WEBVTT 00:00:16.420 --> 00:00:18.100 To be together this morning. 00:00:18.260 --> 00:00:19.539 My name is Pastor Miles. 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:23.219 Incredibly excited to open up God's word with you this morning. 00:00:23.380 --> 00:00:25.060 If you're new here, I want to welcome you. 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:26.820 Let you know that we've been praying for you. 00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:34.500 And as a church, we're really eager to welcome you into this encounter with the living God that we have every time we open up his word. 00:00:34.980 --> 00:00:36.980 Opening up his word is exactly what we're going to do. 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:42.579 We are in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, starting in verse 13 this morning. 00:00:42.740 --> 00:00:47.379 And if you don't have a copy of God's word, the ushers are going to make their way to the front of the worship center. 00:00:47.540 --> 00:00:52.420 You can flag one of them down, and they will get a copy into your hands, which you can keep as our gift to you. 00:00:52.579 --> 00:00:58.099 We love God's word, and nothing makes us more happy than for you to go home with a copy of it. 00:00:58.659 --> 00:01:01.700 Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 13. 00:01:03.140 --> 00:01:05.299 I'm convinced of this reality. 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:20.420 After years of pastoring, knowing my own heart, that the hardest part of Christianity is not often that we don't know what to do. 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:23.299 The hardest part is that we know what to do. 00:01:23.380 --> 00:01:27.140 We just don't know what's promised after we do it. 00:01:28.100 --> 00:01:31.939 We're familiar with unclear instructions, aren't we? 00:01:32.180 --> 00:01:34.340 We've all set up that bookshelf. 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:42.260 You open up the instructions, and you are told to attach piece B to piece G using screw Q. 00:01:43.060 --> 00:01:46.579 There's no screw Q, there's no piece G. 00:01:47.060 --> 00:01:51.380 You finish the shelf, there's three pieces left over, and it's sideways. 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:52.420 We've been there. 00:01:52.740 --> 00:01:55.219 We've encountered unclear instructions. 00:01:55.380 --> 00:02:08.020 I'm convinced, knowing my own heart and sitting in the counseling room with so many Christians whose desire has been to faithfully follow the Lord, that following Christ usually isn't unclear. 00:02:08.740 --> 00:02:13.859 The instructions are clear, the outcome is not. 00:02:14.900 --> 00:02:17.060 That's what makes it so difficult. 00:02:17.939 --> 00:02:27.699 It's difficult when Scripture calls you to do something like give regularly, give sacrificially, and to give joyfully. 00:02:28.019 --> 00:02:36.739 And you find yourself sacrificing something which on the other side of that sacrifice, you wonder what's gonna what's life gonna look like now? 00:02:37.859 --> 00:02:43.299 What's life gonna look like without those resources that God has asked me to pass over? 00:02:44.099 --> 00:02:47.219 We know this is true of sharing the gospel too, isn't it? 00:02:47.459 --> 00:03:14.419 We're called to be like Jesus, to be soul seekers, to seek, to see the lost saved, and and to preach and share the gospel, and yet we're given no assurance on the other side of that difficult conversation when we call sinners to repentance and share the good news of hope we have in Jesus Christ, we're given no assurance of what their reaction to that conversation might be. 00:03:15.619 --> 00:03:20.099 We know also that Jesus told us to pray and to not lose heart. 00:03:20.340 --> 00:03:25.939 And yet, maybe there's been something you've been praying for for years and you expected the outcome would come sooner. 00:03:26.179 --> 00:03:34.259 You expected the result would happen with immediacy, and here you are praying faithfully, listening to the command, but not knowing the outcome. 00:03:37.859 --> 00:03:47.299 I think the greatest uncertainty we often struggle with in Christianity is not what should I do, but what will happen when I do it. 00:03:48.019 --> 00:04:00.419 And so so often then we're caught up in sort of this neutral gear where we're waiting for more clarity, asking God for more information, and there's a time and place for that. 00:04:00.579 --> 00:04:28.019 Waiting can certainly be an important biblical principle, and yet I just can't help but to examine my own heart and realize that sometimes the reason we're so hesitant to obedience and so hesitant to faithfulness and so hesitant to do what the scriptures call wisdom, so often the reason that we are so hesitant to do those things is because we don't want clarity, we want a guaranteed outcome. 00:04:29.540 --> 00:04:37.379 Now, Solomon then comes to speak to us in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, 13, and we're gonna cover a lot here. 00:04:37.460 --> 00:04:57.460 We're gonna get to chapter 11, verse 6, and he's what he's doing here is assembling a series of proverbs and sayings that all have this each of these sayings hit the exact same nail that wisdom matters, your choices matter, faithfulness matters, all of it matters. 00:04:57.620 --> 00:05:02.660 It's all very important, but none of it will give you control over your life. 00:05:02.900 --> 00:05:14.740 At the end of the day, God is sovereign, and he has called you to a life of faithfulness, and he has called you to leave the results to him. 00:05:17.540 --> 00:05:22.420 The name of our message this morning is the results belong to God and loved one. 00:05:22.740 --> 00:05:26.819 The implication is that faithfulness is your calling. 