16. Here is God's holy word, Ecclesiastes 10, 16. Woe to you, O land, when your king has a child and your princes feast in the morning. Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles and your princes feast at the proper time for strength and not for drunkenness. Because of laziness, the building decays and through idleness of hands, the house leaks. A feast is made for laughter and wine makes merry. But money answers everything. Do not curse the king even in your thought. Do not curse the rich even in your bedroom, for a bird of the air may carry your voice and a bird in flight may tell the matter. God's holy word. Let's pray. Our father, we thank you for the wisdom that you give us, for all the sorts of literature, the sacred literature that we enjoy in the word of God, the prophecies, the gospels, the epistles, the histories. And we thank you, Lord, for the wisdom literature that instructs us in very practical ways about our lives, always with an eye to our good and your glory. We pray you would give us eyes tonight to see and ears to hear in Jesus name. Amen. Beloved congregation, some take these verses, Ecclesiastes 10, 16 to 20, to be addressed primarily to rulers, or as one commentator put it, mostly about rulers. Certainly there are another instance in this wonderful book of a call to exercise, you might say, practical political wisdom, or as our title has it, to live a balanced life. We tend to extremes, don't we? And we need to hear the call to balance again and again. And these verses then instruct us in that way of living a balanced life. Not one of decadence, first of all, nor one merely of denial, on the other hand, but lastly, one of discretion. One of discretion. So, d's is the word for the night. Not one of decadence. Not one merely of self-denial, but one of discretion. We're called, one and all, not to live a life of decadence, such as we see portrayed particularly in verses 16 and 18. Verse 16 gives us a prime portrait here of decadence and dissipation. A land, this is what we're given here, this is the picture, a land in which the self-centered and the self-seeking, not the self-giving and the self-governing, dominate. A land in which the governor, as it's put here, is a child. The king is a child. Now, this recapitulates if you say, I recall here Solomon before bemoaning the fate of those who have rulers who are foolish or not so Benevolent or not so good as rulers. Indeed, it recapitulates and intensifies earlier concerns mentioned by Solomon, even the kind mentioned in verses five to seven of this chapter. Remember there in verses five to seven of Chapter 10, we talked about. It when it when it speaks of folly, setting great dignity for six, the rich in a lowly place, servants on horses while Prince is walking on the ground like servants. You remember that? And I I evoked there for you that that particularly that medieval tradition of the Lord of Misrule, how they would. how they would understand that around Christmas time they would have this bazaar for anywhere from a day to several of where servants could sort of take the place of the masters and vice versa. But they understood that to be toxi-turvy. They understood that to be to be wrong. It was kind of a one of these medieval, you know, sort of game things that they like to play. Children are to be governed. See, it speaks of Woe to you, land, when your king is a child. Children are to be governed ordinarily, not governing, because they're immature. They're self-seeking. And what a blight it is for a land to have the ways of a child inflicted on them as a whole kingdom. But we should note this, this can't refer merely, or we could even say maybe even mostly to age, because we do see in scripture and history examples of fine young rulers and their regents. So we need to say that no one made more reforms in Judah. You might remember, I believe it was last year when Pastor was gone, I preached about this. No one made more reforms in Judah than godly young Josiah. Josiah was the child king who was a remarkable reformer, really without equal. And in history, Protestants in the reign of Edward VI, Edward VI was the child of Henry VIII, was the son of Henry VIII. He had all these other daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, and so forth. But he came to the throne in 1547 at the death of Henry and reigned till 1553. Unfortunately, he was not in good health. He reigned from 9 till 16 and died then. And he had regents who helped to rule. But he was a very godly young man and was intent on reformation and under him. Archbishop Kramer and others were able to put together the 42 and then the 39 articles, the first book of common prayer, which was really the first clear expression of a reformed church in England over against Henry couldn't decide what he knew. He didn't like the Pope, but Henry wasn't too keen on the Reformation either. Henry just sort of liked what he liked. But Edward, His son was a real reformer and he was called by the by the believers, the second Josiah. So it isn't just youth. It isn't just youth. And of course, we read Paul saying to Timothy, let no man despise thy youth. And he tells Timothy how as a minister he's to conduct himself. No, it refers to whatever the age of the person. Now, it is the