Ecclesiastes...Pastor Phil Strong

Part 19

7-3-11                                    

Text: Ecclesiastes 12

“That’s the whole story: fear God and obey his commands, for this is the wholeness of man…” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

                The “fear of the Lord” (like the “love of God”) is something best described, rather than defined. It is a quality of life.

            This is not Solomon’s, “Life is brief… this is as good as it gets”, declaration, but his admonition that because life is so brief, so fleeting, every moment counts; life is consequential.

            What Solomon provides us is a ‘narrowing’ which offers our hearts clarity and direction and prevents us from all of the futile pursuits apart from him.

“Fear of the Lord”--- is the stock biblical term for the right posture toward him; seeing God as central to all of life and learning to re-order our lives accordingly.

● Will I ever get to the point where I would sincerely desire carrot sticks over an apple fritter? And not just that I would or could “choose” it because I was disciplined enough or determined that it was good for me, but it’s what I truly desire.

● Maybe as I learn to choose what is best for me, it’s still possible to acknowledge the dark, sinful (sinister) lure of the fritter, while learning to delight in another desire.

Maybe, eventually, it will simply become harder to choose the fritter than the carrot stick.

● Will I, can I ever reach a point of development where obedience to God comes naturally? Maybe, as our affections are transformed, it can actually become harder to sin than to obey.

Let me say this without being able to develop it fully:

In order for the transformation to be authentic- in order for truth to transform us, it has to go deeper than our morality; it must reach all the way to the “inner parts”.

Any discussion concerning the transformed-life cannot begin with our “behavior”. It’s the “outside of the cup” syndrome.

You end up being the guy on the court with the head band, sweat bands, latest “Jordan’s”… but you “got no game!” Oddly, everyone knows it except you.

Never just settle for looking like the real thing!

Psalm 51:6 “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place”.

● It means that we are actually becoming the kind of people who don’t need to be told what to do all the time, because the transforming love of God is shaping us in such a way that our lives are producing what the Kingdom-way-of-life actually requires.

If not, the best you can hope for is a harvest of ‘plastic fruit’. You don’t bear plastic fruit, you manufacture it. It’s not authentic.

● Life always requires a response from us and “obedience” (surrender/submission) is the response that allows you to experience a strength/empowerment you can experience in no other way. It makes us available to “grace”.

            By definition, it is to “voluntarily surrender to the will of another” (Webster’s). It’s not about “succumbing to reality and losing your will to live”, it’s about “finding life in someone else”!

Obedience is about being willing to give to God something he could never (would never) attempt to confiscate (seize) from you--- your heart; your will.

            I said previously that “surrender is not simply indecisiveness, but the toughest decision you will ever make”.

Know that God is not interested in obedience for obedience sake.

“Because I said so”… the single phrase which did little to motivate me toward obedience as an adolescent and even less to prompt me toward right-living as a Christian. Begrudging obedience can harden us more to God than disobedience… at least that’s authentic!

It’s hard to keep the rules when you’re trying to keep the rules!

In order to keep the rules, you must be aiming at something higher--- becoming the kind of person from whom the right kind of behavior naturally flows. Because we were created to ‘love’, not just obey the rules.

● Laws are good because they define appropriate and safe behavior, but they cannot inspire it; they can outline consequences for disobedience (curse), but they cannot ensure our observance.

In fact, laws don’t prevent wrong behavior, they almost seem to ‘arouse’ it (i.e. ‘do not touch’, ‘no exit’).

Sin always finds a way to pervert the Law into something “forbidden”; something being “withheld” from me (Romans 7).

● But, there are a couple of distinct advantages to “life according to the rules”:

1. It’s accommodating: it’s allows you to tailor the rules in order to ensure maximum levels of success; to present us in the most favorable light. In essence, it’s “getting to call your own fouls”.

2. It’s affordable: it’s like “O’Sullivan Furniture”--- it doesn’t cost as much and it still looks real! The problem? It won’t last.

I obey because it allows me to function properly in God’s world.

            It answers the question, “Who are you to tell me what to do?” It appears that the one who has given the command has every right to expect obedience.     

I obey because I understand the limits of my perspective.

I propose that there are some questions God simply cannot answer: not because he doesn’t know the answer, but because the answer would not suffice.

We always taught our children to hold our hands when walking through a parking lot or not stop and talk with strangers. It’s really not even possible to fully explain the dangers involved because of their level of comprehension (innocence) and lack of experience.

(John 16:12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear”.)

● There are times in all of our lives when we must choose to obey simply because there are too many aspects of our life which are either incomprehensible or easily misinterpreted. There are too many missing components.

Obedience always has its “moorings” in history and hope.

            Having “history with God” makes each life-decision feel a little less risky; a little less like a blind-leap of faith. It’s remembering “how you did it the last time”.

            Hope means that our obedience is not only established in where we have been, but in the vision of where we are going and who we are becoming.

I obey because it takes a lot of the “guesswork” out of life for me.

When we learn to respond to life based on healthy, biblical convictions, we reduce the margin for error in our lives; we experience the value of “pre-determined obedience”.

Without them, you face this internal “tug-o-war” with each new decision. And, postponing obedience only intensifies your desires and makes it more difficult to say no.

● No one can ignore the miraculous in the story, but

story of Daniel is about how to live out our values in our culture; how to remain faithful to God’s design and maintain our ‘distinctiveness’ without ‘distancing’ ourselves from the very ones we are called to influence.

We spend our lives in this process of “valuing” (real worth) and “evaluating” (assessing; value we place on it).

● Although there are a number of variables involved in shaping our values, it seems that they are predominantly either determined by the prevailing attitude of the culture (‘conformity’- external pressure to succumb; strong suggestion), or by adopting God’s representation of life… truth (‘transformation’).

Obedience is the “fruit” (evidence) of trust.

            It’s letting someone else “pack-your-chute”! (e.g. in Atlanta with the Todd’s)

I obey because I am the object of His love.

It’s the proper response to God’s stubborn love in the face of my persistent rebellion.

In Galatians, Paul says, “I live in this earthly body by trusting in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me” (2:20).