Sermon Dan Neary
Ecclesiastes on Money and Wealth
Sermon #6 of 7 in our series on Ecclesiastes, and we come to money and wealth.
We’ve gotten into this habit of tying pop songs to these messages… so I couldn’t resist… ABBA (shouldn’t we all listen to ABBA on Fathers’ Day?).
Could it possibly be a coincidence that this topic landed on this day? What I am about to say is not, of course, universally true with two-income homes, and Mr. Moms, and single parent homes and such… but in general terms, our society thinks of money and fathers in the same column. We think of fathers as providers; they are generally thought of as the bread winners. It is usually the dad who brings home the bacon.
Money, money, money… it’s a rich man’s world! Working with these
Money… wealth… riches. Working with this idea and this text, I realized again that I live in a rich man’s world. I haven’t always. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, Northwest Indiana, in steel country.
Our family of four lived in a modest house in the most densely populated, unincorporated square mile in the state… rows and rows of simple houses called South Haven. Most of the families had direct ties to the steel industry. If I had gone to work at Youngstown Sheet and Tube, I would have been fifth generation in that mill since my mom’s dad’s grandfather was the first Morton to work for the mill. I have cousins who remain in the industry, my cousin Tom works at the gigantic Gary Works of U.S. Steel.
We weren’t poor, we always had all that we needed and more… but we were by no means rich.
It was a bit startling when I thought about this question, “If I were looking at me and my family today from the perspective of my childhood… would I think I was rich today?” Well… yes. Nicer clothes, nicer house, relatively extravagant vacations. Two day weekends… to this day my parents still often work 6-day weeks and rarely have Saturday and Sunday together (of course I suppose I spent a good chunk of Saturday writing a sermon and Sunday preaching a sermon… but that really isn’t work!).
Here’s another indication that I’m really rich today. During my childhood and throughout my teenage years, I can only remember the purchase of two new cars. There was the 1973 Pontiac Catalina…
and the 1976 Chevrolet Chevette (yes, my mom drove a Vette… Chevette that is… all tricked out with air, automatic, and a racy pinstripe!).
I thought my grandfather was rich because he would get a brand new car every 2-3 years.
New cars are a sign of being rich.
But do my sons think we’re rich? Of course not. At our house we call it Eastsideitis. From the perspective of my Midwestern childhood in the 70s, we’re loaded. But from the perspective of Mill Creek, Kirkland, Bothell, Bellevue, and Seattle… we’re barely scratching out a respectable living.
Even if we would dare think of ourselves as rich, we are certainly not wealthy. Rich, I suppose, is good… but wealthy is the standard to which we aspire here on the Eastside.
Money. If Donny were to ask me, “Dad, how much money do you have?” I could think in all sorts of terms:
• Bank balances
• Investments for retirement
• Net worth
But the most accurate answer would be $6. The dictionary definition of money has more to do with currency, coin, dollars. Money isn’t what makes for worth, riches or wealth. Money is just the medium of exchange. Money is merely a representation of value or worth. These days it is only a representation. When coins were made of precious metals, or currency was literally backed by silver or gold in our government’s treasury, the money was actually worth something in and of itself… but these days it is only a representation of worth.
In our case, for most of us, these dollars represent our lives; we exchange our labor, our time and effort, for these dollars. There is certainly more to life than money… but in a very real way our money represents our lives, and literally is the medium of exchange of our lives.
It is important stuff that is worthy of a great deal of our consideration… and it turns out that the Bible has a great deal to say about money. Many have asserted that of all of lives issues, money shows up in the Bible more than any other.
Sometimes the Bible may seem harsh or critical in regard to money, wealth and riches… but not always. I like what Margaret Thatcher said: “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions. He had money as well.”
Of course we remember that famous verse: “the lack of money is the root of all evil.” Wait… that was Mark Twain, not the Bible. (“The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” is 1 Timothy 6).
Furthermore, it shows up quite a bit in this Book of Ecclesiastes, mostly here in chapters 4-6. The Book is written from a position of abundance; the voice of the writer is one of wealth and riches.
When I read, I usually hear a voice and see a picture. Sometimes it is my own voice, often times it is a character voice that I imagine fits the writer or the character that is speaking through the words on the page… lately, for some strange reason, when I read Ecclesiastes, the voice is that of Dr. Darrell Hobson.
The picture that is in my head, though, is someone sitting in at a beautiful desk in very comfortable surroundings. The picture indicates that the writer is coming from a context of wealth, comfort, and abundance. That perspective adds meaning to these words we find in the text.