case that One who is lesser in age will be generally more immature. It's also the case that when one is older in age and one is immature and foolish, that's a more pitiable sight to behold. One can expect immaturity. One can expect childishness in children. Let's just put it that way. But it's particularly unbecoming in adults. There are few things more grotesque. than an adult, than a man, than a king who runs his country like he's a little boy. And so he runs his country as if all of this, this country, which God has given me charge over, is mine. These are all my toys. These toys are for me and my friends. And so we talk about me and my friends. I'm going to take care of me and my friends. I'm sure living in this area we live in, we could never think of a politician or anybody who would talk about, I'm going to take care of me and my family and my friends. You can just let that soak in. But that's childish, this kind of self-centeredness. And it's a blight of someone who is a ruler, who is in no sense a servant, in the sense that they help, seek to help and to promote justice and righteousness and all the kinds of things that a ruler ought to promote. But rather, it's all about me. This is all about what a great palace I can have and how many, you know, I'll use all of this money, the people's money, the hard-earned money to build this beautiful thing for myself. Yes. So we say, then, when a land is said to be lamented when the king is a child, what that means is one, even if older, whatever their age, who is childish, self-centered, self-seeking, who governs as if it's all about him and his friends and his favorites. This is the way of the Gentile world leaders, our Lord, Savior. Remember that? Which is grabbing, not giving. James and John and Mark can come to Jesus and of course there's there. It's told in fuller senses in the other Gospels. Their mother comes and says, well, here are my boys. Can they sit in your right and left hand when they come to the kingdom? And there's this whole thing. And the other disciples get mad about this because they want to sit there, not because they're saying you shouldn't say that. And Jesus rebukes them. He says, this whole way of trying to elbow yourself to the front and seek privilege and seek all of these rights, if you will, this is the way of the Gentile world leaders. They lord it over you. The way of my kingdom is a way of service. He says it's a way of service, so that kingdom greatness is a four letter word spell L A S T. You heard that in that thing I said. You heard those of you who are at the ordination. Well, such self-centeredness manifests itself, doesn't it, in the ill use of time, treasure and talents. When we're self-centered, when we're childish, We want to use our time the way we want it to. We want all of our our treasures to be ours. We want all of our talents, all that God's given. It's all about me. It's how I want to live. And there are lands that are governed this way. There are churches that are run in this fashion. I'll be frank with you, I mean, I used to be in a church in my earlier years when it was it was pastor centered and the pastor was Big Daddy. And whatever the pastor wanted, that's what happened. And church discipline was the pastor standing in the pulpit and mentioning your name and throwing you out. Thank God we don't do things that way. I mean, some of you are sitting there going, I can't even imagine such a thing. But it's out there all over the place. There's that kind of thing where you have churches that are little fiefdoms, little dominions of some man. And it's always some man and his family. And usually the sons are never even as good or charismatic as he is. And so you have to suffer under that as well, the children. And it just goes on and on. And there are there are whole households that are run this way. It's just all self-centered. And how does it particularly what's the what's the payoff here? You have you have verse 16, your king is a child. And your princes feast in the morning. This speaks of a land in which the rulers are self-centered. And in which those that rule together with them feast in the morning, that is to say they use the prime time of day, not constructively, not to carry out the work of the kingdom, not to serve those in the kingdom in a constructive way, but they use the prime time of day to party. They're partying in the morning. Wow, this is really bad. I mean, you know, my wife and I, I remember some years back, I guess that was the first and only time she had been to New Orleans. And this was pre, you train it pre everything, pre 9-11. We're walking around New Orleans and she's just amazed that, you know, it's not noon yet. OK, it's not Mardi Gras either. OK, it's just. What was it, June or July? Something like that. Summertime. And we're walking around. We're in the French Quarters. We're going to some antique stores and so forth. And in the French Quarters, they have these drive-through or walk-through. Drive-through. You get drive-through or walk-through drink places where you can get drinks. And so there are people walking around sipping margaritas at like 10.30 in the morning. And my wife is just like, this is just too much. This is hardcore. I mean, people are crazy. Yeah, they're partying