00:05:27.379 --> 00:05:28.580 We're gonna read this together. 00:05:28.660 --> 00:05:51.700 I'd ask for you to stand as we do, and I'm gonna read from chapter 9, verse 13 to chapter 11, verse 6, and I want you to notice what seems like a maybe random assortment of wisdom, Proverbs, has the same running theme that God has called us to faithfulness, leaving the results to him. 00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:54.580 Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 13. 00:05:55.300 --> 00:06:01.939 I've seen also, I've also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 00:06:02.180 --> 00:06:10.259 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siege works against it. 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:16.900 But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. 00:06:17.140 --> 00:06:19.540 Yet no one remembered that poor man. 00:06:19.860 --> 00:06:26.020 But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:31.540 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 00:06:31.780 --> 00:06:36.740 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. 00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:40.740 Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench. 00:06:40.980 --> 00:06:44.020 So a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. 00:06:44.259 --> 00:06:49.379 A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left. 00:06:49.620 --> 00:06:55.379 Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone, he is a fool. 00:06:55.620 --> 00:07:03.300 If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest. 00:07:04.020 --> 00:07:09.700 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were, an air proceeding from the ruler. 00:07:09.939 --> 00:07:13.860 Folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. 00:07:14.180 --> 00:07:18.340 I've seen slaves on horses and princes walking on the ground like slaves. 00:07:18.580 --> 00:07:24.420 He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent will bite him, who breaks through a wall. 00:07:24.660 --> 00:07:30.660 He who he who quarries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them. 00:07:30.819 --> 00:07:38.500 If the iron is blunt and no one and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed. 00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:43.540 If the serpent bites before it's charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer. 00:07:43.860 --> 00:07:49.060 The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him. 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:54.740 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness. 00:07:54.980 --> 00:08:00.819 A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him? 00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:05.220 The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city. 00:08:05.460 --> 00:08:09.860 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning. 00:08:10.100 --> 00:08:18.740 Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength and not for drunkenness. 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:22.819 Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks. 00:08:23.379 --> 00:08:28.660 Bread is made for laughter, wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. 00:08:28.900 --> 00:08:38.100 Even in your thoughts do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, and some winged creature tell the matter. 00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:42.659 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. 00:08:42.899 --> 00:08:49.139 Give a portion to seven or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. 00:08:49.379 --> 00:08:58.420 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. 00:08:59.139 --> 00:09:04.259 He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. 00:09:04.500 --> 00:09:12.500 As you do not know the way the Spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. 00:09:12.820 --> 00:09:23.779 In the morning, sow your seed, and at evening do not withhold your hand, for you do not know which way will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. 00:09:24.340 --> 00:09:25.460 This is the word of the Lord. 00:09:25.539 --> 00:09:28.580 You can grab your seat this morning. 00:09:32.180 --> 00:09:34.100 Number of things here, isn't there? 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:39.220 Dead flies, snake charmers, leaking roofs. 00:09:39.460 --> 00:09:45.379 You wonder if Solomon's talking about wisdom or this building that we're sitting in right now. 00:09:47.539 --> 00:09:56.259 I can assure you, he is talking about wisdom, and he is not random in his collection of Proverbs this morning. 00:09:56.340 --> 00:10:03.300 He he is driving this nail home to us that loved one, your responsibility is faithfulness. 00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:06.740 Your responsibility is wisdom. 00:10:08.659 --> 00:10:10.659 The results belong to God. 00:10:11.300 --> 00:10:15.379 Now, faithfulness in these verses is not vague. 00:10:15.700 --> 00:10:20.500 It's incredibly clear that a faithful life looks like the wise life. 00:10:20.659 --> 00:10:29.060 And so as Solomon then is teaching us what faithfulness looks like, the first thing I want you to see he calls us to do is to be wise. 00:10:29.539 --> 00:10:32.659 Your choices really do matter. 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:36.820 Be wise, your choices really do matter. 