Wealth

Introduction

Amen. It is so easy to get up here after such good song leading. So thank you, Brother Walcott, and thank you to you all for singing out from your heart. Of course, God hears the melody of our hearts. And that is the instrument that we play before Him. It is wonderful to see you all. And the more that I get to know this congregation and be a part of it, the more I love everyone here so much. Well, this is what we’d all like to have. Right? More or less. Nice house. Nice plot of land for the house to be on. Clear blue skies in the background. Yeah, maybe you don’t want a mansion, but one of those houses that when you drive by, you just say, I want that one.

Or a car. Not a Lamborghini, but something nice. Something new. Something we can’t afford. Got to keep up with the Joneses. We pursue wealth. And we pursue sometimes more than just what we need. And we think that we can do that and keep balance in our lives. But so often things fall apart and we are ruined in the process. We’re going to talk today about wealth from Ecclesiastes 5, verses 10 through 20. You may turn your Bibles there. We see in this passage a problem with wealth and the pursuit of money. But we also see the solution to the problem in this passage. Solomon is, I think, most certainly the author of Ecclesiastes. And he goes on a search for meaning or happiness under the sun.

He views life without God in the picture, and can we find happiness without God? We’ve done a lesson on this several months back from Ecclesiastes in a general way. And his discovery is everything is vanity. The second verse of the book, Vanity of Vanities, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. The word vanity means meaningless. So everything is meaningless if you take God out of the picture. And this was not only Solomon’s conclusion. This is pretty much common sense and has been seen by mankind through the ages. Ernest Hemingway, famous author and journalist who committed suicide amidst wealth and fame and luxury. Said life is a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness. That’s what Solomon is saying. Marty Pickup was one of my professors at Florida College and my favorite.

And he has recently passed away suddenly.

I was listening to a recording of him teaching from Ecclesiastes, and he said life is like a merry-go-round. You know, you get on and you spin around and around, you have a lot of fun, maybe you get a little bit sick. And then you get off right where you got on. You don’t get anywhere, you just spin around. You get nowhere. So, vanity of vanities. Throughout the book, Koheleth, or the preacher, the author, Solomon, explores a number of dead end streets education, pleasure, humor, work. Looking at these things, searching for happiness in and of themselves, and coming up empty-handed every time. One of the things that he searches for happiness in is wealth and success. And he views wealth in terms of success. In other words, a successful person is a wealthy person.

And a wealthy person is a successful person. Isn’t that the way that our society tends to think? I think men are probably that way a little bit more than women. Women get together and talk, and usually they ask questions about how many children do you have and tell me about your home. And one of the first questions men always ask is, What do you do? What do you do? What do you do? Well, that defines us. And success is defined by success at what we do. And often that means a number.

1. The Three Limitations of Wealth

Then we will take a look at the consequences of wealth. Then we will take a look at the solution to the problem. So, the first limitation of wealth is in verse 10 that wealth brings no satisfaction. He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with increase. This also is meaningless. It is vanity. Now, keep in mind that he’s not here merely talking about money, but he’s talking about the love of money. And as Paul told Timothy, that the love of money is the root of all evil, or as the New American Standard Version says, a root of all kinds of evil. This is when love of money is the primary drive of life. It is when money takes the place of God in your heart, and it becomes really the number one priority.

And by the way, is that our priority? We have to earn a living. But how desperate are we to have every last penny? What are we willing to sacrifice? Are we willing to sacrifice God? Worship to God. Are we willing to sacrifice our family so that we can earn another dollar? We tend to think that we always need more than we have. John Rockefeller, often regarded as one of the richest men in history, when asked, How much money do you need, Mr. Rockefeller? He answered, just a little more than I have. Somehow the expenses always rise to meet the income. And then you always need a little bit more, no matter how much you have. As one 17th century poet wrote, for as the strutting bags with money rise, the love of gain is of an equal size.

It’s very true. The love of money is an insatiable desire that can never be fulfilled. It can never be finally satisfied. And if anybody could have been satisfied with it, it would have been Solomon. Truly, he is the richest man who ever lived. And in the lesson that I preached on Ecclesiastes months back, I made the point that Solomon had all of his blanks filled. If you could say, well, if I could only have blank, I’d be happy. Whatever you might put in that blank, Solomon had all of that filled. And he still was coming up empty-handed and saw that life is meaningless. So wealth brings no satisfaction. Skipping forward to verses 13 and 14a, we’ll go back in a minute to 11 and 12. The second limitation of wealth is that it provides no guarantees.

