The Wisdom of Civil Submission – Part 3
Ecclesiastes 8:1-17 (14-17)
September 26, 2021
This morning we are going to conclude
What I think has been a difficult but vitally important study
Regarding the wisdom of civil submission.
Certainly as those who have been redeemed by God,
We are well-aware that we are in need of God’s direction
In every area of our lives.
We know there are many instances in which our THINKING
Must be CORRECTED by God through the understanding of His word.
And so, we rejoice any time God confronts our thinking with His truth,
For we do delight in having God transform our minds.
And we are grateful that God would give us wisdom
Even if His wisdom at first runs contrary to ours.
I certainly have felt that during the last 3 weeks of study,
And I would imagine that some of you have felt that too.
Civil submission is NOT something that comes NATURALLY to us,
At least not in our western culture.
We are very individualistic and we are very much about personal rights and freedoms.
AND I AM ALL FOR PERSONAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS.
But focusing on personal rights can at times cause us to struggle,
Especially during those times when God calls us into submission.
And yet Scripture does this continually.
When Peter talks to slaves about their responsibility to be submissive,
He is very careful to make sure they understand that this submission is required even when they serve an unworthy master.
1 Peter 2:18-19 “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.”
When Peter talks to wives about their responsibility to be submissive,
He is very careful to make sure they understand that this submission is required even when they are married to a disobedient man.
1 Peter 3:1-2 “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.”
When Peter talks to husbands about their responsibility to submit to the Lord by loving their wives,
He is very careful to make sure they understand that this is necessary even though they could win the argument by brute force.
1 Peter 3:7 “You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”
And when Peter calls for us to submit to the governing authorities,
He is very careful to make sure that we understand that this is required even if they are ignorant and foolish men.
1 Peter 2:13-17 “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.”
And if we were looking for a summation
Of why such submission is commanded
Peter would tell us to look no further than CHRIST.
1 Peter 2:21-25 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”
And that really sums up Christian submission.
We don’t do it because those in earthly positions of authority
Have necessarily earned it.
• We do it because God, who is the ultimate authority, has commanded it.
• We do it because Jesus Christ, who is our example, has demonstrated it.
• We do it because the lost, whom we seek to reach, is observing it.
• We do it because ultimately the righteous Judge will reward it.
1 Peter 2:19-20 “For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.”
So, I understand the difficulty of such a study,
Especially in the times in which we live.
But as those who have been redeemed,
We seek also to be redeemed from the foolish thinking of the world
And to walk in wisdom.
And this is the wisdom that has been given to us
Here in the 8th chapter of Ecclesiastes.
I’m not going to go into much detail in rehashing what we have discussed the past 2 weeks, but it is necessary to perhaps refreshen our minds as to the main points of the preacher.
#1 HIS WISDOM
Ecclesiastes 8:1
The preacher reminded us that we are looking here for wisdom.
This is the primary goal of the Christian.
We want to walk in wisdom.
We want to walk as God would have us walk.
And the preacher promised that walking in wisdom would result in causing our “stern face to beam.”
It could remove frustration and replace it with satisfaction.
That is what we are after.
#2 HIS ADVICE
Ecclesiastes 8:2-4
And here the preacher gave us advice that is a little hard to swallow.
“I say, ‘Keep the command of the king because of the oath before God.’”
It is a hard command.
Especially when you have an INCOMPETENT or even IMMORAL king.
Yet, the preacher reminded NOT to rebel, NOT to join a revolt,
And even to be careful questioning him.
I know that this flies right in the face of our red-blooded views
Of American patriotism.
But we aren’t after what feels right, we are after wisdom.
And according to Scripture, wisdom is to submit to the civil authorities.
Now, again, we make our DISTINCTION that not on the table in Ecclesiastes would be a king who commands us to disobey God.
That is a different scenario, and under such circumstances
Scripture tells us that wisdom is to disobey the king.
We saw that last time in Revelation 13 regarding the mark of the beast.
Such commands must be disobeyed.
However, even then I would say that
You still DON’T SEE Scripture calling for a revolution.
• To be certain Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego didn’t bow, but they also didn’t try to overthrow Nebuchadnezzar. They submitted to the fiery furnace.
• To be certain Daniel refused to quit praying but he didn’t try to rally the Jews to fight against the Medes. Daniel submitted to the den of lions.
• To be certain the Apostles refused to quit preaching Jesus and the resurrection, but they didn’t try to lead a militia into the temple to overthrow Annas or Caiaphas.
