The Fear of the Lord Makes Us Fully Human
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Jeff Mattesich
Greg Waybright
- Ecclesiastes 1:2 & Ecclesiastes 12:8-14
- What's the Point?
- 29 mins 7 secs
- Views: 520
Questions from the Pastor
Questions from Pastor Greg 6/26/16
1. Read Ecclesiastes 1:2 and 12:8 and notice how Solomon begins and ends the book in the same way. What thoughts do you have as you read his words? Do you agree with him?
2. Even though he begins and ends with the same message, he is not merely repeating himself. He is anticipating that you have changed after reading Ecclesiastes. Has anything changed for you as you have studied the book? What makes things meaningless “under the sun”?
This is the P.S. that Solomon adds at the end of
Ecclesiastes in 12:9-14.
Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.
3. Read 12:9-10. What do you remember most about the book of Ecclesiastes? What is the most important lesson that you have learned (or hope you have learned)?
The sayings of those who are wise move people to take action. Their collected sayings are like nails pounded in firm and deep. Be warned, my child, of anything in addition to them.
4. Read 12:11. It’s clear that Ecclesiastes is supposed to be life-changing. What has Solomon said in the book that you are praying will change the way you think and the way you live?
Study Notes
The Point Is: The Fear of the Lord Makes Us Fully Human - Sermon Notes
The Point Is: The Fear of the Lord Makes Us Fully Human
Ecclesiastes 12:9-14
A few years ago, I took my Dad back to visit the place where I lived and grew up until age 12. It was on Maxwell Hill in Beckley, WV. We visited the old Maxwell Hill Elementary School where I went to school for six years.
My Dad commented on how little it all had changed over the many years. The school looked the same. The wooded areas too.
But, even though everything may have looked the same, it seemed so much different. And, I came to realize that the difference was that I had changed. I had lived in that place as a boy with all the hopes and dreams of a young boy. But, between the time I had grown up there and that I had returned there I had lived in Illinois, Wisconsin, Germany, England and California. I had been to a lot of schools and experienced countless things. In light of the 50 years that had gone by, everything may have been somewhat the same – but, at the same time, everything was different. It no longer looked like home. And, I knew that the world was much bigger than what I once what it was – than the world of my boyhood that had once been my entire world.
Ecclesiastes Ends Where It Began
If you’ve ever had an experience like that, i.e., of returning to something again only to find that it had not changed but you had, then you can understand one of the most profound things about the book of Ecclesiastes. I want you to notice that Solomon ends Ecclesiastes exactly the way he started it. In 1:2 and in 12:8, we find exactly the same message: “Meaningless! Meaningless!”says the Teacher..”
This putting the same message at the end as at the beginning was a very common way of teaching among Jewish rabbis. When we see that Ecclesiastes starts and ends exactly the same way, unless we’re paying no attention at all, it should be impossible to miss Solomon’s single goal in writing it: To demonstrate that, in this fallen world, everything that people live for apart from God is like a vapor, i.e., it all passes away.
This is not to say that Solomon is merely repeating himself when he says the same thing at the beginning and at the end. No, not at all! Although we come back to the same words at the end, when we do return, we are not the same people. By 12:8, we should have gained a bigger perspective on life than we once had. In this world, almost all people think that we can find something worth living for “under the sun” – but Solomon says no!
Over the past three months, we have let Ecclesiastes investigate one thing after another we might live for:
- Try education and learning: You’ll think you have grown, but you will soon find it’s empty on its own.
- Live life for pleasure -- “wine, women and song” -- but the short thrill of pleasure won’t satisfy long.
- Build houses; buy lands and pretend they will last but the status they bring will soon be in the past.
- Expand your career; make money in stashes but what good is it all when the stock market crashes.
Read through Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes and you’ll see he addresses everything “under the sun” that everyone has ever tried to live for. He declares that if anything “under the sun” is placed in the center of your life -- as your reason for living and source of your contentment -- it will prove to be meaningless. It will be like a vapor that is here one moment and gone the next. Everything is meaningless under the sun.
