Fear God and Keep His Commandments for This is the Whole Duty of Man (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

In Ecclesiastes 12:13 Solomon said, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Everything’s been considered and Solomon meant it. He tried, tasted, and experienced anything you could try, taste, and experience. He wrestled with the most important issues of life throughout the book, and finally reached this conclusion. The wisest man who ever lived – second only to Christ – tells us what life is about: fearing God and obeying His commandments. Table of ContentsFear God and Keep His Commandments to Find Meaning In LifeThe Fear of God Produces ObedienceThe Lack of Fear of God Produces DisobedienceGod’s Judgment Puts This Life in Perspective https://youtu.be/dRDbFXTw2CY Ecclesiastes 12:13 says, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Solomon tried everything so he knew. Ecclesiastes 12:12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. We looked at this over two sermons. The Book of Ecclesiastes is a fitting picture of the end of the end of this verse. Solomon said much study is a weariness of the flesh, and if you’re familiar w/ Ecclesiastes, you know Solomon seemed very weary as he tried to find meaning in life. After all the weariness he experienced throughout the book, look what he finally says in verse 13… Ecclesiastes 12:13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. He said all has been heard – or everything’s been considered – and he meant it. He tried, tasted, and experienced anything you could try, taste, and experience. When he said this is the end of the matter, this is a pretty big deal, b/c Solomon wrestled with the most important issues of life, and he finally reached his conclusion. The wisest man who ever lived – second only to Christ – is about to tell us what life is about. This is one of those moments you just want everyone to be quiet so they can hear what he has to say. Everything has been very fragmented for Solomon. He’s been confused throughout the earlier chapters, unable to make sense of this life, but now he can finally share what he’s learned after all his searching. All his uncertainties are behind him, and it boils down to this… Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Let me get you to think about something that reveals why these words are so dramatic… The main question Solomon’s been wrestling with is: “How does man experience satisfaction and fulfillment in life?” or as he frequently says, “Under the sun?” He considered what this world offers physically: Money Power Knowledge Relationships Parties Gardens Possessions Fame But when He figured out what’s important – when he finally learned how to experience satisfaction in this life – he didn’t mention anything physical. He said fear God and keep His commandments, which is spiritual. And this brings us to Lesson 1… Fear God and Keep His Commandments to Find Meaning In Life Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes and most of Proverbs. Although they’re separate books, I want to invite you to see a close relationship between them. You can almost think of them as one book w/ Proverbs picking up where Ecclesiastes left off. Here’s why I say this… Solomon concludes Ecclesiastes by saying we should fear God, and this is where Proverbs picks up… Proverbs 1:7 The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Solomon probably wrote Ecclesiastes at the end of his life, which means that’s when he finally showed himself to be wise. What does it mean to fear God? It means having an attitude of reverence and awe toward Him b/c we respect His power and greatness, and – as the next verse says – we know He’s going to judge us. Some people might look at this and say, “Well, this is Old Covenant. Judgment. Wrath. Anger. Of course we’re told to fear God and keep His commandments. But we’re under the New Covenant. Grace. Mercy. Forgiveness.” The problem is Jesus – who is the Mediator of the New Covenant – said the same thing… Matthew 10:28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Regarding [keeping] his commandments, Jesus said… John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. It is as fitting for us to fear God and keep His commandments in our day as it was in Solomon’s day when he wrote these words. Notice Solomon said this is the whole duty of man. When I first looked at this, I found it very surprising. I thought, “This is it? This is my whole duty? I have all these responsibilities. I have so many things to do and keep track of. How can my whole duty be bound up in fearing God and obeying Him?” Then I found this very encouraging, b/c it provides such beautiful simplicity for us. We live in such a confusing and chaotic time, I hope it can bless you too. In the two sermons on the previous verses we talked about the overwhelming amount of information coming at us daily: All the information All the news All the opinions All the voices  We can start to feel confused about what we should and shouldn’t do. Do I listen to: The article, or Facebook post, or blog I read… The advice from my friend… The interview or podcast I heard… The YouTube video I watched… For the person who fears God, they figure out what to do by asking one question: “What does God want me to do?” That’s very simplifying isn’t it? In the prophet Isaiah’s day there were lots of conspiracies circulating around…just like in our day. Listen to what God said is the remedy… Isaiah 8:11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. Isaiah told them to take their minds off the conspiracies, and put their minds on Him. If they feared Him it would drown out all the conspiracies. So let me encourage you… When you start to feel weary as we talked about in the other two sermons come back to this one thing that your whole duty is found in fearing God and keeping His commandments. It might look like fearing God and keeping His commandments are two separate things, but they go together…and this brings us to Lesson 2… The Fear of God Produces Obedience Psalm 112:1 Blessed is the man who fears [God], who greatly delights in his commandments! Keeping God’s commandments is the fruit of fearing Him. Let me give you a few examples from Scripture. Mark your spot in Ecclesiastes as we’ll come back to it and turn to Gen 22… Genesis 22:2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Since God commanded Abraham to sacrifice the son he loved we’d think that Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac for God, b/c he loved God so much…even more than the son he loved. But look at verse 11 to see what the Angel said when he stopped Abraham… Genesis 22:11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that YOU FEAR GOD, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” Interestingly, Abraham’s fear of God caused him to obey. Turn to Exo 1. The Hebrew midwives are another example. When the nation of Israel multiplied in Egypt, Pharaoh became afraid of them. He commanded the Hebrew midwives: Exodus 1:16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the MIDWIVES FEARED GOD and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. The Hebrew midwives obeyed God b/c they feared Him…more than they feared Pharaoh. Turn to Exo 20. God brought Israel to the base of Sinai. Considering everything He did to get them to this point—such as delivering them from Egypt and parting the Red Sea—we would expect Him to be friendly and welcoming. Instead, listen to this… Exodus 20:18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” God was so terrifying they thought His voice would kill them. Look at verse 20 to see Moses explain God’s motivation… Exodus 20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, THAT THE FEAR OF HIM MAY BE BEFORE YOU, THAT YOU MAY NOT SIN.” Moses told Israel their fear of God was good, b/c it would cause them to obey. I don’t want you to have to flip to the rest of these examples, so I’ll just read them to you… When Moses gave the law to the new generation, he established the relationship between fear of God and obedience… Deuteronomy 8:6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. Walking in God’s ways is synonymous with obedience, and it’s produced by fearing Him. The psalmist said something similar… Psalm 128:1 Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! Fear of God and obedience to God go together. Deuteronomy 31:12 Assemble the people…that they may hear and LEARN TO FEAR THE LORD YOUR GOD,...