Neil Silverberg: Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 5.
Neil Silverberg: Ecclesiastes, chapter 5.
Neil Silverberg: It's a privilege to contribute to the series we're in For those who have not been here.
Neil Silverberg: We are in a series preaching through the book of Ecclesiastes, the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, and I'll be preaching today from chapter 5, entitled Proper Worship.
Neil Silverberg: Proper Worship, and we're seeing that this Old Testament book is not just a book in which Solomon expresses his skepticism, as most people think of this book, but actually it's a book which prepares us to receive the gospel.
Neil Silverberg: Last week, kelly took us through chapter 4 and the 4 things that Solomon observed, and he uses an example of information regarding the recluse Howard Hughes.
Neil Silverberg: He talked about his life.
Neil Silverberg: I want to just read something regarding his death.
Neil Silverberg: It says when the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died on April 5, 1976, there was no one in his immediate family to claim the body.
Neil Silverberg: No one visited the funeral home to pay their last respects.
Neil Silverberg: There was no will.
Neil Silverberg: No one could say that they were his friend or his close relative.
Neil Silverberg: What a sad thing, because in his own estate he owned several gambling interests in Las Vegas.
Neil Silverberg: His company's public relation officer called the casinos in Vegas and asked if they would observe a minute of silence for Mr Hughes, whom they called a great American.
Neil Silverberg: And so, at a certain moment in time, casinos in Las Vegas observed a minute of silence for Howard Hughes.
Neil Silverberg: Time magazine reported the event.
Neil Silverberg: Time said, quote casinos fell silent, housewives stood uncomfortably clutching their paper cups full of coins as the slot machines, the blackjack games paused and at the crap tables, the stickman cradled the dice in the crook of their wooden wands.
Neil Silverberg: Then a pit boss looked at his watch, leaned forward and whispered OK, roll the dice, he's had his minute.
Neil Silverberg: When I read that, I think sometimes that's what some of us perceive are.
Neil Silverberg: Coming together to worship is about.
Neil Silverberg: After a busy week of work and different family events, we drag ourselves into our seats to give honor and glorify God for an hour and a half hour, and when that's over we go back into the busyness of our lives until the next time we gather for worship.
Neil Silverberg: It's easy if we're not careful.
Neil Silverberg: It's easy to come to a worship service like this without giving thought to what it is that we are actually doing when we gather on the Lord's Day.
Neil Silverberg: For many we have done it for so long.
Neil Silverberg: We function without reflection.
Neil Silverberg: But in these verses Solomon calls upon us to make sure we are approaching God properly when it comes to worship.
Neil Silverberg: If we're going to worship properly, solomon tells us we need to be careful to make sure of two things.
Neil Silverberg: Number one first, we must make sure that we are worshiping the true God.
Neil Silverberg: Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well, when he said to her a woman, believe me, the hour is coming.
Neil Silverberg: When she said you know how do you get this water?
Neil Silverberg: And Jesus said believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
Neil Silverberg: You worship what you do not know.
Neil Silverberg: We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Neil Silverberg: Jesus told the woman at the well that true worshipers are worshiping the Father in spirit and in truth.
Neil Silverberg: And by truth he means that we are worshiping according to how he's revealed in Scripture.
Neil Silverberg: The second thing we must realize if we're going to worship properly is that we are worshiping, making sure we are worshiped with the reverence do his name.
Neil Silverberg: And that second part is what Solomon is exhorting us to do in these first seven verses of the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter five.
Neil Silverberg: So let me read the first seven verses of Ecclesiastes five, and then two verses from the book of Hebrews Guard your steps.
Neil Silverberg: Ecclesiastes five one guard your steps when you go to the house of God.
Neil Silverberg: To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know they are doing evil.
Neil Silverberg: 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.
Neil Silverberg: Therefore, let your words be few, for a dream comes with much business and a fool's voice with many words.
Neil Silverberg: When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools.
Neil Silverberg: Pay what you vow.
Neil Silverberg: It is better that you should not vow than you should vow and not pay.
Neil Silverberg: Let not your mouth be led you into sin and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake.
Neil Silverberg: Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
Neil Silverberg: For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity, but God is the one you must fear.
Neil Silverberg: And then look to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, verses 28 and 29.
