THE BETTER LIFE, LIVED UNDER THE SON

“The Danger of Discounting God”
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Bob Bonner
February 14, 1999

The day in which we live really is not much different than the days in which our grandparents lived or those days in which the biblical heroes of yesteryear lived. Sure, there have been technological advances, changes in the names and boundaries of countries and kingdoms, changes in dress, hair styles and music. But those day-to-day events, those daily life challenges that affect all of our lives, those unanswered questions raised by the common dilemmas of life, these basic life issues have changed very little over the centuries and millennium. Not only have these challenges not changed nor their effects on our lives, but our responses to them haven’t changed. The reason that our responses to these common challenges of life have not changed is that at the root of our lives, the basic needs and cries of the human soul have not changed.

Take for instance the political decisions made in Washington this week. The outcome of politics today is no different than the outcome of politics under the Pharaohs of Egypt or the Caesars of Rome. This past week, we saw once again the rich and powerful escape justice only to run off laughing all the way back to their positions of power. When we see things like that, our souls, like the souls of our ancestors, cry out, “Hello, God, do you see what’s happening here? Why don’t you do something about it?!” 

A happily married couple is expecting the birth of their new baby. The time for the birth arrives and the mother dies in childbirth. Yes, rare in this country, but it still happens. This young widower’s soul screams “Why my wife? Why now? God, if you were really powerful, really loving, you would have prevented that from happening.” Sometimes a person who has experienced such a tragedy carries a bitterness toward God for years, and maybe even for the rest of his life.

As I have observed what the day-to-day life of a judge in a court of law consists of, I can tell you that I’ve gained a new respect for the task, not just the job, but the task that every judge faces every day. Every day every judge knows that no matter what decision or verdict he comes to, even though mandated or supported by the law, even though his decision be a correct decision, most likely, he will have half of those in the courtroom leave unhappy with his decision. Maybe they will even leave feeling they were cheated, and justice wasn’t served so they hate the judge. Let’s just say for a moment that you are one of those individuals who lost your case and feel that justice wasn’t served. That you were ripped off. Wouldn’t your tendency be to turn toward God and in frustration demand a reason from God. “God, aren’t you watching?! How could you allow this to happen if you are a God of justice?” 

It is common for the human spirit to become discouraged and even begin to turn its back on God when we face such injustices or many of life’s hard-to-understand dilemmas. It doesn’t take much for many to even question the existence of or the need to worship God when, from their human perspective, they can’t explain why He causes or allows certain situations to take place.

Pretty soon, life’s dilemmas, if not dealt with correctly, can become so distracting that one’s faith in an all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful God, can be discounted. Those fiery darts of doubt that come from our spiritual enemy, Satan, can land deep-seated in our hearts and cause us to turn away from or to pooh pooh God.  Oh, we may still come to church for awhile to worship, but not really. While in a worship service such as this, some of us go through the motions, not really sure why we are here, not really expecting anything significant to happen to our lives because we have come here. If we do just happen to feel the Spirit of God touching our souls in an emotional moment, and in response we should happen to make a commitment or promise to God to do something about it, more often than not, that promise, that commitment to God, evaporates like a mist floating upward before we get home. We forget our promises and well-meaning intentions.  We don’t really come expecting to hear from God, or to extol His attributes or to examine our lives in submission to Christ. No, instead, we come to church with an almost arrogant attitude that demands that God make a case for Himself and for the way He chooses to conduct business. We don’t come to listen to His still small voice speak to our spirit, to give encouragement, or correction, or instruction. Furthermore, few leave church with a commitment to do whatever it is the Lord would have had them do, should they have listened to Him in the first place.

Instead, because of the ordinary distresses and challenges of life, even though we are familiar with God, we start taking Him for granted or ignoring Him altogether.

Eventually, if we don’t get our perspective corrected, which begins with getting a grip on who God really is, we slowly, sometimes almost imperceptibly, become so preoccupied with our jobs, hobbies and other interests, that a personal, intimate relationship with the living God becomes secondary to us. We neglect the very one who says that He is actively in charge of all things--the one who created us for a purpose, His purpose. As a result of this neglecting of our relationship with God, worship becomes sporadic and soon our lives as so-called Christians resemble the lives of those who have never known or walked with God.