00:10:37.060 --> 00:10:44.820 I want you to notice that what the scriptures call us to is never a fatalism in light of God's sovereignty. 00:10:44.980 --> 00:10:47.460 Yes, God is in control of the results. 00:10:47.700 --> 00:10:50.019 Yes, God is in control of all things. 00:10:50.180 --> 00:10:55.779 The response of God's people is never to be to throw our arms up in the air and say, well, it doesn't matter. 00:10:55.940 --> 00:10:59.460 Let go and let God, He's gonna have to take care of the rest here. 00:11:00.420 --> 00:11:04.899 In fact, often in the church, we see this sort of gospel fatalism. 00:11:05.139 --> 00:11:06.980 One time I preached at a church. 00:11:07.300 --> 00:11:21.060 The person who invited me wrote me a card after, and you know, after preaching to the congregation, I went in the car and read the card, and it said, I know that God, what God did here had nothing to do with you. 00:11:21.379 --> 00:11:28.259 And I thought that's very discouraging to hear after driving all the way out here and preaching my guts out and writing this manuscript. 00:11:28.420 --> 00:11:30.659 And I get what he's saying, though. 00:11:30.740 --> 00:11:34.019 You know, Jesus said, Apart from me, you can do nothing. 00:11:35.460 --> 00:11:46.340 And there is a weakness that we are called to in Scripture, and yet I'm reminded that the Bible doesn't call us to a gospel fatalism, it calls us to a gospel reliance. 00:11:46.659 --> 00:11:53.379 We talked about that a few weeks ago, didn't we, when we talked about the weak that are made strong through the gospel. 00:11:53.620 --> 00:11:57.379 It's not that the instrument is irrelevant, that would be fatalism. 00:11:57.539 --> 00:12:00.659 It's that the instrument is powerless apart from God. 00:12:00.820 --> 00:12:14.259 And as the scriptures talk about wisdom and faithfulness, that same tension is true, that we are called to faithfulness, but just because you are faithful doesn't mean that you are in control. 00:12:14.500 --> 00:12:18.259 This just because you are faithful doesn't mean that you're guaranteed the results. 00:12:18.420 --> 00:12:28.500 And we see that at the beginning of our passage in chapter 9, verse 13, as Solomon tells us about a rich ruler who has many siege works. 00:12:28.580 --> 00:12:39.379 I mean, you you can probably imagine it, you've probably seen enough movies before to imagine a little city and a horde of an army coming against that city. 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:50.500 And you say, I mean, there is just no way that this city can be delivered from the rich king and all of his siege works, and yet Solomon points us to one thing the city has. 00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:52.899 It is hidden. 00:12:53.300 --> 00:12:55.300 You can't really see it at first. 00:12:55.620 --> 00:13:05.060 It's a poor man that you'd walk by on a street, that you drive by that intersection every time you drive home from work, they stand on the intersection, you just completely miss them. 00:13:05.220 --> 00:13:12.340 Solomon says there there is a man in that city who is poor, who is ignored, but there is a secret weapon. 00:13:13.779 --> 00:13:15.300 That man has wisdom. 00:13:16.180 --> 00:13:18.420 That man has faithfulness. 00:13:19.060 --> 00:13:24.019 And because of the poor man's wisdom, he saves the city. 00:13:24.259 --> 00:13:27.220 Now that is a movie I want to see, isn't it? 00:13:29.060 --> 00:13:31.700 And yes, Solomon, he's calling us here to faithfulness. 00:13:31.860 --> 00:13:34.980 But notice the tension he's keeping us in in verse 16. 00:13:35.139 --> 00:13:38.340 Look down at your copy of God's word. 00:13:38.740 --> 00:13:43.860 Maybe I'll start in verse the the half section there of verse 15. 00:13:44.019 --> 00:13:47.300 Yet no one remembered that poor man. 00:13:48.259 --> 00:13:49.779 No one remembered that poor man. 00:13:49.940 --> 00:13:52.420 That poor man's wisdom delivered the city. 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:57.539 Yes, your faithfulness matters, but that poor man's wisdom did not get him any fame. 00:13:57.700 --> 00:13:59.139 It didn't get him any riches. 00:13:59.300 --> 00:14:00.500 Nobody remembered him. 00:14:00.659 --> 00:14:06.019 But Solomon's conclusion is this: but I say that that wisdom is better than might. 00:14:06.740 --> 00:14:08.820 Wisdom is better than might. 00:14:08.980 --> 00:14:15.139 Loved ones, some of us need to hear that this morning because we feel ourselves to be called to very small things. 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:23.139 And Solomon is here to say, hey, listen, if you're faithful in the small things, you don't need a stage for God to do much in your life. 00:14:23.379 --> 00:14:24.580 And through you. 00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:27.060 The only thing you need is faithfulness. 00:14:27.300 --> 00:14:29.620 You need faithfulness to God. 00:14:29.940 --> 00:14:40.259 Now, if wisdom then can accomplish enormous good, Solomon also wants us to understand the destructive power of a small amount of foolishness and sin. 00:14:40.500 --> 00:14:46.980 Yes, faithfulness in small portions and small people and small callings can accomplish enormous good. 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:52.019 Foolishness and sin can destroy with like power. 00:14:52.259 --> 00:14:54.180 Look at verse 18. 00:14:55.220 --> 00:15:01.940 Wisdom is better than the weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. 00:15:03.139 --> 00:15:08.340 Chapter 10, verse 1, he carries on the same principle, another illustration. 