Sunday 09 • 15 • 19

Yes. I love it. Sounding good to me this morning. For those of you who may not know or may be visiting, my name is Russell McCutcheon and I welcome you. I am the church planting resident here at CTK. This morning, I have the opportunity to open God's word and we will start out in Ecclesiastes chapter two but before we get to God's word, I have one announcement to put before you.

It's also in your bulletin. Mark your calendar, September 30 at 6:30. I'm going to be here from 6:30 to eight and I am going to be casting vision for Reconciliation Church, the church that we're seeking to plant. I want to invite any and everybody who wants to come and learn more about this church plant. I will be casting vision, just talking about what I believe that God has called us to and also calling people to join us in a variety of ways through prayer, through giving, and potentially through coming. So if this interests you, I want to invite you to come to that meeting.

If you have any questions before that time, my email address is in the worship guide and you can email me with any question before or even after that time. So, September 30 here at CTK at 6:30.

Now to the word of God. Ecclesiastes chapter two. We're gonna read together verses 12 through 17.

Then I turn to consider wisdom, madness, and folly. For what will the king's successor be like? He will do what has already been done. And I realize that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly like the advantage of light over darkness. The wise person has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both. So I said to myself, what happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise? And I said to myself that this is also futile. For just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise. Since in the days to come, both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise person dies just like the fool? Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind. — Ecclesiastes 2:12-17

Let's pray. Father, I thank you that you've condescended and spoken, as I've heard once say, baby language so that we could understand. You've given us the information you want us to have, Lord God, and this morning as a body, corporately, we come before you looking at your word, Lord God, praying that by the power of your Spirit, you use me as a weak vessel to proclaim the truth of your word. Holy Spirit, take this word, your words, and apply it to our hearts. Help us in this moment. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

I believe I'm looking out at the crowd and I see a bunch of gamers, board gamers that is. And it doesn't matter what game it is. I mean, it could be checkers. It could be chess. It could be Phase 10 with a twist. Now, if y'all ever come to my house, that's one game you might get indoctrinated with. We're serious about Phase 10 with the twist. It could be Scrabble. It could be any board game but often board games bring out that competitive juice in us. Am I right? Like, it's one thing that we are loving people. I love you in the Lord. Bless God but pull that board game out. It's on and popping. We're coming at that. We're gonna do everything we can, right, to leverage and to use our wisdom and our smarts to win the game. That's the goal.

It's one game that I noticed every time I hear people talk about it, I haven't played it in years, but it seems to be that game that brings out that inner animal in us, and that is Monopoly. The main goal of Monopoly is to purchase two properties, Park Place and Boardwalk. Because if I have these properties, I can control pretty much the entire game. And I get that and I wanna use my resources. I'm gonna buy properties. I'm going to rent stuff. So everyone that lands on that, it's time for me to get paid. You know what it is because when we play this game, we could start controlling the game in a way that we come out on top victorious. But when the game is over, no matter how intense the game is or how much we want to win, we all do something. We take the pieces off the board. We put the money back in its place, and we pack the game away because ultimately, that game, although fun, is meaningless.

I believe life can be like this sometimes, right? We can go through life living in a way that we seem to be winning at every turn. Things are going well. And we continue to live but we know as humans, there's an expiration date on our lives. It's over. Even in the midst of life and things can go well but there are ups and downs and in the midst of these ups and downs, we want to continue to make decisions to make sure our lives go well. We want to do that but then, out of all the accomplishments we've made, we come to the end.

The Bible lets us know that we die. And it doesn't matter all that we've achieved, the degrees we've earned, the houses we've purchased, the businesses we've started. Now all of those things are good, but we know there is an expiration date on us being involved with these things. If we focus on those things too much and just dive into it, if you're like me, that could be depressing. Working hard to achieve all that we've achieved to realize that when I die, those things are going to someone else. You've never seen a U Haul attached to a hearse. You can't take it with you.

See, it's frustrating to use wisdom in his life to get ahead, to get what we want only to understand that death is going to separate us from all of those things. And I think when you read Ecclesiastes, this is what the teacher is letting us know—that often in the pursuit of pleasure, wisdom, and possessions, all of this is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Living as if This World is Our Permanent Home

I think part of what frustrates us as we pursue these things is we live as if this world is our permanent home. We are very much attached to it. I'm very attached to the things here. We use a lot of personal pronouns. That's mine. That's my house. That's my car, my kids, and I understand there is some level of possession with those things. But we want to hold so tightly to those things. This world is not our permanent home.

