A wise man’s service
[Ecclesiastes 7:8-10]
This morning I called two church members who made me a side dish. After I tasted the side dish, I called them to thank them. One of them told me that she went to the hospital because she was sick and came back home. And she told me that she would come to our church until she dies. When I heard that, I was thankful. It is beautiful to serve one another in the church and to serve the Lord together. When we can look at the beauty of service in our lives, we see a small Jesus from each other. And I think that such a small Jesus meeting is a true community of Jesus. May our church be a community of such service. And the question that we throw is “How should I serve”
As we began to meditate on Ecclesiastes chapter 7, we were taught about ‘the mind of the wise’ (vv. 1-4) and ‘the wisdom of the wise’ (vv. 5-7). Today, God is giving us the valuable lesson in the text of Ecclesiastes 7:8-10, that is ‘service of the wise.’ So in today's text, I want to think about how the wise serves the Lord. How does the wise do the Lord’s work? Let us think about it in three ways:
First, the wise man works to the end and bears a fruit.
Look at Ecclesiastes 7:8 – “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, ...”. King Solomon says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (v. 1). And he said,there is “a time to be born and a time to die” (v. 2). And in Ecclesiastes 7:2 he speaks of the death of all of us. In other words, the Bible says that the end of all of us in this world is death. And in today's text Ecclesiastes 7:8, the Bible says that the end of the matter is better than its beginning. What does it mean? Here, "The end of a matter" refers to the fruit of what the person does. It is "better than its beginning" means it is better than just starting and is not doing (Park Yun-sun).
Looking back at our everyday life, there are many things that we start but don’t finish. For example, I like to open a book and start to read it, but most of the time I can not read until the end. In addition to reading books, there are a lot of things that I can not finish and postpone. While we are working in this way, we think that there aren’t many times when we can not finish our work by comforting ourselves with the idea that "work is half started". However, the Bible does not just start, but exhort to finish the work to the end and bears a fruit. I have personally meditated on Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, 7: 2, and 7: 8 together. And it made me to think about what kind of fruit am I bearing as I am trying to fulfill God’s given purpose in my life before death. So I asked these questions to myself: ‘What kind of fruit did I bear as I had been doing the work of the Lord?’, ‘What fruit did I expect from the work of the Lord that I am doing?’, ‘When I stand in front of the Lord and settle the account in front of the Lord, is there any fruit I can offer to the Lord?' etc.. With the thought that it would not be a fig tree without fruit, I thought that God would expect me another fruit from me. I think that life should run to the end. No matter how great the beginning is, our end should not be too small. Although the beginning was weak, it is beautiful when the end is great. Of course, there is no need for the end to be great. The important thing is that we should never get off in the race of faith while doing the Lord's work. We must run the race of faith until the end. We must run as we think about the end. And we should run to the end. And we must bear beautiful fruits to the Lord. There must be praiseworthy fruits in our lives in God's sight.
Second, the wise man works with a patient heart.
Look at Ecclesiastes 7:8 – “… and patience is better than pride.” Last week, what God had taught me through the conversation that I had with my friend pastor was ‘Be patient’. Especially in the work of the Lord, my friend pastor encouraged me to have a lot of patience and humility. This encouragement was gentle rebuke in my heart. The reason is because I see the impatience in me. Not only that I have impatient personality but also but there is a tendency in me to think too hastily and not to be patient in doing the Lord's work. And since I think in a hurry, there are a lot of mistakes that I am making. A greater risk is that I can ruin God’s work. How? It is by going ahead of God. When I think about myself, the reason I am in hurry is because of my proud heart (v. 8). There is no perseverance in the arrogant heart. Rather, there is impatience in the arrogant heart. That’s why not only in words but also in the realm of thought, I am ahead of the Lord in haste. Therefore, those who are impatient like me should listen to the words of Proverbs 21:5 and 29:20 – “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty” (21:5), “Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (29:20). The Bible says that not only hasty people don’t have hope, but also those who are impatient lead to poverty. This is what King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 7:9 – “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.” In doing the work of the Lord, we can encounter many difficult things, but we also can have a lot of angry moments. In those circumstances, if we are not patient but are angry like a fool, then we can ruin the Lord’s work. So this is what Proverbs 19:11 says: “A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.” We are told by proverbs that when we are angry we must persuade someone who has made us angry with patience. Look at Proverbs 25:15 – “Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.” How beautiful would it be to be patient with when we are angry and to speak to the other person with the gentle tongue, so that we can persuade the other person and do the work of the Lord together?