Neil Silverberg: Says therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Neil Silverberg: Father, take these words from the book of Hebrews and the book of Ecclesiastes and gently apply them powerfully to our hearts.
Neil Silverberg: We pray for you to grant us grace to understand what it is we're being exhorted to do in Jesus' name, and everyone said Amen.
Neil Silverberg: There are two things that matter most when it comes to making sure we are worshiping properly.
Neil Silverberg: It's worshiping inwardly and outwardly.
Neil Silverberg: Now, by outward worship we're talking about worship styles, the type of music we sing, you know, having a coffee bar and all of this that we enjoy here at Trinity.
Neil Silverberg: Outward worship has to do with styles and there's been a lot in the church over the years on what the best style is and so forth and so on.
Neil Silverberg: There's been all these debates about the worship wars, but Solomon doesn't deal with outward worship at all in these verses.
Neil Silverberg: He deals entirely with inward worship.
Neil Silverberg: In other words, solomon deals with our attitude, with which we approach God when we come into his house.
Neil Silverberg: Do we have the proper attitude?
Neil Silverberg: And Solomon is concerned with how we come into the house of God to worship.
Neil Silverberg: The statement guard your steps, found in Ecclesiastes 5.1, guard your steps could actually be a reference to the southern steps that were unearthed by an Israeli archaeologist in 1967.
Neil Silverberg: The southern steps are a set of enormous steps leading to the southern wall from the south.
Neil Silverberg: It's also known as the rabbis' stairs, because rabbis would bring their disciples to the stairs and teach them there.
Neil Silverberg: They were executed, as I said, in 1967 by archaeologist Benjamin Mazar, and they are the northernmost extension of the Jerusalem Pilgrim Road leading from the pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount.
Neil Silverberg: Some of you remember that went to Israel with us.
Neil Silverberg: We saw the southern steps.
Neil Silverberg: These steps were built in such a way that the worshipper had to actually slow down to as he entered the house of God.
Neil Silverberg: The slowing down speaks of coming to worship fully cognizant of what we are doing.
Neil Silverberg: We must approach God in such a way that we give Him acceptable worship.
Neil Silverberg: The inward dictates the outward.
Neil Silverberg: So we must make sure that our hearts and minds are approaching God properly.
Neil Silverberg: And when we approach God in prayer are we aware that we must come before Him, waiting silently for Him to speak?
Neil Silverberg: That's why it says in verse one to draw near, to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.
Neil Silverberg: Now, solomon will not suggest that any verbal outward words is wrong in prayer, but he certainly is promoting the fact that we must come, and come to him in silence.
Neil Silverberg: It's imperative that we remember the proper relationship when speaking with God.
Neil Silverberg: He is the Creator and we are the creature.
Neil Silverberg: Habakkuk 2.20 reminds us the Lord is in his holy temple.
Neil Silverberg: Let all the earth be silent before him.
Neil Silverberg: The Lord is in his holy temple.
Neil Silverberg: Let all the earth be silent before him.
Neil Silverberg: All true prayer is a response to what God has already spoken.
Neil Silverberg: Are you aware of that?
Neil Silverberg: We come listening to God's words before we utter anti-words of our own, and so the first need we have when approaching God is to listen carefully to what he has already said in scripture.
Neil Silverberg: A few examples of how listening to scripture informs our praying will help underscore that.
Neil Silverberg: You remember when Elijah appears to King Ahab in 1 Kings 17?
Neil Silverberg: There's no mention of Elijah until chapter 17 of 1 Kings and suddenly he appears on the scene and he comes and rebukes and confronts King Ahab and he says it will be neither do nor reign these three years, except by my word.
Neil Silverberg: And we all relish in the fact that Elijah shut up the heavens.
Neil Silverberg: But you know what Elijah really did when he confronted Ahab.
Neil Silverberg: What he really did is he confronted him by reminding him of what God had already said in scripture In the book of Deuteronomy.
Neil Silverberg: God said if Israel was disobedient, then God would shut up the heavens, so it would not reign.
Neil Silverberg: So what Elijah was really doing was quoting that scripture from Deuteronomy when he said there shall be no do not do nor reign for these three years, except by my word.
Neil Silverberg: Wow.
Neil Silverberg: And how about Daniel in chapter nine, when he simply called on God to remember to do what he had already said?
