It's Ecclesiastes 4, 4 to 16.
Let me pray for the preaching of God's word.
Heavenly Father, we are a lonely people.
We are an envious people.
We are a greedy people.
Lord, forgive us for our many sins,
and we see the effect of Hevel,
of unwise living,
and how much it drives us to loneliness.
But Lord, thank you that you have called us friends in Jesus.
Thank you for your word that addresses us today.
Keep our hearts open and soft
so that we would be transformed by your word and your spirit
to be more and more like you, Christ,
and to build community here in this church,
in this city, and in our lives.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Please rise to honor the reading of God's word.
Starting from verse 4.
Then I saw all toil and all skill and work
come from a man's envy of his neighbor.
This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
Better is a handful of quietness
than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
Again, I saw vanity under the sun.
One person who has no other,
either son or brother,
yet there is no end to all his toil,
and his eyes are never satisfied with riches
so that he never asks,
for whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?
This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
Two are better than one
because they have a good reward for their toil.
For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.
But woe to him who is alone
when he falls and has not another to lift him up.
Again, if two lie together, they keep warm,
but how can one keep warm alone?
And though a man might prevail against one who is alone,
two will withstand him.
A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Better was a poor and wise youth
than an old and foolish king
who no longer knew how to take advice.
For he went from prison to the throne,
though in his own kingdom he had been born poor.
I saw all the living who move about under the sun
along with that youth who was to stand in the king's place.
There was no end of all the people,
all of whom he led.
Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him.
Surely this also is vanity
and a striving after wind.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
You may be seated.
There is a dangerous health epidemic
that's ravaging all of America.
And it's more dangerous than smoking 15 cigarettes
or drinking six alcoholic drinks per day.
It's a lot.
According to the U.S. Surgeon General,
the leading voice in our U.S. government
for health and safety,
being infected with this epidemic
increases your risk by 20%,
29% of heart disease,
32% increased risk of stroke,
and a whopping 50% increase
in developing dementia for older patients,
for older adults.
Can you guess what is ravaging our society today?
Yeah.
Kind of obvious, right?
It's loneliness.
Basically, by all measures that people have been studying,
whether it's by number of hours you spend in person
with another person,
the number of single households,
single-person households,
the number of close friends that you have,
every single one of these numbers
are trending to show that we are an increasingly lonely society.
And it's no new fact to medical practitioners
that broken heart syndrome
is both an emotional and mental
and physical reality.
It affects us totality,
our total person.
It affects us.
So to us,
a lonely world,
the preacher of Ecclesiastes
has some relevant words for us today,
which is an amazing thought.
This book has been written over 2,000 years ago,
and it's still relevant.
It has such rich wisdom for us today.
And he knows that it's not good for man to be alone.
Just as God declares in the Garden of Eden
in Genesis 3,
Instead,
we ought to flee loneliness
that's striving after wind,
that comes from striving after wind,
and in turn,
create community with those around us.
That's the main point of my sermon today.
And in turn,
we'll see how the preacher warns us
of the loneliness that's caused by envy and competition,
the loneliness that's caused by greed,
and finally,
the loneliness that affects even those
who are at the top of society.
So the preacher opens up our passage
with a sobering observation
to the nature of work.
He says that all toil
and all skill
come from a man's envy of his neighbor.
Notice those repeated words,
all,
all toil,
all skill.
Where does every impressive feat of man come from then?
How have we gotten to the technological advancements
of the iPhone or AI?
How have we gotten man onto the moon?
How have we developed COVID vaccines so quickly?
It's all from competitive envy.
That's what the preacher claims.
It's when we feel bitter
that others are doing better.
That's what fuels us to be successful.
Now this is a clearly an exaggerated hyperbolic statement,
right?
Because after all,
how could one man know
the hearts of every single other person here on earth?
But still,
we do well to consider
just how common,
how ubiquitous
this feeling and sin of envy is.
It reigns in every domain of our lives.
