WWUTT 1729 Do With All Your Might (Ecclesiastes 9:10-18)

Over and over we have heard over the course of Ecclesiastes that everything is vanity.

If we're going to find meaning and purpose in anything, it is doing what we do to the glory of God when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, and we've got the last half of chapter 9 to finish up here.

So this is verses 10 through 18, which I'll be reading from the Legacy Standard Bible.

This is the word of the Lord through the voice of the preacher in Ecclesiastes 9, 10.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. For there is no working or explaining or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the mighty.

And neither is bread to the wise nor riches to the discerning nor favor to men who know.

For time and misfortune overtake them all. Moreover, man does not know his time, like fish seized in an evil net and birds seized in a trap.

So the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them. Also this

I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me. There was a small city with few men in it, and a great king came to it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it.

But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he provided a way of escape for the city by his wisdom.

Yet no one remembered that poor man. So I said, Wisdom is better than strength.

But the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of the wise heard in restfulness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

I want to remind you of the way this chapter began, because once again what we see at the very beginning of the chapter will carry the tone for the rest of it.

So remember that first verse where the preacher said, For I have given all this to my heart and explain it, that righteous men, wise men, and their service are in the hand of God.

So anything and everything that we do, we find meaning and purpose in it only when we do it in the fear of God, when we know that he is in control of all things, and so we do all things to his glory.

Over and over again we have heard over the course of the book of Ecclesiastes that all is vanity.

It's as if the preacher is looking for meaning and purpose without God in all that is in the world, and he cannot find it.

It doesn't matter whether you are wise or foolish. It doesn't matter whether you are rich or you are poor.

Every person goes to the same place. No one beats time. Everyone is going to die and go down to the grave.

So you could live your life righteously, but what have you gained from it when at the end you're going to go to the same place that the unrighteous person does?

And even a righteous man may have short days, but an unrighteous person prolongs his days.

Maybe his dishonesty even helps him live longer. So what is the purpose really of doing what is right?

And here we're starting to hear more often as we get closer to the end. We're in like the last third of Ecclesiastes now, but the closer that we get to the end, the more we're starting to see.

All things are in God's hands, so we must do what we do in the fear of God to his honor and his glory.

And that is the ultimate conclusion that is made when we get to Ecclesiastes chapter 12.

Like the next to last statement in the book is, fear God and obey his commands for this is the whole duty of man.

Therefore, we find meaning and purpose only when we look to the Lord, when we do what we do for his sake.

We've heard, we've seen throughout the book vanity of vanities, meaning that everything is purposeless, meaning that everything is meaningless.

I could say it that way. When he says vanity, he says that it's nothing, it doesn't amount to anything or the way that I've heard

R .C. Sproul describe this, futility of futility. When we see that word vanity, it doesn't mean a person who is egocentric or puffed up with himself.

In this particular case, in the context in which we read it in Ecclesiastes, it means that all things are futile.

They don't amount to anything. So it's like saying futility of futility. The only way we find meaning and purpose in what we do is when we do so to the honor and glory of God.

So it's in light of that, it was necessary to bring verse one back into the remainder of the chapter because we read here in verse 10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might for there is no working or explaining or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

Now if we did not read that with the understanding that we are to live and do all that we do to the glory of God, then we would, you know, in a sense, we would hear the preacher contradicting himself because previously he's basically said, it doesn't matter whether you're wise or foolish, it doesn't matter whether you work or you're lazy, everyone's going to go down to the grave.

So what's the point really of working when you can have an easier life being lazy and uh, and didn't just be lazy until your dying day.

Don't worry about working hard. You can be lazy. You can die. You're going to go to the same place that the working man went to.

But when we hear him say here in verse 10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

This is in the context of knowing that all things are in the hand of God and whatever we do, we are to do unto the

Lord. Look back at verse seven, go then eat your bread in gladness and drink your wine with a merry heart for God has already accepted your works.

We do these works in the fear of the Lord and he is receptive of what it is that we do.

We do not have to earn his approval. He is either given his approval or not.

