The Wicket Gate

Week 11! What a journey this has been, I began planning to write on select chapters and ended up writing about every chapter. What a gift Don’t Waste Your Breath truly is, I encourage you to seize the opportunity to read this life directing delight by Brian Borgman. This week’s study and review will be from Ecclesiastes 7:15-29, chapter 12 in Don’t Waste Your Breath, titled Don’t be a Wise Guy. 

“I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.  Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with [m]both of them. Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you. For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others. I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it? I directed my mind to know, to investigate and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness. And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her. “Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation, which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these. Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”” Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

Seems like there is a little overlap here, right? Lol, last week we covered 7:15-18, and gave special attention to the overly righteous man or woman that lords it over themselves or others causing disorder in and outside with self-made righteousness. We also discussed perfectionism, the fact that it is Christians impatient with the lifelong work of the Holy Spirit within them. Perfection will be achieved in glory (not while in the flesh). Verse twenty accords with Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Christians are no longer slaves to sin, but do remain in the flesh, so sin continues to be a struggle (Romans 7:14-25). We must grow in wisdom by God’s grace to understand that all have sinned, including ourselves, “Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others” (Ecc. 7:22) , and we must handle ourselves and others prudently with respect to this fact. 

Borgman points out that in 7:19-22 the teacher “moves on to wisdom remembers one’s own sinfulness” (126). The flow of the Teacher’s arguments in chapter seven are realistic, be not overly righteous, be not overly wicked, because Christians will continue to struggle with the flesh. Sin will happen to us and by us for the rest of our lives, so we must strive with its existence until the world is restored. How do we strive with its existence? By wisdom- “Wisdom helps us avoid excessive sinfulness, but it cannot completely remove all sin from our hearts” (126). How do we become wise? Study and experience for starters. More than having wisdom we must properly apply wisdom. That idea of properly applied wisdom has been the Teacher’s theme, properly applied wisdom in business, family, worship, civic community, and personal motivations. For example rightly ordered joy and rest are the fruits of properly applied wisdom by God’s grace. 

I would define properly applied wisdom as prudence. Prudence in intrapersonal matters, within the brotherhood as well as dealing with outsiders. When we handle the wrongs and sinfulness of others are we prudent? Do we take time to realize we also fall into sin as do they? Do we avoid situations that would give the appearance of hypocritical faith? Questions come easy, answers come easy, but real life application is tough. Prudence is very difficult when you don’t want to show mercy or a softer tone when dealing with the sin of others. Prudence looks for the path of grace while honoring scripture – “abhor sin, cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9).

Our Sunday morning class made its way through Romans 12 over the past few weeks. This is Paul writing straight along the lines of Ecclesiastes, be not hypocritical, do not return evil with evil, leave room for the wrath of God. We must as Christians say when wronged, not only that we have also wronged, but that we did not deserve God’s grace when he effectually called us- we don’t know where those who have wronged us are in God’s plan for their life. We, like God, should earnestly desire that no man perish. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Those who repent not however will be punished in the lake of fire, and who are we to think we can punish anyone more than the wrath of God. Be patient with others, for we know how long God was patient with us and effectually called us according to his plan, even more the fact that he is still patient with us for the rest of our time on earth. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Eph. 5:1-2). Imitating God by walking in love must be accompanied by wisdom from above properly applied in humility and gratitude. We didn’t deserve God’s mercy so who are we to determine who else deserves grace? “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Rom. 12:3).

It must be said however that scripture also speaks of justice on earth, we and others must pay the penalties for transgressions on earth to the authorities (Rom. 13:1-5). I am not advocating ignoring criminal activity; however all sin great and small are equal in separation from God. A church cannot exist in the unity Paul is striving for in Romans without accepting Romans 3:23 without exception. We must also respect the difference between repented sin and unrepented. If we repent and turn as a body and strengthen one another, it becomes clear we all have God appointed weakness to overcome, the body of Christ is filled with those who have strengths to match our weaknesses. The Spirit of God works through brothers and sisters to help our weaknesses, we just have to be genuine and open at least with leadership. Weakness that is not confessed cannot be aided. A church that is hypocritical, that hides sin repented and unrepented, ranks sin and appropriates power based on those ranks, cannot trust one another, and cannot grow together in Christ. I realize this is a hard saying, some sins are terrible and enduring these things without hope of greater glory is unbearable. Some weaknesses can be a continued physical threat to adults and children, the leadership of the body of Christ must exercise prudence when handling these matters. I will be frank, within the body of Christ on earth mentally handling someone in the flock who lies or has problems with substance abuse is much different than someone who deals with current temptations or past transgressions of pedophilia or sexual assault.