00:15:08.500 --> 00:15:13.379 Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench. 00:15:13.539 --> 00:15:20.899 One little fruit fly and a giant vat of perfumer's oil will make the whole thing rot. 00:15:21.060 --> 00:15:23.860 You can make a delicious cup of coffee. 00:15:24.019 --> 00:15:25.539 You ever had this before? 00:15:26.100 --> 00:15:28.340 And a little bug lands in it. 00:15:29.060 --> 00:15:35.379 And I mean, some of you, let's be honest, you didn't make a new cup, but you should have. 00:15:37.460 --> 00:15:46.100 One small little creature in a giant amount of liquid ruins the whole entire thing. 00:15:46.259 --> 00:15:49.139 What is Solomon telling you, loved one? 00:15:49.300 --> 00:15:56.259 Solomon is telling you a little amount of foolishness can destroy your entire life. 00:15:57.060 --> 00:16:04.580 Be careful with those sins that you label small, because they will become large things. 00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:08.659 The other day I looked out my back window. 00:16:08.740 --> 00:16:12.820 We we have a farmer's field, and beside of us is one of those neighbors. 00:16:12.980 --> 00:16:22.259 I don't know if any of you guys have these neighbors who their lawn is like perfect and immaculate, and every bush is perfectly trimmed, and the grass is always perfectly cut. 00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:32.740 And I looked out into the farmer's field, and there's a number of weeds growing on the side of the farmer's field, and my neighbor was out in the farmer's field pulling out weeds from this tree. 00:16:32.820 --> 00:16:36.019 And I thought, wow, this I mean, he's really perfected everything in his yard. 00:16:36.100 --> 00:16:39.779 He's got to go and just now he's taming the wilderness in the farmer's field. 00:16:40.180 --> 00:16:41.539 Some of you guys have neighbors like that. 00:16:41.779 --> 00:16:50.180 You're pretty sure you're gonna look out one day, they're gonna be on your lawn, working on your lawn, because your dandelions are, anyways, another sermon we're preaching, aren't we? 00:16:50.420 --> 00:17:03.779 Well, I looked at him and he was pulling these giant vines out of a number of trees, and and I went to see what was going on, and he told me that that in his backyard, he's got this beautiful, huge willow tree. 00:17:03.860 --> 00:17:06.579 It's perfectly maintained, it's incredibly mature. 00:17:06.740 --> 00:17:11.539 And he said, This vine is is crawling up this tree and into his willow tree. 00:17:11.700 --> 00:17:19.140 And you could look at the trees that the vine had already taken over and see like they were dying because this vine was crippling them, these massive trees. 00:17:19.220 --> 00:17:21.140 I mean, I could try to pull on them as hard as I could. 00:17:21.220 --> 00:17:22.500 There's no way I could get them out. 00:17:22.579 --> 00:17:29.620 And yet this small little vine was killing those trees and threatening to take down this huge willow tree. 00:17:29.700 --> 00:17:40.980 Now, I've seen this willow tree in storms, I've seen the thunder come, I've seen the wind blow, and the willow tree is immovable, but this little vine was threatening its life. 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:51.620 And for hours, me and this neighbor, we we tracked the vine, pulling it out of the trees to the very root where it started just as a tiny little seed. 00:17:52.660 --> 00:18:04.500 And I was reminded of the power of allowing something small to remain until it has deeply rooted into our lives and destroyed everything. 00:18:13.299 --> 00:18:16.259 What bitterness are you holding against another person? 00:18:16.740 --> 00:18:22.019 Saying, well, it's not that big of a deal, and yet every time you see them, there's bitterness boiling up in your heart. 00:18:22.819 --> 00:18:26.500 What lust are you cultivating in your heart? 00:18:26.900 --> 00:18:38.500 That right now it's a small thing, right now it's an inconsequential thing, but but loved one, if you do not tear it up while it is tiny, it will become a very big thing that can destroy your life. 00:18:39.380 --> 00:18:48.980 What is God calling you to right now that you are delaying obedience, and you know delayed obedience is disobedience, but you're saying, God, it's just now, now is just not the right time. 00:18:50.339 --> 00:18:53.059 These little things Solomon says become big things. 00:18:53.220 --> 00:18:56.339 A little folly destroys much good. 00:18:56.660 --> 00:19:01.779 What Solomon then calls us to is a very ordinary faithfulness. 00:19:01.940 --> 00:19:03.700 This is what wisdom is. 00:19:04.339 --> 00:19:09.620 Wisdom is very rarely lived out in the in the biggest moments of life. 00:19:09.779 --> 00:19:15.220 We often think of our faithfulness and think of our life lived before God in the big grand moments. 00:19:15.299 --> 00:19:28.420 But what scripture often calls us to instead is to think about the little moments, the humdrum of life, the constant small steps of faithfulness that we need to take regularly that lead to a life of godliness and glory. 00:19:28.819 --> 00:19:30.180 It's ordinary wisdom. 00:19:30.339 --> 00:19:37.700 And I want you to see in the in the rest of chapter 10 that Solomon really calls us to wisdom in four different realms of life. 00:19:37.940 --> 00:19:45.539 The first place that he calls us to wisdom in is to be wise in our reactions, to be wise in our reactions. 00:19:47.380 --> 00:19:50.819 Solomon says in verse 4, look at your copy of God's word with me. 00:19:50.980 --> 00:19:59.860 If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest. 00:20:01.059 --> 00:20:08.900 Solomon's looking at us this morning and saying, listen, if you want to live faithfully, if you want to live wisely, your reactions matter. 