Ecclesiastes 8:1-9

April 26, 2020

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

The sermon starts around 15:15 in the audio file.

Or, Following and Influencing the Man

One of the most common frustrations in life is dealing with third-rate, inconsistent, or incompetent authorities. Of course, because of our sinful flesh, we typically dislike authority, disagree with authority, detest authority, and disobey authority. Those responses end up not really helping us because that attitude of resistance just makes authorities clamp down or tighten up or generally make things more unpleasant than we already thought they were.

Structures and systems of authority everywhere. Parents have authority over their children. Teachers and administrators have authority over their students. Employers have authority over their workers. Local law enforcement and elected officials, along with Federal/national representatives have authority over their citizens.

Some people seem to get extra foolish in the head when they get power. Others may have authority who never deserved it in the first place. Certainly there are times when we think our authorities aren’t paying attention to the right information. Or maybe they don’t communicate well. Maybe we just don’t like their attitude, or maybe something else. Regardless, they are in the position and they often act as if they have the authority to do whatever they want.

Solomon understood the system. He lived in or around the royal palace his entire life. He watched his dad as king, and then wore the crown as king himself. He saw his dad make good decisions and some that were not so good, some that pleased the people and some that really got their goat. In his own rule, even in his great wisdom, Solomon had people around him, those who were part of the king’s court of officials and counselors, who had ideas and suggestions and input.

The people who make the biggest impact in the world are not necessarily the ones with power and authority. Often the ones who make the biggest impact are the ones who influence those in positions of power and authority.

In the first half of Ecclesiastes 8 Solomon gives advice for those who are under authority (starting with those who were under him). Specifically, Solomon explains the importance of following authority, he gives some insight into how to influence authority, and then provides some perspective for when it is difficult to follow authority, so, Following and Influencing the Man (where by the Man I’m referring to the authority figure).

I’m preaching this for our kids as they mature and take on more responsibilities, for certain wives with Nabal-ish husbands, for our work amidst many government mandated restrictions as Washingtonians, and for wisdom.

The Possibility of Influencing Authority (verse 1)

Solomon was pretty pessimistic coming out of chapter 7. He claimed he could find no upright women and only one upright man out of a thousand. His first circle of search would have been those most closely connected to him in his palace, and there is a natural progression into how all those same persons should act when under the king’s authority.

In proverbial form, verse one starts out with a couple rhetorical questions and then adds the potential positives of finding a wise counselor, even though in his own experience they apparently were a rare commodity.

“Who is like the wise? And who knows

the interpretation of a thing?

A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,

and the hardness of his face is changed.”

(verse 1)

Who is like the wise? Or, what is better than finding wise counselors? How great are they? And Who knows the interpretation of a thing? Who has discernment and perspective that is helpful and insightful? The implications are that this kind of person is very valuable and extremely rare.

Consider the outcome of the wise counselor: a man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of hi[...]