We have been spending our time in a series called Don’t Waste Your Life where we are paying attention to the teacher of Ecclesiastes. He is looking at life and determining what is the gain or benefit for all the work that we do while on this earth. The point of each of these messages has been to give us a right lens for how to look at life and valuing the things that matter most in this world. As we come to Ecclesiastes 5, the teacher is going to give us some instructions about being thoughtful in our worship and thoughtful in our words. So we are going to think about being watchful in our words to God and watchful in our words to each other. Please turn in your copies of God’s word to Ecclesiastes 5 and we are going to consider the first seven verses in this chapter.
Thoughtful Worship (Ecclesiastes 5:1)
Notice that the teacher begins by teaching us to have thoughtful worship. He tells people to be careful what you say and do when you go to the house of God. Do not come into the house of God haphazardly. Do not come to worship thoughtlessly. One of the things that God always wanted from his people was thoughtful worship. God never wanted people to just show up and go through the motions. In many of our studies we have seen how the people of Israel thought that offering sacrifices was all the God wanted. But God has never wanted mere sacrifices. Rather, God wants our devotion that would lead to a desire to offer the prescribed sacrifices. The same is true in our worship today. God does not want people to just show up. God does not want you to check off what you believe are the five necessary actions of worship. God wants our devotion. God wants our love for him to lead us into worship and to offer the sacrifice of praises to him. The writer of Hebrews said it like this.
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. (Hebrews 13:15-16 ESV)
One important point that seems to be so easily missed is that the point of worship is to focus on God, not ourselves. Yet today the desire is for worship to be focused on us. Modern worship is performance focused. Modern worship wants to have a show and be entertained. But true and thoughtful worship is God-driven and not self-focused. We have far too much time to focus on ourselves and what we want. But there needs to be the times where we are putting ourselves in God’s presence and focusing on him. We need times of true worship where we enter into God’s house and understand that we are taking off our sandals (metaphorically) because this is holy ground (cf. Exodus 4).
You will notice that this is the point in the rest of Ecclesiastes 5:1. Going to worship is about drawing near to listen to God, not to just offer up some acts of devotion. The point is that we are coming to listen to God. We are not directing God. We are not telling God. We are not teaching God. Worship needs to upward focused. The apostle Paul said likewise in the church in Corinth that was making a mess of their worship time. Listen to what he says in 1 Corinthians 14.
If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. (1 Corinthians 14:23-25 ESV)
Notice that Paul was concerned that the Corinthians were using their miraculous spiritual gifts in a way that was a lot of activity and chaos. Everyone was talking in different languages and there was no edification. It was just a show and just a competition. Paul says that unbelievers and outsiders will enter and draw the conclusion that this is all crazy. But then Paul notes that if the people were prophesying, that is, proclaiming the very words of God, then unbelievers will be convicted in their hearts and worship God because they have seen God through this time of worship.
The point I want us to see is that our worship is not to be about performance, but about glorifying God and experiencing God through his words, not a show. The teacher of Ecclesiastes points out that these who are coming for thoughtless worship do not know that they are doing evil (Ecclesiastes 5:1). Please think carefully about what the teacher just said. Performance worship is to do evil. Worship must be about coming near to listen and learn from God, not to offer foolish sacrifices that do not come from the heart and the mind.
Watchful Words to God (Ecclesiastes 5:2-5)
Notice that the teacher continues by teaching us that we need to be thoughtful about what we say to God in verses 2-5. Do not let your heart say impulsive, hasty words to God. When you make a commitment to God, you need to keep that commitment. You know that when we think of the command that James gives of needing to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger we often only think about those things being applied to each other. But I want you to notice that the teacher of Ecclesiastes says that you need to do this toward God. We need to be quick to listen to God and slow to speak to him is what verse 2 teaches. You are talking to God who is in heaven and you are on earth. Think carefully about what you are going to say to him. In verses 4-5 the teacher says that you need to be careful about your promises, vows, and commitments you make to the Lord because you need to do what you have committed. Do not say empty words to God. Do not make empty promises. The teacher says in verse 5 that you are better off not saying anything than saying something to God that you are not going to do.
I want to challenge our words to God in two areas. First, if you decided to become a follower of Jesus then you said words to him and made a commitment to him. In fact, you entered into a covenant relationship with him. We said that Jesus is the Son of God. We said that we were going to die to the old self and the old way of life and be renewed and live a new way of life. We said that we would take up our cross and follow him. We said that we would forsake our ways and thoughts and obey his ways and thoughts. We said that we would live for God and not for our own comforts and desires. We need to follow through on our words and on our commitments to God.