00:20:09.779 --> 00:20:16.339 The way that you react to that thing that your spouse said again when you asked them not to say, it matters. 00:20:16.500 --> 00:20:21.779 The way that you react to your kids when they do that, a completely infuriating thing. 00:20:22.019 --> 00:20:23.299 It matters. 00:20:24.660 --> 00:20:29.299 Solomon's saying that if you want to live wisely, you're gonna have to leave the outcome to God. 00:20:29.380 --> 00:20:33.380 You're gonna have to leave other people's actions to God, and you're gonna have to practice. 00:20:33.539 --> 00:20:37.220 This is a beautiful word we need to embrace, self-restraint. 00:20:37.779 --> 00:20:38.740 Self-restraint. 00:20:38.819 --> 00:20:43.700 I'm gonna have to need then resist the need to win every moment in argument. 00:20:45.059 --> 00:20:50.660 I'm gonna have to resist the need to defend myself immediately when I feel that I'm wronged. 00:20:50.980 --> 00:20:56.019 I'm gonna have to resist the need to control the way that another person responds to me. 00:20:56.259 --> 00:21:03.059 I if I'm gonna live wisely, I may have to leave the results to God and say, God, you got this one. 00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:09.539 There's nothing that I can do in my reaction right now that will contribute to making this situation better. 00:21:10.019 --> 00:21:12.019 And so I'm trusting in you, God. 00:21:13.779 --> 00:21:16.099 What does that practically look like in our life? 00:21:16.900 --> 00:21:33.460 Well, it practically means that to be a wise Christian means often refusing to send that text message when you are angry and instead choosing to have that conversation face to face in love for the person's restoration. 00:21:34.420 --> 00:21:42.420 It means that when you are in that conflict and that conversation, you refuse to walk out on a person just because you are offended by what they said. 00:21:42.579 --> 00:21:44.339 You are fighting for clarity. 00:21:45.940 --> 00:21:53.220 It means that when someone treats you foolishly and sinfully, you refuse to react foolishly and sinfully. 00:21:54.339 --> 00:21:59.059 Someone else's uh actions don't permit your foolishness. 00:21:59.380 --> 00:22:01.860 We're being wise in our reactions to things. 00:22:02.019 --> 00:22:06.579 But notice here in verses 8 to 11 that Solomon moves to the next realm where we need wisdom. 00:22:06.740 --> 00:22:08.980 He calls us to be wise in our work. 00:22:09.860 --> 00:22:14.740 A number of illustrations here, all to say that work is a very dangerous thing. 00:22:15.779 --> 00:22:20.019 The person who's digging a pit, he says in verse 8, can fall into it. 00:22:20.819 --> 00:22:22.420 Serpent will bite him. 00:22:24.420 --> 00:22:26.660 The person who breaks a wall will be bit by a serpent. 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:29.059 The person who quarries stones is hurt by them. 00:22:29.220 --> 00:22:32.819 The person who splits logs is endangered by them. 00:22:33.140 --> 00:22:36.900 He says, Work is a very dangerous thing. 00:22:36.980 --> 00:22:42.019 And so in verse 10, if the iron is blunt and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength. 00:22:42.180 --> 00:22:46.339 But here's the point wisdom helps him to succeed. 00:22:46.660 --> 00:22:50.420 You better work with wisdom because wisdom is dangerous. 00:22:50.500 --> 00:22:57.620 Now, this is directly applicable to some people in this church who maybe you work in the trades and you're like one move away from being electrocuted. 00:22:57.700 --> 00:23:02.099 And so you understand what the, you know, the person chopping wood, why they have to be wise. 00:23:02.339 --> 00:23:08.740 Many of the rest of us read something like this and say, listen, I work on the 11th floor of a tall building in Toronto. 00:23:08.819 --> 00:23:11.620 I don't think any snakes are coming up to bite me up there. 00:23:12.019 --> 00:23:19.539 And yet the principle that Solomon wants you to understand is not just that work can present a great physical danger to you. 00:23:20.259 --> 00:23:22.900 Arthritis is not your greatest enemy here. 00:23:23.860 --> 00:23:30.259 The thing that Solomon is pressing into our lives is that work can be a spiritual danger. 00:23:30.660 --> 00:23:33.539 Work can be a relational danger. 00:23:34.019 --> 00:23:38.099 And so you listen, you better know, you better sharpen the axe. 00:23:38.259 --> 00:23:39.779 You better work with wisdom. 00:23:40.019 --> 00:23:49.380 You better make sure that you are not working to such a degree that you are sacrificing from your family, because we've all seen how dangerous a workaholic can be to their family. 00:23:50.019 --> 00:23:54.500 You better make sure that you're not working to such a degree that you are sacrificing your physical health. 00:23:54.579 --> 00:24:01.779 We all know people who they work so hard for so many years just to get to retirement to find that they never actually cared for themselves. 00:24:02.019 --> 00:24:16.180 Work can be an incredible danger to the health of a church when its members are so caught up with work that they are unwilling to carry the burden and the weight of the ministry of seeing lost people saved and saved people matured and mature people multiplied all to the glory of God. 00:24:16.420 --> 00:24:19.940 You better work wisely, Solomon says. 00:24:20.259 --> 00:24:21.380 Be faithful in your work. 00:24:21.460 --> 00:24:24.740 Now listen, isn't work somewhere where we need the most wisdom? 00:24:25.779 --> 00:24:29.460 Doesn't weekly worship for you mostly look like work? 00:24:29.700 --> 00:24:33.700 If you're working forward, I mean most of your waking hours maybe are at work. 00:24:34.500 --> 00:24:37.059 Work with wisdom, Solomon says. 00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:43.140 Third realm of wisdom we need is in our words, in our words, verses 12 to 14. 