It's in our workplaces,
our schools,
our labs,
our homes,
even our churches.
It's literally everywhere.
Richard Phillips,
he's a long time faithful pastor
and his wife Sharon.
They've written,
the longer we serve in ministry,
the more we see pretty much
that everyone is envying everyone else.
No one has the circumstances
that they really want.
Notice how the preacher identifies
the source of his envy
in verse four.
It's not some,
you know,
abstract,
far out,
theoretical person of success.
It's our neighbors.
We are envious of our neighbors.
The fodder of envy
is really the closest people
in our lives.
Pastor Jerry Bridges
in his book,
Respectable Sins,
he comments,
an insurance salesman
is not likely to envy
a professional athlete
who earns a multi-million dollar salary,
but he may well envy
another salesman
who sells more insurance
than he does.
A pastor of a small,
medium-sized church
is not likely
to envy the mega church pastor,
but he may be tempted
to envy the pastor
down the street
whose church is growing
more than his.
See,
the reason we are
tempted to envy
in these situations
is that there are
enough things alike
that the differences
tend to strike us
in the face.
So the point goes,
if you are guilty
of the sin of envy,
which,
let's say,
the preacher thinks
it's very likely,
he knows that you could
very much be envious
of the people
you're closest to,
most similar to,
your brother,
your sister,
your roommate,
your best friend.
He drives that new car.
She got into that program
that I wanted.
He just started dating.
That's all fodder
for envy
in our sinful hearts.
But why are we
such a competitive,
envious people?
Why is it so common?
At the heart level,
even for God's adopted children,
we envy because
we are plagued
with insecurity,
aren't we not?
We're both insecure
and proud.
And believe it or not,
those are not
mutually exclusive things.
Those are just two sides
of the same coin.
We're proud
and we're insecure
because we stand
on the shaky ground
of self-dependence.
We think it's up to us
to prove our self-worth
and to prove our value,
to earn
and achieve the love
and acceptance
that we really,
really crave and need.
Sometimes it's been called
having an orphan mentality.
We think and act
as if we are orphans.
And we don't have
a Heavenly Father
who really cares
and loves for us,
who yearns after you.
and without the security
of a steadfast,
faithful love
of God
that's in us
in Christ,
we then puff up
our chests, right?
We puff up our chests
and we compete
with one another
because after all,
who's going to love me?
How else am I going
to get loved?
How else am I going
to be accepted?
And in the end,
if you never grow
out of this,
you're going to have
a really,
really hard time
being a healthy part
of a community
and experience
true friendship.
This is what
David Gibson writes
in his book.
Consider the old saying,
any friend can share
your sorrows
and failures,
but it takes
a true friend
to share your joys
and successes.
Isn't this true?
When we see
a friend succeed
and make things work,
we smile
and pat her
on the back,
but deep down
we envy
because she has
made us feel worse
about ourselves.
When our friend
falls flat on his face,
our sinfulness
is such that
we can watch him
mess up
and even hug him,
but his failure
makes us feel
so much better
about ourselves.
If that defines
our relationships today,
if it defines
your relationships today,
you're going to struggle
with always
being defensive,
easily hurt,
suspicious of others,
you're always going
to feel alone,
disconnected,
unsupported,
just like a poor orphan.
See,
the most competitive
of us
are truly
the most lonely
of us.
but often
the world
promotes envy
as a motivator
for incredible success
because,
let's face it,
it is
an incredible
motivator.
The preacher
is wise
to admit
that this
produces
all skill.
Some of the
most successful
people in this life
have been
the most
envious,
the most
brutally competitive,
just a short list
of some
crazy successful people,
Alexander the Great,
Leonardo da Vinci,
Oprah,
Steve Jobs,
Michael Jordan,
all of these
incredibly successful
people have been
widely known
to use their
envy,
their competitive
drive,
to drive them
to all toil,
all skill.