There are times when a Christian must resist a civil command,
But even then we still recognize a certain level of submission
If not to the command then to the consequences.
But here in Ecclesiastes
We DON’T HAVE a king who is commanding disobedience to God,
He is just a bad king who harms those under his authority.
And the ADVICE of the preacher is to submit.
#3 HIS EXPLANATION
Ecclesiastes 8:5-8
Here he told us why we should submit.
And his reasoning was spot on.
1) Obedience to the king will cause less trouble for you in this life. (5a)
• The civil authorities have the power to arrest and imprison you,
• If you rebel you will bring trouble on yourselves.
2) A wise man knows that God is in control. (5b-6)
• Even when the Jews were commanded to submit to Nebuchadnezzar they were called to do it in faith that God was at work.
3) You don’t know the future or what God is doing. (7)
• It doesn’t make much sense for a man who doesn’t know the future
• To rebel against the command of a God who does know the future.
4) Evil never delivered anyone. (8)
• You will never find deliverance in your life through disobeying God.
• No matter how bad the situation and how difficult the circumstances, walking contrary to God’s command will never work.
And so we apply wisdom here.
• We don’t know what God is doing.
• We don’t see how it could work.
• But wisdom is not understanding, wisdom is trusting that God does.
And that is the preacher’s explanation
And then last time we started looking at this 4th point.
#4 HIS OBSERVATION
Ecclesiastes 8:9-15
It is NOT AS THOUGH the preacher is living in a time of prosperity
And is OUT OF TOUCH with what true oppression looks like.
He has seen a bad king.
(9) “All this I have seen and applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun wherein a man has exercised authority over another man to his hurt.”
• He has seen wicked hypocritical men live in life in their evil and then when they die and are buried they are treated like heroes. (10)
• He has seen a justice system that does not punish what is evil and thus it only encourages the wicked to be even more wicked. (11)
So when the preacher tells you to submit to the king,
It’s not like he doesn’t understand what it is to live under a bad king.
So why would a Godly man who loves righteousness be willing to submit to an ungodly king who contributes to the spread of evil?
Well because he is exercising wisdom.
• The wisdom that obeys God even when he doesn’t understand.
• The wisdom that knows God is in control.
• The wisdom that realizes he doesn’t know the future, but God does.
• The wisdom that knows that regardless of the problem disobedience is never
the answer.
And we might add he is exercising the WISDOM OF FAITH that even though the wicked may appear to escape today, they will not forever.
(12-13) “Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly. But it will not be well for the evil man and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God.”
HE KNOWS THAT, HE HANGS ON TO THAT, HE TRUSTS THAT.
But listen, that DOESN’T MEAN he SEES it with his eyes.
Things in his culture are bad.
(14) “There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility.”
There is no other explanation for this than that
Here we have a government that has totally disregarded
Their Biblical responsibility from God.
What this man describes is a TOTALLY CORRUPT GOVERNMENT
Which has FAILED in every area of what it was commissioned to do.
There are many ideas today about what a government should be
And what a government should provide.
But what does God say is the legitimate function of the civil authorities?
Romans 13:3-4 “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”
Paul there describes the legitimate function of the civil government.
“it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”
That is God’s ordained function of the civil government.
It is to be a MORAL RESTRAINT upon humanity.
The gov’t bears the sword, it is a mediator of God’s vengeance,
It is meant to discourage the spread of evil
By bringing wrath and judgment on those who practice evil.
It ISN’T necessarily mandated to run things like:
• Economy and retirement
• Health care and welfare
• Environmentalism or even infrastructure
• Trade or business
From a biblical standpoint the civil government has one job
And that is to punish evil doers.
The civil authorities are another restraint which God has commissioned
To keep sinful man from being as wicked as he might be.
THAT IS THEIR LEGITIMATE FUNCTION.
So what the preacher is speaking of here in his day
Is a government that has totally and completely
Abdicated it’s one legitimate function.
Instead of stopping the spread of evil,
It has actually contributed to the spread of evil.
But in wisdom this man is being asked to submit anyway.
• In wisdom he is instead trusting God’s plan and God’s timing.
• In wisdom he is instead obeying God in faith that God will intervene and one day set things right.
It is a TALL ORDER to be sure,
But as those who desire to be wise and to honor God in this world,
We take the example of our Lord even when being treated unjustly.
1 Peter 2:21-23 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”
That is what we do.