Again, we display our permanence by our lifestyle choices. The homes that we purchase and live in, the money we spend, the churches we build—man, it's amazing. The edifices that we build for corporate worship, right? On a side note, I just thought about this. I remember the great theologian, urban theologian, Tupac once said that he was amazed by these churches that had these gold ceilings. He said, "Why does God need a gold ceiling to talk to me?" But the thing that he was pointing at, man, the buildings that we build. Again, this displays our permanence and the priorities we live for.

But Jesus says something different in Matthew chapter six verses 19 to 20:

Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Oh, this is so true because everything we have is destroyed. It's not permanent. Jesus says, restore for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves don't break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. — Matthew 6:19-20

See, to show what life is like on the earth, the teacher continues to use this phrase "under the sun." Under the sun. He is not talking about living in light of heaven. He is talking about living life in the horizontal. What's here and now on the earth. And he shows us that there is no lasting gain in all of the things that we are doing when we focus on living under the sun.

Engaging with the Text

See, in our text, the author shows us what the pursuit of wisdom under the sun is like. And now when I come to the text and read, I learned this from a pastor who's not with the Lord. I try to engage my senses. Right? What do I see even though I'm not there? What can I envision? What do I smell? Right?

And I'm thinking about that when Peter—see, he was in John 21, and he was going back to Jesus, and it says that there was a charcoal fire. And it was mentioned in John 18, but a charcoal fire. So what was it that Peter smelled? Right? I'm trying to engage my senses. And when I'm coming to Ecclesiastes, I have some feelings, right? Feelings, especially when I read the early chapters of Ecclesiastes.

The Meaninglessness Under the Sun

One of the things I feel is nihilism. Nihilism—what is that? That's feeling that life has no purpose. What for? Some I can feel despair because both the wise person and the fool are headed toward the same fate. You know, it's almost like hopelessness.

And I believe the overarching theme of this section of the text is that death renders both wisdom and folly meaningless under the sun. Death renders both wisdom and folly meaningless under the sun because both the wise person and the fool, they die.

Now the author does say that wisdom is better than folly. You see, life is complex, and we must admit our inability to understand the complexities of life. So things don't happen as we think they should happen all of the time. They just don't. Life is very complex.

But there is an answer to the complexities of life, and his name is Jesus. He is the answer to the complexities of life. Earthly wisdom can turn out to be empty, but Jesus is wisdom embodied. He is and gives true wisdom.

So, this morning, as we look at counterfeit wisdom versus true wisdom, I want us to just look at two things. We're going to start out in Ecclesiastes in chapter two verses 12 through 17.

And then our second point, we're gonna go over to the New Testament in John chapter three. These are the things I want us to see. The first thing I want us to see is that there is value in wisdom, earthly wisdom, but it's not ultimate. There is value in earthly wisdom, but it's not ultimate. And secondly, I want us to see that Jesus shows us what true wisdom is because he is wisdom.

Value in Earthly Wisdom, But Not Ultimate

Let's look at the first point: there is value in earthly wisdom but it's not ultimate. I'm going to read verse 16 again of Ecclesiastes 2.

The teacher says, for just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise. Since in the days to come, both will be forgotten. — Ecclesiastes 2:16

How is it that the wise person dies just like the fool? See, the teacher in chapter one verses 12 through 18, he explored wisdom. He explored all that is done under heaven through wisdom and found it to be an exercise in futility, a pursuit of the wind. He used wisdom to comprehensively understand all that is done under heaven here on earth and he came to a negative conclusion in his search.

Many of us see the benefit of having and using wisdom in this life but when the teacher went on his search using wisdom to find things out, the text shows us that he was vexed by what he found out. In chapter two, in this section of the text, we see the author—I believe—afraid of something. He's afraid and he's affected by his fear of death. Now, he understands the relative value of wisdom over folly but he did not see the benefit of having wisdom in light of his impending death.

It's like he would say, man, what use is it? What's the use? I'm walking around in light. I'm using wisdom. I'm making good decisions and the fool over there, he's walking around in darkness but the same thing seems to happen to both of us. Like, why am I no different from the fool in my life?

Again, death calls the author to despair and see wisdom as useless. He understood in his search that death comes both to the wise person and the fool. Now, we do know as humans that death is a reality for us. But we do all that we can to insulate ourselves from this reality. Just look at what the teacher does there. He involves himself in accumulated possessions and work and pleasure and we can often do that too to insulate ourselves from this sobering reality.