And that is according to the Lord. As it says in Romans chapter nine, I will have compassion on whom

I have compassion and I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. So do all things in the fear of the

Lord. And if you are somebody who loves God, you desire to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, that's the blessing of God.

And it is the love of God that is upon you that draws you to himself. Going back to chapter nine, verse one, man does not know whether it will be love or hatred.

Anything may be before him. But if you love God, you know, as it says in first John, we love

God because what he first loved us. So whatever you do, do it with all your might.

There is no working or explaining or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

Do unto the Lord and do it now because there won't be an opportunity to do that later.

Verse 11, I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the mighty and neither is bread to the wise nor riches to the discerning nor favor to men who know for time and misfortune overtake them all.

Now we have heard Paul say in first Corinthians that God has made foolish the wisdom of the wise.

He has chosen the things that are weak and despised in the world. That is what God has chosen and made great by his own wisdom and knowledge.

And so when we seek after the Lord, that's what gives meaning and purpose to any of the things that we do.

Even if the rest of mankind finds them foolish, it is great unto the Lord our

God because we do all that we do unto his name. The preacher here says,

I saw that the race is not to the swift, the battle is not to the mighty and neither is bread to the wise nor riches to the discerning nor favor to men who know.

It doesn't matter how much you know. It doesn't matter how much knowledge you store up, your achievements and your accomplishments do not earn the favor of God.

He shows you his favor by his grace. Not because you are a better human being than somebody else, not because you've done anything to earn it, but because God is gracious and the victory of the race.

Will it be given to the swift? Will it be given to the strong? Now you know by what we have been reading in 2

Corinthians as we finished up our study of the book last week or this week, just a few days ago or yesterday,

I guess it was. And we were reading in chapter 12 a couple of weeks ago. That's what it was that I was thinking of. So in chapter 12 is where Paul says,

I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses for where I am weak, there he is strong.

And so it's when we are weak that Christ shows his strength that he may be glorified.

And our ability to win the race is not in our own strength or perseverance, but it is

Christ working through us for his will and his good pleasure, as Paul says in Philippians chapter 2.

Now in Hebrews 12, 1, we have this, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, every hindrance in some translations and the sin, which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

That is whom we are to glorify with all that we do. There is a race that we run indeed.

But the one who perseveres to the end is the one who has his eyes fixed on Christ, not the strongest, not the smartest, not the wisest, not the richest.

It is the one who doesn't possess those things earthly in the earthly sense, but in the spiritual sense.

We have the wisdom of Christ according to his word. We have might and strength according to his spirit.

We have swiftness according to his grace. We continue and persevere in these things by the strength and will of God.

The preacher goes on in verse 12, Moreover, man does not know his time, like fish seized in an evil net and birds seized in a trap, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.

In other words, when do you die? You don't know. You don't know what the day of your death is.

Just like a bird doesn't know that today, when the early bird gets up and goes and gets the worm, does not know that it's going to fly into a trap, into a snare.

That day just suddenly comes for the bird, and that's it. Now the bird has become someone's lunch.

Or like fish seized in an evil net, fish just swimming along, and they don't really see nets real well.

They don't seem to recognize that they can't swim through that. They swim into the net, and they get caught, and now, once again, like the bird, they're someone's lunch.

Fish, they're in schools, but they're just not learning. So just as this would come upon a bird or a fish, so our end may come swiftly upon us.

Live every day that you live unto the glory of God, for you don't know when your time is going to be up. Verse 13, also this

I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me. We have this kind of parable here from 14 to 17.

Now there's not a reason for us to believe that this is an actual city. There are some that have tried to figure this out, and they end up dating it like way later on.

Like it was something Alexander the Great encountered, or something that happened about the third century

BC. There are all these theories that commentators have thrown in here. It could be a reference back to,

I mean, we have a story that actually looks a little bit like this in 2 Samuel, but that was a woman there who was the wise woman in that particular story telling

Joab what to do. It wasn't a man like Solomon describes here. So it could be that this is just a general parable, just to make the point that wisdom is greater than even the mightiest army.