It is this very reality of the unanswerable dilemmas of life that challenges each of us as we attempt to maintain a personal relationship with the living God. It is this reality, the difficulty of sincerely worshiping God amidst the inequalities of life that Solomon addresses in our passage of Scripture for this morning, found in Ecclesiastes 5. As you turn there in your Bibles, allow me to remind you of what has previously taken place in Ecclesiastes that sets the stage and reason for why Solomon chooses to write the words he does in the opening lines of this chapter. Remember, as we look at these words, there is nothing new under the sun. What you are experiencing in your soul today was experienced by the very persons with whom Solomon lived, and all of those who preceded him, thousands of years before. The circumstances were different, but the effects upon the human soul were not.

Beginning with 3:16-4:16, Solomon speaks to six charges against God that come as a result of unsolvable dilemmas or inequities that are common in life. In other words, people are asking, “God if you really are in charge and you really do care then why do these things happen?” To the average person, the following facts of life fly in the face of a God who is supposed to be just, a God of order, love, power and care. For instance:

Unrighteousness fills the halls of justice: 3:16-17

No difference between mankind and animals, both die: 3:18-21

God people are being oppressed by evil people: 4:1-3

Evil people are allowed to destroy others to get ahead: 4:4-6

People are lonely: 4:7-12

Popularity, possessions and position are temporary, regardless of effort: 4:13-16

As we come to our section this morning, Solomon is warning us not to be seduced by these unanswerable dilemmas of life so as to adopt an anti-God or non-theological view of life. For in these same chapters that we have already looked at, Solomon reminds us that only God is unlimited by time. Only He is eternal and therefore only God can correctly evaluate life in its totality and see ultimate reasons for those things that make absolutely no sense to us in our limited lifetimes here on earth. That’s why, in these first seven verses of chapter five, Solomon gives us the warning concerning worship and discounting God when things don’t appear to us to add up.

The first command is found in verse 1. As we look at this first command, let me remind you where the leaders of Israel at this time in their history, were at in their relationships with God. They were still Jews and religious, but because of these unanswerable dilemmas of life, and because of the economic years of success they were enjoying presently, their focus of attention drifted from God to their being preoccupied with their efforts to gain wealth and comfort (very much like our lives today here in America). As a result, when they came to the temple and offered sacrifices they were doing so because it was expected of them to attend worship services not because it was a matter of their heartfelt desire to worship God. 

They offered religious prayers that had been memorized and made promises to God, but they were just words with no serious intent of following through. Hence, Solomon warns us of giving this pseudo or false or worthless form of worship to God. Looking just at the structure of this passage, you will find that it framed around four commands. Solomon writes in verse 1, “Guard your steps as you go to the house of God, and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil.”

When Jews went to worship services, there was a time for them to offer sacrifices and there was a time for them to listen to the priests teach the Word of God. They were to listen to the teaching so as to respond to God’s Word in whatever appropriate response the Word of God directed. However, because of their concerns about their world, they came to services not seeking God’s help in how they were to live in their world that was filled with injustices, suffering and many dilemmas. Instead, they came, distracted by their problems and went through the religious motions. So, right off, Solomon warned them to “guard your steps.” 

In other words, when you gather together with the other believers for corporate worship, do so with your hearts prepared. Come to worship thoughtfully. Remember in whose presence you are sitting. Be ready to meditate or think deeply as to what God may be saying to you personally. You are not just going to hear a priest lecture you. You are in fact reading the Word of God and listening to it. That Hebrew word for “listen” carries with it more than just the idea of hearing something. It carries the idea of listening with the purpose to obey or to respond accordingly. 

The other day I was listening to a preacher on tape who was obviously preaching somewhere in the south. I say obviously, because in the background you could hear words coming from the audience. You’ve heard those words. “Preach it brother...that’s right....Yeah, that’s the truth...amen!” and so forth. Now, don’t misunderstand what I am about to say. I think it is great for people to verbalize out loud that they agree with the truth being taught. But that does not mean that this response is what Solomon has in mind when he writes “listen” or hear so as to respond. How many times have you and I said “amen” if not out loud, then in our hearts, to some truth we have heard, but we have not bothered to stop and think how God might want us to apply that to some area of our lives? Coming to hear and to apply God’s Word to one’s life is one way we are coming prepared to worship.

Hence, the idea is to come to worship expecting to hear from God and be ready to examine your life and to respond accordingly. Stay alert! Don’t go to sleep for 40 minutes. You can stay awake watching a football or basketball game for two hours; so you can make sure you are listening to God for thirty minutes. Don’t come to worship with a dull or insensitive, thick mind because you stayed up so late the night before that you are too sleepy to give your full attention to God. To do so is to do Him no homage. To do so is to discount the greatness of God.

