SERIES: BE SATISFIED
“NOTHING BETTER”
ECCLESIASTES 7:1-9
OPEN
We’re a people who like to compare one thing to another. We like to compare our favorite sports teams to other people’s favorite sports teams. We enjoy comparison shopping. We like to compare ourselves to other people. We say we want to compare “apples to apples” and “oranges to oranges”.
In our scripture passage this morning, Solomon utilizes a very useful literary style called “comparative couplets.” It’s the same style he uses multiple times in the book of Proverbs. You recognize this style because of the words “better than”.
Eccl. 7:1-9 – A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to the song of fools. Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless. Extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart. The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools
A GOOD NAME IS BETTER THAN GOOD PERFUME
Some translations use the term “ointment” as opposed to perfume. Solomon is saying that having a good reputation – being well-known for character and integrity – is better than wearing the most expensive perfumes, colognes, and ointments. Prov. 22:1 – A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
There is an ancient adage that says: “Every man has three names. The one his father and mother gave him, the one others call him, and the one he gains for himself. Prov. 10:7 – The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
Here are two good biblical examples. Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus with expensive ointment and its wonderful fragrance filled the house. Because of what she had done, Jesus promised her that her name would be honored throughout the world. Judas Iscariot was given a good name – it’s a derivative of Judah which means praise. It was the name of the royal tribe in Israel. But Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver and turned his honorable name into a name of shame.
THE DAY OF ONE’S DEATH IS BETTER THAN THE DAY OF ONE’S BIRTH
That statement throws us a curve, doesn’t it? In our society we celebrate birthdays but mourn and grieve death days.
Solomon is not contrasting birth and death. He isn’t suggesting it’s better to die than to be born. Think about it – you can’t die unless have been born. Solomon is contrasting two significant days in our human experience – the day we receive our name and the day that our name appears in the obituaries. How we live between those two events determines whether our name leaves behind a lovely fragrance or a foul stench.
When you’re a Christian, death is not the worst thing that can happen. Sometimes, it is a welcome release from suffering or escape from a disease-ridden body. Death for a Christian is a victory, a triumph. Rev. 14:13 – Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Consider the words of the apostle Paul in Phil 1:23-24 – For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
Do you remember the old comic strip Li’l Abner? (Yeah, I know. I’m giving away my age.) Li’l Abner used to say, “If I had my druthers…” Both Paul and Solomon are saying, “If I had my druthers, I’d druther be out of this life and into eternity. I’d druther be beyond this veil of tears and at home in glory, enjoying the presence of the Lord.”
A FUNERAL IS BETTER THAN A PARTY
“Visiting the funeral home is better than going to a banquet.” Someone put it this way: “A thirty minute stroll through a graveyard is better than an entire weekend at Disneyworld.”
Why would Solomon say such a thing? Is he a depressed man? No. Solomon is saying that the places of entertainment are hollow in comparison to that which makes you consider eternity. Dr. Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death: “…the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity—activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man.”
As a preacher, I’ve seldom had a more attentive audience than at a funeral service. For the most part, they’re listening. It’s amazing how much perspective we get when we get a glimpse of life from the backdoor. When you face the reality of death and the suddenness of judgment, your mind is forced to consider your own life. Ps. 90:12 – Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
There is a true story that comes from the sinking of the Titanic. A woman was in a lifeboat about to be lowered into the stormy North Atlantic. She suddenly thought of something that she needed. She asked permission to return to her stateroom. The people in the lifeboat said that they would give her three minutes and then they would leave here.
The woman ran across the already slanting deck. She raced through the gambling room with all the money that had rolled to one side – ankle deep. She made it to her stateroom and rummaged around in a drawer. She pushed aside her diamonds and other expensive jewelry just to grab three small oranges.
Thirty minutes earlier, she would not have chosen oranges over money or diamonds but death had boarded the Titanic. The encounter with death had transformed what had once seemed valuable into what now seemed petty.
Why are funerals better than parties, according to Ecclesiastes? At parties we tend to escape reality; we try to forget our cares. At funerals we come face-to-face with the meaning of life. A party may be a good occasion to blow off some stress, but a funeral is a place to reflect and consider what life is really about. It’s an occasion to prepare for the day when we too will depart and stand before God. Our bodies are not our permanent home; they’re more like a tent or hotel, a place where we dwell only briefly; we’re just passing through.
SORROW IS BETTER THAN LAUGHTER
Solomon makes this statement in vs. 4 – “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.” As human beings, we favor festive gatherings where our senses are delighted and our hearts are made to laugh. But Solomon says we need to spend time in the house of mourning as well as the house of mirth
Solomon was not a pessimist who lived a gloomy lifestyle. In Prov. 15:13, he writes, A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. Prov. 15:15 – All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast. Prov. 17:22 – A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. He also wrote Song of Solomon!
Solomon is telling us that there has to be balance in life. Eccl. 3:4 – [there is] a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. If we just spend our life having a good time, we’ll miss out on things that will make our spiritual roots deeper and stronger. The wise man takes time to consider the meaning of life as he faces the reality of death. The person who is only concerned about having a good time is a fool
THE REBUKE OF A WISE MAN IS BETTER THAN THE SONG OF FOOLS
What does a fool’s song sound like? Solomon tells us in v. 6 – Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. There’s actually a play on words here in the original language. Moffatt translates it as “nettles under the kettle.”