These are difficult situations to say the least and in some cases the answer isn’t plain. I want to encourage you to remember the previous writing, be open with one another, strengthen one another, bear with one another. Let the extreme situations be handled if they are ordained to arise, and be handled by elders and pastors that have been readied and strengthened by God to prudently act according to His will.  

“For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith…Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:3,9-21 NASB 1995

Let’s look further at the Family aspect rightly applied wisdom- children, spouses, and extended family. Practicing prudence can be tough- wisdom takes time to evaluate the situation, consider all parts and pieces of the situation, at times when it seems the pressure is on to react now. My encouragement is always to see how can the situation be turned to glorify God… to draw those in our care to understand the weight of their sin and genuinely turn by the Spirit. By this I do not mean preaching hellfire and brimstone to the child who threw a pillow at his or her sister or any other situation for that matter. Hellfire and brimstone matter, because they are the end result, but hellfire and brimstone very rarely leads Christians to joyful obedience.

Gratitude and love for what Christ has done for me creates within us a more consistent desire to do good, a product of the new nature and he has given Christians. Fear of hell does keep us on the straight, but much more powerful is the image of the son of God ripped to shreds dying on the cross for each of our sins out of love (2 Cor. 5:21, Rom. 5:8). Properly applied wisdom focuses on Christ, not on the fear of hellfire and brimstone, for He is Christus Victor- in Him who or what shall we fear? How great a Savior, our King, worthy of obedience and praise forevermore. 

The teacher continues in 7:23, “All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me.”  The teacher seeks out wisdom in 23-29 and finds it far off, what does he mean? Borgman states “Perhaps it was the mysteries of life that he realized there are far more things beyond his reach than within his grasp” (127). The Teacher could have been looking at the moon and stars, the variations of rock formations, the structure of society, or how the water cycle works, they are far beyond our grasp to fully understand. Borgman thinks it is more likely that the Teacher is “wanting to understand the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness. His goal was not to experience it, but to gain wisdom to avoid it.” (127).  Through trials, temptations, successes, and failures the Lord is sanctifying us, by these happenings we acquire wisdom. Wisdom to know sin and how to stay away.

Providentially we are placed in situations that allow us to acquire wisdom at great cost, sometimes horrible life experiences. Sometimes we gain wisdom by reading or listening to others trials and temptations. However I want to be clear -purposely putting oneself in danger in terrible situations has been warned off previously by the teacher. Purposefully sinning to gain wisdom is a terrible waste of our short breath of life. The Teacher desires to know and understand more, we will never understand all until this life is over. There is no need to understand it all, and to spend life trying to get everything perfectly right in your mind is life wasted. There is no need to seek out firsthand knowledge of wild carnal pleasure or addiction. Learn from others, keep good company, and keep in the Word. We are creatures, we are not the Creator, we don’t get to know everything! This is echoed in verses 27-29 as the Teacher tries “find the scheme of things – which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found”(Ecc. 7:27-28). David Gibson in his book Living Life Backwards states “And so although you can live well, and die well, and know somethings truly, you cannot know all things completely. But God does. So trust him- and do not make an idol out of wisdom” (104).

The Teacher instructs us to be careful of tempestuous women, an idol which men can be lured in by. I don’t have time in this space to fully write about this subject other than to say men don’t put yourself in positions where trouble can come about, and women likewise with men. Men in pursuit of their wife reap the rewards of rightly ordered marriage that brings glory to God. Physical affection is not all there is to marriage, and if our marriage is only driven by sensuality, it is only a matter of time before we seek sensuality other places. Deeper marriages are in the Word and pray together, maturing together in Christ. The physical and sensual parts of marriage are just icing on the cinnamon roll of married life. Borgman states “We must have a heart for God and a heart for wisdom. We must live in fear of the Lord and He will deliver and spare us. If we have sensual and seductive heart, God may repay with bitterness worse than death” (128). I encourage you toward constant prayer for strength, wisdom, and rightly ordered affections together in your marriage (not that the author of this blog is perfect at remembering to pray with his wife, this is one of my struggles, I ask you to pray for me to be more diligent and intentional).  

Borgman concludes the chapter well, “We need to be realistic in knowing that we are wired to plan and scheme. We are wired to waste our breath” (130). Thought for this week, be resolute to acquire by the grace of God rightly ordered wisdom and by the Spirit through the strength that God supplies apply that wisdom to His glory and the Glory of His church. Paul echoes the Teacher centuries later by the Spirit-  Strive forward in study and application -“Not lagging behind in diligence,” yet rightly ordered -“not be wise in your own estimation” (Rom. 12:16). Let us glorify God by enjoying Him forever in simplicity, not wasting our breath on trying to figure it all out! I need to get back to work, these chickens can’t separate and house themselves, lol.