When I was at the LA Airport a couple of weeks ago, standing outside the arrival terminal, there were two recordings that were constantly being repeated. One had to do with a warning about unauthorized people soliciting money and the other had to do about parking. This second recording says, “The white zone is for loading and unloading only. No parking.” That recording goes on all day and all night. And guess what? The curb area is loaded with people who have parked and left their cars. I saw one car that had been left there for so long that it had three tickets on it!

If it would do any good, sometimes I wish there was some way to announce over a loud speaker system just before each worship service, “The pew zone is for worshiping, learning and changing only. No parking!” That’s what the first half of this verse is telling us. Don’t come in here to worship as though it is some class in school where you simply come to receive information. Don’t come here as though you were picking a seat out in a movie theater expecting to be entertained by a movie. Come here prepared to meet with God, for this is a hallowed time and you are on hallowed ground. Don’t take this time or place for granted. Expect to meet God here and He will meet with you. 

Don’t expect to meet God here and you probably won’t, even though the person next to you might meet God.  God’s truth may be found in a song, or in a teaching, or in a word from “from the heart” or by His spirit to your heart in some other way...a word from God, a truth that is designed to change your life. Come ready to listen to Him, regardless of the questions that may have been raised from the inequities or injustices you have observed this past week. In time, those questions will be either answered, or at some point won’t matter to you in the end.

Solomon goes on to explain that the worst thing you can do is to come here and offer the sacrifice of fools, which is evil in God’s sight. What are the “sacrifices of fools?” Later in the context, you will see that the sacrifices of fools are the frivolous, thoughtless, meaningless, hasty words of praise or promises or vows to God. Sometimes we say these things because they are religiously correct, but we don’t really mean them or don’t really consider the seriousness of what we are saying. Solomon is warning us that to speak impulsively to a holy God, to speak hastily to a holy God is a foolish thing to do. Hence, draw near and listen well, because God is communicating

Next, in verses 2-3, Solomon basically tells us to be quiet and stay calm, because God hears the inaudible and sees the invisible. Solomon writes, “Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few. For the dream comes through much effort, and the voice of a fool through many words.”

In these verses Solomon gets specific as to what he means about the sacrifices of fools. He is describing people who speak just because they like to hear themselves talk, and how foolish it is for them to do that before an awesome God. When Solomon writes, “Do not be hasty in word...” that is an emphatic statement in the original. He literally is saying, “Don’t be hasty in even using one unnecessary thoughtless word before God.” Now, don’t misunderstand this. He is not saying that you have to pray things just right or God will get upset. Rather, he is warning us not to throw words at God as if you were merely telling fishing stories to your buddies, those stories that are prone to exaggeration and additional color.

When Solomon refers to “impulsive in thoughts” he is pointing to the human tendency that when we see something we don’t like or think is unfair, we tend to murmur and complain to God. Solomon’s warning includes the idea that when you grouse about your circumstances, you are really complaining against God, and that is not a good thing to do.

In the latter half of verse 2, when he refers to “God is in heaven and you are on earth,” he has two things in mind. First, that God’s position in the world is superior to ours. Secondly, it is superior because he sees the invisible realm and realities, He hears the inaudible things of life when we cannot. We see through a class darkly while God sees reality clearly, is the point. So, make your words of complaint against Him few.

In verse 3, the reference to “dreams” is a little obscure and difficult to understand in the English, but in the original, it refers to the thoughts of one who is so preoccupied with one’s business ventures or tasks during the day, that he dreams about them at night. As a result of his anxiety over his personal concerns that things may not be going the way he likes in his business, this person becomes impatient with God in his prayer life and says things he shouldn’t. Instead of recognizing God’s sovereignty over all of life and that He is the creator of all life and approaching God in humility, this person, caught up with his own agenda, impatiently and impertinently speaks to God as though God were one of his servants, rather than remembering God is our creator and we were created to serve His agenda and worship Him.

So, the rule of thumb when things go nuts around you is to remember who God is, and stay quiet and calm when you approach Him. Ask questions, share your doubts with Him, but do so with the respect that is owed to a holy and awesome God. 

Then in verse 4-5, Solomon raises the issue of when you make a commitment to God about anything, you would be wise to keep it. He writes, “When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it, for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.”