So wealth does not guarantee good even when you have it. Now, you can’t be guaranteed to have it. But if you do have it, then it’s not guaranteed to be a blessing for you. It might be a real curse to you. And we’re going to talk about that more later. But let’s say it is a blessing for you, and you have it. You have managed to gain it. Well, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to keep it. As many of us learned in 2008. You might have had a lot of money in stocks. You might have had a lot of money in property. You might have just had enough money to get by, and then suddenly you didn’t anymore. Because it brought us to our knees.

There’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to keep it. In Proverbs 23, 4 and 5. Do not weary yourself to gain wealth. Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. When I was a teenager, we had an elderly gentleman living in my house that wasn’t related to us except in the Lord. Name was James Howell. He was a quirky fella. And uh, well, anyway, there’s so many things I could say about James, but I’ll just stick to the thing I planned. How about that? He was telling about when he was a child that his father had earned enough money to have a 100 bill.

And back then that was a lot of money. And he was telling me how his father was holding that hundred dollar bill up to the fireplace in front of the fireplace because you could see it really well, and the family was just in awe of this thing. And then suddenly it sort of was pulled into the fire and slipped out of his hand and just went right up the chimney. And I said, Well, what did you do? I thought maybe they put the fire out and tried to get it. He said, We cried. And that’s what I would have done too. But that to me sort of serves as a picture of what money tends to do anyway. It just comes right out of our hands, and where did he go?

It just flies away. It provides no guarantees. The third limitation of wealth is that it will most certainly disappear at death. Verses 14B through 16A. When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand. Now I’m using the New King James today, and I think that this one is more accurate here. So this is just an observation. When a son is born, he doesn’t come out with any money in his hand, does he? As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and he shall take nothing from his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a severe evil. Just exactly as he came, so shall he go. Now we’ve heard that a lot.

Didn’t Job say a very similar thing at the end of chapter one after his family had all been killed except his wife and all of his possessions were gone, all of his uh hundreds of herds and flocks of animals that he had, all of his wealth was totally taken away from him, and he fell down on the ground and worshiped God and said, Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord is given and the Lord is taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And uh there’s a real point about that that we need to concrete in our minds. Make it concrete with this picture. You don’t ever see a hearse pulling a U Hawaii. Because you’re not taking any of that stuff with you at all, are you?

You know, this is really the only guarantee with money. The only thing you can be totally confident about regarding money is you can’t take any of it with you. Yet our society really stands in denial of that very plain fact. We don’t send away our dead naked. We send them away in suits. Nice suits. Somebody could wear that suit. Now, understand that I understand. It’s a thing of respect. But why do we put things in their pockets? I read about a fad of burying people with their cell phones. Why? What’s he gonna do with the cell phone? Somebody could use that perfectly good cell phone. And throughout history, in different cultures, people bury kings and so on with great amounts of possessions and wealth and all of that kind of nonsense.

2. The Four Consequences of Wealth

To the end, we stand defiant to the very thing we know to be true that we can’t take any of this stuff with us. We don’t like that. But it’s true. You can have these possessions while you’re on the merry-go-round. But then when the merry-go-round is done, you’ve got to leave it all behind. So these are the three limitations of wealth that Solomon gives us in this passage. It brings no satisfaction, it provides no guarantees, and it will disappear at death. Now to the second really set of problems for wealth. And that is the consequences of wealth, and these are fourfold. Number one, wealth does not come alone. Verse 11A says, When goods increase, they increase who eat them or consume them. When you have more money, then people just come out of the woodwork.

They want some of that. They are all of a sudden your friends. Wealth attracts human leeches who give the rich man no peace. Jack Ma is the most wealthy man in China. And there’s an interesting article on CNBC that says, the richest man in China is unhappy. He finds being his country’s richest man is a great pain. Now you might say, poor fella, I’m so sorry, life is so hard. I’d love to trade places with you. But you might not want to trade places with somebody in that position. And Jack Ma says it is a great pain because when you’re the richest person in the world, which he’s not, he’s the richest person in China, everybody is surrounding you for money. And we don’t have to go to the extreme to see that this is true.

But the more you have, the more that becomes a problem. Also, the more things you have, the more people you need to take care of all of those things. You need somebody to take care of the inside of your house, and somebody to take care of the outside of your house, and somebody to take care of your property or your multiple properties, and the mechanic to take care of all of your machine stuff when they when it breaks, and the list goes on. So wealth does not come alone. A second consequence of wealth is that it can become useless. In the second half of verse 11. So what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes? To see their possessions with their eyes.