It's unbelievable,
really,
if you look at it,
it's unbelievable
how far
some people
will push themselves
without rest
or sleep,
without fun
or play
just to be
better than
the next guy.
Let's take a look
at Kobe Bryant,
the late,
great basketball
player.
He was widely
known to have
really this
relentless
work ethic.
He was the
first and last
person in and
out of the gym,
and while other
teammates would be
just waking up
in the hotel
at 8 a.m.,
he'd just be
returning full of,
drenched with sweat
after practicing
for two to three
hours,
putting up
1,000 shots.
And throughout
his career,
it's well known
that Kobe
would use these
feuds with bitter
rivals,
most famously
with Shaq,
Shaquille O'Neal,
to fuel him
at any costs.
It's no wonder
that Kobe was
one of the
greatest basketball
players of all
time,
with five NBA
championships,
right,
made a point
that one more
than Shaq,
18 all-star
nods,
and two Olympic
gold medals.
Kobe's work
ethic exemplifies
what has been
branded as his
Mamba mentality.
I don't know
if you guys
have ever heard
of that,
right?
This Mamba mentality,
which comes from
his nickname on
Cord.
It's featured on
motivational videos.
It's in books,
this idea
that relentless
hard work
will allow you
to achieve
your goals
above your
opponents.
It's a refusal
to settle
for anything
less than
perfection,
than excellence.
It's a commitment
to do better
every single day,
right?
This Mamba
mentality,
in a lot of
ways,
is this world's
gospel.
It's this world's
promise.
This world that is
capitalistic,
competitive,
everybody is just
seeking to gain
an upper edge
against everyone
else.
And so they say,
if I work hard
enough at something,
I will achieve
everything that I
want.
If I grind just a
little bit harder,
then success is just
behind that next
door.
But the preacher
in Ecclesiastes,
he splashes cold
water, right,
in the face of
all of this.
Because even if
you wake up
at 5 a.m.
before all your
opponents,
and you grind
yourself to the
bone,
you work as hard
as you theoretically
could,
and develop all
skill and achieve
all success,
the reality is that
time and death
come for us all.
All skill in the
world cannot slow
down death.
Even Kobe is a
tragic example of
this.
Given all his
hard work,
he should have
enjoyed the
longest,
happiest,
prosperous of
lives.
But he would
go on to die
in a tragic
helicopter accident
at the young age
of 41 with
eight others,
including his
young 13-year-old
daughter,
Gianna.
Kobe probably
worked harder
than every single
one of us,
but life isn't
fair in that
sense.
It's hevel.
It's a breath.
It's a striving
after wind.
Why should we
work then?
If death comes
for all,
it seems pointless,
then what's the
point of hard work?
But the preacher
doesn't agree with
that logic either.
It says,
no,
in verse five,
it says that
removing work and
toil altogether
isn't the right
solution either.
it says,
it's the fool
who folds his
hands and eats
his own flesh.
Following the
wisdom of many
proverbs,
the folding of
your hands,
right,
it's equivalent
to the gruesome
eating of your
own knuckles.
Laziness really
has no place
in a biblical,
wise way to
live.
Instead,
hard work is
meant to be
enjoyed as a
gift.
It's a means
of grace for
us to provide
for ourselves
and to be
generous with
others.
We should work
hard in life
to do better
every single
day,
to pursue
excellence,
but when a
mamba mentality
turns into an
orphan mentality,
which it so
often does,
right,
if we follow
in the footsteps
of Kobe,
who works
incredibly hard
just because we
don't trust God
to provide for
us,
we don't trust
in his steadfast
love for us,
we lose our
way.
You see,
the problem,
though,
is not with
hard work,
the problem is
with us.
Instead,
the preacher
shows us a
better way
in verse 6.
Again,
notice the
balanced wisdom
of Ecclesiastes.
Two folded
hands,
not holding
anything,
are lazy,
self-sabotaging,
self-destructive,
but two hands
full of toil.