Neil Silverberg: You remember?
Neil Silverberg: Daniel prayed.
Neil Silverberg: We have not listened to your servants, the prophets who spoke in your name, to our kings, our princes and our fathers and to all the people of the land.
Neil Silverberg: To you, oh Lord, belongs righteousness.
Neil Silverberg: Open shame, as I adoth this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which they have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed against you.
Neil Silverberg: To us, oh Lord, belongs open shame to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
Neil Silverberg: To the Lord, our God, belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God, walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets Daniel, nine, six through 10.
Neil Silverberg: So these were really scriptures being prayed to God, and that's what we must do when we will come to worship.
Neil Silverberg: Now, in these first seven verses we read in Ecclesiastes five.
Neil Silverberg: The author tells us three things about how we should enter worship.
Neil Silverberg: Number one up to this point, the preacher has given us mostly his observations about life in the fallen world, but now he's given us several admonitions in these verses, reminding us that we must be careful how we approach God, and there's three specific things that Solomon has said.
Neil Silverberg: The first admonition is to remember which we quoted earlier, but I'll quote it again that we are going to the house of God to worship.
Neil Silverberg: Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.
Neil Silverberg: Solomon is reminding us that God alone must be the focus of worship.
Neil Silverberg: When we come to his house, we must remind ourselves that the God we worship is holy and majestic and we must remember that as we come, when we enter his house to worship, we're not to do it casually, as if we're dropping by a friend's house for a visit.
Neil Silverberg: In the Old Testament, god was worshiped spatially at the Tabernacle and Temple.
Neil Silverberg: Remember when God took Moses to the top of Mount Sinai and showed him the pattern for the Tabernacle God's dwelling on earth?
Neil Silverberg: The same was true later when Solomon built the Temple.
Neil Silverberg: Both Tabernacle and Temple were constructed in such a way so as to discourage a person from coming casually.
Neil Silverberg: If we're a member of the Old Testament, you could not enter casually into the Holy of Holies.
Neil Silverberg: You could only enter representively when the High Priest entered.
Neil Silverberg: Once a year you had to come on a specific day and with a specific sacrifice on that day, and that was the appointed way to worship.
Neil Silverberg: And in the New Testament, jesus has now come as our great High Priest, who has offered the final sacrifice for sin for all time.
Neil Silverberg: Aren't you glad you didn't have to hack an animal before you came to church this morning.
Neil Silverberg: I am so glad Because when Jesus expired on the cross in that place, at that exact moment of his death, the veil separating the Holy Place to the Holy of Holies was rent and that signal that the way into the true Holy of Holies has been open.
Neil Silverberg: You can say amen with a clap.
Neil Silverberg: What that means, among many things, is that we're no longer dependent on any building or location to enter to experience the presence of God.
Neil Silverberg: We don't have to go to a building to experience.
Neil Silverberg: As Heather pointed out in her exhortation, the New Testament teaches that the church 1 Corinthians 3-9, you are God's building.
Neil Silverberg: You are God's building.
Neil Silverberg: It's like we have to go to a building.
Neil Silverberg: We're thankful we have this building to worship in, but the presence of God isn't limited to this building.
Neil Silverberg: Second, corinthians 6 says we are the temple of the living God.
Neil Silverberg: We are the temple of the living God.
Neil Silverberg: And how about 1 Peter 2, 4, and 5, when Peter says you also come to him, the living stone.
Neil Silverberg: You also, as living stones are built together a spiritual house.
Neil Silverberg: How many know?
Neil Silverberg: You're a living stone.
Neil Silverberg: You come to the living stone which is Jesus.
Neil Silverberg: He imparts to us his life and when he does, we become stoned.
Neil Silverberg: That's what it says.
Neil Silverberg: First, peter 2, you come to him, the living stone, you also as living stones.
Neil Silverberg: What happened is I come to him, he imparts to me his life, and then I become a living stone, and then he gets stoned.
Neil Silverberg: So tell somebody, you went to church and got stoned this morning.
Neil Silverberg: And what does God do with stones.
Neil Silverberg: I asked one church that and somebody yelled out you throw them at people.
Neil Silverberg: I said no, that's not right, that's radical, but it's not right.
Neil Silverberg: What are stones?