Thorn branches crack and pop while burning and give the appearance that the fire will burn for a long time – but it’s all show. The laughter of fools is short-lived, meaningless, loud, and without lasting value If we’ll listen, a wise person’s rebuke will do far more good in our lives than the flattery of fools. Prov. 25:12 – Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man’s rebuke to a listening ear.
A man was on his way home after a long day at work. He found that his normal route was blocked by some roadwork so he had to take a detour. The detour took him past the state mental hospital.
As he neared the hospital, it was getting dark. The thought of driving by a mental hospital when daylight was disappearing made the man nervous. Just as he passed the gate to the hospital, he had a flat tire.
He got out of his car, opened the trunk, took out the jack and the spare and got to work. He wanted out of the neighborhood before it got fully dark. He took the hubcap off, loosened the lug nuts and took them off. He placed the lug nuts in the hubcap and removed the flat tire. He turned to lay it down and grab the spare. His foot hit the hubcap and all the lug nuts rolled down the storm sewer.
The man thought, “Oh, great! What am I supposed to do now?” Just then, he heard someone say, “Hey, buddy. C’mere.” He looked around and there at the locked gate to the hospital stood one of the patients. Again, the patient said, “Hey, buddy. C’mere.”
The man was really concerned now. He didn’t want to go to the gate and talk to this mental patient. But the patient said, “Hey, buddy. If you want to know how to get out of the mess you’re in, c’mere.”
So the man went over to the gate. The patient said, “If you’ll take one lug nut off of the remaining three wheels, that will hold the tire in place until you can get to a service station.”
The man said, “Hey, that’s really smart. I would have never thought of it. If you’re so smart, what are you doing in a mental hospital?” The patient replied, “I’m in here for being crazy; not for being stupid.”
The rebuke of someone wise may come from your spouse, a preacher or teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, a parent, or the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. Wherever it comes from, you need to listen
THE END OF A MATTER IS BETTER THAN ITS BEGINNING
Some of you would agree with Solomon. You would definitely say, “The end of a sermon is better than the beginning of a sermon.” When you travel, isn’t the end of the trip better than the start? Isn’t it great to return home? How about a soldier gone off to war? Isn’t it great to complete your tour of duty and then come back?
Solomon’s statement makes sense in light of what we’ve just considered, doesn’t it? How many times have we said: “If I could just live that part of my life over again.” “If I could just go back and do that business deal in a different way.” “If I could start my marriage all over again.” “If I could only go back and raise my children again – how differently I’d do it.”
Why do we seek out older, more mature people for advice in different situations? Because end-of-the-matter information coming from someone seasoned with experience and wisdom is more trustworthy than any other.
Solomon tells us to be careful and not to take shortcuts: Extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart. Extortion and bribery are shortcuts to get what you want.
Warren Wiersbe puts it this way: “The long haul is better than the shortcut.” Watch out for the “easy” routes. They quickly become just painful detours. Prov. 14:12 – There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Jesus says in Mt. 7:13-14 – “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
PATIENCE IS BETTER THAN PETULANCE
I have to confess that this directive hits home with me. I really struggle with patience sometimes. As I look back on things, I realize how much better it would have been to wait, rather than to blow off steam; to allow God to intervene rather than to hurry things along and create such a man-made mess. It’s so much better to be calm than to be angry.
A boy once asked his father, “Dad, how do wars begin?” His dad replied, “Well, take the First World War. That got started when Germany invaded Belgium.”
Immediately his wife interrupted. She said, “Tell the boy the truth. It began because somebody was assassinated.”
The husband drew himself up with an air of superiority and snapped back, “Are you answering the question or am I?” The wife got up, stormed out of the room, and slammed the door as hard as she could.
The boy and his dad sat there in silence until the boy finally said, “That’s okay, Dad. You don’t have to tell me any more. I think I know now how wars begin.”
It seems that everywhere we turn, we see an increase in anger. Several years back, Psychology Today called our generation “The Age of Rage.” News reports abound in stories about the taking of hostages, road rage, and school shooting. Sadly, so many of us were never taught how to manage our anger.
Anger isn’t always wrong. Ps. 7:11 – God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day. God himself gets angry. Anger is a God-given emotion. If you never get angry, you’re probably dead! The important thing is how we handle our anger. Aristotle once said, “Anybody can become angry – that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”
What should anger us? There is a difference between righteous and unrighteous anger. We should be angry when someone’s behavior offends God, harms others, or even is harmful to themselves. Sadly most of our anger is sinful because we get angry for the wrong reasons and then results in wrong action. James 1:19-20 – My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become
angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Eph. 4:31-32 – Get rid of all
bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate
to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
CLOSE
Remember Solomon’s premise in writing the book of Ecclesiastes. He is comparing “life lived under the sun” with “life lived under heaven.” Life lived under the sun is life lived with just an earthly view. There is no consideration of God or eternity. Life lived “under heaven” is life lived knowing that God is over all and that our eternal destiny hangs on what we do with that consideration.
Solomon takes this section and compares things. There is another book in the Bible that compares things. It’s the book of Hebrews. It compares Jesus with all kinds of things: angels, the Old Testament sacrificial system, prophets and priests, etc. In everything, Jesus is better.
What are you looking for today? Are you looking for what is better? If you put your trust in anyone or anything but Jesus, you’ve settled for something less. Won’t you try the best?
