The same question could be asked about the hymns that are sung or about those whispering funny things to the person next to them or laughing at the way the guy in front of you forgot to comb his hair, or maybe at the way he DID comb his hair?
And what of those folks who sit quite disinterested, mumbling the hymns, not singing them, daydreaming and yet thinking to be pleasing the Lord, after all you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, right? Is this “evil”? Is this really playing the “fool”? Couldn’t Solomon have thought of a different word, one that is not so strong and offensive?
Solomon is convinced that coming into the presence of God and thinking to actually say something to Him is much more serious than many seem to take it. Religiosity likes to make a big splash, maybe even likes to make a lot of noise, to have a lot of motion and action, a lot of doing noticeable things and saying a lot of holy things.
So, the Holy Spirit says, walk prudently, carefully, with thought, fore-thought when you approach God. You need to think about what you are saying, what your words are and think about the reality of them…even asking the question, do you really mean what you are saying?
You remember when Peter saw Jesus transfigured and started talking, started rattling on about staying up on the mountain and building booths for Moses, Elijah and Jesus. They were speaking about Jesus’ exodus, about his death, about the humiliation that must precede the exaltation. Peter doesn’t know WHAT he is talking about and God interrupts Him…FROM HEAVEN. While Peter was still speaking, The Father says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased…listen to Him. Peter, shut up, listen to what My Son says, come near not to rattle on, but to listen. When in the presence of God, we are to listen to Him.
Our text says, “For God is in heaven and you on earth…” In other words, know your place, see clearly the difference between who you are and who God is and if you see that correctly, then you will walk prudently when you come before Him. And here is the problem! The problem is not first that we don’t understand worship, the problem is that we don’t know God! If we knew Him, if we realized whose presence we are entering into, if we could see the heavenly courtroom as John did in the Revelation…
…If the ceiling of our church blew off on a Sunday morning and we saw, even if for only 5 seconds, the glory of God, the angels of heaven, the host before His face…If we got just a glimpse of this, we would be made speechless! We would not rattle on as we do, nor would we go through vain and empty repetitions of prayers and hymns. Our words would be few and we wouldn’t even dare to utter one single word without choosing it carefully, thoughtfully, and why? Because of who the One is, we think to address.
We would know God and we would know Him, not as the contemporary church has presented him, but how the Scripture presents Him, as God the dangerous. The God whose ways are beyond knowing, beyond understanding…We would know that this is the God who takes what is straight and makes it crooked, as Ecclesiastes 7 says, “who can make straight what He has made crooked…”
to be continued…
Prayer: Father, forgive me for my many words for in many words there is much sin. Forgive me for thinking I know and think to be the instructor of others when I should be silent and be one who is taught. I especially ask that I would have a mind and heart of humility when approaching You and when going into Your presence in worship. Give me deeper contemplations of Your holiness, righteousness, grace, justice and mercy that I might truly know You, Your ways and my duty before You, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Be Still My Soul