See, these are the bubbles that we can live in but the teacher has a pen for those bubbles we live in and he blows them up and destroys those bubbles that we live in and that pen is called death. See, the reality of death alters the teacher's perspectives on all of his achievements in life.

The author Ian Proven said this section of Ecclesiastes is a sobering account of the relentless anxiety of the materialist who lives under the shadow of unavoidable death. You see, persistent angst can set into our lives as we stare at all that death so ruthlessly snatches from us. When this happens, we often turn to distraction. We know what's coming so we want to spend our time in other things. We want to distract ourselves and not be consumed with the reality of what is before us—putting our minds on other things.

See, for the teacher of Ecclesiastes, he didn't see hedonism or the pursuit of pleasure or death as solutions to life's problems but he did pursue the idea of enjoying life as it comes. But again, he also found out that this was a pursuit of the wind.

The Tom Brady Illustration

I'm sorry if I isolate somebody with this illustration but I'm gonna talk a little bit about Tom Brady, a guy in the NFL who's still playing. I don't play football. I don't want nobody hitting me like that. But if you look at Tom Brady and understand, Tom Brady will be considered one of the smartest quarterbacks of all time. This guy has just been relentless in what he has done on the football field so much so that he will be a first ballot hall of famer. He's one of the greatest of all time. As a matter of fact, by 30 he accomplished more than most quarterbacks have accomplished in all of their careers.

The interesting thing is that he did a 60 Minutes interview some years ago, and he said some things that were very interesting concerning his accomplishments. You know, Tom Brady has money longer than train smoke. He has money. He has achieved a lot. Houses everywhere. And yet he says these words to the person interviewing him:

Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there is something greater out there for me?

See, with all that he accomplished, he was still not satisfied with even being one of the smartest players on the field as that football is just not scratching where he ultimately itches. It seemed like he found all of his achievements to be a pursuit of the wind. And in the end, at the end of his life, what will it all mean?

Like, yeah, he will have a bust in the hall of fame, but he won't take any of his accomplishments with him to the grave. See, I don't know about you, but there are many things around me that tell me what I need to do to enjoy life. Like, make good decisions, do things well, use wisdom because when you do that, you will have whatever you want. But every time I chase this dream, it's like smoke. It's like trying to grab smoke. I know I got some grill masters in here. I'm a fake grill master. But when I put meat on the grill and smoke comes out of the grill, have you ever tried to grab it? You can't even touch it. It's elusive. It's frustrating when I make good decisions and I can't have what I want. Even the things I do accomplish, it seems to be that it didn't do what I thought it was going to do.

See, in ancient times, in the ancient Near East, there would have been advice given to people saying, enjoy life. Today, we may hear statements like, "he who dies with the most toys wins." The writer of Ecclesiastes would say it this way: "he who dies with the most toys dies anyway." But at the end of this book, the writer would give this advice. If you read Ecclesiastes, it ends on a great note. After his discovery, he would say, enjoy life and fear God. The writer of Proverbs says it this way in Proverbs 1:7, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You see, the truth is Jesus embodies and he is wisdom, which is going to get us our second point and we're going to see this in John, starting John chapter three.

Listen to these words given to us in John chapter three, verses three through eight.

Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Now, we read that a lot and just kind of brush past it, but you gotta understand something. When Jesus said this to a religious leader, this was cataclysmic because he is saying some things that just don't make sense to a person. He says, you must be born again. How can anyone be born when he is old? Nicodemus asked him. Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?

Jesus answered, "Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." — John 3:3-8

In John chapter three, Jesus encountered a man named Nicodemus. He was a very religious guy who sought to obey God by keeping the law. He is described in John chapter three as a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. He was a part of the religious elite. Many people of the day may have said of him that he was a wise man. He was a learned man. Have you ever been in company with someone so smart that you're like, man, I don't know what you're talking about. Like, yeah, it sounds really good and I know you know, but yeah, you way up here.

See, in my mind, maybe Nicodemus was like that, but Nicodemus done ran up on one that told him that everything he ultimately believed about being right with God was wrong. So John records a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. See, Nicodemus would have been one to stress the careful observers of the law and obeying the tradition of the elders because for him, that's salvation. If I carefully observe the law, I do that, and followed the traditions of the elders, I do that. But John shows that any other view than the one that Jesus gives and did give is wrong. It's not about keeping the law or revised presentation of Judaism, but it's about a radical rebirth.

