Get Over Yourself

Advice for Life in an Unvirtuous World
Ecclesiastes 7:15-22
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Solomon was very wise but also very frustrated, we might even say disollusioned, by what he saw under the sun. He is the embodiment of the truth in Ecclesiastes 1:18 that in much wisdom there is much grief and in great knowledge there is great sorrow. You can sense his frustrated experience as he introduces a new section, In my vain life I have seen everything (v.15).

The first half of chapter 7 (verses 1-14) is about demanding and difficult times, and how adversity can be a great advantage for us. It is Solomon’s answer to what was a rhetorical question in 6:12: “For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life?” I think Solomon aims to teach us that what is good for a man is God. God is man’s greatest good and dversity often clarifies that for us because He’s all that we can depend on.

So in verses 1-14 things don’t always go as easy as we expect. This causes us to stop acting independent and trust God. Now in verses 15-29 things don’t always go as we think we deserve. This causes us to stop being proud, loosen up, and fear God. It should cause us to get over ourselves.

Ecclesiastes 7:15-29 gives us advice for life, especially in a world where virtue is almost non-existent, especially in a world where we think we deserve more than what we’re getting. This morning we’ll cover the first two pieces of advice in verses 15-22.

Enjoy Life with God-Fearing (vv.15-18)

1. The Problem Observed v.15

In verse 15 Solomon picks up his observation and experience that things don’t always work out like we think. In fact, many times just the opposite occurs of what we expect. For example,

There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.

Especially to us religious folk, this doesn’t seem fair, but it is a fact. Even though there are certain OT/biblical expectations that the righteous will be blessed–even to long life, and that the wicked will be cursed–even to loss of life, experience proves that this is not always how it works. Sometimes the good die young and sometimes the bad keep being bad. For most persons, that’s a problem. It seems like no one gets what they deserve.

At this point there are two typical responses. The first type of responder says, “The righteous man who perished probably just wasn’t righteous enough. God is only pleased with really righteous people. I just need to avoid everything that even seems worldly. I’m going to set myself apart so much that God will certainly be pleased with me. I’m not going to enjoy anything under the sun at all. I’m going to be ultra righteous.” This group figures the way to sail safely is to never put the boat in the water.

The second type of person responds just the opposite. They don’t make any preparations or take any precautions at all before shoving off shore. “If good people die young and the wicked get to party on, then let’s party on!”

I can totally imagine Solomon having interaction with both these crowds: the highfalutin pious and the forthright pagans, and he had something to say to both these groups.

2. The Wrong Responses vv.16-17

16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?

There are (unsurprisingly) a number of interpreters who take verses 16 and 17 as a call to the ethic of the middle. They believe that in v.16 Solomon is advising that no one work too hard to be righteous because they might die early and have wasted all that time. So just be a “little righteous.” Don’t be a fanatic. Don’t go to extremes. Just relax.

And then in v.17 Solomon is saying don’t go to excess in your evil either, after all, a little sin never hurt anybody.

But no matter how frustrated Solomon may be, there is no way that he’s trying to tell us to be a little good and a little bad. Let me give you five reasons why, starting with the immediate context of the paragraph and then considering how it fits with the rest of Scripture.

1. The variance with verse 15. A righteous man dies early sometimes. Okay. But Solomon doesn’t they say, “So don’t be righteous.” He says don’t be overly righteous. There is a difference. Add to that the tense of the verb for don’t make yourself too wise. The Hebrew hithpael tense of this word may mean “to play the wise man” (cf. Numbers 16:13; 2 Samuel 13:5) where pretending and play-acting is the idea. There is a difference between being righteous and acting righteous.

2. The disconnect with destruction. The question at the end of verse 16 wonders why would you destroy yourself? In other words, why would you ruin yourself by being too righteous? But how would that even happen? The closest connection would be the early death of the righteous in verse 15. But that verse doesn’t say that every righteous man dies early, just that sometimes it happens. There doesn’t seem to be a ryhme or reason, so why would being overly genuinely righteous be a problem? However, posturing as a righteous person is poisonous, both in the present life and in eternity.

3. The contrast with v.17. The most important reason in the paragraph is the contrast with the one who fears God who shall come out from both of them in verse 17. The God-fearer is distinct not only from the wicked and the fool, but also from the overly righteous and the too wise. But fearing God and genuine righteousness go together and certainly fearing God is the beginning of wisdom.

4. As you think about the context of the Bible, can someone be “overly righteous?” If righteousness is by degree, then who is ultimately righteous? God. So is God too righteous? Or is there a different standard for humans? What percentage of righteous is too much? No. You can’t be overly genuinely righteous.

5. Also in Scripture, is a little wickedness okay? I mean, it is natural for humans, so maybe God is okay as long as we don’t go too far. Again, no. Any sin causes us to be guilty of the whole law (cf. James 2:10).

Therefore, when Solmon is advising against being overly righteous and being too wise he is speaking sarcastically about being self-righteous. In verse 16 he is criticizing prigs.

prig: a self-righteously moralistic person who behaves as if superior to others

There are plenty of other descriptions we have for this kind of person, the kind of person that makes righteousness a pretense, an act. This is the Holier-Than-Thou Christian. The Know-It-All Christian. The Isolationist.