These verses remind me of what in the past has been called “foxhole Christianity” or “foxhole commitments.” Those times when the world comes crashing down on you and you are under siege and you cry out to God, “Look, God if you will just rescue me from this tight spot...” or, “If you will just spare the life of my loved one, I promise you that I will do thus and so!” And then God does spare that person’s life or does rescue you and then you say, “Well, how do I know that God did that? That was just a coincidence, so I am not going to fulfill my vow or commitment...” or, “I will only fulfill part of my vow.” Solomon is saying, don’t you dare play games with God in this area, because God hears your commitment, believes you mean it and won’t forget it. When you make a commitment to God to do something, He expects payment in full of that commitment, and payment on time. If He made it possible for you to go on a mission trip this year or to give a certain amount that you promised to give to Him for some project, don’t wait till next year or next month. Do it now, because you vowed to do it now. Make a commitment and keep it because God believes it and doesn’t forget it.

Rationalization is so easy for us when we start making promises or commitments to God, if He will do something. When He does, so often we want to get out of it. Verses 6-7 speak to that tendency to rationalize and try to erase a vow that we have made to God. We read, “Do not let your speech cause you to sin and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a mistake.”

Most likely this “messenger of God” refers to the temple priest whose job it was to collect on peoples’ vows to God; whether those vows be an act of service to the community, the dedication of a child to ministry or money, whatever. 

During Solomon’s time it had become a common practice that when the priests came to collect on a vow, the individual would tell him it was a mistake and pay the priest to offer up a “trespass offering” or an “error offering” which was cheaper and easier for him to get off the hook. It reminds me of the old days in the Catholic Church when, while they were trying to raise money to build the Sistine Chapel, the Catholic Fathers sold indulgences to the congregation. In other words, if someone wanted to go out and get drunk on Saturday night or commit adultery on that night, Friday, they would go buy an indulgence from a priest ahead of time to cover their sin.

The point here is, don’t try to deny the vow you made. Don’t try to buy off God or bargain with Him. God doesn’t bargain with anybody. Don’t make statements like, “Well, I had my fingers crossed.” Or, like when I was a kid, we used to say “Kings x” which meant that all bets were off or you really didn’t mean it. Don’t tell God that you were only kidding. He doesn’t buy that! He takes you at your word and expects you to fulfill your word.

Solomon then adds in the rest of verses 6-7, “Why should God be angry on account of your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God.” You remember back in verse 3 Solomon brought up those dreams that come at night because we are so preoccupied with our plans or business? Solomon’s point here is that to refuse to fulfill a vow to God can raise His anger to the point that He will destroy the work of your hands, that very business that you are so preoccupied with, rather than focusing on Him, and you will end up with nothing. God is a jealous God and He will not accept you putting anything above Him or trying to put anything over on Him.

When I read these verses, I immediately think of Acts 5 and the true story about Ananias and Sapphira. You remember they were a Christian couple who had promised to sell some of their property and give all of the proceeds of the sale to the believers who were suffering in Jerusalem. So they sold their property, but thinking that no one else knew the entire price of the sale, only gave a portion of the monies received from the sale to the Apostle Peter. Well, God knew exactly how much the sale was and He told Peter. Then God chose to make an example out of that couple. When they came to give the money to Peter, one at a time, Peter asked them individually why they had lied to God or had tried to deceive God.  Then God struck Ananias dead on the spot. Some of the brothers no sooner had come and dragged his body away that Sapphira came and Peter asked her if they had given all the proceeds that they had promised and she said “Yes,” so God struck her dead as well. The point is, you don’t play with a holy God. He doesn’t forget our commitments or promises to Him. It could be dangerous. Don’t decide now and deny later because God doesn’t ignore our decisions.

Hence, Solomon ends this section of Scripture almost the same way he began it, with a warning. He began with, “Guard your steps” and finishes with “fear God.” God is not someone you want to be hasty with or to take for granted. Sure, there will be things that just don’t add up in your mind about injustices and inequities in life, but don’t let those for a moment lead you into the erroneous thinking that God is absent or unconcerned or not in charge or not all- powerful, all-knowing, all-loving and just. Just because we don’t see things fully as God does, doesn’t mean that we should take Him for granted or not hold Him in highest respect.

All of us are sometimes guilty of coming to worship services less than prepared to meet with Jesus. Our thoughts are somewhere else. Why not begin preparing for worship the Saturday night before? Why not practice praying, “Lord, I have come here to worship and uplift your name. I have come to hear from you. Help me to see how You would have me respond to who You are and what You show me this day.”

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