War of the World
Ecclesiastes 9:13-18
Read Ecc. 9:13-18
Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
What does it mean to have wisdom?
How does wisdom differ from knowledge?
The fear of the Lord is the first step towards wisdom
Let’s quickly look at how wisdom is mentioned throughout the Bible
With humility comes wisdom
Wisdom is found in those who takes advice
We should seek after wisdom
Proverbs 23:23 says Buy (purchase) the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding
Once you receive the truth, don’t get rid of it-hold on to it
This verse implies that wisdom, discipline and understanding are all tied together
A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father
The rod of correction imparts wisdom
So remember kids, when mom or dad is disciplining you with the “rod of correction”
Also known as the belt or maybe the fly swatter
If mom had come after me with a fly swatter I probably would have laughed
She preferred a wooden spoon, which she broke on me once
Anyway, that whopping, according to the Bible, imparts wisdom
They are just making you wiser, not a wise guy, but wiser
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously
Godly wisdom comes only from God
Earthly wisdom can never measure up to godly wisdom
In earthly wisdom how can you tell the difference between wisdom and knowledge?
A wise man once told me “knowledge is knowing how to pick your nose, wisdom is knowing when”
Our society today honors wealth, attractiveness and success above wisdom
Just look at how we put people like Donald Trump, very wealthy
And Miley Cyrus and Justin Timberlake, very successful and attractive people up on a pedestal
While the truly wise are not ever mentioned our honored
We see this in our election cycle right now
The more attractive, young, hip rock star type candidate for president is being praised much more than
The one that seems more qualified, more experienced and in fact more wise candidate
Yet wisdom is a greater asset than strength
Although it is often unrecognized by the masses
Even though it is more effective, wisdom is not always heard
And wise people often go unheeded
From this parable we can learn to be receptive to wisdom
No matter who it comes from
In our story we see many elements of a War of the Worlds
We see a city, an enemy king and a wise strategist
Each character plays a very important role
First we see
I. A City
“there was a little city, and few men within it”
In Biblical times your larger cities such as Jerusalem, Jericho, Damascus, we know these were surrounded by large protective walls
These wall’s primary function was to protect the city from invasion
For the enemy would have to penetrate or scale over these walls just to enter the city
But a small city usually didn’t have the luxury of a wall
So it was much easier to attack
This city was not only small
Not protected very well
It also had just a few men within it
Sorry ladies, but they only counted the men
Censuses only tallied the men
And there wasn’t many
I believe we can view this city as the world, Planet Earth
We often say, it’s a small world isn’t it?
I learned this past week that at the very first church I ever attended, First Baptist Church of Blackwood NJ (BMA)
That Brother Elton preached there one time
Small world
But we do indeed live in a small world
The Psalmist recognized the insignificance and smallness of this earth and her inhabitants in
Psalms 8:3-4 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; [4] What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
We are nothing compared to God and His expansive universe
It should humble us to remember that “God so love the world”
That He offered His Son for us
We are living in that little city
And just like that city we are without a wall of protection
When the enemy attacks, if we do not have the protection of the Lord’s hand
We are extremely vulnerable to his attacks
This world is the enemies playground
He is according to Ephesians 2:2 “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience”
This is Satan himself which leads us to our second character in our story
II. The Enemy King
“And there came a great king against it (the city) and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it”
A bulwark is like a snare or a net
This adversarial king comes up against this little city
You can imagine this great army surrounding this small city
A mighty warrior king leading them sweeping across the country side
Devouring up each small village
To destroy and pillage everyone he can to enlarge his kingdom
To put more and more people under his control
And this small village didn’t stand a chance
Another pushover
As we hear on the little league baseball fields “an easy out”
This is how Satan, a great warrior operates
He uses bulwarks of greed, deception and confusion against this world
He swallows up entire cities into his evil kingdom
Taking whoever he can wrap his gruesome fingers around
And he brings with him his greatest weapons
He doesn’t hold back
He hits us were it hurts
He fires his fiery darts of the wicked at every target that crosses his scope
And he sees this world as an unprotected city that he can easily devour
And the problem is this city, the earth, has very few men in it
Men who are willing to stand up against him
Cowering in their homes, not mustering the courage to stand for the truth
We as Christians are the only ones in this city who can do it
We must stand up and fight for our city
We can not sit idly by while this adversary king destroys our city
Out God wants us to put on the whole Armor of God
That we may be able to stand against the attacks
The cunning devices of the devil
And this king is standing ready outside our gates
Ready to pounce on you and your family
There are just a few men
And we must be ready to fight
For there is hope
There is one who will win against this attack
III. A Wise Strategist
Have you ever played Battleship?
