God is Greater Than…Wisdom: The second trap to consider is thinking that pursuing a life of knowledge and wisdom, the intellectual life, will lead to lasting meaning and satisfaction. Now there’s nothing wrong with education, innovation, or technological breakthroughs, in fact, they can help so many areas of life. So get wisdom! But avoid the trap of pursuing knowledge and wisdom apart from God. Recorded on May 8, 2022, on Ecclesiastes 2:12-16, by Pastor David Parks.
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This message is part of our “God is Greater Than…” sermon series. There are several common traps that human beings have fallen into for thousands of years. Traps of believing that certain pursuits are satisfying enough to take the place of God in your life. But in the end, these pursuits reveal themselves to be ultimately meaningless and lead to a hollow and deeply unsatisfying life. Our series will examine the traps of pursuing pleasure, wisdom, work, and wealth before coming to the conclusion that God is greater than all.
Sermon Transcript
All year, we’re focusing on, The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series called “God Is Greater Than…” And we’ve said that there are several common traps that human beings have fallen into for thousands of years. These traps are traps of faith, of believing that certain pursuits are big/important/satisfying enough to take the place of God in your life. But in the end, these pursuits lead to a life of hebel, the Hebrew word translated as meaningless; ultimately, these pursuits lead to a life that is hollow and deeply unsatisfying. Our series will examine the traps of pleasure, wisdom, work, and wealth before coming to the conclusion that God is greater than all, and it’s only in him that life has meaning/significance which will last forever. Today, we’ll consider the trap of pursuing a life of wisdom, of pursuing more and more knowledge — the intellectual life. How could that be such a bad thing to be an intelligent person?? Why is the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom a trap? If you have a Bible/app, please open to Ecclesiastes 2:12.
Ecclesiastes 2:12-16 (NIV), “12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done? 13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. 14 The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both. 15 Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?” I said to myself, “This too is meaningless.” 16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!”
If you missed our series introduction a few weeks ago, you can go back and watch that if you’d like more background on the book of Ecclesiastes. But we’re assuming that King Solomon is the author, which means this book was written almost 3,000 years ago. And King Solomon was known for his wisdom which was a gift from God. So Solomon decided to go on a journey of discovery. He went on something like a quest to understand everything that is done under the sun — a phrase that means basically everything done in this broken world apart from God. And he did this in order to find out what, if anything, is truly meaningful, what among all the possible activities really matters in life — what really gives us meaning under the sun? Last week, we saw that this journey started with pursuing a life of pleasure. Solomon said that “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.” And he tried to see if good food, good wine, accomplishing big projects, entertainment, and sex, he tried to see if any of these things would lead to a meaningful life, but his conclusion is that it all ended up as hebel/meaningless/fleeting happiness, not lasting joy. What did he try next? Look back at v. 12.
Ecclesiastes 2:12 (NIV), “Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?” Let’s pause here. So, is it better to be a sane person in a broken world or an insane person in a broken world? Is it better to be highly educated and intelligent or to be a fool? Good question! Looking out into the world, it would seem that madness and folly have the market cornered. And to pursue, not just a growing list of facts and information you have memorized for the test, but a life of slow but steady growth in actual wisdom sounds like a ton of work over years and years. Is it worth it?? Is it worth all the work to be wise? Maybe yes, maybe no. Solomon’s first observation about wisdom is not encouraging. He says, “What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?” In other words, I think the point here is basically, what meaningfully changes from one generation to the next? Sure, there are innovations and new technology over time, but what really changes from one king to the next or one generation to the next? Isn’t it basically just more of the same pain/affliction/strife? Isn’t it just learning the same lessons over and over? Already in Ecclesiastes, Solomon observed, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecc 1:9). The overall picture of a secular life, a life without God, this “life under the sun” as Solomon says, seems to be a series of endless cycles, birth/death, season to season, king to king. For all our learning, are we actually making any progress? For all our trying, are we making any sort of difference? Let’s keep going. v. 13.
