“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.”
Ecclesiastes 5:1–3 ESV
The Bible is decidedly unconcerned with offending our cultural sensitivities. In a day when everyone is told that their opinion matters, God says, not so fast. It’s better to listen to His word, and to faithful teaching/preaching than it is to offer the opinion of a doofus. That flies in the face of the modern self-esteem nonsense that tells us that just by the virtue of our feelings of sincerity, that our thoughts matter. This passage cautions us to judge, as always, not by humanistic standards, nor emotional ones, but by Scripture itself. (And Scripture is always logical…to arrive at a contradiction in it means that we’ve misinterpreted it).
To draw near to listen means in the main to be eager to learn about God. To learn systematically, not in bits and pieces. The great distinguishing mark of a fool is how confident they are that they’re always right – despite the ample evidence in their past to the contrary. Despite their lack of fruitful obedience. In my experience as a mentor and teacher there’s one type of student/disciple that’s absolutely the worst and that’s the one who’s full of pride.
It’s easy to miss at first because people that are full of pride are masterly manipulative in various ways. They often “love bomb” their pastors, teachers, and mentors and profess themselves as especially devoted students. The problem is that they aren’t actually there to learn, but to use. They seek power and influence, not actual knowledge. They’re always quick to make a case, to take a position of leadership, to announce their devotion and honor and all that. But what they don’t do is take discipline, nor show patience. The hallmark of the egoist is lack of patience and, when they get frustrated, or corrected, all that love-bombing turns to hatred. All leaders and pastors have endured this.
The New Living Translation follows with this:
“When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it. Don’t let your mouth make you sin. And don’t defend yourself by telling the Temple messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved. Talk is cheap, like daydreams and other useless activities. Fear God instead.”
Ecclesiastes 5:4–7 NLT
Yes, indeed. Talk is cheap. The walk with God isn’t a sprint and there are no superstars on God’s team. His church is filled with humble servants who gather round to listen to his word. In every case of the fallen-disciple syndrome you’ll notice how recriminations follow the love-bombing because it’s impossible to fake patience and discipline. The Temple messenger is Solomon’s day was likely a representative, like an elder or deacon in our time, who would go to check on the spiritual state of God’s people. Perhaps they had offered money for some project or another and hadn’t followed through. Or they volunteered for a group or committee and dropped off. The Bible warns us to follow through…even if it gets frustrating…even if people let us down. It’s God’s church, not ours. The message is clear: say what you mean, mean what you say, and finish what you start. God absolutely does care about whether we keep our word – especially to other believers!
We note that there are no “Lone Ranger” Christians in the Bible. We’re all a part of His body, His church. We were bought from sin and death by Him and we are now His, no longer walking in the flesh. A clear sign that someone is all talk is whether they’re under the authority of God’s word and His church. Many American Christians think that the church is something “they go to” rather than God’s living body on earth. It is where believers gather to worship and learn. To go to church looking for entertainment and “have our needs met” – according to our own standards rather than God’s – is a direct assault on the integrity of God.
Does the church have a bunch of hypocrites? Well, they could always use one more. Go and learn. It’s not about you. It’s about God and His word.
To “let our words be few” doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t talk about our favorite things, as if quietness itself is a virtue. The point is that we should fear the Lord and recognize when we don’t know what we’re talking about, nor have the authority to speak on a subject. For any man to speak of ethical matters without referencing Scriptural principles in a non-contradictory manner is the height of madness. How do we know anything of truth outside of Scripture? We must all tread carefully and be ever cautious when passing moral evaluations or speaking of theological matters. For example, in all the Bible no one speaks literally of hell except Jesus. Others speak of judgment, yes, but only Christ talks about hell itself (see the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, for example). The logic of it is that Jesus alone, being God, knows what He’s talking about on that subject. The mark of both false and immature believers is their willingness to consider and speak on subjects of morality and authority outside of Scripture. The separation of the former from the latter is that the latter grows mature when he/she is rebuked for their biblical illiteracy. The unbeliever refuses correction, which is why you normally see them trying to be an island someplace. Or church-hopping. They don’t fear God; they’re just trying to use Him. Our words are few when confronted with God’s word!
To all that we’re warned that this type of hypocrisy is something that God especially hates.
“Do not allow your speech to cause you to sin, and do not say before the messenger (priest) of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of your voice (words) and destroy the work of your hands?”
Ecclesiastes 5:6 AMP
Pledges and oaths of obedience and service not backed up by truth are a spectacularly dangerous bit of business.
The opposite of the fear of the Lord is love of self and hatred of His authority. We must examine ourselves and make sure that we’re eager to hear His word and really learn it…and this means to apply it in our personal lives too. The more ardently one asserts their own righteousness, honor, and rightness, the less they know of God. Lack of humility is a serious sin before God and it’s an easy way to get a showdown we can’t win. No one will dethrone God. He alone is supreme and His word alone is truth. Knowledge of this leads us to “few words” about what we think of the world and all that and much more of what He says. In all, today’s passage is about developing a humble love of His word built upon the recognition that it alone is the path to wisdom and life and truth.
“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one [the only God]! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and with all your soul and with all your strength [your entire being]. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be [written] on your heart and mind. You shall teach them diligently to your children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths] and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand (forearm), and they shall be used as bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:4–9 AMP
So, that’s the question. What do we talk about the most? God’s word and the excellency of Christ? The awe we have of Him and His amazing love? The fact that we deserve judgment but instead, in Christ alone, have found love and meaning and truth? What do we say?
“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.””
Luke 6:45–49 ESV
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