Neil Silverberg: All building in the first century was done by stones and God brought people, brought when the temple was built.
Neil Silverberg: That's what happened and said the temple was built by members of Israel honing the stones, preparing the stones in private.
Neil Silverberg: So when they came together they fit together perfectly.
Neil Silverberg: And that's what happens with the church of God.
Neil Silverberg: You're part of this body.
Neil Silverberg: You're a living stone that God has built you together to other stones, with other stones.
Neil Silverberg: So enjoy being stoned.
Neil Silverberg: I better get out of that because I'm stuck.
Neil Silverberg: So wherever the church of God gathers, that is where he is present.
Neil Silverberg: Jesus promises that wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, there he is in the midst.
Neil Silverberg: The second thing we learn is that worship is about listening much and saying little.
Neil Silverberg: Worship is about listening much and saying little.
Neil Silverberg: How are we to come?
Neil Silverberg: It says to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know they are doing evil.
Neil Silverberg: In the Old Testament, worship was conducted largely in silence, and we moderns don't like.
Neil Silverberg: Do you ever see when there's a silent period in the church and it's a little bit awkward.
Neil Silverberg: We feel like we need to jump up and say something or do something.
Neil Silverberg: We're not comfortable with silence.
Neil Silverberg: We go to most homes today.
Neil Silverberg: When I go to home, sometimes to make a pastoral visit, I'll find a TV on in every room, the radio blessing people.
Neil Silverberg: On social media.
Neil Silverberg: Today we have thousands of voices speaking to us.
Neil Silverberg: Solomon warns us against offering the sacrifice of fools.
Neil Silverberg: Now, when he draws near to listen.
Neil Silverberg: He is not saying we should never talk at all, as I previously said, but the word listen is closely tied to listening with an ear to hear what you hear and obey.
Neil Silverberg: It's like a football coach who says to the football team okay, everybody, listen up.
Neil Silverberg: He doesn't mean merely tune in and listen physically, but he's listening is to listen to obey.
Neil Silverberg: Listening is a major part of our worship because we're listening to obey.
Neil Silverberg: We should be James 1.22,.
Neil Silverberg: But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Neil Silverberg: Be doers of the word, not, and not hearers only.
Neil Silverberg: How about verse two of Ecclesiastes 5?
Neil Silverberg: We read 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.
Neil Silverberg: Therefore, let your words be few.
Neil Silverberg: Translation God is God and we're not.
Neil Silverberg: So shut up and listen.
Neil Silverberg: Sorry to be so rude, but it's the only way I knew to say it, so I put it in my notes Let your words be few.
Neil Silverberg: You are on earth and God is in heaven.
Neil Silverberg: Now, of course, this is not just a statement about what we do when we come together for corporate worship.
Neil Silverberg: It's a general rule of the ungodly.
Neil Silverberg: The Bible, in both testaments, clearly calls us to let our words be few.
Neil Silverberg: This is not a statement about when we come to worship only, but a general rule of the godly.
Neil Silverberg: Remember Proverbs 10,.
Neil Silverberg: 19 is a good example.
Neil Silverberg: The one who restrains his lips is wise, because in the multitude of words, sin is not lacking.
Neil Silverberg: Did you know that if you don't open your mouth, people will mistake you as a wise person?
Neil Silverberg: Go ahead and try it, it works.
Neil Silverberg: Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.
Neil Silverberg: James 1, 19.
Neil Silverberg: If you have to hear, you know people pointed out that you have two ears and one mouth, so God intends for you to listen twice as much as you talk.
Neil Silverberg: Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.
Neil Silverberg: How about Proverbs 17?
Neil Silverberg: Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent and discerning, if he holds his tongue Again.
Neil Silverberg: When the Bible says, let your words be few, it's not just a statement of physical distance, but of reverence.
Neil Silverberg: God is above all, and we must remember that when we come into his presence we should listen intently so we don't offer the sacrifice of fools.
Neil Silverberg: You say what is the sacrifice of fools?
Neil Silverberg: He tells us what it is.
Neil Silverberg: In the text we read the foolishness of broken promises.
Neil Silverberg: The foolishness of broken promises.
Neil Silverberg: Making rash statements with your mouth is the sacrifice of fools.
Neil Silverberg: Making vows you do not keep is the sacrifice of fools.
