“Surprising
Discoveries of Old Age”
Part 2:
The End of a Thing
A
Sermon on Ecclesiastes 7:7-12
January
6, 2003
by Rev. Stephen C.
Magee
Sermon: “Surprising Discoveries of Old Age”
Part 1 - The House of Mourning (7:1-6)
Part
2 - The End of a Thing
(7:7-12)
Part 3 - Adversity (7:13-14)
Part 4 - Not Overly Righteous,
Not Overly Wicked (7:15-18)
Ecclesiastes
7:7-12
7 Surely oppression destroys a wise
man's reason,
And a bribe debases the heart.
8 The end of a thing is better than its
beginning;
The patient in spirit is better than the
proud in spirit.
9 Do not hasten in your spirit to be
angry,
For anger rests in the
bosom of fools.
10 Do not say, "Why were the former
days better than these?"
For you do not inquire wisely concerning
this.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
And profitable to
those who see the sun.
12 For wisdom is a defense as money is a
defense,
But the
excellence of knowledge
is that wisdom gives
life to those who have it.
Introduction: Next Step - Wait!
Every week, on Friday, I like to
make a call to our adoption worker in
I settled upon this one, which is
always a matter of great interest to me: "What is the next step in the
process?" As soon as I decided to
ask it, I already knew what the answer would be: "Our next step is to
wait." We all have to do a lot of
waiting, and we don't very much like it.
If you work with children and look for their progress you are involved
in a long term project. If you have any
work with governments, and their decisions are necessary action items in your
desire to achieve some good goals, you are most likely involved in a long term
project. In fact, those who need to
accomplish anything in this world, either personally or as a part of any
business or other enterprise, will find that there is much waiting in life.
Today #2: The Patient Life - Waiting for
the "End of a Thing"
The passage before us is a recommendation for a
patient life, where you are willing to wait for the end of a thing. In the course of these few verses we are
given two alternatives to the frustrations that we all face. One is the way of the world, and the other -
the recommended path, is the way of wisdom.
The way of the world is the way of
oppression, of bribery, of anger, of complaining, and of giving up. There is a sense of progression here that has
to do with power. If you can force
people to do what you want right now, then you do so. If necessary you oppress them until you
obtain the desired result. You don't
have to bribe anyone. You are in
charge. If you are not directly in
charge, but you have some access to the courts of power, you may attempt to
influence those in power through bribery in an effort to get something
done. You can not directly oppress
people. You are not in charge. But you do not need to waste much time
getting angry at people. You use your
money to do the work for you. If you
have neither control, nor friendly access to those who have control, you may
simply vent your anger upon those who are disturbing you, and after you have
done this for some time you may settle into a pattern of complaining until you
finally give up, and move on to other interests.
Let's examine each of these worldly actions
from the standpoint of motivation. Why
does the fool oppress his neighbor? He
oppresses his neighbor because he wants what he wants and he wants it now. It is a foolish thing to do to oppress the
weak. It destroys a man's reason. But he does it because the desire of getting
his own way without any further delay seems most important, and someone weaker
than him is standing in the way. Why
does the fool engage in bribery? He
engages in bribery because he wants what he wants and he wants it now. He cannot oppress, but he knows someone he
can. Thus he engages in bribery in order
to get the job done. It is a foolish
thing - bribery. It debases the
heart. But he does it to get something
he wants now. Why does the fool get so
angry? He gets angry because he wants
what he wants and he wants it now. It is
actually very childish, and it is not all that effective, but he does it in an
attempt to accomplish a desired goal.
When everyone has stopped listening to his tirade, he settles into
talking about the good old days, but this also is not the way of wisdom. Why does the fool complain about current
conditions and dream about the past? He
does these things for the same reason that more powerful people oppress others,
bribe officials, and get angry at those who stand in their way. He wants what he wants and he wants it
now. But he knows that he cannot get
it. He settles for living in the past or
for fruitless efforts to consider how we might recreate the conditions of a
former day in the providence of God - a day that is now long gone. Eventually he gives up, and this too is
foolish. This is the way of the world.
There is another way. It is the way of wisdom. Before we can proceed we need to understand
what biblical wisdom is. It is not merely
having a head full of facts. You can
have a knowledge of facts and be wise, but not
everyone who has a head full of facts has biblical wisdom. It is not merely in having a high IQ. You can have a high IQ and also have wisdom,
but not everyone who has a high IQ has biblical wisdom. Biblical wisdom is a truth-based holiness of
life, lived in the fear and presence of God.
I have said that wisdom is based on
truth. What is it that the wise man
knows? The wise man who truly lives in
the fear of God knows that God's plan for him is good, that he is safe in God's
hands, and therefore that the end of a thing will be better than the
beginning. He does not know these things
from an examination of his experiences or feelings. He has learned them from the Word of
God. Because of this he is able to be
patient.