Second, we need to be thoughtful in our prayers. We are not preaching to God. We are not preaching to each other. We are not going to be selfish in our prayers. We are not going to offer vain repetitions (cf. Matthew 6:7). We are going to watch our words. We are going to thoughtfully praise the Lord and we are going to carefully present our requests to the Lord. We should never just say words to God. We should not just say words that we think we are supposed to say. Guard your steps and think about your God who is in heaven. Whatever we say to God we need to do. Here is what I am driving at before we consider the last point in this text. Do not waste your worship. Do not waste your prayers. Do not waste these opportunities when we come into the house of God. Engage your heart. Be thoughtful in your worship. Consider this time to offer our songs of praise. Think about the prayers that we are giving to our Creator. Let God speak to you through his word. Let this be a time when you have allowed yourself to be drawn closer to God.
Watchful Words to Others (Ecclesiastes 5:6-7)
The teacher concludes by teaching us that we need to be thoughtful with our words at all times. Listen to verse 6. “Do not let your mouth lead you into sin.” Friends, how many sins happen because of our words? How many times are we led into sin because of our mouths? We studied the power and danger of the tongue earlier this year in a Sunday night series and James taught us that our tongues have the power to set the world on fire and the power to direct our lives. The teacher of Ecclesiastes says that the more words grow, the more emptiness happens. Sometimes we do not consider how much our words matter to God.
“You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:34-37 ESV)
Jesus said that the reason words matter is because they reflect what is in our hearts. Our words represent who we are. Our words show our character. Our words show much about our faith and spirituality. The mouth speaks what is abundant in our hearts. This is why we will either by justified by our words or condemned by our words. Our words say everything about who we are. Even our careless words are going to be judged by God. So listen to the warning the teacher of Ecclesiastes gives in verse 6.
“Do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake” (Ecclesiastes 5:6 ESV). What does this mean? Have you ever said something and then said you did not mean it? You said you were going to do something but then when you were asked to follow through on your words, your answer was that those words were a mistake. I didn’t mean it. You know what we liked to do as kids to get out of our words was to say that our fingers were crossed. We like to do this with our words. We like to say things and not follow through. This is really bad in our families. Husbands and wives should not say that will do things and then not do them. By the way, you made vows to each other that no matter how good things were or how bad things were, you were going to stay together. You made a vow to each other. When you say something to your children, you need to follow through on your words. Do not tell your kids you are going to do something and then not do it. This is also true when it comes to discipline. Do not threaten your kids. Just do what you say or do not say it at all.
But here is where I want us to be really careful. Do not say words that you are going to regret. Do not say words where you are going to have to say, “I didn’t mean it.” We should have in our minds that what we say is what we mean. We should have in our minds that what we say is what we will do. Look at how important this is to God at the end of verse 6. “Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?” Again, we are being warned that will be judged for the words that we said in our homes to our spouses, to our parents, and to our children. We are being warned that we will be judged for the words we said to each other in the church. We are being warned that we will be judged for every text message and direct message sent. We are going to be judged for every social media post. Now as you think about those things, think about what the teacher said. Why should God be angry at the things you have said and destroy the work of your hands?
The Challenge
So here is the challenge for us today. God is asking us to be more intentional in our words to God and in our words to each other. God is asking us to be more careful in what we proclaim to him, ask from him, and in what we say to each other. We have spent these lessons in this series noting how we need to appreciate the time and enjoy the day that is given to us by God. Do not waste this precious time with words that you will regret. Do not let your last words to God be something regrettable. Do not let your last words to your loved ones be ugly words. The apostle Paul gave us the filter for our speech. Listen to what he said:
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:6 ESV)
Our speech is to always be full of grace, no matter the circumstances, and always seasoned with salt. This is a picture of preparing our words before we deliver them. Before the words come out of our mouths, we are going to keep these words in the kitchen of our hearts and season them properly before we allow them to be digested by others. So when you come to worship, have your hearts ready and your words prepared to direct them to the Lord. When you are about to answer someone, hold those words in the kitchen of your heart longer so that you can season those words with kindness and grace. When you are going to talk to God, be thoughtful and careful because God is going to judge every words that is spoken since they reveal the character of who we are. Don’t waste your life with foolish, empty, or thoughtless words that will require judgment because we uttered them.