There are many ways to position your ships
But you must use the wisest strategy in order to defeat your opponent
Within this city lived a wise but poor man
His wisdom was all they needed in order to fend off this attack
Being wise, he served the city, perhaps in some civil position
Though he was poor
In their distress they sought him out
And begged his advice and assistance
And he , by his wisdom delivered the city
I can see him presenting a certain strategy they had failed to think of
However it happened this wise man’s advice spared the city from certain doom
This is no doubt a picture of Jesus
2 Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
As the Son of God He was rich
But as the Son of Man He was poor
Matthew 8:20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Our Savior gave up His heavenly wealth to become poor for us
And yet He was wise - Wisdom Incarnate
1 Corinthians 1:23-24 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; [24] But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Jesus’ wisdom as God is the only thing that can fend off the attacks of Satan
And Jesus was a man
He was as much God as if He was not a man
And He was as much man, as if He was not God
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
In the wisdom of God, God became man
He by His wisdom will deliver this city, the world
Satan has his armies spread out all over the world
Attacking at every opportunity
And the only one who can stand against him is a poor wise man by the name of Jesus Christ
He came to this little city, lived a sinless life
And then
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; [4] And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures:
That is His victory over the attacking king!
But now we come to the sad portion of our story
IV. A Forgotten Victor
The part were this poor wise man is forgotten
We as people are very forgetful
There was a city slicker who was visiting a ranch out in Montana
As he watched the farmer with his cattle
The farmer gave a whistle and his faithful dog herded the cattle into the corral
Then latched the gate with her paw
Wow said the city boy that’s some dog
What’s her name?
The forgetful farmer thought for a minute then asked
What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on it?
A rose replied the city boy
That’s it
The farmer then turned to his wife and said
Hey Rose what do we call that dog?
There are times when we humans can be very forgetful
And this happened in this city
“Yet no man remembered that same poor man”
What a sad commentary for this man
They forgot what he did for them
Actually it could be read no man appreciated that same poor man
This is what has happened with our Savior
He is often forgotten, often unappreciated for what He did for us
The world so often refers to Jesus as a wise teacher
A great leader and motivator, or a prophet
But they don’t recognize Him for what He truly is
The Son of God
They do not appreciate His sacrifice for the world’s sins
You as a forgiven sinner do not have to pay the price for your sins
But that price must be paid
It was paid, all of the sins of the world, past, present and future were paid on the cross
Jesus was punished for your sins, my sins and every sin committed
And this little city doesn’t appreciate, doesn’t remember it
And we are guilty of this as well
Every time we fail God
Every time we fail to tell someone about Jesus when the opportunity presents itself
We forget that poor wise man
I can’t help but think whenever I sin
Its like I’m slapping Jesus across the face as He hangs on that cross
Saying I don’t appreciate what you are doing for me
We need to appreciate and remember what that poor wise man did for us
Did victory and success attend the strong in our story here
The attacking army was strong, Satan’s army is strong
But v 16 says “wisdom is better than strength”
V 18 “wisdom is better than weapons of war”
We can tap into that wisdom
The battle is already won
We have what it takes to defeat the devil
All we need to do is heed the words of that wise poor man
For Jesus holds the key to victory
Proverbs 23:23 purchase the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding
Once you have the truth, hold on to it
Jesus is the victory