Solomon tells us that we can find short term enjoyment in things in this world. Indeed, they are gifts from God. But, there is nothing under the sun that is worthy of being at the core of your being. Bottom line: Ecclesiastes shouts out to us that we were made to live for something eternal. “God has placed eternity in the human heart (3:11).” There is nothing temporary that can fill that spot.
So, Solomon begins by saying, “Meaningless! Meaningless!”says the Teacher..” When you return to this at the end in 12:8, you know much more about the truth of that.
The P.S.: That’s Not the Last Word (12:9-14)
You need to envision a poignant pause between v.8 and v.9. Then, he says, "You know that the one who wrote this did was gifted with the gift of wisdom." This writer (Solomon himself, I believe) says, “I have written this book with great care – weighing, studying and arranging my teaching as diligently and truthfully as possible (12:9-10).
And, he says, “I taught this way as a “goad” (12:11) – as a prod to help all of you who read it to think consequently through the whole of your lives.” He’s like a loving pastor here, seeking to guide his flock through the dangerous alternative ways of life offered by people under the sun.
The main point he wants us to grab hold of at the end of the book is that meaninglessness is not the last word -- though he’s said at the beginning and the end that everything under the sun is meaningless, that is not his last word. Why? But because there is more to existence than what is under the sun! God is! God is to be known. If you will live, you must live in light of what is real – and God is real!
God did not create you to live a meaningless life but a life full of meaning! But, the way to find life is not the way secularists try to tell you to live. The only possible path to life, the Bible says, is to live your life in relationship to God. The way he puts this may, at first, seem foreign to us – but it truly is profound. He says that, if you will discover what your life is all about, this is what you must do:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is what it means to be fully human (12:13).
Three Essential Phrases
#1: “Fear God”
We don’t like to think about fear potentially being a good thing in SoCal. We all know how destructive fear can be. Here in Southern CA, the center of the world’s entertainment industry, we know how actors, musicians, chefs, etc. live in fear of what the audience will think of what they have done. There are many stories of how a bad word from a movie or restaurant critic can destroy a person’s career and self esteem. We know that a life lived in constant fear can be a debilitating life.
Back in 2007, Pixar made a movie about a character named Remy in Paris who loved food and wanted to be a chef. The only problem was that Remy was a rat and most people don’t want rats around their food. But, Remy is able to form an alliance with a garbage boy named Linguini to become the chef of a hot new restaurant in Paris. There is a scene in the movie that every actor, singer and chef understands very well, i.e., when the feared food critic named Anton Ego walks into the restaurant. All chefs feared him. They thought he could destroy them. That fear made them want to please him. And Mr. Ego was a proud man. He liked to destroy those he reviewed.
I won’t say anything more about the story except to let it show you that those people we fear often determine the direction of our lives. We want to please them so we make decisions that we think will please them.
It’s with that in mind that the Bible calls us to fear the Lord. The Psalms and Proverbs say repeatedly that the very foundation for doing anything that is wise is to fear the Lord, i.e., the One who made everything and is in charge of everything “under the sun”.
Do not miss this: The amazing thing is that when you open your eyes to see what the God is like whom you are called to fear, you look and you see that he is not like Anton Ego. The God of the Bible is the one who loves you with an everlasting love. He is the one who sent his Son in this world out of love, the Son who then gave his life on the cross for your sin so that you might find forgiveness and a life full of meaning.
The phrase “fear God”, for the Jewish people, directed them to the first command, i.e., to put nothing before God – nothing in the place of God. When you live in the fear of God, you have nothing to fear. When you seek only to please God, then you will love the world God made and the people made in his image. The fear of God casts out every other fear.
#2: “Keep God’s Commands” -- If we don’t like to consdier that the fear of the Lord can be a good thing, then we also really, really don’t like to think it’s good to let someone else command us. Adam and Eve reacted against God’s one command in Gen.2-3 and disobeyed him. And, you and I still do the same.
But, once you have seen that God is your Maker, that he knows how he made you to live, and that he loves you with an everlasting love, then you can understand why Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands.” And he said, “When you do, you will find I have not come to destroy your life but to give you life to the full.”