It's not
better either.
It's striving
after wind,
a useless
endeavor,
but what's
better is
one open
hand,
full of
quietness,
and the other
presumably full
of hard work.
It's a
beautiful picture,
really,
of hard work
paired with
joyous
contentment,
and I love
that picture,
quietness,
rest,
serenity,
peace,
not always
feeling rushed
to go from
place A
to place B
and feeling
like you
don't have
enough time
in life.
but the reality
is if you
do have
one hand
full of
quietness,
not full
of toil,
you know
that you're
going to
fall behind
the rest
of your
competitors
and the rest
of this
world.
You're
essentially
trying to
fight a
boxing match
with one
hand tied
behind your
back.
Of course,
you're going
to lose
sometimes.
But this
is where
the Christian
witness
begins to
shine so
brightly,
so uniquely,
is can
you lose
and be
content?
Whoa,
this is
where really
the Christian
witness starts
to shine
amazingly
brightly.
Don Whitney,
professor at
Southern Seminary,
he asks,
can you
serve your
boss and
others at
work,
helping them
to succeed
and be
happy even
when they
are promoted
and you
are overlooked?
Can you
work to
make others
look good
without envy
filling your
heart?
Can you
minister to
the needs
of those
whom God
exalts
and men
honor when
you yourself
are neglected?
Can you
pray for the
ministry of
others when
it would
cast yours
into the
shadows?
We can
only do
this,
brothers and
sisters,
by fighting
off gospel
amnesia and
remembering again
and again
that we
do have
a heavenly
father that
cares for
us,
that yearns
for us,
that delights
over us,
that Jesus
did not
leave us
as orphans
but we
do have
the full
acceptance
of our
hearts,
that our
hearts
yearn for
in Christ
alone.
We have
been blessed
with every
spiritual
blessing.
We are
married with
Christ.
All things
work out for
our good.
How rich
we are
in Christ.
What more
could we
possibly
want?
But we
observe in
our next
section someone
who doesn't
know the
richness of
God's love.
He opens
this new
section at
the beginning
of verse
seven.
The preacher
observes
another example
of Hevel
and striving
after wind
in this rich
lonely man.
He's in this
relentless pursuit
of money.
Never
satisfied with
how many
commas he
sees in his
net worth.
Never
satisfied with
how many
zeros he
sees in his
bank account.
So he
goes as
fast and
as hard
as possible.
Never
slowing down
wondering
for whom
am I doing
this for?
Why am I
struggling and
making myself
suffer so much?
For who?
You could
just imagine
this.
Every year
his house
is getting
bigger and
every year
he's getting
lonelier and
lonelier.
He's adding
acres of land,
beds and
bedrooms,
seats around
a dining
table, all
without a
single soul
to share
these things
with.
This man
is stupidly
rich and
stupidly
unhappy.
notice the
repeated word
one that's
going on
throughout this
next section.
It repeats
it over and
over.
This very
much could
have been
an indefinite
article like
a and,
a person or
that, the
a thing.
But one, he
uses the word
one to
emphasize the
person's
loneliness.
Because truly
one is the
loneliest
number.
once again,
the preacher
knows the
better way,
the way to
a better
life.
And that
life is in
healthy community
with others.
In fact,
God created
us to be
social and
relational
creatures.
You see,
in the garden,
when God
created Adam,
this is
remarkable.
I don't know
if you,
I didn't really
meditate on this,
but despite
the fact
that this
was a
perfect,
sinless
relationship
that Adam
had with
God before
the fall,
God still
calls him
alone.
He had a
perfect
relationship
with God,
but God
still calls
him alone.
And he
creates Eve
from his
rib and
gives her
to him to
enjoy the
blessing of
children through
her.
So it's
true that
our need
for others,
our need
for community
is not a
defect of
sin,
but it's
part of
our intended
design.
So
considering
this,
it's
absolutely
tragic
that this
man pursues
riches
and pleasures
and stuff
alone.
