Passage: Ecclesiastes 10:10-13
The Big Idea
If the ax is dull, you have to swing harder. For centuries, people tried to connect with God through the Law and kept banging their heads against stone tablets. God offers a sharper way: the New Covenant of grace. And grace doesn’t just change how we live; it changes how we talk.
Banging Your Head Against a Wall
Do you want to bang your head against a wall? Obviously not.
But for centuries, the only way people knew to relate to God was through the Old Covenant of law, summed up in the Ten Commandments written on two tablets of stone:
- No other gods
- No carved images
- Don’t take His name in vain
- Remember the Sabbath
- Honor your parents
- Don’t murder
- Don’t commit adultery
- Don’t steal
- Don’t lie
- Don’t covet
How did people bang their heads on these tablets? Failure. Every person who has ever lived has failed to measure up to this perfect, glorious standard.
There’s nothing wrong with the standard. The problem is us. We keep banging our heads against the rules, trying to be right with God and be what we were created to be.
But no one is justified by the works of the law; through the law comes the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). The Law can’t save us or change us. What it can do is show us how sinful we are, which is actually very helpful.
A Sharper Way
There’s another way. A smarter, sharper, better covenant: the New Covenant of grace (Hebrews 8:6).
It’s completely different from the Ten Commandments. Grace is the free, unearned and undeserved help and favor of God. God’s riches at Christ’s expense.
How do we receive it? By humility and faith.
Instead of banging our heads against stone tablets, we’re invited to live in the life-giving garden of God’s love, where His life and fruit are produced in us through an abiding relationship with Jesus (John 15:5).
| Law | Grace |
|---|---|
| Trying | Abiding |
| Self-sourced effort | Spirit-produced fruit |
Read: Ecclesiastes 10:10-13
Sharpen the ax (Ecclesiastes 10:10)
If the ax is dull and you don’t sharpen it, you have to use more strength. But wisdom brings success.
Work smarter, not harder. Don’t bang your head against the wall. Sharpen your ax. Learn to live by grace, walk in grace and speak with grace. That’s far wiser than trying to do it all yourself or prove yourself to God. (You’d need a lot of strength for that.)
Watch out for snakes (Ecclesiastes 10:11)
A snake may bite before it’s charmed, and the babbler is no different.
Watch out for poisonous ideas that can bite our lives: self-sufficiency, religious law-keeping, fruitless legalism. What you babble about reveals who you are. What’s in your heart eventually comes out of your mouth.
Gracious words (Ecclesiastes 10:12-13)
The words of a wise person are gracious, but a fool’s lips swallow him up. His talk begins with foolishness and ends in madness.
Solomon says it’s wise to speak words of grace, and foolish to speak words that aren’t. Graceless words destroy the very good you wanted to do.
The Wisest of All
Pop quiz: who’s the wisest of them all? Jesus. So let’s see how He lived this out.
Jesus proclaimed good news (Psalm 40:9-10)
Psalm 40 is a prophetic picture of the Messiah: He proclaimed the good news of righteousness, didn’t restrain His lips, didn’t hide God’s righteousness, declared His faithfulness and salvation, and didn’t conceal His lovingkindness and truth.
- Good news is the gospel, and the gospel is grace.
- Grace gives us a righteousness we didn’t have and couldn’t get, both in our standing before God (justification) and in daily living (sanctification).
- Lovingkindness is an Old Testament word for grace. Grace and truth together.
Jesus came full of grace and truth (John 1:14). He knows everything about you. (Gulp.) And He has infinite grace for you. (Cheer!) He can make you truly good, inside and out, by the power of His grace.
It starts in the heart
A good person brings good things out of the good treasure of the heart (Matthew 12:35). For us to speak grace, grace has to be in our hearts. We can’t just know about it, and we can’t fake it. It has to spring up like a fountain.
Do you have this grace in your heart? Pray: “God, I need You. Give me Your grace. Help me know how much I need You and how reliable You are.”
Grace changes our hearts. That’s where we drink deeply of His love and faithfulness.
Gracious words
When Jesus spoke in Nazareth, everyone marveled at the gracious words coming out of His mouth (Luke 4:22).
Jesus was known for talking about the free love and undeserved favor of God, especially to people who didn’t deserve it, people who were failures and messed up. He always had a word of love for the empty and needy. He always forgave those who knew they were unforgivable. Jesus has never said to me, “I told you so” or “You get what you deserve.”
What did it cost Him to offer me that grace? Everything. He was rejected and abandoned on the cross. He took the wrath of God we deserved, because He was committed to giving us grace. That’s all we need, and all we should ever talk about.
Speak Smarter, Not Harder
Let no corrupt word come out of your mouth, but only what builds up and gives grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29).
That’s not just about cussing. It’s about what’s coming out of the heart. Let your words carry the message of God’s love and grace.
The Law can speak for itself. It has no trouble telling us we fail. But grace can rescue the worst people. Grace can save a wretch like me. And grace requires no payment. Just ask.
“But I don’t know what to say”
What if I’m a new believer myself? How can I help anyone?
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so you’ll know how to answer each person (Colossians 4:6). The message of grace is like salt: healing and life-giving. Our words can always be:
- Focused on the finished work of Jesus.
- Mindful of His ongoing work in us.
- Hopeful in Jesus.
- Casting our cares on Him.
- Inviting everyone who is tired and thirsty to drink of His grace.
That’s how the Bible ends. Jesus declares that it is done. He is the Alpha and the Omega, and He gives freely from the spring of the water of life to everyone who is thirsty (Revelation 21:6).
Grace Takeaway
God’s grace is a cool, life-giving water break for everyone who has been slaving away under the Law, banging their heads against the wall. Stop swinging the dull ax. Drink deeply of His grace, and let it spill out in everything you say.
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