This is not the way of the
world. The world does not know these
things. There is a man I have been
talking to at one of the area nursing homes.
He walks around the halls of that place and waits for a death that he
dreads. He does not at all believe that
the end of a thing is better than the beginning. He believes that the prime of this life was
his best moment, and now almost everything that he cares about has been taken
away from him as he clings to the little bit of life that he still has.
The way of the world can never say
that the end of a thing is better, because the worldly lives for the thing
rather than for the end of it. I am
reminded of a song that my brother and I used to sing when we were young that
captures this sentiment. I may not have
the words quite right:
Once
I built a railroad. I made it run.
I
made it run against time.
Once
I built a railroad, but now it's done.
Buddy,
can you spare a dime?
Once
I built a tower way up to the sun
Of bricks and mortar and lime.
Once
I built a tower but now it's gone.
Buddy,
can you spare a dime?
Once
in khaki suits - Gee, we looked swell!
All
of that Yankee-doodly-dum!
A
half a million boots went slogging through hell.
And
I was the kid with the drum.
Say,
don't you remember? You called me Al.
It
was "Al" all the time.
Say,
don't you remember? I was your pal.
Buddy,
can you spare a dime?
There was a day of glory, when we
were racing to build the transcontinental railroad, but the race ended when the
railroad was done, and I am out of work.
The middle was the best. The end
is lousy. Don't you even remember me? We fought the war to end all wars in the muck
of the trenches of
But the way of wisdom does not look
to circumstances in order to see whether the times are good or bad. The way of wisdom reads the truth and pursues
holiness in the light of the truth, knowing that the end ahead is far better
than the beginning or the middle. We do
not need to live our life in emotional neutral gear, pausing over some day of
glory from high school or college forever.
We can live our lives today with patience because of the hope that we
have in God, whose plan is good for us, and who assures us concerning the end of
a thing.
True wisdom
is patient and gives life to those who have it.
This is the point that we can take
from this text, and it is especially made in the last two verses. Let me try a literal rendering of the Hebrew
here:
11
Wisdom is good with an
inheritance,
And an advantage to those who see
the sun.
12
For in the shadow of wisdom
- in the shadow of silver -
But the advantage of knowledge:
Wisdom gives the owner of it life.
These sentences and fragments are
strange to our ears. They set before us
two things: wisdom and wealth. First a
similarity is noted and then a difference between. The similarity is that they both share an
advantage. Literally they provide a
"shadow" that is a protection or a defense to the bearer. Wealth - silver - an inheritance provide a person with some protection from unexpected
dangers that may come to a person in this fleeting world. Wisdom can also do this. As one knows God's ways and pursues holiness
in the fear of God, this is a great covering, a protection, a shadow for the
one facing many dangers in a dangerous world that is in the sovereign control
of God. But the difference between
wealth and wisdom is this, only wisdom can be counted
on to give life to the one who has it.
A person may have many possessions
and much power, but he wants what he wants and he wants it now. He is unwilling to wait for the end of a
thing. He is foolishly impatient, and it
eats away at him. His ways will bring
him bitterness and death. By contrast,
true wisdom is patient and gives life to those who have it.
How do we learn patience?
I have tried to present to you the
beauty of the way of biblical wisdom, which is patient. But how are you to learn patience? I want to suggest to you two ways that you
can grow in patience. The first way to
gain patience is through personal adversity accompanied by the grace of
God. Personal adversity alone will not
do. Without the grace of God our
persistent challenges and disappointments lead only to that same worldly
bitterness and death. With the grace of
God, our trials are tests of our faith, and we are made more patient, and
therefore more complete as Christians through them.
The second way to gain patience is
through wisely considering the godly example of others who have faced
significant trials and have found the victory of faith in the midst of much
difficulty. This is the practice that
James urges upon Christians in the New Testament book that bears his name.
James 5:7-12
7 Therefore
be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits
for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives
the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for
the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another,
brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! 10
My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an
example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure.
You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord
-- that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. 12 But above all, my
brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath.
But let your "Yes," be "Yes," and your
"No," "No," lest you fall into judgment.
What I particularly would draw your
attention to are the words from verse 10: "Take the prophets ... as an
example of suffering and patience."
This is inspired instruction to us as to how we can seek to grow in
patience. We can consider the
prophets. I want to do this right now by
looking at the prophet Jeremiah and the book of Lamentations.
The story of
the prophet Jeremiah and Lamentations.
In 626 BC, the prophet Jeremiah was
called by God. He was actually called as
a prophet from his mother's womb (Jeremiah 1:5), but 626 appears to be the
beginning of his actually receiving of the Word of God to proclaim to others, From this point he prophesied over a forty
year period, announcing the coming judgment of God against His people. He lived to see this prophesy of impending
destruction fulfilled. As a sign to the
people of the nearness of the time of their demise, God forbid him the normal
comforts of marital companionship. His
life was that of one who was often alone, despised, and rejected by men.
