The short film James 3 portrays a family of four getting ready for church on a Sunday morning. Even though the viewer cannot hear what the family members are saying, it is not hard to read their lips, or at least their attitudes.

   They wake up sleepy and grumpy. The dad stumbles over the laundry and kicks it out of the way. The older daughter argues with her mother about what she will (or will not) wear to church.

   The younger daughter spills her milk and cereal. Angry words are exchanged, especially when the dad slams on the brakes while the mom is trying to put on lipstick in the car.

   As they get ready for church, no one in the family smiles or exchanges even one friendly word … until they walk into church and it is time to put on a happy face.

   The mom and the dad smile at the first people they meet. Joyfully they take their places in the auditorium. When they stand to sing, their eyes are closed in reverent adoration. As the film ends, the sound begins, and we can hear what they are singing: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”

   Which is reality? Which is fantasy? And which is the real you? Is it the person who treats people badly at home or the person who acts nice to people in the house of God? When you go to worship, is it really worship, or are you just pretending?

In this climactic passage, the Preacher takes his listener by the arm, turns him toward the heavens, and says: “Stand in awe of God. Come to him. Never try to use him. He is in heaven and you are on earth.”

You would probably be reluctant to purchase an unfamiliar product if the label said, “Satisfaction Is Not Guaranteed.” An ungodly way of life offers no guarantee of satisfaction, yet many people seem to want it.

Chapter 4: to the courtroom, the market place, the idle man, the independent man, on the highway, in the palace…in Ecclesiastes 5, Solomon continued to stress the futility of living one’s life without God. The natural man, without God, is baffled by everything. Nothing on the earth seems to have any meaning when considered to its end.

This fact places great importance upon our relationship with God. God’s will is not to be tampered with. A religion that is anything short of total commitment to God only adds to the emptiness of life.

No wonder so many “religious” people are dissatisfied. They have just enough religion to make them uncomfortable —to know that they are not really pleasing God—yet not enough to give them the security that comes through total commitment.

The Preacher is speaking to just about everyone who ever goes to church. His words are not for people who never go to church at all.

His exhortations are for people who do go to church but sometimes find it hard to pay attention, whose thoughts wander when they pray, and who are full of good intentions about serving God but have trouble following through.

They are for people who know they need to get involved in outreach but usually come up with some excuse for not joining a ministry right now. They have started a serious program for personal Bible study several dozen times but have never finished. They try to pay attention in church but usually spend half their time thinking about the upcoming week.

What was their sin? They were robbing God of the reverence and honor that He deserved. Their acts of worship were perfunctory, insincere, and hypocritical.

These verses describe the proper attitude individuals must have as they enter the temple to worship in the presence of God. Worshipers exercise restraint as they offer sacrifices (v. 1), extend prayers (vv. 2–3), and make vows (vv. 4–6) to God.

Can I be honest? I wish there were some way to announce over a loudspeaker system outside every church, “The worship zone is for learning, listening, and changing only. Be alert! Listen carefully. Truth will be deposited in your head that is designed to change your life.”

Solomon pens some convicting words.  He is going to sober us up. He may even make us feel badly. Now, I hope that you don’t come to church to be made to feel happy (wealth and health). The Bible isn’t a book about happiness; it is a book about holiness.

This means sometimes the Bible will say things that you and I don’t like. Yet, if our goal is to become progressively holy, we will welcome the hard words of Scripture. For hard words make soft people and soft words make hard people.

In these nine verses, Solomon shares two prohibitions that will enable us to exercise holiness and worship the right God in the right way. He wants us to see that God seeks an open heart and a closed mouth.

The worship of God is the highest ministry of the church and must come from devoted hearts and yielded wills. Solomon touched on several aspects of worship, the first of which was the offering of sacrifices (v. 1).

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

We must watch our steps when we approach God in worship (5:1–3). We should approach Him to listen more than to speak. Most people do not realize the wrong in an empty sacrifice.

“The sacrifice of fools” in verse 1 probably has reference to a sacrifice offered by a man so foolish as to think that the outward act of sacrificing is all that is needed.

It is not the sacrifice itself that God wants; it is obedience. God desires a humble and contrite spirit. The foolish man approaches God with his sacrifice, expecting God to take note of it and listen to his halfhearted request for pardon; yet he goes on his way unwilling to listen to God.

Those who play at religion in such a manner are often more frustrated and confused in times of trouble than those who have no religion at all. Those who have no belief in God expect nothing from God and blame God for nothing.  

