SPEAKER_01: All right, so this morning's scripture passage is Ecclesiastes five as we're continuing our journey through the book of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes five, verses one through seven.
SPEAKER_01: Turn your Bibles with me, or the words will also be on the screen behind me.
SPEAKER_01: Ecclesiastes five, starting in verse one, it says this guard your steps when you go to the house of God.
SPEAKER_01: Better to approach in obedience than to offer sacrifice as fools do, for they ignorantly do wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God.
SPEAKER_01: God is in heaven, and you are on the earth.
SPEAKER_01: So let your words be few.
SPEAKER_01: Just as dreams accompany much labor, so also a fool's voice comes from many words.
SPEAKER_01: When you make a vow to God, don't delay fulfilling it, because he does not delight in fools.
SPEAKER_01: Fulfill what you vow.
SPEAKER_01: Better that you do not vow than you vow and not fulfill it.
SPEAKER_01: Do not let your mouth bring guilt on you.
SPEAKER_01: Do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake.
SPEAKER_01: Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?
SPEAKER_01: For many dreams bring futility, so do many words.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, fear God.
SPEAKER_01: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's interesting where these particular verses, these seven verses, land in the text of Ecclesiastes.
SPEAKER_01: You see, Ecclesiastes 4 just finishes with this explanation and this deep dive into the loneliness of wealth.
SPEAKER_01: And we can pursue wealth, we can pursue prestige, we can pursue that promotion, but all of that at the end of the day is still emptiness and still lonely.
SPEAKER_01: And in the weeks ahead, we'll even talk more about this.
SPEAKER_01: But even as you're reading through the book of Ecclesiastes, it's interesting the amount of times that work comes up.
SPEAKER_01: And I think what a what a good thing for us to remember in our culture today, with so much being centered around our work life and the acceptance and even celebration of workaholism.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just, you know, out in the world kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's happening in the church.
SPEAKER_01: It happens in ministries, this celebration of putting work or putting ministry, putting something on a pedestal before God.
SPEAKER_01: It becoming our all.
SPEAKER_01: And so he finishes with this loneliness of wealth on the one side of this passage.
SPEAKER_01: And then after this passage, as we're going to talk about next week, um, the realities of wealth on the other side in the rest of chapter five.
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's it's kind of neat that in SmackDab, in the middle of all of this, is behold the greatness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Is God is in heaven, you are on earth.
SPEAKER_01: Think of the greatness and wonder of God.
SPEAKER_01: So it's almost like Koholaid is saying, you know, let's take a break for a moment and keep things in perspective and talk about our eternal God, the eternal God that we serve, the eternal God that we worship, and let's talk about how we approach Him.
SPEAKER_01: Our attitude towards Him.
SPEAKER_01: Take a moment, just talk about what we're thinking about God.
SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite quotes from Tozer is whatever comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.
SPEAKER_01: So what comes into your mind when you think about God?
SPEAKER_01: What comes into your mind when you get prepared for worship week after week, or even as you're going about your day when you think about God?
SPEAKER_01: And I love again how it's in the middle of the loneliness of wealth, the realities of wealth, because what it's showing here is that in the midst of all of the things we're chasing in life and in the world, let's take a break and think about God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's really what we hope to do every Sunday, right?
SPEAKER_01: Take a break from the weak past, take a break from the worries of the weak future, and just focus our attention on the greatness and goodness and eternality of the God that we serve.
SPEAKER_01: And so this morning, we're going to see how we behold the greatness of God by first intentionally listening and obeying, and then by carefully using our words.
SPEAKER_01: So first we see we behold the greatness of God, or we enter into worship by intentionally listening and obeying.
SPEAKER_01: And we see this in verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: You know, all of us had to get ready this morning for church.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, some of us spent a little bit more time getting ready than others.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we had to get up.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, hopefully we brushed our teeth.
SPEAKER_01: We put on makeup, some of us, or uh did our hair if we have any.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it took effort, right?
SPEAKER_01: It took time, it took energy to prepare to be here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: If you have kids, it maybe took a lot of energy to prepare to be here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: But Kohlates' words here are what they are is they're they're preparation, or really, it's like a natural orientation of our hearts before we behold God, before we participate of uh in worship of our great God.
SPEAKER_01: And so, beyond, you know, getting up, brushing our teeth, doing all these things in order to get ready for the day, he's saying, How have you prepared your heart?
SPEAKER_01: So, this is what's gonna come out in verse one.