Neil Silverberg: How many of you have come to altars and altar calls and said things rashly that you weren't prepared to carry out?
Neil Silverberg: Maybe you were moved in the moment by emotion, but you were not ready to carry it out.
Neil Silverberg: We've all tried to bargain with God.
Neil Silverberg: How many of you have ever bargained with God?
Neil Silverberg: God, I'll make a deal with you do this for me and I'll stop doing this or I'll stop doing that.
Neil Silverberg: God, if you get me this job, I'll stop drinking.
Neil Silverberg: And what happens?
Neil Silverberg: They get the job.
Neil Silverberg: And how do they celebrate with a drink, or can be something as serious as vowing to stay married.
Neil Silverberg: How many have been challenged to honor your marriage vows?
Neil Silverberg: God, I promise, remember what you said.
Neil Silverberg: I promise to love, honor and cherish, forsaking all others and cleaving to this person as long as we both shall live.
Neil Silverberg: Remember saying that a lot of people who make that vow on average 50% of the people who made that vow break it at a later time.
Neil Silverberg: How sad.
Neil Silverberg: Do Christians not understand the importance and seriousness of their words?
Neil Silverberg: I get it that non-Christians say rash things before God, don't want to keep their vows, but what about born again people who speak rashly with their words?
Neil Silverberg: We need to understand the sacredness of a vow before God.
Neil Silverberg: It's better not to vow than it is to vow and not keep it.
Neil Silverberg: So there are legitimate and biblical reasons for divorce, but generally speaking, we must be careful to honor our vows.
Neil Silverberg: Psalm 154 says he honors those who swears to His own hurt and doesn't change.
Neil Silverberg: And how about Deuteronomy 23-23,?
Neil Silverberg: If you make a vow to the Lord, your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord, your God, will surely require it of you.
Neil Silverberg: When we do make a vow before God, we should be careful to fulfill what we have vowed.
Neil Silverberg: And the third thing we notice is worship is about giving.
Neil Silverberg: Worship is about giving.
Neil Silverberg: There's a verse in Deuteronomy 16 where God commands that every worshiper not come before him quote empty-handed.
Neil Silverberg: That's why we always mention Derek always mentions that giving is part, a vital part of our worship.
Neil Silverberg: It's where we worship not the only way, but important way.
Neil Silverberg: And don't default and think you're only, we're only talking about money.
Neil Silverberg: In the same way, we default in thinking only about singing as part of worship.
Neil Silverberg: Singing and giving financially are part, but they're not the only part.
Neil Silverberg: Worship is essentially a disposition that we come before God with the disposition of a worshiper.
Neil Silverberg: You're coming to give what you have to the Lord.
Neil Silverberg: You are mirroring the Father when you come, who is the greatest giver of all.
Neil Silverberg: This is the proper attitude that I should come to the house of God with and in the process, we do receive, but that is not why we come.
Neil Silverberg: So let me ask you are you regularly giving financially as part of your worship?
Neil Silverberg: I know this church is very generous, but I speak to everyone.
Neil Silverberg: Are you regularly giving as part of your worship, something you need to plan to do?
Neil Silverberg: And when we speak this way the subject of tithing comes up.
Neil Silverberg: Are we under a law of tithing?
Neil Silverberg: And I would say absolutely not.
Neil Silverberg: We're not under a law of tithing.
Neil Silverberg: But tithing is like training wheels on a bicycle.
Neil Silverberg: It's a good discipline that teaches us to give, but it's only the basic level.
Neil Silverberg: It's a good place to start.
Neil Silverberg: So I would encourage everybody that's not tithing to do so.
Neil Silverberg: But don't stop there.
Neil Silverberg: It's only the beginning.
Neil Silverberg: Ties and offerings Start by practicing tithing regularly and then growing in giving beyond through ties and offerings.
Neil Silverberg: Make sure you're worshiping regularly by your giving, not just singing.
Neil Silverberg: And at Trinity we don't pass the hat or anything.
Neil Silverberg: We just tell you the ways you can give and you have a choice in that matter.
Neil Silverberg: Perhaps that's why Solomon warns, beginning in verse 10 of this fifth chapter, against the love of money.
Neil Silverberg: He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income.
Neil Silverberg: But also this also is vanity.