00:24:43.299 --> 00:24:45.700 Solomon is telling us about our words. 00:24:45.779 --> 00:24:48.180 We know the destructive power of words. 00:24:48.420 --> 00:24:56.420 You, some of you, I mean, you had maybe a parent or a teacher who, with just words, caused years and years of damage in your life. 00:24:56.579 --> 00:25:06.819 And yet Solomon is not only warning us of how foolish, destructive our foolish words can be, he's warning us of how good and gracious and healing a right word can be. 00:25:07.059 --> 00:25:17.140 And I just I find it fascinating that when Paul talks about Christian growth in Ephesians chapter 4, he says, speak, speak words, speak the truth of love. 00:25:18.980 --> 00:25:23.700 Speak the truth in love by which you grow up into him who is the head. 00:25:23.779 --> 00:25:32.660 And I'm reminded, loved ones, that your words have the power to either tear down those around you or to build them up in Christ's likeness. 00:25:32.819 --> 00:25:34.180 Are you being wise in your words? 00:25:34.259 --> 00:25:36.180 I mean, can we get really practical with this? 00:25:36.420 --> 00:25:46.019 After the service, it is very likely that if you stay for just a minute or two and talk to like one or two people, you're gonna talk to someone who maybe they need some encouragement. 00:25:46.180 --> 00:25:49.460 Maybe they need your hand on their shoulder praying for them for something they're facing. 00:25:49.539 --> 00:25:50.660 I mean, I can almost assure it. 00:25:50.740 --> 00:25:57.779 Is there anyone in here who says, listen, I don't need any ministry this week, I don't need any encouragement this week, I don't need anyone to tell me any truth or remind me of anything this week. 00:25:57.940 --> 00:25:59.059 We all need it. 00:25:59.539 --> 00:26:02.740 Be wise in your words, loved ones. 00:26:03.140 --> 00:26:06.740 Fourthly, be wise in your responsibilities. 00:26:07.140 --> 00:26:10.339 Be wise in your responsibilities, Solomon says. 00:26:10.660 --> 00:26:13.220 You see that in verse 18, don't you? 00:26:13.700 --> 00:26:16.019 Through sloth, the roof sinks in. 00:26:16.660 --> 00:26:19.460 Through indolence, the house leaks. 00:26:20.500 --> 00:26:23.700 Roofs don't collapse on the first day, they're neglected. 00:26:24.259 --> 00:26:28.339 First they sag, then they leak, then they rot. 00:26:28.819 --> 00:26:43.460 And the damage that a lack of faithfulness and wisdom does in your life is often something that happens slowly, so that when you see the results of your unfaithfulness and foolishness, often it is too late to respond. 00:26:46.099 --> 00:26:50.500 As we look at our lives, some of us know where the roof is leaking right now. 00:26:51.299 --> 00:26:56.579 Some of us know the faithfulness that God has called us to, the wise decision that God has asked us to make. 00:26:56.900 --> 00:27:00.500 Maybe it's a conversation in your marriage, you keep avoiding it. 00:27:00.579 --> 00:27:07.220 Maybe it's that your children are receiving whatever attention remains after everything else is finished. 00:27:07.539 --> 00:27:11.779 It's a responsibility at work you hope someone else would take care of. 00:27:11.940 --> 00:27:14.500 It's that your Bible remains closed. 00:27:14.980 --> 00:27:17.940 Well, you wonder why your soul is so dry. 00:27:18.819 --> 00:27:25.860 God is calling us here to a steady faithfulness, an ordinary wisdom. 00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:32.740 Be faithful in your responsibilities, Solomon says. 00:27:33.059 --> 00:27:44.420 Now I'm fascinated here that in this first chapter and a half here, Solomon tells us to be wise because our choices really do matter, that faithfulness is rarely spectacular. 00:27:45.059 --> 00:27:50.339 That faithfulness is often lived out in the humdrum of life. 00:27:50.819 --> 00:27:59.380 It's an endurance to do the things that you know are right even when you don't see the results coming from them. 00:27:59.700 --> 00:28:07.380 And so what God is calling us here is to believe that the outcome belongs to him. 00:28:08.099 --> 00:28:11.539 But the upkeep of faithfulness belongs then to us. 00:28:13.380 --> 00:28:16.339 Calls us to keep then discipling our kids. 00:28:16.900 --> 00:28:21.539 To keep serving in the ministries where we just wonder, I mean, I don't know if this ministry is really working. 00:28:21.700 --> 00:28:31.460 I felt that this morning because I don't know, somehow my kids were let loose this morning, and someone came this morning to set up all the chairs, and I looked, and my kids had kind of made every row look like a snake. 00:28:31.620 --> 00:28:36.500 And I wondered if that person looked at those rows and said, Well, I mean, I'm my service really means nothing around here. 00:28:36.579 --> 00:28:40.819 And it's the pastor's kids who are doing it, and now I'm addressing it because I want you to know, okay, it really does matter. 00:28:40.900 --> 00:28:41.700 We love you. 00:28:42.019 --> 00:28:42.339 Okay? 00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:55.940 Maybe you're serving in a ministry and you just need to know like it's it's faithfulness over years and years and years, and you might be in kids' ministry, and you might not have a kid come up to you and say, Oh, kind and gracious teacher, how great of a teacher you have been. 00:28:56.019 --> 00:28:59.539 I'm giving my life to the Lord and I'm becoming a missionary as of today. 00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:00.819 I'm flying out tomorrow. 