ecclesiastes 10

in the midst of this busy week of invigilating exams, marking assignments, and preparing for graduation, the reb still has to preach this coming sunday in wesley methodist church segamat.

been doing a series of expository sermons based on the book of ecclesiastes and we are at chapter 10. the title of the sermon for this sunday is 'wisdom, folly, and risk'. one may wonder what sort of title that is and how the reb is going to preach from it.

chapter 10 can be divided along 2 main themes - wisdom and folly. the chapter nicely works out into 5 parts:

vv. 1-3 - wisdom and folly
vv. 4-7 - ruler
vv. 8-11 - no advantage in wisdom, only risk
vv. 12-16 - wisdom and folly
vv. 17-20 - king

the 1st and 4th sections are on folly and the lack of it. wisdom is thus the absence or avoidance of folly. the 2nd and 5th sections are about ruler/princes/king, about people in high places. on the surface, the theme of wisdom/folly and ruler/king may seem unconnected but the link is there - even rulers/kings can be fools in high places. or if they exercise wisdom, they can become wise in their rule over people.

the centrepiece is the verses that speak about there being no advantage even in wisdom. at best, wisdom gives us a little advantage over folly. at other times, the edge disappears. thus, in most times, one has to take risk, calculated risk (v. 10). why? because in life, sometimes fate overrules. at least with wisdom, we can learn to grasp the opportunities when they come and make the most out of every moment (Latin: carpe diem or 'seize the day' ).

Comments

Hello, Rev. Anthony. I am Stephanie that has spoken to you after the church service at Wesley Methodist Segamat.
Great to know about your teaching. Will follow up your blog whenever i have time.
My email is sclf2005@yahoo.com
great that you can drop in. i will continue to post all sorts of stuff here.

will bring copies of my book down to wesley segamat during 3rd week of nov.