After reading Ecclesiastes, then your response should be, “Everything else under the sun promises so much but, when I give my life to it, it kills, steals and destroys. It promises so much and then lets me down.” And Jesus says, “That’s true. You were never meant to have those things at the center of your life. Follow me. Keep my commands and find life.” Jesus claims that keeping his commands is the key to living a life that is not meaningless – that is not a mere vapor.
Do you believe him? Are you ready to recommit today to obeying him?
#3: “This Is What It Means to Be Human” – In most Bible translations, v.13b translated as something like “this is the whole duty of a human being.” But that word “duty” is not in the Hebrew text. What Solomon says is simply, “Fear God and keep his commands for this is the whole – or essence -- of being human.”
What Solomon is doing here is calling us back to Genesis 2-3. When life had meaning in Gen 2, people walked with God and kept his commands. In Gen. 3, people ignored God and disobeyed his command. Throughout Ecclesiastes, Solomon has been forcing us to come to grips with how meaningless life is when we try to find meaning in anything under the sun – because we were made to have our relationship to God as the single most important part of our lives. When that’s true then everything finds meaning. You are I are human beings. You and I were made to know and live a life that pleases him. Live to please him – and you will find life. Put anything else in his place and you will find meaninglessness. That’s the message of Ecclesiastes.
It used to be that people that the sun revolved around the earth. We now know that this belief was wrong. The earth revolves around the sun. If JPL/NASA will do anything effectively, they need to make decision based on what is true about reality.