Jesus informs Nicodemus and us that we don't need more law. What we need is the power of God within us to remake us completely. Something has to happen in our souls in order for us to be made right with God. You see, you can't make yourself right with God by your works. I can't make myself right with God with my works. But here's the truth: we do need works to be made right with God. But hold up. Whose works? Not mine. I need the works of another because Jesus was perfect in his works. And yes, we do need works, but I need his works. And when I come and trust him, now, based on Ephesians chapter two, I can go do works, not to be saved, but because I am rescued.

I have been created in Christ Jesus for good works. — Ephesians 2

Why did Nicodemus go to Jesus? Verse two tells us that he and others—because he was speaking for the other religious leaders—Nicodemus says, like, rabbi. He calls him teacher. "We know that you're a teacher come from God because no one can do the signs you do unless God is with him." Notice signs. Signs. What did this mean? The religious leaders saw something special in Jesus even though many of them did not want to follow him.

You see, Nicodemus was trained and educated. Nicodemus went to university. He's that guy that comes with his degrees—MD, PhD, all these other dots at the end of his name. And he goes to Jesus, not formally educated, not going to university, and realizes that he falls short. Something is not right. I want to know more. Because they saw in Jesus something that they could not do. And so Jesus, when he performed signs, he set forth spiritual truths.

Now, in reading the gospel of John, in John chapter two, Jesus performed a sign, the first sign, and it was turning water into wine. Many of you don't know the story, so I'll give it to you in just a snapshot. Jesus and his disciples are at a wedding and Jesus's mom was there and so I could just imagine them having a good party. They're bringing out the good wine. I don't know what vintage wine means. I don't even know, but I know they had that good stuff early and they're partying, but now the wine runs out. And Jesus' mom gets wind of it, and she goes to Jesus and says, son, there's no wine. And Jesus in essence says, mom, what's that got to do with me? But Jesus then does something amazing. He takes these six pots of pure water and he not only makes wine but he makes good wine. I can't even imagine what this was like. And so this sign showed humans' inability to cope with the demands of human life. Humans could not give wine, but Jesus stepped in and did what humans could not do.

See, it doesn't matter how wise a person is. Man is not capable to deal with the complexities of life as he ought to. We can't deal with the complexities of life as we should. So all of the signs that Jesus did points to humans' inability and to his ability.

Nicodemus came to Jesus because he wanted to know the way of life, even though he did not ask this question. And I love that Jesus doesn't even just mess around with all this fluff talk. Nicodemus comes like, we know you're a good teacher. Jesus cuts straight to it. Brother, you in essence are asking me a question about what life is, and here is what it is. Jesus demands that Nicodemus be remade by the power of God. He says:

Truly I tell you, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. You must be born again. — John 3

Being born again means being born from above or born anew. See, entry into the kingdom is not by human striving. You cannot white knuckle yourself into God's kingdom. You can't go knock on enough doors and do good works in and of themselves apart from the work of the Spirit to say, alright God, here are my works. Accept me. The Bible in Isaiah says, if you do that, He would say your works are filthy. They are no good. So human striving cannot get you in the kingdom, but rebirth will do it. Being born again.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, you can't be made right with God by keeping the law. Your wisdom won't help you. You're not smart enough for this. Something drastic has to happen to you.

Jesus Came from Heaven

See, Jesus can speak authoritatively about things in heaven because he came from heaven. I think this is the beauty of the gospel of John. Starting out in John chapter one and verse one:

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. — John 1:1

Verse 14 says:

And the Word became flesh. — John 1:14

Jesus tucked himself in a dirt suit. The God-man came from heaven to Earth, living among us. He came from heaven and he ascended back to heaven. This shows us that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. See, no person can raise themselves to heaven and receive divine mysteries, but yet Jesus, the one come from heaven, brings divine mysteries to Earth. And he said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. And this being born again is a work that you and I cannot accomplish, but it's the work of the Holy Spirit in our souls.

See, Jesus came to Earth to do many things. The primarily among those I believe is to provide a sacrifice for the salvation of sinners. Jesus would say it this way:

The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. — Matthew 20:28

Jesus—I love the beauty of the gospel. Again, God seeing human's problem, God sends Jesus to the Earth, Philippians chapter two, and he comes and does what you and I cannot do. He lives the perfect life. He dies the death that you and I should have died, in our place and in our interest on that cross. And on the third day, I always say it, He got up, dusted the dirt off His shoulders, and told death, you can't hold me. Paying the price, nailing my sin on the cross.