Ecclesiastes 2:13-14 (NIV), “I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.” So before we go any further, let’s define our terms here. What is knowledge, what is wisdom, and how are they related? Knowledge is a set of facts or information that you have learned and can recall. You can gain knowledge from a teacher, books, or by your own experience. You can have knowledge about many different things, but no one has perfect knowledge about everything. For example, you might have an advanced degree you spent years of your life working towards, building up a ton of knowledge about a certain sphere of life (engineering, healthcare, accounting, theology, or whatever!), but if your sink drain is clogged, you instantly realize, wow, there are whole spheres of knowledge out there that I do not have. And then you hop on YouTube to see if you could maybe gain some knowledge on the topic before eventually calling someone with way more knowledge than you to actually fix the problem. Now, a good plumber is going to have both knowledge and wisdom. They will know the facts about plumbing and drain clogs but they will also have enough experience to know what will most likely succeed in that particular situation. This is wisdom. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, wisdom is “the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment.” It’s a combination of what you know (knowledge) and how you apply that knowledge in life, of understanding both the truth and the times. In other words, wisdom understands what the right thing would be to do here/now. So do you see how it could be a great benefit to being wise or growing in wisdom? To know not only what all the possibilities might be to respond to some circumstance or in some situation, but what out of all those possibilities might be the best option. That’s wisdom.
The analogy that Solomon uses is one of light and darkness, which is often used in the Bible to represent truth and error. He says, “I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness;” So it is better to have wisdom than to be a fool? Of course it is! Just as light is better than darkness. Let me ask you this. How confident do you become if you have to walk across a room in the dark? Even your own bedroom becomes a potentially dangerous place to walk through in the dark. Every sense starts straining, you start imagining things, every dog is lying right in your path, it’s a hazard. But the wise person has the lights on. They can see. They know where they should walk and where would be dangerous. They can see where they’ve come from and where they are going and why. But the fool doesn’t see any of those things. They can’t see where they’ve come from or where they are going. They don’t understand what drives them or why they’ve had the same struggles/sins for years and years. They’re in the dark. Can a fool follow the right path? Sure, it’s possible. But it more likely happened by accident or perhaps by following someone who is wise, than it is because of their ability to see and understand the right path on their own. But what’s the conclusion? Look again at v. 14. “The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.” Oh no! The same fate overtakes them both. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how wise you are, it doesn’t matter how many advanced degrees you get or if anyone else sees you as an expert in any field, in the end, neither wisdom nor knowledge means you’ll live forever. In the end, death comes for all. Let’s finish with v. 15.
Ecclesiastes 2:15-16 (NIV), “Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?” I said to myself, “This too is meaningless.” For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!” This is hebel, this is meaningless! You can be the smartest person who ever lived. You can be, like King Solomon, the wisest person on the planet, one who is widely revered, whose opinion is highly valued by every other wise person, one whose writings are viewed as wisdom literature some 3,000 years later. But what’s the point? After 70, 80, maybe 90 years, we’re dead and gone. Like the fool, the wise too must die. So does this mean that wisdom is a waste? That all the years building up knowledge and then the years hammering/forging those facts into useful pieces of wisdom so that you understand what the right thing is for any given circumstance? If the fate of the wise person and the fool are the same, why go through all the trouble of being wise? Here’s where I think it’s important to remember that Solomon is exploring common traps that people fall into trying to find a meaningful life. We must see and understand the trap first. What is the trap of wisdom and knowledge? And why is this such a common temptation for people to replace God in their lives? Here’s the trap:
One of the most common misconceptions of the fundamental problem of the world is that of a lack of education. That all of our issues, conflicts, injustices, all of the sources of difficulty in life and society, all stem from simply a lack of information. That any problem can be solved by learning the facts of the matter and then wisely applying that information going forward. But is it true that more knowledge brings fewer issues in life or that, for example, advanced degrees will bring you more happiness in life? The answer is, it’s complicated. This is why it’s a trap. Sometimes and in some spheres of life, education (growing in your knowledge and wisdom) is incredibly helpful, in fact, it’s vital. You don’t have to walk through life in the dark. You can grow in your understanding of where you’ve come from and where you should go. You can get better at dealing with life and navigating difficult situations with wisdom. This is why it’s tempting