• When reviled we do not revile in return…
• When we suffer we utter no threats…
• Instead we keep entrusting ourselves to Him who judges righteously…
THAT IS WISDOM
BUT SO FAR, none of that has done anything about the frustration
Or “stern face” that the preacher promised to help.
We’ve been at this thing for 14 verses
And if anything our countenance has grown more grim.
But I thought wisdom was supposed to cause our “stern face to beam”
I thought we were supposed to be able to rejoice under this oppression?
WELL HERE YOU GO.
Here is the preacher’s consolation if you will.
(15) “So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.”
Well we’ve certainly been here before.
The preacher likes this piece of advice.
Now, DON’T LOSE FOCUS because all of a sudden he says that he “commended pleasure”.
That DOES NOT MEAN that he is now reversing his previous stance
That seeking pleasure as the source of satisfaction is like striving after wind.
HE IS NOT CHANGING HIS STANCE.
But at the same time he is not throwing out pleasure altogether either.
But there is a difference between
Pleasure that is generated by the world
And pleasure that is generated by faith.
In fact, even as we said back in chapter 2 when talking about the futility of pleasure we noted that it is God who gave you the capacity for pleasure.
• God created your nervous system…
• God gave you the ability to feel pleasure and euphoria and joy…
• Certainly all pleasure is not sinful.
And here the preacher points you to that reality.
He says, “I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry…”
And we’ve heard that before too.
He reminds that there is plenty of evil and bad all around us.
• Watch the news…
• Read social media…
• And you will quickly be thrown into despair over the corruption of our government.
I won’t even argue with you if you say that our government
Seems to be doing their best to ruin our nation.
IT IS A DARK TIME.
So what does the preacher tell us to do?
WELL FIRST, OBVIOUSLY,
Use wisdom and submit knowing that God is in control.
BUT SECONDLY he says “eat…drink and…be merry”
And he has again now retreated to life’s simple pleasures.
Sometimes in our discontentment
We are so eager to see the big picture conformed to our will
That we fail to see the simple blessings right in front of us.
Yes, I would prefer a godly president.
Yes, I would prefer a non-corrupt government.
And it may be true that they succeed in totally ruining life as we know it.
I don’t know, because I don’t know what God is doing.
BUT TODAY, I am at church.
• Today, I worship among friends.
• Today, I sit on padded pews in central air conditioning.
• Today, my refrigerator has food.
• Today, I will eat a good meal and drink a glass of tea.
• Today, I will get a nap in my recliner.
And I will do all this with the absolute certainty that God has promised
That “all things will work together for good to them that love Him.”
NOT ONLY THAT.
But this God who loves me and has promised good to me
Has at the same time SAID THAT I DON’T HAVE TO FIX ANYTHING
Regarding the civil government.
All I have to do is sit back in submission
And trust that He will take care of it all.
Does that not take away your frustration and replace it with a smile?
Does that cause your “stern face to beam”?
Early on in this study we talked about how
God even commanded the children of Israel to submit to Nebuchadnezzar.
He told them to put their neck under his yoke.
• To Habakkuk this was totally inconceivable.
• To Zedekiah this was a command who refused to obey.
Submission to that godless ruler seemed backward in every way.
BUT CAN I REMIND YOU, that at the same time
God was telling the children of Israel to submit to Nebuchadnezzar
GOD ALSO ISSUED A PROMISE TO THEM.
It is a promise you know well.
Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”
How many of you have quoted that verse when facing affliction of various kinds?
How many of you knew that the context of that promise was when God was commanding His people to submit to a pagan ruler?
And could I remind you
Of what Jeremiah told the people who were already in Babylon?
Jeremiah 29:4-7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. ‘Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’”
Again, the command is to make the most of the life you have
While God is at work doing what only God can do.
This is the effect of exercising the wisdom of civil submission.
Now, let’s think about it a second.
• I know we get frustrated with the government…
• I know we get angry at the way they may rule…
• I know a command to submit to them is hard to read…
• I know it is hard to trust God’s plan when we can’t see it…
But would you prefer to open the Bible and read:
“You’re in trouble, your king is ruining everything. You’re only hope is to rebel, revolt and change the situation yourself. God has decided to just let you deal with the problem as seems best to you. Good luck!”
Do you really want to go to war?
Do you want your kids to go to war?
Do you really want the weight of securing justice to fall on your back?
I understand frustration, I really do.