John would tell us in John chapter three, around verse fourteen and fifteen:

Jesus had to be lifted up like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. — John 3:14-15

But Jesus also came to expose misunderstanding and disobedience because human wisdom will not bring any of us life.

Paul spoke of what this power and wisdom looks like. He said in First Corinthians chapter one, verses twenty-four and twenty-five:

Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God because God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. — 1 Corinthians 1:24-25

You see, to the world, a cross is foolishness. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for another person to die on behalf of someone else to make them right with God. First Corinthians one twenty-two says that the Jews asked for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom. However, wisdom is not seen in signs or earthly wisdom. God's wisdom is seen in the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My friends, we preach Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and this seems to be a contradiction of terms: a crucified Messiah. See, Messiah speaks to power and triumph. Crucifixion speaks to shame and weakness. Now, in spite of what the cross may seem to be, it was not weakness but God's power. It was not foolishness but God's wisdom.

See, Jesus Christ and his death on the cross is wisdom because through it, God solved our sin problem. But also on the cross, God dealt with the divine dilemma. And what was that? The dilemma is how could God express his love for sinners without compromising his justice? How could it be a righteous God and a loving Savior? The cross.

I grew up with this song, and now I understand its meaning. It says, "At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day." See, it's at the cross where he took our place, bore our sin, died our death, and paid our debt. At the cross, he displayed his love and justice. This is wisdom. Oh, what a Savior we have. This is true wisdom.

Earlier this week, I was reading a little book by Tony Evans. If you've ever heard of Tony Evans, you know that he is an illustrator. He can tell about forty illustrations in one sermon, and all of them are right on point. So he tells this story of an African American pastor with a Japanese intern. But what was interesting about this intern is that in all intents and purposes, this Japanese guy was raised and reared in Black culture. Everything—the community he lived in, the college where he was the only Japanese guy there. His roommate was African American. He was running track, and he was the only Japanese guy there. His favorite meal was macaroni and cheese, mustard greens, cornbread with sweet tea. This brother was immersed in it.

When he preached, he preached like an old African American preacher. Now, I don't know how many of you have heard a good down-home African American preacher, but if you know about hooping, you know it's just amazing. Here's this guy who seems to be completely immersed in this culture. He preaches like these guys. He even married an African American woman. But when this guy would fill out any government document and he has to check who he is, he does not check that he's Black. He checks Japanese.

Why? Because it's not his performance that defines who he is. The essence of who he is is defined by birth. Brothers and sisters, you are defined not by your performance but by whether or not you have been reborn in Christ.

Born Again

We need to be born again because the scripture tells us that in our natural birth, we are born in trespasses and sins. Even that most beautiful baby that has been born—the Bible says is born spiritually dead. That's why Jesus was saying in John chapter three:

You must be born again. — John 3:3

If you are here and you have not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, I call on you to trust him today.

So this is the thing that's interesting to me. I was praying this morning, and I realized my failure to pray that God would rescue and save. Sometimes I live with the assumption that everybody I see on a Sunday is a follower of Christ, and I know that's not right. There could be some of you here this morning who do not have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and I don't shame you. As a matter of fact, I call on the Holy Spirit—who J. Vernon McGee would call the "hound of heaven"—I ask him to sniff you out so that you will surrender to him. Because I know the Holy Spirit is working regardless of me or anyone else. The Holy Spirit is working, using the foolishness of preaching.

And I'm thinking about this: where people could live out in the world and use wisdom and make decisions, but none of those things outside of Christ would matter. Jesus says, you must be born again.

My friends, Jesus came to do what we could not do. He paid the price for our sins. He accomplished his task, and he is seated now at the right hand of the Father. What is our posture today? We are waiting for his return.

Until he returns, there is still time because Peter would say it this way in Second Peter three nine:

The Lord does not delay his promise as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. — 2 Peter 3:9

Will you trust him today? Let's pray.

Father, I do thank you that you used the preaching of your word by weak vessels to draw people to yourself. You could speak directly from heaven in a loud voice as you did with the children of Israel while you were on the mountain. But you use preaching, and I just pray, Lord, that by the Holy Spirit, you would take the words said and plant them into the hearts of your people. If they're in line with what you've said, I pray that there will be some who come to trust you. But more than anything, I pray that you will be glorified. I bless you and I thank you in Christ's name. Amen.