He's
less than
human.
That's not
his intended
design.
And he
doesn't have
son or
brother,
family or
friends to
enjoy any
of these
things with.
And those
are two
sources of
community that
I want to
talk briefly
about today.
So first,
family.
It's clear
that the
Bible is
pro-marriage,
pro-children
through and
through.
Marriage and
sex and
procreation,
they've always
been God's
ideas and
God's gifts
to man.
But the
world continues
to purport
that the
traditional
nuclear family
is regressive.
It's
backwards.
People don't
see the
point of
marriage anymore
other than
tax breaks.
They claim
that children
only get in
the way of
achieving your
dreams.
They're too
much money.
They're too
much time.
I can't have
children.
And so our
world prefers
to raise a
cute corgi
puppy instead
of raising
children.
A recent
USA Today
and One
Poll survey
found that
40% of
the people
that they
surveyed,
40% of
dog owners
found that
caring for
dogs are
easier,
cheaper,
and as a
result,
they chose
not to
have
children.
This is
not to
offend any
dog owners
today,
but that's
backwards.
It's
backwards when
we consider
what God
has provided
for us as
joy and
human flourishing
as a
killjoy that
drains our
personal resources
that we
rather use for
our own
agendas,
our own
goals.
And I
know that I'm
yet to fully
experience
parenthood,
but from what
I hear from
more experienced
parents here at
church,
while children
do require
financial
investment,
don't get me
wrong,
but kids
don't have
to be
break-bankingly
expensive.
You don't
have to
plunge
yourself
into debt.
That's
not unless
you fall
into the
travel teen
trap,
where you
make sure
that your
kid has
every possible
resource to
be Beethoven
and Elon
Musk and
Simone Biles
all together
in one
super-mega
child.
This world
thinks that
good parenting
means that
he could
play world-class
violin and
compete on
math team
and play on
the Olympic
development
travel soccer
team.
Instead,
good,
faithful parenting,
according to
biblical wisdom,
is to teach
them to fear
God, and
that's free.
Even if
kids cost
money,
this is the
better way to
live.
That's what the
preacher is
saying.
It is far
better to be
a little bit
poorer with
children than
to be rich
alone.
It's far
better to
focus and
invest in
your marriage
than it is
to fast-track
your promotion
at work.
After all,
it's the fool
again who lives
alone in a
mansion that's
too big for
him.
So let's
shape the way
that we
prioritize our
family, view
the blessing of
family in
light of
scripture.
Do you need
to reorient
your value
systems and
your priorities
to match what
scripture teaches?
Is it time you
let go of your
idolized career
and salary to
experience a
far better life
in pursuing
marriage and
children?
But that's not
the only source
of community
that we need.
We know that
marriage and
family isn't
everything.
In fact,
Jesus himself
was marriage-less,
childless,
and he lived
a perfect
life.
We know that
getting married
is a great
blessing from
God, but
because of our
marriage with
Christ, it's
not a must for
God's people.
In fact,
Paul actually
says that it's
better, it's
better to remain
single and to
be fully devoted
to the Lord than
to have divided
attentions from
marriage and
children.
And so this
next passage in
verses 9 to
12 is one of
the most famous
passages in
Ecclesiastes, and
it's for good
reason, and it's
often read in
wedding ceremonies.
In fact, I think
Sean is prepping a
sermon right now on
this very passage to
preach at a wedding.
And marriage is a
great application for
this passage,
highlighting the
benefits of two
becoming one, a
husband-wife
becoming one.
But understand that
when we read a
passage like this,
when two are
better than one,
that marriage need
not be the only
application.
Another great
application for us
to think and
wrestle with is our
friendships.
Verses 9 to 12
sets a scene of
going on a long
journey in the
ancient Near East.
You know, back
then these weren't
happy-go-lucky,
easy road trips.
They were treacherous,
dangerous journeys.
Going on your own
could very much be
your own death
sentence.