in the morning. That's what this is talking about. I mean, that's just kind of an utter, an ultimate expression of that self-centered. And Mardi Gras is that. It's carnival time, which means farewell to the flesh. That's what carnival means. But farewell to the flesh means I'm in the process of saying farewell to the flesh when Lent comes. But maybe before it comes, I'm going to give the flesh some do here. So I'm saying goodbye. I'm waving goodbye. But in the meantime, I'm partying in the morning, in the evening, all the time. That's what we have a picture of here. What a waste of one's gifts, one's resources, the day. While such is particularly unseemly in a ruler, right? That's what it's saying. It's particularly unseemly in a ruler, in a governor, in a king, in princes to behave like this. It's lamentable in anyone. Use the resources that God has given you in serving him and others, not in wasteful dissipation. Not playing games when you ought to be doing schoolwork. Oh, I didn't know you were going to say things like that. Of course I am. I don't think we have any rulers here, at least of the state. But that's the thing. I mean, if it's morning time and you're supposed to be doing schoolwork and you're like, I just want to hang out and not do that and do all these games. That's the same kind of thing. That's exactly what we're talking about. Playing games when you ought to be doing school or Sleeping when you should be serving, wasting time at the office, you know, sitting in meetings. I've seen, now I'm going to get really, I don't know anybody here, but I've seen presbyters sit in presbytery meetings and play solitary. Now, that's not right. That's not what you're there for. It's not what you're there for. Or at home, just goofing off with undue Internet or music or TV, simply serving self. I'm not saying again, you know, oh, here you go again. You're saying we can't even get on the Internet or listen to some music. I'm not saying that at all. And, you know, I'm not. But what I'm saying is doing that particularly in the place of what you ought to be doing constructively through such sloth and indolence. And that takes us down to verse 18 through such. Ordinary duties are neglected. If you're if you're self-centered and self-serving like a child and you're feasting in the morning, you're partying when you ought to be working and doing constructive things, then verse 18, you see, ordinary duties are neglected and the roof sinks and the house leaks. Most commentators tie this in with verse 16, and I think they're right to see verse 18 as descriptive of what happens to a land afflicted by a childish, self-seeking, self-indulging, dissipated, decadent leadership, which is to say the management of the affairs of state go to ruin and the vessel of state is shipwrecked. It's the same also, though, with a business. You don't attend to business that's going to happen. It's that same way with the church. If the office bearers don't tend to the duties there and the members don't tend to it, it falls into decay. That's what's being said. We all know this. Nobody has to prove this. The world knows this, right? Things not tended to go to decay. Certainly, it's true in the house. It's literally true for the householder and for the one who neglects His study, if they're a student, his work, whatever work you're called to do, his family. If you neglect your family, this is true of relationships. You know, the thing is, all of us, there's not a one of us here who don't have to tend to this because we might think, oh, well, you know, I have it. I have this down in terms of my my house is in perfect order. But what about all your relationships with people? What about your spiritual life? Think how this applies to your spiritual life. Neglect the word. Neglect prayer. Neglect coming before God and communing with him and meditating on his word. Neglect fellowship with his people. Get in a funk and just, you know, that's what we do. We get off by ourselves like, I'm in a funk. I don't want to see anybody or have anything to do with anything. And so we don't go to church in the time of need, the greatest need. We neglect what we most need. It's like saying, I'm starving, so I'm not going to eat. But that's what happens. And what happens? Verse 18, the building decays. The house leaks and you say, what level does this work on every level you can think of? This is the kind of question I say to certain people in counseling, especially particularly smart people, people who are legal minded, I'll say now. I've asked you, are you involved in this or this or this? Now I'm asking you to tell me what you're involved in that I have not yet asked you about because you've evaded it and you're smart here. Answer the question that you don't want me to ask. But I'm asking you say that's that's the way this needs to be applied to you. You know better than I do what. where this needs to be applied in your life. I know where it needs to be applied in my life. It needs to be applied in every area. There needs to always be the attention. Nothing is ever automatic here. See that, you know, and we look at other people and we say, well, it's so easy for them, but it's such hard work for me. Boo hoo! No, it isn't. It isn't easy for anybody. Those who are