Neil Silverberg: When goods increase, they increase.
Neil Silverberg: Who eat them?
Neil Silverberg: And what advantage has their owner?
Neil Silverberg: But to see them in it with his eyes?
Neil Silverberg: Sweet is the sleep of a labor, whoever he eats, whether he eats little or much.
Neil Silverberg: But the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
Neil Silverberg: There is a grievous evil that I've seen under the sun Riches were kept by their owner to the hurt and those riches were lost in a bad venture.
Neil Silverberg: And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand as he came from his mother's womb.
Neil Silverberg: He shall go again naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.
Neil Silverberg: This also is a grievous evil.
Neil Silverberg: Just as he came, so shall he go.
Neil Silverberg: And what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?
Neil Silverberg: Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and anger.
Neil Silverberg: Verse 18, 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.
Neil Silverberg: The few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.
Neil Silverberg: 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.
Neil Silverberg: This is the gift of God, for he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
Neil Silverberg: Beginning at verse one of verse 10, I'm sorry, paul warns, solomon warns against the love of money, not money itself.
Neil Silverberg: In fact, the Apostle Paul's teaching on this subject does not prescribe the giving away of all wealth.
Neil Silverberg: He exhorts us in 1 Timothy 6, not to be arrogant, nor to put our hope in wealth, but to be generous and willing to share.
Neil Silverberg: Remember the rich young ruler who was unwilling to heed Jesus' words to sell all that he had and give to the poor?
Neil Silverberg: He was not willing to do it.
Neil Silverberg: He went away sad because he wouldn't part with his money.
Neil Silverberg: Jesus' words were not necessarily meant to be a prescription for all believers to give away everything they have.
Neil Silverberg: One problem having lots of money is learning how to properly manage it.
Neil Silverberg: The person of average means doesn't typically have the headaches that comes with great wealth embezzlement lawsuits and questioning whether people like you or not, or like you because of your money.
Neil Silverberg: There are many examples of the paranoia and fear that come from having much wealth People such as Sir William Burwell, who spent much of his time amassing a huge, extraordinary art collection but lived his past years like Howard Hughes the recluse as a recluse, for fear that fire or theft would take away his art.
Neil Silverberg: Solomon says that labor's sleep is sweet, while the sleep of a rich man will not let him sleep Rich men.
Neil Silverberg: Solomon observed that some people think that riches will bring life.
Neil Silverberg: Riches are deceptive because he wants us to know that they can be easily lost.
Neil Silverberg: Here's what we can learn from people who've easily lost fortunes, for example, former lottery winners.
Neil Silverberg: Are you aware of the fact that most lottery winners end up in bad shape financially?
Neil Silverberg: If you win the $1.5 billion powerball jackpot, you may not be as lucky as you think.
Neil Silverberg: Many winners befall the so-called curse of the lottery, with some squandering their fortunes and others meeting tragic ends.
Neil Silverberg: Well, so many of them end up unhappy or wind up broke.
Neil Silverberg: People have had terrible things happen, said Don McNay, 56, a financial consultant to lottery winners and the author of Life Lessons from the Lottery.
Neil Silverberg: People commit suicide, people run through their money.
Neil Silverberg: Easy comes, easy goes.
Neil Silverberg: They go through divorce or people die.
Neil Silverberg: It's just upheaval and they're not ready for.
Neil Silverberg: Mcnay told Time on Tuesday.
Neil Silverberg: It's the curse of the lottery because it made their lives worse instead of improving them.
Neil Silverberg: About 70% of people who suddenly receive a windfall of cash will lose it within a few years, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education, a quote from Time Magazine.
Neil Silverberg: Why live for certain for something so uncertain that can't survive behind beyond the grave?
Neil Silverberg: Why not live for the true riches, even when a fortune is lost?
Neil Silverberg: Here's what the prophet Habakkuk said, though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive oil, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls.
Neil Silverberg: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Neil Silverberg: God, the Lord, is my strength.
Neil Silverberg: He makes my feet like the deers, he makes me tread on high places.
Neil Silverberg: Habakkuk 3, 17 through 19.
Neil Silverberg: You know, in proper, in Clisiasis 5, 13 through 17, solomon speaks of a grievous evil.
Neil Silverberg: He has son seen done under the sun.