Traveling in the
dark without
flashlights, very
easy to fall into
your pit, to your
peril.
Israel would have
been cold at night,
so men would travel
together and lay
their garments over
their bodies so that
they'd be able to
keep warm.
These journeys would
also be riddled with
bandits and thieves
that would beat you
up to a bloody pulp
and steal every last
thing on your body,
just like it happened
to the man in the
peril of the good
Samaritan.
So clearly, two is
better than one.
And even better, a
three-fold cord is not
quickly broken.
If you don't know
this already, our
very own Joshua
Henderson had just
recently returned from
a crazy long,
arduous, literally
cross-country pilgrimage
as he and two
friends, they hiked
over 3,000 miles
over 115 days.
That's just insane.
I hope that none of you
guys ever do this
ever again.
I hope you never do
this ever again.
They started from the
Mexican border in New
Mexico, and they went
all the way up to the
Canadian border in
Montana.
That, again, insane.
And much to my horror
and dismay, Josh, you
know, you told me that
all three of you had
near-death experiences
on this trip.
All right, this is from
Joshua.
For Daniel, it was
during a river crossing
where he nearly drowned.
Just why?
Why would you do this?
For Sung, it was a
ridgeline glassade where
he triggered an avalanche,
of course.
For me, it was
attempting an off-trail
descent in Montana where
I slid, almost slid off,
a 300-foot cliff that
was out of sight when I
began my slide.
One similarity across
all of these moments,
we were on our own when
they happened.
But when they were
together, they watched
their backs.
They supported each
other, encouraged one
another, helped each
other when others
needed help.
And through this, Josh
really has lived out
that a three-fold cord
is not quickly broken.
We, like the preacher,
know the great value of
having deep friendships,
right?
Life is as treacherous as
these journeys through
the middle of the night.
And some seasons are
especially harder than
others.
Maybe you're in that
really, really hard
season.
And what we need in
those moments, more
than anything, for
faithful friends to come
around us, to pray with
us, to lift up our
heads.
Jesus himself invested in
friendship in his life,
particularly with the
inner three disciples,
with Peter, John, and
James.
When Paul sensed that he was
at the end of his life as
he was writing the letter
2 Timothy, he wrote to
his friends when he was
weary, cold, discouraged,
friends like Timothy,
Priscilla, and Aquila, Luke,
and Mark, to come and
comfort him.
He writes twice at the end
of his letter, do your best
to come to me soon.
Do your best to come to me
soon.
Paul knew that he needed
people in his life to come
around him at the last hour
of his death.
We know the value, but some,
some of us, we struggle with
maintaining or keeping or
making deep friendships in
this season of life.
It feels like it's harder and
harder to keep and maintain
deep friends, is it not?
You know, we get busy with
other things, with good
things, but friendship often
hits the last of our
priorities.
Or we get stuck.
We get stuck on what an
ideal friendship, what an
ideal community would look
like.
Like Christine Hoover in
her book, Messy, Beautiful
Friendship, she confesses,
we want sugary, sweet, easy
cum community where we flit
into one another's homes
without knocking, laugh
deep into the nights, know
one another, and are known
without effort, and never
exchange a cross or a
challenging word.
We typically envision dinner
parties and game nights,
vacationing together and
talking on the phone every
single day.
Now, you guys know me as an
introvert.
I really hope that you don't
call me every single day, but
I too idolize and idolize
friendship to be this easy.
But Dietrich Bonhoeffer has
this great quote in his book
Life Together.
I'm going to read it twice so
that we can make sure we get
it.
The person who loves their
dream of community will
destroy community, but the
person who loves those around
them will create community.
Again, the person who loves
their dream of community will
destroy community, but the
person who loves those around
them will create community.
So in efforts not to love our
idealized versions of
friendships, but the actual
people in front of us, I
exhort you, if you are here
and you're not a member of a
Bible-preaching church, take
time to consider becoming a
member of a church.