living this more don't think that they're not working by the grace of God. Don't think that they're not dying to sin and living to righteousness. You just don't see it. You don't see the inner struggle. You don't see that somebody who is, you know, it isn't the case that somebody who's really devoted to their work, devoted to their family, devoted to their spiritual life. It's just what happened. They're just that kind of person. Well, I wish it were. I wish it would happen to me. And we live our Christian life like we're waiting to win the lottery. You know, there are people who won't do hard work because they're waiting for their ship to come in. And it sunk, folks. No, I mean, you know. No, you need to do it. Stop waiting for the ship to come in, for something to happen, for, you know, Ed McMahon to show up at your door. He's dead. He died. Show up at your door and tell you you won the sweepstakes, the lot or whatever, the Reader's Digest, whatever. Send it in, you know. No, it doesn't work that way. So we say we need to tend to it, don't we? Not neglect our study. Our work, our family, our spiritual lives. You know what needs to be done to tend to these. Are you tending to these? OK, well, what God's word says, don't live a decadent life. It doesn't mean that we're to live a life merely of denial, but rather a balanced one. And a balanced life is a joyful life, not just one of self-denial. Verse 17, you see, we have verse 16 that talks about self-centered rulers and Prince is feasting at the wrong time, that leading in verse 18 to just dissipate and decay. But verse 17 says that a land is blessed when the king is the son of nobles and your princes feast at the proper time for strength and not for drunkenness. You see, this is balanced here. You can feast appropriately. This isn't saying, you know, Don't enjoy. Now, you know, I came here tonight to hear strange say, life is hard, get with it and don't enjoy it. You know, just sort of back to the salt mines and no joy. No, there's great joy here. Proper feasting, partying even, you see, is done at the proper time, in the proper way, at night, moderately. Notice here this this citing in 17, the first part about nobles and nobility. A land is blessed that is governed not by the childish, but by nobility. And again, I want to emphasize here that this would be not merely of birth, but of character. I mean, because there are plenty in Scripture as well as in history. There are plenty of ignoble noblemen. There are plenty of rascals and scoundrels and very self-centered persons in the nobility and in the royalty. But you see, noble does mean something. We all talk about that. We all say how noble when somebody acts in ways that are ways of integrity, ways of righteousness, ways of kindness, ways of uprightness. When someone helps someone in need, we might call that noble. That's a noble thing. So that just gives us the picture that though all nobility may not be noble, that's what they ought to be, particularly because of the privileges they're given, particularly because of what they're afforded. Be noble about your callings. Live a noble life. I mean, just think that maybe you're on the Internet and here's something you shouldn't see or you're you're talking to someone you shouldn't be talking to. You're gossiping in a way at work you shouldn't be. Or you're among schoolmates and you're doing things that shouldn't be done. Think, I oughtn't to do this. I'm called to be noble and this isn't noble. This isn't noble. Matthew Henry said you ought to never consider any service beneath you, but you ought to consider all sin beneath you. It's beneath your calling as a child of God. It's not noble. And so we say, be noble about your callings and feast for strength and not for drunkenness. Now, we need to think just a little bit about that feast for strength. And not for drunkenness, the last phrase of verse 17 has to be one of the most needed for our time. It establishes the legitimacy, we might say, of recreation, the legitimacy of refreshment, but makes it subordinate to and supportive of the constructive work that we're called to do. Please hear what I'm saying. This is very important because it goes very contrary to our current culture and it's very foolish. We don't properly pursue our callings and duties at work, at school, in the home, with our families, so that we may enjoy leisure. In other words, we don't say, well, I'm doing what I'm doing all for the end of partying. No. Whatever we do by way of leisure and recreation and refreshment is to strengthen us to serve, not the other way. Our culture lives for that. You know, people talk about, I owe, I owe, so off to work I go. Well, I go to work to pay the bills and so I can live for the weekend. Well, what is that all about? That's this. That's that dissipated life living for the weekends, whereas we come together. We we particularly think of this on the Sabbath. We have a foretaste of heaven. The Sabbath is an end in itself where I say leisure is not the Sabbath is. But the Sabbath is really a picture of restful work, work that refreshes and fulfills. Worship is work, but it's restful, delightful work. And the new heavens and the new earth isn't just We'll be at the time of perpetual resting in Christ, but not