Neil Silverberg: Riches were lost in a bad venture, so that he has nothing to leave his son.
Neil Silverberg: He says, as he came from his mother's womb, so he shall go again as he came and shall take nothing for his toil he may carry away in his hand.
Neil Silverberg: This also is grievous.
Neil Silverberg: Just as he came, so shall he go.
Neil Silverberg: And what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?
Neil Silverberg: Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and anger.
Neil Silverberg: You know the person is not empowered by God receives the bitter fruit of trying to find ultimate meaning in money, and it's impossible.
Neil Silverberg: As we have seen many times in the book of Ecclesiastes, money does not give meaning to life.
Neil Silverberg: The words darkness, vexation, sickness and anger bring to mind what I've heard many wealthy elderly people say you know what a pain old age is, a theme you'll see stated at the end of Ecclesiastes.
Neil Silverberg: Money, status, power cannot hold back the certainty of death.
Neil Silverberg: Death is inevitable.
Neil Silverberg: Everyone must face it.
Neil Silverberg: Again, the proper perspective in verses 18 through 20 here Solomon repeats this idea that a person's relationship with God, not the circumstances of life, brings true joy.
Neil Silverberg: The godly person lives with joy in the good provision of God.
Neil Silverberg: Realism mixed with hope is a common theme in Ecclesiastes.
Neil Silverberg: Realism meet met with hope.
Neil Silverberg: It's a common thing.
Neil Silverberg: Great joy is our possession as believers.
Neil Silverberg: But Solomon doesn't shield us from the reality that our days on earth are few and for those who have wealth, the only way to enjoy it, solomon says again and again in these verses, is if God enables us.
Neil Silverberg: Finding joy and fulfillment in possessions alone is not possible.
Neil Silverberg: Listen to one commentator who said it this way.
Neil Silverberg: Quote the righteous person is not preoccupied with mortality.
Neil Silverberg: Rather, his relationship with God keeps him occupied, and this produce produces deep and abiding joy.
Neil Silverberg: The righteous person doesn't look back at his youth as the only good time of life.
Neil Silverberg: All of his life is empowered by God, so all seasons are marked by joy the person experiences.
Neil Silverberg: This person experiences no midlife crisis, nor does he become bitter with old age.
Neil Silverberg: So here are three principles we drew from our text this morning.
Neil Silverberg: Number one we need to hear from God much more than he needs to hear from us.
Neil Silverberg: Amen, we need to hear from God much more than he needs to hear from us.
Neil Silverberg: We hear from God mainly not only, but mainly through listening to Scripture, but we also should hear God's voice in our life, because God speaks not only through Scripture but to our hearts, as Heather reminded us in her experience.
Neil Silverberg: So that is what Scripture refers to as meditation.
Neil Silverberg: So if you want to worship, you must have a running relationship with God's Word, and if you don't let God's Word speak to you more than you speak, then you'll miss the opportunity to be blessed.
Neil Silverberg: The second thing we learn from these verses is the love of material wealth will keep us from the true treasure of loving God.
Neil Silverberg: The love of material wealth will keep us from the true treasure of knowing God.
Neil Silverberg: The love of money, solomon has told us in these verses, is the ultimate distraction we must deal with.
Neil Silverberg: Jesus said it most plainly you cannot serve God and mammon Impossible.
Neil Silverberg: You can't serve God and money.
Neil Silverberg: He made it absolutely plain.
Neil Silverberg: And then, finally, the third thing we learn from our text this morning those who know God experience joy during every circumstance of life.
Neil Silverberg: It takes God's grace to allow us to have joy throughout our lives, and we can.
Neil Silverberg: Can you stand with me?
Neil Silverberg: Let's pray, father.
Neil Silverberg: Thank you, father, for these words of wisdom given to us from your servant, solomon.
Neil Silverberg: Father, help us to guard our steps when we come to worship.
Neil Silverberg: Help us, lord God, to come boldly, but come with reverence.
Neil Silverberg: Let us not come foolishly or pridefully or arrogantly.
Neil Silverberg: Teach us to draw near, to listen, which is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools for they do not know what they are doing, evil.
Neil Silverberg: I pray that we would know how to come before you in worship in Jesus mighty name.
Neil Silverberg: And everyone said Amen.