Jesus interacted with these super-spiritual, ultra-rightous religious people all the time. It isn’t that they were genuinely on a higher plan of righteousness, but they thought they were and looked down on everyone else. But theirs wasn’t genuine righteousness, it was false righteousness. Job’s three friends were like this. In their theology, righteous people didn’t deserve to suffer let alone die early. They arrogantly assumed that they weren’t suffering because God was pleased with them and their morality. Of course, the reason Job was suffering was because God was so pleased with him He was showing Job off to Satan.

So speaking against being overly righteous is a sarcastic reference to the wrongly righteous, the self-righteous. In fact, the error of self-righteousness is a theme throughout the whole passage (v.16, 20, 22, [23-24], 28-29).

They think that by making themselves miserable and avoiding any kind of joy in the process that they’ll make God happy with them. They think that in order to please Him, they’ve got to reject His gifts and they inevitably end up condemning anyone else who does. In the process they miss out of joy now and destroy themselves by trusting in themselves. Theirs is a toxic life that will end up in judgment.

The bottom line is, get over yourself. Stop taking yourself and your righteousenss so seriously. You’re not that righteous. Being a goody-two-shoes isn’t God-pleasing.

Then in verse 17 Solomon addresses the other group. He isn’t advocating moderated or balanced sin, he’s saying to those who are taking God’s gifts and ignoring God as the Giver, be careful. Even though it might seem like everything’s okay and God isn’t immediately punishing your sin, don’t get crazy. That might lead to an untimely (from our perspective) death. You do reap what you sow, at least later and sometimes sooner.

3. The Right Response v.18

18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.

The proper response is from the third group found in verse 18. They aren’t self-righteous but neither do they pursue un-righeousness. Fearing God causes you to realize that your righteousness stinks compared to God’s and that unrighteousness is unacceptable to God. It also enables you to enjoy things from God but not instead of God.

God-fearers enjoy the gifts of God because they are concerned with God. They don’t deny themselves every God given pleasure, but they also don’t make a god out of pleasure. They enjoy the process under the sun because they are looking to the One beyond the sun. The one who fears God shall come out from both of them, the self-righteous and the unrighteous.

This is the same principle Solomon repeats near the end of Eccleisastes in 11:9. Enjoy life, but remember, God is watching. You aren’t capable of doing anything super-righteous to put you in a position where He owes you. Fear Him. You also aren’t capable of hiding your sin. Fear Him and keep His commandments.

Get Wisdom with Humility (vv.19-22)

The second piece of advice for life in this non-virtuous world is to be full of wisdom but never full of yourself.

1. The Established Standard v.19

19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Verse 19 contains a saying, a habitual expression of wisdom and truth.

We might think that the governmental authorities are some of the most important and powerful people. They have influence and make important decisions. But the truth is, a single wise person is stronger and more of a force than 10 city officials.

Wisdom is a powerful thing. Solomon should know. And even though it’s value is relative, namely, even wise people are going to die, God places a high priority on wisdom and the Bible is full of it’s advantage.

2. The Flip Side v.20

20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

It is really good to get wisdom. But some people are better at accumulating knowledge and getting full of themselves. Those persons tend to get a little big for their britches. They start acting like they’re exceptional and start treating other people like they don’t measure up. Solomon was referring to that exact person in verse 16, the “overly righteous” and the “too wise.”

But genuine wisdom avoids hubris and adds humility. No matter how much wisdom you have, you’re still a sinner. This is an emphatic (Surely) and axiomatic (on earth) counterbalance. Every person on the planet is covered by this statement, they are guilty by omission (do good) and comission (never sins).

This is an important truth, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Verse 20 prepares us for Solomon’s search for virtue in verses 25-29 and the fact that he finds almost no virtue.

You’re included in that. So get over yourself, you’re a sinner.

3. The Case Study vv.21-22

The following specific situation is an illustration of the truth in the previous two verses.

21 Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22 Your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others.

I get many good opportunities to think about this. Everyone does. Sometimes it seems like to be alive is to have people talking bad about you. But it is not wise to overreact.

Your heart knows is a way to refer to the conscience. The principle is similar to “he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.” It isn’t saying that sin isn’t serious, but it’s saying don’t act like you’re above others sinning against you. Even if you don’t deserve the specific criticism, you probably deserve some criticism. Besides, they’re probably saying even worse things about you than you heard. So relax.

This isn’t about having thick skin, this is about realizing you’re guilty too. No one is free from sin, and that should affect the way we treat others. It is foolish to be surprised, everyone is a sinner. It is foolish to act self-righteous, you’re one of the “everyone” sinners.

Get over yourself and drop the drama, you’re not perfect. Don’t be hyper. Don’t be oversensitive. Don’t start applying the discipline process of Matthew 18 everytime you hear something that doesn’t sound right.

Conclusion

Get over yourself, don’t be over-righteous or overreactive.

Fear God. Enjoy life. Get Wisdom. And be humble.