A person who is smart and who is cunning can outwit even the strongest military.

And it could be that this is such a common thing, a common occurrence that has taken place. I mean, there could be a dozen examples that Solomon had seen in his life that was exactly like this.

And then he just made it into this parable to show the value of wisdom. Verse 14, there was a small city with few men in it.

And a great king came to it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it.

That's like, you know, if you have a city with walls around it, you'll build the siege works, which would be ramps that would go up over the walls and into the city.

Or they would be bulwarks that might prevent people from getting out. Nobody can get out.

Nobody can get in. This is what it means to lay siege to a city. They've essentially conquered it, and they're just waiting for the people to starve to death, to surrender, to come out and say, hey, you beat us fair and square.

But verse 15, there was found in it a poor wise man, and he provided a way of escape for the city by his wisdom.

Yet no one remembered that poor man. So I said wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heard.

Now here's the interesting contrast. So the wise man is saying it's better to have wisdom than to have strength.

That is true, but the wise man is not remembered. In the eyes of the world, he's not anyone great.

Who gets remembered? The great armies get remembered. Their great battles, their conquerings, the things they have accomplished, the nations that they defeated, all of that gets written down in the history books.

That's what gets remembered. Who's going to remember the story of this old man that leads a people to safety just because he found a hole in the wall they could sneak through and get past this massive army?

So even though wisdom is better, and it's through wisdom a man can live, can escape even the advancement of a great army, yet nobody remembers it.

It's always done quietly. It is not the thing people make statues for.

Generally you see a statue of a war hero, not a statue of a great wise man.

Nobody remembered that poor man. So the king says, wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not heard.

The words of the wise heard in restfulness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools, and that may be the depiction there of this great king that comes against this small city and he's just shouting among fools.

But here you have the words of the wise heard in restfulness. Somebody who is in peace and he leaves in peace and he goes and finds rest instead of perishing at the hands of this army.

So that's better than the shouting of that ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war.

That would be a great statement to end on. That would be a good conclusion to the parable. But consider the last part of 18.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

Even though this nameless, wise, old, poor man, even though he may have something better than the strongest army in the kingdom, everything that he has can be undone by one sinful idiot.

So even though the king demonstrates how much better it is to have wisdom than to have physical strength or might, even the wisdom is not impervious to some vulnerability.

One sinner could come and undo all of the great things that a wise man might be able to accomplish.

And this once again has in view the fact that we live in a fallen world.

There is never going to be one thing that is going to lead to some utopia for us on this side of heaven.

We can live in moments of peace. Again, the words of the wise heard in restfulness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

We're going to find periods of peace and prosperity. But even the best things that we're able to accomplish this side of heaven can be quickly undone by the evil that exists in the world because it's a fallen world.

And we won't get to that state of perfection until Christ returns.

So though the preacher here, he ponders and considers how much better wisdom is than having the strongest army or the largest kingdom, yet he recognizes that even wisdom, this side of heaven can, whatever wisdom can accomplish, it can be undone by sinful men because this is a sinful world.

So you have this tension that remains unresolved here as we finish up chapter nine. And that tension is only resolved in Christ.

Only Christ brings in perfect wisdom. Only he brings in the perfect kingdom.

So there are good things that we should pursue in this world. And whatever we do, we do it to the glory of God.

But remember that even those things can be undone by our own sin or some other sinner that comes in and by his evil makes life difficult for us.

But may these things teach us to rely more on God who raises the dead.

He will redeem us from our fallen state into the perfection of his eternal kingdom.

Heavenly father, we thank you for the kindness you have shown to us in Christ, our Lord, who died on a cross for our sins and rose again from the dead.

So whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Teach us the wisdom of Christ and these things that we have read.

And may we live according to that wisdom, even when we stumble, even when we are discouraged because of what people in this world will do to us.

We do not lose sight of Christ, the author and the perfecter of our faith, knowing that it is

Jesus who delivers us out of this present age into the age to come. It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen. This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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