to think that devoting your life to the cause of wisdom/knowledge will lead to a meaningful life. But just as we saw last week, sometimes it’s good to pursue pleasure, but sometimes the pursuit of pleasure leads us away from a flourishing life, the life that God has intended for us, his creatures. So in the same way, it is sometimes helpful to grow in wisdom and knowledge, but it won’t necessarily solve all your problems. There are still highly educated people who struggle at times with life/careers/marriages/kids/friends. We have a number of people who work in education in our church. Let me ask those of you who work in education, among the teachers/professors/administrators in schools, are there still issues/difficulties in the lives of the good people who work in education? Well, in the end, Solomon observed so many years ago that no amount of knowledge or wisdom, no scientific or technological breakthrough or innovation has the power to save your soul. And why not? Because the fundamental problem of the world is not a lack of wisdom or knowledge, it’s not a lack of education, just as it isn’t fundamentally an economic or political problem. According to God, the fundamental problem of the world is a sin and death problem. All other problems, conflicts, and injustices are the fruit of the root of sin. And this problem required not more information, but the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The death of Jesus on the cross paid the price for the sins of the world. And the resurrection of Jesus from the dead has broken the power of death forever. So anyone who would trust in Jesus as Lord, and anyone who would believe that God raised him from the dead, will be saved. The solution to the fundamental problem of the world has been provided in the person and work of Christ. So the Christian gospel is a message of good news of what God has already done that is received by faith. And this good news is offered to all people, whether you’re wise or a fool, whether you’re brilliant or barely made it through grade school. The family of God is not formed by your intellectual potential, but by faith in Jesus.
So what do we, as followers of Jesus do with this today? How might we be wise, in the application of wisdom in our lives today? I think first, we must see the value of wisdom. It doesn’t matter who you are or how many years you were in school, every single one of us has the God-given capacity to grow in our wisdom and knowledge. And given the chance, why wouldn’t we want to grow in that way? Why wouldn’t we want a better picture of the world around us and what reality is made of? And why wouldn’t we want a better path through that reality based on the truth and the light of wisdom to know not only what is right but how/when to apply that truth to life? Wisdom is a light to our path, and there isn’t an aspect of life that could benefit from you being a little more wise than you were yesterday. But here’s the trap: The trap is in thinking that more knowledge/wisdom/innovation/education, that better technology is all we need; that pursuing wisdom apart from God will lead to a meaningful and significant life. This is simply not true. Why? Because nothing in creation was made to exist without God. As creatures of God our creator, we were made to enjoy a real, personal knowledge of God in relationship to him. It doesn’t matter how many advanced degrees you might accumulate, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Ps 14:1). And as Solomon said, “the same fate overtakes” both the wise man or woman and the fool. So what do we do? How can we be wise about wisdom? I would say three things: first, don’t be a fool! If you need knowledge, if you need wisdom, go get it! “Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” (Pro 4:7). Think about who is really smart in some field that you’re interested in and listen to them, study them, read their books, watch their lectures, and try to absorb as much of their knowledge as you can. “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!” (Pro 16:16). It’s worth the effort. I’ve known some rich fools. But I’ve never known a wise person who was truly poor. Money comes and goes, but wisdom is truly valuable. James, the brother of Jesus wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (Jas 1:5). So God will help us in this task; all true wisdom and knowledge comes from him anyways. But second, don’t fall into the trap. Don’t throw your life away in the pursuit of wisdom/knowledge apart from God. The perspective of life under the sun, of life apart from God is a lie. It’s not the truth about reality. Also, the Apostle Paul wrote that “…knowledge puffs up while love builds up.” (1Co 8:1b). Sometimes increasing knowledge only leads to increasing pride. For these reasons and more, wisdom is a bad god; it was never intended to be big enough or powerful enough to worship and serve with your life. It was never meant to be our true source of hope or the solution to the fundamental problem of the world. So first, don’t be a fool, but second, don’t fall into the trap, either. Finally, third, realize that sometimes, the wisdom of God will look like foolishness to the world. Be humbly willing to set aside all of your hard-won knowledge and wisdom in the face of God’s wisdom. I’d like to close with a passage from 1 Corinthians 1:20–25 (NIV), “20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” So don’t be a fool, be wise and gain wisdom. But don’t fall into the trap of believing that gaining more wisdom/knowledge will lead to a life of meaning by itself. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Why? Because the gospel is the wisdom of God, and the foolishness of God is wiser than any human wisdom. Let us pray.