SPEAKER_01: So, look with me in verse one.
SPEAKER_01: Guard your steps.
SPEAKER_01: Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.
SPEAKER_01: Better to approach in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, for they ignorantly do wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Guard your steps.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot in um this passage, interestingly enough, and the whole purpose behind it, that gives similarities between Kohalate's words and the words of the prophets.
SPEAKER_01: But here it's a little different in the sense.
SPEAKER_01: It's similar, but it's different.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the prophets called people back to worship.
SPEAKER_01: But what Kohalate does is he's calling those who have gotten up, who have gotten ready, who have showed up on time with a smile on their face, but they're not coming to listen to God.
SPEAKER_01: As commentator Derek Kinder puts it, he says, this writer's target is the well-meaning person who likes a good sing or a good hymn, whatever it might be, turns up cheerfully enough to church, but who listens with half an ear and never quite gets around to doing what he has volunteered or committed to do for God.
SPEAKER_01: This is the person that he's addressing, the person that shows up, but for the wrong reasons.
SPEAKER_01: You know, God takes seriously why we are here.
SPEAKER_00: He takes seriously why you're here.
SPEAKER_00: Like just look at these first three words.
SPEAKER_00: Guard your steps.
SPEAKER_01: These are attention-grabbing, serious words.
SPEAKER_01: Carefully watch yourself, he's saying.
SPEAKER_01: So guard your steps.
SPEAKER_01: Check your heart, check your attitude.
SPEAKER_01: Guard your steps.
SPEAKER_01: And he says it's as a pastor goes on, guard guard your steps when you come to the house of God.
SPEAKER_01: And as we understand, right, the house of God that he's talking about is the temple worship.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about that in just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: The house of God.
SPEAKER_01: So he's he's talking about this, this corporate worship of the people of God coming together to worship God, and he says, guard your steps.
SPEAKER_01: And for us, that's us here this morning, right?
SPEAKER_01: The people of God coming together to worship God.
SPEAKER_01: Guard your steps when you go into the house of God.
SPEAKER_01: Better to approach in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do.
SPEAKER_01: For they ignorantly do wrong, he says.
SPEAKER_01: Better to approach in obedience, the text says.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the word here uh for obedience in the Hebrew has this double meaning.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, essentially, what it's really saying is the idea of listening in order to obey.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's why some other translations might translate this word as listen.
SPEAKER_01: Better to list, to approach in listening to God.
SPEAKER_01: So the idea here is that we listen in order to obey.
SPEAKER_01: So, where are our ears at?
SPEAKER_01: You know, as a worshiper, this is what we do.
SPEAKER_01: We come first to receive, not to join in an activity, not to tell God what's up, not to tell God what to do, not to tell God how worship should look, but we first come with this attitude of okay, God, I am ready to hear from you and to obey you.
SPEAKER_01: The best preparation we can do for a Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm ready to hear from you, God.
SPEAKER_01: And whatever I hear from you today, Lord, give me power to obey by the power of your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: You see, in their time, in Kohalate's time, the temple, the tabernacle before the temple, but the temple was that meeting place.
SPEAKER_01: It was the only, really, the only meeting place to advance the relationship between God and man.
SPEAKER_01: They would come together in the temple, they would hear the Torah read, they would hear the Bible read, they would hear instruction given, they would make their sacrifices, and all of this was set up to advance and to bring God and man together so that man could be forgiven of their sin.
SPEAKER_01: Man could be in fellowship and communion with God.
SPEAKER_01: And even today, in our day and age, as as we celebrate uh today in the Lord's Supper, that as we are now under the new covenant, so that was old covenant, they're talking old covenant here, going to the temple, sacrifice, hearing the Torah read.
SPEAKER_01: That's old covenant, but for us now as believers, as Christians under the new covenant, we understand that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Corinthians 6, 19 to 20, right?
SPEAKER_01: And that Christ dwells eternally in us, Galatians 2, 20.
SPEAKER_01: That we are the church.
SPEAKER_01: We the church are the household of God, 2 Timothy 2.
SPEAKER_01: And because of the inner dwelling of God in us for now and for eternity, worship is different under the new covenant.
SPEAKER_01: See, worship is not just going to the temple, but worship is all of life.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 12, 1 and 2.
SPEAKER_01: It's our reasonable service.
SPEAKER_01: Everything we do and go about in our day, thoughts, words we say, all of it is to be an act of worship to God.
SPEAKER_01: And Collate reminds us don't approach worship like the fools do.