00:29:01.059 --> 00:29:02.900 I mean, that won't happen. 00:29:03.299 --> 00:29:07.779 And yet, what the Lord will do over years of steady, constant faithfulness. 00:29:07.940 --> 00:29:09.059 You do not know. 00:29:09.299 --> 00:29:10.099 You do not know. 00:29:10.259 --> 00:29:12.339 And that's what Solomon wants us to see next. 00:29:12.579 --> 00:29:14.019 You don't know the results. 00:29:14.180 --> 00:29:15.460 So act anyway. 00:29:15.700 --> 00:29:17.299 Take action, Solomon says. 00:29:17.380 --> 00:29:18.900 It's the second thing I want you to see. 00:29:19.059 --> 00:29:22.180 Take action, certainty is impossible. 00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:25.779 Take action, certainty is impossible. 00:29:26.019 --> 00:29:34.500 Now, all throughout scripture, God's people have been called to faith, and that faith exists because clarity in their life does not. 00:29:34.740 --> 00:29:36.660 Don't you see that in the life of Abraham? 00:29:36.819 --> 00:29:41.620 You remember, Abraham is told to go, and he's not told where, he's not given a map, he just says go. 00:29:41.700 --> 00:29:42.740 And what does Abraham do? 00:29:42.980 --> 00:29:43.940 He goes. 00:29:44.980 --> 00:30:05.779 Moses and Israel and Egypt, they're they're called to leave the land of the Egyptians, where there's meat and food and sustenance, and sure life's bad, but at least we got resources, and they're to go in the wilderness where they have no idea how they will be provided for, and they have no idea what the Lord will do, but they're called instead to faithfulness. 00:30:05.940 --> 00:30:08.099 This is what God calls of his people. 00:30:08.259 --> 00:30:13.779 They are to act on what God has revealed without demanding what God has hidden. 00:30:14.099 --> 00:30:16.019 Take action, loved ones. 00:30:16.339 --> 00:30:19.299 Certainty is impossible. 00:30:19.940 --> 00:30:24.980 What Solomon says then in chapter 11, verse 1 is this call to action. 00:30:25.140 --> 00:30:33.220 Notice what he says: cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. 00:30:33.620 --> 00:30:42.339 Now I need you to know that as I prepared to preach on Ecclesiastes, this was the verse that I was looking forward to the most. 00:30:42.900 --> 00:30:46.420 And that is because I had no idea what it meant. 00:30:46.660 --> 00:30:52.500 And so over these last few months, I have taken every opportunity to find out what it's meant contextually. 00:30:52.660 --> 00:30:59.460 There's been elders' meetings where we're talking about the future, and I say to the men, guys, we just gotta cast our bread on the waters here. 00:30:59.779 --> 00:31:04.019 And they look at me and they're confused, and so I know, well, okay, they don't know what it means either. 00:31:04.099 --> 00:31:11.539 And so I'm with the staff the next day, and the staff are reviewing a service, and I say, Well, guys, we really casted our breads on the waters there. 00:31:11.700 --> 00:31:15.220 And I look around, hoping that someone knows what I'm talking about. 00:31:15.460 --> 00:31:17.539 No one has known what I'm talking about. 00:31:17.779 --> 00:31:25.299 And so I decided as I prepared this message, I would finally look up what it means to cast your bread on the waters. 00:31:25.460 --> 00:31:31.140 And what I found were that was that the commentators are just as confused as I am. 00:31:31.860 --> 00:31:35.460 Some believe Solomon is describing maritime trade. 00:31:35.620 --> 00:31:40.339 You send your goods on a boat across the water, across the sea, it's sort of like an investment. 00:31:40.500 --> 00:31:43.460 Eventually you will receive a return. 00:31:44.259 --> 00:31:46.500 Others think he's commanding generosity. 00:31:46.660 --> 00:31:50.500 Give your bread away, and in time that generosity will return to you. 00:31:50.660 --> 00:31:51.779 Others see farming. 00:31:51.860 --> 00:31:57.539 You cast your seed on wet, flooded ground, and eventually something will grow there. 00:31:57.620 --> 00:32:01.779 It doesn't matter the weather, just cast your seed wherever and you'll get bread. 00:32:02.339 --> 00:32:12.259 One scholar lists nine interpretations, and one of his possibilities is that Solomon is talking about making beer, to which I thought, at least I'm not as confused as some people. 00:32:15.779 --> 00:32:36.579 Now, all of these thoughts carry one same theme: that what Solomon is calling us to is to release something valuable beyond your control, to be faithful, to release it to God, and trust that God will do with it what He wills. 00:32:39.940 --> 00:32:42.019 Faithfulness is my responsibility. 00:32:42.819 --> 00:32:47.220 The outcome is God, the results are God. 00:32:47.779 --> 00:32:53.220 And as I think about what that means in our life, I just I can't, I mean, there's so much application here. 00:32:53.380 --> 00:32:58.579 But but uh isn't it right for us to apply this to the way that we share the gospel with unbelievers? 00:32:59.539 --> 00:33:08.180 I mean, if we were given the certainty that every time we shared the gospel, someone would believe. 00:33:08.900 --> 00:33:10.099 Nothing would stop us. 00:33:10.660 --> 00:33:11.380 You agree, church? 00:33:11.539 --> 00:33:12.579 Nod your head with me if you agree. 00:33:12.660 --> 00:33:15.700 I mean, nothing would stop us if every time we shared it, someone would believe. 00:33:15.860 --> 00:33:16.740 What stops us? 00:33:16.900 --> 00:33:18.019 It's the uncertainty. 00:33:18.180 --> 00:33:19.860 Maybe this person will reject us. 00:33:20.019 --> 00:33:24.259 Maybe I'll mess it up in like this person's progress towards salvation, even though it doesn't work like this. 00:33:24.339 --> 00:33:26.660 It's gonna take like a few steps backwards. 