Go to the membership class that
we just advertised so that you
can make your vow before God and
his people, that you will commit
yourself to this kind of deep
friendship.
If you are a member of this
church and you feel like you
don't have these kinds of deep
friendships, friend, resist the
easy temptation that comes to
blame other people.
It's because those people are so
weird.
Those people are so hard to love.
It's because they keep on
leaving.
Just like you can't choose your
own biological family members,
you can't choose your spiritual
family members.
Friends resist the temptation of
waiting for that perfect friend,
that one sugary, sweet, easy-cum
friendship, because it might not
come.
And sometimes just as those
friendships do come, they
instantly dissolve like cotton candy
on your tongue.
Instead, we ought to come to church
and to our friendships with an
attitude, a desire to serve and not
to be served.
Instead of pointing fingers at
others and their shortcomings as
friends, try being the friend that
you want to have.
Be countercultural and be faithful as
friends because this world, they drop
people at the drop of a dime the
second you say something mean, the
second you say something offensive.
But commit yourself.
Be faithful friends.
And over time, you will see the
power of a three-fold cord that is
not quickly broken.
Just as Paul depended on his friends
at the end of his life, whether you
are single, you're married, you have
kids, you don't have kids, we all need
friends to fight with us so that we can
finish this race and keep the faith.
That's the power of community.
Part of the advantages of community is
found in taking advice from those
around us, as we'll see in our final
section in this morning, in verses
13 to 16.
See, these verses can be kind of hard to
understand.
I don't know if you were confused when
we first read it because of the
ambiguous personal pronouns, right?
Like, who is he in verse 14 that went
from prison to the throne?
And who is the he who led all these
people in verse 16?
What majority of the commentators think,
and I agree with them, is that in this
scene there are only two characters, two
kings, both introduced in verse 13.
You have the old and foolish king who no
longer knows how to take advice, but then
you have the wise and poor youth.
It's this youth, then, who was born into
the poor house that ascends on his
meteoric rise to the White House.
So when you compare these two kings, the
preacher lays out clearly the better way
to live.
This is the third better way to live.
It's to listen to the advice of others.
It's better to be poor and teachable than
it is to be a rich, stubborn fool.
For it is the fool that needs to touch a
burning stove rather than to listen to
others to learn that it's hot.
So if you're going through a major
decision in life, the preacher is a
beckoning you, I know a better way.
Listen to the wise people around you.
We would do well to heed the advice of
others and resist the temptation to walk
to the beat of our own drum.
Don't let pride blind you to underestimate
your own ignorance.
Let's fight the natural urge to already
predetermine, pre-select what kind of
advice you choose to listen to and what
advice you choose to reject.
Another way to look at it is we must age well.
Often we simply assume that aging comes
naturally with wisdom, right?
But clearly the preacher thinks otherwise.
Instead, age can come with an ever so
subtle but dangerous and deadly hardening of
our hearts year after year.
And the king allowed this to happen.
He let his age harden his heart and mind.
Look at the text.
Look how it says he no longer.
He used to know.
He used to be able to take advice from
others.
But he aged poorly.
Ecclesiastes challenges us to make it our
goal to be humble, teachable old men and
women.
If you are young in your career, maybe you
don't have that much sway in your companies.
You don't have as much sway as the seasoned
directors or the professors that you report
to.
It's easier to listen, to be humble, because
that's what you're expected to do.
That's what you have to do.
But one day, a lot of you guys are young, but
one day you very well might be a director.
With associates to manage.
You might be a PI with students to lead.
You might be a grandparent with grandkids to
mentor.
Will you still be able to listen to advice
then?
We must prepare for the people that you want
to be 30 years, 50 years down the road, because
it's the seeds that are planted today that bear
fruit decades later.
And even though this is the better way to live, the
preacher observes a tragic ending for this young,
wiser king.