You see, there is no benefit to having more possessions than you can use.

Except to feast your eyes on them. You know.

Workout equipment. We spend hundreds on, and then just collects dust. Movies and albums and video games and electronic gadgets we spend a fortune on and might rarely get used. Extra vehicles. Not the ones that we use regularly, but the extra ones we have that just kind of sit there in our yard. Then there’s the dreaded boat. You know, the boat that you spend a fortune on because you’re going to be in the water every weekend. And then the more you do that, the more you realize what a hassle it is because you gotta hook the thing up, you gotta you know put gas in it, you gotta bring it to the water, you gotta unhook it, put it in the water, then it might or might not be good weather.

Then when you’re done, you’ve got to put the thing back, and you gotta bring it back, and you’ve got to put it in your yard again and or in your carport or wherever it is. And so what ends up happening is you have this nice, very big, expensive thing that you’re very proud of, this shiny thing that every now and then you just uncover it and look at it and tell your neighbors about, and then you cover it back up. We fill our closets and storage spaces and attics with junk that we have no use for, but we can’t seem to get rid of. Get rid of it. Expensive jewelry and other treasured possessions that we lock away, never to be seen again except for the rare times that we pull them out and gaze at them for a while, then put them back into their place.

Now, Solomon is not saying this as a way to condemn. He’s saying this as a fact. This is an observation. There’s nothing wrong with boats, nothing wrong with jewelry and these things. But there is something wrong with materialism. And it has to do with our hearts. And Colossians 3 and verse 5, at the end of that verse, calls it calls covetousness idolatry. And in 2 John 2 and verse 15, in 1 John 2 and verse 15, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And so do we love things? We need to be careful. Oh, I love my fill in the blank. It’s precious to me. Be careful. Do not love the world or the things in the world.

Love God. Love God. First and foremost. We Americans have way more than we need. Do we not? I mean, it really becomes ridiculous to a point, doesn’t it? When you move and you say, now, how many truckloads is it going to take to move all this junk that I’ve got? And the majority of it I’m never going to use at all. I’m just going to put it into another storage space somewhere. It’s kind of shameful. A third consequence of wealth is that it can deprive us of sleep. In verse 12, the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. If you’ve got a lot of wealth and a lot of possessions, then you’re worried about those things.

That’s a great responsibility all the time. In fact, the more wealth you have and the more possessions you have, then the more responsibility you have. The more responsibility you have, the more stress you have. The more stress you have, the more worries that you have. It’s like the saying goes, Mo money. Mo problems. And then there’s the burden of owning the money itself and trying to use it properly and spend it. Jack Maw says spending money is much more difficult than making money. Now, we might disagree with that. It’s a lot easier for me to spend it than it is to make it, but the more you make, the more it flips that whole equation upside down. And the possessions themselves, they need to be cared for.

They need to be stored and insured and transported and refurbished and replaced. So it can become a great burden. And so this passage, this verse gives us a great contrast. You have the rich man who has everything that he needs, but he just can’t sleep. On the other hand, you’ve got a manual laborer. And that’s the idea here of this laborer. This is a man who works with physical energy. And at the end of the day, he sure is tired, but he can lay his head down on his pillow and sleep like a baby. Which one would you rather have? The sleep or the riches? I know which one I’d rather have. In chapter 2, verses 22 and 23, Solomon says, For what has a man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?

For all his days are sorrowful and his work burdensome. Even in the night, his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. So wealth can deprive a person of sleep. Fourth and final consequence of wealth listed here is that it can ruin your life. Verses 16b through 17 says, And what profit has he who has labored for the wind? All his days he also eats in darkness, and he has much sorrow and sickness and anger. It’s a pursuit of wind. You know, here in a couple of weeks we’re all going to feel that way. I worked so hard for all that money, and where is it? It’s all gone. It’s all gone. What could be more empty and more delusive and more unsubstantial than wind? Because that’s what it is.

The pursuit for wealth often ruins the life of the one chasing it. John Paul Geddy Jr., who was a rich oil tycoon, as one editorial wrote, had five marriages, five divorces, two terrible deaths, an unforgiving and unrelenting miserliness. There’s a word that marked his life. He was a legend of luxury, lust, and loneliness. Again, we don’t have to go to the extreme to see this. But so often, with the richest of the rich, we see them being so depressed. And so often the pursuit of wealth can result in stress, in loneliness, and in depression. As Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 9, but those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

It’s not merely the having of the riches, but it is the pursuing of the riches. I want that that can ruin us. And so here we see four consequences of wealth. It does not come alone, it can become useless, it can deprive one of sleep, and it can ruin a person’s life. And so certainly when we consider these consequences and the limitations of wealth that we looked at earlier, the saying certainly is true. Some people are so poor, all they have is money. Don’t you feel sorry for people like that? Are we not rich beyond measure? A lot of money or little money doesn’t matter. We are rich in Jesus Christ, who has lavishly poured out his grace upon us in Jesus Christ.