just, you know, sitting in a hammock for eternity, swinging with a, you know, a little straw and umbrella swing in there. No, it's work with all its delight and wonder will be fully restored. I mean, it will be it will bring it all together. Work and leisure. All brought together. And we see that in the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of rest, but it's a delightful day. It's a delightful work. And so, as I said, we enjoy leisure so that we may be properly refreshed to do our work. Our pastor, we've been praying for this. We're thankful he's on vacation now, but I know him well and he's delighting. He's enjoying himself. He's being refreshed. But this is where his heart is. I don't mean in this piece of cloth or just in this building, but in this congregation. This is where his heart is. And he gets refreshed and needs to be and wants to be refreshed so he can better serve his people here. So that he can serve here, and that's that's the end, like another pastor friend of mine would say, you know, when you would ask, well, how's the vacation or enjoy the vacation? He says, it's good to go away and it's good to come back. And that's the way out of your attitude. I hear Christians sometimes I remember once an elder, not in this church, not in the church. OK. An elder, this is some years back, who I asked, you know, he had been on a cruise and said, what's it like? I wish I was out there. I hate being back. That's a problem. That's a problem. Now, I mean, could be just temporary. He could be having a bad day. Look, I'm not saying I'm not going to give the guy a break. But if that's your long term thing, I can't wait for my next vacation. Come here. I'm going to kick you. That's wrong. It's not the way we're to live our lives. And sometimes these vacations just seem to go on forever, don't they, Pat? And you can't wait to get back. Where's Barry? There he is. Right. But we do want to get back. I mean, we were gone for three weeks and it was good to go away and it was good to come back. Right. Amen. Yes. Well, God does give us a lot of joy in the here and now in our service and our leisure. Verse 19. Verse 19 says that bread is not merely for nourishment as if, you know, this is our duty. Well, eating is a duty, but it's also a joy, isn't it? Wine gladdens life and money helps. Interesting there, it says money answers everything. Some commentators see this verse. There's quite a bit of dispute about the place of this verse. Some see it as an expression of the whole of life. to one who lives under the sun. In other words, they see this as the person in verse 16 and 18 sort of giving an under the sun expression. All they see in life is the joy of feasting and wine merrymaking and money answering everything. I don't think this is what that means, though. I understand that interpretation. It's plausible, but I don't think that's the best approach here. I think, rather, this is better fitted to see this as a kind of balanced, life-affirming statement that we find so often in the wisdom literature, particularly here in Solomon. Here we see no asceticism like that of the monastery that would deny the joy of eating or drinking or leisure, but would bring duty and pleasure together. Money is not disdained, but appreciated gratefully for its usefulness. It helps us to live. It helps others in need to live. It's a blessing rightly received. I mean, Calvin says, you know, you hear the TV preachers who talk about how money is a blessing and send it to me right away, but it's a blessing. They say Calvin said it's a test. He's right. You use it well. to the help and the growth of the kingdom, as well as properly for yourself and your loved ones. God blesses. But you don't. You lose it. You use it self-centeredly. It becomes a curse. It becomes a great snare. But here we see the blessing aspect. Every gift of God, we're told, right, is to be received with thanksgiving. And it's used to live a balanced life. And so, again, I think that's the expression we have. Not a life of dissipation, not feasting in the morning, self-centeredness, House falling apart, but rather feasting at the proper time. Understanding the joy of bread. Some versions have, I think ESV says in the beginning of 19, bread is made for laughter. Is that right? Can I get a head shake on that one? Yes, bread is made for laughter. Bread, wine, and of course money is quite useful. Such a life, then, is, as we say, is not one of decadence or denial, but of discretion. Discretion here, just in verse 20. Verse 20 gives a particularly interesting expression or working out of how that discretion ought to be manifested. You have a vivid picture again here, painted by the verse. It says, don't curse the king in your thought even, or the rich in your bedroom, for a bird of the air may carry your voice. You ever heard anybody say a little bird told me? And obviously there's a little, there's a kind of hyperbole here because birds don't literally take your thoughts and go tell them to the king. What this is saying though is be careful, be careful, be properly politic. The king has spies everywhere. That was the case often. He's got his spies. So be careful of what you say to whom. Even what you think, lest it come out your mouth in an inopportune time. You know, if