Despite his rags to riches story, despite his wisdom in
being able to listen to others, verses 15 to 16 teach us that
even him, even this wise youth over time loses popularity and
power until he is all alone with no one to delight in him.
For what reason, right?
He had a, he must have had a massive scandal.
He became proud.
He hated God.
Something, something.
But the preacher doesn't give a reason.
It's an enigma.
It's a paradox, a mystery.
There's no happy ever after ending for this king, but a
lonely, tragic ending with no one to delight in him.
See, the most powerful of us can't even escape the hevel of
life.
We've seen in our passage today that it is not good when man
is alone.
It's not part of our intended design.
To that end, the preacher has shown us three better ways to
live.
You know, better is a handful of quietness than the loneliness
of envy.
You know, better is the community that you live in to love the
actual people in your life than lonely greed.
Better is humility and heeding advice than arrogance and power.
Yet this passage ends to say that even if we do everything
right, we follow all the right steps, do everything right
according to biblical wisdom, we might still end up alone.
Life still is hevel, a striving after wind, a paradox, a
mystery.
So what hope do we have that we might ever be in good community
with others?
That hope can only be found in Jesus Christ alone, who can
sympathize with our loneliness.
Although he lived a perfect and sinless life, a life where people
should have been flocking towards him, to love him, to adore him, to
accept them as the light of the world.
Jesus was the loneliest person in all of human history.
Before the cross and the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus took the closest
three, his closest friends, his best friends.
Peter, James, and John.
And he confides in them something incredibly raw.
He says, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
Remain here and watch.
He asked them to pray with him.
It's a request and support in his greatest hour of trial.
But they would just keep on falling asleep.
Even worse, even as Jesus got arrested, they would flee to save their own
tales.
Can you imagine the loneliness Jesus experienced when he lived with,
invested in, loved on these close friends for three whole years,
only to then just see them instantly leave, instantly bounce the moment you
needed it most?
Far worse than the desertion of even the closest of his human friends was a
separation from his father on the cross.
On the cross where he hung in our place for our sins as a substitute for us.
He was despised and rejected by all men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
Yet, all of this couldn't compare to the separation that he experienced with the
father.
For all eternity, even before creation, the father perfectly loved the son.
No ill-time comment, no bitterness, no pride, no sin had ever fractured that
relationship for all eternity.
Can you imagine that until the cross where Jesus took on our heinous sins, the father
could only turn the other way?
He was cut off from sweet fellowship that had been his sole joy and his so precious
treasure throughout his life of hardship, of loneliness.
That's been the one thing.
But even at the cross, he lost it.
Yet still, as Charles Spurgeon said, Jesus Christ was up on that cross, nailing, bleeding,
dying, looking down on all the people, betraying him, forsaking him, denying him.
And in the greatest act of love in all of human history, he stayed.
He stayed, friends.
He stayed knowing that without his sacrifice, without him experiencing the greatest loneliness
of all of human history, we would have no hope.
We'd never have any hope to be able to overcome and escape the loneliness of this life, this life
of Hevel, this life of breath.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
Do you know this friend?
Do you know the only one that sticks closer to you than a brother?
So, friends, fueled not by envy, insecurity, greed, or pride, but fueled by Jesus' faithful friendship
to sinners.
Let us create community.
Fight back the epidemic of loneliness in this church, in our city, in our workplaces, in our
families, for His glory and for our good.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you.
Thank you for this amazing, faithful, devoted friendship that we have in Jesus.
That He is a faithful friend no matter what, no matter when other people abandon us.
We still have you.
And that kind of, that friendship, it doesn't take away the pain of loneliness from others
because we still need others, but it still gets underneath that pain.
And we thank you for that.
We thank you that Jesus is our faithful friend.
We pray, oh God, that that would fuel us to make friendships, to invest in others deeply,
deeply, committedly, faithfully, so that we'd be able to fight back loneliness in our lives
and in others.
And love as you have called us, oh God.
So help us for your glory and for our good.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.