00:33:27.539 --> 00:33:28.819 Maybe it just won't work. 00:33:29.220 --> 00:33:32.180 We have all of these uncertainties, all of these questions. 00:33:33.380 --> 00:33:39.700 God says, You take care of the faithfulness, you leave the results to me. 00:33:40.980 --> 00:33:42.500 Proclaim Christ. 00:33:42.819 --> 00:33:44.980 God will determine the response. 00:33:45.140 --> 00:33:49.700 God will determine what part of the puzzle you are in that person coming to Christ. 00:33:50.099 --> 00:33:51.700 Maybe you'll be the last one. 00:33:51.940 --> 00:33:54.180 Maybe you'll be the first, maybe you'll be somewhere in the middle. 00:33:54.339 --> 00:33:56.420 You'll just be a piece of that person's conversion. 00:33:56.579 --> 00:33:59.860 You you take care of the faithfulness, God will take care of the results. 00:34:00.579 --> 00:34:06.420 I can't help but to think that this not only applies to the way that we share the gospel, but it applies to the way that we give. 00:34:06.579 --> 00:34:07.940 That in giving, what do we do? 00:34:08.099 --> 00:34:10.500 We release security to the Lord. 00:34:10.819 --> 00:34:32.260 We could reserve what the what God has given to us to buy a nice pool, to get a better car, to get a bigger house, to make life a little more comfortable, but in giving sacrificially and joyfully and regularly, as the Lord calls us to in his word, we are sacrificing that comfort to the Lord. 00:34:32.420 --> 00:34:35.860 We are taking up our faithfulness, and we're saying, God, I don't know. 00:34:36.019 --> 00:34:37.860 You're gonna have to take care of the results. 00:34:38.579 --> 00:34:40.579 You're gonna have to take care of the results. 00:34:43.619 --> 00:34:48.659 Called to take action because certainty is impossible. 00:34:49.380 --> 00:34:54.260 Now Solomon then gives us an illustration of that in verse three and four, doesn't he? 00:34:54.500 --> 00:34:57.780 He's talking about a farmer here, and he says, look at look at verse three with me. 00:34:57.940 --> 00:35:06.179 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. 00:35:06.340 --> 00:35:15.219 But notice the problem he who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. 00:35:15.619 --> 00:35:19.699 The the wise farmer notices the weather. 00:35:20.099 --> 00:35:26.340 They read their interpretation of what's gonna happen, and they say, Well, I bet I have to sow, anyways. 00:35:26.579 --> 00:35:29.780 So I'm gonna sow this seed, and I'm gonna leave the rest to God. 00:35:29.860 --> 00:35:32.579 Because there's not, I mean, I cannot control the weather. 00:35:32.820 --> 00:35:35.059 I'm gonna leave the results to God. 00:35:35.219 --> 00:35:37.380 Look what the foolish farmer does, Solomon says. 00:35:37.539 --> 00:35:43.139 The foolish farmers looking at the clouds and says, I mean, it's looking like this isn't gonna work, so I'm not gonna sow any seed. 00:35:43.300 --> 00:35:46.740 And who at the end of the year has a better chance of having a crop? 00:35:46.900 --> 00:35:51.380 It's the one who takes action knowing that certainty is impossible. 00:35:51.780 --> 00:35:58.820 The controlling farmer waits for guarantees, and because of that, he never sows seed. 00:35:59.300 --> 00:36:03.059 And loved one, the application here is so good for our lives. 00:36:03.380 --> 00:36:10.099 Where are you postponing faithfulness because God hasn't guaranteed the outcome? 00:36:10.420 --> 00:36:16.659 Where are you postponing faithfulness because God hasn't guaranteed what will happen if you do it? 00:36:16.820 --> 00:36:21.860 Loved ones, hasn't most of what's happened in your life happened in an unexpected way? 00:36:22.500 --> 00:36:25.059 Every time you've suffered, hasn't it been like that? 00:36:25.219 --> 00:36:26.500 You enter into the suffering. 00:36:26.659 --> 00:36:28.579 There's no way God can use this one. 00:36:28.740 --> 00:36:31.699 God, I don't know what you're doing, and you obviously don't know either. 00:36:31.860 --> 00:36:48.099 And you get to the end and you look back at the suffering and you see all the seeds that were planted in the valley of the shadow of death are now taking root into a beautiful trees of sanctification in your life, and you look back and you say, I would have never written my story like that, but God thank you that you do. 00:36:48.179 --> 00:36:53.380 And some of you are in suffering right now, you need to be convinced of that because it doesn't seem like it, does it? 00:36:55.219 --> 00:36:56.900 Where are you postponing faithfulness? 00:36:57.059 --> 00:37:00.659 Because God hasn't guaranteed the outcome. 00:37:01.059 --> 00:37:03.780 Maybe there's someone you need to apologize to. 00:37:04.579 --> 00:37:06.500 Can't guarantee that they'll forgive you. 00:37:07.059 --> 00:37:16.900 Maybe there's an area in your life you need to confess sin, but you just have no assurance that after this comes out, after you confess this sin, that the people who love you will still love you and still care for you. 00:37:16.980 --> 00:37:20.019 And God has called you to bring that to the light. 00:37:21.300 --> 00:37:23.539 Maybe it's in a step of faith. 00:37:23.860 --> 00:37:32.980 Maybe it's in the call to faith in Jesus Christ that you need to hear that call and place your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. 00:37:33.139 --> 00:37:46.500 Maybe it's in the call to baptism, maybe it's in the call to membership, into service, into community, whatever it is, what is that thing that God is calling you to that you know, okay, scripture plainly says this is what I'm to do, but I gotta wait for more clarity here. 00:37:46.659 --> 00:37:48.019 Loved ones, it's not faith. 00:37:48.179 --> 00:37:48.980