3. Enjoy the Good of Your Labor

I mean, should we say, well then, money is bad? Well, we need to earn a living. The one who doesn’t is worse than an infidel, according to 1 Timothy chapter 5. Well, then having a lot of possessions is wrong. Well, not necessarily, but it can be. Having riches is wrong. No, but there are serious warnings about that. So it has a lot to do with our heart, doesn’t it? So what are the solutions to the problem? Number one, enjoy the good of your labor. At the end of chapter, or there’s a section in chapter 5, 18 through 20, here is what I have seen. It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him, for it is his heritage.

As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. If God gives you wealth, wonderful. Maybe he gives you the ability to enjoy it, maybe not. That is also a gift from God. We all know what it’s like to have money, but life gets in the way. Health gets in the way, things get in the way, and you can’t enjoy any of the benefits of having it. But if you have it and you have the ability to enjoy it, then you know what you ought to do, brethren.

4. Be Content With Your Circumstances

And this is not a command, it’s just saying this is what God wants for you. Enjoy it. Enjoy it, relax. Sleep at night. Enjoy whatever blessings you can have within what you can afford. But act your wage. Did you get that? Okay. Alright, just make sure. Alright, so that’s number one. Enjoy the good of your labor. Number two, be content with your circumstances. I’m going to skip ahead here to chapter 7 and verses 13 and 14 says, Consider the work of God. Who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity, be joyful. But in the day of adversity, condemnation. Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, so that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

The point of that passage is that prosperity as well as adversity are unpredictable. You can’t know for sure what you’re going to have next. And so in the day of prosperity, you know what you need to do? Embrace it. Be thankful for it and enjoy it, but realize you can’t rely on it. It could be robbed of you at any point. And so be willing to accept that and to be content, whatever your circumstances are. Certainly we talked about that last week that Paul had that very mentality. And he said, I have found the secret to both being filled and being hungry and having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so we can too. Contentment must be learned.

And Paul told Timothy, if we have food and covering with these, we shall be content. We might have a lot more things to add if we have food and covering and about two or three other dozen things. Paul says, food and covering.

5. Fear God and Keep His Commandments

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man’s all, for God will bring every act and the judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. So we must view everything, including work and wealth, through the lens of eternity. There is going to be a judgment day. And there also, therefore, is going to be a day of hope for those who serve God. Salvation is possible. And if you take that out of the picture, then it’s really a desperate thing. But when you view all of your material blessings through the lens of eternity, as Greg preached about a couple of weeks ago, viewing everything through the lens of eternity, then it’s okay if they’re taken away because you still have the treasure of heaven. And so I want to leave you with the words of Jesus who said, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroys, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Conclusion

And we won’t come to that point until God has become our insatiable desire. Not riches, not wealth, but God that we can never get enough of. We can never quite be filled of our hunger and of our thirst for Him. We pant for Him as the deer pants for the water brooks. And we long for Him with every ounce of our being from the depths of our soul. It is then and only then that the possessions of this life will really have no more power over us. Because the only thing that will have power in our mind is God and in salvation in his Son. Would you bow your head with me in a word of prayer? Our Father God, we thank you for what you have given us.

We thank you for the hope that is in Jesus Christ. And we thank you, Father, that through Him we don’t have to depend upon the material blessings of this life. We’re thankful when we have them. But Father, may we serve you always, even when those blessings are robbed from us. And may we not demand that we have those things in order to serve you. But we will serve you with or without them, Father. We praise your name, and we do long for you, and we pant for you as the deer pants for the water brook. It is through your son that we pray. Amen. If you’re not a Christian, then you have an empty life. And that may sound harsh. But there is no real hope.

Without heaven, without salvation. Just enjoy the merry-go-round. That’s about as far as it’ll go for you. And that’s as deep as it’ll go. And that’s really sad. I say that not as an insulting thing, but because I feel sorry for somebody that doesn’t have the hope of salvation. That’s all that matters. So once you become a Christian, won’t you cling to God today? You can do that by repenting of your sins, by confessing the name of Christ and being baptized and continuing to obey the gospel every day of your life. Won’t you come today and be baptized as we stand and sing the song of invitation.