Living a Good Life: Wisdom Gets the Edge, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. We're working through a study in the book of Ecclesiastes called Living a Good Life, making sense of the journey. In the last message, we saw from Ecclesiastes 9 that in spite of our best efforts, we're not in control of our circumstances. But we'll see today from chapter 10 that there is an advantage in life for those who live with wisdom.

Let's listen in. Our study in Ecclesiastes is about a life well lived. That's the meaning of wisdom, to live life well. But that requires definition, that requires criteria.

What is the criteria of a life well lived? We cannot make sense of the journey unless we live life well, according to the criteria that God gives us. The title for today's message from Ecclesiastes 10 is Wisdom Gets the Edge.

I want to be careful about that because I don't want to make this sound like a self-help seminar. This is the Word of God, and Solomon is continuing from what he's building off of how he left chapter 9. Of course, he didn't write it in chapters, those later came, but it's a continuing thought. Verse 17 of chapter 9, the words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than the weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. So in the theme of wisdom, a life well lived. Solomon makes it very clear that you cannot count on calculations.

You cannot calculate the outcomes of your life because that leads you to thinking, well, because I've done this and this and this, then I deserve this kind of life. That leads a lot of people to a great deal of frustration. But there is an advantage in life to those who live with wisdom. But what is wisdom? Proverbs 2, 6, the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Solomon knew this. Wisdom isn't just an arbitrary thing. We need to know where it comes from and what it truly is. Now, there are several characteristics of a life well lived that Solomon is pointing out here in chapter 10. We're going to consider several of them today. The first one is character integrity. Character integrity.

I was first introduced to Ecclesiastes 12.1 back in high school. Dead flies in the ointment of the apothecary cause a stinking saver. I'm like, what? What do you do with that?

You do have the rest of the verse. So little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. Dead flies in the ointment of perfumer. And if it gathers flies in an ointment of perfumer, it's a beautiful thing.

And yet if flies fall into it, they're attracted to it and they fall into it and they die and enough of them pile up, it becomes a smelly thing. Gregory Inglesby started e-mortgage management back in 2002 and it grew into a nationwide mortgage company. He was in an upscale restaurant a couple of weeks ago and to one of the servers, a young woman in this restaurant, as he was about to leave, he said, you've been walking by me all night and I want a kiss.

With his hands around her neck, the smooch was captured on a security camera. In a lawsuit which followed, he lost $3 million and his job as CEO of e-mortgage. One foolish little impulsive act can bring down greatness.

That is a dead fly in the perfume, isn't it? A careless comment, a lack of civility in high office or gestures or innocent flirts can ruin a career. And he says in verse two, a wise man heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left. And there's a distinction you have to understand the difference between the right and left as it was understood culturally in the time. As the vast majority of people are right-handed, the idea of in being inclined to the right hand is an idea of skill and usefulness. In other words, I'm right-handed so I write with my right hand, I throw with my right hand. If I try to do that with my left hand, it's sloppy, it's clumsy and the left is the idea of that being wrong. Right is skill and useful, left is sloppy and clumsy, it is wrong.

In fact, the Latin word sinister means left. Interesting, isn't it? It says, a wise man's heart inclines him.

Now this is something that could be very easily missed, isn't it? Because we're talking about character integrity here. It's not simply talking about the actions that one does. The heart of the wise is the issue. The heart of the wise means skill in thought and desire.

Have you ever thought of that? Can you be skillful in your thoughts, in the things that you say to yourself? Can you be skillful in what informs your desires? This is all a part of wisdom. It's a part of the integrity of one's character.

And this skill of the heart is manifested in not only big things but small and incidental things as well. It is a matter of character. What is character? Character is what you are when no one is looking or listening as far as you know.

Never mind the fact that God is infinite and omniscient and omnipresent. Life, if your character does not have integrity, then you can be one thing in private and you can be an entirely different thing in public. And that means that what you are in public is a put on.

And you know what the truth of the matter is? That if that's the case, if you're a different thing in private than you are in public and your public life is just a put on, eventually, eventually what truly resides in there will spill out when you get kicked or bumped. See this is what Solomon is talking about. This is a matter of self-mastery.

We need to be careful what we say with that. Because you realize that your life is not your own. Christians, you have been bought at a price. You are not your own, Paul says, therefore glorify God in your body. But that begins with the integrity of character at the core of the being. It's self-mastery. It's the capacity to lead yourself informed by the grace and the truth of God. It's leading yourself from the inside, starting with thought and desire, informed by the grace of God. It's not so much about what we do, but why we do it. You see, something might be a good thing to do, but if you're doing it for the wrong reason, that to you might become sin. This is a good statement. It is not what we do that determines who we are, rather who we are determines what we do.

It requires some thought, but I want you to think about that because Solomon is challenging us to character integrity in this text. Take for example, let's compare two individuals. Let's compare George Washington and Benedict Arnold. Both were dynamic men of action with unquestionable personal courage. Both were driven by passionate ambition from an early age. Both were capable of inspiring the men that they commanded to acts of extraordinary sacrifice and endurance. Both were hot tempered by nature. And yet, despite all of these superficial similarities, one of them ended up a traitor and the other the father of his country.

It all boiled down to character. The case of honor versus glory. George Washington was guided by an indestructible sense of honor. Benedict Arnold was driven by thirst for personal glory and the privileges it could bring. Both men hungered for greatness, but to Washington, greatness meant subordination of self to a greater cause, learning from mistakes and mastering personal weaknesses. To Arnold, greatness meant the triumph of self over others, wealth, privilege and the indulgence of personal appetites. For him, causes were merely vehicles.

That's an important distinction. Ultimately, it was Arnold's own nature that was key to his betrayal as the many real and imagined slights and humiliations piled up. He had no core sense of duty or honor to counterbalance personal grievances. And it was all about him.

And so, as far as he was concerned, treason was just a career move. You see, that's the difference that the integrity of character can make in a person's life. And this is how Solomon challenges us today, a life well lived, a life of wisdom, manifests integrity of character.

Something to think about. The second thing is, in verses three and four, look at that with me. Even when the fool walks on the road he lacks sense and he says to everyone that he is a fool. If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place for calmness will lay great offenses to rest. The second manifestation of wisdom as a life well lived is self control. When it mentions that even when a fool walks on the road, the idea of being on the road means that out he's doing the right thing. His actions are the right kind of actions. But look what it says, even when the fool walks on the road he lacks sense and he says to everyone that he is a fool.

His manner of walk, his attitude of walking manifests the true character of the person. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.

The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10am. Thank you. You're welcome.