SPEAKER_01: As they show up and they sacrifice, but only doing so to appease God, only doing so to silence their consciences.
SPEAKER_01: And this is a dangerous temptation for the Christian, even, when we're approaching God.
SPEAKER_01: Even when we're in our own Bible study, studying, praying of God, only doing so to appease our conscience, only doing so to appease God, silence our consciences.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing: Jesus has changed everything, right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has changed everything.
SPEAKER_01: He's consumed God's wrath on your behalf, so you are forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: His invitation to worship is come, listen, find rest, enjoy living life with God.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel isn't a message of come and do, do, do, do, do, heap on the guilt.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel isn't a message of come and do more, get involved in more, get so busy that you don't rest, get so busy that your life is out of balance, get so busy that you are heaped on with guilt because you're feeling like you're not a good enough Christian.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel is come and find rest for your soul.
SPEAKER_01: We can be busy for God and doing absolutely nothing at the same time for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you catch that?
SPEAKER_01: We can be busy doing things for God, but doing nothing in reality for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: Because of our attitudes towards God.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what the writer is bringing out.
SPEAKER_01: You know, these fools they approach with sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: They're doing all the right things, but they're not building anything substantial.
SPEAKER_01: It's all vanity for them.
SPEAKER_01: So we come to worship.
SPEAKER_01: The first thing we do is we come first and foremost to listen.
SPEAKER_01: God, what do you want to teach me?
SPEAKER_01: What do you want to say to me this morning?
SPEAKER_01: I'm coming to listen to you, as this passage tells us.
SPEAKER_01: We come to behold the greatness of our God, because beholding the greatness of our God is listening and obeying by his enabling grace.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing is this as we come to behold the greatness of our God, we come carefully using our words.
SPEAKER_01: Carefully using our words.
SPEAKER_01: And this is um broken down through verses two to the end of the passage, verse seven.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've ever had the had the uh privilege of maybe meeting somebody famous or quasi-famous, or even just being anxious in the presence uh of uh someone that's uh that to you is somebody special, somebody important.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we can we can fumble over our words a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we can we can kind of lose what we're going to say, or maybe it's uh when you show up at the border to cross the border into the US and the border guards asking you questions and all of a sudden you're answering all the wrong things.
SPEAKER_01: Remember one time showing up uh right before we got to the border, I was with a couple friends and we were going to uh the Gospel Coalition conference, I think it was, and my friend turns to us and says, Oh, yeah, by the way, this is like right when we're lined up.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, We're gonna get flagged probably and we're gonna have to go inside for a couple hours.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, really?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Well, because his name was so common that it was the same name as somebody on like the FBI's most wanted list.
SPEAKER_01: So he tells us this right as we get to the border, and I'm just like praying, like, don't say anything stupid, don't say anything stupid, don't say anything stupid.
SPEAKER_01: So lo and behold, yes, we're there for a few hours as they're clearing him.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm like, he's a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Um so but here it's like it's like Kohlate draws our attention to the foolishness of talking too hastily or talking too much.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we just talked about listening, and what's the opposite of listening?
SPEAKER_01: Talking.
SPEAKER_01: So now, of course, he goes into talking.
SPEAKER_01: So um, verse 2, he says this do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God.
SPEAKER_01: God is in heaven and you are on the earth, so let your words be few.
SPEAKER_01: You know, he he recognizes that we can come before God uh with this impulsive speech, maybe, maybe even telling God what to do instead of first like just like listening to him, tell us what to do?
SPEAKER_01: You know, this is even true like in our in our prayer life.
SPEAKER_01: Uh how are we coming to listen and pray for the will of God to be done rather than praying for our own will to be done?
SPEAKER_01: How are you approaching God?
SPEAKER_01: And verse two, this statement, you know, God is in heaven, you're on the earth, so let your words be few.
SPEAKER_01: It's this statement of, you know, behold, again, the greatness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Think about where he is, who he is, what he does, what he's done, what he's promised.
SPEAKER_01: Remember his place and remember your place in relation to him.
SPEAKER_01: Behold his greatness.
SPEAKER_01: God is the one who must be approached with reverence and fear.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the theme that comes up out of this book.
SPEAKER_01: This similar, uh, there's a similar thing, um, caution given by Jesus in Matthew 6, 7 to 8, when he said, I'm just gonna turn my Bible to that.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have your Bibles, you can turn Matthew 6, 7, 8.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's also on the on the on the uh screen behind me.