Today, many people think the whole world revolves around us. To live as if that were true, is at the heart of meaninglessness. It just isn’t true that everything revolves around you. There is a God, Maker of heaven and earth. God doesn’t revolve around you. You and I revolve around Him. When you fear God and keeps his commands, you will discover that “meaningful, meaningful, everything is meaningful” – when the God who is over the sun is at the center of your life.
Now, I’ll ask Pastor Jeff to come and talk with you about how you might apply this message to your life this week – and beyond.
Chinese Translation
The Point Is: The Fear of the Lord Makes Us Fully Human - Chinese Translation
活在神的面光之下，意義何在
傳道書12：9-14
幾年前，我帶著父親回到我生長到十二歲的地方，就是西弗吉尼亞州畢克禮的麥克斯維爾山。我們去了麥克斯維爾小學，我在那裏度過了六年的小學生活。http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-exraAJ_rLZY/U5NliT2LV3I/AAAAAAAACqc/DTkcWPUylzU/s1600/20140529_124954.jpg.
父親感嘆說，這些年那裏變化很小。學校看起來還是一如當年，樹林也是如此
一切看起來都沒有改變，然而卻又似乎很不同。我突然間明白了，不同的是，我改變了。當我住在那裏的時候，我還是一個小男孩，有著一個少年一切的希望和夢想。然而，從我在那裏成長，一直到我回到那裏的這段時間中，我住過伊利諾州，威斯康星州，德國，英國和加州。我去過了很多學校、經歷了無數事情。在逝去的五十年間，一切都可能有相同之處，但是同時，一切又都不同了，那裏不再像我的家了。其實，那裏看起來比我記憶中更美。我也知道，真實的世界比我曾經擁有的世界要大得多。
傳道書的終結之處正是它的開始之處
如果你有類似的經歷，曾經回到某個地方，發現那裏並沒有改變，而是你變了，那麽，你就可以理解傳道書中所說的一個最深刻的道理。我希望你能看到，所羅門結束傳道書的方式，正是他開始這部書的方式。在1：2 和12：8中，我們看到了相同的信息：“傳道者說，“虛空的虛空，虛空的虛空。凡事都是虛空。”
在很多猶太拉比的教導中，開頭和結尾都有著同樣的信息，這是非常普遍的一種手法。除非我們根本不留意，如果我們看到傳道書開始和結尾如此相似時，我們就不可能錯過所羅門寫這部書的一個重要目的：他想要告訴人們，在這個墮落的世界中，人們任何生存的目的，若是遠離了神，都是虛空的，都將成為過去。
這並不是說，所羅門只是簡單地在開頭和結尾重復了他自己的話。不是這樣的！盡管他在結尾的時候使用了同樣的話，然而當我們再次讀到它的時候，我們已經不同了。當我們讀到12：8時，我們應當站在了俯瞰人生更高的角度。在這個世上，幾乎所有的人都認為，我們在“日光之下”可以找到值得我們為之而活的一些東西，但是所羅門說，不是的！
• 獲得更多的教育，知識，和智慧是虛空的
• 為享受而活 – “紅酒，女人和音樂”不會長久地滿足你。
• 建造房子和土地也不能持久
• 發展你的事業和擴充你銀行的存款會使你破產
• 功成名就將轉眼成空
如果所有這一切都成為你活著的理由和得到滿足的途徑，那麽，它們最終都會成為虛空，就像蒸汽，這一刻還在，下一刻就消失無蹤。在日光之下，一切都是虛空。
所羅門不斷地提醒我們，我們可以從其中找到短暫的享受，也可能會找到值得我
們“在日光之下”為之而活的事物。但是，所羅門一再強調，這一切都如同蒸汽一般。不管你為何而活，它最終都將被死亡奪走。
結論：傳道書向我們大聲疾呼，我們受造是為了永恒而活。“神將永生安置在人心裏”(3：11)。有限的事物無法填充那個位置。
因此，所羅門在開始的時候說：“虛空的虛空，虛空的虛空！凡事都是虛空。”當你在傳道書最後一章12：8中再次讀到這句話的時候，你會更多地理解這個真理。
後記：這不是最後的結語（12：9-14）
你要去體會第8節和9節之間那個深刻的停頓。接下來他說，你知道，寫下這一切的人擁有天賜的智慧。這位作者（我相信就是所羅門自己）說，我非常謹慎地寫下這本書，經過權衡、研究和安排，“又默想，又考查，又陳說許多箴言（12：9-10）。
並且他說，“智慧人的言語，好像刺棍（12章11節）， 作為一種督促，來幫助所有讀到它的人們，去思索他們整個的人生。”在這裏，他就像一個慈愛的牧者，在日光之下，設法引導他的羊群通過世人所給出的、危機四伏的人生道路。