you go around thinking really hard thoughts about somebody, it's likely that you're not going to be able to keep them in all the time. At some point they go, and it's going to be like, and you're going to end up saying, well, I didn't know you were good friends with John. Well, now you know. And John's going to know. And there's trouble. There's trouble ahead. Be careful. This is kind of an ancient version, you might say, of Big Brother is watching you. Remember that from, if you recall the novel, 1984, which is somewhat out of date now, so to speak. But that Orwellian vision of Big Brother watching you. He knows when you are sleeping. I know they're supposed to be Santa Claus, but that's what sounds kind of frightening. Anyway, he has spies all over the land. It's wise to be discreet on your job in school at home. Lest your words be taken as treasonous as seditious or just. Undue criticism. The point isn't that you can't have your thoughts about things. You can't have a criticism about something. But be very careful how you express these things. And of course, we say, yeah, but Pastor, this wouldn't apply to us. We have freedom of speech. We don't have to fear that. Well, yes, we do enjoy it. We're very thankful for the kind of freedom of speech that we enjoy even in public discourse to be critical of leaders and to criticize policies. That's right. We do have such freedoms. We're thankful for such. But, you know, we sort of live in a culture that doesn't take anything as sacred. There are certain things that shouldn't be joked about. And there are certain places where you still can't. I remember not long after 9-11, you saw the signs all over. Do you remember seeing them? I flew, I guess I flew in right in early October. But then you started seeing signs up about security is no joking matter. And they made it very clear. I mean, you know, you don't walk in the airport with something. Hey, I got a bomb here. I mean, you say that I'm walking way over here. I don't have anything to do. I don't know if you know what happened in LaGuardia the other day. Some guy was, he had just some batteries and a wire and they closed the airport down for four or five hours, you know, and let you be at the wrath of the hands of those who were having to leave the airport because you did something stupid. Now, we do have to watch our words. This free speech can be pushed too far. And we should never under the cloak of free speech say sinful things, wrong things, dangerous, hurtful things. So be discreet on the job and with friends. No criticism, but be careful lest it come back on you. Know your situation and use good judgment. So this is a call to a kind of balanced life here. Not a life of decadence, not a life simply of denial, a life that is wise, that enjoys God's good gifts, and that is discreet. Let's just end with this. How these verses exemplify our Lord Jesus Christ. He was silent and made no defense, as we've said before, because we have no defense. Remember, He was representing us. He made no defense. When in the flesh, it would have been a great temptation to make a defense. Don't think that it wasn't. He was a man. It would have been very tempting to try to exonerate himself. He didn't yield to the devil's temptation to bypass the cross, we can say, and go for the crown. He submitted instead. He became obedient to death, even that of the cross, for our sakes. Can we not bear with trials unmurmuringly for the glory that he purchased and that awaits? That's part of what we're saying here. Think of how he bore with horrible, horrible injustices. Now, I mean, you know, me and the flesh, that much injustice. Supreme Court, you know, we need to get over that. I mean, you know, Jesus bore with much and even more so. He's the very opposite of decadence. In fact, he did deny himself, as we saw this morning. Right. Foxes have holes and birds nest. He provides them. But he didn't even have that himself. He didn't have that kind of home that many of us have that he wants us to have, but he didn't. He didn't. He came eating and drinking and was called a glutton and a winebibber because he was even doing that. There was no false asceticism there, but he denied himself ultimately for our sakes. Paul puts it this way, right? 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that by his poverty you might become rich. That's what Jesus did. He did deny himself. He became poor so that we might become rich in a balanced life in which you enjoy the blessing of serving God and others, as well as the fruit of your labors, blessed in work, blessed in leisure, blessed here and hereafter with innumerable riches. What a life we're called to a full, rich life in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for these These wise words that we read, that we have been reading again and again in Kohelet, in Ecclesiastes, the words of the preacher. We thank you for these tonight. Lord, take them home to our hearts, that we may not live dissipated lives, lives of of do nothingness, but we may attend rightly to our duties and know your blessings, know your grace, that we may enjoy the things of this world, that we may use them and not abuse them. and that we may flourish in all the ways of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.