SPEAKER_01: But a similar thing, Jesus said in Matthew 6, uh starting in uh verse verse 5, Matthew 6, 5, he says, Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by the people.
SPEAKER_01: Truly I tell you, they have their reward.
SPEAKER_01: But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, pray for your father who is in, pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
SPEAKER_01: When you pray, don't babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they'll be heard for their many words.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be like them because your father knows the things you need before you ask them.
SPEAKER_01: So he's Jesus driving home, similar point.
SPEAKER_01: As coholeate back here in the book of Ecclesiastes.
SPEAKER_01: How are we approaching praying to God?
SPEAKER_01: Are we babbling?
SPEAKER_01: Are we praying for the will of God to be done?
SPEAKER_01: And then verse 3, he continues in Ecclesiastes, verse 3 just as dreams accompany much labor, so also a fool's voice comes with many words.
SPEAKER_01: This is a proverb that the Koalate is quoting to drive home this point even further regarding worship.
SPEAKER_01: Our circumstances, and this might be what it means, we're not sure.
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty ambiguous again in the Hebrew.
SPEAKER_01: But it likely means that our circumstances and focus of our labor can sometimes cause anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: It can cause dreams that night.
SPEAKER_01: And he's saying, just as the dreams are of absolutely no help to your anxiety or to what you're dealing with in real life, so a fool's voice and the many words that come out of his mouth are absolutely no help.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we can pay lip service to God and to others in worship, and it's all just a meaningless jumble of words.
SPEAKER_01: If our hearts aren't right.
SPEAKER_01: Verses four to five.
SPEAKER_01: Better that you do not vow than you vow and do not fulfill.
SPEAKER_01: And this is a reference to Deuteronomy 23, 21 to 22.
SPEAKER_01: Similar thing instructed there in God's law and the instruction.
SPEAKER_01: He's basically just saying, you know, wisdom says you should err on the side of caution when it comes to approaching God, especially with what we promise him.
SPEAKER_01: And these verses aren't just meant to, like, they're not meant to like just like scare us or to pour guilt and shame on us for all of those things that we have promised God, but yet we failed at fulfilling.
SPEAKER_01: Just track with me for a moment here.
SPEAKER_01: These verses are much more than that.
SPEAKER_01: These verses remind you and I how seriously God takes keeping his promises.
SPEAKER_01: And this is important because he has made the greatest and most wonderful promise of all.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just look again at the example of Peter the apostle in Luke 22.
SPEAKER_01: He promises Jesus, you know, I won't forsake you, I won't deny you, and he does, but yet Jesus redeems those broken promises in Peter's life.
SPEAKER_01: God makes us the ultimate promises.
SPEAKER_01: The promises that our perfect Redeemer, Jesus Christ, would perfectly listen to, perfectly obey God on our behalf, that we would become his righteousness, 2 Corinthians 5.21.
SPEAKER_01: So, yes, our God is serious about promises, and for that we are thankful.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 6, what does he say?
SPEAKER_01: Don't let your mouth bring guilt on you, and do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake.
SPEAKER_01: Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?
SPEAKER_01: You know, we're again we're unsure as to the identity of this messenger.
SPEAKER_01: It's uncertain.
SPEAKER_01: But in the temple worship, this could have been a priest or an elder who would hear the vow that somebody would make before Yahweh, and then they would follow up with the vow taker.
SPEAKER_01: We're we're not sure.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps the implication here too is that we can try to fool others and our approach to God, but we can't fool God.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse seven, he brings this all together for many dreams bring futility.
SPEAKER_01: So do many words.
SPEAKER_01: Again, the whole dream thing.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, fear God.
SPEAKER_01: Behold him.
SPEAKER_01: Stand in awe of him.
SPEAKER_01: Stop talking and listen.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to his promises that he keeps and never breaks.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to his message of grace.
SPEAKER_01: Behold the greatness of our God.
SPEAKER_01: He's in the heavens, we're on the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Guard your steps.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful what you say to him.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, right now we come in just a moment to the Lord's table, where we are beholding your greatness, declaring your righteousness, declaring the power of Christ over our sin and our weakness.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that in our weakness, even in worshiping you, Christ worshiped you perfectly on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And we ask for your help.
SPEAKER_01: That we would come listening to you and your word, ready to take in what you might want to get a hold of our heart and our life with.
SPEAKER_01: So that we can experience your true grace and mercy and the enjoyment of life that it is with you.
SPEAKER_01: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.