在這本書的結尾，他希望我們能夠理解的主要觀點是：虛空不是他最後要說的話， 盡管他在開始和結束時都說“日光之下一切都是虛空”，但這並不是他最後的結語。 為
什麽？因為世上所存在的東西，比“日光之下”所見的要多！神就是超越“日光之下”而存在的，祂是可以被人認識的。如果你活著，你就必須活在真實的事物中，而神才是真實的！
神創造你的目的，並不是讓你生活在無意義之中，而是活在充滿了意義的生活中！但是，尋找生命意義正確的途徑，不是世俗主義者所告訴你的途徑。聖經說，生命唯一的道路，是活在你與神的關系之中。祂鋪設的這條道路，初看起來，似乎對我們很陌生，然而卻是意義深遠的。所羅門說，如果你想找到生命的真諦，那麽你必須去做下面的事：
敬畏神，謹守他的誡命，這是人所當盡的本分。（12:13）。
三件重要的事情
第一：“敬畏神”
在南加州，人們不喜歡去思考任何擔憂，這似乎很正常，因為擔憂使人脆弱。南加州是世界娛樂產業的中心，我們都知道，演員、音樂家、廚師等很多人都活在擔憂之中，他們擔心觀眾對他們的所行所為有看法。很多故事都講過，不好的影評或餐館評論家的惡言都會摧毀一個人的職業生涯與自尊。
早在2007年，皮克斯制作了一部電影，講述了住在巴黎的瑞米的故事，他熱愛餐飲業，並且想要成為一名廚師。唯一的問題是，瑞米是一只老鼠，大多數的美食家都不想讓老鼠接近他們的食物。瑞米與一個名叫淩貴尼的撿垃圾的男孩結成聯盟，成為巴黎一家熱門餐廳的主廚。在這部電影中有一個場景，是每一個演員、歌手和廚師都明白的，那就是當可怕的餐飲評論家安東走進餐館的時候。所有的廚師都害怕他。他們覺得他可以毀掉他們。這使他們想要討好他。安東先生是一個驕傲的人，他喜歡摧毀那些他所評估的人。
我不想說太多關於這部電影的細節，我只想讓大家知道，我們所懼怕的那些人，往往可以決定我們人生的方向。我們想要取悅他們，做出他們喜歡的決定。
正是在這樣的心態中，聖經呼召我們要敬畏神。詩篇和箴言反復地強調，智慧行事的基礎，就是敬畏神，敬畏那位創造萬有、在“日光之下”掌管一切的神。
不要錯過這一點：你張開眼睛，看到你所應當敬畏的神，奇怪的是，祂並不像安東先生。聖經中的神是以永遠的愛來愛你的神。因著愛，祂差遣祂的獨生愛子來到世上，為了你的罪在十字架上流血舍命，為要使你得到赦免，找到充滿意義的人生。
對於猶太人來說，“敬畏神”這句話將他們帶回十誡的第一條戒命，就是除耶和華之外，不可敬拜別神，不可有任何事物代替神。當你生活在對神的敬畏之中的時候，你就無所畏懼。當你單單尋求討神的喜悅時，你就會愛那些按照祂的形象所造的人。對神的敬畏會去除一切的恐懼。
第二，“謹守神的戒命”---- 如果我們不願承認對神的敬畏可以是一件好事，那麽，我們也就特別不想被命令。亞當和夏娃正是違反了這一點，沒有遵守神的戒命。你和我也仍然在這樣做。
但是，一旦你認識到，神是你的創造者，祂命定你生活的方式，祂對你的愛恒久不變，那麽你就會理解為什麽耶穌說，“如果你愛我，就要遵守我的戒命。”祂說，“當你如此行，你就會知道，我來不是要行毀壞，而是要使你的生命更豐盛。”
在讀過傳道書之後，你的回應應當是：“在日光之下其他一切都給人很多承諾，但是，當我將我的生命付給這一切的時候，它們就會殺害，偷盜和毀壞。它們對我們有很多的承諾，然而接著就會使我們失望。”耶穌說，這是真的。你永遠不應當將那些事情放在你生命的中心。跟隨我。遵守我的戒命，就會得到生命。
你相信祂嗎？你有沒有準備好重新委身於祂，並順服祂？
第三：“這就是人類的本質” ---- 大多數的聖經翻譯都將13節翻譯成“人所當盡的本分”。但是“本分”一詞並不在希伯來原文中。所羅門的意思很簡單，就是“敬畏神，遵守祂的戒命，因為這就是人類的本質。”
所羅門在這裏帶領我們回到創世紀2-3章。在創世紀第二章中，在人生還有意義的時候，人與神同行，遵守祂的戒命。在創世紀第三章，人們忽視神，違反祂的戒命。在整本傳道書中，所羅門迫使我們去思考，當我們試圖在日光之下的任何事物中去尋找意義的時候，人生都將會是多麽的沒有意義，因為神在創造我們的時候，就已定規，我們與神之間的關系，是我們生命中唯一最重要的部分。當這個關系得以實現的時候，一切就都有了意義。作為人，你和我都應當知道，我們的生命應該討神的喜悅。如果你活著單為討神的喜悅 ---- 你就會找到生命。如果你將其它事物放在祂的位置上，你就會得到虛空。這就是傳道書的信息。
人們曾經認為太陽是圍繞著地球轉的。我們現在知道了，這是錯誤的，事實上，地球是圍繞太陽轉的。噴氣推進實驗室和美國國家航空航天局如果要有效率地做任何事，他們都需要根據事實來做決定。
今天，很多人認為，整個世界都圍著我們轉。若是對此信以為真，那就是虛空的本源。一切並不都是圍著你轉的。有一位神，天地的創造者，這位神不圍著你轉。你和我要圍著祂轉。當你敬畏神，遵守祂的戒命、當日光之上的神成為你生命的中心的時候，你就會發現，有意義，有意義，凡事都有意義。
榮耀歸給神，
Greg Waybright 博士
主任牧師