• But I am thankful that the Bible has reminded me again that God is in charge
• All He is asking me to do is trust Him through my submission to His plan.
When I do, I get peace.
When I do, I get joy.
When I do, I get satisfaction.
I already read you a lot of passages from Peter on the call of submission.
Can I read you one more at the end of his letter?
1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
That is the call isn’t it?
So wisdom is what we are after.
• Wisdom is to obey God and submit to the king.
• We do this because God is sovereign and we are not.
• And the joy and peace comes when we quit seeking to control things that are beyond us and learn to appreciate the simple things which God has given.
LOOK AGAIN at verse 15.
“So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.”
Did you catch the end?
When you learn to take satisfaction and joy in the little pleasures which God has granted you along the way…
The preachers says, “this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.”
Isn’t that great!
• Have wisdom enough to trust God.
• Have wisdom enough to rest in God.
• Have wisdom enough to be content with God.
• And God will reward that with joy and satisfaction and strength
That is the preacher’s observation.
His wisdom, His advice, His explanation, His Observation
#5 HIS CONCLUSION
Ecclesiastes 8:16-17
Here comes yet another summary to a very difficult topic.
(16) “When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the task which has been done on the earth (even though one should never sleep day or night),”
That speaks of the depth of his search.
• When he asked you to submit to the king this WASN’T just some idea that came from the hip.
• This WASN’T just some random idea that popped into his brain.
This was the result of a search that he gave his heart to.
This was the result of a search that deprived him of sleep.
He went all out in his search to understand what God was doing
With this wicked king so that he could relate it to you.
It would be nice to know why God brought such rulers to power.
(17) “and I saw every work of God, I concluded that man cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun. Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not discover; and though the wise man should say, “I know,” he cannot discover.”
There it is again.
You can’t know it.
The quicker we accept our place here
The more stress free life is going to become.
God is not going to allow you up into the control booth
So that you can fully understand why He does what He does
Or allows what He allows or why He brings to power who He brings to power.
HE’S JUST NOT GOING TO TELL YOU THAT.
Wisdom is not when you fully understand.
The wise man is the man who obeys God
Even when he doesn’t understand.
Go back to the story of Jesus if you must.
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
• Neither one of those men knew about the coming storm.
• Perhaps neither of them knew why it was necessary to build on the rock.
• But the wise man obeyed and the foolish man disobeyed.
There have been more wicked rulers in this world than I can count.
There are currently in this world a bunch of them.
And I don’t know why God brought them to power,
But wisdom tells me I don’t have to understand to obey Him.
And someday, when we are with Christ,
And we know fully just as we are fully known,
Then I am supremely confident that we will say that
“GOD’S PLAN WAS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!”
In the meantime IF YOU NEED SOME REASSURANCE there are some rulers that are explained to us.
We already saw how Nebuchadnezzar was used to purify Israel of her idolatry.
But he’s not the only one we know about.
How about Pharaoh?
That hard-hearted tyrant who enslaved God’s people.
Romans 9:17 “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.”
God brought that wicked man to power
So that He could demonstrate His power in crushing him.
How about Pilate?
That cowardly Roman who would not save Jesus.
Acts 3:13-15 “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”
God used that corrupt coward to secure the atoning work of Jesus.
Some day God will bring Anti-Christ to power,
Who will be the most despicable man the world has ever seen.
But he will be an instrument of God
To drive Israel to Christ so that they might be saved.
THE POINT IS that God knows what He is doing, we are called only to have the wisdom to trust and obey Him.
Now I want to wrap up this study with one more passage.
• We’ve seen all the commands to submit to the governing authorities.
• We’ve seen Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon and Habakkuk.
• We’ve read Romans 13 and 1 Peter.
• We see the many commands to submit.
But there is ONE MORE COMMAND for God’s people
Regarding the civil authorities and I want to leave you with this one.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”
The goal is to “lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”
That’s what we want.
The means to obtaining it is not revolt or rebellion
Or getting on social media and bashing the governing authorities.
The means through which we obtain the quiet life is prayer.
We petition the sovereign God who is over all authority
And ask Him for the privilege of leaders who will allow us such a life.
THAT FITS THE NARRATIVE DOESN’T IT
Because our God is the ultimate authority we SUBMIT.
And because our God is the ultimate authority we PETITION Him.
Isaiah 40:21-24 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.”
Rest in that.
Rejoice in that.
Let go of your frustration, walk in wisdom and have joy and peace.