Solomon warned about approaching God flippantly or insincerely (5:2). In effect, he said, “Be careful what you say to God. Remember, He is the God of heaven, and you are only an earth creature.”

The important thing is that the worshiper “be more ready to hear,” that is, to obey the Word of God.

Then Solomon issued a warning about careless praying (vv. 2–3)  Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. ³ For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.

 The right way to approach God in worship is to come with our ears wide-open. The Preacher assumes that when people go to the house of God, there will be “something” for them to hear.

 hat “something” is the Word of the living God. The house of God is a place for the reading and the preaching of the Word of God.

So the first questions we need to ask ourselves as we prepare for worship are: Am I ready to listen to the voice of God? Is my heart open to spiritual instruction? Are my ears attentive to the message I will hear from the Bible?

 Understand that whenever we go to worship, we enter the presence of a holy God who has gathered his holy people to hear his holy Word.

 When we consider the holiness of God and compare it with our own unholy worship, it is a wonder that any of us is still alive. Thank God for Jesus! It is not only his sufferings that save us but also his obedience, including the perfect worship he offered to his Father.

Jesus died for all our sins, including all the sins we have committed in the very act of worshiping God. But Jesus also did something more.

 We come to worship the way that the Solomon of Ecclesiastes tells us to come—paying attention to God, watching our step when we enter his sanctuary, and listening to the truth of his Word.

 The Creator/creature distinction has practical implications for what we say when we worship. We need to know our place, remembering both who God is and who we are.

 Isaiah said in one of his famous prophecies, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).

 Solomon’s third admonition had to do with making vows to the Lord (vv. 4–7). When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. ⁵ It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. ⁶ Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷ For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.

 When we make promises to God, we must keep them (5:4–7). It is better not to make a promise to God than to make one and fail to keep it. We must not promise what we cannot do or do not intend to do. It will not do any good to excuse ourselves by saying such things as “I made a mistake.” Solomon was saying that we must speak carefully and honestly before God and before His messengers. God did not require His people to make vows in order to be accepted by Him, but the opportunity was there for them to express their devotion if they felt led to do so (see Num. 30; Deut. 23:21–23; Acts 18:18).

Another way to say this? Don’t play games with God! If you promise him something, be a man or a woman of your word. In some cases, this means that it would be better for us not to promise God anything at all.

But the Bible assumes that there are times when it is appropriate for us to take spiritual vows, like the vows of covenant matrimony, for example, or the promises people make when they become members of a church.

The Preacher warned about two sins. The first was that of making the vow with no intention of keeping it, in other words, lying to God.

The second sin was making the vow but delaying to keep it, hoping you could get out of it. When the priest [“angel” = messenger] came to collect the promised sacrifice or gift, the person would say, “Please forget about my vow! It was a mistake!”

God hears what we say and holds us to our promises, unless they were so foolish that He could only dismiss them. If providence prevents us from fulfilling what we promised, God understands and will release us.

 If we made our vows only to impress others, or perhaps to “bribe” the Lord (“If God answers my prayer, I will give $500 to missions!”), then we will pay for our careless words.

Many times in my hospital ministry I have heard sick people make promises to God as they asked for healing, only to see those promises forgotten when they recovered.

“If God helps me leave this hospital room, I’ll read the Bible more…I’ll go back to worship…”People make empty vows because they live in a religious “dream world”; they think that words are the same as deeds (v. 7). Their worship is not serious, so their words are not dependable.

They enjoy the “good feelings” that come when they make their promises to God, but they do themselves more harm than good. They like to “dream” about fulfilling their vows, but they never get around to doing it. They practice a make-believe religion that neither glorifies God nor builds Christian character.

Compare the warning of Ecclesiastes 5:1–2 with these words of Jesus: “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men’ ” (Matthew 15:7–9, NIV).

T. M. Moore has written a loose poetic paraphrase of these verses that can help us remember its spiritual lessons.

“How brazen and dishonest people are with their religion. They will go as far with it as suits their needs; so they attend the services and sing the hymns, and when they have to, give a little money to the Lord. But do they live as one should do who’s made a vow to God? Don’t kid yourself. Among their friends their faith is on the shelf.…Remember, God knows everything.

“He knows our hearts when we before him bring our worship, and you can’t fool him. So take a good look at yourself before you make your next appearance before the Lord. And go to listen, not to speak, for he will know just what you need.

“Why, any fool can spout a lovely prayer or sing a hymn about his faith. His words are mindless, like a dream, although to people looking on they seem impressive. Not to God.…For words are cheap, just like the dreams you have while you’re asleep. God wants your heart, my son, not just a show. Get right with him before you to him go.”