We have to be patient. In order to be faithful to the Lord's work to the end, we must be patient. We have to be patient. We must listen to James 5: 10-11: “Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” We will see the good ending that the Lord gives us when we fully trust Him and patiently wait for Him.
Lastly, the wise man is faithful to reality in doing His work.
Look at Ecclesiastes 7:10 – “Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions.” When we do the Lord's work, there are times when it is hard and difficult. In those times, we must fulfill the Lord's work to the end with a humble heart. We must fulfill the Lord's work faithfully and bear fruit until the end with a sense of mission. However, when we face very difficult things in doing the Lord’s work, there is danger that our hearts may become proud and thus we stop the work of the Lord. We cannot afford to work until the end and give up on the way. The start may have been tremendous, but we cannot accomplish it. The reason is that when we are arrogant we lose patience and jump in haste. And we cannot temper our feelings and sometimes we get angry in adversity. Not only we are angry with the situation, we are angry with people around us, and even with ourselves. The Bible refers to these people as fools (v. 9). And the fools miss the past days when they were prospered in the present times of trouble and adversity (v. 10). It’s like a worker who thinks that it was a good idea to start work, but as he continued to work, he missed a good time of the past when he encountered difficulties. This is the thought of a fool. So fools are being unfaithful to the present life by being led by the past of the sweet fantasy instead of being faithful to the Lord’s given calling and mission, face the reality and finish His work. Therefore, fools are continually trying to deny reality. He can not accept reality as it is. But a wise man accepts reality as it is. And he is faithful to reality. Instead of longing for the past and stay in the past, he remembers the grace from the past and commemorates it in the present. And as he commemorates it, he moves forward by faith, believing that God will rescue him in this present difficulties and hardships he faces. Not only that, but the wise will move forward with the hope of the future. He is never past-oriented, but futuristic. If we borrow the words of the apostle Paul, the wise man is he who moves toward the goal. As a race of faith, it is wise to look at the goal line. Knowing that the Lord will reward him if he passes the goal line, the wise man looks at the reward and runs the race faithfully toward the goal. Therefore, King Solomon is encouraging us not to say “Why were the old days better than these?” (Eccle. 7:10). I think this is reproof rather than exhortation. We must humbly listen to this rebuke from the wise Teacher King Solomon.
One of the things that God gives me understanding nowadays as I am serving the Lord’s church is I am lacking in wisdom. When I see this lack of wisdom in me, one of the confessions that I can only make is that I came thus far by God's total grace. As I am confessing that by God’s grace I was able to serve the Victorious Presbyterian Church until this day, I am concern that I would have made my church members difficult due to my lack of wisdom. So I got a prayer request. That prayer request is to ask God for wisdom. I want to keep on holding unto God’s promise of James 1:5 and to pray: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” As I am doing so, I am thankful that I am able to meditate on the Book of Ecclesiastes every Wednesday in a prayer meeting. It is because God is teaching me the wisdom of the heart through the Book of Ecclesiastes. In particular, concerning today's text Ecclesiastes 7:8-10, God has given me and you three lessons regarding the service of the wise man: (1) First, the wise man works to the end to bear the fruit, (2) Second, the wise man works with a patient heart, and (3) Lastly, the wise man is faithful to reality in doing His work. I hope and pray that you and I can take these lessons to our hearts and serve the Lord and His church wisely.