The animosity that came to him was
as a result of his unpopular message.
Because of his words he faced opposition from all sectors. The men of his own town had formed a
conspiracy to kill him, and the inhabitants of
What was the message that caused so
many to hate him? The nation would be
taken into exile by the Babylonians.
This was the first part, but there was also a second part to it. God would bring them back to the land after
seventy years, and would also bring great judgment against the
Babylonians. This second part seems to
have been ignored by the people, but the first part was not. They considered his prophecy of the exile as
very unpatriotic, and he was accused of being a friend of the enemy.
In the tenth year of the reign of
Zedekiah, Jeremiah bought a field. He
seems to have paid the full price. The
importance of this purchase becomes more clear when
you realize that at the end of the ninth year, the Babylonian army began a
siege of
This has to be viewed as one of the
most poorly-timed real estate investments in the Bible. Jeremiah made the purchase publicly by the
instruction of God, testifying to the second half of his message that people
had not paid much attention to. Within
70 years God would bring His people back into the land. Jeremiah believed this, and bought the field
as a public testimony to the faithfulness of God.
In 586 BC, in the midst of this
devastating judgment against the people of God, Jeremiah wrote the book of
Lamentations. It is an acrostic poem
mourning the devastation of sin and its consequences upon the God's
people. In the middle of the book we
find these words of hope based in the character of God:
Lamentations 3:21-26
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the LORD's
mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"Therefore I hope in Him!"
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should hope
And wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
What we see in Jeremiah is
tremendous suffering for the truth, but also a tremendous hope in God. There are two prophesies that are worth some
careful consideration that describe Jeremiah's hope:
Jeremiah 23:5-6
5 "Behold, the days are coming," says the
LORD,
"That I will raise to David a Branch of
righteousness;
A King shall reign and prosper,
And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6 In His days
And
Now this is His name by which He will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
Jeremiah 33:15-16
15 'In those days and at that time
I will cause to grow up to David
A Branch of righteousness;
He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the
earth.
16 In those days
And
And this is the name by which she will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.'
Notice that the words are very
similar, yet the first passage speaks of the coming Messiah-King as THE LORD
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, and the second one speaks of "
This is exactly what has happened
through the cross of Christ. It is the
message of the cross. The righteousness
of One Man is made to be OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS and the sin of the Jerusalem of God
is placed upon the Perfect Lamb. This
message was the hope of Jeremiah, and it is the Christian hope today. It carried him through trials that are far
lonelier and more violent than you will likely face. It is a message that has power. Take the prophets, then, as an example of
suffering and patience, and have confidence in the faithfulness of God.
The coming of THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
Even though we live after the coming
of Messiah, Jeremiah's hope is still our hope.
The Lord Jesus, that great Son of David (Luke 2:4) has come. We also know that He will come again
(Revelation 1:7) and we are strengthened in that hope. But you must also remember that He comes to
you and is with you and in you by His Spirit throughout your life (Hebrews
13:5-6) and you can count on Him coming by that same Spirit to take you at your
death (John 14:1-4).
I received a call this morning from
Skip Phelps, calling from
Do you remember June, 2001, when the
American embassy denied the Ciuchis access to the
We need to be people who say "I
want what you want Lord, when you want to give it." This is the way of wisdom. This is the path of a godly patience.
Conclusion: The Great Blessing of
Waiting Upon the Lord
You are involved in the raising of
children, and in many great enterprises.
There will be times along the way where the next thing to do is to
wait. We need patience. The biggest question for a patient life is
this: "Who are you ultimately waiting for?" Are you ultimately waiting for a government
official? Are you ultimately waiting for
your business associates or customers to do what they have promised? Are you ultimately waiting for your kids to
make progress in holiness? If you are
ultimately waiting for men, then you will have a hard time being more patient.
But if you are ultimately waiting
for the Lord who loves you, and gave Himself for you, then you can know that
the end of the thing will be far better than anything along the way. It is good to wait for the Lord. Let me close with these words from Isaiah.
Isaiah
40:25-31
25
"To whom then will you liken Me,
Or
to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One.
26
Lift up your eyes on high,
And
see who has created these things,
Who
brings out their host by number;
He
calls them all by name,
By
the greatness of His might
And
the strength of His power;
Not
one is missing.
27
Why do you say, O Jacob,
And
speak, O Israel:
"My
way is hidden from the LORD,
And
my just claim is passed over by my God"?
28
Have you not known?
Have
you not heard?
The
everlasting God, the LORD,
The
Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither
faints nor is weary.
His
understanding is unsearchable.
29
He gives power to the weak,
And
to those who have no might He increases strength.
30
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And
the young men shall utterly fall,
31
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall
renew their strength;
They
shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They
shall run and not be weary,
They
shall walk and not faint.
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