Those who love money never have enough… who ever has enough money? Does anyone here have enough money? If you find someone who says they have enough money, offer them some more and see if they really meant it!
The point here is that the amount has little to do with satisfaction. The point isn’t so much that if you get more you want more. That sure seems to be true… but the point here is more that in order to find satisfaction... fall in love with something that can satisfy. Fall in love with money, wealth, and riches… and there never will be satisfaction. Wealth does not bring satisfaction.
“As goods increase, so do those who consume them.” This goes back to the perspective question. Most of us live a lot better than we did several years ago… there is more available to us, and we consume it. There is far more wealth today than there was 10 years ago (measure it however you like: per capita, inflation adjusted, etc.), and there will be more tomorrow than there was today… but there will be an unending hunger to consume even more. Wealth does not solve problems.
This last little proverb is certainly true:
The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of a rich man
permits him no sleep.
Another way to put it: the more we have, the more we have to worry about. Wealth does not bring peace of mind.
These next few verses remind us that wealth does not provide security. We do well to save, planning for our retirements and even thinking we might leave something that will help our kids or grandkids… but our plans don’t always go according to schedule. In Luke 12 we find Jesus telling a parable:
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
Wealth does not provide security.
Finally, wealth doesn’t provide eternity. Harkening back to Dr. Hobson’s message last week… we can’t buy-off Death. We come with nothing, and we leave with nothing. We are born naked, and while we don’t customarily bury people naked… we might as well. The tired old adage is right: you can’t take it with you.
Before we go on with the last bit of the passage… let’s go ahead and insert the so what.
The text brings us to a point of answering this all so important question.
If wealth can’t provide eternity, security, peace, answers, or satisfaction… what can? So what?
We have this drive to have more, our culture urges us to consume more, and even some religious people make it seem that it is our right to be wealthy… that we should be rich… and that more is better. So what?
The answer provided here in the text is becoming familiar to us in this study of Ecclesiastes.
1. Enjoy God’s Gifts
2. Acknowledge the Giver
3. Set our Affections on the Giver (not the gift)
We’ve seen this before in Ecclesiastes, so maybe we should pay attention. We are urged to enjoy God’s gifts. Eat, drink, enjoy our work, live full and robust lives. It is truly an act of worship to enjoy the lives God gives us.
Second, it is God who provides. We have so very much to enjoy that comes from God’s good hand. From daily bread to the really big things like family, friends, and (most marvelously) our relationship with God Himself. We are His, His children, the sheep of His pasture. Again…we are the recipients of great gifts from God.
Finally, we must discipline ourselves to set our affections on the giver (not the gift). There is this marvelous phrase “God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.”
The phrase puts me in mind of a verse that God continually brings to my mind: Godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6).
Contentment is our goal. I think it goes back to where we place our love and affections.
We made the point earlier in our text: if we fall in love with money, we will never be satisfied. If money is our goal, we will never be content. We have to choose to place our highest affections not on the gift, but on the giver of the gift. We can’t even place our love on these lives we live, but we must place it on the One who gives us life.
In order for us to find satisfaction in anything, we must choose well where we are going to place our affections. If we love money, or any other hollow and lifeless thing, we will never be satisfied.
Gladness of heart. I am making that my prayer. God, would you please keep me occupied with gladness of heart? This is a gift from God worthy of pursuit: gladness of heart.
Isn’t this a predominate theme in our stories with God? That if we would place our highest affections on God, if we would look to Him, and trust in Him, He will make us glad. This is the testimony I want to have: gladness of heart:
• A heart that is glad because it has set its affection on God
• A life that is redeemed, bought from pain and eternal destruction, because of a God who paid the price for sin through Christ’s sacrifice
• A glad heart that enjoys God’s gifts of a full life
• Work that is satisfying because it is done to honor Him
• Family life that is glad because God is honored and His blessings are evident
Would you join me in making that your desire, goal and prayer: gladness of heart? We will pray together in a moment, but I want to challenge you to write that down, say it out loud, give those around you permission to remind you: gladness of heart. Let’s be a people with this fabulous testimony: gladness of heart. Let this gladness be something that is sweet and attractive to all we encounter.
Let’s take this week ahead… at least this week ahead… and make this our prayer: gladness of heart. And let’s start that pursuit now as we pray together.
Father, would you please keep us occupied with gladness of heart? Make us people who honor you with gladness and contentment. Help us to be those who enjoy your good gifts well, acknowledging you and worshiping you as we enjoy your good gifts. When there is so much in our lives that lures our affections, help us to place our affections on you. Lord we love you; help us to love you more.
Audio notes available at: http://www.cedarpark.org/thechapel/services/
